Things learned from Busking for Change

Here are some things I learned from War Child's Busking for Change.

1. Luther from Crush Luther gives great hugs!


That's a great cardigan he's wearing. He and Matt (on the left) like to perform jump kicks and power stances during the most inappropriate times of a song. Their second album was released digitally yesterday on High 4 Records, and it's pay-what-you-can until October 13th. So go get it. Otherwise you can pick up a physical copy on October the 13th. Here's a busking preview of a track from the new album called "A Light". It'll make you go "awww". Kinda the way Luther's hugs would make you go "awww".



2. Daniel Victor's hair gets even MORE magnificent in strong winds.


Daniel Victor, mind behind the Neverending White Lights has magnificent hair. You've seen it before in the music videos. You know, The Grace, Angels and Saints, Age of Consent. The wind makes it even better. Doesn't matter how strong the winds are, it'll still look like a glamourous wind machine on that coiffe. The Neverending White Lights made a small crowd of us wait out in the cold rain in the morning outside of Much Music, and then they never showed up there. What's the deal, man?! But they did do the rest of their sets. I caught them at the corner of Queen and Bay, and the rain was gone but the wind was ridiculous! They did some unexpected covers, including Blister in the Sun by the Violent Femmes. That's not the epic brooding Neverending White Lights I know!




3. The dudes from Default are so chill.

So chill. I didn't know much about them before the set, other than my sister thinking they have the most awesome band name. But I did meet a very nice woman at the Neverending White Lights set who's a big fan, so I sort of ended up tagging along to the Default show too. They were very cool. No puns intended on the weather (har har har). She's probably reading this. You're awesome, Eden! It was a pleasure!


4. The Arkells are so charming!


By the time the Arkells played their last set of the day, it was freezing! And despite the wind chill, these two were great fun. They're fantastic live and have a knack for terrific banter. So charming and funny! Hell, I thought they were pulling a Flight of the Conchords on us. But instead, they pulled an OutKast.




5. Sharing is caring.

I got some birthday money this week, and a massive chunk of it went out to War Child yesterday. Just know that I got the warm and fuzzies from donating all that. Busking for Change was a fantastic event. Great concept, and great spirit from all of the performers and everyone that gathered round to be a part of it. I can't wait to do it all over again next year.

Visit WarChild.ca to find out more about their cause.

Busking for Change Toronto

Inspired by Raine Maida's busking for charity event in 2007, War Child Canada has put together Busking for Change. Many of our country's established musicians will take to the streets of Toronto to raise money for war-affected children around the world. If you're in town, take in some culture, and spare some change. Today's list of performers (as taken from Chart Attack's list) include:

Chantal Kreviazuk
IllScarlett
Sass Jordan
Neverending White Lights - The World Is Darker (mp3) (amazon) (iTunes)
Shiloh
Down With Webster
Kevin Hearn And Thin Buckle
Liam Titcomb
USS
Arkells - Heart of the City (mp3) (amazon) (iTunes)
Zack Werner
Brian Melo
Theo Tams
The Cliks
Hollerado
Stephen Stanley (The Lowest Of The Low)
Jadea Kelly & Arif (Protest The Hero)
Kevin Fox
Low Level Flight
Drew Wright (Fall & Divide)
JT (formerly of Staggered Crossing)
Richard Underhill
Crush Luther - City Girl (mp3) (amazon) (iTunes)
The Apollo Effect
Magneta Lane
Dodger
The Beauties
Toronto Children's Chorus
Daniel Roth (Cavaliers)
Sarah Blackwood (The Creepshow)
Frankie Whyte And The Dead Idols
Aberdeen
Toronto Chamber Choir
Walk Off The Earth
Permanent Bastards
The Johnstones
Andrew Cole
Joshua Cockerhill
Dean Lickyer
Brenna MacQuarrie
Volcanoless In Canada
The Mark Inside
Make Your Exit
Jay Sparrow
In English

See a full schedule at WarChild.ca

Chasing Kings

Hahaa, made you look.

"Once upon a summer we were desperate to be younger still..."

Just what is Chasing Kings going on about in the title track of The Current State of Our Futures EP?! Younger still? What do they know about wanting to be younger still? They not even-!

