Melody Lau

UNCOOL #1: Guiltless Pleasures

Wed, 08 May 2013 17:28:19 -0400

This is a belated post, but I had the wonderful pleasure of recently contributing to the first issue of UNCOOL, an online music publication put together by David Greenwald.

The theme of the issue was “Guiltless Pleasures” so, of course, I wrote about ’90s boy bands in Canada. Remember The Moffatts, B4-4 and soulDecision? Because I think about them all the time. Even if you don’t know them, you should give it a read and check out all the other talented writers in this issue while you’re at it.

UNCOOL will cost you $3.99, but come on, how many articles have I given you to read for free? Just skip that one Starbucks order and get a collection of writing that will be a million times better for you.

#throwbackthursday - Death Cab For Cutie Transatlanticism is...

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:39:54 -0400

#throwbackthursday - Death Cab For Cutie

Transatlanticism is going to celebrate its 10th anniversary this year, so let’s look back on this fine jam. I spent many a nights crying in my bedroom to this album so thank you, Ben Gibbard.

#throwbackthursday - The Moffatts Currently writing an essay on...

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:19:00 -0400

#throwbackthursday - The Moffatts

Currently writing an essay on my favourite Canadian boy bands. REMEMBER THESE GUYS?

My favourite show at CMW. Lowell was the only artist I...

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 20:59:00 -0400

My favourite show at CMW. Lowell was the only artist I hadn’t seen before who I was most excited to see and she didn’t disappoint. “Shake Him Off” has been my jam every since I randomly stumbled upon it on a blog somewhere and it’s easy to understand why she draws so many comparisons to Lykke Li. The song’s pots-and-pans percussion is crazy addictive, like a marching anthem for female empowerment (this song was partially inspired by an incident the singer had at the Dance Cave where she was roofied). I haven’t listened to the rest of the album yet, but a number of her songs can be found on YouTube right now. I cannot wait to see this girl take over the world.

Bonus: Watch a stripped-down version of “Shake Him Off” HERE.

#YGG

Canadian Music Week 2013

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 20:46:06 -0400

Last week marked my fifth year covering Toronto’s Canadian Music Week and I can safely say that it will be my last. I can go on and rant for hours about my problems with the festival (not getting into shows, having to pay to get into certain things, wrong set times), but I’ll just let this Torontoist post do the work. Surely some people had fun and, as much as I’d like to avoid it, I’ll probably go and check out a few shows next year. But, I’d rather just pretend to have a SXSW hangover like most people and call in sick. Not that CMW will be calling me up, looking for me or anything. Actually, they might…

Anyway, here’s a quick recap of all the bands I saw for Spinner (I was sick and actually missed the Indies, but wrote a news piece regardless):

Wednesday
Thursday
Friday (The Indies)
Saturday
Sunday (The Prism Prize)

I also interviewed Chvrches while they were in town for the festival. You can read the full interview HERE.

Now bring on NXNE.

Links, links, links

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 02:10:52 -0400

I reviewed Kate Nash’s show in Toronto this past weekend, which you can read HERE. I also had quite the chat with her prior to her show so watch out for that interview on Spinner in the near future. It will probably reference Buffy the Vampire Slayer a bunch.

The new issue of Exclaim! Magazine is out now, so pick up a copy a take look at my interview with Blue Hawaii (or just read it here) and Leif Vollebekk (read the online exclusive here).

While everyone was down at SXSW, I took a week off to recuperate from my Chicago zine adventure and to prepare myself for Canadian Music Week. I’ll be doing daily round-ups for Spinner so check in every day for my reviews!

Fierce conversations

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 01:56:55 -0400

I moved back home in 2010 after a failed attempt at moving out with two of my friends at the time. I often skirt around the question of what happened because I don’t know how to really explain the mess that unraveled, much of which was my fault.

