Posts Tagged ‘love is all’
News Update!
May 13th, 2009 | By: Melody Lau
Amy Millan
As we all know, free things are up there on the list of miraculous gifts from God. In this case, God is Harbourfront. This summer’s World Routes Festival line-up was recently announced and performers includeFaduma Nkrumah, The Constantines, Chad Vangaalen (Canada Day), King Sunny Ade, Femi Kuti, Hiplife(July 3-5), Holy Fuck, Winter Gloves (July 10-12), Jenn Grant, Gentleman Reg, Amy Millan (July 24-26) and many more. For the full list, click here. ‘For the Records’ also reports that Julie Fader and dd/mm/yyyy will be part of the festivities. And yes, all these shows are FREE. Thank you, kind folks of Habourfront, for understanding out financial crunches.
Bell Orchestre will also be playing a free show at Harbourfront, but as part of Luminato, on June 13.
For those dying of anticipation for this year’s Edgefest, there will be an Edgefest preview show at Velvet Underground on Saturday May 30th featuring Still Life Still, Dinosaur Bones and La Casa Muerte. This is going to be an all-ages show and tickets are on sale now for $10.00!
Apostle of Hustle’s new album Eats Darkness (due out May 19th) can be streamed on their MySpace now. They will have their CD release show at the Music Gallery on May 29th and they’ll also be part of this year’s Olympic Island Fest on July 11th (featuring Broken Social Scene, Beach House, Explosions in the Sky, and more).
Lykke Li will be returning to Toronto on August 9th, for a show at the Sound Academy.
Ohbijou have finally announced a new date for their CD release show, which was postponed earlier last month. They will be at the Opera House on June 25th; tickets purchased for the April 18th show will be honoured for this show.
Bob Dylan has a new video out for “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’” (from his latest release, Together Through Life). Watch here.
The Josh Reichmann Oracle Band covers Bat For Lashes’ “Daniel”. Click here to listen.
According to Chart, Islands have finished recording a new album, titled Vapours, and it will be released sometime in September. The Montreal band will be in town on June 27th for a free show as part of Pride Week.
The Shins recently played a new song entitled “Double Bubble” in Los Angeles. Watch and listen here.
Glasser has a new video out for “Apply”. Watch here.
Love is All also has a new video out for “Last Choice”. Watch here.
Happy listening!
Musically,
Melody
My Heart Keeps Beating Like a Hammer
October 30th, 2008 | By: Melody Lau
Metric
I’m not going to lie; I’ve practically given up on Metric.
I haven’t heard much from the band since their 2005 release, Live it Out and I’m pretty sure fans were growing impatient of the new record. Sure, there were plenty of new tracks live (for MP3′s,www.metricforum.com is where you can find it all), most of which are pretty good, but come on guys, give me a release date already.
So I noticed today, the band’s official site had a new page posted up and it at least tells me something, finally. As the video tells, Emily Haines did take off to Buenos Aires for a bit sometime ago and clearly some good came out of it as she returned to the studio with a fresh mind and new songs. The song, “Help, I’m Alive”that plays throughout the video is actually new to me, as I have not heard of it. I actually really liked it, especially as a quieter, piano song, as opposed to the fuller, synth-infused version at the end of the video. This gives me a rejunanated sense of hope for Metric. Maybe 2009 will be the year I fall in love with Metric all over again. We’ll see when the new album drops “early 2009″. God, please let that be true.
Metric, as mentioned in my last post, will be playing at the Sound Academy on December 13th along with a whole slew of amazing acts. Tickets go on sale Saturday; presale’s on now.
Yesterday, Feist posted quite a riddle on her MySpace blog, saying:
In Toron?to,? out came a sign
Of wood,? nails?,? it wasn’?t fine
Last night?,? it said there?’?s been a heist
A stage? was took,? stole?n by Feist?
A crowd? arriv?ed,? a line up made
It might? be time for anoth?er raid
A Queen? still? true,? the King a spous?e
In Came Ron, a real full House
A lady watch?es,? ten times? an ant
If after? eight?:? late,? late,? pant,? pant
And after not only reading this message at 10:00 p.m. but also not understanding it for a while, I finally realized that Feist had played a secret show at the Cameron House on Queen St. last night at 8:00 p.m. This literally brought tears to my eyes. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to wait to see Feist at the more spacious Massey Hall on Saturday. At least I won’t have to have a riddle guide me there. Just a brain to remind me of the directions and to remember to bring my ticket.
