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I was shown Carlin videos and his stuff is absolutely amazing. I generally stayed from wishing the dead well but Carlin is an inspiration. He’s controversial in nature with those 7 dirty words (those 7 words aren’t even that bad, it’s a fucking joke) and his opinions. However he argues well and he has a way with words.

His routine was intelligent rather then stupid and I really felt my brain was satisfied listening to him speak whether I agreed with him or not.

A great speaker and yeah I’m sad about his death. His legend lives on and you’ll be amazed when you check out his work.

Rest In Peace.

Here is his Religion is bullshit video:

Here’s a famous one about voting:

The Canadian dates are:
July 2 – Metropolis Jazz Fest – Montreal
July 3 – Theatre Imperial Summer Festival – Quebec City
July 4 – Harbourfront Centre – Toronto
July 5 – Blues Fest – Ottawa

To celebrate these Canadian tours, Nettwerk wanted to celebrate by dishing out some free stuff and free stuff is the shit. Nettwerk is giving away 3 packages that includes a CD of Velocifero and a Ladytron tote bag.

Here are the rules:
1. To Enter all you have to do is leave a comment to this post while filling out the e-mail in the accompanied form. No e-mail no entry. You can also leave your e-mail in your comment but I wouldn’t do that unless you love spam.
2. One entry per person, it’s not a big giveaway.
3. Contest is open to anyone, anywhere. Unlike the Ting Tings contest which was just for Canadians.
4. Winners will be selected randomly and will then be contacted by e-mail in which I will ask for your mailing address.
5. Contest ends July 2nd, Ladytron’s first Canadian date.

Here are Ladytron’s other tour dates:

25 Jun Terminal 5 (All Ages) New York, New York
26 Jun Fillmore at the Theater of Living Arts (All Ages) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
27 Jun Sonar (All Ages) Baltimore, Maryland
28 Jun Merriweather Post Pavillion (with Thievery Corporation & TV on the radio) Washington DC
30 Jun Paradise (18+) Boston, Massachusetts
8 Jul Apollo (with Interpol) Manchester
9 Jul Academy (with Interpol) Sheffield
12 JulCreamfields Central Europe Breclav
16 Jul 2008 London Astoria (Rescheduled show) London, London and South East
17 Jul (DJ) Lido Berlin
31 Jul Emmaboda Festival Emmaboda
1 Aug Venice Airport Festival Venice
8 Aug Pantiero Festival Cannes
14 Freequency Festival Salzburg
29 Aug Hydro Connect Festival Invenray (Scotland)
30 Aug The Magic Loungeabout North Yorkshire
6 Sep Beat it Festival Porto
9 Sep (DJ) Monkey Cafè Swansea (Wales)
29 SepMetro Sydney
1 Oct Tivoli Brisbane
2 Oct Corner Hotel Melbourne
4 Oct The Great Escape Festival Sydney
5 Oct Bakery Artrage Complex Perth

Here are some hot mp3s by Ladytron:
Black Cat by Ladytron
Versus by Ladytron

Sarah Perrotta is a singer/song-writer out of Hudson Valley, New York. I assume she found me after I had done a post on Quitzow. Perrotta was part of a band Outland Dreamer. She currently plays with Tony Levin and Garth Hudson two rock veterans.

Perrotta has toured with the Barenaked Ladies, Sarah Harmer and Jason Collett some pretty notable Canadian musicians. I think Harmer is a great comparison as a start. Like other female singer song writers it’s hard not to make comparisons to the typical singers and I’ll refrain from listing any more.

Perrotta has a great voice with her backing band not afraid to try interesting yet subtle arrangements with the accordion, bass etc. Otherwise Perrotta’s attraction is her voice and her song writing. The Well starts off kind of slow with “Out of Grace” but it picks up the pace and becomes a perfect love song.

I’m still trying to figure out the rest of the album to be honest. It was pressed into action with my laptop still down and I just received this album to review in the mail. The constants being that the music is very relaxing and with Sarah’s beautiful soothing voice I can see myself falling asleep to it. To be fair I don’t see myself getting past the first track though I can safely say there’s a lot to like already though even though I don’t complete like certain songs.

