Chris Bell - I Am The Cosmos (Deluxe Edition)

There are few things that elicit as much excitement in the world of music snobbery than the emergence of another cult hero. This is exactly what happened in the late 80's when bands like R.E.M., The Replacements and Teenage Fanclub started singing the praises of an ironically named band called Big Star, who emerged onto the scene in the early 70's to great critical praise, but unfortunate mainstream obscurity. Since the aforementioned name dropping by those highly notable college rock staples, the band's stock has continued to rise, being covered by the likes of Wilco and Elliott Smith, as well as having their music featured in TV (That 70's Show) and film (Adventureland). Interestingly, the Alex Chilton / Chris Bell tag team has been referred to by some as a sort Lennon / McCartney duo, with Chilton being the advanced songwriter and Bell being relegated to the roll of less substantial rocking sidekick. This is a sentiment that I also foolishly accepted until I first listened to I Am The Cosmos, a compilation that was released in 1992 of some of the songs that Chris Bell had been working on prior to his untimely death from a car accident in 1978. That outstanding collection of songs awakened in me the realization that Bell was every bit as substantial a songwriter as Chilton and he undoubtedly had more input into the band's output than is often credited to him (especially on Radio City, their 2nd album that was released after he had left the band).

While Rhino has continued to fuel the continual interest in Big Star with last year's release of a 98-song career retroactive boxset entitled Keep An Eye To The Sky, they also play their part in keeping Bell on the radar by releasing a new double disc deluxe edition of I Am The Cosmos which comes complete with a slightly re-sequenced version of the album on disc one, and a collection of (mostly) unreleased material on disc two. The songs themselves hold up remarkably well, especially some of the mellower heartbreaking numbers. Songs like You and Your Sister and Look Up, for example, exhibit a vulnerability that is immaculately produced, yet presented in a way that sounds genuine and unforced. The acoustic version of the former number on disc two sounds surprisingly clean, which adds an almost haunting quality to the song for some reason, although I find it difficult to articulate exactly why that is. Perhaps it's just the imagery of him performing the song in a small room surrounded my friends and family while completely unaware of the impact that his music would eventually have on so many people. I'm not usually one for spending a lot of time with bonus tracks and such, but I actually find myself enjoying the rarities on disc two just as much as the actual album. Some more great discoveries have been unearthed on this disc, such as Stay With Me, a country duet with his friend Keith Sykes that has an impeccable melody and some pretty impressive guitar work. In My Darkest Hour is sung by Nancy Bryan, and provides an articulate insight into the depression that Bell has been known to deal with during the last few years of his life. The reflective instrumental piece that ends the album (Clacton Rag) is beautiful as it manages to tie the album together in a way that makes it feel like one full cohesive piece which is remarkable considering that, as mentioned earlier, this really is simply a culling together of scattered parts and pieces.

While it is a tragedy that Chris Bell and his Big Star comrades were unable to get the recognition that they deserved until much too late, the impact of albums such as this one are undoubtedly going to continue to grow even more substantial as the music on this double disc set continues to speak to future generations. There is no doubt that this is one emotionally charged listening experience, and perhaps it's not the type of thing that you're going to put on when you're in need of some cheering up, but it's very rewarding to see that there was still much to discover in the legacy of this musical legend.

Preview: All of the tracks on I Am The Cosmos at Rhino Records.
Myspace: Chris Bell
Myspace: Big Star

Other stuff:

Sloan has just released a new compilation of B-sides and rarities entitled B-Sides Win which can now be purchased at their website. [Myspace: Sloan]

Danny Michel has just released his first solo live album called Live in Winnipeg which can also be purchased at his website. [Myspace: Danny Michel]

Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips is interviewed at Crawdaddy.  [Myspace: The Flaming Lips]

The White Stripes are releasing a limited edtion CD/DVD boxset chronicling their 2007 tour of the Canadian countryside on March 16th. It will be entitled The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights and a video clip from the set of Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground is being featured on Spinner.ca [Myspace: The White Stripes]

