All vinyl, all the time.

This was another all-vinyl edition of the show, with guest hosting duties covered by Matthew Stefanson of Pants! Pants! Pants! which happens every Wednesday evening at 10:30.

1. The National - Fake Empire (Boxer)

2. The Rolling Stones - Where the Boys Go (Emotional Rescue)

3. Shotgun Jimmie* - Waste Deep in the Water (EP)

4. You Say Party, We Say Die!* - Opportunity (Lose All Time)

5. The Clash - Lightning Strikes (Not Once But Twice) (Sandinista)

6. Jon-Rae and the River* - Fuck Me (Knows What You Need)

7. Bruce Springsteen - Glory Days (Born in the USA)

8. Sunparlour Players* - Boards (Wave North)

9. CSS - Alcohol (CSS)

10. Novillero* - Life in Parentheses (A Little Tradition)

11. Wolf Parade* - Grey Estates (At Mount Zoomer)

12. Eric Burden and the Animals - White Houses (Greatest Hits)

The Animals LP was the only one that both of us brought.

Cassette Tape Challenge - November 26th Playlist

Remember Vicky, my cohost from a few weeks ago? Well, I challenged her to do an all-vinyl Green Eggs and Ham on her Tuesday show. Her response challenge - an all cassette show.

My friend (and host of Wednesday’s Afternoon Buzz) Kirk Trew had already agreed to cohost the show, so, through no fault of his own, he had to complete the challenge as well.

1. Sticky Little Fingers - Alternative Listener (Irish Rock, A - Z)
2. The Guess Who* - Laughing (Greatest Hits)
3. Crash Test Dummies* - When I Go Out With Artists ( God Shuffled His Feet)
4. The Kinks - Come Dancing (State of Confusion)
5. Spirit of the West* - The Old Sod (Save This House)
6. Nick Cave and Shane Macgowan - Wonderful World (Irish Rock, A - Z)
7. Neil Young* - Like a Hurricane (Unplugged)
8. The Famines* - Gimme Some Numbers (14 July, 2008)
9. Concrete Blonde - Everybody Knows (Pump up the VOLUME)
10. John Cougar Mellencamp - Authority Song (Uh-huh)
11. New Order - Temptation (Substance)
12. Leonard Cohen* - Joan of Arc (Songs of Love and Hate)

vinylvinylvinyl

A very special all vinyl special edition of When Insects Rule the World with special guest cohost Rich Taylor. You can follow more of what Rich gets up to here.

1. The Jam - That's Entertainment (Sound Affects)
2. Beck - Modern Guilt (Modern Guilt)
3. Octoberman* - Run From Safety (Run From Safety)
4. TV on the Radio - Ambulance ( Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes)
5. Torngat* - L'ecole penitencier (La Petite Nicole)
6. Falklands* - Jeez Louise (Falklands)
7. Ladyhawk* - STHD (Shots)
8. Spoon - The Underdog (demo)
9. M. Ward - Never Had Nobody Like You (Hold Time)
10. Brian Eno/David Byrne - Regiment (My Life in the Bush of Ghosts) -accidentally discovered where Q got it's news music when we played this one.
11. Blonde Redhead - 23 (23)
12. Brendan Canning* - All the Best Wooden Toys Are Made in Germany (Something For All of Us)
13. Oldseed* - To Your Future (Simple Tales of Morality)
14. Neil Young* - Lotta Love (Comes a Time)
15. New Pornographers* - From a Blown Speaker (Electric Version)
16. Cat Stephens - Tea for the Tillerman (Tea for the Tillerman)

Playlist for Nov 12, 2009

Solo show! No theme.

1. Los Campesinos! - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed (We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed)
2. Jeanette Stewart* - Dark Forces (A-Sides EP)
3. Modest Mouse - Dark Forces of the Universe (Moon and Antarctica)
4. Tragically Hip* - Lionize (Fully Completely)
5. David Bazan - When We Fell (Curse Your Branches)
6. The Wind Whistles* - Sleeping Lions (Animals Are People Too)
7. The Sadies* - Tailspin (In Concert Vol. One) ...I've been watching old Tailspin episodes recently.
8. Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Little Atoms (All This Useless Beauty)
9. Neil Young* - When Worlds Collide (Fork in the Road)
10. Dog Day* - Wait it Off (Concentration)
11. 7" set! Ladyhawk* - (You Are My) Hellfire
12. Arcade Fire* - Brazil (Brazil EP)
13. Immaculate Machine* - Wo Xiang Tanbai

Found some old notes...

