Call The Doctor

A couple of years ago, after I had moved out of Josh’s basement, I had no nowhere to go but my cousin’s house. He lived in the NE of Calgary where it was literally walking distance to the city limits. I was working a shitty job at Staples at the time and every morning I had to catch a bus to the train station, train downtown and then transfer trains to get to work. It took me a little over an hour every day. I spent a lot of late nights sitting in my basement bedroom and in the garage listening to “Call The Doctor”. The album was a really good marker for that time period. There’s that whole grrl power thing in it, which is pretty swell, but also slower pretty songs. At the time, I was putting at least one song from this album on every mix tape that I would make for people. I also remember listening to the song “heart attack” a whole lot when I was stoked on this girl, Raquel, and was too scared to ask her out.

THE END.

A Movie Script Ending

I first listened to the preceding and proceeding albums that Death Cab released before/after this album. I remember I was living in Josh’s basement and was spending a lot of time downloading random albums on my shitty old ibook. It was during my summer of poor fun jams, where I had no money, job nor real home to call my own. Josh and I spent a lot of time skateboarding, scheming ways to make quick money, smoking and drinking a lot of coke. We spent a lot of late nights sitting in his basement and porch talking and it was around the same time that I started to think of Josh as a brother to me. This album doesn’t really define that period of time, but definitely contributes the whole of albums that did.

Old Songs

This is a rough list of songs that I used to really like can no longer listen to because I not relate them to times/experiences/girls that went totally wrong. I kind of hope that I can one day come back to this list and like these songs again. Half of it is shitty emo that I was into when I was in high school though, so I guess it’s not that big of a loss. Also, I compiled this at work which probably means that I have too much time on my hands.

1. Amy Millan – Losin’ You
2. Amy Millan – Baby I
3. The Beatles – I’m Looking Through You
4. Belle & Sebastian – Piazza, New York Catcher
5. Ben Kweller – Lizzy
6. Billy + The Lost Boys – Drive All Night
7. Bishop Allen – Rain
8. Bloc Party – This Modern Love
9. Bright Eyes – The Difference in the Shades
10. Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew – Tbtf
11. Broken Social Scene – Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl
12. Casey Dienel – Frankie And Annette
13. Cat Power – The whole “You Are Free” album.
14. Chad VanGaalen – Dead Ends
15. City and Colour – Save Your Scissors
16. Coconut Records – West Coast
17. Coldplay – Sparks
18. The Get Up Kids – Forgive And Forget
19. The Get Up Kids – Newfound Mass
20. The Get Up Kids – Anne Arbour
21. The Kinks – A Well Respected Man
22. Sonic Youth – Superstar
23. Billy Bragg – A New England
24. The Velvet Underground – Stephanie Says
25. Cuff The Duke – The Ballad Of Poor John Henry
26. Dashboard Confessional – Carry This Picture
27. Death Cab For Cutie – Tiny Vessels
28. Death Cab For Cutie – Transatlanticism
29. Diana Ross & The Supremes – You Can’t Hurry Love
30. Dojo Workhorse – My Dear
31. Elliott Smith – Say Yes
32. Emm Gryner – Serenade
33. Emma Pollock – New Land
34. Emma Pollock – Adrenaline
35. Esthero – That Girl
36. Esthero – We R In Need Of A Musical Revolution
37. Evermore – It’s Too Late
38. Grinspoon – Chemical Heart
39. Hüsker Dü – Something I Learned Today
40. Jason Anderson – July 4, 2004
41. Jimmy Eat World – A Sunday
42. Jimmy Eat World – Opener
43. Joel Plaskett Emergency – I’d Rather Be Deadly Than Dead
44. Josh Ritter – The Temptation Of Adam
45. Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart
46. KT Tunstall – Universe & U
47. Lily Allen – Knock ‘Em Out
48. Lucero – I Can Get Us Out Of Here Tonight
49. Lucky Soul – Baby I’m Broke
50. Marissa Nadler – Silvia
51. Mates Of State – Beautiful Dreamer
52. Matt Costa – These Arms
53. Metric – Poster Of A Girl
54. Motion City Soundtrack – Red Dress
55. Nelly Furtado – I’m Like A Bird
56. Nelly Furtado – Turn Off The Light
57. New Buffalo – Cheer Me Up Thank You
58. Patrick Wolf – The Magic Position
59. Paul Simon – Everything Put Together Falls Apart
60. Petra Haden – Yellow
61. Radiohead – True Love Waits
62. Riding Bikes – Don’t Write Me Off
63. Rilo Kiley – Ripchord
64. Ryan Adams – This House Is Not For Sale
65. Sahara Hotnights – Keep Calling My Baby
66. Saves The Day – Jessie & My Whetstone
67. Saves The Day – Wednesday The Third
68. Sharks Keep Moving – Jet’s Jets
69. She & Him – Take It Back
70. Sia – Academia
71. Smashing Pumpkins – Daydream
72. Smashing Pumpkins – Thirty-Three
73. Sneaker Pimps – Post-Modern Sleaze
74. Straylight Run – Existentialism on Prom Night
75. Tegan and Sara – Take Me Anywhere
76. Thao Nguyen – Tallymarks
77. The Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
78. The Beatles – Strawberry Fields Forever
79. The Beatles – All You Need Is Love
80. The Beatles – Good Day Sunshine
81. The Consonant C – The whole “capes and crowns” album
82. The Dirtmitts – These Hands
83. The Distillers – City Of Angels
84. The Get Up Kids – The One You Want
85. The Get Up Kids – How Long Is Too Long
86. The Get Up Kids – Walking On A Wire
87. The Hold Steady – First Night
88. The Jealous Sound – Anxious Arms
89. The National – Daughters Of The Soho Riots
90. The Promise Ring – Skips A Beat (Over You)
91. The Smiths – Asleep
92. The Strokes – Last Nite
93. The Weakerthans – Pamphleteer
94. The Weakerthans – Left And Leaving
95. The Weepies – All That I Want
96. The Who – I Don’t Mind
97. The Zebras – Doong Doong
98. Third Eye Blind – Jumper
99. Thursday – Standing On The Edge Of Summer
100. Tom Waits – Sea Of Love
101. Treble Charger – Funny
102. Via Audio – Developing Active People

