Weekend update!

(NOTE: This is a bit late and has been sitting in our drafts for a while, waiting patiently to be spell-checked. Yeesh.)

Friday kicked off the weekend quite early – I don’t even think it was 10am when my brand new Zune was delivered to my office! So I spent the rest of the day excited to go home and play with it (which happened at 1:30 because my job is awesome). Upon getting home, I briefly charged my new toy, threw the new Girl Talk album on it and bolted outside for a run.

At this point I must mention that the Zune comes with these amazing noise-reduction earphones – so as I left my apt, I was convinced that the strange men drinking beer in the alley had just told me to “throw some D’s on that bitch”. Frightening.

Alas, this line was but a snippet of Girl Talk, aka Gregg Gillis’ new album, Feed the Animals. Possibly the best sound to run to, Gillis’ work consists of sample-based remixes ⁄ mash-ups. In his fourth LP, he continues to seamlessly mix old gems and current hits, combining genres and pairing up top-forty songs to indie tracks. For those unfamiliar with Girl Talk, it’s like being at a super-tight iPod battle, with songs popping up that have you going ‘yesss...’ (fist pump suggested). Think track after track of your favourite guilty pleasures mixed with the artists you’re not embarrassed to list on your Facebook profile. Ok, I’m sure I’ve made my point. It’s pretty good.

Now for the Zune. It was free in exchange for me talking about it on here. Which is a fair bribe, because it’s effing fantastic! Full color video screen, two pairs of earphones, wireless sync to your computer, FM radio... My co-worker and I have been sending each other songs at work, without having to get up or plug in silly wires. Craaaazy. For someone who has an unjustifiable aversion to Apple products, it’s the perfect mp3 player. So yes, check it out!

Oh, and on another note - I spent most of my weekend roasting in the sun at the Toronto Harbourfront for the Beats, Breaks and Culture festival. Amongst the artists on the lineup were Ladytron, Woodhands and headliners Crystal Castles. I must say that while Woodhands was spectacular and awkward and all kinds of wonderful, Ladytron and Crystal Castles were huge letdowns. Fine, the venue doesn't allow for the kind of loud sounds these bands need to sound cool, but Ladytron was simply boring and Crystal Castles were DICKS. Allow me to summarize my interpretation of their show:

9:30 - Huge crowd forms for CC show
10:15 - CC hit the stage to play a subpar set with next-to-no vocals
10:35 - Frustrated with their own mediocrity, CC leave the stage (perhaps to investigate the no-vocals problem)
10:36 - Ontario Place fireworks begin in the distance and entire crowd is distracted, turning around and completely forgetting to coax CC back onstage
10:43 - Defeated, CC come back (surely because of contractual obligations), play one more song and ruin their drumkit.

The End.
Jerks.

That’s it for now! More to come soon!

xo.