August 27, 2009 playlist

Reason # 12 Cleaning Your Room Takes Forever - stopping to write blog posts

This was the "Regina Folk Fest Backstage Interview" show.

1. Fall Horsie* - The Devil's Performance ( Devil (e) Dirge)
2. Ghost Bees* - Vampires of the West Coast ( Tasseomancy)
3. Socalled* - These Are the Good Old Days (Ghettoblaster)
4. Little Miss Higgins* - Dirty Old Tractor Song (Live)
5. The Deep Dark Woods* - Nancy (Winter Hours)
6. Mark Berube and the Patriotic Few* - We Go Down (What the Boat Gave the River)
7. Pirate Fridays* - Money But Music (Pirate Fridays)
8. Hawksley Workman* - When These Mountains Were the Seashore ( Treeful of Starling)
9. The Gruff* - Easy Does It (A Trail of Missing Thoughts)
10. The Heartstrings* - Used to Fly (In a Land Faraway That is Fair)
11. Corb Lund & the Hurtin' Albertans* - I Want To Be In the Cavalry (Horse Soldier)

The truth comes out.

So! It seems I was quick to jump on the "Oh hey guys, I have the best new show on CFCR, just saying." type of announcement. That distinct honour belongs to the lovely Jennifer Freeze over on Sunday night's Thrice Removed, who raised over twice what I did for FM-phasis.

A lesson in fact checking.

The show won "Best New Show" at the CFCR volunteer appreciation night.

Awesome!

Funeral Songs

If you happened to die right now (or in the very near future), what song would you want played at your funeral? This was the question we were trying to answer on this edition of the show. We being myself and special guest host Jennifer Freeze, who hosts Thrice Removed on Sunday night.

* denotes Canadian

1. Dana: Frightened Rabbit - Head Rolls Off (The Midnight Organ Fight, 2008)
2. Doug Hoyer: The Burning Hell* - Last Will and Testament (Tick Tock, 2008)
3. Laurie: Woodpigeon* - I Live a Lot of Places (Treasury Library Canada, 2008)
4. Julia: The Kinks - Strangers (Lola vs. the Powerman & the Money-Go-Round, Pt 1, 1970)
5. Jeanette: Shotgun Jimmie* - Bedhead (The Onlys, 2007)
6. Leon: Monolithic Cloud Parade - Do Ghosts Dream of Death? (Children With Wolf Heads)
7. Jenn: Joel Plakett* - Natural Disaster (La De Da, 2005)
8. Joel: The Weakerthans* - Sounds Familiar (Fallow, 1999)
9. Stephen: The Flaming Lips - Do You Realize? (Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, 2002)
10. Dan Mangan (when he was 16): Radiohead - Street Spirit (Fade Out) (The Bends, 1995)
11. Kyle (Crash the Car) - Wintersleep* - Home (Wintersleep, 2003)

We had a very nice lady call in and tell us that she was enjoying the show, and that she did not think we were wrecking the songs by associating them with funerals. So far, Jenn is winning the co-host-a-thon.

Sad vs Happy

Franny and I had another radio battle yesterday morning. Sad songs vs Happy songs. It was a close match for almost the entire show, until she pulled ahead in the last half hour. Final tally - six sad saps to eight happy campers.

Franny’s blog - http://mondaywakeup.blogspot.com/

The Autumn That Never Was

This week's theme was Autumn, even though we sort of jumped right into winter. There's hope yet!

Special guest host Brett Suwinski helped out.

* denotes Canadian

1. Slow Down, Molasses* - Leaves and Lay (I'm An Old Believer)

2. Hawksley Workman* - Autumn's Here (Lover/Fighter)

3. Royal City* - In the Autumn (Royal City)

4. Joel Plaskett* - In The Blue Moonlight (Three)

5. Jens Lekman - Maple Leaves, 7" Version (Oh, You're So Silent, Jens)

6. Yo La Tengo - Autumn Sweater (I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One)

7. Buttless Chaps* - Migratory Birds (Mint Harvest Fall 2006 Sampler)

8. Of Montreal - October is Eternal (The Sunlandic Twins)

9. Jim Bryson* - All the Fallen Leaves on the Ground (Where the Bungalows Roam)

10. The Flaming Lips - My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion (At War With the Mystics)

11. Del Barber* - Harvest (Where The City Ends)

There was also a super exclusive Del Barber phone interview. His first ever recorded phone radio interview! Mine too. It wasn't quite as awkward as you'd think.

