Songs that make you go WOW!

I know that this is totally personal. What I may find awesome, you may think it's okay. Or not even good. I am not talking about generation gap music styles. It's obvious that my grandma (even being super cool and hip) doesn't get why I love bands like Cancer Bats or I Hate Sally. Guess I don't like some of her musical choices either. But I'm not gonna go there... I want to talk about songs that touch you, the moment you hear them the very first time. What's in a song that makes you go WOW! ? Is it the music or the lyrics? Or the combination of both? For me, it's both. There are exceptions. I watched a Brazilian movie last month Cazuza about the brilliant singer/songwriter and fell in love with a song without really knowing what it was about. My Portuguese is not good and I'm working on it, so my mom translated the lyrics and I loved this song even more.

Canadian Stars won me with this song:

Super talented Colin Scallan was very inspired when he wrote this tune:

When I discovered Anberlin I think I played their songs non-stop for weeks. This was a fav:

I'm a huge fan of The Black Keys and love this tune:

It's hard to write about awesome music without Metric in the same sentence. I saw them last year at the Molson Amphitheatre (thanks Jean-François for the tickets :)). Emily Haines is one of the best vocalists I know. And if you still haven't heard her solo material, I suggest you do so. Anyway, this song is so perfect and there's so much depth. Had to mention it here:

I absolutelly love Tegan and Sara. I know, more Canadian awesomeness, but it's impossible not to talk about them when the subject is great songs...

I was pretty young when I saw these guys live. Stone Sour became a favorite and I learned this song when I got home from their concert. It's probably one of the best songs ever written.

I think I could write forever about the songs I love. But what I really want to know is, what do YOU like??? What's in a song that makes you go WOW! ?

About cooking shows

I got a couple of Rachel Ray cooking books for Christmas and decided I was going to select a few recipes I wanted to make over the weekend. One thing you need to know about me, I love cooking. Must be a mixture of loving good food and having a mother that cooks awesome stuff all the time. My mom is Brazilian. For those of you that have never been to Brazil, a piece of advice if you ever go: prepare to put on weight there. Brazilian food is amazing. If you think you had good pizza, you will change your mind once you try the pizzas in São Paulo. I cannot put into words! So, yes I do eat a lot of good things at home. And cooking is a lot of fun for me. Anyhow, the regular cooking shows you see on TV are usually a chef and a happy cooking outcome. Booooooring! Cause when it's you, a regular dude in the kitchen, you know that the outcome is not always perfect. Even my mom messes up (not all the time, but yes she does). So, when I discovered Anna and Kristina show on TV, I knew it was the best cooking show you can get. Cause it's REAL! Anna and Kristina are 2 girls that test recipe books and at the end of their show, they get a guest, usually a famous chef to eat their creation. What is great about them, is that they make mistakes all the time. Mistakes we ALL make! And they have a laugh too. So, for this reason I will give them the dZ stamp of approval. Best cooking show on TV!

A "me" moment

I took my new song to school yesterday and they played it right before the Canadian anthem. A lot of people came to me and asked me what the song was about. First of all, I think that being played before our anthem is quite an honour. Especially because when I wrote this song, I had freedom and all things that make Canada an amazing country inspire me. I do not watch a lot of TV. But one can never escape the world events, stuff that happens that make the news. I saw people fighting for freedom, for a better government and for a better world for their families. I think no matter where, when people decide they want change and they consistently fight for it, they win. So, that's how my song was born.

Memphis

I'm a Broken Social Scene fanatic. That being said, I was totally stoked when I found out Memphis was playing at the Casbah in Hamilton. We got there early and caught a couple of opening bands, but nothing compares to seeing Torquil Campbell's emotional singing performance. I was lucky enough to be right at the front, so there was nothing between me and the stage. This is a concert that should have been packed. I just don't understand how some shows are totally sold out and others, the truly awesome ones are not. There's no logic in it. I think I'm just grateful that they came to Hamilton and gave an amazing concert. Their songs have intrinsic lyrics and Torq's personality transpires in each song. Some may say he's a bit controlling, since he insisted on people's attention when he was singing. I just think that he did what most of us, musicians, feel like doing sometimes. Asking people to stop talking when we are performing. If you ever played for an audience, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's called RESPECT. Anyway, here's a couple of videos I made at the Casbah.

Canada has Talent!

When I recorded my first song Really High Hopes I posted it on myspace. I think we can all agree that myspace saw better days. It used to be easy and a great way to showcase new music. I got to meet a lot of cool people there, most of them musicians like me. One of the bands I met there 5th Projekt became a favorite. Their sound is a bit like Radiohead meets Portishead, with a Massive Attack edge. Tara Rice's vocals are flawless. These guys are so very good! And so very nice at the same time! I met them last year at the Sound of Music Festival here in Burlington. They didn't play, but came to see USS another great Canadian band. After the concert, they came over to my house for a jam. And it was super fun to hang with them. They are incredibly awesome. Judge for yourself:

Sound of Music Festival 2010

Is bad the new good?

If you consider that a lot of bad music sells well, you might even think that people lost their notion of what is good and what isn't. Could it be that we are so used to shallow lyrics and redundant music that our expectations became very low? Well, you tell me...
While a huge majority of kids my age do enjoy whatever the mainstream media puts out there, I can assure you that not everyone has been brainwashed.
Last year I was at Mapleview Mall and saw a big line to get into D-tox. There was a Silverstein meet and greet and the place was packed with teenagers hoping to get a picture with the guys of the band.
I met the vocalist, Shane Told, in 2008 when he produced my very first demo. I was only 10 and it was a project with my friend and awesome bass player Kira Sinstead. Shane is totally talented and I can honestly say he inspired me to write more. It's really cool that Silverstein is a Burlington band. And it's even cooler to see so many followers. When you work as hard as they do, I think it's great to see your work being recognized. So, for my very first post, I want to give a shout out to Shane and Silverstein. They are releasing a new album and I can't wait to get it. So, back to my post title, I think that as much as there's a lot of bad music out there, there's a lot of good stuff being written every day. And I don't want to stop believing that untalented media creations are here to stay.
So have a listen to what's good out there! And show them some love, getting their albums :)