February 2010 Archives

I will miss the buzz of the Olympics when it's all done. It might not have felt like winter in Vancouver - especially with the dreadful rain that we're having today, but I do think the Winter Olympics was quite a success. I will particularly miss the free concerts and all those cute orange bikes I that the Dutch keep riding around with across the city. So in honor of the 2010 Winter Olympics, I'm having an Olympic themed post. This week, we have five songs that more or less (some really less) represent some of my favorite countries that participated in this year's Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

Nothing cheers me up more than people doing the crazy dance while someone sings 'I want to live in an asylum' . Our Video of the Week comes from Belfast trio Not Squares whose lovely single 'Asylum' makes me want to scream 'more cowbell please!'.

**Update: Looks like the band also has Asylum as a free download on their bandcamp. So, head on there if you want to add it on to your mp3 player and take the crazy dance to the streets ;)

En Tout Cas is Jimmy Cain, Dave Cameron, Skube Burnell and Marc Stubberfield, a four-piece band from Melbourne, Australia - who create noisy guitar pop inspired by quiet walks along the beach and hemorrhagic fever.

They just finished wrapping up their new EP, 'Dengue Fever' -  which will be out next month, and had some time to kill for a Fresh from the Post Q and A. Their drummer Skube takes a shot at our questions and gives a sampling of what's in store for us on their upcoming EP release -

It feels like Spring. For the past couple of days, whenever I walk outside I'm greeted by sunshine and birds chirping. Also the grass seems to be getting longer now and we might need to mow the lawn. Drats.

For the lack of lyric of the day posts the other week, I've bunched the fifth and sixth week's worth of songs in this post. And now for our recap -

Our Guest blogger for this week is Boowy, a dear old friend from Manila, who shares to us his top five faves from the Filipino Indie music scene... - Cris

I am not VJ Lucky, VJ Sib, VJ Wu-Man, VJ Mike Casem nor VJ Danny McGill...I am not advocating any of those music channels in Skycable. (Sayang wala nang MCM - its this french music channel)

I am not in a band nor work in the local music industry...I only play 1 instrument, and my wife is an expert with it..

I am a music geek. I love music. I need music to do my art, clean the house, to go from point A to point B. to be inspired, to inspire someone, to enjoy a bucket of Red Horse Beer and to tolerate this F*cKing Goverment!

Here's my list..Enjoy!!

I always love bands that come from non-english speaking countries - especially ones that release records in english. For me, there's always a draw to artists that step out of their comfort zone to create something that can reach a larger audience - and I thank them, because with my limited knowledge of the world's many languages and my own unending need for new music - they give me something new to whet my appetite with.

This week's Fresh from the Post artist comes from a little Belgian town called Huy. They've been around for a while, supporting acts such as The Rakes, Maximo Park and The Charlatans and (according to their bio) have a long standing quest to find 'that perfect pop song to appeal to housewives and students, CEOs and motorists stuck in traffic jam for days'. That's a pretty specific target audience if you ask me - whether or not they've achieved it is up to the housewives, students, CEOs and motorists in question. For today though, they take a short break from that long standing quest as Showstar's Chris, Tony, Dave, Dannny and Bruce talk to us about their band and their newly released album 'Think Ringo' -

As a post-Valentine treat, our video of the week is about a mighty love - a love that's strictly from the bottom and simply from the head...whatever that means. This one is from Indonesian band Zeke and the Popo with 'Mighty Love' - a neat and nicely done video which uses that ever so popular technique of still photos as motion video.

This comes out terribly late - I admit, I feel asleep...for a week - and just woke up in time for the Winter Olympics. There's still no snow, only rain - and it bugs me why they have a blizzard there  where my sister is in Virginia, and not a tiny speck of snow in Vancouver. It's scary to think that this is climate change at work, which makes me want to be more enviroment friendly than I am right now. I vow to recycle more and only buy only vintage clothes.. and maybe take up the art of cheingora yarn making so I can make use of all the useless dog hair that our pet corgi has been shedding a lot of ( which in turn, also reduces the carbon footprint that the wool industry leaves ;-) 

Yes, I'm back, and here we are with the lyrics of the day recap -

Another day, another list, and before you know it, it's already February.  The obligatory chocolate giving holiday is just a couple of days away and everyone is seeing hearts. For our Friday's list, what better way to welcome Valentine's than to showcase some songs by people who've taken the term 'let's make beautiful music together' - literally and figuratively. Here now, is my list of songs from indie music duos who share a partnership that's more than musical -

1. Viva Voce - Mixtape=Love

Mixtapes have always been the best alternative to writing your own love letter - you get to tell the object of your affection how you feel, minus the embarassment of them knowing that you can only rhyme 'my lovely dear' with 'lager and beer'.  Portland based Viva Voce  (husband and wife team Kevin and Anita Robinson) sure seem to know that mixtapes unequivocally equals love, with this little track that just screams to be included in any love themed mixtape .

2. The Weepies - World Spins Madly On

As a duo, there's nothing weepy about The Weepies. Deb Talan and Steve Tannen are a match made in music heaven. Both started their own careers separately, and eventually became drawn to each other because of their same love for music - that or maybe the mutual acknowledgement that they found each other hot. They do create the most heartfelt songs which might make you shed a tear or two.

When not busy making media appearances or playing Trock with his band Chameleon Circuit (that's Time Lord rock for you guys), Charlie McDonnell (a.k.a. charlieissocoollike) makes silly videos and silly songs on YouTube. I've seen a lot of ingenious viral videos from people making music on You Tube, but this one has got to be the catchiest original song yet - and he doesn't even use traditional musical instruments.  Nice touch with the Tardis coinbox/drums Charlie, and look - you also have that Mario mushroom tin that my son has. Aww. And is that Stephen Fry at the end? I remember my son watching Pocoyo when he was a little toddler, and now he's all grown up making weird game levels on Little Big Planet. Gosh, I feel so old.

I never get much mail really. The electronic type I get tons of, but the real type that comes from Mr. Mailman, rarely. So imagine my delight when I received a CD in the mail, along with a cool numbered art print from Chapel Hill, NC band - Polynya.

I have a weakness for indie-pop, female vocals and electronic music, so after a few listens to Crop Rotation , I knew I just had to feature this band. Luckily, band member Luke Berchowitz allowed us to do a virtual sit down, and takes on this week's Fresh from the Post questions -

 I wish for snow. Proper snow. Not that just that one day of snow we had last December.  I wish it would snow for the Olympics.  Traffic, tons of people...and snow. It would be fun ;)

 Here's the recap of last week's Lyric of the Day -