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Check it out! It's awesome French electronic duo "Justice" rocking hard and fast and... Oh look:
That midi controller doesn't have power... Or midi... or anything plugged in.
I mean surely by now we all know electronic music is mainly just a performance in suspension of disbelieve when done in public. Just like theatre the actors aren't actually the characters they play. Look at Daft Punk and their costumes and giant video pyramid. So really Justice lose points for being too lax on bringing the drama.
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The Kids on TV Show!
Feb. 27th, 2008 02:10 amGreg (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
plaidninja) has been my stalwart partner in crime for various purposes over the years. One of our favourite things to do when we hang out is to see AWESOME BANDS and drink lots and stuff. Given that we don't see eachother all that much these days, I'm too busy doing my thing and he's too busy doing his thing, it was refreshing to spending hanging out drinking too much and seeing AWESOME BANDS and drinking lots and stuff.
Hey know what's fun about Canada? 13% sales tax! Also indie bands get free hosting on the CBC with like pictures and tour dates and embed-able Shockwave applications for me to put in my blog. That's tax-dollar value right there.
Photo by David Hawe
Back in the twilight years of Toronto's Toolbox bar for bears and gays and things Kids on TV played a performance. Unfortunately I did not attend as I was likely sleeping or sucking a dick or working or something. Bummer. Word is they confused the poor bears at the bar but brought their own crowd down to Eastern Ave and Morse away from the Church Street Homosexual Ghetto.
The band is sorta all over the map stylistically channelling everything from the classic homosexualism of Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Pet Shop Boys to EBM/Goth stuff. Throw in some break dancing and screaming for good measure.
What's fun about them is that they bring a dance party without being some Womyn's Studies all inclusive pan-gender Drag King stinky pit cunt poetry throw-down. Conversely we have 'bear music'. This has the sad tendency to come down to essentially a college town open mic. The subjects of performance being like a hot under-grad chick in a tight sweater with a big rack. Acoustic guitar from summer camp in tow it's not secrete that all the boys want to bone her. Why else would anyone tolerate C-D-G songs about how cute her dead cat 'Jingles' was? Except everyone is big, fat, hairy and male. Or into that look.
My point being that 'gay bands' can be good and overtly gay without negating the music. If you are a gay making music about the gaying try and do it in a way that even the more rigid of straight boys will dig. Otherwise you just look like you're trying too hard to get laid, sell records or gain some sort of promotional advantage. I don't get up on stage grinding with the band and screaming along to the songs I don't know with the above examples but I did at the Kids on TV show. And, personally, that's how I define a good night out.
( And more bands! Clickity click! )
plaidninja) has been my stalwart partner in crime for various purposes over the years. One of our favourite things to do when we hang out is to see AWESOME BANDS and drink lots and stuff. Given that we don't see eachother all that much these days, I'm too busy doing my thing and he's too busy doing his thing, it was refreshing to spending hanging out drinking too much and seeing AWESOME BANDS and drinking lots and stuff.Hey know what's fun about Canada? 13% sales tax! Also indie bands get free hosting on the CBC with like pictures and tour dates and embed-able Shockwave applications for me to put in my blog. That's tax-dollar value right there.
Kids on TV
Photo by David Hawe
Kids On TV emerged from the drainage pipe of a Toronto bathhouse in the spring of 2003. The group consists of John Caffery, Minus Smile, Wolf, and Roxanne Luchak. Their output includes, but is by no means limited to, musical recordings, musical performances, film, dance videos,rock opera collaborations, graffiti, crafting, and live "sleep-ins" in ritzy Toronto bars. Kids On TV want to transform space and your mind. Tune in. Get addicted. Get nasty. Kids On TV bring it live and bring it real with big dirty beats, shameless samples and breakdance meat.
Back in the twilight years of Toronto's Toolbox bar for bears and gays and things Kids on TV played a performance. Unfortunately I did not attend as I was likely sleeping or sucking a dick or working or something. Bummer. Word is they confused the poor bears at the bar but brought their own crowd down to Eastern Ave and Morse away from the Church Street Homosexual Ghetto.
The band is sorta all over the map stylistically channelling everything from the classic homosexualism of Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Pet Shop Boys to EBM/Goth stuff. Throw in some break dancing and screaming for good measure.
