If you see me on the train to work, looking half-asleep, I'm just listening to the new Bon Iver album. It's dreamy good. Stream it for free, courtesy of Guardian, here.
'Holocene' is a stand-out song on an album of stand-out songs. If only that 'I could see for miles and miles' line could go on and on.
Rather than leave a post without a YouTube video (gasp!), here's the first single off the album, 'Calgary' (my hometown, yay!).
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Panda Bear - 'Slow Motion' Video
Video for 'Slow Motion' from Tomboy by Panda Bear aka Noah Lennox of Animal Collective; a 9-minute trip from the streets of New York City to Grosvenors Island starring a real-fake Panda Bear.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Jager Loaf 1, James Blake 0
One of my most memorable highlights of Primavera Sound 2011 was the discovery of the Jager Loaf. As an ingenious way to bring outside alcohol past the security gates, an alcoholic Einstein from Ireland came up with the idea to hide a full bottle of Jagermeister in a round loaf of bread. We spotted this bit of brilliance at the James Blake show. Renowned for his emo-dub-step and immense ego, I can only imagine his inner pain when half the crowd turned away from him to take photos of the Jager Loaf and its esteemed creator. Show some love to the Jager Loaf here.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Primavera Festival, Barcelona, Spain, Another World
Last week, I got back from Barcelona and the Primavera Festival, and pretty much annoyed every friend and colleague for the next four days with my incessant praise of the city and the festival. However, it only took a couple nights out in London this weekend to remind me that I live in an incredible city with lots to offer. Still, it needs to be said that Barcelona has so much to love, and as a first-timer, it was an eye-opening experience discovering one of the most vibrant cities in the world.
The fact that Barcelona is often referred to as the city of Gaudi, a visionary 19th-20th century architect, tells you a lot about it. Walking the streets at any time of the day, you can't help but be awe-struck by the diversity and beauty of the buildings, the thoughtfulness of their design and the many imaginative artistic surprises around each corner. At the same time, the interior design of some of the buildings, especially restaurants, makes you wonder... For example, the bathroom with two switches, the one labeled with a light bulb being the flush for the toilet, obviously. Maybe it was just the euphoria of visiting Barcelona for the first time, but somehow these quirks only added to the sense of fun that pervaded the weekend.
As the festival started each day around 5pm, it turned out we had plenty of time to do some exploring in Barcelona. Getting out the door each 'morning' around noon didn't help much, but we still saw a good portion of the city's highlights, including the Sagrada Familia, which was literally four blocks from my hotel, the very touristy Rambla and the port area, including the Christopher Columbus statue, the monumental buildings at Espanya, and a number of great restaurants, such as Tapasc24 and Lolita/Inopia, the latter which is a must-see mainly for the mini-steak burgers and homemade peach liquor, which should be a class A narcotic as it's nearly as addictive. While we saw a good number of sights, it was still just a taster course, and I'll definitely need to head back to take it all in properly.
Of course, the main reason I was in Barcelona in the first place was for the Primavera Festival. Anyone familiar with this festival knows that it is one of the best, if not the best, music festival in the world. Considering the location in one of the world's most beautiful cities and the outstanding line-up, including Animal Collective, Deerhunter, Twin Shadow, Fleet Foxes, Battles, DJ Shadow, just to name a few, it's not hard to believe that people travel from all over the world to be part of this event. Festival goers I met over the course of the weekend were from America, Germany, Sweden, Latvia, the list goes on. The majority of the people were from Spain, but it was pretty incredible to see how many people made the trek from their little corner of the earth to spend a weekend at Primavera.
Rather than go into detail about all the great performances I saw while at the festival, I'm just going to share some of my favourite performances through the magic of strangers' digital cameras and YouTube. As you'll see, words can't really do these performances justice, anyway. Enjoy!
Deerhunter - Nothing Ever Happened (Llevant Stage)
Flaming Lips - Opening (San Miguel Stage)
Twin Shadow - When We're Dancing (Pitchfork Stage)
Fleet Foxes - Blue Ridge Mountains (San Miguel Stage)
Animal Collective - Brother Sport (San Miguel Stage)
Animal Collective - Knock You Down (San Miguel Stage)
The fact that Barcelona is often referred to as the city of Gaudi, a visionary 19th-20th century architect, tells you a lot about it. Walking the streets at any time of the day, you can't help but be awe-struck by the diversity and beauty of the buildings, the thoughtfulness of their design and the many imaginative artistic surprises around each corner. At the same time, the interior design of some of the buildings, especially restaurants, makes you wonder... For example, the bathroom with two switches, the one labeled with a light bulb being the flush for the toilet, obviously. Maybe it was just the euphoria of visiting Barcelona for the first time, but somehow these quirks only added to the sense of fun that pervaded the weekend.
As the festival started each day around 5pm, it turned out we had plenty of time to do some exploring in Barcelona. Getting out the door each 'morning' around noon didn't help much, but we still saw a good portion of the city's highlights, including the Sagrada Familia, which was literally four blocks from my hotel, the very touristy Rambla and the port area, including the Christopher Columbus statue, the monumental buildings at Espanya, and a number of great restaurants, such as Tapasc24 and Lolita/Inopia, the latter which is a must-see mainly for the mini-steak burgers and homemade peach liquor, which should be a class A narcotic as it's nearly as addictive. While we saw a good number of sights, it was still just a taster course, and I'll definitely need to head back to take it all in properly.
Of course, the main reason I was in Barcelona in the first place was for the Primavera Festival. Anyone familiar with this festival knows that it is one of the best, if not the best, music festival in the world. Considering the location in one of the world's most beautiful cities and the outstanding line-up, including Animal Collective, Deerhunter, Twin Shadow, Fleet Foxes, Battles, DJ Shadow, just to name a few, it's not hard to believe that people travel from all over the world to be part of this event. Festival goers I met over the course of the weekend were from America, Germany, Sweden, Latvia, the list goes on. The majority of the people were from Spain, but it was pretty incredible to see how many people made the trek from their little corner of the earth to spend a weekend at Primavera.
Rather than go into detail about all the great performances I saw while at the festival, I'm just going to share some of my favourite performances through the magic of strangers' digital cameras and YouTube. As you'll see, words can't really do these performances justice, anyway. Enjoy!
Deerhunter - Nothing Ever Happened (Llevant Stage)
Flaming Lips - Opening (San Miguel Stage)
Twin Shadow - When We're Dancing (Pitchfork Stage)
Fleet Foxes - Blue Ridge Mountains (San Miguel Stage)
Animal Collective - Brother Sport (San Miguel Stage)
Animal Collective - Knock You Down (San Miguel Stage)
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