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The Best of 2014 Countdown Part 2 (S10E13)

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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.

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The Best of 2014 Countdown Part 1 (S10E12)

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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
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Merry Christmas to You All – S10E11

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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!

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An Interview With Kandle – S10E07

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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.

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The Impossible Polaris Polaroid – S10E05

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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!
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A Very Merry Christmas & The Top 50 of 2013, Part 2 – S09E16

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WW Vinyl December 23

It was an epic day as I was on the airwaves from 7-10am and then the regular show at 11am on CKCU-FM. First, it was the Monday Special Blend and I was joined by Canadian Spaces host, Chris White as we had Shannon Rose & The Thorns. Rose has a new song which is fitting for Christmas and it’s called North Star. She performed three songs live on the airwaves. First was North Star, the second was Phoenix and lastly, a Bing Crosby cover song, I’ll Be Home For Christmas. Luckily, Ottawa didn’t bear brunt of the ice storm which hit Toronto on the weekend. Overall, it was a great morning to have guests like Chris White and Shannon Rose. From the image above, it was shot on a Polaroid.
The next show to help out was The Filibuster and we basically played Christmas songs ranging from the popular one to Metal to Canadian indie music. It was a nice mix of tunes to play as I was joined host, Ben James for the Filibuster.
To my own show, I played the favourites from Jill Barber, Basia Bulat and Nat Jay. It’s become a yearly tradition to play those wonderful festive songs. There were a few new tracks from Mounties, The Mountain and the Trees and a new Said The Whale.
You can check the playlist over at the this link. You can listen to the audio below. It will be a lengthy listen. Happy Holidays!
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Celebrating Doctor Who’s 50th Anniversary – S09E09

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WW November 18 Vinyl

On this week’s radio show on CKCU-FM, I decided to pay tribute to Doctor Who as it celebrates its 50th anniversary. It couldn’t happen at a right time as I brought along the sonic screwdriver toys to the station and poke fun with a few hosts. It will be exciting when The Day of The Doctor airs on Saturday afternoon (Ottawa time) on Saturday, November 23rd. The day when Doctor Who first aired in 1963. I’ll be happy to see the Tenth Doctor return to the small screen. David Tennant was named the “nation’s” best Doctor and Matt Smith has been a great Doctor as well.
Aside from that and the sounds of the sonic screwdriver, I re-aired the interview with The Doctor Who Society of Canada as I had technical difficulties airing it back in June following Ottawa Comic Con. It was fitting to play the interview on the airwaves in Ottawa and go back in time. You can listen to the interview again from below.
Also on the show, I had Lauren joining me for the second half of the show and talked about the weekend as we went to a launch party but we didn’t bump into each other.
Played this week were three songs which came out as a music video. They were Forgive Me by Austra, Jasper by Louise Burns and Permanent Hesitation by Born Ruffians.
Then there’s the usual tracks from Basia Bulat, The Darcys and Rebekah Higgs.
You can check the playlist over at this link.
Have a great week!
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The Hannah Georgas Interview – S09E08

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WW Nov 11 Vinyl Blog

It’s November 11th and it’s the day where everyone observes and pay their respects to the soldiers and veterans who fought in wars. Wars are still continuing throughout parts of the continent and we still reflect the sacrifices that soldiers face in combat and defending peace. Remembrance Day this year marked the 95th anniversary of the end of WWI. Lest We Forget.

Radio Show
On the this week’s radio show, Lauren returned to the program after a month’s absence. It was a good timing as I aired the interview with Hannah Georgas. Georgas was in Ottawa last week for two shows at the NAC for NAC Presents. It’s the first time to finally interview her as she’s been busy touring and it was a nice opportunity to do so. It’s been awhile I have seen her live and in the interview, I got to ask about the emotional process that she brought in her 2012 self titled album. Played on the show was her cover rendition of Rihanna’s Stay. Myself and Lauren have found her version to be raw and powerful. It almost put me in tears when I listen to the song. Her song is available on iTunes. Played on the show this week are new tracks from Rebekah Higgs, Kashka and the usual artists and bands like Basia Bulat and Arcade Fire.
I got a message on my Facebook page and played Jess Hart.
You can listen to the interview and the radio show below.
The playlist for the radio show can be seen at this link.
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Using Instant Film Cameras – S09E06

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Instant Cameras Blog

Since June, I have been using instant film cameras and so far, it’s been a total shift to how I take photos. Even though it’s costly getting instant film sheets but the response to people seeing me use Polaroids have been quite a surprise because they haven’t seen the cameras in quite a long time and I get asked where I get the instant film sheets.
Recently, I loaded the sheets to the Polaroid SX 70 camera (photo shown on top row) and the results have been not perfect as the film runs on 125 ISO speed and there’s no flash on the camera itself. I’ll most likely have to shoot outdoors with the camera.
The photos are posted below. The results to using The Impossible Project have been mixed as I have messing around the dark/bright slider on the two Polaroid cameras. It’s been a work in progress to shooting Polaroid/instant film cameras and it’s challenging and fun. I have success on using the Fujifilm Instax Wide 210 (photo shown on bottom right) and the Polaroid Land Camera 600 (Autofocus 660) as the film speeds are not as volatile compared to the PX 70 film by The Impossible Project.
I have made a rule of sorts that taking instant film photos is like making three wishes from a Genie bottle as I have to carefully shoot carefully and be sure it’s fun and creative. Analog photography has rapidly decline since the convenient use of digital photos from smartphones and cameras. It’s still good to cherish instant photos in a very artistic way. Recent photos are posted below, check them out.
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New Web Address and Apology on the Delay – S09E05

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Vinyl Blog October 28

Sorry for the lack of posts for the month of October as I experienced a nasty cold, then there was Thanksgiving, and a co-host bailing out on the radio show several times. For the past few weeks, I didn’t have much to post up due to a lack of music interviews.
The exciting news is that wildworks.wordpress.com is no more as it’s wildworks.ca. It’s the new address for this site and quite lucky to get the domain name. It was tough whether to go for a dot com or dot ca name. It was best to stay Canadian for a domain name. The WordPress name gets redirected to the new web address.
What a good way to return with a post along with the new address. I will decide if the blog needs to get a new look, if needed.

The Radio Show
On the October 28th edition of the radio show on CKCU-FM, I started off with the tribute to Lou Reed as social media exploded throughout Sunday on his passing. In kicking off the show, I decided to play Walk On The Wildside as I remembered hearing that song from a Levi’s commercial back in the 1980s. It was also a nice shoutout to David Yazbeck of the Thursday Special Blend because his posts on Facebook caught my attention. He’s a big fan of Reed’s music. Reed was the driving force of the indie rock genre back in the 1960s as he formed the venerable band, The Velvet Underground.
Also on the show was playing songs for Halloween, which is on Thursday. A nice warm up for anyone going trick or treating with friends or go to Halloween themed parties.
Lastly, there was the tribute to the late Hong Kong singer/actress, Anita Mui. 2013 is the tenth anniversary of her death.
You listen to the audio from below. There was a new Arcade Fire, new Kandle and an unexpected announcement of Two Hours Traffic breaking up on the show.
To check out the playlist for the October 28th show, it is over at this link.
Also back this week is the Wild 10 Countdown. You can check it out at this link.

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