Make sure you listen to them alland give a vote on your favourite!
This week I have decided to go back to my themed Music of the Week. This week I am posting my favourite live, solo performances. I believe that a person who can sound good and captivate an audiance alone on a stage without their normal band behind them is worth recognition. Please do note that these are live performances without all the usual instraments, but trust me, give them a chance and realize just how talented these people are!
Last week we had a tie in the vote, the winners being Two Door Cinima Club for their song "What You Know" as well as Foo Fighters with their song "Rope" I have the winning songs below.
"What You Know" by Two Door Cinima Club
"Rope" by Foo Fighters
Hope you all are discovering some amazing new artists through this, have fun listening
Alright, here is the final day of the cross-Canada tour, bringing us to the Maritimes. This area is known for bringing forth many folk bands but they are also a home to many up and coming indie rock artists. Many of these artists are extrememly popular amongst college radio stations all across Canada because of their great hooks and easy listening aspects of their songs. So here it is, my top 5 bands of the Maritimes :)
#1: Two Hours Traffic (Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island)
"Stuck For The Summer"
#2: Hey Rosetta! (St. John's, Newfoundland)
"RedHeart"
#3: Joel Plaskett Emergency (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
"Nowhere With You (Acoustic) [Live]"
#4: The Danks (Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island)
"Planet Beach"
#5: Boxer The Horse (Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island)
Welcome to day 4 of the cross-Canada music journey! Most people when they think of Quebec and their music probably will automatically think "French" which can be true, but their are also a whole bunch of great English Speaking musicians have come from this province. So without further talk, here are my top 5 of Quebec, please enjoy! :)
Alright, welcome to the halfway point of our cross-Canada trip, Ontario! Today I've highlighted alot of live showings by the bands which will not be exactly the same as their album versions but it's always good to see how strong a band is when playing live and how their showmanship works. So anyways, here are my top 5 of Ontario! Hope you all enjoy :)
Alright guys, so now we move farther east to The Praries! This section of the country (Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba) have been a huge influence in country, folk and bluegrass in Canadian music, but it is also home to many great indie rockers! :) Here's my top 5 from The Praries!
Hey everyone, so I'm back and will now be starting the cross-canada music tour outlined two posts prior, I hope everyone participates as well and everyone realizes that great music comes from everywhere in this great country :) My first post is on British Columbia and I will be moving east with each day, anyways, here are my top 5 of British Columbia!
#1: Mother Mother (Quadra Island, British Columbia)
"The Stand"
#2: Dan Mangan (Vancouver, British Columbia)
"Road Regrets"
#3: The Zolas (Vancouver, British Columbia)
"You're Too Cool (Acoustic) [Live]"
#4: Hot Hot Heat (Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia)
"Bandages"
#5: Matthew Good Band (Coquitlam, British Columbia)
Hello, this is a notice to all readers in that, I will be taking ten day break from blogging as I will be away and out of reach of any type of technology. Therefore, the Cross-Canada Music Trip will start the day of my return. This gives everyone the chance to preview any of the bands I have listed before I go into more depth with them. They are all amazing so I highly recommend it. For anyone still seeking some indie rock can go back to any previous "Music of the Week" winners or other songs I've posted on here.
Hey everyone, so I've decided to make this very special post.
I am a true Canadian, and like every Canadian very proud to be one, as well as call this country home, and so it makes me very proud to say that I have just reached the mark of...
1000 CANADIAN VIEWS
This is amazing, just knowing that so many other Canadians love this music as much as I do is awesome, and for the rest of the world I hope that, (if you haven’t already) you grow to enjoy Canadian music and their presence in the indie rock scene of the world.
So, to celebrate this feat, I will be taking a musical trip across Canada
Below I will be listing each and every province in Canada and naming my Top 5 favourite bands to have come from that region! Then, over the next days I will delve a bit deeper into each region's indie rock scene,one day at a time, one region at a time, I am posting the regions below as well as a list of the bands so you can easily refer to it in any future searches :)
And now I begin, I will start at the west coast and move east, this means I'm going to begin with...
British Columbia
1. Mother Mother (#3 in my Top 10)
2. Dan Mangan
3. The Zolas
4. Hot Hot Heat
5. Matthew Good
The Praries
1. The Weakerthans
2. Chad VanGaalen
3. Inward Eye
4. The Waking Eyes
5. Rah Rah
Ontario
1. Tokyo Police Club (#5 in my Top 10)
2. Our Lady Peace (#7 in my Top 10)
3. Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker (#8 in my Top 10)
4. illScarlett (#10 in my top 10)
5. Billy Talent
Quebec
1. Arcade Fire
2. Wolf Parade
3. Sam Roberts
4. The Lovely Feathers
5. The Stills
The Maritimes
1. Two Hours Traffic
2. Hey Rosetta!
3. Joel Plaskett Emergency
4. The Danks
5. Boxer The Horse
So there is the next 5 days laid out for you, hope everyone's excited with this cross-Canada project and discovers even more amazing music :)
Make sure you listen to them alland give a vote on your favourite!
This week I have chosen a group of bands that is very diverse in their styles but amazing at what they do, check em all out cause they all deserve the recognition!
Last week we had a tie in the vote, the winners being Matt & Kim for their song "Daylight" as well as The White Stripes with their song "Icky Thump" I have the winning songs below.
