I don’t seem to be able to write a review for Tegan & Sara’s Sainthood. What could I possibly say about it? I could say that I was bothered by it even before I received it because I ended up paying a lot of money for it (in the limited edition with three books). I could also say that I got annoyed by everyone talking about the songs before I had ever heard them, that I got even more frustrated when people told me that they were bummed out because they couldn’t talk about the album with me before I had it. And I could say that I was disappointed by it when I first heard it.

But then, I could also say that it is a so-called grower, that I liked it better with each listen, that I’m impressed in particular with Sara’s musical evolution, with her lyrics, with her voice on Alligator. That my favorite tracks are Alligator, Night Watch, Don’t Rush and Northshore, and that I think The Ocean would sound better if it were a lot slower, and that Someday sounds like an MGMT song.

The On, In, At bookset and the Sainthood CD. Everyone should own them!

But I’d rather tell you that I’m not very upset anymore about having spent all that money, because the three books of the limited edition are very good and very well done, with textile covers (made in China) and many big photographs and interesting texts, a mostly cool design by ee storey and others. Of all the overpriced articles I’ve bought in my life, this might easily be the best.

I do want to question their marketing strategy, however. They gave people who ordered Sainthood through iTunes two bonus songs, Wrists and Light Up, and an additional one, It Was Midnight, if they pre-ordered. I suppose rewarding pre-ordering in general is not a bad idea. This way, I imagine, the album sells particularly well in the release week. Plus, you’re rewarding those that actually know or care that you have a new album out. However, this also seems to suggest they had rather you bought the album digitally than to get a real, physical copy of it (which might explain why the CD booklet is a little boring compared with that of The Con). I don’t have an iTunes account or any Apple gadgets for that matter, and since the only other way to get these songs seems to be an illegal download, I’m not particularly pleased.

Far and Wide by Rachael Cantu. Devil's Thunder alone is already worth it.

So in that regard, I hope for their next album, they’ll take their friend Rachael Cantu as an example, who just yesterday started selling her new CD Far and Wide (that Tegan Quin contributed vocals to, by the way, and which has overachiever Ted Gowans doing “keyboards, guitar, mandolin, synth, rhodes, slide gtr” [source]). You can download it, or buy it as a physical copy – but buying a physical copy also gives you the digital download for free – even in FLAC format! Plus, you can buy it without using Pay Pal, which is also really great. (This doesn’t currently work if you live outside the U.S., but she assured me they’re working on fixing that.) You can get that CD at Bandcamp.

All in all I can say that Sainthood, however controversial it may be among many of their fans, is another step forward for Tegan & Sara, and it’s well worth getting. And don’t forget to get yourself the song Sheets, either!

The Bridge School Benefit show in 2006 featured some great performances including Band of Horses, Ministry, My Morning Jacket, Tegan & Sara and Trent Reznor of NIN busted out some great songs like “The Fragile” and “Hurt.” The new live cd is out today.

Go here to get Vol. 4

After a bad night comes a good day…

I started the morning with Damien Rice (!), but now the energy is regained!

På konserten i Lund snakket Tegan relativt lenge om IKEA, og om hvordan hun elsker det, og har masse møbler derfra. Hun klagde også litt på at hun ikke fikk satt et bord sammen helt riktig.
Vel, på vei til København dagen etter kjørte vi innom IKEA med intensjoner om å kjøpe noe gøy.

Resultatet ble dette;

En bamse, og et brev (en -ubrukt-pose fra Købens søteste bakeri), og baksiden av den nye IKEA-katalogen med bilde av et bord, OG et gavekort som kan brukes hvor som helst i verden, med akkurat nok penger til å kjøpe dette bordet.
Det var awesome, og historien om at den traff en høytaler på vei opp på scenen og falt ned, ble snakket om og senere tatt opp og båret over hodet på crew-mannen bak scenen da konserten var slutt er en historie i seg selv.

Anyways, THIS JUST IN!

