Theme: Christmas Time |
| I played a few new Christmas songs and a few old Fireball XL5 standards, but when all is said and done the best holiday song is still Elisa Gabbai's Winter In Kanada. Not much else to say about the show, but I just wanted to mention that most of the new songs I played I stole from this podcast: |
Monday, December 17, 2007
December 17, 2007
Friday, December 7, 2007
December 7, 2007
Theme: Spotlight on HHBTM |
| I got through a lot of great music this show that I had stored up the weeks and months before. I also did two sets highlighting a great record label with a great name: Happy Happy Birthday to Me. I came upon them reading a blog that described bands as having that "HHBTM" sound, I like the band so I did some research and found out what HHBTM stood for and found the record label's website. Most of the bands have the Indie-Twee sound that I'm into so it was a fortuitous find. You can find out more about the label and listen to many of bands here: http://www.hhbtm.com Just one other note that the song my Murray Dear sounded to me so much like the Magnetic Fields that I had to play them immediately after. In other Magnetic Fields news their new album is due out in January something that I'm very much looking forward to hearing. TALK-Theme Rilo Kiley - Silver Lining The Sadies - Higher Power (C) Bughouse 5 - Ten Lost Years (C) Hot Kid - Ties That Bind (C) Andrew Vincent and the Pirates - Martha (C) TALK The Weakerthans - Civil Twilight (C) The Evaporators - Grassy Jack (C) Cut Off Your Hands - Expectations The Purrs - She's Got Chemicals TV On The Radio - Wolf Like Me We All Have Hooks For Hands - The Man Is Trying To Outfox Us All TALK Murray Dear - Deserter The Magnetic Fields - I Thought You Were My Boyfriend Tellus About The Moon - Hate Postal Blue - Weather Sensitive The Assistants - Stop Dead (C) TALK (HHBTM Set 1) Keith John Adams - Never Look Down Patience Please - I'll Have What She's Having The Smittens - Stop The Bombs Casper and the Cookies - Eux Autres TALK (HHBTM Set 1) James Ausfahrt - Lucy Ferocious Slumber Party - Sooner Or Later Spring Factory - Get Out Of Bed The Dreamers - A Place I Know TALK Lykke Li - Little Bit B'Ehl - Jammers Like Me (C) Paint By Numbers - Deep In The Snow The Lovely Feathers - The Only Appalachian Cornfield (C) The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir - I Never Thought I Could Feel That Way For A Boy TALK DJ Champion - No Heaven (C) (C) Denotes Canadian Content |
Friday, November 23, 2007
November 23, 2007
Theme: Fun with Bruce |
| My top song this week was by a band from Florida called the "Black Kids" and their great tune called "I'm Not Going To Teach Your Boyfriend To Dance". As opposed to the Shout Out Louds songs (see the August 17 setlist) that sounded like it was a cover of a song by The Cure that I had not heard about before, this song sounds like a song the The Cure might write in the future. By the way it came from a great podcast that highly recommend, it is the KEXP song of the day ( http://kexp.org/podcasting/podcasting.asp ) every weekday you get a new song, it is hit and miss but when I love a song I really love it like this one. Yes, I promise this was the last time I will do a direct comparison between Jens Lekman and Jonathan Richman, but if you listen to the two songs the "Bum-ba-bum-ba-bum-ba-bum-ba-bum-ba-bum-ba-bum" part is identical. I'm not alone in thinking this as I managed to find 2 other references to this similarity: http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviewcomment.php?ID=3596 http://users.livejournal.com/_shmoo/ Congratulations to Dave and Michael who won the tickets to "Control", the movie about Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis. TALK-Theme Black Kids - I'm Not Going To Teach Your Boyfriend To Dance All Girl Summer Fun Band - Girl #3 Postal Blue - Puzzle Edson - Sunday, Lovely Sunday TALK Masonic - Way Gone By **See Note 1 Neverending White Lights - Always (C) Shock Hop Arousal - Rhythm Thief (C) The Hives - Won't Be Long TALK Joy Division - Ice Age **Suggested by Dave F. Joy Division - Decades **Suggested by Michael T. New Order - Waiting For The Siren's Call Small Sins - It Keeps Me On My Toes (C) TALK Hidden Cameras - Smells Like Happiness (C) Ostrich - Ice Cold Killers TIAC - Catalogue of Failures The Evaporators - Do The Eggbeater (C) TALK Jonathan Richman - Walter Johnson Jens Lekman - Sweet Summers Night on Hammer Hill Jens Lekman - You Can Call Me Al The Pipettes - Judy TALK The Brunettes - If You Were Alien Basia Bulat - Before I Knew Chicklet - Whitewashed Lykke Li - Tonight **See Note 2 Belle and Sebastian - A Century of Fakers **Thanks to Karen TALK The Golden Dogs - 1985 Note 1: I got this song from Derek's Bury Me Not MP3 Blog - www.burymenot.com Note 2: She is supposed to be the next Robyn. (C) Denotes Canadian Content |
Friday, November 9, 2007
November 9, 2007
Theme: Fun with Bruce |
| I was lucky enough to have a guest on this week's show in the form of Bruce who came all the way from Saskatoon just to be there (well actually he might have had a meeting in town or something like that as well). As a result of having a guest you might notice from the length of the setlist that we talked a lot and didn't play nearly as many songs as a usual week. For the first time in a while I played a funky/jazzy/dancy kind of set, I know it has been a while as some of the songs came from the CDs I made a few months ago. The rest of the show was a mish-mash of whatever Bruce and I felt like playing, but overall we mixed up picking out most of the music so I didn't note who picked what on the list. One thing we didn't really talk much about till nearly the end of my show was recent trip to Chicago, but I did manage to get in my two stories that came from riding on the Chicago subway (you will have to listen to podcast to find out more). But I didn't have the time to properly talk about the main reason that I went to Chicago was to see Jens Lekman, so I'll try and do a better recap on the next show. TALK-Theme The Sonics - Stychnine Immaculate Machine - Broken Ship (C) Chuck Prophet - Doubter of Jesus (All Over You) The Fiery Furnaces - The Old Hag Is Sleeping The Voom Booms - Nine Ships TALK (funky/jazzy/dancy set 1) Stan Getz - The Girl From Ipanema The Trinidad Steel Band - Sissy Strut Ruby And The Romantics - Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore Time Box - Beggin' Roisin Murphy - Let Me Know **See Note 1 TALK (funky/jazzy/dancy set 2) Gorillaz - Rock The House Buck 65 - Dang (C) David Bowie with The Pet Shop Boys - Hallo Spaceboy Small Sins - I Need A Friend (C) Thievery Corporation - Vivid TALK Eugene Ripper - Banks Of Newfoundland (C) **See Notes 2 and 3 Dog Day - Oh Dead Life (C) Neverending White Lights - The World Is Darker (C) The Weakerthans - Sun In An Empty Room (C) Jens Lekman - Sipping On The Sweet Nectar TALK Feist - I Feel It All (C) Note 1: Out of all the songs I played this week this is the one I have listened to the most since the show. Note 2: The last time Bruce and I had seen each other was at a conference in St. John's, Newfoundland at a conference, thus this song seemed appropriate. Note 3: Another note about this song was that it came from a CD that was sent to me by Eugene Ripper. (C) Denotes Canadian Content |
