UPDATE on the Dallas, TX - Broken Social Scene Cancellation

Here is a forum/comment post by jeffguytx on the front page of the Broken Social Scene website. It turns out that it was Kevin Drew that was sick and if you can't understand the cancellation under those conditions you need your head checked!

At the Austin show, they talked about rescheduling the Dallas show in 6-8 weeks or so. Kevin really was sick. It was hard for him to sing and he was visibly struggling. They still put on a good show and I just wanna say THANKS!

For those of you in Dallas who's anger got the better of you and took their cancellation as a slight... Kevin said that he tried to board the plane to make the Dallas show, but he was too sick and they wouldn't let him. He fought the law, and the law won. So all you Dallas people need to know that the love is there and they will make it up to you.

Naturally, they had a lot of great things to say about Austin. While Bass Concert Hall is not the funnest place for a rock concert, it's a beautiful venue and they said it seemed like one of the nicest and largest they've played. Way to go UT Student Committee Guys! Hopefully they'll be able to fit another Austin gig in right after the Dallas make-up show. Stubbs maybe?

They previewed Happiness Project and it's an incredible concept and I can't wait to see it come to fruition.

I don't have a setlist, sorry. I can tell you that he declined to play Superconnected cuz his voice was strained. They also didn't play Lucky Ones, which is sad cuz I'm addicted to that song. However, he did a beautiful Lover's Spit and a whole lot of other great BSS songs.

Anyway... Dallas... you'll get your show! They made that clear more than once.

Also, tcpagel75 posted a setlist from the Austin show:

Late 90s Bedroom Rock for the Missionaries
Shampoo Suicide
KC Accidental
7/4 Shoreline
Cause=Time
Fire Eye'd Boy
Hit the Wall
Farewell to the Pressure Kids
Looks Just Like the Sun
Love is New
Churches Under the Stairs
Stars and Sons
Anthems for a 17-year-old Girl
Mrs Morris (Happiness Project)
Another Happiness Project Song
Lover's Spit
Major Label Debut (fast version)
F-ked Up Kid
Frightening Lives
It's All Gonna Break

Also, Lisa Lobsinger was the only female member in attendance.

Broken Social Scene - Dallas Show CANCELED!!!

CRAP!!! Broken Social Scene (BSS) canceled tonight's show at the House of Blues in Dallas, TX due to illness of one of the band members. There are no details as to whom is ill or the type/severity of the illness, but BSS will continue their tour tomorrow night in Austin, TX. I hope whomever is sick gets better and BSS comes back through Dallas! Please?!

Cool Indie Drum Songs Starring The New Pornographers

I am musician (using the term loosely here) and used to listen carefully to the instrumentation of songs, but I have found that lately I just listen to songs as a whole. The idea for this post came during my morning commute when the New Pornographer's "Bleeding Heart Show" popped up during a shuffle sequence. Now I know this song is the star of a University of Phoenix commercial but let's not hold that against it. Kurt Dahle absolutely rocks the drums at the end of the song. Some guy in a Chevy Tahoe gave me a funny look as my arms flailed about during my tribute of air drums. Floored by Dahle's amazing pounding of the 'skins' I pressed on to try and remember more great indie percussion. Immediately my mind went to another New Pornographer's song "Use It" (talk about percussion driving a song) that happens to be on the same album Twin Cinema. Anyways, here are some other songs that the drums and percussion truly drive the song and make me look like a fool on my morning commute.

Please feel free to leave comments and list other such songs where drums are king...

New Pornagraphers - "Bleeding Heart Show"
New Pornagraphers - "Use It"
Sunset Rubdown - "The Taming of the Hands that Cam Back to Life"
Broken Social Scene - "7/4 Shoreline"

My 10 Favorite Albums of 2007.

Wow, what a great year in music! I would say that my top 3 albums could be a #1 album in any given year, but the strength of releases this year has these great albums crowded at the top. Random Spirit Lover is easily my favorite album of the year, however, In Rainbows and Boxer might as well be tied at #2 as they are both that good. I wish I had more time to listen to all the well received albums released this year, but I can only critique the one's that found their way to me this year. Without futher ado...

1. Sunset Rubdown - Random Spirit Lover

Random Spirit Lover (RSL) is the single best album I have heard in the past five years and maybe even in this decade. This album is so complex and quirky but in all of the right ways. The first several listens of RSL can be rough but it has some innate quality that makes one continually come back to it. The payoff is a musical adventure in which each song blends into the next like a true album should. Granted the songs themselves are amazing but it is the cohesiveness of the recordings as a continuous work that make this album so amazing. In my eyes Spencer Krug has become the writer of this generation and I can't wait to see what he has up his sleeve next.

