AWmusic

Okay here’s are my goals for Allan’s World Music in 2008:

1. Find at least one more writer (definitely from Toronto) who tastes are a little bit different but still indie. I’ve been asking some friends and I will continue to do so but I may find an “outsider”. If you’re interested feel free to contact me .
Another Step Away by A Place To Bury Strangers

2. Build Up Traffic and Readership. I guess you could say I’m pretty satisfied with the traffic levels and subscribed readers. I think my new short term goal for subscribers would be trying to get it up to the 100 mark. Traffic wise I’ve seen 4 straight days (up until today) of great levels where we were close or above the 1000 mark. That has me totally stoked. Granted the traffic was from being lucky (Hype Machine didn’t update leaving some of my posts for prolonged periods on the first page), from lists (like this one) and doing a post on panda bear .
More Than This by Division Day

3. Start conducting interviews. Whether by e-mail/in person I think I would say I’m pretty shy about doing interviews. I’ve had a few opportunities to do some but reluctantly passed because I feel like I would make a complete idiot out of myself. I’ve been chatting with some friends about interviewing and having what ideas to talk through.
Questions by Jack Johnson

4. See more concerts. If I at least beat 5 (Arcade Fire, White Stripes, Muse, IllScarlett, The Stills) I would be happy. I did get to turn 19 in July so the amount of concerts I was able to go to opened up. Though admittedly I never saw any concerts before ‘07. I probably could’ve seen a lot more shows provided I had more friends who liked the same things. This year I want to see a lot more smaller bands (easy on the pockets) and just go to more venues that I haven’t been to before. I regret not seeing Rilo Kiley and Vampire Weekend. School fucking sucks since the concerts I always want to see fall on a test date it seems. I also want to volunteer at NXNE. I’d probably recommend all writers do so as I want to really establish a really good Toronto blog despite the title name.
If We Cannot See by The Devics

5. Invest in a good camera. If you’ve seen some of the shots I’ve taken at concerts, it’s a sub par quality due to the camera. With only 300 bucks to invest (on cds + upgrading the server) as long as the site is a drag financially, the camera is being put on the backburner. Granted if money does come in, I will definitely get a good one to get some great pics.
Click Click Click Click by Bishop Allen

6. Upgrade the servers (and Wordpress too). I am going to hate upgrading the server. It will probably come out directly out of my pockets unless we somehow can make some money. Space usage is close to 40% and this month (5 gigs isn’t a lot but w/e) we will probably have 80% of our bandwidth used (250 gb bandwidth!). I hate the Wordpress upgrades, a lot of people haven’t recommended it to me but it’s usually for security purposes. I guess this might be something I do today. But either way I hate doing all the work when these things may be way over my head (I’m still a noob, I just wing it when it comes to coding and all these things).
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger by Daft Punk

7. Get into better ad programs. You may not like the ads I’ve thrown onto the site but they are here to stay for obvious financial reasons. I do however don’t like a lot of the ads being displayed as it doesn’t sell on my site. I did try to apply to Indieclick but they probably want a more trafficketed site but who knows. I doubt many care about it as it’s really about the content but money is becoming a concern and I don’t want to sell out this blog like I did to my sports blog ($4000 is quite successful though).
Cash Cow by We Are Scientists

8. Have this blog alive and running so I can do the same list for 2009! Have a good new year everyone!
Staying Alive by The Bee Gees

Having a relatively small blog, I didn’t expect anyone to answer really as I never seem to get any comments (it is getting better recently). Anyway, I had only one person who responded, by a person with the name of Carmen Segnitz, mother of lead singer of Rohner Segnitz who was telling me some details of the album and likely outcome that I would like this album if I had enjoyed the song “Colorguard”.

I decided to purchase the record after all because I wanted to be able to hear more of their work as they have created some really enjoyable covers.

Onto “Beartrap Island”. I find this album to display a variety of sounds and I feel like the album is a bit all over the place when it comes to describing a distinct sound. Sometimes you get the poppy sound or the post-punk type rock on tracks like “Tap-Tap, Click-Click”. The vocals are solid throughout the album if not great. I am finding it hard to find that one song that I would listen to hours on end and after a few days I don’t think I’ll ever find one. It’s tough to listen to at times as it doesn’t seem to have fluid transitions between songs and having that one distinct sound in which I could describe them.

Granted their original work isn’t as good as their covers (at this point) but I really feel that they displayed a potential for greatness . I’m giving this one a 3.3 out of 5. Visit their myspace.

Here are some of the tracks that stood out for me:

Tap-Tap, Click-Click by Division Day

Colorguard by Division Day

Division Day is a band from Los Angeles, California that has received some hype for their awesome covers. I must admit I am a big fan of their covers as they are probably equal to the original work.

They have two songs on stream for their album (released on October 3) that I’m thinking about getting. However, I don’t seem to be a fan of “Tigers” but more of a fan of “Colorguard”. Is there anyone that would recommend the album (all the hype seems to be about the covers)? Or is there anyone that would just say to just sit back and enjoy their covers?

If you haven’t heard of Division Day listen to these tracks:

More Than This by Division Day (Roxy Music Cover)

Enjoy The Silence by Division Day (Depeche Mode Cover)