RADIOHEAD: IN/RAINBOWS

I don't think I've ever heard anything so amazing in my life, besides Fink..

I'm not going to go into detail about Radiohead.. For one because I'll do a huge Thom Yorke/Radiohead post later on.. Number two, if you don't know who Radiohead is, you're not experiencing music properly at all.

IN/RAINBOWS is mind blowing, haunting, gripping, beautiful, sad and awesome. It sounds like it was recorded in a church, that's inside of a castle, during a full moon. It is absolutely unbelievable.

I love 'House of Cards', '15 Step' and 'All I Need'...

I've included the link where you can purchase 'IN/RAINBOWS' on vinyl. You could download it for free from the same site for a while but that expired. I'm getting it on vinyl soon, just because. Enjoy ;)

===>'All I Need'<===

Radiohead's Myspace is HERE
Radiohead's Homepage is HERE
Buy 'IN/RAINBOWS' on cd HERE
Buy 'IN/RAINBOWS' on vinyl HERE

Patrick Watson is a Daydreamer...

Patrick Watson is an amazing musician.

If you listen to him, or his band, should I say, it might remind you of the vocal ramblings of Radiohead or the distinct strange sounds of Amon Tobin. Some people say he sounds like if you took classical music and mixed it with indie rock. His voice is soft and relaxed, yet it will echo through your walls. The piano and orchestra type melodies will fill your room and the catchy guitar riffs will leave you listening over and over again..

He was born in California in 1979 and raised in Hudson, Quebec. He is signed to Secret City Records in Montreal along with 'Plants & Animals', which of whom I did a post of earlier this month. He has toured with artists like James Brown, The Cinematic Orchestra, Feist & The Dears. He received an award for New Artist of the Year at the 2007 Juno Awards.

His album 'Close to Paradise' (2006) is absolutely wonderful and has incredible replay value. 'Daydreamer' is my favorite track on the album, it's beautiful... Enjoy ;)

Patrick Watson's Myspace is HERE
Patrick Watson's Homepage is HERE
You can Buy 'Close to Paradise' HERE

Listen===> 'Daydreamer' <===Listen

I Heart Fin Greenall..

If I was a girl, I'd stalk him..

His name is Fin Greenall and he goes by the name Fink. He is a Brighton, England based singer, songwriter, producer & Dj. He is signed with Ninja Tune, has played at over 250 different locations around the world and has toured with Zero 7. This man has one of the most amazing voices you'll ever hear, period. It's beautiful and haunting. I think someone else said this but it actually sounds like he eats cotton balls before he goes to bed and when he wakes up, he massages his throat with baby oil.

Do you like folk music? at all? Guaranteed that even if you don't, you will appreciate and most likely fall madly in love with Fink. His first album 'Biscuits for Breakfast' is a more bluegrass folk sound with a lighter approach. I strongly advise that you listen to 'Biscuits for Breakfast' first so that you get a good idea for what his original sound was. I believe that by doing this, you'll actually appreciate 'Distance & Time' that much more..

'Distance & Time' is the name of his second album released just two months ago in November. This album is alot deeper; the guitar, the chords, his voice, everything. Every song is amazing. You rarely get that on an album nowadays. I could go on about him forever but I'm not going too, cause I don't have time.

I've enclosed two of my favorite tracks, one from each of his albums. Please, go buy his music, it's all SO GOOD, all of it. Links are below. Enjoy ;)

Fink's Myspace is HERE
Fink's Homepage is HERE
You can Buy his music from HERE

===> 'Little Blue Mailbox' from 'Distance & Time'

===> 'Pills in my Pockets' from 'Biscuits for Breakfast'

Plants & Animals...

Okay, so definitely the biggest picture I've uploaded too my blog so far...

These guys look really crazy but they're actually quite tame when it comes to indie rock. Based out of Montreal (Yes they are Canadian, awesome), Plants & Animals is comprised of two guitarist/vocalists, Warren Spicer and Nic Basque & a drummer/vocalist Matthew Woodley. They are signed to Secret City Records, a Canadian independent label that has signed artists such as Patrick Watson and The Go! Team, both very awesome artists. I LOVE Patrick Watson and I will be going over him, his band and Secret City Records later on this month.

Plants & Animals have two releases so far. Their first (2002) is self titled and contains 5 tracks. It is mostly ALL instrumental, but I mean, if you love intstrumental, than you'll love this. The song 'Jacques' has to be my favorite on that release.
Their second release (2007) 'with/avec - EP' contains only four songs, this time you're able to hear their wonderful vocal talents. 'Lola Who?' is my favorite on that release and is the track that I will make available to all of you for download..

