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Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Cover Lover One of the coolest part of the Nada Surf show on Saturday was their cover of The Smith's "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out." I might've expected it had I been following their message board, but not knowing beforehand made it quite a nice surprise. As excited as I was for "Blizzard of '77," an out-of-nowhere cover of a kick-ass song is hard to top. If anybody has an MP3 of that cover, don't hesitate to share.
Rhett Miller's new one, The Believer, comes out tomorrow. Sadly, he won't be stopping by Vancouver in his west coast tour in late March. Toronto, however, gets him at the Horseshoe Tavern on March 14th.
After an exciting, up-and-down couple weeks of Olympic curling, we get the Scott Tournament of Hearts, the best of the best of Canadian women's curling. I haven't picked a team to cheer for yet this year, seeing as I've barely watched half a game. I'll probably go with one of the younger teams, and failing that, there's always BC's Kelly Scott, who is currently tied for first place with perennial contender, Nova Scotia's Colleen Jones. Both teams, along with rinks skipped by Quebec's Eve Bélisle and New Brunswick's 20 year-old wonder, Andrea Kelly, are at 4-1. The finals will be played on the same day as the Oscars, March 5th. Honestly, I don't know which one I'm looking forward to watching more.
NP: Magneta Lane - Bridge to Terabithia
posted by Hanson |
12:10 AM
Friday, February 24, 2006
Panic When You (Almost) Find It Erring on the side of caution, I decided against going to Young and Sexy and The Buttless Chaps tonight. I'm at the cusp of "coming-down-with-something," and just to play it safe, I went home at 8:30pm instead of 1:30am. Nada Surf is this Saturday, and I don't want to go to the show with my gun half loaded.
Popmatters has an interesting article about gender and music, citing Magneta Lane as a case study. Rock music is -- by default -- male? No. WAY!! Wow. Shocking stuff.
Sasquatch Update: I've bought tickets to all three days. So far, my army consists of two other people who have bought tickets, and many others who have expressed interest. I know *you* want to come too! You. Yes. YOU!
One final note: GUSHUE!!!! I'm taping the gold medal game tomorrow, so nobody tell me nothing! Any nugget of info before I see the game will be punishable by a severe beating. Yes, I said beating. With a stick. Repeatedly. This is such a big deal, Newfoundland is closing schools early just so kids can go home and walk the game. So you're all on notice, people.
NP: Magneta Lane - 22
posted by Hanson |
1:00 AM
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Sweet Troubled Soul Vancouver usually doesn't get enough live music for there to be many multi-show date conflicts. However, on April 25th, Ladytron will be playing the Commodore -- which I already have tickets for -- and just announced today, the massive Editors/stellastarr* tour will be rolling into town as well. Bah! This blows. As some of you may know, I have a bit of a crush on stellastarr*'s bassist. When they released Harmonies For the Haunted, I was waiting for them to come back to Vancouver. And now they have -- it just so happens to fall on the day of the Ladytron show. Argh. Why can't they mash all three bands into one giant ball of awesomeness?
Normally, I wouldn't be reporting Yeah Yeah Yeahs rumours, but there's word that Imaad Wasif might be joining the band. Imaad, who was in the (New) Folk Implosion as well as alaska!, served as the backing guitarist on Elliott Smith's final tour. With him joining the YYYs on the road, does that spell doom for Karen O? Probably not.
Goooooshoooooo! Fuck yeah. The hockey team losing to the pinko Russians and Kleibrink fulfilling my worst fears might not be ideal, but there's still curling gold to aim for! Go Go Gushue!
NP: (nothing)
posted by Hanson |
1:22 AM
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Oh Good God! I'm amassing an army. That's right. An army. An army to go down to the Gorge with me on Memorial Day weekend (May 26th-28th) for the Sasquatch! Music Festival. Their line-ups in previous years were good, but this year, the promoters have really out done themselves. Expanding to a three-day format from a single-day gig, they're bringing in some pretty big names to go along with your festival-hopping indie faves. The full line-up is posted everywhere, but I'll post it here once again, my "I'm Excited to See Them" picks noted in bold:
Friday, May 26th:
Nine Inch Nails, HIM, And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Wolfmother, [Some Surprise Guest -- I'm thinking the Beatles, Nick Drake, or Pussycat Dolls]
Saturday, May 27th:
Ben Harper, The Flaming Lips, The Shins, The Tragically Hip, Neko Case, Iron & Wine, Sufjan Stevens, Gomez, Rogue Wave, Architecture In Helsinki, Sam Roberts, Constantines, The Brunettes, Matt Costa, Bedouin Soundclash, Tim Seely, Korby Lenker, Common Market
Sunday, May 28th:
Beck, Death Cab for Cutie, Queens of the Stone Age, Matisyahu, The Decemberists, Nada Surf, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Blue Scholars, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Arctic Monkeys, We Are Scientists, Chad VanGaalen, The Heavenly States, Rocky Votolato, Laura Viers, The Village Green, Mercir
A quick count will reveal *15* bands that I'm /excited/ to see -- and this doesn't include bands that I'd like to check out like Gomez, Matt Costa, We Are Scientists, etc. Simply put, I doubt that even Coachella could get me this excited.
