AWmusic

Here’s my playlist for the movie. The soundtrack was pretty good and suited some of the cinematography. I did like the use of “Paper Planes” which was more about hustlin’ like the song says instead of just “getting high” like Pineapple Express used it for. Before I get carried away:
Born Out of The Hustle by Kites in Space
Paper Planes MIA
Blind by Hercules and Love Affair (for the blind singers)
Brother Watching by Shad
How I Made My Millions by Radiohead
Pressed In A Book by The Shins (for the Three Musketeers)
Let Love Be My Only Guide by The Bell

Now onto my review:
Slumdog Millionaire is a film that has its premise given away from the start. It asks a question whether or not Jamal Malik’s run at 20 million rupees on “Who wants to be a millionaire?’ is whether he is smart, if he cheated or if it was destiny. The movie’s plot is simple, Jamal Malik is accused of cheating and he is being questioned about how a “slumdog” could do better then lawyers, doctors and intellects in general.

A thinking man could likely extrapolate that Malik does quite well on the gameshow which serves as the backbone of the movie’s plot. The storyline isn’t the strongest as it can be painfully obvious that it could be one of those movie’s that end ups with the two love interests living “happily ever after and making a lot of babies” (the latter is implied). I’m not the type of person who looks for a movie that has an “aw” storyline (kind of ironic with the name of this site lol).

With that Slumdog Millionaire has been universally praised, why? Everything in between is done incredibly well. Sometimes a movie doesn’t need the greatest storyline to win you over. The movie gave off tense moments despite the outcome almost completely drawn out. Everything from the cinematography and to the direction was top notch. This movie is more proof that it’s not the quality of the story that counts but the quality of the storyteller that makes the world of difference.

Slumdog Millionaire I can see being universally liked by all types since it’s one of those feel good romantic dramas but it extends past that horrid drama with a stylish touch and fearless direction. It was at times light-hearted and funny and save for the last minute stopped being overly-cheesy. I think some of the gripes people have are the weaker storyline and the romance stinking up something great but it really just gives the movie some direction rather then being lost and all over the place.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5
It will likely be the top or top 2 movie of the year (waiting on The Wrestler).

5. Old Prince Still Lives At Home by Shad

What more can I say about this video? Instead of Fresh Prince of Bel Air, you have the Old Prince of London, Ontario. It’s a funny parody that comes from a simple idea yet highly effective.
The Old Prince Still Lives At Home by Shad

4. Stress by Justice

This video some people like, some people hate. Yes, it does glorify violence but it does capture the volatile nature of the song as well as capture the true nature of youth violence. Youth gangs, don’t usually have a motive, they just want to wreck havoc and from my point of view, it’s power in numbers where only a select few who do object to their violent and douchebag ways get their ass kicked. It feels like a real video in that sense is that the video glorifies this group of boys while they seem to be playing up to the camera.
Stress by Justice

#3 House of Cards by Radiohead

In Radiohead’s new video for “House of Cards”, no cameras or lights were used. Instead, 3D plotting technologies collected information about the shapes and relative distances of objects. The video was created entirely with visualizations of that data

Two words: Freakin’ cool.

#2 New Violence by White Williams vs TV Carnage

This video is fun to watch and to try to figure out which clips come from which movie. Probably my favorite track off White Williams’ Smoke, this video is fun to follow along
New Violence by White Williams

#1 Toe Jam by The Brighton Port Authority

What better way to start a music video with people taking off their clothes? You don’t really have an answer for that. While it’s not all about naked people, it’s really just a collaboration of using the censored section of the human body to create some pretty cool art, from various letters of the alphabet, to a recreation of the game pong. Can you tell me that this video is not worthy? Pretty cool stuff.
Toe Jam by the Brighton Port Authority

Magic Spells by Crystal Castles

2. Fucked Up (8th)
Fucked Up’s Common Chemistry of Life has been receiving good reviews from most places. From a critical standpoint the album has been Canada’s most successful artist in terms of being liked critically. They also played a cover of Blitzkrieg Bop with Moby…. Even if we didn’t think too highly of Fucked Up ourselves doesn’t change the fact that they have taken some people by storm.
Looking for God by Fucked Up

3. Black Mountain (T13)
Black Mountain released In The Future at the start of the year and was on the shortlist for the Polaris Prize. Bloggers and publications lauded the band calling it one of the year’s best despite the year just kicking off. They definitely kicked things off with a bang.

