
It's the 15th, Music Alliance pact day! Here is this months M.A.P., 34 songs by 34 bands from 34 countries presented by 34 music blogs. Music Alliance Pact is a collaboration between 34 blogs from all over the world, and every month, each of us present a new band from our country. All presentations is put together in this huge blogpost, and presented on the same day in all 34 blogs. Massive promotion for the bands! This month we have been joined by Popop ( http://popop.wordpress.com/ ) from Estonia, while Deaf Indie Elephants [...]
well, what do you know? this month marks the 1st year anniversary of MAP , with its original contingent of 12 countries rallied and led by jason from scottish blog the pop cop . we here at i'm waking up to are honored as always to be bringing you the best music from singapore, especially through the recommendations of our local music ambassador brian koh . this month, our treat is the beautiful voice and music of inch chua , whose latest ep the bedroom is available for free download on her website [...]

Astazi e un an de cand The Pop Cop a inceput Music Alliance Pact alaturi de alte 11 bloguri. Astazi sunt 34 de bloguri care lunar incearca sa schimbe perspectiva asupra muzicii de pe intreg mapamondul. Din Romania, avem pentru octombrie, Vive La Noiz, cvartetul de rock alternativ din Bistrita/Cluj. Vive La Noiz - Bird Song Vive la Noiz could be seen as the usual alternative/indie band. Two girls and two boys starting a band in [...]
Neste calor de Outubro temos, muito convenientemente, a música dos Real Combo Lisbonense para dançar, no terraço de um casino, com oportunidade para um mergulho na piscina. Queremos o bar aberto, de preferência. Do Real Combo Lisbonense já, certamente, ouviram falar. Caso não tenham ouvido, não vos vou contar porque eles são para escutar e dançar. Além da possibilidade de fazerem aqui, na Music

JAPAN: JPOP Lover Henrytennis - Valencia Raincoats Another progressive band in the Tokyo music scene, Henrytennis feature instrumental dynamism influenced by post-rock, IDM, jam and progressive rock. Their members come from such outstanding Japanese bands as 4 Bonjour's Parties, Hula Hooper, Kuruucrew, Oceanlane and Shugo Tokumaru. Their excellent second album R.U.R. is released on November 11. ARGENTINA: Zonaindie [...]
It's been a year since Jason from The Pop Cop started Music Alliance Pact, a loose group of country specific blogs such as the one you're reading to showcase to each other's readership. Each month I choose a song that I think reflect the best of Australian music has to offer to the blogs. They are not necessarily the biggest hits or the most popular songs, but more what I think has the best chance of being listened to in the international blog readership. I hope you've enjoyed them because we will continue to do this as long [...]

October 15 is a landmark day for The Pop Cop as it is precisely one year since we introduced the world to the Music Alliance Pact. It really has been a global effort to get this far. From the initial 12 blogs/nations who joined the project, MAP has expanded to the 34 you see here today, the latest additions being Popop from Estonia and Deaf Indie Elephants , who are standing in for our regular Venezuelan contributors. Big or small, democratic or communist, there is a place [...]

I've been out and about a little less in recent weeks, trying to be more choosy with what I see, save a few $$, and get some work done. But it doesn't mean I've lost my love for live music, especially of the cheaper variety. It's awesome when I see a band that I never heard of and end up loving them, or a band I have some experience with that ends up really impressing me. It really happens more often than it rightly should, speaking to the depth of talent in this part of the world that has yet [...]

Image by Jack Dylan Here is part 4 of who I might or will see at Pop Montreal on Oct 3rd. 1:15pm: Faust at Espace Reunion which is a Symposium 7:30pm: End Of A Year at Underworld 8pm: Diamond Rings at Carbaret Juste Pour Rire Options: Daehyun Kim at Green Room 9pm: Kyrie Kristmanson at Calgibi Options: Centretown Cripplers at Il Motore 10pm: Rich Aucoin at L'Escogriffe Options: Katie Stelmanis at Casa Del Popolo The Balconies at Il Motore (MUST [...]

I read Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code at least a year after all the hype and hysteria had died down. I enjoyed the speculative nature of it, especially the whole Mary Magdelene debate and while it was criticised for its historical inaccuracy, it didn't worry me too much as it was a fun and entertaining read. I then went back and read Angels And Demons which I found to be a much better book, though both follow exactly the same formula: symbologist Robert Langdon is [...]