Someone please let me know how Lykke Li’s show last week went! Opening act, Friendly Fires recently covered Li’s “I’m Good, I’m Gone“. I’m usually not a fan of many covers (okay, that may be a lie…) but this one is actually really good! Lykke Li still does it better, but Friendly Fires puts quite a fresh spin on it.
Do you religiously follow/read the online blog, B(oot)log? If you do, and you’ve been wondering, like I have, why there have been no updates of late, maybe this will explain.
The Two Koreas will be playing at the Gladstone Hotel on November 3rd.
Some things just look weird at first glance. You know what I mean? Here are some examples that I noticed tonight:
The Gay Blades on Ice Across America.
…maybe it’s just me.
M.I.A. has a new song out (from her How Many Votes Fix Mix EP), “Shells (Slow)”.
Lioness talks to Chart about Controller.Controller. They play at Wrongbar on November 14th.
The Hives are getting sued for plagiarism. Read more here.
In the Halloween spirit, Houston Press has decided to have some fun and pick out 28 “Creepy” album covers. See them all here.
Love is All is also having some Halloween fun. Watch here.
New Beck video for “Gamma Ray” here.
That’ll be it for now! Sorry for the slew of news! Just felt like I needed to tell you some stuff.
Musically,
Melody
Wishing Well
October 26th, 2008 | By: Melody Lau
Love is All
Have you ever felt like you’ve been stuck in a listening rut? Well that’s exactly what I’ve been feeling right now. Everyday I turn on my Windows Media Player and scroll through my artists, I think to myself, “Why don’t I have anything to listen to?!” (Similar to when I look into my closet in the morning and think, “Why don’t I have anything to wear?!”). So I’ve been on a quest – a musical quest for new music. And I guess that little push was just what I needed!
I’ve heard of Love is All for quite some time now (since the release of their 2005 LP Nine Times That Same Song) but I just never actually listened to them. So when I saw a new video for their single, “Wishing Well” on Pitchfork, I decided to give it a go – and I loved it! Lead singer, Josephine Olausson’s voice seriously reminds me of someone, but I just can’t put my finger on it… it’s good nonetheless. Their sound is a perfect combination of punk and pop and a sprinkle of Swedish charm. If you’re also enjoying what you hear, Love is All will be making a tour stop in Toronto on December 11th at the Horseshoe Tavern (19+) and their new album, A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night, will be out on November 11th.
While I was on Pitchfork, I also read up on some of their coverage of this year’s CMJ Music Marathon and Film Festival, particularly taking notice of Amy Philips’ Thursday coverage. At first, I read her post because of Sebastien Grainger, but when I scrolled to the end, I noticed a few shots of an artist named Little Boots. The review was not a positive one, as it criticizes her live act but I was intrigued anyway. So I immediately looked her MySpace up and began to listen to “New in Town”. At first, the keys and snyths were a little overwhelming but as soon as the chorus kicked in, I was hooked. That is one gosh darn catchy song! Definitely check her out if synth-disco-pop is your thing. Maybe not live though… It’s okay though, she’s not stopping by Toronto anytime soon anyway.
And most recently (as in this morning), I just started listening to a great Australian duo named An Horse. Sara Quin (of Tegan and Sara) had written a MySpace blog about the duo and in my curious state of mind, I decided to check them out. And they are definitely perfect for fans of Tegan and Sara. The duo of Kate Cooper and Damon Cox are currently doing some tour stops with the T&S and their new album is available now on iTunes.
I’ve also downloaded (whoa, I haven’t done that in a while…) some Hercules and Love Affair, Marnie Stern and the new Land of Talk album, so I’ll get back to you when I finish listening to them all. I feel rejuvenated with musical energy! But please, if you would like to feed me more music, send me your suggestions at melodylau.620@gmail.com!
In other news around the city…
Pink Mountaintops will be at the Drake Hotel on November 7th. Tickets are $10 and are available now at Soundscapes and Rotate.
Tokyo Police Club are playing an exclusive show, brought to you by The Edge 102.1 and Jack Daniel’s Studio No. 7. The event will be taking place on November 9th at 8:00 and it will be 19+. Details as to where are still TBA and if you want to win tickets, you’ll have to listen to The Edge or go to jdstudiono7.com for further details.
That free Diableros show at Kensington Market today has been cancelled. The band apologizes and will be playing at The Boat in December instead.
Goodnight Loving, The Stolen Minks, The Weirdies and WWI will be at Sneaky Dee’s on November 5th.
Hot damn, I wished I was there.
That’ll be it for now! Happy listening. If you were also in a listening-rut recently, I hoped this helped.
Musically,
Melody
