The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep have a new album on the way...
I discovered Son Of The Tiger earlier this year and find that it's a bit inconsistent at times but when it hits the right notes it's gold. They've got a new album Sleep Forever coming out Feb 19th and leaked a track from that... I am loving it and am waiting patiently. Can't wait till they come to my town too.
The Big Sleep - Pinkies

a swell evening

Friday night was a concert by The Swell Season (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova) with Mary Margaret O'Hara. I will expand on this later, but I'll just say for now it was pretty freaking great; Glen & Marketa were great, the crowd was strange (made up mostly of fans of the movie Once, who cheered as soon as they head the songs they knew from the film) and Mary Margaret O'Hara was like nothing I've seen before. She has an amazing voice but almost seems scared or self concious about using it, often just sort of half singing the lines or throwing a few random notes & noises throughout. Here's a sample of why the show was great:

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova -Drown Out
Mary Margaret O'Hara - Keeping You in Mind

And the girls from this video were there front row & center.

an emotional rollercoaster of a mix!

Okay, it's that not big of an emotional rollercoaster but I couldn't think of much to say otehr than "A new mix" or something. Anyway, this mix has some great new stuff and some old goodies too. The last thing released by Lee Hazlewood kicks it off so it can only go downhill from there, or maybe not when you've got Intramural w/ Greg Dulli, a great Emma Pollock track and one of my favorite soul songs ever from the Knight Brothers. I'd say it's worth a download.

Get it HERE.

01 At The Top Of The World - Amiina (ft. Lee Hazelwood)
02 Elephant Gun - Beirut
03 I'm Never Gonna Live It Down - The Knight Brothers
04 Life Without A Brain - The Rentals
05 On The Line - Small Sins
06 In The Morning - Candie Payne
07 Middle Distance Runner - Sea Wolf
08 At The Finish Line - Jenn Grant
09 This Is A Landslide - Intramural (featuring Greg Dulli of The Twilight Singers)
10 Florida's on Fire - Superchunk
11 Zeros and Ones - Francine
12 Depressed Friends - Walter Schreifels
13 Ball of Yarn - Birdmonster
14 There Is A Light That Never Goes Out - Neil Finn
15 Bathtime Tindersticks
16 Fortune - Emma Pollock
17 Rehearsals for Retirement - Mark Eitzel

a couple of great label samplers

I just got a couple of label samplers that are both pretty great.

The first is Binky Griptite's Ghetto Funk Power Hour which is a mix of stuff from Daptone Records. It's divided up into sections but not by track, so you'll have to buy the stuff at your local shop or go here to download some of it.

I've also got a great Light in the Attic Records mix HERE. I really love this label and this disc makes an easy case for why. They've got a great mix of classics with Betty Davis, Karen Dalton & Jackie Mittoo and some new stuff like The Black Angels. I really recommend the Jamaica to Toronto compilation, not just because I'm living in Toronto now but because it's a vibrant collection of music you never really hear about. The Summer Records follow up is great too, fantastic dub from a shitty part of town near where I work. You should really go download more now.

a load of shows and some other stuff.

I saw Lars And The Real Girl this week; it's by far the funniest and most touching movie I've ever seen featuring a life-like sex doll. I highly recommend it if you want to laugh and get all emotional... it happens to the best of us.

I also had two epic nights out seeing bands on Thurs & Fri. Thursday started with the reunited Police, who I have always been a fan of but have to say I was unimpressed with. They played great and all, but there was just no fire in their belly really so the whole thing felt sort of uninspired to me. I ran up to the El Mocambo after that to catch Bionic ; they're always great and the new album is one of the best rock records I've picked up in the last couple years for sure. Caught the tail end of fellow Haligonian Rebekah Higgs' set that night too, quite nice. You can check her out here.

Friday night I caught the tail end of The Drones (kind of reminded me of a rough version of The Frames mixeed with Teenage Fanclub or something), they were alright. They were opening for Band Of Horses who were good but they never really took to that place where I get lost in the show. I knew I was watching a great band and they were playing amazing but it just didn't connect. On the other hand.... I saw My Brightest Diamond after that and it was everything that was missing from the Police & Band of Horses shows. Shara has one of the best voices I've ever had the chance to see live and just everything about the show put a smile on my face. She's quite coy and cute in between songs and would be totally pretentuous if she weren't smiling at everything she's doing. Get some HERE and enjoy these tunes...

The Police - Fall Out
The Police - Be My Girl (also makes sense with Lars & The Real Girl)
Rebekah Higgs - Parables
My Brightest Diamond - Magic Rabbit

another decent rock mix (if I do say so myself)

HERE'S a mix of some rock and/or roll that I meant to post before. I had started the post but hadn't finished it... It's all basically jsut rock n roll, some fun stuff though.

01 You Don't Break My Heart - The Testors
02 Reaction - Catheters
03 Mongoloid - Millionaire
04 Gabrielle - Ween
05 Every Single Line Means Something - Marnie Stern
06 Rana (Frogs) - Pitchfork
07 Circuits to Circuses - Centro-Matic
08 The House - Bonk
09 The Ending Is the Greater - Afterhours
10 The Whip (Ultra-Static Mix) - Rocket From The Crypt
11 Don't Mind If I Do - Dead Low Tide
12 All Is Not Lost - The Afghan Whigs
13 Stumped - Goblin Cock
14 Gps - The Black Heart Procession
15 She Comes To Me - Burning Brides
16 Cold Wars - The Rezillos
17 Suffragette City - Turbonegro
18 Hard Knox High - The Vikings
19 No Generation Gap - Wipers

my friend's friend's bands are unimpressive...

I went to see bands that were friends with friends of mine, had an alright time but the bands were nothing to write home about. One was mostly victim to bad sound and drunkness, the other was just very bland...

Anyway, there's a new mix HERE For this one I tried to balance the "wussy" stuff with some more rockin stuff too. Hopefully my friends and/or critics approve.
You can get most of this stuff at emusic.

Tracklist:
01 Anti Love Song - Betty Davis
02 Don't Change - Face To Face
03 Ode To LRC - Band of Horses
04 Biology Tricks - Centro-Matic
05 Satellite - Son Volt
06 Busy Nights At The Meatmarket - The Heathens
07 Pink Money - Hot Springs
08 Restorative Beer - The Fiery Furnaces
09 I Know Yer Insane - Dinosaur Jr.
10 Sidewalk Stepper - Galactic
11 Mas Y Mas - Los Lobos
12 Captain Pasty - Black Francis
13 The Prisoner - The Clash
14 My, My, Tennessee (featuring Matt Friction of The Pink Spiders)
15 Two Questions - Klee
16 Loneliness Shines - Malcolm Middleton
17 Lidia's Song - Joe Lally
18 My Russia - Woven Hand
19 Just About To Go - Alvin Youngblood Hart

two fisted love

I remember the first time I listened to this song... I only threw it on because I thought the title sounded so dirty and funny. I wasn't familiar with Phoebe at all before this and fell in love with the song despite my sense of humor. Anyway, the whole album Second Childhood is quite good, but a lot of her other stuff seems to be more on the over produced/adult contemporary/blues vein. Doesn't go far with me... but here's a great song for you:

Phoebe Snow - Two Fisted Love


I'm really just buying time... been lazy/busy/dealing with some stuff.