So, who's in? I'm got firm confirms from half my curling team. We're thinking that amongst us, we could get 20 people to go down. Those up for a weekend of camping and incredible music, say I!
NP: (nothing)
posted by Hanson |
12:05 AM
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Slow Day Exuberant popsters and My Indie World fave Tilly and the Wall will unleash Bottoms or Barrels to the world on May 23rd on Team Love. Seeing that Wild Like Children was my 3rd favourite album of 2004, I'm looking forward to this more than anything else on the release calendar. Thanks to Tiny Mix Tapes for the heads up.
Thanks to my postering gig for Barsuk, I have an extra ticket to the Nada Surf and Rogue Wave show at Richard's on Feb. 25th. (I bought it, but don't need it now.) Anyone who wants it for cheap, let me know.
Both the Gushue and Kleibrink rinks got into the semi-finals of Olympic curling action. Phew. Now, two more wins each and we're good.
NP: (nothing)
posted by Hanson |
12:38 AM
Monday, February 20, 2006
What's Old is New Again Tarkio is a now-defunct railroad stop 30 miles west of Missoula on I-90. It was also the name of the band Colin Meloy fronted before The Decemberists back in his days at the University of Montana. Before disbanding, they released a handful of EPs and a full-length, I Guess I Was Hoping For Something More, the latter on Barcelona Records. Those records are long out of print, but the brilliant Kill Rock Stars recently collected some of them and reissued them as a two-disc set titled Ominbus.
While the band never really broke outside Montana -- though they were named Best New Band by the Missoula Independent in 1998 -- it did do a fine job of providing Meloy with an outlet to hone his skills. Imagine a stripped-down Decemberists with less lit-geek razzmatazz and more banjo -- that's roughly what Tarkio sounds like. Glimpses of what's to come from Meloy are peppered throughout Omnibus, at times quite literally, as it included an early version of "My Mother Was a Chinese Trapeze Artist", a track off of The Decemberists' 5 Songs EP.
During his recently solo tour, Meloy worked in a few old Tarkio songs into the setlist. For instance, at the Seattle show last month, he played "Devil's Elbow" and "Tristan and Iseult" along with some of his more well-known songs. Both musically and lyrically, they're not as polished as your average Decemberists offering, yet they're still distinctly Meloy. After listening to Omnibus, I realized why The Decemberists were so good right out of the gates -- Colin Meloy had already worked out the kinks. That said, Omnibus is still worth the pick-up, and I'd even go as far as to highly recommend it to Decemberists fans. Help a brother out and buy the record -- Colin's got a new baby to feed!
Download: Tarkio - Devil's Elbow
Download: Tarkio - Tristan and Iseult
Download: Tarkio - My Mother Was a Chinese Trapeze Artist
Buy Tarkio's Omnibus here.
NP: Girls Aloud - Swinging London Town
posted by Hanson |
12:58 AM
Saturday, February 18, 2006
The Fallen Gushue, Kleibrink, the Canadian Men's Hockey team -- seriously, WTF? I spent my lunch yesterday seeing Gushue lose a mistake-heavy game against Finland, and now he goes on to lose to the Italians too? And Kleibrink, well, maybe you'll play better once I stop talking shit about you (cos I'm just that powerful). Yeah, I hold grudges. As for the hockey, what more can I say other than res ipsa loquitur? The Swiss? This here real, foo! It's a thug life!
*mutters*
NP: (nothing)
posted by Hanson |
12:40 PM
Friday, February 17, 2006
Can Pop 2005 The Juno nominations are out. Of note: Feist's "Inside and Out" is up for Single of the Year. Martha Wainwright is up for New Artist of the Year. The Arcade Fire is up for Songwriter of the Year. And Kathleen Edwards, also up for Songwriter of the Year, is vying for the Adult Alternative Album of the Year with Back to Me. The most interesting category is probably Alternative Album Of The Year, as I own all the nominees -- Broken Social Scene's self-titled, Hot Hot Heat's Elevator, Metric's Live It Out, Tegan and Sara's So Jealous, and The New Pornographer's Twin Cinema. Nice. Now, isn't this so much better than the Grammys?
