The Junos 2008: Gangy Returns...

Here's the reason people complain about CanCon:




The Junos (for non-Canadians, these are essentially the Canadian Grammys) are tonight and Celine Dion is nominated nominated twice for album of the year.

If anyone has any explanation as to why the albums that are up for best alternative album (the Arcade Fire, Neon Bible; Holy Fuck, Holy Fuck LP; Patrick Watson, Close to Paradise; Tegan and Sara, The Con; Wintersleep, Welcome to the Night Sky) are not up for album of the year is beyond me.

Anyone wondering why record sales are down, maybe its partly because of illegal downloading, but its also because record labels push this kind of crap. Now, you may find this hard to believe, I haven't heard either of Celine's nominated records, but I have a hard time believing that .... I'm not even sure why I'm writing this. This is a waste of time.

Some CanCon that is worth listening to:

[mp3] Shad K - Brother (Watching) from the Old Prince [2007]
[mp3] Born Ruffians - Knife (Grizzly Bear Cover)
[mp3] Plants and Animals - Good Friend from Parc Avenue [2008]

PS - Liz has just made wonder if there is any possible way Holy Fuck can win given that you can't say their name on the broadcast, or the ensuring news reports that will follow?

Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow & Blue

Born Ruffians are another really good new(er) band out of TO. They have a new album Red, Yellow & Blue, which I think is pretty good, otherwise I wouldn't recommend it (see sidebar). There have been really positive comments on the albums from people who's opinions I trust here, here, and it got a good Pitchfork review, but that might just mean its a little weird. And it is a little weird, but also a great, fun, peppy album that's a good way to start your day. Especially when you don't feel like getting out of bed, and its better for you than a cup of coffee.

[mp3]Kurt Vonnegut
[mp3]Badonkadonkey (great title, huh)

From their Self-titled EP:
[mp3]This Sentence Will Ruin/Save Your Life

You can pick the album up from Zunior for $8.88.

You can check their myspace page for tour dates. They'll be in London (On) on April 12. 2008.

Monday Bullets: Hooray for New Music!

I'll be honest, I've been slightly disappointed with 2008 up until this point - I've mentioned these a few times, Hayden's In Field and Town, Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago and The Do's A Mouthful have all been excellent, but I haven't really thought much of anything else. That said, there are a few albums that have just been released, or are going to be released in the next month or two, which I may not be jumping up and down excited about, but I'm interested to listen to them at least.

The albums and some tracks from them, in order of interest:

Lykke Li (Stockholm, Sweden) Youth Novels [Mar. 4/2008]
[mp3]Let it Fall
[mp3] I'm Good I'm Gone

Born Ruffians (Toronto, On) Red, Yellow & Blue [Mar. 4/2008]
[mp3] Kurt Vonnegut

Plants and Animals (Montreal, QC) Parc Avenue [Feb. 26/2008]
[mp3]Feedback in the Field

Tokyo Police Club (Toronto, On) Elephant Shell [Apr. 22/2008]
[mp3] In A Cave

Gnarls Barkley (NYC and Atlanta) The Odd Couple [Apr. 4/2008]
[mp3] Run

Cadence Weapon (Edmonton, AB) After Party Babies [Mar. 4/2008]
[mp3] In Search Of The Youth Crew

The Roots (illadephia) Rising Down [Apr. 28/04]
No mp3, but a link to the video for '75 Bars' via Pitchfork. It's the second one down.

Wednesday Bullets.... I promise I'll stop... after this weekend....

• I just can't help myself. Hayden is three days away and I promised myself I wouldn't talk about it anymore, but I came across another couple of concerts in mp3 format that I thought were worth passing on. First one, courtesy of i(heart)music, of a live session at CBC Radio 3 in 2005. The second, is from B(oot)log, of Hayden's Nov. 2/2007 show at the Grad Club in Kingston. If you haven't seen Hayden - it gives you a good idea what his shows are like - probably more so that Live from Convocation Hall [2001].
  

• Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago was on a pile of year end lists and I finally heard something off the album, say, about a week ago. After doing some research (I probably should have just looked at his myspace), I found out that FEFA was released independently and is being re-released on Jagjaguwar (home of the Besnard Lakes, Sunset Rubdown, Okkervil River) on February 19th. I think I read that the album was recorded in a cabin in Northern Wisconsin, and if it wasn't, at least it sounds like it. I think it'll be the album that reminds me of being holed up in my apartment for the winter of 2008... as far as I know you can find 4 tracks through the Hype Machine: "Flume" "Skinny Love" "The Wolves (Act I and III)" "For Emma". All recommended if you dig that singer-songwriter ish.

• I wasn't sure whether I was going to mention this, but, what the hell. I saw Sweeney Todd last night. Not sure why, by all accounts I hate, HATE, Johnny Depp and I don't like musicals - with the exception of the Buffy musical episode, which I grew to love. With all that going against it, I actually kind of enjoyed it. The music wasn't great, but it didn't distract from what was, at the very least, a pretty entertaining if not extraordinarily morbid story about cannibalism.

• Lastly, after Feist at the beginning of December I was pretty concerned that my concert calendar looked pretty bare. In the last few days I've added a few favourites: the Most Serene Republic, Tokyo Police Club as well as a couple new acts that I'm interested in Jane Vain and the Dark Matter, Amos the Transparent, and Born Ruffians. So, looks like I'm going to have some stuff to do in the next couple of months. Hooray!
  

Update: As I was writing this the Raptors just beat the Celtics in Boston. I guess this is how good the Raps can be when Andrea Bargnani plays like a #1 draft pick (2o pts, 7 rebs, 6 asts).