2011: Year in Review

It's that time of the year once more, and this will be the only other blog post I've made during the entire year! Apparently, the year of the rabbit was supposed to be a good one for us oxen: 

"The Chinese Year of the Rabbit will be encouraging for the Ox. For those who wish to change their career or at least change the direction of it, February, March and September will bring exciting offers and progress."

The year feels like it has passed by quickly, but also has been extra long. The beginning of 2011 seems like it was 2 years ago and I could probably say that for me January-June felt like one year, and June-December, another year. The first half was slow and rather glum-it was slow, I was bored and discouraged looking for a job. In June, I got a job and everything moved quickly from then on with lots of subtle changes and some new experiences. So, while 2010 was a year of accepting changes and going with the flow, I guess I'd say 2011 was first, a year of evaluating these changes, determining what the next step is, what to let go of; and second, a year of adjusting to a new way of life. It was a transition between the student and the worker. Though, at work a bunch of us are graduate student refugees, it's still a different pace from student life.

The things I like most about work are:

1. Once you're done, that's it. You forget about work and you move onto other activities (unless there's overtime)
2. You make money that is more proportional to the amount of work you put in 
3. It's close to everything (well the place where I work now). 

Anyhow, that's my summary of the year and its general feel. Now, I'm going proceed with the usual categorization of the year. 

3 activities/events

I got a job

It is a job that is not entirely related to what I studied, but that's ok. Whatever skills I acquire there are certainly transferable to the next job I will have (whenever that will be). But, the place is centrally located, the people are great, and while there are certainly highs and lows with the job, I'd say on average it has kept my interest. 

Dance, Dance, Dance

So, in 2009-10 I was a massive percussionist. This year was the year of dance. Around mid-April I started doing coupé-décalé and dancehall at a studio that offers over 20 styles of dance. I found it to be really fun. On top of that, I guess because I memorize movements rather quickly (thank you, karate), they would ask me to help out with little performances now and then if they were lacking personnel. In the summer session, they had a full pass - so I could take as many classes as I wanted for the 5 week period. So, I continued with my 2 and did 2 more (samba and fitness/dance mishmash). Then, in the Fall session, I went absolutely bonkers and did 6 classes. The teacher told me I was crazy, and so did my friends. I managed to do all 6 for the end of session show! So, I learned a lot this year about body movement and it somewhat satisfied the performing urge. I still have a lot to learn and to perfect as I have not been dancing long. I will, however, reduce to 4 next session because 6 demanded a lot of time and energy and produced a lack of chillage with friends. 

Everyone's leaving

This is kind of a general trend this year that everyone is moving away/moving on. I've had at least 3-4 friends leave the city for work or to pursue another degree. Naturally, tis a part of life and I am happy for them. 

3 food discoveries/chill places


Sabor Latino
Sabor Latino is both a grocery store and restaurant. I have been going there for a while for Latin American food supplies, but never really went to eat there until recently. In October/November, a friend from work and I would go there every Saturday for breakfast (read 1:30 pm...slept in late). It's really comforting and tasty food...*yum* Soup and tamales...

Arepera
This is a Venezuelan arepa place on Duluth just off of St-Laurent. They have so many choices of arepa fillings and they are grilled. Tasty business!

Thé Kiosque 
This tea place just opened up this year and is contained in Concordia`s EV building on Mackay. It's small and cute and has quite a nice selection of teas. When they first opened, I was there 3 times in the span of 2 weeks just because I'd always bring a new friend. The staff is also really friendly.

General entertainment - books and TV

A Little Book of Language
This cute book is a really nice introduction to language and the study of linguistics. The author has humor and sarcasm and makes things easy to understand. Basically, it's the linguistics book I've always been looking for. A good introduction/overview, without getting bogged down in the gritty details.

Secret Diary of a Call Girl
This is a UK series that started 4 years ago I think. Anyhow, based on the blog of an actual London call girl, the show explores her life in an amusing way. I've only gotten to season 2 so far, but it's fun and only 22 minutes per episode.