A Train Trip Retrospective - a Playlist

Playlist for October 8th, 2009

Okay, so, I have admittedly not been the best at keeping this blog up to date. I cobbled together a string of posts from some notes I had lying around, but there are a couple of shows lost to the ages. Heard the way real radio is heard - live. Not read about on the internet, which is what we're doing here.

Not to say this isn't useful too! I mean, I wouldn't want to think I was wasting my time on this blog. No sir.

Anyway, I recently took a train trip out to the east coast and back. It was really, really awesome. I stopped in Winnipeg, Toronto, Halifax, Sackville, and Montreal, in that order. The show was an overview of some of the bands I managed to see live on the trip.

1. Del Barber* - Story That You Tell (Where The City Ends)

2. Novillero* - Life in Parentheses (A Little Tradition)

3. Oh My Darling* - Sail Away (Oh My Darling)

4. Brent Randall and his Pinecones* - Lion's Valley (We Were Strangers in Paddington Green

5. The Meligrove Band* - Grasshappers in Honey (Planets Conspire)

6. Deerhoof - Odyssey (Runner's Four)

7. Born Ruffians* - Barnacle Goose (Red, Yellow, and Blue)

8. Lars Ludvig Löfgren - We Always Knew (Heterchromia)

9. Ghost Trees* - Books In Your Hands (Feathers EP)

10. Paper Tiger - This Year (Everyone Here)

11. The Wind Whistles* - Judo (Animals Are People Too)

12. Tom Fun Orchestra* - Watchmaker (You Will Land With A Thud)

13. Sister Suvi* - Desolation (I Am Champion)

Nature, eh? (Playlist for August 20th)

Kirk Trew, who was filling in for the captain on Pirate Radio (whose absence is a rare occurrence indeed), challenged me to continue his nature themed show. Since Jay and I had already done the Plants and Animals thing, I decided to just do a nature themed set and then do a random show of songs I've been listening too lately.

1. Brent Randall and His Pinecones* - Bluebirds, Flowers and Other Things (We Were Strangers in Paddington Green)

2. The Gruff* - Owl Song (The Gruff)

3. Chad Vangaalen* - Willow Tree (Soft Airplane)

4. Rah Rah* - Tentacles (Going Steady)

/nature theme ends

5. The Got to Get Got* - Crosses (Sallahee)

6. Dan Mangan* - You Silly Git (Nice, Nice, Very Nice)

7. Royal City* - Postcards (Royal City)

8. Dent May - Oh, Paris (The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele)

9. Ben Lee - Yoko Ono (The Rebirth of Venus)

10. Timber Timbre* - Sandy's (Timber Timbre)

11. The B-52's - Rock Lobster (The B-52's)

12. Shuyler Jansen - Today's Remains (Today's Remains)

When Insects Kill Leonard Cohen - Episode Two

Covered Jay's show "Faster Leonard Cohen, Die, Die" for him. The playlist is all Canadian.

1. Woodhands - Dancer (Heart Attack)

2. Born Ruffians - Hummingbird (Red, Yellow, and Blue)

3. Woodpigeon - In the Battle of Sun vs. Curtains, Sun Loses and We Sleep Until Noon (Tresury Library Canada)

4. Wolf Parade - Grounds For Divorce (Apologies for the Queen Mary)

5. Julie Doiron - Borrowed Minivans (I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day)

6. A Gentle Forest - The Moon's Appeal (A Gentle Forest)

7. Mark Berube and The Patriotic Few - We Go Down (What the Boat Gave the River)

8. Bruce Peninsula - Steamroller (A Mountain is a Mouth)

9. Malika Selami

10. Classy Chassis - How Will You Know? (Demo)

Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative.

A weather themed show!

