Chris J Mears » Music http://chrisjmears.com Web Developer in Ruby on Rails and CakePHP Tue, 03 Aug 2010 22:22:46 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Song of the Week – Sebastien Grainger and The Mountains I Hate My Friends http://chrisjmears.com/2009/03/song-of-the-week-mar-15/ http://chrisjmears.com/2009/03/song-of-the-week-mar-15/#comments Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:25:09 +0000 Chris http://chrisjmears.com/?p=164 Sebastien Grainger and The Mountains I Hate My Friends from Self Titled (2008)

I don’t actually hate my friends, but I dig this song.

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In all honesty, like most of my now favorite albums, “Merriweather Post Pavillion” took me several listens to get into. While we’re on the subject of honesty, I got into Animal Collective pretty late in the game. Starting with “Strawberry Jam” I loved the noise, screaming, and psychedelic electronic instrumentation that was filling my ears! Alas, I find out that was a very odd album for Animal Collective and the newer album gets back to its roots. This isn’t a bad thing, just was a bit disappointing and slowed my appreciation. However, after the 3rd or 4th listen, I started to get hooked. My Girls is easily a favorite. However, this weeks song, Summertime Clothes, just makes me happy to think about all of those summertime clothes we’ll be enjoying soon. Oh, if only it weren’t still March.

]]> http://chrisjmears.com/2009/03/song-of-the-week-mar-01/feed/ 0 Song of the Week – Chad VanGaalen Willow Tree http://chrisjmears.com/2009/02/song-of-the-week-feb-22/ http://chrisjmears.com/2009/02/song-of-the-week-feb-22/#comments Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:00:04 +0000 Chris http://chrisjmears.com/?p=142 Chad VanGaalen Willow Tree from the album “Soft Airplane” (2008)

Though riddled with dark lyrical undertones, I absolutely love the vibrato of Chad VanGallen’s voice throughout very vivid depictions of hallucinations throughout “Soft Airplanes.” Willow Tree is a simplistic and beautiful song that I’ve had in my head for quite some time. Just can’t shake the chorus despite feeling embarrassed by the morbid lyrics.

Sidenote

I want to start a tradition of posting songs that are in my head. Maybe sometimes I’ll have a playlist of songs.

I’m also always looking for new music, so feel free to post some suggestions in the comments below.

]]> http://chrisjmears.com/2009/02/song-of-the-week-feb-22/feed/ 4 13 Most Beautiful … Music by Dean & Britta for Andy Warhol Screen Tests http://chrisjmears.com/2009/02/13-most-beautiful/ http://chrisjmears.com/2009/02/13-most-beautiful/#comments Wed, 04 Feb 2009 07:15:49 +0000 Chris http://chrisjmears.com/?p=117 13 Most Beautiful... Song by Dean & Britta for Andy Warhol Screen TestsThis evening, I attended the San Francisco Film Society‘s  13 Most Beautiful… during which indie-pop icons Dean & Britta performed live songs to rarely seen screen testings by Andy Warhol. During these 4 minute screen tests, frequenters of The Factory are filmed without sound and without speaking. Since these films are in slow motion, the scenes were only about 2 and a quarter minutes.The subjects just remain still, react to an emotion, or just do what they would normally be doing at that particular moment in time.

I took a couple pictures.  Please note that I had my hand slapped by some lady despite the fact that I didn’t have my flash on and my screen was dimmed.  So, these photos were taken under duress like a real journalistic photographer :)

Edie Sedgwick

Edie Sedgwick

Dennis Hopper

Dennis Hopper

]]> http://chrisjmears.com/2009/02/13-most-beautiful/feed/ 0 Canadian Album Releases 2009 http://chrisjmears.com/2009/01/canadian-album-releases-2009/ http://chrisjmears.com/2009/01/canadian-album-releases-2009/#comments Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:11:48 +0000 Chris http://chrisjmears.com/?p=51 Canadian indie album releases for the first half of 2009:

  • Jan 20 – AC Newman Get Guilty (Last Gang)
  • Jan 20 – Brent Randall & his Pinecones We Were Strangers… In Paddington Green! (Just Friends)
  • Jan 27 – Geoff Berner Klezmer Mongrels (Jericho Beach)
  • Jan 27 – Final Fantasy Plays To Please (Blocks)
  • Jan 27 – Hannah Georgas The Beat Stuff (Upper Management)
  • Jan 27 – In-Flight Safety We Are An Empire, My Dear (Night Danger)
  • Jan 27 – Andrew Vincent Rotten Pear (Kelp)

