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Kyle’s Six Pix - Vol. 68

Nov 27, 2008 Besnard Lakes, Frightened Rabbit, Portishead, Steel Pole Bath Tub, The Hold Steady, Tomboyfriend Leave a comment

Art Imitating Life Imitating Art Edition

6. Steel Pole Bath Tub – “Train To Miami”, This is from the early 90’s, yes I’m still stuck in nostalgia-land. You may recognize part of this track because it’s being used in the commercial for “Left 4 Dead”. I will be taking a shotgun to zombies while I await the next Romero movie. This is not a video at all, but it was the best version I could find.

5. The Hold Steady – “Stay Positive”, I think I first heard this band on the soundtrack to “I’m Not There” and I’ve been listening to them since then. You should check out (on Wiki) how many Pix favourites they have played with; it’s too many to list here. This is their new single, it’s pretty powerful and their lyrics get better with every album.

4. Besnard Lakes – “Devastation”, It just wouldn’t be an edition of the Pix without an animated video…These guys were 2007 Polaris prize runners up. This band was created by a husband and wife team and named themselves after a lake in Saskatchewan. They are friends with Stars and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, which makes me wish they were my friends.

3. Frightened Rabbit – “Set You Free”, I’ve been singing praises of this band for a while now; Barnudio and Honey Bee watched these guys with me a while back. They blew people away! This is a cover of a song by N-Trance, who I honestly had never heard of because (holy crap) they suck balls. I’m trying to figure out if this is ironic or not.

2. Portishead – “Magic Doors”, If I was in a coma, all you would have to whisper in my ear to wake me up is “new Portishead single”. Of course I’d know if you were lying and if it takes them ten more years to record; it would be a lengthy coma. This is absolutely fantastic!

1. Tomboyfriend – “End Of Poverty”, These guys are as indie as it gets; they have fewer than 300 friends on their MySpace page, they still make home made concert posters and they enlist their artist friends to make video collages. This video was put together by Margaux Williamson, who I had the pleasure of working with at Aboveground Art Supplies many moons ago. Not only is she a talented artist, but a really nice person too. She took other peoples’ dancing videos and cut them together to make this, this project was featured on CBC.ca, pretty sweet!

Rating 3.00 out of 5

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Kyle’s Six Pix - Vol. 67

Nov 20, 2008 Amazing Baby, Devotchka, Fight Bite, Sloan, The Asteroids Galaxy Band, WHY? 4 Comments

Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close(r) Edition

6. Sloan – An old CBC news story on slam dancing and part of the song “Underwhelmed”, The Drew Mac celebrated another year (of making sure no one will want his liver in a transplant) this week. This clip is to remind him of just how old we are now and chances are that one of us was at this show…

5. The Asteroids Galaxy Band – “Around The Bend”, It’s funny to me that when I ask for suggestions for songs to put up (i.e. Xmas and Halloween), I don’t get any. Then there are weeks where I get twenty things e mailed to me. This was Barker’s pick this week, although I think he got it from an Apple commercial. It’s pretty catchy, even if the video sucks ass.

4. Fight Bite – “Swissex Lover”, These guys are from Texas and they play with a band called Eat Avery’s Bones (I really hope that’s a hockey reference because the little tyke is in Dallas now) quite a bit. This is music that begs to be heard on headphones, in a bean bag chair and under the influence of your vice of choice. It’s really god damn pretty.

3. Why? – “A Sky For Shoeing Horses Under”, These guys made the Pix months ago and I’ve been eagerly awaiting to hear if their other stuff would be good or not. Their addition this week solves that question. They refer to themselves as Indie Hip Hop, which is odd, but fitting I guess. Apparently some of the members of this band used to be in a Steve Miller cover band. How they got from there to here, who knows?

2. Devotchka – “How It Ends”, You might recognize this track from the Gears Of War 2 commercial; the person who gets to pick music like this for ads has my dream job. You might also recognize this from the trailer for Everything Is Illuminated, which isn’t an awesome movie, but is a great book. This band takes their name from an Anthony Burgess term for “young girl”, which is just precious.

1. Amazing Baby – “Pump Your Brakes”, You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a cute girl slam dunk a crucifix. These guys have been described as a “heavier, more psychedelic Roxy Music” and their rabid fans draw comparisons to those of the Brian Jonestown Massacre; so hearing rumours of their imminent demise is fitting. Also, they are supposedly friends with MGMT, but who isn’t these days?

Rating 3.00 out of 5

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Kyle’s Six Pix - Vol. 66

Nov 13, 2008 Army Navy, Brendan Canning, Sebadoh, Silver Jews, The Books, The Raconteurs Leave a comment

Crashing And Burning Edition

6. Sebadoh – “Flame” & “Not Too Amused”, So the Pix had a group formed on Crackbook before I joined; I had reservations about joining because there are a lot of crazies out there. Some blasts from the past have contacted me and I’ve been feeling slightly nostalgic for the 90’s due to it. “Not Too Amused” is my all time favourite Sebadoh song and this is an odd version of it. Sorry for the minute long gap between songs, but enjoy the trip down mix-tape memory lane.

5. The Raconteurs – “Old Enough”, I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll ever get sick of Jack White. This is less radio friendly than their previous stuff, but the guitar work is really good. I heard a rumour that there will be a different version of this track released soon with Ashley Monroe featured on it. If you haven’t heard her, she’s a 22 year old reincarnation of Dolly Parton.

4. Silver Jews (re-imagined by The Failed Bands of Oklahoma) – “Strange Victory”, I saw the S.J. a while back with Barnudio and they kicked some serious ass for being so serious on stage. So this track was reworked by the F.B.o.O. It’s pretty odd, but I’ve been humming it all week.

3. The Books – “Classy Penguin”, This is one of the weirdest new discoveries I’ve made. Actually I had help with the band, but I found this track on my own. It’s amusing to me that they play a lot of instrumental songs; without words, like the ones you might find in books. This is an official video for this band, but I don’t know if it’s found footage or their own home movies. Weird.

2. Army Navy – “My Thin Sides”, As much as I am a huge music geek for the hard to find stuff, sometimes straight up danceable power pop is what I crave. I’ve been a fan of these guys for a while now and as far as I know this is their new single. If you recognize the joker in the video, it’s because he’s on MTV’s Human Giant. I’m thankful the nudity got blurred out…

1. Brenden Canning – “Churches Under The Stairs”, Speaking of power pop, here we go! I’m still loving the solo projects by the Broken Social Scene kids and this track is no exception. You have to love the “battle of the bands” feel this video has too.