Osheaga 2007 : Revisited

One of my first posts was about the upcoming edition of the Osheaga Music and Arts Festival on September 8th and 9th 2007 at Parc Jean-Drapeau...and how I was less than impressed with their expensive ticket prices and their "copy/paste" lineup which includes most of the same acts as the V Festival in Toronto (Smashing Pumpkins, Paolo Nutini, Amy Winehouse) plus a few local bands (Stars, Sam Roberts Band, Xavier Caféine).

So needless to say, as of right now, Osheaga 2007 is just not doing it for me.

But I still have hope.

According to the Osheaga Festival's main website, there are going to be some BIG developments on the way this week!

I'll keep you guys posted!

Here's some songs from 2 of the confirmed acts so far:

Peter, Bjorn & John - Let's Call It Off [mp3]
Paolo Nutini - Rewind [mp3]

There's Always Room For More Arcade Fire!

Kinda went into a post hibernation period there for a bit (this surgery rotation of mine is really doing a number on my sleep cycle...it should be a crime to only sleep 4 1/2 hours a night, I can at least confort myself in the fact that it will be over in 3 weeks!), but I'm back now bringing you the news!

According to www.arcadefire.net, due to an increase in the approved capacity of the Maurice Richard Arena, there will be an additional number of tickets available for our hometown critic darlings' May 12th and 13th shows, which will go on sale on May 7th (i.e Tomorrow!) at 10 AM EDT through admission.com

To all the chronic procrastinators like me who missed out on Arcade Fire tickets the first time...THIS IS YOUR LUCKY DAY! So tonight, do a couple of index finger stretching exercises (also known as finger yoga. I wish I were kidding. I sincerely do.) to get that double click down to mere nanoseconds, get yourself a good night of sleep, wake up at 6 AM sharp, eat a bowl of All Bran (everybody needs fiber!) listen to both Arcade Fire CDs while doing jumping jacks and/or squats just to get the blood flowing, come back here at exactly 10:00 AM EDT and click here...oh and I almost forgot the most important thing you can do to get yourself some Arcade Fire Tickets is :

Don't tell ANYBODY about this.

Be selfish, it's OK. Your friends will understand.

Probably.

Here's two of my favorite songs of the new album to tide you over until tomorrow! :

Arcade Fire - Keep The Car Running [mp3]
Arcade Fire - My Body Is A Cage [mp3]

Arcade Fire's official site
Arcade Fire @ MySpace

Final Fantasy Knows It : Spam Makes The World Go 'Round

Good Hodgkins reports that violinist extraordinaire/first ever Polaris Prize winner for "He Poos Clouds", Owen Pallett AKA Final Fantasy, released a new song named "Flare Gun" for the twice-yearly art magazine Esopus' 8th compilation, which is entirely dedicated to Spam.

Not not the mystery meat. Spam Emails. OK so that doesn't make it any better.

"Flare Gun" has me seriously pondering if it's possible for a song to be stressful. Because I'm pretty sure my heart rate shot up at least 10 beats per minute while listening to it. With the constant barrages of staccato violin/piano contrasting with Pallett's whisper-like vocals, I closed my eyes and I almost had the feeling that I was right in the middle of the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona.

I know. It's a strange feeling.

While we're heaping praise onto Final Fantasy for some awesome work, here's another Good Hodgkins link to a collaboration between Final Fantasy and ex-Pitchfork writer/MC Cadence Weapon which was recorded during a CBC 2 radio session.

Words cannot explain how good these songs are. (actually they could but I'm too lazy to do so, I've gotta get some sleep eventually!)....so let's just say that it would take me a very long time, therefore many cups of coffee, to explain how good a collaboration this is.

Here's the new song, straight out of the oven!

Final Fantasy - Flare Gun [mp3]

Final Fantasy @ Myspace

Local Band Weekend Trilogy Part Trois : Handsome Furs Hates This City?

As promised, here's the third (and final) installment of the Local Band Weekend Trilogy! (I know I know it's one day late, ethics papers don't write themselves supposedly. Who knew?)

Handsome Furs

Just so that everybody's on the same page : this is NOT another Spencer Krug side project nor is it a Wolf Parade album with more synthesizers and drum machines.

Oh, this is something else altogether.

The dynamic duo that is Handsome Furs is comprised of the other half of the Wolf Parade songwriting team, Dan Boeckner and his wife Alexei Perry. This whole whirlwind adventure started back in the winter of 2005 and without releasing a SINGLE record, they've already toured Europe with the likes of Modest Mouse and David Cross to name a few.

Just for comparison's sake, if I were to tour Europe today with nary an album to my name, I'd probably be opening for a guy singing nothing but Wham! covers on open mike night...or even worse...I could be opening for the 'Hoff himself. (he's HUGE in Germany supposedly, somebody's gonna have to confirm that for me)

Needless to say, Handsome Furs are good, real good.

They've been hard at work last winter on their new album, "Plague Park", due out on May 22th through Sup Pop Records. The whole record screams melancholic/borderline depressing with its bare bones melodies and Boeckner's haunting vocals, but don't let that fool you, in this case depressing = good. On "What We Had", the minimalist synth/drum machine folk rock is as good a track you'll hear this spring, and with the tons of great songs already out there in 2007, that's saying a lot. It even has some cowbell in it and like my mother always said "A bit of cowbell goes a long way". And on "Handsome Furs Hate This City", amidst all the synth-heavy melodies, there's a real sense of the love/hate dichotomy between our respective urban vs. rural lives.

