The last posts...

Here we go again...

September 25, 2008

In an effort to turn more profit for their product by reducing their shipping and manufacturing costs (they call it "being green"), the record industry has again lauded the end of the CD in hopes the new microSD cards will be the way people buy music.

Of course, you still have to physically purchase the card to get the music, which is in mp3 format - not high quality wav format like CDs are...which is entirely the point of going out to physically buy the music (not to mention getting the artwork).  If I want mp3-quality files, I can download those without leaving my home.

And this is better for the consumer because...?  Yeesh.

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Demotivators

September 23, 2008

You've seen those cheesy posters on corporate office walls with nice stock photography and a 'motivational' message.  Now you can get back at them with Demotivators.  A few of my favorites...










Visit the website for many more!

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The Return Of Earlier

September 16, 2008

I'm pleased to announce that starting on October 14th, Earlier is coming back to CBC Radio One.

What's Earlier?  It was a show that I hosted last year during the summer, only heard from 5:12-5:30am on CBC Vancouver 690 AM (and everywhere that signal reached).  Now, Earlier is going province-wide, replacing Neil Gillon's program Headstart, who's retiring in October (but still it will only be until 5:30am).

A new website will be launched in the near future (which I'll post the link to when it's up) which will host daily playlists, an weekly audio archive of shows and anything else that I want to share, much like this blog (which I guess I'll also be retiring, but the archive will also be available).

So stay tuned!

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For all the cyclists out there..

September 10, 2008

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Dar Williams

August 26, 2008

Today for Women's Equality Day, I played "When I Was A Boy" by Dar Williams.  Dar has always been a favorite, ever since discovering her first album The Honesty Room when in was released in 1995.

She's scheduled to have a new album out soon, and you can find out more about it and her at her website.

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Kathryn Williams and Neill MacColl

August 22, 2008

Another album that's going on my 'best of the year' list (besides Eliza Gilkyson's Beautiful World) is Two by Kathryn Williams and Neill MacColl.  I could say lots of wonderful things about how gorgeous and beautiful the music is, but you should hear it for yourself.  The album isn't available in North America yet, but you can order through UK online retailers.

For more about it, here's the EPK for the album featuring the track I played this morning "Come With Me".

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The Night James Brown Saved Boston

August 21, 2008

A new 3-DVD set has just been released documenting the events of a James Brown concert in Boston the night after Dr. Martin Luther King was killed.  It's a great documentary, and you also get the complete concert as it was broadcast live that night, plus a bonus disc of James live at the Apollo Theater in 1968.

The concert was broadcast on PBS station WGBH on that night, in an effort to keep people off the streets and keep Boston safe from rioting, which was what was happening in surrounding cities like New York and Chicago.  Click here to listen to the entire concert in high-quality streaming audio.

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Everything That Happens

August 19, 2008

David Byrne and Brian Eno have again collaborated, their first official effort since their landmark album My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts.  The new album is called Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, and the album is available right now - you can purchase the download, or wait a little while for the deluxe CD version (like me).

But they are also streaming the entire album in high quality at their website so you can hear it right now:

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There Once Was A Man From Nantucket...

August 18, 2008

Happy Bad Poetry Day!  A perfect day to celebrate all the bad poetry you've written over the years and Rick and I did it in style this morning, including a poem submitted by listener Lock in Courtenay, BC about rocks in his grandson's crocs (which actually wasn't that bad at all).  Click here to listen.  (runs 5:44)

Tomorrow is Aviation Day, and I don't think I'll be playing any music about that in particular, because I've got a nice stack of new releases that I'm eager to get into.  So have a good day, and don't get rocks in your crocs.

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Bad Poetry Day

August 15, 2008

Monday is Bad Poetry Day, and I want your bad poems!  I'll be bringing in poetry of my own recited by CBC Radio 2's Tom Allen, and don't be shy...send me yours and I'll read it on the air.

You can send me an email or call 604-662-6690 or my personal line at 604-662-6116 if you'd like to recite it yourself.

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Good Gothe

August 14, 2008

Even though Jurgen Gothe will continue to be on CBC with his new weekend show that is slated to begin in September, I can't help but being sad Disc Drive is coming to an end.

I know all things eventually do, but hardly do they end at the right time.  I'm relatively a new fan of the program, compared to the listeners he's had for decades (since 1992 when I discovered it) and I'm feeling the same way I did when Night Lines was cancelled, and I don't like this feeling.

I learned a lot from Disc Drive and Jurgen before I even started working at the Ceeb.  I learned that you can play Mozart, followed by The Muppets and make it work.  I learned that you can be fascinated by a description of the variety of teas in the cafeteria (also long gone from the building).  I celebrated Willis Point Fire Department Day on March 25th.  I even sent Jurgen a card the year after he proclaimed it - yes, it was tremendously geeky but so what?

Back in 1993, I also hooked up my Hi-Fi VCR to the radio so I could tape all 3 hours of the show in high quality when I was working during the day, and then isolate my favorite parts of the show onto cassettes.  I still have those cassettes, and I've put them on CD so I can listen to them without wearing them out.  Every time I listen, I want to open a bottle of wine, get a cat and just enjoy a truly ecletic music mix - even though I don't drink and cats aren't allowed in my building.

