Posted in music, tagged Download, Free, Jon & Roy, Jon Middleton, MP3, V.I.C. Fest, Vancouver Island on April 11, 2011| 2 Comments »
Good times. Jon Middleton (Jon & Roy) sent me his new solo record. Always such a pleasant listen… new Jon Middleton is pretty folky and very Vancouver Island.
Jon Middleton – “Vibrant Scene”
Download MP3 >> 06 Vibrant Scene
Jon and Roy will be one of many great Vancouver Island performers taking part in this summer V.I.C. Fest on June 18th.
hey, never say say I don’t give you anything nice on this here blog.
Go with yourself.
Posted in music, playlist, tagged Black Flag, D.O.A., Husker Du, Meat puppets, Minor Threat, Minutemen, Mission of Burma, R.E.M., Sonic Youth, The Replacements on April 11, 2011| 4 Comments »
I am about half way through the book “Our Band Could Be Your Life” by Michael Azerrad so I thought I’d put down a little mix of some of the bands featured.
The first 7 bands featured on the set are all profiled in the book. The last 3, D.O.A., R.E.M., and Meat Puppets don’t have a profile in the book.. but they get talked about a bunch and I wanted to round out the set.
I hope you like this little 30 minute set of 80s alt. rock.
***
DJ Notes
01) The Replacements – “Alex Chilton”
02) Husker Du – “Don’t Want to Know if You Are Lonely”
03) Mission of Burma – “Academy Fight Song”
04) Sonic Youth – “Teen Age Riot”
05) Minor Threat – “Good Guys (Don’t Wear White)”
06) Minutemen – “History Lesson Part 2”
07) Black Flag – “Nervous Breakdown”
08) D.O.A. – “Take A Chance”
09) R.E.M. – “So. Central rain (I’m Sorry)”
10) Meat Puppets – “Plateau”
Stream from Mixcloud >> I’m in love … what’s that song?
***
Go with yourself.
Posted in music, tagged Baths, Cerulean, Ditch Records, The Replacements on April 10, 2011| 2 Comments »
What was Huck saying the other day? “It takes a lot of courage to go out there and radiate your courage?” Something like that… maybe essence. Courage twice doesn’t even make sense.
Huckdoll was lifting a line from the most excellent Baths‘ song “Maximalist.” I am sure I blogged a cut from this kid before… BUT, today during this weekend’s adventure to Ditch Record with Madelyn, I happened to come across Baths’ record Cerulean. It was just what? $22.99. Still has the sticker on it, I haven’t dropped the needle. Had to have it. Which also reminds me… I gotta bug Smiths Pub to let me DJ another vinyl set on a Wednesday… if they’ll have me.
Baths – “Maximalist”
Download MP3 >> 03 Maximalist
OK… took a break from this post to message Smiths, did you miss me?
***
The other gem I bought from Ditch is not a record at all, but rather a book. I was talking to Jeremy (hey! same name as me!) and my love of the Replacements. He recommended “The Replacements: All over but the shouting.”
I love books about war… and I love books about music. Bah, but the only issue is I am still working my way through “Our Band Could Be Your Life.” I hate getting two books I wanna read because sometimes I start the new one before the old one is done. Not this time, no sir… Imma read my books in due time, cover-to-cover like a grownup.
Please download some Baths as he is great (and download this one too).
Go with yourself.
Posted in music, tagged Dada, Max Ernst, Mission of Burma on April 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »
As I slowly meander through the book Our Band Could Be Your Life, I’ve been revisiting my collection of 1980s alt rock.
The book profiles a bunch a indie rockers of the late 70s/early 80s including many of my personal favourites… like Mission of Burma.
What’s neat about the book so far is that many of the bands’ stories share common threads, inspiration and hardships.
I have noticed that more than one of the bands found some inspiration in an artistic movement of the early 1900s called Dada.
Mission of Burma was definitely the “arty” of the early alt. rock bands and their first single “Academy Fight Song” was backed with “Max Ernst.”
The real Max Ernst was a German painter who was part of the Dada movement of the 1920s when we left the trenches of the World War One.
A lot of Dada art was a reaction to nationalism, war and capitalism. The picture at the top of this blog post is called “Murdering Airplane” and Max painted it in 1919.
Mission of Burma must have been into the art and expressions of Max Ernst as they would later revisit Max with their 2002 song “Max Ernst’s Dream.”
