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Jeremy and Bob - Christina Lake 2

OK, one more post tonight. New Arkells’ record High Noon…. you have it right? Essential summer time Canadian rock & roll.

“I knew from the beginning / it was you from the beginning.”

And this one… whoa.

“beating the drum all night. Dancing naked ’round the fire. Leaving trouble behind. Swimming in the water. We found the tent with a flashlight. We were looking for a hideout. When you’re praying for no-string. Some times you get tied down.”

Is this song not about EVERY time you partied up at the cabin with a group of friends?

Go with yourself.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Pit hole

The British Columbia teacher’s strike is causing a lot of despair amongst parents. Where you see challenges, I see opportunity!

+ Focus on physical education.
+ Have fun while getting your hands dirty.
+ Literally drop off your kids and go!

— Jeremy, proprietor and operator.

***

Producer: Sheldon Hovde
Voice talent: Chelsea Coulter & Caleb Kirby

Go with yourself.

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.

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.

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.