Today's Tune: January 31st

If you know me, you know I'm a huge film score geek. It saddened me this morning to learn of the passing of one of the greats in that field, John Barry. Not only did he give the world some very iconic themes in most of the James Bond films (most famously in On Her Majesty's Secret Service), but he also offered up the original score to the best movie to cash in on the Sci-Fi mania following the worldwide success of Star Wars. That movie was Starcrash.

Here is some of that stately score:


And here is a trailer for Starcrash, in case the images that go along with the music above aren't enough for you:


Babes in skimpy clothing; aliens; a robot that kind of acts like a cowboy; Christopher Plummer and David Hasselhoff; a spaceship that looks like a clenching fist; Caroline Munro and Joe Spinell: it's the stuff that dreams are made of.

Weird, campy, brightly coloured, illogical dreams.

R.I.P. John Barry

Green Eggs and Ham: Barometric Edition

This week was pretty seamless. Although it was weird when a stray cat crossed my path just as I was arriving at the station; not a black one, so nothing remarkable about it besides it's appearance in the middle of downtown.

For some reason, caffeine-enriched Ryan thought the concept of barometric pressure was hilarious this morning, so this post is named in his honour. Alright- the playlist:

You Say Party - "Poison"
The Besnard Lakes - "And This is What We Call Progress"
Crocodiles - "Mirrors"
Daniel Romano - "So Free"
Cuff the Duke - "Need You"
No Age - "Fever Dreaming"
Titus Andronicus - "Richard II"
Shad - "Real Game" (feat. B Green)
Sleigh Bells - "Tell 'Em" (Diplo Remix)
Health - "Die Slow" (Pink Stallone Remix)
Small Sins - "Never Again"
Treelines - "Cowboys"
Kurtis Blow - "Takin' Care of Business" -this week's slice of cheese
Untimely Demise - "Forger of Belief"
Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - "Let Us Down Easy"
The Decemberists - "January Hymn"
Hooded Fang - "Straight Up the Dial"
Chikita Violenta - "All I Need's A Little More"
Hot Hot Heat - "Zero Results"

I always ask for requests on the air, but if you're tuning in on a regular basis, send me an email if you want to request something. You can reach me at sluggo200@hotmail.com

Remember, Green Eggs and Ham is live every Thursday morning from 6-8 AM CST.

Mexico, Here We Go

It feels something like 2 or 3 years since the much-loved Arts & Crafts label set up an office in Mexico, so it's fairly surprising that it's taken this long for them to release something by a band from there. That band is Chikita Violenta, who released the A&C debut TRE3S (which is, of course, their 3rd album) yesterday in North America.  Since it can be pretty hard to track down their first two releases, forgive yourself if you hadn't heard their music before now; 2011 will be a very good year for Chikita Violenta.

Don't take my word for it: take a listen for your very own to a couple of their punchy tunes for free right here-

Today's Tune: January 24th

After any unique band becomes successful, any other band that has anything remotely in common with the successful band will immediately be deemed a copy-cat. I fear this might happen to Denver's Woodsman, who bear a striking resemblance (at least on the surface) to those young up-and-comers Animal Collective. This is all chaff in the mill of our music culture, and it is this writer's opinion that opinions only matter to those who voice them. In other words, just listen to the music maaaaaaaan.

It's with this caveat that we can now turn our ears to Woodsman, who release their sophomore full-length Rare Forms tomorrow. Take a listen to All the Cards Fell in Place, and submit to a dense cacaphony of layered feedback, pounding drums and reverb-drenched vocals, and it will drive any thought of another band out of your mind for it's entire running time. Once you've recovered, listen again.

Woodsman- "All the Cards Fell in Place"

Today's Tune: January 23rd

God damn, Celine sold less greatest hits this year.

How strange that I should decide to play the song "Coup d'Etat" by Halifax mainstays The Sleepless Nights on my show on Thursday, only to find out on Friday that the music store I've worked in for more than 3 years (and been the manager of for nearly half that time) will be closing on February 11th. The news of the shuttering of retail outlets for music has become pretty common over the last few years, but I've seen nothing but surprise on the faces of everyone that I tell.

Keep up to date on the Safe House over the next few weeks, since I might post some fun closing-store goodies now and then, not to mention the inevitable passion piece on the demise and rebirth of the recording industry. In the meantime, consider the past decade of music retail innovation while you listen to Sleepless Nights bash out a bittersweet gem with a rousing sing-along chorus.