Their full-length debut Parc Avenue is tentatively slated for a March 2008 release.
Click HERE to read a concert review on 'Patrick Watson & Plants and Animals'

If you have an ipod, you can go to the Itunes Music Store and purchase both of their albums for only 13.95! That's actually the cheapest place to get it, cause on Amazon.ca it's $7.99 for the 4 track Avec EP alone. Itunes is also the only place where you can purchase their first album.
Psst.. if you dont know how to convert itunes into regular mp3's it's really easy, click HERE..

Go listen to Plants & Animals and let me know what you think ;)
Enjoy the music!

Plants & Animals ===> 'Lola Who?' off of 'with Avec-EP'
===> for Myspace click HERE
===> for their Homepage click HERE

December is here...

I was going to post a picture with snow in it but I don't have any pictures of snow in my huge database because it never snows here. The sky in the picture reminded me of snow, I think that's why I put it up. Umm, let's see, December is going to be really busy so I'm only going to do about 5 posts for the whole month.

There's a couple good shows this month; B Traits @ Hush on the 7th, Hyper on the 29th @ Hush and MSTRKRFT the night before in Van which I am SO EXCITED ABOUT! Okay that was my little freak out.. I had too though :)

Also people, NYE is coming up sooo get ready to party like it's 1632 + 376?

Go outside and have fun!

Life too clean? Get Dusty!

This is Dusty Kid. He was born Paolo Alberto Lodde in Cagliari, Italy in the early 80's. The guy looks like he's 15 and he produces really good tech house. There's alot to say about him so I'll just sum it up quickly. He was playing piano flawlessly when he was 10, producing when he was 17 and released his first single 'The Summer of Love' when he was 18. It made the Italian House Top Ten Chart as #8. He's remixed Richie Hawtin, Tiefschwarz, Robbie Rivera and Sven Vath just to name a few. I absolutely LOVE his production.

I've enclosed his new release 'Cowboys' which is slightly more mellow than most of his production but it's still incredibly groovy and catchy. Go to Beatport to buy his mp3's. Make sure you listen to 'Tsunamy' & his remix of Mason's 'The Screetch' which is my favorite for sure.

===> Dusty Kid - 'Cowboys'
===> For his Myspace click HERE

Castlevania is not a real word...

Le Castlevania is the alter ego of Atlanta, Georgia born Dylan Eiland. He steps all over the electro genre with his disco boots, making imprints in the dark, the glitchy, the dirty and the indie. Since 2006, he has toured everywhere, from London to Mexico City, to Australia and back to the States. He's played along side MSTRKRFT, Justice, Sebastian, DJ Mehdi, Steve Aoki, Crystal Castles and others head strong involved with that infectious, indie electro sound... His recent remix of 'BlackEyes' by Snowden has caused massive dancefloor disturbance around the world, proving that he has a good, tight grip on the gears of production. URB has put him in their 100 list for 2008 and he's wanted at Vice Record & NYLON parties. There's no doubt in my mind that Le Castlevania is gonna have heads, bangin head strong, into the new year.

Le Castlevania - "Trouble in Daylight" (LA Riots remix)
Le Castlevania - "Trouble in Daylight" (Young Americans Envy remix)

L.C's myspace
L.C's Homepage

I survived and I'm alive...

Okay so where do I begin, Topo's.. All my close friends were there and the food was amazing.. They didn't arrange the seating properly so it was kinda impersonal with the amount of people that were there. I think maybe it wasn't the right atmosphere for a big birthday gathering, definitely for a more intimate dinner. None the less, the food, always important to me, was amazing so I definitely recommend the place.. Onto pre drinking!

I can't remember where we went for pre drinks, maybe Whitebird.. but Bassnectar was, (like I said before) unbelievable. Sugar was packed.. I'm pretty sure that was the best that I've seen him play, lots of new tunes for sure and alot of slamming new remixes.. After the Nectar, a bunch of us went back to Justin's, like I predicted and drank until.. probably around 5 or so.. There's a link to the pictures I took at Bassnectar at the bottom of the post..

Saturday. Didn't do anything all day, just relaxed, slept, maybe downloaded some music and prepared myself for the night (and crazy Sunday) to come..