Being Human US and UK
The US series of Being Human just started this year and airs on Showcase. Premise: a ghost, werewolf, and vampire living in a house. Apart from True Blood (which I cannot stand anymore), I don't usually watch vampirey shows. Anyhow, I looked it up online and found out that there was a UK version that started I think 3 years before. So, I watched all of the episodes of that one, too. I like both series for different reasons...though, I like the UK Vampire a lot more :)

Music


3 albums

Zola Jesus - Conatus
I found out about Zola Jesus this year after hearing the M83 track - Intro (feat. Zola Jesus). Apparently, she falls into the category of music called Witchhouse...haunting vocals, creepy/depressing/spaced out music. I really like. Fave song: Collapse

Phantogram - Nightlife EP
I just found out about these peeps on boxing day when I was at Le Chateau. They are kinda new wavey/electro and the lady's vocals sometimes remind me of Bat For Lashes. Fave song: Don't Move

Bon Iver - Bon Iver
It's a really chill/sad sounding album. I supposed Bon Iver is a little folky at times, but it's great for those rainy and grey days. Fave song: Holocene

3 songs

Men At Work - Land down under
This is an old song, but it's damn catchy. I blame the girl at work who made music trivia. So very happy...I imagine little gnomes dancing.

Brick and Lace - Love is Wicked
The year of dancehall? I guess partially so :) I listened to this song a lot - heard it in dance class. However, it appears to be the only song of theirs that I like.

Calle 13 - La Jirafa/Atreve-te-te
So, Atreve-te-te played a bunch in my friends car on the way to a wedding. Could not get it out of my head...! Then I heard la jirafa, which also has an amusing video. Actually, all of Calle13's videos are funny/silly :)

Notable mentions:
Novalima - I saw them at the Jazz Festival this year. They were so amazing! I really enjoy it...Peruvian fusion music. Songs I like: Kuman, Tumbala, Camote, Machete
Lana del Rey - Video Games: really chill and somewhat glum song :) Heard it in September :D

Music on the grooveshark widget!

hello March, I've had enough of this sheetzy weather :D

In the words of the great Brian Molko, we are indeed having sheetzy weather. I realize as a Montrealer, this is a normal part of the year. But really...please go away snow. I've had enough. Let's get some spring time awesomeness early (ain't gonna happy, unfortunately :( ).

Apart from that, I guess I don't have much to report. Since the last post, I've essentially been tying up loose ends, trying new things and looking for employment, woohoo!

Devotchka and Godspeed are coming to town. A bunch of other concerts have passed and others are coming, but I think these are the only two I'm going to go to.

So, without further ado - the general music front - what have I been listening to?

In the words of Gina Yashere, haha " I wanted to get in touch with my roots!" (well that wasn't exactly the rationale, but close enough). In passing, Gina Yashere is a Nigerian comedian from London (learned about her from my cousin). I've put a sketch below:

So, back to music, I've been listening to some Congolese, Ivorian and Angolan music i.e. Soukous, Coupé décalé and Kuduro. Soukous has been around a lot longer and as mentioned before originates from Congo (from 30s, 40s and originates from the French word for shaking - secouer). Since then, the style has evolved and faster version of it is really popular now called Soukous Ndombolo. There are plenty of artists like Wenge Music, Werrason, Awilo Longomba, Koffi Olomide... Ndombolo is lots of booty shaking :) These songs are also almost aaaalways looooong (like 10 minutes).

Coupé décalé is more recent (2002) and originates from the Ivorian diaspora in France and then the genre spread to the Ivory Coast itself. The late Douk Saga, who was part of the group "Jet set" (in Paris) is often claimed to be the creator of this type of music. What's pretty interesting about this genre of music is that there are many dance steps, called "concepts" that go with it. So with new songs, you get new concepts and they'll usually call them out in songs or the song is named after it. For example there's there original coupé décale, but also décalé chinois, décalé python, fatigué fatigué, fouka fouka, Faro and even the Obama. The French wiki article has the whole list. 

As an example, I've heard "Fouka Fouka" being called out in a song by DJ Arsenal - Sheloubouka. This song was actually used for a choreography at my cousins engagement party by the Obaa Sima dance troupe and now, in hindsight realized that they were doing the fouka fouka when it was called out in the song (kinda like a double fist pump). Some popular artists, apart from Douk Saga are Jessy Matador (especially the song Decale Gwada), DJ Arsenal, Meiway, Magic System, etc. I guess you'd have to be really up to date with all the new music to learn all the dance moves :o
I'm currently doing an afropop dance class, which is mostly this dance style (esp since the teacher is from Cote d'Ivoire himself :P).