Friday, October 26, 2007
October 26, 2007
Theme: Party rock to Twee |
| Once again I had to make a comparison between Jens Lekman and Jonathan Richman (and I know I promised that this would be the last time during the show but I might have to do it just one more time). In both of these songs they narrate a little story about their past that goes along with the song, they even have some of the same articulation. In the case of Lekman, this version of the song is 7 minutes long from the digital-only EP that was released before the album and it gives a lot more background on the story than the 4 minute version that is on the CD. Not much else to say about the rest of the show: a set about upcoming shows, a party rock set, and a few random sets of great songs. A few notes about a few of the songs are shown below. TALK-Theme The Brunettes - Baby Strawberry Whiplash - Falling Through Heavenly - Three Star Component The San Marinos - Guess How Much I Love You TALK (Upcoming show set) Bella - None Will Ever Know (C) Knock, Knock Ginger - Syllables (C) Square Root of Margaret - Time Bomb (C) The Pipettes - Dance & Boogie **See Note 1 TALK (very Twee) Jens Lekman - Postcard For Nina Jonathan Richman - Monologue About Bermuda Oh! Sweet Music - Four Long Years Tullycraft - The Punks Are Writing Love Songs TALK (party rock) Shout Out Out Out Out - Chicken Soup For The F*** You (C) **See Note 2 The Russian Futurists - These Seven Notes (C) Bocce - Again Again Again Again (C) The Go! Team - Doing It Right TALK Tokyo Police Squad - Box (C) The Sequins - Lost Art Of Friendship Chuck Prophet - Doubter Out Of Jesus Simply Saucer - Bullet Proof Nothing (C) Small Sins - On The Line (C) TALK Juni Jarvi - Asleep Note 1: I don't like that the Pipettes put a couple of extra songs on the US release of album after I bought the import version last year. Note 2: Saw them at the Starlight the night before the show, crazy crowd, great show. (C) Denotes Canadian Content |
Friday, October 12, 2007
October 12, 2007
Theme: Some old time garage rock |
| I've been listening to the first set of this show over and over again, it was just a really, really good set. Anchored by the incredible new release by Swedish pop sensation Jens Lekman (he actually did have the number 1 album in Sweden for a week). The album is called "Night Falls Over Kortedala" and it reminds me a lot of the great songs that Jonathan Richman was recording in his prime, so of course I had to play Richman in the set. Interestingly, Lekman's sound is not for everybody and I can see how he might not be eveybody's cup of tea, but for those who are into him they are usually really into him and so you should give him a shot as he might just become one of your favourite artists. The second set ended with Shout Out Out Out Out. Interesting fact I found out about the band while I was listening to a session they did on CBC radio was that their lead singer is the son of a guy who used to be in band called Wilfrid N and the Grown Men. I might be wrong on this but I think that I used to listen the them back in the day. In this case "the day" was back in the late 1980s when I used to listen to a bunch of "garage" bands and I think they were one of them. Not only was it kind of cool that he was able to cover a song by his dad it also gave me a great idea for set of music by garage bands (with the added bonus of making me feel old). Many of the songs I played are available as free downloads from the London music archive provided by CHRW, the UWO campus radio station where I used to be a DJ. Many of the songs from the set I played were from cassette compilations that came as part of homemade music "zine" called What Wave. You can see the archive that contains the What Wave compilations here: http://chrwradio.com/lma/LMA1990.htm TALK-Theme Jens Lekman - Friday Night At The Drive-in Bingo Jonathan Richman - Our Swingin' Pad Juni Jarvi - If We Just Want To Irene - End Of The Line Murder Mystery - What My Baby Said TALK Small Sins - Drunk e-mails (C) Stars - Midnight Coward (C) The Go! Team - Grip Like A Vice You Say Party! We Say Die! - What's The Hold Up? Where's The Fire? (C) Shout Out Out Out Out - For Ever Indebted (C) TALK Wilfrid N And The Grown Men - Sad New Day (C) Misc S - Real World (C) Colour Me Psycho - October God (C) The Gruesomes - You're Not The Boss Of Me (C) The Empty Hours - Same Time, Same Place (C) TALK Those Dancing Days - Hitten **See Note 1 Novillero - Lost Possibilities (C) Stuffy And The Fuses - Joe C (is an idiot) Sun Parlour Players - The Detroit River Is Alive (C) The Zoobombs - Highway A Go-Go **See Note 2 TALK Sunny Intervals - Sixty Seconds To Fall In Love Everyday Sensations - Things We Never Had Little Name - Picked Out The Line Amida - Virtue Was Your Downfall The Saturday People - Man Without Qualities Pipas - Sorry Love The Doers - Just Saying (C) TALK Mission Of Burma - That's When I Reach For My Revolver **See Note 3 Note 1: I really got excited when I first heard about this all girl band from Sweden Note 2: I saw the Zoobombs at the Starlight the week before the show Note 3: There was a description of the recent UN humanitarian envoy to Mynamar (formerly Burma) as a "Mission from Burma", so of course I had to play this song (C) Denotes Canadian Content |
Friday, September 28, 2007
September 28, 2007
Theme: Another poppolar.com set |
