August 17, 2007

Theme: The Stolen Minks Interview On Air: Frank, Tiina, and Erica

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

August 3, 2007

Theme: Hillside Review On Air: Frank

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 Saturday Looks Good To Me - The Girl's Distracted Lucky Soul - Get Outta Town! The Envelopes - It's The Law The Electric Pop Group - Don't Bring Me Out All Girl Summer Fun Band - Dreamy You TALK (Hillside Review) Dance Hall Free For All - Tomorrow In Thailand (C) Mother Mother - Dirty Town (C) Immaculate Machine - Nothing Ever Happens (C) Two Hours Traffic - Jezebel (C) Los Campensinos - It Started With A Mix TALK (slow set) Keren Ann - In Your Back Griffin and the True Believers - The Cat (C) Paul MacLeod - Tomorrow (C) The Bird And The Bee - Because TALK (funky set) Sly And The Family Stone - If You Want Me To Stay **For Mary John Legend - Slowdance Clarence Carter - Too Weak To Fight Otis Redding - Mr. Pittiful Broadcast - Before We Begin TALK Ghost House - Mail Lady (C) Hallelujah The Hills - Wave Backwards To Massachusetts The Planet Smashers - Raise Your Glass (C) Sea Wolf - You're A Wolf The Geraldine Fibbers - California Tuffy TALK They Might Be Giants - Bee And The Bird Of The Moth California Snow Story - Out Of Time The Sweet Homewreckers - Nineties On Your Side (C) Boy Omega - By Midnight We'll Give It A Go Liechtenstein - Stalking Skills TALK Zombies - Time Of The Season (C) Denotes Canadian Content

July 20, 2007

Theme: Italy review and Hillside Preview On Air: Frank

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). Burke is so large that he has a large throne from which he does most of his songs, he was wearing a three piece suit and part way through the concert he took of his jacket to show of his very tight vest and very large man boobs. Unfortunately he stuck with the classics, if he had done "None of us are free" I would have lost it. Sly was probably on stage for about 15 minutes, his band played for about 25 minutes, then he came out, sang a few songs hunched over the microphone and played a few chords on his keyboards (to be fair to him there were some technical difficulties with his keyboards). Then he stood up, gave the double peace sign and walked off. I don't think he was coming back but I had to leave. 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 There was also a set of CDs that I got in the mail from www.poppolar.com , my favourite place to order music on-line. . TALK-Theme The Juju Orchestra featuring Carolyn Leonheart and Terry Callier - What Is Hip? Supreme Beings Of Leisure - What's The Deal? The Toasters - Nighttrain To Moscow Justice - Valentine TALK (Poppolar set) Pele Carlberg - Pamploma Amida - It Started In Naples The Electric Pop Group - Don't Bring Me Out Lucky Soul - Lips Are Unhappy TALK (Hillside Preview I) Chumbawamba - Big Mouth Strikes Again Golden Dogs - Construction Worker (C) Immaculate Machines - Roman Statues (C) The Dears - Ballad Of Human Kindness (C) Shout Out Out Out Out - Procrastinator's Fight Song (C) TALK (Hillside Preview II) Los Campesinos - Frontwards Two Hours Traffic - Stuck For The Summer (C) Memphis - Into The Wild (C) Ron Sexsmith - For A Moment (C) Ohbijou - Misty Eyes (C) TALK (a couple of Italian related songs) Sly And The Family Stone - I Want To Take You Higher Solomon Burke - None Of Us Are Free Keren Ann - In Your Back Lionheart Brothers - Hero Anthem TALK Most Serene Republic - Ageless Beauty **See Note 1 Hall and Oates - Maneater (Podcast only bonus) **See Note 2 Note 1: Venice was referred to as the "Most Serene Republic" Note 2: Heard this on the radio in Poland, I had to turn it up, much to the chagrin of Erin. (C) Denotes Canadian Content

July 6, 2007

Theme: More Calvin Johnson than you can stand On Air: Frank

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. TALK-Theme The Ethnobabes - My Favourite Fool Los Campensions - We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives La Buenavida - En Bicicleta Code Pie - Conway Killjoy (C) Superfantastics - As The Lights Go Down (C) TALK (New Releases) The Pipettes - Guess Who Ran Off With The Milkman? Shapes And Sizes - Diggy (C) Grant McLennan - Lighting Fires Immaculate Machines - Small Talk (C) Carolyn Mark - Pictures At 5 (C) TALK (Calvin Johnson and related set) Griffin And The True Believers - Carnival (C) Matias - Tea (C) Beat Happening - Indian Summer Calvin Johnson - Your Eyes TALK (CDs from Denver) Calvin Johnson And The Sons Of The Soil - Banana Meltdown Sea and Cake - Too Strong Electronic - Tighten Up VHS or Beta - Heaven TALK Rubinoos - I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend The Zutons - Valerie The Maynards - Pauline's Jeans (C) Major Maker - Over It (C) Major Maker - Candy Song (C) TALK Rah Rah - Winter Sun Brown Recluse Sings - Lazy Bones The Diskettes - Art (C) (C) Denotes Canadian Content

