it's just some little thing

I had a pretty eventful couple of days. Every week I send a text message to my friend Lowertown Dan inviting him to come to the Rock And Roll Pizza Party. A lot of times he says he can't. This week all I told him to meet me at the University at a specific time. He shows up but apparently he and his GF thought I was in life-threatening danger. That was pretty ha-larious. I made pretty sweet draft picks for my new improv team. Friday I went to an amazing art show featuring some cool kids' I know, especially my ultra-friend Pascale . I done purchased some art. Hopefully it will trick an impressionable young woman into thinking i'm spunge-worthy. Afterwards I went to Timekode for the first time with Le Champion du Monde. Really liked it. A real natural vibe, car trouble and laaate night vietnamese food. I was tripping about how much I loved drinking tea post beerz. THEN, it was my buddy Gauthz' birthday at Suite 34 (shudder) still cool being on a guest list though (haha). They played Yelle twice which I thought was suuuuper fucked up. Saw a ton of high school cats. Talked way too much, today's theme is pretty out there, best artists to have been accused of statutory rape! Whoa.

Let's start with the most obvious alleged peder-ass. MICHAEL FUCKIN JACKSON. I think the proof that he's a secret member of NAMBLA is that I loved him so much from age 4 to 8. Looking back I feel used and ashamed (LOLZ). Anyways much like the beltway sniper he's the closest thing to a comic book super villain we will ever have in real life. An incredibley talented tragic hero/villain made into a monster by the evils of celebrity. As a society we literally transformed him into a monstrous version of his once innocent young self. Whoa, that was some out there thinking. O.K. He's so good he needs 2 videos. first one is SMOOTH CRIMINAL (a kareoke fav of mine). I would like to think he was humming this when he beat his charges like rocky.

Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal
Uploaded by Tina007

Next up BEAT IT. The most realistic potrayal of urban blight this side of The Wire.

Michael Jackson - Beat It
Uploaded by sofresh305

Let's rewind the clock to a kinder gentler time when underaged love and incest was not as badly looked down upon. The original punk JERRY LEE LEWIS! Watching old footage you can really see this guy was way ahead of his time (musically, haha). Seeing him go you can see he's 1000% at one with his art getting his brain flooded by music created dopamine. Anyways for those who don't know he married his 13 year old cousin (twice removed). It pretty much ruined his career. "The Killer" would have been bigger than the "The King" had he not been from rural buttfuck louisiana where marrying your young cousin was legal and not abnormal. Oh well. If my next GF is short enough I would love to go as Jerry Lee and Myra Gale Lewis for Halloween. Song is WHOLE LOT OF SHAKIN GOING ON.



This next paragraph is going to come off as completely weird but please don't freak out. Not only is R. KELLY one of my favorite artists but he's a personal inspiration of mine. Sure he has a tape of himself getting it on with a 14 year old girl but when he had the entire world against him and what did he do? He put his chin up, yelled fuck the haters and made more awesome music. How can you hate on a man who would actually say this: "I'm the Ali of today. I'm the Marvin Gaye of today. I'm the Bob Marley of today. I'm the Martin Luther King, or all the other greats that have come before us. And a lot of people are starting to realize that now." All haters can do is hate. Enjoy IGNITION (REMIX) and a song that I really love in a totally non ironic way I WISH.

R.Kelly - Ignition (Remix)
Uploaded by fantasy1986

R.Kelly - I Wish Explict Version
Uploaded by MCCAFFE

and still i surrendered

Today I was thinking that soul destroying relationships are pretty epic. I think the stories that stem from the evil in men's (men as the human race, obvz) hearts are well worth the pain and anguish. The other day I downloaded a bunch of universally accepted "classic" albums and I must say my sphincter was well blown off. Today's post will be abnormally better than what my loyal readers are used to.

I was reading the last Rolling Stone interview with Kurt Cobain and he doesn't stop about how much he loves R.E.M., the kid idolized them the way I idolize Lifetime. At first I was saying "WTF, that Cobain sure was crazy." But It didn't take me long to also say "well if they're good enough for Kurt, they're good enough for me." So I downloaded what I gather to be their most important album MURMUR. I must say, Kurt was spot fuckin on with this one. One of the stand out tracks (and obvious single) RADIO FREE EUROPE is the song today. However, I forgoed the musicvideo and went for their appearance on Letterman. Pretty much, a band and a tvhost when they were still cool.



