AWmusic

The Death by Decibels tour came to the Opera House in Toronto on the 22nd of November. I checked it out with my friend Roman and I was pretty disappointed. I guess I just prefer thrash metal better than death metal. Me and Roman arrived at the venue nearly two hours late cuz we were searching for a LCBO. I had to chug my cheap Genesee beer on the way there, on the street and in the subway. I ended up chugging 4 beers in like 40 minutes.

Anyways, when we finally got to the gig, we missed 2 openers, Veil of Maya and Abigail Williams. Malevolent Creation (the second headlining band of the tour) couldn’t be part of this Canadian part of the tour because our lovely Customs wouldn’t let them in the country. They were not the only band that couldn’t get into Canada that week. Leftover Crack was also not let into the country (BIG disappointment). All this tax money we’re paying, and you’d think these government custom guards can do their jobs properly and go catch some REAL terrorists and drug traffickers.

Due to me and Roman arriving so late and Malevolent Creation not performing, we only saw 3 performances. Light This City was pretty fucking awesome. Their leadsinger chick was hot and they put up a good energetic performance. Cattle Decapitation’s performance was pretty shitty and disappointing. Vader was ok. There wasn’t much of a mosh pit going for them. And they didn’t come out for an encore after to make up for Malevolent Creation missing the tour.

Veil of Maya – Mark My Words

Light This City – Maddening Swarm

Malevolent Creation – Jack the Ripper

Cattle Decapitation – Pedeadstrians

Vader – Sword Of The Witcher

Anyway West Indian Girl is actually named after a strain of acid. They are from Los Angeles and they started out as a two-piece band but has slowly put together a full set (including the hot girls ). I was sent 4th and Wall and after seeing many blogs decided to write a post on West Indian Girl, I figure I should give it a shot.

4th and Wall I would have to describe as mainly as a pop album with solid lyrics. As always the case I dig the mix of male/female vocals. At times it does get annoying the random beats and attempts to be psychedelic…there are some periods without vocals that annoy me. It’s a decent album but I think this band could be more successful with a more simpler sound.

I’m giving this album a 3.5 out of 5. Nothing I can compare it to… but it’s solid with a few tracks I think some people would dig like “Sophia”, “All My Friends” and “Back To You”. “Live In Die in LA” is the only track I’m allowed to post and it is one of their better songs but due to every other blog having only this track I feel discouraged as I like to post different stuff and stand out from the other blogs .

Anyway check out this track it’s pretty decent and it’s possibly a Tupac refernece?

To Die in LA by West Indian Girl

Kate Nash lists one of my favorite artists, Regina Spektor as an influence though most call her a bit of a mix between Lily Allen and Spektor, a comparison I would’ve gone with without reading anything. Kate Nash is a 20-year old British hottie, and I’d very much like to marry her (anyone wanna introduce her to me? haha). Anyway from listening to her stuff she definitely is a very talent songwriter with a great voice. Not as quite as good as Regina but I don’t think many can compare. Nash is compared to Allen because she sings with the usually curse word, kind of the bad ass attitude shown by Allen.

To me Kate is much more talented then Lily Allen. Her album Made of Bricks which is released in the States in January should probably be a huge hit (if not there is no God as she is too talented). She’s quite a hit with the blogs, YouTube and mySpace so it’s only a matter of time before she becomes successful in the mainstream (and then I’ll forget about her because the mainstream is not cool) Her album has received “meh” reviews but I think this album is more about talent and artistry rather then the pop songs that Lily Allen spews out. Specifically Pitchfork (I hate their reviews) shows no consistency when reviewing this album but whatever I still use it as potential new albums that are released. I don’t read their reviews and only check out the mySpaces of the artist myself.

I’ll give it a 4 out of 5. For being solid and giving me a few songs that I really love.

Foundations, Mouthwash and Mariella ended up being my favorites (though I loved a few others). Mariella shows such great vocal talent and you should listen to the song fully.

