radio show

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
Press play to listen.

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It Was a Great Weekend Going to Two Museums – [Summer Special]

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It has been a rainy week in the Nation’s Capital, but the wet soggy and chilly climate could not deter various events happening on the weekend. I had the opportunity to attend the Ottawa Mini Maker Faire, which was held at the Canada Science and Technology Museum. The family-friendly event which in its 4th year is a festival of creativity and showing inventions coming from a DIY aspect. A lot of exhibitors ranged from gadgets to a lot of demonstrations from robotics and products using 3D printing, just to name a few. There were workshops and panel during the event.
Over 600 plus came out to the event for Saturday, quite surprising as the festival brings out the fun technology in all ages.
Photos from the event are posted on Flickr, you can check the photos by clicking here.

The other museum to go on Saturday night was at the Canadian Museum of Nature. It was a lion dance performance for a wedding reception. Prior to performing, I brought along the Polaroid Spectra Camera to try shooting the double exposure effect. I posted two photos onto my Facebook page and I will post them here. The lion dance performance was great as usual and the newlyweds probably enjoyed the colourful lions dancing around them for good luck and prosperity.
The photos are also on Flickr, you can the photos by clicking here.

Overall, it was a great weekend in Ottawa. Another event is happening and that’s the Arboretum Music Festival. It’s in their 3rd year running and they got an excellent lineup from the Constantines, Kevin Drew, Hilotrons and a bunch of others. There’s definitely lots of do in Ottawa as Summer is not quite over yet.
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Continuing With Chinese New Year, The Year of the Horse – S09E24

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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!

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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!

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New Music To Warm You Up – S09E21

WildWorks Vinyl January 20, 2014

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.

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The Slightly First Live Show of 2014 & More Instant Photos – S09E20

WildWorks Vinyl January 13, 2014

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.

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