The second stop on this classic adventure is with yet again, THE ROLLING STONES. Like I promised myself on an earlier post I did indeed check some of their stuff. The album Aftermath is still my favorite but Exile On Main St. is a really close second. I was reading up on the creation of the album and it's pretty much the coolest thing ever. They recorded most of it in a French mansion that was used by the Nazis as a Gestapo HQ in France! Apparently there were swastikas everywhere in the architecture. It was also done at the height of Keith Richards' heroin addiction and for a longtime the house was filled with junkie artists just hanging out. Just imagining arguably one of the greatest music groups of all time strung the fuck out in a Nazi castle recording a double album inspired by black gospel music is beyond me. Its up there on the list of coolest things ever. Anyways I love gambling and I also think TUMBLIN DICE is the best song on the album so I give a you a live version of the song. Only thing that sucks is that the female back up vocals from the album aren't on this live vid :(



One cliche saying that is so fucking true is don't judge a book by it's cover. Christ. MY BLOODY VALENTINE, A band that since I was young knew were critically revered yet I ignored because I though their name was stupid. Seriously. I could not fathom a band being good with a name like MY BLOODY VALENTINE. The other day I buckled and downloaded just to see what the god damned hype was about. I listened to it while getting my pre-drink on aaaand I was pretty much like the black guy from mad TV in the backseat of Travolta and Jackson's car in Pulp Fiction. My mind was THAT blown, chunks of skull and brain all over the place. I really can't describe it. It's like being in a river or something, haha. I wish I could see them in Toronto TONIGHT but no dice :( the song is ONLY SHALLOW.



BONU-TAINEMENT.

SONIC YOUTH, TEEN AGE RIOT. I've talked about them before. Off their definitive album DAYDREAM NATION. One love.



YOUTH ANTHEMS IF FOR THE CHILDREN!

an ordinary boy an ordinary name

Last night instead of doing work I said to myself I would get up this morning and attack it "both guns blazing!". Anyways I did a chunk of what I was supposed to do, like pay my visa bill (now that I work in the world of credit I need to practice what I preach!). But now I sit here at the university library trying to write a god damned master's thesis and I'm here on the Internet. Ugh. Today is a beautiful sunny day and I had a sweet BMX ride. I felt at one with the force. We're going with some historical stuff today, the theme is SURF MUSIC!


OK so apparently surf music divides itself into to 2 main sub genres. SURF ROCK and SURF POP. Let's start with with a surf rock band. THE ATLANTICS from Australia and their biggest hit BOMBORA. For those who don't know a bombora is an indigenous word for a big ass wave that breaks over underwater rock shelves. Listen to this first and we will go into more detail about surf rock.



Now lets move on to the creator of the surf guitar and one of the biggest influences in the advancement of electric guitar technology. DICK DALE, the first guy to play on a 100watt amp he and Leo Fender forced JB Lansing to make a speaker that could handle the raw energy. Anything loud and distorted can be traced back to Dick Dale. He is by far one of my favorite musicians. Most recognized by his song MISIRLOU in Pulp Fiction. He was a true L.A. King being number 1 on the L.A. charts against the British Invasion stuff that was popular in the 60's. Surf rock is this "wet" reverb-ed fast music that makes you think of waves crashing against a beach. It was also liked by surfers. MISRLOU is actually a greek song that literally means Egyptian girl. Dick Dale took it to the next level. The video is also REALLY cool.



Now we must head into SURF POP. Where surf rock sounds like surf, surf pop TALKS about surf. I really love both. THE BEACH BOYS. They started out as straight surf pop but as they(Brian Wilson) evolved they went into some severly mind bending shit. The internet has talked about Smile / Smiley Smile enough already but hey what can I do, it's the nature of the beast. GOOD VIBRATIONS. A song he wrote while he was on a touring break from the Beach Boys cause his dad abused him or something messed up like that. Glen Campbell actually replaced him on that tour (wtf). Anyways Smile was an aborted album cause it was too hard for the band to play and his dad/manager thought it was too weird. Pet Sounds was a compromise of sorts. Listen to how amazing GOOD VIBRATIONS be ( yeah I said be).



BONUS ENVY.

Now I give you a shittier version of the beach boys, JAN AND DEAN. Brian Wilson sings falsetto on their biggest hit Surf City which tells you something. They still kind of have an influence on punk though. This song is SIDEWALK SURFIN. The first song about skateboarding. pretty fucking rad.

She's got her own motivation

One meal a day is working amazing not only in terms of me feeling awesome but the hatred it garners. People will trip out about a single meal more than they will about important issues in today's A.I.G.-less world. In my everlasting me against the world mentality I will dedicate this post to punk/hardcore bands with singers that rarely wear shirts and could beat the shit out of me, a very elite club my friends. If these knuckles good talk.

