The New Music

In the folds of the busy city of Toronto resides a gem of an independent label called Out of This Spark. Home to some of the most exciting artists this city has seen (my opinion of course), Stuart Duncan, the lone troubadour in this operation, has collected a roster of artists that span a textural landscape of genres. From Forest City Lovers, whose sounds echo a more sinister and reserved Belle and Sebastien to the D’Urbervilles thrashing post punk to Timber Timbre whose ghostly reverberations channel a devil-eyed Lead Belly you are sure to find something that suits your musical tastes. I strongly recommend listening to Timber Timbre’s self-titled album – it has become a staple in my headphones.

Links:
Official Site: Out Of This Spark
MySpace: Timber Timbre

I’ll admit, Weezer’s new video for Troublemaker is amazing & so creative. It’s even better than Pork & Beans, which defied most bands’ video-making efforts by featuring Youtube stars with actual acting scenes.

Watch Troublemaker
Watch Pork & Beans

During the shooting of Troublemaker, Weezer and their fans broke several Guinness World Records. They even had a Guinness official onset to make sure. Here are a few of the records:

*Largest game of dodge ball
*Most people in custard pie fight
*Biggest group playing air guitar
*Longest Guitar Hero marathon
*Drumming on the world’s smallest drum kit

Obviously, Weezer has a great sense of humour in their videos. But in interviews, not so much. Around Muchmusic, Weezer (especially Rivers Cuomo) are known for being incredible shy & kings of the “one-word answer”. For a recent episode of The NewMusic, I cut together a bunch of awkward & weird Weezer moments from their interviews over the years.

(Recent NewMusic episode)
(Awkward & weird moments)

After doing this, I’m not sure exactly what makes them so awkward. A few theories…

1) I have a hunch Rivers is intimidated by female interviewers. He crumbled during every interview with a female VJ in our archives, particularly Sook-Yin Lee, who he seemed to have a crush on from reading about her in Chester Brown comics. With men, he was better. He opened up a bit more to George Stroumboulopoulos and particularly in a recent interview with Matt Wells.

(Matt wells interview)

2) Weezer is actually media savvy and realized we would one day use their interviews for alternate purposes.

3) And the obvious theory, they’re just incredibly shy, and better at reading comic books than talking about themselves.

You can watch our show with Weezer coverage online here!

Maroon 5 performed in Toronto this weekend as part of LG Fashion Fusion. As such, we asked frontman Adam Levine to fill in a Mad Libs about this season’s latest trends. He happily obliged.

Oh, and be sure to watch our Maroon 5 interview on MuchNewsWeekly next Monday @ 9pm ET!

Adam Levine Photo Courtesy Of Getty Images

The other day, we were chatting around the Virtual NewMusic Water Cooler^™* about saving songs. Some of us are saving songs like you’d save your best candy from trick or treating, and eat those lame rockets or kisses first. We figured it has something to do with music being more easily available now.

Downloading is like breathing, so people can get bored with songs more quickly. What is it about having easy access to things that makes them less desirable? There are 8,000 songs on your iPod but NOTHING to listen to.

I feel stuck in that reality, and I’m constantly searching for more new music, especially something a bit different, or longer than your average EP. I guess so it lasts, and I’m not so quickly left with that empty feeling.

Which leads me to NPR’s All Things Considered podcast. If downloading is like breathing, this podcast is an oxygen mask. They have FREE full-length concerts (at least an hour or two) with newer artists but also huge bands, which makes it hard to believe you don’t have to pay. I’ve been listening to a 2-hour & 6-minute Radiohead concert & I’m still not bored of it.

Here are some other little acts they have: The Raconteurs, Bjork, Wilco, Spoon, R.E.M.. They also air concerts at hyped music events most people can’t make it to, like CMJ or SXSW. Download the All Things Considered podcast here.

Tonight on The NewMusic, we talk about All Things Considered and other “things” in our segment called “Things We Love”. NewMusic airs tonight (Monday!) at 9:30pm ET. If you’re getting this late, you can watch the show online. Scroll down on the right, and click on The NewMusic.

*We don’t actually have a water cooler…no perks round here. We were just drinking water at our desks.

- Sabrina Saccoccio

It’s been said that a messy desk is the sign of a sane mind. If that’s the case, Hannah Simone is the most stable person we know. Here’s a look at our intrepid MuchNews/NewMusic host’s workstation, as broken down by Hannah herself.

1. FATBOY SLIM RECORD
I like records. What you can’t see is that behind the Fatboy Slim record is a really old record by a female artist that looks like my mom when she was young. I won’t say who to save her the embarrassment, but she is beautiful.

2. WATER, RED BULL
I like to be hydrated and energized. What more can I say?

3. FLOWERS
I have a habit of getting flowers and leaving them in the vase until I get new fresh ones to replace them. That sometimes takes months. My deskmates have had a few words with me about the dead flowers.

4. COMPUTER
My computer is adorned with labels that my best friend made for me with her label maker. The one on the top is my favourite line from The Departed courtesy of Alec Baldwin. The one on the bottom is a saying from my friend. It says “Just for the halibut.” She is from Nova Scotia.

5. CDs
Every morning when I come to work there are a couple new CDs on my desk. Which is awesome.

6. BOTTLE OF WINE
A gift from the host of Where You At Baby?. It is adorned with a stuffed Japanese anime cat. A gift from his producer. They like to taunt me with the fact that they travel the world shooting for their show while I am locked up day in and day out at 299.

7. NARDWUAR DVD
Nardwaur is one of my favourite people and was recently in Toronto and gave me his kickass DVD.

8. BABY IN A JAR
Last Halloween Liam from Cancer Bats and I made alien babies. This is mine. The water has evaporated halfway and it freaks people out. I love it.

9. CARICATURE
During our Be Loud live election results show, CP24 was broadcasting their live elections results show across the hall. Except theirs was a party with a caricature artist and open bar. The moment I got off the air at Much I was pulled onto their show to talk about it and while I was being interviewed the artist drew this of me!

10. HEADPHONES
My beloved Sony headphones, that I have had since my Ryerson days, broke. So one day I fished a pair of WestJest headphones out from my purse from a recent flight and haven’t bothered to replace them. They get made fun of. A lot.

-Jason Richards