Yesterday was Australia Day. A day to celebrate the First Fleet’s arrival to New Holland back in the olden days…
In order to connect with my Australian friends and family in Brisbane… I tried Vegemite. hmmm…. yeah.
Soundcloud: ZAS >> Eating Vegemite
Happy Friday!
Go with yourself.
Posted in neat-O gang, radio | Tagged Australia, Vegemite | Leave a Comment »
Yesterday it was Robbie Burns Day. A day to celebrate the life of the great Scottish 18th century poet. Today is Australia Day… like Canada Day but backwards and upside down… less snow, more Vegemite. (is there anywhere to buy Vegemite in Victoria? huh.)
I have been listening to a few bands form both Australia and Scotland lately and thought… if ever there was time to merge a playlist of these two geographically opposite Nations… its today.
Mixcloud: Mixtape >> North Sea // Coral Sea
01) Frightened Rabbit – “Scottish Winds” Selkirk, Scotland
02) Altas Genius – “Trojans” Adelaide, Australia
03) Biffy Clyro – “Many of Horror (live)” Kilmarnock, Scotland
04) Gotye – “Eyes Wide Open” Melbourne, Australia
05) Twin Atlantic – “Free” Glasgow, Scotland
06) Twin Atlantic – “Crash Land” Glasgow, Scotland
07) Angus Stone – “Broken Brights” Sydney, Australia
08) Angus & Julia Stone – “Big Jet Plane” Sydney, Australia
I hope you enjoy!
Thank you for listening and go with yourself.
Posted in music, playlist | Tagged Angus and Julia Stone, Angus Stone, Atlas Genius, Australia, Biffy Clyro, Frightened Rabbit, Gotye, Mixtape, Scotland, Twin Atlantic | 2 Comments »
I bought a new hat today. As you can see. Washington Nationals. I used to love baseball as a kid, but for years now, I haven’t really followed it. Growing up I loved the Expos and Cardinals and Mariners. And if the Mariners are winning, I’ll pay a bit more attention.
I wanted to get a Cardinals hat, but the hat store is chronically out of my size… so today I went, “meh, I’ll get the new Expos’ team hat.” So Nationals it is. I looked up their stats on Wikipedia and they are terrible. Like really dysfunctional. Maybe this year will be their year?
***
I heard a really amazing song today on the TV show Hart of Dixie (don’t judge me, Coral watches it… sometimes I watch with her). At the end of today’s episode they played a song from Montreal’s Barr Brothers. For some reason the song resonated with me and I had to look it up after the show. The song is called “Beggar in the Morning” from their self-titled debut record. A very perfect folky indie rock song.
The Barr Brothers – “Beggar in the Morning”
So pretty. I like the long intro the best…
***
Went to see Steph Macpherson on Saturday night. Great show… Steph has just been signed by Cordova Bay Records and the party Saturday night was very jovial. I saw my man Jason Cook drumming for Steph and it got me thinking about Jason’s old band Black Tie Social. BTS were active in Victoria years and years ago. I can’t really remember exactly but it was early-mid-ish 2000s. Jason with Katie and Aidan Knight and…. hmmmm Chris? They wrote and performed this great song call “Silver Screens” that I still fire up to this day. I really love this song.
Black Tie Social – “Silver Screens”
Download MP3 >> 01 Silver Screens
I find the song very soothing and almost hypnotic. I can always remember being at Lucky Bar, drunk, but a real happy drunk, and they played this song and it sounded so good. I felt really good that night and hearing this song still makes me feel good.
Go with yourself.
Posted in music | Tagged Black Tie Social, Hart of Dixie, The Barr Brothers, Washington Nationals | 5 Comments »
Its been awhile since I’ve heard a chillwave song to get hot and bothered by. Apparently the scene has moved on… but I can’t exactly fire up Skrillex in the Veneto Lounge on a Friday night.
So I wave the chillwave flag hazily and at half mast proudly!
