ELECTRIC SOUND BASEMENT

New Music of The Blogosphere and Beyond

Tuesdays at 5PM - 6PM ET on www.ciut.fm. Image hosted by Photobucket.com

Saturday, February 26, 2005

"THIS IS THE MINNEAPOLIS POLICE DEPARTMENT. THE PARTY IS OVER!"

the night ended with an early bust up at about 12:30, but it was worth a try. long live the dufferin hotel!

upon entering, i met owen pallet, who gave me a set of halloween teeth as a pleasant gift. what did i learn from that? drinking with false teeth is a tedious effort, thank god i'm not a warewolf.

the dufferin is an abaondoned warehouse with bare bones interior holdings. the bathroom? a porta potty. the bar? totally unlicensed and absurdly cheap. $2.50 for some honey beer is not a bad price, i must say. the acoustics in the space were grotty and unitelligable, despite high cielings and the buffering of asbestos in the walls, yet still, the onslaught was loud, pushing levels that could bring on damage, yet surprisingly, there is no residual ringing in my ear. the upper limits seemed contained somehow. being close to the speaker was not as bad as one would think.

the crowd was relatively tame but the bands were quite ferocious in their delivery.

i can put my arm back on you can't gave us an abrasive, time shifting set of square wave sludge that took me back to the winnipeg years when i spy and malefaction took hardcore to new heights. as soon as the arm's last song was announced, the cops had arrived, shutting down the show just shy of what was going to be a blowout set by no dynamics. and so the exodus began, but hey, it was predicted by a number of people that the show wouldn't last the night. such are things when you're unlicensed and making noise in the middle of the city.

perhaps next time (if there is one) things will work out. what irked me was the number of people asking for their money back on their way out. when you consider the financial risk that the organizers must have gone through to put this gig on, it just adds salt to the wound. white kids are such assholes to one another. always moneny this money that.

******

had a nice chat with katie the opera singer from galaxy. she wants to use the review from a couple post ago on their site in the currently unchristened "reviews" section...i say "do it. doooo eeeeeeet!" unfortunately their monday night gig at the horseshoe has been cancelled, but they're still slated to play at sneaky dee's on march 9th, so keep your cheyenne ears to the battleground.

also ran into an old friend, andy landen, formerly of kingston's finest the radical dudez, who, despite andy's absence, continue to work. they're planning some new recordings and their new flash website is tight. it's nice to see steve mckay (also of FUN! and the steeltown sprigs) get his own profile as the newest dude.

remember, FUN! is having it's goodbye to kingston show on march 12 at clark hall pub, right where we started two years ago. it'll be sad to see the little wacky idea we created come to an end, but we promise that it'll be the best show we can possible eek out. we're aiming for new material and perhaps an encore set of covers, which is a bonus for you because we don't usually do covers and have never ever done a stupid encore. we promise we won't do the whole "let's go offstage until you cheer for us to come back". queen's university has enough of that shit to deal with everyday, what with frosh week lasting the whole four years for some people.

"oh what a rat raaaace," sang marley in the 70s. indeed, what a rat race it is.

********

EDIT: lookin to 'ave a larf? check out arthur frayne and the apathetics, who do a fantastic parody of LCD Soundsystem with a track called Robots with Attitude featuring their good friend Rapbot 5000. courtesy of the exposed brain.

Friday, February 25, 2005

ESB PLAYLIST 2/25/05

first off, tops to torontoist for their post about us. much appreciated.

second, head to the duff tonight for the reopening party. shit will be outrageous. "sounds like a party that will get shut down," said one acquaintance of mine who plans on attending. let's hope it doesn't, but if it does, we'll make the best of it.

and now, today's menu...

HILARIOUS HOUSE OF FRIGHTENSTEIN - Title Theme ft. Vincent Price
* remember that classic canuck kid show? and remember the wolfman? blogger Danger Zone is calling upon the kids in the sphere to collect all 100 songs played on the wolfman's psychadelic rock n' roll review called EECH.







