Tue 16 Sep – Cut Copy, The Presets
Stellar!

Wed 30 Apr – Elbow
This was my first Elbow show and to tell the true, I'd only listened to them a few times before the show. I didn't know what to expect. My friends are fanatical Elbow devotees, so I discounted their praise of the band. I intended to let the performance determine the merit of the act and it was my good fortune Elbow actually deserved the accolades.
First, The Watson Twins opened the show with comforting Americana. It was a solid set, though I'll have to see them as headlines to really get their groove.
Guy Garvey,…

Fri 18 Apr – Hot Chip It was the crowd as much as the music that made Hot Chip's Minneapolis show one of the most fun of the year to date.
The danceable tunes actually turned out a dancing crowd. It wasn't just a crowd of head-nods, but a crowd of feet-gliding, arm-waving and sweat-slinging exhilaration. This was a dance party.

Free Blood kicked off the free-spirited affair with hip hop and house infused melodies and beats. Like Hot Chip, Free Bloods members didn't floss the scene with showy personas. They brought a D-I-Y aesthetic that was highlighted by unabashedly…

This is a Low: Song 20,000

Longer Slow Drives took me about a month to figure out. It is a reflection of friend's playlist that surprised me with its calm and measured pace. My senses of wanderlust and longing tempered in 2007 but there was significant lag between when it happened and when I realized it. It's not gone, just less aggressive. This playlist is for that spirit, an outlet, a bucket and a shrine.

The movie Once moved me to think great things of the world and what's possible with love, even when it doesn't work out. When Your Mind's Made Up reminds me that…

This is my distribution of artist by country. Only half of my acts are from my homeland. British music has always been close to my pop heart, so its 26% seems fitting. The rest of the English speaking countries mark 10%. I'm surprised that I have so few Canadian artist considering their solid status as the avant garde of indie rock.
Scandinavia takes another 10%. Mexico gets my last 4%.
This list inlcudes my overall spins form the last two years. If it were based on percentage of plays from each area, Scandinavia would probably be the great gainer in…

Wonderful Chantal Kreviazuk Ghost Stories
let me dream Ozomatli Coming Up
Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe Okkervil River The Stage Names
Burning The Whitest Boy Alive Dreams
Changing Colours Great Lake Swimmers Ongiara
Chasing The Sun Alex Lloyd Distant Light
Wake Up! Acid House Kings Advantage Acid House Kings
Penny on the Train Track Ben Kweller Ben Kweller
Can't Stop Ozomatli Don't Mess with the Dragon
Long Haul Voxtrot Raised By Wolves EP
Gotta Have You The Weepies Say I Am You
Passenger Seat Death Cab For Cutie Transatlanticism

Inspired by Parakit from #3 by Suburban Kids with Biblical Names:

Hallelujah, praise to the Highest!
I don't remember exactly, but they used to say something like that at my church as a kid. Although I was a skeptical kid, the community of that chapel held great power as a cohesive and definite form. Despite shifting pastors, the laity and its spirit remained intact. It was "the place I was born, my favorite hood." I believe I've found what I came here for.

It was an ordering of the chaos of life. To this day, I don't want to…

Marry Me is a cautious love song. Suburban Kids with Biblical Names sets a pleading vocal drone to mark its struggle. "Marry me," the request is present in every culture and so is the risk. Eventually, the request is made and the answer is returned. The answer is by no means certain. Rejection can be devastating and rejection is fully expected to devastate here. This unfulfilled request cinches the melancholy of the song.
Even after he promises all the expected gifts of love, he knows "…that you'll never see what I mean." His heart will never meet hers and a…

I went to see Billy Joel on May 9th. I had considered seeing Peter Bjorn and John instead, but the Billy Joel tickets were free and closer to my home the the PBJ show. The real conflict was whether to catch something on the way up or on the way down. I'm glad I went to Billy Joel.
Billy Joel was at his prime when my parent's were my age. I thought I couldn't claim him as my own. He was theirs. Wednesday night, I claimed him as my own.
Joel looked like one of theirs at his show. His…