Category Archives: Music

Toronto Cityscape

Originally uploaded by Smaku

“Home again, home again, jiggety-jig”. My dad used to recite that rhyme when we were kids and came home from a trip. Tonight I find myself in that very same headspace. It has been a short work week with two days of business travel slapped right in the middle. I am happy to be home with John and the dog and listening to some sweet tunes.

1. That’s the Way by Led Zeppelin. This song reminds me of my friend Mike. We used to hang out for hours on end talking and he’d play guitar and sing Zeppelin songs.

2. Crooked Teeth by Death Cab for Cutie. They released an EP earlier this month. I need to chase that one down and give a listen.

3. Future by Cut Copy. This track is from their first LP, Bright Like Neon Love. I made the Wordle below on the reviews for that album at Metacritic.com. Cut Copy wrapped up touring April. They’re back to Melbourne now and (hopefully) at work on another great album.

4. Killer Cars by Radiohead – Old Radiohead, new Radiohead. It is all good Radiohead. This is “Thom’s second song on a driving theme, this one deals with the fear that every time we venture out in our cars we may be killed. Originally intended for release as one of the singles from The Bends during the initial recording sessions, the song actually debuted in the band’s live set in 1993.” (via)

5. Crush with Eyeliner by R.E.M. I was in first year university when I had a “crush” on R.E.M.’s monster, which is according to Rolling Stone, “…a deeply felt, thematically coherent, consistently invigorating challenge to “evolve or die,” with all the courage of its convictions.”

vampire weekend, exposure from the gods by ourcommon

Song 1: Death of an Interior Decorator by Death Cab for Cutie (click to listen at Grooveshark)

About 26% of Interior Decorators are self-employed. I wish I was better at decorating my interiors.

Song 2: I Know You Got Soul by Erik B and Rakim

Wikipedia says: “Eric B. & Rakim is generally considered to be one of the most influential and innovative groups in the hip hop genre. Though they never had much success on the charts, Eric B. & Rakim are commonly considered one of the greatest hip hop acts of all time, and Rakim, because of his innovation, influence, historical importance and tremendous skill is often considered by many fans and critics to be one of the greatest MCs of all time.”

Song 3: 4 a.m. by Cherry Ghost

Here are 4 facts about cherries:

• The cherry is the state fruit of Utah.
• Michigan has over 35,000 acres of tart cherry trees and grows almost 75% of the tart cherries produced in the United States.
• Cherries are drupes, or stone fruits, related to plums and more distantly to peaches and nectarines.
• Cherries have been enjoyed since the Stone Age — pits were found in several Stone Age caves in Europe. The Romans carried cherries throughout Europe and England along the routes of conquest.

And 1 story from today about a Scottish ghost sighting.

Song 4: Lights Out by Santogold

I totally forgot to turn my lights out for Earth Hour last weekend. I was drinking wine with my neighbours. Whoopsie. According to the Toronto Star, “from one city in 2007 – Sydney, Australia – to 2,800 cities worldwide in 2009, Earth Hour has grown into a movement expected to involve almost a billion people.”

Song 5: I Want You by Kings of Leon

Its only 18 more days until the Kings of Leon show at the ACC. The last time I saw Kings of Leon they were supporting the Strokes in 2003 at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga. I’ve been hooked on Kings since the EP and I’m looking forward to hear songs like I Want You in an arena.

Time to Pretend by apropl

For your listening pleasure, here are a bunch of songs I’ve been loving lately:

1. Time to Pretend by MGMT
2. Fixed to Ruin by Sam Roberts
3. Pâte Filo by Malajube
4. Trans Canada by the Constantines
5. No Name #1 by Elliott Smith
6. I Stand Corrected by Vampire Weekend
7. Resurrection Fern by Iron & Wine
8. Jesus, Etc. [Live] by Wilco
9. Oliver James by Fleet Foxes
10. Unguided by The New Pornographers
11. Over the Ice by The Field

Note: this post original appeared with a Mixwit player. Mixwit has since joined the dead pool.

photo: Time to Pretend by apropl

Hey yo. Here I am with this week’s Phive.

[Note: this post original appeared with a Mixwit player. Mixwit has since joined the dead pool.]

