Song of the Day

Song of the Day: Matt & Kim – Good Old Fashion Nightmare

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I can’t help but think of Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas every time I listen to Matt & Kim’s “Good Old Fashion Nightmare.” It’s so light-heartedly eerie, so catchy yet creepy.

The pint-sized husband and wife duo bring their inexhaustible energy to this tune, which is super distinctive thanks to its simple keyboard-strings-drum soundscape. Their comparison of ‘lost teeth’ to ‘white jewels’ and ‘train yards’ to ‘bone yards’ are a little out of left field, but just right for the cold and dark days of autumn-winter. Put it on your ipod next time you take a walk through your city this fall. I bet you’ll push ‘repeat’ at least once.

Song of the Day: African Jazz Flute

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To be fair, that’s not the actual song of the day, but it very well could be. Here’s why: our fearless leader Ricky is on vacation. For the following few weeks, he’ll be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro or some shit. He has left the artistic direction of the Panic Manual in the hands of his ragtag band of avant-garde critiques. For the first time in his adult life, Ricky will be completely disconnected from the internets. We’re not sure how he will survive without his facebook, his smartphone, and his twitter. However, we expect a completely new man, both worldly and wizened from his travels.

In the meantime, stay tuned for more great music and event coverage. Except now there may be a little less of the indie rock, and a little more of the heavy metal and African Jazz Flute. Here at the Panic Manual, we play to our strengths.

As for the actual Song of the Day, I feel that The Kids in Hall theme song is particularly appropriate to mark this occasion. Also, two of the Kids (Scott Thompson & Kevin McDonald) are playing the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival this Thursday November 10th at the Lower Ossington Theatre.

The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival runs this week from November 8 – 13.

Random Collaboration of the Day: Robbie Williams – No Regrets (featuring Neil Hannon and Neil Tennant)

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Welcome to the Panic Manual, where one post about hip hop star du jour Taio Cruz leads to one about reality show band N-Dubz which ultimately leads to a post about the king of UK pop – Robbie Williams. Are we an indie blog or an English teen beat? You decide.

This post came because I saw the previous post’s song title and thought it was a cover of the Robbie Williams song of the same name. Then I thought about how weird it was that his song had such a dynamic group of backup singers. At the time of the songs release, Robbie Williams could do no wrong – Angels was the hottest song around, his new album I’ve Been Expecting You was getting great reviews and selling extremely well and he was dating one of the blonde girls from All Saints (the one who never ever sang, even on the song Never Ever *groan*) Part of me thinks this will inspire a whatever happen to All Saints post, which will somehow lead back to Oasis.

The song No Regrets featured guest vocals by two Neils – Neil Hannon of overly-Brit pop band The Divine Comedy and Neil Tennant of synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. How does that even happen? I don’t even know. Anyways, the use of Tennant’s posh/soft voice and Hannon’s almost baritone delivery added a nice touch to this pop song, which sadly spirals out of control at the end. Either way, check it out.

Song Of The Day: Dappy – No Regrets

Posted on by Paul in Everything, Song of the Day | 1 Comment

It was nearly one year ago that I wrote of my fascination with the nearly unknown (to me) world of British popstars and especially my obsession at the time with the bizarro Brit version of Black Eyed Peas known as N Dubz.  You may recall that at the time I casually mentioned how I was planning on doing everything in my power to promote them.  Well … that never happened.  In fact, other than listening to “Girls” over and over for a brief while, I generally kind of forgot about them myself.  Then Ricky made mention of them in his post on Taio Cruz’ cover of “Little Lion Man,” which prompted me to seek out this track, the latest single from N Dubz ringleader Dappy (yes, he really does call himself Dappy and no, I’m not really sure what a “Dappy” is exactly) and his first outing as a solo artist.  Yes, it appears that N Dubz have more or less broken up and I can’t help but think it was my fault for not doing everything in my power to hype them up.  So I’m sorry about that.  Or you’re welcome, depending on how you feel about Dappy and co.  Personally, I’m not quite sure how I feel about them. 

Anyways, this song is ok I guess.  It’s a passable piece of hip hop pop with a few clever lyrical bits here and there.  I dig the “Call me Gallagher ‘cos I’m so shameless” line, especially when coupled with a briefly sung snippet of Oasis’ “Whatever,” although I’m not really too sure about the line “I’m a changed man now/Chris Brown” – it’s cool to compare yourself favourably to Chris Brown now?  Ugh.  More importantly, if you can, you should check out “Being N Dubz,” the reality TV series starring Dappy and his bandmates Fazer and Tulisa.  It’s ridiculous and entertaining.