Images from last nights MEN and Gossip concert at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver. The band MEN was amazing, their set was around 45 minutes long. The band consists of Michael O’Neill, Ginger Brooks Takahashi and JD Samson of Le Tigre, collectively they play some damn good ass live dance music. During MEN’s set members of Gossip joined them on stage holding signs / props in the background, Beth Ditto also was holding a sign as seen below. As for Gossip, what can I say, nothing short of amazing. Beth Dittos’ voice, what you hear on CD is essentially what you hear live in concert, even if she was just coming off of a cold as she would explain to the crowd, giving everyone the heads up in case she couldn’t hit certain notes. Honestly you couldn’t tell.

Great show and production work put on by Timbre Productions, check their website, www.timbreproductionsconcerts.com, for more upcoming shows.

MEN’s set of photos.

Gossip Photo Gallery

A few days ago we were invited by Timbre Productions to check out the Juliette Lewis concert that took place in Vancouver at the Commodore Ballroom. Here are some of the photos from that concert, I didn’t get a chance to stick around and listen to too many of her songs as we had that Random Long weekend part down at The Modern I had to make my way down to. But the three or four songs I heard weren’t too bad, the crowd was semi-thin, as this was a long weekend, Thanksgiving weekend to be exact.

Apologies on the quality of the photos, it was dark, like black dark for a good portion of the 1st song and we were only allowed to shoot 2 songs.

I was able to snag her set list.

Set list:
Romeo
Into
Purgatory
Ghosts
Fantasy Bar
Pray
Hard Lovin Woman
Terra
Sticky
Uh Huh
Speaking
Suicide
Hot Kiss (Encore)

Thanks to Timbre Productions, check their site out for upcoming shows.

This weekend Girl Talk stopped in Vancouver to play two straight gigs, one was on Saturday night and the other was on a Sunday night. Tickets for the first show sold out so quickly that Sealed with a Kiss was able to add another night, which also ended up selling out as well.

If you’ve never been to a Girl Talk show, here’s how you should prepare: hydrate yourself prior to the show, wear little to no clothing, prepare to sweat your ass off and good comfortable dancing shoes. Here’s what you can expect, tons of mash-up music, tons of dancing, maybe a boob or two, but definite some side boob, and of course dirty. sweaty. peeps. for a lack of a better term, but its’ all love cus the parties at his shows are always crazy. This is the third time I’ve caught his show, the first was last year at the same venue, Commodore Ballroom, the second was this past summer at Sasquatch! Music Festival, where he tore shit up on the second main stage. This particular night was no different. Before Gregg Gillis aka Girl Talk even stepped out on stage, people were frantically trying to find a way to get to be on stage for his set, during his set, people were jumping the photo barrier pit and hoping onto stage, only to be taken down by security and forced to go back out into the crowd.

He played a lot of his usual mash-ups, but there were some new ones that I hadn’t recognized, overall though he doesn’t change things up too much and sticks to a formula that he’s been successful with and keeps the crowd dancing they asses off.

Check out Sealed with a Kiss for future shows.

Peaches finished her Canadian leg of the tour on Sunday night , May 31 before heading into the United States and then continuing on to Europe. I had a vague idea that this show could potentially be nuts, but honestly had no clue as to how much energy Peaches puts into her show. From beginning to end there was no real slow point as she would jump into the crowd to surf, get concert-goers to take their tops off and all the other crazy shit that went on. Oh and before I forget to mention, 3, yep count ‘em, 3 encores, it almost became too much. Her show is an assault on the visuals, in a good way, hard to describe all the craziness and costume changes and props, but this is definitely a must check show. She performed a good mix of old and new stuff, full set list below. We want to thank Sealed With A Kiss for hooking us up, be sure to check their website, www.sealedwithakisspresents.com, as they have a TON of shows coming up.

Set list:

Show Stopper
Trick or Treat
Hit it Hard
Operate
Mud
Serpentine
Hot Rod
Shake Your Dix
Lose
More
Boys Wanna Be Her
Talk To Me
Billionaire
Set it Off
Road Kill
Mommy Complex
Fuck The Pain Away
Lover Tits
I Feel Cream
Tombstone
Take You On

On Monday April 13th, Vancouver music heads were treated to some sweet sweet disco, synth pop and industrial goodness courtesy of The Golden Filter and The Presets, which was presented by Sealed With A Kiss at the Commodore Ballroom. I, personally had been looking forward to this concert as soon as it was announced, a couple of reasons: 1. The Golden Filter, I’ve loved all the stuff I’ve heard and their remixes are on point and 2. The last time The Presets rolled into town opening for Cut Copy, I actually didn’t have a chance to catch them because of unforeseen circumstances. So there was a definite anticipation on my part.

The Golden Filter took the stage around 9:15pm and started the night off right with the track “Favourite Things”. Penelope, lead vocal, made the song unique by adding Vancouver into the song as one of her “Favourite Things”. From there the band went into the synth and bass heavy “Hide Me”, which personally is one of my favourite jams and can be heard on their MySpace page as well. The next two songs were on some next level spaceship / flying to the moon deal and is clearly indicated by their titles, “Stardust” and “Moonlight Fantasy”.

