Month: May 2010

Quarter Music – May 28

More news about Arcade Fire’s forthcoming album The Suburbs, musicians boycotting the state of Arizona and ex-Oasis members finally deciding on a new band name. Hear tunes by The Dandy Warhols, The Besnard Lakes, Crystal Castles, Rage Against The Machine and the second half of a ’90s playlist featuring Sloan, Beck, I Mother Earth, Goldfinger, Eels and Radiohead.

Listen to it and previous episodes at Quarter Music.

*Quarter Music is a weekly music show I host and produce featuring a round up of the week’s top music stories, concert reviews, specifically chosen songs and playlists. Listen live every Friday afternoon from 5-6 p.m. on Centennial College’s Internet Radio Station.

Midnight Conspiracy Dead Fame Tour Mix – Track Review

Written for AUX.

For the next thirty minutes, after the two it takes you to read this of course, all you have to do is listen. Whether your working, running, driving, blogging or putting your head back down on the pillow, your ears will not be disappointed with Mindnight Conspiracy’s latest mixtape that features Crystal Castles (front and centre), Dragonette, The Dandy Warhols, Radiohead and The Vanish among others. This mixtape has all the elements that Rob Fleming (or Gordon) would endorse: kicks off with a bang, keeps the tempo going, slows down here and there, but ultimately leaves the listener satisfied.

The Chicago band’s Dead Fame Tour is happening down south this month and next, however no Canadian dates have been scheduled. Perhaps we can get them to reconsider.

DEAD FAME 001 (Mix) by Midnight Conspiracy by Midnight Conspiracy

Track Listing:

Crystal Castles – Crimewave (Midnight Conspiracy Remix)
Kavinsky – Nightcall (MMMathias Remix)
Jump Jump Dance Dance – Show Me The Night (Grum Remix)
Miami Horror – Make You Mine (Codebreaker Remix)
Machine – There but for the grace of God go I (Le Principle remake)
Treasure Finger – What Am I Supposed To Do
Wolfgang Gartner – Undertaker
Dragonette – Pick Up The Phone (Van She Remix)
The Dandy Warhols – Bohemian Like You
Radiohead – Everything In Its Right Place (Gigamesh Remix)
The Vanish – Hold On (Gemini Club Remix)

Scorsese Directed George Harrison Doc Out Next Year

*Written for AUX

Martin Scorsese’s documentary about George Harrison entitled Living in the Material World: George Harrison, is expected to come out next year the director says. Working with Harrison’s widow, Olivia for the past three years the film will look at the former Beatles guitarist’s life before, during and after his time spent with the band.

After Harrison died of cancer in 2001, a doc about his life has been pitched several times by production companies including the BBC, but Olivia resisted for the sake that her late husband always wanted to make a documentary on his own. Eventually she turned to Nigel Sinclair who had produced the Bob Dylan documentary No Direction Home, directed by Scorsese, whom Harrison had known.

“This is a deeply personal journey for me, it’s been excruciating,” Olivia said. “I’ve been archiving for five years — 35 years, really. Throwing cassettes and letters in drawers, little things and pieces of paper that you find that say, ‘Goats on my roof.’ You think, What does that mean? But I feel really safe, I feel protected. Marty had a connection with George, and they spent time together. And he’s passionate about film and music as George was passionate about music and film.”

It is reported that Harrison left lots of unreleased material and rare footage, which will be implemented in the film. “Ultimately, we’re trying to have the development of his own music tell the story, if we can,” Scorsese said. “And the images that he shot, that (Olivia) shot, a lot of this is telling the story. There are some famous bits and some very interesting new material.” [Yahoo]

Quarter Music – May 14

News about a Kurt Cobain inspired exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum, Metric writing a theme song for the upcoming Twilight movie, the auctioning of a Beatles press conference tape from 1966 and Blur potentially recording some new material. Hear songs by Beach House, Stone Temple Pilots, Kele, The Shins, The National and Nirvana. Also hear a Canadian playlist featuring The Golden Dogs, Sloan, The Rural Alberta Advantage and Patrick Watson.

Listen to this episode and others at Quarter Music.

