Got to Lose

New video from all-round-good-time-band, Hollerado.
This one's called Got to Lose. Click on the post title, and prepare your self for a wild ride, filled with pop-up-band-fellas, old-timey microphones and most importantly umbrellas. And plenty of em too!

Enjoy!

The Bottom Line

Let me give you the gist of the post: you should be listening to banjo as you read this. The main point of this entry is that the Collective West is a four-piece band from right here in Edmonton, and by clicking the link you can begin to enjoy some of their tunes. Ok I'll stop prolonging the real nitty-gritty; take a listen to this basement/living room jam of their song, The Bottom Line.

Oh, you were looking for a final conclusion ? Well how about finding one out for yourself, by dropping by Avenue Theatre (9030 - 118th ave) this Friday. April 29th to see the Collective West, along with Scenic Route to Alaska and Politic Live in support of Rock to Conquer Cancer!?
A worthy cause, a silent auction, some great performers and for only $10. It'd be amazing if you found yourself saying no.*

*Unless you're under 18, then I'm sorry lovely minors, you'll have to wait your turn to hear this band live.

Royalty/Ice Hotels

Interested to hear more from the band Dinosaur Bones? Besides trying to steal a copy of their new album "My Divider" from one of the cool kids, you can indulge in these links of my personal favs:

Ice Hotel
 ---I love the acoustic version slightly more...
Ice Hotel (acoustic) - the guitarist in the middle as since been replaced

Royalty


You're a new fan already, ain't ya.

Really. Who is Esperanza Spalding...

...is something I'm sure a lot of you have either asked or heard since the Grammy's aired on Sunday. I actually wasn't going to write about this surprise, until I read the article you'll see below. Spalding won the Best New Artist award, beating out artists Justin Bieber, Drake, Florence & the Machine, and Mumford & Sons. You can click the title of this post to see it happen again. Now I'm not going to deny that I wasn't one of the few with the question...but instead of bashing and vandalizing her Wikipedia page (oh, yeah. That totally happened. Bieber's fans were so outraged that she won the award they took their anger out online, "updating" her Wiki to include things like "JUSTIN BIEBER DESERVED IT GO DIE IN A HOLE WHO THE HECK ARE YOU ANYWAY?"and "she now has the 2011 Grammy for being the Best New Artist! Even though no one has ever heard of her! Yay!". Read the entire article here) I thought it would be more appropriate to shed some light on someone who obviously should be recognized for a talent instead of  being bashed.
I won't go into her entire life story, which is pretty impressive I should point out, but some quick facts:

•  she taught herself how to play the violin when she was just five years old.
  - Even people with extensive training can find it difficult to learn this instrument
•  She began college when she was 16 and actually started teaching music at a college when she was just 20!
• She's the first jazz artist to win the Best New Artist Grammy

I definitely asked "Who?!" when I heard the winner of this award, but it just made me re-realize not to judge a music by how popular the rest of the world thinks they are, but by their talent. Listen to her live and you'll know what I'm sayin

PS. I know many of you won't take this into account, but the same thing goes for the Biebs. He may be mass-marketed, but he can also play the drums, piano, and guitar. All self taught. No voice lessons were had before he started making his now famous Youtube videos. Just remember: try not to judge anyone, including musicians, before getting to know what they're about!

Pumped Up Kicks

Just heard this song on the radio and felt that it must be shared with all you kind ladies and gents. Foster the People released the song on January 25, and will be playing at the upcoming Sasquatch Music Festival in Washington in May. Don't hesitate to enjoy Pumped Up Kicks

Sewing buttons to Bambi

(Link-terested? I'll give you permission to skip to the end of the post. Only cause I like you.)

