June 19, 2006
The Go! Team – Bull in the Heather
Holy freaking crap. The Go! Team have covered Sonic Youth's classic "Bull in the Heather" on their myspace. They've kept the scratchy, feedbacky guitar but replaced Kim Gordon's vocals with a chorus and added trademark Go! Team beats and some of the hottest glockenspiel action you've ever heard. Thanks to Muzzle of Bees for the headsup.
* The Go! Team, Bull in the Heather (Sonic Youth Cover).mp3 (2.74 MB)
The Go! Team open for Sonic Youth at the Kool Haus in Toronto on August 8th.
Buy The Go! Team Stuff — Buy Sonic Youth stuff.
April 9, 2006
Jill Barber, Grad Club, Kingston, 8 November 2005
For such a small place, Kingston has produced and/or nurtured a wide range of extremely talented musicians and bands. Some bands exist only while the members are at the University and then are left behind when the people leave for the real world, others continue to perform and grow as artists. Jill Barber is a wonderful case of the latter. First as part of the indie-rock band Bent Ivy and then as a solo artist, she developed as a musician right here before leaving for Halifax. However, a few times a year she returns, often to the Grad Club where she performed in front of an audience for the first time, to share her wonderful folky/jazz-tinged songs. For those unfamiliar with her, she is a singer-songwriter who has a rich, warm voice which she uses most often to tell stories of love and its aftermath.
What I have from this show from November of last year is only a small portion of her performance. Since recording this show I learned a valuable lesson: carefully label your tapes. You would think that would be a no-brainer but one that sometimes is forgotten. This is important for two reasons 1) so you don’t record over the show (which I did for the first half), and 2) so you don’t use a tape that has other stuff on it which may linger (the ‘ghost’ of Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing”, of all things, haunts the background of the latter songs, which makes for a poor mashup). So I put the four songs that I do have that don’t include something unwanted in the background, including one new song “Legacy” (which got cut off at the end). I have another recording of from earlier in 2005 that I will post sometime in the future so if you like this check back in a while. As usual this is an audience recording so the quality isn’t the best possible but I think you might like it nevertheless.
To round out this short post I have added two other songs – one from Barber’s first solo ep and one from a compliation from her band Bent Ivy. Both are fantastic and I can’t recommend them highly enough.
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Jill Barber, Grad Club, Kingston, 8 November 2005
1) Oh Heart.mp3 (3.66 MB)
2) Measures & Scales.mp3 (4.75 MB)
3) Legacy.mp3 (3.01 MB)
4) Two Brown Eyes.mp3 (3.43 MB)
Bonus – from A Note to Follow So
* The Best View.mp3 (3.97 MB)
Super Bonus – from the Ultraviolet 2000 compilation :
* Bent Ivy, New Orleans.mp3 (3.6 MB)
[As far as I know this is the only Bent Ivy song recorded but on the listing from the 2001 CMW site, it states that Bent Ivy released an album – can anyone tell me if this is true? You will be my hero if you can provide me with more Bent Ivy tracks]
photo by Rainbowerin
Do yourself a big favour and get A Note to Follow So and Oh Heart from Zunior (the latter also available in CD form from Miles of Music).
February 11, 2006
Stars, “Petite Mort” 7″ single
I forgot to bring home the files I needed to write my planned post so please check back on Monday and I will make it up to you. However, so you don’t go away empty handed I have posted a Stars song for you.
This song was an outake from the “Set Yourself on Fire” sessions. It was released as a 7″ single (with a remix of “What The Snowman Learned About Love”). It is a interesting song with a staccato, spoken delivery in the verses, an upbeat tempo and some nice harmonies and it stays within the theme of “sex and death and robots” of “Set Yourself…”
Stars are playing a free outdoor show as part of Ottawa’s Winterlude on February 18th so if you are in the NCR be sure to check it out. Here are the dates for the rest of the tour (all ages show in Kingston on the 27th at AJs). Also, here (via For the ‘Records’) is an interview with Amy Millan where she tells a dirty joke.
Stars, Petite Mort.mp3 (4.49 MB)
UPDATE: As a bonus, reader Scott has sent me Stars, Live on CBC’s ZeD performing an excellent version of What the Snowman Learned About Love [new link](6.58 MB). Thanks Scott! My belated weekend update will be posted sometime this afternoon or early this evening.
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