I would say I like Into Bloom and Midnight Lullaby as well but otherwise I wouldn’t be able to name some songs off the top of my head.

I find myself a little bit bored of the tracks but I’m definitely willing to fault my personal tastes on this as I’m more of a rock lover and it’s not like I’m expecting metal guys to enjoy something like this, it won’t happen. It’s more Adult Contemporary, something that I believe would be a great fit on some radio stations (and AC is still pretty good, tons of guilty pleasures there for me).

Rating: 3.75 or Incomplete. I didn’t really have much to say but hopefully I painted enough of a picture. Definitely check out “Out of Grace” if anything since that’s an awesome track.

This album was self released so check out her website on details on where to buy her album.

MP3s to listen to:
Out of Grace by Sarah Perrotta
Into Bloom by Sarah Perrotta

Allan:How was it doing the interviews for NME? It seemed awkward at times when a few interviewees didn’t seem to get what you guys were doing.
We Are Scientists: “Comedy is rarely comfortable.” Oscar Wilde said that. Just kidding, I made that up a second ago. It’s true enough to be Oscar Wilde, though.

A: What records in 2008 are you digging?
WAS:M83, Mystery Jets, Last Shadow Puppets, Frightened Rabbit. No record has yet approached our new one, of course, in terms of how much money I get if it does well.

(A: I probably should check out these records, I’m a big fan of Frightened Rabbit’s Midnight Organ Fight.)

Are you guys into any sports? Have a favorite team?
Not sports fans, no. I like sports in the sense that I like to play high-energy games, but watching other people play high-energy games is without appeal for me. Exactly like eating: I love to do it, both solo and with others, but would almost never opt to spectate as other people ate. The exception, obviously, in each case, would be if some historic endeavor was being undertaken — a record broken, an entirely new approach demonstrated, etc.

If you guys were not musicians what profession would you see yourselves in? (Other then being scientists of course)
Sick, sick, sick snowboarders.

Do you still read reviews of your records?
Frankly, yes — if not avidly. And it makes me happy when a reviewer likes the record and sad when he doesn’t. Although if a reviewer, in writing about the record, outs himself as illiterate or humorless or stupid, or ugly, I definitely feel much less sad. Less sad than if he argues persuasively and intelligently for the record being a piece of shit.
I can’t defend this, though, reading the reviews — I don’t think it’s constructive.

On to less serious stuff…
What “chemicals” do the We Are Scientists experiment with?
Just alcohol, really. And semen. (I have a beautiful little kid whom I love, so I can totally say that.)

(Allan: I read experimenting with semen the wrong way…..)

Referring to your myspace, while animals are a great influence and sounding like 50 other animals is wonderful, how come you don’t list the Panda Bear? (not of fan of Noah Lennox?)
We just haven’t, in all honesty, been influenced by Pandas, whereas we definitely have been influenced by the Alligator, the Dove, the Kookaburra, the Ram, the Ant, the Dragon, the Leopard, the Raven, the Antelope, the Dragonfly, the Lion, the Raccoon, the Armadillo, the Ducks, the Lizard, the Road Runner, the Badger, the Eagle, the Llama, the Robin, the Bat, the Egret very much, the Loon, the Rooster, the Bear, the Elephant, the Lynx, the Sea Anemone, the Beaver, the Elk, the Magpie, the Seahorse, the Blackbird, the Falcon, the Margay, the Seal, the Blue Jay, the Fish, the Monkey, the Skunk, the Boar, the Flamingo, the Mockingbird, the Snail, the Buffalo, the Fox, the Moose, the Snake, the Bull, the Frog, the Mouse, the Spider, the Butterfly, the Giraffe in particular, the Ocelot, the Squirrel, the Camel, the Gorilla, the Opossum, in weird ways the Swallow, the Cardinal, the Grackle, the Otter, the Swan, the Cat, the Grasshopper, the Owl, the Tapir in particular, the Catbird, the Griffin, the Panther, the Tarantula, the Chipmunk, the Grouse, the Peacock, the Tiger, the Condor, the Hawk, believe it or not the Pegasus, the Turkey, the Cougar, the Hedgehog, the Penguin, the Turtle, the Coyote especially, the Heron, the Phoenix, the Unicorn, the Cow, the Hippopotamus, the Pigeon, the Vulture, the Crane, the Horse, the Porcupine, the Weasel, the Cricket, the Hummingbird, the Prairie Dog to a lesser extent, the Wolf, the Crocodile, the Hyena, the Quail, the Whale, the Crow, the Jaguar, the Rabbit, the Woodpecker, the Deer, the Kingfisher, the Zebra, the Dog, and of course the Dolphin.