Find more artists like sleepless nights at Myspace Music

Today's Tune: January 20th

Nothing quite captures the epically manic feeling of trying to sleep while remaining completely awake like this gem from Simian Mobile Disco.




Insomniacs of the world, unite!

Green Eggs and Ham: Over-tired edition

As I recall, it was 3 years ago or so that one Mr. Nolan Luckett demanded I post playlist from my radio show on the internet in some sort of "blog" form. I quickly dismissed any such idea and went about my business. Here I am, in 2011, long after the explosion of the blogosphere, doing just the thing I never thought I'd do. For anybody not in the know, I host the Thursday early edition (6-8 am CST) of Green Eggs and Ham, the morning show over on CFCR 90.5 FM.

This morning was an especially harrowing one. For reasons that escape me, and will baffle scientists for generations to come, I got less than 45 minutes of sleep last night, leading to some (in my opinion) rather aimless on-air banter, some turntable issues, and 2 false starts of a song I didn't even intend to play once. Good times- here's the list:

Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees - "Trustfund"
Hidrogenesse - "In the Na (Part 1)"
Islands - "Tender Torture"
Leonids - "Human Cyclops Beetle"
Real Estate - "Fake Blues"
Moools - "Hidden Thunderstorms"
Immaculate Machine - "Small Talk"
Sun Airway - "Put the Days Away"
Four Tet - "Glue of the World"
Luke Doucet & the White Falcon - "Dirty, Dirty Blonde"
Jason Collett - "Hangover Days"
Glasser - "Mirrorage (Lindstrøm remix)"
Braids - "Plath Heart"
The Jam - "Mr. Clean"
The Diodes - "Weekend"
XTC - "No Thugs in Our House"
The Tubes - "Don't Touch Me There"  ---the Slice Of Cheese
Sleepless Nights - "Coup d'Etat"
Smith Westerns - "Weekend"            ---the second song called Weekend!
Broken Records - "A Darkness Rises Up"
Quest For Fire - "Psychic Seasons"

Today's Tune: January 19th

It's a chilly but beautiful day in 'Toon town, and there's nothing I like more in the cold of winter than some lo-fi fuzz. Masters of the messy, Makeout Videotape (a delightfully noisy duo from Vancouver), along with other similar bands have often been accused of hiding any true pop sensibilities with layers of guitar fuzz. To those detractors, I submit to you today's tune: this lovely acoustic rendition of the song "Because I'm a Boy".


MAKEOUT VIDEOTAPE - Because I'm A Boy from Mitch Fillion (southernsouls.ca) on Vimeo.

Stay warm, eh?

Today's Tune: January 18th

Here's some new music courtesy of Calgary's BRAIDS, whose debut album Native Speaker was released today on the venerable Flemish Eye label. Saskatonians will be able to see them at Vive Fest 3 on April 1st, and based on this pulsing beauty alone, I can't wait.

It's a new year!

I've spent two weeks on Green Eggs and Ham looking back on 2010. Last week I managed to cram 36 of the best songs from the year into my 2 hour slot, and this week it was all about the dance floor. Here's a tasty stream of MOST of what I played this morning. Make sure to tune in Thursday mornings from 6-8 CST on 90.5 FM or online at cfcr.ca! Feedback is appreciated (for instance, if you want to know what any of the tracks are). Put on your dance pants.

2010- Do It Again by flaherty

Unto The Breach...

Well, I've gone and done it. Created a blog. Here, in 2011, in a time where such things seem to have lost their lustre. At some point, one person typing away in the privacy of their own ecosystem had the ability to give the world some new idea of what it was to be a part of this planet; that point has passed.


I have no illusions of grandeur, no vast idea of what it is I will create with words sent out into the cloud, sent out from the synapses in my brain to the typing fingers on my laptop, sent out from the wireless modem I'm connected with to the rest of the world at large (except probably China). But, regardless of any mixed feelings I have to the whole idea of acting like my thoughts are important enough to publish on the "Internet", I do it anyway. So there.


This will be a place for many things: musings on music (that rapidly replicating organism), a few thoughts on films (if the mood takes me), playlists from my radio program (Thursday mornings 6-8 AM C.S.T. online at cfcr.ca), and dispatches from the scene. It will be an experiment, one that will more definitely see positive result with YOUR feedback. 


In the vast wilderness that is the cultural landscape, paranoia prevails. This song isn't cool enough, that band already had their moment, these critics speak the words of the prophets. Allegiances shift almost as constantly as the planet rotates on it's axis, and it can be hard to know who to trust. Let this be your sonic safe house.