Copenhagen, thank you for the gifts! I mean..a gift card from IKEA! Mental!

Gå og kjøp deg et nytt bord, Tegan!
Forresten fikk jeg set list, både lørdag og søndag. På lørdag fikk jeg den av Tegan selv, med hennes notater til låta Northshore (som jeg forøvrig kan skjønne at hun kan trenger lyrics til, selv om hun har skrevet den:P). Bilde kommer! Oh, yeah!

Etter hardkjør for de korte beina mine, kø, kulde, kulde, kø og litt mer kulde var vi først inne i konsertlokalet (Mejeriet) i Lund, lørdag. Å komme først inn resulterte i de desidert beste plassene, til den desidert beste T&S-konserten jeg har vært på så langt.
Historiene om døde hamstere som ble gravd ned og så gravd opp igjen, knuste hjerter og om hvordan Sara var en stor (veldig liten) nerd som barn, bare rullet på. Vi fikk hele greia i Lund! Spesielle introduksjoner til så og si alle sangene, ikke minst. Hence, hamstere, kjærighetssorg og nerding.

Køben var også uten tvil fantastisk! Selv om de ikke var like ivrige på historiene, og på tross av at noen i publikum var skikkelig frekke. Girlsa taklet selvfølgelig dette som helter!
Tegan kalte de vel frekke tilbake, på en noe innpakket, dog irritert måte. Sara, on the other hand, gav den delen av salen navnet “Maniac City”. Hihi.

Denne helgen… Ah. Ingen over, ingen ved siden av. Easily den beste helgen jeg har hatt – kanskje noen sinne!
Jeg skal nok legge opp mange bilder når jeg kommer hjem (jeg er nemlig på bussen nå. I skrivende stund på en holdeplass i Hellsingborg, faktisk)! Enn så lenge får det holde med disse, tatt i Lund, lørdag.

enligt Tomas von Brömssen som gästade Vi Ba Femba på Uppsala Konsert & Kongress. Jag har aldrig sett mina föräldrar ha så roligt! Det var en lärorik upplevelse och, för all del, underhållande också.

Annars tycker jag det mest har regnat. Jag tror inte att det är ett tecken angående utgången av nyligen skriven tentamen – jag förlitar mig hellre på Den Allvetande. Men, fasiken vad det har regnat.

Imorgon är jag onåbar för alla som inte ska gå på Tegan & Sara. Pastan (även känt som DNs På Stan) har skrivit om dem, det-är-jag-som-är-Jakob sa att den konsertbiljett som låg på tradera gick på över femhundra riksdaler och det går rykten om att det är Timo Räisänens favvoband. JAG TAR MED PLUNTAN!

Lars Winnerbäck var toppen.Verkligen. Jag fick rysningar när Lasse kom in helt själv på scenen med sin gitarr och sjöng Hugger i Sten och alla i publiken sjöng med. Detsamma hände ungefär när han kom in och sjöng Elden endast ackompanjerad av piano. Det var så fint att jag gick lite i bitar. Och det var värt vartenda krona. Lasse under en sommarhimmel en ljummen kväll hade varit ännu bättre.

Igår var såklart Tegan & Sara också sjukt grymma! De var så roliga i mellanpratet att man kände sig så bekväm. Och de spelade min älskade älskade back into your head. Jag älskar Tegan & Sara.

Nu? Nu sitter jag och lyssnar in en annan brud. Regina Spektor. Hon har ju en sån fantastisk röst. Är avundsjuk. Hade också velat ha en sådan röst!

Augh, FML. Seriously. Why is there so much homework for me to do this weekend? Why is my freaking psych professor assigning the normal homework along with the gigantic semester paper? Totally unfair. I seriously should have made more time for this stuff during the week, but the thing is…even if I knew it was going to be like this, I guarantee I wouldn’t have worked on it before Friday at the earliest. I’m so lazy. Lol…it’s a “conditioned response.” THIS STUFF IS SO BORING. But at least I understand it a little better than some of the stuff in the textbook.

