Sunday, April 30, 2006

Hillside Festival On Sale Monday


This year's Hillside Festival will be July 28, 29 & 30 on the Island at Guelph Lake Conservation Area. Early bird weekend passes go on sale Monday, and will sell quickly. Early bird passes are already sold out! They are now selling the $80 advance weekend passes. If you want to go, you should get tickets soon. Last year all weekend and day tickets were sold out a month before the festival. You can get tickets and info here. There's no word yet on who's playing, as soon as I find out I will pass the info on. See update below. In the meantime, here's some tunes from some of the great artists who played last year's festival. All files are right click, save as.

Update: The first list of performers were announced on Friday, looks like it's going to be another unforgettable weekend! Specific dates haven't been announced yet, and probably won't be until July. It's a good bet that Feist will be performing on Friday as she's also playing the Calgary Folk Festival that weekend. I'll have some music up for this year's lineup later this week.

  • Feist
  • Sarah Harmer
  • Corb Lund
  • Kathleen Edwards
  • The Hidden Cameras
  • Cuff the Duke
  • Final Fantasy
  • Cadence Weapon
  • The Sadies
  • Constantines

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Feist - Open Season & New Music from Amy Millan of Stars


After the success of 2004's Let it Die, Leslie Feist has become a very recognizable name in Canada and The US. Feist won Junos in 2005 for New Artist Of The Year, and Let It Die as Alternative Album Of The Year. Inside And Out was nominated for this year Single of The Year, but lost to Home by Michael Bublé. While we wait for a new Feist album, she has given us a collection of remixes and collabs (sic) to keep us happy. How very Sarah McLachlan of her. Chart Magazine has a brief interview with Feist about the next album. She's looking to create more of a live sound, with "a lot more guitar". We should see the album in early 2007.

Open Season contains four different mixes of Mushaboom, and two versions of One Evening and Gatekeeper. For your listening pleasure I'm posting a solo piano version of One Evening performed by the song's co-writer Gonzales, a stripped-down version of Inside + Out "unmixed" by Julian Brown of Apostle Of Hustle, a nice remix of Gatekeeper, and an unreleased song, Tout Doucement.

Good Weather For Airstrikes has the four Mushaboom remixes.

rbally has a Feist show recorded in Chicago this January, definitely worth a listen.

As a bonus, Arts & Crafts were giving away a two song sampler from the forthcoming Amy Millan solo album. My bonus is your bonus.

Monday, April 24, 2006

Blog Patrol

Looking through the blogs this weekend, I found a few cool things worth checking out.

If you're a U2 fan (and I know there's at least one out there), you should go to Cable and Tweed and check out Rich's post on
U2's contract demos. This is pre-Boy U2, very rough and rockin'. For something a little more sedate, Music For Kids Who Can't Read Good has a couple of songs from The String Quartet Tribute to U2.

Cable and Tweed also have a
follow up to their post on Strawberry Fields Forever covers. Part 2 includes a mash-up of XTC's and Todd Rundgren's covers, which sounds like it was recorded together. The comments section on the post has some history on the XTC version.

I'll have a post on Feist later this week. Be sure to check it out.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Calexico - Garden Ruin


I have to admit, I was unaware of Tuscon's Calexico prior to In The Reins, their collaboration last year with Iron & Wine. Not being familiar with their earlier work, I have nothing to compare the new album to. The word on the street is that this album is more accessible and song based than their earlier works, which have been described as a cross between The Tijuana Brass and the spaghetti Western soundtracks of Ennio Morricone. I'm enjoying it so far, check it out for yourself. Here are three songs for your enjoyment. All links right click, save as.

Head over to An Aquarium Drunkard for two more songs.