June 29, 2007

Theme: Halifax a go-go On Air: Frank

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. TALK - Theme Mark Ronson featuring Amy Whinehouse - Valerie Amida - Class of 2000 The April Skies - Rise and Rise Again Brideshead - Love Makes The Sun Shine Bright The Ethnobabes - Make Some Sound The Fiery Furnaces - Benton Harbor Blues TALK Julie Doiron and the Wooden Stars - Dance Music (C) Frida Hyvonen - You Never Got Me Right The Pipettes - Guess Who Ran Off With The Milkman? The Russian Futurists - The First Five Times (from Do You Trust Your Friends by the Stars) (C) Au Revoir Simone - Stars **Suggested by Milosz Taken by Trees featuring Victoria Bersman - Lost and Found TALK (Maritime set) The Gentle Waves - Sister Woman (Dave's Records - Newfoundland) The Stolen Minks - Rip It Up (C) (CD Plus - Halifax) The Superfantastics - Glitter (C) (Taz Records - Halifax) I'm From Barcelona - Over Sleeping (CD Plus - Halifax) LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends (Dave's Records - Newfoundland) Smokey Robinson - Just To See Her (Bargin Bin - Wolfville) TALK Volcanoes In Canada - She Moves (C) Wax Mannequin - Animals Jump (C) Immaculate Machine - Jarhand (C) Pinto - This Picture Needs A Frame They Might Be Giants - Upside Down Frown The Bravery - Fistful Of Sound (C) TALK I Walk The Line - When I'm Gone Robert Forster - 121 The Postmarks - Goodbye Los Campesinos - Don't Tell Me To Do The Math(s) TALK Knock, Knock, Ginger - Virginia Black (C) **See Note 1 Note 1: KKG played the north campus of the University after the fireworks on Canada Day (C) Denotes Canadian Content

May 25, 2007

Theme: Clever Girls and Cleverer Boys On Air: Frank

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

May 11, 2007

Theme: Arrivals and Departures On Air: Frank

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. There were four songs that could have been by top song for this show, in the end I made it two weeks in a row for a Canadian artist with the band Young Galaxy. Another side project by a member of the Stars, is also makes for a lot of story about the band with headlines that are a variation of "Young Galaxy made of Stars". And I know I'm late on the bus, but I finally saw the movie "The Forty Year Old Virgin" the week before the show. Apart from being scared of the number of parallels between myself and the Steve Carrel character, the movie also featured some great musical moments. Playing the Asia song "Heat of the Moment" when he was going after the girl at the end of the movie was a brilliant reference to the Asia poster in his apartment. (Of course you had to be of a certain age to recognize the joke) The song "Got Lucky Last Night" that was played over the ending credits is also a great song that I knew I had to play on the show the moment I heard it. TALK - Theme Young Galaxy - Outside The City (C) The Cinematics - Keep Forgetting Ghost Story - The Upper Ten/The Lower Five The Two Koreas - Cloth Coat Revolution (C) The Golden Dogs - Yeah! (C) TALK (Poppolar.com set) **See Note 1 Annemarie - Bubble Gum I See Cats On Fire - End Of Straight Street Lovedance - It Sometime Brings Me Down ++The Airborne Toxic Event - Does This Mean You're Moving On Monster Baby - The Burning Ambition Of Early Diuretics TALK ++Lucky Soul - Add Your Light To Mine, Baby Tracey Thorn - Its All True **See Note 2 Everything But The Girl - Wrong Run DMC - RockBox Wally Jericho - Fleamarket (C) TALK (Airplane Set) The Icicles - Regret The Archers of Loaf - All The Nations Airports (Suggested by Garth) Robert Pollard - Supernatural Car Lover (Suggested by Peter) Paul Weller - Arrival Time (Kind of suggested by Stephen P) Bob Wiseman - Airplane On The Highway (C) (Suggested by Derek) Lisa Loeb - Leaving On A Jet Plane TALK Rock Plaza Central - When We Go How We Go (C) The Wooden Stars - Orphans (C) Local Rabbits - Play On (C) Elbow Beach Surf Club - Wonder Worry Wart (C) Bellevue - Smile (C) TALK (40 year old version ending set) ++Joboxers - Lucky Last Night **Special Bonus** Asia - Heat Of The Moment ++ song competing for best song of the week Note 1: The first three songs her are from my latest purchases from www.poppolar.com Note 2: Tracy Thorn is the lead singer from Everything But The Girl, I also found out that the name Everything But The Girl comes from a slogan used by a small furniture company where they used that slogan to say that everything was on sale in the store but the sales girls. (C) Denotes Canadian Content