Osheaga seems to have really outdone itself with an absolutely amazing line-up this year. The festival takes place from July 29-31 at Parc Jean-Drapeau in always-amazing Montreal, truly one of my favourite cities in the world.
The stacked line-up includes several artist I have covered or would love to cover including: Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lana Del Rey, Death Cab for Cutie, The Lumineers, M83, Haim, Half Moon Run, Grimes, Bloc Party, Coeur De Pirate, The Arcs, Cypress Hill, Silversun Pickups, Foals, The Cat Empire, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Daughter, Elle King, July Talk (at Lee's Palace and at TURF), Jazz Cartier, St. Lucia, Lapsley, Dragonette, Jack Garratt, Borns, The Strumbellas (at The Horseshoe and at TURF), Frightened Rabbit, Lucius, The Struts, White Lung, The Wombats, Allie X, Dilly Dally, Busty and the Bass, Dear Rouge, and many more.
Ten years ago today, Bloc Party released their début full-length album Silent Alarm. I can't remember exactly when I discovered it, but it blew me away. The songs, the energy, the sound was, and still is, a musical revelation to me. I would say that it's a début album that no one could live up to.
If you just want to relive it, or if you're just discovering it, you can listen to the whole album or spend a moment with my personal favourites of my favourites. I've tried to concentrate on great live versions just to capture the energy in a more visceral way and to provide variety.
"Like Eating Glass" on Jools Holland. That frenetic delivery is incredible.
"Helicopter" live at Glastonbury
"Positive Tension" live at Glastonbury
"Banquet" live at Glastonbury
"She's Hearing Voices" live at Bristol Academy
"This Modern Love" live in Sydney
"Little Thoughts"
"So Here We Are" live at Glastonbury
"Luno"
They also released Silent Alarm Remixed, which is almost as amazing as the original. And this is coming from a guy who generally couldn't care less about remixes. Check out Death From Above 1979's remix (cover) of "Luno"
2005 stands out as an amazing year in music for me. I discovered some amazing bands and some of my favourite bands put out their strongest albums in 2005. Here's part one of a two-part Five-by-Five post on amazing tunes from 2005.
"Helicopter" from Bloc Party's incredible début Silent Alarm. One of the most frantically amazing albums from front to back.
"An Honest Mistake" from The Bravery's eponymous 80s tribute
Okay, I get that it's my own fault for having an iTunes library with these songs in it, but sometimes I've got to laugh at the juxtapositions my smart playlists serve up. Here's a recent set of tunes:
Frente, with their cover of New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle"
Here's the latest tune from Bloc Party's Four. The song's called "Kettling" and that opening guitar part is definitely raunchy. In the best way possible.
Torontonians will remember the practice of kettling from police actions during the 2010 G20 Summit.
Cool hook. Lots of energy. Destined to grow on me. What is it? An "Octopus". The first track from Bloc Party's new album Four, which comes out August 20.
Hard-Fi were one of the British bands that hit me really hard, in a good way, in around 2005. Along with Bloc Party, Maxïmo Park, Editors, The Bravery, and Kaiser Chiefs, among others I'm probably forgetting. They have a new album coming out on August 22. It's called Killer Sounds and they have the second video out.
I featured the first tune, "Good For Nothing", a while back. The second single, "Fire In The House", doesn't have the so much of the pronounced guitars of their previous albums, but it does have a strong chorus, a groovy bass line, and some nice and soulful backup vocals.
They also have another full song and samples of the rest on their audio player. Check it out. Sounds like the band is evolving and I like what they're coming up with.
I really love Bloc Party's début release. I have been a little frustrated that nothing they released after that lived up to the song writing and frenetic energy of that album, but I guess bands progress and not all their fans can come along for the full ride.
Here's Bloc Party in their TV début, on Later with Jools Holland. They perform "Helicopter", an awesome song about a very scary politician.
Arctic Monkeys is one of those bands that grabbed me. When I first heard Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not when it came out in 2006, I was instantly hooked. The band was tight, the songwriting was instantly appealing while being unique, and the way the stories were told was engaging. I remember their awesome performance on SNL, too. I still love the album and it certainly has one of the largest number of five-star songs from one album in my iTunes library.
Favourite Worst Nightmare came out in 2007 and although it had a massive success to follow on, it was a great album, too.
Their new album is called Humbug and the first single is "Crying Lightning". The single's available from iTunes right now and the album is due out August 24th in the UK. Probably means that we'll see it in North America on the 25th.
Check out the tune below.
Arctic Monkeys will be touring North America in September and October. Dates are below.
SEPTEMBER 14th September - Soma, San Diego 15th September - Hollywood Palladium, LA 16th September - Fox Theater, Oakland 18th September - Wonder Ballroom, Portland **FREE SHOW** 19th September - The Showbox @ The Market, Seattle 20th September - Malkin Bowl, Vancouver 22nd September -In The Venue, Salt Lake City - w/Airborne Toxic Event 23rd September - Ogden Theatre, Denver - w/Airborne Toxic Event 25th September - First Avenue, Minneapolis 26th September - Eagles Ballroom, Milwaukee 28th September - Newport Music Hall, Columbus 29th September - Kool Haus, Toronto 30th September - Electric Factory, Philadelphia
OCTOBER 2nd October - House of Blues, New Orleans 3rd October - House of Blues, Houston 4th October - Austin City Limits Festival, Austin 5th October - The Palladium Ballroom
And for your listening and viewing pleasure, here's a gem from the first album - "A View from the Afternoon".
Edit: July 16. I just finished reading a great article on Arctic Monkeys and thought it turned out better than my article, primarily because the writer had access to the band themselves. Enjoy.
