moi je n'aime pas!

Oh Quebec metal, why has it take me this long to love you?

Track list:

1. Monon'c Serge & Anonymus - Various: Quebec Emergent - sebastien benoit

Comments: AMAZING. The combination of heavy metal styles and cheeky french lyrics has blown my mind.

2. Rich Aucoin - personal publication - 10,342 cuts for the us (an exploding)

Comments: Dancy, and perfect for watching with clips of old cartoons. This is not a coincidence.

3. Jenny Omnichord - charlotte or otis - the old prince

Comments: Jenny Omnichord and Shad!!! Oh-mazing.

4. Great Lake Swimmers - various: weewerk is 6 - song for the angels (miracle version)

Comments: So soothing and nice, I accidentally played the first part twice, due to smacking the cd player prematurely, argh. Still, I have no real regrets. The song prevents me from feeling anything except whistful.

5. Change of Heart - steelteeth - orange

Comments: Some soothing 90s Canadian rock, for me and my tortured, uh, arms. I gave blood yesterday, and it did not go well. This is my reward.

6. Fatal if Swallowed - thank you, goodnight! - beer for my dear

Comments: The sentiment behind the song was so heartwarming, how could I not play it? I can totally be won over with beer! I could cry right now.

7. Wintermitts - heirloom - schoolyard

Comments: Simultaneously pretty and rockin'. Not easy to do!

8. Castanets - city of refuge - refuge 1

Comments: To fuel your misery. Hey, this is college radio, it's my job.

9. Kellarissa - flamingo - tiny things

Comments: Remember when Larissa was in Choir Practice and I was very appreciative? Well, say hooray if you like continuity, because I like this too. Nice sort of 60s keyboard sounds, with kind of futuristic undertones. But then, to me, the 60s were all about futuristic undertones, so maybe it's all tied together.

10. Call the City - ep - svetlana says

Comments: I love this song because it is so sassy. I never get tired of sass.

11. Grandfather Fire & the Holy Mourning - various: nothing on but your radio - live sessions from cjsw 90.9 - my allergy to the fans

Thoughtful piano, thoughtfully

If only I hadn't given up lessons (I might have been even more warped and frustrated).

Track list:

1. Valery Gore - avalanche to wandering bear - shoes of glass

Comments: Plink plink plink! Lovely.

2. Winter Gloves - about the girl - party people

Comments: Woo hoo hoo! Michael Jackson-style. I am dancing, as usual. Ooh, I love the talking bit, always a winner.

3. Stacy Lloyd Brown - automatic ep - the motherload

Comments: Squidge squodge music! This is how I am most comfortable describing slightly electronic music. Through onomatopoeia! It works for me. This is sort of a soothing ocean of synthesizer punctuated by squidge squodge and bloop bloop. I feel like a chidren's tv presenter right now.

4. DD/MM/YYYY - 777 - super vgf

Comments: More boops and bloops, very catchy and delightful.

5. The Judes - sunflower - plastic surgery

Comments: He only wants to love you, and your fake boobs. Delightfully retro-garage.

6. Young Rival - young rival - poisonous moves

Comments: It's an awesome retro-garage double shot!

7. Elliott Brood - mountain meadows - fingers and tongues

Comments: This sounds very beautiful and old, but modern. Kind of classic western film, but with today's angst.

8. Spiral Beach - bonus! - kind of beast

Comments: A danceable choral rock song with sort of... a space truckin' feel? I think it's possible.

9. Sex with Strangers - the modern seduction - downtown fever

Comments: And the dancing just keeps on, um, happening. I am picturing people bouncing in their cars, you know, if people listened to me in their cars. I don't think the transmission tends to be strong enough, but I have trouble letting go of the vision.

10. The Human Statues - the human statues - the man on the radio

Comments: As a lady on the radio, I'm not thrilled to be excluded, but whatever.

11. Modernboys Moderngirls - I might as well break it- my baby says boy etc.

Comments: So good! Too short!

12: Sean Cullen - i am a human man - addicted to the disco

Comments: Oh dear Sean.

13: Search Parties - an hour like this - an hour like this

North end strangled!

I submit!

Track list:

1. The Stolen Minks - high kicks - north end strangler

Comments: Frig you're awesome, minks.

2. The Great Outdoors - summer - last day of our vacation

Comments: To help you recover from being brutalized by the minks! But really, this speaks to me of my current situation, strapped into five months of frost and drizzle. It's both sympathetic and comforting.

3. Woodland Telegraph - sings revival hymns - how I get buried

Comments: More gentle misery. It's in the title though, isn't it. Yes, yes it is. But it's sweetly demoralizing.

4. 1977 - 1977 - get the feeling

Comments: Pretty! It's a generic comment, but true. I feel this in my pretty-bone. It's a small bone, but very sensitive. Uh, yes. That sounded not great. But this, this IS great. Yes it is.

5. Dylan Thomas & The Vancouver Vipers - fortune teller miracle fish - seasick ocean queen

Comments: Charming and lovely and man, I'll play it again. Oh my, Josephine. Instant winner lyrics, Mr. Thomas!

6. Josh Reichmann Oracle Band - life is legal ep - plant words

Comments: Funky! Bwow chika deowwwww... he's Canadian too. That combination doesn't necessarily come without significant practice and effort. Kudos, Mr. Reichmann, kudos.

7. Modernboys Moderngirls - I might as well break it - where's your boyfriend

Comments: Sassy and very rock n' roll. It's more authentic with the apostrophe. Well, where is this alleged boyfriend? He sounds awesome.

