it's bands like this

that make me so glad i work in the music business.

Mumford & Sons / Little Lion Man video


i just adore mumford & sons. please buy their album when it's released here - just so i can see this band live. i have a funny feeling they're capable of melting faces.

and band, if this pops up in your google alerts (and i know it very well might because i'm a publicist and i get google alerts for my artists all the time), please talk to that dude from toronto, cananda who keeps emailing you. his name is chad and he's totally rad.

sunday aka hunting the depths of the internet for music

i love movie soundtracks. for a long time, i wanted that job. movie soundtracks. i thought that a movie-soundtrack-job consisted of watching movies/hunting the depths of the Internet for new music, then placing the fruits of your labour over top of those movies you watched. sounded pretty rad to me, until i learned that a music supervisor's job really consists of negotiating contracts between labels, publishers and the studio - most of the time. not so rad. who knows though. i'd still like to see for myself. i think my description makes more sense.

(yes. i'm getting to my point.)

one of my favourite movie soundtracks (of life) is empire records - and not just because i have a long-standing crush circa 1995 on ethan embry and maybe even liv tyler, just a little bit - but because the soundtrack was, most literally, another character in the movie. amazing soundtracks always play that role.

another movie soundtrack i love is adventureland. same reason. a common thread from both those soundtracks is the band big star. long story short (because i just linked to the wiki): they're a band who got caught up in the record label machine. it's a sad story that is unfortunately repeated all to often. you know a couple of their songs. most notably, "the ballad of el goodo" (empire records soundtrack, though it's a cover) and "in the street" (that 70s show theme song.) they're a band that heavily influenced a number of other bands who heavily influenced blah, blah, blah... and so on. most exciting though (in my little musical world) is that both rem and the replacements cite big star as a major musical influence. so much so, the replacements actually recorded a tribute song, "alex chilton."

moving on, with the help of the adventureland soundtrack and hyperspace, i got my hands on their first two records: #1 record and radio city. buy them on emusic.

seriously. buy them (or it). it's timeless, classic, rock and roll songwriting. you can't help but fall in love. they're the kind of songs you wish that a greasy man (who looks like he might be homeless) would sing to you just to make you smile.

i love, love, love "i'm in love with a girl" from the adventureland soundtrack.

and speaking of greasy, incredibly adorable men, here's a cover of "thirteen" by sebastien grainger.

(sebastien grainger released one of the best records of 2008, as far as i'm concerned, and i'm sort of mad at myself for neglecting to post about it. in lieu of that, the cover. buy his record too though. it's quite fantastic. sebastien grainger & the mountains. i thought it was & les montagnes? maybe that's just in canada... haha)

giving up on love

yep. i'm going to do it again. i'm waiting for my laundry. that's the only reason why. i'm never, ever, ever this motivated.

so, i have a rad record to share with you. i found it one day when i was browsing emusic: the best online music retailer - IN THE WORLD. it's so convenient. no foolin'. emusic is sort of like online dating. you obtain an account because you like to date/like music and you'd like to find dates/music that you maybe wouldn't encounter otherwise. you might (will) make a few mistakes along the way, but you could come across a real winner. it's the idea that you might come across a real winner that keeps you coming back for more and makes the real duds tolerable.

so, without further non-related rambling, i'd like to share the best seat dancing routine of LIFE. no seriously. check it out. this might be one of the best videos ever made.



that video above is from slow club!

(i had to hard return and add punctuation because it wouldn't let me continue on with the next sentence un-hyperlinked. i'm not really that excited)

and, just as i linked to the myspace, i realized that they played the mother effing dakota on tuesday night. #fml. why do i always find out about shows after they happen? someone help me out here.

anyway. i'm a massive fan of the album. it took a few listens. at first i thought, "big whoop. another male/female duo. i'm over ra ra riot." but, slow club are different. they're british. and no, that's not wholy sarcastic. i mean that in the best way possible. i think that music coming out of the uk right now is a little less serious, a little more quirky and a whole lot more fun.

yeah so is one of those records that tricks you. it's one of albums that makes you think it's all happy - filled with unicorns and cotton candy and sparkly rainbows. but really, they're songs about breakups and other depressing things. i'm in a phase where i dig that sort of thing right now.

fav tracks:

"giving up on love" has a great retro sound, beatles meets the beach boys maybe. it makes me want to do the mashed potato in a polka-dot swimsuit. i'm afraid no one would care to see that though, i'm sure.

"when i go" - see below. you know it. you know you like it. too cute for words. the song and the commercial. who doesn't like dude on chick folk. the back and forth is super sweet and works, so well.



