Toronto Mike

Music

Total 813 Posts

In Praise of the Long Song

I discovered this Rolling Stone list after Fameone linked to it.  It's the 50 best songs over 7 minutes long, and it's got me thinking... What are my favourite songs over nine minutes in length?  Here are my top ten. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida - Iron Butterfly (17:02)The End - The
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More Cowbell

I watched Christopher Walken demand more cowbell in an SNL skit over on Humble's blog and it got me thinking about songs that feature a cowbell. Here are my ten favourite songs with cowbell.  I need more cowbell! Rage Against The Machine - Killing In The NameGuns N' Roses -
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Big Shiny Dominance

If you're Canadian, and between 25 and 35 years old, you likely know Big Shiny Tunes.  Big Shiny Tunes is a compilation MuchMusic started putting out in 1996.  It was full of popular rock songs of the year and I used to collect 'em. Because the many editions of Big
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Charting Rap

Metafilter linked to a site that's right up my alley.  It's called rap represented in mathematical charts and graphs and if you're a fan of the genre, you'll find it pretty self explanatory and very funny. Here's one of my favourites, based on Ice Cube's "It Was a Good Day"
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Parade Songs

We're all set for tomorrow's Santa Claus parade.  As mentioned, this will be my fourth year in a row attending the world's largest Santa Claus parade, and I'll bring my camera to try and snap each float as it rolls by. Here are my entries and photosets from the last
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Arcade Fire PLUG'd

I just read that Montreal's Arcade Fire trail only Of Montreal and Battles in nominations for the 2008 PLUG Independent Music Awards, which recognize the best indie acts from around the world.  Canadians Emily Haines, Sunset Rubdown, The New Pornographers, Caribou, Chromeo, A-Trak and the profanely named Toronto acts Fucked
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Last Canadian Music Chain Closes

Did you know Music World was the last Canadian-owned national music store chain?  Neither did I until today when I read Music World is under bankruptcy protection and will close its stores. That makes HMV the last chain standing in an age of digitized music collections and downloads.  There  was
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Feist on SNL

Leslie Feist recorded one of my favourite albums of 2005 and Saturday night she was kicking ass on SNL.  I'm asleep before Saturday Night Live hits the air, but thanks to YouTube, I can enjoy these performances over and over and over again.  What an age we live in! Here's
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In Theory, Communism Works

Last month I wrote about how Radiohead was leaving it up to us.  Buyers could name their own price when downloading "In Rainbows".  At the time I wrote "As I understand it, there's no minimum, but by treating their loyal fans so nicely you can bet this will pay off.
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Radiohead's Acoustic Creep Redux

I first linked to the Flash video for Radiohead's acoustic version of "Creep" two years ago today.  I'm sharing this video again today because it's a fantastic combination of a great performance and a great video. If you haven't yet seen this, today's your lucky day.
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Everyday Is Hallowe'en

With Wednesday being Halloween, it would be pretty easy to make Ministry's "Everyday Is Hallowe'en" my weekly MP3, but I did that last year. If Halloween had carols, this would be a modern classic.  You never hear it anymore outside of October but it's actually pretty strong.  It's Ministry when
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My Inherent Disadvantage

I heard from a few sources yesterday that Bob Mersereau was promoting his book The Top 100 Canadian Albums which ranks the top Canadian albums of all time.  Freddie P wrote about this on his blog and gave his top five.  I was surprised to realize that I've never ranked
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Black Music for White People

With apologies to Screamin' Jay Hawkins, I love this list of the top 10 rap songs white people love.  It's a pretty strong collection of rap songs your average white person will get awfully excited about. Here's their top ten: Sir Mix-A-Lot - Baby Got BackHouse of Pain - Jump
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Love Junk's Best Song

I know you'll find this hard to believe, but I'm not a particularly social guy.  When I'm told we're expected to make an appearance at a social gathering, dinner party or any collection of peers, I dread it.  Unless I'm ultra comfy I'm liable to find a corner and entertain
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Radiohead Leaves It Up to Us

Boing Boing has a link to the Radiohead store where they're selling their new album, In Rainbows.  Radiohead is doing something very cool here.  Downloads of the album are name-your-own-price. That's right, you decide how much you're willing to pay for the digital downloads of their hot and fresh material.
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Patrick Watson Win 2007 Polaris Prize

My prediction was wrong.  I thought Chad VanGaalen would win the 2007 Polaris Prize, awarded on the basis of artistic merit, regardless of musical genre, profile or record sales.  Instead it went to Montreal's Patrick Watson. To prove how little I know about Patrick Watson, I thought it was a
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Top 5 Grunge Albums?

A web site called Cinema Blend ranked their top 5 grunge albums, and as a product of the grunge outbreak of the early 90s, I read with great interest. I'm not going to analyze their rankings, which includes a rather surprising number one, I'd just like to state how much
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Some Bad Brains

American Hardcore had such great footage of Bad Brains rocking out in Washington, DC and New York City, I feel as if I've discovered something great.  Of course, Bad Brains has been right under my nose this whole time, and most of you are probably laughing at the fact I'm
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