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When you came in, the air went out

Posted in music, tagged , , , , , , , on September 19, 2011| 1 Comment »


Finished the most mighty of weekends… a couple fundraisers and a couple weddings made for a busy 4 days.  Somewhere in that mix I had to try and be a dad and do you know… my actual job on the Zone.

Focus was required, but hard to come by as I have my eyes firmly planted on Friday, September 23rd… Rifflandia!

OK, so Rifflandia actually begins on the Thursday, Friday is when Boitano and me DJ at the Phillips Brewery stage.  Friday night at 9PM.  After DJ Anger… and later that night; Michael Rault then one of our favourites at the Zone, Toronto’s Ko takes the stage.  Boitano says that Broken Social Scene ends just as we start… so I get if you have them as a “must see!” but maybe you’ll truly endeavour to bee-line to Phillips to catch the end of our set.  We’d really love to see some friendlies in the audience.

For our set… we are thinking that we’ll mainly try and focus on Modern Rock Remixes (Think Boitano’s Mixtape) to keep us on point for people that come to check us out.  That said… well I love my modern electronic stuff from M83 and the new Neon Indian.  I’ll try to squish them in if I can… early in the set.

I did fin a monster remix of the True Blood soundtrack!  Heavy electronic… and Vampires!  Oh My!

Jace Everett – “Bad Things” (Mister Gray Dubstep Remix)

Download MP3 >> Bad Things (True Blood Theme) (Mister Gray Dubstep Remix)

Savage.  I heard that jammer on the XM Alt Nation remix show on Saturday night.  DJ Liquid also played this remix from Oasis.

Oasis – “Wonderwall” (Figure Drumstep edit)

Download MP3 >> Wonderwall (Figure Drumstep Edit)

I’ll be choosing about half the songs so I want to include M83‘s “Midnight City” because I am obsessed.

Another song I am enjoying is Neon Indian’s “Polish Girl.”

Neon Indian – “Polish Girl”

Download MP3 >> 02 Polish Girl

I also have a remix of Two Door Cinema Club‘s “What You Know.”

OK so that is almooooooost 30 minutes.  Any requests?  And before you ask, yes I have made a commitment to end the set with Brian McNight’s 1999 slow jam anthem “Back At One.” (uhhhh if Boitano will let me and the people don’t have a revolution against me).

Right, requests… whaddya got?

Go with yourself.

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Its war where nobody dies. What’s not to love about sports?

Posted in music, neat-O gang, tagged on September 14, 2011| Leave a Comment »


God bless Radiolab… blowing my mind about Games… and sports.

They have this mucky-muck on the show talking about 3 year olds… and how they are pure improv.  Just making shit up and being in a constant state of invention.  Being the parent of a 3 year old, I love it.  I laugh dozens of times a day because of the weirdness that comes out of Madelyn’s mouth.

By 6 years old… kids are all about games with rules.  Playing tag and someone is “it” and when you get tagged… then you’re “it.”  Basically mimicking our lame life of laws and rules and signs and all that bullshit.

Now the mucky-muck says the best games, the ones we love and that stick around, are the ones that skirt between imagination and rules.

Crazy right?

So then they get going about Chess.  And how mathematically there are a bunch of moves that have a pretty standard series of actions and reactions.  But in chess… the players battle and can move past these moves till they get to a chess position where they are in a unique place.  Where the series of moves from here on out are not part of any pre-determined pattern.  This place is called the “novelty.”  When the chess game hits this point… the players are in a state of free form and imagination.

So Crazy right?

Cypress Hill – “Checkmate”

***

Go with yourself.

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We’ll take whatever you got

Posted in music, tagged , on September 13, 2011| 4 Comments »


I read a great article in National Geographic the other night on my couch (hmmm fitting I guess)… It was a story about workout music and the studies of sport psychologist Costas Karageorghis.

Basically he says first, what we all know… music during a workout is good.  Especially those 120-140 BPM songs (beats-per-minute).  A song in that sweet spot is what so much popular top 40 music sits at (great for dancing right… cardio).

But there is so much other insight.

Lyrics help.  A song with a message that is uplifting will propel you. (think Kanye West’s “Stronger”)

The beat of a song can make you a more efficient runner.  You are able to use music as a metronome to lock in your stride. (think some dubstep)

Silence can work for you.  It is helpful during times when there is no music, to imagine music!

You can listen to music when you’re sitting on the couch thinking of working out… you start with a slower BPM and work up as your workout improves.  But a great song that inspires you will get you excited to hit that treadmill. (Think the Rocky Theme)

Women and Men use workout music differently (because women are from Venus and Men are from Mars.)  Males tend to be more rock & roll and women tend toward pop.  Men pick music based on the sub-culture and the image they want to project.  Women tend to pick music based on emotions.

For a high intensity work out, you’ll want to ramp up the BPMs… 168 plus.  What kind of song sits up there?  Try The White Stripe’s 193 BPM ripper… “Rag and Bone.”  SWA?  really? … really.

