music and talk and whaddaya no

March 27, 2005

move on up, towards your destination


It seems so empty now...


This week was pretty standard, until Thursday. That's when I lost my fish. They've moved on. They had some type of harmful bacteria or fungus, that, in the end, they just couldn't shake. I tried very hard to cure them of it. I bought treatments, did frequent water changes, but finally they gave up. Sorry, guys, I really tried. It's kind of sad, actually. I had them for about 3 years, and they've been healthy, and had grown quite large. I was pretty proud of myself for this, and was sort of getting attached to Junior and Deux (their names). But I guess they did lead a pretty long, fruitful life, by most other goldfish standards, or so I'm told. I may get new fish, but probably not until I move in the summer. It'll be kind of weird to have the tank empty.

This past Saturday, I went to see The Kills last night at the Red Room. Wow. It was one of the best shows I've seen in a long time. Their stage presence is huge, intense. This is amazing for a band consisting of only a guitarist/backing vocalist, another vocalist who sometimes played guitar, and a drum machine. Hotel had this stare that was utterly mesmerizing, and VV was HOT. Not hot as in simply attractive, but hot, as in sweaty, sultry, transfixing, and just plain sexy. Their chemistry onstage was spectacular. They played off each other so well, constantly increasing the sexual tension, and fucking rocked the whole way through. When they played "I Hate the Way You Love (Part 2)", they sang at each other, face to face, their vocals drowning in a sea of guitar and feedback. It was euphoric. Please do yourself a favour and see them if they come into town (*COUGH* Horseshoe Tavern April 7 *COUGH*); I know you won't forget it.

Next week will be great. I'm doing three shows in three days. My ears will thank me. I'm going to be catching Dizzee Rascal at the Commodore on the 30th, Stars + Feist + Apostle of Hustle + Montag at the Commodore on the 31st, and Death From Above 1979 + Controller.Controller at the Red Room on the 1st of April. It will be great. I'm looking forward to all three shows. I'll tell you all how they went.

I also bought the M.I.A. album, Arular, this week. "Hype" is an understatement when it comes to describing the lead-up to this release. The fact that the release date kept getting pushed back only added to the anticipation. I have to say that I will not be one to partake in the perhaps inevitable backlash due to all this hype. The fact is that this album is fantastic. It is a truly unique mix of styles from various places around the world. It packs a punch, too, both musically and politically. One of the best of the year so far.

Interstellar - Panting and Kissing and Rain Snow Sleet Hail   I found out recently that Denis' group, Interstellar, was nominated at the Canadian Independent Music Awards in the Favourite Electronica Artist/Group category, alongside the likes of Chromeo, Kid Koala, Sixtoo, and Vancouver's Sekoya. Although Sekoya walked away with the award, this was great news to hear, and is quite an accomplishment. Congrats, guys! The tracks I've included here are two of my favourites off their latest album, ToDreamToSleepToWake, a great record which all of you should check out, by the way.(You can purchase it from Tonevendor)
Posted by: Rob / 22:26 3 wonderous examples of witty banter

March 21, 2005

coming, colours in the air


Just when you thought TV was better than going outside...


It's been pissing rain for the past two or three days here in Vancouver. I thought it was fairly depressing. But today, on my way to the video store to return some movies, I saw one of the most beautiful rainbows I'd seen in a long time. I rushed home to grab my camera and took a few pictures, one of which I've posted above.