Stormy High by Black Mountain

4. Chad VanGaalen (1st)
He looks like the front runner for next year’s Polaris Prize. He’s released a top notch album which most bloggers have enjoyed. Other then Now Magazine which has delusionally given the album a poor score (and continues to call it a weak outing in subsequent mentionings), it’s been a general consensus that Soft Airplane should be making our year end lists. Other then some magazines liking his work and all around blogger praise, I felt like he could’ve been bigger and of course is much more deserving. I think it’s one of the first times I’ve been criticized for giving a 4.25 out of 5.
Bare Feet on Wet Grip Tape by Chad VanGaalen

5. Wolf Parade (22nd)
Wolf Parade’s At Mount Zoomer was released to a high level of anticipation as they made their followup to the great Apologies To The Queen Mary. While the press wasn’t as good for Wolf Parade, their newfound art-rock direction and the lack of hits still won over many critics and fans for a solid year by one of Canada’s top bands. I especially enjoyed the album.

The Grey Estates by Wolf Parade

6. Cadence Weapon (T27)
I personally thought Cadence Weapon’s Afterparty Babies would make it in the short list as the rap representative but then I was introduced to Shad’s The Old Prince. While Shad was soaking in a lot of the publicity, his album was still a success after years of anticipation..

Real Estate by Cadence Weapon

7. Chromeo (no rating – seriously?)
Though technically not fully Canadian. Chromeo had an awesome year despite Fancy Footwork being released last year. They had a breakthrough year with the release of the Double CD Deluxe Edition as well as stealing the spotlights from festivals by being one of the better live bands. They are planning to release some stuff and even now are creating some news by remixing some Vampire Weekend.

The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance (Chromeo Remix) by Vampire Weekend

8. Women (12th)
Women’s record was produced by Chad VanGaalen and enjoyed by many, including Christian. I personally wasn’t introduced in checking them out after hearing Black Rice and that may have been a major mistake because it isn’t so bad after another listen. From what I’ve heard from everyone it seems that their debut record is worthwhile and has blown people away.

Black Rice by Women

9. Tokyo Police Club (#6)
I actually kind of dislike TPC. They are quite famous though receiving mainstream radio and television airplay in addition to being loved by teens and being utterly annoyed by various fans during Rogers Picnic. It was our goal to stay objective by including TPC even if I dislike them.
Nature of the Experiment by Tokyo Police Club

10. Shad (9th)
Shad released The Old Prince last year however he really broke out with the video of The Old Prince Still Lives At Home. The parody of the Fresh Prince of Bel- Air Intro. He looked like the runner-up in the Polaris Prize sweepstakes (I thought he was going to win) and I was a little disappointed personally he didn’t take it.

The Old Prince Still Lives At Home by Shad

The honorable mentions:
11. Caribou (3rd)
12. Woodhands
13. Holy Fuck
14. Plants and Animals (even if I’m in the only one who hates Parc Avenue)
15. Feist – She didn’t really do anything…

Saturday was day one of the festival, and as all of you know the Foo Fighters were the headlining band. For those of you who love them, they were fantastic, and for those who don’t I won’t say anything more.

