Use the left and right buttons on the edges of the video to switch between my 3 videos. I have Green Eyes, a cover of Billie Jean by Michael Jackson, and a beautiful display of butterfly cut-outs falling on the crowd during Lovers in Japan.

Click here to go directly to the photos and videos!

Last night (May 23, 2009) I had the pleasure of seeing Keane perform at The Sound Academy in Toronto, with opening acts Mat Kearney and The Helio Sequence. The energy at the concert was incredible, both from the crowd and the band. Although frontman Tom Chaplin expressed his love for Toronto as he probably does for every city the band visits, you could tell that the band was genuinely taken aback by how loud and appreciative the crowd was. Tom barely had a chance to fit in any words between songs because the audience simply could not stop cheering, and wild chants of the band’s name began several times.

Keane’s performance was as flashy and high-energy as ever, with Tom dancing around the stage, Tim Rice-Oxley throwing all of his weight into the keys that lay before him, Richard Hughes relentlessly beating the drums. This time round, newcomer bassist Jesse Quin joined the perfomance, a musician that recorded with Keane on their latest album Perfect Symmetry. The audience was even treated to a few acoustic sessions, the highlight of which is undoubtedly Tom’s soaring, majestic sounding voice that effortlessly reached higher and higher.

Seeing Keane is an experience that won’t disappoint. Being in a room full of fans at a concert is always a great feeling, but the high energy that already pulses through Keane’s music multiplies tenfold in a room full of fans who are highly passionate about the music.

I’m not a very good photographer and didn’t really have the best view, but I have embedded my collection of photos and videos below. The photos are often blurry but the videos are pretty decent I’d say! To see an overview of all my photos and videos, go directly to the photo set on Flickr. I also have two longer videos uploaded to YouTube of Keane performing “We Might As Well Be Strangers” and “Bedshaped” that you can watch.

The Mentalists play Kids by MGMT on their iPhones and iPod Touches, using only apps downloaded from the Apple App Store. Apps used Ocarina, Retro Synth, miniSynth, DigiDrummer Lite.  I love MGMT, and I love my iPhone, so naturally I love this video. More than anything, I’m just amazed that music today can even be performed with our cell phones.

Then I actually signed up and learned how powerful it truly is.

The strongest feature of Last.fm for me is the music recommendations. Everyone has a certain friend who always recommends great music to them. That certain friend recommends great music because he or she has the same musical tastes as you. You probably have a lot of favorite artists in common, so you trust that friend’s judgement of music. Now take that same kind of recommendation and amplify it to thousands of users around the world to get the best recommendations possible. Your entire music library is compared to thousands of other users to determine exactly what people who like your music are also listening to.

The first thing you need to do is let Last.fm learn about your music library by downloading the Last.fm software which works seamlessly with your favorite media players and iPods to scan all your music and “Scrobble” your tracks to the Last.fm website each time you play a song. This allows Last.fm as well as your friends to know how often you are listening to which tracks to get a better idea of your tastes. I also installed a Scrobbler application on my iPhone through the Cydia installer, so I am now basically broadcasting everything I ever listen to all the time. You can also share with your friends what you are listening to through the site, via a Facebook application, or through a funky widget as seen to the side of this paragraph! Time for some recommendations!

Each time you load the Last.fm homepage, you will be recommended a new set of artists. Under each artist that is recommended, you will see the names of artists you already listen to that were used to make the recommendation to you. Every time you add friends or view other profiles, your musical compatibility with that person is rated based on how many similar artists you have. These features make it very easy to discover great new music and people with similar tastes.

Another cool thing about Last.fm is how every individual element of music has its own page. For example, one single song such as Kanye West’s Flashing Lights has one page with an audio preview of the song, lyrics, links to videos, related albums, and a wall where people can leave comments. Discussion can revolve around any element of music whether it be a song, an artist, an event, or an album.

Although the website is great for music discovery, it’s not the best for actually listening to the music. Most of the music isn’t voluntarily posted by the artists, so the site only has access to 30 second previews used in online MP3 stores. I recommend listening alongside with MySpace when browsing the site. Find an artist that has been recommend, then do a quick Google search for their MySpace to listen to some full tracks.

