re: functional eye candy and a cute song

Man, this is a pretty awesome, weird, maybe homophobic but I don't think so, music video that features a cute song and some cuter butts.

Valley Lodge "All of My Loving" from Valley Lodge on Vimeo.

Weird but satisfying.

re: some live music in your face

Manta Ray-Gun, photo by Kate Henderson

I reviewed a show for local music mag Discorder - pretty awesome.

Also, here's a quick question about live music from MagMe.

MUSIC.

re: Regina Spektor or "being fantastic"

Regina Spektor goes "Far"

re: Lady Gaga is the worst

Update to my opinion on how useless Lady Gaga is (except at making people talk about Lady Gaga):"

Lady Gaga speaks like an "intelligent" "person" - which makes everything she says more terrible. She is going to take opera mainstream! The Monster's Ball! Wow! NO. It will be terrible.

Let's just say that in the world of making esoteric or overshadowed arts popular, she is not So You Think You Can Dance, she is Dancing with the Stars.

re: where the wild things are (i.e. in my heart).

Dear Spike Jonze,

Thank you.

Sincerely, Maegan

Oh, you wanted more? You wanted me to go on about the CG (it was mostly puppetry!), the soundtrack (it was subtle! Karen O!), poignant (tears welled!) and totally appropriate for kids but made for adults (!)? Well I won't!

What I will do is repeat is my response to the criticism my fave blogger Molls (pre-having seen the movie) which is stated around 2:50 in her Olde Thyme Radio Hour.

"Love everything that is molls but your opinion on WTWTA...and I even get your apprehensions...

but the whole time I had a smile on my face, and at the end of a few tears, and it was just...lovely. Lovely is the word. It had the childlike logic and aesthetic the book has with a lot of depth added (it WAS only 10 sentences or some bitch.) Kids are really observant, irreverent, odd, and dark - and they see even if they don't understand. This is for the kid in all of us because it isn't for kids, but it is as seen by a child."

I saw this movie at a one screen theatre filled (in the aisles! probably a fire hazard!) with fans in costume who cried and howled and laughed together. Even if you are not so lucky, see this movie. No matter how much you think it is going to be too precious or that there isn't enough in the book to make a movie, I think you'll really enjoy yourself. I was in no way disappointed.

I felt like this:


PS. Along with the book and my King Max t-shirt (bought WAY pre-movie), I will soon own this soundtrack. Very on point.

PPS. A succinct sum up of what could have gone wrong...and didn't!

re: What a fine Shindig!

Here's my review of Night Five of SHiNDiG, CiTR's battle of the bands.

There are some typos I have to fix, but there it is.

Also, I'll be doing another review for Discorder next week, and will be running their Twitter as of soon! YEAH!

re: Dragonette, Matt Good, Cyborgs and Robots who...love?

Hey HEY hey....

Here are some new posts on MagMe:

Cyborgs are the future...and the future is now.

Matt Good's Vancouver - a review.

Do not listen to Lady Gaga. Do listen to Dragonette.

re: "web logging" for magme

hey MILLIONS OF INTERNET USERS and TENS OF INTERNET USERS WHO ARE MY READERS...

I will now be blogging for MagMe. Basically, it's a blog to support their upcoming venture that will let people read magazines online fo' freesies.

I'll be linking from here and from twitter, but it will probably take over whatever time I put into posting here. That being said, it's similar subject matter so my opinions will live on.

I'll be looking at music and technology but lots of people blog for them on all sorts of topics.

UPDATE: POSTS ARE UP!!

Robots that...love?

An introduction to technology...through comics.

re: correct.

NERDY and correct.

re: cat power

"You Are Free" remains the best one. Maybe because it sounds different and honest?
Also, it's just objectively better. I am the arbiter of objective btw.

re: Michael Jackson

I am not sad (nor happy) that Michael Jackson is dead.
And while he was quite the character and deserved respect, not really taking a moment for Mr. McMahon.
OK, I took (a little) pause at the news of David Carradine, but let's be honest, that's because of my personal interest in him making more movies for me to watch.

