Zone copy writer and resident Canucks fan Caleb Kirby turned us on to a song from a California band called The Silent Comedy.
This DIY indie folk band had a song called “Bartholomew” featured in the 2011 video game Dark Souls. It has that Americana turn-of-the-century chain gang vibe. I read one comment on youtube where the listener thought they could hear the rail-spikes being driven in to the beat! I don’t know if that’s true but I want to believe.
I don’t know who Annie Mac is, but I love her. She has an accent and sounds like a sexy Replicant!
Annie Mac hosts a dance music show in England on the BBC. Turns out I have a Annie Mac megamix on my iTunes of a Vampire Weekend/Lykki Li mash-up song she did. Solid.
I was reading on Pitchfork about M83 doing a remix of the song “Reunion.” They also are performing in Vancouver on April 27th at the Vogue. Not sure if I’ll be able to make that show, but damn, I sure wish I could. The sample of the Reunion (Mylo Remix) that Pitchfork links to is a rip from Annie Mac’s show Friday night and posted to Youtube. Gosh dang, Annie Mac has a smooth voice, I’ll forgive the M-8-3 when she introduces the song (unless of course they pronounce their band name that way…in which case, please forgive me).
Plants and Animals were in town yesterday to perform at a packed Lucky Bar. Being an old man, I only stayed for part of the set then had to retire. Just HAD to… so tuckered out. I am so thankful they were able to stop by my radio show to perform my current favourite “Light Show” just for me (and you). Its not our best mix job here at the radio factory… but still, sounds pretty good.
Read THIS ARTICLE in the New York Times about the Old Fashioned cocktail.
Now I want to see if Ryan at Sauce will let me make a Don Draper Old Fashioned.
Surely, Don Draper, the essence of the Esquire Man, would have been acquainted with this compendium. Mr. Draper has been shown making his preferred drink, step by step, only once, in Season 3. His execution wasn’t the daintiest, but it was probably period-correct. He used rye, diluted the drink with club soda and muddled the cherry.
***
Lastly… do I have any angel investors reading my blog? I have two price points for you to show your love.
I propose that YOU give me something like $20 million… I buy the Shore (for way less than the $20 milli, don’t worry, I need the rest to buy a house with a waterfall)… turn it into the radio version of this here blog… and like, I’ll totally pay you back.
02) $4,230 (plus tax and shipping!)
To buy THIS! First release? THIS! (on coral coloured marbled 7-inch)
Growing up in the wilderness territory East of Burnaby… my folks used to listen to AM radio. 1410 CFUN. Pretty much every morning and in the car. Fred and Cathy in the morning, soft favourites the rest of the time. I wouldn’t really consider myself an expert on the love songs of the 80s… but weirdly, I seem to know them all… because I heard them all getting shuttled to and from swimming lessons at Canada Games Pool or skating at the Coquitlam main rink.
Back in the summer…I broadcast my show from Pickers Consignment. They have a fairly extensive collection of previously loved vinyl and lots of 45s. After my show, the guys let me pick out a stack and I pulled out a bunch of stuff that I sort of recognized. Like Phil Collins.
In the early 80s… Phil Collins had two interesting things happen to him. He had a horrible divorce from his Canadian wife, and he began a solo career. Phil Collins had been fronting Genesis but during his divorce he wrote a series of very personal and dark songs that were released as his first record, Face Value.
“I had a wife, two children, two dogs, and the next day I didn’t have anything. So a lot of these songs were written because I was going through these emotional changes.”
Face Value became a hit record and encouraged Phil to continue this solo path (while still playing drums for Genesis alum Peter Gabriel and working with Genesis). It also brought him in contact with director Taylor Hackford who was given a list of Atlantic records artists to use for a film he was working on… Phil Collins was on that list.
Before Jeff Bridges was “The Dude” he was a movie actor (I know right?). In 1984 he played washed up pro-football player Terry Brogan in the movie Against All Odds. (Did you see the movie Tron and wonder how they made Jeff Bridges look young? It was footage from this film they used for young Bridges)
Hackford had used a signature song for a previous film (An Officer and a Gentleman) and wanted something for his new project. Having heard Phil Collins in Genesis he asked if Phil Collins if he had anything. Phil had a song from his Face Value sessions called “How Can You Just Sit There.” Phil watched a preview of the movie “Against All Odds,” rearranged and retitled the song. Recorded it in two days, mixed it over the phone and bingo-bongo, his first Billboard Number 1 hit and a timeless breakup power ballad was born.