I am seriously a music downloading addict recently. Today I downloaded almost 300 songs! I got these albums off of various free (and probably illegal, l-lol) websites: Aimee Mann (Bachelor No. 2 The Last Remains of the Dodo, The Forgotten Arm, I’m With Stupid, Lost In Space, @#%&*! Smilers, and Whatever), Bob Dylan (Modern Times and Under the Red Sky), As Tall As Lions (You Can’t Take It With You), Dashboard Confessional (The Shade of Poison Trees), The Fall Of Troy (In the Unlikely Event), Franz Ferdinand (Tonight), Lenka (Lenka), Norah Jones (Not Too Late), Pat Benatar (The Essential), Red Hot Chili Peppers (Blood Sugar Sex Magik), The Rolling Stones (Emotional Rescue, Goat’s Head Soup, Some Girls, Sticky Fingers, Tattoo You, and Undercover), The Strokes (First Impressions Of Earth), and Tegan & Sara (Sainthood). HOLY HELL THAT’S A LOT OF MUSIC, AMIRITE? I’ve actually been keeping a music downloads log so I can keep track of all the stuff I download.

I’m hungry but I felt kind of sick earlier, so I’m hesitant to actually eat anything.

I finished all 900 and some pages of Penny & Aggie that are up so far yesterday after school, haha. I like it a lot otherwise I wouldn’t have kept reading all of that. But yeah, it took forever.

I’ve been wanting to color I picture I drew the other day for a few days now and I just haven’t had the chance. It’s been minimized on my desktop for at least two days. I’m really tempted to color it and leave the rest of my homework for tomorrow, but I’m worried I won’t be able to get it all done. I have a math test, a psych quiz, assignment, and discussion board thing, and of course the psych semester paper. I’m thinking I’m going to try to finish part I of the semester paper and possibly the math test and then get to coloring if I have time. It just sucks ’cause what I really want to do is color. But… yeah, I need to pass. OTL I’m supposed to register sometime soon, I guess. My parents keep bugging me about it and I just feel like OKAY HOLY SHIT I WILL GIVE IT TIME.

Lily is constantly in my room with me. It’s really sweet. Haha, actually, now that I think about I think Lily has a conditioned response to “bathie.” c: She’s such a sweetie.

Umm…what else? I guess that’s it for now. BBL, wish me luck on my horrendous homework load!

Ibland är jag så dålig på att hänga med i musikvärldar som jag inte är så insatt i att jag för ett tag sen lyckades ladda ner en bild på Tegan & Sara utan att veta att det var de, bara för att jag tyckte de var så snygga. Pinsamt oinsatt, jag vet.

Den här var det. Ja, jag är ju fascinerad av tvillingar som jag har sagt en eller hundra gånger förut…

Härom kvällen hörde jag diskussion mellan en tjej och en kille om hur killar låtsas vara intresserade av andra killar för att imponera på drivande tjejer i en subkultur, i det här fallet såna som gillar yaoi. Tjejen som tog upp ämnet verkade tycka att det var fånigt och att gå över sina egna gränser för att få status eller bli uppmärksammad av det motsatta könet.

En liknande diskussion finns i boken Goth Culture som jag nyss läste – fast där handlade det främst om tjejer som gör samma sak. Själv tänkte jag när jag hörde samtalet att det kanske är fånigt, men samtidigt känns det bra att ett fenomen som tidigare varit hyfsat förbehållet tjejer och som nog setts som ett sätt att imponera på en dominerande grupp (aka män) nu även kan gå åt andra hållet.

Jag funderade också på i vilken utsträckning man kan veta att folk gör så enbart för att få status i subkulturen och inte för att ta reda på mer om sig själva? Det finns ju trots allt många tabun kvar när det gäller sexualitet, tabun som inte alltid är så lätta att överskrida och då menar jag inte minst inför sig själv. Även om bisexualitet ger status i en subkultur är det inte säkert att de som tillhör subkulturen kan förbise de i det övriga samhället rådande normerna. Så när man ser ett samkönat par som flirtar med eller kysser varandra för att, som det ser ut, väcka uppmärksamhet – hur kan man veta att det verkligen är så för båda de inblandade parterna?
Går det att hänga med i mitt resonemang? Vad jag är ute efter är alltså att det kan finnas många bottnar i ett beteende, och att allt man gör inte alltid är tydligt ens för en själv. Men men.