INTERVIEW w/ CARL WILSON of ZOILUS
* it finally happened, and he gave us gold.

SEGMENT ON BLOGGING FROM THE DAILY SHOW
* steven colbert confesses to killing pandas and his relation to hitler while discussing blogging with host jon stewart. absolutely priceless comedy.

GALAXY - Aint No Girls on the Radio (insert obligatory ironic comment here)
GALAXY - Nightmares
GALAXY - Slashpile
* this band blows my brains out. i was totally impressed by them last weekend at the gladstone and have declared in two separate emails that i am their new superfan. go see them at the horseshoe on monday when they open for Tracy and the Plastics. download the tunes on their site.

0=0 - Vessel
0=0 - Doorway
0=0 - Song For Magda
* three exclusive tracks from the genius behind local label Synaptic Plastic.

SUPER SUPER MAMBO JAZZ - Gor Mahia FC
SUPER SUPER MAMBO JAZZ - Wakulima Wa Kenya
* more selections from Akwaaba Sound System to round out our Black History Month picks. much thanks to Pieter, who brought back these classic cuts from his African trip and ripped them from vinyl to mp3. these are very treasured recordings, so just know that few people get to hear this stuff on the radio anymore.

HOT HOT HEAT - Eyes Ears Mouth
* yet another new demo courtesy of Stereogum.

THE CREEPING NOBODIES - Les Petits Clefs Noires
* i had some time left, so i figured i'd throw in this dark little number by the kings and queens of what i like to call "shadow music". most of the nobodies' current members were not part of the band quite yet, but valerie uher and sarah richardson (guitar/vox and keys/vox respectively) can be heardplaying percussion on this track. please please please by this album.

tune in next week, as we've got some early out of print tapes from the boards of canada brought to the digital realm, friday at noon et on CIUT 89.5FM in toronto. www.ciut.fm on the web.

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

WEEKEND REVIEW #2

i figured this city would slump back to a state of normalcy after the wavelength 250 weekend a few sundays back, but after this past weekend, it seems that the peak has yet to crash. yet another fine weekend to be in toronto for live music.

and it doesn't end here. next weekend sees the opening of the duff, where no dynamics and others play for a crowd that i'm predicting might be the most rabid in recent months. so we'll do a series every sunday night on the wonderful thing we call the weekend until they start to suck, or i run out of money.

wilson interview should finally happen tomorrow and be broadcast on friday, our special day that has been home to eclectic sound basement over the airwaves in various places for two years now...

...speaking of which...

LAST FRIDAY - "THE KIDS ARE ON FIRE"

i accompanied a troupe of reading week refugees to the gladstone for the l'afrique fundraiser. the lineup and covercharge were both unresistable, so we loaded up on the ol' crunk juice and headed down to the show, just in time to catch Galaxy, whose balls-if-they-had-em to the wall approach had me at hello. for starters, they have no bass player and a severely tight drummer, making for a strong, stripped-down mix that claws for every last bit of juice it can muster. their presence under the lights is so totally professional that it more than makes up for the void in the bass section. they've made a wise choice by playing through tube amps and utilizing a drum kit properly for live music (a SERIOUS rarity these days). these three young women are on their way to serious following if they keep this up .



GALAXY - Slashpile

i'd suggest you go see them in the near future. interesting group of girls, them is. i remember emma and katie (both on guitars and vocals) from the previous weekend's wavelength "positivity circle", where they added a bit of ruckus to the fracas, and maya (drums), who, while studying the art of skins in school, also plays timpani in another highly reputable group.

the Kids On TV headlined the night by topping themselves yet again, with harder steppin than last weekend's lee's palace show, which i wasn't entirely sure was possible. but oh yes, they were just faaaabulous. this time, they had a crowd that was less afraid to enjoy themselves, and as a result, the atmosphere in the giant ballroom was ripe for action.

i'm not sure when they're playing again in this city, but expect a post about it soon.


