Smigs Reviews

Geographer – Animal Shapes

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 10:04:00 -0600

Song takes 45 seconds to really get going. After that, it is synth pop-rock at its best.

Visit the band's website

Faded Paper Figures

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 11:24:00 -0600

Rating: 4/5
Skippable Tracks: 0
If you like: Postal Service, Owl City

Posting songs, not words

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:34:00 -0600

So I kind of miss blogging. But for the next month, all I am going to do is posting songs a few times a week. This is a song by Dntel, one of the members of The Postal Service -- also below. I promise to get back into it once the summer ends. For now, enjoy these songs.

My Portable Device Ep30

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Sun, 30 May 2010 19:37:00 -0600

My Portable Device Ep29

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Sun, 30 May 2010 19:36:00 -0600

My Portable Device Ep 28

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Sun, 30 May 2010 18:00:00 -0600

Finally decided that it was time to post those podcasts that I've been meaning to post for the past few months. I'll also try to get back into reviewing some music. With the new construction happening at UMFM I will not be doing any more new shows for an undetermined amount of time, so enjoy these 10 shows until then.

- Miguel

Why bands should sell-out

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:34:00 -0600

One thing that has always bothered me a bit is when someone starts complaining that his favorite band has just sold-out. I agree that sometimes the music suffers, but I also understand that these bands are not put on earth just so I can be entertained. They need to make money too! They need to sell music.

Just look at how much one artist has to accomplish just to earn a minimum wage salary. It's ridiculous!

So if you love to pirate music, maybe think again. I'm not saying that I haven't ripped a CD from a friend. But I do support artists by attending the shows, buying shirts (no, I don't wear band t-shirts just to try to be cool), and CDs.

In fact, I gave up a few hours of studying to see Yukon Blonde -- pretty sweet show. I'll let you all know when they roll back into town.

New Stars Single

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 17:03:00 -0600

I finally found someone who posted the new Stars single, Fixed. It has a great sound, much like the Stars heard on Set Yourself on Fire.

Stars will be having a small an intimate concert at the Pyramid on May 10, 2010. Unfortunately, it sold out pretty quickly.

New album is being released June 22, 2010. I'll let you all know the moment I hear it. You'll be seeing a full review of that album for sure!

New Wintersleep

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Fri, 9 Apr 2010 15:52:00 -0600

Wintersleep has finished recording its fourth full album. Currently they have only announced US dates, but I'm sure there will be a Canada tour. Make sure you stop by to check the latest news.

You can download a free track

New Band of Horses

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Wed, 7 Apr 2010 20:49:00 -0600

The new single is geting very mixed reviews. The band has a new label, and perphaps a new sound. What do you think?

Portugal the Man - American Ghetto

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Tue, 9 Mar 2010 15:20:00 -0600

Album: American Ghetto
Released: March 2, 2010
Label: Approaching AIRballoons,Equal Vision
Stars: 3.0
Skippable Tracks: 0
Must-listen/purchase Track: The Dead Dog

I think I forgot how do to a CD review; no, seriously! I don't know where to even begin with it.

It seems like it was just yesterday that I was enjoying a newly released album by Portugal the Man; I was. These guys just released two albums in July of 2009: The Satanic Satanist, and The Majestic Majesty. Sure, they were the same album (one regular album, and one acoustic) but it seems like they are just poppin'em out, and this album does show the consequences. This album has nothing on The Majestic Majesty and Satanic Satanist.(Check it out below. Really!)

So why Portugal the Man? According to Wikpedia they band wanted to have a bigger than life feel. "A country is a group of people," guitar player and vocalist John Gourley explains. "With Portugal, it just ended up being the first country that came to mind. The band's name is 'Portugal'. The period is stating that, and 'The Man' states that it's just one person." The name has more personal meaning as well: Portugal. The Man was going to be the name of a book that Gourley had planned to write about his father and his many adventures.

So sample some of the new, but most definitely purchase some of the old.

The Old Stuff
Satanic Satanist

A Real Estate 40 min Jam

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:54:00 -0600

There is not much information out there for these guys, just what is posted on Wikipedia.

Real Estate have roots in the Garden State and they’re led by singer/guitarist Martin Courtney and feature guitarist Matthew Mondanile (the latter known to some for his work in Ducktails, Predator Vision, and The Parasails) as well as Alex Bleeker on bass and Etienne Duguay (also of Predator Vision) on the drums.

