BBC Radio 1′s yearly Live Lounge collection always seems to come up with a few gems. For those not in the know, the compilation is a collection of live tracks that were played at the Radio 1 studios. At some point during the Radio 1 sessions, someone decided it was a good idea to record these tracks, so starting in 2006, they released a yearly compilation of the best bits from the year. Now a lot of artist travel through Radio 1′s land and they often like to do covers for some reason so every year, you see some interesting covers, among those include

Arctic Monkey – Love Machine (Girls Aloud cover)
The Futureheads – Hounds of Love (Kate Bush .. also voted one of the best tracks of that year)
Amy Winehouse – Valerie (later re-recorded for Mark Ronson)
Diizzee Rascal – That’s Not My Name (way better than the original Ting Tings version)

You get the drift.

I just recently got the 2011 version of this compilation and stumbled upon this number, which features reigning UK Heavyweight Champion of the World Ellie Goulding covering USA’s Intercontentinal Champion – Rihanna (I would say either Katy Perry / Lady Gaga hold the heavyweight championship belt). If there’s one artist who has benefitted tremendously from doing covers in the past year or so, it’s Ellie Goulding. Her heartfelt rendition of Your Song topped charts all over the commonwealth and elevated her from mid-card to main event status. Why am I using wrestling terminologies? I don’t know.

For this compilation, Ellie covered Rihanna’s second best track (best dance track though) Only Girl in the World. Once again, she strips the song down to the bare basics, slows down the track and even adds a string section. The results are pretty good. It helps that the original song was fantastic, but this is an original and unique take on it. Check it out.

Once in a while, we all need to take a trip to Pyschic City

For Torontonians, that opportunity comes on February 23rd at the Wrongbar.

Of course, I’m talking about Portland band Yacht, who will once again bring their super awesome live act to Toronto once again. It’ll be their first show here since they released their third record Shangri-La (second if you only count what’s on DFA). They’ll be ready to go, and certainly ready to roll and we would like you to be there.

We have a pair of tickets to give away. To enter for a chance to enter, do one of the following

1) Retweet this post
2) Email panic@panicmanual.com with the subject: “I’d like to go to the Psychic City” with your name in the body.
3) Send us a picture of you on a yacht, holding a yacht record and listening to yacht rock.

The first thing I must say about Town Hall is: thank god for a band that ‘gets’ website design. Maybe I’m just not artistic/musically minded to appreciate the thought and nuance that goes into some bands’ sites, but every time I have to ‘click to enter’ nine times before finding the actual content I’m looking for or come upon a long-outdated ‘next shows’ section I cringe. No wonder some indie bands stay small.

Thankfully, Town Hall has a wonderful site: no clicking to enter, music is up front and center, contact info readily available. Check it out here .

On to the music. The Brooklyn-based band just released its first full-band EP, Sticky Notes and Paper Scraps. For those of you looking for energetic indie, be aware: the first word that comes to mind when listening to the tracks is mellow. Soothing is not far behind. Listen to it while you’re getting ready for bed, not prepping for a night out. The band’s tags include freak and folk, but I would put a far heavier emphasis on the ‘folk’ aspect of the sound. That being said, it’s a 100% enjoyable soothing/mellow/folskie sound. The band reminds me a bit of Nickel Creek with the plucky-string sound and the female-male duets. My favorite track is Mary A. Longdon with its line: “all the women want to know is how she keeps her skin so smooth/what pills does she take, what creams does she use.” For some reason it’s a bit haunting – definitely sticks with you. Don’t believe me? Try it out.

Just Watching My Breath by TownHall

It’s almost the new year, which means it’s almost time to start looking at some new and upcoming acts. One of them is Caveman, a five piece band from New York city who formed in January of 2010(!). The group has self-released their debut album CoCo Beware recently and it has been met with some praise. The group’s music has a sunny disposition and a soft upbeat indie rock sound that’s sure to please the crowd. The group will be here on January 11th and lucky for you, we have a pair of tickets to give away!

To enter, do 1 of 3 things:

1) Retweet this post
2) Email panic@panicmanual.com with the subjet “Caveman: me go concert”
3) Write a 800 word essay on why the caveman from those popular commercials failed to transition to a successful tv show.

Here is the facebook event page

Here is a song

Caveman – Thankful by We Listen For You

Toronto – 2011 was the beginning of the end for me. At Primavera this May, I saw Pulp one of my two favorite bands. Last December, I saw Suede, my other favorite band. In a span of six months, I saw both my favorite bands, after waiting my entire life to see them.

It will never be topped. Every show I’ve seen since has been diminished in some regard because I will always compare it to the apex of my concert going experience, and it will ultimately fail in comparison. Still, this year, like every year, was great for shows, and here are my favorite moments from this year. In a random order.

Pulp – Do You Remember The First Time?

What an amazing opening track for the show. Totally appropriate, as it was probably the first time most of us have seen Pulp. The way the lights came on, the opening verse (in which we all sang along) and then the utter explosion that was the chorus of the track (completed with the unveiling of the curtain) made this moment the best concert opening ever for me. I still get goosebumps watching this video (not taken by me):

Spin Party, SXSW: The Vaccines, OMD, The Kills, TV on the Radio

Amazing weather, amazing lineup, amazing city. What more can you say about your typical afternoon at SXSW? The lineup at the Spin party featured The Vaccines, who played a brief but rocking 17 minute set and OMD, who played sing-along classic tracks such as If You Leave and Enola Gay to flocks of sunburnt and drunk fans in the middle of the afternoon. To add some icing to the cake, I had a lovely country fried steak after this show, and then we went and saw Matt & Kim. Seriously people, it’s days like this that forces you to go to Austin every year.