Sam Roberts - Chemical City


It's been three years since Sam Roberts gave us the single heavy We Were Born In A Flame. Since then, CanCon requirements on the radio have been filled by Brother Down, Don't Walk Away Eileen, Where Have All The Good People Gone, and Hard Road. Chemical City is the name of the new Sam Roberts album, in some ways it picks up where "Flame" left off and in others it takes his sound in new directions. For me, the album has a very '70's feel, right down to the artwork. You've probably already heard The Gate, so I've picked some other songs to be sampled: Bridge To Nowhere; the epic Mind Flood; An American Draft Dodger In Thunder Bay; and The Resistance.

(All files are right click, save as.)

Monday, April 17, 2006

TNP Update

Recently I was ranting (some may say whining) about the end of The National Playlist on CBC Radio One. I received an e-mail from the CBC last week about The National Playlist. Here is an excerpt:

This program was scheduled to run for a single season. From the outset, it has proved to be a popular program with listeners of all ages and we were delighted to read that you enjoyed it so much. CBC Radio is currently evaluating the National Playlist, and the various ways in which it can match the expectations we have for our schedules and different platforms in the future.
Hopefully it will be back soon. I'll keep you updated.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Music Blogs

Sorry for the delay in posting, but life's been busy lately with weekend trips to Ottawa, job searching, and toddlers who don't want to nap anymore. There hasn't been much time for writing.

It was a few months before I started writing this blog that I discovered the world of music blogs. There are hundreds (thousands?) of them out there, and every one will link you to dozens more. You will find that these blogs are a little more advanced than mine, better graphics, more links, and more posts! They also have clever names, which prompted me to come up with something for my blog. Most of the blogs that I've found deal primarily in US indie rock, and many are maintained by college students or recent grads, which makes me the old man on the scene. Here are a few of my favourite blogs, and their recent posts of interest.

Good Weather For Air Strikes (aka m3) is one of the first blogs I found, and one I check regularly. Run by two guys in Washington DC, they post a wide range of indie music, and put together some pretty good compilations. They're currently going through their archives, and reposting some early compilations. Also check out b-sides from the new Franz Ferdinand single, and a wonderful acoustic recording of Sufjan Stevens' Chicago.

All Things Go is also from Washington, and has five contributors, who are friends of the above mentioned GWFAS guys. Same kind of thing as GWFAS, usually different music posted though. They have a new compilation posted; the All Things Go Sleep Mixtape. I haven't completely checked it out yet, but it looks like a good collection. They also have a few tracks posted from the new Flaming Lips album, At War With The Mystics.

An Aquarium Drunkard comes out of Los Angeles and always seems to have something rare and interesting. Among their ongoing series are The Live Upload Series, which has posted some rare live recordings from Ryan Adams, My Morning Jacket, and Steely Dan; and The Lost Album series which has posted unreleased recordings from Bob Dylan, Wilco, Ryan Adams, and Whiskeytown. Check out recent posts on Matthew Ryan, Josh Ritter, and live Talking Heads from 1983.

Cable And Tweed is fairly new on the scene, they're based in the Atlanta area and try to promote local music. They've put together a couple of creative posts this week. One of covers by Belle & Sebastian (you won't believe some of the songs they've covered); and other of eight different covers of Strawberry Fields Forever, among the covering artists are XTC, Peter Gabriel, Todd Rundgren, and Debbie Harry.

I Guess I'm Floating is one that I haven't visted too often, but one that the other blogs are referring to. I can see why. They have several great posts right now. In recognition of the anniversary of the Titanic sinking, they have put together "I Guess I'm Sinking: Songs Of Titanic Proportions" it includes some great songs, and some that will just make you laugh. Other recent posts include one on Coldplay b-sides, and a couple on Sufjan Stevens.

Chromewaves is based in Toronto, which makes it a little easier for me to relate to. In addition to the regular posts on music, there is an mp3 of the week section which posts a different cover version each week. You can look in archives to see what great stuff has been posted in the past, this week's song is a cover of The Strokes' Someday by Built To Spill.

