Category: Music

Clear plates, full tummies, can't lose

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I love love love spring. It was so nice out today that T-Bone and walked up to Summerhill and did a little food shoppin’ (some light rye, some banana loaf, some wine from the Loire Valley). I decided that we should just snack for dinner tonight so I popped over to Pusateri’s for some cheese and fruit, picked up a book (Friday Night Lights, the book which the movie was based on and the show was inspired by) at Indigo and returned home to blast some Hidden Cameras. I figure gay church folk music is well suited to the early days of spring.

I also sent off my first maple order of the season today. For some reason I thought this year’s order would be smaller, but I must’ve hit 60 litres easily. My poor dad.

[tags]spring, friday night lights, hidden cameras, maple syrup[/tags]

Coming down the pipe

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

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]

Shaved Head, one last time

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

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]

Words have taught me that words are folly and mad

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

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

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

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]

They look so innocent

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

As the reality that we’re moving in six weeks (!) sets in, I’ve begun thinking about what I’ll miss in this neighbourhood.

  • The Varsity theatre Hands down the best theatre in the city. Big, comfortable, great sound, good selection (not as indie as the Cumberland, not as mainstream as the Silver Cities), super-close and hardly any kids. The lack of good theatres downtown will make this loss even more painful. link
  • Fieramosca Obviously our favourite neighbourhood-y place. They know us there, and give us shit when we let 2 months go by without visiting. We’ll have to make special trips up here just to see them…and to have the delicious food, of course. link
  • M0851 The best clothing store around, on a quiet little street off the Bloor strip. Simple, well-made, understated clothing that I won’t see on GAP-clones. link
  • Whole Foods I don’t shop there for the organic produce (well, except for raspberries). I shop there for the ready-made salads, the corn-bread that’s almost as good as my mom’s, the Green & Black’s chocolate and the delicious little pakoras. link
  • Roy’s Square Jammed into this little alley around Yonge & Bloor are three of my favourite take-out restaurants — the Salad House, the Biryani House and Ritz Caribbean — as well as my main dry cleaner (shirts only; my suits go to Dove) and a whole bunch of other restaurants and shops that I don’t visit. link
  • The Dessert Lady The cappucino cinammon cookies, the espresso brownie bites, the pies, the mousse, the truffles…actually, yeah, it’s probably better than I move away from this one. link
  • Summerhill Granted, it’s not technically in my neighbourhood, but it’s a 20-minute stroll (or 1.5 subway stops) north and once I’m living south of here it won’t really make sense to pop up there like I can now. But between the ginormous LCBO, the Rebel House, and stores like All The Best Fine Foods, I might just spend the odd Saturday up there.
  • Hot Docs Again, this festival mainly takes place a few subway stops away from the neighbourhood — around Bloor & Bathurst — but since we have no intention of not participating, we’ll miss being able to zip home from a late-night screening in 5 minutes. link
  • Nick & Ralph These two funny old European men cut my hair and keep me entertained for half an hour every month or so. I’ll miss Nick teasing me about being some freak Maritimer who doesn’t like fish. link
  • Drunk guys stumbling out of the Brass Rail at 2AM Just kidding. I will miss them like I miss plantar warts. link

.:.

While perusing Ron Shevlin’s blog this morning I clicked on this link, and proceeded to laugh my ass off. Jessica Hagy draws little graphs and Venn diagrams about life; it sounds weird, but they really are hilarious little bits of life. One of my favourites is on the right.

.:.

Die Hard reference of the day: there’s a band called Nakatomi Plaza. I haven’t even heard their music, but I’m fairly certain they’re the best band ever to pick up instruments. You don’t pick a name like that unless you own.

.:.

The Onion’s AV Club lists some of the more interesting movies coming out this year, and it looks to be a good’un. New work from David Fincher, Quentin Tarantino, the Cohn Brothers, Paul Thomas Anderson, Ridley Scott, Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach, Francis Ford Coppola, Kimberly Peirce, Michel Gondry, Neil Jordan, David Cronenberg, Ang Lee, Danny Boyle, Robert Zemeckis and Steven Soderbergh (even if it is Ocean’s Thirteen) make 2007 look pretty promising. Plus, as they say, Spider-Man 3 and the Simpsons movie.

