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Archive for the ‘music’ Category

The return of smooth jazz, check out Weird Party @enjoyweirdparty

Posted in music, tagged , , , , , , on August 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »

weird party
It doesn’t seem like too many folks are getting into the smooth jazz game in 2014…but then, what is smooth jazz? Basically chill wave but made by a band instead of a nerd and a laptop.

This record showed up on my desk the other day at the Radio Factory. The group is called Weird Party and features a bunch of players from the Victoria music scene. I plunked it down on my turntable the other day while getting about ma’ chores…so groovy. This record is chill.

The record cover screams Vancouver Island.

Weird Party is new, it’s classic, it’s timeless, it’s offered on cassette? Neat.

Go with yourself.

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Road to @Rifflandia: Nanaimo’s @rosiejunerosie and a @myBearMountain remix

Posted in music, tagged , , , , , , on August 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Rosie JuneThis remix is making me feel alright. Rosie June is a performer from Nanaimo on Vancouver Island.

Her record is called Listening Post and you’ll find it on Brendan Canning‘s Draper Street Records.

We’ll get a chance to see Rosie June in September as part of Rifflandia. Schedule will be out tomorrow (3PM, listen to my radio show on The Zone @ 91-3)…I know whatever stage she is playing, I’ll want to be there.

The remix from Bear Mountain takes Rosie June’s normally lighter than air dream pop and ties some rocks around it’s legs. It still floats, but also bounces along the ground. Hilly Dilly talks about a tropical influence. I can get behind that… We live on an Island after all! This is a track that will be showing up in my Rooftop set tomorrow at The Strathcona Hotel.

For the sake of the compare and contrast, here is the original dream popper.

and one more because I’m crushing hard.

Go with yourself.

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Loving the new @SpoonTheBand record, They Want My Soul

Posted in music, tagged , , on August 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »

spoon TWMS
Picked up the new Spoon LP and the Merge book, Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records.

The two go together very well. Merge has a chapter in their book on the origin story of Spoon. Their explosion onto the scene as “hot new artist,” and then subsequently getting dropped from Matador. A resurgence on a major label…and then dropped….before finally finding commercial and critical success on Merge.

Spoon’s eighth record is called They Want My Soul. After reading about the trials, label moves, and hard work…you can really appreciate the albums title. I’d love ask Britt Daniels sometime about his life in New York. There was a time before signing with Merge where he was working as a financial assistant? I wonder what his life was like during those times?

We’re currently featuring the song “Do You” on The Zone.

I picked up Spoon with their 2005 record, Gimme Fiction. It’s too early to say which album is my favourite…but right now I have TWMS on heavy rotation. I even like how the album cover kinda fits thematically with 2002’s Kill The Moonlight.

Go with yourself.

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@jpthemaurice, @StarleeKine, Torch Songs AND @PhilCollinsFeed! Strap in…. here we go.

Posted in music, radio, tagged , , , , , on August 11, 2014| Leave a Comment »

lemonade
I love this old picture from Nat Geo Found. The little dude is out hustling a few bucks selling some lemonade.

“A boy sells lemonade from his front yard stand on Main Street in Aspen, Colorado, 1973.PHOTOGRAPH BY DICK DURRANCE II, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE”

Former Victorian and now Vancouverite, JP Maurice released a new single today… check out “Poison Heart.”

Its a melodramatic song that reminds me of this This American Life piece.

I was driving home from a wedding late on Sunday night listening to the CBC. There was a song playing. I like music, but generally when a song is playing on the CBC its a bit of a downer. I was gunna punch out, but then the weirdest voice popped out of the radio and I had to listen.

Turns out the Ceeb was re-airing an old segment about professionally awkward Starlee Kine and her depressing breakup. The segment ultimately was about her quest to write the perfect torch song.

It was so bizarre, but I was transfixed. It felt at first like an over-developed character piece, but as I listened, I loved her more and more. In the end I was cheering Starlee on her adventure to create this torch song. Then she shared it with Phil Collins! Yes.
Now I love her. You really ought to go back in time to 2007 and have a listen for yourself.

