It’s unofficial, The Maynards are Canadas sexiest band. Hailing from Halifax, this three piece dance rock gang spread their lusty, sweaty sweater loving all over Sneaky Dees last night.

From their myspace page you would think they were a twee pop trio. Tracks like Spinny and Dance Fight ’82 are twee greatness, but walking into Dees last night, they were anything but. They rocked it. What immediately got my attention was duo of Kristina Parlee on bass/vocals and Chantal Tardiff on drums/vocals. A girl drum-bass duo? Yeah. There is something about Chantals voice that sets her songs apart. She adds a such a sweet, melodic touch, then all of a sudden you see her rocking out on her kit at the back of the stage.

It’s also worth mentioning that The Maynards are one of 20 Halifax area bands featured in the essential rock DVD of 2008, 6015 Willow.

Captured in a house that has long functioned as a hub for creativity in the city, it follows a cast of musicians and artists as they record a document of their own time. Bands fill every room in the house, from the bathroom to the attic. On-the-fly, direct and genuinely urgent, 6015 Willow follows twenty Halifax bands over three days, sweating buckets and blowing fuses.

They had a copy of 6015 Willow at the merch desk, but after spending $20 on the Dee’s crappy veggie nachos downstairs before their show, I was out of dough. If you are reading this and are in a position to send us a copy, please do.

Here is track from The Maynards 2008 release, Date And Destroy, Spinny. That is Chantal singing. I would gladly have a menage-a-trois with any two members of The Maynards. That includes you too Mr. Heath Matheson (guitar/vocals). Yes, sexiest band in Canada.

It’s funny how vampires go in and out of fashion in movies. It strikes me for some reason that we’re suddenly beset by vampire movies after going a few years without, but I could just be caught up in the hype and advertising for Twilight. I haven’t seen Twilight, by the way, and I have no particular desire to. Teen romance novels, not really my thing. And turning teen romance novels into movies is not the kind of behaviour I want to encourage with my movie dollars.

I also don’t especially like horror movies. I don’t mind suspense in the sense that I like a story that makes me want to know what happens next, but I don’t like being scared. Monsters jumping around corners just don’t do much for me. The last vampire movies I saw that I liked was Shadow of the Vampire, a take on how a vampire might interact with the world in a different sort of way than in the traditional vampire setting, without the castle and the turning into a bat and the stakes and stuff.

That’s why we went to see Let The Right One In (or Låt den rätte komma in in the original Swedish): it sounded like a different sort of take on vampires. The description we read at NOW magazine that made us decide to go used the sentence “things go helter-skelter when Oskar discovers that his puppy-love interest is a member of the undead.” What’s not to like about that statement?

That’s really the strength of Let The Right One In, and presumably why it’s gotten such critical acclaim: it’s different. The vampire is a young girl, for one thing. The protagonist is a 12-year-old boy who falls in love with her. Not exactly Dr. Van Helsing chasing Bela Lugosi’s Dracula around in 1931, and all the variations that have come since, is it?

Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) is a typical young loner, picked on at school by his classmates, living with his divorced mom, spending weekends with his dad, passing time alone in the courtyard of his apartment building. A creepy little girl named Eli (Lina Leandersson) moves in next door and they hit it off. She teaches him that he needs to fight back against his bullies, he shows her that little blonde Swedish boys can love and be loved, that kinda thing. Of course, it all starts to go wrong when Eli’s inhuman thirst for blood takes hold, and members of the community start turning up dead. But even as Oskar realizes what Eli really is, his love for her stays just as strong. Awwww.

Scenes of the two of them holding hands, doing a Rubik’s cube, and lying in bed as Oskar shyly asks Eli if she’d like to “go steady” are interspersed with tense scenes of Eli tricking people into coming too close in the dark before she bites their necks and kills them, her guardian tying up and stabbing people in an attempt to funnel their blood into large jugs to feed Eli’s thirst, and the town trying to figure out why and how their friends are being killed.

If parts of this all sound very familiar, well, that’s deliberate. Let The Right One In relies on a lot of tried and true movie formulas and stereotypes when depicting people, relationships, and vampires, much moreso than it relies on developing such things within the movie. You really have to know a lot of the old fictions about vampires going into this movie, or several things aren’t going to make a lot of sense to you. It actually took a couple of tries before I remembered that vampires can’t come into a home unless you invite them in, for instance, which is actually a central theme that helps give the movie it’s title. Oskar’s mom is easily recognizable as the overbearing but well-meaning parent, his dad the cool guy who can’t put his kid first, his gym teacher the stern but gentle authority figure, his bully the macho yet cowardly kid, his bully’s cronies the weak-willed sheep, etc., etc. These are all secondary characters so maybe that can be forgiven, but thinking back on it, even Oskar seems more like your typical lonely, alienated pre-teen than any kind of distinct character.