"our most brilliant friends" is a ten minute song. a bit long, if you ask me. really, it's a secret track, i think. i like the tin-ey production on this one. it's got a frantic build. the build is common throughout most of the album, to tell you the truth. i appreciate it. it helps to take you along for the ride.

well. that's it. go get it and i'll go get my laundry.

you know

when you hear a song and it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy and you think that if your heart could smile it would totally have a giant, goofy, toothy grin slapped across its... left ventricle?

WELL, almost every single song on DAWES debut album, North Hills, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and heart-smiley. signed to ATO in the US, the album hits stores states side on August 18. If you're a canadian, you can pick it up on iTunes NOW. DO IT.

in my opinion, dawes does new-folk better than fleet foxes. heavy claim, i know, but listen to my reasoning. i loved the fleet foxes album when it dropped. i listened to it, religiously, for a few weeks after acquiring it. i loved the aesthetic, the harmonies, the throwback. but, after a while, it was just TOO much. i had a new-folk hangover that i just couldn't shake. eventually, i just gave it up.

then came along dawes.

dawes have all the nostalgia you need for one sitting. it's folky, but delivers a healthy does of country-rock (heavily influenced by bands like the band) to balance it all out. the lyrics are solid, the hooks are traditional and the harmonies are beautiful. it's not perfect, but that's what makes it so endearing. and it's so easy to listen to. i can solidly say it's passed my tests. i'm a month in, or close to it, and i routinely go back for more.

check out "that western skyline," "give me time" and "peace in the valley" (my personal favourite.)

ALSO, i'm a huge fan of "love is all i am." the video is beautiful.

Dawes "Love is All I am" from THE FEAR on Vimeo.

i know it's been forever

but fuck off. i had swine flu. no joke. it basically put me out of commission, and by out of commission, i mean asleep with a fever between 100 and 103, for five days. i could have brain damage. who knows, really.

this isn't a real post anyway either, so i can fuck off for that one.

i've been a bit down lately and i found myself searching around for some new tunes to cheer me up a bit. anyway, i did find some sweet tunes so i'll rustle up the gumption and post about them soon. tonight i just want to feel bittersweet.

anyone who knows me knows that i'm obsessed with frightened rabbit. anyway, i was perusing a few blogs and happened across a frightened rabbit live video. not the one below, but the same song:



anyway (and i preface this with the following comment: "yes. i'm aware that i'm being lame and a teeny bit pathetic") but anyway, all of the sudden i remembered being in my ex boyfriend's car, just after christmas, when i went down to visit him for 10 days, on our way to a movie. we were running a bit late because he made this red thai curry for supper. he made fun of me because i didn't quite trust that the chicken was cooked all the way through. i totally didn't think it was cooked all the way through.

it was incredibly cold and his car always took a little to while to warm up. it was old.

we had to take the highway to get to the theatre on time. we listened to frightened rabbit the whole way there. i swear, i can remember that song playing in the car and looking over at him and just feeling so. incredibly. happy.

it's just bittersweet. it's a great memory, but it's marred by the fact that we don't talk anymore and probably never will. that week, i was happier than i'd ever been, almost certainly. i know i'll be that happy again someday. but, i do miss him. just a little. from time to time.

i guess this is sort of inappropriate for a blog about music. but, in a way, it all relates. a song, a good song, always has meaning. this song in particular has the ability to actually bring back the smell of the cold, cold air that night. that's a pretty powerful track, if you ask me.

TV ON THE RADIO

Were everything I expected and then some. Couldn't have asked for a better show. But, what the fuck is with all the Torontonians who wouldn't bust a move?? Seriously. Best show to dance at, ever! I'd write more but I'm tired and I have to work at a photo shoot allllllll day tomrrow.

A-Mazing

i declare a mutiny

many thanks to a coworker who just introduced me to one of the freshest artists i've seen in a long time.

William Elliot Whitmore


he's signed to anti - one of the best labels out there in my opinion. according to his bio, whitmore grew up on the banks of the mississippi (what a shock. it's not like he sounds like a 60 year old black man who's been singing/playing guitar since he was 12 or anything) and a according to iTunes he's released five full-length albums. with all that music underneath his belt, i'm shocked i've never heard of him before. i can tell you one thing though, i'll be picking up a ticket to his show if he ever makes his way to toronto.

my coworker gave me songs of the blackbird and i instantly downloaded animals in the dark. i'm in love. his songs are everything i look for in good music. solid story telling, melodic, rhythmic music and that thing that makes a good song a great one: in whitmore's case, it's his voice.

check out "dry" and "mutiny." if you're a country fan, you'll dig "johnny law."

i'd write more but i must get a head-start on some work for tomorrow. it's newsletter time at work...