8. Afternoons in Stereo - Everybody dance now: songs from Hamilton 3 - party at dick and mimi's

Comments: Is there anything to say except, that is one wicked funky party to which I have probably not been invited? This music would have been at home on the turntable at Eddie Murphy's house in Trading Places, until he kicked everybody out. Yeah. YEAH!

9. Pants and Tie - washing machine/you rub me the wrong way ep - washing machine

Comments: Maybe this guy doesn't do laundry. Seriously man, laundry is not as awesome as you make it sound. Not even close.

(EDIT: LOVE it.)

10. The Organ - thieves - don't be angry

Comments: And a sharp left at the relationship anguish ballad! Lovely guitar strumming, and singing that reminds me of swans. The Organ are beloved by music critics, however, so I'm sure it's nothing they haven't heard before.

11. Tullio De Piscopo - disco italia - e fatto e sorde! e? (money money)

Comments: Oh you know I can't resist. When they finally hide this album from me in the stacks, I will publicly weep, and possibly mount a protest. In the meantime, dance like there's no tomorrow, kids.

Steve-a Peron

If you use that as your new band name, remember who to credit (and where to send your first ten bucks, or some flowers or something).

Track list:

1. I ate your legs - I ate your legs - certain breeds

Comments: At first I thought it would be all backwards (nee-oooop, nee-ooooooop), but then it resolved itself into a nice, grungy, nihilistic instrumental number. You will dance the tarantella into your own grave, listener!

2. Ertha Kitt - where is my man (single) - where is my man

Comments: Ertha credits a "B. Vilanch" on this song. Seriously? I would not be surprised if it were THE Bruce "Sally Jesse eyewear" Vilanch. Grrrr.

3. The Good News - the good news - oh na na

Comments: Hop hop dance dance weep weep! This song has everything I like, including a chorus of sweet male voices, and a jumpy and defiant chorus. And fake-rap! Oh em gee, you guys.

4. Fur Bearing Animals - fur bearing animals - space shuttle worn machine

Comments: This band is about to disco your ass into next week. And: GO! But also incongruous fiddle. And robot voices! I am about to turn into the bike courier from Spaced, right about now.

5. Matthew Ryan Woods - edgewise - the arrival

Comments: Fulfilling my self-imposed country quota. Very slick.

6. Said the Whale - howe sounds - my government heart

Comments: For a Canadian band to talk about being a government agent and how that's somehow cool... well anyway, this song is awesome. I guess the secret agents here have time for saucy love affairs, at any rate.

7. The Sheepdogs - big stand - garbagemen

Comments: Appropriately gritty! I like the repeated guitar phrase, it's a total singalong guitar part.

8. Tusks - tusks - baby noise

Comments: This is a convertible-with-the-top-down type song. About babies! As a lady with variable hormone levels, I predict this song will reach maximum effectiveness in approximately three weeks.

9. Poorfolk - our burning street - dead pan dance

Comments: More sort of misery dance music. Well, I like it, what can I say. It has that quick-quick-slow thing going on too. As a lady of a certain age (still with variable hormone levels, let's not forget), I appreciate a break now and then, even in the midst of the rocking. Not too much of a break, small is okay. Wouldn't want to start going all Enya or anything.

10. Red Dragon Band - let me be your radio

Comments: OH MAN, I love this so much.

Nauseated by politicians

It is the only explanation. Why else would I feel so ill? No, it is not because I just used the cjsf-adjacent bathroom! That thing is spotless!

Track list:


1. End this week with knives - we are so transparent - arms akimbo


2. Lexington & Whatevski - I love Alberta rap - captain of the football team


3. Malajube - le compte complet - la valerie


4. Poor Folk - poor folk - shots


5. Secret Fires - I only want what I can't see - baby I'm a rat


6. The Jealous Girlfriends - the jealous girlfriends - the pink wig to my salieri


7. Cour de lane - cjsr: get out of your basement - burn down the house


8. Illfit Outfit - cjsr: get out of your basement - acid jungle


9. You Say Party! We Say Die! - you say party! we say die! - what's the holdup? where's the fire?


10. The Clips - matterhorn - wire

boiling molten students

SFU is back in session, and the whole place is overrun with youth. Eeep. Everyone looks quite nervous, and there is no recourse in smoking, thanks to the new rigorous no smoking on campus rules. Plus, they have replaced all of your vendo chips with nutritious fruit leathers! Oh, you're all in so much trouble.

1. The Telepathic Butterflies - breakfast in suburbia - if it's all too much

2. Junior Pantherz - rejoice, remain - high hopes

3. Love and Mathematics - love and mathematics - remember to masticate

4. Aching Heart Foundation - the destination - heaven on earth

5. Artificial Workshop - various: esopus number ten: good news - miracle man

6. Hey Rosetta! - into your lungs - handshake the gangster

7. Shotgun Jimmie - various: do you want to talk all night? a sappy records tribute to snailhouse - 21 years

8. Man Man - various: esopus number ten: good news - a song for liza minelli

9. Duchess Says - anthologie des 3 perchoirs - gilbert

10. The Golden Dogs - big eye little eye - painting ape

Radio Dinners - now more satisfyingly 2008

This evening's Singing with Barbra radio show is dedicated to the people over here! the people over here! the people over here!

I have been listening to old school rap lately, can you tell? Rip rop rippity roo. I think my skills are improving.

Anyway, I recently borrowed a few of my father-in-law's old timey records (old timey for me being the 70's, obviously). Now I am digitizing them and turning them over to you, the greedy public. In this show we have an inspirational number from National Lampoon, featuring a young and be-babyfaced Christopher Guest. Interspersed with mostly Canadian indie rock and such. This radio show has no attention span, friends.