What's fun about them is that they bring a dance party without being some Womyn's Studies all inclusive pan-gender Drag King stinky pit cunt poetry throw-down. Conversely we have 'bear music'. This has the sad tendency to come down to essentially a college town open mic. The subjects of performance being like a hot under-grad chick in a tight sweater with a big rack. Acoustic guitar from summer camp in tow it's not secrete that all the boys want to bone her. Why else would anyone tolerate C-D-G songs about how cute her dead cat 'Jingles' was? Except everyone is big, fat, hairy and male. Or into that look.
My point being that 'gay bands' can be good and overtly gay without negating the music. If you are a gay making music about the gaying try and do it in a way that even the more rigid of straight boys will dig. Otherwise you just look like you're trying too hard to get laid, sell records or gain some sort of promotional advantage. I don't get up on stage grinding with the band and screaming along to the songs I don't know with the above examples but I did at the Kids on TV show. And, personally, that's how I define a good night out.
( And more bands! Clickity click! )
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Thanks to
chrisglass for the awesome artwork!iTunes Meme
Feb. 10th, 2008 07:11 pmHow many songs total: 4454
How many hours or days of music: 13.4 Days
Most recently played: "Smoke" - White Williams
Most played: "Autobahn Music Box" - Cut Copy / "Here in the Night" - Kelley Polar
Most recently added: "Danger" - White Williams
Sort by song title:
First Song: "A" - Barenaked Ladies
Last Song: "55566688833" - James Figurine
Sort by time:
Shortest Song: "Dramatic Pause Of Silence To Signify The End Of The Album And Beginning Of Additional Songs Included On The CD To Make People Feel Better About Buying The CD Instead Of The Vinyl Version" - Kid606
Longest Song: "This Dust Makes That Mud" - Liars
Longest Podcast: "Freaky Folk 4" - nfotxn.com
Sort by album:
First album: "Abductions and Reconstruction's" - David Byrne
Last album: "( )" - Sigur Rós
First song that comes up on Shuffle: "How Could I Forget" - The Faint
Search the following and state how many songs come up:
Death - 31 (0.69%)
Life - 60 (1.35%)
Love - 211 (4.74%)
Dance 36 (0.8%)
Hate – 16 (0.36%)
You - 435 (9.77%)
Sex – 30 (0.67%)
How many hours or days of music: 13.4 Days
Most recently played: "Smoke" - White Williams
Most played: "Autobahn Music Box" - Cut Copy / "Here in the Night" - Kelley Polar
Most recently added: "Danger" - White Williams
Sort by song title:
First Song: "A" - Barenaked Ladies
Last Song: "55566688833" - James Figurine
Sort by time:
Shortest Song: "Dramatic Pause Of Silence To Signify The End Of The Album And Beginning Of Additional Songs Included On The CD To Make People Feel Better About Buying The CD Instead Of The Vinyl Version" - Kid606
Longest Song: "This Dust Makes That Mud" - Liars
Longest Podcast: "Freaky Folk 4" - nfotxn.com
Sort by album:
First album: "Abductions and Reconstruction's" - David Byrne
Last album: "( )" - Sigur Rós
First song that comes up on Shuffle: "How Could I Forget" - The Faint
Search the following and state how many songs come up:
Death - 31 (0.69%)
Life - 60 (1.35%)
Love - 211 (4.74%)
Dance 36 (0.8%)
Hate – 16 (0.36%)
You - 435 (9.77%)
Sex – 30 (0.67%)
Freaky Folk 5
Jan. 20th, 2008 10:18 pm
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Justice - D. A. N. C. E.
May. 27th, 2007 12:24 amWell if this isn't commentary on the power of t-shirt. And stock art. I felt like I was reading a Veer catalog for a bit.
I sorta wish this was a commercial for people like Threadless rather than a music video... It's very The Gap.
Oh don't let me forget to mention I really like it!
I sorta wish this was a commercial for people like Threadless rather than a music video... It's very The Gap.
Oh don't let me forget to mention I really like it!
61 Days 3 Hours 23 Minutes Left
May. 14th, 2007 08:37 pmWell this fucking sucks. Seriously music industry, get your shit together. What's worst is that as a Canadian listener and the legal process for Pandora largely happening in the USA there's little I can do but tell my American friends to get their citizen on.
Dear Pandora listener,
Today we have some extremely disappointing news to share with you. Due to international licensing constraints, we are deeply, deeply sorry to say that we must begin proactively preventing access to Pandora's streaming service from Canada. We began blocking access from almost all countries outside the U.S. last week and had originally hoped to maintain access to Canada. However, it has become clear in the last week that we just haven't been able to make enough progress to continue streaming.