Ville Valo och Brian Molko

På lördag ska jag se detta. Sjukt bra.

JEG DRAR I MORGEN!
Jeg drar. I morgen! I morgen!!!
Om to små dager står jeg og digger til f.eks. dette

Og jeg elsker det. Også gråter jeg litt. Også får jeg ikke sove. Også sovner jeg tilslutt barefordi jeg er så tilfreds. Også våkner jeg, og da kanskje jeg gråter litt igjen.
Så står jeg og digger igjen, neste kveld. Og når jeg har digget ferdig den kvelden, blir jeg dødssentimental, fordi det var siste gang jeg så det beste jeg vet i hele 2009.

Jeg klarer ikke å riste av meg følelsen av å ha falt litt tilbake til noe So Jealousy når jeg ser på liveopptak fra turneen til Sainthood.
Jeg vet ikke helt hva det kommer av, kanskje er det håret til Tegan? Eller… Måten hun står å gynger på når hun synger, slik hun pleide. (…Og strengt talt aldri sluttet med, men det er mer igjen nå!)
Kanskje Northsore er litt som Speak Slow. Eller I Hear Noises. Bare… Ny. Og litt… Dypere?
Og det er ikke tvil om at Sara nå har hår på lengde med Under Feet Like Ours/This Business of Art-perioden! Bare at det ikke er gult. Høh.

Ja, de har flere gitarer, mer crew og høyere proff-faktor, for ikke å snakke om mange flere tatoveringer (NAM!), men DET er jo greit. Det er mer enn greit, faktisk.

Jeg gleder meg! Jeg Gleder Meg! JEG GLEDER MEG! Jeg GLEDER meg!

I dreamt last night that I was at one of mi’lady’s shows and Sara was there of Tegan & Sara, and she was kind of shy and talked to me! At the bar! And then we became really good friends and we went camping together.

And now today I feel bereft, because she’s not really my friend and I want her to be!

Jeg har GLEMT å glede meg!
Det er fire dager til vi drar, og jeg har ikke gledet meg på over en uke! Herregud, hva har jeg drevet med?

Jeg har sett dem to ganger før. Det var fantastisk.
Nå skal jeg se dem igjen. Det er fire dager til – PÅ TIDE Å GLEDE SEG!!!

Bilde fra første gang jeg så de i Malmö, august 07.

On this Music Monday I’m bringing you a new song by Tegan & Sara. It’s a track that didn’t make it onto their new album Sainthood, and it appeared one fine day on an Australian clothing website. I know – pretty weird!

Tegan (left) and Sara making music together.

You can get the free download of Sheets at http://sportsgirl.com.au/freebies/. Just look for the image of Tegan and Sara and find where it says Free Download. [Update: I'm afraid they meanwhile want you to sign up before they let you download the song. Crooks!]

Of course, it’s also on YouTube by now.

(Alternative Link)

Sheets by Tegan and Sara

Remove us from the scene of the crime
I can’t help myself, details fill my mind
They roll their eyes
Pull our elbows
I forget our love was so hopeful
I promise I won’t linger long
I promise I won’t push my face
Up against your clothes
Or the stupid sheets

I deserve a stay
A second thought
I put your head on straight
I’m a tourniquet
You want the marrying type
A commitment
I can’t help myself
It it’s a fit, it’ll fit

I promise I won’t linger long
I promise I won’t push my face
Up against your clothes
Or the stupid sheets

It’s a heart attack that you feel
It’s a heart attack that you feel
It’s a heart attack that you feel
It’s a heart attack that you feel
It’s a heart attack that you feel
It’s a heart attack that you feel

