Author: Dan Dickinson

Coming down the pipe

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No, this isn’t another post about how sick I am. It’s about the music that’s waiting for me to preview in my download folder. I’ll try to check it out tomorrow at work; I have no meetings scheduled, so it should be a listen-to-tunes-and-get-shit-done kind of day. Fingers crossed.

  • Apostle Of Hustle . National Anthem Of Nowhere
  • Clinic . Internal Wrangling
  • Dalek . Abandoned Language
  • LCD Soundsystem . Sound Of Silver
  • Low . Drums And Guns
  • Ted Leo . Living With The Living

I’ve already taken quick breezes through the Apostle of Hustle and Ted Leo and nothing really jumped out at me, but I need to go back through them.

[tags]apostle of hustle, clinic, dalek, lcd soundsystem, low, ted leo[/tags]

Suck it, winter

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Today it was -10 with the windchill in Toronto.

Tomorrow it’s supposed to be +6.

Thursday it’s supposed to be +18, but rainy.

Saturday it’s supposed to be sunny and +13.

It would appear that we are in, as Dick Cheney would say, the last throes of winter. I love seeing the little sun icon paired with a positive number in the weather forecast.

Now…to get healthy enough to actually get outside and enjoy said weather…

[tags]spring is coming[/tags]

Nice car, great architecture, pretty sunset, blah blah…hey lookit, our condo!

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Staying at home today. Feel as if my gastrointestinal system is under attack. Will try to gather enough strength to drag ass to the drug store and collect some supplies. #1 on the list: Gatorade.

.:.

Today’s picture over at Daily Dose of Imagery has a nice picture of our new condo building. Well, I guess the picture is of the red Mini in the foreground, but you can see our building in the shot.

[thanks Jen!]

[tags]gatorade, daily dose of imagery, spire condominium[/tags]

Shaved Head, one last time

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It’s been a very sports-oriented weekend thus far. Tons and tons of March Madness basketball and some hockey games. Tonight’s Canadiens/Leafs match is pretty much make-or-break for both teams’ chances of staying in the playoff hunt. Montreal’s still without their #1 goalie, so if they lose tonight, I think they’re all but done for the year.

Last night we took a break from the madness by having dinner and a beer at Volo, and watching a few episodes of Entourage. I haven’t been feeling great for the last 24 hours (don’t know if it’s the crazy weather changes or lack of sleep or what, but I’ve got a perpetual headache right now) so I don’t think the rest of the weekend will get much more adventurous.

.:.

One thing this tournament has reminded me of: I despise the word (and I use the term loosely) “stick-to-it-iveness”. I’ve heard it more than once*, and it drives me nuts. I have no problem with new words entering the everyday lexicon. What I do have a problem with is a using a disjointed mash-up designed for the addle-minded rather than suitable existing words.

Sigh…et tu, dictionary.com?

* It’s quite possible that whoever’s saying it is the same guy who keeps pronouncing “eschews” incorrectly. Somewhere that guy’s English teacher is cringing.

.:.

You may or may not know that the Rheostatics are, in my opinion, the most truly Canadian rock band of the past two decades (that’s right, more Canadian than The Hip); you also may not know that on March 30th they’ll play ostensibly their last concert ever, at Massey Hall. I didn’t get a ticket for that, but I did get a ticket for smaller show at their most recent and regular home: the Horseshoe. If you’d like a ticket of your own, you can get one from Six Shooter.

Anyway, the excellent Canadian indie music download site Zunior.com has something very cool on sale right now: a Rheostatics tribute album. It has songs by 13 artists, among them The Weakerthans, Weeping Tile, The Inbreds, Barenaked Ladies and Cuff The Duke. It only costs $8.88 and the proceeds go to charity; for a few extra bucks you can download the songs and get the CD. Quel bargain.

[tags]march madness, leafs, canadiens, sticktoitiveness, rheostatics, zunior[/tags]

Twit(ter)

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I just can’t get into Twitter. That’s not to say that I won’t cave some day, but I can’t imagine anyone being interested enough in my life to want a minute-by-minute update, nor can I imagine being that interested in anyone else’s.

I think it’s a way for people who consider themselves blog “pioneers” to create a new social stratum, now that every teenager, CEO and expectant mother has a blog.

[tags]twitter[/tags]

Words have taught me that words are folly and mad

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Now that I’ve given that Besnard Lakes album a few more listens I’d say they’re like a cross between Low and The Dears. If that helps you at all.

.:.

