Chad VanGaalen

Arising from a basement in Calgary, Chad VanGaalen knows how to keep his listeners on their toes. His new album, Soft Airplane, is an eventful ride of death, lights and teenage mutant ninja turtle masks. The album is interesting and entertaining to listen to considering he goes from something that could be classified as folk to something that could be classified as 8-bit electronica. So I'm going to post a song from the beginning half of the album and a song from the latter half of the album.
Check 'em out! They're pretty awesome!

Chad VanGaalen - Willow Tree<--This one is streamed from his website
Chad VanGaalen - TMNT Mask

Praise You

One day, I will be part of this dance crew or something like this dance crew



This song and video should never be forgotten.

The Girls

I'm not going to lie. I really like this song.
Calvin Harris - The Girls

Calvin Harris is from Scotland and is a singer-songwriter/disc jockey. He's doing a DJ set with Paul Devro at Celebrities on August 31st, and I'm so excited for it. The first 100 tickets are being sold for $25, next 200 for $30 and the remainder are being sold for $35.

Also, I like the "girl version" of this song.
Dragonette - The Boys

AND!
This mash-up with Justin Timberlake's Like I Love You is also pretty sweet.
DJ Feego - Calvin Timberlake Mix

Calvin Harris Myspace
Paul Devro Myspace
Let's do this

Radiohead: Thunderbird Stadium 2008

We waited around for hours, got soaked in the rain and were almost trampled a couple of times; but I would say it was all worth it.
In all honesty, this concert WAS GREAT. Not like I was expecting it to be bad or anything, but when we got there and The Liars played first I was a little discouraged. I forgot how much they suck. I can barely find any good things to say about them. All I can do is compare them to At the Drive-in under one circumstance: they're like a really really really shitty version of At the Drive-in. But yea, even when I was thinking about who I would prefer as an opening band for Radiohead, I came to the conclusion that Radiohead should just be playing alone. They don't need any supporting bands. The fans pretty much proved this as well. All the "early birds" were kept in a cage before the gates were opened to Thunderbird Stadium and when they were finally let through, they ran for their lives towards the stage. It was hilarious but a little scary because some people weren't watching where they were going. Obviously, people were too excited to see Radiohead and The Liars shouldn't have even been considered as an opening act.
It didn't rain during The Liars set but it rained the whole time during Radiohead's. But I thought the rain was nice. I didn't mind getting soaked while enjoying the spectacular performance. The rain also went well with a lot of the songs that were performed.
The synchronized lights were amazing. They hung from the stage and radiated many different colours in different patterns. I also really enjoyed the video screens. Thom Yorke can make some awesomely hideous faces and the screens let the audience observe these faces to their full potential. I felt high looking at the lights and listening to the music (proof that you don't need drugs, you just need Radiohead).
Though, I wasn't really digging Jigsaw Falling into Place and Bodysnatchers which kind of sucked because they are two of my favourite songs from In Rainbows. I felt like the band could've made them more epic. Maybe it was where I was standing because apparently other people thought otherwise. Exit Music (For a Film) was performed beautifully. This song and Paranoid Android were probably my two favourite song performances of the night. They played Paranoid Android at the end of the concert and they let the audience choose between this song or Idioteque. Paranoid Android won and it was practically perfect with the rain falling down and people putting their hands in the air to catch/accept the rain.

"rain down, rain down
come on, rain down on me
from a great height
from a great height"


Radiohead - 15 Step
Radiohead - Exit Music (For a Film)
Radiohead - Paranoid Android

Radiohead - Reckoner (LoveTongueAttack Bmore Remix)
They should've played this song in between the two sets instead of slow German techno.

Lykke Li - Little Bit

I've been trying to track down a decent remix of Little Bit for a while and I think I may have just found one. It's pretty much an instrumental remix which kind of reminds me of Karaoke but not as corny. Though, I think Klumpfisk (who is also from Sweden) should have kept Lykke Li's lyrics in the remix; they are too good to disregard.

Lykke Li - Little Bit (Klumpfisk Remix)

Also, I'm going to post CSS's remix of Little Bit as well. It's also fairly good but doesn't come close to the awesomeness of the original.

Lykke Li - Little Bit (CSS Remix)

PS: Lykke Li's coming to Richard's on Richards on October 28th. Shiat!

Can you tell that I love embedding videos in my blog?

The bears are coming

This song is the theme song of this bear. Sometimes the bear will switch it to the remixes just to confuse people.

Late of the Pier - The bears are coming
Late of the Pier - The bears are coming (HAUNTS remix)
Late of the Pier - The bears are coming (Partyshank remix)

Watch out for the big black blob

Muse rocks. You can't deny it.

Yea, that's right. You can't deny it. And if you try to, I will show you the way of Muse.
I recently watched a live performance of Muse on my mp3 player because my plane's entertainment system was down. It reminded me of the fact that Muse is amazing and always has been.