I’m a big fan of your advice column…here are a few questions seeking help:

Query: I’m looking to get a tattoo but I’m not sure what to get and where to get it. Do you have any tattoos and what would you suggest?
I don’t have any tattoos. Keith has a large Fidel Castro on his back, because he hates Castro and wanted to graphically demonstrate that he has “turned his back on Castro.”
Knowing little about you personally, I would suggest you get a squad of Smurfs — eight Smurfs, say — with full Vietnam-era U.S. Army Infantry outfitting (camos, M16s, radio pack, etc.). This is vague enough that it can express your feelings about The Nam regardless of what they are. Get it on your face.

Query #2: I’m looking to lose some weight but I’m having a hard time. How do you guys keep slim? And what would you suggest I do to lose weight?
We barely ever eat. You should eat less. Eating leads to fat, and fat makes you fat. To reduce fat buildup in your body, eat only on special occasions like family get-togethers or a close friend’s birthday party. Drinking milkshakes or big glasses of raw eggs are not effective ways of “not eating”, because if those things were in solid form, you would consider them food (ice cream and scrambled eggs, respectively). Try to drink only things that, when in solid form, don’t count as food: water and vodka.

MP3: Chick Lit by We Are Scientists

I wasn’t sure what to expect with Art College, I really dug the song Sponsor (It Didn’t Mean A Thing) with the cellos being the main attraction in the song. It could’ve gone either way…it was also likely that I wouldn’t be able to get past the first track which will probably remain my favorite.

The second track is “On Tv!” which is kind of strange track with a member distortion their vocals into a robot (reminding me of Intergalatic by the Beastie Boys). Otherwise an alright track but nothing special or cool. Lyrics are a bit too repetitive here as well. The next track “Peanut” is a weird track, doesn’t sound anything resembling like the first two tracks. I could find this track addictive but it’s a little bit too much on the strange side. The strange sounds remind me a little puppy….

The title track Art College is kind of a cool sounding track but otherwise kind of forgettable in my opinion. I really like the 5th track “Better Than Ever” with some classical influence and great sounding vocals. This track is incredibly dense as well as catchy. Stay Away From John is an above average track…stay away from John he’s just a pimp! Kind of catchy but I find myself a little bored on the musical side.

Another great track “Love” begins with a classical/new-wave slow style paced intro. Almost contradiction as I think either the violin/cello makes a sharp noise but the way it sung it feels like its meant to be a relaxing song.

Quitzow experiments a whole ton, with different instruments, tons of synths and while she may be talented or heck even brilliant there’s no real flow to this album despite her wide range of experimentation. I finding myself skipping some tracks. A really diverse album but I’m not sure it wins me over.

Rating: 3.4 out of 5
Mp3s to check out:

Better Than Ever by Quitzow
On Tv! by Quitzow

I suppose I can’t say much about the “difference” in albums, because this album pretty much picks up from where Takk left off. I’ll comment about the one song with English lyrics, “All alright.” If you’re not paying attention, you’ll think Jonsi is just singing in Icelandic. He sings in the same airy and sad disposition that the lyrics are pretty much unintelligible. I had to do a quick lyrics look-up on Google to follow what he’s singing. The lyrics and music are pretty much depressing. I personally think it was a good choice to put it where it was; it ends off the album very nicely.

Overall, the album is pretty good—nothing too different from what you’d expect from Sigur Ros. I don’t want to say I got heated up over nothing; this is really a great album and I’d absolutely recommend it. The album is streaming online on their website for easy listening access.

Med sud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust will be released this Tuesday, June 24. Definitely a recommended album for this year.

