weather canada

bWe’re well into one-off territory, folks. The weather in Vancouver has been all kinds of bad, but there’s a lot to talk about:

– I went to see Jamie Lidell about a thousand years ago now, at Richards on Richards, and despite his new album being way too Jameeroquai for me, his live show is still amazing.  Highlights included a man playing two saxophones at one, an extended beatbox jam of tunes from Mulitply and an epic encore.

– James Zabiela at Celebrities was pretty good too.  The problem with JZ in this day and age is that everyone else has caught up to his sound.  He’s still got all sorts of black magic and trickery, but it doesn’t sound as violently new as it did before.

– The m_nus showcase, also at Celebrities (which is a gorgeous space, by the by), was pretty good.  Hawtin no-showed, but Magda and Heartthrob played, with Heartthrob’s live set particularly impressing.

– On the subject of shows, I can’t thank the people behind Back To Bollywood and White Label (and Kenzie Clarke, my partner in crime at White Label) enough.  Both gigs were good times.

– Onwards and upwards, now.  How cool is Phoenix?  And how cool is this shot?

That’s a spacecraft landing on Mars.  Photographed by another spacecraft that’s orbiting Mars.  I think that’s amazingly bad-ass, myself.

– To geek out about acoustics, if you live above ground level in a big city, spend a night with the windows open listening to sirens as they echo off buildings, like ghosts.  Gorgeous.

– Tide Pool Is Love is this Thursday on Proton Radio, and features an overwhelming two-hour set from Robsounds, as well as a headfuck ambient / string quartet from Hollas Longton.  Tune in, do.