Testing Genius

Labels: Apple, iTunes, Music

A few quick notes about Halifax

So this is a rather belated post about going to Halifax last weekend to see Buck 65 play with the Nova Scotia symphony. Other than the fact that we had to get the tickets a couple of months in advance right when they went on sale, the whole trip was carried out like one of those random road trips everyone has fond memories of going on but no one actually does anymore.

We piled into the car, 3 of us having just come from work and grabbing a sleeping bag and kit bag with a few necessities in it from home and then just hit the road.

A guy we used to work with who now lives in Halifax was very kind to let us stay in his apartment, the apartment building's hallways felt like a hotel, they were narrow and had that stereotypical dark carpetting and muted lights. The apartment itself was the very picture of what a 20 something techie who just moved into a place on his own would look like. One couch, a couple of folding chairs that he brought out for us, very little else, oh except for the giant screen TV and surround sound system dominating the entire room. Fortunately that left lots of floor space for us to roll out our sleeping bags later on.

So after we found a place to park we set off in search of something for dinner. Here's a fun fact about Halifax: the business owners don't actually want you to go there, so they close their restaurants at dinner time on a Friday. We tried 4 places in a row with locked doors only noticing after getting excited about some item on the menu posted on the door. I'm still lamenting missing out on the stuffed blue cheese burger at one alleged place. Then the next place we thought we were in luck when we were able to walk right in and up the stairs but it turns out they hadn't even opened the restaurant for business yet, the big opening was set for the next day. No doubt they hadn't fitted a lock on the door yet to be a proper Halifax restaurant.

Ended up having a pretty surprisingly decent pasta dish called Pasta New Orleans at My Father's Mustache, given the way the place was decked out any flavour other than bland greasy burgers and ungodly spicy wings was a pleasant surprise. Still, when I walked into the rest room and was confronted with backlit wall-sized ads with scantily clad women and a TV blaring out an ad for Cialis I definitely knew I was not the target age or lifestyle demographic for this place.

We were nearly late for the concert itself after having to power walk up to the Rebecca Cohen, but thankfully we only missed a little intro piece that the symphony did before Buck 65 introduced himself.

The atmosphere was pretty interesting to observe, with the well-dressed older crowd making use of their season passes interspersed with scruffy younger music fans who packed the place in.

Now, the best way to describe what the music sounded like was to be pretty clear what it was not, which is anything like what Metallica did on S&M. In that case the orchestra just followed along with the basic melody of each song, basically a very expensive effects pedal. For last Friday's show, a couple of members of the symphony completely re-built and re-arranged the songs from the ground up to replicate the musical feel of each song but in a new and very musically in-tune way. For a few songs, especially Devil's Eyes, now that I am reminded of the song in my head, the version of it that I hear is what was played at the show. Rich was a little subdued in his vocals, sadly, not wanting to get too worked up and rumple his suit perhaps, or overshadow the musicians, but he has a great voice all on its own so it still sounded good.

Might as well stop typing and just post someone else's Youtube video from the show so you can hear what I'm talking about.



It was an early evening but most of us were pretty tired from working (haha except me) and the long drive. Another thing to know about Halifax: Once you see the inside of a restaurant on pizza corner while sober and before midnight you'll never want to eat there again. Despite being the only customers, the kids ahead of us had to take their slices back for being cold, and everything just looked unkempt and unappetizing.

I'll have to write in permanent marker on my arm "AVOID PIZZA CORNER AT ALL COSTS - ROTTEN FOOD + STABBINGS" when I head overto see Queens of the Stone Age next month.

Anyway, very glad I made the trip over for that show, I've heard from other people that the Charlottetown show he did the week before with Cadence Weapon was also incredible, but this was something unique that was very cool to be a part of.

Apparently it will be up on CBC's concerts on demand site within a couple of weeks, I'll try and keep my antennae up for it to be posted.

Labels: Halifax, Music

Kim Barlow Saturday Oct 20 @ Baba's

Wow, am I ever glad I still check the front page of peilocals.com, on a whim I was wondering what to do tonight and did a double take when I saw that Kim Barlow was playing here.

