RIPPING THE MASH-UP REMIX

Remember the first time you heard A Stroke of Genius by Freelance Hellraisers, or a bootleg mix CD my 2ManyDjs? I was originally blown away that Christina Aguilera's Genie in a Bottle and the Strokes Hard to Explain mended together so well, I didn't understand how two seemingly unrelated tracks could be meshed into such a genius track. This was the beginning of a huge trend in bootleg music; mash-ups began to pop up all over the internet. 2ManyDjs took it one step further and released full CDs of their live sets, which were chalk-full of mash-ups. And to be honest, I've become totally bored with the concept...up until now. Nothing could have prepared me for the sheer audio assault that is Night Ripper, the third release by Girl Talk, a.k.a. Gregg Gillis. Tons of ink (...or blog space) has been spilled/filled in the last two weeks about this album, and all of it is well deserved. Gillis takes the mash-up concept to an entire new level, each track on Ripper mixes a minimum of 4 to 6 songs to create a unified track that does not sound disjointed or poorly mixed in any sense. His ear for mixing is sublime as is his song selection. Ripper clocks in just over 40 minutes and in that time he manages to squeeze in 150 samples. The tracks usually consist of one or two vocal pieces mixed over at least 3-5 layers of back track. Every genre is represented, tons of hip-hop (which I'm the most unfamiliar with), indie rock (I almost fell over when he mixes in Neutral Milk Hotel), Top 40s pop, UK Grime, and a selection of older tunes that would fit into the playlist at Mix 99.9. Lauren and I were driving around the north-end of the city yesterday afternoon trying to pick out as many samples as we could. Night Ripper has been released by Illegal Art, which means you'll have a difficult time procuring a copy, but just like Dangermouse's The Grey Album, it's available for download all over the net. Go forth and download, this album will be a contender for album of the summer.

Pitchfork reviews the album here.

Buy a legitimate copy directly from Illegal Art here.

See comments for this post for yousendit link to download Night Ripper.

MY FIRST BILLY CHILDISH ALBUM


Billy Childish will be releasing a best of compilation titled My First Billy Childish Album in September/October 2006. Damaged Goods, the label that is releasing the comp. ran a contest where fans were asked to submit a drawing/caricature of Billy in one of his famed outfits such as an army uniform or a deerstalker. The winner was....Christina Wozniak, a Toronto based artist, resident of my hood (big ups Roncey!), and an internet-related friend of mine, who I met a few years back through the candy cane children. Christina submitted her painting to Damaged Goods and actually won! Way to go!!! For more deets on the contest, follow this link.

WE BOTH GO DOWN TOGETHER


The Decemberists have confirmed the tracklisting, street date and a North American tour (via The Fork). The new disc, titled The Crane's Wife, will be released October 5th. Tour dates as follows:

08-23 Seattle, WA - Woodland Park Zoo
08-26 Salem, OR - Oregon State Fair (Pet Aid 2006) *
10-17 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom #
10-18 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom #
10-19 San Francisco, CA - Warfield Theater #
10-21 Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern #
10-22 Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theater #
10-24 Austin, TX - Stubb's #
10-25 Dallas, TX - Gypsy Ballroom #
10-26 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues #
10-27 Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle #
10-29 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club #
10-30 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club #
10-31 Northampton, MA - Calvin Theater #
11-01 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory #
11-03 New York, NY - Hammerstein Ballroom $
11-04 Boston, MA - Orpheum Theater $
11-05 Montreal, Quebec - Metropolis $
11-06Toronto, Ontario - Kool Haus $
11-07 Pontiac, MI - Clutch Cargo $
11-09 Cleveland, OH - Agora Theater $
11-10 Columbus, OH - Lifestyle Communities Pavilion $
11-11 Chicago, IL - Riviera Theater $
11-12 Minneapolis, MI - First Avenue $
11-14 Denver, CO - Paramount Theater $
11-16 Missoula, MT - Wilma Theater $
11-17 Seattle, WA - Paramount Theater $
11-18 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom $

* with Violent Femmes, Cake
# with Lavender Diamond
$ with Alasdair Roberts

Looking forward to seeing them again in Toronto, although Kool Haus is an odd choice of venue. I wonder if they can sell it out?