Saturday though, I spent a lot of time wandering around the festival, going from stage to stage checking out some of the bigger acts and a bunch of the lesser known ones. I have to say that the biggest surprise of the day for me, was a little band called The Airborne Toxic Event or TATE as they shall be henceforth referred to as. They hit the main stage as the second act of the day, following a short set by Mark Robertson. Mark Robertson was OK, but the music of TATE was both easy to listen to and easy to rock out to at the same time. They seemed really grateful to be preforming there and deserved the applause they got from the small crowd, which was to be expected for the second band of the day. Definitely give them a listen if you haven’t already.

Sometime Around Midnight by The Airborne Toxic Event

Also on the main stage was MGMT and Against me! Who were more popular than the earlier bands, but did nothing terribly new, exciting or entertaining. For me, they were just what was to be expected. The last non-Foo Fighting act on the main stage was Bloc Party, and I found their show to be entertaining and filled with good music.

Helicopter by Bloc Party

I also got a chance to walk by the Oh Henry Stage, but there was nothing special there on Saturday. The second stage however, had too huge artists from the U.K. take the stage. The Fratellis and the Kooks played one of the most active sets of the day, really engaging the audience and making it fun. Especially for the drunk fans moshing in the front. That was Day one.

Before I move on to day two, I’d like to say that the festival was very well organized and they did their best to keep it clean and fun for everyone. My only complaint in that regard is the ferries, but that is to be expected when attending a concert on an island.

Moving on to day two. Oasis hadn’t been to town in four years, so the place was JAM PACKED to see them play. Much more people than day 1. This was a good day to stay mostly at the main stage because almost all of the acts there were great. Danko Jones definitely wins the award for craziest performer, from having us giving the middle finger to the sun to his rant about how his band wasn’t family friendly. Very entertaining guy. The Weakerthans, a Winnipeg band definitely stole the afternoon part of the show. They had almost a cult following and the music was fantastic.

One Great City by The Weakerthans

Also great on the main stage were the Silversun Pickups. The Stereophonics had pretty standard music, and nothing really set them apart from anyone.

Then came my personal favourite part of the day, and that was getting to see Shad. Shad is a rapper from London, not far from Toronto and it showed. There were more people there to see him on the small stage than there were at the second stage at the time. Shad looked nothing like your typical rapper and his lyrics were completely refreshing. His overall performance was the highlight of my day and getting to hang out with him after his show was really great, down to earth guy.

Now A Daze by Shad

Paul Weller put on a good show as the last band before Oasis. Oasis was definitely interesting, when the fan jumped onto the stage it was the stupidest thing ever. He did however get his ass kicked by Liam Gallagher, and I did see a video of it. It was pretty fun. He deserved everything he got, idiot nearly ruined the concert for everyone there.

All in all a fantastic weekend. The usual overpriced crappy food, accompanied by some great music, and some less than great music.

To finish off, I leave you with a final thought,
Do Bananas Float? (Editor’s note: I think Zack is a strange one. Agreed?)

More photos after the jump!
(more…)

The festival is also known as that very expensive festival. Based on the acts, the festival is well worth cost as it’s includes the ferry price and if you wanted to see these bands on their own it would cost a boat load more. Festivals are extremely fun though and are awesome experiences.

I’m personally not seeing, but whipping boy friend Zack is going to be seeing some shows and reviewing them.

Personally this event is a bit too mainstream for our blog…but there are some artists I want to see. Other then the headliners of the Foo Fighters and Oasis there are a lot of great lesser known acts (which we know well of course). Here are the bands we are looking forward to:

The Constantines – one of Toronto’s finest (fine fine they’re originally from Guelph). I wasn’t a fan of their latest album but I heard their show is extremely energetic and they as persons put in a lot of effort into the quality of their performances (working stage hand I was told they were serious perfectionists).

Islands in The Stream by The Constantines and Feist

MGMT – I heard some reports they sucked, others liked them. From their music, I hate them (it’s very structured and the “MTV” crowd will be out on full force because of their drug friendly vibe). I still would like to know another person’s opinion (I would never go nor provide an unbiased review just so you know).

