I have come to the conclusion that I have been screwing around long
enough with Rapidshare. It looks like I am going to keep b(oot)log up
for the foreseable future so I had better get my shit together, stop
making excuses and join the big leagues. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I
have entered the world of ezarchive and so you can directly access my
mp3s without hassle. For this you can thank Casey at Mocking Music
for relentlessly badgering me and shaming me until I just couldn't take
it any more. That's right, I caved. Naturally, I am kidding – I
appreciate the kind words and links MM has provided along with their
less than subtle hints that there are other options to rapidshare.

So, for my first post, post-rapidshare, I thought I should give you something good. I hope this doesn't disappoint.

Back in the middle of February b(oot)log reader Cy asked if I might be able provide Broken Social Scene's in-studio at NPR's World Cafe.
I said I would do my best. And here it is - three songs and a really
excellent interview with Brendan Canning and Kevin Drew. It seems the
good people at NPR are somewhat prudish as "Handjobs for the Holidays"
was renamed "Something for the Holidays". Despite the G-rated new
title, this and the other two songs performed in-studio remain
fantastic.

Broken Social Scene, World Cafe, NPR, 2 March 2006

1) Intro & interview (Part 1).mp3 (7.84 MB)
2) Major Label Debut (Live).mp3 (3.61 MB)
3) Interview (Part 2).mp3 (2.32 MB)
4) Something [aka Handjobs] for the Holidays (Live).mp3 (3.96 MB)
5) Interview (Part 3). mp3 (2.74 MB)
6) Ibi Dreams of Pavement (Live).mp3 (3.7 MB)
7) Interview (Part 4) & Outro.mp3 (4.04 MB)

Buy Broken Social Scene's albums etc. through Arts & Crafts.

PS: I'm sorry if the layout on this post is a bit odd. WordPress
seems to be adding strange and unwanted line breaks which I can't seem
to get rid of at the moment. Bah! it also seems to be re-arranging my
text. stupid wordpress…making me look stupid.

I first heard of Harmony Trowbridge through Said the Gramaphone and was immediately enthralled. Her songs are deceptively simple in structure, just a guitar and a voice, but the simplicity is undercut by the fact that Trowbridge’s voice is fantastic - clear, powerful, and exceptionally lovely. Trowbridge tells stories of loss, regret and remembering. Her music is melencholic but, through the stength and beauty of her delivery, there is still a feeling of hope.

* No Photographs.mp3

* Flat Bottomed Boat.mp3

This Queen’s grad returns to Kingston to play a FREE show this Sunday, March 26 at 8pm at the Sleepless Goat (91 Princess St.). So get thee to the Goat, grab a fairtrade coffee, and prepare to be captivated.

You can get her EP, “Amoraphobe” through Festival Distribution and watch out for her full length release later in the year.

You’ve waited long enough - here is part two of the Belle & Sebastian show (part one is here). It’s not that I’ve been holding out on you, honest, things have just been busybusybusy around b(oot)log basecamp and it takes a while to transfer and edit these files. As before, I am still on rapidshare (this will hopefully the last one - I will be getting some hosting, I promise) so click and follow. [UPDATE: I re-uploaded these files so just click]

Belle & Sebastian, The Docks, Toronto, 25 February 2006 (part 2)

11) White Collar Boy.mp3 (3.77 MB)
12) She’s Losing It.mp3 (2.29 MB)
13) Your Covers Blown.mp3 (6.25 MB)
**) Andrea intro and setup.mp3
14) Act of the Apostle Part 2.mp3 (3.74 MB)
15) Like Dylan in the Movies.mp3 (4.11 MB)
16) Dog on Wheels.mp3 (3.18 MB)
17) I’m a Cuckoo.mp3 (3.81 MB)
**) The Wrong Girl take 1.mp3
1 The Wrong Girl.mp3 (4.59 MB)
19) Judy and the Dream of Horses.mp3 (3.64 MB)
**) Encore talk.mp3
20) Me and the Major.mp3 (3.72 MB)
21) Get Me Away from Here, I’m Dying.mp3 (3.97 MB)

**Belle & Sebastian – The Docks – 25 Feb 2006 – Part 2.zip (46.7 MB)
[UPDATE: Just so we're all clear - this is an audience recording
made on an analogue recorder. It is far from pristine but, in my
opinion, is listenable. If knowing this you are interested in having
it, it is yours with my compliments. You may wish to download one to
sample the quality, or lack thereof, before getting the whole thing. If
this doesn't sound like your cup of tea then you have the option of not downloading it. Alright? Good. r]

Get the Belle & Sebastian back catalogue from Rough Trade (and pretty much anywhere else) and you can look good in B&S shirts from here.

Those guys at Schedule Two are on an amazing roll. Last week it was Tapes ‘n Tapes and this week they give you five videos of Jason Collett from his most recent tour. Seriously, these are great. And, as if you needed any more incentive, Ms. Leslie Feist whom you all seem to love so much, comes out for “Hangover Days”. Worth the price of admission right there.
Buy Jason Collett stuff here.

