Monday, February 23, 2009

Small Town Shows...

I was home for my reading week and went out to a great local show. It was a two-night event, though unfortunately I could only attend for one night. 'Deep Freeze '09' was a pretty good show over all. I appreciated the venue (Black Pirate's Pub), and in general there were a lot of good bands playing. My favourites being Forever Dead and The Auditor General. I've talked about The Auditor General before, but not Forever Dead.

Forever Dead is a great rockabilly band from Thunder Bay. Their music is great, but their live shows are even better. The energy the band gives off is contagious and makes the audience
dance and sing along with all of their songs. Lead singer, Chelsea Heart's voice is powerful and intriguing and her stage presence is rarely seen. When accompanied by Jessica Hochins, keyboardist and backup vocals, they create great harmonies. The band is comprised of George Gratz, stand up bass, Mark Viherkoski, guitar, and Taylor T, drums. They all come together to create upbeat, energetic songs that are sure to please.





To buy their CD, click here.

If you like Forever Dead you'll probably like:




Sunday, February 22, 2009

38 Love Songs & Bonus Suggestions

I know that Valentine's Day is long gone, but I made two playlists for my boyfriend for that special day and I like them so much I think I should share them with the world. Here are 38 love songs that I think will strike a chord with everyone's heart. Enjoy.

  1. Challengers - The New Pornographers
  2. I Was Made For You - She & Him
  3. Maybe Lately - Miracle Fortress
  4. Samson - Regina Spektor
  5. In Your Eyes - Peter Gabriel
  6. Glosoli - Sigur Ros
  7. Such Great Hights - Iron & Wine
  8. Sea of Love - Cat Power
  9. The Luckiest - Ben Folds Five
  10. Inside & Out (Apostle of Hustle Unmix) - Feist
  11. I Will Follow You Into the Dark - Death Cab for Cutie
  12. Always Love - Nada Surf
  13. House of Gold - Andy Stochansky
  14. Running - No Doubt
  15. Better Together - Jack Johnson
  16. Paperweight - Joshua Radin and Schuyler Fisk
  17. Anyone Else But You - The Moldy Peaches
  18. Love Song - Anberlin
  19. Islands in the Stream - Feist and The Constantines
  20. Made-Up Love Song #43 - The Guillemots
  21. First Day of My Life - Bright Eyes
  22. My Favourite Book - Stars
  23. Staralfur - Sigur Ros
  24. Cupid - Jack Johnson
  25. Maps - The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
  26. To Be Alone With You - Sufjan Stevens
  27. Ache for You - Ben Lee
  28. Naked As We Came - Iron & Wine
  29. Allons-y - The Auditor General
  30. Fix You - Coldplay
  31. Let Go - Frou Frou
  32. I Know I Know I Know - Tegan and Sara
  33. Blue Eyes - Cary Brothers **
  34. She Loves You - The Beatles
  35. Hands Down - Dashboard Confessional
  36. Crash Into Me - Dave Matthews Band
  37. Accidentally in Love - Counting Crows
  38. Loveology - Regina Spektor
*** if your love does not have blue eyes, try...
  • Green Eyes - Coldplay
  • Brown Eyed Girl -Van Morrison
As for the two Sigur Ros songs, they may not be about love, but to me they sound like love. What songs sound like love to you?

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Ode To La Blogotheque

La Blogothéque, a French website that features excellent music, is the topic of the week. I adore this website for posting many of my favourite artists, as videos of them performing live, often in Paris, France. Founded by Vincent Moon, the website came about when he decided he wanted to film music in a different way than what everyone was accustomed to. I believe he achieved exactly what he set out to do. The videos are innovative and the music is superbe.

Here are a couple different videos that have come from La Blogothéque.








I encourage everyone reading to check out the website or the youtube channel for La Blogothéque.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Hometown Heroes




When I'm in my hometown of Thunder Bay, I tend to go to local shows at least twice a week. Even though I tend to like one band a night, I really like supporting local bands. This summer, a new local band emerged and lets just say they blow my mind. They are Vega, genre unknown, because to classify them is quite the task. The group's background is so diverse, coming from hardcore, rockabilly, and metal, yet interests in so much more than that. Their songs are uber-catchy and have me singing for days, and they appeal to such a wide audience. Their musical influences spawn from a wide variety of bands, such as Circa Survive, Thursday, Moneen, Choke, and Killswitch Engage, which can be heard in their songs. Vega will surely please a wide variety of music-lovers.

