The Octopus Project

This is gonna be my first show review EVER!! lol let me know what you think, ok? I had an opportunity to check out a band called “the Octopus Project” last night @ Lee’s Palace. One of my friends saw them last time when they were in Toronto. But since the show was double-booked with another band, they had to play at a different location. Thus, the audience was only about 5 people due to the problem. My lucky friend got to see them and told me how great it was. So, without having any plans on Tuesday night, I decided to check them out with him. I had listened to a couple of their songs before the show. It was not the type of Music that I usually like. But they sounded pretty decent. So finally I made up my mind and went to one of my favourite places, Lee’s Palace.

The last time that I was there, I saw Butch Walker.. When I got to the place, all the nostalgic memories came back to my mind... Ummm, Butch walker… Please come back to Toronto ASAP! After a couple of beers and a chat with friends of his, the opening band, Modern boys Modern Girls started playing. The First impression,,, they sounded ok. The solid sounds from the drums and bass . I wanted to hear more guitar solos though. The vocal was ok, but nothing special about it. Anyhow, after a few songs, they sounded all the same..

Despite a little bit of disappointment of the first band, I got more curious to see the Octopus Project.The place started becoming crowded. The kids are going closer to the stage. The members of the band showed up and started setting up their instruments and on the stage (they set up two ghosts on the stage lol). Some of the instruments are pretty… odd. I was asking my friend what they are. I’d never seen them before in my entire life. Especially, there was a wood-ish instrument next to 2 key boards. It was called a “Theremin”. It is an electronic instrument and can be controlled without touching it. It looked really interesting when the band member was playing. Their songs are more like instrumental, not much singing involved. The projected screen showed all sorts of music videos. Creative!!

The best thing that blows my mind was the band members switch their instruments quite often. It’s basically everybody can play anything, seriously! The drummer was playing the drums, but all the sudden he was playing the guitar… things like that!!!

Well, overall the show was something of an extraordinary mind blowing show for sure I did record one song for this blog and took a couple of pictures for you guys. ENJOY!!

The Rural Alberta Advantage

I went CD shopping with my friends on Sunday, but I didn't intend to buy any CDs. As my friend spent 85 bucks on CDs, I was starting browsing around the store. Then I finally found a CD called HOMETOWN from the Rural Alberta Advantage. I came to know them when I was reading their CD reviews on the Metro, the free newspaper in Toronto. As I have been trying to check out a lot of new bands recently, I went to the spinner.ca, where you can listen to a lot of new released CDs. Luckily, I found the CD on the website and fall in love shortly after starting listening to the first song, "The ballad of RRA" I and my friend totally agreed the drummer from this band is AMAZING!! I was gonna buy their CD via online, but you know, since I found it in the store, I just got it.

I just love the album so much. I have been listening to it wherever I go. In the subway, you can totally find me air drumming lol haha. If you spot me doing that, just say "the RAA rocks eh?"

Ok, let me talk about the band a little bit. The band is based in Toronto! (YAY it’s our LOCAL band!!!) However, how come they call themselves “The Rural Alberta Advantage" !? Because the singer has grown up in Alberta and their songs reminds the beauty of the nature in Alberta. The below sentences are from their Myspace website: http://www.myspace.com/theraa

The Rural Alberta Advantage play indie-rock folk songs about hometowns and heartbreak, born out of images from growing up in Central and Northern Alberta. They sing about summers in the Rockies and winters on the farm, ice breakups in the spring time and the oil boom’s charm, the mine workers on compressed, the equally depressed, the city’s slow growth and the country’s wild rose, but mostly the songs just try to embrace the advantage of growing up in Alberta




Anyhow, they are playing on this Thursday, July 30st at the Horseshoe. The ticket is only $10 adv and $12 at the door. I’m totally going for sure! Wanna join me!?!?

GO!GO!7188

I was gonna write something else today. But all the drafts that I have made got erased.. so maybe for another time.

So in the last posting, I was talking about my high school classmate who introduced me into the North American Music. My music taste has totally changed during my high school life. I was more into J-pop scene. But a band, called GO!GO!7188 totally changed it. They suddenly appeared in the Japanese indie music scene with a song called "jet ninjin" (which means Jet Carrot lol) A 3 piece band, Yuu, akko, and turky. With very unique lyrics and songs,they have been very popular not only in Japan, but also in the North America as well. In fact, 2 years ago, they came to NY and Chicago. I had a chance to see them in NY! it was such a amazing show and I got a chance to talk with Yuu and Akko!! OMG, you can tell how excited I was!!!

I will post 2 of my favorite songs.



The first song is called Tokyo. I love this song because the bass line is amazing. and it's just so different!



The second song is called "Ukibune" This song made them more popular. I decided to post not their original music PV, but their live. I thought they are awesome in shows.

well if you requested, I could translate both songs. let me know what you think about the band!!

Music Psychos...