SATURDAY - CRACKHAUS IN CRACKDALE, HEINO FROM THE RHINO



"hey, it's the rhino!" said our friend as she saw the parkdale pub across the street. "i once met this german guy named heino at rhino...heeeee's hilaaaarious."

"who the fuck is heino?" we thought as we passed the cadillac lounge. before we knew it, our friend runs back to us yelling "holy shit, heino is at the cadillac! come and meet him!"

as soon as we're in the door, we pass a low stage where we are greeted by an unnaturally blonde teutonically accented character who asks us hau vee are doingk in a heavy teutonic voice. we inadvertently become part of the show at this point. after receiving some applause for some unworthy statements of stupidity on our part, we leave the bar for our intended destination.

as it turns out, Heino is a famous german singer who has taken on some kind of cult presence in north america...or at least the real heino is. this guy on stage was an impersonator from second city, who's got this schtick down to an uproarious t.

HEINO HAPPY HOUR - Das Booty
*i'd play this on the radio, but you know what happens when you humiliate germans. they have this funny way of getting back at you. read this article for more insight into this song and dance...but in the meantime, "for the fatherland, do your duty and shake das booty!"

from there, it was next door to club ov's for an emergeevent, the same folks who brought you om and harvest and countless other love-in dancequests for the deadheads and bassheads alike. this time, they brought along mutek scene duo Crackhaus, chick's dig it's Leelee Mishi, and sumkidz regulars Dickard and Bobert, who took us into the wee hours with some serious glitch and and minimalist funk that made us forget about the sketchy surroundings. although, i must say, it's rather fun to discover that the venue's curtains are made of garbage bags.

please don't confuse crackhaus with the awful aryan gangstarisch rap record label of the same name.

SUNDAY - THE COLD SOUL
as stuart berman wrote in a recent eye magazine article, wavelength is all about being in "a bar filled with cold-braving music enthusiasts" to "catch a glimpse of a secret star before the general population catches on". such was the case at wavelength, where the effects of worldwide storms didn't prevent a full house attendence for luca maoloni's The Old Soul (shhhh! don't compare them to Brian WIlson!). with a horn section that could kill lame high school band teachers and a backing band featuring some of this scene's more prolific musicians, luca put the zap on the crowd. i'm unaware of any releases this group may have put out, but i'm on it, hopefully in time for this week's show.

******

we're still figuring out what our playlist will bring you on friday at noon, but expect only the best in new music from the blogsphere and beyond, only on CIUT 89.5fm.

Friday, February 18, 2005

ESB PLAYLIST 2/18/05

ok, we've tried prerecording the past couple shows, but it's just proven to be a painstaking proxess that seeds lacklustre results. how could i possibly hope to make a good quality mix on this piece of shit system i use, with all this room noise and shouting all over the place? and besides, it's just way more fun to go live...anyway, down to business...


DAMON ALBARN - I Need a Gun
* the song that the Gorillaz got Dirty Harry from.

SIKTRANSIT - A Time and Place for Children
SIKTRANSIT - 99 Problems Cutup
SIJKTRANSIT - Party all the Fuckin TIme
SIKTRANSIT - All Day and All Night Electro
NUMBA ONE STUNNA - B52 I Love You
* a number of fabulous cutups from two Toronto artists. look for them to drop soon in the form of records and live shows.

TEAM NINTENDO - I Miss U
* i'm surprised something like this hasn't happened sooner.
FINAL FANTASY - An Arrow in the Side of Final Fantasy
*"steve kado is going to have to print more of these...", said the clerk at a local record store.

SEBASTIEN TELLIER - La Ritournelle
AK-MOMO - Women to Control
DJ DELORES + ORCHESTRA SANTA MASSA - A Danca da Moda
BOSTICH - Autobanda
* all from recent posts at Fat Planet, which i like because they're truly international. they don't exoticize "foreign" music,and they're just as likely to post a track from boston as they are to one from tuva.