I had never lived with other people before so it had hit me very early on that I wasn’t able to read my roommates like I did with my siblings. Thinking that one of my roomies was mad about something, I became concerned and paranoid, but instead of speaking up and simply asking if she was, I internalized a lot of anxiety. In return, the roomie grew frustrated with my behaviour (among other bad roommate things I’ll own up to) and also avoided confrontation for a couple of months, until she finally brought it up in a heated conversation that ended with me in tears and her saying, “We can never be friends.”

The days and nights that followed were a blur as I drank increasingly more to numb my emotions - which I later identified as a slippery slope to alcoholism and abruptly quit drinking for a year - but that triggered a significant change in my life. (And for those who know me IRL, yes, this is a little slice of the story behind of one my tattoos)

Anxiety has always consumed my social life and the way I interact with people. I never raised my hand at school, I could barely hold a conversation with someone new and I was unfortunately the asshole who would take hours to explain why I was upset with my boyfriend. Poor guy would just sit on the phone forever saying, “Are you going to say something?”

When I unloaded my boxes of belongings in my old bedroom, I vowed to speak up about things. I had regretted not saying something so many times that I could literally hear that something had snapped inside me. No more regrets, no shame.

It took some time, but looking back now, I slowly but surely learned to voice my opinions, confront my problems and say something about everything. It felt liberating and relieving to not bottle up so many things. I went from building up all my thoughts in my head to laying all my feelings out for everyone to see and hear.

Drunk with relief, it has hit me that I might have veered too far into the other extreme, though. I think I’ve become TOO vocal. Now that I’ve taken the filter out of my mind, I’ve lost my shit a little and word vomit is a common side affect I’ve experienced.

More often than not, I’ve noticed myself becoming too outspoken, too forward and a bit too emotional. I’m not saying I regret this, I still feel relief whenever I speak up about something, but it’s definitely gotten me into a little trouble and, romantically, I think I’ve scared off a guy or two. Evidently, being forward can be a turn on, but being too upfront about my feelings makes me sound a bit insane.

I was talking to my friend about this recently - quite loudly and passionately, I may add - and she got up, grabbed a book and returned. “Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work & Life, One Conversation at a Time” was the title of the book. “You’re just a fierce person,” she told me, pointing to the little box at the top of the book that defined the word fierce as “robust, intense, strong, powerful, passionate, eager, unbridled”. Sounds about right.

Okay, so I can be a bit too intense at times, but this new-found voice of mine does make me feel strong, powerful and passionate. I’m sorry if that’s too much sometimes…but I’m not sorry!

I’ve come to embrace this fierceness and, just as my shyness was (and still is sometimes, I guess) a problem, people will just have to accept this as part of who I am. And those who can’t will just have to steer clear of my word vomit, because it’s going to get messy.

I’ve had this song on repeat all night. I was randomly...

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 02:52:16 -0400

I’ve had this song on repeat all night. I was randomly introduced to The Belle Game a couple of years ago through a friend and Katrina and Adam have actually contributed to my blog, The Singing Lamb, so this might sound biased, but I can truthfully say that their music never clicked for me until I heard this album. They recently signed to Bella Union overseas and will be releasing their new album, Ritual Tradition Habit, sometime later this spring. It’s a good one.

Here, take a look at a few of Katrina and Adam’s articles for The Singing Lamb!

From Orchestra to Auto-Tune: The Sound and Meaning of Popular Music in 2012

The Raw Material of the Music Industry

Zine Dream

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 02:26:05 -0400

I attempted to make a zine in high school. Frustrated with the lack of local music coverage there was at the time – surely it was out there, I just wasn’t digging deep enough – I decided to take it upon myself to start a zine where I could talk about how awesome bands like Woodhands, Laura Barrett, Huckleberry Friends and Ohbijou were. I took photos, I copy and pasted things and I wrote some articles. I was always a crafty person, and evidently quite old school, too. While everyone else was showing off their shiny, new iPods, I was still proudly carrying a Discman.

Alas, I made two pages of that zine and gave up. Soon after, I just started a blog like everyone else.