Mariella by Kate Nash
Foundations by Kate Nash
Video for Mouthwash:

Anyway their myspace page sadly only has around 2,000 profile views as I write this and they are much more deserving. They offer their tracks freely available to download (I’m hotlinking their mp3s so just visit their website if you like what you hear).

Their myspace has 4 tracks playing that I would recommend checking it out.

Otherwise listen to these two tracks and if you like harder rock with great intros and great riffs throughout with pretty vocals you’ll like Lowstar.

Alphabet Blues by Lowstar

Out of Control by Lowstar

Anyway to honor a Canadian tradition, here’s are some songs dedicated to tonight’s game from my play list. Enjoy!

1. Champagne From A Paper Cup by Death Cab For Cutie.
2. A Sunday Smile by Beirut
3. Green Gloves by the National
4. Rough Hands by Alexisonfire
5. Bunny Ain’t No Kind of Rider by Of Montreal(3 songs for the Riders, their colors are green fyi)
6. Bomb Inside the Bomb by We Are Scientists
7. True Blue by the Bright Eyes
8. Gold Mine Gutted by the Bright eyes (for the Blue & Gold – Blue Bombers)
9. Bundle Up by Arrah & The Ferns (though it’s indoors this year, the Grey Cup is always played in the cold!)

We first went to the free concert, part of the Grey Cup festival. First off the stage was badly done with a 6-foot high dog-type fence which was like 5 feet back from the stage. The fence was constantly pushed forward (by the screaming 14-year olds) but who could blame them? It was a shitty fence and this is a thumbs down to the Grey Cup organizers.

The first band we saw was The Reason. An emo type band based on impressions, Kevin and I did not really like what we saw. Must suck to be an opening act to a free show though. IllScarlett was decent, I felt weird standing with 14-year old girls screaming and Kevin… I wasn’t much of a fan of them but I do admit that they have a pretty good bassist and guitarist. I don’t have any pictures due to the fence and I just didn’t bother. A pretty good band, a mainstream act that has some talent but being mainstream can really wreck some bands.

Sebastien Grainger -former singer/drummer of Death From Above 1979 walked in with what I would call it the Freddy Mercury look. I’m not a fan of tight white pants and I could barely recognize him and on a hunch (based on skill) figured he was from Death From Above. Kevin really dug this performance and I’ll have to agree. I was good shit with Grainger’s backing band showing energy with solos and awesome transitions (with the occasional chug of beer). Granger and his backing band were awesome despite the small crowd they drew (I guess people didn’t know who he was). The sound at Lee’s wasn’t too good but I think we should all look out for Grainger. He’ll be rocking some shows eventually. I didn’t specifically recognize any songs that stood out (most if not all songs were good) so here’s a random track I found online:
The Rhythm Method

The Stills had a packed crowd waiting for their arrival. They played a few old tracks while some people sang along and cheered. They really set up for nice photo opportunities. The Stills fresh off signing to Arts & Crafts, planned to play some new songs. They played at least 6 new tracks for us. It was really tough to sit through as they played the majority all in a row. Without anyone really knowing any the songs it was kind of a crowd killer. If you are a Stills fan then you should know that they had Tim Fletcher on vocals the majority of the time, a move I strongly agree with. However the new stuff seemed very experimental and more complex to what they would normally do. It relied less on vocals with louder bass and harder drumming and more complex guitar solos. I think this may be a disadvantage as The Stills relied on the simplicity to capture my brain. I’m not too sure what to think about the new stuff.. I’ll wait to hear it when it’s released in ‘08.

Here’s a track off Without Feathers (which is grower but I have neglected it) with Emily Haines of Metric
Baby Blues by the Stills

Click below to see various pics (you could find the rest on my facebook if you wish to add me):
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We actually haven’t gotten the tickets to see the Stills but crossing my fingers Rotate This will have it.

