All of Our Names

• There's a feature article in today's Toronto Star on Sarah Harmer. I always thought the first single 'Almost' off the new album sounded more like a Weeping Tile song and even Sarah herself admits it in the article. I feel validated. ;-)
  
  BTW, the umusic.ca site has a Sarah Harmer site that has a a good sampling of audio and video for those not already in the know.



• The Cowboy Junkies site has the following news update today, which I have cut and paste below for your convenience [please do visit the Cowboy Junkies site as well!]:
  
  "The new CD, One Soul Now, will be available for pre-order soon. It will ship on June 8, the official North American release date. Check back for details. Also coming soon: 'neath your covers, part 1 (covers of songs by Springsteen, Van Zandt, The Cure, Neil Young and The Youngbloods, available bundled with the new CD) and Anatomy Of An Album CD-ROM. Oh yeah, and a brand-new website, too!"



• TV: The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn turns 5.



• recent purchases:




• CD:




• Belle and Sebastian - Legal Man


• Space - Tin Planet


• Stereophonics - Just Enough Education to Perform


• Various Artists - music from the film The End of Violence -> Never saw the film, but this is a wonderfully varied, and mostly downtempo, collection of songs.




• VHS:




• Star Trek: Next Generation - All Good Things -> I consider this one of the most satisfying television series finales ever!




• DVD:




• Almost Famous Untitled: The Bootleg Cut (Widescreen Director's Edition) [with CD] [3 Discs] ->($12.99 - Best Buy - I think they priced it wrong!)

There is a light that never goes out

• Toronto Star: A certain kind of evil never dies -> I'm deeply saddened about the news of the discovery of Cecilia Zhang. I decline to say 'the body of, or the remains of...' because she was a 'person' and I'd like to think of her as that. What's even more disturbing is that she was found in Mississauga, the city I have lived in for most of my life. My condolences and prayers go out to the family.



• What's wrong with this picture?....Who the f!*k cares if he blows his head off and why of all things does one of the cops have no shoes on? (ok, maybe he's wearing shoes on closer look... or else he has no toes, HAHAHA) [picture scanned from 29/03/2004 issue of Metro newspaper [Canadian edition]



• Pitchfork gives the lowdown on the tracklist for the new album You Are The Quarry which will be released May 18th in the U.S.



• U.K. zine 'Comes With A Smile' have released the tracklisting of the new CD that will accompany the new issue. Can-con: The CD will include a demo of Sloan's song 'Who Loves Life More' as well as The Constantines' 'St. You', taken from a CBC radio session.

If you build it, they will come

• I just added a guestbook to the right, so please do me a favour and sign it if you are so inclined. I promise to be your friend....Unless you're an asshole. [guestbook courtesy of tripod's HTML Gear]

Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone?

• concert review: Ted Leo/The Pharmacists, w/ Electrelane, The Black Maria @ The Horseshoe Tavern (Toronto, Ontario),25/03/2004
  
  For $10, this show was, for the most part, money well spent. After grabbing a bite to eat with my friend, we headed over to the 'Shoe to catch the tailend of The Black Maria's set. I'm glad I came late because I would not have been in the mood to listen to their screaming vocals, punk brand of music.
  
  Next up were Electrelane who are an all-women band from England who were playing for the first time in Canada. Their music consists of an interesting interplay between keyboards, guitar, drums and dead-pan vocals. Points of reference might include Joy Division and Stereolab. I never heard their music before, although I did manage to read a couple of reviews on the 'net before I saw the band live, and I must say I was quite impressed. The only thing I regret is standing near a speaker without earplugs, especially during a couple of their extended musical freakouts; that was the first time I was actually scared of acquiring any permanent ear damage. Otherwise the girls' post-punk tunes were thoroughly enjoyable. And they played a punky cover of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm on Fire" which was pretty cool. ...On an different note, the vocalist, from where I was standing[which was off to left side of the stage, about midway back within the standing area] reminded me of Neko Case. Actually, all the girls in the band were pretty cute. I wouldn't be surpised if the music mags were to exploit their image. Hey, I wouldn't mind seeing them on the cover of Magnet magazine.
  