Four years later, I found myself making another zine, but this time with a couple of friends. Static Zine was my second shot at becoming a zinester and even though it wouldn’t focus on music, it was still a project I was passionate and excited about. In the interval years, I became increasingly obsessed with the Riot Grrrl movement and had read up on the 90’s zine culture that was associated with the scene, so when the idea of a zine came up, I thought that this would be my chance to channel my inner Riot Grrrl and participate in a creative endeavour that would pay homage to those women.

Static isn’t heavily political, though; it’s the complete opposite. It’s a fun, light-hearted collective of friends who just want to write creative, and often funny, stories about any given topic. And, honestly, I prefer this. For a project run by friends, for no other reason than for our own enjoyment, it’s best to keep things positive and leave the rioting and protesting to some other time. Also, I’m not very political to begin with. I have strong feminist beliefs, but I keep my ranting and raving to a minimum. So, yeah, this kind of zine is just perfect.

Having the ability to create a publication all on your own is an incredible feeling, especially for someone who rarely has the final word, writing for other magazines and websites. I can lay things out exactly the way I want and write about anything and everything. As much as I like having the guidance of an editor, I want to be in charge from time to time and this is my opportunity to call the shots. Well, at least sort of.

As we began to circulate our zines, it became obvious that the music and zine communities were two entirely different worlds. There was the occasional overlap of people and artists, but generally, it’s a whole new world we had to adjust to and after spending the past handful of years squeezing into the music scene, I wasn’t sure if I was up for tackling the world of zinesters.

Even with my strong interest in Riot Grrrl zines (I’m slowly but surely collecting Kathleen Hanna’s zines), I just didn’t have it in me to fully throw myself into the local zine world. Similar to arriving at a new school, mid-semester, cliques were already formed and trying to insert yourself into an already tight-knit community – especially when you deal with anxiety problems – is a tough task, and unlike my early days in the music scene, I didn’t have the guidance of anyone to navigate me through this.

The past two years have been spent making zines, which is still something I love doing and it is the reason I’ve become so close with my two best friends Aviva and Jessica, but I’m still feeling a missing link to the overall scene. And this feeling magnifies itself most at zine fairs, which is something Static has taken part in more and more. When you spend many hours sitting behind a table, you become very observant. Most recently, at the Chicago Zine Fair, I found myself thinking: I’m not twee enough for half of these people and I’m definitely not punk enough for the other half. What am I? Do I belong here?

And be it the style or just again, the close-knit feeling, I’m just missing something. I truly don’t feel like I belong in the zine community and that’s not a slight at the scene or the people I make zines with. Zine culture is something I deeply admire and wish I was more into and my zine sisters are two of my closest friends in the world, but it’s just not clicking. That doesn’t make me less of a Riot Grrrl (or at the very least a Riot Grrrl enthusiast), that doesn’t make me less of a friend (I hope not) and that doesn’t make me any less of a zine creator.

I made a post a while back, saying that I needed something other than freelance writing, but I wasn’t sure what just yet. The zine scene might not be the answer to my ongoing problems, but hey, I tried. And I will continue to make zines with my friends, but I might not necessarily deserve the title of a zinester. I’m just an old school grrrl, still trying to get out of freelancing.

So, yeah…next up: attempting to start a band. I can already tell you this is not going to end well.

#throwbackthursday - Think About Life I miss this band a lot....

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 12:21:47 -0400

#throwbackthursday - Think About Life

I miss this band a lot. Think About Life, much like Rich Aucoin nowadays, was very much a band that you had to see live to believe. This video doesn’t do much justice, but Think About Life were one of the best live acts in recent Canadian music history. I’ve left their shows covered in sweat, confetti and joy (seriously, I had confetti on me for months). They command you to dance and sing along. Their music also evidently gave me super-strength as I found myself in a mosh pit once, throwing a guy across the room, to which he came up to me after their set and said, “Wow, you’re strong!”

TAL can still be found, on rare occasions, doing one-off shows in Montreal (they did one last year) but Graham Van Pelt is now off touring with Diamond Rings and gearing up for a new Miracle Fortress release, and Caila Thompson-Hannant is now fronting Mozart’s Sister. Both great projects that everyone should check out, but nothing will ever fill the void left by Think About Life.