I used to watch this video non-stop when I was 15. This was back when smashing your instruments was cool.
Showbiz (Nulle Part Ailleurs 1999)


After watching that video, I thought about the amazing performance of Hoodoo at Wembley Stadium in 2007.
Check out the new and the old.
Hoodoo (Wembley Stadium 2007)


Then, there's this amazing B-side that I think everyone should listen to: Muse - Hyper Chondriac Music

Sam Sparro

Sam Sparro (aka Sam Falson) comes from Australia with a booming voice and sweet dance beats. This guy has been rockin' my Winamp for a couple of days now. Every song off his album makes me want to dance forever. The first songs I heard were Black & Gold and Can't stop this! and they were so dancer-ific that I had to check out the rest of his album. And I'm really glad I did.
This self-titled album is out in stores now and I know for a fact that it's sold out in some places (like P.E.I....does that count? Sure). It seems like he's pretty popular in the UK and Australia but his fan base is growing slightly slower over here.

Let's make it grow faster.

Sam Sparro - Black & Gold

Let's dance!

One thing that the east kind of lacked was: dancing!

And I missed it extremely. Over in Vancouver, I would say there are a lot of places to dance. Most of these places are full of drunk people...or pot heads (depending on where you go *cough* the Astoria *cough*), but it doesn't matter because you can just dance as crazy as you want and still look cooler than the hammered person beside you.

The Ting Tings - Great DJ (Calvin Harris Remix)
Lykke Li - Dance dance dance
Bruce Springsteen - Dancing in the dark

Dancing, don't you ever leave me again!

Maritime Adventure

This is a continuation of my last blog entry.
My maritime adventure has finished. And every place I went to has left an interesting imprint in my mind. Even though I missed Vancouver dearly, I still enjoyed my time in the maritimes; eating, talking, laughing, et cetera. I've decided to post a blog entry along with some of the music that was associated with my trip.


Saint John, NB:

There were A LOT of deer in Saint John. I was talking to a girl on the plane ride over there and she warned me about their deer overpopulation but I didn't think it was going to be as intense as it was.
I think I saw like 40 deer...no joke. It was amazing.

Fredericton, NB:

The memories I have of Fredericton consist of lobster, crappy shopping, family chats and reminiscing.
"When we were kids..."
"When you were young..."
"Remember when we used to..."

MGMT - Kids (youtube link)

Nackawic, NB (home of the world's largest axe):

MGMT - Pieces of You
Linda Ronstadt - Keep me from blowing away (youtube link)

Prince Edward Island:

Ok, why is this place a province? First of all, it's tiny (you can drive across the island within an hour). Second of all, the tourist industry is the island's only source of income therefore they make you pay a toll to see most of their beaches and sell t-shirts dyed with their red dirt.
Though, I surprisingly discovered Sam Sparro there in a CD Plus. And enjoyed some "authentic" celtic music at the Old Dublin pub.

Moonshiner (youtube link)
Sam Sparro - Black & Gold (youtube link)

Charlo, NB:

In Charlo, we met up with the rest of the family and I shared a cottage with my distant cousins. Most of us were from Vancouver so we talked about Vancouver and how New Brunswick just wouldn't do it for us. One of my cousins put it very well, he said: "If I lived here, I would slit my wrists with plastic knives in the bathtub while listening to Enya"
Yes.So healthy.

Halifax, NS:

I loved Halifax. I went there alone, stayed in the Halifax Backpackers hostel for one night and then with my mom's cousin the second night. The hostel was full of great people that I ended up hanging out with on the rooftop overlooking downtown. The second night, Ellen and I went to one of her regular spots where I talked to a former sound technician of The Band, The Who, Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton and more. Then we went to the Marquee where some female DJ's were "spinning" to raise money for breast cancer (aka Chicks with Decks).
I spent one morning in a local cafe which played Sigur Rós and I also watched a folk "singer songwriter circle".
This city was full of music and it made me feel at home. I do like wildlife and relaxation but I feel like at this time in my life, I belong in a city. I'm kind of hyper.

Sigur Rós - Sæglópur
The Mountain Goats - Lion's Teeth
Daft Punk - Around the world (youtube link)
Yelle - À cause des garçons (Tepr Remix)



The trip finished with a big feast, lightening storms, shooting stars, cool air and...
Lykke Li - Time Flies

Eastern Canada so far

So far, my eastern experience has been full of rain, sparse shopping, graveyards, anne of green gables, drunk relatives, "sing songs", seafood and forest animals. There are so many crazy things going on over here.

We've been driving all over New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. I'm glad my mother and I can enjoy music that satisifies both our music tastes. We've been listening to MGMT, Cut Copy, Bruce Springsteen, Patrick Wolf and Coldplay. So far, Coldplay seems to be our official driving music. My mom loves them and I like them enough to listen to them for 3 hours straight while driving across the N dot B dot.

Coldplay - Viva la Vida

Sidenote: Chris Martin looks like a freak

Also, my grandpa and his friends invited my mother and I over for a "sing song" which I actually really enjoyed. They played songs by The Beatles, John Lennon, Johnny Cash, Linda Ronstadt, Elvis Presley, The Eagles, and many more.

The Beatles - All my loving

Our "sing song" was more exciting than this video.
Yea, that's right.

PS: P.E.I. would be nothing without Anne.