  And finally, the man of the hour, Ted Leo and his band The Pharmacists took the stage and proceeded for about the next hour and a half to entertain the crowd with his brand of unpretentious pop/rock/somewhat punk tunes. I had only heard various mp3's of his which were available on the 'net so I was basically a new fan, but I can confidently say that after seeing Ted Leo live, my level of fandom has reached new heights. My favourite song of the whole night was "Where have all the rude boys gone?" [mp3] [a clever rewrite of "Where have all the good times gone?"]. Some have criticized Ted for his falsetto but in my opinion its his falsetto during parts of the song which really make the song. Ted also reminded me of Billy Bragg, at least on the songs he played solo. For the encore, Ted Leo/The Pharmacists played 'Under the Hedge' [mp3] [a really catchy guitar-pop song] and a blistering cover of Stiff Little Fingers' 'Suspect Device'. After the show, I headed to the merch table and was able to purchase a couple of his CD's for $10 bucks a piece, including 'Hearts of Oak' and 'Tell Balgeary, Balgury is Dead' EP. Ted Leo is the man.



• MP3: some Morrissey mp3's for ya'.



• Purchases this week:




• CD:




• The Roots - things come together: 1993-1999 (promo) - picked this up at Goodwill for a couple of bucks!


• Ted Leo/The Pharmacists - Tell Balgeary, Balgury is Dead


• Ted Leo/The Pharmacists - Hearts of Oak




• Records:




• Dexy's Midnight Runners - Searching For The Young Soul Rebels


• The Flying Lizards - The Flying Lizards


• Wreckless Eric - Big Smash




• VHS:




• The X-Files Boxed Set - Vol.7 (Herrenvolk, Home, Unruhe, Paper Hearts, Tunguska, and Terma) (1997)


• The X-Files Trip.Wave 8

101 ways to kill a zombie

• movie review: Dawn of the Dead
  
  Dawn of the Dead is appealing on so many different levels. As a pure zombie flick it kicks ass. The multitude of ways that the zombies meet their demise is truly spectacular, from sniper-style shootings to the head, sharp objects through the eye and skull, propane gas explosions, run-em-down style with trucks, chain-saw slice and dice, etc...What really surprised me was how funny the movie was: put the characters in tense situations and the sarcastic remarks fly!
  
  The movie was apparently shot in Canada and I felt a intrinsically Canadian influence in the film: firstly the mere presence of Sarah Polley in the film, but secondly the seemingly mundane aspects of what the characters experience was quite revealing in itself and I attribute this to a particulary Canadian influence. There are scenes of the characters growing more comfortable with their situation [the characters have taken shelter in the mall and realize that they are relatively safe there as long as they remain inside] and they attempt to go about maintaining some sort of normalcy[making the best out of a bad situation] such as one of the characters playing a long-distance game of chess on the roof-top of the mall to pass the time with another zombie survivor who is trapped on the roof of the building across the street, or the couple, who were likely strangers to each other before, who have a sexual encounter.
  
  A moral dilemma arises when Sarah Polley's character hypothesizes that being bitten by the infected is what spreads the infection (well duh!) and the other characters, or at least some of them, feel that to stop the spread of infection they must end the life of anyone that is infected, even before they have reached fulled 'zombie-ism'. Do they go through with it? I won't tell. Go see the film.
  
  So this motley group of zombie survivors have to make a decision: a)do they stay in the mall, where their fate most likely lies in either dying from running out of food or the zombies finding their way into the mall or b)do they find a way out of the mall, and get their asses, somehow, as far away as possible from the zombies. I won't spoil the ending but it's a real kick in the gut for both the characters and the audience. Surprisingsly, in my opinion, it works to the benefit of the film.
  