I'm off to the cottage from the 22nd to the 26th and will have no internet access (GASP!!)...Have a good week kids!

I KNOW, I KNOW YOU TRIED TO CHANGE THINGS

Salad Days/Dog Day Afternoon
July 15, 2006
Fort York

Fern was able to snag a couple tickets for the show for free from work, and asked me to accompany her to the first installment of Metric's mini-fest Dog Day Afternoon. The show was held at Fork York and this was the first time I've been there for a show. It's a good venue, lots of shade cast by the various buildings, tons of open grass areas for sitting, but no non-port-a-potty washrooms. A couple of negative things we noticed when we arrived, security at the gates did not allow anyone to bring in food or sealed bottles of water (unlike at the Olympic Island show). Also, everything inside in terms of refreshments was expensive. Beer was $6 a cup (and no deals if you purchased multiple beer tickets) and water was $3 a bottle. I found it funny that food and drink prices were so high after Ewan Exall (of Metric) had this to say about large festivals in NOW last week:

"Adam and I come from the punk rock side of things," explains Exall. "There was stuff I'd notice as a consumer at larger shows that made no sense. Why wasn't there decent food? Why was water $5? We wanted to create something in a festival setting that had the trappings of punk culture."

Anyways back to the show. We arrived just after Wintersleep finished their set, which is a total shame as I was hoping to finally catch them live. We also missed Land Of Talk's set (they opened the show) UPDATE: supposedly they didn't play according to their Myspace. The first band we saw (from the back of the beer garden where we decided to stay cause we found some space in the shade of the tent) was Holy Fuck. Their set was fun, kind of jam-bandey but in a dance music way. I'm not familiar with their material, but from what I heard, I think I may have to check them out. Up next was Electric Six, a band that should have never been included on the bill. They stuck out like a sore thumb, their performance seemed contrived and was incredibly boring. They played material from their yet to be released sophmore disc, and a couple "hits". I don't see why people like this band. Boring as hell. The Secret Machines were next on the bill. Having read praises of their live show in various corporate music rags and on the blogs, my hopes were pretty high for their set. And....they delievered. They remind me of a less droney/less assaulting Jesus and Mary Chain, they were freakin loud, and I couldn't believe that the sound they produced came from only three people. Again, not familiar with their material, but I enjoyed their set immensley. Fiery Furnaces were next. Again, not the hugest fan of this band, their one of those "hip" bands that people name drop. I absolutely LOVE their EP, but am not a fan of their actual albums (Blueberry Boat was such a chore to listen to). Live, they're all over the place. Nothing sounds like it does recorded. For instance, Single Again from their EP, is brilliant recorded, great electronics in the background, totally danceable, but live, it was a fast guitar-driven song. I don't know, maybe I was tired, or in a bad mood, but I didn't really enjoy their set. Wrong venue maybe?

Metric closed the show and walked onto their smoke-filled, strobe light stage to great fanfare. They were the draw of the show for the vast majority in attendance. They launched into IOU which caused a mass of people to run like maniacs from the beer gardens to the stage. Metric as always incredible live, they're a party band that can get the crowd worked up and excited. Their set was full of the hits, they played Combat Baby and Poster Of A Girl. Emily is a much stronger front woman that I had anticipated, she can totally hold her own on stage and has the cutest stage moves including full leg kicks. Amazing.

We ended our evening at Mel's on Bloor for Corona and poutine topped with montreal smoked meat (Fern's choice). My arteries still feel clogged from the mass of cheese, meat and gravy I consumed. Good times.

Watch IOU live at Dog Day Afternoon here (via YouTube).

SOMETIMES I FEEL THAT I'M BIGGER THAN THE SOUND

Scott Stereogum has the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs video for Cheated Hearts here. Fans were asked to submit video of their performances of the song which have been edited into a full video. It's pretty damn adorable.

