copyleft infringement.

Gregg ‘Girl Talk’ Gillis received a fair bit of attention in today’s edition of The National Post (reprinted from The New York Times).
regarding copyright laws, and his knack for skirting them.
a subject i find intriguing, and have discussed on a few occasions...

just how does he get away with sampling so many artists and songs?
he doesn’t.
the Fair Use laws which he operates under don’t really apply to his means or ends.
but he does have the fear of setting precedents on his side,
hense the lack of major legal action to date.

i have yet to hear of an artist that is appalled by the representation of their music.
everyone seems to just want a cut of the profits.

i love Girl Talk
listening to his music doesn’t affect my feelings or spending behaviour
towards any of the artists he uses.

bottom line if i want to see Radiohead,
i’m not going to go to a girl talk show to hear the few samples he uses,
i’ll attend a Radiohead show.

i appreciate the controversy being stirred up.
i have a rather entertaining picture of middle aged lawyers,
filing through tall stacks of paperwork late at night,
while hundreds of people dance it out at a club alongside Gregg.

an ambiguous thought on art vs. money:

“everybody has won, and all must have prizes.”
- Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll.

Steal This Hook? - Robert Levine

Loveapallooza + Muxtape.

This weekend, Girls 1 through 4 headed to Lollapalooza for a long weekend of live bands, love and sandal tans. It was an incredible line-up, with headliners Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, Kanye West and Nine Inch Nails.

Chicago was beautiful, the weather was amazing, and the festival was one of the most well-organized events I have ever seen. Well done, Illinois.

My personal favourites:

Girl Talk – While I was sceptical about the kind of show a man with his laptop can put on, this dude blew me away. On a secondary stage, he gathered thousands to watch and dozens up on stage to dance to his mash-ups. People watched from trees, Spider Man crowd-surfed and toilet-paper and confetti were propelled into the audience. Not the most eco-friendly of performances though :(

Radiohead – Thom Yorke + fireworks + insane lighting + Idioteque = sheer and utter brilliance. Totally bought their overpriced t-shirt.

Hammock Haven – An area in Grant park located under lush trees, this oasis contained a plethora of hammocks inviting tired concert-goers to rest and avoid heat exhaustion. The greeting crew welcomed you with water guns, for an extra cool bonus. But be warned : swingy hammocks make for spilly beer.

Amadou & Mariam – This adorable West African couple had the entire audience dancing, clapping their hands and singing in French. Who doesn't enjoy a bit of that? One of the most original acts of the festival, by far.

Honorable mention goes to the two story Chicago McDonald’s, which left me in awe of its escalator, velvet ropes and ice-cream counter. There were even leather couches and a 'please wait to be seated area'. I totally ate Big Macs daily, just so I could keep revelling in its glory.

And now for the important stuff: here is a playlist I made for all of you who couldn’t make it to this unbelievable event. Suckers.

Sweaty Chicago Muxtape

The medium is the message.

They call us the MTV generation. Kids who would rather watch The Hills than the news; people who are more affected by the Brangelina babies and the release of GTA IV than by the recent disaster in Burma. It’s not necessarily that we’re apathetic - we are exposed to more media than any generation before us, and we must filter through inconceivable amounts of content in order to get to the stuff that matters.

Thankfully (or not...), corporations have figured out that this is a major social concern and are now trying to capitalize on our “ignorance”. Ad campaigns and gimmicks legitimize their profit mongering by taking on socially responsible or political messages. Turn world issues into a consumer product and voilà, informed citizens. And while this consumerism + altruism equation can often be a double-edged sword, certain industries have mastered the art of getting through to media-crazed youth. Ironically enough, MTV is one of them. Watch this new Radiohead video for All I Need, and don't miss the ending:

Radiohead - All I Need
Amplive - All I Need (Remix)

J'aime.

This is one of those posts that I’ve spent days thinking about – a review of Karkwa’s latest album, Le volume du vent. I was so excited that I hunted this album down on the very day it came out. And for those of you who have ever tried to find French music in Toronto, it’s no simple task. Meaning that the victorious moment when I finally got my hands on it might have been accompanied by an embarrassing little dance (apologies to the startled HMV employee who witnessed it).

As I’ve mentioned before in the CMW post, Karkwa is a French band from Montreal, one of my favourites. Often dubbed the “French Radiohead”, their brand of rock is truly innovative on the Quebec scene. While their success is relatively new, these guys have been around for a decade. Le volume du vent is their third album and probably their most epic and complex, although each album has had its charm. And if they’re going to maintain the Radiohead comparison, they’re going to have to keep going with constant reinvention. And “pay-what-you-want” type album sales would also be cool, please and thank you.