  Other notables: 1) good editing, especially during the credits sequence, 2) the soundtrack was really good, the music which was similar to say a Quentin Tarantino soundtrack, 3) the film is never bogged down by the 'science' of zombies [they never explain how the infection started] but rather chooses to concentrate on the characters and their actions, or reactions, 4) the film is scary enough but never takes it too seriously (compare this to 28 Days Later which was a scary film as well but was also much more dour)



• Picked up two tickets today to see Ted Leo at the Horseshoe in Toronto tomorrow night. I've been watching a bit of the Ted Leo "Dirty Old Town" DVD to get me psyched up. I'm also reeling because I got the last 2 tickets to the show that the Horseshoe had for sale [there are other vendors in Toronto that might have their own batch of tickets for the show still for sale, but I got the last two that the Horseshoe had!] I can't wait.



• 102.1 The Edge has announced the lineup for Edgefest 2004, which is occuring on July 2, 2004 at the Molson Ampitheatre in Toronto. Click here for details. I'm not particularly interested in going this year because of the high teeny-bopper contingent that'll likely be at the show. Otherwise, get Jet to play a 19+ show and I'd be there in a heartbeat[and that's all based on their first single "Are You Gonna Be My Girl?"]

El Scorcho

• The new Weezer DVD "Video Capture Device" came out today and the BIG SURPRISE is that for a DVD which contains more than 3 hours of footage, it was only $11.99, at no less than 3 different stores[HMV, Futureshop, Music World]. Well I had a $10 gift certificate from Music World left from Christmas, so you know where I headed. I think I got the last copy at Music World. ....They didn't have The Blue Album: Deluxe Edition but if the price of $42.99 at HMV.com is any indication of what price it'll sell at, then I'm not sure it's really worth it.



• Caught wind of the news over at silverroad.org that Sarah Harmer is guesting on CMT Central [7pm EST]. I only caught part of Sarah's new video "Almost" and then the show ended. Sarah had a guitar with her in studio so I'm assuming she played at least one song live. Too bad I missed it. :-( However, I was listening to Sarah's song "Almost" while the video was playing and in my opinion it sounds more like a song she should perform with Weeping Tile; a little more guitar-oriented and even melodically different from what I anticipate from Sarah Harmer as a solo artist.



• off to see Dawn of the Dead. gotta go!

Island in the Sun

• Check out weezer.com for more details on the release of The Blue Album: Deluxe Edition and "Video Capture Device", the Weezer DVD! They're both being released tomorrow in North America![You suckas in the rest of the world will have to wait till April.]... [Oh, the code for the cool banner below was courtesy of the folks at weezer.com.]
  
  
• When is a zombie not just a zombie? The Toronto Star's article "Undead don't get any respect in movies" [published today] answers the question. ...And I thought I put too much thought in to my understanding of films. ;-)

We did the mash...

• 'Mashups' are either a fad or an evolution of what hip-hop DJ's or cutup artists were already doing. Regardless of what arguement's correct, I'm enjoying 'mashups' immensely. Never in my life would I have thought I'd enjoy a Britney Spears song as much as I did hearing her sing over Wire as the backing band(see below)! Here are some quality mashups that I thought I'd share with you good people [please note there are no direct links to mp3's; just links to the appropriate web site]:




• Like I Root Down (Justin Timberlake Vs. Beastie Boys)


• I'm Watching 4 U (Wire vs Britney)


• Dirrty Funk (Christina Aguilera vs. Alan Hackshaw)


• There_Is_A_Razorblade (The Smiths with a dance beat!)


• Karma In The Life (Radiohead Vs. The Beatles)


• Paperback Believer (The Beatles Vs. The Monkees)


• Shout who we be (Tears For Fears Vs. DMX)


• Supersnoop (Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre Vs. Stevie Wonder)




• The moon landing as a hoax came up as a topic of conversation today. My cousin's husband said that if NASA wanted to prove they landed on the moon, they could use the hubble telescope to view the surface of the moon. His arguement seemed valid, but then I came across the following article on the net.

Zaniness

• I'm psyched about the following films which will be released to theaters tomorrow[which I doubt I'll get to see until at least a week later]: Dawn of the Dead[zombie zaniness!] and The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind[Spike Jonze zaniness!].



• Asian cinema has become increasingly influential over the last several years. Tartan Asian Extreme spotlights some of those films they've released: coincidentally, I saw a used copy of the DVD for the film Shiri today; the cover was enticing but sadly i didn't purchase it. Maybe another day.



• I wish the Japanese Girls Samurai Tour came to Canada. :-(



• purchases:




• CD:




• Pale Saints - In Ribbons


• Various Artists - Rare to Air: Vol II


• Parker, Andrea - Kiss My Arp


• Parker, Andrea - Kiss My Arp [instrumental]


• Afghan Whigs - Up In It




• VHS:




• R.E.M. - Pop Screen


• R.E.M. - This Film Is On

Shamrocks and Shenanigans

• Happy St. Patricks Day! Well, actually forget about the exclamation mark. It's one of those holidays that's really quite silly[and I mean that in the nicest way]. But I don't get excited about St. Patrick's day. It's basically the day after my mom's birthday. [Happy Birthday mom!] I don't know much about St. Patrick's Day but apparently St. Patrick helped spread Christianity. From there, I don't know when St. Patrick's Day became leprechauns, four leaf clovers, and green beer. THE FOLLOWING IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL:...ok I wore a green[actually, a dark forest green] shirt today but I swear I didn't plan it; I just didn't have any clean shirts to wear....and I passed by a used merchandise store today and they had the House of Pain debut CD for a couple of bucks so I bought it. But really it had nothing to do with it being St. Patrick's Day. They're actually a decent hip-hop group.



• MP3: In the spirit of St. Paddy's Day listen to an Irish band. Here's an interesting remix of the Undertones - Teenage Kicks [poj mix] courtesy of Poj Masta. Not for the purists!

Winterlong

• As if Toronto wasn't already better than Mississauga [restaurants, live music, tourist attractions], they also have to better weather...Now I know how Buffalo[NY] must feel. ;-) On the bright side, more skiing!



• DVD: Pitchfork reports that the Pixies set street date for DVD and "Best Of" comp. Check out the DVD tracklisting.



• My ongoing CD purchasing addiction continues, but thank God for liquidation stores! I purchased the following yesterday:




• Autoclave - Autoclave


• Change of Heart - Steelteeth


• Hatfield, Juliana - Bed


• Shonen Knife - 712


• Various Artists - Revolution No. 9: A Tribute To The Beatles


• Various Artists - Viva Eight [LIVE] [2 cd]




• MP3: For a slice of post-punk goodness, check out the band site for Radio 4 where there are a few mp3's available for download. It's a very attractive site as well. Radio 4 has been produced by DFA who have also produced current disco-punk darlings The Rapture(whose 'Echoes' CD has been my current fave over the last couple of days!).

Whoa, Nellie!

• MP3: I caught a performance of Nellie Mckay on Late Show with David Letterman about a week or so ago. I found her quite charming, and it is refreshing to hear such music[sorta jazzy but with some Ben Folds attitude] come from someone who is only 19 years old. The Nellie Mckay site is currently hosting some live sets available for download in mp3 format....BTW, Nellie Mckay will be performing in Toronto at the El Mocambo on March 25(tickets $10).



• DVD: One of my all-time favourite movies, The Commitments, will be released as a special 2-disc DVD package, on March 16, 2004!



• recent purchases:




• CD:




• Aislers Set, The - Terrible Things Happen


• Luna - Slide EP


• Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People


• Cowboy Junkies - Open


• Rapture, The - Echoes




• DVD:




• Ted Leo/Pharmacists: Dirty Old Town

Disco, Punks!

• BEST MASH-UP EVER! - Dsico - Goodtime Girl, featuring: Britney Spears "Slave 4 U" vs Chic "Goodtimes"



• The controller.controller History EP is starting to sink in after a week's worth of play. I've come across the following 'dance-punk', 'post-punk', 'death-disco' links and I hope to purchase some of the 'essentials'[I've got some Gang of Four CD's but I hope to pick up some Public Image Limited as well as a more recent band called The Rapture which has been associated with the genre]:




• tracklisting: VARIOUS-Death Disco: Songs From Under The Dance Floor 1978-1984 (incl. Eno/Byrne, Rip Rig & Panic, The Human League, The Normal, etc.)