Kat Burns of Forest City Lovers debuted a new song called Oh Come Away/Sea To Land on the Grocery List Countdown show on Verge FM. The show will air February 15th, but there's a video of the song posted on Forest City Lovers blog. [Myspace: Forest City Lovers]

Bobby B's 50 Albums Of The Decade (#50-46)

After spending several hours and TTC rides with my iPod revisiting literally hundreds of albums spawned from the decade that began at the turn of the century, I managed to whittle down a pretty extensive list to a mere 50 choices. These are not the best albums of the decade, these are simply the ones that have spent the most time in my headphones. And I rambled enough about that here, so let's just get on with the list:

50. Gold - Ryan Adams (2001)

There are many that will argue that Ryan's post Whiskeytown output simply does not measure up, but I think the man's brilliance is unrivaled to the point of actually being a bit freaky. Admittedly, prior to his current hiatus, a strong argument could be made for the fact that the man could use a bit of discretion. He has, after all, released ten albums this decade, and that's not including various EP's and unreleased projects. But the fact that he makes more appearances on my list than anyone else shows that it's very rare that his overindulgence results in throwaway mediocrity. Like most of his albums, Gold may be three or four songs too long, but even the lesser songs may simply be a case of too much all at once, as opposed to actually being not that good. The album is a great example of keeping things relatively varied, sporting some straight ahead rockers and other mellower moments, the best of which is the stunning La Cienega Just Smiled and the epic Nobody Girl, which was co-written with Ethan Johns. [Myspace: Ryan Adams]

49. Everything I've Forgotten To Forget - Amos the Transparent (2007)

Everybody knows by now how much I love this Ottawa band, but you may be surprised to learn that this album did not actually make my top 10 for 2007. Like most great albums, this one is a grower. Many of the tracks are instantly likable, like After All That, It's Come To This (with Amy Millan) and the upbeat pop of It's A Beautiful Life. But to fully gain the greatest benefit from this album, one really needs to experience Amos The Transparent in a live setting. Songs like (Here's To) New Beginnings, The Stale Scent Of Old Beer and Title Track take on a new life after seeing them live, and if given the right exposure, those songs have the potential to be true Canadian anthems. The band is still resting comfortably below the radar, but hopefully the decade ahead will see Amos The Transparent sink into the national consciousness with greater success. [Myspace: Amos The Transparent]

48. Writer's Block - Peter Bjorn And John (2006)

For many in the blogosphere, this decade awakened people to the fact that the Swedes can craft a pretty wicked pop song like nobody else. Peter Bjorn and John's third album saw them putting aside some of the heavier power pop stylings of their first two albums, to make way for songs that are more on the twee side of the fence, and doing so with great success. Their signature song Young Folks, boosted by the sweetly saccharine vocals of Victoria Bergsman, is easily one of the best pop songs that I've ever heard, and, for once, the public actually agreed. Although the song's appearance in various commercials and TV shows made it the runaway hit of '06, it wasn't the only great song on the album. Objects Of My Affection and Let's Call It Off are equally as accessible and toe tapping. [Myspace: Peter Bjorn and John]

47. Never Hear The End Of It - Sloan (2006)

Just barely squeezing into my top 30 of 2006, Sloan's 8th album is one that I've been revisiting on a regular basis over the last couple of years, and I'm actually as surprised as anyone that it made the final cut of this list. Personally I find that the songs on this album do not work as well when played on their own, meaning that the album's brilliance really shines through when played as a whole. The fact is, that it's just such an infectious album and their best since 1996's One Chord To Another. What has understandably scared away some people is that the album contains 30 songs, and some people are afraid of commitment. However, if you put forth just a tiny bit of effort, you'll see that the album flows so seamlessly with an Abbey Road Side Two abandon that it actually contains less filler than their two albums previous and the one that followed it. It also contains one of Chris Murphy's greatest compositions (the McCartney-esque Fading Into Obscurity) one of Andrew Scott's best (I Know You), a whole slew of great Jay Ferguson moments and Patrick Pentland's most punk rock moment ever (HFXNSHC). The Brits may have their fair share of fab four worshipers, but Oasis can only dream of releasing an album as Beatle-esque as this. [Myspace: Sloan]