I first heard her music when CBC Radio's Morning Edition had her on back in about 2001, interviewing her about living in the Yukon and how she writes her music. They played her song "Goodbye to a Boy" and it was so upbeat and humourous and witty and the music was uniquely melodic, her skilled musicianship was pretty obvious but understated - she uses a banjo as a proper country folk/music instrument, not an indie rock cliché. Her lyrics were playful and personal, the kind that make you feel like you're really able to put yourself in the shoes of the person singing them. As soon as the song ended I immediately went online and searched for how to order her CD. I ended up getting her first 2 CDs, Huminah and Gingerbread, directly from Caribou Records. When they arrived there was a hand-written note thanking me for my order. It was very interesting how ordering something online actually ended up being a more personal experience than just going into a store and buying something.

Anyway, I know this is short notice, and that only about 5 or 6 people even read this site, but if you are in Charlottetown tonight you should absolutely try and make it to the show at Baba's tonight. Also Tim Vesely formerly of the Rheostatics will be doing a set and local singer Nikkie will start things off. I'll be parked in my usual music appreciation seat probably looking like I don't want to talk to anyone just because I'm listening intently. This isn't true, please say hello :)

Update: The show was a good one, but Kim Barlow's set was a little disappointingly short. It was very cool how Great Aunt Ida, Tim and Kim all changed instruments around and played on each others' sets. I bought her new CD, Champ but haven't gotten a chance to listen to it yet. There are only a handful of singers/bands that I own more than 2 albums by, and she's now one of them.

Labels: Charlottetown, Concerts, Music

Remember that commercial...

OK, so I'm coming to the realization that some of my most cherished memories as a kid were watching commercials on TV. Like, the thrill of seeing a toy advertized, and then actually getting that Starcom or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.. that was a real tangible pleasure. (If anyone else remembers Starcom toys I'll be seriously impressed. They were the ones that had space ships with a moving part gadget that used magnets, so you didn't need batteries. Greatest thing ever.)

Anyway this morning I suddenly got a song in my head, it was kind of a chant with no words at all.. just "Oh way oh way oh way oh waaayy oh oh .. " and I was thinking it had somehting to do with a jungle setting. Then I was picturing a bottle of some sort, swinging on a vine. OK, this has to be from an ad for something, and yep, I remembered it was an ad for Cool Mint Listerine. But since the song it used didn't have lyrics, I was afraid I'd never be able to find it. And in this age of Google and the Youtubes, it is an absolute requirement that any whim or thought MUST be satisfied, no matter how ridiculous. Fortunately a google search for "listerine commerical song" brought me to the exact right answer, "Tarzan Boy" by Baltimora.

Man the 80s were an exciting time for music. You could be bombastic and not be embarrassed about it.

Also, an interesting thing about Listerine. Scope came in a rounded bottle, but Listerine came in a bottle that has an indent in the middle. Apparently this is suppsed to make it look like a barbell, to give the appearance of toughness, while Scope was meant to appeal to people who found Listerine too harsh, so that was why Listerine came out with the Cool Mint version. That's your marketing lesson for the day.



Man, they just don't make ads like this anymore. Good times.

Labels: Advertizing, Music

You Pick the Price

Radiohead are releasing a new album, In Rainbows,  They're selling pre-orders for a Discbox to be shipped on or before December 3rd, and are also offering a digital download, supposedly to be out within ten days.

Here's the neat thing about the digital download, as discovered by Moe C.:

i added the hard copy to my basket just to see, and it was $40. i added the digital download and the price was a fill in field. there was a clickable question mark. THAT said "it's up to you", with another question mark. that one said "no really, it's up to you!"

Considering a new album from iTunes costs $9.99, And Apple and the record company would be taking their rather substantial chunk from that, which would probably not make even the $2 or so that a band typically makes off of a CD sale. So if even one Radiohead fan in five fills in the very same amount, $9.99, they'll come out ahead. Especially since this is on top of the fact that they've already sold you the boxed set.

It would be very interesting to see what the eventual average price people choose to fill in would be.

As for the album itself, I have not been paying attention to the rumour mill at all so I have not heard a thing about any hints about musical direction they might be heading in. I just hope they are heading in one, the last few albums have been good, but it feels like they haven't progressed much since the 90s. They're still good enough that I'll probably still get it sooner or later, though. They're just one of those bands that I tend to expect more from.

Labels: Business, Music

Stone Cold NinJa Turtles

You know what kicked ass? The first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video game for the NES. As good as the subsequent arcade ports were, none of them came close to the sheer frustration of the underwater level where even if you had 5 extra men if the dam blew up before you diffused all the bombs the entire game was over, since the city had just blown up.

