And the winner is....

Caribou with the album Andorra. The winner of the Polaris Music Prize (and $20 000) was announced last night at the Phoenix in Toronto. You can listen to a podcast of the party here.
I didn't put a lot of faith in that album when the short list was announced. But that was mostly because I was not a huge fan of it. It was interesting but hard to get into.
But the award is for 'Artistic Merit' so I can see why it won. It is one of those albums that takes a few listens to really enjoy and they are usually some of the best. She's the One is probably my favorite track on the album right now.
Caribou is a project by Dan Snaith of Dundas, Ontario. He is a pretty interesting guy who started recording when he was 14. He progressed from a solo electronic DJ act to performing in a four piece band. If you want a taste of his live performances check out a CBC recorded concert here.

Other cool Caribou things:

• Watch some pitchfork videos here.
• They have a song called Irene.
• They were originally called Manitoba but were forced to change due to some ridiculous lawsuit.
• Watch some Caribou 'Take Away Shows' here. (via Pitchfork)
• Dan Snaith has a PhD in Mathematics from the UofT
  

And on another musical note I plan to go see Mother Mother, The Wooden Sky and The Superfantastics on Friday night. Should be good.

A music video made without cameras

Sorry, it's another Radiohead post. It's just that those guys are always on the cutting edge of technology and music so I can't get enough of them.
For the latest music video for House of Cards (one of my favorites from In Rainbows) they used a totally different approach to filming. They used a laser point based 3d measuring system (known as LIDAR) as the camera. These machines are most often used for measuring existing architecture or infrastructure and when hooked up to a GPS system it can draw and locate everything within view to the nearest millimeter. This technology is most often used by cities or governments (who actually have the money for it). I actually know someone who does this in Montreal. As far as I know, this is similar technology to what he uses.
So here is the video:

And here is the video showing how they made the music video:

And if you are the creative sort you can create your own music video by using the 3d environments created by these guys and the music of Radiohead. Neat stuff! Check it out here. Careful though, since it takes a while to get going you are probably best off downloading the stuff here and putting it together on your own computer. If anybody ends up doing this I'd love to see the result. You can also upload it to the House of Cards YouTube group.

Rise Up! (with Al Gore)

Al Gore, the planet's best friend, feels that nobody is listening to him. He believes that this calls for drastic action. He is now calling for 'civil disobedience' to protest coal plants and other CO2 emitters.
This is what he said:

"If you're a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration."

This guy ticks me off almost as much as Micheal Moore.

Read the article here.

My kind of pie chart

With all the economic turmoil these days you can imagine all the pie charts being generated as employees of banks and investment institutions are rapidly trying to explain to their bosses why the company has lost trillions in a week. I am sure some of those employees are using pie charts. In honor of them I present this; the best pie chart ever.

As you can clearly see in the chart above, most of the pie has yet to be eaten.

T-Shirt Idea:

I want a T-shirt that has this on the front:

and this on the back:

And maybe something like a Wal-mart symbol or something.

Interesting

He's going for it!

I don't think I ever blogged about my Montreal trip to see Radiohead. I left that for other people. Well, back when we went to Montreal for that Radiohead concert we also rented Segways. Y'know those gyroscopes with a handle and wheels that you use to zip around in crowded areas.
Yeah they were fun. Here are a few pictures and videos just so you get the idea.


We are on the cusp of returning to Montreal this Saturday. Maybe we will rent them again....

They promised us the 'red key' next time! (for all you non-segwayers - that means we get to go faster)