• tracklisting: Disco Not Disco: Compiled By Dave Lee and Sean P: STRUT CD/LP 008



• tracklisting: Disco Not Disco 2: Compiled By Joey Negro and Sean P: STRUT CD/LP 020



• article: Exclaim!: The Unlikeliest Marriage: When Disco Met Punk



• article: Simon Reynolds: INDEPENDENTS DAY: post-punk 1979-81



• article: Village Voice: New York Rockers Remember How to Dance: Disco Still Not Disco



• article: Vice: This is Disco Punk: The Rapture and DFA Start the Next Wave



• Death Disco club nite featuring Alan McGee



• MSN Entertainment: Music: post-punk recommendations





• MP3:




• Sydney[Australia] Post-Punk MP3 Collection courtesy of No Night Sweats

Happy Sad

• movie review + SPOILER - Eurotrip
  
  This is not Shakespeare. It's offensive, it's distasteful, it's juvenile...and it's downright hilarious! My buddy and I caught this film yesterday and it's a great film to kick back, relax and laugh. The premise is that Scott has just graduated from highschool and on graduation day is dumped by his beautiful girlfriend for being 'predictable'[she ends up displaying her affections for the vocalist of a punk rock band, played by Matt Damon who has written a song called 'Scotty Don't Know']. Scott has a German penpal named 'Mike' who he's e-mailed on an ongoing basis. One of Scott's friends says that he should be careful because before he knows it his penpal will be wanting to meet, and 'you know what'. So the next time Scott e-mails 'Mike', the very thing his friend said would happen happens ie. his penpal suggests they should meet as 'Mike' is willing to come from Germany to the States to check out some colleges. Of course Scott freaks out and tells the sick bastard off...but as a result of a little translation courtesy of Scott's little brother, Scott finds out that 'Mike' is really Mika and is totally hot[as Scott has a picture of Mika]. So Scott freaks out for telling her off through his e-mail. Yadda Yadda Yadda. Scott and his friend make the trip to Europe to visit Berlin where Mika lives. They meet up with a couple of friends who are already over there. Hijinks and hilarity ensue. There are some over the top comedic scenes such as a little boy marching like Hitler, some sexual scenes in a confessional, and a nude beach of male sunbathers[I would have preferred if they had cut these scenes out entirely...you'll see what I mean if you see the movie]. But this movie has a heart, like the movie 'American Pie' which 'Eurotrip' has been compared to most often. 'Eurotrip' maintains it's laughs throughout and has a happy ending. More often than not, 'Eurotrip' shows how to do Europe in style!



• dotmusic reports that The Smiths' song 'I Know Its Over' has topped a poll to find the best song to listen to when you're feeling miserable. Head over to the dotmusic site to see the rest of the Top 10...Hey, we all feel down sometimes. And listening to sad music sometimes reminds us that we're not alone. I myself am a generally happy person and as a music fan I find beauty in sad music. [Thank you Joe Pernice!]...My personal favourite 'sad' songs off the top of my head are: Liquorice's 'Keeping The Weekend Free', Badly Drawn Boy's 'A Minor Incident', and Red House Painters' 'Have You Forgotten'.



• Recent purchases:




• CD:




• Squirrel Nut Zippers - Hot [enhanced]


• Sloan - Between The Bridges - Sweet mercy, I found this one(as well as the CD above) for $3 at Goodwill! ....to replace the copy that got stolen out of my car(along with a bunch of other CD's and things) last summer.




• DVD:




• Bedazzled - I watched this one already. It's pretty funny, and worth it alone for Elizabeth Hurley, if you know what I mean...and I know you know what I mean...you know? :)

"Its been a bad day, Please dont take a picture" - R.E.M.

• The weekend was pretty much a bust. I've been feeling pretty lousy since Saturday morning so 1)I couldn't make it to The Heavy Blinkers concert on Saturday night, and 2)with the surprise snowfall yesterday, it would have been a great day to get in some skiing. I called in sick today; the only thing that is nagging me is a bit of a cough. I'll try to make it in to work tomorrow.



