set Sept. 28

I actually really dig this show; everything fit well, even the bands I wasn't familiar with. It's nice when that happens. It inadvertently became the Can/English show - well, except for Iggy, but close enough, right? (And yes, I know Belle & Sebastian are Scottish, but just go with me on this one.)

The second chunk of bands are playing the PA Festival this weekend, at the Avalon Front and Phog Lounge, both in downtown Windsor. The Pipettes are playing the Magic Stick on Wednesday, and I'm definitely excited. Also, I can't say enough good things about that Wintermitts album. It impresses me every time I put it on. As for the Brett Anderson album, I picked the most rocking track on the album. Yes, that's correct. It's not a bad album by any stretch, but it's really a good breakup/depression album, but not much else. Oh well, we'll always have Coming Up, won't we?

Go! Team – Doing It Right – Proof of Youth – Secret City
The Pipettes – Pull Shapes – We Are… - Memphis Industries
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The Locusts Have No King – Anna's Smoke – s/t
Ten Year Drought – Kill This Month – Memoranda
The Most Serene Republic – (Oh) God – Underwater Cinematographer – Arts & Crafts
Bend Sinister – Yours Truly – s/t – Distort Inc.
Doers – Hey There, Hoser – Gaiety – Reluctant
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the 6ixty 8ights – Dirty Business – Pica Electric Armada – Back House
Slave to the Square Wave – New York's a Go-Go – Big Change – Sparks Music
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Weapon of Choice – Baby 81 –
The Jesus and Mary Chain – I Hate Rock 'n' Roll – Hate Rock 'n' Roll – American
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Infighter – The Actor – s/t
Fields – You Brought This On Yourself – Everything Last Winter – Atlantic
The Book of Lists – Lost Weekend – s/t – Scratch Recordings
Clinic – The New Seeker – Visitations – Domino
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Brett Anderson – Intimacy – s/t – V2
Film School – Go Down Together – Hideout – Beggars Banquet
Wintermitts – Heartbeat – the Cascadia Fault
Au Revoir Simone – The Lucky One – The Bird of Music – Our Secret
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Belle and Sebastian – Is It Wicked Not to Care? – The Boy with the Arab Strap – Matador
Iggy Pop – China Girl – The Idiot – Virgin
David Bowie – Uncle Arthur – s/t – Deram
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The Charlatans – Can't Get Out of Bed – Up to Our Hips – Beggars Banquet

your music news

Found this clip while tooling around on Youtube, dealing with the Ramones' time with Phil Spector:



I think it gives an interesting perspective, given that the Spector case ended in a mistrial.

Also, it's been two weeks since 50 Cent said he'd retire if Kanye West outsold him - which has happened two weeks in a row - so now, I guess it's shut up time. Not that I'm a huge Kanye fan - his childish tyrades notwithstanding - but anything that even begins to promise the death of commercial "gangsta" rap can not come soon enough.

And as if he wasn't amazing enough, David Bowie recently donated $10,000 to the Jena Six defense team. 'nuff said.

The big surprise of last week wasn't the fact that Gerard Way, singer of My Chemical Romance has written a comic book called The Umbrella Academy, but that it turned out to be really entertaining. It's very tongue-in-cheek b-grade sci-fi stuff (think Hellboy or League of Extraordinary Gentlemen[the good comic, not the abominable movie]), and if this page doesn't sell you, nothing will. That's right, that's the Eiffel Tower he's punching out. In fact, only one thing would have made this book better: more monkeys.

