Fireball XL5 is the name of an indie-pop show hosted by Frank Seglenieks that for 18 years was on CKMS 100.3 FM Radio Waterloo. However, as a result of a format change in mid-2008, Fireball XL5 is now heard only as a podcast.

Of course I stole the name of the show from the 60s British Supermarionation program, which featured puppets kind of like the movie Team America.

I play alternative music that usually classified as indie-pop with the occasional feature on a particular artist or theme as well as discussions on pop culture topics of the day. I start off each show with the best song that I have heard since the last
show.

Note that the links to shows older than 6 months might not be working, if you really want those shows please send me an email and I can get them to you.

Friday, December 22, 2006

December 22, 2006

Theme: Playing Christmas of course
On Air: Frank

I think I did pretty good job of playing mostly new (ie. songs I have never played before) for this year's Christmas show. The highlights were the first and last songs, do yourself a favour and listen to both of them. The starting song was a great 60s German tune extolling the glories of winter in Canada while the last song was recorded and sent to me by my friend Darryl Reimer from Vancouver. Both are sure to return to future Christmas shows.

My favourite discovery during the show was a new album by the Bell Rays that included the song "All I wanna Do Is Shag For Christmas" that went well with a Fireball XL5 Christmas favourite "Back Door Santa".

TALK - Theme
Elisa Gabbai - Winter in Canada
Stufan Stevens - Get Behind Me, Santa
Aztec Camera - Walk Out To Winter
Badly Drawn Boy - Donna and Blitzen
Ron Sexsmith - Maybe This Christmas (C)
TALK
David Carswell and Megan Barnes - I Wanna Kiss You This Christmas (C)
The Naked and the Dead - Ornament (C)
The dbs - Christmastime
Yo La Tengo - Rock'N'Roll Santa
The Ramones - Merry Christmas
The Lickity Splits - You Set My Christmas Tree On Fire
TALK
Clarence Carter - Back Door Santa
The Bell Rays - All I Wanna Do Is Shag For Christmas
Solomon Burke - Presents For Christmas
The Sonics - Don't Believe In Christmas
Shuffle Demons - Jingle Bells (C)
TALK
The Stars - Fairytale of New York (C)
The Diskettes - Noel (C)
Buck - Santa Baby (C)
The Pipettes - In The Bleak Mid-Winter
Young and Sexy - Santa Claus Likes Rich Kids Better (C)
TALK
The Morrisettes - Canadian Christmas
Elvis - Santa Bring My Baby Back To Me
The Gems - Love For Christmas
Mojo Nixon - Christmas Christmas
Eels - Everything's Going To Be Cool This Christmas
TALK
Fountains of Wayne - Man In The Santa Suit
Montreal Jubilation Choir - Go Tell It On The Mountain (C)
Julie London - I'd Like You For Christmas
Eisley - The Winter Song
Claudine Longet - Snow
The Pretenders - 2000 Miles
TALK
Darryl Reimer - Merry Big Ole Christmas (C)


(C) Denotes Canadian Content

Friday, December 8, 2006

December 8, 2006

Theme: Playing Catch-up
On Air: Frank

After the last few shows I had a whole lot of leftover songs that didn't get to play and with the Christmas show up next and the Best of show after that I figured I should start out the new year with a clean slate. Thus there wasn't an overall theme to the show but I still think the show went together very well.

The only set that had a theme was one inspired by an article I saw in the Globe and Mail by Russel Smith, in it he discusses the fine division of Indie Pop music called Twee Pop. A lot of music I have been listening to and playing on the show lately could be classified as twee. Most of the article is pretty factual discussing the major bands in twee and describing the sound, he calls the Smiths the proto-twee band and that Belle and Sebastian are the current most famous twee band (I think this might have been true with a lot of their early stuff but no so much lately). But, the parts of the article that I really had problems with were his assertions that somehow the music is part of an organized movement striving to be anti-establishment, in my opinion its just happy music that sounds good. He ends the article by saying that the people who like twee are "uniformly women" (based on my gender I disagree) and you outgrow this type of music as you get older (again based on my advanced age I disagree). However, an upside of the article is that I found out about a great band called "I'm from Barcelona" which is how I started out that set.

See the original article here:
http://www.civil.uwaterloo.ca/frseglen/images/smith_article01.gif
http://www.civil.uwaterloo.ca/frseglen/images/smith_article02.gif

Find out more about Twee here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twee_pop


TALK - Theme

The Positions - Back To Me
Starflower - Dance Till Morning Light
Los Abandoned - Van Nuys (Es Very Nice)
Psapp - Hi
The Exteriors - The Hates
TALK
Knock, Knock, Ginger - You Could've Been My Johnny Marr (C)
D'Ubervilles - We're Blowing Up (C)
Kelly and the Kelly Girls - Ferris Wheel (C)
Duke Spirit - House Is Not A Motel
The Pants Situation - Fifty Fifty (C) **I love the name of this band!
Los Straightjackets - Peppermint Twist
TALK
Moses Mayes - Tell Me (C)
Sasha Dobson - Without You
Evy - Quel Genre De Fille
El Perro Del Mar - Here Comes That Feeling
Dion - I Was Born To Cry
TALK
Robyn - Be Mine
Goldstoned - Always On My Mind
Peter, Bjorn, and John - Let's Call it Off
Kings of Convenience - Misread
TALK
From Barcelona - We're From Barcelona
Shade Tree - Stupidest Thing
The Broken Hearts Club - Abbotsford and Flemington (C)
The Diskettes - Jump Up (C)
Henry Faberge and the Adorables - Lonely Postcards (C)
Lake Holiday - In Whisper (C)
Tom Waits - Lie To Me
TALK
Blow Monkeys - It Doesn't Have To Be That Way


(C) Denotes Canadian Content