I promise I won’t linger long
I promise I won’t push my face
Up against your clothes
I won’t linger long
I won’t push my face up against your clothes
Or your stupid sheets

Just give me the key
I watch your things
Like I watch your face
It’s a heart attack that you feel
It’s a crying shame not to spend the night
You look your age, but you don’t act the type
You don’t act the type
You don’t act the type

It’s a heart attack that you feel
It’s a heart attack that you feel
It’s a heart attack that you feel
It’s a heart attack that you feel

En esta ocasión, la recopilación no empezó por una canción, sino por la portada. Estaba repasando las fotos que hice los últimos meses y me topé con la que he utilizado para este disco. La retoqué un poco, elegí un nombre y, de ahí, surgió Prince y su Sign ‘O’ The Times.

Después, todo fue ir encadenando canciones, hasta que con el Mr. Suit de Wire se cerró la enésima recopilación que os dejo en el blog: una selección de temas más indie de lo habitual (con toques pop, punk, new wave, etc.) y muy entretenida desde mi punto de vista.

Haz clic en la portada para descargar Modern Times

Prince, Young Marble Giants, The XX, Giant Sand, Pavement, Stephen Malkmus, Iggy Pop, The Wave Pictures, Papas Fritas, Violent Femmes, Patti Smith, The Pastels, Nick Lowe, The Stranglers, Kashmir, Sebadoh, Wolf Parade, The Undertones, The Polyphonic Spree, The Raveonettes, Tegan & Sara, The Breeders, Veruca Salt, The Manhattan Love Suicides, Frank Black y Wire son los cantantes y grupos que he incluido en Modern Times, que, como siempre, os la podéis descargar pinchando en la imagen de la portada.

AQUÍ tenéis el listado de canciones. Espero que os guste.

P.D.: La foto es de una tienda de juguetes y objetos antiguos que está en el barrio de Chueca.

Maybe it hasn’t escaped your attention that I’m quite fond of Tegan & Sara, so it should come as no surprise that I pre-ordered their most recent album, Sainthood, on the first day that pre-order was possible in September. I mainly pre-ordered it through Maple Music because they sold a special Limited Edition that comes with three books. They also sold a Deluxe Limited Edition that came with an ink blot, hand-made and signed by the artists, but I’m happy to say I’m past the age where I’d spend that extra money. As a marketing strategy, it’s certainly a fun idea, though.

Tegan (left) and Sara, looking for my first Sainthood order. Tegan is obviously a lot more involved in the search. Sara wants to go home.

Well, after that, my Sainthood experience didn’t start off that well. I decided not to listen to the album on their MySpace page and no t to watch the video to their first single, Hell, either, because I think there’s something special about waiting for the actual album and listening to it in one go from beginning to end. So I waited. And I waited. But when the album was finally released on October 27th, my order didn’t arrive. My friend’s order arrived within two days, but mine just didn’t show. Eventually, I contacted Maple Music and they were kind enough to send out another bundle. That was on a Friday, and the parcel promptly arrived the following Monday.

However, I got charged more than 20 EUR in taxes for it, plus an additional 10 EUR that Purolator wanted for taking the parcel to customs in the first place, which still strikes me as an unfair rip-off. But what can you do. So now I have the CD & 3 books and ended up paying 104,- EUR for them, which means about 155 USD or 162 CAD. Now I’m almost as poor as a church mouse, but at least I have some good music and reading material. For an exhaustive review of both, watch this space. (You know you want to.)

By the way, what are YOU waiting for? Sainthood currently sells for $9,99 at Amazon.com! BARGAIN!