1. Take On Me by Ah Ha

Take On Me by Ah Ha goes out to my childhood friends Mel and Jen (who had this  album on “tape”). On Sunday I met their husbands and adorable kids, we got caught up and had lots of laughs.

2. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt 2 by the Flaming Lips

Reflecting Spoon by ArtNow315

This one came up on Party Shuffle tonight. Groovy. Love that Party Shuffle.

3. My Little Japanese Cigarette Case by Spoon

I’ve got all kinds of time for Spoon these days.

4. Over the Hills and Far Away by Led Zeppelin (Live from How the West Was Won)

It is all about Rock Band. I adore it. Mr. Flackadelic (drums) and I (guitar) decided to play an 11-song all 90s set on Wednesday night. We got all the way to the final track (#11) only to have it be Enter Sandman which we totally pooched, thereby losing all the stars (points) gained through the first 10 songs. Good times. Good times.

We bought a bunch of tracks this week for Rock Band (from the comfort of our living room) stuff from Oasis, Radiohead, Fall Out Boy, Stone Temple Pilots…  The entire experience blows my mind. I can’t wait for more songs and artists to climb on board. Zeppelin is likely a bit far fetched, but we can dream.

5. California Waiting by Kings of Leon (from the Holy Roller Novacaine EP)

A personal fave to end this week’s list. And with that, I’m out for the night.

photo: Reflecting Spoon uploaded by ArtNow 314

[Note: this post original appeared with a Mixwit player. Mixwit has since joined the dead pool.]

micro fireworks by Pixel Addict

Up first on this week’s Phive is an acoustic version of Fireworks by the Tragically Hip. This goes out to the Belleville Bulls who are headed to the Memorial Cup after they annihilated the Oshawa Generals 11-0. From the Belleville Intelligencer:

The Belleville Bulls blasted their way to the OHL Final – and a bonus berth in the 2008 Memorial Cup tournament in Kitchener – with a spectacular 11-0 demolition of the Oshawa Generals Wednesday night at Yardmen Arena to win the best-of-seven Eastern Conference championship series 4-1.

They love their hockey in Quinte.  I’m heading down to Bellevegas tomorrow to visit friends. Maybe I’ll pick up some Bulls swag to wear around T.O. A flag for my car perhaps?

Next we’ve got Up Against the Wall by Peter Bjorn and John. These guys have been ubiquitous over the past few years. This track was used in Levis commercial; Young Folks was the iTunes 2007 song of the year; the band has a best t-shirt according to Rolling Stone … I’m starting to get a hankering for some new stuff.

Mr. Flackadelic requested My Valuable Hunting Knife by Guided by Voices be played as part of the Phive. His first request was something by Iron Maiden. [vetoed]

I don’t know if you’ve been watching (maybe too busy playing), but Guitar Hero and Rock Band are a major distribution channel for music.

Primotech: “…sales of Guitar Hero and Rock Band brought in more revenue in 2007 than digital music downloads from services like iTunes. The two videogame franchises made their respective publishers $935 million USD combined, while digital music sales came in at about $835m.” (via Tumbleona)

This week, Doolittle by the Pixies and The Cars by the Cars were added as full playable albums to the Rock Band juggernaut. So, track 4 on this week’s list is Wave of Mutilation by the Pixies.

Finally, today marks the one year anniversary of our trip to the Coachella Festival. For the final track, here is Willie Nelson (one of many acts we saw at the festival) with his cover of  Jimmy Cliff’s The Harder They Come.

photo: micro fireworks by Pixel Addict

[I'm using SeeqPod for today's Phive. If you don't see the embedded player, here's a handy link.]

SeeqPod – Playable Search

"Aw wicked." says the Q104 DJ at the end of this live acoustic clip of True Patriot Love recorded live at  the Halifax rock radio station. I too think Joel Plaskett is wicked. I really dig his most recent album Ashtray Rock. He’s up first on this edition of the Phive. Did you miss me?

Next, is Can’t Stand Me Now by the Libertines.  I heard it on my drive to work this morning (cranked up  loud with the sunroof open natch). I’m an easy mark for jangly guitar work.

