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, January 19, 2007

January 19, 2007

Theme: Best of 2006 Leftovers
On Air: Frank

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.

And for anybody in need of their Indian pop music fix be sure to check out Pretty, Pretty, Priya (which I found out is common female Hindu name also from the web).

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.


TALK - Theme

Math and Physics Club - Last Dance
Knock, Knock, Ginger - The Great Escape (C)
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - I Am Warm And Powerful
S'Ambassadeur - The Only Living Girl
The The - Slow Emotional Replay
TALK (Other people's Best of 2006)
Barmitzvah Brothers - Hollow Time Of The Night (C) **Suggested by Milosz
Beirut - Postcards From Italy ** Kind of suggested by Sari
Glissandro 70 - Portugal Rua Rua (C) **Suggested by Derek
Destroyer - European Oils (C) **Suggested by Michelle and Derek
TV On The Radio - Hours **Suggested by Michael T.
TALK
Amy Whinehouse - Rehab
Gems - I Can't Help Myself **Also suggested by Derek
James Brown - Get On The Good Foot
Jenny Wilson - Summertime (The Roughest Time)
Todd Rundgren - I Saw The Light
TALK
The Cardigans - Lovefool
Dressy Bessy - All The Right Reasons
Jale - All Ready (C)
Plumtree - Sodium Chloride (C)
The Awkward Stage - We're Going For A Ride (C)
TALK
Anand Prayag and Chorus - Pretty, Pretty, Priya
Niza - El Much Acho De Los Otos Tristes
The Pursuit of Happiness - Hard To Launch (C)
Dave Rave - Everybody Needs Somebody (C)
Statues - Quality Assurance (C)
Swan Lake - The Partisan But He's Got To Know (C)
TALK
George Krantz - Din Daa Daa


(C) Denotes Canadian Content

Friday, January 5, 2007

January 5, 2007

Theme: Best of 2006
On Air: Frank

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

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

Friday, November 24, 2006

November 24, 2006

Theme: Knock, Knock, Ginger Interview
On Air: Frank and Knock, Knock, Ginger

This was a very special show as I was joined by most of the members of local band Knock, Knock, Ginger to preview their upcoming EP release show at the Starlight on Thursday, December 7th. The topics of conversation included: the origins of the band, their experiences traveling to and performing at this year's Halifax Pop Festival, the songwriting process, and of course their new EP.

One cool thing we also got to do was to play a few songs that came from a contest the band held in conjunction with the Starlight. As part of the contest people could suggest up to 3 songs that the band should cover during their show at the Starlight, the band got an anonymous list of the songs and the person who suggested the song they pick will get a prize pack. So for the show we played some of the suggested songs (which may or may not have been the songs that I suggested), I have marked the songs appropriately below.

Once more I would like to thank Milosz, Matt, Lisa, and Owen for coming out to the show and doing such a great job. See more info about the band here: http://www.myspace.com/knockknockginger

TALK - Theme

Kings of Convenience - I'd Rather Dance With You
The Diskettes - Art (C)
The Pipettes - It Hurts To See You Dance So Well
Blondie - Hanging On The Telephone **See Note 1
TALK (mostly a Milosz set)
Acid House Kings - This Heart Is A Stone
** Decemberists - Yankee Bayonet
Henry Faberge and the Adorables - Out Of Your League (C) **See Note 2
The Bicycles - Australia (C)
Catatonia - Dead From The Waist Down (C)
TALK (Matt's set)
Ratatat - Wildcat **See Note 3
The Sourkeys - Gossip (C)
Two Hours Traffic - Stuck For The Summer (C)
Hot Chip - The Warning
TALK
Knock, Knock, Ginger - Virginia Black (C)
** New Order - Fine Time
** Diana Ross and the Supremes - Love Child
** The Lemonheads - If I Could Talk I'd Tell You
TALK
Knock, Knock, Ginger - Love Renee (C)
TALK
Knock, Knock, Ginger - Tragic Love Affair Of Kasey and Jaime (C)


**Song that was suggested as part of the contest

Note 1: Even after almost 30 years this song really holds up well

Note 2: Both of these bands played a show with Knock, Knock, Ginger at the Grad House a few months ago, unforunately they didn't have as good a time as when the other bands played Vancouver: http://radio3.cbc.ca/blogs/2006/11/Take-Your-Shirt-Off

Note 3: Matt likes this song so much he has it has the ringtone on his phone, which we proved on the air.


(C) Denotes Canadian Content

Friday, November 10, 2006

November 10, 2006

Theme: Money and Gambling
On Air: Frank and Deep Space Wayne

For this show Deep Space Wayne was my guest and he was celebrating his poker victory the night before by playing a few songs about money or gambling (I can't believe he beat me not once but twice when I had a straight). Before he got there I played some of the songs that I had built up over the last little while since I had theme for the last few shows.

