... My fellow Americans.

If you haven't seen it yet, Hilary Clinton and Sarah Palin address the Nation. Very, very, funny, which is surprising since it was on SNL.

• Lil Wayne is the Guitar Hero

• Charles Barkley's greatest hits

• Some band, The Airborne Toxic Event, writes an open letter to Pitchfork for giving them a bad review... and, the letter, is quite well written.

• I've heard a few songs from Winter Gloves (very appropriate for a Canadian band, no?), and am excited to get a chance to listen to the full album when they send it along... seems like a fun band to see live, and I'm crossing my fingers and hoping to see them later this fall.
  

Sunday Bullets: Sheeeeeeet

• Today, or rather Friday, but I guess its still sad today... anyways, the writer David Foster Wallace passed away. If you are not familiar with DFW and you own a dictionary (he's wordy, but super hilarious), I would highly recommend picking up something by him. This is the part of the post where I vow that I will, in fact, get through the Infinite Jest, his 1,079 page masterpiece... eventually. Oh, and I suppose this - Presidential Election Season - would also be a good time to mention he wrote a really terrific essay on Rep. Presidential Nominee John McCain in his book Consider the Lobster.

• Last week, Basketbawful had an interesting post on 'The Dunning-Kruger Effect' which is: "The phenomenon wherein people who have little knowledge or skill tend to think they know more or have more skill than they do, while simultaneously overlooking or underestimating the knowledge and skills of others."

• Mark's prediction for Saturday's SNL sketch. Hilarious.

• Kyle's round up (in thumbs up, thumbs down fashion) of the US Open. And, for the record I still think, including Fed's win over Andreev, that Pete still trumps Fed as the greatest of all time. While RF did prove that he "isn't finished" and that he still really wants to win Slams (I loved seeing him get a little fired up), we still haven't seen him beat a top player at the top of their game -- Andreev doesn't count. Djokovic, who was clearly shaken by the NY crowd after his post-match stupidity vs. Roddick doesn't count, and neither does Andy 'I'm just happy to be in a slam final' Murray.

• Apparently, my sources tell me, that the new TV on the Radio album has leaked. Suffice to say its no Return to Cookie Mountain (my #1 of 2006), and it might be as big a disaster as (for the record I was going to say Ike, but then thought better of it) My Morning Jackets 'Evil Urges'...
  

Soft Airplane by Chad VanGaalen

I've expressed my hetero-sexual man love for Chad VanGaalen before, and so I should warn you if you're at all uncomfortable with that kind vociferous gushing, well, you should probably skip this post and move on.

So - the new album - Soft Airplane, I think, builds really nicely on his previous efforts Infiniheart (one of my most listened to albums in the last 5 years or so) and Skelliconnection (which, had its moments, but was largely average) to produce his best album, which is really saying something. Thematically, the album isn't alot different - death, destruction, death, dying, the aging process unto death - but musically, the album finds a nice median between the experimentation and more classic singer-songwriter stuff.

If you don't believe me, Ack of Herohill is thinking roughly the same thing about the album, although more articulately, saying its 'probably the best he's heard all year'. Allan likes it too. And, I suspect those won't be the last of the positive reviews for this album that has got to be a favourite for the next, next Polaris Prize.

[mp3] Chad VanGaalen - Willow Tree

"Molten Light" written and illustrated by Chad VanGaalen

Ra Ra Roger/Ra Ra Remixes/Ra Ra Riot

• So, it was nice to see R-Fed come away the last Grand Slam of the year tonight even if the match, which was on Rogers Channel 166 on my box, took me 45 mins to find and wasn't particularly exciting. That said, the tournament on the whole was probably one of the more entertaining tournaments (Williams-Williams- even if they do fix their matches; Federer-Andreev; Andy Roddick playing unbelievable in week one and then falling apart; Djokovic getting booed by the NYC Crowd; Murray joining the top teir of Men's tennis; etc.). Of course, the best part of all this is the way it sets up for next year: Can Fed tie Sampras and/or regain #1? Can Nadal win a hard court major, or even make a final? Can any of the next generation (Sam Querry, Gulbis, Cilic, Tsonga, Monfils, etc.) establish themselves as a contender on a consistent basis? Also, great to see NYC following the rest of the majors setting an attendance record for the Open... so, even if tennis isn't getting the mainstream media coverage it got in the 80s, its indicative that tennis is still a growing sport.
  

• Ummmm, I was up early on Saturday morning and was watching Much Music - mostly I just get kind of curious what the kids are listening to - and, well, I came across Katy Perry's 'Kissed A Girl' which left me... speechless. I mean, anyone who remembers Tatu probably remembers them for their... unambigious lesbianosity. But, this is kind of, different than that, somehow. I think its probably the way she brings in the lesbianity so casually, which, while not being the epi-centre of the decay of society; it is kind of troubling that tweens are going to be running around singing the chorus to tween-aged boys. Troubling in that this is a serious and difficult subject for a lot of people, and I think it kind of trivializes the struggle that a lot of young girls/boys/?s have coming to terms with their own sexual identity. But I guess this is no more troubling than it was when kids of my generation were singing Nirvana's 'Rape Me'... and I guess we turned out alright... right? Mom? Dad? Grandma?
  