"I think we have the ability to reach a broad audience because we blend so many genres together. The music fits the lyrics well, so it allows us to write easily, yet from the heart."
- Jessica Hochins, vocals

"Writing this music has been an outlet for me to express a much softer side of myself. When I write for Vega, I find it important to capture a feeling. Through Vega, I have been able to express certain parts of my life musically, as well as progress as a songwriter: playing with layer, guitar interplay and textures. "
-
Shawn Hartviksen, guitarist

Click HERE to check out their sweet sound.



** photo taken by me, Vanessa Vaillant

Friday, February 6, 2009

loveology 101


Here's a lesson in love, brought to you by the lovely and talented Regina Spektor.



Oh, an incurable humanist you are.


Let's go to the movies,
I will hum you a song about nothing at all


Let's go to the movies, Let's go to the movies,
Nothing at all, Nothing at all, Nothing at all, Nothing at all.

Oh, An incurable humanist you are.


Let's go to the movies,
I will hum you a song about nothing at all

Let's go to the movies,
I will sing you a song about nothing at all

Let's go to the movies, Let's go to the movies,
Nothing at all, Nothing at all, Nothing at all, Nothing at all.

Sit down class, open up your textbooks to page 42.

Porcupine-ology, antler-ology, car-ology, bus-ology, train-ology, plane-ology, mama-ology, papa-ology,you-ology, me-ology, love-ology, kiss-ology, stay-ology, please-ology.

Let's study class, let's study class. Sit down.

Love-ology, love-ology, I'm sorry-ology, forgive me-ology, love-ology, love-ology, I'm sorry-ology, forgive me-ology, love-ology, Love-ology.

Let's study class, let's study class.

Love-ology. Let's study class, sit down.

Love-ology, love-ology, I'm sorry-ology, forgive me-ology, love-ology, love-ology. I'm sorry-ology, forgive me-ology, love-ology, Love-ology.

Love-ology

Oh, an incurable humanist you are
Oh, forgive me, Oh, forgive me, Oh.
Forgive me, forgive me, forgive me-ology









Thursday, February 5, 2009

LOVEmusic

I've been compiling a list of love songs for Valentine's Day (Yes, I'm playing for the love team this year) and wanted to share some of my favourites with everyone out there.


First Day Of My Life - Bright Eyes
Sea of Love - Cat Power
Maybe Lately - Miracle Fortress
I Will Follow You Into The Dark - Death Cab for Cutie
The Luckiest - Ben Folds
Anyone Else But You - The Moldy Peaches

... I have a list of 40, but here are 6 that are rather exceptional in my eyes.

I'm also wondering, what are your favourite love songs?

Monday, February 2, 2009

I love LUSH

LUSH love
LUSH love - by veesquared on Polyvore.com

...and I'm not talking girl's who need a small amount of alcohol to have a good time. Lush, the natural, vegetarian (and over 70% vegan), cosmetic company that first came out of Poole, England, has been my hair & skin saviour for a couple years now. From their environmentally friendly products and packaging to their innovative products, Lush has something for everyone. While having shops all over the world, they also have a great website that offers interesting facts about all the products that go into their products, as well as a retro product line that brings old products back to buy for a limited time. Lush uses the most fresh and organic ingredients to get their products as good as they are. People often think the stores smell, and therefore must contain chemically perfumed products, but the fact-of-the-matter is, LUSH smells (so delicious) because they use minimal packaging and fresh, often cold-pressed and rare, essential oils. If you're an avid fan like me, or never have tried the products before, I suggest checking out the website, or your local store.

Suggested Items...
  • Too Drunk to F@#K Emotibomb - good for hangovers or colds
  • American Cream Conditioner - light weight yet super moisturizing, amazing smell
  • Strawberry Feels Forever Massage Bar - solid massage oil, limited edition!
  • Seanick Solid Shampoo - equal to 750mL of liquid shampoo, great smell, and gives awesome amounts of volume
  • Spice Curls Soap -can be cut to whatever size you want in-store, and is made of real ground spices
  • Think Pink Bathbomb - super-girly pink bath bomb that smells like vanilla and tonka bean
  • Floating Island Bath Melt - great for winter baths, it moisturizes as you batheSilky
  • Underwear Dusting Powder - contains cocobutter to moisturize and smells very old hollywood glam, with jasmine and vertivert