Toronto - Since I will be spending a lot of time on airplanes next week, its only appropriate that I feature a band with the word ‘Jet’ in the band name. Yup. Introducing the Mystery Jets. A band from Eel Pie Island, England. Eel Pie Island, according to wikipedia is “, in the River Thames at Twickenham in London, can be reached only by footbridge or boat. Eel Pie Island was earlier called Twickenham Ait and, before that, The Parish Ait; even earlier the island was three separate aits.”.

Sounds intriguing. I am now wondering if there are eel pies. Nope. I couldnt find it on the web. Eels are pretty tasty. Stringy, but tasty. I’ll probably have some in Hong Kong. Put some red vinegar on that thing .. mmmmmm. Okay, so about the band, they are from England yes, but I listened to their first record ‘Making Dens’ last year or two years ago and it’s pretty good. Not the Angular Brit rock type, but maybe more Zutons/Coralish kind of sound to them. They played the El Mocambo last year around this time, and I didn’t go because it was too cold or I was too tired or something.

So why this post? Well they have a new album out this or next week, and their first single ‘Young Love’ is quite great. It sounds like something from Sweden, which is never a bad sign. I have to credit my friend Josh for making this discovery, as he posted the video on his blog sometime ago. As he says, the song is pretty decent until the female singer Laura Marling starts singing, and then it goes into Awesome territory. Man, oh man. Laura Marling was born in 1990. That is messed up. I am old. Shieeeeeet she was also the singer on the great Rakes tune ‘Suspicious Eyes’ last year. I am now a fan of hers. She seems like a good hired gun if you need a female vocalist for a song.

So now you know what happens when I write a blog entry, and do research on what I am writing about at the very same time.

This song is good though, enjoy it.

 

 Mystery Jets (featuring Laura Marling) - Young Love : Play Now

Toronto - Wade wrote about Thao Nguyen about a month ago and we were both quite impressed with the album. So naturally, when Thao Nguyen and The Get Down Stay Down rolled around the dot on Monday, we had to go. It was weird, because neither of us had been able to find tickets for the show. I was under the impression that it was one of doors only shows.

WRONG.

Apparently, this was a Xiu Xiu show, and Thao Nguyen and the Get Down Stay Down was just the openers. BOOOoo. Of course, being the concert veteran that I am, I had expected them to be the main act, so had scheduled my arrival time around 11:00 pm. Well, 10:50 rolled around and I got a text message letting me know the show has begun! Shit. So me and some peeps quickly got there. Still, we missed about half the show, which really sucks. My fault. I liked what I saw. They were quite energetic and played a nice sounding set. Thao had quite the energy for the lead vocal, and definitely played the part well and she was cute. It’s hard to form a good description of the show, since I wasn’t there that long. I did like what I see though and I would definitely see them again. Funny, now that I think about it, I had vermicelli with spring rolls before I went to the show, and then saw Thao Nguyen. All I needed to do was go sing some karaoke and I woulda had a nice little Vietnam themed night.

Xiu Xiu - I have never been into them, they are from San Francisco and seem to be this artsy, ambient / thrash kind of band. I didn’t really like their part of the show, as to me, it just seems to be random noises. The guys singing seemed a bit over dramatic too. To each their own, I guess.

 

 Thao Nguyen and the Get Down Stay Downs - Swimming Pools: Play Now

Toronto - I really hope that Tokyo Police Club did not pay very much for their cd cover design guy for their new upcoming cd “Elephant Shell”

Here is the cover:

Which reminds me a helluva lot like this cover, by English band ‘The Music’

Hmm.

The Music are a Leeds band that came out in the early 2000s with great excitement. I was excited for them anyway, they had some really strong singles featuring dance elements and some nice guitar work. The lead singer had quite the voice and I thought they were gonna be big. They released a disappointing follow up in 2004 and I have not heard from them since. However, The People and Getaway are fantastic, fantastic songs that I still listen to. Heck I went to see a Coldplay concert in Edmonton at the Shaw Conference Center cos I wanted to see the opener - which was The Music. ..and then I sang along and cried to Yellow. I kid..I kid.

 

 The Music - The People: Play Now

Toronto - I was moderately indifferent towards the release of the new album by The Kooks , horribly named Konk. There was a time in my life when I was excited about this band, mainly after I heard Eddies Gun, I thought, hey, thats not that bad. Then again, I also use to think Full House was a good show. Anyways, I was going to completely ignore this release, until my friend Dwayne said their new single was catchy. Or someone told him it was catchy. So I was able to find a streaming online sample of the album somewhere. After a listen, here is what I think of the cd:

If you like really inoffensive and generic brit music, then the Kooks are definitely for you. I failed to find anything catchy on this album (or the last one really). What this means is that they’ll probably make it big here in America, raid Muchmusic/MTV and be featured as a montage on The Hills next season.

This band fascinates me. I don’t own any of their albums and have listened to only a handful of their songs on youtube or last.fm but from what I have heard, I really like. I suppose the reason why I’m so curious is because they’re an indiepop band from Indonesia. Who would have figured, but fantastic nonetheless. The songs they create are probably the epitome of twee - sickly sweet lyrics with a simple catchy music backing. Their debut album ‘My Diary’ seems like it would be a true testament to this, but really I’m just going based on the one song I’ve heard and what they’ve written on their website:

“My Diary” contains 13 songs written from a girl’s point of view and her diary entries. The album starts with a Once Upon A Time and is followed by a song telling of a first encounter with her Secret Admirer. Then after much hesitation in Twist Me Around, she decides to go steady with the boy in Me & My Boyfriend. In Telephone they break up, understanding that When the Moonlight Shines, they just weren’t meant for each other and thus, Rain Will Fall, Life Keeps On Turning.

Doesn’t get much more twee than that my friends. Here’s a couple of videos. The first, ‘I Would Never Friend’ features Karoline Komstedt from Club 8 (yowza!) and the second, ‘Life Keeps On Turning’ features our very own Ricky on the night of his high school prom.

Mocca’s Website: http://mymocca.com/

Toronto - Ah, sweet Toronto. Not only is it the biggest and best city in Canada, it is also the home to a majority of the good Canadian bands. Sure, Montreal, the East Coast and Vancouver/Victoria can lay claims to that as well, but I am pretty sure we still have more quality bands here then they do. Prove me wrong, bitches.

Meet Born Ruffians, a Toronto band that is championed by the much heralded CBC Radio 3. I swear, a CBC Radio 3 championed band is almost as good, if not better then a good Pitchfork media plug. I didn’t know the CBC love was so high til I moved here, and then bought a CBC shirt with the classic 70s logo on it and started wearing it around. When you wear that gear around, you are everyones friend. They recently released a new album out called Red, Yellow and Blue.

This album is quite good. I haven’t really listened to this band before this album, and I’ll sure to be trying to get ahold of their earlier stuff. What does it sound like? Some people they sound like a more eccentric Talking Heads. I don’t know, I guess its somewhat poppy and stuff. Read this National Post article if you want more detailed descriptions of what they sound like. Im just hear to tell you, I like it, it sounds good and it’ll put you in a good moood.

Here is the their first ever video

and the song, since its so catchy

Born Ruffians play EDMONTON, Velvet Underground - March 28 and Lees Palace, April 26.

 

 Born Ruffians - Hummingbird: Play Now