The second set started with Lloyd Cole whom I recently saw in Toronto at the Mod Club. It was a great show where he concentrated on a lot of his earlier solo material and songs that he did with the Commotions, not being a fan of his most recent album "Antidepressant", this was quite alright with me. However, the song I played during the show is the best from Antidepressant.

I ended the show with The Jolly Llamas who were playing that night at the the inaugural Sonic Boom Awards. These were CKMS sponsored awards for both programmers and local artists, just like those track and field events in public school where everybody got a ribbon, I tied for Most Memorable Voice (not best or coolest, but most memorable, I don't know if that is a compliment or not).


TALK - Theme

Irene - Into the Sun
Little Name - How To Swim And Live
Cats On Fire - Draw In The Reins
Shade Tree - Where Do We Go From Here

Lovejoy - In The Rain
TALK
Lloyd Cole - NYC Sunshine
Great Aunt Ida - Little Voice (C)
Stuart Staples - There Is A Path **Note 1
Young and Sexy - Satellite (C)
Carolyn Mark - Chumpville (C)
TALK
Ohbijou - St. Francis (C)
De Novo Dahl - Shout
El Perro Del Mar - God Knows (You Gotta Give to Get)
The Lovely Feathers - Photocorners (C)
Howe Gelb - But I Did Not
TALK
Bocce - Bicycle Cop Bears (C) **See Note 2
Shout Out Out Out - Self Loathing Rulz (C)
Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor (DSW)
The Rapture - Get Myself Into It
The Beta Band - Outside (DSW)
TALK
Tokyo Police Club - Nature Of The Experiment (C) (DSW)
The Thermals - A Pillar of Salt
Jesus and Mary Chain - Far Gone And Out (DSW)
The Cliks - Start Leading Me On (C)
Sonic Youth - Reena (DSW)
The O'Jays - For The Love Of Money (DSW)
TALK

The Jolly Llamas - Jenna's Vegan Docs (C)

(C) Denotes Canadian Content

(DSW) Denotes song picked by Deep Space Wayne

Note 1: This song features the former lead singer from Lambchop who has one of the most distinct voices in music.

Note 2: The second last set started out with a couple of bands that I caught at the Starlight a few days before the show, Bocce and Shout Out Out Out. Although their website says that SOOO has 4 bass players; I only saw 2 of them along with 2 keyboardists, 2 drummers, and a singer. They were almost as high energy as the local opener Bocce.

Friday, October 27, 2006

October 27, 2006

Theme: Big and tall and short
On Air: Frank

The theme for this show was Big and Tall and Short (after a sign I saw for a store in Hamilton) so all the songs I played were either over 6 minutes or under 2 minutes long. I think it went OK, but it was difficult to mix the two different song lengths, as in general the shorter songs were happy indie pop while the longer ones were more groovy laid back songs.

I made sure to note the lengths of each of the songs in the setlist. I got a couple of suggestions of songs to play, but I couldn't justify playing Onita's suggestion of Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant, as at 18 minutes it would have taken up too much of the show.

The last song (Abe Vigoda's dead) was 15 seconds short of 6 minutes but I let it go as it was my tribute to Halloween. However do note that Abe Vigoda is indeed alive, this is confirmed by the website www.abevigoda.com where the current state of Mr. Vigoda is displayed (you can also get this as an add-on to Firefox). I still remember the Letterman episode where they quelled the original Abe Vigoda is dead rumour by having him in the show's control room. Does anybody still watch Letterman anymore or has everybody moved to Stewart/Colbert?


And although I had to play a first song I'm not considering it my top song of the week. It was a busy time for me before the show with being in Saskatchewan for a week and a couple of birthdays so I couldn't find a song that had that something something that it needs to be my top song.

TALK - Theme

Nicole Willis and the Sound Investigators - No One's Gonna Love You (6:05)
Bran Van 3000 - Astounded (C) (5:56)
Ivana Santilli - Sun + Moon = Tomorrow (C) (6:01)
The Pipettes - I Love You (1:38)
The Diskettes - Art (C) (1:42)
TALK
The Bicycles - Sure Was Great (C) (1:35)
Arcade Fire - No Cars Go (C) (6:02)
The Doers - We're Open (C) (1:55)
Yo La Tengo - Heard You Looking (7:01) **Suggested by Chris D
Chixdiggit - Getting Air (C) (1:33) **Suggested by Chris D
TALK
Dengue Fever - 1000 Years Of A Tarantula (6:43)
Cassius - The Sound Of Violence (7:13)
Junior Boys - Like A Child (C) (6:07)
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass - Butterball (6:18)
TALK
CUB - Your Bed (C) (1:32)
The Sin-Tones - Trailer Park Sadie (C) (1:43)
Unrest - Cath Carroll (10 cc mix) (7:13)
King Curtis - Memphis Soul Stew (7:36)
The Pipas - Riff Raff (1:51)
TALK
spinnwebe.com - Abe Vigoda's Dead (Premorteum mix) (5:45)



(C) Denotes Canadian Content