A couple indie folk songs

Tonight I have a couple bango-y folksters for you.

Let’s begin in the City of Prisons and the Gateway to Gananoque… Kingston, Ontario.  The group is called Monuments and Statues.  The song they sent over is called “Red Dress.”  We’re gunna get some pretty female vocals, banjo and naughty little cello.  What?  yeah cello.  You got me, I gotta hear this.

OK, that was nice.  Maybe not the next Mumford & Sons… but I’d get my boogy on if they rolled into Victoria.

NEXT! A band from Santa Ana, California called Lipstick Lumberjack. Wait…. did someone say Santa Anna?  Remember the Alamo.

Lipstick Lumberjack describe the sound as Dreamy Folk-Pop with a dose of banjo.  We’re getting more of the sweet female female vocals and banjo twang… but I get the vibe that Lipstick Lumberjack have a fuller and more developed sound.

The song is a gosh darn sugar sweet romantic tune.

See you on the otherside. Hold up… go with yourself.

We’re on our way to save you

Well isn’t this neat. As I was telling you the other day… I’ve been on a bit of a Braid kick.  And I remembered interviewing the band during their final tour before splitting up  in mid-1999.  I emailed Discorder Magazine and Chirag found the article and scanned it for me! What a stud.

So there ya go (click the image to make it big)… Braid in 1999 talking to a 19-year-old college radio kid at The Starfish Room months before the breakup.  I can’t remember the exact date of the concert but the interview ran in the June 1999 issue of Discorder.  I also got a copy of that TAKE ACTION Punk rock sampler… neat, advertising works.

The show was rad and the guys were great…. The band would end up splitting up after the summer.  Bob Nanna would form a new group called Hey Mercedes.  Just as the whole emo thing started to swell they’d end up on one of the alpha emo record labels, Vagrant.  They released a couple records including 2003′s Lost Control.

Go with thy self.

Some poolside electronic music

I am still basking in the afterglow of a fine Vegas adventure.  Like Natalie at Eat-Drink-Fly, I like to have a little plan to my Vegas trip before I go.  This year I had a shorter “To-Do” list then previous years and that worked out.  Less stress.  More chance for random experiences.  More pool time.

I did miss hitting a true EDM club, but like I said yesterday… I did not fully appreciate how being a 33-year-old male DJ from Canada would not qualify me to go to a nightclub.  So I did… Koi?  That place was terrible.  But then… they let 33-year-old DJs in their club, so maybe those door guys at EDM clubs are on to something? (to be fair, the dude at Chateau was very nice.  After he stopped laughing when I asked if I could in his club, we shared a moment…).

The most fun… hitting the pool.  They even have a DJ.  Mostly fun classics and top 40 with some classic hip-hop tossed in.  So many bikinis, beers come in buckets of ice.  the temp floats around the high 30s, low 40s.

Here is a few electronic/chillwavey songs I want to post… stuff that has gathered a bit of my attention. (and I want to remember to download for my next set at Veneto)

We’ll start with the new Poolside single because…. summer time POOL PARTY!

Jon Hopkins is red hot right now….

And you can’t go far without hearing about the UK’s Disclosure.

That’s all I got… I won’t have a chance to drop them into a set till Friday, June 21st.  This weekend DJ Primitive locks it down at Veneto.

Where am I going to be at this weekend?  PORT ANGELES! Right, summer raging plans… Las Vegas > Port Angeles > Los Angeles.  Neat.

Go with yourself.

I’m the new Nathan Detroit

I have returned from Atomic City, USA to the radio factory.  Lots of emails, radio theory, and music to catch up on.

Vegas is a fun town, but not a music town.  I have heard these tales of Vegas being the EDM capital of THE WORLD!  And it might be, but I’d never know because I just can’t pay $50 cover charge and $20 (or more) for booze listening to house music.

The rest of the time, Vegas is just never ending loop tape of classic hits and basic top 40 club-DJery.  I heard Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop” a lot.

There are always wonderful exceptions.  I was wandering the Flamingo and some classic punk was blaring.  I was drinking at The Griffin and they had Arcade Fire’s “The Suburbs” jamming.

I packed some music with me… I meant to dive into Majical Cloudz, but his sad piano & vocal music was more suited to the rain days of Vancouver Island.

But plucking around my iPhone I saw that at some point I had dropped Braid‘s 1998 record Frame and Canvas on there.

One of the first bands I ever interviewed (Headstones were first) for the radio.  I went to see them during their 1999 West Coast Tour when they played for 20-or-30-some-odd folks at The Starfish Room.  I might have been the only “media” there, so the boys were exceptionally kind to 19-year-old snot-nosed me.

During some down time, in my room on the 16th Floor overlooking Caesar’s Palace on The Strip I buried my head and hit play.

A weirdly fitting tune for Vegas… Nathan Detroit was a character from Guys & Dolls that ran an illegal gambling operation.  Neat.

Go with yourself.

My new future classic: Prick Bastards

God bless friend of the show Boston Matt for reminding me that I had “liked” the Prick Bastards facebook page…. because I had NOT taken the time to fully appreciate the tunes.

Prick Bastards are quality metal from Vancouver BC. A band forged from the remnants of By A Thread, All State Champion, and Means to an End.  The style of their sound combines some vintage punk elements with stoner or sludgey metal.  Being a fan of By A Thread & All State, I of course pull those sounds out as well.  Their self titled ep is a free download… so you know, go do that.  LINK >> Prick Bastards

The record was produced by Steve Evetts (The Cure, Sepultura, The Dillinger Escape Plan).  Here are a couple cuts.

Rad.

Go with yourself.

I Made You a Mixtape >> It Never Goes Away

I finally got around to jamming another mix on my Mixcloud.  Maybe you’ll take a second to check it out?

Mixcloud >> It Never Goes Away

I have been feeling mentally cluttered for awhile now…. and tired.  The title comes from a thought bouncing around my brain on my hikes.  It Never Goes Away.  At the time, I was thinking, “being tired.”  I can sleep or rest, but I still feel tired.  Originally I was going to call the mix Biophilia.  I still think a future mix will get themed on that.  Coral, Maddy and I were walking around Thetis Lake and I guess those Suzuki Reports we air on the radio have effected Madelyn in a positive way because we had a discussion about “the urge to affiliate with other forms of life.”

Later after the hike, I hopped in the studio and turned the music up really loud, and the thought, “It Never Goes Away” turned into something else and I liked it as a different rallying cry.  Not about being tired or nature…

The set isn’t long…. it features a few songs I enjoy during my sets at Veneto Lounge…. particularly the Danny Brown “Grown Up” (Distinction Remix)… here’s a download.

and the Crystal Fighters “You & I” (Gigamesh Remix)…. and a download.

I hope you discover a new favourite.

Go with yourself.

Have a listen to the new CHVRCHES single, Gun

I could listen to CHVRCHES all day, every day.

Here are some links to people paid more to think about music than I am >> Pitchfork :: Stereogum

and I dunno… maybe you feel like reading about Fred Durst in Spin?  I did.

Go with yourself.