Her style reminds me of the program Wiretap (which I generally hate…but also oddly love) and it turns out she sometimes shows up on that show, so circles man.

In the end, she co-wrote a song called “Three of Us.”

OK, I don’t know if “Poison Heart” is a TORCH song in the traditional sense…I just heard it then immediately thought of Starlee Kine, I dunno.

Go with yourself.

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A @squamishfest playlist to get you excited for the weekend!

Posted in music, tagged on August 7, 2014| 1 Comment »

squamish-2014-620x420
My wife Coral is off to the Squamish Valley Music Festival this weekend. The adventure is a bit of money bonfire as we’re discovering. Tickets, hotel…sure. Beers, you expect it… but then parking? $125? or a shuttle from Whistler for herself and her sister is $300? Holy shit Squamish… my wife is in almost $1,000, hasn’t left yet. Now we’ll add ferry, gas, food, an Eminem t-shit. Kowabunga.

No wonder the weight of the Industrial Festival Complex may implode in on itself.

OK… well she is in it this deep, buy the ticket, take the ride and all that, so she asked me to put a playlist on her phone of Squamish bands… I tucked through the list and added 22 songs to check out. Some headliners, some small print. Some Much Mega Hits, some album cuts…

Go with yourself.

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A couple romantic slow jams. @TLATW & @ingridmusic

Posted in music, tagged , on August 4, 2014| Leave a Comment »

photo-17
I had one of those crazy busy weekends where it felt like all I did was work or sleep. And the sleep was never enough. Luckily I work as a DJ, so I am generally out in spectacular places and with people that are in prime spirits.

My adventures had me all over Southern Vancouver Island. Always looking at a garden, a lake or an ocean beach. I also heard a couple songs that are slower, but so beautiful.

The first one comes from Cleveland band The Lighthouse & The Whaler.

A song that feels like it was built for your wedding first dance.

Ingrid Michaelson has been around making music and putting record for awhile. Traditionally, her style would not be something I’d be into…but lately, it feels like many brides are requesting her music. I had to check it out and find out about this performer. A song that I have fallen in love with is about 5 years old now…its her cover of the Elvis standard, “Can’t Help Falling In Love.”

I can listen to this song on repeat. It is so beautiful.

Go with yourself.

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The strange and wonderful world of Bastille fan fiction

Posted in music, tagged , , , on July 30, 2014| 4 Comments »

dan smith
I was reading an interview featuring the guys from Bastille the other day. They were talking about about the groups success and how generally they can go about their day in London without being recognized. But Kyle Simmons in the band threw out this line, “Sometimes our fans write erotic literature. We can’t say what it’s too explicit.”

That is interesting. I know the internet is full of fan fiction for all kinds of brands and entertainment…I guess it makes sense that there would be fan fic based on bands, and Bastille.

I typed “Bastille Dan Smith Erotic Fan Fiction” into google (well, I typed a few other things first but was getting weird Fifty Shades of Grey fan fic…which is neat. Fan fiction based on fan fiction, woah). A story that answered the bell was the 56 part romantic Bastille centred story, Flaws. I didn’t read the whole thing, but from what I gather…it is the story of Annie and her relationship with Bastille frontman Dan Smith. The story isn’t a porno, however it does contain some scenes that we might call erotic.

The idea of a giant novel imagining a sexual relationship with a rock star seems odd to me…but what is odd to me is a fun and healthy hobby for someone else. Why am I judging this person? People fantasize all sorts of things, this person just wrote their’s down for all of us to read. There is a whole world of Bastille fan fic…and no shortage of fans to read it.

Go with yourself.

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Feeling the pop-garage stylings of Toronto’s @actualwater

Posted in music, tagged on July 30, 2014| Leave a Comment »

actualwater
Pitchfork had a positive review of the new record from Toronto band Actual Water.

I had a listen to a couple of their pop-garage songs from the album Call 4 Fun. Their style reminded me of the old Vancouver band The Smugglers. I dig it.

Go with yourself.