It is difficult to convey just how disappointing this is for us. Our vision remains to eventually make Pandora a truly global service, but for the time being, we can no longer continue as we have been. As a small company, the best chance we have of realizing our dream of Pandora all around the world is to grow as the licensing landscape allows.
We show your IP address is '69.xxx.xxx.xx', which indicates you are listening from Canada. If you believe you are seeing this by mistake, we offer our sincere apologies and ask that you please reply to this email.
( More disappointment... )
Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby
Oct. 2nd, 2006 12:39 pm
I saw the Islands play with Casper & The Cookies as well as some electronic band from Montreal called The Unireverse. It was a great show with great music. However the singer from Islands kinda takes himself too seriously or was all tour burnt out or something. Didn't effect the music I don't think. The Unireverse joined Islands at the end and jammed out "Where there's a Will there's a Whalebone" all electronic bloopy style.
Pleasant surprise: Casper & The Cookies are really cute and fun. Check 'em out.
The Best of Squirrel Cage
Aug. 11th, 2006 02:45 am
Not that I want to hype something that's incomplete, that's not my style. But Squirrel Cage have been steadily compiling a record of some sort or description, probably an EP first. So here's a quick and dirty jam we did. It's a medley of a handful of songs done on drum machine and keyboard.
Jeremy is on keys, Jelly on vocals and I'm spastically mashing the buttons on my Dr. Rhythm.
At Home Away From Home
Jul. 20th, 2006 01:52 am
This evening the sun stretched across the dilapidated buildings of Donut Rock City. A blue school bus, destination Venezuela, arrived from Cape Breton Island. There's a warm breeze and un-fussy pints. Jelly conducts the open stage with the regulars like Word Man Z. The Cape Breton'ers ate, sound checked and mingled. Jelly gave out the winner's prize. A copy of "The Next Best Thing" and the featured vegetable which was a few cloves of garlic, peeled and ready to press.
The House of Rock kids from Cape Breton took the stage. They were all really great. Tom Fun and the Holy Microphones were awesome. Here's a song from the website that doesn't do the live show justice. I would definitely check them out as well as Slowcoaster and Carmen Townsend at houseofrock.ca. A real talented bunch.
A really great relaxing time in the downtown Hammer. I love my medium sized city.
Squirrel Cage In The Flesh
Jul. 13th, 2006 10:35 am
If anyone wants to see some wicked photos of the last SQ gig check it out! There are tons of pics of moi! Moi moi moi! Stephanie Bell took some wicked photos.
We're recording soon it would seem. Also fluorescent orange is the new black. Know it, love it, live it.
Smoke Machines and Lasers
Jul. 9th, 2006 07:51 pmMy band played last night. Before rehearsal we felt we needed more percussion so we stopped by the local music shop and I laid down a few hundred clams on a drum machine. Now there is a fourth member of Squirrel Cage and his name is Doctor Rhythm.
The gig at the Pepper Jack turned out really well. I fierced the viola as well as did some jamming on the drum machine in a "I just bought this 5 hours ago" style. The performance went much better than our last one by a factor of at least 12. The band is starting to work a bit better stripped down to three humans and one doctor of rhythm. Our last song "The End" was helped immensely by some really artistic reverb/delay work by our sound guy Doug. Thanks Doug! Also Jelly brought the smoke machine however no lasers were to be found. Next time I think I need to buy a few at a dollar store and give them to sexy dudes in the crowd.
We'll be recording the first record soon. Jeremy secured funding from the university as part of the films he is directing for them. Sly! Although first things first we need have a non-stoned/exhausted/last minute rehearsal. Haven't done that in a while.
Still breathing.
The gig at the Pepper Jack turned out really well. I fierced the viola as well as did some jamming on the drum machine in a "I just bought this 5 hours ago" style. The performance went much better than our last one by a factor of at least 12. The band is starting to work a bit better stripped down to three humans and one doctor of rhythm. Our last song "The End" was helped immensely by some really artistic reverb/delay work by our sound guy Doug. Thanks Doug! Also Jelly brought the smoke machine however no lasers were to be found. Next time I think I need to buy a few at a dollar store and give them to sexy dudes in the crowd.
We'll be recording the first record soon. Jeremy secured funding from the university as part of the films he is directing for them. Sly! Although first things first we need have a non-stoned/exhausted/last minute rehearsal. Haven't done that in a while.