1. Immaculate Machine* - Northeastern Wind (Fables)

2. Joel Plaskett* - Natural Disasters (La De Da)

3. The Polymaths* - Strike (So Long, Castle Road)

4. North Mississippi All-Stars - Mean Ol' Wind Died Down (Black Snake Moan soundtrack)

5. Jesus and Mary Chain - Happy When it Rains (Darklands)

6. The Golden Dogs* - Driving in the Rain (Everything in 3 Parts)

7. Favez - And It Rains Like Hell (From Lausanne, Switzerland)

8. Neko Case - This Tornado Loves You (Middle Cyclone)

9. Thunderheist* - Space Cowboy (Thunderheist)

9. Black Mountain* - Stormy High (In The Future)

10. The Pixies - Stormy Weather (Bossanova)

11. A.C. Newman - Thunderbolts (Get Guilty)

12. Adrien Sala* - Storm Record (Diamond in the Mind)

13. The Deep Dark Woods* - The Sun Never Shines (Winter Hours)

Playlist for Thursday, July 30th, 2009

My mom was visiting me this week, so she came along to see the CFCR studio and hear the show for the first time. In the second half hour I got her to do a station id tag in between songs, which she rocked. I tried to get her to talk more a little later about her reaction to Cuff the Duke's lyrics, but she was too nervous.

* denotes Canadian

1. The Wrens - Happy (Meadowlands)

2. Passion Pit - Little Secrets (Manners)

3. Maybe Smith* - You Would Never Survive the Winters in this Province (Another Murder in the Morning)

4. Sister Suvi* - The Lot (Now I Am Champion)

5. The Rural Alberta Advantage* - Don't haunt This Place (Hometowns)

6. Hey Rosetta!* - Black Heart (Into Your Lungs)

7. Mirah - Archipelago (You Say You Mean This But Really You Mean This)

8. The Radio Dept. - 1995 (Lesser Matters)

9. Cuff the Duke* - Take My Money & Run (Cuff the Duke)

10. Eamon Mcgrath* - Big River (13 Songs About Whiskey and Light)

- nominated for a Verge award and playing at the Shakespeare on Saskatchewan tent on Saturday (free cover)

11. Dinosaur Jr. - Pieces (Farm)

- in Saskatoon November 16th with the Pink Mountaintops

12. Moonbabies - Sun A.M. (The Orange Billboard)

SOCAN Week

When Insects Rule the World for July 16th, 2009

SOCAN (the Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada) Week is the week they gather data on how many radio plays Canadian artists get. They take the numbers from this week and extrapolate it out to cover the rest of the year and pay the artists accordingly.

The show this week took SOCAN Week to heart. I took as many local albums as I could and played the shortest song on each of them so that I could fit as many as possible into the hour. Talking was at a minimum, and over instrumental sections of songs when it happened. I managed to fit 19 songs into the hour.

Plants and Animals

Jay and I decided to do a double themed set between our two shows. Inspired by the Montreal trio we went with "Plants and Animals", meaning I was stuck with songs about plants while Jay got to to tackle a musical bestiary. I kept things all Canadian to be fair.

1. No Birds - Flowers (Flowers)

2. Attack in Black - Seeds (Years (By One Thousand Fingertips))

3. Elliott Brood - Garden Valley (Mountain Meadow)

4. The Gruff - Copper Flowers (The Gruff)

5. Miracle Fortress - Five Roses (Five Roses)

6. Chad Vangaalen - Willow Tree (Soft Airplane)

7. Deep Dark Woods - Two Time Loser (The Winter Hours)

8. Ohbijou - The Woods (Swift Feet For Troubling Times)

9. A Gentle Forest - Because of the Wine (A Gentle Forest)

10. The Acorn - Antenna (Glory Hope Mountain)

11. Sarah Harmer - Oleander (I'm a Mountain)

12. Bruce Peninsule - Crab Apples (A Mountain is a Mouth)

13. Crash the Car - The Dagger Woods (We Built Houses Here)

14. Said the Whale - Last Tree Standing (Howe Sounds/ Taking Abalonia)

In which we learn I can't pronounce things well.

* denotes Canadian

The Kinks - Strangers (Lola vs. the Powerman & the Money-Go-Round, Pt. 1)

Jim Bryson* - The Wishes Pile Up (Where the Bungalows Roam)

The Magnetic Fields - I Think I Need a New Heart (69 Love Songs, Vol. 1)

Frightened Rabbit - Good Arms vs Bad Arms (The Midnight Organ Fight)

Spencer Krug set (playing July 4th at Louis'):

Wolf Parade* - I'll Believe in Anything (Apologies to the Queen Mary)

Swan Lake* - Ballad of Swan Lake or Daniel's Song (Enemy Mine)

- this wasn't actually the song I meant to play, since it mostly features Dan Bejar on vocals.