Monday afternoon jams.

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:50:56 -0500

Monday afternoon jams.

I’ve decided to make a solo zine. It’s called...

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 13:31:30 -0500

I’ve decided to make a solo zine. It’s called Hello…Goodbye. and has nothing to do with the band HelloGoodbye (I swear).

It’s only a few pages, but was thrown together in just a few hours. It’s a collection of one-time encounters I’ve had with people in my life, sifting through memories and seeing whether these were “chance encounters” or just random moments. Spoiler alert: most of the time, they’re just random.

I’m going to take a few with me to the Chicago Zine Fair this week, but if you want a copy, I can put one aside and send it to you (fo’ free). Just drop me a line at melody [at] singinglamb [dot] ca.

Already working on issue two!

This bad boy got printed today. Issue six of Static Zine coming...

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:55:58 -0500

This bad boy got printed today. Issue six of Static Zine coming to a coffee shop/record store/zine fair near you! And, if not, and you’d like a copy, send me a tweet or e-mail and I’ll send one to you! xx

Kathleen Edwards’ Voyageur got me through some tough times...

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:35:00 -0500

Kathleen Edwards’ Voyageur got me through some tough times last year, so that album is forever my spirit animal/spirit whatever. Here’s a new video for “Chameleon/Comedian”, which kicks all sorts of ass, even though it’s literally kicking Kathleen’s ass.

I am hopelessly obsessed with Foals’ new album, Holy Fire....

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 01:21:01 -0500

I am hopelessly obsessed with Foals’ new album, Holy Fire. SO MUCH EMOTIVE ROCK.

The Line of Best Fit did a session with them recently where they performed closing track, “Moon”. This song slays me every time.

Another quarter-life crisis

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 01:10:04 -0500

I’ve been a freelance writer for five years. Majority of that time was spent in school, so freelancing was just a simple way for me to get my foot in the door of the real world while I was still writing bullshit essays about Marshall McLuhan. Oh, and to pay for all those drinks I needed after finishing said essays.

But it has almost been a year since I’ve graduated and even though I still enjoy the odd assignment or two, I’ve found myself hating the freelance life. It’s stressful, it’s time-consuming, and let’s face it, you can’t really make a living doing this. As I was telling a friend a while ago, those who can pull off freelancing full-time are magical wizards. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but I’ve seen my fair share of people attempt and fail.

Surely, I can continue doing this and scrap by with enough money to survive, but I don’t want to just survive. I’d like to kind of enjoy life, y’know?

I took a vacation last month hoping to clear my mind and rejuvenate myself. I came back more exhausted and frustrated than ever. I used to find pitching and writing to be exciting and a healthy form of competition between me and other writers. But nowadays, things have gotten a little too redundant and that competition has manifested into something completely unhealthy.

I need something new. I have no clue what this entails, but I need a change. Maybe becoming an editor (how does one move from freelance writing to editing? Serious question, if you have the answer, let me know), or getting back into PR? Who knows. Maybe it’s just my need for a full-time gig as opposed to binge-eating in my bed while I fire off e-mails all day. I’ll admit, I prefer a routine in my life, one that hopefully involves me getting out of bed every day. But, whatever this new thing is, I want to go to there.

This isn’t to say that I’m just going to drop everything and sit around until I figure it out. I will continue to freelance and my bylines will still haunt every corner of the internet, but for my own sanity, I need to start dialing back and taking time to reassess some things.

I don’t know why I just posted all of these thoughts on the interwebs for people to read. Possibly so you can nudge me and make sure I’m making some kind of progress in a couple of months and that I’m not having another paralyzing panic attack that ends with me wasting the night away smoking pot, watching the Food Network and eating leftovers. Let’s try and assure that doesn’t happen again, please?

* If you’re an editor of mine and reading this, OH HAI. Please don’t stop giving me work. Maybe less work, but don’t stop. Iloveyoukthnxbye.