46. Left And Leaving - The Weakerthans (2000)

Nobody with half a brain would ever question John K Samson's poetic songwriting abilities, but never before has that been more apparent than on this classic release from 2000. Besides containing one of my favorite songs, not just of the decade, but of all time, Aside, the album continues to age extremely well. The line "I'm leaning on this broken fence between past and present tense" is highly appropriate since the album has the ability to speak to me in different ways as each year goes by and circumstances change in my life. While it's true that this album was released at the height of the whole emo thing, Samson's lyrics really stood out in the sense that I never felt he was trying to be overtly preachy, pounding my ears with an iron fist, so to speak. He was also not the sort to wallow in his own self pity, screaming his lungs out at the fact that he's the most misundertood teenager in Winnepeg . No, the music on this CD is simply a poetic declaration of his thoughts, emotions and feelings sounding less like a protest song, and more like a person's highly articulate diary. [Myspace: The Weakerthans]

Tomorrow: Bobby B's 50 Albums of the Decade (#45 - 41)

CMF Day 1: Sloan, Will Currie & the Country French and Zeus

I started off my crazy five days of activity by heading just up the street to The Mod Club to see Sloan, the old reliables, doing what they do best. Opening the evening were a couple of local pop rock bands whose music treads a similar territory to the one that Sloan had crafted almost 20 years ago.
Opening the evening was Zeus, who are a musical amalgamation of bands that I've been somewhat acquainted with over the last couple of years: the 6ixty 8ights and Paso Mino. I was already an especially huge fan of the former band, so seeing Carlin Nicholson hop on stage with his newly acquired mustache immediately assured me that this was going to be a great show. With co-frontman Mike O'Brien, they played a wonderful 60's influenced set that was accessible and easy to enjoy. The songs were mainly uptempo rock 'n roll numbers, with just a hint of rootsy surfadelica thrown into the mix. When hearing their songs, it's easy to be shocked at how accomplished they sound for such a relatively new band. But the fact of the matter is that they have been playing in their own bands for several years, and also working as Jason Collett's band. Add to that the fact that Carlin and Mike have been making music together since childhood, and it's no wonder that they sounded so good. A debut album is hopefully going to be released in the near future.

Photos: My pictures of Zeus @ The Mod Club are on flickr
Myspace: Zeus

I've been meaning to see Will Currie and the Country French for quite some time now, and the fact that Jay Ferguson has been touting them as his favourite live band, only made me more intrigued. They play some of the happiest music I have ever heard, and it's easy to see what the boys in Sloan see in them. Their music is very piano driven, and I definitely hear shades of Ben Folds, McCartney and even a touch of Brian May in the guitar work. They're the type of band that I would love to have pumping out of my iPod while skipping down the street on a bright summer day (which hopefully we'll be seeing again someday soon in Toronto.) Although the songs were rather enjoyable, most of them do have a bit of a sameness about them, and ultimately it's the energetic nature of the band, performance-wise, that I would label as their strongest point. Their album A Great Stage is available now, on Murder Records.