UPDATE: Mr. Collett talks to Drowned in Sound [via LHB]

[photo, again, courtesy of theplot]

Following the less-than-ideal situation with the New Pornographers, I expected the worst when Belle & Sebastian took the stage. Thankfully, while it wasn't great, things had improved. The sound was better, there was a lightshow and, more importantly perhaps, the crowd had settled in and were by-and-large quiet and attentive. There were a few exceptions - I'm talking in particular about three harpies from Guelph who moved to the back half way through the show and talked exceptionally loudly and cackled throughout the better part of several songs, including the rather quiet "Fox in the Snow". I am happy to say that they shut their yaps after a few songs, but for a while there I thought I would have to resort to violence. Sorry, I had to get that off my chest.

B&S' set drew heavily (as you might expect) from their latest album, The Life Pursuit, but with a decent helping of some of their earlier work. As Frank pointed out, however, they pretty much bypassed their middle period. The songs they played shied away from the much loved "bedroom" songs and was as upbeat and rockin' as B&S could get. Despite the horrible venue I must say that I did enjoy Belle & Sebastian quite a bit. While I really doubt I would rush out to The Docks again, I would go to another B&S show - I figure it can only get better.

As you will no doubt have realized, this post is listed as "Part 1". It was a mental week and I wasn't able to divide up all the tracks in time to make my weekend post. So please, enjoy these and I will have the rest to you early in the week. The sound is better than I thought, although the banter is practically inaudible. I left most of it in for the purists (except where the harpies took over) but you won't hurt my feelings if you just delete the three tracks. I ran out of tape at the very end of Funny Little Frog so a bit is cut off. Oh, and I cranked up the volume thinking that the sound was too low but now it seems it is really loud - so be warned, you may want to readjust it before you listen. I will repost the zip file with the volume at a normal level first thing on monday. [UPDATE: The zipfile has been readjusted so it is good to go] I guess that is all I have to say except that the files as on rapidshare so click, click, wait. I hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's Day.

r

[UPDATE: Just so we're all clear - this is an audience recording
made on an analogue recorder. It is far from pristine but, in my
opinion, is listenable. If knowing this you are interested in having
it, it is yours with my compliments. You may wish to download one to sample the quality, or lack thereof, before getting the whole thing. If this doesn't sound like your
cup of tea then you have the option of not downloading it. Alright? Good. r]

Belle & Sebastian, The Docks, Toronto, 25 February 2006 (part 1)
1) The Stars of Track and Field.mp3 (4.5 MB)
2) Another Sunny Day.mp3 (4.27 MB)
3) Woman’s Realm.mp3 (4.78 MB)
4) Sukie in the Graveyard.mp3 (3.3 MB)
5) To Be Myself Completely.mp3 (2.84 MB)
6) Electronic Renaissance.mp3 (4 MB)
7) The Loneliness of a Middle Distance_Runner.mp3 (4.15 MB)
The Blues are Still Blue.mp3 (3.4 MB)
9) The Fox in the Snow.mp3 (3.8 MB)
10) Funny Little Frog (missing end bit).mp3 (2.44 MB)

** Belle & Sebastian – The Docks – 25 Feb 2006 – Part 1.zip (39.2 MB)

It’s thursday and, as is becoming a habit, I thought I would leave you with a little mid-week something that isn’t a bootleg but is interesting and might have escaped your attention. Hell, most of my midweek posts conisist of stuff that I’d never heard before the day I posted about it. Take today’s example. I was listenting to my favourite radio station and on comes The Absent Sound. Intrigued, I investigated a bit and decided that they get the b(oot)log stamp of approval. Not that this will probably make a lick of difference to them but nevertheless, here it is.

Coming from Winnipeg, this group has more in common with DoMakeSayThink or Godspeed You! Black Emperor than fellow ‘peggers the Weakerthans or the Guess Who. You might even say that their ambient, atmospheric brand of post-rock is evocative of the swirling wastes of Manitoba in the winter. However, you might get punched in the neck for being a pretentious jerk if you do that, so be warned. Their music, from what i have sampled, is dreamy, swirling, and engaging. Their soundscapes are filled with riffs, samples, looped beats, and the odd blop, blip and bleep. And their live show, apparently, is more performance than concert, with choreographed dancers, projections and other goodies, so if they happen to stop by your town check them out. If I haven’t completely turned you off this band with my rambling, here is a track from their latest release “It’s All True” and three from “Music to live and die to” - which, along with their self-titled debut can be purchased through Teargas Recording Tree (all direct links).

* Chantsong.mp3
* Don’t Come Home in Pieces.mp3
* The Smooth Transition into Puberty.mp3
* Decomposition in the Key of D, Recomposition in the Key of E.mp3

I thought I’d leave a quick note to let you know that those fine folks as Schedule Two have posted video of Tapes ‘n Tapes (in Quicktime & iPod-ready formats) from their 5 song set at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis on Feb. 27th. Check back for video of the Voxtrot set from the same show. Sorry, I don’t have the mp3s made from this performance, but you can check out their SxSW performance courtesy of So Much Silence (and KEXP).