So here's to you, Jurgen - thanks for the music, the inspiration and great company.

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A&B RIP

August 13, 2008

I never like seeing the closure of any record stores.

When I came to Vancouver in 2000, A&B Sound was a novel place - there weren't any in Winnipeg at the time, so the selection and prices were outstanding.  Having Sam's next door too was great with their 5th floor cut-outs, and there were a number of used record stores, all within walking distance.  All of them are gone now, except for Virgin's location, taken over by HMV and Future Shop, who just recently downsized their selection and moved the music to the back of the store.

In a way, I'm not surprised that A&B closed; I could see major problems the staff had to deal with a couple of years ago.  The first sign things were troubled was when I tried to order something.  I was told that I'd have to pay for the item upfront before it was ordered, to guarantee I would pick it up and the store wouldn't be stuck with something.

However, the computer ordering system that the staff had to use was horrible.  Everytime the poor woman behind the counter made even the slightest error, the entire screen when blank and she had to re-type everything in again.  It took her 45 minutes to places orders for 5 DVDs.  That is not good sense on any level, especially business.

It was more taxing for her than me, but generally I wasn't bothered because I got what I wanted at a price that I couldn't get anywhere else...even online, and I was supporting local business.

However, the next month I tried to place another order of newly released classic movies that no stores were carrying (another big problem retail stores have, but more on that further on).  I was now told from the store "no longer accepts orders" - EVEN if I paid for it in advance.  Uh-oh...

Then they slowly stopped getting new releases on time.  It got to the point when I didn't even bother going to the store to look for items the day they were out (a tradition for me) because I knew they wouldn't be there.  That made me more sad than anything else.

The most recent event of placing 50% off selected items was because the company was "getting out of carrying CDs and DVDs."  A couple of weeks later, the sale is over and the location in North Vancouver is getting boxes and boxes of stock.  Ok...so they will still carry CDs and DVDs, but according to a staffer, will still not get any new releases.  Hmmm.  Ok.  So, what's the point of staying open?

Unfortunately, when a store closes there a number of factors that cause it to happen.  But the whole system of buying and selling music is flawed, right from the beginning.  You see, every record store company is serviced by major distributors, which are all from major labels.  Whenever a label has a big release it wants to sell, for example a new Hootie and the Blowfish album, they offer the store a deal.  The label is going to put all their promotional effort behind it, so it's bound to sell gangbusters.

If the store buys X amount of titles (say 2000 copies), then the label gives them a discount on the whole purchase (say 15%).  This sounds good, so the company buys 2000 and sends them to all their stores.

However, the label will only allow the record store to return product up to a certain percentage of how much they buy.  So, the more the store buys, the more they can send back product that isn't selling to the label.  As a result, you have a store that is bloated with a ton of copies of the Hootie and the Blowfish CDs that aren't selling and can't turn over old stock that quickly.  AND there're a limited window of which you can send product back in - if the label no longer carries the title (out of print) - then you can't send it back, even if you have credit. Defective product (scratched, broken, etc) falls into this credit allowance too.

So, who do you think is making all the money here?   The system is designed to the disadvantage of the store, the music fan and the artists ultimately.  What bugs me most is the same labels that set up this system sell their music online on iTunes - without having to pay for packaging, shipping costs, or materials - are still overcharging for downloadable music.  And you can't sell your downloaded album to a used record store, who will also be out of business pretty soon if this all keeps up.

And don't get me started on these 'green' packaged CDs I keep seeing lately.  Don't be fooled folks - the only thing the labels are trying to save is their own money.  Those flimsy cardboard sleeves allow them to save money on printing costs, and for shipping: they can pack up to 3 times as much stock in one box.  But it doesn't protect the CD from scratches like the standard jewel cases do, resulting in more defective product that you have to keep taking back to the store and get replacements.

And why do they need to be environmentally friendly?  I don't throw away my CDs or the covers or the cases - do you?  Oh, and those used record stores don't take product that's all scratched up.  So then you might as well throw them away, and guess whose fault it is?

Sorry to see you go, A&B Sound.

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Laura Nyro Nested Available Again

August 12, 2008

Laura Nyro died from ovarian cancer in 1997, and it's taken this long for her 1978 album Nested to be available again.  It was released on vinyl back in the summer of '78, and since vinyl became passe around the late 80s, it quickly became rare and mint copies went for big bucks in the traders market.

Thanks to new label Iconoclassic, Nested and another rare live album, Season of Lights is available in North America on CD.  I would highly recommend both of them, as I would almost anything from Nyro's catalog.  Of course, if you're new to Laura's music, you should certainly have Eli and the 13th Confession in your collection.  Everyone should.

Nested and Seasons of Lights is a little hard to find in stores in Vancouver, but you can easily purchase them online from CDBaby (where you can listen to samples of the albums) and other online retailers.

And for a little something extra, here's a video of Laura performing live at Kraft Music Hall in 1969.

