Mermaid....

I've been waiting for Yonge and Dundas Square's website to list free summer concerts but they haven't been very good at advertising. There are all sorts of speculations about different performances, but the only official listing that has been announced so far that I'm really looking forward to attending is Peter Elkas on Wednesday Sept. 23, 2008 at 12:30pm.

See his video for "Sweet Nancy" here:

Aww... Love the video, love the song. Peter Elkas, I hope that mermaid comes back for you!

Peter Elkas - Sweet Nancy (mp3)
Peter Elkas - Wall of Fire (mp3)

But to quote the Flight of the Conchords, "Mermaid... are you the answer to a drunken sailor's lonely wish?"

Flight of the Conchords - Mermaid:

Pork and Beans

Weezer is back folks! And Rivers Cuomo is rocking a pornstache! Unfortunately it is true.

Their new CD, "The Red Album", will be released June 3rd and the cover reminds me of a try-out for an updated version of The Village People.

Regardless of their incongruent attire, the band's first single is called "Pork and Beans". I like it. It's a catchy song with a cute video of YouTube celebrities. Check it out, you'll likely recognize some of them from your favorite videos!

These Electric Lives: Remixed

These Electric Lives have compiled a remix album, "TEL Remixed", of the tracks on their debut EP released last year. And they want to invite you... yes, YOU, to their remix album release party!

These Electric Lives Remix Album Release Party w/ DJ Jr-Flo, Seedy Ease, vitaminsforyou (DJ set)

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Drake Underground

1150 Queen St West

Doors at 8pm, $8 Cover

And here's just one of the tracks to be given the remixing treatment:

These Electric Lives - Hit the Ground Running (mp3)

Hip to be Square

Sonic Youth has created some controversy by deciding to release a somewhat-best-of album exclusively at Starbucks on June 9th called Hits are for Squares. Each of the 15 tracks on the album has been handpicked by musicians, actors and literary friends of the band, save for the one new track "Slow Revolution". So far, it's only being released in major cities in the States, but you can also buy it from Starbuck's website at hearmusic.com. Some fans are showing some disapprovement in the blogosphere above the corporate sponsorship of this album, and while I don't like having only one option to get my hands on it, I'm too excited about the tracks selected here.

Okay, so "Kool Thing" (chosen by Mike D) and "100%" (chosen by Radiohead) are not surprising choices, but I love that more obscure tracks, particularly "Stones" (chosen by Allison Anders) made it onto here. I think if I got to choose a song by Sonic Youth, I would have included "Stones" as well. If you listen to it at around the 4:15 mark, you'll know why it deserves to be on here!

Sonic Youth - Stones (mp3)

Two Hours and still late!

On Saturday, we went to Lee's Palace to see Two Hours Traffic and while people have recommended the two openers, Mardeen and We Are the Take, we were still late. A friend forgot her ID at home.

Anyways, we missed Mardeen but we managed to see We are the Take. It was a pretty good set and while I thought that the basswork and vocals had qualities reminiscent of say, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (well, some would say that everything's BRMC to me), now listening to their songs again, I would say that I was totally out of it that night. It's SO different than BRMC.

Two Hours Traffic's set was awesome of course. They played a tight set consisting of some new songs and old favourites. Which is to say favourites, since these songs couldn't possibly be older than 5 or 6 years old. We all had a head-bobbingly good time, leading to a guy in the audience shouting out random stuff leading to a crowd chant of "one more song!".

The band asked Mardeen and We are the Take to come out and perform Mardeen's "Telephone" and I wished I had made it to the show earlier. That one hook laden song was so much fun! But it also turns out that a couple of guys who were standing around the mechandise table earlier when we were buying stuff from the bands we saw earlier were actually in Mardeen! Oops. Awkward! But in my defence, I didn't know they were in Mardeen or the fact that there songs were so great before since I wasn't there! I'll have to check them out when they're playing again next time, that one song promises so much awesomeness. Note to self: next time, ask people behind merchandise table more questions!

Mardeen - Telephone (mp3)
We are the Take - Montreal Love Song (mp3)
Two Hours Traffic - I Feel Naked Without My Cellphone (mp3)

Sweet Thing

So recently, as in within the last month, I've been noticing that something pretty sweet has been getting a good amount of press coverage from local Toronto newspapers and magazines. So I go to look them up on Elbo.ws and Hype Machine, but I don't find much. Luckily, the boys are pretty generous on their mySpace page.