If brevity is wit, it’s also musical genius. Here’re my 25 favourite songs that clock in under 2 minutes. Note that there’s a ton of brilliant music that comes in around 2:05, but I was strict about it. Also note: you could make several albums out of Guided By Voices and Pixies songs that come in under 2:10.

  • Bad Religion . “Hear It” (1:52)
  • Blues Brother Castro . “Bonny” (1:47)
  • Blur . “Song 2” (2:00)
  • Change Of Heart . “Away Goodbye” (0:57)
  • Constantines . “Thank You For Sending Me An Angel” (1:57)
  • Death Set . “Intermission” (1:55)
  • Deerhoof . “Our Angel’s Ululu” (1:37)
  • Evaporators . “Half-Empty Halls” (1:55)
  • Gord Downie . “Pillform 1” (1:44)
  • Grant Lee Buffalo . “Last Days of Tecumseh” (1:02)
  • Guided By Voices . “A Salty Salute” (1:29)
  • Matthew Good Band . “So Long Mrs. Smith” (1:40)
  • Mountain Goats . “Quito” (2:00)
  • Neutral Milk Hotel . “The King of Carrot Flowers, Pt. 1” (2:00)
  • Nirvana . “Downer” (1:43)
  • Pearl Jam . “Lukin” (1:02)
  • Pink Floyd . “Pigs on the Wing, Pt. 2” (1:27)
  • Ramones . “Judy Is A Punk” (1:31)
  • Reindeer Section . “Will You Please Be There for Me” (1:49)
  • Royal City . “Under A Hollow Tree” (1:52)
  • Single Frame . “Mod Style ’68” (1:47)
  • Sleater Kinney . “Little Mouth” (1:44)
  • Spiderbait . “Buy Me A Pony” (1:46)
  • T Rex . “We Love To Boogie” (1:57)
  • White Stripes . “Let’s Build a Home” (1:58)

Bonus coverage: my 10 favourite songs over 15 minutes long:

  • Bob Dylan . “Highlands” (15:48)
  • Dandy Warhols . “It’s a Fast-Driving Rave-Up With the Dandy Warhols Sixteen Minutes” (16:06)
  • Godspeed You Black Emperor! . “rockets fall on Rocket Falls” (20:42)
  • Godspeed You Black Emperor! . “Storm” (22:32)
  • Spiritualized . “Angel Sigh / Sway / 200 Bars” (18:55)
  • Mogwai . “Like Herod (the Government Commissions version)” (18:25)
  • Mogwai . “My Father My King” (20:12)
  • Pink Floyd . “Dogs” (17:06)
  • Velvet Underground . “Sister Ray” (17:27)
  • Yume Bitsu . “The Frigid, Frigid, Frigid Body of Dr. T.J. Eckleberg” (18:29)

How very Austin

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I thought I’d give the latest online radio site slacker.com (which was introduced this morning at SxSW) a try, and it’s playing pretty good stuff so far on the indie channel. The last three songs it played were “Nearly Lost You” by The Screaming Trees (a little indie-retro!), “Fidelity” by Regina Spektor and “Like The 309” by Johnny Cash. Next up: The Postal Service. Not bad, not bad. I just wish it had a blues channel.

[tags]slacker, slacker.com, screaming trees, regina spektor, johnny cash, postal service, sxsw[/tags]

On Bedford and Grand

Dan Dickinson3 Comments

Downloaded the Besnard Lakes album Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse tonight. I gave it a preview listen today at work and liked it as much as the one song I’d already heard: “For Agent 13”. I’m having a hard time classifying it, except to say that it’s…big. Lush is probably another word I’d use.

.:.

Sporting news: Montreal clawed back for a huge win tonight to stay in the playoff hunt. The Senators also did them a favour by beating the Rangers, but Toronto and Carolina both won to stay ahead of Montreal. If the Canadiens make the playoffs, it’ll be a minor miracle. Also: my March Madness picks are done and submitted. I never win these things, but it adds an interesting angle to the games.

.:.

Starbucks is launching its own music label. I figure this will be to music what the Oprah book club is to books…which is to say, not the ideal solution, but probably better than the alternative. Both Starbucks and Oprah tend to pick better than average, if somewhat safe, material (though some would disagree that Oprah’s latest pick The Secret falls into that category), and if people are going to slavishly follow some pop culture phenomenon, I’d rather it be Starbucks or Oprah than MTV or Britney Spears.

[tags]besnard lakes, montreal canadiens, march madness, starbucks music label, oprah, the secret[/tags]