News:Girl Talk

"Feed the Animals" by the indie mash-up artist Girl Talk is putting doubts on the pay what you want strategy, originally tried by Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails.  You can download the album at the link here.  I haven't listened to it all yet, but so far the sound in truly incredible, with 300+ samples on 14 songs.  The actual sales for the album haven't been revealed yet but the artist and his label "Illegal Art" are admitting that thousands of copies of the album have been downloaded for free.  The most interesting part of this experiment will be if an indie artist can be successful using the pay what you want model.

News:Colourbook and Cobras Cobras Cobras Date Change

Well, this is truly horrible news for me, since I won't be able to make the show anymore, but Colourbook and Cobras Cobras Cobras have changed the day they are playing to Sunday, July 13th.  The show is still at the Loft venue and is still $8 cover charge.  The doors will open at 8pm, but the music doesn't start until 9pm.

News:Weekly Music Schedule Update

Ok, it looks like this week is going to shape up to be a pretty good week for music, despite what I said earlier.

On Friday, July 11th, at On The Rocks pub Starewell is playing.  Not sure of the time or cost, but tickets are available at On The Rocks.  

Also on Friday and Saturday the jazz band Fourplay is playing at the Blue Grotto. Once again, I have no idea about time or cost.  Let me know if you have any information.

News:Weekly Music Schedule

Well, this is kind of a lame week for music, but its better than nothing.

Tomorrow, we have the lamest band in Canada, and the world, quite possibly the universe, playing at the Blue Grotto.  After that description, it should be a pretty easy guess(hint: surprisingly enough its actually not Nickleback)...thats right, State of Shock is coming to town(yawn).  Econoline Crush is opening up the night.  The show is only $25 but doesn't include the $200 you are going to have to spend on alcohol to make the music sound good.  So if you are 21 or older and have bad taste in music, the show starts at 8pm.

The Dirty Jersey, which is actually a pretty cool venue, is hosting the Vancouver based metal band Over The Coals on Wednesday the 9th.  Cover is only $10.  The show starts at 9pm.

And then a week from now at the The Loft, Colourbook and Cobras Cobras Cobras are playing Monday the 14th at 9pm.  I'll definitely be hitting this show up, especially at only $8 cover(what can I say, I'm a cheap son of a bitch).

Also on the 9th, Kid Rock is playing in Kelowna at Prospera Place at 8pm.  I am unsure how much tickets are, or if there are any left, which there probably is because who wants to see Kid Rock?

And unfortunately, that is the week in music.

News:Why?

Last week, Ian Curtis' gravestone was stolen from its resting place.  Ian Curtis was the lead singer of the band Joy Division, before he committed suicide at the age of 23.  His grave site has become a pilgrimage for thousands of fans all over the world.  Why someone would do this, is beyond me.  By the way, has anyone seen "Control," definitely an interesting movie about the late singer's life.

News:Live Music This Week In Kamloops

I just thought I would remind you of some live shows that are coming up this week.

First of all, Sunday night, at the Pavilion Theatre, there is a punk show starting at 7:30pm and going until 11pm.  It is ten dollars at the door, and Wednesday Night Heroes, The Jolts, Soundcity Hooligans, and Let's Dance are all playing.  If you can only go out one night this week, hit this one up, I'm sure its going to be awesome.

If you're into country(not really my thing), on Monday, Doc Walker and Ridley Bent are playing at the Sagebrush Theatre at 7:30pm.  Tickets are $33.50.  

Then, on Wednesday, local artist Asha is playing at The Commodore.  I've been looking all over and can't seem to find what time the show starts, I'm figuring around 8pmish?  The show only has a five dollar cover charge.  

Thursday night, starting at 8pm, Kamloop's own DJ Kudos with guest DJ Astroglyde(best/worst name ever) is playing at Tango Tapas Bar and Lounge.

The big show is on Friday, with George Thorogood and the Destroyers coming to the Interior Savings Centre.  Tickets are $40+.   

Lots going on this week, make sure you get out and support Kamloops music.

News:May 24th, Vernon-Bass Dragon

At the Unity Martial Arts Centre in Vernon there is a rave starting at 11pm and ending at 6am.  Featuring two rooms, it is hosted by Dragon's Lair.  I've haven't been to one of these shows in Vernon yet, but I've heard that they are really well done and are a lot of fun.  Ticket's are fifteen dollars in advance or twenty dollars at the door, and you must be at least eighteen years of age and bring photo ID.  Kamloops talent is going to be there in the form of Wandalicious who apparently plays "ass shakin house."  For more information click here.

