Summertime and the living is... well the living is easy..

Waa gwannn people? It's a scorcher here in the big smoke today with daily record setting temperatures hitting the mid 30s. It is probably close to the same if you're sitting anywhere in Southern Ontario. Although I don't use Wikipedia as a reference site (that's way too mainstream OBVIOUSLY), I was checking out Neon Indian's (really just songwriter Alan Polomo who is joined live by other members, kind of like an LCD soundsystem type of thing) page that has "chillwave" listed as one of their labeled genres. Sounds like something we need right now. Anyways, here is a song for today by Neon Indian that pretty much explains itself (entitled Deadbeat Summer). Neon Indian has a great sound that merges late 70s/early 80s synthesizers with 80s style production and 21st century songwriting. If you haven't an idea of what I'm speaking of, don't worry just listen. She's a beautyyy with a slightly random video (homemade I presume) that starts with some people landing on a deserted island and ends with a Spanish soccer sportscaster going absolutely nuts because of a Maradona goal. Good stuff.

NXNE

What's up friends? Today was a fantastic day in TO, I hope it was the same wherever you are reading from.

North by Northeast takes place from June 14-20, featuring 650 bands in 50 different venues across the fine city of Toronto. Wristbands are a mere $50, far less then the ticket for an average night featuring a washed out rock band/rapper act at  the gigantic Air Canada Centre. At NXNE, you get to see a ton of great up and comers for 6 days straight all for one price. It's a great investment and I hope you all make the mature decision to check it out because it'll be for your own good, trust me. Some personal favourites already confirmed include Surfer Blood, Wavves, The Soft Pack, Japandroids, A Horse and His Boy (London Ontario's very own) and HEALTH. I'm sure you'll be able to find a number of bands you also love that will be performing. Plus Iggy Pop and the Stooges are headlining the whole thing so you know shit will be going DOWN.

 Check out the NXNE site here..
 










Nathan Williams, Mr. Solo Dolo of Wavves 
Williams has been known to act like a complete asshole is certain cases like as seen here... hopefully with the addition of the Jay Reatard rhythm section he will be able to loosen up a little and play like he is here..? Unlikely, I know..
Check out Surfer Blood here!
And the Soft Pack here (formerly the Muslims of course)...in a show from one of their garage rooftops

IF these videos haven't convinced you, check out the North by Northeast website and look at some for yourself because you can probably find some bands you won't mind paying $50 total for seeing.


OK, enough NXNE promoting for today...I've been hyping up Sleigh Bells pretty hard on my 5 posts on this blog, so it'd be wrong for me not to post a link to their album Treats which was just released electronically this week and is currently being streamed online for free, no illegal stuff which is nice... here it is in it's entirety, or you can choose to listen to individual songs













More to come... 

Up and down from the interpol camp + other cool new songs

Hello friends. When explaining Interpol's style to others, it is hard not to mention the smooth, melodic, almost robotic like bass playing of the man known as Carlos D. Throughout the three past Interpol records he has always found room to add his touch, bringing a layer to the music that makes their sound unique and unmistakable. It is with regret to announce that the latest news out of the Interpol camp says Carlos has left the band to pursue other endeavors. Carlos has brought more to the band then just bass playing, often seen as the leader of the band for his fashion-first style and many times answering interview questions as he's given the tag "frontman."

Carlos will be dearly missed; One of my favourite albums of all time is the NYC crew's first record Turn on the Bright Lights. A large factor in this is his bass lines such as this one from the track Stella was a Diver... that add the element to the music that I have previously spoken about. Hopefully they will be able to replace him with someone who can bring the same cool unique sound to their music.
On the plus side, Interpol has announced they will start releasing dates for their next tour soon to coordinate with the release of their new album. The new single, Lights, has already been released which features Carlos still on bass. I am hoping they can return to their first album form on this record as their last record Our Love to Admire was a disappointment.
Also it was guitarist/singer Paul Bank's 32nd birthday yesterday. Hopefully he gets a new cool bass player as a gift.


In other news Ratatat has a new single Party With Children, with a video that is ummmm... very unexciting to say the least, featuring a bird perched with a green screen background for 3 and a half minutes. If you watch carefully, the bird sometimes does movements that coordinates with the music composition, smart bird! Just kidding...however the track is pretty cool, and a new single means a new album will be out soon (LP4).

Dan Snaith, under the current moniker of "Caribou" released a new album entitled Swim a couple weeks ago. Apparently the name has something to do with the fact that Snaith was learning how to swim while making this album? Whatever it is, it has turned out pretty well for the man. Need a song to workout to? Listen to the track Sun and you'll be hypnotized by it's repetitiveness (one-word lyric the entire song) but it's beauty within that.

Dan Snaith, currently known as "Caribou"
 
Thanks for reading friends...more to come....