Karageorghis was on NPR Radio in the USA to talk about this and he dives into the science.

NPR: Maximizing your workout with the right tunes

My favourite part is when they “go the phones” and some hipster is like… “I jam out all these post-punk bands you’ve never heard of.”

and the doctor is like… yeah those are not good work out songs.

Go with yourself.

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all that time that we wasted, if I could have it back, I’d love to waste it again

Posted in Jeremy Baker, music, tagged , , , on September 13, 2011| 1 Comment »


I go through little phases where I love and then love less… the Arcade Fire‘s The Suburbs record.  Right now, it is back to friends on.  Friends way on.

Sometimes it just takes a lyric to get me to get interested in a song and I heard it listening to the Arcade Fire’s title track the other day on the radio.

“So can you understand?
Why I want a daughter while I am still young
I wanna hold her hand
and show her some beauty
before this damage is done.”

Wow right?

Listening to that song the other day while driving gave me goose bumps.  And its funny because I have listened to not only the record, but that song in particular… infinity times… but just the other day those lines jumped out of my speakers and into my head.

Arcade Fire – “The Suburbs”

I love the entire concept of this album as a “letter from the the suburbs.”  Having spent my formative years trolling the streets of Coquitlam (a suburb of Vancouver) so many themes of the record hold elemental truths for me.  Like the ideas of the song “The Suburbs (continued).

“If I could have it back
All the time that we wasted
I’d only waste it again
If I could have it back
You know I’d love to waste it again
Waste it again and again and again

I’ve got to ask
Sometimes I can’t believe it
I’m moving past the feeling again
Sometimes I can’t believe it
I’m moving past the feeling again
Sometimes I can’t believe it…”

***

Some interesting and exciting news today.  An artist had to cancel at this year’s Rifflandia Festival and so DJ Boitano and myself were asked to DJ.

We’ll be operating as “Zone DJs Jeremy & Boitano” and you can find us Friday, September 23rd on The Phillips Brewery Stage.  I do believe the idea for the set will be modern rock remixes.

We just got added today so that means our set is in a week and half!  We’ll be preparing a setlist this week and we’re both pretty jazzed.  It should be a great party and I hope that if you’re reading this blog, then that means you’ll care enough to make the time to join us.

Go with yourself.

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is that anyway to tell me you’ll be a terrible friend

Posted in music, tagged , , on September 8, 2011| 5 Comments »


Boss Man John brought this record to our music meeting yesterday and after a day to let ferment, I think I like.

Rock & roll duo The Generationals put out a record back in April called Actor-Caster.  It garnered some favourable reviews and a little press in the right places.

Their style definitely borrows from the vintage pop rock sounds of the 60s.  Boss Man seemed to think it would make for a great radio single because of the vibe it would set as the soundtrack to whatever you’re getting up to.  I’d imagine that an instrumental version of this song could be a future music bed for Pol’s show.

Because they are so darned happy, you can bet your bottom dollar that their music has been used to sell us things… but yummy things like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (mmm I love those).

I found a free download for you… so have a listen to this!

The Generationals – “Ten-Twenty-Ten”

Download MP3 >> ten twenty ten

…because one is never enough I also tracked this older jam (which I might like better?)

The Generationals – “When They Fight, They Fight”

Download MP3 >> Generationals – When They Fight They Fight

***


In other music loving news…

I am a mega Damien Rice fan.  Never heard of the guy before I started dating Coral back in 2006.  She used to put this record on when I was at her place and through osmosis it stuck.  They used to also play it at Starbucks pretty heavy around the time I worked at the Shelbourne shop (the second time).

9 Crimes is a magical record and side-one/track-one is the single “9 Crimes.”

All these years, I never bothered to learn that there is a “hidden” song.  A demo of the single.  I was listening to KCRW yesterday and this weird version of the song came on the mix.  When the jock came on he said that this demo is featured on the True Blood soundtrack volume 3… of course it is.

Damien Rice – “9 Crimes (demo)“

Poking around the net I found out the they pressed the single on a 7 inch clear vinyl.  Oh I want that!

Go with yourself.

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I’m in his favourite sundress, watching me get undressed

Posted in music, tagged , on September 8, 2011| 6 Comments »


The internet is all in a lather over the latest “it” girl to hit the blogosphere.  Such a pretty song… The artist is Brooklyn singer Lana Del Rey and the song is “Video Games.”  The song is a melancholy, achy, sultry, vintage… I dunno… other descriptions.  I’ve had it on repeat the last few days.

Pitchfork had a chance to declare her “rising” at the end of August.

Of all the articles I’ve read on Lana Del Rey, Pitchfork cuts right to it the best… even coming out swinging with the… “are you a corporate construct built to trick horny virginal video game playing hipsters?”

The song is pretty choice and the video is even more fun.

Lana Del Rey – “Video Games”

Go with yourself.