Still breathing.
As expected come the summer various band members, namely two, have previous engagements to meet during the precious Canadian months of not-snow. This means that the band is without drums or bass. However a fill-in bass player has apparently be procured and is awaiting testing. Even if that doesn't work out I will probably have trouble keeping my hands off the bass as I am a living, breathing porno soundtrack waiting to flower.
Still the band is without a drummer. No beating heart to power the gangly mutated limbs of Squirrel Cage. With our next, likely less huge, gig coming up in just over a week solutions must be made. It seems the solution is The Squirrel Cage Disco Dance Party. Which is to say NFOTXN (my LJ namesake and previous laptop IDM whatever pseudonym) will be dusting off the QWERTY keys and fiercing the beat box hard in addition to Viola duties. This is going to be difficult but I think it can be done. Step-sequenced songs are rigid and hard to really flow organically. I'm probably going to give Abelton Live a go in this situation but am open to suggestions that would work well with a funk band and 10 days until a gig.
Still the band is without a drummer. No beating heart to power the gangly mutated limbs of Squirrel Cage. With our next, likely less huge, gig coming up in just over a week solutions must be made. It seems the solution is The Squirrel Cage Disco Dance Party. Which is to say NFOTXN (my LJ namesake and previous laptop IDM whatever pseudonym) will be dusting off the QWERTY keys and fiercing the beat box hard in addition to Viola duties. This is going to be difficult but I think it can be done. Step-sequenced songs are rigid and hard to really flow organically. I'm probably going to give Abelton Live a go in this situation but am open to suggestions that would work well with a funk band and 10 days until a gig.
What's this? What's THIS?! Yes, the second Squirrel Cage show which yours truly is involved has firmed up and is ready to be fierced. We're opening for Wax Mannequin, whom I was billed to play with as NFOTXN back in the day. But he bailed and I bombed a bit.
Either way! This is going to be super duper. Come one, come all!
PS: the poster is by Jelly, our singer. Isn't he just such the talented... turtle?
Worked Up So Sectional
Apr. 22nd, 2006 11:57 pmOverall the gig last night went swimmingly. The headliner, Undercurrent, were super sweet guys joking around a bit in sound-check and decent about letting us just use their amps and kit instead of doing the band-to-band waltz between sets. Even though I am totally not into their music. Our sound guy Raymond was really on his game too instead of being all surly and/or aloof as these technical people often are at gigs.
A lot of friends showed up and the support was almost overwhelming. I felt pretty special and maybe even believed it for a while. Thanks to everyone who showed up, and everyone who tried to but got hit by rocks. It's the thought that counts.
I think the music worked out well. We decided at the last moment to make a medley out of one of our songs and Beck's "Debra"... that should give you a feeling of how the music was. I was playing my viola through an octave pedal that flushed it out and made me sound like a Viola and a Cello!. I did interludes between songs while Matt talked. Greg (plaidninja) has more details in his blog.
It was a fun and silly night. I look forward to the next rehearsal and subsequent gigs.
A lot of friends showed up and the support was almost overwhelming. I felt pretty special and maybe even believed it for a while. Thanks to everyone who showed up, and everyone who tried to but got hit by rocks. It's the thought that counts.
I think the music worked out well. We decided at the last moment to make a medley out of one of our songs and Beck's "Debra"... that should give you a feeling of how the music was. I was playing my viola through an octave pedal that flushed it out and made me sound like a Viola and a Cello!. I did interludes between songs while Matt talked. Greg (
plaidninja) has more details in his blog.It was a fun and silly night. I look forward to the next rehearsal and subsequent gigs.
Jesus Died So That YOU May Rock
Apr. 15th, 2006 01:25 am
More band rehearsal. We'll be playing on the 21st at the Casbah, remember! The band opening for us, Hundred Heads, was playing in the studio across from us at The Imperial Cotton Centre.They sound pretty good, also Rob gave us some red wine. Pretty swell, eh?
Anyhow, in the Flickr set are some photos we took while we waited for our drummer to show up.
Come see the show!
Apr. 13th, 2006 10:35 pmMy band Squirrel Cage is playing next Friday the 21st of Avril. We'll be at the Casbah (googlemap!) opening for some band called "Undercurrent" whom I am told sound of Nickleback (bacon!)... but don't judge. If you are feeling half-assed garage blues funk comme Beck that's been all classed up with some viola (me!) come on down.