First up let's go classic. BLACK FLAG. People generally love this band more than anything from that era which always perplexed me. I guess it's the logo, the fact they toured like motherfuckers and their sound is less screamy. Another thing I find funny about fans of this band is they always like to make the point that Henry Rollins isn't their favorite Black Flag frontman. Sure he becomes more and more of a parody of himself as the years go on but come on, he's the coolest frontman. Accept this. The song is called TV PARTY and its one of their catchiest. Shout out to Monday Night Football!



Now we go from L.A. to N.Y.C. to one of my favorite HC bands in the entire world. MADBALL. Now they really differ from a lot of NYHC probably because they were born and raised in NYC and didn't just move there. They are way tougher and don't care at all about vegetarianism or straight edge. That being said they are political when it comes to immigration issues in the states as many members are latin american. Their sound is a bit more slowed down as well. I saw them last summer for the second time and when I came out I had blood on my tshirt that wasn't mine. As I was chilling infront of Babylon with Josée Business and Jayhu we saw hoya (the huge latino bass player), I walked to him and gave him a now legendary pound. Check out DOWN BY LAW and see what I'm talking about.



Finally we go to Toronto (yack). I figure I have to showcase this band for those who don't know what I'm talking about when I mention them all the time, FUCKED UP. They are taking hardcore in a really interesting generation. Although I love their collections of singles (epic in minutes) their their 2 most recent releases have been really cool trippy mind fucks and not in a dumb way. I feel like they really "get it". Their singer Pink Eyes aka Father Damian is a king publicity guy which is good. Hardcore shuns marketing too much. Anyways they have no music videos that I know of(which is surprising). On many of their live videos the sound isn't too good but hey what can you do. They are fucking crazy live, I am thinking about going to see them this Halloween in Toronto which would be huge for me (i.e. not going to Halloween hardcore in ottawa). check out BAITING THE PUBLIC!



BONUS!

DIDDY has an online song with T.I's swagger like us beat (but modified). The song is called SWAGGER LIKE PUFF. I must say its kinda cool. Fun to see Puff Daddy back to trying to be a rapper. He's got some pretty good lines in this. The video is another of his ridiculous youtube clips which it makes it oh so much better. Trucks with no doors, wtf. Bad Boy record por la vida.

Chances are that I might

Tonight is improvisation at the university of ottawa. This year I am retired as a player and I'm coaching a team. Today is the equivalent to a scouting combine as I plan out my draft picks. I have decided to have a coaching alter ego, I am calling myself Bobby Knight. I would like to think we both have the same fire in our portly bellies. Today's theme is cool girls making music RIGHT NOW.








When my grandmother passed away a year ago last Thursday (I will do a post about her passing in the coming weeks) I went over to Scotland for the funeral. One of the only positives is that music television is A LOT better in the U.K. they have like 15 channels and random acts get blown up pretty easy. The current artist being hyped while I was there was KATE NASH. Her songs were catchy as fuck. Her songs kind of reminded me of Dashboard Confessional (which is deep in the guilty pleasure vault). I was hesitant of hyping her back here. I was at Zaphod's this winter and her song Foundations came on and I yelped out that I loved it. I was really embarrassed but at the same time it felt like a giant weight came off my chest. I came out of the Kate Nash closet. I like Kate Nash. I said it. Deal with her most recent video PUMPKIN SOUP. I want a dumpy GF so bad.

Kate Nash - Pumpkin Soup (HD)
Uploaded by wonderful-life1989

Now I have always loved the shit out of Sweden. Can that country be any better? They are like the goddamned Japan of the western world. I bet that they shit out gilk (gold+silk combo). Anyways back in 2002-2003 there was Swedish invasion. 5 years later the "next big thing" coming out of Sweden is LYKKE LI. Going the Annie route of making pop music but bypassing the normal commercial avenues. Bjorn's (of Peter Bjorn and John) production seems what a high fashion magazine would sound like if it were music (if that makes any effing sense). If I had limitless resources I would get her to front toronto acid hardcore band Fucked Up. A modern day Velvet Underground and Nico. Shit would be off the chain. song is LITTLE BIT



Finally we have a brand spanking new video. Brooklyn's VIVIAN GIRLS. I've been listening to a lot of Jesus and Mary Chain these days as well as being an eternal fan of surf guitar and this comes along and slaps me in the mouth, WOW. I'm putting their re-issued self titled album on my records to be downloaded A.S.A.P. list. Not only is this song (TELL THE WORLD) blowing me away (perfect to listen to when I get back from getting liquid at the bars) but the video is AMAZING. Pure B-Movie/ David Lynch ish without trying too hard. Get wise to this shit for real children.

every morning when I wake up

One of my heroes plays on my dad's soccer team (which is almost entirely comprised of Scottish immigrants). The man is in his mid 60's and is still a very good soccer player. He's also a union man who swears like you could not believe. His secret to this health is that he drinks (at least) one pint of beer a day, takes one good shit a day and only eats one meal a day(!). Today I have started this diet. I'm gonna try to do the one big meal a day thing, snacks are for the weak. The theme today is pretty damn somber and I think I am bummed out just by thinking about. The best artists to have been murdered...