Maybe that’s by design, and maybe the impression was supposed to be that any young loner could end up falling for the vampire next door; maybe for a movie where a moviegoer has to know what a “typical” vampire’s abilities and weaknesses are going in, relying on their preconceived notions of typical characters too is ok. But instead of really developing any characters outside of Eli or any relationships besides Eli and Oskar’s, Let The Right One In fills the rest of it’s 114 minute run time with shots of snow, silence, and slow, frequently awkward dialogue. The awkward dialogue is usually ok; that’s how most kids talk at age 12. Honestly, though, I could’ve done with about half the number of establishing shots of bleak coutryards of snow that went on during the course of the movie.

This is not a movie for impatient people. It’s easy to like it for it’s novel take on vampire relations, but sometimes frustrating in its simplistic characters and occasionally glacial pacing.

3/5. I liked it, but just not that much.

Toronto - It’s Christmas time, and what better way to start off the season of giving by actually giving away something? We have got a 2 cd prize pack and two tickets to a special show on December 9th at Sneaky Dees.

The show features an Australlian band called Rudely Interrupted, a band that describes themselves as “Joy Division having a Gary Numan party while eating pitch-perfect cookies”. 5 of the 6 members of the band have some sort of disability, but don’t let that fool you, they got mad skillz. Invited to the UN to play on Disability Day, Rudely Interrupted is also swinging by Toronto to play a show to raise awareness. That’s right people, get your good karma on.

Also on the bill are Toronto’s Still Life Still and indie rock folk band The Rural Alberta Advantage, band full of people from Alberta. Maybe I should join them.

To enter the contest, send an email to panic@panicmanual.com with the subject rudelyinterrupted. Also, have some sort of mailing info in your message, probably.

What is emotronic, you ask? Well according to this soon to be deleted Wiki article, Emotronic is:

Emotronic is typically very emotional, melodic music. It consists of dance beats created by drum machines, a variety of synths, and vocals in the emo and screamo style.

I think I just threw up in my mouth. Anyways, here is a video for those with morbid curiosity.

Look, it’s a fuckin whale! Han Solo Carbonite style.

Poor thing never saw it coming, but neither did Hans.

Here is West Edmonton Mall’s take on Bourbon street, as re-imagined by franchised corporations.

If you visit WEM in the months of August and September, this area is flooded with two feet of water. OH HELL NOES DID I JUST SAY THAT? yep.

Naturally, on top of one of the most famous American attractions, is Chinatown.

Look at those dragons, just reeks of Chinaness.

On to Galaxyland, the amusement park inside the mall.

Space drop of doom. Muchos fun has been had on that

Here is a vomit inducing spinny thingy, good use of space though.

The Mindbender, a ride so dangerous people died on it.

Weee, well that was fun.

Phase 2 of WEM has this, a casino, a movie theatre and an ice rink.
Phase 1 consist of department stores and stuff, so no pictures there.

So there you have it, the wonderful, magical, West Edmonton Mall

Here is a song for your troubles

Toronto - Ode to J. Smith is the sixth album from the Scottish lads Travis and if you recall from my preview, it is the first album that have written on an electric guitar since their debut album - “Good Feeling”. I have now had some time to digest this album, as it came into my mailbox a few weeks ago. So what’s my take on it? It’s definitely better then recent Travis efforts. The electric guitar is definitely a welcome to the Travis sound as recent Travis tunes off have been so mellow that it was starting to feel like ’song played in a senior home’ territory. This album definitely has a lil bit (just a lil bit) of rock to it. Take the title track for example (J. Smith) , the chorus soars to an almost a marching tune for the elves in Lord of the Rings. Fans of recent Travis material need not worry, as songs such as “Before You Were Young” and “Long Way Down” still exhibit the catchy vh1 melodies that you have grown accustomed to. Especially the former, which uses a piano to create some song that is probably going to be played at someones wedding. Ode to J. Smith is a solid album and definitely a step in the right direction for the Scottish lads.

