Okay City Feat. Shad

Vancouver hip hop group and BTA friends Okay City will be releasing their new Album Tocsin-B next week. In the meantime they have released a new Track featuring fellow Canadian rapper Shad, entitled 'Cities of the North'. The song can be listened to at their MySpace. Enjoy!

And also a reminder that the guys will be touring with Australian Hip-Hop legends Hilltop Hoods through February.

Feb. 7th Whistler BC - Garfinkel's
Feb. .10th Vancouver BC - The Venue
Feb. 12th Edmonton AB - The Pawn Shop
Feb. 13th Calgary AB - The Gateway at SAIT
Feb. 15th Banff AB - Wild Bill's

The Knife - Tomorrow, in a year

A few weeks back The Knife introduced us to their new project / full length album through the 11 minute track 'Colouring the Pigeon'. This was a collaboration between Mt. Sims and Planningtorock. This project was actually commissioned by Hotel Pro Forma to accompany an opera they had written entitled On The Origin Of The Species. The full album has been available to stream lately. It comes off in typical Knife fashion. Sometimes obscure, and always with a variety of sounds to interpret. Although familiar, it also goes in a bit of a different direction than past albums due to it being written for this opera in particular. The album will be available on digital release February 2nd.

The Knife - The Height of Summer

New (Actual) Daft Punk and Justice??

So I've just sat down to the good old computer too see that the interweb is buzzing with new tracks from both Daft Punk AND Justice. Once you've re-cooperated from your head exploding like mine did, take a listen to these tracks. The Daft Punk track 'The Crash' spans 12 minutes and definitely sounds more along the lines of backing music for TRON, and not some douche pulling a fast one. Maybe a response to that song that leaked days ago that wasn't them? The Justice track 'The Beginning of the end' sounds...well, like a Justice track. Synthed out keys and a slappy bass. Maybe they dropped it because their big brothers told them to.

*Not so awesome Update: So apparently people are now saying that the Justice track is fake, and was sent by a hacker using a fake Ed Banger e-mail account. Sorry for getting everyone all excited. I will be spending my day tracking down this guy...and killing him. Sure, between these guys and Keedz, Ed Banger might as well sign some more acts to take all the stress out of Justice actually releasing anything.

* Another Update : Both are fake. I hate the internet sometimes

Justice - Beginning of the end (FAKE)

Daft Punk - The Crash (FAKE)

Mumford and Sons, No. 1

Well if you were listening to the hottest 100 countdown on Triple J yesterday during Australia day, you heard that the land down under voted the number one song of 2009 to be 'Little Lion Man' by Mumford and Sons. Great track but somewhat of a surprise for their number one spot. Obviously this top 100 list has a bit of bias towards some of the years homegrown acts like Hilltop Hoods and Art vs Science, but it's still a nice sum up of 2009 in music. If you're interested in checking out the full list head here.

Keedz

Remember when that track came out like a year ago...and everyone thought it was new stuff from Justice? Well that was these guys Keedz, which nobody knows anything about or has heard anything from since. Their myspace isn't really helping me with this either, except it says they are from the states...but everything's in french. What?! Some people still think it is Justice just screwing with people. I've got to admit that the production of both the track and video have similarities. If anyone knows any more please feel free to chime in. Regardless, how dare they try to keep me intrigued. Whatever, I'm over it. It's still a pretty decent track, however preachy it may seem. Save me Jebus.

Keedz - Stand on the word

Grizzly Bear Covers Hot Chip

I'm a fan of Grizzly Bear. I'm also a fan of Hot Chip. So naturally I was smitten when Grizzly Bear played a set on Triple J yesterday covering...wait for it...Hot Chip. Have a listen to an acoustic version of 'While you wait for the others', as well as their rendition of the always great track 'Boy From School'. Head on over here to download the session.

Science of Cars & Trains

This new video from Portland's Cars & Trains, Intimidated by Silence, has something of a low-budget Michael Gondy charm to it. Plus my grandfather had that very same cuckoo clock above his favourite chair, so I can't help but love this.

Animation by Raquel Aparicio, whose brilliant work is certainly worth a gander.

Okay City, Hilltop Hoods. West Coast Tour

Okay City, which consists of Bill Maka and Ray Black, is the freshest thing hitting the Vancouver hip-hop scene. Quickly becoming known for their high-energy live performances and hard hitting sound. Any group that starts off with an introduction sampled from Back to the Future is just swell in my books. The guys originally started out in Ontario, connecting through the well known music industry arts program at Fanshawe College. Eventually making the move out west to broaden their horizons and touring with the likes of Sweatshop Union and opening for Swollen Members. Expect to see these guys starting a dance party on stage or spitting while walking on top of the bar. Their performance and ryhmes have already caught the attention of the crazy popular Australian hip-hop group, Hilltop Hoods, and Okay City will be accompanying them as their opening act for the majority of their west coast tour. This along with upcoming collaborations with Shad, means you will be hearing a lot more about Okay City in 2010. Check out the myspace for tour dates. Don't miss it.

The Whistler show with Hilltop Hoods is already sold out I'm pretty sure. The village being like 90% Australian and all... you may not realize how bananas this show will be. If you can find some tickets do it.

Okay City's track 'Potency', which the boys were so kind to contribute to BTA, is a laid back groove with a catchy string melody accompanied with a nice little Biggie Sample. Get it below.

Okay City - Potency