Kurt Cobain Themed Exhibit Opens at Seattle Art Museum

*Written for AUX.

With “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” the eyes of the world turned to Kurt Cobain, his band Nirvana and the city of Seattle. Cobain became the spokesperson for what folks called “grunge” music and now today, 16 years after his death, an exhibition at the Seattle Art Museum entiteld Kurt will open its doors. The exhibit will celebrate his influence and the effect he had on the creative lives and thought processes of artists, according to the museum’s website.

“International in scope, the works on view in Kurt range from straightforward portraiture to pieces that show a more subtle assimilation of Cobain’s ethos and idealism in a broad range of media,” said Michael Darling, The Jon & Mary Shirley Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art.

Pieces on display include a sculpture by Joe Mama-Nitzberg and Marc Swanson called “angel hair,” Gillian Wearing’s silent video featuring the artist dancing to Nirvana’s “Come as You Are” and Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” and a colour photograph by Alice Wheeler of a scruffy homeless man with blond hair overlooking the city in the distance. [TheFader]

Five of the Most Eclectic Dressers In Music

Written for AUX.

Recently we saw Sigur Ros’ Jonsi dawn some scattered rags during his performance as well as MGMT wearing capes. Standing on stage  in blue jeans or even having a personal stylist give the band a more rock ‘n’ roll look might not cut it these days. Enter the extravagant stage dress that provides a visual experience to correspond with the music. Over the years several different forms of fashion have come and gone during music gigs and now that trend seems to have emerged again. No doubt Lady Gaga has turned  heads with her strikingly bizarre costumes, yet lyrical her material fails to convince. Here are a list of performers who’ve used their costumes to not only wow the audience, but also transform themselves into a visual image of their music.

In 1972, David Bowie strapped on his red mullet and extravagant outfits to become Ziggy Stardust and toured the United States for the very first time. Androgynous, flamboyant, Bowie’s alter ego fit in perfectly with the glam rock trend that was happening around that time. The clothing he wore that would later be copied and expanded by other musicians was only part of the performance as Bowie’s on-stage antics became more and more eclectic such as simulating oral sex with Mick Ronson’s guitar.

One of the most notoriously diverse musicians who actually caught her first break with a band called The Sugarcubes, Bjork’s art has flourished through music, film and fashion. From wearing a pom pom wig on stage to a swan dress at the Oscars back in 2001, Bjork’s fearless and at times mind-blowing style has made her and what she wears iconic.

Having been around since the late ‘60s and released over sixty albums of their own avant-garde music, members of the band The Residents have tried terribly to conceal their identities. In concert they remain silent and wear eyeball helmets, top hats and tuxedos. Still touring and creating music today, the band put out two albums last year and a DVD called Is Anybody Out There, a collection of YouTube videos. And if you’ve seen any of these videos you won’t be surprised what a string of eyeball musicians have created.

GWAR are a thrash metal band formed at a University in Virginia who “claimed to consist of all-powerful interplanetary warriors, descended from aliens stranded in Antarctica and initially created from the lowest filth in the universe, who came to Earth to sexually enslave and/or slaughter the human race,” according to Allmusic. Members perform under aliases with names like Balsac the Jaws of Death and the Sexecutioner. The band dress in bizarre sci-fi/horror costumes and perform fake pagan rituals on stage. Check out an unmasked interview with GWAR on AUX TV’s HARD.

For someone who changes their name to a symbol or asks people to simply refer to them as “The Artist,” you know their soul is screaming to show itself through clothing, so it’s no wonder Prince has been seen in some very eclectic and usually revealing outerwear. Everything from bright coloured suits to guitars in the shape of his symbol, Prince has made a name for himself musically with chart topping albums, such as 1984’s Purple Rain, and stylistically with memorable stage shows and costumes.

