Audio

The Best of 2014 Countdown Part 2 (S10E13)

Leave a comment

IMG_1977

As promised, the second part to my best of 2014 countdown. This list is from #20 to #1 and it’s the best part of the year ender to Canadian independent music. The countdown for the past few years has no repeats from an artist and band. It’s based on the album and when it was released.

Without spoiling much, the top 10 has half of the entries by female musicians. 2014 has been an important year to female rights and violence against women. Without spoiling much, the playlist is posted below. Several entries have a lot of returnees as artists and bands have released their follow-ups to their previous albums. Some have been critically acclaimed.
As usual, you can listen to the audio.

Happy New Year and hello to 2015.

Audio – #20 to #1
Press play to listen.

Continue reading →

The Best of 2014 Countdown Part 1 (S10E12)

Leave a comment

IMG_1973

It’s back for another year but in a slightly shorter list as I had issues from the radio station in early 2014.
I didn’t pay attention to a lot of Canadian independent music due to the problems stemming from the station. I was able to compile album towards the end of the year thanks to friends, various radio programs and music websites.

I’m closing off 2014 with some of the best albums from Canada. In the first part, the countdown is from #40 to #21.
You will hear music from the likes of Brave Shores to In-Flight Safety to Kevin Drew and various others.

For those who missed me on the airwaves, I got you.
Here’s the first part of the audio and the playlist is posted below. Happy New Year’s Eve and the second part will be posted on New Year’s Day.

Audio
Press play to listen.

Continue reading →

Merry Christmas to You All – S10E11

Impossible December 23 Ugly Xmas Sweater

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.

On Tuesday, it was a privilege to be a guest co-host for Friends With Benefits, which is hosted by Tonya Price. It was an impromptu appearance as I decided to give her a Christmas gift in the form of Hudson’s Bay’s Tres Canada Canvas Tote Bag.

On her radio show, she went through her Top 5 Non-Canadian music of 2014. There were some Christmas music as well.
You can check out the radio show by going to this link.

As an added bonus from below, here’s an audio from last year’s Christmas audio and joined with Lauren Bridle as we played the favourite Christmas songs. It was part of the year-end countdown from 2013 for extra time.
In 2014, there’s a new version of Do They Know It’s Christmas by Band Aid 30. In the audio from last year, it’s the original version.

Happy Holidays!

Continue reading →

An Interview With Kandle – S10E07

Kandle Blog Cover-1

Kandle and Krooks performed at Zaphod Beeblebrox on Wednesday night. I had the opportunity to check out her performance and did an interview with her (which you can listen). For those who don’t know, Kandle Osborne’s father, Neil Osborne is from the well-known Canadian rock band, 54-40.

2014 has been a great year for Osborne as In Flames marked her debut full length album. Prior to the album, she made the move from Vancouver to Montreal as the city has a great music scene. As mentioned from the interview that she worked with Sam Goldberg from Broken Social Scene when making the album. Also mentioned were friends from the likes of Coeur de Pirate and Sam Roberts who lend their voices to the album.

Opening up for Kandle and the Krooks were the Calgary indie rock band, Fast Romantics. The band never performed in the Nation’s Capital but have performed at The Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield, Quebec. The band has gone through changes with the members. They have lost some but gained some . Their music style has a bit of a power ballad when checking them out.

When Kandle and the Krooks got on stage, their music brought on a mix of twang and rock. Osbornes’ soft voice also gave some memorizing and soulful sounds. One of her bandmates was funny that he didn’t know they’re in Ottawa.
Overall, it was a terrific show for both bands and it was rarity to have a concert at Zaphods finish past the 11pm curfew time.
You can check the photo over at Flickr by clicking HERE.

Kandle and the Krooks are on tour in Ontario and Quebec until December 4th.

You can check out audio interview and instant photos below.

Continue reading →

The Impossible Polaris Polaroid – S10E05

Impossible Polaris Polaroid

Back from Ottawa and this will be a wrap-up to the 2014 Polaris Music Prize coverage. This is more on the photos, instant photos, to be precise.
From the previous entry, I mentioned that half of the photos were on Flickr, it’s now updated and you can go to the link by clicking HERE.

