a few days ago, my roommate A (who is from winnipeg), walked in and asked me if I had heard of a band called "manitoba." I had. She had just learned that they (or rather, he) existed, and was very very amused, being from manitoba herself. "a band called manitoba!" she said.

a day or two later i was reading ilm and stumbled across a thread in which everyone was going absolutely crazy for the new manitoba record. my memories of manitoba were fuzzy (vague shades of Boards of Canada and my typically ambivalent response to organic laptop music). nevertheless, the enthusiasm of the usually grumpy ilm'ers was enough to spark my interest. to p2p i went.

and what i found was Up in Flames. people had been referencing My Bloody Valentine and Spiritualised, but this thing is better than that wankery. it's noisy and warm and pop and electronic and gee-whiz-wow! I hear Hood and The Notwist and heart-on-sleeve Cornelius... echoes of Broken Social Scene, Mum (but better), The Books, and yes yes yes The Beatles and the Beach Boys. the drums are as oo-er as people had said, and the songs are listenable! listenable! like - radio-style listenable! singable! danceable! lovable!

needless to say, Up in Flames + Loaded has made for a wonderful week. Cheap Thrills had no copies of the Manitoba record, and HMV was selling them for $23 +tx (eek). I went a-browsing on cheap cds, and, thanks to one-click-shopping, ordered a copy without realizing what i had done. oh well. (also: hooray!)