I like to think that there is always good to balance out the bad. Sometimes, though, you have to wonder at the things that humans do. A fine example is the Terri Schiavo case that is all over the news and internet this week. What should have been open and shut has taken many years in the court system, and has now come to a head, flying in the President from his vacation to pass special legislation to keep Ms. Schiavo's feeding tube attached. Never mind that the courts and many great medical minds have laboured years to come to the simple conclusion that (a) Ms. Schiavo is in a persistent vegitative state from which, short of a literal miracle, there is no recovery, and (b) it is up to her legal guardian, her husband Michael Schiavo, to decide what is best for his wife, who has repeated over and over her wish never to be kept alive if she ever ended up in such a state, where pretty much all she is able to do is breathe. Never mind the complete and utter contradiction from the Republicans and the religious right. For example, as pointed out by Glenn McGee on bioethics.net, "Those who fought for the sanctity of marriage now fight against the importance of a husband's choice." All to win favour. Apparently congress knows better than expert medical opinion and years of judicial deliberation. And Terri Schiavo's parents? I'm not sure what their motivation is. I mean, I understand that she is their daughter, and I hate to even pretend to know what it is like to be in the middle of all this. Believe me, I know it's easy for me to sit here and ramble. But she has been in this state for over 10 years without improvement, and doctors, court-appointed doctors, have said time and time again that she won't improve, that she can't improve. What should have been strictly a private family matter has been dragged through all this mud for seven years, for, as I see it, pretty selfish reasons.

My two cents. I could go on. But I won't, because others have made all the points already. And much more eloquently and articulate than I. See the latest Glenn McGee entry on the bioethics.net blog which nails it for me, and check out this entry on the Majikthise blog for a very straightforward dispelling of many arguments that have arisen regarding this tumultuous affair.

This weekend I saw a couple of movies. I hardly see enough film these days, so this was a bit of a treat. Both films were good in their own way. First, Garden State was a nice film about finding onesself and reconciliation. I thought it was pretty good, if slightly overrated. But I can't complain too much about it, especially it being Zach Braff's writing and directorial debut. He did a fine job, and we'll see what he does next time. The second film, Bubba Ho-tep, starring the legendary Bruce Campbell of Evil Dead and Army of Darkness fame as an elderly Elvis Presley, was a pretty original story to say the least. Elvis and his friend, a black man who says he is JFK, try to save a rest home from an ancient Egyptian mummy who sucks the souls out of old people. I dug it. As bizarre as it can get, pretty much every thing in the story works. It even had a thing or two to say, I thought, about how shitty we treat our elderly.

I finally picked up The College Dropout by Kanye West, and it's fantastic. The whole album, minus a couple of tracks, is remarkably consistent. He obviously saved his best stuff for when he produced his own album.

Finally, I got word today that Woodhands has a video that will be featured on CBC's ZeD TV Monday, in an all-electronic edition of Music Monday. That's tonight! The program starts around 11:25 pm on CBC, and goes to midnight. So do yourself a favour and tune in to see the video for "Honest Broker", an awesome track, or at least go to the ZeD website to see it. I'll hopefully be putting up some Woodhands for your listening pleasure in the near future.

Out Hud - How Long   I'm pretty pumped for the new Out Hud record, out on Tuesday. S.T.R.E.E.T. D.A.D. was so unbelievably good and I hear that this one, called Let Us Never Speak of It Again, is great as well. Here is a track off the new one from their website, which I hope hints at what to expect from the rest of the album. Hope you enjoy it. (You can purchase it from Kranky Records)
Posted by: Rob / 04:36 0 wonderous examples of witty banter

March 14, 2005

you give me friction


Typical evening shower chez Rob

So I go to have my shower this evening, and much to my chagrin (to put it mildly), when I attempted to slide the shower doors over, they fell apart, leaving no barrier between me and the inside of my shower. First let me apologize to my flatmates, who no doubt heard me shout pretty much every low-brow word that one uses to express frustration and anger in such a situation.

Now, like I said on my first post, I don't want to bore you with mundane facts about my life... BUT. This is where I unload, because you know what? This concerns everyone who is a renter: to have the shower door collapse in my hands is not what made me fume. In fact, under normal circumstances I would probably have even laughed. No, what made me angry was knowing it will take my landlords a least a week to fix it, and that in the meantime we have to either shower at school, or live with a wet bathroom floor everytime we shower. Let me tell you about my landlords. The quick three-word description: stupid, lazy, and cheap, and negligent. OK, I realize those are four words, but believe me, there are a few choice words I did manage to leave out.