Sunset Rubdown* - You Go On Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II) (Dragonslayer)

Swan Lake* - Paper Lace (Enemy Mine)

Dan Mangan (with Shane Koyczan)* - Tragic Turn of Events / Move Pen Move (Roboteering EP)

If I’m not mistaken, the answer’s bacon.

There sure are a lot of songs about food.

* = Canadian

1. Old Man Luedecke* - Big Group Breakfast (Proof of Love)

2. The Grand Archives - Orange Juice (The Grand Archives)

3. The Lovely Feathers* - Breakfast Cake (Hind Hind Legs)

4. Shotgun Jimmie* - Cereal (The Onlys)

5. P:ano* - Supermarket One (Brigadoon)

6. O' Death* - The Crab Apple Shift (Head Home)

7. Millencolin - Story of My Life (Life on a Plate)

8. Yo La Tengo - Sugarcube (I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One)

9. Women* - Black Rice (Women)

10. Fish & Bird* - Steak (Fish & Bird)

11. Tom Waits - Eggs and Sausage (In a Cadillac with Susan Michelson) (Nighthawks at the Diner)

12. The White Stripes - One More Cup of Coffee (Bob Dylan cover)

13. Ron Sexsmith * - Dandelion Wine (Retriever)

14. Buck 65* - White Bread (Situations)

15. Demetri Martin - The Grapes Song (These Are Jokes)

Old Man Luedecke had another song that would have been perfect for the show, the Joy of Cooking off of Hinterland. The man likes his food.

Work is a four-letter word.

I just got a job as an archaeologist, which is kind of neat because it's what I went to university for four years to do. The first four songs reflect my new career while the rest of the show was a celebration of jobs and employment in general. People were requesting whatever they wanted: jobs they had, jobs they wanted, jobs they'd dreamed about having some day when they were children.

* = Canadian

1. Wintersleep* - Archaeologists (Welcome to the Night Sky)

2. SNFU* - Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump (In the Meantime and In Between Time)

3. Gruff Rhys - The Court of King Arthur (Candylion)

4. Joe Strummer - X-Ray Style (Rock Art and the X-Ray Style)

5. Dumb Angel* - Harvest and Bread (I Woke Up This Morning)

- for Lily Grisdale, who wants to be a baker (but can`t handle the hours...)

6. The Bloodlines* - Modern Science (The Bloodlines)

- for Laurie Johnson, scientist.

7. The United Steel Workers of Montreal* - Goddamn the CPR (Broken Trucks and Bottles)

- for Scott Welygan, who wanted to be a railway man when he was a lad.

8. The Barmitzvah Brothers* - Thrift Store Owner

- for April, who feels an affinity with Jenny Omnichord`s thrift store owner parents.

9. The Constantines* - Working Full Time (Tournament of Hearts)

- for Brendan Flaherty, because I couldn`t find Simian Mobile Disco or Loverboy.

10. The Radio* - Crystal Blue (...Vancouver Special!)

- for Jay Allen, radio man extraordinaire.

11. John Lennon - Mother (John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band)

- for Chantel, who called in and liked the Radio song. She`s a student and a mother.

12. The Polymaths* - Lumberjack Song (So Long, Castle Road)

- lumberjacks are awesome (or at least this song makes them seem fun and romantic)

blog special features (post-show requests):

13. Atmosphere - The Waitress (When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold)

- for Nicole Almond, who serves at Louis. Wikipedia says Tom Waits beatboxes on this track, and that is rad.

14. They Might Be Giants - Minimum Wage (Flood)

- for Brent Mcfarlane, who`s pain I have felt.

15. Old Man Luedecke* - I Quit My Job (Hinterland)

- amazing song, I`ve been playing it every time I quit a job lately (which has been surprisingly often)

Cathartic, maybe?

* = Canadian

The songs I wanted to play the most are near the end.

The beginning was good too, though.