| As a carry over from the last show, there were still lots of new releases at the station that I played for this show. I also got in a set of new CDs that came in the mail from www.poppolar.com , the best place to get Indie pop in Canada. Erico had the new album by Irene on his website a week after it was released in Sweden. And I had to wait some 30 odd years, but I finally got to play the Shadowy Men From A Shadowy Planet song "5 American, 6 Canadian" and say "They will have to rename the song 5 American, 5 Canadian". However, it was difficult to plan it out so that my show would come on the first day since 1976 that the Canadian dollar finished the day worth more than the American one, but it was worth it for the joke in the end. TALK-Theme Murder Mystery - Love Astronaut Theoretical Girl - It's All Too Much Taken By Trees - Julia **See Note 1 All Girl Summer Fun Band - Grass Skirt TALK Stars - The Ghost Of Genova Heights (c) Square Root Of Margaret - Things People Do (c) Pender - Laundry In London (c) Hot Little Rocket - Like Killers (C) TALK (poppolar set) Irene - Last Forever The Saturday People - Conditonal Tense (Now It's Gone) California Snow Story - Brook Line The Go! Team - The Wrath Of Marcie TALK Junior Senior - Like Music Galactic - Bounc Baby Russian Futurists - Why You Gotta Do That Thing? (c) DD/MM/YYYY - Twin Star (c) TALK Little Name - I Always See The Sunrise Honey Bunch - Mine Your Own Business Emma Pollock - Paper and Glue Rocketship - Your New Boyfriend TALK Bella - Give It A Night (c) Sylvie - Rise And Fall (c) Neighbourhood Noise - Another Face In The Crowd (c) The Weakerthans - Civil Twilight (c) Arthur and Lu - The Ghost Of Old Bull Lee TALK Shadowy Men From A Shadowy Planet - 5 American 6 Canadian (c) Tin Bangs - The Skinny (c) Note 1: This is the newest project from Victoria Bergsman, the former lead singer of the Concretes, but of course most people know her when she joined Peter, Bjorn, and John for the song "Young Folks" (C) Denotes Canadian Content |
Friday, August 31, 2007
August 31, 2007
Theme: Pop songs your new boyfriend is too stupid to know about |
| Another week, another guest on the show, this time it was Milosz from the band Knock, Knock, Ginger who came on without his band so we could talk about music. It was also good that Milosz brought his music enabled phone as one of the CD players at the station was broken so it was difficult for me to play consecutive MP3s. His influence can be seen in the second half of the show where we pretty much swapped songs and we also had some good conversations including an interesting one about the importance of editing in music. Milosz supplied me with my top song of the week, The Ladybug Transistor song "Like A Summer Rain" which to me sounded a lot like the Magnetic Fields so I had to play them right after. As it happens, in the two weeks before the show I was made aware of a Tullycraft song from two different people, strange as the song is a couple of years old. The name of the song is "Pop Songs Your New Boyfriend Is Too Stupid To Know About" and in it he mentions other bands that he likes to listen to, so the rest of the set contains some of those bands. I ended with a song from the movie "24 Hour Party People" which is a movie about the Manchester music scene and in particular about Tony Wilson the found of Factory Records (Factory Records released such legendary Manchester bands Joy Division, New Order, and the Happy Mondays). The reason I played the song was that Tony Wilson passed away a few weeks before the show, and here is an interesting tidbit from his Wikipedia entry (of course this means it might not be true): As with everything else in the Factory empire, Tony Wilson's coffin was also given a Factory catalogue number - FAC 501. This will be the last Factory catalogue number. TALK-Theme The Ladybug Transistor - Like A Summer Rain The Magnetic Fields - Busby Berkeley Dreams Page France - The Ruby Ring Man Bellevue - Carry On (C) Griffin and the True Believers - Tivoli (C) All Girl Summer Fun Band - Later Operator TALK (Funky set) Calvin Harris - Merry Making At My Place The Grey Boy Allstars - Still Waiting Champion - The Plow (C) Azure Ray - New Resolution Wild Magnolias - Somebody's Got (Soul Soul Soul) TALK The Flirtations - Nothing But A Heartache Belle and Sebastian - For The Price Of A Cup Of Tea Crowded House - Even A Child Acid House Kings - Say Yes If You Want Me Vampire Weekend - Mansard Roof (Live at KEXP) **See Note 1 TALK (Tullycraft set) Tullycraft - Pop Songs Your New Boyfriend Is Too Stupid To Know About The Pastels - Mandarin Alan Clap and His Orchestra - Something Strange Happens Cub - New York City (C) Heavenly - Hearts and Crosses TALK Stars - Take Me To The Riot (C) Miracle Fortress - Maybe Lately (C) Ohbijou - The Woods (C) The Beautiful South - You Keep It All In TALK Happy Mondays - 24 Hour Party People Note 1: Saw them at Sneeky Dees in Toronto the week before the show. (C) Denotes Canadian Content |
Friday, August 17, 2007
August 17, 2007
Theme: The Stolen Minks Interview
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| I was very excited before this show as for the first time in a while I was going to have a band come and visit me. I first had the idea when I saw that the Stolen Minks were playing Waterloo the same night as my show, so I e-mailed them and they agreed to come to CKMS before their gig. Unfortunately on the day of the show, they called a little after 6 saying they were just leaving London and didn't know if they would make it to the station time and suggested perhaps making it a phone interview. That's why I might seem a little frazzled in the first half of the show as I was running around looking at the logistics of doing a phone interview. Luckily, they managed to make it to the station around 7:15 pm and drop of two members of the band, Erica and Tiina (yes that is how she spells it) who came on the show for a couple of great interview segments. They talked about touring across Canada in a van, their albums, day jobs, and there was even a reference to Henry Rollins. It was a lot of fun and they put on a great show that night that I had the pleasure of witnessing. Before the Ladies came to the show I got in a ska set that stemmed from my top song of the week: a great, great song by Tim Armstrong (former lead singer of Rancid) called "Into Action" that is guaranteed to get you moving. I also played an Elvis set as the show was a day after the 30th anniversary of his death. In looking around the web for songs to play I found the Belle and Sebastian song "Century of Elvis" from an EP back in 1997. As it was back in the days when Stuart David was part of the band he does one of his telling a story over the music type songs, it is funny and definitely worth a listen. TALK-Theme (Ska Set) Tim Armstrong - Into Action The Planet Smashers - Explosive (C) The Planet Smashers - Raise Your Glass (C) Chris Murray - Dangerous Hearts (C) Dappled Cities - Beach Song TALK (Elvis Set) Deja Voodoo - Elvis Is Dead (C) Belle and Sebastian - Century of Elvis New Pornographers - Graceland (C) Chris Houston - Baby Jesus Looked Like Elvis (C) Elvis Presley - Hard Headed Woman TALK Lucknow Pact - A Few Drinks, A Few Laughs The Rosebuds - Get Up, Get Out The Brilliant Corners - Trudy Is A Squeel The Bartlets - You Are Still Beautiful Two Hours Traffic - When We Finish (C) TALK Karen Dalton - Something On Your Mind **See Note 1 Jens Lekman - Black Cab Katie Stelmanis - Hittem (C) The Guest Bedroom - We Need Trips (C) The Stolen Minks - Stop Talking (C) TALK (Stolen Minks Interview Part 1) The Stolen Minks - Peppy Twist (C) The Maynards - Kustom 250 (C) TALK (Stolen Minks Interview Part 2) Ray Condo and His Hard Rock Goners - Sunset Blues (C) All Girl Summer Fun Band - Later Operator TALK Shout Out Louds - Tonight I Have To Leave It **See Note 2 The Cure - Friday I'm In Love TALK Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson - Cleanhead Blues **See Note 3 Note 1: One more Hillside throwback, I heard cover versions of both this song and the next while at Hillside. Note 2: As Derek wrote to me, the song sounds so much like the Cure that it should have been called "In Between Fridays I'm in Love Just Like Heaven" Note 3: I played this song as it was from the first CD I every purchased, a blues compilation that I picked up the same day as I bought my first CD player in 1989 in Edmonton. (C) Denotes Canadian Content |
Friday, August 3, 2007
August 3, 2007
Theme: Hillside Review |
| This was the first show since the Hillside Festival so I played a couple of the bands that made an impression on me during the festival. My biggest surprise was a band that was probably the youngest band to play the festival as they were the winner of the Guelph high school band contest. They are called "Dance Hall Free For All" (just say that out loud a couple of times, it makes you feel good) and have a great funky sound that really impressed me. Other highlights of the festival were Mother Mother, Immaculate Machine, Two Hours Traffic, and in their first North American show Los Campensions. I won't go into detail as you can read my full review here: http://www.stillepost.ca/boards/index.php?topic=86678.0 (near the bottom of the page as Steve Zodiac of course). The rest of the show was a mix between a slow set, a funky set, and a set of a few leftovers from the last couple of shows. The funky set started with a song going out to Mary who likes the Red Hot Chili Peppers cover the Sly and the Family Stone song "If You Want Me To Stay". If you remember I saw Sly in concert during my recent trip to Italy and he was actually on stage during this song. I ended with The Zombies "Time of the Season" because The Immaculate Machines covered it as their last song when I went to see them at the Jane Bond the week before the show. Then I was watching a documentary on the 60s a few days later and sure enough I heard the songs once again. TALK-Theme |
Friday, July 20, 2007
July 20, 2007
Theme: Italy review and Hillside Preview |
| If I sound a bit tired during this show, it is because I woke up that morning in Rome, got on a plane to Toronto, got back to Waterloo, had half an hour at home, and then had to get on my bike for the radio show. So when the show ended it was the equivalent of 2 am for me. I didn't pick up any CDs during my recent trip to Italy and Poland however I did see a very unique show as the conference I was attending was happening in the same city as Umbria Jazz festival. It turns out this is a pretty major jazz festival in Europe and it made certain aspects of the conference pretty cool in that there was live jazz music on one of the free stages from noon to midnight. On the bad side it made finding a place to stay difficult, I ended up finding a place way out of town that required a bus ride and then calling the B&B owner to pick me up. The last day I was there, I noticed that both Solomon Burke and Sly and the Family Stone were playing as part of the jazz festival so I had to get a ticket (even though it meant getting back to my B&B at 12:30 am and having to wake up the owner). Nothing like a couple of Hillside preview sets to boost up that Canadian Content. For those who don't know, Hillside is an annual festival in Guelph that features great music, great food, and just a great vibe. For this show I previewed some of the bands that were playing Hillside and next week I'll have my Hillside review TALK-Theme Note 1: Venice was referred to as the "Most Serene Republic" |
Friday, July 6, 2007
July 6, 2007
Theme: More Calvin Johnson than you can stand |
| Another week another show. Between the Denver set (where I purchased the latest Calvin Johnson album) and the set of music highlighting his recent shows, there was a definite Calvin Johnson bent to a lot of the show. After seeing him at the Music Gallery last Saturday with Julie Doiron I found out that he was playing a backyard show in Guelph on Wednesday. I liked him so much the first time I had to see him the second time. It is a good time for the new release section at CKMS with lots of good stuff to play including a couple of surprises such as Code Pie and the Immaculate Machines. There was also a new album by Carolyn Mark, there used to be a time when I would have been very excited by this, but I don't know if I have been all that excited by her recent stuff. However, she and Geoff Berrner are playing the Jane Bond in September and I'll probably go and see them. The second last set had a mish-mash of ideas: - the Rubinoos song (thanks Dan) that is the centre of the controversy with Avril Lavigne (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/308830/avril_lavigne_sued_over_girlfriend.html ) - the original of the song that was my top song last week - and a small feature on a recent great commercial song for Maynard's candy, the one with the girl in the red polka dot dress walking along a street and then splits into different versions of herself. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ7pGMfVNVg ) After much research I think I am correct that the band is a Canadian band called Major Maker and the song was written for the commercial and there are no plans to create a full version of the song. However, one of the members of Major Maker is Lindy, so perhaps I will one day be able to ask him as he plays the Jane Bond every once in a while.