As they started to play their next song, there was a bit of familiarity, the sound and some of the lyrics. It wasn’t until the chorus that I finally recognized what I was hearing, The White Stripes “The Hardest Button to Button”. They didn’t perform the song exactly the same, but gave it the usual Golden Filter touch by adding some heavy synths and making it more disco. The group ended their set with the official first single “Solid Gold” and had the crowd amped as everyone was pretty much familiar with the song.

The Golden Filter’s Penelope, was incredibly hard to shoot, well, it was difficult to get shots of her face. It’s become a thing on the internets that nobody has any clear face shots as she generally combs her bangs to cover at least 2/3 of her face, but I was able to get some decent shots. After the photographers left the front area, I did noticed that she let her hair down and opened up a bit. Either way, there’s a definite mysteriousness that surrounds the band. Check out our interview with The Golden Filter dropping later today.

After a quick set change, Julian and Kim took the stage and everyone in the venue bum rushed the dance floor to get ready to get their dance on and they weren’t disappointed as the boys kicked the set off with “Talk Like That”. You could literally feel the floor move like a wave from all the heads jumping in the building. The pace wouldn’t slow as they moved on to “Yippiyo-Ay”, which has its own unique melodic and hypnotic groove, in fact the set didn’t slow down, BPM wise, til they played “A New Sky” (which kinda reminds me a biit of a Gregorian chant or a more updated version of it) , “Girl And The Sea” and their latest single “If I Know You”.

The interaction between the boys and the crowd were incredible as they were feeding off of the energy like it was a drug. The fans would cheer louder and the boys would play harder, which would make the fans cheer louder and the boys would…well you get the idea. Numerous people that I talked to throughout the night and after the night all said that their performance was 100 times better than the last time they were in Vancouver.

Definitely a great concert and worth attending, unfortunately the two groups end their tour by next week, after that The Presets head back to the motherland and do a tour through Australia. As for The Golden Filter, I’ve had the distinct pleasure to hear their current demo album, 7 or so songs, and I can definitely say that this album is something to look out for down the road. For all your concert needs check out Sealed With A Kiss’s website, www.sealedwithakisspresents.com, as they have a ton of great acts coming through in the next little while.

Check out the full set list for both bands below as well as all the pictures. Hit up our Flickr page for past photos, www.flickr.com/photos/killahbeez. Also don’t forget to check us out on Twitter, @Killahbeez.

The Golden Filter Set List:

• Favourite Things
• Hide Me
• Stardust
• Moonlight Fantasy
• The Hardest Button to Button (White Stripes Cover)
• Imaginary Love
• Solid Gold

The Presets Set List

• Talk Like That
• Yippiyo-Ay
• Eucalyptus
• A New Sky
• Girl And The Sea
• Aeons
• If I Know You
• Are You The One
• Together
• This Boy’s In Love
• I Go Hard I Go Home
• Kicking & Screaming
• My People
• Anywhere

Last week we told you folks out on the Pacific Northwest about the Telus Ski and Snowboard Festival thats’ taking place this month. One of the acts that is performing at the festival is Ozomatli, well it appears that folks that can’t make it up the mountain to check out their set will now have the option of checking them out live in town as they will be performing at the Commodore Ballroom on April 17th. Tickets for the show is $28.00 and will have Sweatshop Union opening the show.

Tickets available via Beatstreet, Highlife and of course Ticketmaster.

Photography by DT

Those who’ve been lucky enough to see Simian Mobile Disco live know that their shows are like no other. Their samples are eclectic, their sound is electric, and their energy is, well, orgasmic. Luckily, on March 12, two of us ‘Beez were able to hit up SMD’s live set at the Commodore Ballroom thanks to Sealed with a Kiss, and the DJ duo from England did not disappoint.

Opening the North American leg of their 24-city tour, SMD’s stage set consisted of a small mountain of intricately tangled wires and machines sitting center stage bordered by a semi-circle of light stands. At around 10:30 p.m., smoke filled the stage and two skinny blokes dressed in nondescript dark button downs and pants snuck out on stage to begin their set.  The duo slowly revved the crowd up, getting our heart rates going with crescendos of sirens over a steady beat. The effect was similar to a rocket ship taking off – the anticipation in the room was thick enough to smell. But within five minutes, the entire audience was moving up and down to the haunting, pounding track “Sleep Deprivation” off of SMD’s first studio album Attack Decay Sustain Release (2007).

Without hesitation, SMD, which consists of James Ford and James Anthony Shaw, dove right into their next track, knowing exactly where they were going but leaving the crowd constantly wondering. By now, their light show was also in full effect. Consisting of blue, green and red lights with blinding flashes of white lights interspersed, the lights ran perfectly in sync with the music and created an almost hypnotic effect in the room. Their performance is just as much visual as it is aural. Quick beams of light allow you to barely make out Ford and Shaw hovering over their set piece on an otherwise darkened stage.

With the tracks flowing right into the next and live remixes of many of their tracks, it becomes difficult to pinpoint exactly which tracks are performed, but the crowd doesn’t seem to mind. Two guys are busy stage-diving, several are crowd-surfing and the rest of the audience is simply immersed in SMDS’s consistent, hypnotic beat. Known for their heavily stylized tracks, SMD’s sound consists of minimal instrumentation but rather powerful hooks over layered, hollow-sounding beats. During their live shows, they keep the beats going and throw in recognizable hooks from their singles like “It’s the Beat” and “I Believe.”