Photos: My pictures of Will Currie and the Country French @ The Mod Club are on flickr.
Myspace: Will Currie and the Country French

What else can I say about Sloan? They put on a powerhouse performance, as usual, that once again proved them to be a real Canadian treasure. There is just something so satisfying about seeing a band that really has nothing left to prove, as they rip through a crowd pleasing set that featured many of the hits, and focused mainly on their more stadium rock type of material. They opened the evening with the one-two punch of Penpals and Losing California, before lunging into a set of material from Parallel Play. For obvious reasons, classics like Coax Me, The Good In Everyone and Everything You've Done Wrong seemed to get the greatest audience reaction, which culminated in a blistering rendition of Money City Maniacs. For me, the best performance of the night was their wicked fast version of HFXNSHC, which is quickly becoming one of my favourite songs in their entire catalog. Although most of my favourite songs by Sloan are some of the more experimental album cuts, there is no question that the straight ahead rock songs are the ones that encourage the greatest audience reaction, and it was great to see them simply doing what they do best.

Setlist: Penpals / Losing California / All I Am Is All You're Not / Witch's Wand / Burn For It / Living The Dream / Emergency 911 / HFXNSHC / Blackout / Cheap Champagne / The Good In Everyone / Coax Me / Ready For You / The Lines You Amend / Everything You've Done Wrong / The Dogs / People Of The Sky / I'm Not A Kid Anymore / Believe In Me / Who Taught You To Live Like That / The Other Man / Money City Maniacs / ENCORE: Push Pins (w/Will Currie & the Country French) / Iggy and Angus / She Says What She Means

[Note: I just took a glance at the Sloan Message Board to see how the Thursday show went, and now I wish that I hadn't. The Marquee and The Moon? Chester? Hate My Generation? Deeper Than Beauty? UNDERWHELMED? WHY? WHY?]

Photos: My pictures of Sloan @ The Mod Club are on flickr.
Myspace: Sloan

At Odds With Even

Last week I received a 3 song demo from a local Toronto band who call themselves At Odds With Even. Upon first listen, I have the impression that this is a trio of music lovers who are up on their musical history. I hear traces of The Minutemen, The Melvins and The Cramps who are all bands that only the most astute music fan could successfully draw inspiration from. On the other hand, it's quite possible that Adam Tiessen, Anthony Randall and Dan Roffey are not familiar with those bands at all and they just simply stumbled into this sound without any preconceived mental prodding whatsoever. Either way, this a band that is worthy of our attention.

The demo was presented in an envelope covered in some very original looking artwork and the CD jacket also offered more of the same which leads me to believe that this band is determined to be noticed. The three songs presented on the demo show a broad range of musical styles. Recognize contains some mind altering psychedelia and Adam's vocals remind me a lot of D. Moon from the aforementioned Minutemen. Plastic Bag is the most immediate of the three songs, boasting a lo-fi garage sound and a chunky guitar breakdown that is not dissimilar to the aforementioned Melvins, as well as perhaps begging some comparisons to Mudhoney or Dinosaur Jr. And On The Corner is the third song, a slowed down reggae beat accompanied by some bassy vocals in the chorus that remind me of, yes, you guessed it, The Cramps. There are other songs on their myspace page that showcase a band that does not want to stay confined by any specific musical niche. It'll be interesting to see which direction the band decides to take in the next year or so, but in the meantime they're still playing the occasional gig throughout the city (and likely looking for more gigs too) so keep your eyes peeled and check them out.

At Odds With Even will be playing The Savannah Room on October 31st. PWYC.

Myspace: At Odds With Even
Download: Plastic Bag mp3


Other stuff: 50 extra tickets were just released right now for The Hold Steady and Drive By Truckers show at The Phoenix on November 11th. They are only available through Ticketmaster so all you Toronto cowboys better get on that quickly!
Myspace: The Hold Steady / Myspace: Drive By Truckers

R.E.M's new video for Until The Day Is Done is up on youtube.
Myspace: R.E.M.

Thanks to Chromewaves for directing me to a really cool article about Sloan at Crawdaddy online magazine.
Myspace: Sloan

Historyjen has put up her personal list of the Top 10 Canadian Bands (just below the radar) for 2008. You can check it out here.