Sigur Ros – Vid spilum endalaust

Sigur Ros – Illgresi

Amazon
Insound
CD Universe

Today marks the day that the highly anticipated follow-up At Mount Zoomer is released. First off I knew exactly what the title was about when I heard it. I remember Kevin asking if anyone had any “zooms” and I knew it was a reference to shrooms. Maybe Wolf Parade takes in a lot of shrooms which could explain their greatness?

I’ve read a ton of reviews of the album and while I could’ve chosen to write the review anytime, I’ve made sure I did it after Pitchfork does it. My Fleet Foxes review, I wanted to show I had a grip on music before the critics spoke but alas I took the hit in traffic had I released it after. That’s life.

One of the defining parts of Apologies To The Queen Mary is that it was great indie pop rock with a hint of experimentation that put it into the stratosphere of greatness. At Mount Zoomer is a shade more toward Sunset Rubdown adding elements of art rock while trying very little to preserve the pop rock that probably lead them to be so popular with the masses. I’m not against experimentation when it works…well does it?

First I’ll start with the first track Soldier’s Grin. I would say it’s quite typical of what you’d expect a Wolf Parade album to start with the keyboard synths backed with an awesome guitar riff. I actually dig the first track, very reminiscent of the Wolf Parade I look forward to.

Call It A Ritual is the next track which, is the short, pop song that came out awhile ago to get the blogosphere into a absolute craze. While this song is sort of catchy, I expect more out of Wolf Parade and it amazes me that this is a Spencer Krug track. Language City was the second track released by Sub Pop and it’s a great track. I love the guitar strum through the song. The next two tracks, I’m kind of iffy (yes I use iffy) about still. They have great elements but I generally end up skipping them.

The next two tracks are by far my favorite on the album, The Grey Estates and Fine Young Cannibals. The Grey Estates captures why Wolf Parade is so great. It’s a pop song that’s catchy in nature but deep with meaning. Fine Young Cannibals is a 6-minute epic track that starts with a simple little riff but becomes increasingly complex. The 10-minute epic Kissing The Beehive is also an amazing track.

Pretty much I ended up liking Boeckner’s work a whole lot more then Krug’s. After spending some of my own time, this album is more like Wolf Parade then being “artsy” like Sunset Rubdown (critics obviously didn’t listen to that record). Wolf Parade continues to make great pop rock with enough of a spin of it to have the masses call upon their greatness. One of the best groups of our generation perhaps?

Rating: 4.75 out of 5.
Excellent, maybe a touch off from total “greatness” but if this is what you call an album that isn’t as good as your first…it says a lot of the expectations people have placed on you. Still a great album on it’s own…it may be a bit off from the quality of Apologies but I’m not complaining.

MP3s to check out:

The Grey Estates by Wolf Parade
Fine Young Cannibals by Wolf Parade
Soldier’s Grin by Wolf Parade

Allan: How was your reaction to Michael’s decision to leave the band?
We Are Scientists: It was a decision we came to mutually over the course of many conversations and much thought and several coin tosses. So the element of surprise was sucked out of it. It was more like a retirement than a resignation. Lots of build-up; big party; gold watch; catering by Nathan’s Hot Dogs. The works.

A:With the addition of new members to the band, were there any issues incorporating the new members into your band?
WAS: No “issues”, I don’t think — no behavioral problems or anything like that, no criminal records to get expunged or vicious drug habits begging for aggressive rehab. The biggest creative challenge was figuring out how best to play our songs with four guys. The old songs were all written with three sets of hands and vocal chords in mind, and the songs on Brain Thrust Mastery were all written without regard for how many actual people would be needed for a religious live rendition.
So on the old songs we had the job of figuring out in which direction to aim our new weapon, Max. Do we beef up the guitars by doubling them? Add a subtle bed of key pads? Maybe crow-bar in a Dre-style synth lead? It turns out that you should always crow-bar in a Dre-style synth lead.
And on the new songs we often had to figure out how to either strip down the album versions or just play them altogether differently, but well. Not to have them be shitty — this emerged as one of our guiding principles.

A: Was songwriting for this record any different from what you did for your previous releases?
WAS: Not markedly. The big difference was that we spent a good deal more time thinking about the production, messing around with how the songs would sound. The time was well spent: they sound good (everyone thinks).

