This aptly titled song is a wondrous power ballad by Toronto based rock band, Ivory Tree Observatory. Such is the song’s power to capture the mind, I find myself overwhelmed with the sense of flight within the first few notes. As these delightful melodies continue, I imagine myself gazing downwards at vast majestic landscapes, where miniature people are waving at me. One of them is pointing and frantically jumping up and down. It appears to be some kind of warning.

Sure enough, the song takes a violent shift in mood and a torrent of chaos interrupts my flight. As the guitars thrash their way through a metal riff, I am now whirling around in a thunderstorm, desperately clinging onto my hot air balloon. Lucky for me, the unexpected storm is very brief, the sky clears, the guitars calm down and the song returns to its whimsical melodies. I loosen my grip, turn off the burner, and peer over the wicker basket. The miniature people have grown in size. A few of them begin to chase me as I begin to make my final descent. At that moment, the vocalist finishes the final note of the chorus and the song’s satisfying conclusion carries me to a safe landing.

Balloon Ride is one of the five songs from the band’s free demo which can be downloaded via their Myspace. Ivory Tree Observatory can be seen playing at Clinton’s Tavern (Toronto) this Thursday Feb. 7, 2008.

Artist: Cowboys Fringants
Song: L’Hiver Approche (Winter Approaches)
From album: Break Syndical
Genre: Québécois néo-trad
[Buy CD][Website][Lyrics]

I write this while watching the first snow of the year and remembering by it the long lost friend who recommended to me these very Cowboys Fringants toward the beginning of my music exploration life.

He lived in one of the tiny seaside villages in Quebec that mark the northern end of civilization and paved roads, and suggested the warmth of the “Frisky Cowboys” while speaking of sidewalks lined by ten foot high walls of snow.

It would be easy to imagine the song “L’Hiver Approche” as the beginning to an evening of dancing and drinking in a log-cabin pub, kindling a glow in icy windows that could be seen for winter miles and drawing villagers in from the cold. Don’t you think? Well imagine my surprise when I subjected the lyrics to online translation and discovered a raw social critique of consumerism and proletarian drudgery. Perhaps the song is even more timely than I thought.

I edited together an English translation of the French lyrics from 3 different translator programs with a little grammatical license, and it should give you the basic idea.

Happy Christmas Shopping!

Artist: The Luyas
Song: Cats in a Bag
From album: Faker Death
[Buy CD][Website]

Cats in a Bag is a song by The Luyas with an interesting duality.

There’s the carefree unabashedness of the vocal melody, like a developing daydream or breezy stroll; while behind it the sky is dark with some kind of deep burgeoning. Like gray-black airships inflating in the distance, silhouetted by sunset spears.

It’s a peaceful coexistence between the innocent and the ominous.

The whole CD is really quite good, and full of unique songs. It’s worth buying, to support a band worth keeping an eye on.

Artist: Chad VanGaalen Song: Red Hot Drops Album: Skelliconnection

I guess that contest is a bit of a tall order, so I’ll just put a link on the sidebar and keep on trucking. Here is a video from the man whose handiwork is the prize for the contest below. He animates his various videos personally, and even some for other bands.

The least I can say is that they are pretty clearly not inspired by a life of austere sobriety, and also that they are pretty clearly pretty.

In other news, I took down the ads for the time being because ads sorta suck, and at the current rate I am going it will take about 5 years of ads to pay off one year of hosting, so the choice seems clear.

Super busy as usual, but I’m thinking of posting a series of more “edgy” stuff, meaning noisier and rougher around the edges in general. We’ll see how that goes.

Artist: Tokyo Police Club
Song: Shoulders and Arms
From album: A Lesson in Crime
Genre: Indie Romp
[Buy CD from Insound|Mp3s][Website]

Sweet, I was trying to fix the site and I end up losing this whole post, and I forget what I wrote so for now the review= “These guys are pretty darn good, listen to their music, and support them monetarily if you think they deserve it.”

Yeesh…