News:Tricky Is Back

British trip-hop genius, Tricky, is releasing a new album on September 9th, six years after his last musical effort "Vulnerable."  The album is called "Knowle West Boy" and is named after the ghetto he grew up in.  Not surprisingly the majority of the album was produced by himself but he also got some help from Switch, who produced M.I.A.'s most recent album.  The first single "Council Estate" will be coming out at some point this summer.

Review:Nine Inch Nails-The Slip

4/5 stars

Trent Reznor is sure keeping busy this year, recording and releasing two albums, genius marketing, touring, and proclaiming to the world the evils of corparate music(take that Rolling Stones).  His most the recent release, "The Slip," is being given away for free over his own website, which is not an unprecedented move.  Radiohead beat him to it, but as Trent Reznor pointed out, Radiohead backed out, saying that it was just a marketing scheme to drum up publicity.  So is this album the sequel to "Year Zero" that he promised, or is this back to business as usual?  I'm not totally sure, some lyrics are very direct references to the "Year Zero" theme, "you train us how to act, you keep the fear intact," or "your armies full of hate, believing your charade."  Other lyrics are just as suicidal as "The Downward Spiral," "put the gun, in my mouth, close your eyes, blow my fucking brains out, pretty patterns on the floor."  Personally, I could care less what the theme of this album is, Trent Reznor has never been a lyrical genius.  Nine Inch Nails has always been more about the emotion you hear in the vocals and music, rather than what he is actually singing about.

"The Slip" is the best Nine Inch Nails album since "The Fragile," and it is the noisiest music he has created since "The Downward Spiral."  The album opens with the ambient white noise of "999, 999" and then "1, 000, 000" comes right after with a blast of distorted guitars and crashing drums.  It is a song that would have easily fit on the "Broken" EP. The song, much like the rest of the album is filled with suicidal lyrics like "I jump from every rooftop, so high, so far to fall."  Then the even noisier "Letting You" comes right afterwards, filled with guitar notes that seem to be picked at random.  Easily the best song on the album, this song sounds like it was written for "The Downward Spiral."  The first single "Discipline" is a slinky song that grows on you with each listen.  Trent Reznor's misery hasn't sounded this sexy since 1994.  About a halfway through the album the music completely changes from the heavy industrial into piano ballad "Lights in the Sky" which is a relatively weak song.  What saves it from the skip button, is the rawness of it, almost sounding like you are sitting right on the piano bench with Trent, as he composes the song in his whispered vocals.  After that the album starts to sound like "Ghosts" with ambient instrumentals "Corona Radiata" and "The Four of Us are Dying" which are both superb.  They feel like short glances into Trent Reznor's totally fucked up head.  The album ends with "Demon Seed" which is probably the worst name for a song ever, and also the weakest song on the album.

"The Slip" is incredible, adrenaline charged music, that has a sense of urgency to it.  The two halfs of the album don't fit together very well, with such a huge change in tempo.  But for the most part the quality of the music makes up for any flaws in the order of the songs. 

News:Emmanuel Jal

I think everyone knows, including those that are part of it, mainstream American Hip Hop is slowly destroying itself.  Thats why it is so refreshing for an artist like Emmanuel Jal to get a chance to release his music.  At the age of seven, Emmanuel Jal, became a child soldier in Sudan's civil war.  In a song called "Forced to Sin" he actually details how he had to eat fallen soldiers to survive.  They have a short but good interview of him over at Rolling Stone, and they also have a music video and couple of songs you can listen to.  Musically, it isn't anything fantastic, but subject wise it is pretty moving and groundbreaking.  "For me, I wanted revenge for my mother, wanted to revenge for my village, for my auntie who was raped in front of me, for our house that burned," he says on how most child soldiers actually want to be a part of the war.  One of the most interesting things he says, is about 50 Cent and the nature of gangster rap.  "It was like you can't kill people and then talk about it on the TV.  Because if you take somebody's life, for the rest of your life it will haunt you."  He actually has a song called "50 Cent" where he quite respectfully(I'm not being sarcastic) tells 50 Cent that what he is doing is wrong.  If you want to read the rest of the interview, or check out his music click on the Rolling Stone link.