I really love listening to these guys when I'm doing some homework, or just hanging around the house. It's a super relaxing 40 min jam session. Nice!

Length: 40 Min
Favourite Song: Atlantic City
Sounds like: a relaxing jam session
Stars: 5

Yukon Blonde

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:40:00 -0600

It’s been a long, long time I know – A while ago I promised that I would let you know about something I found that I was really enjoying, so here it is.

I’ve really been enjoying Yukon Blonde’s self titled debut album. The album is a very straight-forward rock album with a 60s vibe. The guitar riffs are not crazy and “flashy”, but rather have a crisp, tight, modest sound. This, accompanied by the great voice of Jeff Innes, and the solid base playing makes it a great album to leave on repeat.

The band is from Kelowna, BC and have been around since 2005. Yukon Blonde, formerly known as Alphababy, consists of Jeff Innes, Brandon Scott, Adam Newton, and Graham Jones and is touring part of Canada and the US. However, Winnipeg got shafted.

Download Yukon Blonde

Yukon Blonde MySpace

Something new

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Thu, 4 Feb 2010 00:15:00 -0600

I know it's been a long time since I posted an actual review - really long time.
I'm working on a couple of reviews, but schoolwork has my hands tied. Really!

For now here is some really great electro-pop that you can listen to. I'm really looking forward to listening to the new Lali Puna- I know, not the best name.

It's one of my favourite elecro-pop groups, even though I haven't really known about them for that long. It's the kind of electronic music that enjoy: mellow, melodic, and a bit melancholy. The band is from Weilheim, Germany and have one member of the very popular The Notwist- that's how I found out about Lali. If you haven't checked them out, it worth a shot. My guess is that if you still check my blog, you generally like what I post. So here is another sample.

The new album is called Our Inventions and is being released some time in April 2010. It's been about five years sine they released Faking the Books.

P.S. Keep checking back, I'll try to get these two reviews finished within the next week. Trust me, you'll like what I found.

My Portable Device Ep 27

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:55:00 -0600

Animal Collective - On a Highway
You Say Party... - Laura Palmer's Prom
Beach House - Zebra
Blakroc - On the Vista
Vampire W - White Sky
Fu***d **- Anorak City
Real Estate - Fake Blues
Spoon - Who Makes You Money
Woodhands - Dissembler
Los Campesinos - Romance is Boring
Gentleman Reg - We're in a Thunderstorm
Swell Season - Low Rising
Bibio - Dopplerton
Haadlights Telephones
Arcade - Haiti

I wish I was a little bit taller

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 21:51:00 -0600

Oh yes, good ol' times with Skee-lo. Skee-lo released an album in 2009 to try to make some more cazash, sadly, this is still his best song.

Favourite songs of 2009

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:39:00 -0600

Some of our favourite songs of 2009. No, not ALL of our favourites.
These are all songs that were played on My Portable Device at some point.

I'm gonna make you listen to this one. No playlist -- feel free to request one if you would like.
P.S. Sorry about the intro: I sound childish.

My Portable Device EP25

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Thu, 7 Jan 2010 21:08:00 -0600

The Christmas special. Runs until Jan 11, 2010.

SkyBox - In a Dream
Grizzly Bear Vs Dead Prez - Two weeks
Devandra Banhart - Valencia Roxy Music
Mike Snow - Black and Blue
Camera Obscura - French Navy
The Thermals - Now we can see
Wilco - Wilco (the song)
Passion Pit - Little Secrets
Blue Scholars - The inkwell
Common Market - Trouble is
Deer Tick - That isn't real
Port O'Brien - My will is good
Joel Plaskett - Extraordinary
Wolf Parade - Believe in anything
New Pornographers - Sing me spanish techno
Born Ruffians - Humming Bird

My Portable Device EP24

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Thu, 7 Jan 2010 20:47:00 -0600

I thought this show ended or something...

I did not have time to lay down the voice tracks. So I did the show live.

