Toronto - So the Bonnarroo Music and Arts Festival happens every year in Manchester, Tennessee. Much like SXSW, Lollapalooza and Coachella. Actually I think nowadays, there's a outdoor music festival somewhere every weekend. However, Bonnarroo has been slowly growing in stature over the past few years, and bigger and bigger names have been added to it. This year is no exception, check out the roster here What is so interesting about it is the large variety of music being played at this festival - Jay-Z, Stevie Wonder, Flaming Lips, Norah Jones, John Fogerty, [...]
Toronto - Brooklyn's own soul queen Sharon Jones has been hard at work on her fourth album I Learned The Hard Way . It is scheduled for release on April 6th. The Panic Manual is no stranger to covering Sharon Jones and her soul revivalist band, the Dap-Kings. She will be performing several shows at SXSW, and this will be a great opportunity for funk and soul enthusiasts to get a preview of her latest efforts and those of bassist Bosco Mann. I will be the first to admit that I have a bit of a [...]
Toronto - One of the acts I'm more excited about at SXSW is Marina and the Diamonds . Filled with witty lyrics about society, a wide range of musical styles and a soulful voice, her debut album The Family Jewels has been consistently in my rotation since came out on February 22nd. I'm pretty sure she'll be pretty big sometime soon, so it'll be nice to see her in a smallish venue before she reaches Lily Allen levels. Check out her new single, the cleverly written Hollywood . Also, Spinner has an interview with [...]
Toronto - This song was the lead track off Mansun 's sophomore album - Six . For those who don't know, Mansun was a rock band out of England that came to prominence during the dark days of post Brit pop. They released their first album, a conceptual space prog rock album named 'Attack of the Grey Lantern' to critical acclaim. Their second album, Six, was probably another concept album and was also similarly critically acclaimed (check out this 1999 Pitchfork review ). I remember back in the day, when I still bought physical things like compact [...]
Toronto - According to Aux.TV , the duo known as Thunderheist is no more as both Grahm Zilla and Isis are going their own separate ways. While these things are always played out as mutual ... you have to wonder if there was a Shawn Michaels/Marty Janetty moment*. Anyways, I saw Thunderheist at least once , maybe twice in the past few years and they put on a good show. If anything, the band has left us with this video: thunderheist - jerk it from thatgo on [...]
Toronto - "So this is an interesting evening ... I think, anyways." These were the words of Peasant, AKA Damien DeRose, as he began his set this evening, and truer words were never spoken. This was certainly an interesting evening, one full of a wide range of musicians and a lively crowd. Peasant started the night off early, playing a short but sweet unaccompanied set of acoustic guitar based songs which brought to mind performers such as Elliott Smith or Badly Drawn Boy. The crowd [...]
Toronto - The music of The Pack A.D. represents pretty much how you'll feel after attending any music festival - a bit rock and roll, a bit dirty, a bit sleazy and a bit cooler then you thought you could ever be. The Pack AD are from Vancouver and consists of two girls - Becky Black on guitar and Maya Miller on the drums. They like to pound the shit out of their instruments. I saw them at Sneaky Dees for NXNE a few years ago and they definitely left an impression. They had the same effect on [...]
Toronto - So there's two big festivals going on in march - SXSW and CMW, so in the next few weeks, we'll be posting up some random stuff about bands that are playing at these festivals. First up is Floridian band Surfer Blood . These guys are currently riding a wave of critical acclaim ( Pitchfork gave it 8.2) into Austin and you can be sure their showcases will be packed. Their album Astro Coast was released on January 19th and reviews have generally been favorable. Also, they have TWO songs named after a WWF catchphrase [...]
Toronto - Is San Francisco now a hip and happening music scene? In the past year you had the band Girls come out of nowhere, and now, the Morning Benders are knocking on the door of internet explosiongasm with their harmonious chill tune Excuses . Their sophomore album Big Echo will be out March 9th off Rough Trade and is produced by Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear fame. This to me, sounds like a sure hit. Not only that, this band has ASIANS in it! How awesome is that, first, figure skating, now, [...]
![CD Review – April Smith, Songs For A Sinking Ship [2010, self-released]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/2348473_lg.jpg)
Toronto - The internet is the great democratizer of our age. To be fair, we're still struggling with what exactly it means when everyone is given an anonymous and potentially powerful voice. As with any technology, we must take the pro's with the con's. It's both over and under-whelming to see what we humans can do with this here internet. But if one thing is clear, it's that the rules, they are a changin'. For the the music business, it's been inexorably changing, and quickly too. Just think of how the music industry used to operate prior [...]