News:May 15th-DJ Kudos

After the pathetic turnout to the DJ Jelo show, somebody is being brave and attempting to put on another DJ show in Kamloops.  DJ Kudos and DJ Astroglyde will be playing at Tango Tapas Bar and Lounge starting at 6pm on Thursday, May 15th.  I can't really say I'm as pumped for this show as I was to see DJ Jelo, since I've seen DJ Kudos live before and I really wasn't that impressed.  He is definitely a talented DJ, but I find his style and music taste rather dry and boring.  But if you can, go out and support the Kamloops music scene.

News:Welcome To The Fold

As you probably already know, Beck's new album will be produced by Danger Mouse, but you probably didn't know already, Cat Power will also be contributing to the new album.  Beck has also decided to follow the lead of other groups, Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, Gnarls Barkley, and the Raconteurs, and release his new album right after finishing it, in the next four to six weeks to be exact. Cat Power, Beck, and Danger Mouse all on one album, I feel a little overwhelmed(in fact, I think I just had an orgasm).

News:May 11th-Wednesday Night Heroes, The Jolts, Soundcity Hooligans, Let's Dance

Punk has returned to Kamloops, or so it seems at least.  Next thing we'll be flooded with wannabe emos and the whole polluted scene will collapse in on itself again.  But until then, enjoy!  Sunday, May 11th, 7:30pm, at the Pavillion Theatre Wednesday Night Heroes, The Jolts, Soundcity Hooligans, and Let's Dance are all playing an all ages show.  They all seem like high energy bands, and the Soundcity Hooligans know how to put on a show.  I unfortunately won't be able to make it because of work, so if anyone wants take pictures and put up a review, let me know.

News:Its All For Free, Folks!

Joining the growing multitude of super groups who give out music for free(I'm not complaining), The Offspring have put up their new single "Hammerhead" for free download.  The website took a while to send me the link, so be prepared to wait a couple hours for the song.  The album it is off of, "Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace" will physically be released on June 17th.  Apparently it is "best thing" they have ever done, so I guess we'll have to wait and see.

News:Trent Reznor's Big Thanks

Trent Reznor has been full of surprises this year and this one is possibly the biggest and most exciting of all.  His "thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years" is an album on him.  An entire album of new stuff(with vocals this time) called "The Slip" for free download off of his site.  Check it out, you have no reason not to.  For all the crazy, obsessed collectors, the physical copies on vinyl and CD in July.

News:Kanye West and Justice

Kanye West put up the new Justice music video for the song "Stress," on his blog.  It's a different music video, thats for sure, with lots of meaningless violence, vandalism, and robberies.  I've read a lot of comments that say "welcome to france," apparently this is a very real depiction of the violence and anarchy that happens in the projects of France.  Let me know what you think.

News:The Trouble With Coldplay pt. 2

I just thought I'd let you know that I finally got the Coldplay site to work for me.  The free single "Violet Hill" is pretty good in my opinion, it has a very different sound than the Coldplay many of us are used to.  It was produced by Brian Eno, which I thought was pretty cool.  The album its coming from "Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends" comes out on June 12th.  The song is only available for download for 6 more days.

News:Scarlet Johansson!Tom Waits!TV On The Radio!Jesus And Mary Chain!

When I heard that Scarlet Johansson was making an album I completely ignored any information about it, because crossover artists are usually annoying and bad.  Things would have probably stayed that way if I hadn't picked up the new edition of "Spin" and read the interview where she explains that the entire album is comprised of Tom Waits covers, and is produced by Dave Sitek, from "TV on the Radio" and that she previously sang with "Jesus and Mary Chain" at Coachella last year.  Ok, now I will admit that I am very interested.  In the interview she says that Dave Sitek would only get involved in the album if it sounded like "you drank a bunch of cough medicine and then saw Tinker Bell flying around."  She says that "that's when I knew he was the man for the job."  Now I'm really, really interested.  Check out her first single on YouTube, it does sound like cough syrup and Tinker Bell may have been involved.  I tried to find the interview on the internet, but no luck, so if you want to check it out you'll have to pick up "Spin."

News:April 30th-Hump That Speaker! DJ Jelo At Grasshoppers Tomorrow!

This news is a little late coming, but better late than never.  DJ Jelo, a Canadian home grown talent is playing at Grasshoppers in Kamloops.  What?! real DJ's playing at Grasshoppers, thats a new one.  Sorry, low blow, but I couldn't resist.  The show is on Wednesday, and it starts at 10pm.  His music is pretty impressive from what I have heard on his Myspace page, and I will definitely be checking this out tomorrow night.  If you don't make it to the show, I'll have my full review of it up on Thursday.  To get more information, click here, and I hope to see you there.