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Oxford, Mississippi

Posted in music, tagged , , , , on August 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »


Blogging the other day about the Japandroids/Bass Drum of Death show… I thought I better track down an MP3 for you to check out.

Obviously, I love Japandroids, so it isn’t too much of a stretch for me to get into this bratty rocker.

Bass Drum of Death – “Get Found”

Download MP3 >> 02-Get-Found

I think if you like Queens of the Stone Age, Middle Class Rut or Eagles of Death Metal… this song should make sense for you.

Go with yourself.

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I submit that my incentive was romance.

Posted in music, tagged , , on August 30, 2011| 2 Comments »


Normally, I am a lyrics guy.  I pay attention to what is being said in a song.  And a song with a great story will usually capture my imagination (or romantic songs… awwww).

I was mighty surprised that is took a cover of a classic favourite from Interpol to actually get what the song was about.

Malaysian singer-song writer and all-around adorable human Zee Avi recently covered break-out single from the moody Manhattaites.

Zee Avi – “Slow Hands”

Download MP3 >> zee_avi_slow_hands_acoustic

And here is a link to the Interpol original to compare and contrast… “Slow Hands.”

Wow.  I’ve heard the Interpol original infinity times and never thought it was a love song.  I just thought it was hipster jibberish that required a degree in Ottoman Turk studies from Columbia to understand.

Lyrically, its a very pretty song.  When Zee Avi tackles it, the song takes on whole new meaning and brightens up considerably.

Go with yourself.

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Will We Find Our Way Back Home?

Posted in music, tagged , , , , on August 29, 2011| 3 Comments »

photo: Lucas Kitchen

I interrupt not blogging for most of August to bring you this.

The Japandroids changed my life for the better Sunday night at Lucky Bar in Victoria.

Japandroids are one of my favourite bands and I have never had the chance to see them live.  Always, always… I was either working, found out about show after it was sold out or they cancelled.  I was so excited to see that the one little whole I had in my schedule this summer was on the exact day the Japandroids would roll into Victoria.

I met up with Michelle and Lucas Kitchen just in time to see the supporting band, Mississippi’s Bass Drum of Death.

Wow.  What a savage fuzzed out rock & roll sound to get amped on the Japandroids too.

I knew was going to get into it when second song in… the Droids drop my favourite song, “Younger Us.”

Japandroids – “Younger Us”

Download MP3 >> Japandroids-Younger_Us

There is nothing like going to a show to see a band you truly love.  I knew the words to almost every song they played… and yeah, they played “Younger Us.”  I am a happy cat today.  I wore a Japandroids shirt to work.


Go with yourself.

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M83 is 6 times Supernova

Posted in music, tagged , , , , on August 9, 2011| 3 Comments »


Somewhere out in the vastness of space… maybe 15 million light years from Earth is the spiral galaxy Messier 83.  This galaxy contains six, count ’em, SIX supernovae.  That is a party to the 6th power… AND multiple supernovas is spelled supernovae… or something like that.  Mental.

Messier 83 gets cut down to M83 for French multi-instrumentaliest Anthony Gonzalez’s dream pop/electro project.

M83 started making music back in 2001… but he didn’t start getting traction till 2005.  He got his hands dirty remixing other artist’s work.  Check out this epic remix of Bloc Party’s “The Pioneers” from Silent Alarm.  Whoa.

Bloc Party – “The Pioneers (M83 Remix)

2008 saw the release of Saturdays = Youth which is a great album.  A super duper dreamy 80s electro-pop superset… then years.  Now it is time for his 6th album, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming.

The first single is a free download if you’ll throw M83 your email.  Small price to pay for a song that is garnering exceptionally high buzz around the internerd.

M83 – “Midnight City”

This disco-hipster romp is living on repeat right now on my MP3 machine.  I think if I met Anthony I’d call him Tony and we’d be friends.  He says that his new record was inspired by The Smashing Pumpkins 1996 record Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.

Gonzalez says,  “I saw when I was a teenager that I could dig into [the album]. It was like a treasure. If I were a teenager nowadays, I would try to find something as creative as this album. They had so much to say in their songs.”

Shut the front door Tony! I really dug into Mellon Collie as a teenager too… and the teenager living in me still wants to tuck into something as epic.  With your sexy saxophone fade out at the end of this song (saxophones are so hot right now) I can already tell I’ll love this new record (due out on October 18.  Vancouver show on November 12th).

yes, yes and yes.  This just another song that inspires me to make-out.

***

Earlier today I posted about how great Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m Going Down” is… and a cover from Vampire Weekend.  Remember that?  I sure do.

Facebook friend and humanitarian Danika Whatsherface sent me a link to Florence Welch (Florence + The Machine) covering the song.

Florence Welch & Kid Harpoon – “I’m Going Down”

Download MP3>> 01 I’m Goin’ Down 1

That’s all I got.  Go with yourself.

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