Sorry friends, I’ve been away from the blog. I fractured a bone in my arm last week… I thought I was skateboarder, turns out I’m not. It made typing not enjoyable, so outside of work, I tried to stay off the computer. Feeling a bit better today and I feel like a tool for not blogging (I don’t know why, not too many people read the blog…but it is such a habit I guess).
My song today is a nice trippy one from No Age. Their record An Object is out tomorrow…this one I might pick up. The video for the song “An Impression” was bouncing around the internet tubes today. They call it “punk” which is cool… art-punk? Its a thing.
I am constantly of the mindset that I am going to start a band, and the band was ALWAYS going to be called Bellinger…until this weekend when I heard the story of Len Bias on The CBC. Then I thought, cool band name.
To me, the two are weirdly connected. Henry Bellinger was one of the first Canadians killed on the Western Front. And I always think of him in the sense of, here’s a guy that had so much potential, probably had some plans, probably thought he was gunna get the job done in France, and before it really started, first battle… he is dead.
Len Bias is a going to be a basketball star. Gets drafted by the Celtics, signs a million-dollar shoe endorsement deal, leases a sports car and two days later, he dies of a drug overdose. Never plays an NBA game. Strange.
I was DJing a wedding up at Merridale on Friday and so that gave me a chance to chat with Jess. She asked if I had bought me tickets for The National w/ Frightened Rabbit in Vancouver on September 22nd. We reminisced about all the great National shows we’ve been to over the years… I looked at my schedule…it will be a weird (and expensive) weekend, but I *could* make it happen…and what’s the point of money right?
Backtracking a bit…. While driving the highways and multi-lane freeways of Holleywoodland, USA I felt the urge to listen to Trouble Will Find Me but I had forgot to upload it on my phone.
When we got home, the need to listen to this record, really listen, would not go away. Back in Victoria, most my driving happens in the Purple Minivan and its audio technology harkens back to a previous century. I thought… hmm, I already have the record on vinyl, and MP3, what the heck eh? What’s $15 MORE dollars on The National and off to Ditch I went for the compact disc.
My campsite on Salt Spring on Mount Bruce looking over at Mount Maxwell and Burgoyne Bay.
It was a wise investment as this weekend saw my little mobile disco on tour with the previously mentioned party at Merridale and then on off to Salt Spring Island. Lots of music time.
I love The National. I can’t explain why, I think its because they write music that speaks to married Dad type dudes who need to work for a living. I dunno.
But the other thing about The National. I never like the new record when I first hear it. But something happens, and I love it more than the last. I need to sit with it, Listen to it.
When I rolled into work this morning, I was pretty amped. It was a mighty weekend of DJing parties out in natural settings for folks that were there to party. I camped. I listened to The National.
I fired up my morning email…. Bob Lefsetz. Of course. And an email about how the album is dead. He likes ripping into The National which I always found kinda weird. Its like he says all the time, “work hard, make good music, tour, be honest, be all over social media.” Which they do, but then he hates that they don’t write hits and you need to actually listen to the albums.
“Wait a minute, maybe you’re one of those people who believe the vinyl revolution is gonna conquer our society and you truly are listening to albums, albeit the National and other modern acts(…)”
He is going off about how the world hates records (stats don’t lie, they do) but that is not the music fans problem. Who cares?
“Don’t extrapolate from your musical addiction to the entire world.
The entire world doesn’t live and breathe music, doesn’t give a whit about your so-called career and only has time for excellence, because they’re so overbooked, their online calendars look like the Rosetta Stone.”
I will admit, that was a hard lesson to learn early in my radio career. I LOVE music, I made the assumption that EVERYONE did. Nope, most people just kind of hang out. But with a couple years, shaking a lot of hands, meeting a few people. That’s cool. They love other things, everyone loves something.
“No one’s got that much time to waste. No one wants to hear that much bad music. No one wants to listen to your album ten times to get it. That’s what we did when we had no cash and could only afford one disc, play it ad infinitum, now we just play what’s phenomenal.”
Wasting time is awesome. People should do it more. A record you have to sit with and listen to a few times when you’re navigating a switch backed logging road in the rain on an Island somewhere in the Pacific is amazing.
In conclusion. The national is great. Bob Lefsetz gets a C- for hating on The National but an A+ for digging In-N-Out Burger.
About 3 months ago we talked about Swedish electro group NONONO and their song “Pumping Blood.” A catchy and fun song in the popular style of what’s passing for modern alternative right now.
The blogs were saying that this internet sensation might just be the one that breaks on through to the otherside…. commercial radio.
Well, it is starting to, with spins on some of the big US modern Rockers and even a couple features on The Zone here in the Garden City.