Tribute To Isaac Hayes

originally posted August 11, 2008

Rick and I paid tribute to the late great soul R&B master Issac Hayes this morning (click here to listen).

If you want to read a great article in tribute to Isaac, I'd recommend this one by Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine.

90 Best Songs of the 90s

originally posted August 8, 2008

I recently sat down and decided to make a mix of my favorite tracks of the 90s.  I've been feeling that the 2000s era of music generally has been disappointing when it comes to discovering new artists, or just really great songs that I'll fondly look back on a decade later.

At first, I thought the 90s were the same so I challenged myself to see if I could name 90 songs of the 90s.  I was partially inspired by an article that did just that, but I only agreed with about 4 or 5 choices.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out it wasn't that hard, and even ran out of slots pretty quickly.

So here's my subjective list.  The only rule is only one song per artist, and the song doesn't even have to represent an amazing album counterpart, just be a good song on its own (although I can highly recommend most of the albums these songs come from).

Lee's Top 90 of the 90s: (in alphabetical order)

1. Ace of Base - The Sign
2. Air - Kelly Watch the Stars (Moog Cookbook remix)
3. Tori Amos - Black Swan
4. Tasmin Archer - Sleeping Satellite
5. Beck - The New Pollution
6. Belly - Now They'll Sleep
7. Ben Folds Five - Alice Childress (live @ KCRW)
8. Birdie - Let Her Go
9. Jonatha Brooke - Nothing Sacred
10. Rosanne Cash - Sleeping in Paris
11. Cocteau Twins - Bluebeard
12. Shawn Colvin - Round of Blues
13. Elvis Costello - 13 Steps Lead Down
14. Crash Vegas - Old Enough
15. Marshall Crenshaw - Fantastic Planet of Love
16. Cathy Dennis - Too Many Walls
17. Desree - You Gotta Be
18. Dodgy - Good enough
19. Thomas Dolby - Cruel (feat. Eddi Reader)
20. Francis Dunnery - Too Much Saturn
21. E - The Only Thing I Care About
22. Even As We Speak - Falling Down the Stairs
23. Jason Falkner - My Lucky day
24. Dionne Farris - I Know
25. Stephen Fearing - The Station
26. Five Guys Named Moe - Selfish Days
27. Fountains of Wayne - Red Dragon Tattoo
28. Frazier Chorus - Bye Bye Little Bird
29. Lennie Gallant - Somebody Like you
30. Eliza Gilkyson - All That You Want
31. Gin Blossoms - Til I Hear It From You
32. Gowan - Dancing On My Own Ground
33. Amy Grant - How Can We See That Far
34. The Grays - Very Best Years
35. Guided By Voices - Motor Away (single version)
36. Emmylou Harris - Wrecking Ball
37. Juliana Hatfield - Perfection
38. Heavenly - Tool
39. The High Llamas - Doo-wop Property
40. Veda Hille - Precious Heart
41. Peter Himmelman - Always in Disguise (live @ KCRW)
42. Nicky Holland - Independence Days
43. Joe Jackson - Sea Of Secrets
44. Jale - To Be Your Friend
45. Jamiroquai - Too Young To Die
46. Jellyfish - Ghost at Number One
47. Katydids - Girl in a Jigsaw Puzzle
48. Lava Hay - Here and Nowhere
49. Donna Lewis - Falling
50. Lightening Seeds - My Best Day
51. Nick Lowe - I Live on a Battlefield
52. Kirsty MacColl - All I Ever Wanted
53. Mike Flowers Pops - A Groovy Place
54. Joni Mitchell - Yvette in English
55. Mae Moore - Evolution (the same way)
56. New Radicals - You Get What You Give
57. The Nines - Ghost Town Sunday
58. Ocean Colour Scene - You've Got It Bad
59. One2One - Memory Lane
60. The Orchids - A Kind of Eden
61. Pineforest Crunch - Cup Noodle Song
62. Pizzicato 5 - Happy sad
63. Plumtree - Effin'
64. Pursuit of Happiness - Pressing Lips
65. The Rheostatics - Claire
66. Spookey Ruben - These Days Are Old
67. Bic Runga - Sway
68. September 67 - Don't Break
69. Ron Sexsmith - Secret heart
70. Jane Siberry - Love is Everything
71. Sloan - Worried Now
72. Son - Go Along With It
73. St. Etienne - Who Do You Think You Are
74. Sugar - Believe What You're Saying
75. The Sugarplastic - Polly Brown
76. The Sundays - Here's Where the Story Ends
77. Sunzet - You To Me Are Everything
78. Matthew Sweet - Sick of Myself
79. They Might Be Giants - Birdhouse In Your Soul
80. Toad the Wet Sprocket - All I Want
81. Toy Matinee - Ballad of Jenny Ledge
82. Trash Can Sinatras - Only Tongue Can Tell
83. Jen Trynin - Getaway (February)
84. Veruca Salt - With David Bowie
85. Was (Not Was) - Elvis's Rolls Royce (feat. Leonard Cohen)
86. Weezer - I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams
87. Wendy and Lisa - Skeleton Key
88. Dar Williams - What do you hear?
89. The Wonders - That Thing You Do
90. XTC - Then She Appeared

Various posts...

