When the air is smoky and the liver dies from drowning   I sit and I think about life Pausing the world, to weep   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crack_epidemic – Here is an unedited and explicit view into the mind of a man that deeply ponders the weighty issues and concerns of the day – NEW JACK CITY:SPECIAL [...]

The After Party, Hidden Hospitals, and NameSake are three different bands that are currently gathering up some buzz. We put the three bands together for a new PropertyOfZack Playlist feature. Check out the Playlists and listen to the songs on Spotify while reading everyone’s thoughts! (Click on image to listen in Spotify) Coheed & Cambria - Deranged This is the band that got me into music. I wouldn’t even be singing if it weren’t for them. They did this song as a single for the Batman Arkham City sound track and I think it’s one of the best records they have put out thus far.  Paramore - Monster I heard this song the other day, one off the latest songs by the legendary Paramore! I’m not really into bands with a female vocalist but she is just a powerhouse. Very inspirational song.  Panic at the Disco - The Ballad of Mona Lisa I was really excited when I heard the new Panic album. They broke away from that Beatles sound they went for with their second album, and their new sound is very refreshing.  Go Radio - Kill The Beast I’ve been jamming this band a lot lately. They bring a unique sound to the pop/punk genre and I really dig the diversity of the group.  Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows - Mr. Owl Ate My Metal Worm I don’t normally listen to heavy music but the vocals in this band are incredible. Craig Owens has always been an influence on my own vocal performances. I’m glad to see he was able to get a killer group of musicians together and form a new band after his success in Chiodos.  Used">The Used - I Come Alive The latest song by one of my favorite bands! I have listened to this band since as long as I can remember and they always had songs that could really reach out and give you a nice perspective of things.   30 Seconds to Mars - The Kill An old school hit. I don’t think there is a person in our generation that doesn’t know this song. Theatrically epic in every single way.   The Black Mages - Hunter’s Chance *Song is currently not on Spotify Probably the most interesting thing I have been listening to lately. Familiar with Final Fantasy? Well the guy who wrote all the music for the games has a progressive metal band in which they have redone all of the music for those games with a heavy metal theme. It’s pretty intense!   Escape the Fate - Something I was hesitant when I heard this band got a new singer, but Craig Mabbit is awesome. I really dig the vocals and how this song builds. I’ve always been a big Escape the Fate fan.   Sonny Moore - Gypsy Hook *Song is currently not on Spotify Although this project no longer exists (He’s better known now as Skrillex) This song was one of the first ones he wrote after his fame with From First to Last. As a solo artist he is incredible. One of my favorite songs by far. - Will Crafton   (Click on image to listen in Spotify) Little Dragon - Twice  A filmmaker in Toronto, and very close friend of mine showed me the video for this song. This was my introduction to the Swedish band, Little Dragon. The music video for this song is as crushing as the song itself is. I frequently describe this song as the fastest three minutes you’ll ever experience. The song seemingly ends shortly after it starts, though three minutes have definitely passed. I play “Twice” on repeat for hours, often overnight. This remains one of my top three favorite songs ever recorded.  -David Raymond   AZ - I Feel For You Nostalgia reigns on this track. I was given a mix tape when I was about 14 years old, and this song was on it. I didn’t know the name of the song, or the artist..and until music started to thrive on the internet, I was without this song for years. Though I can’t relate to they lyrics, what hooks me the music and AZ’s voice. AZ was one of the most underrated hip hop artists of his time. The combination of the bell that breaks on beat one , the strings, and the girl’s voice floating on top of it all, set a stage that AZ’s voice enters with grace. I was hooked instantly. I wore this mix tape out when I was younger…literally wore right through it.  I still frequent this track -  it puts my mind in a place that no other song can. - David Raymond   Imogen Heap - Closing In Imogen Heap is truly an anomale. She writes and produces her own records, and does a great job at both. The song that introduced me to her music was “Hide and Seek”, from the album Speak For Yourself. I was riding in the back of a car when it played. She seems to not only capture , but seeks out the same nuances in recording that I’m attracted to; the little things that you don’t catch on the first or even tenth listen. These are the things that keep revealing themselves years exploring a record for the first time. The song “Closing In” plays not only melodically darker than some of her others, but ...

Taken from the album 'Was I The Wave?' this new single encompasses what Miracle Fortress are all about. Psychedelic synthy-indie-pop would be the best way to describe the style, and although a side project of Graham Van Pelt, his main focus being Think About Life, MF are unique and extraordinary. MF have an experi... Read more..

POP Montreal has finally started! My picks for Friday’s lineup are chalk-full of some highly-esteemed local acts that you really cannot miss. Passovah Showcase @Mission Santa Cruz :: Salle STM |Sept. 23 | 7pm For the Passovah showcase, Miracle Fortress (aka Graham Van Pelt, formerly of Think About Life) is playing a midnight set at [...]

Erinnert ihr euch noch an das Anfang des Jahres erschienene Young Galaxy-Video zu “We Have Everything“? Dafür verantwortlich zeichnete sich damals der Visual Artist Sinbad Richardson aus Montreal, der bereits für kanadische independent Bands wie The Dears, Think About Life, und Plants And Animals Musikvideos gemacht hat. Young Galaxy mochten Richardsons Arbeit so sehr, dass sie [...]

