Dark Was the Night

Dark Was the Night is a compilation album released on February 17, 2009. Now, I'm not usually one for compilation albums, if I like an artist I'll get the whole thing. I don't want bits and pieces, thats why I use hype machine, to see if it's worth listening to (I'll also go on friend recommendations). I have only heard a few songs off of Dark Was the Night, but I already know I have to go buy it. Why?
Well here's a little background info. Dark Was the Night was assembled by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National for the Red Hot Organization (an organization fighting HIV/AIDS through pop culture and raising awareness) so you already know it's a worthwhile cause. Furthermore, it's been two years in the making because, and here's the kicker, it features new (and a few covers) songs by (here are SOME of the artists):

Andrew Bird
Antony + Bryce Dessner
Arcade Fire
Beach House
Beirut
Blonde Redhead + Devastations
Bon Iver
Buck 65 Remix (featuring Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti)
Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues
The Decemberists
Dirty Projectors + David Byrne
Kevin Drew
Feist + Ben Gibbard
Grizzly Bear + Feist
Iron & Wine
My Brightest Diamond
My Morning Jacket
The National
The New Pornographers
Spoon
Sufjan Stevens
Yo La Tengo

All I can say is... nothing. It is bound to be 2 cd's of gold. In particular some of these collaborations are looking pretty good, Feist alone is good, but with Ben Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie, and The Postal Service) or Grizzly Bear, amazing. There are so many reasons to buy this album, I don't think it's avoidable.

Dear Lovely Feathers- Where have you Gone?

2006, I was in grade 12, it was a year of fun, friends, discovery, and The Lovely Feathers released Hind Hind Legs. That was truly a great album. I was supposed to go see them on December 8th, 2006 (also known as the worst day of my life) but if any of you remember that was the craziest snowstorm I have ever seen. As a result of all the snow, my comp sci exam was moved, I couldn't get home until much much later, missing the concert (also that day I ripped my favourite pair of jeans, and there was no italian grilled cheese). That was also the last I heard of The Lovely Feathers.
They seemed to just disappear, and that's not easy for a band on Spin's Top 5 up and coming Montreal Bands. Earlier this school year I heard they were back! But... that's about all I've heard. In the INFO section of their website it states, "And so it goes to where they are today: The Lovely Feathers, several years finer, are pleased to announce the imminent release of their new completed album, ‘Scherezadian’. It will be followed by a respectful and pleasant tour of North America." On their myspace it even says Fall 2008! Well... where is this album?! I checked the last.fm page to see if there was any news, or if there were any new songs on ANYONES account... but nothing. In the Shoutbox- written in December- is, " haven't heard anything about scherezadian for a while now :(". So I guess I am not the only one who is confused.
However, the band is back to playing shows in Montreal tomorrow, and later for Canadian Music week in Toronto. I guess they haven't ceased to exist. They're just so cryptic, does anyone know whats going on with 'Scherezadian'?

Youtube is the new Public Sphere

Youtube was started in February 2005, since then it has been bought by Google, grown in popularity, and started a user-generated content revolution. Youtube has created a community of people all over the world who can post videos of anything: animations, vlogs (video blog), music videos, home videos, parts of tv shows or ads, virtually any kind of clip. The uses are endless. In An anthropological introduction to YouTube some of these trends are tracked.

This video explains the growing phenomenon, how Youtube has connected people, created stars (soulja boy anyone?), started drama, and allowed people to express themselves in so many more ways. The slogan for Youtube is 'Broadcast yourself', and that seems to be it's main purpose.It seems to me that Youtube is probably the closest thing in today's society that we have to Habermas' idea of the ideal public sphere. Because Youtube is comprised of user generated content people can express themselves in whatever way they want; it's astounding how many people are not camera shy or afraid of talking about anything. It's also impressive the amount of responses a video can get, people will respond to vlogs by making their own vlog (how many numa numa videos have you seen?). I enjoy the free hugs movement started by Juan Mann, I think it sends a great message about connectivity with others in today's society, it's even been on Oprah! It truly is a community where people can get together, it's open to everyone, where private people form a public, and have critical (or not so critical) discussion.
This isn't to say there aren't problems with it, spam gets in, advertisers use it to promote things, people make up fake stories, and there is a lot of sex and hate. However, the majority of users are using it to share something: experiences, stories, funny things, feelings, a message. They enjoy the playfulness of Youtube, they realize it is a great way to be heard.
Youtube is an asset to our media saturated world. Similar to blogs, it can be used to supplement mainstream media, hear opinions and voices that may never be heard otherwise. So I encourage you to become part of this phenomenon and start youtubing.

Dave Dyment: guest blog by Meagan Kashty

Dave Dyment is a Canadian artist who has gained a lot of popularity for his "pop art." I was first privy to his work while writing an article on the LOLA festival in London, and was instantly hooked.
Dyment is based in Toronto, but has had is work exhibited all across Canada as well as Dublin and Varna, Bulgaria and Philadelphia.
He specializes in taking ready made material (like records, posters, and other "pop culture" related things) and transforming them or manipulating them to send a different message.
However, what really intrigued me about Dyment was how he uses The Beatles as a source of inspiration.
In "Life and Death", Dyment takes an advertising lightbox to illuminate a reproduction of LIFE magazine with Paul McCartney on the cover. The article inside was meant to reassure fans that Paul was alive and well, but the advertisement on the back of the front page reveals a car "crashing into" Paul. This is a cool, subtle play on the "Paul is Dead" theory that plagued so many Beatle's fans.
There are also several pieces where Dyment combines several top 25 records into 1 single record.
I think it's some pretty interesting stuff, and you should definately check out www.davedyment.com to see more.

( Check out www.maybeimamazedmaybenot.blogspot.com if you liked this post, and want to see more)

Guest post

I did a guest post on friend, roommate, blogger-extraordinare, Meagan Kashty's blog: Maybe I'm Amazed. Check it out.
I'll give you a hint: it's about web comics.

If everything I could see...

darkleavesfromathread by yyellowbird on flickr

looked like these photographs then would anything be beautiful again? I was originally going to write something more like 'then life would be even more enjoyable' or 'then everything would be amazing' but then I realized, if everything looked like this beauty could become so commonplace that it wouldn't be beautiful.

Fear not for the future, weep not for the past by i.anton on flickr (amazing photostream)

MGMT Music Videos

What doesMGMT have to do with the most ridiculous show on tv? It's simple, short and bizarre videos. Do you like MGMT's ridiculous music videos (always so ridiculous!)? Have you seen The Youth? If not, you should. So I am posting it here.
This little gem is directed by Eric Wareheim of The Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job. If you've never seen the show MGMT's music video is kind of a good indication of the style of the show. There probably is no meaning, they love low production values (possibly so low they're even high?), and the humour is really obscure. It's a sketch show, just little random bits that are sometimes repeated (Steve Brule is the best) and some are just totally arbitrary. Regardless... amazing. Here's a clip. So naturally Eric and MGMT go hand in hand. Sometimes I just don't know how to deal with it. If you have seen or enjoyed one, check out the other, you'll probably like it. Or if you've heard MGMT and check out Tim and Eric you may just be confused. I've seen a lot of it but it still confuses me.