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Friday, June 29, 2007
June 29, 2007
Theme: Halifax a go-go |
| This was my first show in over a month so of course I had lots of music to play and not enough time. As such, it wasn't just a top song to start the show but more of a top set as any song in the first set could have been the top song of the week. If you are an Amy Whinehouse fan do yourself and favour and check out the first song, Amy Whinehouse covering the song "Valerie" originally by the Zutons, hear it once and it will be in your head all day. I was out east at the beginning of June, and as this was the first show since then, I finally got to play all of the music that I collected out there. Only two of the artists were actually from Eastern Canada, the rest I just happened to buy out there. I was very surprised to see the "I'm From Barcelona" CD in a used record store in Halifax (well actually Michelle found it) also surprising is how much I like the songs on the album that I had not already heard. The Smokey Robinson CD was a from a bargin bin in Wolfville just to have something to listen to in the car, and I'm surprised with how many of the songs I recognize and enjoy. My usual routine is to play 5 songs in each set (maybe something to do with my engineering mind always wanting order in the world) but for this show the sets just worked out better having 6 songs. There was also a weird coincidence in that there was a streak of about 10 songs between Brideshead and The Stolen Minks of songs that featured female lead singers.
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Friday, May 25, 2007
May 25, 2007
Theme: Clever Girls and Cleverer Boys |
| I had three songs that were neck and neck for my top song this week, in the end "Summer 2005" by Seymore Saves The World was the one that won by a nose. I first heard it on CHRW, the campus radio station in London, which by the way this was the station that gave me my start in radio during high school so many years ago. The second contender was a song by Pelle Carlberg that has the best (and longest) title of any song I know: Clever Girls Like Cleverer Boys Much More than Clever Boys Like Cleverer Girls. Unfortunately I was away when he played Toronto recently, but I heard it was a great show. The third song was a cover of a Kaiser Chiefs song done by Mark Ronson featuring Lilly Allen, but I'll say more about him on the next show. During my previous show, I ran out off time before playing another set of "strange" music so I finally got to it this show. The reason for the set was that I found an off-beat song by Robert Forster (formerly of the Go-Betweens) on a children's album and I needed somewhere to play it. The album looks cool, it is called "Songs for the Young at Heart" and also has songs from Bonnie Prince Billy, Jarvis Cocker, and Stuart Murdoch. The set ended with a great cover of "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off" by Kids on TV. A few days before this show, I went to see the Joel Plaskett Emergency and Peter Elkas at the Starlight, it was a great show albeit very uncomfortable with the hot temperature that day and the sold out energetic audience. I followed their songs with a set of music of bands from the Maritimes. This was timely as right after the show I went to both Newfoundland and Nova Scotia for a couple of conferences. This was also the reason that I ended the show with Rawlins Cross, the only band from St. John's that I know. TALK - Theme Seymore Saves The World - Summer 2005 Pelle Carlberg - Clever Girls Like Cleverer Boys Much More Than Clever Boys Like Cleverer Girls Mark Ronson (Featuring Lily Allen) - Oh My God The Bird and the Bee - Again and Again Young Galaxy - Calendar Girl (C) TALK Joel Plaskett Emergency - True Patriot Love (C) Joel Plaskett Emergency - Snowed In/Crusin' (C) Eric's Trip - Girlfriend (C) Jale - Nine Years Now (C) Plumtree - I'm Not Moving (C) TALK Peter Elkas - Party Of One (C) The Earaches - Not The Kinda Man I Am Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - The Unwanted Things Lonnie James - Piano In The Sand (C) Los Campsinos! - You! Me! Dancing! ** See Note 1 TALK Robert Forster - Uncle Sigmund's Clockwork Story Sage Francis - Broccilude Eleni Mandell - Girls Kids On TV - We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off TALK Don Lennon - My Resume Pistepirkko - I Know The Album Leaf - Always For You Electrelane - At Sea The Bravery - Bad Sun (C) The Faintest Ideas - You're Beautiful The Sea and Cake - Lightning TALK Rawlins Cross - Open Road (C) Note 1: I swear that during the past week I've heard this song a couple of times a day on CKMS. (C) Denotes Canadian Content |
Friday, May 11, 2007
May 11, 2007
Theme: Arrivals and Departures |
| My favourite album for the year so far is one that came as a direct result of the show I did a few weeks back on commercial music, when I got reacquainted with The Icicles and ordered their new album called "Arrivals and Departures". I also went to see them in concert the week before the show and keeping with the title of their album, the women in the band dressed like stewardesses and the male member was a pilot, they also covered the song "Leaving on a Jet Plane". Needless to say I loved it. Thanks to everybody who sent in suggestions for the "Arrivals and Departures" set, even if for some of them I only sort of got the request correct. Doing research for the set I found out that there are tons of covers of "Getting on Jet Plane", in fact even the most famous version by Peter, Paul, and Mary is a cover of the original by Bob Denver. I ended up playing a version by Lisa Loeb. |
Friday, April 27, 2007
April 27, 2007
Theme: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin |
| No overall theme to this show, just a lot of random ideas strung together: - I had to play the band "Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin" after Boris Yeltsin passed away last week. I also played The Russian Futurists for the same reason. - The Stephin Merrit songs comes from a release called "Plague Songs" that has "10 Songs - 10 Plagues - 10 Artists". - When I found a song called "Sideways" by American band Let's Go Sailing I had to play the song by Men Without Hats with the same name (but it wasn't a cover song like I had hoped). - Both Peter Elkas and Joel Plaskett are playing the Starlight on May 24th. - Memphis is one of the bands playing this year's Hillside Festival, more on this later TALK - Theme The Sweet Homewreckers - Wild America (C) The Salteens - Time You Have Been Wasting (C) The Yokocasinos - Loose Cannon Hera - Don't Play This Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Oregon Girl TALK Skeeter Davis - Let Me Get Close To You Francoise Hardy - On Dit De Lui Lucky Soul - One Kiss Don't Make A Summer Belle and Sebastian - Legal Man Stephin Merrit - The Meaning of Lice TALK The Russian Futurists - The Science Of The Seasons (C) LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great B. Fleischman - Le Desir Wally Jericho - Kuryakin (C) TALK Ladybug Transistor - Her Words Hang In The Air Leopold - Work You/Me - To Live Morning Bride - Time Delay Thomas Dybdahl - A Love Story TALK Let's Go Sailing - Sideways Men Without Hats - Sideways (C) Lapko - All The Best Girls Peter Elkas - Fall Apart Again (C) Joel Plaskett Emergency - Nothing More To Say (C) TALK The Sea and Cake - Too Strong Sondre Lerche - Airport Taxi Reception Elbow Beach Surf Club - Our Hood (C) The Icicles - Crazy TALK Memphis - A Little Place In The Wilderness (C) (C) Denotes Canadian Content |
Friday, April 13, 2007
April 13, 2007
Theme: Commercial Music |
| It seemed like I did a lot of talking this show, but I was happy with how it went, as I think I had pretty interesting things to say. Thanks for the suggestions on the commercial music set and as always the site www.adtunes.com was an invaluable resource. I have tried to put in links to web versions of the commercials the best one is for Axe that uses the Israel Kamamawin'ole version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". IZ as he was known, was a very large Hawaiian man who looked very strange playing this tiny ukulele, unfortunately he passed away in 1997 of health related problems. Another band that I was happy to find out about doing research for the set was the song "Suger Sweet" by the Icicles, not only is it a great song but I also realized that I have played them before doing their song "Snowman". I have now ordered both of their CDs, going to prove that getting a song played on a commercial can pay dividends. After the show I couldn't get the song "Do the Freddie" out of my head, it was a novelty song back in the 60s by a British band called "Freddie and the Dreamers". It reportedly did start a bit of dance craze, but the Wikipedia description of the dance itself seems pretty boring "stand in place, then in rhythm with the music first extend the left leg and left arm, then the right leg and right arm. Repeat until the song's conclusion". Apparently there was a reference to the dance in the movie "Troop Beverly Hills" that I'm intrigued to see now. TALK - Theme I'm From Barcelona - Treehouse The Legends - Lucky Star Bermuda Triangle - It Feels Good Sissy Wish - DWTS Midlake - Young Bride TALK Hot Hot Heat - 5 Times Out Of 100 (C) **Request for Laura Firefly - Unsinkable (C) The Wooden Stars - Microphone (C) Elbow Beach Surf Club - Surf Theme (C) Elbow Beach Surf Club - The Letter (C) TALK Freddy and the Dreamers - Do The Freddie Caribou - Handelschnapp (C) Bullfrog - Ya-Ya (C) Quadra - Grey Something (C) Reality Sandwich - Blue (C) TALK (commercial music set) Israel Kamamawin'ole - Somewhere Over the Rainbow/Wonderful World (Rice Krispies) link to ad Nouvelle Vague - I Melt With You (GMC) **Suggested by Garth link to ad Beck with The Flaming Lips - Do You Realize (Mitsubishi) **Suggested by Stephen P Royksopp - Remind Me (Geico) link to ad The Jam - Start (Cadillac) can be seen on this site The Salteens - Nice Day (C) (Zellers) **Sort of suggested by Derek link to ad **See Note 1 Icicles - Sugar Sweet (Motorola) link to ad TALK The Besties - Rod'n'Reel California Snow Story - Suddenly Everthing Happens Sonic Youth - The Diamond Sea Marit Larsen - Under The Surface TALK Marmoset - Sky Phenomenon **See Note 2 Note 1: I love the fact that this song has the lyric "I know you think that I'm gay", of course that part isn't used in the commercial. Note 2: This is from a compilation out of the American record label Secretly Canadian, to celebrate their 100th release they had their artists cover each other's songs. This is a cover of a song originally by Jens Lekman. (C) Denotes Canadian Content |
Friday, March 30, 2007
March 30, 2007
Theme: Equations and Johnny Marr |
| There were two themed sets this show: The Johnny Marr set - highlighting the various bands that he has played in since his start in the Smiths and ending with his current membership in Modest Mouse The Equation set - it was hard to even find 4 songs to fill out this set, but I managed to do it with some help from Derek. As I mention in the setlist below, watch out for the very high cheese factor in the second set. The opening song was "Runaway Lane" by Jerry Jerry and the Sons of Rhythm Orchestra, I played this because I heard it on the last broadcast of CBC Radio 3 on terrestrial radio (it is now satellite only). I have always loved this song and it was great to hear somebody apart from me playing considering it is now over 20 years old (I have it on cassette). I ended with the great piece by Bruce McCulloch (formerly of Kids in the Hall) about being a Doors fan, the reason was that I have see advertisements recently about a recent "Very Best of the Doors" compilation and in the McCulloch's song he specifically says that Best of albums are for "housewives and little girls". TALK - Theme Jerry Jerry and the Sons of Rhythm Orchestra - Runaway Lane (C) The Stooges - Trollin' The Eels - Hey Man Now You Are Really Living The Clash - White Man In Hammersmith Palais The Fall - Victoria TALK (watch out for the cheese) The Crash - Pony Ride Orbit - Electric Rubik - City and the Streets Lio - Comix Discomix Kristoffer Ragnastram - Breakfast By The Mattress TALK You Say Party! We Say Die! - Opportunity (C) Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (C) Collapsing Opposites - Will (C) Cub - Way To Go (C) TALK (Johnny Marr set) The Smiths - Panic The The - Dogs of Lust Electronic - One Day Modest Mouse - Dashboard TALK (equations set) The Kissaway Trail - Smother + Evil = Hurt Sekiden - 1 + 1 = Heartache Ivana Santilli = Sun + Moon = Tomorrow Haircut 100 - Love + One **Suggested by Derek TALK Loney Dear - I Am John Sally Shapiro - I'll Be By Your Side You/Me - Through Four Kinds The Bicycles - I Know We Have To Be Apart (C) **See Note 1 Hilotrons - Stuck In The Sound (C) TALK Bruce McCulloch - Doors (C) Note 1: I went to see both The Bicycles and the Hilotrons in Ottawa at a place called Zaphod Beeblebrox, it is the legendary place to see a band in Ottawa. The show was great and as an added bonus as it was Easter weekend the bar was decorated by Kinder Surprise eggs. There is no better way to kill time waiting for a band then putting together Kinder Surprise toys. By the way for anybody who doesn't know how the bar was names see this Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaphod_Beeblebrox