Danny Michel has three shows at The Rivoli coming up with Jenn Grant on December 11th, 12th and 13th. Tix are $18 and you can get them here.
Myspace: Danny Michel / Myspace: Jenn Grant

Band and film submissions for NXNE 2009 are starting as of November 1st and running till the end of January. More info can be found at nxne.com.

Ryan Adams' Cardinology is out today. According to some early reports, the album is being touted as lacklustre, but people were saying that about Easy Tiger too and I really liked that album. So we'll see.
Myspace: Ryan Adams

Boxer The Horse, The Hoa Hoa's, Sloan, etc...

I've been listening to lots of enjoyable tuneage lately, but I haven't had a lot of time to blog about it. So while I've actually got a Saturday evening at home, why I don't I toss a few words your way about some of the stuff I've been digging lately.

Boxer The Horse are an instantly likeable band from Charlottetown, P.E.I. who released their debut EP The Late Show several months ago. There's something about that East Coast brand of swinging jangle pop that never seems to get old to me. The EP opens with Boneyard, a slice of 60's styled Brit invasion influenced pop with a chorus that is way too catchy to resist. Jeremy Gaudet's vocals scream Ray Davies, while the thump of the rhythm section reminds me of The Turtles or The Lovin' Spoonful. Jackson Leftfield opens with infectious harmonica and a slightly new wavy keyboard and Rocknroll Band has campy sixties sitcom written all over it. The band shows quite a bit of lyrical whimsy and musical depth in Lenny Was A Moonshiner and Snowflake; while Ohio! caps off the ep nicely, delving into a mildly Dylan-esque vibe, before sequeing into a modern day ragtime conclusion. The Late Show bears repeat listenings, as it never grows old and plays like an album by a band more seasoned than Boxer The Horse really should be at this early stage of the game.

Myspace: Boxer The Horse
Download: Jackson Leftfield mp3


Toronto's psych rock scene is exploding like never before, as is evidenced by the greatness of bands like Quest For Fire, The Disraelis, Invasions and Golden Hands Before God ... What's really great about all of those bands is the fact that I think the psychedelic name tag best suits them all, but you would definitely never mistake one for the other. The same can be said for The Hoa Hoa's (pronouced wah-wah's), also from Toronto. The debut CD is entitled Sonic Bloom, and all of the feelings that the album title conjures up is exactly representative of the bands sound. Like The Disraelis, they are signed to the Optical Sounds label, which clearly specializes in linking the worlds of shoegaze and psych-rock together, and doing so extremely successfully too, I might add. An example of the convincing sound that they've created can be illustrated in the fact that I had The List blaring from my stereo, and my wife asked if I was listening to Joy Division. How many bands these days are trying desperately to master that sound? And how many are actually successful? Exactly. The Hoa Hoa's, on the other hand, have nailed it. Their style never comes across forced, but comfortable; and the vocals' near monotone presentation is one of confidence, not schtick. Sonic Bloom offers forth a band that is destined for greatness, although they sound as if they generally don't care. I wish I was that naturally cool.

Myspace: The Hoa Hoa's
Download: The List mp3


Finally, I've been meaning to talk about Sloan's 11the album for several months now but I was really hoping that Parallel Play would grow on me a little bit more than it has. As you can tell by the title of my blog, Sloan is easily one of my favourite artists of all time, and they are definitely my favourite Canadian act. They've never released a bad album, and this one is certainly better than average. However, I feel that it doesn't quite reach the heights of their last release, Never Hear The End Of It. That album had 30 songs, this one has a much more manageable 13, but oddly enough, I would say that this shorter one actually contains more filler than their last epic did. Every member contributes 3 songs each, except for Andrew, who gives us 4. I think that this is great since I feel that his songs are by far the greatest and most interesting. His Dylan-esque Down In The Basement just may be the best song he's ever written, and I also enjoy his reggae-fied album closer Too Many. Also, contrary to the flames on the Sloan message board, I think Emergency 911 is an awesome punk song, most likely a show stopper when played live. None of Patrick's song really inspire me much this time around, but I would say the Dandy Warhol attempt of Burn For It is pretty good. Jay has always been the most consistent one, and his songs are all good, even if they all follow a certain pop pattern that gets a bit predictable. My favourite of his would be Witch's Wand. As far as Chris goes, he's got some hits and some misses, which is unfortunate considering the fact that NHTEOI contained some of his sharpest lyrics to date. I'm Not A Kid Anymore is the best of the Chris penned songs, being the hookiest and most anthemic of the bunch.