A: Do you ever wish to write funny or quirky songs that portrays more of your character rather then seemingly serious stuff?
WAS:Not really. We feel that funny songs suck. Quirky songs are usually bad, too, although they succeed maybe 20% of the time. There’s never been a good funny song, though. A band like Art Brut makes fantastic songs — don’t get me wrong — but they aren’t fundamentally funny songs. They’re rock songs whose lyrics are incisive and witty, and make you laugh. Weird Al Yankovic’s songs are fundamentally funny songs, and yeah, they might make you chuckle sometimes, but they fucking suck.

I think we have no more intention of making songs that portray our funny side than we do of making, say, video shorts that portray our non-funny side. The video short is a medium whose apotheosis is humor. The video short can do drama, too, but have you ever seen a good dramatic video short? Do you email your friends telling them to check out this amazing dramatic video on Youtube? No, you tell them to check out the video of the parrot who took acid and thinks the G.I. Joe action figures are his family.

A: Going forward what are you hoping to achieve?
WAS: I’d like to continue making songs that everyone in every country loves, and I’d like to put LSD inside a parrot and find out if that changes how he thinks about Joes. This latter would be filmed.

A:Are you ever in awe with the amount of success your band has achieved already?
WAS: I don’t think I’ve ever felt self-awe; there’s something inherently delusional about it, I think. You can feel awe toward other people and their achievements because you tend to hear about them in capsule form, and everything — bad or good — is more affecting in capsule form — all the tedious interstitiality gets left out. How could you ever be in awe of yourself? You’ve had so much time to get used to the idea.

Callbacks by We Are Scientists

Lousy Reputation by We Are Scientists

Insurance?, the first track comes through in full throttle with every element that I enjoy about this band being brought out. First and foremost the vocals are really catchy, and have quite an original sound. Slightly high pitched with a hint of rasp, it’s very cool and really fitting for the music. With the high paced rhythm of the lyrics, it makes the music more exciting and pleasing. A lot of the jazz of this band comes from the instruments, with their exciting guitar work, and epic synths. The drums round out the sound, to create a thrilling rock/dance lounge type feeling. This may be one of the more dance oriented songs on the album, with its higher pace, and upbeat styling.

Guts, the second song, is a little less jazzy and a little more soulful. Slowing things down and changing the tone of the instruments, it shows a softer side to The Higher. With such an intuitive range of sounds, The Higher has shown a great collection of talents. Guts uses the same vocal approach as Insurance? but by tweaking the instruments and lyrical melody, we get something totally different. This song doesn’t have the swagger of the first track but is much more sentimental, an equal trade off.

The rest of the album has tracks in between this range from glamour dance to soulful rock. Some other notable songs are Histrionics, the title of their first album, and a song they transferred over to On Fire. Being only a minute and forty-seven seconds long, it’s a really short acoustic track that is full of catchy, emotional music. Darkpop is another song I really enjoyed, with an epic aggressive verse it turns into a climatic chorus that’s moving and hits the spot. DARE is a track that’s very mellow, from the instruments to the vocals, everything is slowed and made much simpler.

The Higher is an amazing band who has a wide variety of sound. Every track on On Fire, have individual elements that make them stand out, and in the end listeners get an album full of entertaining songs. With their bar/lounge type instrumentals, it’s easy to guess these guys are from Las Vegas. On Fire is a great album, definitely recommended to anyone who has been following my posts. Their swagger, their style, their class, is what makes me want to listen to them more and more. With their participation at Warped, I’m stoked to get the opportunity to see them live, and it should be a great performance.

Check out their Myspace for official tour dates and news.

The Higher – Insurance

The Higher – Histrionics

Anthem In’s music video for down doesn’t get released officially until next week but we’ve got the great opportunity to have the video played a week in advanced! I really dig Anthem In and reviewed their album to a 4.75 out of 5, did a Q&A of them. Loudersoft also gave away 5 copies of their self-titled disc (I almost stole one but alas I should’ve just asked the band for myself lol).

Here are a bunch of other great blogs that took the time to discuss Anthem In:
The Man Who Eats Babies aka A Limerick Ox (forgot I kind of needed to make a come back to all those insults)
Pixel Pyro

Enjoy the video:

Anthem In – Down from Anthem In on Vimeo.

MP3Down by Anthem In