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and if they try to slow you down, tell them all to go to hell

Posted in music, tagged , on March 26, 2012| 1 Comment »


Mark it zero Dude… on May 15th I’ll be making my way to Ditch Records for the new Japandroids 7-inch… “The House That Heaven Built.”  Record, Celebration Rock, is out on June five.

The first single is blowing my mind… and its not even 2PM on a MONDAY! (and I got a few more songs to tell you about…)

The boys said their next record would be an uplifting party MoFo.

Brian King to Pitchfork: “But when you play for a group of people, and they’re singing the words that you wrote back to you, it just makes you feel a little bit less embarrassed of what you were trying to do. It’s something to celebrate. So, going into this album, we had a bit more confidence in ourselves and what we were doing.”

Japandroids – “The House That Heaven Built”

Kowabunga, its so good.  Kind of reminds me a bit of The Gaslight Anthem a bit?  But more rocking.  Can.Not.Wait for the new record.


A few days before I buy the Japandroids single… May 8th, new Silversun Pickups album called Neck of the Woods.
The new single is a pleasant listen… its not “Lazy Eye” or “Panic Switch” … heck I prefer “Broken Bottles” over a lot of SSPU songs, but this first single “Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)” is an airy fuzzed out jammer.

You’re getting that classic SSPU sound but I am pulling threads of modern indie rock out of this song for sure.  I don’t think, when you lay this song down beside the great body of Silversun music, you are getting a timeless career single.  But you are getting a fairly accessible light guitar rocker.  I’ll take it and give a guarded optimism rating for the record in may.

Silversun Pickups – “Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)


Lastly… I made a mixtape of the new music I put on my home playlist over the past week-ish.

Mixcloud: Mixtape >> Do Not Disassemble

So much new music today! I actually have  afew more for you, but alas, I’m outta time right now so tomorrow we’ll have a listen to new Wintersleep and Temper Trap.

Go with yourself.

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The Dudes talk new record and “American Girls”

Posted in music, tagged , on March 23, 2012| 2 Comments »


The Dudes are cool.  Listen to this!

Soundcloud >> Danny from The Dudes

Easy peasy…. go with yourself.

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M83 – Reunion Remix and Plants and Animals LIVE

Posted in music, neat-O gang, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on March 21, 2012| 1 Comment »


I don’t know who Annie Mac is, but I love her.  She has an accent and sounds like a sexy Replicant!

Annie Mac hosts a dance music show in England on the BBC.  Turns out I have a Annie Mac megamix on my iTunes of a Vampire Weekend/Lykki Li mash-up song she did.  Solid.

I was reading on Pitchfork about M83 doing a remix of the song “Reunion.”  They also are performing in Vancouver on April 27th at the Vogue.  Not sure if I’ll be able to make that show, but damn, I sure wish I could.  The sample of the Reunion (Mylo Remix) that Pitchfork links to is a rip from Annie Mac’s show Friday night and posted to Youtube.  Gosh dang, Annie Mac has a smooth voice, I’ll forgive the M-8-3 when she introduces the song (unless of course they pronounce their band name that way…in which case, please forgive me).

M83 – “Reunion (Mylo Remix)”

Download MP3 >> M83 – Reunion (Mylo Remix)

***


Plants and Animals were in town yesterday to perform at a packed Lucky Bar.  Being an old man, I only stayed for part of the set then had to retire.  Just HAD to… so tuckered out.  I am so thankful they were able to stop by my radio show to perform my current favourite “Light Show” just for me (and you).  Its not our best mix job here at the radio factory… but still, sounds pretty good.

Soundcloud >> Plants and Animals on the ZAS

***

Read THIS ARTICLE in the New York Times about the Old Fashioned cocktail.

Now I want to see if Ryan at Sauce will let me make a Don Draper Old Fashioned.

Surely, Don Draper, the essence of the Esquire Man, would have been acquainted with this compendium. Mr. Draper has been shown making his preferred drink, step by step, only once, in Season 3. His execution wasn’t the daintiest, but it was probably period-correct. He used rye, diluted the drink with club soda and muddled the cherry.

***

Lastly… do I have any angel investors reading my blog?  I have two price points for you to show your love.

01) $20 million dollars.

Recently it was announced that Canadian mega corporation Bell wants to buy Canadian mega  corporation Astral.  Neat.  However… both companies already own a Clear Channel-esqueian amount of radio stations as is… and the Government will likely force Bell to divest itself of a few frequencies.

I propose that YOU give me something like $20 million… I buy the Shore (for way less than the $20 milli, don’t worry, I need the rest to buy a house with a waterfall)… turn it into the radio version of this here blog… and like, I’ll totally pay you back.

02) $4,230 (plus tax and shipping!)

