And Post #100 of my blog goes to another installment of Forgotten Music, originally from my LiveJournal account:
My first Canadian band, time to school you non-Canucks on our music. Platinum Blonde were huge in Canada in the mid 80s, spawning 7 top 40 hits and and 3 platinum LPs. They never really caught on anywhere else, though they did try the US market in with their 1987 album Contact, but never managed to crack the Top 40 there. Platinum Blonde merged the jangly style of 80s rock with the look of hair metal. Some critics called them the Canadian Duran Duran, but Platinum Blonde had the look, but not the musical chops that the Durans had. I'm featuring this band to pay tribute to Kenny McLean, who joined the band for 1985's Alien Shores album. He played bass for the band. McLean was also part of a short lived new wave band called The Deserters, who released two albums in the early 80s. Kenny passed away two weeks ago just after releasing his third solo album.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnJ_xyFI0pQ
"Standing in the Dark" came out on the 1983 album of the same name. While it just barely missed the Top 40 charts, it's one of the bands best known songs. It has the drive the band was known for: chunky/jangly 80s power pop guitar with Mark Holmes trademark vocals driving the song along. As lyrics go, there's not much here, but the song is pretty fun as it is. Weird personal trivia: Standing in the Dark and Alien Shores were often on the school gym stereo back when I used to work out in the high school weightroom. A certain cohort that might read this blog may remember hearing them often...
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Cancon Round Up for August 25, 2011
Alright, back at it. I was living out of a suitcase for a few days while my landlords fixed up my bathroom with new tile, but now I can get back to blogging about music no one cares about!
This week's Cancon round up: Simple Plan (peak Canadian act at #8), The New Cities, Martin Solveig and Dragonette, Anjulie, Karl Wolf, Alyssa Reid, JRDN, Fefe Dobson, These Kids Wear Crowns, Raghav (10/40=25%, still way belong the National mandated 35%)
Chart chat: Adele has officially become a Top 40/Mainstream artist with her second single entering the US Charts ("Someone Like You" at #34). You hipsters who championed her early career can now begin hating her work.
This week's Cancon round up: Simple Plan (peak Canadian act at #8), The New Cities, Martin Solveig and Dragonette, Anjulie, Karl Wolf, Alyssa Reid, JRDN, Fefe Dobson, These Kids Wear Crowns, Raghav (10/40=25%, still way belong the National mandated 35%)
Chart chat: Adele has officially become a Top 40/Mainstream artist with her second single entering the US Charts ("Someone Like You" at #34). You hipsters who championed her early career can now begin hating her work.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
The Vancouver Record Buying Spree - 2011
There's nothing I love more than thumbing through piles of used records, CDs and other musical stuff. The feel of a record store is something I love: being surrounded by people who love music as much as I do and work hard at making sure that everyone is happy with their musical purchases. Every year, I take a major 2-3 day trip to Vancouver specifically to buy music. I usually don't go to buy new music, but to get deals by getting used music. It's really shocking to me how much good music you can find used, and for very cheap, in Vancouver. Even their Salvation Army stores have amazing collections.
The major stops on the trip are Audiopile Records, Zulu Records and Red Cat Records. Audiopile is my favourite record store in Vancouver and I always find something surprising there. Zulu is next on the list, and that's where I usually drop a lot of cash, often for a huge pile of music, from their huge used section. Red Cat is usually where I buy new stuff, since their prices are a bit high and they tend to specialize in new stuff. I used to stop at a couple of places on Granville, but they seem to have disappeared, but I did find a store about 6 blocks up from the Commodore.
Last on the list is Krazy Bob's out in Langley. I like Krazy Bob's just for the atmosphere and being able to talk to Bob about music, since he knows his stuff and is passionate and upbeat about what he does. He also gives you a free mystery pack of music if you buy more than $15 worth of stuff there (I got Don Henley and Bushwick Bill of all things).
Now, the haul (I've marked off any Canadian music with a *, for those interested)
Bought new:
Brian Eno - Drums Between the Bells
Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts
Washed Out - Within and Without
Used: (All under $10, most under $5)
Add N to (X) - Avant Hard
Adult. - Gimme Trouble
Frank Black - The Cult of Ray
Broadcast - Pendulum EP
Bugskull - Bugskull and the Big White Cloud
Bugskull - Distracted Snowflake Vol. 2
Chris Connelly - The Episodes
Didjits - Full Nelson Reilly (out of print, contains an awesome cover of Devo's "Mr. DNA")
The Double - Loose in the Air
Etre - A Post Fordist Parade (weird electronics from Europe, on the Compost label)
Flying Luttenbachers - The Void (noise-industrial. Awesome!)
*Hilt - Get Stuck EP (I think this completes my Hilt collection, barring single EPs I don't know about....)
Lali Puna - Tridecoder
Legendary Pink Dots - The Whispering Wall (CD release on ROIR Records)
*Les Georges Leningrad - Sangue Puro
*Leslie Spit Treeo - Don't Cry Too Hard (back in my collection at last, has a great cover of John Prine's "Angel from Montgomery")
Magic Numbers - S/T
Meat Beat Manifesto - 99% (replaces a scratched copy)
*Microbunny - Dead Stars
Microstoria - _snd
Muslimgauze - Extreme
Mussolini Headkick - Themes for Violent Retribution (very surprised to see this in a used record store, classic Wax Trax releases go for a good $50, especially obscure stuff like this album. Now, I just need to find their second album...)
Northern State - Dying in Stereo
Out Hud - Let Us Never Speak of It Again
*Pork Queen - Strang (weird electro-noise on the Scratch label)
Revolting Cocks - Beers, Steers and Queers (old Wax Trax version, since re-released and expanded on Ryko)
*Sailboats are White - Turbo! (electro-noise-punk!)