After a short break, SMD are back on stage and start up the second half of their set with their newest single “10,000 Horses Can’t Be Wrong” off their forthcoming album set to drop this year. While songs off this new album have been kept under wraps, a taste of them makes it clear to see that their current work is a continuation of the highly-addictive sound they laid down in the first album. Their newer songs actually might be a little less mainstream (none of the newer songs they played had vocal samples) and are definitely more instrumentally based. However, they still have that heart-pumping beats which is what SMD is all about.

An SMD show wouldn’t be complete without a performance of their single “Hustler.” The track accompanied by an intense light show made up of red and white lights reignited the crowd and definitely brought down the house. When the song was over, Ford and Shaw simply waved goodbye and walked off the stage – pretty low key for as much talent as they have.

While the smoke in the air dispersed, a sweaty yet notably satisfied crowd filed out of the Commodore and headed down the street to Republic, where SMD were scheduled to perform a DJ set at the official after party. Special thanks again to Sealed with a Kiss, who continues to bring in stellar international acts into Vancouver. There’s no doubt that much of Vancouver will be waiting with baited breath for SMD’s new album to drop.

Check out the rest of our photos on our Flickr page, www.flickr.com/photos/killahbeez.

On Saturday February 21st, Canada’s very own Kardinal Offishall rolled into town with opening MC Shaun Boothe, also a fellow Canadian. We were fortunate enough to be invited by Live Nation to attend the event. The night started off a slightly delayed, but the venue was definitely getting packed in and there was a semi-Caribbean vibe to it all.

Shaun Boothe kicked things off by welcoming everybody with his rendition of the Canadian National Anthem, which starts off in the manner that we’re all familiar with but quickly changes to a hip-hop version with bangin’ beats. For those not familiar with Shaun Boothe, he’s best known as a dope freestyler, as well he’s known for his “Unauthorized Biography” series, which not only Killahbeez, but thousands of hip-hop blogs out there have given love to as it is one of the most creative things out there, if you’ve never seen it, then check it here. On this night we were treated to him doing the “Unauthorized biography of Bob Marley”, which is the second one in the series. He also dropped his joint “The Reporter” on all the heads out there, check out the music video for the song. His set would end on that note.

Moments went by, when the lights dimmed and the heads in the house knew that Kardinal was about to hit the stage. For all of you that don’t know or have never seen Kardinal Offishall live, well then, let me just tell you this ain’t your average hip-hop concert, as Kardi is known to get live and keep the energy up throughout the whole show. Tonight was no different. He came out hitting folks from all sorts of angles with his energy and quickly going through his rhymes only to switch it up briefly to M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes”, and members of the Black Jays, Ro Dolla and Solitaire, joining him on stage as his hypemen. From there they went into CLASSIC Kardi joints such as “Money Jane”, which the original track featured Sean Paul, and doing his chorus on the hood anthem by the Clipse “Grindin’”.

From there he would hit the crowd with tracks from his current album Not 4 Sale. Pretty much getting the crowd wildin’ as he dropped “Burnt” and “Numba 1″. He would honestly keep the crowd live all night, as he once again changed it up and had his DJ change up the pace and play a medley of hip-hop joints such as DMX’s “Party Up”, Bell Biv Devo’s “Poison”, Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop” and a few other tracks.

There was no doubt fans of Kardi were leaving the concert satisfied this evening, because like always he brought an energy that is generally lacking at live hip-hop shows. As usual Live Nation does a great job in producing the concert so be sure to hit up www.livenation.com for a list of upcoming shows in your city. Check out some of the songs that were referenced below.

Pictures can all be found on our flickr page.

Kardinal Offishall ft. Keri Hilson “Numba 1″

Shaun Boothe “The Reporter”

Photography by DT

Vancouver has now been lucky enough to experience Lykke Li live a few times. And on February 11, two of us ‘Beez got to hit up her sold-out show at the Commodore Ballroom, thanks to Timbre Productions.

When we arrived, openers Wildbirds & Peacedrums was warming up the crowd. The husband and wife duo from Sweden consists of Andreas Werlin on drums and Mariam Wallentin on vocals. While their experimental folk-rock sounds more subdued on records, their live performance is a no-holds-back semi-spiritual experience, complete with Werlin’s forceful and complex rhythms and Wallentin’s Bjork-like wails. By the time their set ended, the energetic audience was stoked for the main show.

After a quick set change, Lykke Li’s minimalistic stage set was ready to go. Rising up from the smoky stage was a drum set, a guitar, and synths. Lykke Li’s single mic stood center stage.

As “Melodies & Desires,” the opening track on Lykke Li’s 2008 debut album, Youth Novels, filled the room, the Swedish songbird graced the stage. Lykke Li looked stunning in a simple, black painter’s smock-inspired dress, opaque black leggings, black high-heeled ankle boots, and a leopard-print scarf draped around her neck. As she hushed the almost-rowdy crowd, she began tapping the beat to “Dance Dance Dance” on a cowbell and sang a capella over top. Midway through the first verse, her three-piece band joined in, and Lykke Li switched to tambourine. What was obvious right from the start is that Lykke Li’s raspy, almost child-like vocals sounded almost identical live as they did on her album. What heightened the live version of “Dance Dance Dance” was the heavy, militaristic drumming.