As some of you have noticed, finally I can spell the word "Psychos" correctly.lol Thank you so much for these who bought my attention to the title. Fortunately I could still change the title and address!! I am such a bad speller and as you may have noticed, I do make some mistakes. well, whenever you find it, let me know! I'm still in the learning process. lol


So I would like to talk about how I came up with the name of the blog today as I have been asked by a couple of friends.

"Music Psychos" ..crazy about music.Indeed, I love music. When I was younger, there was an advertisement from the Tower record, (yep we do have the Tower record in Japan),saying "No Music, No life" I have truly believed in the line since then. I was always into the Japanese indie scene. Then I got introduced to the North American bands from one of my classmates. He introduced me from Avril to Nirvana. so many new bands if I can name all.. Needless to say, I was in love with them. This is one of the reasons that I got so interested in English. I had no idea what they are singing. Well, the main reason is I wanted to know what Johny Depp and Brad Pitt were saying in the movies. lol hehehe.

so here I came to Canada. I missed so much opportunities to be explored in the new music scene for a while and I am going back to it.

Well, actually it is not the only reason that I named my blog "Music Psychos" Psycho, also sounds very similar with a Japanese word, saiko. (If I spell them in Japanese, they can be written like, さいこう、サイコー、or 最高）it means awesome! yep Music is awesome.

so music is crazy and awesome.. so this is my blog! what do you think? I wanted to have a bit of twist too.

My Top 10 Raining Songs

It’s raining ALL DAY LONG. Well, as I’m in the office, it doesn’t really matter whether or not it rains. However, it just got my feeling sometimes. I prefer snow over rain…

So this morning, I was thinking that maybe I should use this opportunity to write something about rain on my blog. And this is what I came up with. Cliché, I know. But I started asking my coworkers if they know any songs about rain and I also posted as my Facebook status. As a result, I got to be introduced by lots of new rain songs. Thank you so much these people who have emailed me or messaged me the rain songs. I really appreciate it.

OK, so this is my top 10 rain songs. I’ll just talk about some of the songs on my blog, but for others, I’ll just list the names. So you guys still can check them out on Youtube!!
1.Cocco Raining
2.Jason Mraz The forecast
3.The Kooks Stormy Weather
4.Riana Umbrella
5.Lifehouse Storm
6.Carpenters Rain Days and Mondays
7.Hot Hot Heat Middle of Nowhere
8.Justin Timberlake Cry me a river
9.Travis Why Does it always rain on me
10.The Coldplay Rainy day

1.Cocco, “Raining”- This is by far my favourite rain song. Yes, it is a Japanese song. I love her voice and the way she sings. She just enjoys singing and indeed she is gifted. I could totally translate the lyrics and post it later if you guys are interested. But this song came out when I was in grade school, but it never gets too old.



2.Jason Mraz “The forecast”-Actually, I just found this song today. Lol. I was just looking for his song that is about rain, and yep, I did. I think this song is from his old album, and I really like his old stuff. Very nice and what I like about Jason’s songs is the lyrics.




4.Riana, “Umbrella” – I was about to forget about this song. Can’t do that right? Lol
5.Lifehouse “Storm”- I found this song today as well, very emotional. Love it!
6.Carpenters “Rain Days and Mondays” very classy eh?

7.Hot Hot Heat “Middle of Nowhere”- ok, this song is not about rain. But the video is about rain. This video was recorded in Montreal. I love this band so much. Another posting later for this band for sure.



So let me know what you think about my list.

I also have these songs recommended by my friends.


Led Zeppelin “Fool in the rain” and “Rain song”
Bob Dylan “Rainy Day Woman”
Eric Clapton “Let it Rain”
REM “I’ll take the Rain”
Garbage “I’m Only Happy When It Rains”
The Cure “Plainsong” and “Anything”
Prince “Purple Rain”
Millie vanillie “Blame it rain”


And “It’s raining men”… lol -Recommended by one of my co-worker. So just as fun, I decided to post the video that I found on Youtube. Check it out lol
I hope regardless the weather; you guys are having a good day.

C.R.A.Z.Y

I got an evening off today after work, which is unusual for me to just stay in at home. The weather just got me as it was raining when I got home... It has been way too cold for summer.. so I have changed the design of my blog and figured out how to post Youtube videos on the posting using this time off. I'm not really a tech-savvy person, but I'm quite happy with what I could pull out with a little knowledge I have. I might make some changes, but we'll see how it goes. Let me know what you think! Feedback are always good.

