halifax pop explosion

I had an amazing time this past weekend at the Halifax Pop Explosion. Highlights included:

–The Acorn at St. Matthews Church. Amazing acoustics. Great songs, harmonies, deep rumbling percussion and carefully crafted in-between song banter.

–The Danks at The Coconut Grove. First time seeing this band. Love Brohan Moore’s impression of Kelly Jones (Stereophonics) fronting The Strokes.

-My panel and demo discussion seemed to go well. Hopefully I was able to give some people some ideas or guidance.

-I stayed at the Citadel Hotel, which that weekend was filled with Halifax Pop, a hockey team and two weddings. Was up until 5am Sunday Morning listening to a drunk hockey player trying to get his roommate to let him back into his room, across the hall from mine. Apparently he left a souvenir of puke on my door, which the bellhop cleaned up before I emerged from my room.

-Got soaked in the rain while climbing the Citadel Hill to find my hotel late Saturday night.

-Porter Airlines was painless. Good people there.

-Halifax is a beautiful city and I look forward to going back.

Staying Focused

Doing my best today, but its one of those days where I just can’t seem to stay focused on one thing.

I’ve been daydreaming about Halifax this weekend and ended up stumbling upon some footage of Rich Aucoin performing Brian Wilson Is Alive from a show last week. He’s opening for Girl Talk this weekend.

Rich Aucoin – Brian Wilson is Alive from HPX09 Videos on Vimeo.

I’ve also been drifting elsewhere in the blogosphere….

-The new Tim William‘s album (Careful Love) comes out today on Dovecote. Spinner is spinning the whole record, but I’ve got the song Murderous Air. Its a good fall record; ‘a perfect mix of fun, summer pop and darker, brooding moments’. Always been a fan.

He’s at CMJ this weekend, Nylon thinks you should go.

and

–The Whigs are giving us a taste of their upcoming record with the title track ‘In the Dark‘ , set for an early 2010 release and the follow up record to the critically acclaimed album Mission Control.

In The Dark

Halifax Is Getting Ready To Pop

Super excited for Halifax next weekend. I’m heading east to do a panel on Social Media at the Halifax Pop Explosion. Founded in 1993, the festival is one of Canada’s premiere showcases of emerging music, art and culture from Halifax, Canada and around the world.

Looks like another great lineup for this five day music festival and conference. It features performances by artist such as Brian Borcherdt, Bruce Peninsula, By Divine Right, Cadence Weapon, Crystal Antlers, D-Sisive, Final Fantasy, Japandroids, Japanther, Jenn Grant, Julie Doiron & Herman Dune, MSTRKRFT, Ohbijou, Owen, Red Mass, Sprengjuhollin, Think About Life, Timber Timbre and Zeus.

Check out the music schedule. Tons of best best for the festival. I’m going to try to catch Rich Aucoin before Girl Talk and hopefully the Acorn. And I’ll be taking video, stay tuned for that.