"Forget what they say! We're still young!"

Yeah, that's right! None of these kids have even reached the age of twenty yet. But they sound so mature and upstanding. When I read that statement about their age in the press release, I had to stare at it for a few minutes just to make sure I hadn't read it wrong.
[EDIT: Huh, it turns out I can be wrong! For the most part, they are over twenty! My whole journalistic world is crashing down on me!]
They recently released The Current State of Our Future, their first EP. And it's fantastic. It's six tracks about relationships with people, with strangers and with towns. Pianos in the foreground and wonderful harmonies in the background.

Track List:

Empathy
The Current State of Our Future (mp3) (iTunes)
An Empty Handshake
This Town
Dark Sunglasses (mp3) (iTunes)
All My Life

I am particularly fond of Dark Sunglasses. It's a song about being playfully bad ass, hence he's got a his "dark sunglasses and a box of cigarettes". But the tune is so fun and innocent, I'm not even convinced he's gonna smoke 'em. Playfully bad ass. Like when they gave a copy of the CD to a cop that pulled them over.


Playful. But in hindsight, bad ass.

With all this talent at such a young age, I'd say the current state of their futures is looking pretty damn good.

Birdmonster and good intentions

A lot of times, things get lost in my inbox because of the amount that gets submitted and it's definitely not aided by my own horrendous organizational skills. So when I started to go through some earlier emails, I was very upset that I missed the email containing an advance copy of Birdmonster's new EP. There's something incredibly satisfying and pretentious about hearing music before everyone else is allowed to. It was already released by the time I read the email and I missed the chance this time, but I enjoyed the EP anyway.


After releasing their second full-length album last year, Birdmonster sifted through the casualties, the sketches, the b-sides and the ideas. The collected a group of eight songs and comprised them on this Blood Memory EP. A tad darker than their previous releases, Blood Memory opens with the brightest track on the EP, I Might Have Guessed (the mean version, no less) and still one of the first lyrics we hear are "I might be blessed you're breaking my heart".

Birdmonster - I Might Have Guessed (mean version) (mp3) (iTunes)

It's an EP of ballads and sure to induce some lighter and cell phone waving at the shows. It's incredibly human, and each time I listen in on the simple but dramatic lyrics it makes me think that these guys have got the world all figured out. Call it lazy journalism if you must, but I don't think I can describe it any better than they did. So in Birdmonster's words:

"We found a world desperate for gunfights, confrontations with The Man On High, journeys through ice by way of the desert; a world where the ancient songs flow off your tongue sure as instinct, like memories your ancestors left flowing in your blood. If its predecessor was a stab at something concise and singular, this was a world of extremities; one where loud guitars eventually give way to desperate banjos, settling to a bed of acoustics and messy piano lines. I was left wondering, Could I have intended this all from the start?"

In any case, they must have started out with some pretty good intentions in the first place.

Higher Education

I thoroughly enjoyed Princeton's older material. The simplicity of their 2006 debut A Case of the Emperor's Clothes piqued my attention in the group with its strong melodies and concise but stripped down acoustic guitar pop. I don't know how I wasn't aware of their 2008 Bloomsbury EP, a concept album about an imaginative group of British intellectuals, no doubt inspired by the group's stay in London, UK.

On Sept. 29, 2009, they will release Cocoon of Love, which of course, is an advancement of these last two records, with both subtle songwriting and philosophical lyrical content about how those people, places and things you encounter immense themselves into your memory.

Sounds deep, but I hope the structure of their early, perhaps more naive, older songs still shine through.

Princeton - They Sing in Her Head (mp3) (buy)

Princeton - Calyso Gold (mp3) (buy)

Princeton - Ms. Bentwich (mp3) (buy)

MIKA!

Mika Mika Mika Mika Mika Mika Mika Mika Mika Mika Mika Mika. Even his name is fun to say! How many times will I say "Mika" during this post? LOTS. Michael Holbrook Penniman! Even his birth name is fun to say! But just how much Mika is too much Mika? That's what I asked myself when I first saw the video for his latest single, We Are Golden. Island Records doesn't want me to embed the video here, but in short it consists of Mika dancing in his colour-saturated bedroom in naught but his underwear. Was that too much Mika for me? At first, I thought so. But then I watched the video about ten times over and I now love every second of it. Even the LED laser crotch piece. Especially the LED laser crotch piece.