After finishing her first song, Lykke Li asked the crowd, “How you all doing?” The audience erupted in a cheer, but not before the blond-haired singer could start the cute, wallflower anthem, “Everybody But Me.” Near the end of the track, which is only available on the North American release of her album, Lykke Li began to break out her vigorous, disjointed dance skills. She threw it all out on stage before going right into the next song, “I’m Good, I’m Gone.” This song was almost identical to the recorded track, except for featuring more thrashing guitars and once again, heavy drumming in the live version.

Next, Lykke Li broke out folksy, tribal beats in “Hanging Me High” before starting up the hit love song, “Little Bit,” which energized the crowd from the opening four notes into a full-fledged sing-a-long, despite the overall angelic airiness of the single.

For the second half of the show, Lykke Li was ready to turn the night into a party. “Are you ready to get down?” Lykke Li shouted into the crowd. Then the more electro-sounding “Complaint Department” started up. Next, Lykke Li performed the first of three of the night’s covers. She sang “Knocked Up” by Kings of Leon passionately into the mic, and the crowd responded. But that was not enough for the singer. “You’re awfully quiet today,” she said after the song. “I have a question for you, Vancouver, have you ever had a bad boyfriend?” The audience cheered and shook their fists towards the stage while Lykke Li sang the last track on her album, “Window Blues.” At the chorus, she invited the audience to sing along and shout out the numbers one to six in French. Then, she finished the song on a megaphone.

For “Let It Fall,” which came up next, Lykke Li called for dancers to join her on stage. Immediately about 20 girls leaped onto the stage for a chance to dance with the singer. After that, Lykke Li sprang into a relatively unknown track called “I Don’t Mind (Jump On It)” which broke into a cover of Lil Wayne’s “A Milli.”

“Thank you for tonight,” Lykke Li cooed into the audience. The singer left the stage just for a minute before coming back on to perform her hit single, “Breaking It Up.” She then slowed it down with very beautiful and sensual performances of “Time Flies” and “Tonight,” which flowed from one into the other. And to end the night, Lykke Li brought the energy back up by spitting out Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It.”

Overall, Lykke Li’s show was nothing short of amazing and impressive. Her stage presence and command of the room is outstanding, considering the songstress has yet to celebrate her 23rd birthday. Lykke Li will continue her North American tour into the States until the end of April. Props again to Timbre Productions for hookin’ us up and continuously bringing in stellar shows.

Check out the rest of the photos over on our Flickr page.

Yelle, merely hearing the name makes me conjure up images of Julie Budet aka Yelle gyrating her hips in those lovely red shorts in the video “Je Veux Te Voir”, moisturizing up her legs in “A Cause des Garcons” and not to be forgotten the brief boobie flash in the video “Ce Jeu”. Honestly, I’m not a pervert. I just have a massive crush on her, someone I like to call “wifey” she just don’t know it yet. So when a few of us Killahbeez heads were invited on Tuesday by Sealed With A Kiss to check her out I was definitely stoked at the opportunity.

Arriving at 10:30ish, we were right on schedule and quickly grabbed a few shots, before seeing the lights being dimmed and the fans quickly rushing towards the stage. The lights came on and there in front of me was “wifey”…errr I mean Yelle with Grandmarnier and Tepr. The synths kick in, followed by drums, the instrumental had people going nuts and everyone that didn’t already make their way to the dance floor did so at this point. A few moments later Yelle starts singing the lyrics to “Tristesse / Joie”, there’s one part of the song around the 3:50 mark where the beat goes down and builds back up, seeing that live was crazy as the build-up came and hit it’s peak everybody wilded out. As the song ended, she thanked Vancouver for having her and in her adorable French accent asked the crowd “Are you ready to DANCE!” a resounding hell yeah was shouted back.

The up tempo song “Mal Poli” would be the next song we were treated to. Watching her dancing across the stage back and forth was quite a site. She was ass shaking and getting the crowd to do the same, it was infectious and there was no possible way that you could not dance. Yelle kept the pace by going straight into “85A” before going into “Dans Ta Vraie Vie”, which has a very Missy Elliot-esque feel to it.

This lead to her taking a quick water break or maybe it was for the crowd to take a water break so that we could keep up. In any case the break ended with her asking the crowd if we knew “Je Veux Te Voir”, and the crowd cheered. The song is a controversial one as it disses Cuizinier, a member of the Parisian hip-hop group TTC, the song also was originally titled “Short Dick Cuizi” and was the song that blew her up on MySpace. From there she went into the third single from the album Pop-Up, “Ce Jeu”, which is easily one of my favorite tracks. At this point I noticed everyone is soaked in sweat, myself included, it felt like we were all in an aerobic class, a hot sexy French aerobic class.

She ran through a list of most of her songs while maintaining the same energetic pace throughout her set. “Les Femmes”, which is the next single from what I’ve read and an interesting one at that, as it talks about a possible lesbian romance. Part of the chorus says, “If the guys don’t open their hearts to me, I feel that I will go see somewhere else, there where all is beauty and full of sweetness, the woman”, quite a sensual song.

