Glee TV star Cory Monteith and his band Bonnie Dune stopped by my radio show today for a special edition of My Turn.
Cory selected some of his favourite songs and hosted the show. Then his band performed a couple songs live on the radio (for I think the first time).
I captured all the talky bits, the live songs and then the studio Bonnie Dune cut as well. Its one 25 minute-ish file that you can download or stream.
My favourite part? Justin (lead singer/guitar) talking about his dream opening gig would be with Jimmy Eat World…. SWA? nice. Or Cory’s prediction that the Canucks take the San Jose Sharks in 4 games.
And Michael Reid of the Times Colonist wrote a great article with some background on Monteith, Bonnie Dune and a wonderful shout-out to The Zone: Times Colonist
I read on Pitchfork the other day about this Buddy Holly tribute record coming out.
Modest Mouse does an interesting Modest Mousey spin on “That’ll Be The Day.” In the article you had to go to KCRW’s website and fast forward to hear the song. Silly. So I recorded it and isolated the cut as best I could for you to listen to as a stream here.
Last Sunday, Coral and I packed up Mads for a Mother’s Day picnic out at Jordan River.
The nice scenic drive is a wonderful excuse to jam out a favourite record or two. Seeing as we’re off to see Jimmy Eat World in Vancouver over the May long, we punched up some JEW records.
Jimmy Eat World – “Always Be”
Coral’s fave is 2004’s Futures. It was a breakup record for her, and those always have a power of you. Futures also to me is the point in their career where shed a lot of indie production and arrangements for bigger, lush sounds and more complex melodies. If you punch up Bleed American and Futures back-to-back you’ll hear a higher “quality” on Futures.
Over time, my favourite JEW record is becoming Chase this Light. Coral said the great thing about Jimmy Eat World is that they can make you feel like the time you are living right now in the present, is the best time, or at least the most intense or important. Like this song here.
Jimmy Eat World – “Chase This Light”
The single off the record, “Big Casino” is one of the stronger radio songs in their catalog. But for me, one of their best songs off all their records is the slow jam that closes it all out.
Jimmy Eat World – “Dizzy”
This song reminds me of a slow dance at a junior highschool dance. remember those things? in gymnasiums?
Check this out… there is a girl on my facebook named Sundine Forsberg. That’s her real name, not some hockey obsessed pseudo-name. Crazy right?
She dropped an interesting MP3 down on my wall the other day.
Its a Dubstepped out version of Sublime’s “Santeria.”
I played this song to Jade and the first thing she said is, “hey, it has the dubstep sound.” Ain’t that a pip? The dubstep has a sound that every dubstep song uses. That’s too bad for that sub-genre. But to get geekier style, isn’t this song really Brostep? Which is basically accessible dubstep? And nothing is more “bro” than Sublime, period.
In other news and a little world away… I got an MP3 from Vancouver. A band called Southern Death Threat.
As the name already suggests, its hard rock. Not normally my style but I have found myself jamming this cut out a bit from time-to-time at work. At first, I punched it up out of morbid curiosity, but then, I dunno, it rooted in my brain.
My girl the Christi Wizard tried to tell me some fantastical fable about how Said the Whale took their band name from the lyric of a Hollerado song, “Walking on the Sea.”
Right? Fantastical?
First off… Said the Whale started in about 2007 and Hollerado maybe put their album out in what? 2010? 2009 tops. So never mind the implications that the Wizard’s charge might have on the space-time continuum…. it is just so improbable.
Second… I remembered that I am in fact super besties with Tyler. Well… Facebook friends. I asked him:
As my camping obsession continues to grow and await the final Canucks game (Game 4, Stanley Cup final… in Boston as the Nucks sweep)…. I’ve been wondering if there are any good camping songs or great outdoors anthems?
Yesterday I was dwelling on this very thought and trolling my Facebook when I saw a status from Christi Wizard: “A broken compass could mean spending the night.”
I thought, “isn’t that neat, the Wizard is into orienteering. huh, the things you learn about a person.”
Turns out its a Said the Whale song about hiking in the BC wilderness! Well… I think its a metaphor for other things… but if you take the song at face value, its totally about camping!
Said the Whale – “B.C. Orienteering”
STW’s nod to the beautiful British Columbia has me inspired to find other wonderous camping songs.
My ganger James Sutton over at the Peak in Vancouver posted this free MP3 download today. Kismet?
At the end of April, Chris Cornell performed a magical collection of songs at the sold-out Royal Theatre. He played a set that featured a diverse range of hits from his bands, solo creations and covers.
My brother CJ had the ear for the covers and picked them all out. The one that struck a chord with me the most was his take on Bruce Springsteen‘s 1982 song, “State Trooper.” You’ll find that song as cut 1, side 2 off the record Nebraska.
Bruce Springsteen – “State Trooper”
The stripped down, ghostly, folky Boss original is of course a classic… but when Chris Cornell launched into it live at the theatre; he injected it with a much needed shot of anger and desperation. As he yelped “Please don’t stop me…” wow.
I am not sure what exactly the original is about. I think CJ told me it might about being drunk-driving and getting pulled over. But I think it is more about someone needing to get somewhere quickly and the last thing they need right now is some agent of the government getting all righteous and holding them up.