Grizly Bear - Two Weeks
Devandra Banhart - Foolin'
James Yuill - This Sweet Love (13:58)
Black Kids - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend...
Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition
Mumm-ra - She's Got You High (24:50)
Meaghan Smith - Here Comes Your Man
Drummer - Feel Good Together
Acid House Kings - What You Wanna Do (34:45)
Curvise - Art is Hard
Boats - 500% (41)
Julie Doiron - Consolation Prize
Arcade Fire - Une Anee Sans Lumiere
Stars - Midnight Coward
Land of Talk - Got a Call (55:00)
Bahamas - Becking Call

A Latin Decade

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:43:00 -0600

These are some of the songs that I really enjoyed in the past decade of listening to Latin music. What you must understand first is that I only listen to mainstream Latin music -- it's incredibly hard to listen to anything else since I live thousands of miles from where this music is created. This is not to say that these are bad song, but they are the songs that are popular enough for me to have heard of.

BACILOS
I'm starting you off easy with some Latin-pop by Bacilos. These guys are actually from Miami, but originally from Colombia. So its something that can be easily be digested by North American culture. My favorite songs are Caraluna and Mi Primer Millon.

CALLE 13
Let's see if you can handle this one: Calle 13. It's one of my favorite bands, but are by no means easily digestible by North Americans - give it a try.

KRIZ Y ANGEL
Normally these guys usually focus on one genre of music called Reggaeton. This song though, has many other rhythms such as Bachata and Merengue. This should introduce you to a few of the Latin American music genres all in one song. The second song is a straight Reggaeton song.

DADDY YANKEE
The most popular/mainstream Reggaeton artist to date. My favorite song by him.

MANU CHAO
Speaking of popular: this is the most popular Latin artist in the world. He sells out concerts all over Europe, North, and South America. If you haven't heard of him, this is a good song to start with. It's most definitely the most main-stream/popular song by him. The second song is another one of my favorites by him and the first song that made him a household name.

ORISHAS
These guys are crazy good. They are hip-hop artists that sample cuban music for a lot of their songs (at least on the first CD). Listen to the first song by them to see what I mean. The second song is a more updated sound by the group.

KINKY
Latin electronic music is actually quite vast. This band is one of the most popular ones around.

MOLOTOV
These guys started off more than a decade ago, and released quite a few great singles. I especially like their protest songs concerning the corruption of government, and the US' immigration laws. Unfortunately the drop quite a few f-bombs so I can't really post them. Here is a cover of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, and a song called Gimme Tha Power. Yep, about corruption in government.

There are countless more genres that we can explore together. Let's see the feedback on this first.

They got me!

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:14:00 -0600

They got me – motion of me shaking my fist at McDonald’s.
I’d like to think that I’m immune to advertising, but obviously that is not the case.

Exhibit A:

The commercial is obviously targeted at hungry students who like this type of music -- yes that's me.So after watching this commercial a few times I really started wondering what song was playing in the background, and if it was a song created specifically for the commercial. Turns out it’s a band from France that I had never heard of: Bot’Ox.

Here is the full song: Blue Steel.

I’m ashamed to say that I did buy a McDonald’Quarter Pounder the week I watched this commercial. Now you know the way to my heart: through music. Oh, and through my belly.
Good job McDonald's; don't ever do it again.

Sadly, it’s official.

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:21:00 -0600

They had a great run while it lasted; sadly, it’s over. Flight of the Conchords will not be returning to TV. From what I hear, they found that it was a lot of work to write songs, act, and write the show. I heard the news just before the second season ended, and I was hoping that they were all just rumors. However, the bad announced officially yesterday that the rumors are true.

Let's watch one small clip of the show to remind us of the good times we had together.

In case you don't know who Flight of the Conchords are, here is a brief introduction.

Flight of the Conchords is a New Zealand comedy duo composed of Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. Billing themselves as "Formerly New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo",the group uses a combination of witty observation, characterisation and acoustic guitar music. The duo's comedy and music became the basis of a BBC radio series and then an American television series, which premiered in 2007, also called Flight of the Conchords.
They were named Best Alternative Comedy Act at the 2005 US Comedy Arts Festival and Best Newcomer at the Melbourne Comedy Festival, and they received a nomination for the Perrier Comedy Award at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe after performing at a venue called The Caves. The duo's live performances have gained them a worldwide cult following. -Wikipedia

"We've noticed the less we say about the future of the show, the more people want to talk about it, so in an effort to reverse this trend we are today announcing that we won't be returning for a 3rd season," said the group on their official website.

The show ran for a total of 11 hours but managed to gather quite the following. What made the show was their dry humor, the witty songs, and the charismatic characters --Bret and Jemaine who both played themselves.

If you happen to like the show you can watch some of the movies that Jemaine and Bret are in: Eagle Vs. Shark is one of them -I'm sure that there are more.