If you know me as a human being you KNOW who I am going to start with on this post. I have posted about this man before and I will most definitely post about him again. Christopher Wallace a.k.a. THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G. . This guy is one of my favorite artists. Bar none the greatest rapper to have ever lived. I saw a tshirt on the internet that said "If Biggie were still alive most rappers would be working at McDonalds" this is true. Every rapper on TV today owes him everything. Many people think of Tupac as a "deeper" artist. I would disagree as Biggie was heavily introspective. He has a song about suicide which is a HEAVILY taboo and stigmatized topic amongst the african-american community. The song today is PARTY AND BULLSHIT which at first glance seems to be simply about partying but he really takes us into that whole high school house party world. Painting a picture of the epic events of adolescence. His posthumous album was already called Life After Death before he was murdered by drive-by shooting in Los Angeles 15 days before it was released. His murder remains unsolved to this day.

R.I.P. May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997



A band I got into towards the end of my high school was THE GITS. A Seatle punk/grunge band that was active from 1986 to 1993. When you listen to them its truly Mia Zapata's voice that reaches out and gets you. She was apparently a huge influence on Bikini Kill/Le Tigre's Kathleen Hannah. She sings about hopelessness and alcohol. Their music really strikes a chord with me. Mia Zapata was brutally raped and murdered in 1993. Her murder was finally solved due to new developments in DNA analysis. I know I joke around a lot but it makes me really angry that a woman still can't feel safe walking home at night. The song is called SEAWEED and if ever you have the time you should check the lyrics as they are really beautiful.

R.I.P. August 25, 1965 – July 7, 1993.



Everybody has favorite genres of music but I'll be damned if you can't appreciate a true ARTIST. A person who's talent seems to be infinite. One of these artists is MARVIN GAYE. He was the most popular artist on Motown during the 60's and he went against the grain big time in refusing the song writing formula at Motown at the time. He made the creative process a collaboration between songwriter, producer and artist. In high school my friend Sam's grand father gave him his car once he was too old to drive. It was a huge Oldsmobile. Sam installed a thumping sound system in that thing. Marvin was a staple in the cd player. Marvin Gaye was tragically shot dead by his own father. You can't write stuff that sad. The song is SEXUAL HEALING.

R.I.P. April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984

Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing
Uploaded by hushhush112

The final person is probably the most culturally important. JOHN LENNON. I haven't ever really been big into The Beatles. I think this is because everybody loves them and I never liked to be on the winning team. Lennon though has the same birthday as me (9th of October) which always got me interested in him thinking we had some ridiculous connection. Having recently read an interview with him I think he quit The Beatles for the same reason young Iain never wanted to like them, not wanting to be in the majority. The song is WORKING CLASS HERO. I think it's easily my favorite of his. Green Day should have never touched it. Lennon was sadly shot in the back 4 times in New York City.


R.I.P. 9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980

We can achieve it, we can achieve it

Past few posts have been hip-hop centric and who wants to be a race traitor? (JKING LOLZ), so this post is going to be white to appease all you secret racists. I am watching MTV live right now and they are featuring a video I featured a couple of weeks ago, they should hire my god damned ass. (I am in the process of applying to MTV networks usa for real!)

First band of the day called the THE MUSLIMS kinda like Lifetime in the sense that it's an impossible to google name. But yeah they've been around for awhile I guess and they kinda obviously get compared to The Strokes but with a more rural (hence whiter) c.c.r.ish vibe. The way I see it is that it's gonna be a good for now but easily forgotten. Kinda like The Strokes. I like the video and how the singer just looks like he doesn't give a shit about his band. Gotta love fellow assholes. Song is EXTINCTION.



Next up is a legendary band that is probably the only good thing (barring a few Montréal Canadiens prospects) to ever come out of Minnesota. HUSKER DU. Originally a hardcore punk act on SST (maverick indie label) their sound evolved to be more melodic and they eventually signed to a big label. They influenced a whole gang of poppier indie that came after. Muy blanco. The song is MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL off their final SST album. There's also a cover of the Mary Tyler Moore theme song on this clip.