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Running down a dream with @SeafretOfficial, @best_coast, @bastilledan, @warondrugsjams, and a Watermelon & feta salad recipe

Posted in ...this is your father speaking, food, music, tagged , , , , , , on July 29, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Sea Fret 1
Here is a pretty but ultimately sad song from a duo originally from the small British town of Bridlington. They go by the brand Seafret.

Their acoustic song “Give Me Something” is the title track for their upcoming ep which will be out in September.

***

This song is an older cut, but it’s new to me. The group is from LA… they are called Best Coast, and this lo-fi retro sounding rock & rolla is an early single of their’s from 2009.

“When I’m with you, I have fun.” d’aww.

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Bastille….so hot right now. The early British single “Flaws” is charting on the alternative charts here in the BEST America. Let us do a Chainsmokers remix (yeah the #Selfie guys).

Who goes out on Mondays? #live

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war on drugs
My friend Jenn went to Seattle to check out the Capital Hill Block Party last weekend. … sorry CAPITOL.

Lots of great pics on her social media from Emerald City and she got to see Philadelphia’s The War on Drugs.

The Hollywood Reporter posted their top records of 2014 (so far)…top of the list, The War on Drugs Lost in the Dream.

My friend James over at The Peak was talking about how red hot the single “Red Eyes” is on the radio in Vancouver right now…I had to pick up the record. Sunday was a lazy day. Coral and Maddy were at a birthday party and she left me with baby Jack to entertain for a few hours. I deceided we’d best use our time by heading heading downtown on a long walk, eating some Asian Street Food and buying records.

***

While downtown, we stopped at Foo Asian Street Food on Blanshard at Yates. Man, it was hot day, but they were all sold out of their watermelon & feta salad.

c’est dommage.

Oh wait… I can make that! I called the kitchen manager and asked him…and he gave me the recipe.

Foo’s Watermelon & Feta Salad

Pomegranate molasses & Chinese Black Vinegar dressing
Cubed watermelon
Chopped up cucumber
mint and cilantro
pepper mix (black and szechuan)
drizzle on some dressing
finish with crumbled feta

BOOM! It’s good.

Go with yourself.

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New @FFEENNCCEESS, a hot drink on a hot day, and #Barkerville

Posted in history 101, music, tagged , , , , , , , on July 29, 2014| 2 Comments »

barkerville
Hello Bloglandia…back from a little holiday. Our little tribe headed to Quesnel for my cousin’s wedding. And when in Quesnel, you gotta hit Barkerville. An honest to goodness British frontier town. I don’t know how many young and hip music blog readers will find themselves in the wilderness of central British Columbia…but you’ll be surrounded in working beards, not fashionable beards. Its great.

Barkerville was an old gold mining town from the days of colonial British Columbia. Billy Barker found gold in William Creek in 1861, a town sprung up near his mine and that town is named after him.

Today it is preserved as a museum town.  They have all sorts of stuff to do…my kid got a kick out of gold panning. And she loved all the horses pulling wagons around the town.

Fun fact.. Billy Barker is buried in Victoria. His grave is in the Ross Bay Cemetery. Neat.

Rolling hot at the radio factory, brand new song from Seattle indie rocker Fences showed up. Fences has many cool friends and they all came together on his new single “Arrows.”

Recorded by Death Cab For Cutie‘s Chris Walla, re-imagined by Ryan Lewis and featuring verse from Macklemore. Lyrically themes that get right to the point and there you have a posit-rock Much Mega hit.

Macklemore talks about Fences; “Fences is a good friend, he’s fucked up in the same way that I’m fucked up. Because of that, our lives relate beyond the music. I’ve always admired his talent for illustrating with words and evoking imagery. We’ve made a bunch of stuff together over the years and this here song about Arrows is my favorite one we’ve done.”

***

From the radio show yesterday…. Dylan & Jason were talking about regulating your body temperature on a hot day by drinking a hot beverage. is that true? I call Professor Frank Marino at Charles Sturt University in Australia and I talk to Professor Kathy Gaul at the University of Victoria to get the cold facts.

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