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Friday, March 16, 2007
March 16, 2007
Theme: In the Hall of Fame |
| Thanks for all the suggestions about the Hall of Fame set, as you can see below I tried to stay away from the most popular songs by the artists and used a Van Halen cover instead of the real thing. I got a lot of suggestions for an REM song, but I had to defer to Derek on that one as he is the biggest REM fan I know. I thought that "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five was a bit to obvious, so I went with "White Lines". There is also some controversy about the song as to whether or not Grandmaster Flash (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandmaster_flash). I have complained in the past few months about not finding a lot to play from the CKMS new release section, however this has really turned around lately. Combined with the many different websites I have found highlighting the Scandanavian bands playing the recent South by Southwest music festival in Texas it meant that I had lots of songs to play for the show (and lots of songs leftover). Here are some of those sites about SXSW: sixeyes.blogspot.com/2007/03/scandinavia-comes-to-sxsw-mp3s.html www.popmatters.com/pm/features/article/31476/bylarm-2007-part-1-the-music I got an e-mail from a band from the United Kingdom call the Hit and Runs, they had seen my setlists and thought their music would fit into my show. So I checked them out and liked them, you should check them out at www.thehitandruns.com TALK - Theme Charlotte Gainsbourg - Don't Forget To Forget Me Ane Brun - To Let Myself Go Leopold - Johnny Air - Once Upon A Time Moi Caprice - For Once In Your Life Fight For Something You Believe In **See Note 1 TALK Marit Bergman - No Party You Say Party! We Say Die! - Downtown Mayors Goodnight, Alley Kids Rule (C) Annemarie - The Living Model Deacon Blue - A Is For Astronaught **See Note 2 The Saturday People - Slipping Through Your Fingers **See Note 2 The Hit and Runs - Low Tops and Make-up **See Note above TALK Jeremy Fisher - Remind Me (C) Nich Worby - Oh, Little Bonez (C) Sondre Lerche - Well Well Well Sean Clarke - No Phone Before Regina (C) Geoff Berner - Good Luck Now (C) TALK (Hall Of Fame Set) Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five - White Lines (Don't Do It) Patti Smith - Kimberly **Suggested by Dan REM - Harborcoat **Suggested by Derek Aztec Camera - Jump (of course a Van Halen cover) The Ronettes - Do I Love You? TALK Adaptor 45 - Keep on Groovin' (C) Steady, Garcia - Pretend Girlfriend (C) **See Note 3 Peter Elkas - Sweet Nancy (C) The Gruesomes - Out Of Our Tree (C) TALK Arcade Fire - Ocean Of Noise (C) Note 1: I thought this song was an unknown song by the Flaming Lips the first time I heard it. Note 2: Stolen from the podcast The Great Leap Forward Note 3: I loved the title of the album this song is from: "Bring me the head of Steady, Garcia", this reminds me of one of my favourite sketches written by my friend Cat Sullivan called "Bring me the head of Poncho Garcia". This was back in another life when we used to co-host a radio comedy show called The Frank, Frank, and Frank show. Of course they both were taken from the Sam Peckinpah movie "Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia". (C) Denotes Canadian Content |
Friday, March 2, 2007
March 2, 2007
Theme: Hard to listen to songs |
| I started out in a funky groove beginning with the top song by Ruth Brown. The set also included a song from the Light in the Attic release "From Jamaica to Toronto", it is a compilation that was released last year featuring acts that came from the West Indies and settled in Toronto. The morning of the show I saw a performance by some of the acts from the CD on Breakfast Television publicising a show that they were doing that night in Toronto, I couldn't make it but that would have been cool to see. Another Light in the Attic release I'm looking forward to is their collection of music from Bollywood movies of the 60s and 70s. I ended up playing more songs that I had planned in the "hard to listen to" set, see if you are able get through the 7 song endurance test. After that set the rest of show was pretty laid back, I promise more happy, poppy stuff for the next show. I know it is buried near the end, but the song by Keren Ann "Lay Your Head Down" is a really great song that has really grown on me since the show. It was fighting for the top song spot but didn't quite make it, however do yourself a favour and make sure you give it a listen. TALK - Theme Ruth Brown - 5,10,15 Hours B'Ham Rhythmn Section - I've Been Lonely For So Long Howard Tate - She's a Burglar Wayne McGhie and the Sounds of Joy - Fire (She Need Water) (C) Professor Longhair - Go To The Mardi Gras TALK Bellevue - KC Thugs (C) The Gruesomes - You Were Not Using Your Head (C) The Fussy Part - Dog Food Thumb Jim Ried - I'm Stranded The Organ - Memorize The City (C) TALK (The hard to listen to set) Karen Dalton - Something On Your Mind The Sixth with Odetta - Waltzing Me All The Way Home Geoff Berner - Can't Stay Dry (C) Daniel Johnston - Mind Contorted Calvin Johnson - When You Are Mine Tom Waits - Filipino Box Spring Hog The Comedian Harmonists - Wenn ich vergnugt bin, muss ich singen **Suggested by Derek TALK Ron Sexsmith with Bob Wiseman - Trains (C) Steven McKay - The Other Bums (C) Friday Morning's Regret - When Lost at Sea (C) Jeremy Fisher - American Girls (C) Sondre Lerche and the Faces Down - Say It All TALK Dean and Britta - Teen Angel Airport Girl - Show Me The Way Keren Ann - Lay Your Head Down **Almost the top song of the week Holden - Ce Que Je Suis Ukjent - My New Hang Up The Pipettes - A Winter's Sky **See Note 1 TALK Jarvis Cocker - Don't Let Him Waste Your Time (C) Denotes Canadian Content Note 1: I saw the Pipettes at their first ever North American show at the Rivoli in Toronto on March 9. They were totally awesome, they only allowed 100 people into the venue because of a violation the night before. So although the show was "sold-out" the venue was only about half full. See another review with pictures here. You can also see many different videos from the show on youtube.com. |