WordPress’ server was down when I tried to post yesterday (and seems to be acting up again today) so my apologies for the delay. Not much to say (or time to say it) about this post. Jason Collett performed three songs on Minnesota Public Radio’s The Current on January 29th (with my thanks to For the ‘Records’…again) and I have the songs plus interviews for you, so here you go. I am still using rapidshare. You know the drill.
Jason Collett, MPR: The Current, 29 January 2006

1) Feral Republic.mp3 (2.96 MB)
2) Feist, BSS, & burbs talk.mp3 (3.89 MB)
3) Hangover Days.mp3 (4.22 MB)
4) Paso Mino talk.mp3 (1.53 MB)
5) We All Lose One Another.mp3 (4.25 MB)

6) Jason Collett – MPR - complete.zip (15.7 MB)

Last Friday I was having a post-workshop beverage at what just might be the best named pub, ever, in London, Ont., and a Toronto band called QR5 was playing. Unfortunatley I didn’t see their entire set, or really any of their set because we were at a table in the room beside the room they were playing, but I liked what I heard. Their music has a positive feel, very melodic with excellent arrangements, and it has a great “vibe” (man, that word sounds stupid but I can’t think of any thing else at the moment).

They describe their music as:

Acoustic-ambient folk collides with a funk and reggae rhythm section. Atmospheric lead guitar fleshes out an aggressive acoustic, while hip-hop beats and a melodic but funky bass energize the sound. On a few tracks, epic and moody organ parts alternate–evoking a dramatic film-score quality.

Here are two songs from their just released, third album “Pharmakon” (direct links):

QR5, Revisted Gone.mp3
QR5, Dreams.mp3

To listen to two songs and videos from 2004’s “Resond” can be found here and three songs from their 2005 release “There is No Path Not Taken” can be downloaded here.

They seem to be playing a few scattered dates here and there. You can see them at Metro Hall, Toronto as part of ”Artists against War” on Sunday (March 12) and they will be in Kingston at the Scherzo on April 7th.  

Copies of “Pharmakon” can be found at their shows but not yet online, it seems, but you can buy “Resound” and “There is No Path Not Taken” from CDBaby.

And check out qr5.org, which features colour-saturated, wonderfully framed photographs by vocalist/guitarist Matthew Maaskant.

r

[photo by theplot, since I was "one of the poor souls way at the back" my photos turned out terrible, and for more great photos - visit Chromewaves]

Others (including Belle & Sebastian) have talked about how craptastic The Docks is as a venue and I really won’t go into except to second all that has been said before. The show was excellently reviewed by Chromewaves and For the ‘Records’, and more eloquently than I could, so I suggest you go to either/both to get a good sense of what the show was like. As for me, due to circumstances beyond my control I didn’t get to the show until the fifth song into the New Pornographers set. There was a great deal of shoving and jostling and the combination of being late, really far back and really croweded sort of soured a performance that I was really looking forward to. However, once I got settled I must say what I did see of The New Pornographers was pretty good - thankfully I am pretty tall so I actually could see the stage. Their sound wasn’t high enough, in my opinion, but I think they did put on a decent show all things considered. Ok, on to the music.

As mentioned, I didn’t get there until the end of the fifth song and it took another couple of songs to get organized, so I only was able to tape the last 2/3rds of the show. As usual, quality is far from pristine but it is what I have and would be happy to know if you have a better copy (check out NPR tommorow, March 6th at 8pm EST for NP/B&S live from Washington). Most of the banter was inaudible so I edited it out. Thanks to Suckingalemon for the set list. Everything is on rapidshare so follow the links. My apologies for not getting this up sooner. I am away from home on business and I got to a computer as soon as I could. Next weekend I won’t have the Belle & Sebastian set - I will have something just not that - but hopefully it will be ready for you all in two weeks time.

UPDATE: I have the date listed wrong in the files - the show was on the 25th, not the 24th as listed (or 28th as I had written on this post) Update #2 - the individual song links have expired but i have re-uploaded the full zip file by request..
The New Pornographers, The Docks, Toronto, 25 February 2006

1. Mass Romantic.mp3 (2.28 MB)

2. Testament to Youth in Verse.mp3 (3.55 MB)

3. Stacked Crooked.mp3 (3.67 MB)

4. The Body Says No.mp3 (3.66 MB)

5. Three or Four.mp3 (2.9

6. The Fake Headlines.mp3 (2.31 MB)

7. It’s Only Divine Right.mp3 (3.29 MB)

8. Bones of an Idol.mp3 (2.55 MB)

9. The Slow Descent into Alcoholism.mp3 (3.59 MB)

10. Sing Me Spanish Techno.mp3 (3.81 MB)

11. The New Pornographers, The Docks – Toronto – 25 Feb 2006 complete.zip (32 MB)