AWmusic

1. Wolf Parade – We Built Another World
2. Arcade Fire – Cars and Telephones
3. Avril Lavigne – Girlfriend (you didn’t think I was serious?)
3. Feist – Lonely Lonely
4. Lovesuit by Hilotrons
5. Milkshake by Holy Fuck
6. Metric – Soft Rock Star
7. New Pornographers – Bones of An Idol
8. Broken Social Scene – Stars and Sons
9. Cadence Weapon – Do I Miss My Friends
10. Black Mountain – Stay Free

First off I’ll be volunteering at the Supermarket venue, so if you’re there and you see an Asian volunteer, you can yell at Allan! if you’d like. (lol)

First let’s take a look at the bands playing at my venue (they’re getting coverage good or bad!).

Thursday:
The Hots - Local female-fronted 5-piece. Not bad from a few listens. Some potential.
MP3: Almost Anyone by The Hots
Cancel Winter – I’d like to cancel winter too. Another local band.
Amos The Transparent – Band from Ottawa, pretty good folk. Duet with unknown female vocalist on the mp3 below. Absolutely awesome. (I found out it’s Amy Millan of Stars and I also feel like an idiot)
MP3: After All That, Its Come to This by Amos The Transparent
Great Bloomers – Local band with influences from Fleetwood Mac and Springsteen to name a few.
ANGEL PIER - Irish band a bit of a post punk band. Some good stuff though I don’t really hear anything overly endearing.

Friday:
Jason Bajada a pop folk artist from Montreal. Very surprised. His stuff is EXCELLENT! He has has over 100,000 myspace views for a reason. The track Home Still Your Bones is quirky with the funniest lyrics (it makes me laugh hysterically). “You’re a beautiful girl in the ugliest town!” and “I’m not quite as horny as you’d like me to be”. He’s getting another post.
MP3: Home Still Your Bones by Jason Bajada
Green Go band from kinda nearby Guelph. An electro band that gives that weird but “cool” vibe. Will be interesting to see…kind of like their music but at this point I’m getting lazy with the mp3s.
Beast – From Montreal a experimental/trip-hop band.
Candy Coated Killahz – Local electro/hip-hop duo. Pretty good music very danceable. They belong on the radio/mainstream as clubs would love their music.
OPOPO – Local talent, with some pretty good electro. 200k myspace hits. Pretty good music otherwise…taking the Daft Punk look too seriously.

Other bands playing that may tickle your fancy (that I’ve heard of):

EL Mocambo on Friday has popular bands like Moneen, The Black Lungs (side project of Wade MacNeil) and Bedouin Soundclash.
Brand Van 3000 – Plays @ Yonge-Dundas Square on Saturday
MP3: Drinking in LA by Bran Van 3000
Great Lake Swimmers – Friday @ The Reverb. Had his music on my hard drive…buried in a place where I’d never listen to it and I didnt…
Hilotrons – I dug their album Happymatic a whole lot. Playing at the Horseshoe Tavern Saturday at 3AM. I’ll probably be there.
MP3: Caught On Video by Hilotrons.
Hercules & Love Affair - They got an extremely high score of 9.1 from Pitchfork. Playing at the Wrongbar on Saturday. I could see them…but not that interested.
Illscarlett – I saw them live for free for the Grey Cup. Very good live…even if they had jail bait drooling for them.
Jon McKiel - Reviewing his album later this month/year. Recommended listen. Playing Friday @ Cameron House.
Junior Pantherz – CD of Rejoice, Remain is currently in my computer. Not sure what to think…but I’ve heard of them.
Ladyhawk – I heard of their album Shots but I just never bothered to check it out.
Magneta Lane – I remember the tracks Ugly Socialite and The Constant Lover. Saturday at the Rivoli.
MP3: Ugly Socialite by Magneta Lane
Matt Mays & El Torpedo – Cocaine Cowgirl anyone?
Static Of The Gods – Got a press release about them. Liked what I heard
Besnard Lakes – Pitchfork called their album overlooked last year. I tried to like them…
The Flatliners – All I know is Nancy likes them.
There’s also Sloan (who I’m a fan of) but he wasn’t listed or wasn’t sure.

I did this post at 3am. I’m tired I’m off to bed and then it’s NXNE time!

I have to thank KELP Records and Killbeat Music for getting and allowing me to post this track. Thanks so much.

Here are some other links around the blogosphere posting about the Hilotrons: 3Hive, A Limerick Ox, Obscure Sound, and Rock Sellout.

Stream Happymatic here!

Science Fiction Music by the Hilotrons

Enjoy!

The Hilotrons would’ve been another band I heard about yet failed to blog about. Sometimes just receiving an e-mail about them isn’t enough for me to get into them. Their tracks on their myspace didn’t entertain me as much (though I did like Science Fiction music, anyone with an mp3?).

What really made me decide to check out this band was a random suggestion by HeroHill’s ack who recommended them in my comments. He has a post on them here. I decided to request the album and much to my surprise, I ended up liking the album quite a bit.

Happymatic the title says it all as it’s sugary pop though the album shows impressive periods of instrumentals with their string arrangements on “Girls” and while I do throw out sugary pop they do have elements of surf, ska and ultimately they put together a really good album. They don’t have anything that’s repeated and they seem to bring something different with each and every single track. There’s very little info on what they’re influences are but I’m really just trying to milk out the best way of getting you to listen to them. Ultimately much more deserving then the 25K myspace hits they currently have. They infuse a variety of genres so incredibly well and upon listening to this album, I was surprised at how very little their myspace showed their versatility and talent.

A great album and I probably would have missed out on it. 4.25 out of 5. The album is set to be released on April 1st and they’re playing in Toronto on April 10th (stupid exams!). Worth your money to check out their album.

I can only post two songs (or else I woudn’t have gotten the album in the first place) but both are enjoyable:

Lost in Yichang by The Hilotrons

Dominika by The Hilotrons