With the release of the Scott Stapp sex tapes, we're one step closer to seeing Chad Kroeger getting it on in the back of the tour bus. And after that, could Theory of a Deadman Gone Wild be far behind? I shudder to think.
Anecdotal evidence supporting the thesis that blogs with MP3s help sell CDs -- my order of the entire catalogue of The Eames Era arrived today from Insound. If it weren't for You Ain't No Picasso, they wouldn't have my money. See! It works!
NP: Tarkio - Never Will Marry
posted by Hanson |
12:32 AM
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Can Pop 2006 Feb. 14th, 2006 should be called Lexi Valentine's Day, for yesterday saw the release of Dancing With Daggers, the first full-length from her band, Magneta Lane. The follow up to 2004's delightful The Constant Lover EP came out in Japan last October, but it's only being released here now due to label reasons -- or so said Lexi when I asked her about it the last time they played here. I went for Thai food today at lunch instead of going to Scratch, so I'll probably pick it up tomorrow, along with Paper Moon's new one, Broken Hearts Break Faster Every Day. Oh, and the new Young & Sexy too. Yay for Canadian pop, eh?
After being on the waiting list for over 4 months, I finally got Anansi Boys, the new(ish) Neil Gaiman, from the library. It seems like a pretty short read, so I hope to have it done without having to renew it. But given my lack of reading time, I'm not entirely sure I can do that. Oh, if only I can dedicate a day every week to just reading (for fun).
Kleibrink! You only get my support because you're wearing the maple leaf. If you screw up -- i.e. not win the gold -- you'll be dead to me.
NP: Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat
posted by Hanson |
1:12 AM
Monday, February 13, 2006
Rolling Like the Veep Early wake up times (e.g. 6:30am) are not conducive to blogging. Let me do it Cheney style and unload a quick buckshot in your face:
Firefly to take off again? This CW thing might be just the ticket.
Tickets for the Death Cab for Ferdinand Tour's Vancouver stop at the Pacific Collesium (!!) will go on sale this Friday, Feb. 17th. A presale starts at 10am two days earlier on Wednesday, Feb. 15th. The password is "cutie" for those lucky enough to be in town. I know, shitty venue, but it's Death Cab and Franz Ferdinand, for fuck's sake! I bet they'll drag another great band to open up too. Argh.
Mates of State hit The Media Club on April 21st while Pinback plays The Plaza (!?) on April 24th. I'm definitely going to see the Mates, and I'm about 50/50 for Pinback.
In new record news, The Fiery Furnaces serves up The Bitter Tea on April 18th, Quasi drops When the Going Gets Dark on March 21st, while Snow Patrol unveils Eyes Open on April 25th. And don't forget, local Vancouver heroes Young & Sexy releases their 3rd full-length, Panic When You Find It, tomorrow!
NP: (nothing)
posted by Hanson |
11:43 PM
Friday, February 10, 2006
Love the Hate Tonight, I was going to blog about Tarkio, Colin Meloy's pre-Decemberists project. However, the songs that I wanted to post for your listening pleasure were left on the CD that's currently stuck at my computer at work. Dang. Next time.
Instead, I'm going to do a follow up on my last post and talk about Eisley, a fetching pop band signed to Warner comprising four siblings and their friend. Their lead-singer sounds and looks like Leigh Nash, formerly of Sixpence None the Richer, and their music doesn't stray far from that point of reference either. Basically, Eisley makes pretty pop music that rates pretty lowly on the cool department, i.e. it's not something indie yuppies will be dying to get. You see, they have neither the indie cred of Belle & Sebastian and Annie, nor the ironic-but-not-really adoration that rains down on Gwen and Beyonce. Nope, they're stuck in the middle of pop-dom -- no respect and not very much record sales either. (But hell if I don't love them.)
Which segues to the point I'm trying to make with this post: the total suckage of being an obscure major-label act. Sure, they get some of the perks -- slick videos, fancy websites, and glossy press kits -- but they don't get very much exposure or move very many units. That means they don't make very much money either, which is often the perk of working for The Man. When you're on an independent label and you're not selling, at least you get a measure of street cred. Hell of a lot of beer that buys All-Girl Summer Fun Band and Tilly and the Wall, I suppose, but at least it's something to numb the pain of not getting a big audience or raking in the moolah. Bands like Eisley get shit -- no $$, no cred.
Oh yeah, the music, it's seriously good. It's not everybody cup of tea, but if you're into catchy, girly guitar-pop songs with pretty vocals, you'll dig them.
Download: Eisley - Telescope Eyes
Download: Eisley - One Day I Floated Away
I wish I could flesh this idea out and write something more proper. But gah, that's what you get when you post after midnight...
