Tuesday, February 26, 2008

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!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

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.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

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!

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

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.