• Is it just me or does The Vines' new video for the song 'Ride' remind you a bit of The White Stripes' video for 'The Hardest Button to Button'?




• Check out the video for 'Ride' at NME.com.



• Check out the video for 'The Hardest Button to Button' (couldn't find a link, but then you've all seen it by now).




• MP3:




• Some White Stripes mp3's available courtesy of whitestripes.net.



• Bunch of Swervedriver mp3's(live shows, etc) available at Swervedriver.com.




• I did manage to get out of the house for about 3 hours on Saturday, even though I was feeling pretty lousy, and snag the following purchases(at bargain bin prices!):




• CD:




• His Name Is Alive - Stars on ESP


• Various Artists - The Avengers [Original Soundtrack]


• UB40 - Dancehall Album


• Swervedriver - 99th Dream


• Boyracer - In Full Colour




• DVD:




• The Avengers - I watched this over the weekend. I'm not familiar with the TV series. However, as a stand alone film I was disappointed. The film was attractive and stylish. However, the plot was thin and the dialogue wasn't campy enough to be funny, say in the vein of Austin Powers. Uma Thurman looked amazing though and one can see that her skills in Kill Bill did not come out of nowhere! The soundtrack was surprisingly good.

"Let's rewrite your history" - controller.controller

• I think I came down with something yesterday because I had a massive headache when I woke up. It was a relatively warm night yesterday in Toronto for March. But maybe leaving my jacket unzipped wasn't such a good idea. I came out of Cinecyle after the controller.controller set and after a couple of beers and being cooped up with a room full of people, I was getting slightly warm. So I walked outside without putting on my jacket and cooled off while I walked to my car. Now, I think I'm paying for that. I just hope that I can make it to The Heavy Blinkers gig tonight. Otherwise here's how the controller.controller show went down:
  
  As seen by controller.controller's current exposure in the media, especially the cover of the current issue of Now Magazine, there's been a certain amount of buzz about the band. It's Canadian Music Week and controller.controller had their record release party at Cinecyle yesterday; however, controller.controller's gig yesterday bucked the trend and 1)were not part of Canadian Music Week, and 2) played Cinecyle which in my opinion is a fairly non-traditional venue for live music(at least within the realm of my experience); I mean, I've never had to walk down an alley to get to the entrance of a venue. But that's part of the charm of the band; they're non-traditionalists. Well, let me modify that statement; the band musically pays respect to post-punk 'history'[couldn't resist], but they take a refreshingly danceable approach, making the 'death disco, post punk' combination a natural extension. As far as I recall, the band played the whole EP although I've only had the new EP for a couple of days so I'm not quite sure. I know they started off their set with 'Silent Seven' and 'History' which are the first two songs of the new EP and which happen to be my favourite songs of the EP; I thought maybe they should have closed the set with one of those songs but the last song they played was wickedly exciting.
  
  controller.controller are sure to make my top-ten for 2004 for their 'History' EP!
  
  ps. I did catch one of the opening bands called Death From Above but I was towards the back of the club at the time and only managed to catch rare glimpses of the band; Cinecyle really needs a raised stage. Otherwise musically, they reminded me of MC5. That's a good thing but that night I wasn't really in the mood for that.

Revelations , Epiphanies and Fast Food in the Western Hemisphere

• controller.controller grace the cover of the new issue of Now Magazine. By the way, I scanned the snazzy new controller.controller sticker. Click here to view it.





• Purchases:




• CD/DVD[boxset]: Guided By Voices - Hardcore UFOs: Revelations , Epiphanies and Fast Food in the Western Hemisphere - I purchased this yesterday at Rotate This for an excellent price of $72.00(plus tax); the cheapest I had seen it going for previously was $75.00 when GBV sold it at their last show in Toronto back in November 2003....I get alot of bang for my buck! 5 CD's, 1 DVD, and a great 80-page book of photos, writings and information!