Hell, just makes me want to move to the North Pole or something.

Hopefully I'll still get cable up there.

Handsome Furs will be having its album launch party on May 28th 2007 @ Club Lambi (buy here)

Triple link bonanza comin' at ya! :

Handsome Furs' Myspace site
Handsome Furs @ Hype Machine
Handsome Furs' first video for "Dumb Animals" @ YouTube (awesome!)

This officially marks the end to my Weekend Trilogy : Questions? Comments? General philosophical musings?

Email me @ evilrobotparade@gmail.com !

The Local Band Weekend Trilogy : Awesomeness Comes In All Shapes & Sizes

I'd just like to start off by saying that I'll never post about Meat Loaf again.

I promise.

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's talk about 3 local/semi-local bands that will be having album launch parties in the city in the month of May : Shapes & Sizes, Miracle Fortress and Handsome Furs.

Shapes & Sizes


Hailing from Vancouver/Victoria BC, but now calling Montreal QC their home, this indie rock quartet has been garnering some serious attention with their 2006 self-titled debut, so much so that they were picked up in June 2006 by Asthmatic Kitty Records, home of none other than folk pop hero Sufjan Stevens.

Their unique blend of indie rock sets them apart from the pack mainly because their songs have a tendency of switching genres from rock to folk to experimental from song to song and even in mid-song, in an almost schizophrenic manner at times and often with surprisingly amazing results. Shapes & Sizes never seem content in just going from point A to point B, but it's the musical detours that make the songs all the more worthwhile to listen to. I won't pretend that this hasn't been done before, bands like Modest Mouse and label mate Sufjan Stevens being other great examples of genre-bending goodness, but these guys pull it off with gusto.

Their sophomore release "Split Lips, Winning Hips, A Shiner" will be released May 22th 2007 through Asthmatic Kitty Records. "Alone/Alive", the first song released off the new album, is so all over the place musically, it almost gave me a seizure...but in a good way (is there such a thing as a "good" seizure?).

Even better news than an upcoming release from an up-and-coming band is that said up-and-coming band will be coming down to Montreal for a little rock & roll meet-and-greet not once but TWICE in the next 2 months!

So mark your calendars with a big red marker folks, you won't want to forget this :

Shapes & Sizes/Miracle Fortress (double album launch extravaganza!) @ Friendship Cove on May 16th 2007 (buy here)

The National/Shapes & Sizes @ Cabaret Juste Pour Rire on June 4th 2007 (buy here)

Here's a couple of songs to check out (provided by The Yellow Stereo) :

Shapes & Sizes - Alone/Alive [mp3]
Shapes & Sizes - The Taste In My Mouth [mp3]

Here's a link to Shapes & Sizes' Myspace site for songs off their self-titled debut!

I'll be posting the two next installments later this weekend! Stay tuned!

Meat Loaf : The Most Famous Singer/Seasoned Ground Meat Product!

I really love summer in Montreal : nice weather, drinking "sur les terrasses"....and of course awesome shows! And you better believe that the summer of 2007 will be far from disappointing.

Big names that are coming this summer include : Bob Dylan, The White Stripes, Tool, The Police, Genesis, Rush, Dream Theater and last but not least....Meat Loaf.

I don't know why, but I honestly thought he was dead for some reason.

Go figure.

Alas, I was wrong : Meat Loaf will be in town on August 13th 2007 in all his 80's/90's rock opera glory, promoting his 2006 release "Bat Out Of Hell III : The Monster Is Loose", which I have not listened to...and do not plan to in the immediate future (or any future for that matter).

Goes without saying that I'm not a huge fan (but who is really?), but anyone who can rock a mullet and not look like a complete idiot has my respect and admiration.

But I will admit to singing "I Will Do Anything For Love, But I Won't Do That" in the shower on more than 2 occasions. I was young. I didn't know any better.

Here's to all the shower singers out there :

Björk Scares The Hell Out Of Me.

Björk was the musical guest on SNL last night, performing two new songs off her new album "Volta", due out on May 7th 2007. Can't say that I've ever been a big Björk fan, but this new album has me intrigued (not quite excited yet) and this for a few reasons:

1) Seven songs were produced by Timbaland, who's been garnering quite the commercial success track record these days with international guilty pleasures such as "Maneater" by Nelly Furtado and "SexyBack" by Justin Timberlake.

2) Congolese folk/alternative/electronic ensemble Konono N°1 collaborated on the album, you just have to listen to a couple of their songs and you'll agree with me that this will definitely make things quite interesting indeed.

3) For someone who's known for not touring all that much to promote her albums, Björk is going to be hitting almost every summer festival out there : Coachella, Glastonbury, Roskilde, even the first edition of the V Festival in Toronto (no word on Osheaga yet...keep your fingers crossed people!).

4) Björk has also launched a "competition" of sorts, in which the winner gets to make the music video for "Innocence". Power to the people = good idea. Nice one Björk

So interesting news from an interesting artist, to say the least...we'll just have to wait and see how it all pans out on May 7th now won't we?

So here you go, clips of her 2 SNL performances for the single "Earth Intruders" (very strange) and "Wanderlust" (pretty good)

Enjoy.

Earth Intruders :


Wanderlust :