  • Feb 3 – Jon-Rae Fletcher Oh, Maria (weewerk)
  • Feb 3 – Jenn Grant Echoes (Six Shooter)
  • Feb 3 – Hylozoists – L’lle De Sept Villes (Outside)
  • Feb 3 – Woodpigeon Treasure Library Canada (Boompa)
  • Feb 10 – Hot Panda Hot Volcano… Bloody Volcano! (Mint)
  • Feb 10 – K’Naan Troubador (Octone)
  • Feb 10 – Malajube Labyrinthes (Dare To Care)
  • Feb 10 – Smothered In Hugs The Healing Power Of Injury (Collagen Rock)
  • Feb 14 – Charles Spearin (Broken Social Scene) The Happiness Project – (Arts and Crafts)
  • Feb 17 – Montag Hibernation (Paper Bag)
  • Feb 17 - Portico First Neighbours (Copper Spine)
  • Feb 24 - Howie Beck How To Fall Down In Public (13 Clouds)
  • Feb 24 – Gentleman Reg Jet Black (Arts and Crafts)
  • Feb 24 – Shout Out Out Out Out Reintegration Time (Six Shooter)
  • Mar 10 – Attack In Black Years (By One Thousand Fingertips) (Dine Alone)
  • Mar 10 – Bell Orchestre As Seen Through Windows (Arts and Crafts)
  • Mar 10 – Handsome Furs Face Control (Sub-Pop)
  • Mar 10 – Josh Reichmann Oracle Band Crazy Power (Paperbag)
  • Mar 15 – Bob Wiseman In Her Dream: Bob Wiseman Sings Wrench Tuttle (Blocks)
  • Mar 17 – MSTRKRFT Fist of God (Last Gang)
  • March 24 – Julie Doiron I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day (Endearing)
  • Mar 24 – The Joel Plaskett Emergency 3 (Maple Music)
  • Mar 24 – Swan Lake Enemy Mine (Sonic Unyon)
  • March 31 – The Danks Are You Afraid Of The Danks? (Collagen Rock)
  • Mar 31 – Great Lake Swimmers Lost Channels (Nettwerk)
  • Mar 31 – Ohbijou Beacons (self released)
  • Mar 31 – Thunderheist (tba) (Big Dada)
  • Apr 1 – Chris Page Date With A Smoke Machine (Kelp)
  • Apr 7 – D-Sisive Let The Children Die (Urbnet)
  • Apr 7 – Melissa McClelland Victoria Day (Six Shooter)
  • April 21 – Barzin Notes To Absent Lovers (Monotreme)
  • Apr 28 – Immaculate Machine High On Jackson’s Bong (Mint)
  • May 5 – Apostle of Hustle Eats Darkness (Arts and Crafts)
  • May 26 – Grand Analog Metropolis Is Burning (Urbnet)
  • Jun 1 – The Awkward Stage The Music of Mordor… And Beyond! (Mint)
  • Unscheduled and untitled but coming soon: Metric.

Stolen from CBC Radio 3

]]> http://chrisjmears.com/2009/01/canadian-album-releases-2009/feed/ 0 Best of Canadian Independent Music vol. 2 http://chrisjmears.com/2009/01/best-of-canada-2008/ http://chrisjmears.com/2009/01/best-of-canada-2008/#comments Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:03:28 +0000 Chris http://chrisjmears.com/?p=64 Album Art by Brynn Harris

Album Art by Brynn Harris

Welcome to the 2nd volume of my Best of Canadian Independent music mix. Compiled each year, this mix contains my favorite tracks from the top Canadian independent artists.

You can download the mix in a variety of formats. However, I recommend the iTunes Optimized version.

Enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments!

Best of Canada 2008: O! Canada!
iTunes Optimized (79MB, Chapters included, M4A format)
MP3 Zipped (97MB)

Track list after the jump.

Track List (links open song in an audio player)

  1. “Barnacle Goose” Born Ruffians – Red, Yellow And Blue (Hometown: Toronto, ON)
  2. “In Search Of The Youth Crew” Cadence Weapon – Afterparty Babies (Hometown: Edmonton, AB)
  3. “Dancer” Woodhands – Heart Attack (Hometown: Toronto, ON)
  4. “Body Of Years” Mother Mother – O My Heart (Hometown: Vancouver, BC)
  5. “The Grey Estates” Wolf Parade – At Mount Zoomer, (Hometown: Montreal, QC)
  6. “Rush Apart” The Rural Alberta Advantage – Hometowns (Hometown: Toronto, ON)
  7. “Plans For The Future” Said The Whale – Howe Sounds (Hometown: Vancouver, BC)
  8. “In A Cave” Tokyo Police Club – Elephant Shell (Hometown: New Market, ON)
  9. “Lovely Allen” Holy F*ck – Lovely Allen (Hometown: South Ohio, ON)
  10. “Bye Bye Bye” Plants and Animals – Parc Avenue (Hometown: Montreal, QC)
  11. “Ccut Up” Duchess Says – Anthologie des 3 Perchoirs (Hometown: Montreal, QC)
  12. “Nueva York” The Coast – Expatriate (Hometown: Toronto, ON)
  13. “Stuck for the Summer” Two Hours Traffic – Little Jabs (Hometown: Charlottetown, PE)
  14. “In The Night” Basia Bulat – In The Night (Hometown: London, ON)
  15. “14 Forever” Stars, – Sad Robots EP (Hometown: Montreal, QC)
  16. “Consumption” Laura Barrett – Victory Garden (Hometown: Toronto, ON)
]]> http://chrisjmears.com/2009/01/best-of-canada-2008/feed/ 2 Radiohead pen new Palahniuk score http://chrisjmears.com/2008/08/radiohead-write-choke-score/ http://chrisjmears.com/2008/08/radiohead-write-choke-score/#comments Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:30:26 +0000 Chris http://chrisjmears.com/?p=30

Radiohead pen new Palahniuk score
from BBC World News
Radiohead write the score for the film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s latest book, Choke, the author tells BBC 6 Music.

This is amazing and exciting! As said in the article, Palahniuk listened to Radiohead’s Pablo Honey consistently while writing Choke.

]]> http://chrisjmears.com/2008/08/radiohead-write-choke-score/feed/ 0 Best of Canadian Independent Music vol. 1 http://chrisjmears.com/2008/01/best-of-canada-2007/ http://chrisjmears.com/2008/01/best-of-canada-2007/#comments Wed, 02 Jan 2008 02:14:07 +0000 Chris http://chrisjmears.com/?p=88 Here is my very first attempt at an end-of-year mix. I decided to focus primarily on Canadian independent artists mainly because I thought they were largely being left out of people’s top lists.

I hope you enjoy this list. I love feedback!

Best of Canada 2007
iTunes Optimized (58MB, Chapters included, M4A format)
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