November Rain was amazing.. Everything worked out really well and by that I mean, well for one it didn't rain :) It was outdoors at Skutz Falls in Cowichan River Park and it was clear skies all night long.. The heated tents were extremely effective; if you were under the tents, you'd be warm (within reason).. Everyone played their best. I had SO MUCH FUN spinning. Matt What slayed it with a sick mix of glitchy electro and old school breaks. Mykee played one of the sickest speed garage sets I've ever heard. Cale (Gumbootz) played a rockin set. I was SO impressed with Ryan, he played a flawless, driving electro set and he was loving every minute of it.. Myself, Jenny, Ryan, Leila, Justin & Chantel came to the party with some skepticism and we left completely satisfied.. Link to the rest of the pictures from November Rain is at the bottom of the post..

Sunday. A bunch of us went back to Ryan's house and just demolished ourselves all day. I haven't been that drunk in a very, very, very long time..

So that's pretty much it.. I just worked from 7-3 and I've been eating fruit pretty much all day.. Below are a couple tracks for personal enjoyment.. Again, if you like the tracks you hear, go support the artist ;) A HUGE thanks to all my friends for making my weekend a memorable one.. Thank you to all the people that posted Happy Birthday to me on my facebook wall and on Rave Victoria, you're all awesome!

The Ed Banger boys always play this one out and it's one of my favorites. It sounds like you're actually partying INSIDE a disco ball with all of your friends..
===>Tepr - Minuit Jacuzzi (Data remix)<===
My favorite Bassnectar track is on the first disc of 'Mesmerizing the Ultra'.. Enjoy! ;) ===>Leprechauns Arise<===

Links
===>For Data's myspace click HERE
===>For Bassnectar's myspace click HERE
===>For Bassnectar's homepage click HERE
===>Wanna see all the pictures from Bassnectar==>HERE<==
===>Wanna see all the pictures from November Rain==>HERE<==

See you on the other side...

Tomorrow is my BIRTHDAY!! and the beginning of my birthday weekend.. I'm going to go over with all of you what I have planned for the next crazy three days.. So tomorrow I work 7-3. I'll leave at 3 and go home to play records, drink beer and get ready for dinner. Sean and Amanda have made reservations for 'Topo's' at 7, then pre drinking somewhere, then Oh yeah, did I mention BASSNECTAR is playing at Sugar on my birthday!!!

After Bassnectar (unbelievable), we'll probably go drink somewhere, most likely Justin's but I won't stay up very late cause I'm a loser and that's how I roll.. Saturday night is November Rain.. SUPER STOKED! Nov. Rain is Jolene's party that she told me about in August, and she said I could play from 11:30 - 1 cause it's my birthday weekend!

Sunday will be a complete write off... I'll most likely be completely incapacitated/inebriated...

I'll make sure you all get the full weekend 411 on Monday afternoon, which is when I'll be getting home from work at 4.. Oh and I'll post about 'Le Castlevania' later on cause he's really dope, just listen to the track below ;)

Here's some indie dance for ya... Beware, it's catchy ;)
Clicky===> Snowden - BlackEyes (Le Castlevania remix)

Links==> Buy Snowden HERE
==> Snowden's Myspace
==> Le Castlevania's Myspace

Today like Everyday...

There's this guy named Tommy Guerrero (B.11/09/66).. Born and raised in San Francisco, he was a head member of the Bones Brigade, which was a dominating skateboard team in the 1980's, lead by Powell Peralta.. Shorty after riding for Peralta, Guerrero & Jim Thiebaud started the skateboarding company "Real".
Successing in one passion, he moved onto the next, music. He was in a skate rock band for a while but decided he was better solo. He started producing a clash between downtempo, funk, soul & jazz.. Well that's the style on the album I have.. It's called "A Little Bit of Somethin" and it's reallly good..

This is a track ==> 'Pescadito' off of the album.. It's super chill..
Click HERE to go to his website..
Click HERE to buy his music..

Fire in the sky...

No, I'm not talking about the movie.. I took that picture yesterday just outside my house.. We have some of the nicest sunsets in Victoria and I'm going to post a few more sunset pictures during this month just cause I feel like its a sunset month :)

Click HERE to see some AMAZING sunset pictures that I took at Esquimalt Lagoon in September... like ridiculous.

Last night was dope...

Yeah 'what's up' is right!

When these two local breaks enthusiasts arrived at the Sunset Room, the party really got started. Their mixing was perfect, the track selection was nothing short of dirty, dark, crunchy and electro driven, the place started to pack up and everyone was going off. From past personal experience with spinning in a duo, I saw incredible chemistry between the two of them and I hope that they get booked as a tag team again really soon..