Next up is motherfuckin COLD WORLD. Pennsylvania HC band that has a little bit of hip hop influence (mainly intro-outros). I really like them and rank them high in terms of current HC acts. They have a new album that I need to listen to ASAP. The song is REFUSE TO LOSE. Pink Eyes from Fucked Up hyped them up on MTV live which I thought was cool.




Bonus...

Echk, I think I'm going to be embarassed for posting this. One band I liked as a very young kid (and still like today) was The Cramps which got me into the whole psychobilly thing. Anyways this band has a shitty name THE CREEPSHOW and they are from Burlington Ontario (which also sucks). Whatever I think the video looks good and it sound a lot like the ambient music from wicked new HBO show True Blood. Ugh I might regret this. Song is called THE GARDEN.

And we could all use a little change

READ THIS POST IF YOU LOVE HIP HOP, RUB YOUR TITS IF YOU LOVE BIG SCOTZ.

Ok ok ok I gotta go to a house party real quick but I just got put on to a brand fuckin new video that made want to post bad. I'm going over to Kappanther's pad to ball out and get juiced for real. Step into liquid kate bosworth/Duke Kahanamoku style. Mad liquid. Mash it up style. This is me trying to advance slang technology like only eazy iain knows how. Trying to bust a nut and make buck is today's theme. Huslting international.

So we're going to start with an easy intro into the world of Grime (England's modification of Hip Hop). DIZZEE RASCAL, fairly big you might know him. Math + English was a good album if not more americanized (the song feat UGK reps hard). This is a pure story telling song which really takes you to the staircases of London's estates. The video has a real cool concept. The song is SIRENS.



BUT that's not what I'm hyping right now. Grime's kinda been quiet. KANO's coming out with a new album at the end of September and if this song is any indication it's going to be mads Haïti (means good/nuts.). The song is called HUSTLER and the video is a MUST WATCH for any The Wire fan. It's got that real Barksdale high rise feel kinda like young stringer bell who still wants to kill slick talking hoppers. FUCK ITS GOOD. Grime's back.



Now I talked sorta bad bout BOOBA who I call the French fitty. Listening to this song I gotta say his flow has something to it. He's way more aggro than fitty. The Warriors influence on the video. Dig GARDE LA PÊCHE. (translates to a combo of chill/shut the fuck up).



BONUS.


MANU MILITARI a Montréal white rapper who is maybe the best from a lyrical stand point. N.2 MTL conventional rapper. If you don't speak french you might not like the song as much because it is really lyric driven. The song is about bombing shit aka grafitti. It's real fuckin good, there's the shake of a spray can in the beat! L'EMPREINTE is the song.



you're welcome.

Call you up but what's the use

Getting a BMX was the best thing I did this summer. Like I always say its a car you can drive drunk! Giving rides to people on the pegs is where it's at (shout out to katou shopping, p-skilz, c-dubs and the spraklez). Funny that the only time I ever injured myself on the bike was when I was standing motionless. I was bit juiced up outside the Babylon nightclub and for some reason I fell down like a tree. I drunkenly BMXed home and woke up the next morning with blood on my sheets my shin had gushed pretty good without me ever realizing it. But I swear to god it's safe to get on the big baby mobile, lil africa will get you home safe. There's a sort of west coast theme today but not really.


First video is fairly new having come out in late april. It's from Torontonian electro duo CRYSTAL CASTLES. I vote that castles becomes the new "wolf" aka a word that is in every single band name. Imagine bands called white castles or frank castles? it could work... Uh... Anyways I don't know much about the group but the video is pretty cool. Alice Glass playing with her hoodie reminds of my ultrafriend JOSÉE BUSINESS.



Ok now I'm bringing 1998 back. The embryonic stage of the south's dominance of mainstream rap. HA by JUVENILE. The first star out of Cash Money records. Lil Wayne is the big thing right now and pitchfork is severely viagra'd on him to the point they were defending him when The Clipse finally fired back at his ridiculous bullshit. Music journalism will look back and be embarrassed for giving such praise to this kid. He will be the flock of seagulls of our generation. And this isn't me hating I like a lot of his songs but not to the point of viagra side effect giving boners. ANYWAYS my fuckin point is that you can briefly see his 15 year old ass in this video hiding behind Juvenile. Funny side story this video made me miss the bus in grade 9. To me it was like a hip hop punk song. I had never heard anything like it, the weird rhymes the thumping snare. Also you can see that pre-Katrina Nawlins was still a hell hole. When the vice principal asked me why I was late I told him all about Juvenile. The asshole still gave me detention.