I Met The Walrus

July 23, 2008

I discovered recently that the award-winning short "I Met The Walrus",  based on a 1969 interview with John Lennon by a 14-year old Jerry Levitan, is available on youtube!  So if you never saw it (like me), here you go:

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Rush on The Colbert Report

July 17, 2008

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Working Together

July 14, 2008

A recent release that I'm quite enjoying is Gonzales's Soft Power, which contains some 70's era-influenced tracks that recall Todd Rundgren, and MFSB.  Check out the first single and video, "Working Together":

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2001 lolcat

July 9, 2008

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The Music Of Sound

July 3, 2008

I'm always fascinated by sound, and how sounds make people feel, and how you can manipulate sound to achieve something completely new.

Take this story for example, about scientists reporting what the earth sounds like from space.  It's made up of distorted whistles, static and kinda sounds like radio interferences and not entirely musical.

However, by taking that original soundfile posted on their website, I played around with the frequencies and added a ton of reverb, and I came up with something that resembles the sound design of  science fiction movies.

Click here to listen to the first track. [download mp3, 2:06]

Then I decided to do something more drastic with the file.  I took the track I just finished, and isolated the first two seconds, pitched it up about 400%, stretched out to 4 minutes, messed around with some frequencies and more reverb and it resulted in another completely different sound.

Click here to listen to the second track. [download mp3, 4:21]

It's still not very musical, but it does achieve a mood and a feeling and could certainly be used as background score for something.  And all of this was done using some basic computer audio software.

Wanna mess around?  Visit Audacity where you can download some free audio software that you can have hours of fun with, and become your very own avant-garde artist!

Lee's Top 20 Canadian Albums

originally posted July 1, 2008

Happy Canada Day!  I thought it might be fun to actually make a list of my favorite Canadian albums, something that is not easy.  It's also in order of importance...also not an easy task!  This list is, of course, purely subjective; my list probably differs greatly from yours.  I just wanted to post it to possibly introduce you to some Canadian artists that you might not be familiar with, or forgotten about.

A couple of explanations: there is no Neil Young or Gordon Lightfoot here.  The reason is that I'm more familiar with their songs, not their albums.  I have heard Neil's catalog and my favorite album is Trans, and I'm definitely in the minority with that one.  And I'm just slowly acquiring Gord's catalog and it will take a while to listen to it all.  I also limited myself to only one artist per entry, because I can easily fill this list with Joni Mitchell records.  Also, no greatest hits pacakages!  That's cheating.

Here's the list..in descending order!

20. Byron
      The Alien, The Rabbit and the Monkey (1998)
Byron is a guy from Ottawa whose music is a bizarre mix of Frank Zappa's weirdness and David Bowie's aesthetic.  This album is virtually unknown, since it's an indie pressing and getting through him was pretty much the only way to buy it.  It's crazy, interesting and totally unique.



19. Luba
      All Or Nothing (1989)
Luba doesn't get enough respect as a really great Canadian artist.  This album alone contains "Giving Away A Miracle", "No More Words" and "Little Salvation", not to mention fantastic non-singles like "Milena" and "Bringing It All Back Home".  It's a mature and solid album that has lots to offer, and should solidify Luba as a true Canadian treasure, and not just an 80's afterthought.


18. Son
      Thriller (1995)
Jason Beck, aka Gonzales, self-released this wacked-out record that jumps in style to Elvis Costello to Prince-funk darkness.  Recorded and produced at home almost entirely by Jason, it was hailed by critics but didn't sell.  One more failed Warner Brothers album Wolfstein later, Jason moved to Berlin, changed his name to Gonzales and started his infamous rap career.  Now he's producing and co-writing all of Feist's big hits.  But this album finds him in his young, goofy, unrestrained element.  Out of print, but easy to find in used record stores.


17. Jale
      Dreamcake (1994)
This album took some getting used to, mostly because of all the distorted guitars and fuzzy mess.  However, close listening revealed a sense of melody that is impressive in this quartet of female art students from Halifax that were relatively new to their instruments.  Arrangements and harmonies are also unconventional, mostly due to the excitement that comes from self-taught musicians who don't know the rules.


16. The Pursuit Of Happiness
      One Sided Story  (1990)
Moe Berg has a neat way with words, cleverly snide, funny and still self-mocking.  And that's nothing to say of the great power-pop sound that graces all of their albums.  Produced by rock godd Todd Rundgren (which accounts for it's tinny no-bass sound), you can't go wrong with any album of theirs, this one is just my particular favorite thanks to tunes like "New Language", "All I Want" and "Two Girls In One".


15. Rheostatics
      Whale Music (soundtrack)  (1994)
Not to be confused with the album, Whale Music, this is the soundtrack to the film.  I've never seen the movie, but the wonderfully aquatic soundscapes the band get from their guitars and tape effects are so gorgeous, the movie would probably ruin any picture in my mind.