The new album The Boy Who Knew Too Much, is a welcome reminder of everything that we know and love about Mika from his first album. Although there is less of an overall hyper-sugar-high vibe this time 'round, the album as a whole feels more cohesive. Instead of running off on tangents about big girls or gay love affairs, the tracks revolve around the central theme of adolescence. Adolescence the way you want to remember it, with good times and bad times that made for fantastic and colourful stories to tell.

The third track, Rain, has got to be my immediate favourite. I remember listening to the tiny preview that Mika gave off his Mika Sounds Blog video:



If he didn't tell me, I would have never known that it was a violin in the background. It's truly an amazing sound. So quick and light and enchanting. Like alien raindrops, just as he said.

Mika - Rain (mp3) (amazon) (iTunes)
[Mp3 removed upon request]

The Boy Who Knew Too Much is an amazing sophomore effort. It showcases just how talented Mika is, both as a vocalist and as a writer beyond his Grace Kelly fame. Get the Deluxe Version with seventeen live tracks recorded at Sadler's Wells and you'll get a taste of how talented he is as a performer too.

So just how much Mika is too much Mika?

TRICK QUESTION. YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MUCH MIKA.

The Strokes Musical Family Tree

Right, so I think we were all pretty excited when Julian Casablancas announced that he was working on a solo project. But I also think we were all expecting it to sound less like a late 80s dance hit. The new single from his album Phrazes for the Young definitely confused me, what with all the synthesizers and all. Who knew that his signature voice would go well with that style? At the moment I'm still confused, but the track is growing on my every time I listen to it. Not that sounding like an 80s dance hit is a bad thing, it's just I was expecting something, you know, a little closer to the Strokes.

Julian Casablancas - 11th Dimension (mp3) (amazon) (iTunes)

On that note, I'd like to take a brief moment to look back on the Strokes Musical Family Tree.


Starting with the base, five-piece New York City garage rock darlings, the Strokes. I have a theory that when they first formed, they made it a rule that you had to have a completely awesome name in order to join the band. Hence vocalist Julian Casablancas, guitarists Albert Hammond Jr. and Nick Valensi, bassist Nikolai Fraiture and drummer Fabrizio Moretti. If you're an indie kid and enjoy music in any way shape or form, it's impossible not to like the Strokes. They're the epitome of the their genre. If you visit the mySpace page of a young band that's just started out, the Strokes are probably one of the top ten they've listed in their influences list.

The Strokes - Reptilia (mp3) (amazon) (iTunes)

Moving onto this family tree's branches. Four out of five of the Strokes have embarked on their own solo projects. Albert Hammond Jr. thought his name was awesome enough as it was and kept it for his project. When someone mentions the Strokes, the first things that usually come to mind are Julian Casablancas' raspy vocals and Albert Hammond Jr.'s catchy guitar riffs. Listening to either of his solo albums, you'll definitely hear the connections. I also hear he's coming out with a line of men's suits? Spiffy.


Albert Hammond Jr. - In Transit (mp3) (amazon) (iTunes)

Fabrizio Moretti joined up with some friends and had Little Joy. They have a happy and care free kind of sound. If I ever decided to go on vacation at some tropical beach paradise where the sun's always shining, the water's always clear and the hotel serves drinks in coconut shells with tiny umbrellas, the Little Joy album would most definitely be the soundtrack for the photo slide show I make for my friends and family when I get back.


Little Joy - The Next Time Around (mp3) (amazon) (iTunes)

And Nikolai Fraiture asked himself, "how can I make my name more awesome than it already is". He came up with the witty "Nickel Eye". Of all the Strokes solo releases, this one has got more of that blue-sy feel and a much darker tone.


Nickel Eye - Back From Exile (mp3) (amazon) (iTunes)

Now we're just waiting on you, Nick Valensi. Make us proud, son.

