I’m not sure how I feel about this,

Vampire Weekend - Ruby Soho (Rancid Cover)

Baltimore’s Beach House have just put out an album that will top many year end lists come December. I’ve been listening to haze-pop masterpiece, Teen Dream, for a few weeks and falling in love with ‘10 Mile Stereo’ more with each play.

A week ago Toronto fuzz punks Little Girls took it upon themselves to record a cover of 10 Mile Stereo. The cover doesn’t lose the beauty, and it doesn’t lose the atmosphere. Beach House is Jack Nicholson and Little Girls is Heath Ledger and ‘10 Mile Stereo’ is The Joker. Both great, both different.

Little Girls - 10 Mile Stereo (Beach House Cover)

Beach House - 10 Mile Stereo

Blue Skies Turn Black are bringing Beach House to Montreal. March 29th at La Sala Rossa, you can get tickets here.

[buy] Beach House
[buy] Little Girls

Hey, long time no see. I’ve been contemplating shutting this site down over the past month. I usually get into that mood over New Year’s and by the time February rolls around I finally get the need to bellow my musical opinions to the world. This year was no different. There will be some “changes” around here, that I will outline in a following post but for now, let me get some awesome news off my chest.

Greenland just announced a Bronx/Japanther show for March 30th at Petit Campus which has all the potential to be outstanding. Though I’m not much of a fan of the Bronx’ alter ego and opener Mariachi El Bronx, but I’d suffer though a ‘Celina Dion does all Jane Arden covers for 8-hours’ to get a chance to see Japanther again.

Speaking of Japanther, they are releasing a new album, “Rock & Roll Ice Cream” March 2nd on Menlo Park Recordings. Here is a taste of what to expect. It’s super poppy (read ‘lovely’) and the girl doo-wop bits grows on you like cute bacteria.

Japanther - Spread So Thin

Everyone has their problems. RIP Jay. [more info]

From Matador:

Quarantine The Past: The Best Of Pavement comes out on March 9, 2010. This fully remastered 23-track compilation will be available on MID-PRICED double LP, CD and digital album formats. The tracks span the entirety of Pavement’s career from 1989 to 1999, from the scratchy and mysterious sounds of their early vinyl-only releases to the rich, multilayered warmth of their final recordings. Although the compilation does not include any unreleased material, it definitely digs deeper than the hits.

From Matador:

If all goes well, on iTunes tomorrow you’ll be able to purchase Fucked Up’s star-studded cover of Band Aid’s  Do They Know It’s Christmas? All proceeds will go to benefit three organizations in Canada working to bring to end to the epidemic of missing and murdered native women.

It’s been a bad week for cafes in this town. Police think all these firebombings are linked, I don’t know what I’d do without those boys in blue. Show breakdown:

Friday the 27th

Marie-Pierre Arthur + Amylie + Brian Borcherdt @ Maison des Arts de Laval [info]

Imogen Heap + Tim Exile + Back Ted N-Ted @ Le National [info]

Apostle Of Hustle + Silver Starling @ Il Motore [info]

Saturday the 28th

The Wooden Sky + Jenn Grant @ Il Motore [info]

Lights + Jets Ooverheard @ Studio Juste Pour Rire [info]

Sunday the 29th

Rob Zombie + Nekromantix + Captain Clegg @ Meteropolis [info]

MP3 of the Week

A new unreleased track from currently one of the best bands in Ottawa, The White Wires off the new Dirtnap Records sampler. Get some White Wires live treatment on Saturday if you are in our nations capital, they are opening for The Action at The DOM.

The White Wires - Did You Forget My Name

I like free things, do you?

Dirtnap Records released a free sampler of its current roster, which just happens to include a NEW UNRELEASED WHITE WIRES SONG.

From Dirtnap:

Hey chump – download our 2009 Digital Sampler for free here:
http://www.dirtnaprecs.com/Dirtnap_Records_2009_Sampler.zip

Spotlights our current roster with a few select dips into our extensive back-catalog.

Features an unreleased track from The White Wires, as well as Mark Ryan’s (Marked Men) new project, Mind Spiders.

This is very much a work in progress. Expect frequent, relentless updates to the content as new stuff comes in.

Here is the intitial track list.

Mean Jeans – Born On A Saturday Night
Marked Men – Fix My Brain
Impulse International – Hey Girl
Something Fierce – On Your Own
Goodnight Loving – Nothing Conquers Us
The Returnables – What Would Mother Say?
The Raydios – Are You Ready?
The Estranged – Middle Of The Night
Psyched To Die – Conditioned To Fail
Beat Beat Beat – Psycho
The Girls – Transfer Station
High Tension Wires – Tokyo Is Burning Down
River City Tanlines – Black Knight
The White Wires – Did You Forget My Name?
Mind Spiders – Worlds Destroyed (unreleased!)

Do It.

Male Nurse (aka. Davey Q, aka. Davey Bobabie, aka Davey Gravey) may be the busiest guy in Ottawa. He has his fingers in pretty much everything going on nowadays - he plays with locals Mothers Children, Cloven Hoofs, Chandeliers, Million Dollar Marxists, sang backups on the incredible Year Zero release, and has filled in for just about every other cool band in the city. Male Nurse is Davey’s singer/songwriter/folk project and after seeing him live again this past weekend he has cemented himself as one of the premier songwriters in Ottawa.

While I’m no expert in the area, I do know that Davey has successfully picked up where (other Ottawa native) Andrew Vincent left off with “To Thine“. Stripped down, beautifully crafted songs with heartfelt (and often ridiculous) lyrics. Live, Davey is sincere enough to make you believe everything he is singing and charismatic enough to hold your attention to his every move.

Luckily for us, he has been nice enough to post his new EP “Everything’s Amazing” (and old EP “All My Friends Are Assholes”) on his myspace (check the blog section). Go listen to them, then go see him live and buy him a beer to thank him for some of the best songs of the year.

Male Nurse: My Friends Are All Assholes

Male Nurse: Across

The plane represents shows in Montreal this weekend, Cusak represents you, this page is the helping hand.

Friday the 20th

SMUT ON THE DANCE FLOOR @ WOOF BAR [info]

BRAND NEW + GLASSJAW + CRIME IN STEREO @ L’OLYMPIA [info]

DROPKICK MURPHYS + THE FLATLINERS + THE MAHONES @METROPOLIS [info]

M POUR MONTREAL @ ??? [info]

Saturday the 21st

LESS THAN JAKE + THE CASUALTIES + THE SWELLERS @ LE MEDLEY [info]

KARL WOLF + EMPIRE ISIS @ LE STUDIO JUSTE POUR RIRE [info]

M POUR MONTREAL @ ??? [info]

Sunday the 22nd

THE CRANBERRIES + GRIFFIN HOUSE @ L’OLYMPIA

MP3 of the Week

ahhhhhh yeah….. goes down smoooth doesn’t it?

Think About Life - Havin’ My Baby