Track list:

1. Kick in the eye - sea of bitterness - anytime

2. National Lampoon - radio dinner - deteriorata

3. Simply Saucer - half human, half live - clearly invisible

4. Grand Theft Bus - made upwards - roses

5. Alena Manera - alena manera ep - let her go

6. July 4th Toilet - presents balls bougie - name on door

7. The Tetraktys - die brucke (in which the yo-yo string is reavealed as a state of mind) - mellower in canada

8. The Plastic Constellations - we appreciate you - so many friends

9. The Ferris Wheel - ep - stay with me

Oh, are we on fire or what.

This week I spent a hell of a long time debating the merits of Bigfoot, and basically asking whether life would be more interesting and/or worthwhile if he were around more, you know, to give us advice and such. I say bring him to dinner and let's find out. Unfortunately the establishment keeps faking us out with rubber suits and pig intestines. It is a crime. All I want to do is sit awhile and eat pie with the sasquatch! See what kind of crazy ideas he might have cooked up in the mountains up there! I promise I will not tell him about cars or spaceships or anything. Yeesh, it's like the government doesn't trust us or something.

Track list:

1. Fur Bearing Animals - fur bearing animals - someway

2. Ruby Coast - nopq uvwx - brittle bones

3. Jellyfiche - tout ce que j'ai reve - les arbres

4. Young & Sexy - the arc - up in the rafters

5. Ghostkeeper - ghostkeeper and the children of the great northern muskeg - solid gold

6. Sebastian Grainger - american names - map of the world

7. Sean Savage - summer 5000 - I've got the worm

8. Belleisle - longstanding - old noise

Ship fitter?

Good evening, my sweet. May I rub your back? Would you like some toast and jam? How about a restraining order?

Mmm hmmm.

Tonight we have a whole heck of a bunch of Canadian alt-rock, and one old dude making fun of lounge singers. See if you can tell them apart! I bet it will be hard. Everyone's so damned "ironic" these days.

Listen to this show!
Part 1 Part 2

Track list:

1. Tagaq - auk/blood - fire ~ ikuma

2. Guy Marks - loving you has made me bananas (HINT! HINT!)

3. Women - women - shaking hand

4. Hills Like White Elephants - himalaya - a sword in the circle

5. Cinderpop - a lesson in science - boomerang

6. The Jolts - haute voltage - black snake

7. Ghost Bees - tasseomancy - erl king

8. Mattress - heavy duty - don't forget

9. Ryan Driver - feeler of pure joy - why the road?

Look away

Hey you! This is a private blog! Nothing to see here. Except, of course, for a fine selection of songs from some lovely Canadian types.

Track list:

1. Tagaq - auk/blood - hunger

Comments: Occasionally I like to break away from the usual and play something a bit artsy and experimental. This would be one of those times. Reveen only wishes he could relax you like this does. Also, Tagaq's voice is much prettier than Reveen's... and her backing musicians are more talented too. There's no comparison here, really.

2. The Ferris Wheel - the ferris wheel - i hear skeletons

Comments: Mr. Bones feels rattlin', ha ha, that's a good one. Doot doot doot - this CD proclaims that it was "recorded at Sean's," which just impresses the hell out of me. I realize everyone's doing it now, but man, so many people are just doing it wrong, you know?

3. Pete Samples - the jumper cables - bobby raindrop

Comments: I personally think it's the new "we are the world" - it's that sing-along chorus, whoa-oah, whoa-oah, it gets me every time! This is frankly quite gorgeous. And apparently his mom created his album art! I love that. My mum has an embroidery setting on her sewing machine too. She doesn't usually include velcro though. Kudos, Momma Samples.

4. Ghost Keeper - and the children of the great northern muskeg - cruisin the chev

Comments: Look out ladies and gentlemen, ghost keeper is out on the town, and I believe every single member is wearing leather pants and swaggling their hips suggestively. It is highly rock n' roll of them.

5. 4d - l'equanimite - les morts-vivants sifflent

Comments: The zombies are whistling?! Awesome. Is it like, some sort of all-zombie version of West Side Story? OH NO WAIT ACTUALLY - would it not be AMAZING if somebody made West Side Story as the tale of star-crossed lovers, one zombie and the other non-zombie? I vote for lady-zombie, and uninfected dude. I see... Kristin Chenoweth, maybe?

6. The Coast - expatriate - killing off our friends

Comments: Metaphorically I've been doing alot of this lately. You know how it is, you move to the suburbs and suddenly it gets so hard to bother to hang out with anybody. Not that I was doing tons of it before. It's just now it's pretty much absolute.
This song makes it sound kind of glamorous and fun. Thanks, coast!

7. Hills Like White Elephants - himalaya - gulls

Comments: They're building up to something here, I can tell. Sort of sounds like they're setting up a massive party in an airport hangar, but they're not letting any of the plebes in yet because the 40-ft amps are still being rolled into place.

8. Hilotrons - hoppymatic - lovesuit

Comments: David Byrne is going to call you up and ask when you snuck into his apartment and rifled through his funky loop drawer, hilotrons. And you should answer, "ha, two can play the funky loop game, Byrne; also, let's hang out and be awesome together, okay? Thursday at six good for you?" I am just making suggestions here.

9. Language-Arts - language-arts - either way

Comments: Funky, funky funky. And they're going to be playing right by my house, and the Beanstalk festival in Port Coquitlam! I love it.

10. Young & Sexy - the arc - the fog

Comments: A little weather-appropriate music for you. Next week I'm going to the lake, and on my first day there it will be thirty degrees and sunny, aka bathing suit weather. DAMN.

Messing around with playlists

You could probably listen to some songs here.

delightful noises

Hello all, welcome to today's blog about the show, wherein I will list the songs played on Singing with Barbra and give my immediate impressions, whatever they might be.