"Daylight" by Matt & Kim
"Icky Thump" by The White Stripes
Hope you all are discovering some amazing new artists through this, have fun listening
Tim McIlrath - Vocals, Guitar Zach Blair - Guitar Joe Principe - Bass Brandon Barnes - Drums
From: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Debut: 1999
Key Songs:
"Give It All" "Swing Life Away" "Ready To Fall" "Prayer Of The Refugee" "Re-Education (Through Labor)" "Savior" "Hero Of War" "Help Is On The Way" "Architects
Mike Jollett - Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards Steven Chen - Guitar, Keyboards Anna Bulbrook - Viola, Keyboards Noah Harmon - Bass, Double Bass Daren Taylor - Drums
From: Los Angeles, California, USA
Debut: 2006
Key Songs:
"Does This Mean You're Moving On?" "Sometime Around Midnight" "Gasoline" "Wishing Well" "Happiness Is Overrated" "Changing" "Numb" "The Kids Are Ready To Die"
Raine Maida - Vocals, Guitar Steve Mazur - Guitar Duncan Coutts - Bass Jeremy Taggart - Drums, Percussion
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Debut: 1992
Key Songs:
"Starseed" "Naveed" "Superman's Dead" "Clumsy" "Automatic Flowers" "4 AM" "Is Anybody Home?" "Somewhere Out There" "Innocent" "All You Did Was Save My Life" "The End Is Where We Begin"
Hey everyone and I just want to say thank you, to everyone who visits this blog, as I have reached the level of...
1000 VIEWS
This is just a blog that I have been making for my Writer's Craft course at school but it seems to be reaching out to a wider audience
I'm really glad that I am helping those out there who are discovering new music and enjoying it as much as I do in sharing
So, to celebrate the milestone, I will be hopefully sharing more with you guys about what my taste in music is like...
Over the next ten days I will be counting down my ten favourite bands of my lifetime (which is 17 years) the ten bands that have had their music playing over and over on my iPod for the last 5 years (when I really started getting into music) and I hope you guys like them too :)
So check back tomorrow to see my number 10 band in the countdown to number 1
Hey guys, once again I've posted the new bands of the week!
Make sure you listen to them alland give a vote on your favourite!
This week I decided to go with a another theme, so all the bands in the list this week are Indie Rock Musical Duos. Yes, that means two man/woman bands. I hope you guys check all them out as the size of a band does not make it better or worse in any way and these guys all have a lot of amazing talent.
As for last week, the winner was Franz Ferdinand. Below I have their winning song "No You Girls"
"No You Girls" by Franz Ferdinand
Hope you all are discovering some amazing new bands through this, have fun listening
Hello to everyone again, So, on this amazing Easter weekend I decided to come back to this blog and once again start contributing some more amazing sounds for all your ears to hear. This week I have, in my opinion, one of the most talented singers in all of modern day indie rock.
His name? Tony Beliveau.
Tony is the lead singer and keyboardist for his band Crash Kings. The band is made up of Tony, his brother Mike (who plays bass as well as contributes with background vocals) and then Jason Morris on drums.
I know some people out there are probably confused by this, as the usual three-man band will consist of a lead guitarist, bassist and drummer. The examples of these stereotypical three-man bands are evident through history,(Green Day, Nirvana, Them Crooked Vultures, Blink-182, Violent Femmes, Muse, Seether, and the list goes on) However, Crash Kings have something that sets them apart from all these other great indie bands. They don't have a guitarist!
That's right, the band has no guitarist at all, and most people when they hear this get turned off the idea of the band. Usually the guitar has been a staple in rock music since the first day it was played, but however, the lack of guitar makes Crash Kings' music even more powerful. In some songs it sounds as if a guitar is involved, but in fact there is none, but rather Tony uses different levels of distortion as well as a whammy bar on his keyboard.
Now I will try to cover this amazing bands very short history.
This trio from Los Angeles first got together in 2006 and toured locally for three years before releasing their, self-titled first album in 2009. This album featured the hit single "Mountain Man" and since the release, this band, and their unique style, has taken North America by storm. They have since been on tour with indie rock greats StoneTemple Pilots, Australian indie rock pioneers Jet and the new millennium breakthrough band The Bravery. The publicity of these shows, their one of a kind setup and the powerful voice of Tony Beliveau has made their rise to indie rock stardom a very quick and well deserved one.
Now I will go into more detail on the album. This is actually quite easy for me to state in one word.Amazing. From start to finish the album is unbelievable, they mix up their styles so well and every song has a new edge to it that just makes you want to hear more. Of course, "Mountain Man" is the highlight of the album; it was their first single and is such a masterfully made song. But when you listen to the rest of the album, especially some of the songs that never made it to radio you realise that there are many songs that are just as good, if not better than their big hit. "1985" "It's Only Wednesday" "Come Away" "Non Believer" and "Raincoat" are all songs that could have easily been radio hits if they had received more air time. The album is expansive and amazing and I encourage everyone to get a copy as it is well worth the buy. And, if you already have this album, they have announced that they will be releasing their sophomore album before the end of the year.
My final part of the review will not focus as much on the band aspect but more on Tony Beliveau, masterful songwriter and owner of my favourite voice in indie rock. You can tell his voice is good when you listen to the record, but I do not believe you can fully appreciate it until you hear a live performance. For, in my opinion, his voice sounds even better live than on the record. Obviously many people agree with me on this as Tony has went on many solo tours this year, playing the Crash Kings' songs with just him and a keyboard. Below I will be showing you guys some videos from Crash Kings, but I will also be including some of Tony's solo efforts on the songs, and I know that all of you who listen to them will be as blown away as I was.
Here I have the Crash Kings performing "Mountain Man" as well as Tony performing "Mountain Man" solo; please keep in mind that Tony’s rendition is live, there is no editing or electronically altering of the voice. Also, he is playing all of the instrument’s parts on keyboard since they are not present. He is then singing like a god while doing this. I also have a copy of Tony performing "It's Only Wednesday" as well as the whole band performing "Non Believer"
