HEAVY: 3 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO ON THE ROAD AGAIN & ULTRAISTA

ON THE ROAD AGAIN is the latest release by all Maori band Katchafire, who hails from the beautiful expanse that is New Zealand. Full of reggae flavour and intensely catchy vibes here's 3 reasons you should listen to this album. 

1. Katchafire have to be the tightest and most beautiful sounding reggae band since I can't remember. If you love Rub-a-dub vibes and cool melodies this is the album for you!

2. The songs on this album will put you in a feel good mood. It's a great album, if you're trying to lay down the vibe for a night of loving and chilling or if you're just doing the solo vibe and want to hear some music with positive vibrations. 

3. It's distinctly kiwi sounding. Katchafire makes a brand of reggae that sounds like the islands, but it doesn't sound like Jamaica, it sounds like New Zealand. You have to listen to it to know what I mean but really and truly it never sounds like an imitation. It always sounds distinctly unique. 

ULTRAISTA is the self-titled debut album from a London trio featuring Radiohead collaborator and producer Nigel Godrich, vocalist Laura Bettinson and multi-instrumentalist Joey Waronker. The album is a sonic beauty featuring unique electronic beats and a futuristic approach. Here's 3 reasons why you should listen to this album. 

1. It has this crazy afro-beatish, spacey vibe that's unique, dance-able and radio-friendly in the best possible, non-vapid way. 

2. I love Laura Bettinson's voice - it's beautiful. It's a perfect compliment to the type of arrangements present on the album. Her voice just floats into your mind and gets stuck there. 

3. You like trip-hop. That's another reason you should listen to this album, it's not defined as trip-hop, it's not really defined as anything really - but it's gold. It's got a sort of trip-hop type vibe and sometimes reminds me of groups such as Beast, Ruby, Kosheen and Lamb - but it's still completely unlike all of those aforementioned groups. If you have a natural affinity for uptempo-ish trip-hop though, I know you'll more than likely like this album. 

Bonus reason: anything with any relation to Radiohead - deserves a listen in my book. However, at this point I'm just fan-girlin'. 

Check out these two albums and check out the Heavy Rotation section along the sidebar for the two new picks! 

What are you listening to a lot these days? Tell me by clicking here.

Check out Katchafire's official website by clicking here.

Check out Ultraista's official website by clicking here.

UPDATES: THE PAST MONTH & THE YES EXPERIENCE!

So this last month has been busy as all hell... new job and all - but I've been listening to some excellent new records and have been fully immersed in some fantastic new albums by a bunch of artists - none of which are new but all of which are dope.. You can check out what I've been listening to recently by clicking on any of the album art below, which will take you to the latest video by that artist...

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In other news, this past month has been an interesting and frustrating one in terms of live shows. I missed a shit load of events that I really wanted to see for a variety of reasons, but one event that I didn't miss was Yes at Massey Hall. Yes are an English progressive rock band from the 70s that have never really stopped touring and making albums. Even though a ton of their members have left and formed other bands, members have died and others have just been replaced; they were so tight as a unit that it was mind-blowing. It was a pretty awesome show because never before have I experienced Yes live in concert. Lead singer - John Davison has the most ethereal voice I've heard in concert in awhile and also, the rest of the band Chris Squire, Alan White, Geoff Downes were amazing, amazing to the point of perfect. Realistically though, I didn't expect any less from guys who've been around since the 70s, also being a band that influenced Canadian rock and roll legends, Rush, almost guaruntees that any performance of theirs would be perfect. It was an awesome experience.

Yes played three albums from their discography in their entirety and I live streamed the last album of the set, their 1971 album, The Yes Album. You can totally hear that by clicking here. Once you click that last link, be sure to follow me on Spreaker web radio (if you're a member) for any future updates and posts that I may do.

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So, I'm not entirely sure what the future holds for me in terms of shows - until about May/June due to an overload of work at work, but whatever I do see, I'll be writing about and updating shit on twitter.

