I will be the first to admit, not our finest show last night. Feel free to choose from any of the following excuses: stressed out and distracted by this show (and dealing with certain individuals related to said show), by work, by transportational logistics (read: hauling gear), by the fact that we were listed in all ads and posters as “Lakeside Soul”… Fuck it, I was just off my game and it showed. I thought our performances on the new material ranged from acceptable to shaky… we probably just weren’t in the proper headspace to put on a really good show. Apologies to those in attendance.

Thankfully, however, it was made up for by Melon Galia. When we heard them soundchecking, we figured they were going to be something special and they really were. This Belgian 4-piece, performing all in French, put on an amazing set of Stereolab meets Belle & Sebastian meets Heavenly orchestral, loungy indie pop (the bassist’s spot-on Amelia Fletcher haircut certainly helped with this comparison). The arrangements were wonderfully clever and helped out by the unconventional (for an indie rock show, anyways) instrumentation – trumpets, clarinet, wood blocks, shakers… all played with great aplomb. The boy-girl vocals and harmonies were great, and benefitted from generous doses of ‘ba-ba-ba’s and ‘la-la-la’s. I think it was safe to say they made a lot of fans last night. Now en route to the Montreal Pop Festival, I hope that when they come back to Toronto they get the proper promotional push they deserve. I know there’s a lot of people in this town who would really dig them, if they only knew. A big Chromewaves thumbs up to the kids in Melon Galia.

And today I am exhausted – I didn’t get to bed till 2:30AM, and while five hours of sleep is enough for me to get by on reasonably bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, not after a long long day and night. I am glad the show is over and done with, it’s a pretty big load off.

np – Beulah / Yoko

You know what would be fun? Getting onto MTV’s Becoming and doing a shot-by-shot remake of The Replacements’ “Bastards Of Young”. Or maybe that should just be ‘shot remake’, since there’s only one in the whole vid. A classic. And then, while they’re shooting the final video, I could get all loaded and trash the set in classic ‘Mats fasion.

Apparently Dean Wareham had a brief guest spot on tonight’s Law & Order. I feel shame not because this Luna-freak missed it, but because I watched pretty much the whole episode but didn’t notice.

There was a bit of a shakeup in Lake Holiday-land this week as Clay dropped the bombshell on us that he was bilingual. You play alongside a guy for so many months, you think you know him… then this. I think we’ve managed to compose ourselves in time for tonight’s show, though. In fact, it could come in handy as Melon Galia perform in French. 517 found a sample mp3 and it’s really quite nice. Definitely a Belle & Sebastian-esque chamber pop thing happening, I look forward to seeing them play tonight.

np – Guided By Voices / Earthquake Glue

This “directors cut of Finding Nemo” pic was sent to me by my brother. He is sick sick sick.

Watching the provincial leaders debate last night, I realized that all three candidates annoy the hell out of me. I don’t know if political debates are always like this, but I was expecting a little more dignified and mature conduct from those who would be our leaders. Silly me.

I took my old Telecaster into Songbird to put on consignment yesterday – they figure it’ll sell within a week, which suits me just fine. The money I get will pay off the practice amp I picked up – one of these babies. It looks awesome, sounds really good and was cheap.

The Flaming Lips are really milking Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell will be the second domestic EP to be released from the album, to say nothing of the DVD-Audio version of the album that came out last month. The tracklisting is as follows:

1. Assassination of the Sun

2. I’m a Fly in a Sunbeam (Following the Funeral Procession of a Stranger)

3. Sunship Balloons

4. Do You Realize?? (Jimmy Tamborello Mix)

5. Ego Tripping (Ego in Acceleration Mix)

6. Ego Tripping (Self-Administration with Blow-Up Mix)

7. A Chance at Christmas (Say It Isn’t So)

Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell is out November 18. Info from Delusions Of Adequacy.

Of Pitchfork’s 50 most common used CDs, I have 21 of these. Which means absolutely nothing, not unlike the article – the author, whose name I can’t be bothered to look up, seems to think the frequency with which a record appears in used bin is inversely proportional to the quality of the album. An interesting theory which is, of course, a heap of steaming shit. The only reason I can think of that PF-dude had for making such a list is that it afforded him the opportunity to poop on albums he can fairly sure a lot of people own, thus maximizing his outraged reader potential. After all, I think that the law of averages dictates that for every used copy of a CD you will find, at least a half-dozen more copies still have loving homes. Except for Justin Guarini – no one kept that shit.

Advance tickets for Belle & Sebastian at Massey Hall go on sale Monday September 29 at 12 noon, EST at musictoday. Once again, I’ve been elected to put hundreds of dollars of concert tickets on my Visa so my friends can pay me back at their leisure. Someone remind me again why I do this?

np – Ted Leo & The Pharmacists / The Tyranny Of Distance

In celebration of Rough Trade’s 25th anniversary, they are releasing a compilation album of tracks by past Rough Trade artists covered by current Rough Trade artists. Some highlights of the 16-track album are:

The Hidden Cameras – “Dunes” (Originally by The Clean)

The Tyde – “Tell Me” (Originally by Galaxie 500)

Royal City – “Is This It” (Originally by The Strokes)

British Sea Power – “Tugboat” (Originally by Galaxie 500 )

Belle & Sebastian – “Final Day” (Originally by Young Marble Giants)

Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before is out October 7 and should be discount priced.

Update: This comp is actually out today – prices online range from $11.99 to $15.99 CAN.

The video for the new REM song “Bad Day” has its own minisite at www.morningteam.com. It’s a pretty good song in the old-school stripped down REM vein. Yeah, it sounds fairly like “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It”, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. And it’s a fun video. “Bad Day” is one of the new tracks on the best-of compilation, In Time, out October 28.

Madness at the subway station today. Lineups winding every which way as for whatever reason, there weren’t enough streetcars to clear up the backlog. No one had any idea where the line started or ended and resorted to just standing behind people at random, hoping to start a new lineup. To top it off, there was this woman walking around with no top teeth except her canines, going through the garbage bins. She was just peculiar. I did run into former Lake Holiday keyboardist Brendan in line though, and got to congratulate him on his recent wedding, so it wasn’t a total waste of time. I eventually gave up waiting and took the subway down to St. Andrew and then the streetcar across King. I suspect the folks in Spadina station are still waiting.

np – The Sadies / Pure Diamond Gold

Matador are re-releasing The New Pornographers’ debut album Mass Romantic on October 7, fully remastered. It seems curious to remaster an album that was released just a couple years ago, but according to Matador, “It sounds so much better it’s insane – it’s not just punchier, with more bass, but you can understand the vocals better and hear all these background instruments more clearly”. That sounds like good news, but it was my understanding that the original pressing on Mint was how the band wanted it to sound, perceived aural shortcomings and all. So the question for me, who doesn’t own the first album but want it, is which one do I want to get? Better sounding or truer to the artistic vision? The answer, of course, is that I will get whichever one I find used first. Ha.

One of the funniest scenes in Lost In Translation comes when Bill Murray is taking direction in Japanese from the director of the whiskey commercial he is in Tokyo to film. The directore doesn’t speak a word of English and Murray doesn’t understand a word of Japanese, and they have to make use of a clueless translator. A large portion of the scene has been translated for the benefit of those of us with as much comprehension of Japanese as Murray’s character – and it’s just as funny as the original scene.

This site compiles all the political humour and quips from the previous night’s late-night talk shows. Laugh at the barbed satire, then cry when you realize this is the only sort of criticism of the current administration that ever seems to make the airwaves.

Frank Black tries to communicate with his fans on a fansite message board. Hilarity ensues.

np – The American Analog Set / Know By Heart