News:The Trouble With Coldplay

Following the example of other bands experimenting with the internet, Coldplay has released their new single for free download.  "Violet Hill," apparently is harder and more experimental than the usual Coldplay material.  Which sounds incredibly interesting to me.  The only problem is that due to high demand the website crashed, and now that it is up and running, I can't seem to be able to download the song.  You are welcome to try and download it yourself, let me know if you have any success.  Coldplay is also playing three upcoming free concerts in the U.K.  I can't wait to see where the band goes from here.

News:No Canadian Dates In Beck's Tour

It has been a busy year for Beck so far.  He's recording an album with Danger Mouse(yes, that is the most amazing thing I've heard in my entire life), he reissued "Odelay," and now he has a tour through Europe and the States.  Unfortunately, he hasn't announced any Canadian stops yet.  I've got my fingers crossed, though.

News:Take A Sad Song And Make It Better

Paul McCartney 's first wife Linda McCartney died of breast cancer April 17, 1998.  Known for more than just being a famous wife, she was an excellent photographer. She worked for Rolling Stone magazine, and was the first woman to have a picture featured on the cover of the magazine.  Later in her life she had her own picture taken for the cover of Rolling Stone, and she is the only person to have ever photographed and been photographed for the cover of the magazine.  On the Rolling Stone website they have a sneak peak at an exhibition of her life's work.  Check them out, they are quite amazing.  

Review:Buck 65-Situation

3.5/5 stars

"Situation" isn't nearly as haunting as "Talkin' Honky Blues," the lyrics aren't as interesting or poetic as the majority of songs on "Secret House Against the World," and the music is fairly bare for Buck 65.  But against all that "Situation" has a lot going for it.  It is the most straight forward hip hop album he has done in long time, instead of the avant-garde folk rap he has been creating lately.  Buck 65 still isn't the most talented MC in the world, but his skill has come a long way since his last album "Secret House Against the World."  His flow has become a lot more fluid and at the same time, more immediate.

For "Situation" Buck 65 has created an entire concept album around the year 1957.  Instead of being a history lesson, this allows him to do what he does best, tell the stories of a very wide cast of characters.  Righteous cops, killers, gangsters, high school jocks, rebels, stalkers, pornographers, pin up girls, and beat poets populate the many different view points in the music.  "Shutter Buggin'" is about a pornographer  who sees his job as a "funny biz, I'm not saying I like it, it's just where the money is."  "Heatwave" has one of the many cops on the album, who is "comin' to get ya" if you're the "scum of the earth."  It's an interesting and refreshing view for a hip hop artist to take.

For his new concept Buck 65 has ditched the folk and country influences, for a more modern hip hop sound with turntables and samples.  Its not nearly as exciting or groundbreaking as previous efforts but it suits the album.  The piano loop in 1957 is dramatic and enticing, and the organ in "Way Back When" has single written all over it.  His gravely voice sounds better over more layered songs than the minimal ones like "Spread 'em" and "Lipstick."  But even with all its faults, Buck 65's rich characterizations and newly discover MC skills, hold the album up.

News:Red Album

Apparently there was rumours floating around that the cover art for this album was a joke, but the band's publicist recently confirmed that this is the actual cover art.  The album has been nicknamed the Red Album, which fits into the family quite nicely.  The album will be released on June 24th and its first single "Pork and Beans" has already been released.

News:Take Your Shirt Off And Dance

As Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor promised yesterday, his new single, "Discipline," is up for free download.  I'm listening to it right now and its certainly nothing mind blowing, pretty standard in fact, but its very catchy and makes me want to get up and dance. Trent Reznor had this to say about the song, "Take your shirt off and dance to  it, REMIX it, Enjoy."  Oh, and he is still considering the real-time broadcast of him signing the 2500 copies of the "super-ultra-mega-deluxe" GHOSTS edition on Thursday.  So, unfortunately I do not think he was joking, like I assumed, when he originally announced that he was considering to do this.

