The best 'Call Me Maybe' cover

1:00am
I'm lying in bed
reading an article on my iPad
from Mashable
about covers of the song Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen

My favourite (by far) is by Ben Howard:

Summer Playlist - Track 2: Half Moon Run

I'm obsessed with Half Moon Run!

Basically their whole album is on my summer playlist, but if I have to choose two tracks, they are:
1. Full Circle
I love this acoustic version - check out the ukelele!



2. She Wants to Know
My fav song of the album

Summer Playlist

I'm starting to build my playlist for this summer.

The first group on the list is The Cinema.
(I discovered them through the Risk! podcast)

My top two songs are:
Picasso:


Kill It:



There are a bunch of other groups on rotation in my earbuds right now, but they don't represent the sound of summer, as much as The Cinema does.

Fun listening... Kimbra!!

Okay, I'm ready to admit it.
I have a cold.

I went about my new normal routine this morning (design class and then dogwalking!) and then came home and crashed.
On the bright side though, I don't feel guilty for spending the rest of my Saturday napping and then getting up to surf the net, drink tea, and listen to music!

During my explorations I came across Sarah's blog and music by Kimbra!

There's no resisting the clapping.




Also, men dancing in suits is one of my favourite things.


Speaking of which....

Discovering musical talent via CBC's As it Happens

I just 'discovered' Charlie Winston.

I hopped in the car and the radio was set to CBC Radio 1. As it happens, "As it Happens" was playing!
So I listened to the ending of a segment, and then they played a fun song.

I waited in the car until the announcer said the name of the singer.
(I didn't have Shazam on my phone yet.)
It was David Myles singing I'll Never Know.

Later that night when I was downloading Myles' album Into the Sun, iTunes identified a few other albums that listeners also liked.
One of the them was Charlie Winston's album Hobo.

As soon as I heard the baseline in the song 'In your Hands', I was hooked.



Thanks CBC!
...and iTunes

Podcast Gold: MATES

I love me some Tom Cavanagh.

So when I stumbled upon the Mike and Tom Eat Snacks (MATES) Podcast, I was intrigued.


On the one hand: Seriously?! How ridiculous!

But on the other hand... Tom Cavanagh!!
Plus, my interest was peaked by the vast array of snacks. From yogurt to microwave popcorn, to snickers, to 3rd Degree Burn Scorchin' Habanero Doritoes, to Crudités.

So, I took a chance and downloaded all 20 or so episodes.

 

The verdict: I. love. it.

Yes, it is ridiculous. 

And yes, it is hilarious.

I burst out laughing today on the subway. Cavanagh did a comparison of the Parisian french accent vs the Quebec french accent. 

I was still laughing about it when I arrived at work. (Check out the first 5 minutes of the Microwave Popcorn episode.)

A great one liner from the Snickers episode: "Snickers is the Paul Neuman of candy bars"

It's a fun, random, ridiculous, hilarious time.

And now I want to go eat some classic lay's potato chips.
fried, not baked,

Music Videos at their best: La Blogotheque's Take Away Shows

Awhile ago I discovered La Blogotheque's Take Away Shows.

The Take Away Shows self-description:
"Every week, we invite an artist or a band to play in the streets, in a bar, a park, or even in a flat or in an elevator, and we film the whole session. Of course, what makes the beauty of it is all the little incidents, hesitations, and crazy stuff happening unexpectingly. Besides, we do not edit the videos so they look perfectly flawless, instead we keep the raw sound of the surroundings. Our goal is to try and capture instants, film the music just like it happens, without preparation, without tricks. Spontaneity is the keyword."

Some of the artists I've watched so far, include:
Villagers
Jamie Lidell (see below)
Jason Mraz
Mumford and Sons
Spoon

Here's Jamie Lidell. (He's my favourite.)

Jamie Lidell - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Discovering new bands in Toronto

On the 'Fun Quest', a friend and I tested out a new way to discover bands in the city.

• Pick the price.
• Pick the date.
• Pick the venue.

And then go see whoever is performing!

We ended up at the Horseshoe Tavern on April 30th, to see Malajube (who can resist French indie rock?).

Thankfully though, we arrived early enough to see Library Voices perform! (Who can resist Saskatchewaners?)
They were the highlight, in my opinion. The crowd loved them, and they genuinely seemed to be having a blast. I view them kind of like a bunch of close friends who enjoyed hanging out and making music and so decided to go on the road together.
Their group dynamic is evident in their Take Away Show:


Library Voices | Party Like It's 2012 | A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

The correct way to peel a banana

I only just recently discovered the Judge John Hodgman podcast.

It cracks.me.up.
Seriously - on multiple occasions I have I burst out in laughter while walking down the street.

One particularly fun episode is on the correct way to peel a banana. Is it the popular 'from the stem' method that most humans use? or is it the 'from the nub' method that monkeys tend to use?

Another of my favourite episodes is 'You Say Tomato, I say Justice'. It has me questioning many of my friends on how they say the word 'often'. Apparently we all say it incorrectly.