Tokyo Police Club. Where to start. Not with their name, because, no, I'm not sure where they got it from. But how about with here is another really talented band from Ontario! They started releasing a few EP's in 2006, and came out with their debut album in 2008. It's pretty amazing that they're already just released their second full-length album: Champ. I saw them perform for the first time in summer 2007, at a local music festival. I had heard about them, barely, at the time...but just before seeing them I youtube the few singles they had out and was automatically hooked. Since it was so long ago it'd be hard for me to give you any details about the performance, but I do know that they were super energetic, while not being overly loud (which can kill a live performance easily). With their new album, one of the things that stands out the most

Anecdote: I actually had the honour of meeting them a few years ago, just before they started getting wide-spread and known. They were so nice!We had no paper for autographs, which were a surprise at the end, so we borrowed some from some people we recognized from our school. Typical of our school, it was graph paper (our high school was known for being nerdy to the extreme). Not only did we get told that graph paper was cool, I actually got an autograph-graph drawn by one of the band members (realting "Awesomeness" to...something I can't quite read)! Haha. (Oh and got to hug Dave, the lead singer, no big deal or anything...)

I'm bringing them up now, after so many years ago, because of their newest album "Champ" (which you should really pick up if you haven't already). I had heard "Wait Up (Boots of Danger)" (want a link? check the end of this post) on the radio repeatedly during the past year, and obviously found my self singing along in no time...and also not surprised when I found out it was by TPC. But now with their newest single "Bambi" I had no choice but to be convinced that they were back, and stickin around. It actually made me really happy since there it seems like so many bands have that potential to make stellar music, but something happens internally or externally that stops them. They definitely have their own recognizable sound (which I think I've mentioned is one of my deciding factors for the music I tend to be drawn towards...a unique lead voice is another)


The reason I thought to write this post is one of my favourite songs at the moment happens to be Bambi. The lyrics, vocals and how the instruments work together had me hooked from the first listen.
Now this one is a two-for-one deal. Not only do you get the crazy-catchy song...but you also get the crazy-cute (and in my opinion kinda talented dogs, I mean hey, not even all people can dive off a diving board!): Wait Up (Boots of Danger)

In the spirit of the season

Merry Christmas everyone! If you were nice this year I hope Santa was extra good to you, if you were naughty...well I hope Santa didn't check his list twice ;)

In keeping with the merriment and cheer, here's Jason Segel and Jack Black to serenade you a Christmas mash-up. I hope it makes your heart grow three sizes this day, like it did with mine.

I have a few Christmas favourites, new and old, I thought I'd share...I know they're wrapped in such pretty bows and ribbons, but don't worry, just tear into them!

Tegan and Sara - the Chipmunks Song (Christmas Don't be Late)
Bif Naked - Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Weezer - The Christmas Song
Blink 182 - Won't be Home for Christmas
My Chemical Romance - All I Want for Christmas is You 
the Cast of "Glee" - Last Christmas
Weezer - We Wish You a Merry Christmas
Band Aid - Do They Know it's Christmas? 
and my very favourites
U2 - Baby, Please Come Home
The Pogues - Fairytale of New York

Enjoy! Merry Christmas!

NB...I can't label/reference/tag everything, but it will all be under "Christmas"!

Your rhinestone eyes are like factories far away

So I'm currently streaming a local radio station (hereby known as..Phonics...because I'm not sure that I want to use it's actual name but can't stand continuing to say "local radio station"), and actually paused the post that I was writing to write this one. I've been meaning to write about this song, but didn't feel like it needed any introduction. But just in case there are the few that haven't heard it yet I felt that this was an important note.

This song has been out for a while, and the band for even longer: Gorillaz - Rhinestone Eyes. Just as I was hoping that the Gorillaz weren't going to be a few-hits-wonder I heard this lovely beat pulsing out of my radio. I've been semi-addicted to this song...It's just amazing how there are so many different styles rolled into one song. I know that you'll fall for it too. You know the (new) drill, click on the title of the post! We now return to regularly scheduled programming.

The Ghost Inside

If Broken Bells keeps turning out such amazing songs so often I won't be able to keep up! The duo is made up of Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse) and James Mercer, lead singer and guitarist for The Shins (don't worry, I just learned this info about 2 minutes ago myself...Jaw still dropped); while touring they're followed by a full band though.

They just released their debut album of the same name in March of this year and their previous hit would be "The High Road".

This time it's all about "The Ghost Inside" though. There is an intro that takes up most of the video (about half), but it's worth it to hear the song. (Not that I'm encouraging it...but you can also find versions of the song on Youtube without the intro included ;)

Take a listen for yourself, click on the title of this post!