Just an introduction, in case you're new.

I find you intelligent and charming, with just a hint of jaw-droppingly gorgeous, have I mentioned?

Track list:

1. Team Building - upon st. lawrence - upon st. lawrence

Comments: This is a lovely song, which reminds me greatly of drifting on water. Successful songwriting, that! Quite beautiful, really. It's a bit of a musical journey through a Canadian landmark, if that's your thing.

2. Videotape - my favourite thing - night lights

Comments: This has an awesome culvert-recorded sound, like David Bowie's Heroes, a bit (it always comes back to Bowie for me). Distant vocals, and there is something very nostalgia-inducing about that particular sound. Have you noticed? Anyway, it's also danceable, in a very nice way.

3. Statues - terminal bedroom - husbands and wives

Comments: Dee dee deedeedeedee DEEEEEE! DANCE DANCE DANCE! If only there were a ballroom in my basement full of bedazzled friendly people, I would play them this song. And they would enjoy it heartily.

4. Culture Reject - culture reject - inside the cinema

Comments: Is that... a harmonium? Delicious. Creative percussion also. Always appreciated.

5. Ghost Keeper - and the children of the great northern muskeg - solid gold

Comments: ghost keeper, feeling a little bit country, a little bit rock n' roll. But mostly country. And also some disco, I guess, what with the 'solid gold.' Well, that's what I always think of. Solid gold... jumpsuits! Is that a leap of logic I'm making alone? Oh well.
This is excellent, by the way. Swaggerin.

6. Koak - morningtime stumble - y knot

Comments: This is the song I would play if I was returning to my hometown after a fire had gutted all of my favourite childhood haunts, just to set the mood. Those arc-ing, twangy guitars would punctuate my turning over of bits of wood, and discovering scorched street signs and old rags, and other detritus, with a pained look on my face.
Call me, T-Bone Burnett, I long to be your understudy.

7. Ruby Coast - ruby coast - brittle bones

Comments: Beeps and bleeps done right. Tugging at the heartstrings and pleasuring the eardrums with synthesizer - it's not easy, is it? I mean, so many have tried and failed. It must be a bit of a daunting task, all told.

8. The Hung Jury - 'the windsor scene' live at cjam fm - except the whiskey

Comments: Slightly belligerent songs about liquor consumption, I adore you! This one is predictably fun and mildly mournful, all at once. Oh, you know it's kind of a country song. Please, obviously.

9. Hills Like White Elephants - himalaya - a sword in the circle

Comments: Jangly and slight. Atmostpheric! Echoing and moody! Adjective adjective adjective! I do love a good adjective.

husband soup

New band name: husband soup. Right? It's my favourite thing. Not that I'm into cannibalism, I just like it when he cooks. So I figure the idea would appeal to people, therefore tricking them into buying the album. Or into making soup for their spouse. Win-win, yes?

Track list:

1. Statues - terminal bedroom - lifting fingers

Comments: DANCE DANCE DANCE! WOOO! It's been a long day. This is eminently jiveable. Thanks ever so, statues.

2. The Jealous Girlfriends - the jealous girlfriends - machines

Comments: The guitar in this, it's gorgeous. It has a lovely grinding industrial feel, by which I do not mean to imply that it's metal. It's just beautiful and very joyously electric. Ladies, you know what you're doing.

3. Videotape - my favourite thing - dancing on the sound

Comments: A journey, a gradual journey through a varying soundscape, toward dancing, dancing daaaaaancing! Love that.

4. Japandroids - lullaby death jams - darkness on the edge of gastown

Comments: Heyyyyy, your future is bleak! Dark and all, but also kind of amusing. The juxtaposition of the "heyyyyy!" and "you will never amount to anything" kind of phrases is interesting. Like if the Fonz were an embittered guidance counsellor.
Sorry, got a bit sidetracked there. This is a heady, emotional song with awesome local implications. I will say that actually, all of Gastown is looking a bit sad these days.

5. Cinderpop - a lesson in science - boomerang

Comments: Pleasantly fluffy, with organ... or keyboard? I'm no professional when it comes to these things. Oh, it says keyboard in the liner notes. I like the irregular drum beat, a bit like my heart after a tennis match. Ah youth. How I miss it.

6. Jellyfiche - tout ce que j'ai reve - source infinie

Comments: I will play you, Quebec artists, I don't care who you are or what you did as long as where you're from is the french part of eastern Canada. Grrr.
This is dark and brooding, and then soaring and optimistic! Just like all of my favourite David Bowie songs. WIN! WIN! WIN! The bassist is having a hell of a good time, also.

7. Horses - horses - gasoline

Comments: Let me just say that I have now played 'the catwalk' a few times, but this is my first experience with 'gasoline,' and I am not disappointed. This is just plain awesome. I'm doing the head-bop dance, and I don't care who sees.

8. Mattress - heavy duty - pollution

Comments: Just as I feared, there ain't no solution to the pollution. We're all gonna die, so, as my husband so charmingly put it last night, why don't we just go live in a box and do heroin. No reason to guard ourselves when death is so inevitable. And now he's making soup! His optimism always comes back to haunt him like that.
This is kind of bitchin' mournful electronica. Buck the system, yes!

9. The City Streets - concentrated living - mastodon

Comments: The packaging of this CD makes it all seem much more bleak than it actually is. The city streets may feel a bit discouraged, but their instruments don't know it. Sort of a 'jump around and cry' number. I approve.

10. Bil Hetherington and the Asian Tigers - bh and the at - leaders in the know

Comments: Pretty. I want to write all about it, but I'm being ejected from the studio. Well, I can't live here or anything, that wouldn't do. But really, this is lovely.