I’m giving the latest album, Magnificent Fiend from Howlin Rain some time these days. It is *so* very retro. According to Rolling Stone:

"A psychedelic cocktail of Crosby, Stills and
Nash, the Faces, the Damned and author Raymond Carver. "Everyone
dabbles in the history books to get their licks," says [front man Ethan] Miller, "We use
the same roads and highways. But the weather, lights, cars and people,
they’re never quite the same."

I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash is here for its pure pop schmaltzy goodness and for springtimey happy vibes and because I had a bit of a breakthrough this week. I’m dedicating it to Brian from CopyBlogger who sent out three tweets yesterday that resonated with me big time:

Number 1: “You see things and you say ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were and I say ‘Why not?’” ~George Bernard Shaw
Number 2: "
   
      “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” ~Henry David Thoreau
Number 3: “Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.” ~Yoda

Last but certainly not least is All Day Love Affair by Cee-Lo Green. This track dates from his 2004 solo album, before Cee-Lo hooked up with Danger Mouse to become Gnarls Barkley. I hit repeat twice when this one came on this car this morning. It was perfection on a bright sunny Friday morning.

Yeah the sun is shining.
Looking like another wonderful day.
Look for my CD collection. Trying to find some good music to play.
While I am getting ready to face the world doing what I must do.. no sugar..
Nothing compares to waking up this morning to you.

Have a good weekend kids. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.

I’m working on filling my ipod with playlists. I do an annual “best of playlist project”. This year I cruised many blogs and lists for suggestions:

Top 102 Songs of 2007 (Edge 102, Toronto) – there’s a bunch of 2006 songs on here (if you’re a fussy purist obsessive about your playlists…)

2007 Best Ad Songs (Advertising Age) – bonus Questionable list. Did you know the CCS song (Music is My Hot Hot Sex) Apple used this year was used by Zune in 2006? Sloppy.

The Best Songs of 2007 (Beyond Robson) - LCD Soundsystem tops many lists this year. This Van City blog has Someone Great at number one.

My Poproks Best of Songs of 2007: The Playlist

The Modern Music: Best Songs of the Year 2007

The Top 10 Songs: Time – Part of 50 top 10 lists for 2007.

The Forty Best Songs of 2007 (Central Village) – Great list and a good read.

NPR Music: 2007: The Year in Review from All Songs Considered

The Yellow Stereo > Best Songs of Mid-2007

Best Songs of 2007: Spinner.com

Pitchfork Feature: 2007 Individual Tracks List

Pitchfork Top 100 Tracks of 2007

Rolling Stone: Weekend Rock List: Reader’s Best Songs of 2007

Best Songs of 2007 (Oceans Never Listen)

Poplicks.com BEST SONGS OF 2007

Top 50 Songs of 2007 – Pop Playground (Stylus Magazine)

The Best Songs of 2007, In Bigger Than The Sound (MTV). James Montgomery goes on the record with 33 songs which make up his “Totally killer mixtap of 2007″. Including Paper Planes by M.I.A. at #9:

“Maybe it’s the Clash sample, or the play on Wreckx-N-Effect, or the

gunshots or the ka-ching of the cash register, but I don’t think Ms.

Arulpragasam has ever sounded sunnier (even on “Sunshowers”) or more

personable on a track, even when she’s talking about robbing you,

forging documents, moving drugs or third-world democracy. A positively

vital song, indicative of the shrinking world we inhabit, the

culture-mashing power of the Internet and also probably the reason

M.I.A. had such a difficult time getting a U.S. visa.”

photo by Twink - official photographer of The Jam by grewlike

1. Homecoming by Kanye West featuring Chris Martin from Kanye’s Graduation, the highest selling album of the year so far. I’m an easy mark for pop collaborations like this one.

2. You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You’re Told) by the White Stripes from their 6th studio album, Icky Thump.

3. Suburban Knights by Hard Fi. Loved Hard-Fi’s debut Stars of CCTV. No signs of sophomore slump here with Once Upon a Time in the West.

4. Mammoth by Interpol.  A frozen baby mammoth was found in the Siberian permafrost earlier this year. Interpol helped South African police make a major drug bust [cocaine valued at R50 million (7 million), plus mandrax, and dagga] at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo Airport today.

5. Town Called Malice by the Jam Twenty-five years ago this month the Jam broke up. From Yahoo! Music:

The Jam were the most popular band to emerge from the initial wave of
British punk rock in 1977; along with the Sex Pistols, the Clash, and
the Buzzcocks, the Jam had the most impact on pop music. While they
could barely get noticed in America, the trio became genuine superstars
in Britain, with an impressive string of Top Ten singles in the late
’70s and early ’80s. The Jam could never have a hit in America because
they were thoroughly and defiantly British. Under the direction of
guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Paul Weller, the trio spearheaded a
revival of mid-’60s mod groups, in the style of the Who and the Small
Faces.

photo by Twink – official photographer of The Jam uploaded by grewlik

Elliott Smith Tribute "Figure 8" Wall by Byron Bernstein

1. Boy From School by Hot Chip

Boys in School, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics:

• Boys are 30 percent more likely than girls to flunk or drop out of school;
• When
  it comes to grades and homework, girls outperform boys in elementary,
  secondary, high school, college, and even graduate school;
• Boys are four to five times more likely than girls to be diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD);
• Women outnumber men in higher education with 56 percent of bachelor’s degrees and 55 percent of graduate degrees going to women.

Hot Chip in Wikipedia: “Hot Chip are an English electro-pop band. They have released two studio albums: Coming On Strong and The Warning, the latter of which was named Album of the Year by Mixmag and voted the fourth best album of 2006 by NME Magazine.”

2. Hotel Song by Regina Spector

You know you’ve arrived when you’re featured in Get Fuzzy (October 4, 2007).

3. My Rights Versus Yours by the New Pornographers

This is the opening track from the new album from one of my favourite bands. From the official site: ” The New Pornographers are AC Newman and a group of ridiculously talented people uniquely equipped to realize his musical ambitions.”

4. Angel in the Snow by Elliot Smith

This track is from Elliot Smith’s posthumous two disc compilation album named New Moon. It is b-sides, demos and unfinished tracks from 1994-1997.

5. Escape is At Hand for the Travellin’ Man by the Tragically Hip

This one goes out to Mr. Flackadelic. We celebrated our 8th anniversary this week. Love you babe.

photo: Photograph of Elliott Smith Tribute “Figure 8″  by Byron Bernstein 8/4/2006.

rather than leave things to chance... by amysgster

After a hiatus, (I’ve been playing with tumbleona, my tumblr blog.), I’m back with another addition of the Flackadelic Friday Phive. I know you’ve missed me.

I’ve been looking around for a service that streams audio like YouTube streams video, thanks Goear.com .

First up are the Shins, a band that went mainstream after featuring in Garden State. Phantom Limb is from their latest album, Wincing the Night Away.

Reviewers are comparing Under the Blacklight, the latest album from Los Angeles-based Rilo Kiley to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors. I liked Rilo Kiley’s earlier stuff and think the new direction with this album is great.

I was driving this week and heard one my favourites – Luna’s California All the Way. While I adore the track, I didn’t know much about it. Courtesy of mp3hugger:

If that wasn’t enough his [New Zealander Dean Wareham] second project Luna went on to record a near masterpiece in 1994 called ‘Bewitched’. The album not only swaggered under the weight of its own adventures but also proved to be among the best drivetime companions ever. Top of the pops was ‘California (All The Way)’, a song that featured all the essential Luna elements. Guitars straddle the narrow line between pop and country and Wareham sings as if he is about to break out into conversation. His voice is unique, warmly following a steady course that ensures that the words are all the more distinctive.

Fans of Rilo Kiley will recognize signer Jenny Lewis’s solo project Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins. Here for your enjoyment is Handle With Care (the Traveling Wilburys 1998 hit). I’m a softie for a good cover. This one features Ben Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie), Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes) and M. Ward.

Finally, here is Finding You by the Go Betweens, an Australian indie band. This track is from their 2005 disc, Ocean’s Apart. Last May, singer and guitarist Grant McLennan passed away in his sleep.

photo: rather than leave things to chance… by amysgster

[note: this post was originally published with another photo illustration which is no longer available via flickr.]