Listen to the new Killers track in its entireity here. Their new album, titled Sam's Town will be released on October 2nd. Check the new pic on this NME news piece. What's with Brandon's shitty teenage mustache?

Sickly. Lose some weight fatty.

The funniest thing I have read all year. Clown whore. Genius.

Janice at Just Keep Bloggin' made it to The Stills taping Tuesday night. Read about it here. I on the other hand, didn't make it. Boo to me.

Sufjan Stevens has confirmed more dates for the fall, this time in Europe. Here they are:
11-01 Dublin, Ireland - Olympia
11-02 Manchester, England - Academy 2
11-03 London, England - Barbican
11-05 Ghent, Belgium - Voorhuit
11-07 Barcelona, Spain - Casino L'Allanca
11-09 Paris, France - Le Bataclan
11-10 Cologne, Germany - Gloria
11-11 Amsterdam, Holland - Paradiso
11-12 Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega
11-14 Oslo, Norway - Sentrum Scene
11-15 Stockholm, Sweden - Berns
11-16 Reykjavik, Iceland - Frikirkjan Church
11-17 Reykjavik, Iceland - Frikirkjan Church

According to Damon via comments section, the N. American dates are pretty solid, and it doesn't look like any more dates are going to be added. Please please please add a Toronto date. I missed the last show at St. Paul's because I was at a wedding!

Running With Scissors movie poster.

Amy Sedaris on The Colbert Report discussing the film version of Strangers With Candy. Funny shit. Rented to series on DVD this week as I've never seen it before and I really like her brother's work. It's growing on me.

Upcoming Shows Announced:
August 9th - GNARLS BARKLEY - Kool Haus (on sale now)
August 21st - MYLO/MSTRKRFT double CD release party - Sonic Nightclub
October 2nd - LADYTRON w/ CSS - The Docks
October 5th - AKRON/FAMILY - Lee's Palace

NOW WE SPEAK REMEMBERESE

The Stills are doing a taping for a program titled Beautiful Noise tomorrow (July 11th) at the Berkeley Church. You can attend for free, just email audience@rogers.com to be put on the list. It's all-ages but beer will be available (yay Beer!). Seats are first come, first serve.

WORKING OUT THE WORDS


The Beating Heart feat. The Diableros, Magneta Lane
July 7, 2006
Mississauga Central Library Gardens

Although there was a pleather of choices for shows last night, Fern and I opted to head out to the suburbs to catch The Diableros and Magneta Lane at the first installement of The Beating Heart music series. It's great to see that indie showcases like The Beating Heart can exist in the 'burbs, something like this could have never existed in my hometown when I was growing up. The gardens/park where the series takes place is perfect, a large grass expanse for sitting, and tons of free parking across the street at Square One.
Arrived at the tail end of Kover's set, and let's just say that they aren't my cup of tea. Magneta Lane were up next and it was my first time seeing them live. I can't say that I'm a massive fan, I like Dancing With Daggers enough, but I must say that I was alittle underwhelmed with their live performance. It was sloppy and the mix was all off, vocals were really low and the guitar kept echoing. They played a 40 minute set, people seemed to enjoy it. Half the people in attendance seemed to clear out after Magneta Lane, which is surprising since my one reason for attending was to catch The Diableros. They closed the evening with a very strong set. Opening with Working Out The Words, I was surprised how well their material transforms live. Although it has been said that the fuzzy production of You Can't Break The Strings Of Our Olympic Hearts is prevalent live, last night I found their set to be much more crisp than ever before. Maybe it was the fact that the show was outside. Regardless, they were incredible and are well deserving of their recent 8.4 review rating by Pitchfork. These kids are destined for big things. Could they be the next CYHSY in terms of fork driven media hype? My guess is for sure.





Check out the rest of my photos here.

Ps. This is the first show that I've used my new camera (Fuji Finepix F30). Not only is the camera amazing for low light situations, I was also blessed with a really bright stage.

