Auditory Critique – Tegan and Sara: Sainthood

Well, I somehow found time to churn out a quick album review.
The current target of my wit and limited vocabulary: Tegan and Sara’s latest offering – Sainthood.

Before I begin, I must admit that I have never had a particular fondness for Tegan and/or Sara. When their “walking with a ghost” song became popular on the radiobox, I hated it. When I found out who they were, and what more of their music was like, I said here’s a couple of identical twin lesbians with bad haircuts making boring indie music for kids who haven’t yet discovered the Black Keys, a far superior independent pair, making far superior music. Then I heard their song “Speak Slow” and realized I might have not given them a fair shot. I listened to a few more songs, and reverted to my previous perspective, and didn’t like them again.

I’m not dead yet….

To all my loyal readers (which is limited to Jeb, Hrvoje, and Ivana, near as I can tell),  you should know I’m not abandoning the internet soapbox, just neck-deep in finishing my thesis.

I realize that this blog has become your go-to destination for drivel and banter,  once you get tired of your email, gmail, facebook, twitter, redtube, prison planet, and then checking your twitter a second time.

Come December, I should be able to start making regular posts again.  Unless my advisor wins and has me writing into the new year…

Until then, here’s a clip that I find excellent:

What in the Hell is a Flash Radiometer?

So, just now I took a total of ten minutes out of my day to see America do what it does best – blast the shit out of something that didn’t deserve it.

Yes, I tuned in for the NASA webcast of the LCROSS mission, and let me just say… it was the boringest thing I’ve ever seen. Yes, the aptly titled boringestblog will finally talk about something I feel is worthy of the title.

Now, I will admit, I’ve been severely behind the times on this issue. When I heard about this mission, probably about five days to a week ago, I thought it was the most amazing thing I’d ever heard. They were going to change the course of history, by doing things the “Michael Bay Way”. Sure, the mission didn’t have Bruce Willis or a rough-and-tumble crew of scallywag oil junkies, but it did have rockets slamming into a celestial entity, which was enough for me to consider it cool. But let me tell you – after watching the climactic finale, this was less of a Deep Impact, and more of an Armageddon to my interest in NASA.

It had everything that makes space exploration great – visiting the moon, rocket-related destruction, and the potential to make an astounding discovery. Now, I could care less what they find. If they find Atlantis on the moon, I won’t bat an eyelash, because not only was this a waste of tax dollars, but it was a waste of my precious time.

Let me just say, I will never look forward to a NASA mission ever again. Not even if they decide to shoot Buzz Aldrin into the sun.

Seriously, the build up to this potential internet-viewing blockbuster was so immense, I knew I’d be let down. Yet, I still tuned in. I wanted them to succeed, and I wanted to see the moon get blasted in its smug face. Damn you moon, thinking you control the tides and the night sky. If anything, it got what it had comin’.

My point is, the reason they should have done this particular mission was because of how people had a general interest in it. There are Facebook pages and groups dedicated to those for and against the mission. Techno-geek blogs like Gizmodo and major news outlets like the Guardian UK were having daily countdowns and stories building up to the mission. For the webcast to be generic, science technobabble was expected, but certainly not the post-impact wrap up show.

Holy Moses, that was bad. I mean, at least with the celebration scene from flight/mission control you had people clapping, and that guy in the red shirt attempt a high-five with another cosmonerd (only to get DEEEEENIED), and that at least shows they were psyched, but you had three guys doing the wrap-up babbling about who-knows-what, using words I’m fairly certain they coined on the spot (what in the hell is a Flash Radiometer anyway?), showing little to no emotion at all. I mean, I know shooting an object at the moon isn’t exactly rocket science, but at least be stoked on your achievement. Or maybe the guy on the left could have just trimmed his mullet. Or not worn yellow suspenders.

And for the record, maybe I was just not sure of what I’d see, but I didn’t see any sort of impact either. I knew it wouldn’t be a tremendous fireball, but when you’re claiming there’ll be a 30-mile high dust cloud, you’d better deliver.

The point is, that’s 10 or 15 minutes of my life I’ll never get back. Thanks for nothing NASA.

Stumble-Upon #1: Pomplamoose

You know how sometimes you’ll be hitting the ol’ Internets, looking for a video you’ve either heard about or haven’t seen in a while? And sometimes once you’ve watched that video 2 or 3 times, and looked at the “Related Videos” section of the YouTubes, and found something that catches your eye, and turns out to be really good?

These posts will be chronicling exactly that: random findings, “stumble-upons”, which amuse, surprise, or just impress me.

For the first of these posts, I’d like to make a quick diversion from my punk and metal offerings and give you a horse of an entirely different colour.

Near as I can tell, this twosome goes by the name of Pomplamoose, and while I hate that word, they’re pretty terrific. I watched an entire 4 videos of theirs, and each one was pleasing to the ear, and has pretty good production values for your standard YouTube offering. It’s fun and pleasant, and you could play it for your grandma.

To me, the singer reminds me of the girl-next-door, who kind of sings like Feist (maybe? I don’t listen to Feist, but this is what I imagine she sounds like), but doesn’t have a pretentious haircut. Then there’s the boyfriend or band mate who has awkward style, but hold it down musically, so he’s top-notch for just that.