[mp3] Katy Perry - I Kissed A Girl (Hot Pink Delorean Remix) (but the song content aside, and the remix, is pretty catchy.)

• Ra Ra Riot, who I wrote about a while ago, has a full length album out now called The Rhumb Line. Re-reading the old post I was pretty stoked for this album to come out, and it has met and exceeded what were very high expectations. I'm not sure I have anything particularly insightful to say about it (the album), or their sound more generally, but I'd urge you to check it out if you haven't already. My favourite song + a pretty awesome remix of a Tokyo Police Club's 'Juno'.

[mp3] Tokyo Police Club - Juno (Ra Ra Riot/Andrew Maury remix)
[mp3] Ra Ra Riot - Suspended in Gaffa

Waiting for the Sunrise by David Vandervelde

The last time David Vandervelde released an album (the beginning of 2007) I was very excited about it, wrote a very positive review, and then probably didn't do it justice on my Best of '07 list. However, it serves him right, I mean, who releases an album in January... really...

His new album, Waiting for the Sunrise, released August 5 is: 1/now right in my wheelhouse, so I won't forget it come December; and 2/a similar sound to his first Moonstation House Band, but seems to draw more on the 'golden age' AM radio feel to generate a little softer sound than his previous album. The result, I think, is a smoother album from start to finish, and is a nice sort of denouement to summer. I described his last album as being like 'Almost Famous II', but a little sadder. So, if his first album was Almost Famous II, this is the album that should be rolling during the credits.

Maybe Vandervelde is getting more attention than I know about; I think he should be a really popular artist for the 25 - 45 crowd, but for some reason he's a guy that not a lot of people are talking about - I don't think. Highly recommended album, should be a top-10 pick this year.

[mp3] David Vandervelde - I Will Be Fine

I'm back, Baby!

I'm back, I've moved, etc...

I'm hoping to get to see a few more shows, which, I suspect will be much easier considering Toronto is, well, not half dead; also, I'm not working 60 hours a week. So, if you live in London (Ontario) and were following the site for London show listings you probably stopped a while ago, but, I'll start posting some Toronto shows I'm thinking about seeing. Starting with:

Shad @ the Mod Club September 17

Plants and Animals @ the Horseshoe September 18

Two Hours Traffic @ Lee's Palace September 26

Land of Talk @ Lee's Palace September 27

Common/NERD @ Kool Haus September 28

Chad VanGaalen, Women @ the Mod Club October 4

Lykke Li @ Mod Club October 24

Hayden @ Massey Hall November 1

The Acorn/Ohbijou @ Lee's Palace November 27

The odds of me getting to all these shows, of course, is somewhere between slim and none, but we can all dream can't we...

Also, you can expect me to pick up the posting pace a little bit now that the weather is getting shittier, and I'm back at school meaning back near the ole femputer...

Things and Stuff

Umm... you probably didn't notice, but I haven't been around. Although, that said, if you're here... you probably did.

So, anyways, I'm moving - will be in Toronto shortly, and will resume posting in September once school (hooray!) starts.

A couple of notes:

• My buddy Brain recommended Elliot Brood's new album Mountain Meadows. It's good, and I'm kicking myself for not going to see them when they we're in London earlier this year. Also, when I went away on a little vacay a couple of weeks ago I found myself listening to Adele's 19 a lot to put myself to sleep... reminds me of what the Winehouse would be like if she were, you know, clean and well, let's be honest, a little overweight. On a much less cruel note she has a very cool new (I assume) song up on her page called 'Many Shades of Black'.
  

• I'm planning on seeing some more shows, since, it turns out - Toronto gets a lot more music passing through than London. Also, I'm hoping I'll have some friends around so I don't have to drag Liz to everything.

• I'm starting to get excited about the Raptors '08, and am eagerly anticipating the purchase of a Calderon t-shirt jersey (I'm not made of money). Although I'm not expecting a tonne from Jermaine O'Neal, I suspect just having a little security blanket in the middle may push Bosh into having a career year. I'm not sure whether this is having any affect on him already, but from what I've been reading his Team USA teammates are raving about his defence. This bodes well for a Raptors team that was Terrible on D last year. And, if all else fails the Raps can trade his corpse/contract next year for cap-space to re-sign Bosh, which if he decides to play a little D could be very expensive.

• If there's anything that's really cool that you think I ought to hear, please send me an email/drop me a line. I need some new music.