Norgaard by The Vaccines

Men Without Hats – Safety Dance, SXSW

First and last time a conga line forms at a concert I go to, probably. What an amazing show with the most confusing crowd ever.

Men Without Hats – Safety Dance 93 by popdjdysh

Empire of the Sun

As visually mind blowing as you expected. The carnival meets space travel meets thundercats show that is Empire of the Sun was about as visually stimulating as you can get. It even made me ignore the fact that I was in the Sound Academy for a brief moment. That in itself deserves some massive recognition.

Art Brut’s Storytelling

Art Brut is one of my favorite live bands – all their shows seem fresh and you can really tell the band wants you to have a good time. The leader of the group is Eddie Argos, who sometimes like to go on a tangent. Sometimes that tangent involves breaking off in the middle of a song and telling a ten minute story about going to a museum that somehow leads to the entire Mod Club jumping up and down. Sometimes that happens at NXNE. What a great moment.

Art Brut – Modern Art by everybodystalking

Part 2 to come at some point.

It’s not often a classic 80s disco track gets covered, so LA via NYC singer songwriter Holmes took it upon himself to cover this Gap Band hit. Originally a funk track, Holmes puts his own spin on it, trading in the funk sound for a more introspective, slower paced track. The spin on the original song almost makes the track sound entirely new. Holmes has an album of covers called… Covers. Check that out if you like this track.

“You Dropped a Bomb On Me” (The Gap Band cover) – Holmes by PlanetaryOnlinePR

Anna Calvi can play guitar. She can play it really really well. From the set opener Rider to the Sea to the set closing Edith Piaf cover, the English singer songwriter set the bar quite high for future shows with some blistering guitar solos to accompany her Mercury Prize nominated tracks. You know a singer has control of the room when the entire place is in silence as they sing. This was Anna Calvi on Thursday – confident, radiant (especially in her red and black assemble) and entirely engrossing, the singer made good promise on the large amount of hype bestowed on her this year with an impressive performance at Lee’s Palace.

One of the tracks she performed was this cover of TV on the Radio’s classic track Wolf Like Me. As you would expect, it’s completely different from the original, but still rather good. Have a listen.

Anna Calvi “Wolf Like Me” by Anna Calvi

Plushgun is a Brooklyn based electronic/new wave/indie band (aren’t they all these days) from the proud city of Brooklyn (aren’t they all from there these days). You might have heard of them a few years back when their song Just Impolite was featured on the ill fated faux MTV reality show The City. Remember when the Hills were all the rage? Funny how MTV’s television success transitioned from a bunch of rich Los Angeles teenagers to a bunch of idiot Jersey based party animals. Anyways, it has been a few years for the group and they are back with a new album and a new single. The song I Like It is the first single off this record and it gets the Buffet Libre treatment. As with most Buffet Libre remixes, soaring synthesizers, dreamy ambiance and that 80s based New Years Eve party vibe are introduced to the song, which is already quite catchy in the first place. Check it out.

Plushgun – I Like It (Buffetlibre Remix) by Buffetlibre

Did you remember reading this Pitchfork album review? Did you remember thinking… “who the heck are these guys?” followed by “omg i have to get this album cos it got a 9.0?”

It seemed so long time ago, but the year was 2005 and the band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah received one of the first notable Pitchfork boosts. Many bands would soon follow, but the Brooklyn group were definitely one of the first ever to rise from pure obscurity to sold out venues in a matter of minutes all due to a that little number 9.

It has been a full six years since that fleeting moment. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah never did reach the astronomical popularity that one would have assumed, although releasing singles with the title Satan Said Dance probably did them no favors on the mass media scale. Instead, the group has been quietly going at it and released their third album Hysterical this year. The band will be in town to promote this record on December 9 and we have a pair of tickets to give away.

To enter, do one of three things

1) RT this post
2) Email panic@panicmanual.com with the subject “Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah Yeah Yeahs” and your full name in the body
3) Send us a youtube video of you clapping your hands and saying yeah.

Good luck!

The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth by CYHSY

You know you’ve done something right when your record label repackages your album and releases a newer version of it in the same year. In the case of Toronto’s Austra, it’s just a small indication of the monster year they have had. Feel It Break (Deluxe Version) will feature not only the original album, but a host of b-sides, remixes and covers, including this cover of the Roy Orbison track Crying. Consider Roy Orbison is a late 50s era crooner and Austra is well… an operatic midnight electronic band, you can very well realize that Katie Stelmanis and company’s take on the the 1961 hit is truly an unique one. Check it out.

Austra – Crying by DominoRecordCo

The original

Austra has three upcoming dates, all with Young Galaxy

December 1 – Toronto ON – The Phoenix Concert Theatre
December 2 – Montreal QC – Cabaret du Mile End
December 3 – Ottawa ON – Ritual Night Club