Pitchfork talked about Expensive Looks yesterday. Had a meh review.. but mostly because I think Pitchfork is meh on the genre right now… not on ONE Expensive Looks song features Azealia Banks soooo…
Trolling the internets and I found a bunch of EL remixes including a remix of one of my favourite Radiohead songs… “High and Dry.”
Radiohead – “High and Dry (Expensive Looks’ Blizzard Fantasy)”
Download MP3 >> Radiohead-High and Dry (Expensive Looks’ Blizzard Fantasy)
Radiohead’s The Bends was #09 on my list of 20 Special Records. Coral and I have the LP hanging on the wall. Back when Coral listened to more rock music… or I guess we listened to music together, this was an album she’d put on.
Radiohead generally remixes pretty good, but it tends to be the later career stuff. Its nice to hear one from my days as a Radiohead fan.
Not sure if I’ll download the whole Expensive Looks album Dark Matters, but I will for sure be seeking select tracks for the playlist at Veneto.
Go with yourself.
Posted in music | Tagged Chillwave, Download, Expensive Looks, High and Dry, MP3, Radiohead, Remixes, The Bends | Leave a Comment »
I first started music “blogging” many moons ago for a website called Indulged. back then, there was no word called “blog.” I think we called it a Zine… an e-Zine? Or Music Website. How retro.
Good times. Being early in the game, I used to get lots of email and free music. Which was always fun.
Now everyone has a music blog and so no one reads music blogs. Being in a band… you try to get the hype out there, but where do you even start? Bands still send me emails, but I get 10,000 more a day than I used to so I don’t always listen to what’s sent. Any form letter or generic press release…unless I; A) subscribed to B) I already know the band and am excited to hear new music… just gets deleted.
Today I got an email from a PR firm out of London. I was about to pull the flamethrower trigger on the email from Dawbell when I noticed that email was actually addressed to me!
OK, that happens lots, they get my name right…. but then it “seemed” like the dude actually took four secords to read one post. You win Dawbell, I’ll take 4 seconds to read your email.
Echotape – “Came into my Blood”
***
Now… you want to get into my heart (generally)… actually send me some music.
The band is called Roll The Tanks. A few weeks (months?) back a Gleek emailed me as they sometimes do when they discover my treasure trove of Cory Monteith interviews and song.
We chat and it seems she is maybe a music promoter? or street teamer for this Hollywood band. I notice they pressed their single “Goodnight Jimmy Lee” on 7 inch vinyl. I ask her to send one, she does! But then I put the record in a random drawer and forgot about it till today.
Here we go.
Roll The Tanks – “Goodnight Jimmy Lee”
Download MP3 >> 01 Goodnight Jimmy Lee
Its fun. Not changing my life…but its punchy.
***
This is silly.
Go with yourself.
Posted in music | Tagged Cookie Monster, Echotape, Roll The Tanks | Leave a Comment »
When did I first see Plants and Animals at Lucky Bar? Part of me thinks I saw them with Coral and I wanna say 2008 sometime. I am pretty sure Madelyn was alive and I am pretty sure Coral and I got to sneak away to see them.
I do remember being surprised. They were “less” on stage than I expected. They were three rock & roll shaggy looking fellas. Not the Arcade Fire-esque band I had dreamt of.
Their sound that night was perfect. The style was a raucous, joyful, style of rock. On record, they remind me of a hillbilly version of the Arcade Fire…I guess that’s why I thought they’d look like them too.
Plants and Animals will rumble back to life with a new record called The End of That (Feb 28th, Secret City Records). The first single will get the 7 inch treatment (so that means I MUST have it). The song is called “Lightshow” and it’ll be backed with a cover of Wolf Parade’s “I’ll Believe in Anything.”
Plants and Animals – “Lightshow”
Download MP3 >> 04 Lightshow 1
Plants and Animals will be in Victoria for a show on March 20th at Lucky Bar. Not sure my schedule that day, but I’d like to go. I am listening to 2008’s Parc Avenue right now… oh, good memories with this record. So pleasant.
***
The snow was falling (at times) fiercely in Victoria today. I skipped out of the office for a few moments today and asked friends on Quadra Street what they thought of the snow for a segment I am going to call… “Living in the City.”