Myspace: Sloan
Download: I'm Not A Kid Anymore mp3

Two Videos: One for each day I missed!

Well, I didn't blog yesterday or the day before, which means that I didn't keep my word about posting a blog every day for the month of July. But seriously, how many of you really expected me to keep that promise? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

The fact is that, I was busy all day Wednesday that by the time night fell, I was way too tired to put together reasonable sounding speaking sentences. I figured that this didn't bode too well for blogging sentences either. On Thursday, I was up at 4:30am for work, and I worked all day. I had still planned on posting something, but then I spilled water all over my keyboard, rendering it useless. My day was so messed up that I didn't even get out to the Rancho for the RAA show last night. This was actually sort of OK with me, since Jon McKiel was the guy I was looking forward to seeing the most, and he had to cancel and head back to Nova Scotia due to problems with the tour vehicle. I'll catch RAA another time.

Tonight however, I am still planning on heading out to The Horseshoe to see The Joys, as long as nothing unfortunate gets in the way of this. In the meantime, I got myself a new keyboard and I may as well put it to use. I've got a couple of new(ish) videos for you to enjoy.

First off, the second installment of the Broken Social Scene Presents series will feature co-founder Brendan Canning. The CD will be called Something For All Of Us and it will be out on July 22nd. Here's the vid for the first single, entitled Hit The Wall.



Myspace: Brendan Canning
Myspace: Broken Social Scene

My other favorite Canadian band Sloan also has a new album and it's called Parallel Play. I'll review that one later, but in the meantime, here's the first single. It's called Believe In Me, and it's your typical Patrick Pentland rocker. This is not necessarily a bad thing.



Myspace: Sloan

Hopefully, I'll be back tomorrow with a meatier, more respectable post. We'll see...

Sloan w/The Golden Dogs @ CNE Bandshell

I keep getting older but the Sloan fans just stay the same age. Those were my initial thoughts while attending the show at The Ex yesterday. I'm up front standing next to a group of young 'uns who apparently all met each other via the Sloan message board and I was immediately awed by how my favorite Canadian rockers are still able to draw a young crowd despite having been around for over 15 years. Many of them were approximately the same age that I was when I first cranked "Underwhelmed" from the crappy speakers of my first crappy car. Of course, if you've seen them perform, you know why the kids are alright! I think the days of a Sloan show being somewhat of a hit or miss affair are long gone. The band was tight, solid and more fun than it should be legal to have on such a miserable day, as it was yesterday. The fact that they're currently performing songs from "Never Hear The End Of It" also helps, seeing as this is easily their best release in years. The newer songs elicit the same hyperactive cheers as the old ones do, and they threw out a generous mix of both. Because their latest CD has such a huge whack of contributions from Andrew, he was also able to step out from the drum kit on more than one occasion to take center stage, even playing "People Of The Sky" which made me positively giddy. Patrick and Jay also seemed to be in high spirits, doing all the rock star riffing required to put on a solid show. When Chris asked Patrick how fast he can go, you knew they were about to lunge into the wicked spazzfest of "HFXNSHC,"which sounded out of control live! And then there's Chris. He was in full 100% pure Canadian ham mode, mugging for the cameras, stage kicking all rock star like, impersonating Bowzer from Sha-Na-Na and generally putting on a fun show, as usual. Sloan has proved once again that, although there may be other Canadian bands that get more recognition, both here and south of the border, when it comes to the sheer spirit of rock 'n roll, there is no other band currently in existence, Canadian or otherwise, that holds a candle to the boys in "Slo-oooo-aaaannnnn!"