14. Sloan
      Twice Removed (1994)
The power-pop Halifax foursome hit their stride with this album and to me, have only repeated themselves since the major songwriting breakthrough on this album.  That's not to say that they haven't done anything worthy, but nothing they've released plays as well from beginning to end as this album.  Many highlights including "Worried Now", "Coax Me", "Deeper Than Beauty" and "I Can Feel It".


13. Leonard Cohen
       I'm Your Man (1988)
Leonard, like Joni Mitchell, has been around so long that everyone has a different favorite period.  Mine would be the mid-80s to mid-90s, where his albums start to sound like movie scores, rather than simple albums.  Impossible to go wrong with this one, with many classic Cohen numbers that don't sound Canadian, but don't sound like they could come from anywhere else.


12. Crash Vegas
      Aurora (1995)
Great songwriting duo Colin Cripps and Michelle McAdorey started off with folky-acoustic roots on their great album, Red Earth.  But for their last album together, they fully incorporated an electric slightly-experimental edge to their sound and wrote some amazing songs that are truly definite and make a great classic Canadian album.


11. Mae Moore
      Dragonfly (1995)
Mae really hit it big with the album Bohemia which I heard on the radio and really liked, but this was my first exposure to a complete album of hers.  Lush, organic production with little electronic touches that never overshadow her honest songwriting and earthy vocals.  Many highlights including "Evolution", "Watermark" and "Genuine".


10. Uzeb
      Fast Emotion (1982)
When I was in junior high, Uzeb was the group that every musician in the jazz band aspired to be.  Perfect, perfect, perfect musicianship on everything they ever did.  Drummer Paul Brochu is a personal hero of mine, and this collection of their brand of mixed traditional and funky instrumental jazz made huge waves in the Canadian jazz scene back when the band were around, and sadly aren't remembered as much as they should.


9. The Heavy Blinkers
      Better Weather (2002)
Halifax popsters who owe alot of their sound to the alter of Brian Wilson, they can also write completely beautiful music that transcends any production style.   Extremely dense with strings, horns and scores of harmonies and vocals, there's a million little things to love.  "Baby Smile" alone is enough to get the record for.



8. Plumtree
      Predict the Future  (1997)
I discovered this band the very day they broke up.  But at least they left behind 3 great albums that track the course of the band, from their scrappy energetic debut, to their mature and crafted This Day Won't Last At All.  In the middle came this album, that has a fun mix of both fun, intelligent songwriting and just plain rock.  Particular standouts are "Scott Pilgrim" and "Effin'".


7. Spookey Ruben
      Bed/Breakfast (2001)
Toronto's (now LA's) Spookey released these two albums on the same day, but they are essentially two parts of a longer piece.  Tracks from these albums appeared on a Japanese-only release What's A Boy To Do, but then Spookey recorded another album's worth, mixed up the track order and put them out again.  But it's probably his most realized and consistent effort, with inventive production, catchy bouncy songs, dark tomes and a sense of play that's infectious without being juvenile...well, almost.  Many highlights, too numerous to mention.


6. Ron Sexsmith
      Ron Sexsmith (1995)
What can I say, I'm one of those musical snobs that can say I was listening to Ron before the rest of the country.  So there.  Ron never lets me down.  He's released an album almost once a year, and he's always branching out into new territory with each release, but in a very subtle way.  I put his first album on the list simply because it was the beginning for me, and it's an amazingly good album.


5. The Nines
      Properties of Sound (2000)
Toronto's The Nines are a great unknown power-pop band led by Steve Eggers, who writes most of the material himself.  Operating strictly on word-of-mouth for exposure, the band's music happily wears it's influences of Beatles, ELO, Jellyfish, XTC and anything else they feel like doing.  Includes the instant should-be-classic-if-you-only-heard-it "Melanie", and tons of other great songs.



4. Jane Siberry
      Bound by the Beauty (1989)
Jane (now "Issa") is one of the most unforgivingly quirky artists in every way: personally, musically and spiritually.  All the cosmos aligned for this album, where it's a perfect blend of her humour, beautiful writing, and a voice that is beyond compare.  I love all her catalog, but this one has that special magically quality that is indescribable.


3. Joni Mitchell
      Hejira (1976)
Again like Leonard, Joni's fan all love different periods.  I freaked out when I heard Turbulent Indigo, realized what I was missing and bought her whole catalog in one shot.  In a career so varied as hers, it is literally impossible to just pick one favorite.  But if I had to, this is it.  The soundscapes she gets with her small band (and no drums!) evoke such wonderful imagery and her innovative melodies are something no-one else can do.  She's a legend.


2. FM
      Black Noise (1977)
The great lost Canadian band: FM were the toast of Toronto for a few years in the late 70s, but then broke up after the fantastic City Of Fear album.  They reunited as a Top 40 pop band and had a hit with "Just Like You", followed by lost band members, record company woes and the changing times.  However, Black Noise started it all: the heady synth-prog rock with futuristic lyrics and fantastic musicianship (in particular drummer Martin Dellar, who was rumoured to give lessons to Neil Peart!) never really got on and never got the attention they deserved.