![The Art of Sound Vol. 1: This Is Your Brain On Music [Book Review, Plume, 2007]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/2331117_lg.jpg)
Toronto - Did you know that with just the tiniest bit of digital trickery, I can make a harp sound like a trumpet? All I have to do is record a trumpet playing a particular note, say an A, and do the same with the harp. Then, in some recording software, I could take the very earliest part of the trumpet's A, just as the note is beginning and tack on the vast majority of the rest of the harp's A. That is all. Your ears would be tricked into hearing a trumpet playing an A. That [...]
Toronto - What happens in that moment when you capture the eye of a complete stranger? In a fraction of second, it seems like the shields that separate the two of you are down; and your looking directly into the being of the other. Taking just such a moment and expanding what that might look like into a three and a half minute short-film is exactly what Arev Manoukian did with Nuit Blanche . As a result, he won top honours at LG's inaugural Life's Good FilmFest . In 2009, with the sponsorship of celebrity [...]
![CD Review: The Drums – Summertime [2009, Moshi Moshi]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/2287517_lg.jpg)
Toronto - It's a new year, this means new albums. However, I am stuck listening to an album from 2009 that I somehow overlooked. It's the Drums - Summertime EP off Moshi Moshi records. I have no idea when this album/EP was released, but dang, it's good. As Allison eluded to earlier, the band has it's fair share of early 80s influences - songs like Submarine screams The Cure, if big Bob was always happy. The whistling on Lets Go Surfing is the most effective use of whistling since Peter Bjorn and [...]
Toronto - Leave it to Buffet Libre to remixes one of last years saddest songs into a reasonably danceable tune. I pretty much love whatever these guys do and this remix is no exception. Check it out in all it's synth dripping glory. The Antlers open for the Editors at the Phoenix on February 16th. I will be there. ps.. I know it's not Wednesday. Related posts: Remix Wednesday: Shwayze - Buzzin (Remix by Classixx) Toronto - It's been awhile since we've had [...]
![CD Review: Editors – In This Light and On This Evening [2009, Kitchenware Records]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/2270452_lg.jpg)
Toronto - Released in October of this year, this review is what I would call a bit delayed, but better now then never. In This Light and On This Evening is the third album from the Editors , a band often compared to Interpol because the two lead singers sound similar. Their first two albums were full of guitar driven rock, and I guess they got bored of that formula because the third album is quite a bit different, featuring heavy usage of the synth, but in a more industrial post punk kind of way. Perhaps the [...]
Toronto - Coachella will always hold a place in my heart. It was the first music festival I'd ever gone to, and well, it was a really good one. I'll always remember the great Mexican food in LA, Del Taco run late in the night at Palm Springs and walking around with a wet towel on my head to keep cool in that 100 degree temperature. Despite all the fond memories, I still have not gone back since going in 2004. This year, once again, appears to be a no go. Check out the poster above. The [...]
HK - I love Suede. Check out my last.fm profile. I listen to them quite a bit. I decided to listen to that Girls band because their promo picture had a guy with a Suede shirt on. I even wrote a short, and probably crappy series on the blog about individual Suede songs I like to try and get people to listen to them. When I'm moderately drunk at parties, I like to blast "The Asphalt World" despite the fact it will completely kill the mood and depress everyone around. I only wear clothes made of Suede material. [...]
At first I thought I might tackle a Top 100 of the 00's list, but I realised a few crucial things about 5 minutes into compiling my list: My memory is hazy at best What can I say that Pitchfork hasn't already said? Instead, I'm compiling the most sexeriffic songs of of the 00's. Sebastien Tellier - Roche, 2008 Those stink lines you see coming off Sebastien Tellier isn't........OK. It probably is [...]
2009 was a good year to me. I finally finished my Ph.D. degree in Geology after 6 long years at the University of Maryland, in the suburbs of DC. In September, I packed up for a new job in Chicago, extending my stay in the States for another year or two. Unfortunately, however, my ability to branch out and listen to new bands was severely hampered by the craziness of finishing my PhD and the joys of moving. Be that as it may, I will still outline some of my top musical points of the year: [...]
Toronto – So 2009 was kind of a weird year for me. While a lot of great music came out this year, it was also the year I became more apathetic about music for some reason. It's because of this that I actually had a bit of a hard time remembering what I heard and actually liked this year. That said, here's the stuff I liked the most this year, organized in the most arbitrary and illogical manner possible. SONGS: Grizzly Bear featuring Michael McDonald – "While You Wait For The [...]
The Panic Manual
Skrillex Uses Satanic and Homosexual Influence to Win Grammys
A-Trak - "Round of Applause" / "Where My Money At" (MP3 Download)
Diplo & Usher “Climax”
Diplo - "Climax" (MP3 Stream)
