Archive for the ‘Music’ Category
Jessy Lanza Playing on April 30th – S09E31
Photograph by Tim Saccenti
It’s been awhile I have written something about music. For those who haven’t been in the know of things, I no longer host a weekly radio show due to differences with the campus community radio station. They haven’t dealt with me on the issue and that’s all I will say for the time being.
Onto the music side of things.
The kind folks at Pop Montreal and Arboretum Festival will be holding a concert at Mercury Lounge on April 30th. It’s Jessy Lanza from Hamilton, Ontario. Her music is described to be electro-R&B. Lanza released her debut album, Pull My Hair Back on September 2013 and released by Hyperdub, a London, UK based record label. Reviews from Pitchfork have been favourable so far.
Her music can be similar to Grimes and Purity Ring as it resembles the use of electronic, synth pop music. There seems to be an influence of 80s new wave music to it as her tracks are very infectious to listen and dance to. One of the tracks that stands out is Keep Moving.
Since the release of her debut album in 2013, Lanza has been getting a lot of exposure and coverage. She played at festivals like Pop Montreal and performed throughout Europe.
She was one of the finalists of the second annual Prism Prize for best Canadian music video. Her music was Kathy Lee (video posted below). Her music video joined the likes of Arcade Fire (Afterlife was the winner), The Belle Game, Shad, Drake, and Young Galaxy, just to name a few.
The show presented by Pop Montreal and Arboretum Festival at Mercury Lounge on April 30th will have Ricky Eat Acid as the opener. Doors open at 7pm, show time at 8pm and admission is $15 at the door.
Be prepared to dance throughout the concert.
Lastly, speaking of Arboretum Festival, they were listed as one of Canada’s Top 10 Summer Festivals, according to CBC Music. Kudos goes out to them as one of the rising festivals in Ottawa.
Have a great week!
Continuing With Chinese New Year, The Year of the Horse – S09E24
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!
It’s A Retrospective Look Back – S09E22
January 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!
New Music To Warm You Up – S09E21
As the so-called polar vortex returns to freeze up Ottawa and the surrounding regions of Ontario, this week’s radio show was more of a full music show. The theme was warming up and listen to new songs as we deal with minus double digits again.
There was new music from the likes of The Balconies, Teenage Kicks, Tokyo Police and Warpaint. Also played this week were Hurt Me Now by Austra and If I Were A Ship by Hey Ocean! Both tracks were recently released as music videos. Towards the end, a slight blast from the past as I decided to play Lykke Li. She will be releasing a new album sometime this year. It’s been three years since her last album was released. Played was one of my favourite songs by her. It was I Follow Rivers and it was The Magician remix.
Lauren joined me on the show as usual but she’s under the weather and at least made an effort to be on the airwaves.
The playlist for this week’s show is over at this link. You can listen to the audio below.
It’s a light entry this week. Stay warm and enjoy good music.
The Slightly First Live Show of 2014 & More Instant Photos – S09E20
After two week of the best of 2013, it’s back to the usual music show and being live on CKCU. OK, there was another hour but it was pre-taped and the playlist will be coming for it. January is usually thought to be a slow month in terms of new music. Apparently, I’m wrong as this week’s radio show had some new music being played. Certain bands haven’t released for four years and there is some buzz as we expect new material.
Returning to the radio show for the second half of the live show was Lauren. Back from her Christmas holidays. It was great that she was there because there were new songs from Coeur de Pirate and announced on social media & music sites, a new song from Tokyo Police Club. The band will be releasing the album, Forcefield on March 25th. The verdict on the new song is quite different than previous song on their albums. It sounds more poppy and not as rockin’ from the previous works.
As for Coeur de Pirate, she’s releasing a new album which is mainly cover songs and based on a CBC French TV show, Trauma. For the first time, Beatrice Martin (known as Coeur de Pirate) releases an English album through cover songs.
Also played were Crissi Cochrane as she released a live track which was posted on YouTube (Little Sway on January 28th), Robyn Dell’Unto (Little Lines on January 28th) and Warpaint (second self-titled album on January 21st).
The playlist for the second hour is at this link. You can listen to the audio from below.
From The WildWorks Top 50 of 2013, It’s The Top 10 Non-Canadian Indie Music – S09E19
2013 wasn’t finished yet on this week’s first radio show of 2014 on CKCU-FM. This time, it was the Top 10 Non-Canadian Indie Music of 2013 and considered to be the fourth part of the year end countdown. It’s become a yearly tradition to do two different year-end countdowns. One strictly for Canadian music and the other being non-Canadian music. The non-Canadian list is shorter as I place more emphasis on the Canadian music scene.