.:.

By the way, I just remembered that the title to my post where I talked about Me And You And Everyone We Know should have been “)) <> ((“. If you’ve seen the film you’ll understand why.

[tags]yonge and bloor, ron shevlin, indexed, jessica hagy, die hard, nakatomi plaza, onion av club, 2007 films, spider-man 3, simpsons movie[/tags]

Scattered thoughts

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment
  • 93 people killed in a bombing attack in Iraq today. How is it that the news media barely pays attention to Iraq anymore? I can’t see this news anywhere on CNN’s front page right now; they’re too busy talking about other news like the Scooter Libby verdict, the randy astronaut story, Naomi Campbell, and a dog pulled from an icy lake “tail-a-wagging”. Bravo.
  • A new BBC poll says that Canada has the best international image. The news is met (outside of Canada, anyway) with an epic yawn.
  • Apple has unveiled a new product-unveiling product called the iLaunch. OK, not really, but give it time.
  • I hate how reviewers keep using the term “Springsteen-esque” when reviewing Neon Bible. Et tu, A.V. Club?
  • If Canadians think ATM fees are unfair, how would they like to be a Lloyd’s TSB customer? Ssoon their credit card customers will be charged 35 pounds per year if they don’t use their card enough.

[tags]iraq, bombing, bbc poll, canada, international image, ilaunch, neon bible[/tags]

b Profitable

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Here’s how today went:

  • Got haircut
  • Rousted Nellie out of bed and got some breakfast (well, brunch; it was after 12 by this point) downtown at b Espresso Bar. I like it there
  • Stopped in at Henry’s to see if they have the wide-angle lens we’vebeen looking for. They do. We shall go back soon and see if they’ll take our old camera on trade
  • Went to the condo sales centre. We just wanted another look at the model suite similar to our unit, but Nellie was convinced they wouldn’t show us if they knew we’d already bought, so we pretended to be in the market for a new condo. We had a look around, and also got an updated price list. This was interesting, as the one remaining unit like ours listed for $53,000 more than we paid, and our particular unit’s much better (much higher, 400 sq. foot balcony, higher ceilings, better finishings, etc.). Nice to know that 3 years of waiting has paid off fiscally…so far
  • Watch Montreal lose to the Islanders
  • Tried to nap
  • Bought groceries
  • Worked on paper for MBA course
  • Wrote this

.:.

After giving the Arcade Fire‘s Neon Bible several listens, I’m convinced it’s at least in the same ballpark as Funeral and has the potential to be just as good, if not as…I don’t know, epic. It has two brilliant songs, “Intervention” and “Antichrist Television Blues”; are they as good as “Neighbourhood #1” and “Rebellion (Lies)”? I’ll need a few hundred more listens to know for sure.

.:.

How cute is my wife? Tonight, while I finished up a paper for school, she watched Pretty In Pink in the other room. Wait, wait, that’s not the cute part (in fact, I find everything about that movie fairly repulsive, especially Molly Ringwald). Here’s the cuteness: when I took a break and went into the bedroom to watch a bit of the Raptors game, she slid a piece of paper under the door that said, in huge letters, “Je t’aime”.

Awwwww.

[tags]b espresso bar, henry’s camera, spire condominium, arcade fire[/tags]

All of a sudden I have new music

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Bought three new albums today, from three different online stores:

  • Explosions In The Sky . All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone (from eMusic)
  • Great Lake Swimmers . Ongiara (from Zunior)
  • Clinic . Walking With Thee (from Puretracks)

By the way, if you haven’t heard of Zunior, it’s a great place to find Canadian music. Their prices are excellent, they use MP3 format, they include the album art in the download and you can even download high-quality lossless files for an additional $2/album.

[tags]explosions in the sky, great lake swimmers, clinic[/tags]