1. Rush
      Moving Pictures (1981)
2112 was actually the first Rush album I heard, borrowed from a family friend who said I should listen to them when he found out I played drums.  Well, there was no going back.  The mere idea that a single song could be stretched for 20 minutes over one side...well, that blew my eight-year old mind (it would a few years before discovering Jethro Tull).  Moving Pictures had just come out at that time and quickly became an album that I would listen to for years.  I would study it, practice it and nothing would be good enough until I learned "YYZ".  Afterwards, I moved onto the rest of the album and found it wasn't just a good record to drum to, it was the best example of everything that Rush was known for, and made me a lifelong fan.  Although I still haven't seen them in concert.

Back with a mix

originally posted June 24, 2008

Well, no I didn't go anywhere.  Staycation, holistay or whatever...but it nice and relaxing.  Hope you get a chance to spend some time away from the hustle sometime this summer.

While I was gone, I discovered this cool site called Mixwit - it makes flash-based mix tapes (you need flash version 8) that you create by searching their engine and compiling your songs together.  You can't upload anything - it makes it's mixes based purely on what's already available on the net.  Unfortunately, this means that if the file get taken down (whereever it is) that track will no longer play.  But you can always replace it with something else.


Plus you can customize the cassette cover with a personal photo, or pick from the many cool retro cassette designs!

So here's my first mix for the site: a collection of my favorite power-pop tunes!  Enjoy.

Vacation!

originally posted June 6, 2008

Yes, dear readers, I am going on my annual two week vacation, and I wanted to let you know why there won't be updates for a while.  Not that I've been terribly consistent with this page...I just write when I can and when I actually have something that I'd want to share with you.  But it will be a while before there's something new here.

So in light of that, here's a couple of links to keep you busy:

TV Tropes: is an excellent website that lists popular tropes that appear in all types of media.  This website will make a couple of hours easily disappear with all the hyperlinks within each entry.  It's also a great site for those of us who refuse to turn our brains off while watching TV or movies and get annoyed with character assassinations, lazy writing and contrived plot-points...just to name a few.

Stillstream: This is an online ambient radio station I've been listening to a lot lately.  All the music they play is licensed through Creative Commons, and completely free to download.  Even if you don't like the music they are current playing, they keep an archive of past tracks and artists in their database with many, many links.


Frogger: Further to my previous post about TRS-80 games, this site hosts flash versions of Frogger, Asteroids, and a classic version of Space Invaders.

Have fun!  See you in two weeks.

I Love My TRASH-80

originally posted May 22, 2008

Back in the early 80s, when Atari machines were the coolest thing any kid could own, my parents decided that it wasn't good enough to just get a video game console.  They thought a computer would be better - we could still play games we wanted, but also learn from it.

There were only a few home computers on the market at the time, one being the Texas Instruments (famous for Speak & Spell), the Commodore VIC-20 (or the higher end 64) and the TRS-80 Color Computer.  As a kid, I spent a lot of time annoying the clerks at the local Radio Shack, so our parents thought it would best to get one of those machines since we were relatively familiar with them.

We got the long big grey model around 1985, second hand from a computer camp but it still cost around $500.  Once we plugged it in and learned about it, we found that the games were a bit of cheat - none of the cool games (Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Asteroids) were available for this computer.  They had 'similar' themed programs like Canyon Climber, Mega-Bug, etc.

However, you could program the computer and it had a lot of games and other utility programs available for it.  There was a popular magazine called Rainbow that featured basic and machine language programs that you could type in manually yourself and play.  Our model only had 16K memory and you could only load one program at a time, so we got the portable cassette machine to save our work for re-loading.  If you were really fancy, you could buy the expensive 5.25 floppy disc drives that could hold 128k per side!  Don't get me started on the 300 baum modem that you had to manually dial.  Oh, those were the days...

I remember spending literally hours and hours slaving over the keyboard, staring at the green screen and writing word adventure games, playing cool games like Dungeon of Daggorath, Doubleback and many others.  I also used the machine to compose music that was too complicated for any human to play ... well, me anyways. [mp3].

If you've never experienced the COCO, I recommend this online java-based website that emulates the original COCO screen and a ton of programs for you to play.  It even duplicates loading programs as if they were off a cassette.  First time I saw this site, I cried.  Seriously.  It takes some getting used to, but once you figure it out you'll be there for days.

The COCO is also getting even more 21st century with a new DVD-Rom from this website dedicated to the COCO, that has thousands of programs, the same ones I used to play 20 years ago and more.  The best part is I don't need to troll the thrift stores for a working unit because this DVD will turn any Windows-based PC instantly into a TRS-80 Color Computer with a glorious monophonic 8-bit sound and a whopping 16K.  Only I need to go buy a joystick that fits a USB port, because the mouse just ain't cutting it.

Lousy new technology.

Swing News

originally posted May 8, 2008

A listener and email collegue passed this video onto me, which is pretty cute.