If you end up getting an account, feel free to add me and we’ll see how musically compatible we are!

Coldplay has released a video for their new single, and it’s hilarious!!! Coldplay never seemed like a band who would kid around like this, yet here they are in puppet form performing for a bunch of freaked out kids. Coldplay fan or not, you need to check this out.

[audio:http://tedavery.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/01-bon_iver-flume.mp3]

I’m still doing my wading through the previously mentioned top albums of 2008 according to music blogs, but Bon Iver immediately stood out to me. Ranking in at the #4 album of 2008, this is Flume, the opening track to their album For Emma, Forever Ago.

I love it, it gives me chills. I’m a sucker for male vocalists who can pull off falsetto so softly and pleasantly (it’s not that easy), and the harmonies just make it that much more amazing.  But what I love most is the careful attention paid to the “swelling” of the sound. The song doesn’t just build up or die down by changing volume, the lyrics and the sounds of the words being used play an important part. As a line in the chorus dies out, the lyrics change the sound to a closed hum — a release of sorts. It sounds so accepting and at peace with the world and whatever it brings.

For Emma, Forever Ago can be purchased on iTunes, high quality and working on any music player, for about $8. I hope you enjoy it.

New music, especially from smaller indie bands, is easier to find than ever before with the internet. With it, there are many music blogs out there that scour the internet finding new sounds and bringing them to the readers. One of my favorite websites, The Hype Machine, processes a large selection of the best music blogs to combine the hype into one database of sound that you can play through, resulting in an amazing system for finding your new favorite band.

The site has put together a list of the most hyped albums of 2008 according to music blogs, and you can listen to each album in it’s entireity and then purchase it if you wish. Take a look through, you’re bound to find something you love!

Around the time of midterms, I posted a site called SimplyNoise, a whitenoise generator that you can use to block out distractions. If you liked that but are looking for something a bit more interesting when studying for your finals, try listening to the Drone Zone, an internet radio station on SomaFM. It’s a little more interesting to listen to, and still completely undistracting. When you aren’t looking to block out distractions, their other stations are pretty unique and interesting too.

“Served best chilled, safe with most medications. Atmospheric textures with minimal beats.”

Well, we’re halfway through November already, and I think most people agree that it’s okay to start thinking about Christmas now! In 2006, indie-folk favourite Sufjan Stevens released his anticipated Songs For Christmas CD collection, and I just wanted to take a moment to highly recommend it.

Let’s face it. We’ve been listening to the same Christmas songs and carols for years now. Sufjan brings classic carols back to life with his soft, soothing voice and unique musical style, but he also adds a lot of his own material to the mix, like “Put The Lights On The Tree”. Suddenly you won’t be so sick of Christmas songs, and will be itching to whip out Sufjan’s Christmas collection every year!

The story is that Sufjan had recorded Christmas CDs for his family and friends for a few years, never releasing them to the public. Finally he decided to release them all at once, and you end up with an amazing package of 5 individually packaged CDs, with bonuses such as Christmas stickers, music video, poster, and more! 5 Christmas EPs for about $19, you can’t go wrong. Give the song in this post a listen, you’ll love it!

Order the collection on the Asthmatic Kitty online store, or buy it from your local record shop.

I actually was pretty excited for Coldplay’s collaboration with Jay-Z on a new version of their song Lost from Viva la Vida called Lost+ (have a listen by clicking the player above the picture, Jay-Z’s part isn’t till about 3/4 of the way in). I thought the song was gonna get an overhaul, but instead Jay-Z just does a short rap during the bridge that I personally think sounds entirely out of place and just thrown in there. I thought they were going to make something really awesome together, but I feel like Jay-Z’s involvement was a last-minute addition to try and get some attention. Oh well.

The new Coldplay EP Prospekt’s March comes out November 19 which will have this song as well as a few entirely new songs that didn’t finish in time for Viva La Vida. Should be good!