Best Songs - "The Mending of the Gown", "The Taming of the Hands that Came Back to Life", "Winged/Wicked Things

2. Radiohead - In Rainbows

In Rainbows was released with a myriad of attention for the way in which Radiohead marketed and sold this album, but shouldn't we be focusing on the album itself? Let's forget the hype and what we find is arguably Radiohead's best album to date. In Rainbows finds a band that is finally comfortable in its own skin. The songs here do not sound forced or experimental as some of their past releases have come off as. Instead, In Rainbows finds a Radiohead producing an effortless and natural sound all being the culmination of their past works. If this album was released in any other year it could easily be my number one album, but 2007 was just too damn good.

Best Songs - "All I Need", "Bodysnatchers", "Reckoner"

3. The National - Boxer

The National have a crafted an album that is truly a classic. Boxer is an album that will age like a fine wine and be one that will hold relevance 10 years into the future. The songs have an understated beauty that reveals itself in each listen. I have seen numerous references to Boxer as a "grower" and while this sentiment is true there is still plenty of immediacy to this album as well. Buy it, enjoy it, period.

Best Songs - "Fake Empire", "Mistaken for Strangers", "Apartment Story"

4. Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew - Spirit If...

Broken Social Scene (BSL) references are inescapable but necessary as Kevin Drew is the chief songwriter for that outfit and it is with Kevin Drew's Spirit If... one can recognize his importance to the band's success. Kevin Drew is nothing other than a extremely solid songwriter and to discount this record because he released it under the Broken Social Scene moniker is missing the point entirely. Kevin Drew's songwriting will always be inseparable from the Broken Social Scene sound because of his major role in shaping that sound, and while Broken Social Scene members contributed to this album the majority of its sound is Kevin Drew steering the ship to its ultimate destination. This album smells and tastes like BSL but with a quality of its own. Mmmmm, yummy.

Best Songs - "Safety Bricks", "Lucky Ones", Frightening Lives", "Backed Out on the..."

5. Menomena - Friend and Foe

Friend and Foe is an album that seems so schizophrenic but somehow manages to hold everything together. This dichotomy of sound weaves between intense, driving, and beautiful and its many personalities are what makes this album so interesting. Inventive and creative all while finding itself accessible Friend and Foe is an album that I can see myself coming back to in the future and only appreciating more with time.

Best Songs - "The Pelican", "Wet and Rusting", "My My"

6. Handsome Furs - Plague Park

Handsome Furs is no more than Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade), Alexei Perry, a guitar, and a drum machine. Now this statement may lack the inclusion of synthesizers, but I want to reflect the simplicity of the approach taken in Plague Park. Boeckner has stated that the album was "to be as sparse and repetitive as possible" and while this repetition is achieved in sorts the album is not sterile by any means. Plague Park takes a bit of Wolf Parade and a little bit of New Order and lets everyone know that Wolf Parade is not a one man show.

Best Songs - "What We Had", "Dead + Rural", "Handsome Furs Hate This City"

7. Okkervill River - The Stage Names

The Stage Names is a songwriter's album in that Okkervill River has no gimmicks but just great songs. The songs are naked and raw and reflect the mature songwriting that one would expect of Will Sheff. The Stage Names is not trying to slap you in the face, but is that stray dog that gently finds a place in your heart and makes a home.

Best Songs - "Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe", "Plus Ones", "John Allyn Smith Sails", "Girl In Port"

8. Panda Bear - Person Pitch

The best way I can describe Person Pitch is if someone locked Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys in a room for days with only a knowledge of electronic based music/sampling and a month's supply of acid. The product is something that seems so recognizable but so new all at the same time. The only negative to this album is that it is not one that will find its way into your CD player on a daily basis. Person Pitch is a mood album and by this I mean you have to be in a certain mood to want to listen to it, but when you find that mood, it is well worth it.

Best Songs - "Bros", "Comfy in Nautica", "Im Not"

9. The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse

The two opening songs "Disaster" and "For Agent 13" are an extremely powerful opening to a great album, however, the album unfortunately cannot maintain the pace set by these great songs. Don't let this distress you though as the remainder of the album is good, but suffers from its own creation of high expectations.

Best Songs - "For Agent 13", "Disaster", "Because Tonight"

10. Stars - In Our Bedroom After the War

I am going to borrow from my review of this album as I took a lot of time in figuring out how I exactly wanted to describe this album so here it goes... Stars have always achieved a charming quality through the interaction of the voices of Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan and In Our Bedroom After the War continues this relationship without being 'rinse and repeat'. The duet of Campbell and Millan sing the gambit from feuding lovers to pop perfectionists and we are all the better for it in joining in for the ride.

Best Songs - "The Night starts Here", "Window Bird", "Take Me to the Riot"