I have been listening to the new Tegan & Sara album Sainthood nonstop for two weeks straight & can’t get enough! Supremely melodic & extremely addicting, it’s easily my new favorite album right now. Check out a performance of them on Conan…

goodness. it’s been a while.

a while? awhile? sounds funny either way.

anyway, it’s times like these (when time flies by) that my tongue gets tangled and lyrics do the talking:

I know you feel it, too
These words get overused
When we get up and over it and over them
Up and over it and over them
I know you feel it, too
It all seems so untrue
When you get up and over it and over them

Me encanta la total discreción con la que estas Tegan & Sara llevan su trabajo, no se supo nada de su nuevo disco hasta que por fin salio, y no solo eso , si no que ya tiene single , portada y video, y la promoción de este empezó al instante, lo que llevó hace una semana a las hermanas Quinn a ser protagonistas en el show de Conan O’brian, haciendo la promoción de su nuevo single “Hell”.

Previa escucha del album y pos-escucha del single, conclusión de que no han cambiado mucho su sonido al que nos tiene acostumbrados. Para escoger “Hell” como single debe de ser una de las canciones más efectivas del disco, y se puede prever como sera el resto, pero esperemos a escuchar el disco, en breves, la critica de su nuevo disco “Sainthood”

Editors „Bricks and Mostar” / In This Light and On This Evening

Ian Brown „Just for You” / My Way

Field Music „Measures” / Measures

The Big Pink „Too Young to Love” / Brief History of Love

The Flaming Lips „The Sparrow Looks Up at the Machine” / Embryonic

The Flaming Lips „The Impulse” / Embryonic

Tegan & Sara „Hell” / Sainthood

Kings of Convenience „Me In You” / Declaration of Dependence

Kings of Convenience „Peacetime Resistance” / Declaration of Dependence

Kings of Convenience „24-25” / Declaration of Dependence

Noah and the Whale „Love of an Orchestra” / First Days of Springs

Regina Spektor „Eet” / Far

This past weekend has been crazy with school and Halloween and I’m feeling another crazy week up ahead. To tide you over, I have music news! I know, I know, I’m supposed to be talking about film, but I haven’t watched anything new. Watched The Rocky Horror Picture show this weekend, in the name of tradition. Shame on all of you who didn’t integrate Janet & Brad into your Halloween weekends! Here’s a classic song from the movie for anyone missing Halloween already:

So today I went to HMV and spent way too much money. Two of my purchases: the new Tegan &  Sara and Julian Casablancas CDs.

Tegan and Sara, my two favorite Canadian lesbian sisters, just came out with Sainthood, which is, as I expected, amazing. Their classic good songwriting at work once again. I can’t wait for their concert in January. The song Ocean is absolutely stunning, I can’t stop listening to it.

When you wake, what is it that you think of most?
When your bed is empty, do you really sleep alone?
If I imagine your
Body next to another

Another CD that came out this week is Julian Casablancas’ solo work, Phrazes for the Young. The Strokes’ singer’s first solo album is pretty good, though I have to admit that as a HUGE The Strokes fan, I expected a bit more. The single 11th Dimension is by far my favorite song off of it. It’s really very good aka worth listening to! As my friend (you know who you are) put it, We love Julian because he sounds like such a dirty little boy. I agree

Drop your guard, you don’t have to be smart all of the time
I got a mind full of blanks
I need to go somewhere new fast

Dziś, po trzytygodniowej przerwie, raczej lajtowo. Editors, Flaming Lips i Kings of Convenience ze swych nowych płyt przede wszystkim. Do tego nowe single The Big Pink, Tegan & Sara, Iana Browna i paru innych zacnych artystów.

Do usłyszenia dziś o 21.00 na 97,1 FM lub www.radiokampus.waw.pl.

Autor.

Stripete sokker er INN.

Hahaha, jeg ler meg litt ihjel av det bilde her.
I går fikk jeg mail om at konserten i København har blitt flyttet til en større scene fordi den var så populær. YAIKS. Jeg vet ikke heeelt om jeg liker det… Men nå har jeg jo sett dem to ganger på mindre steder, så da kan det kanskje bli spennende å se hvordan de fyller litt større gulv. Spennende, og litt rart. (:

______________________

Åå, i går var bare awesome. Takk for det.