To buy THIS!  First release?  THIS! (on coral coloured marbled 7-inch)

Go with yourself.

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I feel the pain of everyone

Posted in music, tagged , , , , , , on March 15, 2012| 5 Comments »

Oh man, last night was terrible.  I must have been experiencing a bout of anxiety or something, but I had the stresses and could not sleep.  Hard to breathe, hot, tight chest…I couldn’t fall asleep till close to 4AM then Coral was waking me at 6:30 when she got up.  Just a long, miserable, lonely night.

But I did do two things before this panic set in.  I watched the film Young Adult and I downloaded Dinosaur Jr’s “Feel The Pain.”

The movie is about a 30-something writer (Charlize Theron) who comes back to the small Minnesota town where she grew up to try and win back her married high school sweetheart.

Tragic hilarity. I really enjoyed it.

The film is heavy on 90s nostalgia rock.  The de facto theme song is 1991’s Teenage Fanclub single “The Concept.”

Teenage Fanclub – “The Concept”

The song comes from the record Bandwagonesque which in 1991, beat out Nirvana‘s Nevermind in Spin Magazine as “Album of the Year.” Neat.

The movie takes place in Minnesota, so that means a Replacements‘ song.  “Achin To Be.”  Good pick.

AND, Dinosaur Jr‘s “Feel The Pain” dials in as well.

Dinosaur Jr – “Feel The Pain”

“Feel The Pain” was Dinosaur Jr’s biggest modern rock hit…. peaking at #4 in ’94. It is also the only Dinosaur song we have on the playlist at The Zone!

What’s especially neat about these two songs… “The Concept” and “Feel The Pain” is that Teenage Fanclub is/was often compared to Dinosaur Jr… and with these two songs, I think you can really hear some similarities.  Especially, when it comes to the guitar noodling.

OK, that’s all I got.  Its like noon right now, and I am so tired.  And still so much to do today and tonight.

Go with yourself.

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Days when it seems you’re on your own with no one else

Posted in Dave Babych, music, The Zone @ 91-3, tagged , , , , on March 14, 2012| Leave a Comment »


Its been my mantra for awhile now…. the hazier, the better.

Anything that reminds me of 80s alt-rock or 90s indie/lo-fi is going to work in my earbuds right now.

Reading about Hot-lanta guitarist Lockett Pundt’s solo project Lotus Plaza got me excited to check out the single “Strangers.”

Pitchfork “Best New Tracked” the first single from his second record Spooky Action at a Distance.  Lets have a listen shall we.

Lotus Plaza – “Strangers” (soundcloud stream)

Jangly, fuzzy, hazy… like the heat rising off the pavement in summer.

***

Finally got a chance to jam out another episode of Hockey! with Jeremy.  Madelyn asked me how they make the ice in the hockey rink for a Victoria Royals hockey game… I go and find out… and maybe get a forth job?

Soundcloud >> Hockey! with Jeremy 09 – Making Ice

I love your face.

Go with yourself.

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And you coming back to me, is against all odds, but its the chance I have to take

Posted in music, tagged , , , , , , on March 12, 2012| 2 Comments »


Growing up in the wilderness territory East of Burnaby… my folks used to listen to AM radio.  1410 CFUN.  Pretty much every morning and in the car.  Fred and Cathy in the morning, soft favourites the rest of the time.  I wouldn’t really consider myself an expert on the love songs of the 80s… but weirdly, I seem to know them all… because I heard them all getting shuttled to and from swimming lessons at Canada Games Pool or skating at the Coquitlam main rink.

Back in the summer…I broadcast my show from Pickers Consignment.  They have a fairly extensive collection of previously loved vinyl and lots of 45s.  After my show, the guys let me pick out a stack and I pulled out a bunch of stuff that I sort of recognized.  Like Phil Collins.

In the early 80s… Phil Collins had two interesting things happen to him.  He had a horrible divorce from his Canadian wife, and he began a solo career.  Phil Collins had been fronting Genesis but during his divorce he wrote a series of very personal and dark songs that were released as his first record, Face Value.

“I had a wife, two children, two dogs, and the next day I didn’t have anything. So a lot of these songs were written because I was going through these emotional changes.”

Face Value became a hit record and encouraged Phil to continue this solo path (while still playing drums for Genesis alum Peter Gabriel and working with Genesis).  It also brought him in contact with director Taylor Hackford who was given a list of Atlantic records artists to use for a film he was working on… Phil Collins was on that list.