Have a listen from my new Soundcloud>> Living in the City: Snow
If you are into it… maybe leave a comment or share the link or whatever. Having a new social media thing is always a slow grind at the beginning. But I love how slick Soundcloud is… so that will be the new home to short features. Long features and mix tapes will continue to live on Mixcloud.
Right, so mixcloud AND soundcloud. Basically the same thing? neat.
I’ve been hoping to get a new Hockey! segment done, but having a dilly of a time trying to get Jordie Benn nailed down for an interview. But if that sorts itself out… then coming soon…
***
Lastly, Coral has been all about Pinterest. Seems like it might be yet another social media type thing to corral into the mini-media empire. Huzzah! I requested an invite. How professional. If they accept me, then maybe I’ll try it.
Go with yourself.
Posted in music | Tagged Plants and Animals | 2 Comments »
Back in September, Brian Fallon of Gaslight Anthem fame released a side-project record as The Horrible Crowes. At the time, we spun the feature song a bit on the Zone and I remember Dave Sawchuk being a bit of an early convert on the project.
It never really jelled on the Zone, song went away to be replaced by the next “it” thing in modern rock and I didn’t think too much about it. Till about a week ago.
Talking with my sister-in-law Alyx… she was telling me that she LOVES the Horrible Crowes Elsie. “OK, I’ll give it another listen,” I says to her.
A day or two after that… outta the blue! Homeboy Tyson sends me a text saying… check out the Horrible Crowes. Great sad bastard music.
He was right. Great sad bastard music… and the launch point for today’s mixtape.
Mixcloud: Mixtape >> Sad Bastard Music
Using the Horrible Crowes’ dark sad sack tale of woe as a jumping point… I went on Facebook and twitter to ask best friends for their sad bastard songs to add. here we go. Strap in, its about to get sad.
01) The Horrible Crowes – Lady Killer (me)
02) Nada Surf – “Inside of Love” (Adrienne)
03) Farside – “I Hope You’re Unhappy” (Jared)
04) The Low Anthem – “To Ohio” (Simon)
05) The Helio Sequence – “Lately” (Simon)
06) Hayden – “Bad as they Seem” (me)
07) Hayden – “Stem” (Alix)
08) Frightened Rabbit – “Backwards Walk” (Me)
09) Jeff Buckley – “Hallelujah” (Carrie)
10) CKY – “To All Of You (Acoustic)” (Conner)
11) Pete Yorn – “Lose You” (Chelsea)
12) Damien Rice – “The Blower’s Daughter” (Geoff)
13) Radiohead – “Creep” (Krysta)
14) Morphine – “I’m Free Now” (Sean)
15) The Horrible Crowes – “Teenage Dream” (Me)
So many great songs. Many of these new to me and I hope you’ll hear a few new ones to you.
Reading about the Horrible Crowes I was excited to discover they will be releasing “Lady Killer” as a 7 inch single in February. B-Side…. their cover of Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream.” Wow.
Download MP3 >> 02TeenageDream
OK, happy listening? Sure.
Go with yourself.
Posted in music | Tagged cover, Horrible Crowes, Katy Perry, Mixtape, MP3, Sad, Teenage Dream | 2 Comments »
This anti-anthem rattles around my brain all the time. Oddly, as an anthem. Listening to Fear’s 1977 proto-hardcore single “I love livin’ in the city,” its hard to tell if this is an ode to city living or a damnation.
The chorus is a pretty rousing repetition affirming city living. And that’s what sticks with me.
Fear – “I Love Livin’ in the City”
Fear is a band I don’t know a ton about other than they were there at the beginning of punk rock and Southern California hardcore. Flea of the Chili Peppers played for Fear for a bit….
The song’s basic premise of loving living in the city is why I find the song interesting. This morning I woke up bright and early to wander downtown in the dusting of snow we had overnight. I snapped a few pictures with my iPhone and this song jumped in my head. I love living in the city.