We will miss you!

Winter Gloves - Concert Review

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Tue, 1 Dec 2009 13:51:00 -0600

Band: Winter Gloves
Date: November 27, 2009
Venue: The Lo Pub
Rating: Four and a half stars

It was hard to tell if they were going to be able to pull-it-off. Winter Gloves – a Montreal-based band – came back to the city for a second time; but this time they were the main act of the night. The result: they rocked the Lo Pub.

At the beginning of the night, it looked like it was going to be a disaster – it was 9:30 pm and neither the band nor the audience were there – but by ten thirty the opening band Royal Canoe began to entertain the crowd. Little by little, the small pub became more and more crowded. By 12:45 am, Winter Gloves finally came on stage; encouraging those who were sitting down to jump to their feet and make their way towards the stage. The band’s high-energy synthesizer based rock could be heard all the way outside where people gathered to satisfy their nicotine crave; anyone standing outside made their way in and began to gather around the stage – they enthusiastically bobbed their heads to the beat of all the songs.

The band leader – and song writer – Charles F. lead the band in rocking the small room. Pat Sayers’ mustache could be seen from across the room; and kept a perfect drum beat. Vincent Chalifour – the other piano player – complemented the song with even more synthesizer. Guitarist Jean-Michel Pigeon tossed in riffs ad-lib while keeping a little bit of enthusiasm.

Roughly, an hour after the show began the crowd yelled loudly when Sayers left his post – the drums – and handed out free demo CDs to the crowd.

The show took place at the Lo Pub, which generally does not see this amount of traffic unless there is a concert scheduled. The pub has a beautiful mid-century feel, and a very friendly, cozy atmosphere: couches, a gas fireplace, and tables all around. At the bar, a signed photograph by Bob Barker is a frequent conversation starter.

Charles F. is the original composer of all the songs. After the cross Canada tour earlier this year, the band began to sound more like a unit rather than just a collection of musicians playing Charles F’s songs. They adapted several of their songs to include a more complete sound – all the new version of the songs can be heard on the free CD the band gave away the show.

The play-list included all their singles: Let me Drive, Party People, and Piano 4 Hands. In fact, they are such a new band that they played all the music they have ever released. They decided to end the night with the song Factories: a song about a young boy in a big city, and a representation of Charles F’s first experience of Montreal.

Winnipeg is the last Canadian city of the band’s tour. This time, they managed to make some new fans who gladly lined up to purchase the band’s t-shirts and CDs.

Being a student; I was not one of them – although I have already purchased their album and a t-shirt from them. I will most definitely be purchasing the next CD they release, and will continue to support them every time they come back to the city.

Supa-update-show

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:45:00 -0600

So last week I talked about how difficult it is to find new artist to play every week. This week I was reminded why I do it – yet again.
I know what makes it worth it: when you hear something original, artistic, clever, melodic, and charming.

What I Found

I’m talking about James Yuill, a folktronica singer –seriously I’m not making up the category – from London. And yes, he’s on an independent label called Moshi Moshi. A label that released albums for Bloc Party, Mates of State, Hot Chip, and Fanfarlo just to name a few.

Below is my favorite song by him so far.

If you don't love the song: I don't know what to tell you.

Concert Reminder

Also, a gentle reminder that Winter Gloves will be playing this Friday at the Lo Pub. It should be a great time so I hope to see some of you show up for this high energy show.
Below is a video of them playing the song Factories while riding around in Old Montreal. You know a band is talented when they don't need to be plugged in to sound great.

Just For Fun

I could go on forever about this band. And I've played on my radio show a couple of times, but I still wanted to share a bit more of their music with you. From what I can remember the members of this band spent a lot of time in West Africa and learned to play a variety of instruments. They took African music and added salt and pepper to taste.

Here's one of the only videos I found:

Twitter & Social Media

smigs.m@gmail.com (Smigs) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:36:00 -0600

I have finally started using Twitter. To tell you the truth, I signed up for Twitter about three months ago and had completely forgotten I had an account. Usually if I have something to post, I do it on Facebook. But I must be familiar with all kinds of social media.

Here is a video of how social media has changed communications in the last five years alone.

Now that is hard to wrap your head around. Where are we going to be in another five years? Well, we can't know for sure. All we can do is adapt with the times. It's an exciting time in the communications industry.