every year, local bands made up of young people (23 and under, with a few exceptions) gather at the festival site and compete for a spot to play during the festival as well as $1000 worth of time in a recording studio.  it is an all-ages event, and honestly, a shit-ton of fun.

this year’s event featured something like nine local bands (i’m not a journalist, i don’t have to get all facts exactly right) and they were all pretty awesome. last night we heard everything from punk by first runner-up the beat officers, to rap by billy bangarang and kopasetik (i really don’t know how this dude spells his name, but i am assuming cause he’s a rapper that he spells it NOT the regular way, and k’s are cool, right?) to solo acoustic guitar singer-songwriter stuff by ATISA, to i suppose what could be called like maybe irish folk/rock (i dunno?) by flaherty’s wake and a three man piano and guitar band called david strauss who closed the show and were the night’s winners (have you ever seen three dudes play the same piano all at once? me either, it was great).

the whole thing was a blast. the bands were great, the crowd was fun and the mosquitos were not bad at all.

even though david strauss took the night with their original songs and just super awesomeness, due to a scheduling conflict, they are unable to make it to play in their 1:00pm time spot in the beer garden tomorrow afternoon. as a result the runners-up, the beat officers, will be filling the spot. the band is full of energy, totally hilarious, and plays some kick-ass NOFX covers, i fully expect that the show will totally be worth watching. so maybe, i’ll see you tomorrow out at the FOTR site… beer garden… one o’clock.

(ps – here is a crappy video i took of the beat officers playing last night.)

gonna try and ease back into this, cause i really do like sharing the stuff i am into.  all of these songs were shared with me. and as a result, they all make me think of the person who shared them with me. and kinda swoon.

so, we’ll start with five favourites (with a ‘U’) for right now. enjoy.

the raveonettes -uncertain times
pretty in black (2005)

wavves – green eyes
king of the beach (2010)

wooden shjips – drunk girls (lcd soundsystem cover)
(2010)

asteroid no.4 – she’s all i need
these flowers of ours (2008)

teenage fanclub – sweet days waiting
shadows (2010)

this is not an album for everyone. in fact, i can totally see how people would not like the thing at all.

i l.o.v.e it tho.

sleigh bells rox (just my sox in this case… ~g~)

the band’s debut album treats is streaming over on npr’s website. head over there to check it out.

go!

every time i hear this song, i love it more. then more. then more.

the band just released the video for the song today on vimeo and i gotta say… it makes me kind of swoon. kind of? who am i kidding? i am in full blown swoon here.

it feels totally melancholy and almost somehow resigned. do yourself a favour and watch the HD video in full screen on your computer. it looks very pretty. maybe even watch it once or twice. i have. i may be on four right now. shhh.

you can buy the album here: highviolet.com/indieretail/

or go to their myspace and listen to more before you acquire.

such goodness.

two new tracks found their way to the interwebz this morning, to my great pleasure. have i told you that in addition to loving the crap out of best coast, i love twitter? there i was, minding my business, thought i might check the tweets, you know… and lo and behold! an announcement about two new streaming bc tracks.

(this is where i yippee’d)

the tracks are online for your listening pleasure, and you can get a copy of them if you buy some earphones. or something.

or you can listen to them here. (which you should, ’cause i tell you again, best coast is superfantastic)

best coast – everybody’s gone

best coast – far away

so i skipped last week. the weekend was just over too quickly and before i had a chance to think about doing a late post it was wednesday.  this week (april 18-24, 2010), as has been the pattern for the past few weeks, has been a little heavy on the best coast, with some phantogram and a little teenage fanclub (still can’t hear baby lee enough) tossed in for good measure.

in sorting through my most listened to tracks this week, i filtered those out because i have already included them in blog posts. and while i would be perfectly happy to just keep writing the same ‘oh my god! have you listened to best coast? so awesome!‘ blog post… you, my dedicated readers (all three of you) maybe would get bored of that (well, except you craig).

what’s left is a little bit all over the map. but i will provide my usual promise that it is all great. promise.

snowden – don’t really know me
soft slow syrup EP (2010)

in exchange for your email address you can download this EP, which i think is made up of five tracks. i’m too lazy to go check my itunes right now. but, (legally) free music right? go get it.