Unbelievable

Hey, are you a musician of sorts, trying to gain a foothold in the world of nastiness we call "rock 'n' roll"? Or not? Either way, if you feel the urge, send me a note and I'll play your song. I'm not even kidding, I'm a complete slut for attention. Hey, self-knowledge is all that matters here.

I can't believe I'm doing this blog-post thing again, but somehow it makes the whole experience feel more worthwhile. Rather than just pumping the radio waves into the ether and claiming to have done it afterward, I'm creating somewhat of a record of it here. Until Gore trips over the internet cord and the whole thing goes up in bits.

Track list:

1. Horses - horses - the catwalk

Comments: The coolest thing I have played in a while. May mislead listeners. Disclaimer: I am not cool!

2. The River Pilots - the unexpected adventures of... - a game of trust

Comments: of who? OF WHOOOOO? AAAAAAARGH.
It has been a trying day.

3. Ookpikk - total home job - soda fountain of youth

Comments: Somebody out there's an incurable optimist, ain't they, ookpikk! Seriously. Delightful electronic squishing.

4. Danger Danger Mammoth Hunter - four songs - old party

Comments: This is a song about me, 'the old party'. No seriously, we go to a restaurant, it's like "Table for two, party of OLD!"
This song is not really about me. Too much energy.

5. UTS - foam faces - disco lady

Comments: Whoever filed this called the CD "foam aces", which sounds like the name of a film about a pool & poker party, probably with John Cusack.
This song is a total self-fulfilling prophecy.

6. Young & Sexy - the arc - peer through the lock

Comments: Funny name, pretty vocal. It's all I ask, really.

7. Women - women - lawncare

Comments: Now there is a name I am not going to google. It'll be all NAKED WOMEN ICKY BOOBS EMPORIUM DOT COM. You really think they put the filters on at a college radio station? Well actually they might. Probably not, but maybe. I think they just check after and then kick you out of school if they find any nasty links. Like Maxim, according to my place of employment. Well, I half agree with them.

8. The Coast - expatriate - song for gypsy rose lee

Comments: So pretty. It even has tinkly bells! Siiiiiigh. What are you trying to do to me here, coast??? It is not fair to massage me this way with your gentle musician-ing.

9. The Neighbourhood Council - the neighbourhood council - pheonix

Comments: According to some, they spelled it right. I don't know how I feel about this OED subversion, but, oh, what the hell. Englilgilsh degree be damned!

Radio, in the aft-er-nooooon

I'm pre-recordage tonight, because of a previous engagement. You understand, don't you? You're so accommodating that way. Grr.

Track list:

1. Bloody Chicletts - presenting... - radioheadache

Comments: I remember when this CD came out. They were giving it away free somewhere! And I didn't get one. Sigh. Probably for the best; how much stuff do I need anyway? I got one of the songs stuck in my head this week somehow, so I carry it with me regardless. And now I'm passing the buck on to you.

2. World of Science - makeout music by - you're so handsome

Comments: This song was rudely cut off by some happy folk music a few weeks back. And I say, what the hell??!? It's quality, so that was just unnecessary. And a shame. Well, now it's in the middle of the show, so there's nothing "the man" can do, if you can call a bebirkenstocked fellow with a beard "the man".

3. Brasstronaut - old world lies ep - fan

Comments: Further proof that the planet is reaching critical mass when it comes to cute punsy band names. We're almost out of stock!!! Who will save us from a world where everyone's musical act will have to be classified via the Dewey Decimal System?

4. Plants and Animals - plants and animals - new kind of love

Comments: Listen to while reading postcardsfromyomomma.com

5. Cortez the Killer - #05486 - broletariat

Comments: Heavy, yet interesting. This is something that is rarely possible for my ears to discern, now that I am old. YES, I AM OLD. At least, older than your nephew who likes Tool.

6. Proof of Ghosts - proof of ghosts - my baby don't come 'round here anymore

Comments: sigh. Well, if she's totally nuts, it's probably just as well, right? look on the bright side, PoG.

7. Ladyhawk - shots - faces of death

Comments: I think the appropriate word is: poignant. Pretty voice, non-lady member of ladyhawk.

8. Rough Skeletons - rough skeletons - sound of pony

Comments: Ambient horror film music? It's cool, but could be very scary in the right context, I think. Consider it, rough skellies, would you? Unrelated: I need some pony manure for the garden. Don't scoff, city dweller, it works.

9. Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks - real emotional trash - hopscotch willie

Comments: When I grow up, I want to be like Janet Weiss. Totally chill and awesome, and the owner of a wicked bad drum set (I'm not holding out for the ability to play it, though).

The music is forcing me to act.

This is like what those people in the 50s warned about, and I can't even see the artists featured in tonight's show gyrating. For the full effect, I suggest checking out 'live shows', which generally feature a fun mix of dancing and EVIL SUGGESTIONS.

Tonight's radio-host -supplied evil suggestion: kill the hippies. That is all.

Track list:

1. Vile Style - mad times at v.i. high - mad times at v.i. high

Comments: Victoria! They have a rabbit problem. Victoria! Violin-playing Darth Vader is surprisingly talented. Victoria!
I can play this game too.

2. The Greenbelt Collective - our homes - get up and go

Comments: Dance dance dance up and DANCE.

3. Giantess - giantess - wheels on fire

Comments: Bowie-esque. If you know me at all, you know it's like a marriage proposal.

4. The Trophy Wives - the trophy wives - go cat go & alley cat

Comments: Two songs about cats, back to back. Poignant, because I'm about to move in with a cat I despise. He recently broke something I love in the night. I don't know how this is all going to shake down, honestly.

