Last Night's Gig: Attack in Black/Shotgun Jimmie

Since April 14, I've been interning at CBC Radio 3, here's a blog that I posted on cbcradio3.com. See it here in its original form.

Admittedly, I do not go to as many shows as I should lately. Until I came to Radio 3 to do my internship, the last gig I had been to was way the heck back in early November, when I saw John K. Samson do a solo set at the Pyramid Cabaret in Winnipeg. George Bush was still president back then, it was a scary world.

Luckily, I've broken that horrible months-long streak since landing in Vancouver. Because if I hadn't, I would have missed a fantastic show by Attack In Black and Shotgun Jimmie that took place last night at the Biltmore Cabaret.

I arrived fashionably late, and unfortunately missed the beginning of Shotgun Jimmie's set. But the last 2/3 of it that I saw sounded great. Jimmie has this great way of playing his guitar, or rather, playing an extension of himself. Every strum had a bluesy/Neil Young-ish aura to it and I found myself closing my eyes every once and awhile trying to let the notes soak in. Aside from the one dude slam dancing by himself (wtf?) it was a good first set to lead into the headliner.

Having not even heard of Attack In Black until last week, I wasn't sure what to expect from their live set. But the 100 or so fans who showed up knew what they wanted, and AIB delivered. Bassist Ian Kehoe kindly dedicated "Leaving Your Death in a Flower Bed" to Radio 3 before launching into the track. Again, I found myself trying to soak in all the music at once because it did sound that good. The only lower points to the set were an unfortunate bass tuning error (resulting in an entire track being played out of tune) and the decision by AIB not to play "Young Leaves", which many fans in the crowd very clearly wanted to hear.

But other than those small points (and "Slam Dancer" later snogging some chick at one of the tables...wtf?) it was a very energetic and enjoyable show to be at. Go see them when they some around, you won't be disappointed.

Fleet Foxes are Godly on SNL.

Your brain will explode when you watch these two performances by Fleet Foxes on SNL this past Saturday. Now if these guys would only come to Winnipeg...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bJC330fBPM&eurl=http://videogum.com/archives/sketch-comedy/snl-just-the-funny-parts-and-f_046491.html&feature=player_embedded

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3PvB06VUZ0&feature=related

Cheers.

Merriweather Post Pavilion: Album of the year already?!

Greetings fellow music fans. How were all of your holidays? Have you sufficiently made new year's resolutions and broken them all by now? That's what I thought.

But the subject of this post does not have anything to do with broken promises and bulging waistlines, the subject is the new Animal Collective album Merriweather Post Pavilion. Now 2009 has barely cleaned the placental goo off itself, but this album is already being pegged for album of the year.

It seems the blogosphere (which is actually in the shape of a cube) is ready to just hand AC the award, complete with flowers and teary eyed acceptance speech. But to me this just begs the question: WTFlip?

Have these people completely forgotten about other bands coming out with albums? Lily Allen? Bon Iver? The New Pornographers? Any of these artists on top the countless others releasing albums this year have the chance to take the top nod if they make their albums right. Even the Doctor himself is releasing an album, and who's to say that he doesn't drop some inexplicably hot, Fleet Foxes, beat-boxing-esque rhymes and blow us off our feet? So why is Merriweather Post Pavilion making blogs and music sites collectively and prematurely jizz their pants?

Granted, Animal Collective are good. They've earned the buzz and the hype. They've earned the hookers, booze and life-time supply of Sham Wows. But do they deserve this type of praise so early on in this year of music? The answer is no.

I just happen to have gotten my hot little hands on a vinyl version of this album (which has been released before it hits the shelves in electro magnetic disc form on January 20th) and listened to it a good 5 times as to provide an honest viewpoint. Is it good? Yes. Does it make you think that you took too much LSD when you look at the cover? Check it out for yourself. (it's freaky) Does it make your brain explode a little bit more every time you listen to it due to sheer awesomeness levels? No. The long and short of Merriweather Post Pavilion is that it's an ok album. It's competently made, sounds great, and they even try a few new things that make for cool, dynamic sounding tracks. But is it the best of the year? No, not at all.

How about all bloggers and music sites out there do us all a favor and make a resolution to hold off judgments until December 2009, and maybe give some other artists a chance to blow our heads off with greatness.