Recently in Site Updates Category

Watching Inception last weekend blew my mind off, especially with Joe Gordon-Levitt's zero gravity action sequence. Yet it also reminded me that the last film I saw Leonardo diCaprio in was Romeo + Juliet. It made me feel old knowing that the onceTiger Beat fodder Leo DiCaprio, is now playing married men with kid roles and the goofy kid alien from 3rd Rock from the Sun is playing his slick and dashing point-man. Then I remembered how I loved my Romeo + Juliet OST casette tape and played it to death and also, that I forgot to let you guys know that the Swell Season did a cover version of "Young Hearts Run Free" (which was undoubtedly one of the memorable songs from the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack). What's extra good about it is that you can get it for free, down at the Levi's Pioneer Sessions site, where a whole bunch of other artists take on songs that have influenced their music. I'm posting songs from two of my favorite duos here (The Swell Season and She and Him) but you can go check out the site for more music from Jason Mraz, Dirty Projectors and Passion Pit to name a few -

Young Hearts Run Free by The Swell Season

Fools Rush In by She and Him

Just because I seldom post new music news and I still haven't gotten to my emails to set up a Q and A for Fresh from the Post - here's something that's sort of Fresh from the Post: OK Go's new video :)

Going back to their roots of accompanying their songs with offbeat choreography, with End Love, they make use of stop motion and time lapse to give this video a bit of an edge. Also, they get a new band member in the form of a loyal goose. Their new video premiered at Bonaroo last Saturday and now it's on YouTube for your embedding convenience. You can also download it off their site at www.okgo.net and, maybe keep mum about this, but I think they're giving away a free iPad too.

I love these guys - not only because they've got an Indie Music Database pick of the week section in their programme - it's also because they're  hilarious to listen to. 

Adam Hiniker and Vance Barber are two guys from Queens, New York who've got this stellar podcast called Ear Candy New York. It's an unscripted comedy talk show, that showcases a couple of new tunes every week interspersed with witty guy banter. Topics range from the seedy machinations of prostitution, the psychological implications of stalking, the politics of marijuana legalization and some heart to heart relationship advice. Good stuff ;)

Check them out at earcandynewyork.com 

I don't love you migraines.

Sorry to disappoint, but this post won't have any new music (but I did manage to update the lyric of the day). It'll only contain a snippet of explanation on the absence of posts for the past few days -  which can be attributed to my debilitative migraine. Since almost passing out at a bathroom stall in The Bay at downtown Vancouver a few years back (and luckily being saved by a corageous Jones New York employee named Patricia) - I have taken my migraine attacks seriously and have been taking frequent periods of r & r. This, and I also had to squeeze in some time to be soccer mom and chauffeur to Paolo's speech and behavior therapy sessions. Truly, a woman's work is never done.

This said, I'm sadly cutting some time in posting on the site - which means no more lyric of the day recap (but there will be daily posts of it on our Facebook page if you haven't gone ahead and checked it out) . We (heart) album art posts, won't be as regular (it never was though) and Fresh from the Post and List Addicts will still be weekly, but might not happen on Tuesday and Fridays respectively. Not much of a change though - but if y'all miss out on something on the site one day, now you know why.  I'm still up for anyone who'd like to help on the site - it doesn't earn anything but you can get free mp3s.

And that's it.

Here's to a migraine-free week.

To long-time visitors of the site, you might remember the robot that hovers over the left side of the page when you visit. I've actually contemplated on putting it on a shirt or something, since Paolo is always proud of seeing it shown (since it looks oh-so-edgy with it's robot thrusters). So, I thought I'd submit it to good ol' Threadless and see how it fares. If you guys want to show the appreciation and love (I'm sure Paolo will be thrilled), please drop by Threadless to score his design.

If anyone's interested in the artist behind it, he's shy but here's a nice picture of him behind one of his artworks.

"Friends,

Haiti needs your help in her darkest hour.

We just got off the phone with our friends at Partners in Health.

Most of the medical infrastructure in Port-au-Prince is down.
Since Partners in Health's clinics are in situated the surrounding areas and haven't been damaged, they are mobilizing their resources towards
the capital, setting-up field hospitals to treat the injured on the ground.
Also, Paul Farmer (the founder of PIH) is at the UN and has access to the best information on where to direct the money... so for the moment
if you want to help, we suggest sending funds to:

www.pih.org
+ donate.pih.org/page/contribute/haiti_earthquake?source=earthquake&subsource=homepage

Canadian residents with Roger cell phones can text HELP to 1291. 5 $ will be directed to Partners In Health's Haiti emergency fund.

Please be generous as time is of the essence.

love,
Win and Regine"
http://www.arcadefire.com/

The band has always been and advocate for raising awareness for Haiti, providing leaflets in support of the non-profit healthcare organisation Partners In Health (PIH) and its Zanmi Lasante healthcare centres during concerts. The band's co-founder Régine Chassagne, has strong ties to the country, her family having emigrated from Haiti to Canada during the Jean-Claude Duvalier dictatorship.

You might want to ask - why are there stars in the background? I'm wondering that too. I've actually been racking my brain trying to think of something to fill those whitespaces and that's the best I could think of. It kind of looks like wrapping paper - it must be my post holiday withdrawal. I may or may not scrap it - express your opinions if any of you out there are reading ;) (UPDATE: sadly, the stars have been taken down. I was just not feeling it)

I've also added a new section on the upper left corner there called 'Your Indie Music Quote of the Day'. For old time visitors of the site, I once had a section that churns up random lyrics from artists that I have in the database. I kind of missed that, so I'm putting on a new and improved one that you can check out daily. I will tweet it, and for those too lazy to visit everyday, there's a blog post for a recap weekly as well - just in case you were curious.

I actually put it up yesterday, but for the few hundred that visited and missed it - my first quote comes from Voxtrot's The Start of Something. I just find it - sweet.

 artwork : A Threadless tee design by Chow Hon Lam