Kuduro dates from the 1980s in Luanda, Angola from mixing African drum samples with calypso and soca, as well as some electronic stuff. I haven't heard a lot of it yet, but so far I can say it's a lot more electronic then the two previous styles. The dance style is also more like break dancing, I'd say, with very abrupt movements.

Below are some samples of the above mentioned music styles.
Soukous:

Some older Soukous, but absolute classic. I remember hearing it when I was a kid - Pepe Kalle and Nyboma:

Some Nordic ladies dancing to Werrason - Dance Mania Fever (from Techno Malewa) and later Fally Ipupa's Sexy Dance. I really enjoy both songs :D The dancers do a pretty good job, mostly from 2:55 onward :) they've got the detachable butt thing down pretty well :

Coupé décalé:

I'll be cliché and put Jessy Matador's Décalé Gwada (we keep using this song in my dance class):

and an interesting mix of this music with Rai (northern African type of music) - Magic System + 113 - Un gaou a oran ( I believe a gaou means a fool):

Kuduro:

I'm gonna put two songs I really like by Buraka Som Sistema. They're a group of Angolans based in Portugal. This first song, "Sound of Kuduro" features M.I.A and some wacky dancing (just to illustrate my point above). The second song is "Kalemba (Wegue wegue)":

So, escaping from the "roots", there's a few other things I've been listening to such as Colombiafrica, some new Baile funk, the new Radiohead, some PJ harvey, El Guincho, Calle 13 and Chico Science & Nacao Zumbi.

Colombiafrica is essentially a mix of Colombian and African music like Soukous and also some Nigerian (one track in particular samples an older song I know). My favorite song off of the CD is Mama Africa.

I heard about the Baile Funk "Pyaar Baile" song linked above from the music blog Masalacism. It's a collaboration between Indian DJ Rehka and Brazilian DJ Zuzusa Ponderosa, mixing elements of Bhangra/Bollywood and Funk Carioca (which itself is derived from Miami bass/electro funk). I really like it, but then again, I love all the genres it's composed of, so what's not to like? :P

Radiohead came out with their new album "King of the Limbs" a couple weeks ago - the first single being "Lotus Flower" where Thom Yorke sings and dances around by himself in a black and white video. 
If you don't like Radiohead post-OK Computer, I doubt you will like King of the Limbs. So far I like the album, though I haven't listened to it super in-depth. It's pleasant to listen to. So far I really like the single and "Little by little".

PJ harvey released "Let England Shake" recently. So far it's nice. I'm not too familiar with her previous work, but I've heard great things, so I figured I'd start investigating her stuff. From this album, I like "The last living Rose".

El Guincho is a Spanish kind of electronic-experimental artist who describes his music as "space-age-exotica". The first track I heard by him was the very catchy song "Bombay" which is off the most recent album "Pop Negro". The video is random and kinda NSFW. It starts off funny in an educational space show kind of way. Another song I like "Polca Mazurca" which is off the album "Alegranza".

Calle13 is a reggaetonish band from Puerto Rico. It's the fault of one of my friend's for infecting me with their music, particularly the song "Atrevete-te", which is super popular. A new single was released recently "Baile de los Pobre", which mixes latin with some middle eastern/indian music and has this amusing video.

Chico Science was (died in a car accident) a Brazilian artist and one of the founders of the style Maingue beat. It's a style which originated in Recife and is kinda like funk rock/punk mixed with Maracatu, Frevo and Coco. I learned about them recently and sooo have been listening to some things here and there. My fave songs so far are A cidade and A praieira.

In passing, Masalacism records released an album "MaSuper Star - Airtime", which is pretty good. It's a band from Botswana and you can sample the music here.

And last but not least, there's always time for some Quantic. I saw him do a DJ set recently at Club Lambi with Andy Williams and it was super super enjoyable. Danced for over 3 hours straight. This dude has a lot of albums and a lot of DJ tracks too which you can peruse on his site. So, I end my mega music post and bid you all farewell with this song:

So, until next time (which may or may not be in less than 3 months, haha). Let's hope the next time it's at least spring and we're all dancing happily under the sun.

