Woodpigeon - "That Was Good But You Can Do Better" I'm pretty sure it was at i (heart) music where I first came across Calgary's Woodpigeon. It's a 7-and-then-some strong supercrew behind front man Mark Hamilton, and what comes out is pretty, backwoodsy orchestral pop music. There are other long-winded titles from 2006's Songbook that might be better, but this one has such cool feel. It imagines conversation if it were accompanied by a live soundtrack. This one is a pleasant shuffle with the [...]
There are loads of music recommendation and radio sites on the interweb, but many of them leave me cold. For 10 years, Canada's Iceberg Radio has broadcast several music stations over the Internet using a simple interface. It isn't flashy and there aren't a lot of bells and whistles. You may not consider this a bad thing. Considering the emphasis some short-sighted radio and music discovery sites are placing on style over substance these days, they'd do well to spend time studying websites (on any topic) that do the opposite. I spent some time listening [...]
Saturday was my last day in Montreal but the beautiful and unseasonably warm weather decided to take off a day early, leaving things cold, grey and wet in its wake. Most of the day was spent doing not much of consequence though I did pop into the Pop & Policy workshop on dealing with the media (from the artist's POV) and much as my "The New Influencers" panel at last year's FMC turned into "Meet Ryan Schreiber", this one ended up a "Ex-Unicorns vs The Media" grudge match, featuring a prickly Nick Diamonds and J'aime Tambeur, formerly of [...]
there's a certain homelyness to my homilies. they usually come back to log fires, crisp linen, home cooking, hand stitched, i'm sure it gets a little twee and dull sometimes but i've started this week with that relieved, fresh bedding feeling. like the fog's starting to clear, or i've gotten round to rubbing the sleep from my eyes. like i can finally say with some conviction that i'm enjoying the view from here. part of this re-invigoration seems to be a desire to find new music again. [...]
It has been a decidedly un-rock weekend in the northern lonesome HQ - have been busy decorating, looking at walls and thinking about houses and homes. Home is quite a complicated concept, isn't it? Neither Howard nor I live in the place we grew up in, but we both refer to it as 'home'. In fact, the image in our title bar is of the fair town itself. I'm not sure where home stops and starts. I'm pretty sure that it has more to do with where the heart is than laying down hats though. [...]
Hmm... I seem to be having some sort of "pigeon" fixation at the moment.... WOODPIGEON is from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. If you know about Calgary at all, it's probably in relation to its having hosted the Winter Olympics in 1988. Personally, I know it as the home of the Calgary Flames -- the team that knocked my Detroit Red Wings out of the Stanley Cup playoffs in 2004. Therefore, I hold something of a grudge against Calgary, Alberta, Canada. And let's face it: Tourist destination-wise, it's no [...]
Photography "Narcissism Exposed" by Black Frances This is definitely one of the easiest post/obsessions I get to make. Woodpigeon, being billed as Alberta, Canada's answer to Sufjan Stevens, and yeah, I see the similarities. Lush orchestrations, complex melodies, and a rather diverse use of voices & instrumentations make the similarities valid... but I, for one, never really got into Sufjan. Sure "Majesty Snowbird" is beautiful, and there was another one that was stuck in my head for a day or say, some christian one, [...]
Woodpigeon - "Home As A Romanticized Concept Where Everyone Loves You Always And Forever". Mark Hamilton used to live in Scotland but is now back in Canada. So he's like the future version of me - I, who leave Edinburgh in 8 days, and who will return to the the land of frost & tulips in May. It's therefore fitting that we have here a song about home, home (ahem) as a romanticized concept where everyone loves you always and forever. And indeed that's what I hear in these four minutes: warmth and love, familiar spaces, forgotten harmonies, that place [...]
Your New Favorite Song
Kofi's hat
Chromewaves
horselatitudes
lonesome music
a PLAGUE of ANGELS
T S U R U R A D I O
Said the Gramophone
Neutral Milk Hotel- Aeroplane Over the Sea
Bison - Quill
American Idol Finalists: where are they now?