Music by any other name

originally post May 5, 2008

Recently I saw Feist talking the Colbert Report, and he asked her what indie rock is since she describes her music that way, and she couldn't define it.  Why?  Because she isn't indie rock, and never was really.  Just because she began her career on a small indie label, doesn't mean she is still indie today, nor does she play indie rock.  In fact, none of the bands are her label, Arts and Crafts, are technically indie since they are distributed by a major label (EMI).

Then it got me wondering, so what is indie rock today?  Technically, "indie" is short for independent and would imply that indie refers to a method of operation and distribution that was independent from the major labels.  But that's not the case, because if Feist is indie rock, how does that explain her major label distribution?

So then you must assume that the term 'indie rock' described the kind of music it is, not it's method of operation.  Much like in the way the major labels adopted the term 'alternative' when Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins became popular in the 90's.  I always how wondered how it could be termed 'alternative' - alternative to what?  The mainstream?  If it's truly alternative, then I've never heard of it before.  Otherwise, it can't be the alternative, it's the mainstream.

Anyways, so then is 'indie rock' a type of sound?  No, because there are some bands who operate independently, but they also don't sound anything like Feist, Bright Eyes or Death Cab For Cutie, or any of the darling 'indie' bands that Pitchfork go crazy over.  For example, The Happies, who have more alliance with geeky rock/pop and singer/songwriter roots, are truly independent, doing everything themselves on a small independent system of operation.  Or Majandra Delfino, an actress most popular for her role on the TV series Roswell, makes music that doesn't like anything I've ever heard, and she does it all by herself.

However, the industry has taken over the term to described their music, calculated to attract a certain type of listener, and there's no shortage of exploitation: indie rock also applies to dance-punk, new prog, garage-rock, new weird America, post-punk (when did punk die?), etc, etc.  It's getting to the point where Starbucks will be a music genre.

And while I'm ranting...I blame Britney Spears (as I do for the downfall of society in general) who turned 'bubblegum pop' into a dirty phrase.  It used to mean happy-go-lucky super catchy pop songs by the 1910 Fruitgum Company, The Partridge Family, The Archies, Tommy Roe, etc.  But somehow, the term now applies to the level of intelligence of the singer (as in, a brain made of bubblegum).

Sigh.  Meanwhile, the term 'pirate radio' will always be that, I think.  I just finished a book by Sue Carpenters called 40 Watts from Nowhere, all about her life running 2 pirate radio stations in the mid 90s in San Francisco and L.A.  I love reading about pirate radio, because I've always wanted to have a radio station, even a totally legal small 1-watt station.

Well, probably the closest I'll ever get is broadcasting on the internet, ironically I found this cool piece of software that looks like an easy way to do it.  Who knew subversivism could be so marketable?  I haven't tried it yet, so I'm certainly not endorsing it.

If you're into pirate radio, there's also this documentary about the subject at bside.com, which will let you download it for free if you register.

So where do you get your music?

originally posted on April 24, 2008

Unfortunately, there is no simple answer.  There are tons of places to be exposed to new music and also to track down that song you've always been looking for.  And believe it or not, I rarely use iTunes.  I always prefer to buy real CDs, and that's what I'll be mostly focusing on.

It all depends on what you're after.  If you're looking for new music, there are a couple of great places to check out new artists.  One of my favorite is cdbaby.com, which is an independent distributor that isn't a label, just an online record store for artists.

The idea is that artists manufacture their own CDs and then send cdbaby about 5 copies.  Cdbaby list the album on their website (with free streaming samples in high quality) and if someone likes it, they buy the album on cdbaby's site, they ship it from their warehouse and the artists gets nearly all the money.

There's lots of great indie artists on there and a lot of unknowns too, but it's well worth checking out and you can easily spend hours there.  Many ways to search, either by similar-sounding artists of your favorite music, $5 discount bin, new additions to the site or even browse by artwork, like a virtual record store.

Another great place to check out music is musicblogs.  There are thousands of them and it might take you a while to find a decent one that shares your musical interests, but it's fun to explore.  Now, as you know, it is illegal for people to post music online without the musicians permission.  However, a lot of musicians know the power of having a track posted for free download on a highly-visited blog in terms of exposure - hence the emergence of major label artists giving away full albums online and selling them too (hello Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails...Jane Siberry did it first).

It's the best kind of promotion that they don't have to pay for, and in effect can make new fans out of their music.  So you can take advantage of this, or not depending on how you feel about the issue.

But if you want some completely legal music that you won't feel guilty downloading, Netlabels are for you.  Thanks to a little thing called Creative Commons, indie musicians (and some big time shooters) are posting their music online for free download, and there's millions of free songs floating around in various styles.  Two resources that you might want to bookmark is the "netlabel forum" over at Archive.org and Jamendo.org, which are the two most popular music hosting sites.  There's a lot more electronica than anything else, but it's always worth listening because you never know what you might find.

Now, let's talk about buying real CDs.  I always visit the local record stores at least once a week, new and used outlets, to see what's new (if anything).  Now, I love record stores.  I always will.  But unfortunately, a lot of them are doing business all wrong.  Particularly, if I walk into a record store and want to order something, there is only ONE store in all of Vancouver that I can actually place an order for something...and they often charge 30% more than anywhere else.  All other stores cannot order anything - even if you pay for it upfront and that is the worst business practice if you want to survive in this global marketplace.

