Maps'n Jazz and Common Para-Medics

Two of my all-time favorite bands hail from Chi-town: caP'n Jazz and Maps & Atlases... oh.. and one of my fave emcees: Mr. "I stand out like a n*gga on a hockey team" aka Common.

A frequent occurrence in my life is the discovery of a great band and the misfortune of having just missed seeing them play live in my backyard. (This sh*t happens to me a lot in Japan too when I find out about a band at the end of my trip.) The Para-Medics are a band from Chicago whom I serendipitously discovered yesterday on Youtube and it just so happens they were very recently in town playing the final 'A Mountain Far Fest' at Soybomb HQ which is just a 7 min walk from where I live.

.. .. ..

fack! .. .. (Although in my defense I was having a kickass time playing full court bball at Moss Park so it wasn't like I was sitting at home twiddling my thumbs wishing there were a dope show to check)

NEhow. These guys will shred your favorite band's skill set into superstring cheese to utilize as fodder for the seriously outclassed.

You can download their album for a measly $3 right here! (note: if you're nice you can pay more than the minimum $3. I actually gave $5.)

And the side-project by the drummer and bassist is tongue-in-cheek slapstick but drops some subtly dope punchlines if you take the time to listen (beats are wack as 0七二 though!!)

Between Tad's 'Burn Down the Capital' events and shows at Soybomb HQ, Toronto's starting to develop a sweet underground music scene of its own. Who knows, maybe a few years from now I'll be doing Next Music from Toronto in Sapporo, Tokyo and Osaka. hahaha.