As this song ended she would let the crowd know that the next song was their last. She then asked everyone to sing along to “À Cause des Garçons”. I can’t say enough about her dancing on stage as she really just puts it all out there and seems to almost try to translate her songs through her dancing for the audience. The song started out as the original and towards the end of it they played Tepr’s remixed version of it, which has harder drums driving the track as well as a more techno feel to it. Fans would come to find out that this wasn’t the last song as she stated and performed three more songs, ending on another Tepr remix, this time for the song “Je Veux Te Voir”.

The concert was an incredible one and as I mentioned above, it felt like an aerobic workout with the amount of dancing going on. I wasn’t sure what to expect before going into the show but I came out totally amazed at how well she was able to maintain the crowds attention and control us at will. When she spoke, everyone was in an “awwwwww she’s so adorable” state, as her thick French accent made her sound so cute and loveable and not to mention sexy. I would definitely recommend everyone to go check her out when she hits your city, definitely worth the money. Thanks again to Sealed with a Kiss promotions for the hook-up, be sure to check out their upcoming shows at www.sealedwithakisspresents.com.

Photos from the concert seen at our Flickr site.

Below is her set list, but I must warn you, I maybe missing a song or two because I know at one point I was just staring at her through my camera lens. I wasn’t even taking pictures just staring.

Yelle Set list
Tristesse / Joie
Mal Poli
85A
Dans Ta Vraie Vie
Je Veux Te Voir
Ce Jeu
Jogging
Les Femmes
À Cause des Garçons (Tepr Remix)
Mon Meilleur Ami
Je Veux Te Voir (Tepr Remix)

Full North American Tour Stops
Dallas, TX House Of Blues (October 7)
Austin, TX The Mohawk (October 8 )
Miami, FL Polish American Club (October 10)
Orlando, FL The Social (October 11)
Washington, DC 9:30 Club (October 13)
New York, NY Webster Hall (October 14)
Boston, MA The Roxy (October 15)
Detroit, MI The Magic Stick (October 20)
Chicago, IL Logan Square Auditorium (October 21)
Milwaukee, WI Turner Hall (October 22)
Denver, CO Ogden Theatre (October 24)
Salt Lake City, UT Urban Lounge (October 25)
Seattle, WA Neumos (October 27)
Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom (October 28)
Portland, OR Berbati’s (October 29)
San Francisco, CA Mezzanine (October 31)
Los Angeles, CA Henry Fonda Theatre (November 1)
San Diego, CA Beauty Bar (November 2)

Vancouver, Commodore Ballroom, Thursday, October 9th, presented by Sealed with a Kiss. The final leg of the Cut Copy & The Presets North American tour officially dubbed “Modular presents Cut Copy & The Presets”.  The tour kicked off on September 13th and embarked on a 20-date tour across the US and Canada, before both label mates, Cut Copy and The Presets, go their separate ways overseas. This wasn’t the first time either groups have stopped in Vancouver as The Presets have made their way here several times and this was Cut Copy’s second stop in Vancouver in the same year.

Kicking and Screaming

So right off the bat I have to say I missed a few songs from The Presets, not due to tardiness or troubles at the gate, but that’s neither here nor there. When I finally did get in it was a party atmosphere as I could feel the dance floor from underneath me moving as if it were a small wave. When I made my way up to front I could see drummer Kim Moyes standing in front of his drums and riling up the crowd and getting as much energy as he could, while Julian was doing his thing on the keyboard.

They performed an array of songs as they went through “This Boy’s in Love” and “Kicking and Screaming”, this particular song had the crowd going wild and literally kicking and screaming as Kim left his drums for the song to switch up instruments and as my friend AJK said “freaked it on what looked to be the analog synth staple, the Korg MS-20”. Kim would do this throughout the night, abandoning the drums for the Korg MS-20.

Other recognizable jams that they performed were mostly off of the Apocalypso album such as “Talk Like That”, “Together” and “My People” which again had the crowd singing along and wilding out hard. A mistake on my part, I was wearing a flannel shirt as it was damn cold outside, but I neglected to check this piece of blanket wrapped around me and damn near drowned in my own sweat from all the dancing with various peoples in attendance. The vibe was mad cool and chill, total party peoples in the house. As The Presets set drew to an end, drummer Kim threw out his drumsticks for a few lucky fans and Julian thanked the crowd for their energy and supporting the music.

Lights and Music

After a brief 10 – 15 min intermission the stage lights went down and through the darkness you could see Mitchell, Tim and Dan walk out on the stage and assume their instruments as the noise level in the venue cranked up to a 50 on a scale of 1 to 10. In the middle of the cheers the group quickly went into “Nobody Lost, Nobody Found”. The energy was definitely incredible as the crowd was fist pumping and dancing along. As the song ended they went straight into “Far Away”, which is easily one of my favorite songs on the album, although I can honestly say I love most of the tracks off of In Ghost Colours evenly.

From there they flipped the script and took everyone on a journey back to their first LP, Bright Like Neon Love, and performed “Time Stands Still”. The set would continue with “So Haunted” and “Strangers in the Wind”, which would lead to the group taking a short break as Dan thanked everyone for supporting the group and showing them all this love, as well as mentioning that this was the final North American stop. At which point he said something that made me laugh so hard I almost peed myself, he yelled out “DISCO TIME!” and then Cut Copy went into “Saturday” from Bright Like Neon Love.

Continuing to jam through their songs including “Lights and Music” and “Future”, which quite a few people noticed was a punchier and more upbeat version then the original, this ended their set, but the crowd cheered louder and louder. The boys from Australia didn’t disappoint as they came back out and performed “Hearts on Fire” for their encore. The show was great, the stage setup, wonderful, a complete “Lights and Music” show.