This is Sweet Thing:


More Toronto indie! More, I say!

Perhaps the thing I like most about some of their songs below are the vocal overlaps. I can't describe them better than their self-biography on their mySpace page, so I'll just post it here:

"Seriously. With a name like that, they’ll never be cool. But while you were adjusting your berets, Sweet Thing were in the other room partying with people who have no problem singing ’da da da’ at the top of their lungs for an hour. If Miles Davis were the birth of cool, Sweet Thing would be the pneumonia that killed him. Meet Sweet Thing, a five-piece Toronto band that play infectious pop tunes. Sometimes they get pretty rocking, in that dramatic way that feels best when you clench your fist and raise it to the sky. Charged with dueling guitars, Beach Boys harmonies, and energy up the wazoo, Sweet Thing are the musical equivalent of drinking a milkshake at a 50s diner where the waiter keeps jumping on the table (and you like it). Let’s call it ’music to dance like a dork to’. Question: do you like your hands? If yes, then you better get your mammy to knit you some mitts you baby, because lead singer Owen Carrier will make you clap, hard. In fact, you’ll do pretty much whatever he wants you to do when you get a load of that showmanship. Some say he sounds like Freddie Mercury, but Owen is so homophobic that he denies it. He’s a real asshole. Owen formed the band three years ago with high school buddy Alex Last. Alex was born with no skin on his face but fortunately, he has a nice beard. He also plays guitar, and likes Michael Jackson. Alex is the sexy mysterious one, for some reason. Maybe it’s because of his unique surf-meets-punk guitar playing. Or the skinless face. That’s for you to figure out. Then there’s the yin to Alex’s skinless yang, Nick Rose. You’ve probably seen him in that commercial for that thing. Yeah, that’s him. He’s really into alt-country and Paul Simon. He plays guitar like an angel, and sings like an angel. He might be an angel. Weighing in at 153 pounds, he’s the fattest member of Sweet Thing. That leaves us with the babes in the back. Tyler Kyte hits things, while Morgan Waters fingers things. Whoa horsey! We’re talking the bass. And when Morgan lays down a groove and starts jumping around like a damn fool, you can’t help but do the same. Tyler, on the other hand, plays the drums like he sexes the ladies - hard and fast. His brother has down syndrome, and when Tyler starts bashing away, you can barely tell them apart. So far, they’ve released a self-titled EP in 2006. People came to their shows and said ’yes, we like this’. EMI had no choice but to sign them. Now you have no choice but to listen to them, to worship them. They are currently working on their first full length album, and once that’s a success, they’ll get asymmetrical haircuts and Japanese girlfriends and change their name to something more cool and ironically cheeky, like ’Hitlerburger’. But in the meantime, they’ll be up there ’da da da-ing’ and making you dance like a dork."

Sweet Thing - Kite Flight (mp3)
Sweet Thing - Change of Seasons (mp3)
Sweet Thing - Down to the Ground (mp3)

Perfect Match

I discovered the Carbon Dating Service at a RazzleDazzled friends' place last week and it encapsulated the weekend in pre-recorded audio form. My friend's friends live in an apartment underneath a university dormitory, and it looks out into green field. The view is pretty spectacular as it looks like a rural backyard with landscape going on for miles, but is actually connected (some would say) to a major city in Ontario.

Songs from the Carbon Dating Service were played in the background as we all set up for dinner the first night. The quiet folky pop with various traditional instruments and indie rock leanings were the perfect soundtrack for the night and following day.

The layers of sound from this 10 person emsemble including trombones, fluegelhorns, harps, violas, synethesizes, thumb piano, banjos and whirligigs (yeah, I don't know what it is either) seems like a confusing and contractory idea, but it works so well. The end product is a sound that reminds me of that weekend where it felt like we were in the country, on holiday and at school at the very same time.

Carbon Dating Service - Sea Moose (mp3)

Carbon Dating Service - Clap Your Awkward Hands (mp3)

Show a Little Love

UK's The Duke Spirit was on Conan O'Brien last night. You can view it here:


And you can also see them live this spring if you live here:But I would like to see them here:
Toronto was supposed to be on the tour itinerary for the Duke Spirit around the time of the major snowstorm in March, but plans were changed to accommodate a tour with, none other than the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. It's an awesome bill, but it would be awesome-r if they came around here.

Duke Spirit - Send a little love token (mp3)
Duke Spirit - Neptune's call (mp3)

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Not what you wanted (mp3)