5. The Superfantastics - choose your destination - lullaby punches

Comments: This is happy and nice, but fails to distract me from my cat-related angst. Pant, pant.
I loved Nancy Drew, but I think it was because I always hoped she'd get it on with (boring) Ned. Life was dull when I was 13, what can I say. Eric Wilson, however, I agree - dull dull dull.

6. The Neighbourhood Council - the neighbourhood council - of people

Comments: Is this sort of zydeco (sp) -ish? It's interesting and fun. I loved the genre when Dennis Quaid did it, not so much Paul Simon. I think for purely superficial reasons. Sorry Pauly, you look like a girl.

7. Dolly Sillito - smartbomb for heartache - shine a light

Comments: Pretty, languid, wailing and casually stirring, if you can imagine such a thing. TRY. Did they teach you nothing about the creative powers of the mind in kindergarten? Yeesh.

8. Team Captain - team captain - who are the lions

Comments: breakup music, methinks.

9. Mannequin Depressives - girls are evil - erase it (re-version)

Comments: ARGH, TECHNO AWESOME

WTF Reeves!

He has a reputation for brooding and rumours swirl that he's bisexual. Fun for everyone! Your wait to see Keanu at SFU ends on Thursday. No, I am not kidding.
Jennifer Connoly is coming too but I can't say whether she's quite as broody or adventurous, just so you know.

Track list:

1. Better Friends Than Lovers - great loves - nightbus

Comments: Fun and pretty! I can't resist songs about buses.

2. The Trophy Wives - the trophy wives - cake song

Comments: For Lydia. This is a lovely instrumental entry from the trophy wives. So versatile, ladies.

3. The Barmitzvah Brothers - let's express our motives - trailblazer

Comments: I like the everyman vocal and persistent piano. Scat! This is super danceable, which is always welcome.

4. Music for Money - music for money - hymne a la fuite

Comments: Hymn to Flight, as in 'flee, Keanu, flee! Run from the passionately interested college students! They may act too cool for school, but they'll steal your hair gel and sell it on the internet if given half a chance! But seriously Canoe, trust me on this one.'
Also - Music for Money is an awesome Nick Lowe song. Just saying.

5. Sunset Rubdown - random spirit lover - trumpet, trumpet, toot! toot!

Comments: Sort of apocalyptic and windingly gorgeous in its mild dissonance. Solidly grating vocal, which I love. Who originally determined that the apocalypse is best represented by piano? There should probably be a plaque erected, or something. We should not be neglecting the archives like this.

6. The Tom Fun Orchestra - you will land with a thud - rum & tequila

Comments: So much fun, from the raggedy voice to the feverish yet sweet strings and the snazzy, snazzy brass section. I'm delighted, yet again, by these crazy people.

7. Madcowboys - baby steps - the gods don't wear tight jeans

Comments: Grrrrrrr!

8. Fancey - schmancey - let the breeze in

Comments: So optimistic, it's appropriate for a dryer sheet commercial. Not a bad thing - happy happy! Fling those dandelions, small adorable children!

9. The Rocky Fortune - back of the beeside - educated lady

Comments: You heard him young women, stay in school. Otherwise how will you ever discuss Proust with this guy? His brown corduroy jacket calls to you!
I love how this song is like the update of the old blues 'I'm a Man' thing, but intellectualized. Hillary! HA!

10. The Helio Sequence - keep your eyes ahead - hallelujah

Comments: Pretty. And yet...

Okay, absolutely nothing against the HS or anything, but the response (usually in-studio) whenever I put on music that has name recognition always disappoints me just a mite. Disclaimer: I enjoy music like a raccoon enjoys balls of tinfoil. In the moment! I mean, I love Bowie too. But I think it's important to experiment with your preferences and make up your own mind, lest you miss out. You who are casually indifferent until you hear me play something your myriad friends have already branded acceptable? YOU ARE TOO UPTIGHT. JUST DANCE LIKE THERE'S NOBODY HOME ALREADY, ONE DAY YOU WILL BE DEAD SO YOU BETTER DO IT NOW.

It's possible I'm just playing a load of old crap - if so please sulk and give me a big ol' thumbs down through the glass, I just like the feedback.

headache machine

Not a review of the show - I am literally a machine for making my own headaches. Second day in a row! I'm not proud, but I am tired.

Track list:

1. Proof of Ghosts - proof of ghosts - my baby don't come round here anymore

Comments: I love cheatin' songs. So infused with ultimate misery.

2. Luscious Jackson - naked eye ep - banana's box

Comments: Daniel Lanois can do no wrong, full stop.

3. Giantess - giantess - wheels on fire

Comments: Epic, and passing through many moods. I approve.

4. Joan Armatrading - me myself i - all the way from america

Comments: This is a confusing show right? With the bizarre random 80s picks? Well, that's what happens when the CD player breaks and you're forced to resort to vinyl. Enjoy, Joanophiles, I know you're out there.

5. World of Science - makeout music by world of science - you're so handsome

Comments: You had me at 'makeout' (and I can name a couple of other people who love that word as well). This is mellow but buttswigglin' too.

6. The Greenbelt Collective - our homes - car planet

Comments: Oh what? I played this before! I meant to expand my reach and include a new track, but this CD player is being so damned tricky. Well whatever, the song is still quite great, so no harm done.

7. The Barmitzvah Brothers - let's express our motives - show promoter

Comments: Must dash - bye!

Throw me to the voles!

Hey, how are you this evening? It's SOCAN night, which means everyone I play gets .4 cents in the mail! It'll cost you more to cash the cheque than it's worth, but hey, at the very least it's fuel for the fire, in these cold winter months.*

Podcast WHAT!!? Oh yes, I am not lying. I am IN that mp3.
Part 1 Part 2

Track list:

1. The Tom Fun Orchestra - you will land with a thud - throw me to the rats

Comments: This punchy, dance-y song with the Tom Waits vocals makes me feel like a million dollars! Tom Fun, you have earned your $$$ tonight.

