Jay Brannan’s album is out on iTunes.  I saw him live in Vancouver when I was back for a visit, and he was amazing.  Go sample and download his full album, and be sure to catch him live for a great show.

Preview & Purchase here via iTunes.

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I have to admit, I enjoy the creativity in little mysterious online campaigns that Nokia runs for a product or service launch.

OpenAtOwnRisk.com is a new mini-site with the following mystery, with a really DaVinci Code feel to it.  Have a look-see.

I’d say that on Monday… the start of the week the you-know-iWhat launches… it would be best for Nokia to fully launch the campaign for the Nokia "Tube"… their touch-screen phone to appeal to the user-experience whores tempted by the iPhone, but would rather stay with Nokia.  But I have a hunch that won’t happen… and by the rumors by the handful of bloggers that *really* sleep with Nokia, I’m sad to say it looks like it won’t be a handset at all.  That might make too much sense.

Then what could it be?

You’ve likely forgotten by now (or never heard about) Nokia’s "Comes With Music" program.  To refresh, this service allows you to download music to your device for 12 months, and keep the tunes as long as you own the device or transfer the tracks to a PC.  This could be the launch of the service with already-known handsets that are now ready to ship.  That’s my only guess at an announcement that might generate some buzz, that isn’t a new product itself.

That’s all fine and dandy, but I still wish it was a device… one that would help ward off the purchase that I and a few gazillion others will make next Friday morning.

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Click to Play Elsiane - "Mend"

When I went to see Robyn on Montreal, I walked into La Tulipe and instantly heard an amazing voice booming through the speakers.  Montreal duo Elsiane was the opening act, and I think audience was surprised at just how engrossed they’d become.

People stood, staring at the group’s lead singer Elsieanne Caplette, as she crept and swayed around on the stage… more a musical creature more than a band vocalist.  The crowd applauded madly between songs, but stood in awe watching as she oozed each song.

Thanks to a comment from a fellow blogger Adam (thanks!), I was able to track down this band - he too, was impressed with Elsiane, and posted an entry about it.  I loved her live performance, I felt compelled to share my favorite track.  Her voice is so bizarre and haunting, we weren’t sure at first if she was even singing in English.  Many of her songs, are almost a dual between her voice as an instrument, and the jazzy, flowing percussion.

If you like what you hear, check out other tracks on their myspace, and catch them at a live gig - though I didn’t see a lot of tour dates.

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Bastards!  First the bad news.

Below are the newly announced Canadian iPhone pricing plans offered by Rogers and Fido. 

Stupid overpriced.

Yeah, no unlimited data, so don’t get too excited about that 3G capability… the greedy GSM monopoly wants to make sure Canada stays naked and chained to the floor, like a good little bitch.

And for those of you that haven’t seen how expensive even calling minutes are here, look at the $60 plan.  150 daytime minutes!  Wow, unlimited voicemail!  We still get CHARGED for caller ID though. 

There is a tiny bit of good news, despite all this. I’ve surveyed a few of my iPhone-toting buddies, and it looks like unmonitored users that browse and email as much as they would like, don’t seem to be using all that much data… at least not in GB/mo.  I’ve heard in the year that they’ve had the phone, they seem to average 100-400MB of traffic a month, surprisingly.  If you have a wireless network at work and home, I can see how it could be pretty easy to keep the rates darn low without even trying, using it just for the web browsing, email, and mapping on the go as much as you please.  But if you ride the bus and love youtube, these prices it might be an issue.

***Question to Current iPhone users in the US***… how much data are YOU using per month?  There’s a setting on your phone that shows the usage…toss it in the comments, let us in the Great White North know what we’re in for.

$60 Voice/Data
150 daytime + Unlimited Evenings/Weekends
400MB data
75 Sent text messages
Unlimited incoming text messages
Unlimited Voicemail

$75 Voice/Data
300 daytime + Unlimited Evenings/Weekends
750MB data
100 Sent text messages
Unlimited incoming text/voicemail

$100 Voice/Data
600 daytime + Unlimited Evenings/Weekends
1GB data
200 Sent text messages
Unlimited incoming text/voicemail

$115 Voice/Data
800 daytime + Unlimited Evenings/Weekends
2GB data
300 Sent text messages
Unlimited incoming text/voicemail

Pricing includes:
- unlimited Wi-Fi access at all Rogers and Fido Hotspots.

Two voice value packs:
$15/month: Caller ID, Who Called, Caller Ring Trax, 2,500 Sent Text Messages and 2,500 Call Forwarding Minutes
$20/month: Caller ID, Who Called, Caller Ring Trax, 10,000 Sent Text Messages and 6:00 p.m. Early Evening Calling and 2,500 Call Forwarding Minutes.

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Thanks to a sweet note passed by a loyal blog reader and commenter, here’s a fun treat you can’t miss.

MSN has posted almost all of the live concert Robyn performed last month in LA, during her North American tour.  I saw her in Montreal, and it was ridiculously good.  It was in a smaller venue than this was filmed, and the crowd was nuttier.. it was clear we were all Robyn-crazy.  But in case you wanted to see what you missed, here ya be!

New to Robyn?  Click on Cobrastyle, Handle Me, Be Mine, and With Every Heartbeat. 

Already a huge Robyn fan but wanna see something fresh you might have missed, not catching the show?  Don’t miss Medley, Dream On, Show Me Love.

Robyn - Live from the Wiltern in LA
(be sure to click the larger-view button on the bottom right of the video)

It’s hard to say what her best tracks are.  I fell hard once I saw the girl-in-a-box music video for Handle Me, and was singing Bum Like You for weeks after I heard it.  In a good way.  Madonna and Janet really can’t pay enough producers to make an album like this.  Best pop album of the year, said without any hesitation.

Yes, top of her performing her *amazing* new album filled with songs that could pretty much ALL be singles… she does an encore with a plinking ballad version of her 90’s pop hit "Show Me Love"… a quirky homage to an old song, showing where she’s come from and where’s she’s rocked to, since leaving her major label to start her own bigger, badder movement.

*Note: Looks like you’ll need IE or Firefox to view the video - sorry Safari users, you should have a back-up browser anyway :)

Check the scenario, she gon’bust yer ear drum.

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