Miracle Fortress, the Montreal synthpop group led by Think About Life’s Graham Van Pelt, has a new video for “Miscalculations,” a twinkling sigh of a song from their Was I The Wave? album. The video collects Hipstamatic-style footage from the band’s recent North American tour, and it’s funny to see present-day stuff made to look [...]

Miracle Fortress is a side project by Graham Van Pelt, keyboardist of Think About Life. Van Pelt hails from Montreal and is touring after the release of his sophomore album Was I the Wave off Secret City Records

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, it’s not likely the Bloody Beetroots are going anywhere anytime soon. With 2009’s electro-classical-punk epic Romborama and a recently released Best of … Remixes (which showcases the prolific Beetroots’ mixes of others’ songs, including The Chemical Brothers’ “Dissolve” and MSTRKRFT’s “Bounce”) under their belts, an ever-evolving live set that’s morphed from a high-energy, two-person DJ set to a full-on frenzy-inducing live band, and exclusive clothing collaborations with designer VendeTTa, the aggro-electro revolutionaries continue to recruit zealous droves into their fan base. Perpetually clad onstage in their signature Venom masks, blurring the lines ...

Bestial Invasion Records 2011 If you've already read Mark's excellent review of Evil Survives new album then you'll know that retro-metal loving bands are popping up everywhere these days. While Evil Survives hail from up north our friends in Atomic Roar call Brazil home. These fun loving thrash and rollers obviously grew up listening to bands like Venom, Motorhead, Discharge, Sodom, Tank, Warfare and G.B.H. It shines through in radiating color. At not even thirty minutes Atomic Freaks (their second album) looks, feels, sounds and tastes like it was made in the mid to late ...

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , News Secret City Records Think About Life 's Graham Van Pelt has done a complete overhaul on the sound of his other project, Miracle Fortress . On Thursday, building off of his performance at last year's Pop Montreal Music Festival , Van Pelt treated the CMW audience at Lee's Palace in Toronto to an entire set of new songs off of his as-yet-untitled new record, which is due out next month. Van Pelt's set-up certainly has a lot in common with Canadian electro-dance duo Woodhands , with Van Pelt's hypnotic, dreamy guitar riffs taking ...

VENTURA, Calif. — Patagonia Inc., the environmentally minded apparel company, has teamed with some of today's top artists representing a range of genres, to form the Patagonia Music Collective. The Patagonia Music Collective will launch in the United States on Tuesday March 1, 2011 at www.patagonia.com/music . Exclusive tracks will be sold at $.99 each, with net proceeds going directly to the environmental organizations of the artists’ preferencechoosing. Musicians on board thus far include Pearl Jam, Jack Johnson, Bonnie Raitt and Jon Cleary, Maroon 5, Philip Glass, Zac Brown Band, moe., The Bad Plus, Blitzen Trapper, Mason Jennings ...

In 2008, with the UK hip hop scene burgeoning, Kulez was riding the same train from Norwich to London along with fellow rap hopefuls Arkaic and Eurgh, climaxing in his minor underground hit, “Welcome To Africa”.  This Zimbabwean-born MC was making his name heard around the battle scene, competing overseas in Scribble Jam as well as supporting major artists such as R.A. The Ruggedman, Jehst, and even dubstep pioneer Rusko.  However, in 2009, he seemed to fall off the face of the map, not releasing much more than a few myspace freestyles and losing a major-profile battle against American ...

Filed under: News He's sold over 150 million records, hung out with Presley">Elvis Presley and gone through more hurled knickers than a busy launderette but Sir Tom Jones has confessed that he dreads the day that he can no longer sing. The 70-year-old veteran -- whose latest album 'Praise and Blame' is a meditative collection of gospel and blues songs dealing with spirituality and mortality -- was speaking to CBS News when he revealed his fear. "I dread the day. Time is my enemy. Time will catch up with me vocally. And I dread that,' he said. "I dread to ...

10/06/10 3:55pm Live Review Date: October 2, 2010 City: Montreal, QC Venue: Various venues Rating: 4 / 5 CHARTattack's Erik Leijon was hitting the clubs hard for Pop Montreal last weekend. Here's his final report from Saturday and Sunday: 5 p.m.: Saturday starts with perhaps the highlight of the festival: Malajube playing an acoustic set on top of the Ubisoft Montreal building. The rooftop has one of the best views of Mount Royal in the distance, so there are as many photogs taking pics of the panorama as they are of the band. 5:20 ...

Valleys , 8 pm @ Ukranian Federation (with Braids and Xiu Xiu ) It may just be reflective of my own tastes and nothing else, but this year's edition of Pop Montreal seems to have concentrated about 90% of its awesomeness in today's shows. Truthfully, you could pick just about anything and stick to it the whole night, and you'd have a pretty good odds of having picked a top-notch show from beginning to end. There's even an insane amount of competition happening in the afternoon : there are three different BBQs happening, and all three have simply incredible line-ups ...