I Gave My Heart To Rock N' Roll

The Sounds w/ Foxy Shazam
October 26, 2009
Commodore Ballroom

Last night I finally had the chance to fulfil a dream I’ve had for the past six or so years: seeing the Sounds play a headlining show. As far as I know they haven’t played one here since I’ve been of age and the only time I was able to see them was at Warped Tour (and if you’ve ever been to Warped Tour, you know that barely counts).

The opening act was a band I’d never heard of called Foxy Shazam. They played that semi-ironic brand of late 70s/80s inspired rock (and they dress the part too) that I probably wouldn’t have taken seriously if I heard it on record first, but these guys put on a hell of a show. There were handstands, magic tricks, staged fights, high fives, people crawling across the stage, guitars thrown into the crowd, and at one point I’m pretty sure the signer ate a couple cigarettes. They definitely succeeded in getting everyone pumped.


[look at those fucking hipsters]

During the time between sets I realized this wasn’t going to be the most civil crowd. People were already shoving their way to the front and some girls got into a fight with a couple guys to the right of me and started smacking them in the head.

Finally The Sounds hit the stage and everyone went nuts. I could try and be objective here, but all I can really say is that they were absolutely amazing. Maja might just be my new favourite front woman (or maybe I‘ll call it a three way tie). She completely owned that stage. They played a pretty varied set that covered all three records. Highlights included “Seven Days a Week,” “Ego,” “Living in America,” and “Painted By Numbers” which was especially awesome live. There was also an incredibly off key “Night After Night” sing along where people pulled their lighters out. At one point Maja did a stage dive and crowd surfed over us. I’m not embarrassed to admit that I acted like a ridiculous fangirl when I got to grab her hand. It was like I was 15 all over again.



They closed the night with “Hope You’re Happy Now” and a pit opened up in the crowd. I can’t even remember the last time I was in an actual mosh pit, but I definitely remembered why I stopped putting up with that mess. Maja claimed we were the most energetic crowd of the tour and promised she wasn’t just saying that for the sake of saying it and said she'd tell everyone else. For once, I actually believed her because people were completely insane. There was a non-stop wave of crowd surfers and not enough security to catch them. I left the venue having accidentally ingested the hair of several strangers and covered in sweat that was mostly not my own, but it was absolutely worth it (even if I keep finding new places that hurt every time I stand up). If you’re even a casual fan and you haven’t seen The Sounds yet, what the hell are you waiting for?

Oh yeah, and on a completely unrelated topic, I should mention that we did get to see Jay-Z a couple weeks back and he was all inspiring and shit. Just sayin'.

Old Skool Joint of the Week #10

This week's song comes from 1999's Fanmail, aka the last record TLC released that mattered (I know it's rough, but it's true: there's no TLC without Left Eye). Now I know everybody remembers No Scrubs and Unpretty so I'm not going to waste your time by putting on of those up. Instead, I want to talk about the relatively successful (for an unofficial single) I'm Good At Being Bad. I don't think that TLC was ever meant for children, but they were definitely popular with young girls. This record came out when I was 12, and this was one of those tracks I had to turn the volume down on so my parents wouldn't hear me listening to it. Now it's ten years later and I'm still vibing to it.

Here's a video of them performing a slightly edited version on the Fanmail tour, plus a link to the album version, so you can find out just what type of man T-Boz, Left Eye, and Chilli were looking for:



DL: TLC - I'm Good At Being Bad

It's Hard To Be A Hip-Hop Fan In This City

So when I woke up from my two and a half hour nap this afternoon I checked my phone and found out that Kid Sister's show this coming Monday is cancelled. I was already preparing for this news when I saw Vancouver left off a tour poster, but I’m still pretty bummed out about it. I don't know why the show was cancelled and I'm not mad at Kid Sister (I mean, she even apologized to us over Twitter!) The thing that I am annoyed about is how this is just another in a series of disappointments in the sad life of a hip-hop fan in Vancouver.

Whether you're talking about some mainstream artists, something more underground, or even some of that hipster bullshit you don't get many opportunities to go out and see rappers live around here. I don't know if it's because the market just isn't big enough, or if it's because Canada has a notorious reputation for being hard as hell on rappers trying to cross the border, but a lot of big names seem to not even bother. And even when they do try you never really know if the show is going to happen. For example, that disaster with the Young Money Tour back in August when the show was cancelled about an hour before show time.

You know what else irks me? We live in a pretty culturally diverse city of well over 500 000 people and it's pretty hard to find one good hip-hop night at a club on a weekend. We have two top 40 radio stations and not one dedicated Urban station. Instead we get something like two hours (don’t quote me on that number) of programming devoted to hip-hop a week. What I'm saying is, it sucks. And I'm not just complaining because I don’t get to see big names in American hip-hop, that lack of support has to have some negative effect on Canadian acts as well (Wheelchair Jimmy excluded). So let's hope that this Friday's Jay-Z show goes off without a hitch so I can get my fix for the year.

To tie this post up I'm throwing an old Kid Sister track out there to put me and whoever else is reading this in a better mood. Make sure you buy her album on November 17th (Or you know, whenever it actually comes out).

Kid Sister - Family Reunion (Feat. David Banner)

Old Skool Joint of the Week #9

Kris Kross - "Jump"

Lil' Bow Wow wasn't the first pre-teen rapper that Jermaine Dupri decided the world needed to hear. Almost a decade earlier he came across little Chris Kelly, and Chris Smith and Kris Kross was born. They did it first and, maybe I'm blinded by nostalgia, I think they did it best (backwards clothes excluded).

Totally Krossed Out was among the first CDs I ever got, and it was definitely the first rap record I ever owned. My 5-year old self used to crank this and bounce off the walls whenever I put it on. To be honest, my 22-year old self still does. Don't try to play it cool and act like you don't get a little pumped whenever "Jump" comes on either.

What I'm Turning: J.Cole playcount @ 800

On the real, I think I'm pretty behind on this shit. I've been riding the Cash Money/Young Money wave for what feels like over year-- even riding with them during the Lil Wayne backlash. Then Drake popped in, and it felt like the rest of the music world just died for me --it was all about Drake. Granted, I'm still a big Drake fan, and don't get it twisted, I still bump So Far Gone (even if I do turn down the volume when Best I Ever Had comes on), and I'm in love with everything off Comeback Season, but for the past week or so, I've been living in a J. Cole world.

After his appearance on Jay's "A Star is Born," I've gotten into a habit of downloading anything with his name attached, without taking an actual listen to the songs. But when it was announced he'd be showing up on the tour, I figured I'd take a listen. This was a week ago.

Since then I've been on a J. Cole fucking frenzy. From The Warm Up (amazing), The Come Up (classssssic), freestyles (I forgot how sexy boys just goin' in on a beat can be [shoutout to Eminem lol]) to adorable interviews where he talks about his 3.82 GPA and basketball (*swoon*), I can't get enough J. Cole.

Perhaps the attraction comes from no one really knowing him or his music, or maybe his music is really just that good (it is). But for a second, he totally made me forget the sad things in life: T.I. is in jail; Drake looks a paste-eater.

Make sure to download the new RocNation endorsed The Warm Up and the classic, and totally slept on, The Come Up. If nothing else, watch him go hard on this beat:

To be clear, that on the real, this is not hipster approved shit. This is real shit (for once). And I love.

I know. Weird, right?

October 3rd

"On October 3rd, he asked me what day it was"



"It's October 3rd"



fin.