News:May 30th-Rebel Spell, Broadcast Zero, Soundcity Hooligans

If you live in Kamloops, this is great news, and if you don't live in Kamloops, well, then quite frankly thats your own problem.  Rebel Spell, Broadcast Zero, Soundcity Hooligans, and guests are going to be playing at the Pavillion Theatre on Friday, May 30 at 7:00pm.  Both Rebel Spell and Soundcity are awsome punk bands and put on a kick ass live show, so I will definitely be there.  I haven't heard anything about Broadcast Zero before, so if you want to check them out, their myspace is here. 

Review:Vampire Weekend

4/5 stars

How do you review the debut album of the most hyped band of the year?  The funny thing is that about 50% of the blog world, that promoted Vampire Weekend, have already turned their backs.  You don't have to look far on the Internet for the haters.  Indie fans can be arrogant and fickle, and if you've had your face on "Spin" magazine as band of the year, and mainstream critics are also giving your debut album rave reviews, you've lost a lot of indie cred.  In the indie music world, success equals failure, I guess?  They're aren't many other bands, especially successful ones, that are as independent as Vampire Weekend.  They've recorded their own album, booked their own tours, designed their own artwork, and they own their masters.  If that doesn't get indie respect, then I don't know what does.

On first listen, Vampire Weekend's self titled album can be a little overwhelming, with dramatic strings, African percussion, new age keyboards, pop melodies, and guitars that sound incredibly reminiscent of Johnny Marr and The Smiths.  After a couple listens the arrangements all begin to sound very natural, though.  This is one of those albums that gets better with each listen.  "Mansford Roof" starts with sweeping strings but quickly deconstructs into a strange new age beat, and from there the band adds new layers to the song.  Songs like "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" and "M79" are built with scattered musical ideas and influences, which Ezra Koenig's vocals and simple pop melodies pull together.  The majority of the lyrics are light and abstract, "eyes like a seagull, no Kansas born beetle could ever come close to that free" and don't weigh down the music.  The African influenced percussion gives the music a relaxed summer vibe.  The album surprisingly falters with songs like "Walcott" and "Bryn" when the music is simple and more repetitive.  But even the songs that aren't the greatest have enough redeeming qualities to them, that you are unlikely to skip them.  

The question is will Vampire Weekend make it past their first album, or will they disappoint and disappear next year like many of the Internet hyped bands seem to do(coughArtic Monkeyscough)?  I think it is unlikely, Vampire Weekend has a lot of room to grow, and their debut shows an ability to adapt that should keep them around for a long time to come.  

News:Trent Reznor Is A Big Tease

"Trent Reznor is a BIG DICK," my brother yelled at the computer, after reading the new announcement on the Nine Inch Nails website.  After his ambiguous post yesterday alluding to something happening in two weeks time, Trent Reznor has announced that his new single got radio airplay today and will be available for free download at some point, tonight.  He hints at something else coming up too, which I'm assuming(hoping) is a new album.  But, once again, we are talking about Trent Reznor, so who the fuck knows.  Speaking of Trent Reznor being a weirdo, he also mentions that he might be having a real-time live webcast of him signing the 2500 copies of the "super-ultra-mega-deluxe" GHOSTS edition.  I'm hoping he is being sarcastic, because I know there are many obsessed Nine Inch Nails fans who would actually watch the process.  I'll be checking over at nin.com in a few hours in hopes of getting my free copy of the new single "Discipline."

News:Stealing Thunder So You Move That Ass

Recently I was watching MTV Live, and a band called Thunderheist was performing.  To get this out of the way, why does everyone hate MTV Live so much?  Personally I love that show, for many reasons, mostly because they promote indie artists and give them a chance to be seen and heard.  Anyways, Thunderheist is an electronica duo from Toronto with female rap vocals.  You can hear two of their songs at CBC radio 3 or check out their own website.  Its incredibly infectious party music, I've been listened to Jerk It on repeat on my ipod for the last week.

News:July 25-27-Bacardi B-Live at Pemberton

Since the Pemberton Festival is the first of its kind in British Columbia, and Canada for that matter too, we're going to keep you updated on everything that is going on for the festival.  I am incredibly excited for the festival since the line up is ridiculously amazing with Coldplay, Tom Petty, Nine Inch Nails, Jay-Z, and it goes on and on.  Anyways, on the Pemberton Festival's site they just put up news on the 19+ dance tent.  The line up for the dance tent is Booka Shade, MSTRKRFT, Deadmau5, Chromeo, M.A.N.D.Y, Tommie Sunshine, 3 Oh! 3, Kevin Shiu, Timeline, and the visual effects will be done by Tony Pantages.  To find out more, including the lay out, click here.