These six barely scratch the surface on the number of blogs out there. As I mentioned they all have links to other blogs, and will refer to cool posts that they find. I will also begin to add blog addresses to my links section.

Monday, April 03, 2006

RIP TNP; Album Covers

It was just a week ago that I wrote about The National Playlist. If I had known what was going to happen, I wouldn't have wasted my time. The CBC, in it's infinite wisdom (how many times has that statement been used?), has cancelled The National Playlist. The final countdown aired on Saturday night. There is a chance that the show might be resurrected, but no one knows when. If you would like to complain about the cancellation, you can contact CBC's audience relations.

I don't know how many of you enjoyed Mike's endless tests of album covers last year. If you'd like more, then here's a challenge for you: Mojo magazine is celebrating their 150th issue, and to celebrate, they've made a list of the top 100 albums released since their inception in October of 1993. They've selected 25 of those albums, and shown only a small section of each cover. I've figured out nine of them so far. Have a look and let me know if you do any better. http://www.mojo4music.com/promo/quiz/quiz.htm

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Talk Talk

After last month's post on the first day of spring, I began thinking about the music of Talk Talk. Coincidentally there was an article on the band in the March issue of Mojo, who describe them as "The 80's Pink Floyd". I had planned to write a brief history of the band with relevant tracks for listening, but what I wrote was anything but brief. So I've aborted my plans to write anything detailed, but I will include the music (since I've uploaded most of it anyway). If you would like to read a good history of the band, check out this article from Record Collector magazine in 1991, posted by Within Without, a Talk Talk fan site.

Please note: the songs I have posted are hosted on RapidShare, please follow the link to download. There is no charge to download, but you will have to wait about a minute for the download to start. Files hosted on RapidShare will only be available for a limited time.

To make the downloads easier, I have zipped these file into two folders. One contains everything up to "The Colour Of Spring", the other contains everything after. Follow the links below to download the zipped folders.

http://rapidshare.de/files/17755609/Talk_Talk_1.zip.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/17822462/Talk_Talk_2.zip.html

From Mark Hollis' first band, The Reaction (1977-1979) Within Without has their only single; I Can't Resist and the original version of Talk Talk here. Note: these files are in Real Audio format not mp3.

Demos recorded in 1981 with producer Jimmy Miller (Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed)
Talk Talk
Mirror Man

From their 1982 debut album, The Party's Over, produced by Colin Thurston (Duran Duran)
The Party's Over
Candy

A 1983 single produced by Rhett Davies (Roxy Music, King Crimson)
My Foolish Friend
Call In The Night Boy

Starting with their second album, Tim Friese-Greene became the band's producer and a significant contributor to their sound. From their 1984 album It's My Life.
Dum Dum Girl
Such A Shame
Renee

From 1986, The Colour of Spring.
Happiness is Easy
Time It's Time
Living In Another World is still available (right click, save as)

Talk Talk's last tour was in 1986, after which they retreated to the studio. A show in May of '86 at London's Hammersmith Odeon was captured and eventually released on the 1999 album London 1986. Here are a couple of tracks from that show.
Tomorrow Started
Life's What You Make It
It's My Life

By 1988 Talk Talk could no longer be considered a pop band. They were now producing compositions which were so free-formed, they bordered jazz. They also decided that they would no longer release singles. From 1988, The Spirit of Eden.
Desire
I Believe In You

After The Spirit of Eden, Talk Talk separated with EMI, who subsequently milked their back catalogue for endless compilations. They released one final album on Polydor/Verve, along the same lines as Eden. From 1991, Laughing Stock.
Ascension Day
After The Flood

A second album for Polydor was planned but never materialized. The recordings instead were released in 1998 as a solo album for Mark Hollis, and to date, his last music released. Alas, I do not have the album, so cannot share it with you.

If you would read more about Talk Talk; you check out the article mentioned above, the March 2006 issue of Mojo, or if there's enough interest, I could finish my original post.