Before Jeff Bridges was “The Dude” he was a movie actor (I know right?).  In 1984 he played washed up pro-football player Terry Brogan in the movie Against All Odds. (Did you see the movie Tron and wonder how they made Jeff Bridges look young? It was footage from this film they used for young Bridges)

Hackford had used a signature song for a previous film (An Officer and a Gentleman) and wanted something for his new project.  Having heard Phil Collins in Genesis he asked if Phil Collins if he had anything.  Phil had a song from his Face Value sessions called “How Can You Just Sit There.”  Phil watched a preview of the movie “Against All Odds,” rearranged and retitled the song.  Recorded it in two days, mixed it over the phone and bingo-bongo, his first Billboard Number 1 hit and a timeless breakup power ballad was born.

Phil Collins – “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)”

Download crackly 45 MP3 >> Phil Collins – Against All Odds

Poking around the internet reading about this Phil Collins classic, I discovered more than a few cover songs.  One interestingly celebrated version comes from another soundtrack, 20 years later.  Wicker Park.

For this film, The Postal Service breaks it down.

The Postal Service – “Against All Odds (Take a Look At Me Now)”

Download MP3 >> Postal Service – Against All Odds

There you go… not sure if you are going through a breakup right now or not… but here are a couple emotional pull sof the heart-string for you.

Go with yourself.

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Mr. Dream is a self-plowing rock band from Brooklyn (and Four Tet/Burial)

Posted in music, tagged , , , , , , , , , on March 7, 2012| Leave a Comment »


I am doing that #MarchPhotoADay thing on my twitter.  Good times.  Every day there is a theme and you take a picture about it.  Fun!

I have a couple songs for you today… two very different styles.

Lets get started talking about one of my favourite chill beat mongers, Four Tet. The UK producer and DJ teamed up with Burial for a song called “Nova.” The song will likely show up on Four Tet’s Text Records.

Burial + Four Tet – “Nova”

Download MP3 (low quality) >> Burial and Four Tet

This song kind of reminds of the grey days leading up to spring.  Spring is coming to Victoria, but ain’t here yet!  (heck there was a light dusting of snow the other day).

You got that signature Four Tet beat and the ghostly samples and glitches of Burial.  Basically everything about both performers I like, in one song.  I remember when Four Tet toured to Vancouver… and I think played at The Biltmore?  Oh man, it will forever be a shame that I didn’t rally to hit the show.  In my defense… he played on a February 24th… Madelyn’s birthday.  Just couldn’t do it.

I change gears for a record I read about the other day on Pitchfork.

The writer didn’t jive on the record, but in explaining their distaste they kinda sold me on the disc.  The group is called Mr. Dream and their EP is Fatherland.

The critique is that band sounded a bit like a second-rate 80s vintage Homestead Records band.  Sounds like my kind of band.

I started poking around the other day on Homestead because they are an important record label based out of New York for alternative music in the 80s.  They feature prominently in the lore of the time in outsider music.  Gerald Cosloy ran the label during a lot of important years and was instrumental in the early days of Dinosaur Jr.  Awesome.

It was Dinosaur Jr that inspired me to try and learn guitar… and to hear a band that borrows heavily from that era but is modern sounds exceptionally intriguing to me.

Poking around more, and Colsoy’s story intersects again… as he is a part-owner of today’s influential indie record label, Matador Records.  And then it just all makes sense.  matador is home (or was home) to a lot of bands that I love.  Namely Interpol (currently) and Spoon (formally).  But click the link and you’ll see a pretty select roster of bands.

Very cool.

Back to Mr. Dream, the band out of Brooklyn NYC… are a couple Pitchfork writers (which is funny, because Pitchfork ripped them)… which goes to show, judging music is easier than making it (or at least a very different skill set).

I like Mr. Dream… but mostly because I like the style and era they are trying to replicate.  And if I ever get half decent at guitar, might try for something similar (but with a Four Tet beat? haha)

Mr. Dream – “Fatherland”

Download MP3 >> Mr Dream – Fatherland

OK… Mr. Dream only has like a 1,000 something followers… so I need to get my band fired up fast so I can can offer SOMETHING and tour with them playing 80’s alt rock!

That’s all I got… I am off on a little holiday tomorrow and Friday… Coral is taking me to a Canucks game. We’ll eat street food, drink beers, maybe hit the Red Wagon… I might go for a soak in the hot tub at my sister’s place, and generally act like a tourist with 48 hours to cause trouble  Vancouver friends… if you’re downtown Thursday night…look for Hurricane Coral, I’ll be holding onto a lamp post or sturdy hipster near that!

See you at Veneto on Friday night.

Go with yourself.

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French Indo Burma PUNK

Posted in music, tagged , , , on March 6, 2012| 1 Comment »


I listen to a LOT of CBC.  During the day its all… “blah blah blah important stuff….”

During the witching hours its all… “blah blah blah less important stuff…”

But that less important stuff can be pretty neat.  Take the show they air called Public Radio International.  They have correspondents all over the world talking usually, politics and music.  And usually they work the two into a story. Or at least they seem to every Friday at 1:45AM when I’m listening.  Last week they talked about a Burmese punker band called Side Effect.

