Green Eggs and Ham: Squeaky Mics and Caffeine Spikes

For the first time in a while I actually wasn't that tired for this week's show, so it went as smoothly as it could have possibly gone. With shout-outs to hunting (Ok, I might have just offended hunters), the upcoming federal election (big ups to democracy) and a half-hour dance mix at 7, Green Eggs and Ham was cooked just right this Thursday morning. Here's the playlist:


The Super Friendz - "Down In Flames"
Henri Faberge & the Adorables - "Lonely Postcards"
Two Hours Traffic - "Whenever We Finish"
The Lower Dens - "Deer Knives"
Jennifer Castle - "Powers"
The Pixies - "Hey"
Man Man - "Life Fantastic"
The Leaving Trains - "She's Looking At You"
Northcote - "If We Were Strangers"
Little Scream - "Your Radio"
French Horn Rebellion - "Up All Night" (Clubfeet Remix)
Becoming Real - "Closer" (Pictureplane's No Body Remix)
Jupiter - "Vox Populi" (Lifelike Treatment)
Depeche Mode - "Puppets" (Royksopp Remix)
Miracle Fortress - "Tracers"
Shad - "Rose Garden"
Princess - "After The Love Has Gone"    *this week's Slice Of Cheese
Old Man Luedecke - "Machu Pichu"
Daniel Romano - "Time Forgot (To Change My Heart)"
Bob Dylan - "Political World"
Library Voices - "The Prime Minister's Daughter"
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - "Anne With An E"

Dinosaur Bones - Unearthed

Here's another exclusive interview, this time with Toronto's Dinosaur Bones. Huge thanks to Josh and Dave for taking a few minutes to talk to me.  We talk about sandwiches, hair care and their new album My Divider.

Green Eggs and Ham: The "You're Welcome, Dana" Edition

This week Dana Durell, the host of the show When Insects Rule the World who puts his playlists on this blog, asked me for a favour: play more than my normal amount of Canadian content on the show (75% to be precise) so that he could play less on his (0% to be precise). I obliged, and what resulted was this week's program. Featuring a tribute to Gerard A. Smith of TV on the Radio, who passed away yesterday after dealing with lung cancer, a shout-out to Earth Day, and a few of my Record Store Day purchases, this week's show could have only happened this week. Here's the playlist:


Katie Stelmanis - "I'm Sick"
Memoryhouse - "Sleep Patterns"
Laura Barrett - "La Isla Bonita"
Pat Le Poidevin - "North"
The Mountain Goats - "Damn These Vampires"
The Weakerthans - "Utilities"
Boris - "Riot Sugar"
C'mon - "You and Eye"
Grinderman - "Evil" ("Silver Alert" remix)
Jim Guthrie - "Lone Star"
Destroyer - "Poor In Love"
Swan Lake - "Nubile Days"
The Joe - "Wayward" (GOBBLE GOBBLE remix)
Caribou - "Jamelia" (Gold Panda remix)
Caribou - "Odessa" (Junior Boys remix)
TV on the Radio - "You"
Elefante - "Young and Innocent"    *this week's Slice of Cheese
Pete Seeger - "Garbage"
Nestor Wynnrush - "Garbage Hill"
Buck 65 - "Devil's Eyes"
The Mynabirds - "Wash It Out"
Josh Reichmann Oracle Band - "Aztec Hive"
Geoff Berner - "Laughing Jackie the Pimp"
 

Today's Tune: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - "Heart In Your Heartbreak"

When a courier truck pulls up to my house, I always know it's going to be a good day. Such a truck pulled up today and left me with the new album from The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Belong, which has been getting nothing but a positive reception since it's release earlier this month. Take a listen to this propulsive little number, "Heart In Your Heartbreak", and then go buy the record.


The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Heart In Your Heartbreak by forcefieldpr

Today's Tune: Winter Gloves - "True Blue" (Madonna Cover)

I've long been a fan of stalwart Canadian label Paper Bag Records, and it was with a great deal of enthusiasm that I downloaded their latest truly inspired promo: a track-by-track cover album of Madonna's True Blue by all stars from the PBR roster. Woodhands profanely keep their baby, Laura Barrett longs for "La Isla Bonita", and recently-hiatused You Say Party open their hearts; it's truly fantastic. The highlight for me was the title track played by Quebec's Winter Gloves, with vocals by the always endearing Hannah Georgas. A Monday morning (or, I guess by now, afternoon) pick-me-up pop tune that is in turn a nice reminder of a classic tune from Her Madgeness.
(DID I MENTION THIS COMPILATION IS FREE?)

