As you may have noticed by my post from last month, I love making mixtapes. They're just fun. Great stuff. And now, there's an easier alternative to the usual zip, upload, download, unzip, ta-da approach: muxtape.com. It's simple - create an account, upload songs, and anyone can access your mixtape and stream it. No downloading, no registering (to listen), no hassle. I've seen some pretty rad mixtapes. There's only one mixtape allowed per username, but if you'd like to make another...well, just make another username! I've found this as the most enjoyable and convenient way of sharing music with friends and other internet peers and such. So give it a try!
Oh, lovely, lazy, luxurious London. A city firmly rooting itself in music. I could sit here all day listing how influential this royal city is. Elvis Costello, The Who, Queen, Led Zeppelin, The Clash, The Police, The Rolling Stones... And those are just some of the DATED names. Basement Jaxx, Bloc Party, Kate Nash... I could go on. The point is, this modern metropolis that is littered with eras gone by has put more than its fair share of artists on the map. How do you show music listeners everywhere that London has still got life flowing through its winding streets with the breaklights of cars that flow like blood through the country's capital? How do you show the city already renowned for Abbey Road still has some life in it? How do you make a statement saying, "Hey world, check out London!"?
These chaps seem to have found away. By "these chaps," of course, I'm talking about the folks who run the Black Cab Sessions. These London natives have a non-profit hobby of videomaking. But not just any videomaking - their job is to film bands! But there's a twist (things are only interesting if there's a twist, eh?).
Here's the gist. Get a camera crew in London. Check. Now, find a great indie band. A bit more difficult, but we've got another check off the list. Now hail one of the classic black cabs off the London streets. Give them the heads up on why a band and camera crew, along with all their equipment and instruments, are invading said cab. Then, put all the ingredients together, and make some music! Check!
It's as easy, and certainly as unique, as that. The idea is to film some unique performances by exquisitely talented musicians while driving around London in the back of a taxi cab; there is one take filmed on camera, and all flaws, mistakes, and improvisations are fair game.
"We always hail the taxi straight off the street, which means the cabbies know nothing about the sessions until about five minutes before we start," the Black Cab Sessions informs readers whilst featuring London based band Fanfarlo. "Once we've pulled them over, we talk them through the slightly weird premise and explain how it'll all work. And right then, just as we've done that bit, there is always the moment. It's the moment when the cabbie pauses, ever so briefly, just for a beat, before giving us the verdict. Does he think we're complete jokers? Sometimes."
Keep in mind, I did mention this is a hobby. Black Cab Sessions is entirely non-profit; this is what "these chaps" do for their spare time! How much better do you get than a free and exclusive performance from some of your favourite bands? And these are their favourite bands, in fact, as the Black Cab Sessions are willing to deny those bands they would rather not be caught filming.
I know, I know, you're thinking, "So these are THEIR favourite bands? Probably a lot of boring local bands, right?" Well there's certainly a lot of local talent, but they're far from boring. The Futureheads, Hot Club de Paris, The Kooks, The Ravonettes, Lightspeed Champion... Are your ears perked yet? Cause those were only the bands out of the United Kingdom.
Black Cab Sessions really got international press when they featured a wonderful performance by Death Cab for Cutie. Then let's not forget the debut of Cold War Kids' latest song, "Dreams Old Men Dream" in the backseat of the taxi cruising down the London streets by night. And sometime after paying cab fairs with Man Man, Lykke Li, My Morning Jacket, The Cool Kids, Spoon, Okkervil River, Bon Iver, and The New Pornographers, they've racked up over 50 exclusive performances (and counting), and have documented quite a bit of the city landscape.
"On the whole, the London cab driver is a fine breed indeed. By and large they are game, up for it and just terrific sports." And there you have it! I've been following Black Cab Sessions religiously for a few months now, but they've been going steady and strong with frequent updates for the past year. You can check them out at the Black Cab Sessions [dot] Com.
What do you think of when you think about Massachusetts? Don't be cliché and say the Salem Witch Trials! Everyone (at least in the United States) has heard about that. Let's dig a little deeper... Maybe you dream of the distant, uncultivated lands of the Pilgrim's Massachusetts - Plymouth Rock and the like. Or maybe we're a bit more contemporary, with an obsession with the Red Sox. Maybe Harvard rings a bell. Or maybe names like the Dropkick Murphys, Harry and the Potters, Sebadoh, or Dinosaur Jr. twinkle in your head.
These and other topics may all be valid, but let's think for a moment. Have you heard of Marten Reed? How about Faye Whitaker? Pintsize? Jeph Jaques? Coffee of Doom? Surely you at least know of Deathmøle?
That's right, we're talking about Questionable Content. QC is a webcomic created, illustrated, and managed by Jeph Jaques, full-time webcomic artist. (If you're already lost, asking, "what the hell is a webcomic?" I shall not digress, so I suggest you read up.) This comical slice-of-life webcomic set in Northampton, Massachusetts follows the story of Marten Reed, indie music buff, who's trying to make his way through life as he works away in an office. After meeting the cute Faye Whitaker in a dive bar, Marten is feeling pretty upbeat... that is, until he learns Faye has burnt down her apartment (in a strange series of events that definitely involve toasters).
Marten takes Faye in and a friendship is born. With that, the plot of Questionable Content sets sail, drifting through zany comedy (usually involving sexual tension between housemates or a strange anthromorphic robot that causes far too much trouble), wild romantic interests, and fun times all around, Questionable Content has one strict focus: this is a webcomic based around indie music.
Often playing off the silly clichés that crop up due to the cultural standing of the genre, Jaques weaves his characters through the weird world of indie music's subculture with some talented, contemporary artwork. Somewhere between dissing Conor Oberst for being whiny, reminicing about the long lost days of Pavement, and rockin' out with the one and only (fictional yet audible) QC band, Deathmøle, Questionable Content takes readers/viewers through the average (if not quirky) life of some cool folks who like music.
Jeph Jaques is a busy man! Not only does Questionable Content publish... well, content, five days a week, but Jaques can be proud that he runs one of the few self-sufficient webcomics out there, supporting himself entirely from QC merchandise. The comic follows a plot, so it is chronological. But Jeph's archives have become quite substantial, as he reached comic number 1150 last Monday! We can't forget to mention his other webcomic creation, Indie Tits... a comic all about tits [birds] who talk all about indie music! If that wasn't enough, Jeph has his own music blog with friends called Yelling About Music, though you'll have to read Questionable Content to find the inside joke about that. Finally, there is this little band of Jeph's/QC's called Deathmøle. I won't go into the details (that's for your reading of QC pleasure), but there is a whole library of music right over here. Questionable Content publishes Monday through Friday at around 10PM-1AM EST. And the following comic is basically what I based this music blog off of.
So I'll be frank, I listen to a lot of Canadian bands. In fact, I just love the country of Canada as a whole (even though I'm stuck down here in Texas). I have even considered attending Concordia or McGill University in Montreal sometime in the near future, and the possible prospect of following in the footsteps of Win Butler (see Arcade Fire) and immigrating.
The point is, despite my strange obsession with the county of the red Maple Leaf, they have endowed TONNES of great music. The entire Arts & Crafts label (as far as I know), except for Los Campesinos! (from the UK) is based out of Canada. Feist, Kevin Drew, Amy Millan, Emily Haines, Stars, Metric, Do Make Say Think, The Most Serene Republic... There is The Arcade Fire, and all their connections: Bell Orchestre, Final Fantasy (see Owen Pallet)... for those with more extensive tastes, there is also Godspeed You! Black Emperor and all their subsets: A Silver Mount Zion, Set Fire To Flames, Fly Pan Am... Let's not even begin to forget bands like Wolf Parade, Islands, The Unicorns, Holy Fuck, Tegan & Sara... the list goes on, and on, and on.
Well, I happened upon a little blog that is all about Canadian music! It's called Canaddiction, and provides the latest and greatest Canadian rarities, live performances, etc. from many of your favourite bands. I'm not going to lie, there are some awesome songs up for download there. If you're like your music quirky and beautiful like their respective country, go check out Canaddiction as quickly as you can!
On a completely unrelated, non-musical note Ibi Kaslik is one of the coolest modern authors around. She happens to also be from Canada, and has a book out right now called Skinny. I'm almost done with it, and it's quite amazing. If you happen upon it, I suggest picking it up (even if you don't think you'll be interested because of the subject material). And for you Broken Social Scene fans, if you were wondering, yes, Ibi Kaslik is who the song "Ibi Dreams Of Pavement (A Better Day)" was named after.
I'm going out on the bold assumption that just about everyone these days knows about Dance Dance Revolution. It's caused quite big news topic over the years since its creation.
For those of you who may have been living under a rock, DDR is a dance oriented video game where you break down your dance moves to different songs on the game, typically house/dance/techno stuff. Arrows which fly up on the tv screen in front of you, and your job is to match your movements to them respectively, with as much timed accuracy as possible on a dance pad below your feet.
I, frankly, suck at DDR.
It's not the quick reflex part - I'm good with my reflexes. And it's not the essential puzzle system which the combination of directions create; I work wonders at Guitar Hero, which follows essentially the same process. The difference is, I'm very hand-eye coordinated. This is why expert on Guitar Hero is a yawner for me. I am not foot-eye coordinated. My feet just don't respond like that; I can't get them to go to the right places. I just don't have that sort of talent. But I've played DDR, and even though I'm horrible, it's really fun, and quite addicting. What am I to do?
There is a new outlet for me, and the hundreds of people who also suck at DDR but want to participate. It's called FFR, or Flash Flash Revolution.
FFR has all the lovely business that DDR holds, including the addiction, without all that silly dancing rubbish. Using your keyboard arrows, you try to time clicking down to the wire in the same way as DDR. It's great fun, and you get to here some interesting dancey music that you might not here otherwise. I'm not going to lie, Mocha Ocean - Yamajet is a pretty sweet song that I probably would have listened to without the game. And c'mon, you can play to a remix of Legend Of Zelda, why would you deny?
If you happen to get an account, be sure to add me as a friend, and during the sign up process, say I referenced you! I get points or something. =]