Separately, Wes Beanz & Chronikal have been spinning for quite some time now, allowing them both to develop their own unique styles and sounds. They're extremely talented and they've got an amazing ear for music. I'm happy to be able to share with you a set from each of them... Click the set names to listen & Enjoy ;)

Wanna see the rest of the pictures from the night, click HERE
Chronikal released 'Triple Drop 303' not that long ago
and you can check out his myspace HERE
Wes Beanz just released his first mix ever 'Stomping Ground'
You can get the tracklisting for Wes' mix HERE

Breaks at the Sunset...

Pretty excited about tonight :)

Down at the Sunset Room for I'm pretty sure the first time ever, Wes Beanz (my W.A.X home boy) & Alistair Stewart b.k.a Dj Chronikal will be squaring off for two hours with a non stop barrage of heavy, dark, electro breaks..
Get your dancing shoes on ;)

Speaking of dark electro breaks...
Data - Jaime Pas Lart 2007 remix

It's November!

And now is no time to be sitting around playing two man card games in a dim lit room... because my birthday is in 15 days and s**t's gonna get crazy!!

Okay, maybe just for the 16th, 17th and 18th it's crazy awesome time, but other than that, I'll make sure we get through this month with at least a few good posts ;)

My goal eventually is to do a post every two days, or maybe even every day, but I think I'll wait until the new year to start that kind of dedication. Things in Xavier land are slightly hectic right now, yet I will still try to maintain total control, somehow.. hehe..

Who'd like a little Boise Idaho based Indie Rock to start off their month? Built to Spill - "Liar" Pssst.. It's really good ;)

Happy Halloween!

The Wonderful Jane and Jenny..

When Halloween girls go bad (in the best way;)

On the left is the gorgeous Ashlee as Little Red Riding Hood. That's me on the right in my foam latex 'Lizard' mask. My mom did the makeup, thanks Mom!
Laura as Minnie Mouse, (cute) and Morgan (Tedder) as an
Old School 80's Rocker. Nice mullet Morgan.
I believe Kenzie told me she was either 'bird lady' from Home Alone or the woman from the movie "The Birds". (Note Kenzie's costume actually has birds attacking her)

Wanna check out the rest of the Halloween pictures, click HERE

I got my crazy 'Lizard mask' from Nightmares Entertainment

Enjoy Michael Jackson's - "Thriller"
Happy Halloween from Electrikids ;)

Citizens of Tomorrow..

The guy on the left is Dave Monks and on the Wright is Graham. You then have Greg Alsop on drums and Josh Hook on guitar. These wonderful gentlemen make up the Tokyo Police Club. Their style is high energy indie rock and boy do they ever have it. With their catchy guitar riffs, memorable lyrics and raucous stage prescence, the Toronto quartet that have definitely become noticed in the last 2 years..

I saw them on Oct. 16th at Sugar Night Club. They tore that place a new something. TPC just released their first EP: A Lesson in Crime. It's amazing.

Here's a track from the album --> Nature of the Experiment

Go buy everything that this band stands for :) If you enjoy the track above, you'll enjoy the entire album... Links Below...
==>Buy 'A Lesson in Crime' HERE
==>Tokyo Police Club's Homepage
==>Tokyo Police Club's Myspace

Graham's tired from being the amazing one man show that he is with those keyboards..

Tegan & Sara

Born at the same time, (give or take a few minutes) and raised in Calgary, Alberta, the Canadian Indie/Pop sisters Tegan & Sara Quin, formed their group when they both turned 16 in 1999. They've toured with bands such as Hot Hot Heat, Rufus Wainwright, Ryan Adams, The Killers, Neil Young, Tom Waits, Metallica and more.. The White Stripes have done a cover of one of their songs and they've even been nominated for a Juno (Canadian Grammy)..

They have now just released their new album "The Con" and will be touring all over the states again, this time with guests Northern State. I'm currently enjoying "Back in Your Head", it's catchy and I like the piano. For those of you that need a house beat, Tyler Fedchuk to the rescue... Enjoy!

Back in Your Head (Original mix)
Back in Your Head (Tyler Fedchuk's 1/2 Alive Disco remix)

Links ==> Tegan & Sara's Myspace
==> Tegan & Sara's Homepage
==> Tegan & Sara on Youtube
==> Buy their music, hoodies, t-shirts & DVD's @ Maplemusic.ca

Do the D.A.N.C.E, 1-2-3-4 Awesome...