After the show it’s the…

The official after party held at Republic was also being promoted by Sealed with a Kiss. The after party also featured a DJ set from Kim of The Presets as well as Tim and Dan from Cut Copy. But here’s where our story dies, as management from DHM told us that we were good to get in and indeed we were on the list. The problem really lied with their overzealous bouncer that decided not to let us in, even after knowing that we had promised DHM that we would review the after party. When we eventually did get in, 25 mins later, we had basically missed the DJ set from Kim. Nonetheless everyone was still buzzing from the concert and that’s all that really mattered.

The Presets played a great set and were entertaining throughout the night. This was also the case with Cut Copy as they really utilized the crowds energy by putting their all into the set. Although I will have to say that I would have loved to have heard more older tracks specifically “1981″ and “Rendezvous”, but I can’t complain the performance was, for a lack of a better word, awesome. A big thanks goes out to Malcolm at Sealed with a Kiss, check out their website for a list of upcoming shows, www.sealedwithakisspresents.com.

If you like the review please vote for me here.

Peace.

David Thai
www.killahbeez.com

P.S.: Pictures are here on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/killahbeez

P.S.S.: As usual I try and get the playlist for all you folks out there to re-live the experience or for those that didn’t make it to have an idea of how the set broke down. Since I missed out on a portion of The Presets set, I will only be able to provide Cut Copys list.

• Nobody Lost, Nobody Found
• Far Away
• Time Stands Still
• So Haunted
• Unforgettable Season
• Strangers in the Wind
• That Was Just A Dream
• Saturdays
• Feel The Love
• Out There On The Ice
• Lights and Music
• Future
• Hearts on Fire – Encore

MSTRKRFT (read as “Master-Kraft”) is an electronic group out of Toronto. Actually this year at the Toronto Virgin Music Fest they replaced SebastiAn, when he missed his flight and they didn’t disappoint. The group came together in 2005 and consists of JFK (Jesse F. Keeler) and Al-P (Alex Puodziukas). The group has remixed over 30 songs of various genres including the latest remix of John Legend’s song “Green Light”.

On Friday I attended Fist Of God, which is the official name for the MSTRKRFT tour as well as their upcoming album, which is expected to drop in January of 2009. The stop I was at had Felix Cartal opening up, but there will be various openers throughout the tour such as DJ A-Trak, DJ Aoki, LA Riots, Congorock, DJ Assault and the aforementioned Felix Cartal. Blueprint Events, which is known as one of Vancouver’s best electronic promoters for a minute now, was hosting the event as well as the after party.

The event took place at Celebrities Night club and was fully packed, in fact this show could have easily taken place at Commodore Ballroom to accommodate more folks, but nonetheless the vibes were good as people were ready to dance their fuckin’ asses off. The duo came on at around 1am and they immediately had the crowd going crazy, as their sound is fairly distinct with that 4/4 beat and heavy heavy synths.

Like usual they played a range of stuff including their own remixes, from the Presets to Dem Franchise Boyz to Cupid to Daft Punk to Usher to Kylie Minogue and throwing in stuff from their first album as well. The set was filled with energy throughout and both MSTRKRFT and the crowd seemed to be feeding off of one another and it was non-stop. The set ended at about 2:30am, but an encore had JFK continue to rock the house til well past 3am. If you left this party not soaked from head to toe in sweat, then you my friend were not partying hard enough. Overall one word can describe this set. EPIC!

Thanks to Alvaro from Blueprint Events for hooking me up with the opportunity to attend the show. For more of their upcoming events check out www.blueprintevents.ca. For those out in New York on October 10th, MSTRKRFT will be playing at Webster Hall, but they’ll also be at the New Era Flagship store as they have a New Era collaboration that’s dropping.

If you like the review please vote for me here.

David Thai
www.killahbeez.com

MSTRKRFT “Easy Love”

Kylie Minogue “Wow” (MSTRKRFT Remix)

Justice “D.A.N.C.E.” (MSTRKRFT Remix)

Here are the rest of their tour stops:

Fist of God tour:

09-26 Los Angeles, CA – Henry Fonda Theatre (with A-Trak, Felix Cartal, LA Riots, Congorock)
09-27 San Diego, CA – House of Blues (with Steve Aoki, Felix Cartal, LA Riots, Congorock)
09-28 Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre (with Aoki, Felix Cartal, Congorock)
09-30 Pomona, CA – Glass House (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-01 San Francisco, CA – Mezzanine (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-02 Seattle, WA – Showbox (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-03 Vancouver, British Columbia – Celebrities (with Felix Cartal)
10-04 Winnipeg, Manitoba – Exchange Event Center (with Felix Cartal)
10-06 Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-07 Chicago, IL – Metro (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-08 Royal Oak, MI – Royal Oak Music Theatre (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-09 Columbus, OH 0 Boma (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-10 New York, NY – Webster Hall (with Felix Cartal, Congorock, DJ Assault
10-11 Poughkeepsie, NY – Vassar College (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-12 Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of the Living Arts (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-13 Boston, MA – The Estate (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots, Congorock)
10-15 Baltimore, MD – Redrock (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-16 Charlotte, NC – Forum (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-17 Nashville, TN – Mercy Lounge (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-18 Atlanta, GA – Masquerade Music Park (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-19 Memphis, TN – Hard Rock Café Memphis (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-22 Houston, TX – Warehouse Live (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-23 Austin, TX – La Zona Rosa (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-24 Dallas, TX – House of Blues (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-25 New Orleans, LA – Voodoo Music Experience: The Tenth Ritual
10-27 Lawrence, KS – Liberty Hall (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-28 Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-31 Salt Lake City, UT – Salt Palace Convention Center (with Felix Cartal)
11-01 Las Vegas, NV – Fabulous Festival