Also, yo I'll be hitting up a couple of Toronto DJ, parties and video/film events these upcoming two months, get at me on twitter to find out what those are. Not to mention the Hot Docs - Canadian International Documentary Festival - i'll be hitting that up too, so stay up to date with me via twitter.



You can follow me on twitter by clicking here.
Make sure you say what's up and I'll follow back.

PLAYLIST TRIPPIN: THE FADER ISH I LOVE!!!

So today has been a great day so far because I've literally just been lounging and kicking it - watching videos in my pyjamas and drinking coffee. Hectic ass lives like mine, can't really be afforded all these luxuries till the weekend because we stay grinding through the weekdays, so I'm really vibing right now.

It's crazy because over the last week SWSX has been going on in the States and CMW has been going on here and I missed all the CMW shows that I planned on attending this week due to various circumstances that I'm not gonna talk about on this blog, but I missed all my shows... ANYWAY - moving right along to today... something in me got me to the point where I wanted to watch some YT vids and then I got hooked on watching straight Fader TV for like an hour - then I got to the point where I was playlist trippin, creating stuff and hence this playlist was born. These are just a few Fader videos that I thoroughly enjoyed today and I commented on all of em on Youtube / so you can always go back and read my stupid blurbs on whatever by clicking each video, you can check out my hardcore fandom and fan-girling. This playlist contains 9 performances and interviews featuring new artists like Laura Mvula, and other artists like Earl Sweatshirt, Solange, Nina Sky, etc. Check it out.



_ what have you been watching & listening to lately? holler at me with links on twitter by clicking here.
_ did you go to any CMW shows? how were they? holler at me by clicking here.
_ check out my youtube channel ( I don't do videos, but I watch a lot!) by clicking here.

take it easy & enjoy your saturday.

LINK-HOPPIING: ALICE SMITH - SHE

So I was just link hopping around on Youtube on a Saturday afternoon and I stumbled across Alice Smith singing this track called The One and completely feel in love. I actually had seen her album on various sites and never thought anything about it but I'm gonna definitely gonna grab it up and give it a play. Check this out and keep your eyes out for my next post on some more Fader TV shit coming up..



Check out Alice Smith right quick by clicking here.

HEAVY ROTATION: JESSIE WARE - DEVOTION

Hey y'all what's good? It's been a couple of weeks and a ton of amazing new albums have been released recently that I should be informing y'all about, but I've been busy and lazy and crazy and honestly my interest in writing has waned (as it tends to do from time) but my listening habits have not at all.

One of the albums that I've been killing as of late has been an album that I had previously written off when it was originally released, Jessie Ware's Devotion. The reason that I originally wrote off Devotion was a pretty dumb one looking back at it now. When the album originally came out, people kept saying that she sounded like Sade, and me being the HUGE Sade fan that I am, took major offense to that comparison. I hold Sade on a pedestol that in reality is probably insanely high, but what can I say, I have never heard an artist like Sade before I heard Sade, and I still haven't really. Also, Sade is an artist that I have such an insane history with. I can remember being like 4 or 5 and hearing Sade and connecting with her voice, so any comparisons to Sade make me antsy and the comparison really just put Jessie Ware on my shitlist - especially when I heard her and thought "... but she sounds nothing like her!!". 

Anyway, fast forward a couple of months, once I got past the comparison and I'm killllling the album. It's one of the albums that I play non-stop, especially late at night, because one thing that she does possess that's reminiscent of Sade's musical styling, is that she possesses that late night vibe. The vibe on Devotion is best described as cool and kinda smoky, it's very sexy, and sort of mystical in a way. Ms. Ware's voice is wonderful and would feel perfectly at home on a mixtape that featured older artists such as Sade, and Anita Baker as well as newer artists such as The Weeknd and Delilah or Katy B. 

It's a fantastic album and if you haven't heard it - you should get on that! 

Check out Jessie Ware's website by clicking here.

Follow her on Facebook and Twitter by clicking here and here.

Check out her SoundCloud by clicking here!

_also check out this dope video for her latest release, If You're Never Gonna Move, below.