To wrap it up we are going mellow. ICE CUBE - TODAY WAS A GOOD DAY. Ice Cube on his good days (get it?) is in my top 5 rappers of all time. Downtempo music from warm climates FTW.



b0nu5 $h1t5

SNOOP! He is one of the only big rappers today who can really freestyle off the top his head. One CLASSIC Rap City Freestyle that goes super long and an impromptu freestyle off 106 & Park. These are the videos you want to click today.

It's not the way I choose to live

No theme. My dad called me a jack daniels of all trades yesterday. I think that was the nicest thing anybody has ever said to me. SPEAKING OF NICE THINGS. My intifada ibroheem Paul G said some real nice things about me on his wicked blog, many thanks!

Ok so I keep hearing about this Brooklyn place. All that Williamsburgh shit, the new L.E.S. whatever whatever. From all the stuff I read about it I just imagine it as being like vancouver's east hastings but with deathly skinny hipsters instead of deathly skinny heroin users. I talk a big game but if ever the opportunity arose I would move there in a second. My bags wouldn't even be unpacked and I would start talking about it like if I had been born there, pure douchestyle. Ok, we have another cell phone commercial song (the source of cocain funds for all indie bands) YEA YEAH by hipster brooklynites MATT AND KIM. They are coming to Ottawa soon and I will be there pretending to not like them, haha.



Next up we have a real played out song PRO NAILS by KID SISTER but she doesn't have any more recent videos so I gotta give you this. Anyways, I missed her when she came to Ottawa which bummed me out bad. I just watched an interview with her and I really think that we could be best of friends/soul mates. Again I say this in the creepiest and most fanboyish way possible. She's was/possibly still is dating DJ A-TRAK who is french canadian. I might have a chance! Her second album was supposed to be called COCO BEWARE (wow!) but now is apparently being called DREAM DATE (meh). I wish I had a machine to make beats.



Now I'm gonna hit you with an old school joint. TOUS LES GARÇONS ET LES FILLES BY FRANÇOISE HARDY. I've posted about her before. I talk about hotness a lot but I truly think Françoise Hardy is the most beautiful woman ever. This song is from 1962. She was 18 when this song came out and she wrote almost everything she sang (including this song). The video is really cool and has that French New Wave feel to it. If you are going to watch only one video today do yourself a favor and don't be bitch, just click it.



BAWNOOSE:

I thought about doing an all GORILLA BISCUITS post but they really have bad classic footage on youtube which is a total bummer. Once for an acting class at university we had to like answer these questions about ourselves. One question was what music resembles you the most. Some assholes said shit like Mozart or "I don't know" when it got to me I was like "yo, the Gorilla Biscuits discography." They are funny yet serious, laid back yet tough and awesome yet fucking awesome. Stagediving at their show was a moment I will remember for the rest of my life. DEGREDATION is the song and racism is fuckin wrong! (two versions!)

I still believe

This past weekend I went to see an exhibit on 1930's art. Fascist Italy produced some awesome art. The Nazis? only if you like naked dudes rowing and doing exercise. I also got to visit the fair city of Buffalo to watch the Bills play. It was mental as fuck. The tailgaiting is like being in Mad Max but more post-apocalyptic. Today's theme is music from WES ANDERSON movies. The kid has wicked taste.

First movie featured is RUSHMORE. Pretty much my favorite movie of all time. The song is I AM WAITING by THE ROLLING STONES. I recently read 2 interviews one with Mick Jagger and the other with Keith Richards and I said to myself "I really need to check out their shit". As a kid I just saw the Stones as being disgusting old dudes that my dad liked. How wrong I was. The song is off their album Aftermath which is apparently when they became good at music. Keith and Mick become G certified in songwriting here. The song appears in the movie when Max is at rock bottom. The video is a really cool live performance from the classic show Ready Steady Go in 1966.



Part 2. Wes Anderson gets on the mainstream map with THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS. Everybody loves this movie. Only thing I would say is not enough BILL MURRAY. Good lord I want to be that man. The song was a really hard choice here which makes me think that like the WU TANG WEEKEND wrap up we might have a Wes Anderson version of that feature. I picked the song JUDY IS A PUNK by THE RAMONES. The song is off their self titled album which is pretty much a perfect record. I picked this song because its from the part when Royal is fucking shit up with his grandkids. That reminded me of my BMX afternoon with my little cousins this summer. Best times ever. The video is apparently from a 1974 performance, quality is bad but you can still make out the lyrics.



Episode 3. LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU. A movie that was panned by critics. I, however, would say it was panned by haters. Sure it wasn't as tight as his three first movies but it was another visual homerun. The soundtrack is also great and actually created songs for the movie. DAVID BOWIE, LIFE ON MARS? Wouldn't say I'm a Bowie superfan but he did pump out some tight tracks. My dad apparently gave in a Bowie song as a poem for english class, he got like a B or something. HA. The video is pretty damn cool and it's a fuckin epic song.