I saw Justice last time they were here and it was absolutely amazing.. but there was a more personal feel in the air. The North American Ed Banger Records Tour was on March 25th (this year) at the Caprice in downtown Van, there was probably 300 - 400 people there. If you were there, you would've heard Justice, Sebastian, DJ MEHDI & Busy P (Pedro Winters), cause they were tagging.. all night.

Gaspard Augé & Xavier de Rosnay of Justice came back to Vancouver on Oct. 13th with The Midnight Juggernauts & Dj MEHDI. Being the most "blogged artist" in history is just one of the things that has helped the two electro rock stars blow up massively over the last 7 months. This time, it was unreal. Huge, white glowing cross, flashing to the music and lighting up a dancefloor of 1500+ people that were losing their minds. They played their incredible new album 'Cross', front to back, randomly throwing in a couple new remixes and just completely tweaking and distorting their entire set. Amazing.

The Midnight Juggernauts were the best indie dance/live band act I've seen to date. If I had the money, I would follow them around their North American tour and become a crazed fanatic. Three extremely, multi talented guys, best explained as.."Like The Rapture with John Carpenter on keys, their pummelling space-disco is the perfect bridge between Bloc Party's indie elegies and a synapse-shredding Justice DJ set" - NME.

Dj MEHDI in my opinion, stole the show, but I heart MEHDI so that's another story. Being pretty much the 'Ringleader' of Ed Banger Records, he's the most entertaining person to watch play and he's incredibly talented. His style can be described as hard banging glitch electro meets crunchy party hip hop. It's kinda hard to explain what he's like live, but to give you an idea, there's a video enclosed of MEHDI playing at the Justice show from the 13th (courtesy of my friend Justin) and here's a picture of him freaking out at the Caprice.. Priceless.

Below is a remix of MEHDI's 'Signature' by half of Daft Punk's (Thomas Bangalter), The Midnight Juggernaut's amazing remix of Dragonette's 'I Get Around' and the most recent remix by Justice, which will slam your face into the ground.. in a good way. Again, if you like them, go buy the mp3's at Beatport or buy the vinyl at Juno Records. Enjoy!

Dj MEHDI - Signature (Thomas Bangalter remix)
Dragonette - I Get Around (Midnight Juggernauts remix)
ZZT - Lower State of Consciousness (Justice remix)

Anders got me movin'...

I started October off with a bang. On the 3rd, I went to see Trentemoller: Live in Concert at the Plaza Club in Vancouver. He came fully equipped with two keyboards, a mixer, a drummer (Henrik Vibskov), a guitarist/bass (Mikael Simpson) and loads of acoustic instruments (including an electric harmonica and a glockenspiel). They went through all the tracks that every fan has come to know very well; Les Djinns, Always Something Better, What Else is There, Moan, Evil Dub, etc. It was a constantly changing wave of electronica; funky, minimal techno in the beginning, staying melodic throughout, then getting alot heavier in the end, with darker synths and really deep sub bass.

The bass/guitarist Mikael Simpson was phenomenal. He did everything. Jamming out on the bass, blowing into an electric harmonica (absolutely amazing), jamming out on a guitar and even shaking a tambourine.. The most amazing moment had to have been when he dropped the infamous bass line from 'Evil Dub' over top of 'Moan'. At one point, we were making so much noise from cheering Mikael on, that he motioned us to quiet down.. :)

After they were finished, my friend and I approached them and told them, "If you guys ever get a call from someone, asking you to play on a gorgeous beach, on the very west coast of Canada at a 3 day party, say yes".. I'm of course talking about Soundwave and they sounded very interested by the end of our conversation. So who knows, maybe I'll see these guys again really soon. Cause in my opinion, you can never have too much Trentemoller.

Below is the "flawlessly programmed" Trentemoller Essential mix from last year, as well as a few of his remixes. The Essential mix is big, but DO take both parts 1 & 2, they're equally amazing and the whole mix has incredible replay value..

If you do enjoy either of the remixes that you hear, you can go to places like Beatport for mp3's or Juno Records for the vinyl. Enjoy! ;)

Trentemoller Essential Mix 10.14.06 Pt.1
Trentemoller Essential Mix 10.14.06 Pt.2
Blue Foundation - As I Moved On (Run Jeremy Band's 12 Inch Pleasure Mix)
Aphex Twin - Windowlicker (Run Jeremy Band's White Label remix)