It's not that it's not sad at all...it's just that I am not feeling any actual sadness.

I DON'T KNOW ANY OF THESE PEOPLE.

Okay, so anyone dying is sad and blah blah but we don't care about people dying anywhere else in the world (not enough here even) so why do people care about these guys enough to statweet about them?

Also, I am fully aware of my hypocrisy - I am commenting on it right now and I don't sponsor any African children and I don't give out soup so yes, I'm a jerk.

But can we just get a handle on ourselves please?

I don't call myself a blogger so I don't have to comment to keep up with my peers, but the Internet, man - gotta keep up with the webJoneses.

re: new ipod=old music rediscovered

If something is real, it lasts - if not in body, then in relevance and mark.
Good lyrics are personal, political, singular and universal.
So these are good.

Here please forgive me
Could we escape all the bitterness piled upon bitterness
Held in the face of the things that I don't understand
Intellectualize over and over
This helplessness suits us
Funny how quiet has slipped to our corners
Worn all our edges away
You are watching breathing and baiting
Wanting and warming and cautiously waiting
For some simple signal to creep cross your conscience....
- St. Lawrence River, Little Songs David Usher

re: white whale records or a "trifecta of 'eh, it's okay'"

I was just reading in the Georgia Straight that White Whale Records is officially out of here and off to Ontario (but we already knew that: "The Lodge" packs up house") - well the Octoberman frontman and Havdale are going so, defacto, the label is going.

Man, locals love these guys...am I crazy? Well, yeah, but about this? They are talented musicians but they just don't have that oomph that brings them from just nice. No "wow factor" as my hero Tim Gunn would say.

I'm not going to let popular opinion sway me, but I'm getting the impression that it might just be me (or bribes are involved).

Havdale's Kids These Days is awesome though - I have a soft spot for pop rock - and their last show - in Vancouver or ever - is this week at the Railway on Club.

Maybe in the piece below I should have added that I loved KTD, it might have softened the bitchiness of me. But what fun would that be?

Local label makes good (but not great)

Here are some musings on three releases from local label White Whale Records, both run by and representing Ryder Havdale. He’s so going to delete me from facebook.

Octoberman Run from Safety

What hits you first when Run from Safety starts spinning is the Bob Dylan-esque vocals on the track “By the Wayside”. This initial promise remains unfulfilled though – except for a bit of nice bit of brass, the album is uninspiring. It’s like blogger poetry, or worse, poetry about blogger poetry. I’m assuming they were purposefully mixing their (clichéd) metaphors, but nothing is pushed far enough to be witty or satirical.

Octoberman’s music and lyrics constantly miss opportunities to be more than coffee house open mic rock (some tracks like “No Qualms” are pure coffee house) and it’s disappointing because the potential is there. I’m usually pretty harsh when it comes to lyric writing. But in the folk genre (maybe we’re at neo-folk?), lyrics are paramount. Lines like “love is top drawer, like an old pair of socks…now I’m feeling so bad, because my socks are torn” could be campy fun if it wasn’t so earnest. “Once in a Blue” has some interesting phrasing, but its plea to “think for yourself” is not only clichéd but tedious.

In short: not terrible, but I’m glad it was free.

Culture Reject Culture Reject

Culture Reject is an odd dish. It smells delicious, but doesn’t taste as good. Or maybe it doesn’t appear appetizing but tastes better…Whatever the food based analogy, this disc is a real stew. A little folk, a Rasta and a little Jack Johnson rip-off over a coffee shop in Havana/piano jazz background. Plus, a lot of handclaps - maybe too many. I know, I didn’t think it was possible either.

It's not all bad. The first track, intro “Ain’t It on the Floor,” has you grooving summer drive style (though maybe in an early 2000s Vibe commercial style), and “Blueprint” has intriguing vocals.