So I watched 2 films. Role model and C.R.A.Z.Y. Role model was OK, I was watching it, while I was working on my blog, so wasn't really paying an attention. I have borrowed it from my coworker and I just had to bring it back to her ASAP. lol

However, I have been wanting to watch a movie "C.R.A.Z.Y" for a long time. I have the DVD and have watched so many times. I think I got this DVD for my french class. I had to talk about a french film with my prof and I choose this film because I've heard of it at the Toronto international film festival a couple years ago.

so I decided to watch it tonight again. I think I just talked about this film with one of my friends. and I had to watch it again.I love this movie because of various factors. The actor is cute,lol. also the content of the film is very interesting and propounding.. I mean, I just love it all. but yep, my blog is about Music. so I wanna focus on the music in this movie.

so the movie is based on a family with 5 sons.(the name of the film, C.R.A.Z.Y, came from the name of the sons actually. Christian, Raymond, Anthony, Zech, and Yvan. pretty awesome eh?) The main character of the film is the 4th son, Zech, who is homosexual. however, he is having a hard time to come out because of the environment that he has grown up, especially the relationship with his dad. The background of the film is in 80's in Quebec(I believe..) so the music which is used in this move is very nostalgic or refreshing to me as I'm more into 90's or recent new music. David Bowie, Rolling stones, Pink Floyd, and so on.. I love the music used in this movie.

I have posted 2 videos, one is from David Bowie, and another one is Rolling stones. I love both songs.

Check out the movie if you are interested.

Lydia

Umm, what a day... I had a very busy day with work and school. At least, I finished my midterm tonight. goody goody, and I am so nerdy. well, this is a blog about music, so why not to rhyme some.. yo yo.. lol

At the end of a day like today, at my bachelor apartment, all I wanna do is to chill. I love being super busy usually. I make myself busy, so that I don't get bored, and,, lonely. I don't like the rest of the world is having a lot of fun when I am not. I do work hard, study hard and play the hardest. This is my philosophy. But I also love my Monday night when I don't go out and just come home from school and have my own time, indulging myself with things that I love.

I love taking a long bath with my favorite music and books. Sometimes, I just being deep in thought and think about various stuff. So tonight, as an usual Monday night, music creates the mood for me. Tonight, I listen to a band called "Lydia". I was in love with them for the first tune that I heard. From the intro, which won't go away from my ears for a while, I was in love. The song is called "Hospital" They don't have a music video for this song. but I still manage to find the track on Youtube. I would love to see them in live. but they haven't come to Toronto.. Please do...

Bad Veins

My weekend is almost over. The sad feeling at Sunday midnight comes to my mind.. I had a good weekend. I had to study a lot since I have an exam tomorrow ( don't even ask me if I'm ready for it lol) but I played hard too. I watched "Bruno". It was quite a interesting experience. I had fun since I went to see it with a bunch of my friends. it's always fun to be with them. they add more spice to lots of things that I do in my life. I went clubbing as well. I'm not a type of person who would be good at dancing. I have been told that I do dance like a Penguin. but I think it's cute. I'm more into indie rock music as you can tell.

So getting back to the business,, as I study, I need music to keep me going. I listen to music when I study. I like to listen to new songs from a new bands. I look for ones while I study. From radios, website, my space. lot of sources are available.

Then I found a good piece. A band called " Bad Veins" Their album is coming out on July 21th. They do sound a bit like the Killers, but the tune is soo amazing. very catchy. once you listen, it won't go away from your ears. it will stick right there.. They are coming to Toronto on Aug 2nd. I'm totally going there.

I have posted the link to their my space page. Check it out and let me know what you think.

http://www.myspace.com/badveins

Best thing that you never had

Breakups... it is always hard for both sides.. one who starts the conversation. the other who would be dumped...well, i guess it depends on the person, but I think it is hard for both sides. At least that's what I wanna believe in.

Most of my cases, I'm the one who gets dumped as it recently happened. all the sudden. middle of nowhere. In the past, I always blamed on myself. All the " what if " situations come to my mind and it breaks my heart. but I'm over with it. I mean, I'm me.. I can't change that. it is just too bad if the end has come... the end can be a new start. I didn't mean to be with the person. period.

anyhow, I tend to associate a person with a song. What I mean by that is to have a song that reminds me of the person after all. The recent break-up,, this is still too recent to talk about. But the song for this guy is gonna be a Rediohead's "Karma Police". don't know why, he did look like Chirs from Coldplay tho lol

well, move on.. then I listen to Butch walker's "best thing that you never had" the best breakup song. I am in love with Butch walker, I can certainly talk about him more than a line. I mean, I saw him in March and he blew my mind.. he is the best in shows. I'll definetely have a post talking about him for sure. but in this blog, i wanna talk about this song. soo emotionaly sang. what a good song. please youtube it if you haven't listened.

I can't stay here, but have to move on without looking back.. that's all what I gotta do for now, right? Time goes by without him, no matter how much you think of him, cares for him. time goes by without him. just let it be and let it go as it would be

Finally started..

The list has been completed.. things that I wanna do.

ok, Let's get started. I love music, period. but haven't been into it so much till recent. but now that I'm gonna be looking for more awesome bands, I've decided to introduce some of them here.

well, I'll start writing about random stuff as well.

so please feel free to comment on it!!!!

I'm so excited!!