M.I.A.- 10 dollar
*it was interesting to see the blogsphere go apeshit over the "meaning" of MIA ever since she hit toronto. we even did it ourselves at ESB (prhaps we were a bit too excited at the time). see some more sober opinions at zoilus, them finest and ghetto postage.

off to see the kids on tv tonight with the afoermentioned them finest for an AIDS benefit at the gladstone. hope to run into you there.

Thursday, February 17, 2005

tops to umbrella music for publishing our review of the wavelgnth 5th anniversary. read it here.

we couldn't get carl wilson to do a phoner this week, but perhaps when things a re a bit less crunchy and more peanut buttery smooth on the working front, wilson will deliver us his word on the whole music blog business goin down these days.

as for this week, make sure to tune in tomorrow at 89.5fm in toronto, 12pm et to catch some breaking new material from underground artists like Siktransit and a totally unheard of cutup artist named Numba One Stunna, both local guys who will be hitting the scene hard in the near future.

also, i managed to get a hold of this new owen pallet / final fantasy disc, called "final fantasy has a good home", i really dig it despite some of the budget production and engineering (no slight to the talented folks who made htis challenging recording), so we'll crack a few tunes for you. apparently this disc sold amazingly well during owen's opener gig across the states with arcade fire, but the wor d is that steve kado from blocks is going to have to print more if the kids are gonna start picking it up en masse, which they're likely to do over the next few weeks.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

oh, and much thanks to my one true valentine(s), jay and magda at synaptic plastic. thanks for the plug, and i love you both.

ESB PLAYLIST 2/11/05

sorry about the delay. wavelength took some breaths away and i got caught up.

CPC GANGBANGS - Mechanical Man
CPC GANGBANGS - Where Did We Go Wrong?
* deaner from FUBAR's band. they put on a tight show and their new record should be out soon. in the meantime, enjoy these quality cuts from their online demo.

GORRILLAZ - Dirty Harry
* new cut from the electro super group, with the help of dangermouse (courtesy of stereogum). according to thighs wide shut, the vocal and keyboard tracks come from a damon albarn solo disc, a limited edition one with which he used to pass around some of the songs here recorded in hotels a US tour. we'll play the original track on friday during the show.

THE PEACE - Black Power
THE PEACE - Peaceful Man
* Zambian copper belt revolutionary rock from 1973. one of the few contributions to black histoy month by the blogging community :) actually, pieter from akwaaba sound system has just returned from africa where he visited various countries and brought some good tunes back with him. there is an excellent post dated feb 4th featuring mp3s from a congolese mambo group called "super super mambo jazz". we'll make sure to play them next week on the show, as i've always maintained that jazz from mid and southern african is far superior to that of any any other part of the world (with the exception of the mediterranean and quite possibly latin america..it's only slightly better in those cases)

LULLABYE ARCHESTRA - Summertime
SS CARDIACS - Wolfie's (a great live videoof the S.S. Cardiacs at Club Rockit last august can be found here)
Y.A.C.H.T. - Sometimes I Doubt Your Committment to Sparkle Motion
THE CONSTANTINES - Blind Luck

* these songs come as part of a roundup (or as it was on the show last week, a preview) of the wavelength 5th anniversary weekend, during which all of the above performed sets. Jonah of YACHT is also in The Blow, who headlined at Sneaky Dee's on sunday night for the last show of the anniversary. i love how wavelength master of ceremonies Doc Pickles always pronounces the "ch" in yacht...perhaps he's welsh. my friend and i also mused about how funny it was that on top of pickle's duties, someone had to introduce him as MC. "is that really necessary?" we asked a first, but quickly we realized that the spirit of wavelength is what we like the best. the idea that you can say "hey, we know you and we like you so we trust you with our microphones, so we may as well have you come on stage". i wrote a review of the whole shebang (or most of it, rather, as i didn't make it to all the events) that should be up on torontoist and / or umbrella music by tomorrow.

FINAL FANTASY - The CN Tower Belongs to the Dead
FINAL FANTASY - Furniture
* from owen pallett's latest album. he was either present or performing at all four of the anniversary's shows. he's just released an album called "Final Fantasy Has a Good Home", which i plan to pick up tomorrow and play some music from in the near future, perhaps even have him on the show. from what i've heard so far, it sounds like a solid studio venture that differs a fair bit from his solo live shows, which can be rather dark and languorous (not that there's anything wrong with that). the two songs i've played last week are both very distinct from one another, and engineered with superb quality and attention to detail for a record on an indie budget. i think this album is a new height in the vast archive out there in the aether that chronicles a century of recorded indie music in toronto. read the story surrounding the making of this album here.

NINJA HIGH SCHOOL - By Purpose Not By Plan
* these guys have been around for a couple of years, but to me they represent the future of wavelength. another great video for your consumption.

NO DYNAMICS - Josephine Baker
* people were throwin requests out for this one at the crazy house party gig on saturday night. to me, these guys represent the future of toronto.

SIKTRANSIT - Manituba
* this was an early version of the now finalized song "a time and place for photos and grand children". we'll have more from him this week. get ready, because this guy is moving back to toronto in may, and once he releases a record, he's going to drop hard. his last album, everybody needs sundays, made it to number six on the exclaim! electronic chart within amonth of being sent out to radio stations across the country, without any press whatsoever. a track from it also ended up on the inflight radio of air canada, oddly enough. he's been written about in vice and almost got snatched up by universal three years ago. the album was of the down tempo sort, but now he's played some live gigs and is into the dancefloor mashup ekectropunk thing. expect big things from this guy.

videos this week courtesy of aperture enzyme, a great resource for images of toronto bands.

tune in on friday at noon for the carl wilson interview, which hopefully will transpire tomorrow.

Saturday, February 12, 2005

i don't know about YOU, but I can't put a muthafuckin MAN on the GODDAMN MOON!!!

this weekend has surpassed any of the lame bullshit i ever experienced during 11 years of exile in kingston and winnipeg by light years. fuck those snobs in the exchange district and their stories about fighting teenage nazi gangs. fuck all those bitchass kingston swine who never cared for anything new. i feel as if i've traversed galaxies tonight. at some house party in a building above a bagel shop, i caught my favourite toronto band, NO DYNAMICS. huddled masses of bodies blasted into one another in a cellular interplay of propulsive discharge (if that makes any sense whatsoever). it was a quick set, but all who stuck it out in that tiny living room overlooking computer stores and street cleaning machines spent a good 40 minutes amidst freakish noise and a strange vibe that straddled the thin line between mosh pit and dancefloor. we truly are a bizarre hybrid of our 80s childhoods and 90s adolescence.

no dynamics are composed of a number of kids i'd come across in the past in some manner, and it's entirely likely that you have too.

you'd recognize carl didur (organ) and daniel vila (guitar) from the bloor street service sector. jeremy finklestein (drums) i remember from some party a couple years ago in a very well off neighbourhood where he chalked up a bridge with controversial slogans and got the attention of the cops. vanessa fischer, steve kado's vocal sparring partner in the barcelona pavillion, glues it all together with her "for the audience by the audience" show, where's she's not afriad to sing in your face while she's shoving her body into you, and she won't stop pushing until you push back.

go see this band whenever you can.

friday's playlist will come tomorrow...happy wavelength 5th.

Thursday, February 10, 2005

by the looks of it, the founders of wavelength will most likely not be joining us tomorrow. i tried to get a hold of them but they're probably too busy for a hack like myself. up until today at ESB we called february "guestuary", but at the moment it is SO not. however, there are some people who are still up for "the time" this month. i'm signing out the studio to prerecord an interview with carl wilson, to be broadcast on the 18th. the following week is still planned for having the local music magazine interns puke bile all over the music reporting scene in torono, so at least we'll get somewhere this month.

tomorrow calls for some more new kicks, so we've got a tonne of Siktransit and a new cutup from his friend Numba One Stunna, which, in my humblest of humblies, is off the fuckin wall. plus, a profile of the Fat Planet blog.

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

CAN YOU RUB SOME ZOIL ON MY BACK?

so we got a little write up on zoilus, tuesday feb 8th, and carl wilson seems rather "woah, this blogging shit is outta control" about it...particularly when he says "Lean back and laugh." i can certainly understand. it is, quite undoubtedly, a rather self-reflexive idea to have a radio show devoted to music blogging and then give it a blog...although, i suppose you could argue that it'd be the only way to do it. (i find it rather funny that wilson could find my two other blogs as having any interest to zoilus readers.) anyway, it was nice to have the plug, fun to get poked at a bit, and perhaps some people will tune in as a result.

tune in again this week, and don't forget to lean back and laugh.

Saturday, February 05, 2005

ESB PLAYLIST 2/4/05

some pics and a video from the MIA/DIplo show at the drake wednesday night here.

also, local electronic label synaptic plastic has finally released some records. here's what one of them looks like:








ain't it pretty? i think so. their designer is called raisecain an this is a preliminary look at her site in development. we'll let you know when more records hit the streets. two releases are available now at release records and playderecord, and some copies should be ready at rotate this by next week. so look for:

ASC (uk) - Static Shock/System Shock
STRANJAH (can) - Chordz/ Red Lantern (pictured above)

and now, our selections from yesterday...

M.I.A. / DIPLO - Fire Bam
* from Piracy Funds Terrorism
CHEMICAL BROS - Can't Stop this Feeling
ELTON MOTELLO - Jet Boy Jet Girl
* i mistakenly called this guy a "new artist" (mainly because i hadn't done a lick of research into this song even though it was right in front of my face on the blog i got it from), and even called him "moRello", so now i feel shame. elton moTello has been around for ever and this tune blew everyone away back in the punk heydey.

HANGED UP - New Blue Monday
LOW - Trasmission
* covers of the two best selling records the factory ever had, the first one from a collaboration between various musicians on montreal's constellation records. check out this new blog about the FAC.
A CERTAIN RATIO - Lucinda

DUCHESS SAYS - Cut Up
DUCHESS SAYS - Black Flag
* Goldkixx reports that these guys are the Montreal act you missed last year. make sure it doesn't happen again in 2005.

UNICORNS - Tuff Ghost
UNICORNS - Les Ohs
ALL MAKES, PARTS and COLLISION - Track 12
* Goldkixx reports that the legendary Montreal trio the Unicorns have broken up. too bad, because they left an imprint during their short term in the spotlight, for better or worse. the last tune in this set comes from an Alden Ginger pre-Unicorns project.

BLACK MOUNTAIN - Set Us Free
* one more thing from Glodkixx and then you can leave. they're saying that 2005 will be Vancouver's year, because of group like the Black Mountain. it'd take a lot to convince me that Black Mountain can compete with the onslaught of new toronto groups like no dynamics, but what the hell, who gives two shits for competition anyway. i mean, music is about sharing with one another. vancouver, montreal, toronto, it's all the same city, isn't it? ok, maybe not...but there's no reason all of us here out east, with our disco punk and electro tastes, should knock on a band like Black Mountain because of their psychadelic down home sound.

next week's show falls under wavelength's 5th anniversary, so we're gonna try and get steve kado and johnny dovercourt on as guests, two guys who have been at the forefront of this toronto revolution/institution since its inception.

Friday, February 04, 2005

FIRE MY FURNACE

finally, some gorgeous weather to make me happy. in the depths of winter, it's easy to forget the feeling of sun on your skin and warm wind on your face. toronto can be so dreary at times, but when it's nice outside, everything changes. as my roomie angela says, "woohoo its february! cause after february is march, and then april, and the SUMMATIME!" this week has been a small reminder of the seemingly endless possibilities of summer: walking to work, eating roti and shotting holes in the moon at night.

there's a fantastic fiery furnaces live set at justconcerts.com which is captivating me at the moment. i'd never really looked into this band but perhaps i should, althought i'm totally satisfied by sitting here listening to this spastic arrangement of bullet-like songs delivered with total performance efficiency: no banter, no breaks.