The problems we've had since moving here are numerous. From day one, the washer and dryer are broken-fixed-broken-fixed-etc.; the deathtrap they call a back step -- I almost broke my leg there once; having unsafe electrical sockets for the longest time; losing power for days in our living room; not having hot water for four and a half days before they came and actually had it running again, leaving us to shower at school. The list goes on. But you can put your life savings on the fact that they will be there to pick up rent on time. That, they're punctual for. That stupid smirk I get when I give him the rent cheque. By far the worst landlords I have ever had, and every day I am reminded of this. The location of our place is so awesome, right near the beach, and near lots of shopping, and food stores (not to mention Zulu Records), and they know that, and take advantage. I'm sure their dryer is perfect, their fire escape safe, and their hot water running without four-day interruptions. It's people like that that fuck up the world for the rest of us. If anyone can think of a subtle, yet effective "fuck you" to sign off to these slumlords with when we move out (after getting our safety deposit back, of course), please share.

OK, done. Now then. I was at the Futureheads show last Monday at Richard's on Richards, and they did NOT disappoint. Unfortunately, they have only the one album, so they only played those songs, a couple of new ones, and a Television Personalities cover (along with the Kate Bush cover on the album). But they were full of energy, got the crowd going, and their trademark harmonies were just as great as on the album. I recommend going to catch them if you can.

The Screaming Eagles - Dingo Dink and Enter Tip   Also, last night I had the distinct pleasure of going to the see the one and only Screaming Eagles play a set at the Butchershop, an art gallery that also hosts many events and shows by some very cool bands. The Eagles rocked as usual, of course. A couple of their newer songs have vocals now. The dream is now a reality! If you are in the Vancouver area, do yourself a favour and see them. Seriously, they are great. Truuuust me. Their website is linked on my sidebar here, and they will post dates as they arise. There should be something coming up in April, so keep yourself informed. Check out the tracks I've linked to above, and send the comments. Enjoy, and Cacaw!
Posted by: Rob / 00:22 1 wonderous examples of witty banter

March 06, 2005

it's down to me


View From a Room with a View Late at Night

Here I am on a late Saturday night, or early Sunday morning, however you look at it, at 3:45 am in the morning, doing my remote observing at Arecibo. Counting the seconds until I can rest my head on my pillow and all I think about is BED and SLEEP and AHHH. T-minus 1 hour 15 minutes.

So I'm pretty pumped. Going to catch the Futureheads at Richard's on Richards on Monday night. Luckily I picked up the last five tickets at Scratch. It should be fantastic.

Picked up the new Fiery Furnaces EP a few days back. Blueberry Boat was one of my favourite albums from last year, so I was fairly excited to have more. To tell the truth I was not completely impressed at first with EP. But a few more listens later, giving me the chance to reaquainting myself with their world, and I was hooked. In fact, I like it more with each listen. There are a couple of not-so-amazing tracks here ("Duffy St. George" comes to mind) but nothing here in particular really makes me ill. In fact, it all makes me happy, especially "Cousin Chris". It's no Blueberry Boat, mind you, but for an album released so quickly after their last, it's pretty damn good. And it sure as hell is not an EP length (10 songs, about an hour of music). But I'm certainly not complaining about getting more Fieries than I expected.

I know you're all keeping a detailed log of my "in the changer" albums, and notice that they've changed. And assuming you're all keeping accurate records, you'll have noticed that one album remains from last time. That album is the Reigning Sounds' Too Much Guitar!, and this is where I have plucked this post's tracks from. That's right, plural tracks:

The Reigning Sound - If You Can't Give Me Everything and Funny Thing   So here is yet another reason for me to appreciate early Rolling Stones and 60's garage rock in general: they directly inspire bands today that sound like this. I just couldn't decide which song I should choose to represent this great album. So here are two offerings. Singer and principal songwriter Greg Cartwright's vocals are simply awesome. The band is also great -- Too Much Guitar! is not an understatement. Everything, right down to that truly DIY guitar "solo" on "If You Can't Give Me Everything", makes me smile. Enjoy and tell me what you think. (You can purchase it at Insound)
Posted by: Rob / 03:44 2 wonderous examples of witty banter