sleigh bells – ring ring
ahhh sleigh bells. for some reason i think i may have blogged about them before. but oh well, won’t kill you to hear them again. and i think it wasn’t this song anyways but maybe ‘crown on the ground’. this one is just pure goodness. pure. goodness. kind of fuzzy, a little rough, and awesome. the other day when it was hot here (for a brief 24 hour period) i was driving around, windows down, shades on listening loud. and it was great. (ya, i’m a dork… so what?)

crystal castles – untrust us
crystal castles (2008)

so, since my last blog post, i watched four seasons of skins (yes, yes, obsessive… i know). it is this british show, about teenagers and it sucks you in and won’t let you go. and on top of it’s awesome everything, it features killer music.  i think it was a first season episode that features crystal castles. first i’d heard of them. the song in the episode is called ‘alice practice’ and it is i think my favourite. but maybe last.fm knows something i don’t cause ‘untrust us’ ranked higher this week.

brian jonestown massacre – miss june ’75
their satanic majesties second request (2008)

man. i am not quite sure how bjm snuck past me… but i am so glad to have found them now. according to last.fm the band has like a million and a half albums and i am working my way through them one at a time, apparently not in chronological order. is perfect music for so many moods. and activities. there is just something about this one though… it grabbed me. perhaps the guitar… maybe the lyrics… likely their perfect combination…

and when we kiss
it warms me up inside
i’ve got to tell you cause
i just can’t hide
the way i feel
she makes me real
she makes me feel
she and i are going to live forever
and be the two brightest stars up in heaven

the antlers – VCR (the xx cover)
(2010)

i’ve never listened to anything else by the antlers. but (as you know) i love the xx. i suppose now, because i dig this cover so much, i’ll go and find some more antlers stuff and see if i like them too. i suppose, really, that’s why bands do covers right? to get people who have never heard of them to listen to them? generate a little publicity on the interwebz…. anyways, this cover changes the feel of the track enough to make it unique, but still retains enough of the original for me to love it. maybe you will enjoy too?

teenage fanclub – baby lee
shadows (2010)

a teaser from their soon-to-be released album shadows. super fantastically awesome lyrics. usually what draws me in. just, well, swoon.

baby lee i’m only trying to remind you
they had me in mind oh yeah when they designed you
…
wake me, shake me, put my emotions on show
make me suffer tell everyone that you know
i’m enchanted I’ve fallen under your spell
how can I resist when you cast them so well

vetiver – everyday
tight knit (2009)

easy song to listen to, catchy as all hell, and again, really nice lyrics.

the brian jonestown massacre – everyone says
methadrone (1995)

there is just something about this song. i’m not sure if it’s the lyrics, or the female vocals, or the drums. or the lyrics. or maybe it’s the drums. i don’t know. i can’t put my finger on it. but on my way through listening to this album, this is the song that caught me the tightest. and on every play through i seem to like it more.

everything reminds me of something you said, yeah
everybody’s watching me running away

best coast – this is real

best coast is still pretty high in my listens this week, and this is a track i didn’t include last week. so good. enjoy.

massive attack – paradise circus (gui boratto remix)
heligoland (2010)

hope sandoval’s soft, swoony vocals are the icing on this track from massive attack’s newest release. i kind of like this remix better than the original (shhh…). maybe just because it is twice as long, and twice as much of anything this good is definitely better.

something interesting has happened this week. according to last.fm, my top five songs are all by the same band. kind of rare this. the thing about blip, is that there are these little pockets of people who kind of seem to go a little nutty for something, all together, all at once.  that’s kind of the way i found best coast. through blips and gushing reblips and cheeky reblips of reblips.

i always feel like i should try and write some kind of a review. but honestly, i am not knowledgeable enough about anything really to be able to provide you with any kind of critical or valuable assessment of the music.  so, really, all i am doing here is pointing you the band, providing you with some music to listen to and assuring you that the music is indeed, summery and delicious.

best coast – goodbye
live @ KEXP

best coast – make you mine

best coast – in my room

best coast – sun was high (so was i)

best coast – when i’m with you

you can follow bethany on twitter @bestycoastyy

or check out the band’s myspace page

the songs for the week of march 14-20, 2010 include:

the xx – night time
xx (2009)

the three of you who read this are undoubtedly already aware of my love of the xx. and this love is evidenced by the fact that they continue to end up in my top 5 week after week after week.  in fact, this week, they overtook kings of leon as the overall most-listened to artist according to my last.fm stats.