Never Cry Another Tear

Bad Lieutenant is composed of New Order's Bernard Sumner and Phil Cunningham and Jake Evans of Rambo and Leroy. Never Cry Another Tear is the debut and it is out Oct. 12, 2009. They're not be confused by the Nicolas Cage movie of the same name to be released later this year.

But the first track "Sink or Swim" is like a Nicolas Cage movie. It's like I've seen (heard) this before!

Bad Lieutenant - Sink or Swim (mp3) (buy)

Civil Works Project

So it's true! Pavement is coming back together, with a lineup of members Mark Ibold, Scott “Spiral Stairs” Kannberg, Stephen Malkmus, Bob Nastanovich and Steve West. They'll be playing shoes "coming to a town near you (if you live near a big town)" according to an Matador Records. So does that mean Toronto?

Their last show was in 1999 at the Brixton Academy in London and their first announced show is In New York at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park next Sept. 21, 2010.

Pavement - Unfair (mp3) (buy)

Pavement - Cut Your Hair (mp3) (buy)

Paper Cranes

The Paper Cranes, a husband and wife indie-pop duo from Victoria, BC has expanded into a roster of more than two. That's just as well, their last outing of infectious pop with super cute lyrics will require more energy and the more the merrier. As well as hanging more musicians onstage, this will is something that will find a bigger audience with the indie kids who dance in public, like bright colours and are drawn to shiny things.

So after years of supporting other acts and becoming the darlings to watch out for within the indie writers circle (ie. Pitchfork, Chartattack and CBC), they've returned with a shiny pop-rock album, Chivalry's Dead.

Paper Cranes - Solid Clouds (mp3) (buy)

Paper Cranes - Chivalry's Dead (mp3) (buy)

The World Can Be Saved By Music

I love this album cover. It's the latest album, Good Advice, Bad Advice from cello and acoustic guitar duo Ed Gorski and Ken Oak also known as Oak & Gorski. It's got an organic string sound, but just the right amount of contemporary pop to make it accessible to the mainstream.

Oak & Gorski - Pretty Far Gone (mp3) (buy)

Oh no Oh yes

People don't realize that when they try to introduce you to someone or something, they need to make a good impression. The first track you hear from a band will no doubt influence what you think about them regardless of the rest of their catalogue. It's going to take a long time before you warm up to them before you jump on the bandwagon again, so to speak.

The person who introduced me to the Kaiser Cartel did so with the track "oh no". Oh no, that's right. It's kinda boring.

But luckily, that person also told me that they sounded a little like Moldy Peaches, the New Pornographers and the Carpenters. But how? I decided to the check out another song. "Season Song" is much better and much better representation of the other songs in their catalogue.

Kaiser Cartel - Season Song (mp3) (buy)

Kaiser Cartel - Oh No (mp3) (buy)

Swell Season of Autumn

If you saw the movie Once, you probably swooned over the story that plays out with the help of a little bit of music. The real life band consisting of the actors Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova are back after Grammy nominations and Oscar for Best Original song a few years back. Swell Season's new album is entitled Strict Joy, after a poem by the late Irish writer James Stephens. It is out Oct. 27, 2009.

Swell Season - Low Rising (mp3) (buy)

Fresh Air

AIR (a French acronym for Amour, Imagination, Rêves, which translates to Love, Imagination, Dream) is releasing Love 2 on October 6,th 2009. This being AIR, means lots of dreamy, ambient, Euro-synth pop. The band handled all the instrumental and production duties themselves at their own Parisian Atlas Studios with Joey Waronker on drums, who has previously played with them on their 2008 tour.

AIR - Mer Du Japon (mp3) (buy)

Better than Oasis?

It was inevitable. Sibling rivalry has disbanded Oasis. I mean, probably. Maybe. Noel Gallagher has quit a couple of times before, but this time, I actually believe him. In an official release on the official website for the group this week, he wrote:

"It's with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight. People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer.

"Apologies to all the people who bought tickets for the shows in Paris, Konstanz and Milan."

Oasis - Don't Go Away (link removed by request) (buy)

Oasis - The Shock of Lightning (link removed by request) (buy)