Grande Finale. THE DARJEELING LIMITED. This movie blew my mind. It takes Life Aquatic's grand slam visuals and Rushmore's heart. I really felt a connection to this film. That being said the soundtrack is mostly composed of music used in Bollywood films. I couldn't find a good enough video for one of The Kinks' songs on the soundtrack so I went with 60's one hit wonder PETER SARSTEDT. The track is WHERE DO YOU GO TO MY LOVELY is a very important part of the movie (especially the prologue HOTEL CHEVALIER) as it is played in association to the soul destroying ex girlfriend that dumped Jason Schwartzman's character. I feel him. Reeaaaaaaaallly good song.



BONUS.

I know I've gone long enough already but I would be dumb not to feature SEU JORGE Brazilian singer who plays a member of Steve Zissou's crew. He covers David Bowie tracks in Portuguese. Yup.

I can't get it out of my mind

I just finished a month of full time training to become an expert debt collector at one of the largest financial institutions in the WORLD. I am a cog in the punk killing machine. I deal with this harrowing fact by drinking a lot of my juice and doing the blog. I've had a long week so i'm doing a random new (or semi new) music themed post. Now take into consideration this isn't stuff that I love yet, it's just new.

SANTOGOLD. Female songstress that has gotten pretty big over the past year. Some of her songs were on commercials and the EA hockey video game (wtf?). I was first exposed to her when I was the Osheaga music festival in Montréal last year. Walked in on her show by accident and reacted like the kid in the Da Funk video "yo that's a GOOD song!". Got home and illegally downloaded her singles. I heard her get some static on the internet because she's apparently ripping off M.I.A. ..... uuuuuh? I think that's sort of sexist/racist. Maybe one of her songs (creator) kinda has the M.I.A. vibe but the rest I couldn't even think of making the comparison I guess women of color can't make non Alicia Keyes sounding music. This video dates of this summer it's called LIGHTS OUT.



CSS aka Cansei de Ser Sexy. Another brazillian band but totally not baile funk. Just hipsterish electro. Sometimes sung in Portuguese sometimes English. I saw them with Bonde Do Role and Diplo a couple of summers ago. Amazing show but they ranked lower than Diplo and Bonde for me. Anyways an Ipod commercial blew them up. I thought it was funny cause I had forgot about them completely and the Ipod Touch brought them back in my life. I really think they have an advantage of being "exotic" it adds an easy point out of 10 in their reviews. Everything doesn't have to be 9.3, 7.6 bands are also enjoyable. This song to me is very Friday pre going out evening, that and it's new from 2 days ago gives the video an apparition on YOUTH ANTHEMS. The song is called MOVE.



NO AGE. Now this band I have been told by people I have to like them. Like they are gonna be the shit. I am sort of liking the song but I can really see them become a "band I really tried to like but I don't". Apparently they are from some weird "factory" like collective in L.A. or something. Which I guess is pretty neat. I wish I could have chilled with Warhol back in the day I could have been a chubby Nico. The video is called ERASER which is apparently a fusion of two songs. Wait and see approach with this band. Can't deny this track has "something" to it though. The video is cool too. Subpop seems to be on its grind these days.




(PARTY HORN NOISE x3) PON DA BONUS FEATA

A classic BET's Rapcity freestyle. It's got one of the best vj's in the history of tv BIG TIGGER as well as my favorite homophobes BUJU BANTON and ELEPHANT MAN. Old BET, a kinder gentler time... sigh.

You remind me of a real short story

For all of those who can't wait for something that is well written and not vulgar, the Myriam post will be here by Saturday. During the summer of 2003 I took a cliché coming of age vision quest in western Canada. Myself and my friend Alexandre flew to Vancouver and hitchhiked all over the province. We had a very small tape player that we baptized Bellini. We also had a very limited number of tapes so we ended up listening to the same songs over and over again. Here is a "best of" of sorts.

One tape I found in my house and had no idea I even owned was either appetite for destruction or just a GUNS N' ROSES best of which are pretty much the same thing. For some reason we dug the song MY MICHELLE. Don't ask me why but when I hear it I picture the first nation reserve we crashed at a couple of nights and being the most tore up I have ever and will ever be in my entire life.



I also made a mixtape. One song I put on was inspired by a place we got to know pretty well aka the asshole of the universe. EAST HASTINGS. Legendary Montréal experimental band GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR has a "song" of the same name. I would love to see these guys live one day but they are pretty much broken up I think. This track was sweet for slower aspects of our journey. From what I remember this is a shorter version of the song, video made by a youtube kid.