2010: Year in Review

It's that time again, to look back and reflect upon all the events of the past year.
According to Chinese astrology, the year of the Tiger is one of rapid and dramatic changes. Think fast! I would say that it's been a pretty accurate description of the past year for me and for quite a bunch of people I know as well. Lots of ups and downs, sometimes at the same time. For the Ox: " 2010's whirlwind moments and sudden challenges meant the Ox had to adjust his thinking and change direction on a dime!".

2008, was a time of recognition for hard work, 2009 was slow and patience testing in all areas and I would say 2010 was a time of accepting all these changes and just going with the flow. I suppose it's the only way to deal with fast change. So let's see what went down this year. I'll follow the same basic template as the last two years touching on the top activities/events, as well as music and general entertainment of 2010.


3 events

Leaving the continent for a month
I made an entire post on this earlier this year. Paw and I went on a month long trip to Spain, France and Italy. It was a much needed trip on my part where I learned a lot about other cultures, but also about myself.

Finishing my Masters degree

I am most proud of the fact that I wrote my thesis and defended it in French. It was a challenge that I had decided to undertake when I started in 2008, just to see if I could do it. Overall, doing my degree in French university was one of the best decisions I've made, ultimately making it possible for me to work in both languages in my field. :)

Performing throughout the year
So, the Brazilian drumming of last year continued for most of this year (up until the end of August). The difference is this year was filled with a lot more performances, the most eventful of which was the Jazz Festivals closing parade with over 100 000 spectators. It was also special because my dad's choir was performing as well. Other performances: yearly Carnival, Les Bobards, end of summer show w/ another drumming group, Just for Laughs, Nuits d'Afrique, Les Weekends du Monde, as well as some other parades. So, I'd definitely say I satisfied my performer urge, at least where drumming is concerned.

3 Food discoveries/chill places

Avesta
Turkish food on Ste Catherine in between Atwater and Guy metro. I've been there 4 times this year. What attracted me to the place was the lady making fresh flat bread in the window. The food is great, but the service is rather slow. I don't have a huge problem with it as I'm usually not in a hurry when I go. I really like their spicy potato gozleme.

Cafe Tinto
A friend of mine introduced me to this place on Amherst/Ste Catherine. It's a small cafe in the gay village that serves Colombian coffee as well as other delicacies like arepas and Pastel Gloria (a personal favorite). I really like their coffee and the place itself is quite cozy, with reddish walls and comfy seats. It's also rather quiet,tucked away in it's little corner.

Kazu
A small and authentic Japanese restaurant that opened not long ago on Ste Catherine, near Guy metro. When I say small, I mean tiny and always packed, especially during lunch time. I've been there once, but intend to go again to try their ramen. So far, I've had their onigiri and okonomiyaki, and sampled from other people's bowls :P

3 movies

Soul Kitchen
I saw this movie early this Spring after seeing it advertised at Cinema du Parc. It's a German movie about a guy who aspires to be a chef and tells about all his hardships along the way. The movie is really funny and I really enjoyed the soundtrack as well.

5 dias sin Nora
Part of the Latin American film festival at Cinema du Parc, this Mexican movies talks about a lady who has committed suicide and left instructions for her ex husband to execute for her funeral. It's quite funny, but one of those heart warming movies. Unfortunately, I haven't found it here yet on DVD :(

Besouro
This movie was part of the Brazilian Film Festival at Cinema du Parc. It makes my list just because it's a martial arts movie that is not Asian, haha. Finally, we get to see a martial movie with Capoeira. Based on a true story, it takes places I think in the 1920s where even though slavery had been abolished, the Portuguese were still treating the Blacks as slaves. Lots of action and the special effects weren't exaggerated. I also thought it was interesting that it integrated elements of Candomble, touching on the different Orixa's and the powers they are associated with. Exu is particularly fearsome in this movie :P It also had its comedic moments, particularly its transition from strange/experimental/mystical music to hard rock every time some one was about to kick some ass.


New general entertainment

Before, I mainly touched on TV/Comedians, but I actually watched no tv/new shows this year. So I will include books and activities.