Tonight, the Vancouver Canucks play one of the most pivotal games in their franchise history. Tonight is game 6 of their first round series against the Chicago Blackhawks. I have always believed that a winning hockey team is a combination of a lot of things. Strong offence, solid defence, coaching, depth, preparation… but let us not discount the all important, black magic.
This whole series, I have done my part crafting powerful audio incantations to try and get inside the heads of the Chicago Blackhawks to kick them in the mind, while simultaneously raise up the spirit of the Canucks.
As of late, my spells have fallen short… and so today I reach deep into my sack of warlock magic. I have created a set to bring some inspiration to all the long suffering Canucks fans out there in the 40 year drought territory.
Fore maximum effect, 30 some-odd minutes before game time, turn your TV to a hockey pre-game. Mute the television and hit play on this.
Stream from my Mixcloud >>Game 6 Download MP3 >>Game6
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DJ Notes
01) Frank Sinatra – “My Kind of Town”
02) Mark Wills – “I Hate Chicago”
03) Adele – “Rumour Has It”
04) Filter – “Hey Man, Nice Shot”
05) U2 – “Where The Streets Have No Name”
06) Megadeth – “Skin O My Teeth”
07) Metallica – “Seek and Destroy”
08) Pantera – “Walk”
09) Explosions in the Sky – “Your Hand in Mine”
10) Ennio Morricone – “Ecstasy of Gold”
The audio feature also contains lots of clips from the movie Slapshot, sports highlights and whatnot from TSN, Sportsnet Connected and ESPN. And I even drop some Coach Taylor wisdom from the NBC TV series Friday Night Lights.
I hope you enjoy the set and never forget…. Patrick Kane sucks.
Fast forward over 10 years, and here it is. The self titled record that picks up from where The Last of the Daydreams left off. It seems without missing a beat.
Principle By A Threader, John Franco, travels back on a historical road trip to find familiar styles and themes of 1999’s first record. When it came to Vancouver post-hardcore or post-punk… By A Thread to me, was the best.
To think back, By A Thread seemed to have a little of the wind at their back when it came to touring and buzz. But for whatever reason… after that first record, the party stopped.
Here I am over a decade later dropping the needle on a marbled grey vinyl platter. The style of this record has that familiar pained howl painted overtop the crashing jangle of the guitar. I wanted to share a couple cuts with you on this blog. It was hard to pick off the disc as many of the songs sound great.
I thought I should start at track one, side one. “Fashion” seems to be the most fun and maybe the closest to a feature track By A thread will get. Its not like they do singles, videos, radio, record promotors and all the trappings of a modern rock band. If there is a song that best encapsulates this record, “Fashion” would be.
I have a few other faves like “Dive In” or “Reign” and “Line Ups.”
As it stands for those keeping score in my quest to collect The Replacements discography on vinyl:
[ ] Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash
[X] Hootenanny [X] Let It Be
[X] Tim
[X] Please to Meet Me
[X]Don’t Tell a Soul
[ ] All Shook Down
Record Store Day was on Saturday… and yes I took a more than a few text messages from Kirsten to make my way down to Ditch Records at some bizarre hour to line-up.
Blah, I could not get out of bed to save my life Saturday morning, but I still had to take part.
When I finally rolled in around what? noon? Jeremy (hey same name as me!) said he had something special for me. Sure enough, the next and arguable most important treasure on my quest to collect the Replacements discography on vinyl. Their seminal 1984 record Let It Be.
When I first got into the Replacements later in my life, the first song I heard was track one, side one off this album, “I Will Dare.”
The Replacements – “I Will Dare”
This first song I heard on a compilation collection a bunch of years ago opened me up to what would become one of my favourite bands! It makes having this record so special in my collection.
I made a time late last night to make a cup of coffee (I didn’t want to fall asleep!) and drop the needle with my fancy headphones on and have a listen.
One thing that became clear… I need yet another record player and probably a much better amp. There were challenges with sound. People talk a mean game about how much “better vinyl is.” But basically, its work. I like the work, don’t get me wrong… but its not for everyone.
I sat, and listened to the whole record while staring at the cover. There was no liner notes or guts to the record I bought… just the sleeve and the record. But that is fine.
Side one still had flares of the 80s punk/hardcore roots. Especially after “I Will Dare.” I really enjoyed “Favourite Thing.”
The Replacerments – “Favourite Thing” errrr “Favorite Thing.”
Let It Be is ofter considered one of The Replacements better (if not best) albums. Having listened to much of their discography, I personally am not so sure. There are some misses on this record sandwiched between my all-time favourite cuts.
I found on side 2, the record bogged down a bit in the middle. However side 2 also is home to “Unsatisfied” and “Answering Machine.” Both those songs are so emotional, exceptional and powerful.
The Replacements – “Unsatisfied”
Wow right?
So what is the best Replacements’ record?
That is hard one, I think track for track, I might lean to Tim. But I personally enjoy “I Will Dare,” “Unsatisfied” and “Answering Machine.” Those three I’d put at or near the top of any list of “Favourite Songs” in my life.
If you are a Replacements fan, maybe you have some insight or favourite… please do share a comment.
The Morning After 