2. Shotgun Jimmie - the onlys - onomatopoeia

Comments: I loved it the first couple of times, so I just had to pull it out and make sure Jimmie got paid, yo. It's kind of a hip-swaggling lament, stripped down and laid bare, musically speaking. Local-Rabbits-y, definitely.

Update/disclaimer: I enjoyed the music before I discovered the handsomeness. But it's undeniable, right? Well, who cares if it has nothing to do with musical vision! I say get ahead however you can. It's hard out there for a Canadian musician. Still, I just want to empasize: I will play your music even if you are the homeliest home that ever homed, I do not discriminate.

Sigh.

3. The Superfantastics - choose your destination - turn on me

Comments: Predictably pretty and great. Because of the band name, obvs. She's turning on him, which sounds unpleasant, but then in song form, it's not. Irony?

4. Hinterland - pan pan medico - future ghost

Comments: so sad and lamenting, which I guess has something to do with the theme of being a ghost in the future. Very lovely.

5. The Bella Donnas - the bella donnas - meating up

Comments: I love this disc simply for its DIY aesthetic. Their photo is on the CD! It's a fairly common sight here at the CJSF studios, but it remains a delightful one. This is SASSY, I love it.

6. Pine Tarts - pine tarts - the fire escape

Comments: Pine Tarts friended me on myspace this week! So playing them is like paying them to be my myspace friend. I love it because it's both sordid and lame. This song isn't lame though, it's grungy and gorgeous.

7. The Trophy Wives - the trophy wives - robbed the bank

Comments: AWESOME. You rule, bass player.

8. Homebodies - construction and destruction - perimeter

Comments: I know some piano snobs who would say that your piano is BROKEN, Homebodies. I wouldn't agree with them though - I love that old smashy saloon piano sound. It drives the neighbours nuts though, don't you find?

9. Kara Keith - kara keith - gorgeous gets the gold

Comments: The title of this song is very apt. I love it.

10. The Beladeans - trailer park - international hip swing

Comments: grrrrrr!

*cheque may arrive in August.

No snow on Terry

I don't know what it means, but there's no snow gathered on Terry Fox, out in the main SFU park. He's pristine in the midst of the piles of icy muck.
There are also several broken chairs in the reflection pool, and I don't know what that means either.

Track list:

1. Orillia Opry - lighthouse for stragglers' eyes - shadow shadow

Comments: This is very beautiful, but also not for sissies. This is like if you're miserable with a slight twinge of angry, and you're going to turn yourself around, possibly punishing yourself for having been such a downer. While all of this is happening, wind machines are highlighting your awesome shampoo-commercial-grade hair. I'm in love with it! Will re-enact again!

2. Something French - saint john 3 the revenge - i am a microphone

Comments: I don't think you're drunk either! I think you're FANTASTIC! Not that the two things can't go together. This song is suitable for stomping and singing along to, if that suits you. It suits me TO A TEE.

3. Tenant - all my favourite bands are breaking up - all my favourite bands are breaking up so I think I'll write a song about girls

Comments: HA! Wow, lots of yelling in tonight's show, right? This is pretty much metal, but how could I possibly turn down the majesty of that song title based on incongruous musical forms alone? That wouldn't have been in keeping with my usual methods at all.

4. The D'Urbervilles - we are the hunters - belladonna, deadly nightshade

Comments: Very nice, and I would like it to be made into a film post-haste. Please get on this, d'urbervilles.

5. Better Friends Than Lovers - great loves - le sabre

Comments: Tried, tested, true, much like the classic car.

6. Mongrels - oshawa - the answer

Comments: Damn, I love me some classic 80s-style power-rock with frontwoman. The acoustic guitar and inventive drumbeat make it new!

7. Feu Therese - ca va cogner - ca va cogner

Comments: Synthesize me! Har har.

8. The Grass - report all ghosts - bandit soul

Comments: Zip, pop, pow, it's over!

Environmental fretting

I watched that craaaazy Al Gore film last night, and now I've lost all hope for the world. I have a feeling that's not what Al intended, but hell, that's not my fault.

Track list:

1. The Summerlad - city of noise - city of noise

Comments: There were two options for me here: the 3 minute version and the 40 minute version. I'm kind of regretting my choice. The song's good, and I could have had 40 minutes of unrestricted internet use. Radio-slackaholic, that's me.

2. Gutterawl - a sound experiment: live sessions from cjsw 90.9fm - bismuth

Comments: Awesome. Galloping, much like the food, uh, does not after I take the pink stuff. So, is the tempo ironic? "Heeeey, put it back in your pants there, English major."

3. Roger Dean Young & The Tin Cup - threshold - keremeos

Comments: So very mellow. I like the tentative vocals. This totally blows a hole in my Keremeosite (keremeosote?) friend's assertions that the town is one wild-and-crazy time after another, though.

4. Listening Party - who are we missing? - oh my

Comments: The album art is cool, and pretty! I like this, it's semi-experimental and has that feeling of gradually building toward a major eruption (not like Van Halen's Eruption, something infused with a little more earnest emotion, but still).

5. Pine Tarts - pine tarts - la neige, la nuit

Comments: Charming charming charming. Lovely. Chair-danceable. French-titled. Begirl-chorused. Did you guys go to French Immersion too? It's hard to deny, it's a serious advantage. I will probably be singing this to myself on the bus later, it's catchy.

6. The Greenbelt Collective - our homes - car planet

Comments: Bop bop bop! I want to be in a band like this where I can sing in a big group, and nobody can point out that while I might have the right note, I sound like a braying bovine. Wah! Enough self pity. This is awesome.