Of course, this leaves me with little alternative but to order the item online from a Canadian distributor (you can guess which one).  Often the price is better, if I can be patient enough to wait an additional week to get my item.

However, there is a downside to ordering online: CDs and especially DVDs can get damaged in transit and you can get stuck with a scratched disc that skips in your player and it costs an arm and a leg (and a lot of hassle) to send it back and get a replacement.  If I was able to purchase what I want in the store (or be able to order it!) I could easily take defective product back to the store for a replacement.  So what you make up for in selection, you can't guarantee the condition of your stuff.

Another neat tip for more obscure albums is that you are able to order items online from other countries.  It's amazing what is available for importing directly to you door, but not available in your record store due to licensing problems.

I regularly buy from a Japanese CD outlet that offers about 50% better prices on new, sealed Japanese imports that are not available in North America, or contain bonus tracks.

I also browse the British equivalent of Amazon for albums that aren't available here.  For example, for about two dollars more compared to the Canadian price, I ordered the next wave of the Alan Parsons Project remasters series (Stereotomy, Turn of a Friendly Card and Pyramid) from the UK, because the label has no definite plans to release them in North America.

However, watch out that you make your orders under $40 otherwise Canadian customs will slap a duty charge on your order.  You might get charged even under $40, but it's usually only happened to be on orders larger than $40.

Whew.  So that's a start.  If you've got another favorite place to discover music, send me an email and I'll post it below.

Elsewhere, I know it's not exactly breaking news but Radiohead have a remix contest for their song "Nude".  You have to purchase the 'stems' (individual vocal, guitar, etc tracks) and then upload your mix to their website for voting.

I decided to have a whack at it, and posted my remix here.  Apparently I'm #2103, so I don't expect to win or anything.  But I thought it was fun to try and make a drastically different version of the song.  I didn't listen to alot of the entires, but I did enjoy this mix from one of my favorite artists Thomas Dolby.

The Clutter Nutter Makes Others Shudder

originally posted April 16, 2008

Recently clutter-expert Paul Talbot visited the Early Ed studios and critiqued the amount of clutter on each of our desks.  I'm always a little suspicious of such ideology - most of the time the message is that if you haven't used something in more than a year, then you probably don't need it and should throw it away.

However, I like to think of my desk (and elsewhere) as a miniature library, filled with everything I could possibly need, at the touch of my fingers.  If it takes more than 10 minutes to access something...well, that's simply too long.

According to Paul, the act of keeping everything is a sign of insecurity.  I don't quite understand that.  Perhaps the act of never throwing anything away is a sign of insecurity, as opposed to collecting lots of stuff that I might need one day.  There's a big difference there.

Like, for example our show a couple of weeks ago when we did the story about the KPMG study of Vancouver.  How disappointed would I been if I had erased or thrown out that KPMG corporate anthem I had at my desk for the last five years?   Or having "Honky The Christmas Goose" at a moments notice?  To put up with a little clutter is worth it in the long run.

But it's also about comfortable working environments.  I do clean up my desk every so often.  When it gets to the point where I cannot find something (rarely), or if a stack of CDs fall over while trying to find the pen that works (more often) then it's time to clean and re-organize.  It last for about 4 months.  My main problem is not putting the CD I just used back in its proper space.

Here's a little tour of the desks in the Early Ed area:




This is Margaret's desk.  Not that bad, actually.  Some papers and CDs on the side, but generally a very easy desk to find things on in a pinch.




This desk belongs to a temporary producer.  As you can see, the lack of pretty much anything means that usually the person in question is usually not at this desk long enough to clutter it up.




Producer Laura Palmers desk may look fairly organized, but that's a rouse.  The papers are stacked upon older papers, organized into neat piles, but there's enough here for a copy of War and Peace.   Shhh...she spent a while cleaning it up last week too.




This is Shiral's desk, scattered but relatively organized.  She keeps particular piles of paper that are important and will be used fairly often.  A bit messy, but certainly not a problem area.




Jenna's desk is embarrassingly clean.  What can I say?  I couldn't work here.  It's like those display condos; everything in it's place and no extraneous thingys anywhere.  Do people actually live like that?




Ahh...good o' home!  Ok, so I haven't put the CDs away in a while, and that would take care of a lot of the stuff around the sides.  And the cabinet shelf above my desk has a door, which makes the space instantly cleaner.  It certainly looks "lived in", doesn't it?  Cozy, even.  And only I have the power to locate things here too - keeps me indispensable.

Meanwhile, one of my favorite local artists, Jonathan Anderson who fronts Jonathan Inc. has contributed some gorgeous arrangements and production to the new album by Kensington Prairie.  The band is pretty much Rebecca Rowan, of Maplewood Lane fame and it's a very pretty album, and from the sound of this album, I would bet that Rebecca has been listening to a lot of Rose Melberg lately (Rose's music is highly recommended!)

Coming next post...I get asked a lot, where do I get my music?  All revealed in good time.

Dang, I can't find my pen now...