Toronto – If you read any of my posts, you will know that I have a certain fascination with female fronted uk electro/dance pop acts. What’s there not to like? The music is pretty damn good and you can argue one of the pioneers of this genre is Sophie Ellis Bextor.
I have loved Sophie Ellis Bextor since her inaugural track – “Murder on the Dance Floor” – and despite taking her time between records, she is back once again with new material. The new track is called “Starlight.” A straight up dance track featuring Sophie Ellis Bextor’s posh voice, this is a solid return to form to the SEB tracks of old. Kinda reminds me of Usher’s “DJ Got Us Falling in Love” for some reason. This is a single off her upcoming album Make a Scene which will be released on June 6th, along with the single. Check it out.
Toronto – Welcome to a new maybe daily series called Song of the Day, which is what we’ll post if we can’t find anything to post/are too lazy to write up anything more then a few lines. Those social media expert types say you should post every day if you want to be popular, so here we are, comprising quality for quantity. ONLY NOT, because this song right here is one of quality.
A band of the Montreal variety, Code Pie have been around for a few years releasing albums here and there. Their latest release is Love Meets Rage off Indiecater Records. I have only heard this one track, but it seems like a toe tapping extravaganza with upbeat notes of piano, the occasional horn and strings (personal fav) and a slow rising coda that I may or may not use as my new morning alarm clock sound. Check out this tune, it goes pretty well with all this spring time stuff that’s going on.
Austin-based Ringo Deathstarr is one of the best things to come out of Austin since Ricky decided SXSW is the greatest event in the universe.
While touring the U.K. with David Gedge’s the Wedding Present, two of my friends on the tour could not stop raving about how fantastically legendary Ringo Deathstarr were, live. Given the number of opening acts they have seen, I took this to heart and checked out their debut EP, then moved onto Sparkler to find amazing collections of toe-tapping ambiance.
Frontman Elliott Frazier recently sat down with us to answer a few questions.
PM: Thanks for taking the time to speak with us. I want to start things off by fully admitting that we didn’t know a whole lot about you prior to 2010. But after hearing so much buzz from the Wedding Present’s 2010 tour, we checked out your excellently noisy self-title debut, that I was surprised to learn was released back in 2007.
Why are we just hearing about you now?
RD: Who knows…we never really had proper labels or distribution in the United States of America*.
*(The band is on the U.K.’s SVC label now)
PM: Tell us a bit about your first full-length LP, Colour Trip, that has already been generating a fair bit of talk. Maybe you can also let us know why you went with the British (which we in Canada are so fond of) spelling, the recording process and you know, if you ate anything particularly memorable during recording (I just had a nectarine).
RD: The British spelling is because the record label behind this whole thing is British and you know, that’s just how the Queen would spell it.
We recorded it a year ago, and we had never really been in the studio for a month straight before, so we took advantage of all the nice toys they have. Some songs were written in the studio, some we had been working on off and on since the previous summer…A studio date here, a studio date there. But once Club AC30 got behind us they put us up for a month and we got busy. The most memorable thing for me was just working with Jason “Computer Boy” Buntz, ‘cuz he was not too afraid to try crazy ideas, and let me tell you, we both had plenty.
PM: How do you feel about all of the Pitchfork publicity? Yay, nay, indifference because publicity is publicity?
RD: Pitchfork gave us a good review once a long time ago, and it did help. but one can’t be too concerned with Pitchfork….we do our thing, they do theirs.
PM: A lot of listeners have decided you channel a lot of JAMC, MBV, and the other usual shoegaze suspects. But I’ve often found that when listeners peg all sorts of influences on a band, the band doesn’t even have them on the
mental list. Do you have a mental list, and if so who are they?
RD: Every time I hear a really shitty band, it inspires me to make something better. So there’s all that…plus you know, there’s plenty of music that influences us besides “shoegaze”: Black Flag, Fugazi, Ramones, Devo, Dance House Children, Descendents, Nirvana, Nirvana, Nirvana, Beat Happening, Guitar Wolf…
PM: For our SXSW attendees, where is the best place to get the best burger in Austin?
RD:P. Terry’s, ‘cuz they have vegetarian burgers, as well as a great meat burger (so I’m told). Hut’s is consistently kick ass.
PM: A lot of your recent tour dates have been in Europe, one of them with the legendary Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips (what a bill..G500 fans must be peeing their pants, as I think those that don’t already like you will after the show). It must be weird to play with folks who have been doing this for decades, like David Gedge and Dean, in an intimidating way. Have you noticed a difference between the veterans and the newbies?
RD: Not really, just age I guess. Some people are party animals, and some are not, no matter how long theyve been playing…So we just like meeting the living legends. So far they’ve all been cool to us.
PM: Finally, when are you coming to Toronto!?
RD: In the springtime, when the flowers are in bloom.
You can pick up Ringo Deathstarr’s Colour Trip that is set for release on March 8th.
Toronto – Everyone who grew up as a teenager or a preteen in the 90s had Our Lady Peace‘s second record, Clumsy (except Paul, apparently). Nevermind the fact that the band has spent the past decade trying to be Canada’s crappier version of U2 (and abandoning the older fans in the process), this album was pretty damn good in it’s hey day.
If you are like me, you were probably always wondering – what in the holy hell was Superman’s Dead about?
Lets take a look at the lyrics:
do you worry that you’re not liked
how long till you break
you’re happy cause you smile
but how much can you fake
an ordinary boy an ordinary name
but ordinary’s just not good enough today
Chorus:
alone I’m thinking
why is superman dead
is it in my head
we’ll just laugh instead
you worry about the weather and
whether or not you should hate
are you worried about your faith
kneel down and obey
you’re happy you’re in love
you need someone to hate
an ordinary girl an ordinary waist
but ordinary’s just not good enough today
Chorus
doesn’t anybody ever know
that the world’s a subway…
Going to the always accurate SongMeanings.net, the general consensus is that the song is about bullying because the word “superman’s dead” implies that there is no one to rescue the said person. Maybe it’s about expectations or female imagery in the media, as the line “an ordinary girl an ordinary waist, but ordinary’s just not good enough today”. Maybe Raine Maida was just really high. Maybe OLP was just trying to be very topical, since it was around the time when DC killed off Superman and returned with those five different guys. I really don’t know.
What does the line “the world’s a subway” mean?
– moves very fast?
– you can get on and off?
– every year, gets more expensive?
– not available to third world countries?
Maybe it’s referring to the restaurant chain, and the world is about how you have limited selections?
Some of these mysteries will never be solved, but it’s still good to think about occasionally, what’s your take?