Balkan Beats
A new group formed this year called Balkan Beats Montreal East, and about every month they host a night at Divan Orange just to party it up Balkan style. I have gone twice - the second time in particular was a lot of fun. Divan is a rather small place, but in a way, that's what makes it even cooler. You're crammed with a bunch of people, jumping and dancing the night away to eastern European music. I will definitely go back, just not sure when :)

The Taqwacores
I'd seen the documentary "Taqwacores: the birth of punk Islam" last year and was curious about the fictional book written by the author, so I decided to buy it. Basically, it's about a bunch of Islamic students who go to university in Buffalo. The main characters live together in a house. It's a bit slow to get into because of the writing style and because the author makes references to things I am not familiar with because I have never practiced Islam or studied it. But once you do get into it, I'm telling ya - you feel totally grungy and punk rock after. I also enjoyed the spectrum of characters in the book, each having their own interpretation of Islam and each raising different issues surrounding it. Coincidentally, a movie based on the book is supposed to be released soon.

The 100 mile diet
As the title of the book suggests, the authors, who live in Vancouver, challenged themselves to eat locally (anything grown/produced within a 100 mile radius) for a year. I had heard of this book because the authors ran a reality show where 6 families did this for I think 4 months. It reminded me a bit of Sleeping Naked is Green, but the style of writing is different, where the authors alternate writing chapters. It also doesn't cover the day-to-day changes - it summarizes each month. The authors talk about their discoveries, their joys, adventures and difficulties with the challenge. I was tempted to live on a farm (for a short while) after this, haha. Or, at the very least, try to reduce the amount of food I eat that is not local. One other thing I enjoyed about the book was that they spoke about the history of their region (varieties of crops available prior to the arrival of settlers, agricultural techniques, fishing, etc).

Music

3 favorite albums

Beach house - Teen Dream  
This album was officially released in Jan. 2010. A slight departure from their previous albums, I find the songs are more polished and slightly less spacey. I think it may be my favorite of the 3 albums, with Silver Soul, Used to be and Take Care being my favorite songs (even though I like all of the songs).

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
This album definitely is one of the best of this year, hands up and down. The variety of artists and beats/rhythms used is impressive and I can say without hesitation I like all of the songs. It is the perfect balance of electro, pop, hip hop and world music, making it so easy to dance to and incredibly catchy as well. Favorite songs are hard to pick, but I'd have to say White Flag, Empire Ants and Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach (I cannot deny Snoop's awesome attitude).


Massive Attack - heligoland
At the end of last year, I was already hooked on Paradise Circus. Then the rest of the album got me. In this album, Massive Attack recaptures the darkness of Mezzanine (which is my favorite album thus far) with a little extra. These dudes know how to do trip hop :) My favorites of this album are Paradise Circus, Atlas Air and Splitting the Atom.

3 songs that stayed in my head (not included in previously mentioned albums or by same artists)


Broken Social Scene - Sweetest Kill
After seeing "This Movie is Broken" with Pamela, I had this song in my head for a good week or two. In general, BSS is an epic band, but the live rendition with all the artists of the supergroup was awesome.

Arcade Fire - Rococo
I was working on my thesis at school and listening to the Arcade Fire on grooveshark. I hadn't listened much to the new album "the suburbs", so actually didn't know any of the songs. But, once I heard this one, I couldn't stop listening to it. It's got the depressing/cheerful combo that the Arcade Fire masters so well.


Yeasayer - Tightrope
I think I was reading about this band on Pitchfork and just decided to check out their myspace. As soon as Tightrope came on, I was hooked. Even more so when I saw their performance of this song on Blogotheque. It's got bells, clapping and guitars and general yay. Extremely catchy.

3 concerts: all in the Fall
Gorillaz
October 3 at the Bell Centre - I was determined to see this band as it was their first time doing a world tour and they started in Montreal (yay!). I think I posted about it, but either way, it was a total blast. I think they played all the songs I wanted, had guest artists, giant screen with the animated cartoon members and music videos. I also became an even bigger Gorillaz fan after (I wasn't super into Demon Days before and now I really love that album as well).

Massive Attack
Trippy times at the Bell Centre. The opener was Thievery Corporation which was surprisingly good as well, but of course I was there for Massive Attack and they did not disappoint (well except for the fact that they did not play Paradise Circus). I imagine these guys would be even better in a club show, but I definitely had fun dancing to the large concentration of Mezzanine and heligoland tracks :) 

Broken Social Scene 
Second time seeing this band and as I said, it may have even beaten the first time. It was a giant party on stage with guest artists, 25 songs, brass section and a happy crowd. Broken Social Scene is just so epic, it's almost impossible to not be caught up in the excitement and enjoy yourself.


