http://www.twofiftynine.com Adam White's musings on music, culture and life in Niagara Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:13:44 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I'm feeling confident, so let's going ahead and make the argument that the Sadies are essential listening for the punk rock crowd. Now this is by no means an under-appreciated band; they find no shortage of critical praise with each successive record (and there's been something like ten at this ... http://www.twofiftynine.com/2008/04/11/the-sadies-new-seasons/ My "Best of 2007" list is now online over at Punknews. These articles seem to grow more massive every year and this one was no exception. I'm not even going to attempt to repost the content here. Best of 2007 - Adam's Picks Also check out the rest of the staff ... http://www.twofiftynine.com/2008/01/01/best-of-2007/ Of course we were right to be wary of Vice. While not technically a major label (in fact, I think they lost their major backing earlier this year), they've definitely set themselves up for suspicion. Let's remember that this is a brand offshoot of a smarmy indie lifestyle magazine. For ... http://www.twofiftynine.com/2007/11/16/black-lips-good-bad-not-evil/ Despite the sheer reverence shown for the Winnipeg act, the Weakerthans are really a delightfully simple band. Particularly in Canada the indie scene's treated them with the acclaim afforded to bands like Broken Social Scene and the Arcade Fire: the luminaries. While I'd argue that John K. Samson and company ... http://www.twofiftynine.com/2007/09/28/the-weakerthans-reunion-tour/ There are some excellent things on the horizon, particularly if you're into the loosely defined indie folk / alt-country / cowpunk genre that we can't seem to name. My old favourites Cuff The Duke return this October with "Sidelines of the City," following up 2005's eponymous Cuff The Duke. The ... http://www.twofiftynine.com/2007/09/15/surging-revival/ My weekly Navel Gazing summary at Punknews is often accompanied by an image that may have little to no actual connection with the content of the article. It's fun and nonsensical, and on rare occasions may have a hidden meaning to me or the other editors. In fact there's an ... http://www.twofiftynine.com/2007/09/09/unstable-decibels/ Ottawa's The Acorn has posted two songs from their upcoming Paper Bag release Glory Hope Mountain and it's sounding absolutely gorgeous. I dug the band's prior EP Tin Fist but I never really latched onto a distinct voice in their competent indie-folk tunes. This, however, sounds like a band with ... http://www.twofiftynine.com/2007/09/04/the-acorn-2-songs-from-glory-hope-mountain/ CBC news is reporting that HMV, the largest chain music retailer in Canada, will cut prices from 20 to 33 percent on music across the board, with back catalogues from popular artists potentially shedding $10 dollars a disc. Of course CRIA is blaming piracy for this apparently tragic bout of ... http://www.twofiftynine.com/2007/08/30/hmv-cuts-prices-cria-doesnt-get-it/ Buzz band. How about we all put this term to bed? There's nothing that invalidates the contents of a press release more effectively than the use of this label. The bullshit detector just hits 11 at first sight. For the sake of argument let's say that the term's actually appropriate --- ... http://www.twofiftynine.com/2007/08/27/like-an-irritated-wasp/ Hey. Long summer no posts. I blame... well I really don't need to explain myself to you, you're a blog and I own you. Stay in line. Anyways, all that PR spam I was complaining about in the prior post now has a name, thanks to some apparently very recent web ... http://www.twofiftynine.com/2007/08/22/it-has-a-name-now/