Electrifying Conclusion

Travelers Diagram points the way to several Guided By Voices related items:

- someone's personal account of going with Jim Greer(a former member of GBV) to GBV's final show.
- Nude as the News posts their list of the top 100 GBV songs.
- some video clips from GBV's 12/31/04 "Electrifying Conclusion" show in Chicago. [photo from http://../]

Caught part of Stars' music video for "Ageless Beauty" this evening on Muchmusic's "Takeover". The performance shots of the band are artistic and lovely but seeing the shots of the teenage girls almost made me think that this was a new music video for Avril Lavigne. That is, until I heard the song. Watch the video. By the way, George Vale, who I believe is the video director has directed some other interesting videos for the likes of Broken Social Scene, Feist, Uncut and more. Check out full length samples over at http://www.magnacyd.com/.

... So, I think I'll try to buy a ticket tomorrow morning to the Broken Social Scene tsunami benefit show @ Lee's Palace on January 25th. Tickets $30, onsale on January 6 at 10 am at Ticketmaster.ca, Rotate This and Soundscapes. All for a good cause, right? [from pop(all love)]

Foxymoron posts a copy of an article from today's Globe and Mail on the topic of the lack of CanCon tunes available through Canada's iTunes, by artists such as Arcade Fire, Feist, and Broken Social Scene.

If we don't necessarily agree with Zoilus' opinion on Feist[read @ pop(all love)] he makes an eloquent case for Joanna Newsom who I've yet to hear a note of.

Paperbag Records artists Magneta Lane are going on a Western Canada tour while Uncut will be recording an EP follow-up to their debut CD "Those Who Were Hung Hang Here". Along with those artists, controller.controller and Fembots will be playing the label's showcase at this year's SXSW. [see Paperbag Records news update January 3, 2005]. By the way, Magneta Lane are profiled over at Soul Shine Magazine.

twenty/forty's interview with Midnight Movies is now accessible(after what seemed like a month of being in bad HTML code limbo). Midnight Movies opened for Clinic and Sons and Daughters in Toronto @ Lee's Palace this past November [read my review] and were one of my nicer musical discoveries of last year, sounding like a cross betwee Stereolab and Yo La Tengo.

PopMatters gives us its concerts highlights of 2004, and Canada even makes it to the list with the April 22, 2004 Sebadoh/Raising The Fawn show at The Underground in Hamilton, Ontario.

In these trying times, there's nothing more uplifting than watching U2 perform live on a flatbed truck, rolling through downtown New York City traffic. Uplifting, not so much for U2, but rather to see exhuberant fans running trying to keep up with the truck. Almost as good as U2's surprise downtown L.A. music video performance for "Where The Streets Have No Name". Too bad the new song isn't just as good. Watch U2's video for "All Because of You". [link from Stereogum]