7. One Eleven Archer - familiar highs - apocalypse jeans

Comments: Blue jeans on fire! Chevrolet Elvis! Blue jeans on fire! NEW YORK LET'S GO!

8. Hinterland - pan pan medico - 300.6

Comments: uh

9. Black Mountain - in the future - tyrants

Comments: Bless you, you creative genius, for your ability to write nice songs that also happen to be eight minutes long! Hell, I'm weak, I admit it! It's time for some more bus ridin', so it's not as if I'm doing myself any major favors here! Cut your hasslin'! Sigh. You know I'm out of steam when I start dropping 'g's left and right.

Sadness!

I'm not as sad about the stock market unsteadiness as you probably want me to be, DAD. But I guess it will screw some people up. Other things are pretty crap though too, you know? It's all about perspective, I guess.

Track list:

1. Jenny Omnichord - cities of gifts and ghosts - birthday song

Comments: A lengthy number that advocates drinking at 5pm - which is early for us workaday types, I have to point out. It has lulled me into a sense of being at ease with the bizarre. Success!

2. The Deep Dark Woods - hang me oh hang me - river in the pines

Comments: The old musical forms were really so much more successful at taking crushing futility and turning it into something aesthetically redeeming, weren't they? I mean, apart from, I don't know, Joy Division. They did it in a modern sort of way. This is lovely, if you were wondering.

3. The Art Department - the art department - higher the hair

Comments: Ooh, sad. Casual intimidation and nervousness! I think it's probably true that the endless songs about being screwed up are just screwing us all up more. But I don't care, I'm still not listening to I'm Every Woman. Screw that yo!

4. The 6ixty 8ights - pica electric armada - and i walk

Comments: What is that, like, text-message speak? No, that doesn't make sense. I'm interested to see whether it repeats itself with other groups. This is what I like to call a boppy song. Bop bop bop, xi6yt yachts.

5./6. Jale - closed ep - wash my hands/Jesus loves me

Comments: Yeah, I played two. What was that? Can I just do whatever I want? Yes, yes I can. Geez, it's not like anyone's paying attention around here or anything. I could just make fart sounds on the air (shout out!) and nobody would bat an eye. You might think the lack of supervision is irresponsible, I think it's irre-awesome.

7. Secret Broadcast - plastic fantastic - i am sound

Comments: polyester justokay. My brother would love this, probably.

8. The Darcys - endless water - endless water

Comments: Soothe me, Darcys! Gratuitous French: winning me over every time since 1986 (at the latest). I like the secret! hidden dance!! section.

9. mcenroe - the convenience ep - corner store

Comments: love that guy. That over there is not the album this is from, but does it matter? The visual is always appropriate. Appropriately inappropriate, ha! Oh I don't know, it's kind of sexist, isn't it? But in the context of parody it's hilarious and awesome. And reminds me of my grandparents' house, which is always nice.

RATS!

Literally, rats. I mean, I'm appropriately horrified, so why can't they also do their part and run away like good(bad) vermin? But no, they gotta just sit there, like they have a right to exist on the sidewalk too. Ooooooh SHUDDER.

Track list:

1. Plants and Animals - various: pop montreal 2007 - a l'oree des bois

Comments: Again I'm stymied by the lack of accents in this sub-standard blogging platform. Bwaah. This is so pretty and nice, I love it.

2. Fenaison - plat - interrelations c

Comments: Weird plinky eeriness to go with your (my) meditation on rats. I will have icky nightmares, but set to this music they will at least be film festival ready.

3. Andy Swan's Ottawa - andy swan's ottawa - the sound of snowflakes falling

Comments: I would visit. I like the idea of tour guide andy swan showing me around, in his small, quirkily painted bus.

4. Luke Doucet and the White Falcon - blood's too rich - it's only tuesday

Comments: IT IS! I bloody well HATE Tuesdays. They are, scientifically speaking, the worst day of the week, figured by weight of yearning for time off and pressures at the office. If I didn't have this show to worry about, I would ALWAYS be home drinking and eating well-buttered toast on Tuesdays, to balm my wounds. I like to picture the listener at home doing this while I talk, for vicarious comforting purposes. This is a really fantastic song about Tuesday syndrome. Note to self: go back in time, write this.

5. The Clips - matterhorn - enrique mcteeth

Comments: Reminds me of Hamish Macbeth, the best show ever, and the MacLopez clan. Ha. Okay, enough references only I get. This is great, sounds like driving rain and persistent nagging undefined emotion, in intermittently danceable song form. Like you could have a bit of a weep to it, and then get up and hop around a bit to dry your cheeks off. I think context is everything, don't you?

6. Sock Hop Arousal - revolution of hope - loud part quiet

Comments: SHA, are you getting... funky... with me? I think you are. J'accuse! Aw, go on, cop to it, I'm enjoying it.

7. Pine Tarts - pine tarts - the fire escape

Comments: Based on the cover art, I was expecting to be rocked viciously, but I find now that I'm being gently pleasured by tinkly yet fuzzy guitar. Uh. Just put "very good, would sing along if permitted."

8. The Ex-Boyfriends - coming before the next one - spanked by lightning

Comments: Most ex-boyfriends deserve it though, right? I mean, he sounds charming, but there must be a reason you broke up. Don't go feeling sorry for him now.

9. The Trophy Wives - the trophy wives - I'm yer wife

Comments: SO AWESOME. Let's be pals, you hilarious ladies.



10. Axis of Conversation - delusions of safety - readymade heart attack

Comments: Ethereal, with the heartbeat in the background. The title makes it ominous, no?