** If you’re an aspiring writer reading this, don’t let my crappy feelings ruin your desire to become a writer, freelance or not. Freelancing is a thing people do and even though I can count on one hand the number of people who are successfully doing it, that doesn’t mean you can’t take a stab at it. If I still had enough drive in me, I’m confident I can freelance the shit out of life and succeed. I’m just a little drained is all. I’m old.***

*** I’m only 22.

Stuff and things

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 00:23:25 -0500

Oh hai, Tumblr. Here are some things I’ve written lately:

[Exclaim!] Album Review: Sally Shapiro - Somewhere Else

[Exclaim!] Album Review: Wildlife - …On the Heart

[Exclaim!] Album Review: Palma Violets - 180

[Exclaim!] Album Review: Leif Vollebekk - North Americana

[Exclaim!] Interview: Local Natives

[AOL Spinner] Interview: Hollerado

Update

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 00:01:14 -0400

Right. I have a Tumblr account.

Well, here’s what I’ve been doing since I last posted:

- I finished my internship at MuchMusic, but remain a weekly contributor to the blog. So, in other words, I go in once a week to write news, catch up with co-workers and steal candy from the secret stash next to my desk. Read all of my posts HERE. I do everything from posting about the latest Bieber news to writing cliff notes for the 10-minute long Lana Del Rey video. That’s right, I watched all ten minutes of that.

- Over at AOL Spinner/Huffington Post Music, I interviewed Wavves’ new side project, Sweet Valley, Gotye and I put together a pretty comprehensive recap of the 2012 Polaris Music Prize gala — immediately after running off a train from a week-long work marathon at this year’s POP Montreal Music Festival. All of that (and more) can be found HERE.

- I wrote a feature about Paper Bag Records’ ten-year anniversary for The National Post. Read the piece online HERE. I also whipped up a quick review of their three-night stand at The Great Hall celebrating the anniversary for The Singing Lamb.

- After many years of bugging them, I am finally a writer at Exclaim! Magazine. I celebrated by high-fiving a million angels. Here is a review I wrote for them recently, about the new Ty Segall album. If you don’t want to read it, I can summarize it for you: buy the album, fall in love with Ty Segall, go to his show and start a mosh pit. Make sure to keep your eyes peeled for the next issue of Exclaim!, I’ll be in it.

I’m sure some other stuff has happened.

Now, go and listen to some Blue Hawaii. As with Grimes’ Claire Boucher, I predict that this album is going to kick all sorts of ass next year. Watch out!

Hi! I was just wondering if you could give me any tips for applying to be a much music intern. It's something I have wanted to do all my life and now that I'm finally eligible, I'm determined to do it! I am so extremely jealous of your life, you have no idea!!!

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 16:36:40 -0400

Hello! Well tip number one: don’t do what I’m doing right now (going on Tumblr while sitting at work, shhhh). But honestly, I think a good portfolio is important. Just go out there and get as much blogging, music and/or TV experience as possible, depending on the department you apply for (I think there’s quite a few places at MUCH you can apply at - Digital, NML, The Wedge/RapCity, etc). So just have some knowledge and experience because that will definitely catch their attention. From there, if you get an interview, just charm the pants off them! Experience and an impressive body of work will get you to an interview, but the thing that solidifies any internship or job is a good connection with the people you’re potentially working for. Thankfully, the people here are wonderful and it’s hard not to get along with them. Hope that answers your question! A lot of these things are down to hard work and luck so if you don’t hear back, just keep applying! xx

After a significant amount of creeping b/c of your revelation as the Much intern extraordinaire, I can't help but let you know that you are an awesome and extremely talented writer, and now one of my inspirations! As a budding journalist myself (and a second year Media Studies student at the University of Guelph-Humber) it's impossible not to look at your achievements and create goals along the same lines. -@Naomi_ML

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 23:21:49 -0400

Aw, thanks! It’s just all hard work and determination (and a bit of luck and lots of stress crying) so you can definitely do it! You should apply for an internship at Much, they’re always looking for interns. x