Frank Yang Toronto has a reputation for being standoffish, but I personally don't get it - I think we're downright neighbourly. Or at least our bands are. Or some of them. Consider excellent The Balconies , just moved to Hogtown from Ottawa in the last couple months, and they've already scheduled a record release show for their excellent debut album at Lee's Palace and they've gotten some of the buzziest up-and-coming bands in the 416 (and probably the 647 and maybe the 705) to join them. That's next Friday night, September [...]
The Balconies have been occupying a fair bit of my iPod time recently and I've been absolutely lappin' it up. While The Balconies came across as a straight up power-pop trio at first, I've come to realise that they do shift within different genres. From slow jams, to dancefloor tracks to experimental-grunge-rock; and the manage to be effortless successful in shifting within the genres. The trio consists of Jacquie Neville, her brother Steve and Liam Jaeger. Their tracks boast wonderful guitar licks, powerful drumming, catchy pop hooks and just a whole lot of energy. All [...]

The Blacksheep Inn was rocking it on September 12th! Playing were: Leif Vollebekk Whale Tooth The Balconies I've seen all three bands before. It was special fun night because it was the Balconies CD Release show. A great album to purchase and listen to. Love when a band [...]

sounds like : metric, the most serene republic, my first earthquake Download audio file (20090905_02_300_pages.mp3) what's so good? quick, powerful, and sweet: this toronto-threesome leaves me wanting to hear more and more. from the moment i first read that they were a classically-trained trio of ottawa university students, i had a feeling that i'd be in for something of a treat. after all, one of my favorite canadian bands, the most serene republic , has a similar background. turns out i was spot [...]

If I had to pick five songs that marked my summer, these come as no- brainers to me. No doubt that Think About Life have made the top of my list for albums of the year, so far, but this song is deathly addictive. Think About Life - Havin ' My Baby The Lovely Feathers recently had their "too hot for TV" video for ' Lowiza ' premiered on Playboy.com (Click here to check it out). The level of irony [...]

Frank Yang You need only look as far as Monday's post to see what I was doing at the Horseshoe on Wednesday night. What I hadn't mentioned in the writeup of The Balconies' debut album - out officially September 15 - was that I had been trying to catch the band live for some months now, based on numerous rave reviews, but while they'd played no shortage of shows in the 416 I'd not been able to make any of them until now. The fact that I'd been able to familiarize myself [...]
This past weekend featured a collection of some of the greatest live music I've seen in a while. Unfortunately, I missed the first day which featured Sadie Hell , Still Life Still , Parlovr , and Converters . Word is that Still Life Still and Parlovr killed it in front of a less than sizable crowd. Friday, featured The Balconies , The Love Machine , Modernboys Moderngirls , and Oh No Forest Fires . As far as energy goes, this was [...]
(photo: Ben Welland) When I first heard "Lulu", the opening track on Ottawa band The Balconies self-titled debut album, I had this odd out-of-body experience akin to moving back in time. The retro vibe of this jangly, effervescent power pop track reminds me of a cross between an ironic-free B-52's and early Britpoppers Echobelly, both of which are good things in my books. The buzz they've generated since forming in late 2007 is very much justified; The Balconies is an impressive collection of songs written by all three [...]
Aug 24, 2009, 3:45pm
MBV

Ben Welland I'm not sure why it's taking me so long to try and come up with words to describe The Balconies and their debut album - also called The Balconies and out September 15. It could be this epic nap that I woke up from a few hours ago but still haven't shaken loose, or maybe it's because whenever I start playing the record, that's 37 minutes that I'd rather just sit and listen instead of write. The Balconies stick to the tried-and-true power-trio format and on top of that, [...]

Ben Welland I'm not sure why it's taking me so long to try and come up with words to describe The Balconies and their debut album - also called The Balconies and out September 15. It could be this epic nap that I woke up from a few hours ago but still haven't shaken loose, or maybe it's because whenever I start playing the record, that's 37 minutes that I'd rather just sit and listen instead of write. The Balconies stick to the tried-and-true power-trio format and on top of that, [...]