Mission of Burma – “Max Ernst”
Download MP3 >> mission_of_burma_max_ernst
Nice, I love the tape-loop at the end of the band going “dada dada dada dada.”
Go with yourself.
Posted in music, tagged Mother Mother, Rococode, Ryan Guldemond, Tegan and Sara on April 4, 2011| 2 Comments »
Last week, Mother Mother were in town to perform a couple sold-out shows.
The band that was lucky enough to get the opener support spot was a group from Vancouver called Rococode.
Rococode feature the very lovely Laura Smith. She is from Victoria and moved to Vancouver to go to music college.
There she hooked up with some guys to form a band and here we are… Laura sent me a few songs and I have one to share on my blog with you today.
Rococode – “Weapon”
Download MP3 >> Weapon REV001 (2)
“Weapon” has that nice, very modern indie-rock, harmony sound thing going on.
I think Ryan Guldemond has something to do with these guys… maybe produced or helped record them? A couple members of the group also spend time as Tegan and Sara’s band. Good times.
Go with yourself.
Posted in music, tagged Holy Ghost!, Wait and See on April 1, 2011| 2 Comments »
Tracked down a super fun song from NYC hipster electro party rockers Holy Ghost!
I love the single art. When I win that million (or I guess earn it, whatever) I am going to have a room that looks just like this… complete with young lovely that just wants to listen to vinyl records and make-out and substitute Knicks stuff for Canucks.
Holy Ghost – “Wait and See”
Download MP3 >> Holy Ghost! – Wait & See
***
I’ve had a spell of inspiration lately trying to bust through the general malaise which has settled over my life for past few. It is starting to feel kinda good welling up somewhere deep in there and I think I owe a bit of it to reading. Weird. And listening to music. Especially music I don’t normally listen to like old 80s hardcore punk.
A song idea came to me the other day and I think I’ll use the ideas of 80s hardcore to make it! Short and sweet…
Go with yourself.
Posted in music, tagged Bear in Heaven, Lovesick Teenagers, MTV, Skins on March 24, 2011| 4 Comments »
I love time and I love context. It can help you re-appreciate an old cut.
In late 2009, Bear in Heaven released their critically acclaimed Beast, Rest, Forth, Mouth. I downloaded a couple key cuts as it sounds great during my lounge sets at The Veneto Lounge on the weekends.
Lately, I have been gravitating to “Wholehearted Mess.”
Last night, Coral was slamming through some episodes of Skins and during a scene where Michelle and Stanley are hugging on the shores of a lake… a song is raging at the beach party just beyond them. I recognized the song and Michelle said, “hey I love that song.”
Wait-a-minute, I do too Michelle!…. that’s Bear in Heaven! Nice.
The song they featured was “Lovesick Teenagers.” Such a pretty song about that lustful time in all our lives. I like the song because it talks about how those feelings still live in you and out there… long after you think they don’t. Good times and an adorable song.
Bear in heaven – “Lovesick Teenagers”
Download>> Bear in Heaven – Lovesick Teenagers
Go with yourself.
Posted in music, radio, tagged Alkaline Trio, Black Flag, Endgame, Interview, Matt Skiba, radio, Rise Against, The Decendents, Zach Blair on March 24, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Rise Against‘s 6th studio record, Endgame, debuted at #2 on the Billboard Chart. Guitarist Zach Blair also tried to tell me that it was number 1 in Canada and Germany! That’s something right. I like Canada, and Germany, you’re alright.
Zach and I had a little chit-chat over the phone as the band is currently in Berlin.
We talked about all sort of stuff. The record Endgame is kinda of a dark, concept record that is a bit heavier and faster then the previous couple records. There is a savage Grapes of Wrath quote when you open up the compact disc (do people still buy those?). Zach talks about the significance of that then delves into the some communist utopia mumbo-jumbo.
That leads the conversation toward “Help is on the Way” and he talk’s about making small changes in the world and taking care of yourself. because if you wait for someone else or the government you’ll be disappointed.
I gushed a bit about how the video is AWESOME so he explained that a bit.
Then… I dunno, we talk about some other things like Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio being on the record and Bill Stevenson of Black Flag and the Decendents producing it in Colorado and we end by reflecting on the time Rise Against came to Victoria and the guys hung out with the Darth Fiddler on Government Street. Oh the times we shared. Please find our conversation below in its unedited entirety. If that’s of interest to you or you work at another radio station you can download it and use a clip it if you want.
