In a follow up to Friday’s blog posting of new tunes, I’d like to provide a few links and a couple thoughts on some of my favourite bands. First of all, the line-up for Bonnaroo has been posted, and is outstanding once again. This past month saw amazing releases from The Dead Weather, The Black Keys and LCD Soundsystem among others (see Hold Steady, New Pornographers) which would make going to Bonnaroo for the first time – to me – heaven. Throw in Blitzen Trapper, She & Him and The xx and then sprinkle some hilarity on top with Conan O’Brien and Aziz Ansari and you’ve pretty much achieved perfection. Now, if you’re not convinced, check out the absolutely amazing (HD) performances featured at From The Basement, a favourite site of mine dedicated to the the performances of a talented group of musicians. If you’re still not sold, then watch this video. If that doesn’t work, nothing will.
Archive for the ‘Music’ Category
This Week in Music
Well, this week in music for me anyway. It’s been a pretty good spring, CD-release wise. Unfortunately, if you still buy authentic copies of albums like myself, it’s not so good on the pocketbook. Either way, here’s a couple favourites from this weeks purchases.
Tunage
It’s been awhile since I last posted, and I have a huge backlog of articles and opinions to catch up on. It’s Friday, however, and no one really has the mental capacity to listen to me anyway. Instead, I’ve decided to post a few tunes from the latest few albums I’ve picked up.
I hope you enjoy.
Match Made in Heaven
First of all, I love all things vintage. Vintage packaging, however, is my absolute achilles heel. I find it rather serendipitous that I stumbled onto a fantastic collection of vintage European matchbooks this morning a few months in advance of our journey to Europe this fall. My fiance and I are already small time collectors of matchbooks (among other things) and I find myself constantly amazed at the simple solutions artists and designers alike are able to fit on such a small amount of real estate. Truly graphic design in its purest form. If you like matchbooks, here’s a little video by Navigators I found sometime late last week which fits nicely into the “match” theme.
The Wooden Sky
I had the privilege of attending a show last night at the West End Cultural Centre for The Wooden Sky and headliners Rural Alberta Advantage. If you haven’t listened to The Wooden Sky before, you’re missing out. Great live, great vocals, great songs. Simply put, I like them and I enjoy their cover art.
New Albums, New Artwork
A couple albums currently spinning in our car stereo – Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, and the new Vampire Weekend. Both albums sport simplistic cover art. There is a lot to be said for honest photography, clean typography, and crisp cardboard packaging. Go out an pick them up if you haven’t already, they’re worth the listen. On that note, is there anything better than buying a new disc and pulling into traffic with Track 1 cranked to 11? I didn’t think so.
Ramona Falls - Crazy Video
This is purely awesome. Until yesterday I hadn’t heard of Ramona Falls or their video, but our photographer told us to look them up. I can’t imagine how many hours were spent in AfterEffects, but it was completely worth it.
Under Great White Northern Lights
I’m ecstatic to find out that the White Stripes live DVD, “Under Great White Northern Lights” finally has a release date! The film follows their tour through the Canadian provinces and territories on their 2007 tour (come on, you remember their surprise transit appearance in Winnipeg). As owner of their previous live release, “Under The Blackpool Lights”, I’ll be lining up to buy the bookend on March 16, 2010. Circle your calendar.
The Whigs
In completely random news, The Whigs are set to release a new album this coming spring and they have a couple new tracks available to download from their site. I thought I’d share the link (although I’m pretty sure if I share the tunes they’re going to come after me) mainly because I like the strategy they employed by suckering me into giving them my email address to send me the mp3’s. Shrewd move Whigs, shrewd move.
$21.50 Well Spent
Elliott Brood. If you haven’t seen them live, please do so. For just under 2 hours last night they put on a blistering performance at the new West End Cultural Centre. They scorched through much of their material from their two releases “Ambassador” and “Mountain Meadows” before sounding off on two Neil Young covers, “Dance, Dance, Dance” and “Powderfinger” for their first of two encores. Promising to “shake this new floor”, they showered the fully-engaged crowd with praise throughout the night and repeatedly stated their love for Winnipeg (and more specifically, the Times Changed). It was great testament to the energy you can create by pouring your heart and soul into the things that you love.