Moms rock!

Mother's day has inspired my latest blog post to feature some of my favourite rockin moms, starting with no other then the mother of college rock (and two kids), Kim Deal! Here she is blasting out Hey, beautiful bassline and great backing vocals by an inspirational mother for us all. "I'm chainnnnedddd, chainnnnedddd"

She may not be a mom physically, but I'm sure she will be soon. I also just really like this song... here is Ms. Alexis Krauss of Sleigh Bells tearing up one of their tunes "Ring Ring". This band is gonna be BIG soon ladies and gentlemen watch out.
Ring Ring

From Alison we go to the other 90s bass playing Kim, Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth. The OG bad girl rocker is not only one of the most iconic punk/college players of the past twenty years but also is a thoughtful fashionista who created her own clothing line. Her mission? As she puts it,  
“there’s a need for clothes for cool moms.”
Plus she was on Gossip Girl for like 12 seconds once. WOW. Check her one line! on the show.

And to cap off our Mom's who rock post, we head back to the '60s to one Swedish women (before she was a mother) who defined "cool collaborations". This is Nico with the Velvet Underground on the lovely song Femme Fatale. check it out people, shes a femmme fatale...

"All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother."
-- Abraham Lincoln

till next time...


EDIT: COURTNEY LOVE WAS LEFT OFF THIS LIST PURPOSELY, SHE KILLED KURT (PROBABLY)

Long drives make for radio time

Long drives = music

Lots of music. Every kind of music. The other day, I spent approximately 6 hours in the car listening to satellite radio featuring over - yes count it – 100 channels of every type of music you can possibly imagine, of course commercial free the entire time. Makes sense that the Sirius XM (NASDAQ: SIRI) stock is currently trading for just over a dollar, the same price as experimental high-risk pharmaceutical companies in China; not the price that should be seen by a monopolized radio provider with over 16 million subscribers.They seem to take a hit for that lack of revenue source that drives almost every private radio broadcaster... which also directly makes for great radio listening for the rest of us. Thanks SIRI! But more importantly the drive brought a few things to my eyes:

1) Ludacris is partly gentlemen. Listen to the track with Chris Brown "what girl's like" here. Maybe he's just trying to balance the track since he's with THE women beater himself CBRIZZLE, but he does mention a few words that actually somehow seem genuine coming from the 33 year old Atlanta native who has seen his fair share of ups and downs (and women I’m sure) through his career. Maybe it’s the fact that Luda has a knack of sticking around the scene through it all, but he can still spit a little game.

EDIT: I revise my statement. Luda is not a gentleman, he just knows what girls want. At least that’s what he claims.

2) Backstreet Boys have made some of the worst music of the past twenty years. See any song they have made, ever.

3) The Black Keys are now a popular mainstream band. WOW. I mean they do have that song (Your Touch) in that beer commercial but who even knows it’s them? With the release of their new album entitled Brothers, they have been able to continue their unique alt-blues collaborating style into something that appeals to the masses. This song "Tighten Up" came on THREE times within a drive and it has stuck in my brain like gum on a sidewalk, also this dinosaur is PREEEDDDY SWEEEEET, check out his dance moves in the chorus.

4) Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zero’s “Home” is one of the

best summer road trip songs of your life. Click the pic to hear it live at the KRCW morning show. I want to be in a band with 10+ members. How much fun does this look like? Who is joining me? Also check out that whistling/trumpet

player dude’s hair at the 0:28 mark.

5) The Strokes never get old. These NYC

boys will forever have a place in my heart. Click on their picture to see Last Nite and be brought back to a time almost ten years ago when the "rock-revival" push was in full swing.

also, SHOUT OUT t

o my baby girl J. Suths for being a champ and putting up with my complaining all

day about unimportant topics and everything I could think of..

“As a nation of free men we will live forever or die by suicide"

– Abraham Lincoln

More to come…

peaaaaCEEEEEEEEeee

There's a first time for everything...

Hey everyone!! If you're reading this consider yourself lucky, because you're probably one cool muthafucker..

Welcome welcome welcome to my new music blog, Richmond Records, bringing you the latest from EVERYTHING AND EVERYWHERE IN THE WORLD so you can be ahead of the music curve.. I hope to update this blog with music that I have an affiliation for, or anything that catches my ear. Hopefully your neutral souls will be influenced by melodies the same way mine is..

This is of course my VERY FIRST blog post evaaaa so bear with me, in the meantime check out this tune by sleigh bells, crown on the ground - this band will be releasing their first record in late May I believe, produced by no other then the controversy-creator herself MIA. Can you hear the influence?? just a tad?...just a tad..stay tuned for more to come...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViBt55HRkXw&playnext_from=TL&videos=dcfYbZqGfhA&feature=grec// ENJOIIII
peaceEEEEee