Get it HERE

Green Eggs and Ham: Brought to you by "Steely Dan's No Joy Boyfriend"

Well, whoops. I normally have this up mere minutes after the show. I'm not sure what's been wrong with me this week (oh wait, I've been sick...perhaps my brain is more addled than I thought). Anyway, this week's show was chock full of good times; from my Robert Palmer ad lib, to an impression of the old-school CBC 2 hosts of yore (particularly Jurgen Gothe), to the creation of a new band called Steely Dan's No Joy Boyfriend. Who says it always has to make sense? We also had a set of songs in tribute to diversity (it being Anti-Bullying week and all), featuring Lesbians on Ecstasy, Rae Spoon and Gentleman Reg. Oh yeah, and I almost made a joke in really poor taste right after we played some Ike and Tina. But that's beside the point. Here's the playlist:


The Constantines - "Good Nurse"
The Dodos - "When Will You Go"
Secret Mountains - "Rejoice"
Women - "China Steps"
Bend Sinister - "Dr. Lee"
Steely Dan - "Dr. Wu"
No Joy - "Heedless"
Boy Friend - "Spirit Burner"
Houses - "Lost In Blue"
Dawn Golden & Rosy Cross - "Blacks"
Handsome Furs - "What About Us"
Yaz - "Don't Go" (Long Version)
Lesbians on Ecstasy - "Sisters in the Struggle"
Rae Spoon - "Off the Grid, Underground"
Gentleman Reg - "You Can't Get It Back"
Poussez - "Leave That Boy Alone"     *this week's Slice of Cheese
Volcanoless In Canada - "A World Soaked In Gold (Siesta)"
Dinosaur Bones - "Sharks in the Sand"
Timber Timbre - "Black Water"
The Platters - "(You've Got The) Magic Touch"
Ike & Tina Turner - "A Love Like Yours (Don't Come Knockin' Everyday)"

Today's Tune: Arcade Fire - "My Heart Is An Apple" (Live circa 2002)

It is a beautiful thing to watch a person grow. From their first word and first steps, to the forming of their identity, the crystallization of a human personality is a phenomenon virtually unmatched. A similar feeling can be accessed when observing the evolution of a band.

Take, for instance, the Montreal-via-Texas group that is Arcade Fire, who are quite simply one of the biggest bands in the world. They have been through many changes over the years, so I hope you find it as thrilling and inspiring as I do to watch this performance from 9 years ago of the song "My Heart Is An Apple" (before they had released even their first EP).

From house shows to Madison Square Garden (and every major music festival).
From small sound to big sound.
This is the band that put the nail in the coffin of "Indie Rock" before they could even comprehend that the object in their hands was even a hammer.



Thanks to Owen Pallett for tweeting this.

Today's Tune: Handsome Furs - "What About Us"

Come with me now, back to the 1980's. Let's ignore the regrettable errors of the time (namely the big hair, the ignorance, and the music of Robert Palmer) and focus instead on the things that were good (namely keyboard and synth-based party grooves).

The forthcoming third album from Handsome Furs, Sound Kapital, promises to be the child of those good things. The band, consisting of husband Dan Boeckner (he's in a little band called Wolf Parade) and wife Alexei Perry, wrote the whole album on keyboards (ignore that guitar in the photo), so I can't wait to turn this into my go-to LP for lost weekends and late nights. Here's a taste of their oomph, in the form of a free download.

"What About Us" kicks off with a driving, hand-clap heavy build up, releasing in a steady retro pulse that only gets more layered as the song progresses. At about the half-way point, the tension releases, providing a dance-floor denouement ripped straight out of something by Soft Cell or New Order.

This album is going to be awesome.

Green Eggs and Ham: Non Sequitur Edition

Today's show was energetic. Ryan acquired a new name (Pepperidge Harms), we discussed the finer points of non sequiturs, and I may have pretended to be British.  Here's this week's playlist:


Kestrels - "What Happens"
Lazerbeak - "Salt and Sea"
Birdapres - "Bikes" (ft. Speed Dial 7 & Pip Skid)
Julie Doiron and the Wooden Stars - "The Best Thing For Me"
Jeans Boots - "Postcard (2)"
Suckers - "Before Your Birthday Ends"
Obits - "Shift Operator"
Moose - "This River Will Never Run Dry"
Spring Breakup - "I'm Sorry That I Tried to Punch You in the Face"
Clothes Make the Man - "Mean What I Say"
Peace - "The Uma Uma Truth List"
Phoenix - "Armistice" (RAC Remix)
Grum - "Runaway"
In Flagranti - "Worse For Wear" (Punks Jump Up Remix)
Michael Rault - "I Don't Need No Help to Get Down"
Sam and Dave - "Ain't That a Lot of Love"
Aril Pink's Haunted Graffiti - "Bright Lit Blue Skies"
Ride Til Dawn - "Telephone Line"
The Pointer Sisters - "Dare Me"     *this week's slice of cheese
Chromeo - "When the Night Falls"
Megafaun - "Kaufman's Ballad"
Color Field - "Young & Relentless"
Elbow - "Neat Little Rows"
Woodsman - "Serfer"

Processed Cheese: March 2011

Be back here every month for a look at the previous month's selections from my show's "Slice of Cheese" segment. If the song is significantly cheesy, there's bound to be a video equally (if not more) so. Here's March:

Music, Beer and Pancake Batter: The ViveFest 3 Experience

 

Well, I suppose I should start by apologizing. I haven't updated this page in a while, but I have a pretty good excuse; I was pretty damn busy at ViveFest. 