Aside from her solo work, Feist performs in the group Broken Social Scene, who founded their own record label Arts & Crafts. It’s a very unique, artistic label with a number of artists I follow such as The Most Serene Republic and Stars. When I’ve seen these other artists perform, they have gone to great lengths to make their performance as memorable as possible. When I saw Stars, they were all dressed in suits and top hats, and had bundles of roses tied around all the stands on the stage. The Most Serene Republic has a quirky yet energic stage presence that makes for a great show. I was curious as to whether Feist’s launch in popularity and performance in such large venues would allow her to continue such elaborate performances that the label is known for.

The show ended up exceeding my expectations by far. The most unique thing about the show was the visuals they projected on the screen behind them. Several artists displayed images and made art in time with the music which displayed on the screen behind the band using a color overhead projector. Here is an example from Feist’s performance at Massey Hall, where you can see a house and snowflakes being projected on the screen. Each of these shapes were little pieces that the artists moved around to make the house appear as if it was in a snowstorm. In this example, colored stones were shifted around the screen to form different patterns in time to the music. These were the best visuals I had ever seen for a concert and were very unique, entertaining, and artistic.

Feist’s performance herself was amazing. Her soft and beautiful voice effortlessly gliding through her entire vocal range was a pleasure to listen to. She was very friendly with the audience and was very passionate in her performance. There were nothing but happy vibes throughout the entire Air Canada Centre as everyone bobbed their heads and sang along with her.

My favorite song from the latest Copeland album, You Are My Sunshine. Buy it on iTunes.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=23363976382

To see my videos of the opening bands, which include Stars, Rogue Wave, and Young Galaxy, visit: http://vimeo.com/tedavery/videos/tag:torontoolympicisland

Check out photos and video clips from the Death Cab For Cutie concert last Saturday June 8, 2008! Opening bands include Stars, Rogue Wave, and Young Galaxy.

#1 – Keane
Keane may be a bit too mainstream pop for some, especially with their more recent album Under the Iron Sea. But Keane’s original album Hopes and Fears has the most awe-inspiring music for me. It’s music that is just soothing to listen to and combines so many different sounds together with many powerful chords so well that even though I have listened to it hundreds of times now, I’m still inspired with each listen. I’m excited to see what is in store for their third album due later this year.

#2 – Death Cab for Cutie
This group has something for everyone, and it’s all good. Founded in 1997, they’ve had 8 full length studio albums and countless side projects. Their older stuff has a more indie, artistic sound while their newer stuff is catchier and more radio-friendly, yet still very unique. Once a little known band, their appearances on The OC launched them to a new level of popularity. The Postal Service is an electronic side project for frontman Ben Gibbard and is equally as amazing.

#3 – Sufjan Stevens
Sufjan creates the most interesting sounds using a wide variety of instruments. His silky smooth voice sings about all sorts of different people and places, conflicts, love, religion, and more. Beautiful music!

#4 – Tokyo Police Club
This up and rising indie band from Newmarket, Ontari, Canada is going to make it big anytime soon. They’ve recently been in the spotlight of the Canadian music scene and their albums are arleady being distributed worldwide. Their songs are upbeat and adrenaline filled, and if you think they sound awesome recorded, you should see them live. They win #1 for putting on great concerts!

#5 – Loney, Dear
Loney, Dear is my latest craze and quickly become one of my favourite artists. Folk music done right. The singer has a very unique accent, and his voice and soar to great heights and still sound absolutely amazing. Definitely an artist to check out.

Honourable Mentions
I won’t go into too much detail here but two other favourites of mine are Lovedrug and The Most Serene Republic. Both are up and rising bands with very unique sounds.

Photos and short video clips from the Tokyo Police Club concert at The Opera House on Saturday, May 3, 2008.

Here is my huge compilation video of all the clips I took when seeing Tokyo Police Club at The Opera House on Saturday May 3, 2008.

This is the concert I went to last weekend. It was awesome. Indie concerts are my new favorite thing. Far less crowded, much more intimate, and much more crayzay.