Toronto – My fellow Panic Manualers are doing a great job covering the latest and greatest music of the day.  So I’ve decided to explore some uncharted territories for the Panic Manual. Time will tell whether this thought experiment pans out. But it’s high time I start writing about some music that I’m passionate about: jazz.

Jazz first came into use as a term in the early 20^th century from within its motherland, New Orleans. Some early newspapers from the era referred to this new music as “Jass”, before spelling consensus was reached. It was a simple idea really, and it comes down to one thing: collective improvisation. The concept is simple: get a bunch of musicians to improvise together, but also in concert. But there must be method in the madness.  And when done right, the results can be positively spine-tingley.

Indie rock as we know it today would be completely lost without the minor scale.

But how is jazz different from blues? They do share a common thread. In blues you have a 12-measure progression that moves from the 1^st, 4^th, and 5^th notes on your major scale (think, Do, Fa and So, a needle pulling thread). On top of this progression, musicians improvise in what we call “The Blues Scale”. This is basically a slightly modified minor scale. Minor scales sound sad. And that gives us the sad, brooding sound of the blues. Indie rock as we know it today would be completely lost without the minor scale.

So if blues is improvisation over a basic chord-progression, what then is jazz? That’s a good question, and tough to answer. Not everyone agrees, but much of blues is a subset of jazz, and the main difference would be the lexicon, or vocabulary. While jazz can make heavy use of the language of the blues, it also adds a whole bunch of flair. There are more scales to use, with different and more complex chord progressions.  More scales and complexity can lead to more expressiveness, but it can also lead to more chaos. Give someone enough rope and they’ll hang themselves.  The best jazz musicians can dance all over this tightrope and still make it look easy for us mortals.

The dots are everywhere, and its our distinct priviledge to connect them.

So is jazz dead? That’s a fair question. To a jazz lover like me, it concerns me that there seems to be less interest in this music that is both powerful and timeless. Jazz hasn’t been mainstream since the Swinger Era of the 40’s and 50’s, when people would go out and dance to the big bands of yore. But music evolves and marches on.  You have only look to your own music to see the traces of the past.

Rock wouldn’t be what it is today without the blues. You can chart a path from early blues guitarists in the 50’s like Buddy Guy, through Eric Clapton, to Jimi Hendrix and beyond. Sam Cooke passed the soul singer torch to Otis Redding, who passed it to Ray Charles and Marvin Gaye. Afrobeat? Ska? Reggae? Hip-Hop? All of these genres have the fingerprints of jazz & blues all over them. But you can’t understand why Feist, Cat Powers, and Jack Whyte are so blues-influenced without first spending some time with Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson. The dots are everywhere, and its our distinct priviledge to connect them.

So where will I start with this first edition of Jazz in Review? I’m going to start in the 50’s and 60’s, the beginnings of the “cool jazz” scene led by Miles Davis. I’ll occasionally hop to modern times to review some contemporary jazz. But first up is The Sermon, by Jimmy Smith. This is one of my favourite all-time jazz records. Jimmy Smith is an organist extra-ordinaire who pioneered the sound of the Hammond organ in jazz and funk.

So why does The Sermon make my all-time list of jazz albums? In addition to being an influential album for later musicians of the funk variety, it is a delicate fusion of gospel, blues, and bebop. This album can command your attention if you let it, but it also has an amazing ability to gracefully step into the background. Highlights for me include the the title track, as well as the beautifully well-rounded work of trombonist Curtis Fuller on the track Blue Room.

To get an understanding of the mastery of these incredible musicians, it’s interesting to note that this album was recorded during two live dates in 1957 and 1958. After giving this album a spin, I hope you’ll agree that you just can’t fake this blend of skill and artistry.

]]> http://www.panicmanual.com/2008/11/24/jazz-in-review-the-sermon-%e2%80%93-jimmy-smith-blue-note-1958/feed/ 00:01:01 Toronto ndash; My fellow Panic Manualers are doing a great job covering the latest and greatest music of the day.nbsp; So Irsquo;ve decided to explore ... Toronto ndash; My fellow Panic Manualers are doing a great job covering the latest and greatest music of the day.nbsp; So Irsquo;ve decided to explore some uncharted territories for the Panic Manual. Time will tell whether this thought experiment pans out. But itrsquo;s high time I start writing about some music that Irsquo;m passionate about: jazz. Jazz first came into use as a term in the early 20th century from within its motherland, New Orleans. Some early newspapers from the era referred to this new music as ldquo;Jassrdquo;, before spelling consensus was reached. It was a simple idea really, and it comes down to one thing: collective improvisation. The concept is simple: get a bunch of musicians to improvise together, but also in concert. But there must be method in the madness.nbsp; And when done right, the results can be positively spine-tingley. Indie rock as we know it today would be completely lost without the minor scale. But how is jazz different from blues? They do share a common thread. In blues you have a 12-measure progression that moves from the 1st, 4th, and 5th notes on your major scale (think, Do, Fa and So, a needle pulling thread). On top of this progression, musicians improvise in what we call ldquo;The Blues Scalerdquo;. This is basically a slightly modified minor scale. Minor scales sound sad. And that gives us the sad, brooding sound of the blues. Indie rock as we know it today would be completely lost without the minor scale. So if blues is improvisation over a basic chord-progression, what then is jazz? Thatrsquo;s a good question, and tough to answer. Not everyone agrees, but much of blues is a subset of jazz, and the main difference would be the lexicon, or vocabulary. While jazz can make heavy use of the language of the blues, it also adds a whole bunch of flair. There are more scales to use, with different and more complex chord progressions.nbsp; More scales and complexity can lead to more expressiveness, but it can also lead to more chaos. Give someone enough rope and they'll hang themselves.nbsp; The best jazz musicians can dance all over this tightrope and still make it look easy for us mortals. The dots are everywhere, and its our distinct priviledge to connect them. So is jazz dead? Thatrsquo;s a fair question. To a jazz lover like me, it concerns me that there seems to be less interest in this music that is both powerful and timeless. Jazz hasnrsquo;t been mainstream since the Swinger Era of the 40rsquo;s and 50rsquo;s, when people would go out and dance to the big bands of yore. But music evolves and marches on.nbsp; You have only look to your own music to see the traces of the past. Rock wouldnrsquo;t be what it is today without the blues. You can chart a path from early blues guitarists in the 50rsquo;s like Buddy Guy, through Eric Clapton, to Jimi Hendrix and beyond. Sam Cooke passed the soul singer torch to Otis Redding, who passed it to Ray Charles and Marvin Gaye. Afrobeat? Ska? Reggae? Hip-Hop? All of these genres have the fingerprints of jazz #38; blues all over them. But you canrsquo;t understand why Feist, Cat Powers, and Jack Whyte are so blues-influenced without first spending some time with Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson. The dots are everywhere, and its our distinct priviledge to connect them. So where will I start with this first edition of Jazz in Review? Irsquo;m going to start in the 50rsquo;s and 60rsquo;s, the beginnings of the ldquo;cool jazzrdquo; scene led by Miles Davis. Irsquo;ll occasionally hop to modern times to review some contemporary jazz. But first up is The Sermon, by Jimmy Smith. This is one of my favourite all-time jazz records. Jimmy Smith is an organist extra-ordinaire who pioneered the sound of the Hammond organ in jazz and funk. So why does The Sermon make my all-time list of jazz albums? In addition to being an influential album for later musicians of the funk variety, it is a delicate fusion of gospel, blues, and beb... Chapter,3,-,CDs Panic Manual no No http://www.panicmanual.com/2008/11/24/jazz-in-review-the-sermon-%e2%80%93-jimmy-smith-blue-note-1958/ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ThePanicManual/~3/464387002/ http://www.panicmanual.com/2008/11/24/mario-lemieux-sells-cars/#comments Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:17:29 +0000 Ricky http://www.panicmanual.com/?p=1848

Toronto - For those who are fans of The Kooks, check out Belfast’s General Fiasco. Think The Kooks, only Irish. More potatoes? I don’t know. The single Rebel Get By is a catchy little indie pop affair that girls will swoon to and it will probably somehow end up on a show like Gossip Girl or 90210 or some teen show that heavily relies on soft indie pop to score cred with the young’uns. You can say you heard it here first.

Here are some shows they are playing, I only mention this because I have an Irish friend named Mark and he’s from Galway or something

1 Dec Roisin Dubh (Upstairs) - Headline Show Galway, Galway
2 Dec Old Oak - Headline FREE Show Cork, Cork
3 Dec Dolan’s (Upstairs) - Headline Show Limerick, Limerick
4 Dec Whelans (Upstairs) Dublin, Dublin
26 Dec Stiff Kitten - Headline Show Belfast, Northern Ireland