Mike who? Mike Relmmmmmm! If you don’t know who Relm is, then consider this a backgrounder. He’s a turntablist from San Francisco and has performed with numerous artists as well as toured across the country. He’s known for his live performances, which feature audio and video mash-ups all cut and scratched live on the spot, and on Friday, Sept. 26, he stopped in on Vancouver, presented by Spectrum Events.

So I have to admit, I didn’t know very much of Mike Relm before I went to the show. I mean, besides the clips on YouTube and doing some background research on him, so I didn’t really expect too much going into the show. By the end of the show I was converted into a fan and even shook his hand (I told you Michelle it wasn’t too late) as corny as that sounds.

The show is what you see on some of the YouTube clips, but with a shit load more energy from the audience and from Relm himself as he interacts with the crowd and people are constantly jumping on stage and attempting to dance then throwing themselves for a stage dive. Oh, and did I forget to mention that he brought friends. Yeah his friends, dubbed the “Sideshow,” were two scary ass clowns, did I mention I’m afraid of clowns? The novel / movie IT, really messed me up as a kid. These “friends” were like his very own hype men, think Flava Flav to Chuck D, Spliff Starr to Busta Rhymes, Memphis Bleek to Jay-Z, except the “Sideshow” were on turntables.

Relm played a diversity of music throughout the night, mixing House of Pain, Pharcyde, Outfield, NWA, with Feist and John Lennon. The music off course was only part of the show, as he would mix in visuals from movies and TV shows such as Harold & Kumar, Office Space, Snoopy, When Harry Met Sally, Team America and Nacho Libre to name a few.

He really rocked the whole show from beginning to end, but here are highlights for me, and judging from the response of the crowd, were:

• When he freaked it hard on his MPC and did his drums live on the spot
• He played his song and accompanying video for “Everytime”
• Dropping Damian Marley’s “Welcome to Jamrock” remixed by Relm, the drums on the mix he played were hard as hell and had a bunch of folks in the back dancing, including yours truly
• In one of his video clips he had a sign that read, “If John McCain wins the election, I’m going to marry a Canadian Woman” ‘nuff said.
• Outfield’s chorus from “Your Love” mixed in with NWA’s “Quiet On Tha Set”

As his show ended, the crowd cheered and wanted an encore and he didn’t disappoint. He came back and ended the show with John Lennon’s “Imagine” which lead to one more song, Feist’s “1,2,3,4”, but not the original, again he laced the tracks with some ill drums and made it pretty nasty, in a good way.

Overall a great show and great energy from Mike Relm and the crowd, I definitely have to give props to Sean from Spectrum Events for hooking us up at Killahbeez with some media passes. Check out www.spectrum-events.com for upcoming events.

If you like the review please vote for me here.

Peace.

David Thai
www.killahbeez.com

PS: Pictures are here on Flickr.

So let me start off by saying this was one of the longest days in my life as I started off earlier in the day / evening at the N.E.R.D / Common concert at the Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park and then I had to quickly get my butt out of the Stanley Park area, which wasn’t too bad actually and get to the Commodore Ballroom where the CSS concert was being held. Huge thanks to the crew at Sealed with a Kiss Promotions for allowing us to attend the show and take photos, check out their website for upcoming shows, www.sealedwithakisspresents.com. Now you all know my mind frame as I entered the show, exhausted. I didn’t get a chance to catch any of the openers.

First things first I had to find a good spot for taking photos, which I have to admit I didn’t get that many great shots, but worth checking out nonetheless. The lights came down, the crowd in anticipation started cheering louder and erupted as members of the band came out and got setup on their instruments. The set started off with “Jager Yoga” and goddamn it kicked my ass. Immediately woke me up from my exhausted state and had me wildin’ out. Lovefoxxx was insanely energetic and there was no way that that wasn’t going to transfer to the audience, so in return everybody else wilded out. Gotta say though that outfit choice of hers was f’in awesome, a leotard, sexy that’s all I can say. Fast forward to the third song “This Month, Day 10”, the crowd went crazy again as soon as the melody and drum line dropped. Again Lovefoxxx just killed it, pouring all of her energy into the song. The crowd was singing and dancing along with every hook and lyric.

There was definite interaction between her and the crowd and she even made note that this was the third time they were in Vancouver, having performed previously at Celebrities and Richards on Richards. Offering shots of tequila to the crowd as well, pretty fantastic.

