Category: Rock & Roll

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Different version of a release party

Keira, Duane, and Rod came over tonight, and we all gathered to kind of mark the occasion of the new Matthew Good album being released. For the most part, I made the dinner, minus Rebecca slicing the meat and cheese.

Tuesday Night Dinner 1

I’m pretty proud of what I came up with. Curried egg salad sandwiches, BLT wraps, assorted meats and cheeses, and crackers.

Tuesday Night Dinner 2

It was Raymi who inspired the effort. Otherwise, I would have gone with chiliaquiles, but there was something telling me that having them again just wouldn’t be as awesome as a gathering of good folks like this would be. Of course, slurpees go with just about anything.

Dinner Aftermath

Needless to say, I think it all went over well. Can’t forget to mention that Keira makes some of the best guacamole that can be found outside of my family. Truly an impressive concoction that I have found in a long time, and she makes a mean batch of cookies as well. In fact, they go well with the whip cream that was originally intended for the strawberries. Rod was the first to make this discovery, all of us following suit.

There wasn’t any listening of the new album as much as there was talk about “where we were when” during the process of the whole recording, not to mention a lot of other random topics that my belly is to full to think about. Then the good news passed down.

The record is sitting at number one on both Amazon.ca and iTunes Canada. [matthewgood]

As of this posting, it’s sitting at #21 on the U.S. version of iTunes. Not too bad.

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Matthew Good, “Hospital Music” available now

Today is the day for the official release of Hospital Music, the fourth solo album from Matthew Good, the eleventh, overall release of his nearly fifteen year career as a musician.

The album is available for purchase in music stores all across Canada. In the U.S., you can purchase Hospital Music through iTunes, CDs will be on sale at a late date.

The first single from this album, Born Losers, has been playing on Canadian radio for about a month now. Being that yours truly is working for some radio sations in Vancouver now, I can report that the single has received a lot of spin, not to mention that his show here has been sold out for the last few weeks.

Additionally, Matt has put a call out to fans to develop their own concept for the video to this single. Submissions have been coming in via YouTube, and it’s been impressive to see what people have come up with. The version I have on this post is one of the latest ones, and it’s the one that has impressed me the most so far. Plus this gives you a chance to check out the single for yourself in case you haven’t heard it yet(I’m looking at you, America!).

If you dig that single, you’re going to dig the rest of the album for sure. Dare I say it, there are a lot of musicians that talk about what music is and should be, and for the first time in a long time, this album really feels like Good is walking the walk.

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Punk’s Not Dead

Following my own link on my last post about T(I)NC, I found a news update about the documentary Punk’s Not Dead. Apparently the band, among many others, lent some time towards the filming of this movie, and it made me interested to find out more about it. From the IMDB entry:

On the edge of the 30th anniversary of punk rock, Punk’s Not Dead takes you into the sweaty underground clubs, backyard parties, recording studios, and yes, shopping malls and stadium shows where punk rock music and culture continue to thrive. Thirty years after bands like the Ramones and the Sex Pistols infamously shocked the system with their hard, fast, status-quo-killing rock, the longest-running punk band in history is drawing bigger crowds than ever, “pop-punk” bands have found success on MTV, and kids too young to drive are forming bands that carry the torch for punk’s raw, immediate sound. Meanwhile, “punk” has become a marketing concept to sell everything from cars to vodka, and dyed hair and piercings mark a rite of passage for thousands of kids. Can the true, nonconformist punk spirit still exist in today’s corporatized culture? Featuring interviews, performances, and behind-the-scenes journeys with the bands, labels, fans, and press who keep punk alive, Punk’s Not Dead dares to juxtapose pop-punk’s music and lifestyle against the roots in the 70s and 80s, resulting in unexpected revelations. A DIY search for the soul of a subculture and a celebration of all things loud, fast, and spiked, Punk’s Not Dead shows punk is stronger and more relevant today than it’s ever been. [imdb]

Basically, I think this seeks to answer the question as to if punk has sold out. I’ve seen plenty evidence to say yes, but there is a boat load of examples to say the exact opposite. Just depends on your point of view.

Find out more on punksnotdeadthemovie.com, and check out the following preview via YouTube. I know I’d like to check it out.

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The (International) Noise Conspiracy – up for sale

Been hit with a bit of a head cold over this weekend, so that found the TV being a major source of comfort today, especially with a number of documentaries that I’ve been meaning to watch for a while. After watching SiCKO[imdb], Cocaine Cowboys[imdb], and The F Word[imdb], it reminded me of this video from T(I)NC that I was surprised to find a number of weeks ago. Didn’t even know they made a video for this song.

Can’t wait for the new album that they are working on, but The Lost Patrol Band is filling in the gaps nicely until then. Gotta see them the next time they come to town as well.

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William Elliot Whitmore on YouTube

I’ve written about William Elliot Whitmore when he came to Vancouver. Sadly, I never made it to that show. I did, however, find this video of him doing this in-house/live studio performance on YouTube. Hard to imagine that the guy has opened for hardcore bands all across Europe, but it’s true. And the crowds loved him.

I don’t know what it is about his voice and the banjo, but it works for me.

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Local H – no fun + alright, oh yeah

Going through one of my rediscovery phases, and these guys don’t have a video for either of these songs, of which I really dig. This live performance from Local H in 2002 is the best I can do, but it does the trick.

Caution: slightly strong language.

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ShowClix launches into Canada

I was contacted the other day about ShowClix. Basically, it’s a one stop shop for finding shows in your area, or at least that is the intention. I’ve often thought about the concept and how hard it would be to possibly list every show that you possibly could in a city, especially in Vancouver. The truth is that you can’t, but after registering on their site, there are a few shows that caught my attention that I hadn’t known about. Obviously, this means the site is doing the job it’s intending to do.

ShowClix I still feel like the interface is a bit wet behind the ears, but you are able to search with a little ease. However, they don’t stop at listing shows. If you are putting on a show, you can sell tickets through their site. I don’t know the details involved, but apparently it’s free. Purchasers are basically put on a guest list that they have bought spots on. That’s a neat concept, and that puts you in control of the door to confirm people’s identity as they enter the venue. It’s your own, little Ticketmaster.

Everyone is free to add shows as well, and this will be helpful in creating an all encompassing list of shows to see, no matter how big or small. Once again, a daunting task, but if you can bust down the social barriers that bring the mainstream and the underground together, then I’m all for it. At least, if I am understanding this right, you can list a show for your garage band in your uncle’s basement right next to the dudes playing a stadium show on the same night. And dude, I’d totally love to hang out with you on your uncle’s basement rather than get back row seats at GM Place.

It’s a unique take on mashing up Web 2.0 with live music, concert venues, and social networking. There are even ways to list the shows you plan on checking out on your blog, opening up a way to see what your fellow blogger friends who are also registered on the site will be checking out. Then you can chastise them for their musical tastes even more.

True that the listings in Vancouver are a little weak, but they have launched in Canada as of a week or so ago. Checking around other cities, there is quite a bit. Even better, they offer RSS feeds so you can subscribe and keep up to date on new concert listings as they are added for you particular city.

Check out ShowClix for yourself if you are the concert going type. I know that I never get to see enough.

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Wanted to watch more Live Earth

I must admit, Live Earth was pretty cool, at least from what I saw. The basic, overall message seems to be in dispute, but the performances that I did catch were pretty amusing. Metallica got me to stay put, Spinal Tap was cool, the snip of the Beastie Boys left me wanting more, and Wolfmother in Sydney made me wish we had saw them in Vancouver.

We had a busy weekend, so there wasn’t much time to watch a lot of the performances. The awareness ads that ran during the commercial breaks were amusing, but it left me with a sense of people being apart of something to get their “big names” plastered into a world event. That’s not to say that the messages weren’t worthwhile, but Will Farrel or that one dude from those American Pie movies isn’t a name at the top of the list when I think about conserving energy and/or saving the environment.

With hope, Live Earth did what it was intended to do. In this MTV culture, the true test will see how well it sticks, no matter how successful it might have been.

Live Earth events drew more than 10 million online viewers Saturday, the most ever to simultaneously watch a concert broadcast over the Internet, according to Microsoft.

The concerts were beamed live from venues in or near New York, London, Hamburg, and several other major cities around the world over Microsoft’s MSN network. As of 3 p.m. Saturday, MSN had delivered more than 10 million video streams, the company said. [informationweek]

Even I will admit that I watched, and wanted to watch more, because of the musical acts. That’s not to say that I’m already contemplating the issues they were talking about on a near daily basis, but it’s totally the rock and roll that kept me coming back for more. Cameron Diaz talking about being one of the first actors in Hollywood to buy a hybrid car? I could kinda care less.

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Matthew Good, “Hospital Music” streaming and album release

June 29, 2007: Rebecca is rocking a live blog from a private performance by Matt in Las Vegas. Check it out here.

Matthew Good, last night in his old home (Aug. 2006) Getting the note from his website, Matthew Good is now streaming his entire new album, “Hospital Music”, on his website and on iTunes. You can purchase your own copy on July 31st, but singles and the full record will be available via the iTunes Music Store slightly sooner in the states than the hard copy release.

Additionally, Rebecca has just started her journey to Las Vegas to catch a private performance by Matt. I just saw her off on the first leg, and she will be live blogging the whole event in a bit of a whirlwind tour. A very nice follow up to her first live blogging adventure, all because of the same guy.

It would be poor of me to not mention this new album, and I should really have posted more about this than I have. In fact, I’ve talked about it more on RadioZoom, but that’s a different sphere altogether than my blogging efforts.

A lot of Vancouver is synonymous with Matt for me. He was the first rock show I saw here, and I got to meet him for the first time in August of 2006 at the little show he gave for a select group of fans on the last night he lived on the cusp of the west end. We’ve hung out since then, he’s chastised our preference of wine, and we come to a lot of the same conclusions on political issues. The only thing on that last point is that he is generally much smarter than me. I know the overall concept that fuels my opinion, but the guy is so, incredibly informed that I can only nod my head in agreement.

Matthew Good, November 2005 at the Commodore BallroomI reviewed “Beautiful Midnight” during my days at KRUI, picking that album out of the pile for the only reason that I had a fascination with the Canadian music scene that was a completely different world than the mainstream of America. That was my introduction, and Rebecca taught me a lot more. I’m still getting more and more familiar with his library every single time it comes up in my library.

On this new album, however, I was actually there when parts of it were being made. I’ve even been able to sit through a private listening of it while Benji fell asleep on Rebecca’s lap. Every single time, there is something that amazes me, and I haven’t had that feeling about an album for a long time. Call it what you will, but listening to the stream of it right now, I know what it is that I’m talking about. That’s all that really matters.

I want to do some sort of music review of this album. The sad fact is, one, I’m not very good at those sorts of things. Second, I hate music reviews. I like what I like based on a matter of personal preference, and you should, too. I will say, however, brilliant. That’s the only word I can think of while I listen to this.

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Von Bondies – c’mon c’mon

Just to help celebrate being two episodes into season four of Rescue Me. Well, at least if you’re in the states. And if you’re a Rescue Me fan, you’ll enjoy the full version of this track, not just the abbreviated-opening-sequence-edit of this awesome Von Bondies track.

I get a ton of hits from people searching for the details of Rescue Me and when it will be on Showcase in Canada. Chances are, you won’t see the first episodes of season four hitting the screen until the end of the season currently running in the states. That means July or August before that happens, but you might be surprised. If anyone has more details, feel free to post the news in the comments.

Update: Thanks to a comment from the folks at the Showcase Blog, which you can find out more on their blog post here, the fourth season of Rescue Me will premiere in Canada on Tuesday, August 28th, 2007.