Bloc Party

So second semester is well under way and I’ve yet to be completely consumed by schoolwork. However I’m more stressed than ever, mainly with finding a place to live next year and/or this summer, finding a job and several other things. Instead of me sitting here and bitching though, I’m going to share some news with you. Enjoy!

It seems that everyone and their mothers were at The Killers show at the Air Canada Centre last weekend, and though I didn’t feel like paying the big dollars to sit in the nosebleed sections, from everybody I talked to that went it sounded like it was a good show. Such a good show in fact, that it inspired some – names will be withheld to save them the embarrassment – to create a fake Facebook profile for Brandon Flowers so that they could say in their profiles that they were engaged to him. I’ve yet to be terribly impressed with the new album Day & Age, even though I quite like Ocelot’s recent “Human” remix. “Are we human or are we dancers?” Ocelot succeeds in manipulating Flower’s voice so that he sounds like a Daft Punk-esque (I don’t think that’s a word, but we’ll say it is for the purpose of this discussion) robot. However, even though March is still two months away, there is already a growing excitement for the next “big” concert coming to this fair city. You’ve probably heard already that Bloc Party are coming to the Kool Haus for two dates on March 13th and 14th, and tickets are already sold out for the Saturday show. For those of you attending the Saturday show however, it was recently announced that Toronto’s own Holy Fuck will be opening that night. This bit of news made me glad that I purchased my ticket through Ticketmaster way back in December when they went on sale.

Speaking of Bloc Party, the band has a new music video for “One Month Off”. Be warned though – if you have recurring nightmares of your favourite fairytale characters being set on fire and run over by tanks, you may want to stay well away.

I’ve had a few albums either lent or given to me in the past two weeks, so I figured I would share some of the songs off them I haven’t been able to stop listening to. My friend Lauren made me a mixtape, which was heavy on Fleet Foxes and a stellar, reworked version of Kings of Leon’s “Knocked Up”, featuring vocals fromLykke Li. I can’t believe that I missed out on Fleet Foxes the first time, or even second for that matter, but their songs are sprawling, lush and gorgeous. Call me a bandwagon-jumper if you want, I don’t really care. As for Lykke Li, is she becoming the new M.I.A.? It seems that everyone has wanted to sample her, remix her or get her to guest on songs. The latest to pay attention to the Swedish songbird is Lil Wayne’s protege (and former actor on Degrassi!), Toronto’s Drake, rapping over “Little Bit”. It’s not quite as much of a trainwreck as you might think – for those of you that are curious, the song can be found on Drake’s MySpace page.

Another one of my friends received a copy of BBC Radio 1′s Live Lounge Volume 3, which gives the double-disc compilation back its good name, featuring originals and covers from everybody from Dizzee Rascal to The Wombats to Pendulum covering Coldplay’s “Violet Hill” (what?). Of course I had to borrow it, and have been listening to it on regular rotation on my laptop. Somewhere in heaven, former BBC Radio 1 DJ and journalistJohn Peel (R.I.P.) is smiling approvingly.

“Apache Rose Peacock” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers is my new favourite song to play on Rock Band 2. Just saying

Is Joel Plaskett the most ambitious man in Canadian music right now? Reading this recent article on EXCLAIM!, about his upcoming triple album and Toronto show at Massey Hall in May, I would have to say yes.

Unfortunately I’m going to miss Thunderheist and Shad this weekend playing a free outdoor show in Nathan Philips Square as part of Toronto’s WinterCity festivities, as I’m going to be in London at Western for the weekend, but I hope to check out The Stills the following weekend. More details on both performances can be found at here.

That’s all I have for today, but don’t forget to check back here soon to read my interview that I did withAlexisonfire guitarist and Black Lungs frontman, Wade McNeil.

Cheers,
Max