What to expect: intricate instrumental layering accompanied by lead singer Louis-Jean Cormier’s incredibly versatile vocal stylings. Though I must mention that unlike Thom Yorke, Cormier actually enunciates. Le compteur, a collaboration with Patrick Watson, mixes distant piano, rolling drums and crescendo vocals to give the song a stormy quality, if that even makes sense. Échapper au sort lingers with an amazing drawn-out bridge and a chilling message (see video below), while Le frimas is a short interlude mixing glockenspiel, vibraphone and piano to produce an eerie movie-score type feel. The whole package also mixes in social commentary and smart lyrics, though understanding the message is not that essential to the enjoyment of this album (a note to all of you who are francophonically challenged).

Point being, they are fantastic, please have a taste and go seek out Le volume du vent.

If you're hooked and interested in some of their older stuff, try going here, or even here.

xo, g3.

Karkwa - Oublie pas
Karkwa - Combien

Radiohead to Tour Canada

I don’t want to be responsible for music lovers not knowing such essential information, so, as such:

ATTENTION ALL RADIOHEAD FANS!

Radiohead has announced they will be making stops on their long-awaited In Rainbows tour in Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto. When? They haven’t told us. What venues? We don’t know. For how much? Hasn’t been released yet.

What’s important is I get to see Radiohead. And so do you. Anyone who wants to help me rent a bus and drive cross-country to see all three shows, let me know.

Radiohead will be hitting the continent twice. They will start the tour somewhere on this side of the Atlantic before June 6, head over to Europe, and then continue with North American dates after July 8.

Here is a list of all the North American shows, in alphabetical order:

Atlanta
Boston
Charlotte
Chicago
Cleveland
Dallas
Houston
Indianapolis
Los Angeles
Miami
Montreal
New York
Philadelphia
San Diego
San Francisco
Santa Barbara
Seattle
St. Louis
Tampa
Toronto
Vancouver
Washington, DC

Specifics about the tour will be popping up soon, so watch for it. Until then, try to fuel your excitement with some of these Radiohead tracks.

Bodysnatchers - Radiohead
Idioteque - Radiohead

Songs III, Bird on the Water.

Played early in the morning, Marissa Nadler makes my quiet and gloomy basement apartment feel like the setting of an obscure indie movie, one with a tragic plot and perhaps (or rather, ideally) co-starring Ryan Gosling. Her songs are haunting and beautiful, and as I sit here with a cup of tea, I wish I were a tortured artist or something as poetic.

Her voice starts off almost timid, but with a breezy quality that is perfect for the delicate instruments she is accompanied by. The perennial acoustic guitar is paired with violins, harp and even electric guitar. This latter, found on Rachel, was an addition that I didn’t think I’d enjoy on a folk album, but it fits so well that I cannot seem to imagine the song without it. The airy flute on Thinking of You is another pleasant surprise, with the instrument sounding like an extension of Nadler’s voice.

On some of the folksier tracks such as Leather Made Shoes, Nadler often sounds like she’s channeling Patsy Cline’s ghost. I would venture to say that if Patsy Cline were alive today, they would be friends. Oh to hear them collaborate on Tomorrow is a Promise...

She has cited Leonard Cohen as one of her influences, and to support this claim, her latest album includes a cover of Famous Blue Raincoat. And while interpreting one of Canada’s greatest poets can be daunting, Nadler masters this task with a rendition that is both incredible and lingering.

Her breathy, ethereal vocals echo and chill, and though it may take a few listens to get used to her styling, the whole album is a treat that I have allowed myself time and time again. Kind of like a long poem that you have to read a few times to understand, but that you end up loving in the end. A little patience goes a long way, and in this case, it’s so worth it.

Songs III, Bird on the Water (2007) is the 26 year old American performer’s third album, following Ballads of Living and Dying (2004) and The Saga of Mayflower May (2005).

I am leaving you with a few treats that I think you will enjoy, one is my favorite, the other is a harder-to-find Radiohead cover that is not on the album.

Famous Blue Raincoat
No Surprises

big loves of 2007...

ok, so i’m a little bit late on posting this one, as we are well into 2008. but in the name of effort and in honor of the snobs christmas party, here is my compilation of the best songs of 2007.

this is a mix of what i found myself listening to again and again, from my favorite songs to drive to (tokyo police club, midnight juggernauts, the tough alliance), to mushy masterpieces (the cinematic orchestra) and sweet covers (marissa nadler, jose gonzalez).

uh, and i tried and tried to fit one of ms. spears new songs on there, but space was so limited… sorry about the huge letdown.

enjoy!

1. tokyo police club - box

2. liars - houseclouds

3. of montreal - gronlandic edit

4. the tough alliance - first class riot

5. klaxons - golden skans

6. M.I.A. - paper planes

7. midnight juggernauts - into the galaxy

8. shout out louds - you are dreaming

9. caribou - melody day

10. miracle fortress - poetaster

11. citay - little kingdom

12. beirut - nantes

13. the national - racing like a pro

14. jose gonzalez - teardrop

15. chromatics - healer

16. the besnard lakes - disaster

17. marissa nadler - famous blue raincoat

18. radiohead - videotape

19. the cinematic orchestra ft. patrick watson - to build a home