NP: Eisley - Trolley Wood
posted by Hanson |
12:59 AM
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
I'll Need Telescope Eyes The kids of Eisley will hit up the Croatian Cultural Centre on April 20th. The downside: shitty venue with kiddies galore. The upside: I get to see Eisley! Before they go through Van City, they'll play Montreal on April 1st and the T-Dot on April 1st at El Salon and The Mod Club, respectively.
The Elliott Smith tribute album featuring artist from Portland -- aptly titled To Elliott, From Portland -- came out today. I didn't go to Scratch during lunch this afternoon, but I'll probably go tomorrow. Lets hope they have it!
Britt Daniel on Veronica Mars karaoking "Veronica" was as cool as it sounds. He even had lines! In case you missed it, check out the clip here. Oh, if he only recorded that song for real...
NP: Patty Griffin - Every Little Bit
posted by Hanson |
12:21 AM
Monday, February 06, 2006
Bits brooklynvegan has mega J.Lew coverage here, here, here, and here. Yum.
Jenn Hanna falls in the Ontario play-downs. Frack. No Lawton and no Hanna at the Hearts this year means I'll have to find another team to cheer for. BC girl Kelly Scott, perhaps? Her Second and Third are quite fetching, IIRC...
NP: Nina Gordon - Got Me Down
posted by Hanson |
11:22 PM
Let It Bleed Nina Gordon, formerly co-lead singer of and the blonde from Veruca Salt, has posted the as-yet unreleased "Lighter on the Moon" on her MySpace. Stylistic similar to her cover of "Straight Outta Compton", the song is a slow-moving ballad-y number, more Tonight and the Rest of My Life than American Thighs, perhaps an indication of what's to come on her maybe-2006 release, Bleeding Heart Graffiti.
Stefanie Lawton has been defeated in the Saskatchewan play-downs this weekend for the Scott Tournament of Hearts, losing in the semi-finals to the team lead by Delores Syrota. Not being able to see her curling in the Scotts this year has made me a decidedly unhappy Ho.
Speaking of not being happy, one word summarized Superbowl XL for me: sad. First, the defeat of the semi-local Seahawks at the hands of the refs Steelers pissed me off greatly, winning $10 from Dan in a mid-game bet notwithstanding. Second, The Rolling Stones' half-time performance was truly pitiful. Mick Jagger looked ridiculous, wearing a shiny, mesh t-shirt, the sagging flesh of his biceps jiggling and bouncing around like two half-filled water-balloons. As he was running around the stage, mumbling the words to the predictable duo of "Start Me Up" and "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," the rest of the band looked like reanimated corpses with barely enough energy to stand up. While other musical legends continue to make relevant and artful music well into their 60s (Dylan, Springsteen, etc.), The Stones just keep milking their legacy, putting out pointless albums just so they can tour (and makes millions). Please stop. You guys haven't done anything relevant in nearly a quarter century. Even on stage, playing the hits, you guys look absolutely pathetic, like grandpas who still think their in their 20s. Just live out your remaining year in your ginormous mansions with your trophy girlfriends and stop embarrassing yourselves.
NP: (nothing)
posted by Hanson |
1:37 AM
Friday, February 03, 2006
I'm Tired of Rumors Starting I heard a rumour yesterday that Ticketbastard won't sell tickets for their best seats during presales for venues with assigned seating. That is, if you want tickets for the first few rows to see a theatre/stadium show, you're not going to get it during a presale. WTF? Is this complete bullshit or am I the only person who's unaware of this? I guess I'll find out tomorrow when the regular sale begins for the James Blunt/The Boy Least Likely To gig here in Vancouver. If this rumour is true, I might have a couple of tickets for sale...
According to brooklynvegan, The Major-Indie Mega Tour featuring Death Cab for Cutie/Franz Ferdinand will hit Vancouver in a venue TBA on April 28th. Frack. Just when I'll be in Austin! This blows.
NP: (nothing)
posted by Hanson |
12:38 AM
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Don't Wake Me They played The Postal Service tonight at my company's kick-off party after I requested it! I did the same thing last year, and they played the obvious, "Such Great Heights." This year, they played "Sleeping In." Yeeeeeah! Oh, I danced like a mofo when they did that.
Now, back to your regular, non-drunk programming.
NP: (nothing)
posted by Hanson |
1:24 AM
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Move Along Now Oscar nominations, Coachella and Bonnaroo line-ups -- I'll let the other blogs take care of it. Me? I'm taking a break today from writing actual content. Wait. I got 1st row centre for Sarah Harmer and 7th row way wide right for The Boy Least Likely To. That's something, right?
NP: (nothing)
posted by Hanson |
12:44 AM
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