CMW... Day No. 4

Last Gang orgy fest tonight!
This is THE show of CMW. I am dying to go to this show tonight! Unfortunately, all of the advanced tickets are sold out, so I will have to see if I can get any tickets at the door. The lineup is going to be a bitch… but it’s worth it, I think. This show features all the “buzzed bands” from Last Gang Records, home to Metric and Death From Above 1979. The Last Gang festivity starts with a band call From Fiction, then from Montreal’s Tricky Woo, and finally, the ultimate MSTRKRFT. MSTRKRFT is a remixing team of Jesse F. Keeler from DFA1969 and AI-P. They bring extra rock and dance elements to songs by artists like Metric, Bloc Party, Buck 65, The Kills, Annie and more. In addition, they have created in my opinion, THE WEIRDEST music video in the history of music video. See post below.

Sounds like: The Faint, !!!, The Rapture

Metric - Monster Hospital (MSTRKRFT Mix)
buy the new MSTRKRFT 12" here


Gentleman Reg
I guess I should have posted this on day one since Gentleman Reg played a show on Thursday at the Reverb as part of the opening day for CMW. I heard about Gentleman Reg for quite a long time now, but have not actually heard their music until a few weeks ago at the Final Fantasy concert. I was mesmerized by the singer/song-writer: Reg Vermue’s stage presence and his unique voice. In addition, I immediately fell in love with a song call ‘The Boyfriend Song’. Really, how can you go wrong with the chorus “boyfriend, boyfriend, I ain't got no money, and I ain't got no boyfriend…” From what I have gathered from the concert as well as the handful of mp3s I downloaded, the musical style of Gentleman Reg is a combination of pop, country, and folk.
On a side note, Reg Vermue sat next to me at the Emily Haines solo concert back in December of 2004 at the Church of the Redeemer on Avenue and Bloor.

It's Not Safe
Give Me A Chance To Fall
buy Darby & Joan (which features 'The Boyfriend Song') here


other notable/up-&-coming Canadian artists that you should check out:
The Most Serene Republic, Propagandhi, Alexisonfire, P:ano, Elliott Brood, A.C. Newman, S.S. Cardiacs, and The Winks


I must now close the celebration of Canadian Music Week with two of the greatest Canadian records ever made:

The Weakerthans
The Weskerthans’ Reconstruction Site is probably my favorite Canadian records ever! This 2003 release is on my stereo regularly. The album features some great and complicated metaphors, as well as references to literature and politics. As a result, certain songs really make you think on top of making you feel stupid. For instance, (and I did not know this until I read it somewhere on the internet), the songs ‘(Manifest)’, ‘(Hospital Vespers)’, and ‘(Past Due)’, which were strategically placed in the start, middle, and end of the album, all followed the sonnet form of Shakespeare. By the way, (Manifest), one of the best songs on the album, is a very strange, yet beautiful song. The other standout song on Reconstruction Site has to be ‘One Great Town!’. The song is clearly about John K. Samson’s (the singer/sing writer) hatred for suburban lifestyle. He talks about meaningless jobs: “…in the dollar store the clerk is closing up, and counting loonies trying not to say, I hate Winnipeg!”; doing the same routines countlessly: “…in the turning lane, someone stalled again, he's talking to himself, and hears the price of gas repeat his phrase, I hate Winnipeg!”; and my favorite line in the song: “the Guess Who suck, the Jets were lousy anyway.” This line always puts a smile on my face.

Sounds like: The Decemberists

Plea From a Cat Named Virtute
buy Reconstruction Site here


Leonard Cohen
Ok, so I don’t know what it is, but Songs of Love and Hate is one of my favorite Canadian albums of all time!!! I know the album is more than 30 years old, but it is a timeless classic. I urge you to give it a try… there are some extremely heartfelt songs on it.

buy and listen to clips from Songs of Love and Hate here