Time To Pretend by MGMT

Bloc Party – I personally didn’t like their music. It was always “okay” to me but a few friends were fans. The funniest thing about them is that story how a concert turned into an orgy. I’d like to go to a concert if I was guaranteed an orgy .

Mercury by Bloc Party

Side note: Thumbs down to some of the organizers of this show. If you want to see the Kooks, Wintersleep, The Fratellis or Spirtualized, you may be in tough if you want to be at the main stage (and at a good view too). Your B) performers could steal the show and setting a more appropriate time for them would’ve been better for the fans. Conflicts conflicts conflicts.

I told Zack to stay at the main stage and moving around is tiring anyway.

On Day 2:
I’ll make him see and give him some freedom nonetheless.

Shad – one of my new favorite rappers. One of Canada’s best? Cadence Weapon and Shad should start a beef heh.

What We All Want by Shad

The Weakerthans – a good Canadian band originating from the Peg.

Night Windows by The Weakerthans

Maybe Moby if he’s up for it. I remember when I used to be a Moby fan.. o when I was young (I need some kind of excuse).

Southside by Moby featuring Gwen Stefani

Sorry for the crap post. I’m just losing my sanity today as my computer goes nuts.

With a ton of new writers on board. I won’t get into any details as of yet but it’s more then a handful who will cover even more genres and music.

Reviews on Allan’s World of Music:
Forever In A Day – It’s So Well Rehearsed
The New Frontiers – Mending Review

The Hold Steady – Stay Positive Review
Shad – The Old Prince Review
Red Sparowes – Aphorisms EP Review
Sun Kil Moon – April Review

Special post:
Pineapple Express – Review and Playlist
Burial’s Identity Revealed
this. Concert Review

Around the blogosphere:
Kings of Leon have been a hot topic with their mp3 release of Sex On Fire. (haven’t listened personally)
The Faint has been a hot band on the blogosphere. Despite a below average score on P4k. I tried listening to their myspace, didn’t like it and moved on.
Bat For Lashes covered The Cure’s A Forest.

I was also shocked at 3:50AM when I heard a thud. Then the sky turned orange and off in the distance was a big ass explosion that looked like a bomb. Photo Junkie had pictures of it.

I review next to very little hip-hop and I generally find myself being quite picky about things, I hate the typical rap about drugs, money and “girls”. I did grow up with a lot of avid hip-hop fans around me due to the location I live in but I always tended to be a guy that just liked something different for whatever reason.

Shadrach Kabango or simply Shad was born in Kenya and is of Rwandan descent. He attended Wilfrid Laurier (Waterloo) and has a business degree.

My first impressions of “The Old Prince” were quite positive. It starts off with an intro of a person discussing that prince’s aren’t supposed to be old even if he’s a good prince. Eventually or finally Shad starts spitting discussing all sorts of things from Quebec separatism, to gas prices to things regarding religion.

Shad is definitely quite talented as a rapper, he doesn’t have the most dance-able beats in the least bit but he shows you that he’s just as talented as anyone out there. I don’t care about having the beats anymore and I tend to search for a serious tone in my rap so this works conveniently for me. A lot of the time a piano is used or unconventional beats that one would find to rap over but Shad could just make an album over in complete silence and do some spoken poetry and he would probably win me over.

I don’t know what’s in store for Shad in the future, future financial success doesn’t always depend on improving and I really think this effort Shad gives it his all and it’s just whether or not other people find out about his stuff.

I definitely thought Cadence Weapon’s After Party Babies was going to be a lock on the shortlist but I agree that Shad’s The Old Prince is a superior album. Both albums don’t have those sexy beats people just seem to look for but the rapping is superb and that’s all that matters to me.

Only downside to me is that album takes on being thematic over the top and I don’t really see how it all fits in general in certain songs. I just want to enjoy his rapping, not worry about things being forced to connect to the album title.

Rating: 4.4 out of 5

The Old Prince Still Lives At Home by Shad

Out of Love Part Two by Shad