Adios 2010. You've been an eventful year to say the least. I look forward to the new adventures of 2011 and will carry the lessons of this one into the next. I wish you all the best of luck and generally an excellent year to come!

Broken Social Scene - Take 2 !

Last night Paw and I went to see Broken Social Scene for the 2nd time @ Metropolis (first time was halloween 2008).
The opening act was "here we go magic" - a band from NY who do kinda indie spacey rock. It was pretty enjoyable.
But, of course, Broken Social Scene was amazing. They played an epic set of 25 songs, over 2.5 hours, with guests like Amy Millan and Andy Kim :D Most of the band was suited up. I particularly liked Kevin Drew's jacket.

Setlist:
1) Pacific Theme
2) KC Accidental
3) Texico bitches
4) 7/4 Shoreline
5) Fire-eyed boy
6) Forced to love
7) All to all
8) Arthouse director (most awesome horns in this part, with a choreography by the brass section!)
9) Sweetest kill (SO happy they played this song)
10) Cause = time
11) hotel
12) Guilty cubicles
13) All the best wooden toys come
14) Superconnected (with some lyrics from Modest mouse's the world at large)
15) World sick
16) Ungrateful little father
17) Lover's spit (new interpretation w/ more instruments, but still quiet)
17) Anthem's for a 17 year old girl
18) Water in hell
19) Almost crimes
20) Meet me in the basement
21) Andy Kim comes on stage and plays how'd we ever get this way with BSS
22) Looks just like the sun
23) Ibi dreams of pavement (instead of the usual scream, it was "Fuck you! I won't do what you tell me to")
24) It's all gonna break
25) Major label debut

They basically played every song I wanted them to play (well except shampoo suicide, but that's fine).
Something about this band is just absolute magic. I guess it's because it's basically a bunch (like over 15) musicians just jamming out on stage and really enjoying making music and sharing it with everyone. I absolutely loved this concert and I think it was the best of the year for me. Even though I have seen them before, the performance was not at all the same. They rearranged songs and breathed new life into songs that were already amazing. It was a great way to end the concert season for 2010 and also to de-stress before my thesis defense! :) I would definitely see them again, without hesitation.

<3 BSS :D

Loose ends

It's been about a month since I posted anything. I had been meaning to post something after the Massive Attack concert @ the Bell Centre October 18, but alas I did not.
Unfortunately, it's a little fuzzy in my brain, but Paw has a pretty good review on her site.
The opening act, or should I say first headliner was Thievery Corporation. They have a really solid fan base which probably made up about half of the crowd. I had no knowledge of their music a priori, but I really enjoyed it. It's kind of in the same spirit of Massive Attack - trip hop, loungey and extremely chill, though they incorporate a lot of middle eastern sounding rhythms in their music as well. In addition, I find Massive Attack to be quite a bit darker (Fil and I were a little glum post concert). Either way, I liked them enough to further explore their music.

Massive Attack did not disappoint. They had a rather bare stage set up with a large screen behind them displaying various things. I love Robert del Naja (3D) and noticed that he tends to either do one of two dances 1) bending one leg and then the other repeatedly 2) dancing a bit like Thom Yorke from Radiohead - a general bouncy and random dance, sometimes with arms flailing. I like. :)

They had guests with them as well, most notably horace andy who does all the reggae sounding vocals :) Deborah Miller did most of the female vocals I think - also wonderful.

