music and talk and whaddaya no

September 26, 2005

now here i go again


Do you know who I am? I'm ZAPCAT! This is my deck, you hear me? Mine!
So the New Pornographers' concert at the Commodore Ballroom was awesome as expected. Immaculate Machine opened and really got the crowd going, their appetite whetted. Their songs are quite melodic, but most importantly, they have a lot of energy, those three. Destroyer was up next, and they too did a good job of keeping the crowd into it. I think Dan Bejar is the most normal looking guy in music: so normal that it's arresting. His voice is a unique one, which I enjoy, and his songs are nice and off-centre enough to match.

Finally, The Pornos came on. Not much to say except: (a) they rocked really hard; (b) Neko Case is a goddess with a voice to match; (c) the only song I was disappointed that they didn't play was "July Jones", but I'm splitting hairs here. They were pretty flawless; and (d) the best moment of the show was when Carl Newman was changing guitars. To fill time, the drummer started fooling around being funny. One of the things he did to entertain was start singing the Fleetwood Mac song "Dreams" to himself. Soon enough, Neko joined in and then so did the rest of the band, and finally, it became a full-blown cover version, and it was spectaculer. The audience was right into it, singing along (including me), and Neko took over Stevie Nicks duties. A.C. came back in time to join them for the second half of the song, which they finished singing in its entirety. Fantastic. Go see them.

So indieworkshop.com, the site I write for, has a cool feature this week: "The Top 100 Albums That Changed Our Lives". Basically, it's a list of some albums that changed the way various members of the IW staff listen to music, or influenced their tastes. Or an album that was simply important to them at some point in their lives, with short comments by one or more of the writers on each. Check it out, it's a really fun piece. 20 are revealed each day till the end of the week. I'm on a couple today.

Toodeloo.
Posted by: Rob / 22:46 1 wonderous examples of witty banter

September 19, 2005

you should see my new house



Well. Here I am, back from my summer hiatus, shall we say. A bunch of wonderful things have happened to me since then, but I think I'll not bore everyone. I did, however, move to a new place in Vancouver, and it's in the Main Street area, my favourite place in the city.

Here is a spider that lives on my back deck:


I have been thinking long and hard about it, and I think I'll not put up mp3's any more, at least for now. My initial intention was for it to be sort of like me playing a couple of new songs I like to my friends, but I realized through talking to some people that it may not be fair to some of the artists, although on the other hand it can expose people to new, good music. Basically, the jury's still out, and I may go back to it. So I'll still leave the disclaimer up there to the right.

So I was in Toronto for my friend's wedding -- and by the way, congratulations again to Adrian! And to Alex, whose wedding I, very sadly, could not attend, and to Tom, whose wedding was the third I was invited to within a week and a half -- and I got to see Of Montreal in concert. It was spectacular. His ridiculously catchy songs translated perfectly in a live setting. All the energy that I hope would be conveyed by performing these songs live came out, and then some. Please go see them if you can, trust me.

I'm going on Friday to see The New Pornographers here in Vancouver at the Commodore Ballroom. I'm psyched, but as if that wasn't enough, Destroyer and Immaculate Machine are opening. Talk about a full deal. I also was dreaming of going to the Sigur Ros show at the Orpheum next Tuesday the 27th, and I finally got paid and was able to pay for tickets. But of course, the show was sold out. Story of my life. If anyone has any idea as to how I can get tickets, please let me know, because I'm DYING to go.

And what's with Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene tickets being so expensive? 45 and 40 bucks? Jesus. Im glad I saw them before they rocketed to stardom.

Anyway, I am hoping to keep writing here, so keep checking. As always, check to the right on the sidebar for new reviews (in bold) and new albums in the In the Changer section. And please go to indieworkshop.com for the latest in music news, reviews, and great articles. It's seriously a good and unpretentious zine that is getting bigger by the day.

Until next time.
Posted by: Rob / 00:18 2 wonderous examples of witty banter