Interview: Rise Against’s Zach Blair
Download>> 20110324 Zach Blair Rise Against
Go with yourself.
Posted in music, tagged Big Me, Foo Fighters, Gas Chamber, Get Off The Air, Rodney Bingheimer, The Angry Samoans on March 23, 2011| 4 Comments »
Last night was Victoria Record Club Meeting number 4. It was off to Talk’s Cheap on Pandora for another night of music, friendship and beers.
The first, or second record I put up was the Foo Fighter’s 1996 single, “Big Me.”
I recently bought the UK import (on white marble vinyl!) from Ditch on the weekend and had yet to drop the needle on it.
I remember being a kid in 1996 and “Big Me” being a massive hit. The music video was on Much Music all the time… and it was so clever because it made fun of those old goofy Mentos ads! Oh the 90s.
I love the story about the fans used to pelt the Foos with Mentos when they performed the song live… so the Foo Fighters stopped playing it in their live sets till 2005! Dave Grohl saying, “We did stop playing that song for a while because, honestly, it’s like being stoned. Those little … things are like pebbles – they hurt”
Tiemen is the fine proprietor of Talk’s Cheap and knows so lots about punk rock. I didn’t expect him to care or notice too much about my Foo Fighter’s pop song till he flipped it over to see the b-side was a cut called “Gas Chamber.”
He said, “oh I bet that is an Angry Samoans cover.”
SWA?
A-side: Foo Fighters – “Big Me”
B-side: Foo Fighters – “Gas Chamber”
I’ve said before, you can make it in music if you’re one of two things… really good, or really first.
The Angry Samoans appear to be a really first. They were one of the very first bands to put out a record that could be described as hardcore. Their 1982 record Back From Samoa contains the song “Gas Chamber.”
The Samoans were some rock journalists at Creem magazine that formed a punker band.
The first brush with notoriety was a dis song directed at a popular KROQ radio DJ in Los Angelas, Rodney Bingenheimer.
According to his bio, he doesn’t seem like all that bad a guy… but I guess the Samoans didn’t agree with him… or maybe the song was more a strike back against the whole “king-making, music industry industrial complex machine.” Who really knows… but the song “Get Off the Air” didn’t do the Angry Samoans many favours.
The Angry Samoans – “Get Off the Air”
Download a shitty MP3 >> Angry_Samoans_GetOffTheAir
Bingenheimer was a LA/Hollywood socialite in the 70s who was very instrumental in helping to network rock stars (and groupies). He owned a club on the Sunset Strip called English Disco, he was dubbed the “Mayor of Sunset Strip”, and was BFF with people like David Bowie and Sonny and Cher.
In the late 70s he was given a show on KROQ which at the time was a little rock radio station that no one cared about playing country-rock. Rodney jammed out punk and British glam/new wave at a time when the whole world in California was into the Eagles.
Rodney helped get some groovy bands out into the mainstream and became a popular guy.
Then backlash, then the Angry Samoans. The song pretty much made sure they didn’t end up on KROQ or get a chance to play any LA clubs for a few years.
They released an EP under a different band name to try and “sneak” onto Rodney’s show… but according to wikipedia, I don’t think it worked. Not sure if it was a gag or the guys are lame… I mean, I would have just apologized and sent my new record, or not given a shit to have my record played if I didn’t care about playing the game. But hey, it was the 80s, what do I know?
The point, I love this radio dis song, I want it to my theme song! I would have never found out about the Samoans if Dave Grohl hadn’t covered their song gas chamber back in the mid 90s and Tiemen had recognized the title. neat.
Go with yourself.
Posted in music, tagged Deadmau5, Download, Foo Fighters, MP3, Rope, Wasting Light on March 21, 2011| 1 Comment »
New Foo Fighter‘s record Wasting Light has the buzz that it will be the “best Foo Fighters record EVAR” swirling around it.
We’ll get a chance to hear if the substance meets or surpasses the hype April 12th.
The hot jam single is the most excellent “Rope.” And before we even get to hear a single album cut (well aside from White Limo), we get a remix from the Electronic pride of Canuckistan, Mr. Deadmau5.
Pour this download down your ear.
Foo Fighters – “Rope (Deadmu5 Remix)”
Download >> Rope (deadmau5 Remix)
My man across the hall Ryan Awram hopes they use this version in Glee. If only.
Go with yourself.
The Morning After 