Friday, February 16, 2007
February 16, 2007
Theme: Labrador Records spotlight |
| I started the show with one of the few vinyl albums I have acquired in the last few years. I got it at a showing of the Canadian movie Monkey Warfare ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0832906/ ) at the Princess Cinema, the director, Reginald Harkema, was at the showing and answered questions after the movie. A few of the questions were about the music in the movie and in particular how much is costs to use a song in a movie (answer: about $500 to the person who performed the song and another $500 for the rights owner of the song). He also mentioned that the bands agreed to have the songs part of a limited edition 1000 vinyl pressing and that he had some copies of it with him. So after the questions were over I was second in line to get a copy. The first two songs were from the soundtrack along with some bonus dialogue from the movie. Most of show ended up being a spotlight on the Labrador Records label ( http://www.labrador.se/ ). This idea came to me after using a quote from the band Suburban Kids With Biblical Names for my UW weather Station contest ( http://weather.uwaterloo.ca/contest2007/contest2007_entry.htm ). So I thought that I should play at least that song, but when I was looking at the band's record label and saw the rest of the great bands they have put out I started downloading all the songs I could from the record label's website. The label also has just came out with their 100th release, and to celebrate they have released a four CD set featuring a song from each one of their releases, it has the very humble title of "The Complete History of Popular Music". |
Friday, February 2, 2007
February 2, 2007
Theme: Not Groundhog Day |
| I didn't have anything to play for Groundhog Day so I decided not to force the issue as a result there was no set on that theme. Yet another song from the swedesplease.com website was the top song of the week. You can hear my review of the Camera Obscura/Essex Green show on the podcast. And no The Clash didn't somehow reform (and resurrect Joe Stummer), the reason I played the Clash was that it was their "Super Black Market Clash" CD that was played between the bands at the Opera House that night. |
Friday, January 19, 2007
January 19, 2007
Theme: Best of 2006 Leftovers |
| In past years I often tried to play only songs from the new release section of CKMS during the first real (ie. non-specialty) show of the new year. But now I find that most of the new music I play comes from podcasts and blogs and the new release section doesn't really intrigue me as it once did. So most of the stuff I played on this show was new along with some of your suggestions for the Best of 2006. A few random notes on some of the other songs from the show: I played the The Cardigans' Lovefool as it was part of an episode of The Office, when Jim was trying to annoy an office mate by singing the lyrics. At first I couldn't place the lyrics but a web search revealed the name of the song. I ended with the George Krantz song Din Daa Daa which was used in one of the commercial's in the Cannes Best of 2006 commercial movie that I saw the week before the show. I thought the song sounded familiar and when I did some research I saw that it was on the Breakin' 2 Electric Boogaloo soundtrack ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086999/ ) , I actually thought I might own the vinyl of this soundtrack but I was getting it confused with the soundtrack to Krush Groove ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089444/ ). Krush Groove was obviously cooler starring the likes of: Sheila E., the Beastie Boys, The Gap Band, Run DMC, and the Fat Boys. |
Friday, January 5, 2007
January 5, 2007
Theme: Best of 2006 |
| Nothing much to say about this one, the first half were my top singles of the year while the second half were my top albums. By definition my best show of the year. You can see all of my top choices listed in order here : http://www.civil.uwaterloo.ca/frseglen/archive/setlists/2006/best_of_2006.htm The astute among you may notice that I didn't play The Math and Physics Club on this show but they appear on the Best of 2006 page. In my own defense, I did mention during the show that I had not heard the album and they might make the top 10. Behind the songs I have done my best to list where I first heard about the song, see the legend below the setlist. TALK - Theme Peter, Bjorn and John - Young Folks (popcasting) The Concretes - Chosen One (The Wedge) Essex Green - Don't Know Why (You Stay) (bury me not) Cats On Fire - Higher Ground (poppolar) The Tidy Ups - Dizzy Heights (indiepopradio) TALK The Stolen Minks - Peppy Twist (C) (CKMS) The Doers - We're Open (C) (CKMS) Henry Faberge and the Adorables - Out Of Your League (C) (Live - Grad House) Lake Holiday - Press Record Then Play (C) (poppolar) Lovely Feathers - Right Where You Are (C) (Live - Hillside) TALK Amp Fiddler - Right Where You Are (The Wedge) Herb Alpert - Whipped Cream (Zulu Records) Blaze presents UDA featuring Barbra Tucker - Most Precious Love (The Wedge) Hard Fi - Hard To Beat (The Wedge) Bocce - Bicycle Cops (C) (Live - Starlight) TALK Good On Paper - The Message (indiepopradio) El Perro Del Mar - God Knows (You Gotta Give What You Get) (KCRW Song of the Day) Regina Spektor - Fidelity (myboytheriotgirl) Psapp - Hi (KCRW Song of the Day) The Gresham Flyers - Shiftwork (indiepopradio) TALK Knock, Knock, Ginger - Love Renee (C) The Bicycles - Paris Be Mine (C) TALK Memphis - In The Cinema Alone (C) Junior Boys - In The Morning (C) (myboytheriotgirl) TALK Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken (myboytheriotgirl) Yo La Tengo - Mr. Tough (bury me not) TALK The Pipettes - Pull Shapes (poppolar) Irene - Little Things That Tear Us Apart (poppolar) TALK Belle and Sebastian - Sukie In The Graveyard popcasting - http://www.geocities.com/popcastingpop/ indiepopradio - http://indiepopradio.blogspot.com/ bury me not - http://www.burymenot.com poppolar - http://www.poppolar.com CKMS - http://www.ckmsfm.ca Hillside - http://www.hillside.on.ca/ Zulu Records - http://www.zulurecords.com/ The Wedge - http://www.muchmusic.com/tv/thewedge/ KCRW Song of the Day - http://www.kcrw.com/ My Boy the Riot Girl - http://www.myboytheriotgirl.com/ (C) Denotes Canadian Content |
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