Also the opening sequence was pure NES gold.



But that opening theme music is a little bit familiar...



Specifically the main riff, the 'guitar solo' part, and the bridge back into the main riff.

Incidentally, almost all NES background music actually turns out to have a rather heavy metal bent to it. Here's the Minibosses' version of the Ninja Gaiden theme for a great example: Link. (audio/mp3)

Here's them doing the Contra theme live:

Labels: Music, NES, Video Games, Videos

Automatic for the People

This REM album was the first CD I ever bought when I knew I was getting a CD player for Christmas. I bought it in October and opened it up when I got it home. Had nothing to play it on, but I would take out the liner notes and read through all the lyrics.

I already knew most of the songs from their being played constantly on Much Music, but the ones I didn't know were this unsolvable mystery to me. What did "Star me Kitten" actually sound like? Did the tune I cooked up in my head bear any resemblance to what wonderful sounds would come out of my fancy new CD player I'd unwrap Christmas morning?

Now even at that age I was fully aware that REM had a really deep musical history, and that their last couple of albums, Automatic and Out of Time, were deviations from what the band's sound normally was. And that you could call a lot of it pop music without really being wrong. But it was pop music with a craftsmanship and an ear to induce intent listening.

Once I got the CD player my fairly extensive collection of tapes hardly got a listen. It didn't help that I was taking a bit of a chance every time I'd put a tape in my old stereo, once a month or so I'd hear that awful sound and then silence, and I'd know that whatever I was listening to was now gone forever, eaten by the tape monster.

Of course the album itself is probably not as epic as I'm making it out to be, but it occupies this place in my musical timeline precisely because it had enough there to keep me listening to it and re-listening when it was the only album I owned, rather than scraping up the money to buy another one right away since I was bored of my initial purchase.

In my second year university I got an apartment with two fellow MacKenzie House residents, and one of them, who was originally from Japan and who's music collection consisted of one Abba tape, happened to buy this album and listened to it constantly, while she studied, cleaned, or sometimes I'd just see her sitting at the kitchen table with her little stereo listening to it and not doing anything. If this were any other album that stereo surely would have flown out of our window and landed in the dumpster across the parking lot.

I tried playing her a few tracks from Lifes Rich Pageant when she asked me if they had any other songs and she was having none of it.She thought for a second that it was another band with the same name that I had dug up just to play a joke on her until I showed her the band members listing.

This is a great album to listen to in the dark, it keeps a consistent pace and doesn't interrupt you if you aren't focused on it, but also has enough to keep you interested when you do turn your attention to the music.

And it has one of the best last few songs of any album I can think of. "Nightswimming" paints a wonderful mental image as he describes driving to a reservoir late at night and going for a swim by yourself, and then "Find the River" ends with a coda summing up their current musical direction, capping the last two albums off quite nicely.

Labels: Music, R.E.M.

The Most Serene Republic @ Hunter's

I just want to say that I'm very disappointed in all of you, and by that I mean all you peolpe with jobs and real lives who decided against staying out until 1:30am on a Wednesday night.

What you missed was the best musical performance by a rock band her ein months and months. Every local band should have come with a notebook opened to a page with the title "This is how to have stage presence."

They were a lot more energetic than I was expecting from their album. I actually have a hard time listening to Underwater Cinematographer all the way though because it's rather drawn-out, but live they really operate on a much more charged frequency, I couldn't get enough of it.

It might be time to consider early end times for shows during the week. I had to take a nap after work to even consider going to this. For a local band that is playing to keep people around and spending money after, say, Trivia on Thursdays, sure, stretch it as late as you can. But if it's a band that you want to attract people who aren't regulars perhaps it's better to start the show so it ends at midnight. I know a lot of people at my work whom it would be easier to convince to come out for a good show if that were the case.

Link: The Most Serene Republic @ MySpace

Update: Hey, the Internet is actually good for something now and then. From Steve Barber, manager of Hunter's Ale House: Link.

i would assume everyone is cool with the 11pm starts on Friday and Staurday right?>

Well Tuesdays Don and Laura are now starting at 9:30ish
Wednesdays we could get under way a lil earlier if that woudl help everyone.
Thursdays are trivia until 1130pm so shits out the window then!

Labels: Charlottetown, Concerts, Hunter's, Music