is the door shut tight, it's a morning song

If I can't spend the rest of my life living on a perpetually warm beach with a never ending supply of hemp and berry smoothies, I would like to go see a never ending amount of live shows. From National Arts Centre's concert halls, to college's shitty student lounges, all I want to do is listen and see people play music. This is essentially what I'm doing with the month of March.

Last night, I went to a shitty college student lounge, to see Aidan Knight and We Are The City, live, and for free. What is not to love about that combo? Well, my friend and I were a. late to leave downtown, b. misjudged the amount of time to get there, and c. had no idea where this lounge actually was, having never been on that campus before. It was an adventure. So adventurous in fact, that we missed Aidan's set. It was only a baby concert too. Just two hours long. We were there for 25 minutes.

However, in those 25 minutes, We Are The City impressed me beyond belief. They have got some sort of magic musical touch where indie meets headbanging is so o.k. you want to style your hair just like theirs and pick a best friend to harmonize with forever. They were charming, funny, and all got in on the stage banter. (Stage banter makes or breaks a show for me. For reals.) They are creative and have flair. Nothing about those 25 minutes was boring.

Here's a video I found of them from another blog, Calgary Is Awesome , and it give a pretty good idea of what the show last night was like. Listen and love people.


Shot at the Dark - We Are The City from Shot at The Dark on Vimeo.


ps. they have a youtube channel, and it is glorious.

Hey Mama Rock Me. (T&S Series #11)

WOAH! Another mix!

Ok, so maybe not that surprising. At all. Though some of the tracks might be... This is just a mix of eight of the most played songs on my iTunes right now. A nice little melange of old and new favourites.

desire is hunger is the fire i breathe.

I was going to post about a couple of things this week, but every time I sat down to actually write, I got bored, and that is most definitely a sign that those posts shouldn't be published.

Instead I'm going to make a list. Easy, succinct, and while they are somewhat overdone, they remain mildly amusing (I said mildly!)

1.) Been listening to a lot of Patti Smith lately. May just be a phase.
2.) Sore throat. Tea is not acting as the cure it usually is. On to clementines. GO GO VITAMIN C!
3.) I am motivated this semester! By which I mean I have done nothing to contribute to my education this week but buy textbooks and scan online newspaper headlines. Strong start, I know.
4.) Just realized my New Year's resolution is more of a goal than anything. Should jump on that.
5.) I make a pretty mean vegetarian chili.
6.) This is actually pretty boring. Thanks for suffering through and reading it. For some strange reason I feel obligated to post on here now that I know people actually read this. If anything that should encourage more interesting content. Alas, no.

what a relief to see all of your sins absolved without a washing cloth (T&S Series #7)

I have an addictive personality. Right now you could say I'm addicted to the mellow, acoustic, simplicity of songs.

You could also say I'm addicted to scanning the online headlines of the Globe and Mail, refreshing my Twitter page, and procrastinating when its time for me to sit down and write a paper.

Regardless, these eight tracks, beginning with Aidan Knight's "Jasper" (which I've played up in a previous post) fall into that category of mellow, acoustic, and simple. Ok, well not exclusively acoustic, what fun would that be?



I put the Civil Wars on this mix because they sound sooooo gorgeous. I love when two singers are perfect vocal matches, and I think these two are. I especially like it when a live show comes out sounding like theirs does - so clean! In that way they really remind me of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.

Winter Song is something of an addiction right now. I just had to put it on. Don't judge. (But seriously, the layering of the two voices in the last 30 seconds of the song is perfect).

Fleet Foxes is just the epitome of all of the above classifications of music.

Cat Power is pretty chill too. She has her peppy moments (check out Aretha Sing One For Me), but for the most part keeps it on the straight and narrow of calm and bluesy.

This Alec Ounsworth song is off his solo album (he is the singer/guitarist of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah). Its much more low key that previous work. And I think I like this side of him.

I listen to Wilco on long car rides, or on early mornings on the bus. They're good gentle wake-up music too.

LUM's "Mysterious Ways" is just so soothing to me. I listened to this song on repeat for a night while writing a last minute paper. It totally calmed me down. Hence it being on the mellow 8 track mix.

And finally, a bonus 9th track. I know, I know, against the rules. But of all the artists in my iTunes, Sufjan Stevens has to be on this mix.

I so desperately wanted to put some Bon Iver up, but I'm pretty sure I've put him on two mixes now... a little bit of over kill if he were on three. Sam Amadon would be perfect for this too. So give them a listen anyway. Just not on my 8 tracks site this round.



So they're simple songs. (but maybe they're complex in their simplicity? is that possible? oooooh food for thought!) And mellow, no crazy beats this time. And, for the most part, they feature the ever charming acoustic guitar. I would say these tracks are good things to get addicted to. I mean, its wayyyy better than coke, right?

came up to the water

Thanks to twitter my musical world has expanded ten fold.

Tonight Said the Whale directed me towards Aidan Knight and his music video for his new song Jasper.

You have to watch it.

Looks like the kind of video some friends of mine would make, and some friends of mine would be in.

You can bet this track will be on a mix soon.