set Sept. 21

Bettye Lavette – You Don't Know Me At All – The Scene of the Crime – Anti
Marion Black – Come On and Gettit – Eccentric Soul: the Prix Label – Numero Group
Promise – I'm Not Ready for Love – Home Schooled: The ABCs of Kid Soul – Numero Group
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Black Lips – Lock and Key – Good Bad Not Evil – Vice
Radio Moscow – Timebomb – s/t – Alive
Black Mountain – No Satisfaction – s/t – Jagjaguwar
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Shout Out Louds – Your Parents' Living Room – Our Ill Wills – Merge
Infighter – Lost Types – s/t
Film School – Lectric – Hideout – Beggars Banquet
His Name is Alive – Go to Hell Mountain – Xmmer – Silver Mountain
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HRSTA – Tomorrow Winter Comes – Ghosts Will Come and Kiss Our Eyes – Constellation
Mono – Gone – Gone: A Collection of Eps 2000-2007 –
Wintersleep – Weighty Ghost – Welcome to the Night Sky – Labwork Music
Wendy McNeil – Restless – The Wonder Show – Six Shooter
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We Are Wolves – Some Words – Total Magique – Dare to Care
Japandroids – Avant Sleepwalk – All Lies EP –
Numbers – Mind Hole – Now You Are This – Kill Rock Stars
Black Francis – Lolita – Blue Finger – Cooking Vinyl
Kevin Drew – TBTF – Spirit If… - Arts & Crafts
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The Doers – So It Is – CBC Radio 3 Breaking New Sound Presents – Radio 3
Mudhoney – Touch Me I'm Sick – Kurt Cobain: About a Son sdtk – Barsuk
The Creation – How Does It Feel to Feel –
The Yardbirds – For Your Love – Live at B.B. King Blues Club – Favored Nations
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Bend Sinister – Happiness is a Warm Gun – CBC Radio 3 Breaking New Sound Presents – Radio 3

Best. Movie. Ever.

Now, I know it's a bit of a cheat to simply put a link to someone else's blog as an entry (as though posting Youtube videos isn't?) especially when I don't post nearly enough as it is, but Chris Sims on his Invincible Super-Blog wrote a pretty awesome review of the greatest rock 'n' roll movie ever, Wild Zero. How incredible is this movie? It has Guitar Wolf, aliens, zombies, and a villan with the tightest shorts ever. Do yourself a favour and see this as soon as you humanly can, and realize how incomplete your life was without it.

Virgin Fest (more or less)

I suppose billing this as a review/commentary on the Virgin Festival as a whole is a bit mosleading, as through a combination of circumstance and intent I really only made it for three bands the first day. So as not to belabour things, a quick rundown of what I did catch:

Arctic Monkeys: If this is how they've been playing the whole time, it makes sense why they got as hot as they are. Straight-ahead, high-energy, good, fun rock.

Interpol: Is it them or is it me? Interpol has always been cleanly efficient in their performances, but now it just feels mechanical: enter stage, play note-perfect recreations of the songs as they sound on the albums, exit stage. But the crowd seemed to dig it, so take that for what you will. That having been said, hearing "Slow Hands" was pretty exciting.

Björk: You know those books listing various things a person should do before they die? Seeing Björk live should be in every one. With a set culled mainly from Post, Homogenic, and Volta, with the stars overhead and the open air, it was beyond words. Certain people have that ability to take a performance and make it something more, and that's exactly what she did.

In other news, a couple of native groups worth mentioning: Cities In Dust (okay, technically they're from Hamilton, but close enough, right?), who do the hyper, post-punk thing well enough to remind you why it was cool in the first place, and Slap [Unmodified], the project of one Thomas Sinclair, a nice bit of retro-inspired electronic work. To give you an idea of where he's coming from, the Slap Myspace page features a cover of Vangelis' end credits music from Blade Runner. Good work all around.

Sept. 7 (aka the Virgin/Toronto show)

Here's the set for tonight's show, pre-taped a few weeks ago (hence my not knowing about a couple of release dates, and thinking Any Winehouse was still able to perform in public). The theme, just to be redundant, is half- bands playing the Virgin Music Festival in Toronto this weekend, and half- bands from Toronto. Also, Morrissey tickets go on sale today, which should satisfy the painfully awkward 15-year-old in all of us. Or me, anyway.

Metric - Rock Me Now
Stars - The Ghost of Genova Heights
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Bjork - My Juvenile
Bjork - Bacholrette
Blonde Redhead - 23
Interpol - Mammoth
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Peter Bjorn and John - Let's Call It Off
Amy Winehouse - You Know I'm No Good
M.I.A. - Galang
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Editors - You Are Fading
The Cinematics - Maybe Someday
Arctic Monkeys - Teddy Picker
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Feist - I Feel It All
the Organ - Steven Smith
Boy - Same Old Song
Stirling - Slack Sabbaths
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The Constantines - Soon Enough
Megan Hamilton - Beautiful Girl
City and Colour - Comin' Home
Apostle of Hustle - My Sword Hand's Anger
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Slap [unmodified] - Effexor Redux
Cities in Dust - The Last Dance

I'll report on the Fest (or at least the little bit of it I'll actually see) and perhaps more next week.