ViveFest, a venture by local promoters vive (Rich Taylor and Phil Greer), truly exploded in it's third iteration. Starting as one (admittedly pretty epic) show, then a two-stage affair mostly contained in one night, the festival morphed once again this year into a 4-day 3-venue all-ages behemoth. Judging from the outcome, it's all getting bigger from here.

Day 1: Thursday, March 31st

The evening started early with the regular "yaya" all ages series at Caffe Sola (in the backroom newly christend "Jale"). I wasn't present at this show (featuring Sandman Viper Command, The City Streets, and Dreaming of Electric Sheep), but I imagine it was par for the yaya course AKA awesome. Then came the songwriter's circle at Christ Church with Zachary Lucky opening the show. The stage was then shared by The Mountains and The Trees, The Phonemes, and Mark from Woodpigeon. Somehow, these three songsmiths managed to turn the vast architecture of the venue into an intimate affair with an almost elegiac atmosphere (in the best way). What a vibe.

Day 2: Friday, April 1st

Back to Christ Church for an early evening set from locals Zombifyus (their second ever) followed by the always-entertaining Chad VanGaalen. He always has the crowd eating out of his hand with his odd mixture of stream-of-consciousness-driven songwriting and irreverent stage banter. After it all was said and done (including a surprising amount of blaspheming) the festival shifted to Jale again for a sold-out night featuring Economics, Memory Screen and BRAIDS. I missed this, since I decided to head across the river to catch some other goings-on at Amigos, but it was one of the highlights of the festival for many. I make some pretty dumb decisions sometimes. 

Then it was time for our minds to be blown back at the church. Local opener Mehta got the crowd grooving (people say that, right?) followed by a flawless pitch-black set from Tim Hecker. Seriously; there were no lights on in the church and, combined with Hecker hooked up to the pipe organ crafting his intense wash of noise, it was a perfect recipe for a sense-deprived trip to another plane. Wow.

Day 3: Saturday, April 2nd

The third day of the third ViveFest gave us a true festival atmosphere, with talent-packed shows going on simultaneously at Jale and the nearby lounge 302 all night long, and I was all over the place. I started out with local retro-rock warriors Foggy Notions, staying to catch Torontonian T H O M A S, and then it was off to 302 for some tribal insanity courtesy of The Depth. My personal highlight of the night was shortly thereafter: The Luyas. What a set from these Quebecers, incorporating enough imaginative instrument usage to last until next year's ViveFest- SEE THIS BAND. As the night got later, and my mind got foggier, I saw (in no particular order) We Were Lovers, Rah Rah, Lorrie Matheson, Foonyap and the Roar, Samantha Savage, Castle If, Booji Bomb, and Shooting Guns. What a night. 

Side note- earlier in the day vive held a Vife Film Festival, a 48 hour challenge which was met by 3 filmmakers (myself included). It's not the highest-browed piece of culture, but you can see my effort below.

Day 4: Sunday, April 3rd

Kudos to vive for planning a "hangover brunch" for the fourth, and final, day of vf3. It was just what the doctor ordered (Ok, after night 3, the doctor probably would have ordered me to stay home), and it gave me enough energy to properly enjoy the Sea Hags, Foon Yap, Foam Lake, and Shuyler Jansen. Shakey Wilson was at a turntable from 11 AM playing quality records at every opportunity, and the guys in Foam Lake made pancakes onstage for their hungry and (possibly) hungover audience. This was a perfect ending for en epic festival.

It wasn't over yet, however. After a bit of a break, I headed back to the Caffe one last time for the volunteer party, featuring sets from Feral Children and Peace, as well as more DJing from Shakey, who had been going hard ALL DAY LONG. There was pizza, there were hugs, someone brought along body paint, and we all reveled in a mutual catharsis brought on by good music played loud and a severe lack of sleep. 

Now it's back to real life.

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Chad VanGaalen kicks it off:

My contribution to the film challenge:

One of the awesome posters:

The Luyas:

Shakey Wilson and Jon Vaughn party it up at 302:

One half of vive hard at work:

Rah Rah:

Booji Bomb:

We Were Lovers:

Slow Down, Molasses send a video greeting:

Peace:

Yours truly:

 

Feral Children: