Here you go Toronto: Rush’s YYZ isolated tracks

As a Montreal Canadiens fan, I actually ended up rooting for Toronto to beat Boston (they are a Canadian team after all!), close but no cigar! I may have been more upset at their loss than Montreal’s! Maybe not, but Montreal’s loss was gradual so easier to take. Toronto’s was over in milliseconds, so, the drum part from the awesome Rush track “YYZ” for you down and out Maple Leaf fans.

YYZ is of course Toronto’s airport code with the International Air Transport Association (IATA). And it is played in morse code in the track!

It was nominated for a Grammy in 1982 in the Best Rock Instrumental Performance category but lost to The Police’s “Behind My Camel”. Other nominees were: Dixie Dregs’ “Unsung Heroes”, Robert Fripp’s “The League of Gentlemen” and Kraftwerk’s “Computer World”.

Check out the guitar and bass tracks for “YYZ” too!

Very sweet isolated tracks, and a great instrumental with all parts together as a single entity.

Go Sens!

Once again thanks for reading…!

Heard in Toronto…

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday’s blog posts were pre-written and scheduled, as I was in Toronto, and was not going to have quality internet access. I did not get around to doing Friday’s as that was when I was returning, but ended up getting home late and lacking energy. Anyway, here is yesterday’s blog post so to speak, as I am trying valiantly to keep my post a day going!

I could just list everything, but that would be boring, so some context with each, and we will see how this post ends up.

Queen – Sweet Lady. In my Uncle’s car, he was playing A Night at the Opera!

Tito Nieves – De Mi Enamorate. A snippet being one of the Toronto Blue Jays player’s at bat music.

Mötley Crüe – Kickstart My Heart. Heard in some capacity at the Blue Jays game.

Jean Marc-Challe – Superman (Club Mix). Heard in a club attached to my hotel, thanks to SoundHound, as this is definitely not my music! I can deal with some house, usually only if it is some other electronic music with house elements…

A music video station actually playing music videos(!):

Primitive Radio Gods – Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand
Econoline Crush – All That You Are (x3)
The Watchmen – Stereo

Lastly, heard in a Canadian poutine chain that plays rock music (hence my surprise hearing this):

New Order – Bizarre Love Triangle

All of this music was identified via the SoundHound app, as even if I know it, it is a good way to remember it, or remember it for the future (such as this blog post!). In this case, most if not all I would not have know the artist or song title.

Listening queue

The problem with being addicted to music is I can always find stuff to listen to. And although it is a good addiction, it can cause me to procrastinate, such as making my own music, or learning an instrument (bass for the most part now), but both of those are other blog posts for another day!

On with this post…!

I just learned Eleanor Friedberger of The Fiery Furnaces, and having released her solo debut in 2011 (Last Summer), is releasing her second album late this Spring (Personal Record, June 2013). With that in mind, I want to go back to listen to The Fiery Furnaces music. I believe I only really started listening to them around the time Eleanor Friedberger’s solo album came out!

In my quest to listen to new music, and continue listening to old music I have yet to hear, I just read a review about Toronto’s Parallels on exclaim.ca, having just performed Canadian Music Week (CMW). The reviewer said their 2011 debut (Visionaries) was fantastic, while their latest, XII, “felt like just another record in a crowded field”. Regardless, there are two albums to listen to. As far as old music goes, Mick Fleetwood was recently on the great motoring TV show Top Gear (UK edition of course!), so I am listening to Rumours (Fleetwood Mac of course) as I type this. And a friend also recently cited that as an album he quite enjoys. And Rolling Stone calls it the 25th or 26th greatest album of all-time, depending on which version you are looking at (the original, or the revised 2012 list).

To be continued…

(Regular readers will notice the new theme? Thoughts, comments? Do tell! I was thinking of a static page with previews of all recent posts, but the one I was looking into did not have a sidebar, which I like. This one seems to only load so many posts, and since I embed quite a lot of stuff, I do not really want to make your browser become unresponsive! On that note, thanks for reading once again!)

Listen to this #6 – Austra

Toronto’s Austra’s sophomore album “will be released June 17/18 via Paper Bag and Domino!!”

File under: Synthpop, Dark Wave, dream pop

The Tower of Song Tour preview, featuring Alysha Brillinger and Kristen Bussandri

Since I will not be able to catch this show (unless I can make it towards the end (I am volunteering at Pop Montreal, and have to get my ‘training’ — I volunteered last year, so I should be able to get the hang of it! By the way, it is not too late to volunteer!)), I am giving it some publicity over here in order to generate some additional buzz!

I am only familiar with both singer-songwriters from hearing their audio online, and sounds like it would make for a good show. So to steal from their bios, as I do not know too much about them, “Alysha Brillinger’s blues and reggae influenced songs combine her funky guitar playing and unique voice to create a fresh new organic vibe of music.” I find she has a bit of a jazzy delivery as well. Check out her song “Better Soon” below (I actually hear a bit of Bob Dylan’s “Lay Lady Lay” in the melody. She is presently signed to Lava/Universal Republic, and is a native of Kitchener it would seem. Hence the tour (see below) doing their respective hometowns, and Toronto in between!

The first time I heard Kristen Bussandri, a local (Montrealer), who has split her time between New York City and here in Montreal, I thought sultry, and lo and behold, in her bio: “Kristen Bussandri is a long-legged sultry brunette who will stop you in your tracks with her timeless pop songwriting and heartbreaking vocals that transcend genres, embracing everything from intimate acoustic ballads to gritty R&B to rock with uncompromising sophistication and depth.” In July, she just released her debut EP, Diamonds to Dust. It can be heard and purchased online, just head on over to her official website, kristenbussandri.com. Embedded below, a live rendition of her song “If You Don’t Love Me You’re Wrong.”

The three city micro-tour starts in Montreal Wednesday night (September 14), and the next two nights are Toronto and Kitchener, Ontario, respectively. Head on over to Dukits.com, which seems to be a crowdsourcing (as they say) meets a deal of the day site, for advance ticket, and show information. As of this writing there is only a couple of hours left to get Toronto and Kitchener tickets at a reduced rate, so hurry!

And individually they will be doing shows in the future (I reckon!), so check out their official websites: AlyshaBrillinger.com and KristenBussandri.com.