I think I’ll use the song as a theme song to a radio segment I’ve always batted around in my brain. This week looks like the first week in a long time where I’ll get some-what normal hours and time to create.
Alright… I think I wanna source a “sad bastard music” playlist… so this blog has to wrap.
Go with yourself.
Posted in music | Tagged Fear | 3 Comments »
I don’t know why, but I love 45s. I think because they’re little, and old… they don’t make any sense and they’re annoying as fuck to play at home. You can’t just hit go. You have to sit there at the record player and flip’em over and change the disc all.the.time.
At the same time… its kinda fun to play DJ, and sit there and listen to music. I love them during all vinyl DJ sets. Man, two record players going at the same time is heaven with 45s. Those stupid spindle/spider 45 adapter things in the middle are a pain. God bless Simon for giving me that yellow one pictured above. I had like three of them at one time, but during a DJ set at Smiths I lost a bunch. If not for this one that Simon gave me, I’d be begging for more. Finding a puck is impossible in 2012. I wish I had a bead on how to make my own. I think that would be a good cottage industry. Selling record pucks online. The Morning After Show needs a commemorative puck! Or the Zone!
On Saturday I went record shopping with Mads and we bought three new 45s for the collection.
I saw the 4 Seasons and bought that one for Coral. She saw the Jersey Boys play in London with Alix and has always had a spot in her heart for the music. I saw the record and thought we needed that one in the collection.
I love the Zombies. I have another Zombies 45, but not “She’s Not There.”
And the final one is a weird record. I remember Alan Cross blogging about it back when he stilled worked at Explore Music. Penny and the Quarters were a discovered R&B group that cut a demo in the early 70s. but the record never saw the light of day… says the legend. The man with the studio that recorded it had the original demos stuffed away on a box till he passed away. Upon his passing, all of the tapes were sold whole-sale to some company that buys such things, I guess mining for forgotten musical treasure. They “released” this song on a compilation of forgotten soul and R&B.
Actor Ryan Gosling heard the song and brought it to the attention of the music supervisor or director of the film Blue Valentine. And here we are.
Neat story. AC had a hunch that it could be a cooked up stunt from a Hollywood publicist. But I mean… it could be real? and I hope it is. The song is adorable.
Penny and the Quarters – “You and Me“
There I am at Ditch records… see this title and go… “where do I remember this band from?” The legend floods back to me and I go, “huh…” then bought it.
“You and Me” is such a pretty and romantic song. If the legend surrounding the song is true, it just adds so much more to the drama. I’ll take this one on faith and chose to believe till I read otherwise.
Go with yourself.
Posted in music | Tagged 4 Seasons, 45s, Alan Cross, Penny and the Quarters, Zombies | 1 Comment »
The Shins are what? Basically a James Mercer solo show by now right? One of the guys left got kicked out to be a professional hot air ballooner (yes kids, if you can dream the job, it is out there). One of the dudes has a taco truck in Portland! (I interviewed the host on my radio show… weird. Also this show pre-dates Eat St. by a lot.. but I still LOVE you Eat St.)
New Shins song started bouncing around the intertron today. Click play on the reel-to-reel machine. How vintage.
The reel-to-reel machine is kinda fun for us radio nerds of a certain age. I started my radio broadcasting career using reel-to-reel to create any radio production for my first radio show. If you order the new album, The Port of Morrow, off the Shins website it comes with a limited edition reel-to-reel tape version. Impractical but neat. There is a reel-to-reel machine at the Zone, so technically I could fire it up.
The first single is “Simple Song.”
The internet is all in a lather about this song. Personally… I prefer the new Nada Surf, if liking music were an either/or game. Luckily its not! So I can enjoy both.
The Shins will be bigger, Nada Surf is better. Both make adorable indie pop.
Oh, “Phantom Limb” came on my iTunes now. I like that song. And how about Chutes Too Narrow? I think I got that record collecting dust on a CD shelf or in a milk crate somewhere…. I should track that record down!
Go with yourself.
Posted in music | Tagged Nada Surf, Shins | Leave a Comment »
The Morning After 