Katuwapitiya

Loved this video! Makes me wish that I had a cool music teacher when I was younger.

I’ve been a fan of The Joy Formidable for a while now. Seeing them live in London (England, not Ontario, lol) really sealed the deal for me. They’re awesome. If I had to compare them to another band, imagine a polished British version of early Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I think that this band has huge potential and I’m waiting for them to blow up. Here’s their latest video “Popinjay”:

And here’s my concert review from last summer.

People Under The Stairs at the Opera House

I don’t go to rap shows much anymore. I listen to rap for lyrics, a beat and flow and you can easily get all that from listening to a recording. Rock shows are amazing because of live instrumentation, improvisation, and the vocals. Watching a DJ play the instrumental of a song while a rapper (and usually 2-3 of his annoying friends) recite the lyrics doesn’t give me the same sense of satisfaction. I used to think that freestyles were awesome, especially when Com Sense rapped about MY CAMERA. But then I saw his other “freestyles” from that tour and seeing the same lines over and over shattered my innocence. (To think, I really thought freestyles were all created on the spot!)

Thes One

Double K

With that said, People Under The Stairs put on a hell of a show. The energy from Thes One and Double K really got the crowd moving, they put the last MC I saw live to shame (Yes, this means you, Talib Kweli). Their whole vibe was old school hip hop and I loved it. A throwback to the golden age of real mc’s that rocked the crowds with a laid back swagger.

Considering that I only really know a handful of their tracks, I was impressed by how much they maintained my attention throughout their set. The crowd was surprisingly responsive for a Toronto crowd, making my first experience at The Opera House a memorable one. I can’t wait to return in May for a slightly different vibe from Scottish indie rockers Frightened Rabbit (here’s a review of them from last summer)!

Highlight of the night was San Francisco Knights of course (pretty much the only reason we went in the first place), but L.A. Song had us all moving as well, here’s video evidence of both:

Thought I’d share! This is from http://www.brokensocialscene.ca/:

Dizzee Rascal hasn’t really been relevant to me since his amazing debut. His last few releases have not spoken to me at all and his flow has been annoying at times (I still remember an awkward Rogers Picnic performance two years ago). Florence + The Machine on the other hand blew me away with their debut release Lungs and I’m excited to see them in concert soon!

I would never think of combining Florence Welch and Dizzee but the Brits did. And it’s awesome. Dizzee moves up a notch in my book. All Grammy performances pale in comparison to this:

Aziz also wears Threadless (and yes, I own that shirt)

Aziz Ansari is my favourite comedian. I can relate to everything that he tells jokes about (craigslist, googling, kanye west, thoughts on r. kelly), he was my favourite part of the first season of Flight of the Conchords, and his take on peacocking makes me laugh at a few friends who believe in that technique. Overall, a cool dude. He also kind of looks like me and that’s great because he was listed on People Magazine’s Beautiful People of 2009 (I still don’t get that, lol).

It also appears that we listen to the same music based on a list that he posted (and jokes he tells involving TV On The Radio, M.I.A.). On that list, he talks about his love for a song by Beach House and admittedly, I’ve slept on that band for a while now (I guess my indie credibility needs some work, lol). Here it is, and it’s amazing, as is their whole album.