Setlist:
1) United Snakes
2) Psyche
3) Risingson
4) Girl I love you (yay for horace andy - this song is incredibly dancy live)
5) Future Proof (awesome long distortion guitar for this song)- Naja also kept walking in circles around one of the stage props. Sometimes clockwise, sometimes counter clockwise.
6) Splitting the atom (I think...not sure)
7) Mezzanine
8) Teardrop - spooky vocals and wacky lights :)
9) Angel
-------------------------- Encore
10) Inertia Creeps
11) Unfinished sympathy
12) Babel
13) Safe from harm
14) Atlas air

As you can see, there was a huge concentration of Mezzanine tracks. Well I'd say it was kind of equally distributed between heligoland and mezzanine. I love Mezzanine, so I was pleasantly surprised. But I was also kind of sad that they didn't play Paradise Circus (one of my favorite songs from the new album) and Karmacoma. Oh well, you can't get it all. Atlas Air was a great way to end. I really enjoyed that song. By the end of the concert we were all beat though and just made our way home. No pumpkin chai latte this time :P
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Next concert is Broken Social Scene! I'm so happy to be seeing them again and it will land, hopefully just after my thesis defense (concert is December 18. My defense date hasn't been set yet).

I have just under 2 weeks to complete my thesis. I'm pretty stressed about it as new things keep popping up. I do hope everything gets handed in on time as I really don't want to stay another semester! :D

While working on my thesis, I've been using grooveshark on the computer at school to listen to music. I had heard the most recent Arcade Fire album before "The Suburbs", but actually didn't really get into it. Now, I have a new found appreciation for it. My favorite tracks are Rococo, Sprawl II and half light II. This album has a distinctly different feel from Funeral and Neon Bible (though you can certainly tell it's Arcade Fire). I wouldn't say it's more cheerful...in a strange way it's less epic? I'm not really sure how to describe it.

Another potential concert is Girl Talk March 1. Who knows for sure - it's a bit too far to tell. But it certainly looks insane and fun live.

I've put a new playlist for mid-Fall feel to correspond with my mood and what I've currently been listening to :) I return now to thesis hermitage! I shall report back...I don't know when :D

Body Talk

Paw reminded me of the singer Robyn the other day (she was so popular in high school!). Anyhow, it seems she's back with new music. She's releasing a trilogy called Body talk (pt 1, 2, 3).
So far 1 and 2 are out and I've been listening to them. It's catchy, dancy pop stuff. I have a favorite from each one :D





Also great music for workin at le gym ;)
Coincidently, Gorillaz works super well for the gym (Monday test, haha. I went super fast without really knowing until the machine said "high heart rate" about 4X. I guess it was time to slow down before I give myself a heart attack :P).

Finally, after trying out a hip hop class yesterday, I was reminded of this song which I used to listen to back in high school times. It would be cool to learn an actual choreography for it.

Escape to Plastic Beach tour kicks off in Montreal :D

Yay! Yesterday, Paw, Captain Wildchild, another friend and I went to see Gorillaz at the Bell Centre. It was their first time on tour :) I did not bring a camera as they said it was not permitted. We did see people with cameras after all though.



^ This should give you a little idea of what it was like.
The opening band was We are Wolves - a band from Montreal. It seems half punk, half electro. Paw and I both preferred the electro stuff. Wildchild hated the band all together :P
The concert started off with an intro by Murdoc talking about the opening band and "when are they gonna finish!!!", whilst Noodle and 2D were hanging out in the back.
I wrote down the setlist:


1. Orchestral intro
2. Welcome to the world of the plastic beach
Snoop Dogg appeared on the giant screen (as in the youtube video). Twas very amusing because Snoop Dogg is generally funny and there were parts where he's like "yea, I'm awesome and I know it".
3. 19-2000
4. Last living souls
5. Oh green world
6. Stylo
7. Melancholy hill
8. Rhinestone eyes
9. Superfast jellyfish
10. Tomorrow comes today
11. Kids with guns
12. Empire ants
13. Dirty harry
14. El manana
15. White flag
16. To binge
17. DARE
18. Glitter Freeze
19. Plastic beach
----------Encore------------
20. Cloud of unknowing
21. Feel Good Inc.
22. Clint Eastwood
23. Don’t get lost in heaven
24. Demon days

There were quite a few guest artists on tour w/ em - Little Dragon, Bobby Womack, Bashy, De La Soul, Arabic music ensemble (just for White Flag :D) and a few more. I was a general fan of the outfits of the band, too. The only thing that was too bad was there wasn't much space for us to move around. It would've been so cool in a way to have it in a club and then you could really dance around. I wasn't a super huge fan of Demon Days before, but often enough, once you see a band live, you get a new appreciation for their music. Now, I can probably say I like all Gorillaz songs. It was definitely worth the ticket price :)