Phil Collins – “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)”
Poking around the internet reading about this Phil Collins classic, I discovered more than a few cover songs. One interestingly celebrated version comes from another soundtrack, 20 years later. Wicker Park.
For this film, The Postal Service breaks it down.
The Postal Service – “Against All Odds (Take a Look At Me Now)”
What a wonderful weekend. Had lots of opportunity to hang out with Madelyn and Coral. We did some swimming, record shopping, thrift-storing (now a verb!) and coffee stops. Saturday night was the co-op pre-school fundraiser. Being the resident DJ Dad in the school, I got the gig of jamming the tunes. I’ll tell ya, that was a night. These folks went hard and raged it. Lots of Moms having a couple and getting weirdly close-talky to request Flo Rida cuts…should be an interesting Tuesday morning dropping Maddy off.
The night had good energy. I think any party where the beer comes in a can and the wine comes in a box will end well. Coral bounced a little early to hit the Acres of Lions show and I rushed there as soon as I could to hear the last four or five songs. Wild.
Also on the weekend I got to punch up M83 on the modern rock countdown. It was fantastic to get a flood of positive reaction from Zoners jiving on the cut, “Midnight City”.
The album Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming came out last fall… but as often happens with these things, sometimes it takes some time for the great songs to reverberate.
The song “Midnight City” is moving up the modern rock charts in the US pretty fiercely, propelled by its Phoenix-esque hazy vintage synth sounds.
Like an good electronic jingle… there is a remix. Check out this one.
Montreal’s Plants and Animals will come to Victoria on March 20th for a show at Lucky Bar. The same place I saw P&A years ago… and the show was so impressive.
I had heard their music from the acclaimed 2008 record Parc Avenue. But I didn’t know what to expect. I assumed they were a giant jam band for some reason…well they do have lengthy jams, but I guess I expected more. When they came to Victoria, there was just three of them. Very rock & roll looking, in that working class sense of the word. The show expanded my mind, two times (and I bought the t-shirt… and a t-shirt for my Dad).
Since that time, I have followed along on the band’s journey. Enjoying 2010’s La La Land, and now getting excited for The End of That.
Today, Lyle at EMI sent some vinyl copies of their LP and a stack of 45s for the single “Light Show.” How old school, I love it. Thank you Lyle!
I immediately retired to the Zone studio where we keep our turntable (yup… we have a turntable. I wonderful Technics, plus Boitano’s DJ set up with a pair of Stanton’s and Serato Scratch). I dropped the needle on the b-side of the “Light Show” single. Right away the lead singer Warren Spicer sets the stage at a live show… “This is a cover. By one of the first bands that took us out on tour. And showed us how to rock as it were. One of the best Montreal bands that there is.”
Plants and Animals – “I’ll Believe in Anything” (Wolf Parade cover)
The original song was an old Sub Pop single originally from 2005’s Apologies to the Queen Mary. Listening to the P&A version… just makes me want to hear the strained yelp of the Wolf Parade original. The P&A version makes the song a little more humanistic and easier to digest for sure. But I do like the weirdo jams of Wolf Parade too…
My heart melted watching and listening to Bon Iver‘s Justin Vernon and Sean Carey sit at opposing grand piano’s and jam out some new, classic and cover songs.
Seriously… I just want to be 10,000 better at making music after watching this. Why can’t we live in the world of Shadowrunner where you buy “skill chips” and insert them in your brain? c’est la vie.
I have fallen a wee bit off the blog train the past week. Its been crazy busy with work and the stress of life… maaaaaan.
BUT, I did hear something a little different today. The band is called RoTTen Rails. Sooke heavy metallers… check out this demo “Gettin The Pit” that will be mastered and included on their upcoming album.
Yesterday JP Maurice stopped by the Zone Afternoon Show for a chit chat and live performance. He played his song “Nothing Like a Good Feeling.” Have a listen.
JP then put in my palm an ep of 7 songs… or I guess small LP? (does it matter in the year 2012? It DOES TO ME!) for the group Noverdubs.
JP put the Noverdubs together as a project for the Peak Performance Project last season. The session led to a solid 7 songs and a glorious cover of the Fleetwood Mac classic “Dreams.”
I asked JP if I could offer the song as a free MP3 download and he said yes! Nice. Thank you Jean-Paul.
“Dreams” is a hard song to tackle. You are taking one of Fleetwood Mac’s most iconic songs off one of rock & roll’s most celebrated albums. I think this version does justice. It is by no means a reinterpretation… just a beautiful showcase of talent from Victoria.
Maurice performs this Saturday night at Lucky Bar. Doors at 8PM.
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)”
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.
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.
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.
The Morning After 