Five of the Best Thrid Albums

*Written and published for AUX

Awhile back we posted about bands overcoming the ‘sophomore slump.’ In most cases their second albums proved they were professional musicians with more than a dozen or so good licks. The third album however is probably as tricky as the second and truly shows what they’re made of and what they have to offer. We’ve seen third albums flop, but those unmentionables are for another day. Today rather we highlight the best and what turned out to be most groundbreaking third album releases that ultimately put the band’s name on the lips and in the ears of everyone across the globe.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz! (2009)

For those only familiar with the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s through their song “Maps,” one of the greatest alternative rock love songs, all they saw in It’s Blitz! was a hand crushing an egg. That’s before taking a listen obviously. Following 2006’s LP Show Your Bones and the EP Is Is, released a year later, Yeah Yeah Yeahs catapulted themselves to the big screen, or big stage, with 10 songs and four acoustic takes. The sound on It’s Blitz! is nothing revolutionary and is unsurprising for fans of the band as the edgy rock/synth combo is still present. If anything singer Karen O’s shows off some vocal skill, especially on the acoustic takes, and the band as a whole reveal they are not limited to explicit in-your-face alternative rock like on their previous albums.

Radiohead – OK Computer (1997)

It’s difficult to think of third albums and have Radiohead’s OK Computer slip your mind. Numerous articles, chapters of books and people in general have devoted themselves to just less than 60 minutes of music created by four English lads from Oxford. The animated video for the album’s lead single “Paranoid Android,” directed by Magnus Carlsson, is a staple for the ‘90s and the song itself is memorable for everyone growing up during that time. We can talk about how many bands were influenced by this album till the next decade and that’s what makes this music so worthy of being dubbed one of the best alternative rock albums ever. It was the first step in the long musical journey Radiohead as a band would pursue in terms of sound. With its politically driven lyrics and collection of creative images, the album is responsible for part of the success the band has today.

Metric – Live It Out (2005)

“Bam-chick-a-bam, chick-a-boom-boom-boom, sha-lang-sha-lang-boom.” Technically the third although released as their second, their first album Grow Up and Blow Away was re-released in 2007, Metric’s Live It Out stands alone as one of the best Canadian indie rock albums of the last decade. After a long eerie intro and soft vocals from singer Emily Haines, “Empty,” the album’s opening song launches you into a heavy guitar/drums assault. The rest of the disc goes back and forth between chilled out and hard rocking snyth tracks that, although done by so many other bands around this time, remain both original and memorable.

Hole – Celebrity Skin (1998)

Call Courtney Love what you want, perhaps Courtney Michelle, but there was once a time when her band Hole was one of the best female fronted alternative rock bands on the planet and even received Grammy nominations. Could you imagine Courtney Love going up and collecting a Grammy Award? Musically this album marked a slight change for Hole as they adopted a more polished version of their previous raw grungy take on alternative rock. Love herself had a transformation around this time as she started to shape up her image and landed roles in the movies, The People vs. Larry Flint and 200 Cigarettes. Whether their latest, Nobody’s Daughter lives up to this album is undecided, although we’re pretty sure it won’t as we sadly watch the reformed Hole, or Courtney Love, getting up on stage trying to get back the musical prowess she once had.

Blink 182 – Enema of the State (1999)

With lyrics like, “I’d ditch my lecture to watch the girls play soccer, is my picture still hanging in her locker?” Blink 182’s Enema of the State solidified the new wave of pop punk and set a precursor for the legions of bands to follow. It was the first album with drummer Travis Barker and was Blink’s first popular album. For those who had known the band in their Cheshire Cat, Dude Ranch days, this album was nothing knew as they once again took on writing upbeat tunes based on love lost and jacking off in weird places. To accompany their witty, but most of the time immature themes, the band captured their thoughts through music videos by running naked through the streets or imitating current boy bands like the Backstreet Boys and what not.

Quarter Music – April 30

News of forthcoming albums from The Killers’ Brandon Flowers, Black Mountain and How to Destroy Angels consisting of Trent Reznor and his wife. Also hear news about an upcoming tour featuring  Alice in Chains, Deftones and Mastodon and who Courtney Love says will play her husband in the upcoming Kurt Cobain biopic. Hear a ’90s album playlist and other tracks by Black Lips, Land of Talk, Nine Inch Nails, Goldfinger and Pilate.

Listen to this week’s episode and others at Quarter Music.