Is It All In That Pretty Little Head Of Yours?

I caught the Canadian premiere of Veronica Mars yesterday evening and I was very impressed. It appears that the show's already well into its first season in the States and Canada's just acquired the rights to it. The main character Veronica Mars is a teenage girl who used to be amongst the popular crowd. Her best friend is murdered and Veronica's father(the sheriff of the community) ends up placing his investigation efforts towards the wrong suspect(some rich socialite) which eventually leads to his dismissal and the breaking up of his family(if I'm not mistaken his wife left him). It's interesting to see Veronica's transformation from a generally average middle class popular girl to a tough-as-nails, kick-ass, social outcast. Veronica's interest in photography eventually evolves into undercover surveilance as a private investigator as her father starts and operates a struggling private investigation business. I'll admit that the beginning of the episode seemed like any other angsty teen drama but quickly showed itself to be quite atypical. The show seemed to have the mysteriousness of Twin Peaks with the quirkiness(albeit a darker version) of Wonderfalls, and with a soundtrack which featured a mixture of musical score and hip alternative tracks(by artists like The Streets) it might just appeal to The OC crowd. Veronica[the character] has a sharp wit and biting tongue that shows she can take care of herself. Although, it'll be interesting to see her vulnerable side in the future because even one of the other characters in the show called her a "marshmallow". This show's definitely a keeper. [photo from upn.com]

With the new redesign of The Heavy Blinkers' website also comes news that the band's working on their fifth album, tentatively entitled "Health" and that their new music video for "Try tellin' that to my baby" is almost finished.

Damon Albarn joined The Kaiser Chiefs for their performance of "I Predict A Riot" this past Saturday at The Mod Club in Toronto. [from Rock Snob] Anyone happen to spot Damon out and about on the town over the weekend? On a related note, Damon's Gorillaz band members share some of their recommended music picks over at Amazon.com.[link from aekituesday.com]

Listen to a Coldplay special with the band interviewed about their new album, classic live tracks and a look back over their career, hosted by Steve Lamacq of BBC Radio. Coldplay also plays a selection of their current favourite album tracks including The Arcade Fire's "Power Out".

*Sixeyes spotlights Winnipeg, Manitoba's Novillero with a slew of mp3 links to sample the band's music. Novillero's actually been on my radar for a couple of weeks ever since I found out that Rod from Duotang is in Novillero. Funny thing is, I picked up Novillero's first CD in a cut-out bin at a used CD store a while ago and never gave it a listen. I'll have to remedy that soon. *Sixeyes compares Novillero to Style Council and that's always a good thing, at least in my books. As the Mint Records website indicates, the guys are out on tour and they'll be hitting these neck of the woods as follows:

-> Thursday June 9, The Casbah, Hamilton ON
-> Friday June 10, The Drake Hotel, Toronto ON (NXNE)

Here's another torrent of a live show[flac format] of The Decemberists on May 15, 2005 at Southgate House in Newport, KY.