• Movies: I'm a little late catching on about the news of the film 'Before Sunset' which is a 'sequel' to the film 'Before Sunrise'. The Toronto Star has an article today about Ethan Hawke's divorce and they mention that 'Before Sunset' will be released on April 16. I remember really enjoying 'Before Sunrise' which was driven purely by its dialogue and spontaneity. The two characters at the end of that film had expressed to each other that they would meet again. However, maybe for the better, the film chose to leave their future to our imaginations. So it'll be interesting to see how 'Before Sunset' continues their story. Hollywoodreporter.com has a review of 'Before Sunset' which screened at the Berlin Film Festival just this past February.

Death Disco

• Purchases:
  
  controller.controller - History
  
  I purchased this album after work today for a cool $8. I listened to it on my drive home. It hasn't quite sunk in yet, but my first impression is that nothing on the EP matches the brilliance of the first single 'History'. But then maybe familiarity has alot to do with that. BTW, the controller.controller site is finally up and running! The band's playing a couple of shows in Toronto over the next couple of days, including a CD release party on Friday March 5. You'll have to check out the site yourself [click 'tour'] for further details, because they have programmed the code for the site such that I can't link directly to the 'tour' info.



• Canadian Music Week 2004 starts tomorrow! Notable acts performing include The Heavy Blinkers, The High Dials, The Smugglers, Oh Susanna, Metric, Tricky Woo, Tangiers, The Sadies, By Divine Right, and Matt Mays and El Torpedo. Check out the festival schedule for the whole scoop.



• Pitchfork reports that the Beastie Boys will be releasing their new LP in June! Note: 5+ years between albums is way too long to wait guys... And that weak anti-war song 'In a World Gone Mad' they released as an mp3 was hardly an appetizer(although I appreciate the sentiment)[if you're interested the song is available as a download from the NME.com site]....BTW, I see that the Beastie Boys updated their site just this pass January!



• I was flipping the channels yesterday and came across Zed Tv on CBC TV yesterday. They showed a video by Canadian indie music artist Lederhosen Lucil; she dressed in German lederhosen with blonde pigtails and played new-wavey synth pop. The song that she played was called 'Anarchavid'. It was the catchiest song that I've heard in ages! I drew comparisons to Toronto band Pony Da Look who rely heavy on keyboards but are far less catchy in my opinion(although they still kick ass!). So go check out Lederhosen Lucil's site; drop by the mp3 page to download some samples including the above named song!

Nostalgia

• According to the King Cobb Steelie site(if you can call it a site) the new album will be released "a little later in the spring". It seems that Kevan Byrne has broken his hand; there's even an image of the x-ray on the site for your viewing pleasure. The new album will be called Destroy All Codes Now. For more info about the band and their music, go to the Rykodisc: King Cobb Steelie site.



• The ChartAttack site reports that Sarah Harmer's touring band will include former Inbreds' member Mike O'Neill. Never got around to seeing Sarah Harmer and for that matter The Inbreds/Mike O'neill live. Maybe I can kill two birds with one stone this time around. [I just realized how violent an image that expression is.]



• MP3: For all you old-school Canadian indie rockers, for a bit of mid 90's nostalgia, check out the selection of mp3's available at The Inbreds site.



• Record purchases:




• Bowie, David - Heroes


• Led Zepplin - In Through The Out Door


• Roxy Music - Avalon


• Sade - Promise


• Springsteen, Bruce - Born To Run

Clean Sweep

• 
  Unless you were sleeping under a rock, the big news yesterday was that The Lord of Rings: The Return of the King was the big winner at the Oscars, winning in all 11 categories it was nominated! Other notable winners were Sophia Coppola for Writing(Original Screenplay) and Sean Penn for Actor In A Leading Role. Check out the rest of the winners at Oscar.com....On a sidenote, I must say that Sophia Coppola was quite radiant and beautiful yesterday. Check out the pictures, courtesy of Yahoo! Movies





• Purchases:




• VHS: Josie and The Pussycats - '3 small words' music video (promo) [$3]


• book: Batman: The Utimate Evil by Andrew H. Vachss [$1.50]