1. Pearson* - This is not a letter, nor is it a postcard (Clear Thinking on Mixed Feelings)

2. Crash the Car* - Building (We Built Houses Here)

3. Great Lake Swimmers* - Moving, Shaking (Great Lake Swimmers)

4. Del Barber* - Love is Just a Wrecking Ball

5. Old Man Luedecke* - Sad as a Forest (Proof of Love)

6. Jose Gonzalez - Lovestain (Veneer)

7. Owen - Everyone Feels Like You (No Good For No One Now)

8. Pedro the Lion - Fix (Whole)

9. The Weakerthans* - Utilities (Reconstruction Site)

10. Leonard Cohen* - Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye (Songs of Leonard Cohen)

11. Gregory and the Hawk - Boats & Birds (Gregory and the Hawk)

12. Noah and the Whale - Do What You Do (Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down)

Canadians in Space

"Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-boggingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the drug store, but that's just peanuts to space."

- Douglas Adams

Canada seems to be increasing its presence in space lately; Robert Thirsk is one of the additions to the Space Station crew and Circque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté is set to become Canada's first space tourist. Our interest in space has varied over the years, mine included, but the succesful exploration and study of it continues to be one of the most challenging projects humanity has undertaken.

My favourite songs from the set are the Lemonjelly and Langley Schools Music Project contributions. The Lemonjelly song uses voice samples recorded during actual Apollo Missions (and is just a really beautiful song) and the Langley Schools one is a cover of the David Bowie song as recorded by around 70 students in B.C., and is Bowie-approved. Thanks to Kris for pointing it out to me.

* denotes Canadian musicians

1. Guided by Voices - Hey Hey Spaceman (Devil Between My Toes)

2. Spiral Beach - Rocket Fuel (Ball)*

3. Devo - Space Junk (Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!)

4. The National - Looking For Astronauts ( Alligator)

5. Laura Barrett - Space Seed: The Musical ( Victory Garden )*

6. Lemonjelly - Space Walk (Lost Horizon)

7. The New Pornographers - Star Bodies (Twin Cinema)*

8. Carbon Dating Service - Starbeat Graduation March (Polyentendrii)*local

9. Modest Mouse - Space Travel is Boring (This is a Long Drive for Someone With Nothing to Think About)

10. Greg Macpherson - 1000 Stars (Balanced on a Pin)*

11. Broken Social Scene - Stars and Sons (You Forgot It In People)*

12. Wintersleep - Astronauts (Welcome to the Night Sky)*

13. Langley Schools Music Project - Space Oddity (Innocence and Despair)*

Scott is awesome.

I skipped out on the show on the 28th so I could go to a concert (that's fair, right?). My good friend Scott Welygan filled in for me, and did an admirable job.

1. Dinosaur Jr. - Crumble (Beyond)

2. The Tragically Hip - Morning Moon (We Are the Same)

3. Serena Ryder - Little Bit of Red (Is It Ok)

4. United Steel Workers of Montreal - Son, Your Daddy Was Bad (Three on the Tree)

5. Shotgun Jimmy - Onomatopiae (The Onlys)

6. SNFU - Cockatoo Quill (In the Meantime and In Between Time)

7. Mr. Plow - Biscuits and Gravy (Apocalypse Plow)

8. Stompin' Tom Connors - Roll On Saskatchewan (Proud Canadian)

9. The Weakerthans - Benediction (Reconstruction Site)

10. Japandroids - Rockers East Vancouver (Post Nothing)

11. Modest Mouse - Shit Luck (Lonesome Crowded West)

12. Hall and Oates - You Make My Dreams Come True (Best Of)

When Insects Rule the Afternoon Buzz

Since it seemed like I hadn't in quite awhile, I spent the early part of this week checking out some new music. The result was last night's radio show (with the exception of the Modest Mouse song... that's just something I've always wanted to play on the radio, so I threw it in.)

* denotes Canadian musicians

1. Neil Young - When Worlds Collide (Fork in the Road)*
2. Handsome Furs - I'm Confused (Face Control)*
3. Pale Air Singers - The Moving Floor (Pale Air Singers)[The Cape May / Run Chico Run collaboration]*
4. The Memories Attack - Sink/Swim (The Memories Attack)*
5. Modest Mouse - Stars Are Projectors (Moon and Antarctica)
6. Years - The Assassination of Dow Jones (Years)[new Do Make Say Think side project]*

The second half of the show was all about previews and late Record Store Day celebrations.