Either way, I’d bet if this was used in an Apple commercial, they’d help move dozens upon hundreds of Mac-Pods and Shuffle-Books.

Here’s a few clips to get you going, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

Firstly, It takes bravery to cover Edith Piaf, and the original was also one of the songs Tom Penny skated to in “Sorry”, so that makes this song doubly good.

This is an original of theirs, and it`s damn good!

Lastly, I guess they did a Beyonce cover. Again, if more pop music sounded like this, I’d listen to it.

Just to clarify though, this isn’t a joke in any way, shape, or form. I actually like it!

And no, I haven’t gone soft, I still listened to 3 Inches of Blood on my bike ride home from work.

You’re Better off Dead, than to not Know Motorhead.

As you most likely know (if you’ve been subject to my facebook-spamming of my blog link), I haven’t really updated this blog in about a week. Truth is, I haven’t had much to say, nor time to contemplate what to say.
To rectify this, I’ve decided to make a post on something old, albeit something great – Motorhead.

As a disclaimer, I’m too lazy to put the umlaut in the name, so just pretend it’s there.

Motorhead is one of those bands you either love or hate. There’s no such thing as a fairweather Motorhead fan, similar to how one is either in the KISS Army or not. Myself, I burned that draft card and moved to Canada all too long ago.

But this isn’t about some silly rock band who dresses up like the ugly lovechild of a mime and a dominatrix – this is about one of the most hard-rocking, hard-drinking, hard-touring bands out there today.
Consider this your poorly written and gramatically challenged Motorhead primer.

Nothing to say today. SO WE SHALL SPEAK OF BLOOD.

Today, I don’t really have much of anything interesting to write about. So in lieu of something fascinating, I’ll write about a band I’ve been a big fan of for a long time, and have been listening to a great deal lately: 3 Inches of Blood.

To say that I love 3 Inches of Blood would be an understatement. Being far away from home, and even while home fairly detatched from the metal community as a whole, I don’t really know if they’re all that popular. Nor do I care. The fact is that they produce some of the most ridiculous, fun, and viking-y metal this side of Scandanavia. I even found a picture of them in front of Stonehenge, which is pretty incredible. What makes them even better though, is that they are Canadian.

A True Blues Explosion: The Jim Jones Revue

Try as I might, I can’t seem to get out of this rut that this is turning into a “me babbling about music” blog.
So, not one to break a streak (for lack of a better word), here’s another band which has blown me away.

Today, I’ll be talking about The Jim Jones Revue.

Yeah, I admit that I had not heard of them until yesterday. I came across a youtube link late last night, loaded it, but was tired, so I left the window open, with the intention of watching it when I woke up this morning. I did just that, and I found out quickly that this is not the kind of band to listen to half-asleep.

I don’t like using excessive-hyperbole like “blew me away”, or “changed how I look at rock music”, but these guys sure did. The Jim Jones Revue is more than just a clever name, they are the pure embodiment of raw power and emotion, not seen since Little Richard or Iggy Pop when he was still cutting himself.

It’s the little things…

… That make life worth enjoying.

If I could get personal for a moment, to engage in some “RealTalk” as they say, I’ve been pretty down on Switzerland as of late. When all your friends more or less are temporary residents, it’s pretty tough to watch them all go away while you stick around. I suppose I’ll have the same effect when I leave and whoever’s left is still here, but… it still sucks all the same.

But some things still make me happy.

Like learning French tonguetwisters, and teaching my coworkers English ones.

The fact that I found some Turkish Delight from my trip to Istanbul with Steph which was last December… and it’s still edible.

Finding Mountain Dew and A&W rootbeer for $3 a can at the gas station next door. I’m not desperate for it, but it’s nice to have the option.

Wearing Lakai Manchesters (the OGs) to work, and having skaterats take notice (and I think appreciate) as I leave.

and… finding Thurston Moore in a Dinosaur Jr. video.

Yep, I’m probably boring. But at least I can still find things to not be mopey about whilst fighting bouts of crippling “over-it-ness”.

Sewing with Nancie Week – Day 4

Well, here we are. Day four. Quattro. Quatre.

I’m over it.

I don’t feel like writing anything else. I think writing a couple thousand words about one band is more than enough, no matter how much you love them.

I was going to talk about their passion for covers, but I’m not feeling like it. Check out their version of “Gangsta’s Paradise” though, as it’s probably my favourite punk cover ever.

Also, I wanted to talk about their live show, or what I remember of it, and maybe the time I saw the Reason, wore my SWN shirt, and kept calling for them to play SWN songs, only to get the stink eye from the singer later on. Sorry for appreciating your past, jerk.

But as I’ve said, I’m over it. Here’s a Dinosaur Jr. song. It ties in nicely. I should listen to them more.

Thanks for reading!

Sewing with Nancie Week – Day 3

On today, the lucky third day of my week-long tribute to SWN, I’m going to reflect upon what I consider to be the “classic” SWN sound, their near-identical albums “Same Three Chords” and “Take a Look at Yourself”.

Silly and fun, lacking some of the awkward-elements of the previous releases, and with a great deal of polish, these should be considered classics of Southern Ontario punk rock.