In Canada, when we talk “punk rock” its either in the historical sense… like the pioneering punks that overcame the social norms of the time to rock.

Or maybe we talk about the modern punkers which is really more a fashion style or a caricature of the punks of yore.

Then I heard about Side Effect and went whoa…

Burma is now called Myanmar and since 1962-ish till just recently it was ruled by a military junta that oppressed the people,  was a barrier to freedom and retarded the economy.  The results of years of disservice is a society that has one of the worst health care systems, is poor, and rife with child labour, human rights and human trafficking abuses.

Last year, the military government was replaced by a civilian one and slowly, Myanmar is stepping into the year 2012.  One way… is with punk band Side Effect.

Just some young bros trying to make music in Yangon.

Listen to this PRI story.

Righteous.  These guys could just “disappear” for stepping out of line, yet they feel compelled to create.

AND the radio show features Montreal band the Handsome Furs!

The Handsome Furs traveled to Yangon and hung out with Side Effect.  and Side Effect did a pretty choice cover of “Radio Kaliningrad.”

Side Effect – “Radio Kaliningrad” (Handsome Furs cover)

Download MP3 >> Side Effect Radio Kaliningrad

Pretty cool… I like American music too Side Effect.

Go with yourself.

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Check out this M83 remix of “Midnight City”

Posted in music, tagged , , , , on March 5, 2012| Leave a Comment »


What a wonderful weekend.  Had lots of opportunity to hang out with Madelyn and Coral.  We did some swimming, record shopping, thrift-storing (now a verb!) and coffee stops.  Saturday night was the co-op pre-school fundraiser.  Being the resident DJ Dad in the school, I got the gig of jamming the tunes.  I’ll tell ya, that was a night.  These folks went hard and raged it.  Lots of Moms having a couple and getting weirdly close-talky to request Flo Rida cuts…should be an interesting Tuesday morning dropping Maddy off.

The night had good energy. I think any party where the beer comes in a can and the wine comes in a box will end well.  Coral bounced a little early to hit the Acres of Lions show and I rushed there as soon as I could to hear the last four or five songs.  Wild.

Also on the weekend I got to punch up M83 on the modern rock countdown.  It was fantastic to get a flood of positive reaction from Zoners jiving on the cut, “Midnight City”.

Watch Midnight City on Carson Daily

The album Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming came out last fall… but as often happens with these things, sometimes it takes some time for the great songs to reverberate.

The song “Midnight City” is moving up the modern rock charts in the US pretty fiercely, propelled by its Phoenix-esque hazy vintage synth sounds.

Like an good electronic jingle… there is a remix.  Check out this one.

M83 – “Midnight City” (Eric Prydz Remix)

Download MP3 (low quality) >> M83 – Midnight City (Eric Prydz Remix)

Go with yourself.

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nobody knows you and nobody gives a damn

Posted in music, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 29, 2012| Leave a Comment »


Montreal’s Plants and Animals will come to Victoria on March 20th for a show at Lucky Bar. The same place I saw P&A years ago… and the show was so impressive.

I had heard their music from the acclaimed 2008 record Parc Avenue. But I didn’t know what to expect.  I assumed they were a giant jam band for some reason…well they do have lengthy jams, but I guess I expected more.  When they came to Victoria, there was just three of them.  Very rock & roll looking, in that working class sense of the word.  The show expanded my mind, two times (and I bought the t-shirt… and a t-shirt for my Dad).

Since that time, I have followed along on the band’s journey.  Enjoying 2010’s La La Land, and now getting excited for The End of That.

Today, Lyle at EMI sent some vinyl copies of their LP and a stack of 45s for the single “Light Show.”  How old school, I love it. Thank you Lyle!

I immediately retired to the Zone studio where we keep our turntable (yup… we have a turntable.  I wonderful Technics, plus Boitano’s DJ set up with a pair of Stanton’s and Serato Scratch).  I dropped the needle on the b-side of the “Light Show” single.  Right away the lead singer Warren Spicer sets the stage at a live show…  “This is a cover.  By one of the first bands that took us out on tour. And showed us how to rock as it were. One of the best Montreal bands that there is.”

Plants and Animals – “I’ll Believe in Anything” (Wolf Parade cover)

Download MP3 >> Plants and Animals – I’ll Believe in Anything

The original song was an old Sub Pop single originally from 2005’s Apologies to the Queen Mary. Listening to the P&A version… just makes me want to hear the strained yelp of the Wolf Parade original.  The P&A version makes the song a little more humanistic and easier to digest for sure.  But I do like the weirdo jams of Wolf Parade too…

Go with yourself.

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