Pop

So I kind of forgot that I had this thing. I started it with the purest of intentions of chronicalling everything that I am listening to and what makes me stoked. I always find that when I listen to certain songs, I can remember specific periods in my life because that song/band were what I was listening to at the time.
ANYWAYS,

“Some Racing, Some Stopping” by Headlights is a indie pop/rock album with three minute songs and pretty melodies. I’ve been pretty excited about this band because they don’t really fool around with too much of that baroque/atmospheric thing (arcade fire, animal collective anyone?) where there are three minute intros to every song that slowly builds. Headlights pretty much jumps to the chase of catchy chorus’ that before you know it, you’ve listened to the album four times in a row without really realising. When the weather gets warmer, I’m pretty sure that this will be my go to summer album. The ten songs kind of span how a typical summer day would start. From the first song “get your head around it” being a good wake up song to the fourth song “on april 2″ being a kind of dancey lunchtime vibe.

I’ve been kind of bummed lately, and this album has really helped with everything.

Feet Asleep

A little while ago, I was contemplating stopping listening to new music in general. I mean, I carefully selected my top 20 albums of the year, but felt dissatisfied because the shitty thing about music is that there is always a constant stream of it coming out so it’s next to impossible to listen to it all. So regardless of my top 20, it’s sure to change in a few months only because I would discover a new overlooked album from the year. I probably listened to more 2006 music in 2007, only because I overlooked a lot of records. With 2008 looming around the corner, the plan is to disregard any and all new albums being released and focus only on 2007 and older. Sure, I’ll end up being behind on the times, but at least I won’t be losing my shit on the next over-hyped band. The only list that I can actually be confident about is my current favourites list. It probably looks something like this:

1. The Minutemen – Double Nickels on the Dime
2. Tv On the Radio – Return to Cookie Mountain
3. Rivers Cuomo – Alone: The Home Recordings
4. Monster Bobby – Gaps
5. Sam Cooke – Greatest Hits
6. Thao Nguyen & The Get Down Stay Down – Wee Brave Bee Stings and All
7. The Delgados – Universal Audio
8. The Smiths – Louder Than Bombs
9. Voxtrot – Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives/Your Biggest Fan/Raised By Wolves
10. Sloan – One Chord to Another

Th shitty thing about that list is that I have to leave out some of my all time favourite albums that I’m always stoked on, but whatever. /EndMusicRant

Jam Econo

So after watching this dvd, it’s become reaffirmed that The Minutemen are one of my favourite bands. I used to go through these phases where all I’ll ever listen to is Double Nickels on the Dime, get super stoked and then forget about the record for a month only to rediscover it again. I know that I’m probably stating the obvious, but jamming econo is probably one of the best ideas ever.

would you like some lemonade?

Man, who would’ve thought that after three completely lacking Weezer albums, Rivers Cuomo’s solo album would turn out decent? And a concept album at that? The first half was recorded before and right after Blue was recorded (with various songs from the unreleased Black Hole album, and the other half is various odds and ends (including a song with SLOAN as his backing band!). “Lemonade” sounds like old school powerpop Weezer, “Longtime Sunshine” sounds like something Ben Folds could’ve definitely done and “I Wish You Had An Axe Guitar” reminds me of Thurston Moore’s “Thurston @ 13″. Although this doesn’t make up for the last three Weezer disappointments, it’s gives hope for the next one.