I am pretty excited for today, Illscarlett is playing for free and in the outdoors. and it’s freezing like hell. A storm is expected but meh it should be a fun day out.

The Stills have always been one of my favorite bands so I’m really happy to be finally seeing them. It’ll be my 4th concert (or 4th and 5th if you want count literally). Bands like the Arcade Fire, White Stripes and Muse are hard to compare to! Hopefully on Saturday I’ll have some pretty good pictures.

Here are some mp3s as usual:

Nothing Special by IllScarlett

Yesterday Never Tomorrows

I have no idea about the origins of the name Plajia (I think it’s pronounced pla-ja) Plajia identifies themselves as acoustic/ambient. Genre picking aside (they don’t matter) Plajia has a diverse sound for me ranging from pop to simple acoustic.

Patrick Pleau has a pretty good voice and if you check out his myspace on the song “Sleeping” he really displays his vocal talent (sorry no mp3 to offer). His voice seems to carry most of the songs though.

Anyway two tracks I thought were pretty good on Plajia’s Beautiful Explosion, which was recently released.

Beautiful Explosion by Plajia – Very very poppy/catchy. Not the most original but it can grab your attention. This songs sounds familiar…can’t get my finger on it.

Beating The Charms by Plajia. This is a much better track though not as good as “Sleeping”. Vocals are excellent here.

His power pop style is nothing new to the music industry, but Bryce incorporates a genuine happiness to his music that cannot be denied. Unlike the sounds you hear from Disney, or major record labels, his joy is not manufactured. His upbeat music comes from the heavy use of pianos, and aggressive chorus lines. The variation of instruments is what really drives the pop sound, unlike other bands which will often use synthesized sounds to create an upbeat sound. I’ve listened to Hello Good Friend, and Do You Feel, quite thoroughly over the past week and was impressed with both albums.

Hello Good Friend, is definitely the softer of the two albums. This album has a heavier use of acoustic guitar, and solo pianos. It includes much cleaner instrumentals and slower paces for half of the album. The other half is his usual, upbeat, high key, fast paced, pop influenced rock. The two notables off this album are Never Knew and Brat Pack, which are coincidently back to back. Never Knew is a sad toned song, which starts off with his traditional piano solo and soft vocals, which quickly turns into a very aggressive emotional song, that has a strong chorus as the kicker. Brat Pack on the other hand starts off with a piano riff as well, but has a much more vibrant beat, and quickly becomes a memorable song that proves to be more of the happy power pop that has made The Rocket Summer famous.

Do You Feel, the most recent album, is much more vibrant and only because it is more consistent in terms of the happy-go-lucky songs attached to The Rocket Summer. Even the sadder songs, are fast paced and do a good job of displacing the passion that I saw at the concert. The most memorable song off this album is So Much Love, which truly embellishes what The Rocket Summer is all about.

The Rocket Summer – Never Knew

The Rocket Summer – Brat Pack

The Rocket Summer – So Much Love

When listening to their album at first I started getting a slight headache from the barrage of different sounds from all other the place. At first I felt as if I wasn’t going to like this album by APTBS. For whatever reason psychedelic/experimental rock doesn’t naturally suit me due to being incredibly complex and I really just got to dig deep and trying to listen. Eventually I turned a corner and started digging some tracks. The first track I dug was the 7th track “I Know I’ll See You”. Why did I like this compared to the other tracks? For me maybe it was the bass that played so additively throughout the song. Other songs I could arguably say I disliked based on style and on my own personal preference

For me this was a great learning experience and I probably have a clearer picture as to why I probably hated Battles’ Mirrored. I almost hated tracks like “To Fix The Gash In Your Head” or “Don’t Think Lover” right off the bat and it just reminded me of Battles.

I am giving this album a 4.5 out of 5. Tough for me to listen to at first but it has won me over.

Here are my two favorite tracks:

I Know I’ll See You by A Place To Bury Strangers

Breathe by A Place To Bury Strangers