Then the infectious jam “Move” came on and my ass hit the roof. I love this jam and I love the recently discovered Cut Copy remix as well, which is on Killahbeez.com. The drum line, melody and hook, fuck it. Everything about this song just makes you want to, well get up and “Move” and the video for this is pretty hilarious and quite creative. After this song ended there was a bit of a break as a prop was being brought out onto the stage. Whatever it was, it was under a black curtain and soon to be revealed. A few moments go by and Lovefoxxx pulls off the curtain to reveal a huge Britney Spears microphone stand, I was drinking redbull and it all ended up coming out my nose at this point. It was pretty hilarious to say the least, check out the pictures to see it. This lead into the song “Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex”, which the mainstream folks will remember it for being in the Apple iTouch commercial, but the crowd ate this song up, myself included. I love it when they break into the Portuguese rhymes, that shit is hot. The set seemingly ended with “Let’s Reggae All Night”, and the band left the stage. There was about 2 – 5 mins of chanting from the crowd as we clearly wanted more and more is what they ended up giving us as they came back out on stage and did another three songs before ending the night off with their jam “Alala”.

Overall, great concert and it seriously woke my ass up and out of my slight coma and kept me partying the whole time. Great job on Sealed with a Kiss’s part for bringing in another solid act and at a great venue. CSS killed it playing a good mixture of old and new material and great energy on their part in keeping the crowd amped from beginning to the end. Check out the rest of the pictures on our Flickr page.

Complete set list here (big up to my home girl Mae Lynn for lookin’ out):

Jager Yoga
Meeting Paris Hilton
This Month, Day 10
Left Behind
Off the Hook
Rat is Dead (Rage)
Move
Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex
Alcohol
Let’s Reggae All Night
Air Painter
Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death from Above
Alala

If you liked this review, please vote for me here.

A few of us Killahbeez peoples will be hitting tonights show in Vancouver at the Commodore Ballroom thanks to the hospitality of the city’s beloved Sealed with a Kiss promotions. Anyhow, my man DT put me on to this dope Cut Copy remix of CSS’ “Move”. It has the distinct soundscape of a Cut Copy production with the melodic arpeggio’s and sweeping strings -but is less sweet and more punchy than what you may expect from them. Its quite apparent these guys can pretty much successfully freak anyone’s music. 

Also below is the official video for the said song “Move”, which is directed by Keith Schofield who has also directed videos for Supergrass and Death Cab for Cutie.

Oh man, the Estelle concert was just announced mid-yesterday for Vancouver. The show presented by LiveNation goes on sale today with a presale code. If we find out what that code is we’ll be sure to let you folks know as well. The public sale goes on this Friday, July 25th at 10:00am. If you haven’t heard her latest album Shine, then you’re definitely missing out, with the joints “No Substitute Love”, “Come Over”, “Wait a Minute Just a Touch” and off course “American Boy”, this album is definitely one of the better RnB releases this year. The show is set to take place September 1st at the Commodore Ballroom. Hit up www.livenation.com for more information on the show. For information on other tour dates, hit up her myspace page here.

*presale password is: shine.

Some random cities around the globe are about to get some love this summer from none other than Girl Talk. The Pittsburgh based DJ is taking his fresh mixes to stops like Seattle, Chicago, Aspen, Stockholm, Sweden, and Vancouver, B.C. And wherever Girl Talk is at, there’s bound to be a rockin, sweaty party.

I’m super stoked for his show comin’ up in Vancouver, presented by Sealed with a Kiss, at the Commodore Ballroom. Last time Girl Talk was here, it was all about non-stop dancin’. Couldn’t even take a break off my feet to chill with a drink! So, I have no doubt that he’s gonna bring another crazy event to the city.

If you need a little more convincing, check out Girl Talk’s MySpace page. He always keeps it fresh and uploads new mixes to listen to. I’m feelin “Set It Off,” mixin’ Jay-Z with Radiohead. Brilliant. Also love “Play Your Part Pt. 2,” mixin’ together Lil’ Wayne with Red Hot Chili Peppers. Both are also on his newest album, Feed the Animals, so cop that up too. For more show info hit up www.sealedwithakisspresents.com.

LiveNation, Gman and Rizk and Spectrum Presents De La Soul on Friday April 18th at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver.

From Gman and Rizk’s website is this:

“The original practitioners of Daisy Age hip-hop are back. In fact, De La Soul never left. The indie trio first splashed onto the scene with 3 Feet High and Rising, a 1989 masterpiece that introduced the Amityville, New York group’s style of eclectic sampling, quirky, surreal lyrics and pop melodies to the world. The record yielded the hit “Me, Myself and I” and, as a measure of its crossover appeal, 3 Feet High and Rising was named by British rock mag NME as disc Album of the Year. The group’s second effort, De La Soul is Dead, was a more mature effort that dropped some of the debut’s lightness, but still managed an absurd sense of humour. The disc, which included singles like “Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)”, has become a cult classic—Score listed it as one of its top 100 hip hop albums of all time. Critically acclaimed follow-up releases like Buhloone Mindstate, Stakes is High, Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump, and The Grind Date have revealed a trio never afraid to try new things, and have kept De La Soul’s following on their toes.

The Grammy Award-winning group’s most recent release, The Impossible Mission, includes new tracks, freestyles and never-before released songs from the vaults of the group’s earliest releases. Their contribution to the evolution of the jazz rap subgenre is unassailable, and the band has influenced countless acts, including Black Eyed Peas, Digable Planets and many more.”

Tickets are $35 each and can be copped at Ticketmaster.ca.

Visit www.gmanandrizk.com for more info.