electric president – safe and sound
the violent blue (2010)

there are many reasons why i love (and am addicted to) blip.fm, but the biggest one is all the music i get introduced to through the site.  this song is one i found through a fellow blipster. and i love it.  this whole album is pretty great in my opinion. i seem to enjoy anything that mr. ben cooper (half of electric president, the other half is alex kane) touches.  he also makes music under the name radical face which i found a few weeks back and also loved.  as always, it seems that songs that really get their hooks into me are the ones with good lyrics… and this one has great lyrics.

but there’s no way out
i’ll let you build your home with me until the clocks run down
when your luck’s run out call me and i will come an fix you
get your feet on the ground
when there’s no way out
call me and i will come to bury you, all safe and sound

and all this time you’ve been drifting out with the tide, my friend
but you can have what’s mine if it helps you stay afloat
if i close my eyes i can’t watch you drown any more, my friend
but ill tell you lies if it helps you sleep at night
and the more we fight, the more we don’t get right
the more we fight, the more we don’t get right

broken bells – the ghost inside
broken bells (2010)

brian burton (danger mouse) and james mercer (lead singer and guitarist for the shins) make up broken bells. and broken bells are awesome. this track, the ghost inside, is my favourite from their recent release.

frightened rabbit – nothing like you
the winter of mixed drinks (2010)

i gotta be honest, while i totally dig the new album from frightened rabbit, it’s just not as good as the midnight organ fight, in my opinion anyways. it feels a little more polished and shiny, produced maybe? i dunno. it just feels slicker. and it’s not that i don’t like slick, i think slick has it’s place, i just like the rougher? or natural? or something sound of the last album a bit better.  plus, the last album was entirely about relationships, or more specifically, the end of a relationship and that kinda got to me. right at the right time. soft spot permanently created.

but this is definitely a really good album. nothing like you is the second single released by the band from the album and i totally love it’s energy, try not to bop your head along.

i also may as well admit it, i have a bit of a thing for accented vocalists….

jj – my life
jj no*3 (2010)

i totally dig jj. when i first heard this song, i knew it sounded familiar. but i couldn’t figure it out. i thought and thought and thought. and i was unable to figure it out myself. so to the interwebs i went. and as it turns out, it is a cover of a lil’ wayne song.  crazy eh? who knew a lil’ wayne song could sound this good.

here are some of the songs that have been in heavy rotation for the week of: march 7-13, 2010

phantogram – when i’m small
eyelid movies (2010)

this song rocks my socks off, in fact, the whole album tis kick ass awesome. for this song in particular, it was the bass line that got me. then, with every listen through, i fell for it harder and harder.  i’ve been listening to the album on my morning walk to work all week and it seems the perfect speed to get me up and moving, ready to face yet another day.

my other favorites on the album are running from the cops and as far as i can see.

ryan adams – come pick me up
heartbreaker (2000)

this is an old song that found it’s way back into my head this week. i don’t think i have to mention that i am a sucker for songs with good lyrics, and this one has great lyrics.  about a love you know is bad for you, but you keep hoping will somehow work out, or make sense, but really, you know it never will.  everybody has felt that. and there is harmonica!

shout out louds – fall hard
work (2010)

another band i found on blip. just a good tune… was actually surprised to see it had made it so high on my charts this week, but i guess i have listened to the album a few times. but really, not because i am in love with it (like the others on this list), but because i find it is good music to work to, not too distracting, pleasant on the brain… it actually kind of reminds me a little bit of phoenix.

april smith and the great picture show – terrible things
i don’t think this is on an album, i found it on daytrotter

i love april smith. i love the whole rockabilly kind of jazzy feel to her music. it makes me happy, makes me want to dye my hair black and get betty page bangs. i love it.  apparently this song was inspired by the show dexter. but i suppose, like dexter, we have all done terrible things and we all keep secrets buried deep down inside. maybe not murder, but still…

the xx – basic space
xx (2009)

i can’t stop listening to this album. i really don’t see any need to stop, it is fantastic. it is getting to the point where i know the songs so well, they are starting to feel like an organic part of me. i think this one is my favorite though. well, this week at least.  they are playing in vancouver next month (jj is opening for them) and while i had high hopes of being able to scrounge up the cash to make a quick overnight trip down, this is looking less and less likely. unless i win the lottery. luck me.