Next song was from a tape Alexandre found in a box at the summer camp he was working at. Kinda cliché classic rock mix. CAT STEVENS fuckin rules though, WILD WORLD was the track. It has a pretty cool feel to it when you are camping under a bridge. Makes me think of the ocean and the hippie commune we briefly lived on. Fucking amazing times.



Bonus. As a joke I put on a song I hated at the time SURFING IN TOFINO by THE PLANET SMASHERS because that was our goal, get to Tofino and surf. It grew on me during the trip. It now forever holds a place in my heart, fuck.



One day I will finish the non fiction story I am writing about this legendary trip.

To a new paradise

Man late edition. I got my haircut tonight my mullet is gone as well as 5 pounds of hair. This evening I go all franco on your asses. Common theme is Montréal but with one clip from Marseilles because they could not be ignored.

Number one. Today's weather was pure will smith summertime. A rarity in Ottawa this so called summer. So I wanted to throw you a summer jam from the 514-450. Granted it came out in May 2007 but the video is just TOO good. Hell even rival blogger Perez Hilton featured them which is pretty cool (no homo). OMNIKROM TROP BANANE. Listen carefully and you will hear a Mr Freeze reference, the ultimate summer snack.



Number two. Another electro rap/ synth pop song from MTL. NUMÉRO # the song is called HIT POP (maybe what electro rap should be called?). The singer is from France but the DJ is from Montréal. They operate in Québec. Pretty rad song so even if it didn't have a video I put it on.



Number three. We get into Mount REAL shit, REAL CITY WHAT. Into french rap proper, none of this electro shit. My favorite francophone rapper of all time SANS PRESSION. He's my second favorite rapper after Biggie. That's saying a lot coming from a head like me. Sans Pression rhymes like a lot of kids at my school spoke. It's a dialect that many francos couldn't understand. He always had a huge place in our cd players. Anyways the song is NUMÉRO 1. The video features pro mma fighters and boxers from Québec. The best "Canadian" fighters are french. GSP came out to this song in his last title defense. Also French rappers in Canada sell more records than English-Canadian rappers (sorry kardinal). Which proves my theory I developed in Toronto, WE AIN'T WHITE, WE FRENCH. He also shout outs the Democratic Republic of Congo in this song... Heavy.



Man I can't even call this bonus cause it's so good. These guys are the ones that exploded French rap. Chuck D told me France was the second country of hip hop. Mc Solaar was the originator but IAM took it to the next level. A big time crew from Marseilles, a tough as nails city where they speak with a messed up accent. These guys came out with a song that featured WU TANG. It made kids "go shit, Wu Tang is rapping alongside french dudes." It really validated the language for me. Anyways this was a really long time ago and French rap is huge now. This guy Booba is ultra popular, he's a parisian 50 cent. K-maro is like a Lebanese usher. It got REAL commercial (the electro shit is a breath of fresh air yet it's also poked at in this song). IAM came out recently with a song called COUPE LE CAKE. The video is hilarious and they really don't take themselves seriously but they are telling these kids "we gave this to you, we gave you a piece of the cake. Remember that we were wolves and you are being kitty cats and it's time that you make an effort for the younger generations." Wow I spoke too much, you HAVE to watch this video!

IAM Clip COUPE LE CAKE
Uploaded by IAM

And I could almost hear you shout down to me

I had a long long weekend. I repped my union CUPE local 2020 by partying pretty hard. I got kicked out of the dirty oak which is borderline embarassing. Whatever it was past last call. My ex gf Myriam is supposed to guestpost in the blog but until then I will give you an easy to digest WU TANG WEEKEND WRAP UP.

Up first is one of the best videos of all time. GHOSTFACE+ speed racer. Until O.D.B. recently blew my mind, Ghost was my favorite wu member. dig DAYTONA 500.



Next up we have GZA the genius. He came out with a new album recently which is apparently good lyrically but with kinda shitty beats. This song has a sweet beat. Swallow the LIQUID SWORDS.



WU TANG DA MYSTERY OF CHESSBOXING. My favorite wu group song. This is what it's all about. the odb meth ghost stretch is nuts. Jacques Cousteau can't get this low.



Bonus bonus bonus

GHOSTFACE again this time with BACK LIKE THAT. A breakup theme song... sigh. I don't let women near my digital scales no more, this song taught me that.

ghostface killah ft ne-yo - back like
Uploaded by yafs1925

No dense descriptions today... wu tang speaks for itself though.