NO LOVE FOR TORONTO

According to Asthmatic Kitty (who I'm still pissed at for not sending me a t-shirt that I ordered AND paid for when I ordered a couple items from their store) Sufjan Stevens is hitting the road once again in the fall for a North American tour, and alas, no Toronto date. Please come back Sufjan, we miss you. Dates are as follows:

Mon. Sept. 11: Nashville, TN, Ryman
Tues Sept 12: Little Rock, AR TBA
Fri. Sept. 15: Austin, TX, Paramount Theater
Sat. Sept. 16: Austin, TX, Paramount Theater
Tue. Sept. 19: New Orleans, LA, House of Blues
Weds. Sept. 20: Atlanta, GA, Fox Theater (PASTE Fest)
Thu. Sept. 21: Chapel Hill, NC, Memorial Hall
Sat. Sept. 23: Indianapolis, IN, Egyptian Theater
Sun. Sept. 24: St. Louis, MO, The Pageant
Mon. Sept. 25: Milwaukee, WI, Pabst Theater
Tue. Sept. 26: Chicago, IL, The Riviera
Thu. Sept. 28: Philadelphia, PA, The Towers
Fri. Sept. 29: New York, NY, Town Hall
Sat. Sept. 30: New York, NY, Town Hall
INSERT TORONTO DATE HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (please?)
Mon. Oct. 9: Los Angeles, CA, The Wiltern
Weds. Oct. 11: San Francisco, CA, Zellerbach Hall
Fri. Oct. 13: Portland, OR, Crystal Ballroom
Sat. Oct. 14: Vancouver, BC, St. Andrews Cathedral
Sun. Oct. 15: Seattle, WA, Paramount

* all shows with My Brightest Diamond

UPDATE: I got an email from a lovely chap at Asthmatic Kitty today to say that they got my email in regards to the missing shirt (it was the third complaint e-mail I sent) and they have finally posted my shirt PLUS a copy of Steven's latest release The Avalanche. Score! Now all they have to do is confirm a Toronto date for Stevens (he DOES have an extended break between the NYC shows and the LA show). Hooks it up! He can play in my backyard if a venue cannot be booked!!!

CONCERT ANNOUNCEMENT ROUND-UP

As everyone has already read, the Virgin Festival has confirmed it's initial line up which includes The Flaming Lips, Massive Attack, The Raconteurs, and Gnarls Barkley. The line-up in my opinion is....weak. Yes, lots of big bands, but not worth the $104.50 (two-day ticket) as I've seen many of the bands before. If I was to stumble across free tickets, I'd go. Pre-sale tickets are available through the Edge right now (password VirginIsland).

Beirut will be making his Canadian debut on October 5, 2006 at the Horseshoe. Tickets available now at Rotate and ticketbastard.

Outside the city, The Beating Heart music series is happening across the street from Square One in the library gardens in Mississauga every Friday for the rest of the summer (except the 21st). This Friday's show will feature performances by The Diableros and Magneta Lane. Next Friday July 14th, check out Ultra Magnus and Femme Generation. These shows are all-ages, and there are planned 19+ after parties at The Duke of Marlborough (Sailboats Are White! will headline the afterparty on September 1st).

Hot Chip return to Toronto on November 6, 2006 in support of their new disc The Warning, which is 400 times better than their debut. The show is happening at the Mod Club and tickets, $15 are on sale now at Rotate.

Greg over at Are You Familiar is putting on The Shoegaze Cover Show at The Boat on August 23, 2006. Bands on the bill include the Diableros, No Dynamics, Wyrd Visions and Fjord Rowboat. Frank will be spinning shoegaze classics in between sets.

For the weekend, planning on catching Diableros/Magneta Lane tonight. Tomorrow, I have a family event in the daytime, and am going to attempt to hit the Jamie Lidell/Komono/Gonzales show at Harbourfront in the evening. Sunday.....maybe Meligrove Band, but probably just relaxing.