1000 Songs: Melody Lau

1000 Songs: Melody Lau

I have now posted one thousand songs from my live recordings to this blog. My introductory thoughts on that landmark can be found here, but long story short: I asked some folks to pick some of their favourites to help me celebrate.

Today's list is from freelance music journalist Melody Lau (twitter: @melodylamb). There's too just much going on under the umbrella of the "Melody Lau brand" to list it all here, but if you ask her at tomorrow night's launch show (with trivia! and prizes! and bands!) for the new issue of Static Zine, she might reel off an impressive list of publications for you. Look for the one in a top hat and/or sombrero.

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To Joe and Mechanical Forest Sound — the most hardworking man in the Toronto music scene. How we haven’t given you the key to the city yet, I do not know. Get on it, Rob Ford!
Here's a bit of nostalgia from me but as you will soon notice, I am a young'un and with youth comes plenty of embarrassing anecdotes. Only for Joe!

The Hidden Cameras - I Believe in The Good of Life

The final night of Wavelength 500 will always be a memorable night, even if I can't remember fragments of it. This is what happens when you're single on Valentine's Day: you have a few too many drinks, watch a bunch of amazing bands, tell Owen Pallett you love him as he politely walks away from you and conclude the night by jumping onstage with The Hidden Cameras. I shared a mic with Kevin Drew briefly; I now know how Leslie Feist feels, kind of. Who needed a Valentine when we all had Wavelength?

Rich Aucoin - It

This was my first time seeing Rich Aucoin live and to say he blew me away is a serious understatement. I didn’t know anything about him prior to his set but I was assured by a friend that he was "a mix of Daft Punk and the Arcade Fire" — quite the loaded descriptor but hell, he lived up to it. Shows don’t get more life-affirming and magical than this; Rich Aucoin is the showman of our generation.

Wayne Petti - Up On the Hillside

Listen to this recording and tell me that you don’t have a crush on Wayne Petti. Exactly. Little did I know that we would go on to be co-workers at Criminal Records, except not really. We never had a shift together but that might be because I had mentioned my huge crush on him during my job interview. Regardless, we will always have this show at the Music Gallery. He asked the audience to sing and, yes, I sang (possibly off-key).

The Balconies - The Slo

I had convinced my bosses at Criminal Records to book this in-store so I feel particularly proud of this in-store set. The Balconies have been one of my favourites, live and on record, since I first saw them in 2009 and even though they've yet to release a new full-length since, I still listen to their 2009 self-titled record and think, "Holy shit, that voice! Those melodies! Yes!" Surely, they’ll return with some more of that soon.

Gentleman Reg - The Boyfriend Song

"Boyfriend, boyfriend, where are you? I ain’t got no money and I ain’t got no boyfriend." Needless to say, my best friend and I found these lyrics quite perfect as we spent that New Year's single. It sounds like I'm single a lot but I swear, I dat... oh, I can’t lie. I'm essentially dating my career these days. After all, I ain't got money!

Bonus memory! The Rural Alberta Advantage - Goodbye

I was still a young, impressionable (and under-aged) blogger when The Rural Alberta Advantage played this Canadian Music Week showcase. They remain one of my favourite Toronto bands but it's tough to take them in at a venue like the Phoenix nowadays after seeing such intimate performances like this one. And one can't get more intimate than this song, specifically. [Ed. note: Indeed. Man, I really wish I had a recording of this show.]

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You can always click on the tags below to read more about the shows these songs came from. Have there been four or five songs posted here that made an impact on you? If you'd like to get in on the action and make a list, feel free to send me an email: mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com.