Photos: Sloan @ The CNE Bandshell on flickr
Stream: Never Hear The End Of It (full album)
Myspace: Sloan
Videos: Flying High Again (Super 8 film) youtube
I've Gotta Try youtube
Where's Jay? (Funniest. Video. Ever.) youtube


The opening act was Toronto's own The Golden Dogs, who apparently rocked the clouds into submission yesterday evening. It rained on and off all day, even culminating in a thunder storm just an hour earlier. But when The Dogs came out to play, the rain stopped, the sun came out and the band blasted through a 50 minute set full of hyperkinetic energy! Dave Azzolini refused to sit still, keeping the show going at a steady yet frenetic pace. As keyboardist Jessica Grassia regularly displayed the song titles on a stand out front, the band blasted through several songs from their latest release "Big Eye Little Eye." Some of the highlights were the band's sort-of breakthrough single "Yeah," the driving march of "Saints At The Gates" and their indescribable cover of Paul McCartney and Wings' "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five." The latter song had Dave going positively manic on the guitar, with a solo that refused to stop, causing me to sport the goofy spellbound grin that I tend to sport when I'm standing in the midst of greatness. I also want to mention, Taylor Knox: drummer: best. rock. star. ever.

Photos: The Golden Dogs @ The CNE Bandshell on flickr
Stream: Big Eye Little Eye full album
Myspace: The Golden Dogs
Videos: Construction Worker youtube
Never Meant Any Harm youtube

Songs From A Room and other weekend festivities.

This weekend looks like it's going to be another wacky unbalanced trio of live events for yours truly, so in preparation, I should get some rest and keep this post relatively brief. We'll see how that goes.

Pictured above is a local Toronto band called Songs From A Room. I really don't know all that much about them but I throughly enjoy the songs they've got posted up on their myspace page. They have a super solid heavy rock vibe with a vocalist shriek that could strip the paint off a building ... with ... several coats ... of paint ... on ... it. I'm so tired that even my analogies aren't flowing as freely as I would like. However I think you get the point. They're playing a free show this Monday August 27th at The Horseshoe in support of their new CD, which is to be released that same day. I guarantee that I'll be returning from that show with a more thorough (and articulate) review.

Myspace: Songs From A Room

Sunday night is the Camera Obscura show. I had already seen them once this year and enjoyed it very much. I figured that it wasn't necessary to see them again but a) my wife really wanted to go and 2) The Last Town Chorus is the opening act. That's an incredible double bill, and there is no way I could miss this one. The last time I saw TLTC I was feeling a little bit under the weather and sadly didn't get the full impact. I'm anticipating a more enjoyable show this time around. The downside is that they're playing at The Phoenix or, as I like to call it, big sweaty dumb stupid town. Hopefully my wife and I will be able to get up all good and close so that we can see something. The Phoenix isn't really designed for people under a billion feet tall.

Download:
Camera Obscura: If Looks Could Kill mp3 / Let's Get Out Of This Country mp3
The Last Town Chorus: Modern Love mp3 / Oregon mp3

Myspace: Camera Obscura / The Last Town Chorus

Videos:
Camera Obscura: Lloyd I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken youtube
The Last Town Chorus: Modern Love youtube

And to start things off, we're heading to The Ex for the first time in forever years. I have to admit that the thought of cotton candy and a discofied dog show doesn't exactly thrill me as it once might have, but the real draw for me this Saturday is the fact that Sloan will be playing with The Golden Dogs at Exhibition Place for what, I believe, is no extra cost. Don't quote me on that, but I'm pretty sure that I'm right. However if I'm wrong, and you do choose to quote me, I'll deny it. Either way, it's been a dang long time since I've seen the boys in my favorite all time Canadian band play live, and their last album was their best in 10 years so it's bound to be a stellar show. The Golden Dogs are great too, and their brand of sunny ultra-hip power pop will complement the Sloan gang nicely.