I received an email the other day from a dude named Johan Reinhold. This Swedish artist also had a track produced by the same guys ( Astma and Rocwell) that put together NONONO. His logic; if you like NONONO, then maybe you’ll be into “Ghost.” There is only one way to find out.
Wait a minute…. did Johan say he was a g-g-g-ghost?!?!
We gotta get that key and get out of here!
A new song and a remix from two monster Modern Rockers.
Kings of Leon have a new record on September 24th called Mechanical Bull. We’ve heard the first feature called “Supersoaker.” Now we get a little bit of a change-up. The slow jam called “Wait For Me.” IndieShuffle kinda liked it…but preferred “Supersoaker.”
Is the song about Caleb’s time in rehab? Will she? wait for him? I dunno… Marcus Mumford would….
I was DJing a wedding the other night and at the end of the party I dropped “I Will Wait.” People went crazy. Good times.
Here is a simple yet effective remix. Chromemusic called it “beautiful.” This song is by no means a banger, but it does lay a propulsive beat behind the Much Mega Hit.
Yesterday Coral called into my radio show of all places to tell me our next baby will be a boy. We’re both very excited for December and its not because of PRESENTS for a change.
I was thinking back to when Madelyn was a baby. Coral and I lived on Yates Street downtown in a little bedroom + den thing. Maddy’s nursery was in the den. Coral thought a room without windows was no place to raise a child so that is what made us respectable rate-payers and we bought our condo. But for about the first three months of Madelyn’s life, we lived on Yates Street beside a Moxies. I walked to work. We pushed a stroller to the Market for groceries or the Starbucks at Quadra for a coffee. We were on the ground floor so we even had a tiny yard!
During that time I listened to a lot of Grand Archives. The Seattle band doesn’t seem to be very active these days…but I can always listen to “Swan Matches” and be transported back to laying on my couch in our little apartment on Yates Street with a brand new baby.
I wonder if (or hope) that a song rises up in December or January that will be as special for the new baby.
Its a holiday Monday here in British Columbia…..(probably everywhere?) and I have to work. The worst. My wife called into the radio show with news concerning our second child, currently incubating in her tummy.
As I have mentioned on this here blog, the Baker Tribe was recently on holiday to the US of A. We drove The 101 and I-5 down to Disneyland then back up The 1 and 101 to Victoria.
Magical times. California is a groovy place. I clearly see why 38 and some odd million people live there. You can eat In-N-Out Burger whenever you want! Spoiled, the lot of ya!
My kid is obsessed with Ariel. When she got to meet her in Fantasyland, well that did it… something totally flew into my eye. Dust?
Bumped into Jim Carrey at Amoeba Records on Sunset, random… and saw a couple baseball games; Angels vs Athletics then the Giants got dismantled by the Reds.
Roadtrips are great because I love to drive, and I love to zone out listening to music. I know that roadtrips do something for my creative and spiritual energy but I wasn’t exactly sure what. Then I read this article about how Lifehacking creates more work… the writer quotes the work of Andrew Smart from his book Autopilot: “our brains seem to be doing a lot of previously undetected work while at rest) to argue that dedicating time to do nothing—literally sitting still and daydreaming—is absolutely necessary if we are to use our mental faculties and stumble upon new and original insights. To innovate, argues Smart, we must learn how to be idle—at a time when most corporations see idleness as a vice. By Smart’s logic, one way to subvert modern capitalism is to simply get as busy as possible: Your creativity will suffer— and you’ll be not much better than a robot, only far less productive.”
My wife and I listened to a lot of stuff. We had “The World Famous” KROQ on the radio in LA. I have now heard Imagine Dragons as much as anyone should in a lifetime. Lots of Lorde “Royals” and weirdly they interrupt their synth pop briefly to play Avenged Sevenfold? Sure… KROQ is World Famous so I guess they set the tone for the nation. Driving up to San Francisco, we dialed up Live, “Everything Alternative.” I think I prefer their style a little more AND they rocked Said The Whale.
One song that I had on a playlist that sounded amazing while drifting up The 101 through the Salinas valley was Daughter’s “Medicine” remixed by The Chainsmokers.
Back from my California adventures… and there are stories, times, and music I want to share, but I am minutes away form having to hop on the radio.
So instead I want to share with you an email I got from my man Galen at Bar N9NE in Port Angeles, WA.
Hey Jeremy, I stumbled across this band the other day and thought of The Zone. Check it out “Kopecky Family Band” So far “are you listening” is my favorite. Galen Bar N9NE
OK Galen, I’ll hit play on the Kopecky Family Band.
The Morning After 