7. Tessa Kautzman - Someone Like You (demo)[local girl who's moved away, plays all of the instruments on her beautiful demo by herself]*
8. Ohbijou - Black Ice (Beacons, out June 2nd)*
9. Bowerbirds - Northern Lights (Upper Air, out July 7th)
10. Modest Mouse - Satellite Skin (new album out sometime?)
11. M. Ward - Epistemology (Hold Time) [my post-Record Store Day purchase]
12. Great Lake Swimmers - Concrete Heart (Lost Channels) [continuing the vinyl celebration]*
13. The National ft. Bon Iver - Vanderlylle Cry Baby (live)

The new National song was recorded live at the Dark Was the Night benefit show and features Bon Iver on guitar. You can notice that most right at the end, when he rips into a somewhat un-National like guitar solo.

Crashed the Green Eggs and Ham Party one last time.

I joined Franny on her edition of Green Eggs and Ham this morning. Franny is the one who taught me the ways of community radio, so it was nice to be able to co-host with her one last time before I start my summer job tomorrow. We ended up doing a genre duel; I took up arms for folk and country twang while she sided with electronic and hip-hop beats. I took home the win based on phone in requests and votes.

Check the playlist out at her blog, and be sure to tune in to her show every Monday from 8 to 10.

Great Canadian Band Member Count-up

A counting game the Count himself would be proud of; Canadian indie rock band members, from one to twenty-one (with only a couple of gaps along the way...)


1. Final Fantasy - This is the Dream of Win and Regime (Has a Good Home)

Owen Pallet is one artist who consistently pushes and evolves his live show, taking his violin and looping it over itself masterfully to create large, lush arrangements with that solitary instrument.

2. The Famines - TWA Flight 553 (2x7")

Minimalist art-rock duo from Edmonton. They have some of the greatest merch you will ever see (cassettes, 8 tracks, 7 inches, art books, on and on).

3. Born Ruffians - Barnacle Goose (Red, Yellow, and Blue)

Toronto trio that exemplifies all of the advantages being in a small band can give; they're tight, fun, and have great chemistry on stage.

4. The Deep Dark Woods - All The Money I Had Is Gone (Winter Hours)

Saskatoon's very own fab four.

5. Constantines - Shower of Stones (Kensington Heights)

Uber-rock quintet hailing from Toronto. Are you following along okay? Know what number comes next? It's...

6. Hey Rosetta! - Red Heart (Into Your Lungs and Out Through Your Heart)

A sextet from out east (St. John's, Newfoundland, to be exact.) Right around here you can really start to feel the numbers having an impact on the music, but that might just have to do with the fact that we're now adding string sections in.

7. Arcade Fire - Neighbourhood #2 (Funeral)

The Montreal septet that are at least partially responsible for the proliferation of collectives and other gigantic, orchestral bands in Canada.

8. Carbon Dating Service - Fossils (Reliquae)

Saskatoon's resident octet, rumoured to be no more. The band actually started with ten members on their first album, but have since trimmed down a bit.

9. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls (Yanqui U.X.O.)

Another prolific Montreal collective, comprising nine members into what's known as a nonet. These guys write dense, sprawling instrumentals that build and build and build. Included members from Do Make Say Think and A Silver Mt. Zion, among many others.

10. Library Voices - Kindera On the Dance Floor - (Hunting Ghosts & Other Collected Shorts)

Regina's ten-piece pop sensation. Somehow, the decet managed to go on tour with the six members of Saskatoon's Slow Down, Molasses, probably all crammed into the same van.

11. Broken Social Scene - Cause = Time (You Forgot It In People)

We've run out of prefixes by this point, so I'll try to make some up. Broken Social Scene is a decasolotet from Toronto, and, in a lot of ways, they pioneered the idea of the modern Canadian indie rock collective. The count of eleven members is taken from an earlier incarnation of the band (circa 2002).

12. Bruce Peninsula - Satisfied (A Mountain is a Mouth)

Twelftet prog-rock from Ontario, and they all like to sing.

15. The Choir Practice - Red Fox (The Choir Practice)

Speaking of a collection of singers, the Choir Practice, a quinteentet from B.C., has embraced the idea whole-heartedly.

21. Broken Social Scene - Our Faces Split the Coast in Half (Broken Social Scene)

It felt fitting to end the show with a BSS song. They've expanded to include 21 mumbers on their latest album, and that's not even including gust appearances from K-Os and others. A duadecasolotet!