i hope that tonight will prove a different sort of live entertainment for no dynamics and the cpc gangbangs at the silver dollar. cpc gangbangs are highly anticipated, as they house band member paul, aka deaner from FUBAR, although it's unlikely he'll be in character, but i assure you, he'll turn down the suck just as well as deaner does in the film. i urge everyone in toronto to check this show out, but not because of the deaner issue. the four members of this band bring to the scene several years of collected experience in groups such as the spaceshits and the sexareenos, who i don't know but sound like righteously awesome bands. i'm going with my crazy german roommate who introduced me to bands like the hospitals and the lost sounds. he likes to get loaded, and so do i, so i'm sure i'll play along with whatever german scheme he's got planned for wanton mayhem. i've heard much ado about no dynamics as well, and the one mp3 they have on their site gets me all riled up.

this has been the best week for live music that toronto has seen in ages, and i'm very enthralled to be a part of it. as this month continues to bring us the top of the line , i'll be there every step of the way. i'll even see if i can do a small doc and make it available to you for download, but no guarentees. but as always, tune in this and every friday, noon hour et. 89.5fm in toronto. www.ciut.fm on the web.

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

LET ME DO MA THING YOOOOO

i'm a broke like fuck but proud as hell to say it, because i spent my last significant $20 on MIA/Diplo tonight at the drake. this is food money we're talkin here. so, is it worth it to starve for a couple days? yes, because this show was of undeniable importance to this little scene here in toronto. a visit from MIA is major recognition for this city's dedicated underground artists and music goers. she's only barely caught on here, yet a tour stop so early in the furor of her rising popularity remained a priority.

the crowd was receptive from the opening of Diplo's boss set. it was quite a surprise to see Much Music cameras, and their vj's gettin down dirty styles with the wavelength people. by the time MIA joined him, the hands were up and the dancers ready to shout along.

maya arulpragasm, for those who don't know quite yet (you will soon enough), comes from london, where after years of art school, dance routines and album design, she left to visit her native sri lanka. although she was the daughter of a prominent Tamil Tiger, it had never hit her how serious the civil war was until she saw a great portion of her generation embroiled in the conflict. when she returned to england, MIA came out of the canvas, so to speak, and in a very short amount of time, she's got world recognition and toronto was was hit with a pleasant surprise.

after a number of singles, she's releasing a new album. available on the web is the MIA/Diplo remix project, Piracy Funds Terrorism. download it, as requested by the artists themselves.

so imagine how it must feel to be in toronto right now. we have MIA from england/sri lanka and Diplo from philly, with a trusted back up MC and dancer, dropping in early and laying down an 8 song, 40 minute set replete with encore, costume change and "first time ever" new songs. maya and her stage sparring partner worked moves like i aint seen since afrofest, yet they make no sound of breath between lines and exude a collected posture on stage that they almost make it look too easy. we're so thoroughly unaware of the sweat it must cause them to play. that combination of musical intensity and the coolness of performance made the show rather arresting, and only riled the crowd further. it is hump night, after all.

check out MIA's site...and a sick interview with diplo.

********

this gig was also quite important to our little show here. a few discussions i had tonight will continue on the radio this month of february, also known as "guestuary" or "the month of guests". ok, we won't have them every week, but every other week, a guest panel straight out of toronto. here's our sched for the next month:

fri feb 4 - more new tracks, the electro stuff you haven't heard yet from montreal, vancouverite psychadelia, and some interesting takes on factory records classics.

fri feb 11- wavelength 5th anniversary weekend special
w/ steve kado, founder of the blocksblocksblocks recording club; johnny dovercourt, booking agent and PR of wavelength/music gallery; jonah, from the blow and YACHT (see last post for links). examining the impact of wavelength on the toronto underground, and looking to its future.

fri feb 18 - undecided

fri feb 25 - the intern show
w/ jaded former interns of eye magazine paul carlucci, dave morris, and current intern cam tulk to discuss the current good, bad and ugly of the local indie music paper market.

also this month, new and exclusive cutups from siktransit.