I also brought along the trusty Polaroid SX-70 camera and several packs of The Impossible Project films to Toronto for the Polaris Music Prize Gala. Worse part was having to carry multiple equipment with a small carry bag. At least, I was able to bring the fun to shooting instant film photos. You will see the colourful frames and wonderful black & white photos taken from the pre and post Polaris Gala as it’s posted below.
I got a chance to try out Impossible’s B&W Film for 600 Hard Color Frames Edition. The colour frames looked great with the black & white instant photos. It’s definitely fun to look at.
You will see some of the familiar faces with the Impossible instant photos.
There’s a few instant that didn’t out well and that’s being posted up.

Short Basia Bulat Interview
It’s been awhile I have done audio interviews and had the opportunity to do a quick chat with Basia Bulat. You can listen to the interview from below. It’s just great to see her at the Gala.

For fashion, I rarely dress up nicely and shoot selfies. It was quite dapper of me to wear the bow tie from Hudson’s Bay.

Other Things
Going off on a different topic or going backwards. Prior to attending the Polaris Music Prize Gala, as I arrived to Toronto, I went straight to CBC Toronto, the Canadian Broadcast Centre for an informal tour of the building. I’m surprised that the CBC social media/digital team have been wanting to meet up for awhile but scheduling and lack of travel, it wasn’t worked. Luckily, with the Polaris Music Prize, I was able to make a schedule to come by to the building. It’s great seeing the radio side again but never got to see the main studios (#40, 41 and 42) from the tenth floor. The last time I went on a tour, it was with CBC Radio 3. I posted several photos on my Instagram if you can look for the CBC related photos.

Lastly, a final shoutout goes out to Be SixFifty Hotel. It’s a boutique hotel located on Bay St. Their decoration is stylish and more like a fashion-chic setting. Checking into my room, it was a small, which was fine as I stayed for one day. I was provided with a bottled water and some nice treats. They were the yummy macarons and candied nuts. The staff were friendly and decided to give one of the staff an instant photo. The price is under $200 if you’re going solo and it’s convenient in the downtown core of Toronto.

That’s the fun adventure I had and time for some rest and relaxation from the sweat and muscle pain. Also quite unusual to post two entries in one day.
Enjoy!
Continue reading →

Continuing With Chinese New Year, The Year of the Horse – S09E24

WildWorks Feb 3 CNY Vinyl

It’s been an exciting weekend with the lion dance performances and continuing to celebrate Chinese New Year. Monday was an off-day for the lion dance troupe but I had the radio show with the annual Chinese New Year show. Lauren returned to do the Chinese New Year show as I had Candice join me on last year’s edition.
Being year of the horse, it’s Lauren’s favourite animal as she kind of owns a horse. I got to explain the strengths and weaknesses of anyone who’s born year of the horse.

We also got to talk about food and there’s one I’m not fond of and it’s red bean. I know I will get some backlash as it’s their favourite food and dessert. To keep some happy, I played the song by the late Teresa Teng as part of the CNY show.

As usual, there were the familiar Cantopop tracks played and there were several band and song names with the word, ‘horse‘ in it. I was able to find some Canadian indie tracks with the particular animal name.
The best “horse” song would have to be Horses Fell by The Darcys. It’s still new but the band has become a favourite of mine.

I took a couple of instant photos by Impossible and finally got to use the gold frame. There are a few from Sunday, February 3rd. You can see the photos from below.
You can check the playlist over at this link and the audio is posted below.

Lastly, don’t forget about the Winterlude Lunar New Year Parade on Ottawa Chinatown. Happening on Saturday, February 8, 2014 and starts at 1pm. Hope to see you there.

Again, Kung Hey Fat Choy!

Continue reading →

It’s A Retrospective Look Back – S09E22

WildWorks January 27, 2014-1January is coming to an end and it’s been a slow month in terms of new music releases. This is a short entry for this week.
This week’s radio show was a retrospective show as I relived some moments from past seasons (there’s a hint to this as I told some good friends). Relived some moments as I played You Say Party, Dan Mangan, and Malajube.
Joining me as usual was Lauren and we got to mention how we got to interview Mangan when he released his album, Oh Fortune and it was her first music interview. As for Malajube, it was quite fitting to play Montreal -40C as we’re still continuing with cold temperatures. Aside from that, the reason for playing them was that I’m still fond of seeing them live in Montreal at a rooftop.
Also on the show were new music from Phantogram, Jeremy Fisher and Robyn Dell’Unto. The audio for this week’s radio show can be listened below. You can check the playlist over at this link.

Chinese New Year is happening this Friday. It will be a great time to celebrate the year of the horse.
Have a great week!

Continue reading →