Myself and Lauren were counting the best albums from outside of Canada. There were good releases from the top 10 played.
Bands like The Naked and Famous, Vampire Weekend, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The National had highly anticipated albums and there were surprises from HAIM as their popularity exploded in 2013.
There are two different versions of the countdown. The one aired on CKCU was the top 10 while the entry from the Best of 2013 page is the top 13 Non-Canadian Indie music of 2013.
The radio show version had three new Canadian indie tracks for 2014, they were Crissi Cochrane, The Balconies and Silkken Laumann.
The blog version has Hot Natured (recommended by the host of CKCU’s The Cloud), Best Coast and Foals played on the top 13 of 2013. At the end, leftovers of 2013 were “Your Life Is a Lie” by MGMT and Byegone by Volcano Choir.
To check out the CKCU-FM version, you can go to this link. The On-Demand audio is available to listen over there.
To view the full list, go to The Top 50 of 2013 page is over at this link.
This wraps up the best of music for 2013. Onwards to 2014!
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From The WildWorks Top 50 of 2013, It’s The Top 10! – S09E17 (Part 2)
I had to split the entries this week because of the tribute to Anita Mui running on the same day. On this edition of WildWorks, it was the top 10 Canadian indie music of 2013. It’s considered the third part to The WildWorks Top 50 of 2013. 2013 had some good releases from Canadian musicians and bands. Myself and Lauren counted down to the 50 albums and EPs that came out this year. The number one for this year is Basia Bulat because Tall Tall Shadow (her third record) is considered a strong album and some of the songs showed some emotions as it dealt with loss.
Rounding out the top 10 are Shad, Arcade Fire, The Darcys, Born Ruffians, Young Galaxy, Austra, DIANA, Louise Burns and Gold & Youth.
The full list will be posted up on New Year’s Day.
Before airing the top 10, there was a pre-show as I played the best of 2013 where I forgot to add bands and musicians left out of my top 50 of 2013.
You can check the playlist over at this link. You can listen to the audio below.
Goodbye to 2013 and hello to 2014, Happy New Year!
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A Tribute to Anita Mui, 10th Anniversary – S09E17 (Part 1)
It’s on this day, ten years ago when I heard the sad news that Anita Mui peacefully passed away from cancer. It was fitting on this day, being December 30th that I played songs on CKCU-FM. As I filled in for The Drunken Master Revue, it was just nice to play classic songs and try to remember how much of an impact Mui made in Hong Kong and abroad. Towards the end of the first hour, I was in tears when two songs (videos posted below) I played were emotional to listen.
Growing up, I have been fond of watching music awards shows and Hong Kong films. It’s part of my upbringing till this day that I kept my cultural background as people who we idolize over time are no longer around. Ten years seem to have gone by quickly as her presence and even Leslie Cheung (died in the same year) are deeply missed.
As mentioned on the show that she was the Madonna of Asia as she channeled songs and bringing lavish fashion and clothing. I cited quotes from an article over at Wall Street Journal during the tribute. Also on the day was the memorial concert held in Hong Kong to commemorate the tenth anniversary of her death. Stars from Andy Lau, Jackie Chan and Sandy Lam took part in the memorial. It was organized by singer, Jacky Cheung and actor, Eric Tsang.
For non-Chinese readers, here’s another article from WSJ Asia on the Anita Mui memorial concert. Published on December 31, 2013.
Anita Mui is still cherished and remembered to this day. Her music and movies will never be forgotten.
You can listen to the audio below. There were some songs I played for the first time on CKCU-FM as well with the usual classic Anita Mui songs played on occasion.
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A Very Merry Christmas & The Top 50 of 2013, Part 2 – S09E16
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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The Christmas Edition and The Top 50 of 2013, Part 1 – S09E15
It’s that time of festive season where I’ll be playing Christmas music. This year is a bit different in terms of music format as I decided to play J-POP Christmas songs on CKCU-FM. After a debacle from last year’s radio show where I played Christmas UK #1 songs, it’s a better way to play it safe by choosing Christmas tunes from the Far East.
Played were Cream, B’z, L’Arc~en~Ciel, BoA and KinKi Kids. For Cantopop, there was Lonely Christmas by Eason Chan as it’s become part of the yearly Christmas playlist.
As usual, I was joined by Lauren as we decided to play through the festive tunes and it’s her last live show for 2013. She will still be on the air for the year end countdown show.
We were joined by Erica who made a surprise appearance. We also had fun taking some instant film photos using The Impossible Project film to the Polaroid camera. It was two hours full of fun music and wearing Santa hats.
The playlist can be checked over at this link. You can also listen to the audio below.
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