I am posting for the first time in almost a month, so much for my dream of getting everyone caught up on music. But, 80 hour work weeks and plenty of friend time will not leave much time for writing. So I will do my best in the post to give you some essential new stuff to listen to. With out further ado I will get into it. 

Q-Tip - Renaissance:

Q-Tip has returned to grace us with some of the best beats and lyrical flows we have heard in years. The former Tribe Called Quest member returns with his sophomore album after quite a long wait considering Amplified was released in 1999. But the wait was worth it, Renaissance is filled with his trademark vocals and beats that will just simply cause your ass to shake. Tracks like "Move" and "Fight for Love" highlight Q-Tip's production ability with funky beats and a smooth flow. The highlight track for me was his colab with Norah Jones whose vocals pair amazingly with a hip hop back beat, the track "Life is Better" has been on repeat on iTunes for at least a week now. Buy It - This album is in the running for the best hip-hop album of the year and certainly in the running for the top 5 of all genres. 

Love is All - A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night:

Poppy, punky fun sounds...sums up the album pretty much. Think CSS or Ponytail, it is a good album. This album certainly has got high praise

 from the indie community and most larger media outlets outside of Rolling Stone (but really....). Love is All is straight out of Sweden and this album is their second studio album, not including a couple EP's and remix albums that have been released. With a catchy melody with a solid guitar and a synth-pop/punk backing is a great fit with lead singer Josephine Olausson almost desperate vocals. Partnering on the vocals is Nicholaus Sparding who softens the vocals sounds with a melodic tone. My highlight tracks on this album are "Give It Back" it has a softer sound then the rest of the album and uses the triangle which you don't hear enough of. (I was a great triangle player in elementary). Also tracks to check out are "Rumours" and "Big Bangs, Black Holes, Meteorites" This album won't be for everyone so: Check out their MySpace First. 

The Dears - Missiles:

Oh being a creative genius is hard, especially when you think your a genius and of course your wife agrees, this of course causes you to alienate the rest of the group and cause them all to leave. Well of course this is all just rumours. Since their great initial release of No Cities Left and their even better follow-up release of Gang of Losers they have lost almost every member in the band by the time the latest release was ready. Who was left? Well of course the mastermind of The Dears Murray Lightburn and his wife Natalie Yanchak, they have added some new members to help with the tour. My faith in how long the new members last is slim, but we will see I suppose. As for the album Missiles is a decent album although it has received positive reviews from the bigger music sites, I feel this album is a little flat. The band is still tight musically and I am a huge fan of Murray Lightburn's vocals, but it doesn't have that feel that the first album had with explosive energy and great arrangements. Lyrics on the album are also not as strong and insightful as the previous albums. Perhaps the band members leaving in the middle of recording caused the disappointed feel that this album carries. However, it is still a decent album from one of Canada's indie darlings. If you like the rest of the indie darlings ie. Metric, Broken Social Scene and the rest of them, then Buy It. 

Well that is three albums to check out and have a listen to until the next time I actually find time to post something. Also, I will be compiling the best albums of the year in a few short weeks, so if any of the readers have input please drop me a email to sopossible@gmail.com and I will be posting the results by Dec. 24th. To update you all on other music news in and around town(Calgary...soon to be Toronto) here is some upcoming shows that you might want to check out. 

November 25th - The Herbaliser will be playing the Warehouse (if you don't know Herbaliser and want to see a good show this is the one to see). 

December 17th - MSTRKRFT will be playing at the Whiskey

February 23rd - An Evening with David Bryne is coming the to Jack Singer Concert Hall (this will also be really cool to check out. David Bryne is awesome, check out his "Playing the Building" Art. Seriously very cool)

Hopefully, that fills every one's music needs for a little while, if there are actually any readers left on this blog. Again sorry for the long delay in between posts, I will strive to improve that. 

- Dave

" And Now I have found a new connection

   Being bored is really such a chore 

   Some of us out here don't know shit 

   Some of us don't even want to know" - The Dears - "There Goes My Outfit" off of the Gang of   Losers album