A-ha, literally!

Hilarious remix of the A-ha video "Take on Me" with literal lyrics. Funny stuff.

Hunting rabbits

Here's an video from an interesting band called Frightened Rabbit, suggested to me by my friend Nicole. While I think they sound a little too much like Wolf Parade, she seems to think they are 'lyrically superior'... except for the gratuitous use of the 'f-word' in one of the songs she recommends to me. She's a Leonard Cohen fan, so I guess that explains that.

Pitchfork likes them, so they must be cool.

But I gotta say, fright seems to be a fairly reasonable reaction to a parade of wolves.



Other notable musical rabbits:

Animal Collective - "Who Could Win a Rabbit"

Eddie Rabbit - "I Love a Rainy Night"

Fall of Joni

Contents sales are always bittersweet. Someone is moving away or has passed away, and outsiders come in like vultures to scavenge through a house filled with memories. The bittersweet part becomes especially obvious as people try to haggle the price of goods that they're already getting very cheap.

That being said, I find myself very lucky to have picked up six Joni Mitchell LP's and one John & Yoko LP, Double Fantasy from a content sale this afternoon. Song to a Seagull, Clouds, Ladies of the Canyon, Blue, For the Roses, and The Hissing of Summer Lawns were the Joni records... and I can't really complain about not getting a Court & Spark in there, but it would have been nice to have her first six instead of just first five.

I can't wait to spin a couple of these on this beautiful autumn day!

Lazy Saturday surfing

Links from a very lazy Saturday of web surfing...

• Great review of Futuresex/Lovesounds from Allmusic:

his innuendos are bluntly obvious, packing lots of swagger but no machismo or grace. They merely recycle familiar scenarios -- making out on the beach, dancing under hot lights, acting like a pimp -- in familiar fashions, marrying them to grinding, squealing synths that never sound sweaty or sexy; if they're anything, they're the sound of bad anonymous sex in a club, not an epic freaky night with a sex machine like, say, Prince

• T.I. - Paper Trail

there is a sense of urgency and a new dimension of self-reflection not touched upon throughout the holding pattern that was T.I. vs T.I.P.

• New Killers single - "Human"

RIP Frankie Venom

CBC Arts: Teenage Head singer dies at 52

Massive Lotus... er... Flying Attack?

Flying Lotus is a hip hop/electronica producer from California with an album out called Los Angeles that I've been playing the shit out of lately. It's very cool, reminding me a lot of Prefuse 73 and there are threads you could trace back to a group like Massive Attack, which is curious, because check out these album covers:

Flying Lotus - Los Angeles (2008)



Massive Attack - Mezzanine (1998)


Both are wicked album covers, and introduce you to the music before you even hear it. It's kind of like the way you "eat first with your eyes" when it comes to presentation in food, except you "hear first with your eyes" in this case. Whether it's a direct nod as an influence is up for debate, as it could be totally unintended. However, the influence is clearly felt on a musical level. Los Angeles is definitely one of my favourites of the year.

Oh, also, Flying Lotus (aka Steven Ellison)'s great aunt Alice was married to John Coltrane. That'll give you a bit better context in which to enjoy the album's closer here:

Cross' still got it; Chris... not so much.

Locally renown music geek Alan Cross has a new project called ExploreMusic, a website and radio show dedicated to selling CD's at HMV introducing people to terrific new music.

I caught a bit of the show last night, which was on CFNY during the 8:00 hour. It's an interesting mix of news and new tracks, and differs from the Ongoing History of New Music in that it's much more timely, and covers current music events.

Here's something from the show's news section that really caught my attention: Timbaland is producing tracks for Chris Cornell's new album. You read that correctly.

Timbaland is producing tracks for Chris Cornell's new album.

And yes, it's just as awful as you imagined.

PLEASE, sit down for this:



So what's worse, Timbaland's Jesus complex or Chris Cornell's Jesus complex? Yeesh.
This one has been a long time coming for Mr. Cornell.

Anyway, ExploreMusic should be interesting. I've already bookmarked it, even though I don't buy anything from the iTunes store.

Hell officially freezes over

Daily Swarm: Chinese Democracy due Nov. 23
From the Billboard.com article:

Beyond enticing pre-Thanksgiving shoppers, the move is tied to the structure of Best Buy's sales week, which runs from Sunday to Saturday. As such, "Chinese Democracy" would not be eligible to chart on The Billboard 200 until the week of Dec. 1, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Good to see that 'rock and roll' spirit alive and well with the band, supporting mega-corporations like Best Buy and giving Dr. Pepper a hell of a marketing boost.

New Bond theme: average

Jack White & Alicia Keys - "Another Way to Die"



This video looks really cheap, and the song is mediocre at best. Hopefully it this isn't a sign of things to come from the new 007 flick. At least it's not as bad as Madonna's "Die Another Day" track, which is easily the worst Bond theme ever, though this one is no prize.

5 CD's

In my changer lately:

David Bowie - "Heroes"
Flight of the Conchords - Self Titled
Brian Eno - Another Green World
Wintersleep - Welcome to the Night Sky
Ashes Divide - Keep Telling Myself It's Alright

Kanye takes London

When I was in London this summer, this song was everywhere. It seemed we heard it coming out of a speaker at least a couple times a day. Estelle is an interesting talent, but only time will tell whether she finds a unique identity or simply falls into R&B obscurity.

Estelle ft. Kanye - "American Boy"

#4 with a bullet

M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" is enjoying a surge on the Billboard Hot 100 lately, possibly due to the fact that the track is featured so heavily in the Pinapple Express trailer.

First issued in LP form on last year's Kala, the track has received a well deserved spike in chart popularity.

The track now appears to be heading into its chart decline, after peaking at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100.



Excellent for driving slowly past suburban public schools in a mini-van. (not actually recommended)

Snaith wins Polaris; Matt's taste > your taste

As predicted/hoped, Caribou wins the 2008 Polaris Prize.

Amateur video of the proceedings below (even though I just spoiled it for you):





After 2005's The Milk of Human Kindness, it seemed like there was nowhere else to go. How could Dan Snaith pull off another album on such an epic scale? Andorra takes it all to the next level. The sunny 60s pop, the 70s krautrock, and the 80s shoegaze, it all come together in one hell of an album. A great selection this year for the prize.

---

Polaris Prize site

LP Cover Lover

Here's a great link for a site called 'LP Cover Lover'. Pretty self explanatory. Check out the robots category. Sweet!

Found this one through boingboing. I'd say that Jesus used 'em up pretty good.