Stream:
Sloan: Never Hear The End Of It (full album)
The Golden Dogs: Big Eye Little Eye (full album)

Myspace: Sloan / The Golden Dogs

Videos:
Sloan: Flying High Again (Super 8 Film) youtube
Sloan: I've Gotta Try youtube
Sloan: Where's Jay? (Funniest. Video. Ever.) youtube
The Golden Dogs: Construction Worker youtube
The Golden Dogs: Never Meant Any Harm youtube

How The Lassue Yous Changed My Life

or The Reason Why I’m The Type of Indie-Rock Nerd Who Goes Online and Pretends To Be A Music Journalist For Fun!!!Music is very important to most young men between the ages of 15 and 25. They base their cliques on it, they base their vocabulary on it, they design their rooms and lockers by it. But then most guys reach an age of responsibility, where music starts to take a back seat in their lives. Just a few short years ago that’s exactly where I was. I was bored with classic rock radio so I moved on to alternative rock radio. I had grown bored with that too, and I figured that I was finally reaching that age where music is just simply not that important anymore. After all, I’m now an old married man and music is, well, it’s for teenagers. Right?

Then something happened that fateful day (if I believed in fate, which I don’t!) just a few years ago. The wife had planned an “evening out with the girls” and I was left to entertain myself for a few hours. The thought had crossed my mind to possibly go to the local Chapters and read several magazines without actually buying them. Or perhaps I’d rent a couple of movies. However, I picked up The View, a local free indie-paper and I read an interesting article about a band from London, Ontario called The Weekend. They sounded very interesting. They were to be playing that evening at a little place called The Hudson in Hamilton at 9pm. Hmmm. That sounds like something. I didn’t have to pick up my wife until about 11:30 or so. Why not?

Now, being new to the way the whole “small band at a small venue” thing works, I didn’t realize that “doors at 9” actually means that the band will likely go on closer to 11. The opening act that day was a little band consisting of 3 brothers from Dundas, Ontario who call themselves The Lassue Yous. The Hudson was empty. I grabbed a beer, and sat down at a table near the stage. After nursing that beer, (by myself) for just under two hours, The Lassue Yous were ready to take the stage. As soon as they hit the first note, I was starting to believe that I may be in the midst of a particularly historic moment in the life of yours truly. The jangly guitar! The crazy lyrics! The handclaps! The energy! The excitement! They reminded me a bit of Thrush Hermit. Or Sloan. Or, heck, they even reminded me a bit of the Liverpudlian fab four themselves! At that moment, I felt as if I was Rodney Bingenheimer, and I had just discovered the GREATEST BAND OF ALL TIME! Yes, that is truly how they sounded to me that night! You see, that was the night that I realized that I was still in love with music as much as I ever was. The problem was that mainstream radio was not providing me with anything new. And these crazy Dundanites were! And if these guys have been kept a secret from music lovers everywhere, than how many more unsigned artists are hiding out in the clubs of their respective towns? How much music have I missed out on over my 20-something years of existence?

Well, from that day on, I have constantly been on the prowl for new and interesting music. Sadly, I didn’t get to see The Weekend that night, but I have seen them several times since. I’ve seen The Lassue Yous a few more times as well although I think they’re on a bit of a hiatus at the moment. I’ve been introduced to so many other bands that have changed my life and rocked my world. I’ve had the opportunity to expose some of my favourite bands to others as well, by means of my blog or by introducing them to podcasting. And the music scene has never been more exciting to me than it is right now. I often wonder, if it had been a dude with a casio singing Pat Boone covers that night, I may have given up on music altogether. Thank goodness for The Lassue Yous!

Download:
Rock “N Roll Your Saturday Night mp3
Toughen Up mp3