“Inside the Cinema” represents both my ambivalence about this album. While I’m always a sucker for the xylophone, brass and handclaps and sarcastic (I hope) lines like “Who fucking loves New York, who is the greatest fan?", these tidbits are undermined by lines like “gunna get home, gunna get stoned, make myself food, make myself good” and an almost schizophrenic orchestration.

So, I would suggest you at least check this out. It may be addicting or just annoying. Unfortunately for me, I think it may be both. It’s not really enough substance for me but hey, sometimes you just wanna make yourself food, make yourself good.

The Mohawk Lodge Wildfires

The Mohawk Lodge is led and for the most part constituted by White Whale Records head Ryder Havdale. I’ve written on them before for a piece on Music Waste so I won’t speak at length about them. But, I thought I’d give them another shot now that I’ve taken a swipe at the full version of Wildfire. Besides, good things come in threes. Or things do anyway.

“The Lodge” has been compared to many bands and artists I like, like Bruce Springsteen (whatever guys, he’s The Boss) or The Handsome Furs, but it completes this trifecta of “eh, it’s okay” by not really blowing me away. Again, it’s something to check out but do it on the internet box. You will also find many reviews that love all these artists, so maybe I’m just crazy (hint: I’m not).

Now, I’m going to acknowledge a bias on my part: Ryder Havdale was a disappointing interview – he didn’t leave me overly open to be generous about his efforts. However, the output I’ve heard from other WWR artists is not helping me get over my first impressions. That being said, I’m all about making good in your home town, especially if it’s making something from nothing. You’ll have to decide whether respecting an artist is the same as liking their work. (Hint: it’s not).

published (but not as awesome) version

re: tegan and sara, "the con"

here is a blurb I did on Tegan and Sara's The Con for a larger piece on The Polaris Music Prizes. Here's the published version. the uncut version is below:

I had Tegan and Sara’s The Con spinning for weeks after it was released and I still have bouts where I just repeat all for days. The T&S are an acquired taste for many, and even fans are often pitted against each other in clichéd “old vs. new” battles. I loved the rawness of past efforts, but this offering is their most mature, well crafted and cleverly conceived album. Credit goes mostly to song-writing and composition, though the production is definitely sleeker (old school T&S fans may balk).

Personally though, The Con just hit the spot in that “this echoes my life and things I think about myself” kind of way. The single “Back in Your Head” is addictive, and “Relief Next to Me” and “Call It Off” express a quiet self-reflection that off-sets nicely the pop sensibilities of the album as a whole

re: "i know you're married but i have feelings too" or, an open letter to Martha Wainwright

Dear Martha,

How's it goin? I was thinking we should grab a bottle of Bordeaux and have an honest and off kilter heart to heart about this crazy world and the mad men living in it. Oh, you already had that conversation and set it to music? Nice.

First, you were right – love IS "savage and it's cruel and it shines like destruction, it comes in like a flood and it seems like religion, it's noble and it's brutal and distorts and derranges, it wrenches you up and you laugh like a zombie (zombehhh).” I was totally going to say that!

You know your shit M. You didn’t sound contrived or overwrought, but awkward and odd and brutal. Personally, I’ve always loved your lyrics but then you knew that.

The vocals were fab, btw. You rocked the 1930’s jazz, with sparks of my fave Sarahs (Harmer and Slean), Bernadette Peters flirtatiousness and Rufus’ operatic lilts. But still singularly you, all husky and decadent and uniquely layered. Hon, you pulled those phrases like salt water taffy. Love. It.

The music? Hells yes! Plain guitar or piano up front, but all wrapped and layered with haunting backgrounds and full bodied crescendos. Then you get all dramatic, but next track you pull out hillbilly guitar mixed with the blues sax and the well placed handclap? Damn. And did I hear some organ and xylophone? You KNOW I love xylophone!

Finally, you toss out those clichés about love – just get all mad and artful with it. Expressing that “my heart was made for bleeding all over you” and then telling him to “run your scared little ass down the block” and just mean everything. You tell it girl.

holla back,

Maegan

published (less awesome) version - scroll to bottom