Final Fantasy covered Céline Dion's "Power of Love" at Gladstone Hotel in Toronto, Ontario last night. Owen’s performance was part of a celebration for Carl Wilson’s latest in the 33 1/3 Series entitled Let's Talk About Love: A Journey To The End of Taste, a book about "Wilson’s brave and unprecedented year-long quest to find his inner Céline Dion fan, and explores how we define ourselves in the light of what we call good and bad, what we love and what we hate."
The first 2008 release I can’t stop listening to is the self-title debut full-length by Vampire Weekend. I knew virtually nothing about this band aside from the fact that I am currently in love with their upcoming record. So, I decided to do a little research about them, and the majority of articles I read described Vampire Weekend as Afro-pop or they are influenced by Afrobeat. To be honest, I have absolutely NO idea what they meant, but I do hear a heavy dose of ska elements on Vampire Weekend. Their combination of ska and indie pop (think The Shins + ska) makes the band’s debut an utterly catchy and amusing record! A few highlights include "Oxford Comma", which sort of reminds me of something from Z by My Morning Jacket while "Bryn" sounds wonderfully like of something by Zombies; "M79" and "Walcott" both feature some fantastic violin sections; and finally, the honest and very witty lyrics of "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" brilliantly describe a seemingly awkward relationship between the singer and a materialist girl. Vampire Weekend is a marvelous debut and 2008 should be a huge year for this very talented band!
Oxford Comma[wicked-cool song] M79[wicked-cool song] Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa[wicked-cool song] Walcott[wicked-cool song] ***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit
Vampire Weekend comes out on January 28th, you can pre-order it here
Radiohead released a film entitled Scotch Mist on New Year’s Eve. It features performance on every track from In Rainbows. You can download the songs individually below and make sure to watch Scotch Mist at YouTube.
April 10, 08 Philadelphia Starlight Ballroom April 11, 08 Washington 9:30 Club April 12, 08 New York Terminal 5 April 14, 08 Boston Paradise April 15, 08 Montreal Metropolis April 16, 08 Toronto Phoenix Apr 17, 08 Chicago, IL Vic Theatre Apr 18, 08 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue April 21, 08 Vancouver Commodore Ballroom Apr 22, 08 Seattle Showbox Apr 23, 08 Portland Crystal Ballroom Apr 24, 08 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
If you live in/near the Toronto area, Nada Surf will be doing a free in-store at Sonic Boom this Wednesday (January 9) at 7:15 p.m.
Personally, I believe that Nada Surf is one of the most underrated bands in music today. “Blonde On Blonde” from Let Go is one of the best songs ever and The Weight Is A Gift is an indie pop masterpiece! Their fifth full-length, Lucky, is another fantastic pop record. Like all of the band’s previous releases, Matthew Caws once again delivers sweet and comforting vocals on this new record. I would normally pop in a Nada Surf record whenever I am in distress because Caws’ voice provides such a peaceful and relaxing sensation. Although not quite up to par with The Weight Is A Gift, Lucky is still a very enjoyable record and undoubtedly, it should satisfy most long-time Nada Surf fans.
Last weekend, 14 very lucky cities got a taste of P.T. Anderson’s critically acclaimed and highly anticipated film, There Will Be Blood. In case you have not heard of or seen the trailer for it, here’s the IMDB description of the film: There Will Be Blood is “A story about family, greed, religion, and oil, centered around a turn-of-the-century Texas prospector (Daniel Day-Lewis) in the early days of the business.”
It was clear that everyone in the theatre was beyond ecstatic to watch Anderson’s first feature film in five years as it played in front of a very enthusiastic jam packed Toronto audience on Saturday night. So, was it worth all the hype and excitement? Yes, absolutely! There Will Be Blood became my favourite film of 2007 that evening and Daniel Day-Lewis gave one of the most exceptional acting performances that I have seen in recent years. The style of Anderson’s latest is very different from his pervious films such as Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Punch-Drunk Love; (as the people whom I viewed the film with suggested) it felt somewhat like a Kubrick film, especially the opening and closing scenes.
Along with the flawless plot, direction, and acting, the original score by Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead’s guitarist) significantly enhanced the overall quality of There Will Be Blood. The suspenseful and haunting string sections fit perfectly with the tone and atmosphere of the film. I thought the score felt a bit Hitchcock-ish. Nonetheless, Jonny Greenwood’s original score works magnificently with the film and as an album separate from the film as well. The bottom line is, I highly recommend seeing Anderson’s masterpiece, and the accompanying soundtrack by Jonny Greenwood is outstanding as well!
No Age posted a non Weirdo Rippers track up on their MySpace page. "You Is My Hot Rabbit" originally appeared on the now out-of-print Dead Plane 12" EP, enjoy.
thankyou for an amazing year to the friends of the roads i have travellled with and the people ive met and parts of the world I long to see again. I have seen so much and sung my heart out to more people than I could have dreamt of. It makes me so happy to know and rememeber moments from tokyo to san francisco to toronto to london to los angeles and seattle brisbane melbourne sydney detroit philadelphia boston washington exeter middlesboruough glasgow brighton bristol cardiff northampton cambridge colchester portsmouth birmingham nottingham manchester liverpool leeds newcastle sheffield stoke southend dublin brixton New York rotterdam Malaga lisbon Braga Berlin Cologne Hamburg Munich Chicago Philadalphia Vancouver california shepherds bush shit... isle of white glastonbury readng leeds arvika benicassim.. everywhere, i just start remembering.. dont want to miss any of you out but the champagne is flowing..... the whole show! everyone thankyou from the bottom of my heart for a great year.
lets make 2008 a better wonderful stronger magik triumphant inspirational year as the great bjork says declare indipedance! dance ! dance DANZing!!!!!!!!! see you all very soon beautiful creatures! ....
Final Fantasy covered Céline Dion's "Power of Love" at Gladstone Hotel in Toronto, Ontario last night. Owen’s performance was part of a celebration for Carl Wilson’s latest in the 33 1/3 Series entitled Let's Talk About Love: A Journey To The End of Taste, a book about "Wilson’s brave and unprecedented year-long quest to find his inner Céline Dion fan, and explores how we define ourselves in the light of what we call good and bad, what we love and what we hate."
Vampire Weekend comes out on January 28th, you can pre-order it 
Lucky comes out on February 5th, pre-order it 
buy There Will Be Blood OST 