Savath and Savalas - Folk Songs for Trains, Trees and Honey (lo-fi folktronica from the guy behind Prefuse 73)
Severed Heads - Come Visit the Big Bigot/Dead Eyes Open (nice CD package, got both albums on vinyl)
65daysofstatic - One Time for All Time (sprawling drone rock, very good)
Squeeze - Argybargy (CD copy, already had it on vinyl)
*Stereo Image - S/T
SubArachoid Space - Also Rising
Tarwater - Rabbit Moon
*Dandi Wind - Sacrificial
V/A - Yes New York (modern rock from New York, Rogers Sisters, Calla, Secret Machines, and more mainstream stuff like The Strokes and Interpol)
V/A - Branches and Routes (2 CD comp from Fat Cat Records: Sigur Ros, David Grumms, Kid 606, Matmose, Fennesz, Black Dice, etc.)
The major stops on the trip are Audiopile Records, Zulu Records and Red Cat Records. Audiopile is my favourite record store in Vancouver and I always find something surprising there. Zulu is next on the list, and that's where I usually drop a lot of cash, often for a huge pile of music, from their huge used section. Red Cat is usually where I buy new stuff, since their prices are a bit high and they tend to specialize in new stuff. I used to stop at a couple of places on Granville, but they seem to have disappeared, but I did find a store about 6 blocks up from the Commodore.
Last on the list is Krazy Bob's out in Langley. I like Krazy Bob's just for the atmosphere and being able to talk to Bob about music, since he knows his stuff and is passionate and upbeat about what he does. He also gives you a free mystery pack of music if you buy more than $15 worth of stuff there (I got Don Henley and Bushwick Bill of all things).
Now, the haul (I've marked off any Canadian music with a *, for those interested)
Bought new:
Brian Eno - Drums Between the Bells
Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts
Washed Out - Within and Without
Used: (All under $10, most under $5)
Add N to (X) - Avant Hard
Adult. - Gimme Trouble
Frank Black - The Cult of Ray
Broadcast - Pendulum EP
Bugskull - Bugskull and the Big White Cloud
Bugskull - Distracted Snowflake Vol. 2
Chris Connelly - The Episodes
Didjits - Full Nelson Reilly (out of print, contains an awesome cover of Devo's "Mr. DNA")
The Double - Loose in the Air
Etre - A Post Fordist Parade (weird electronics from Europe, on the Compost label)
Flying Luttenbachers - The Void (noise-industrial. Awesome!)
*Hilt - Get Stuck EP (I think this completes my Hilt collection, barring single EPs I don't know about....)
Lali Puna - Tridecoder
Legendary Pink Dots - The Whispering Wall (CD release on ROIR Records)
*Les Georges Leningrad - Sangue Puro
*Leslie Spit Treeo - Don't Cry Too Hard (back in my collection at last, has a great cover of John Prine's "Angel from Montgomery")
Magic Numbers - S/T
Meat Beat Manifesto - 99% (replaces a scratched copy)
*Microbunny - Dead Stars
Microstoria - _snd
Muslimgauze - Extreme
Mussolini Headkick - Themes for Violent Retribution (very surprised to see this in a used record store, classic Wax Trax releases go for a good $50, especially obscure stuff like this album. Now, I just need to find their second album...)
Northern State - Dying in Stereo
Out Hud - Let Us Never Speak of It Again
*Pork Queen - Strang (weird electro-noise on the Scratch label)
Revolting Cocks - Beers, Steers and Queers (old Wax Trax version, since re-released and expanded on Ryko)
*Sailboats are White - Turbo! (electro-noise-punk!)
Savath and Savalas - Folk Songs for Trains, Trees and Honey (lo-fi folktronica from the guy behind Prefuse 73)
Severed Heads - Come Visit the Big Bigot/Dead Eyes Open (nice CD package, got both albums on vinyl)
65daysofstatic - One Time for All Time (sprawling drone rock, very good)
Squeeze - Argybargy (CD copy, already had it on vinyl)
*Stereo Image - S/T
SubArachoid Space - Also Rising
Tarwater - Rabbit Moon
*Dandi Wind - Sacrificial
V/A - Yes New York (modern rock from New York, Rogers Sisters, Calla, Secret Machines, and more mainstream stuff like The Strokes and Interpol)
V/A - Branches and Routes (2 CD comp from Fat Cat Records: Sigur Ros, David Grumms, Kid 606, Matmose, Fennesz, Black Dice, etc.)
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Cancon Round Up for August 11, 2011
Again late with the Canadian charts, but it's not like much changes on them anyway...
Cancon Roundup: Simple Plan (top Canadian at #7), Martin Solveig and Dragonette, Karl Wolf, Anjulie, Alyssa Reid, Fefe Dobson, The New Cities, Raghav, JRDN, Down with Webster, These Kids Wear Crowns (11/40=28%, still below the needed 35%)
Chart talk: Boring charts lately, though the US chart is burning up the summer's buzz song, Foster the People's "Pumped Up Kicks", currently sitting at #13. Definitely a one hit wonder if I ever heard one.
Cancon Roundup: Simple Plan (top Canadian at #7), Martin Solveig and Dragonette, Karl Wolf, Anjulie, Alyssa Reid, Fefe Dobson, The New Cities, Raghav, JRDN, Down with Webster, These Kids Wear Crowns (11/40=28%, still below the needed 35%)
Chart talk: Boring charts lately, though the US chart is burning up the summer's buzz song, Foster the People's "Pumped Up Kicks", currently sitting at #13. Definitely a one hit wonder if I ever heard one.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Covers Courageous #2: The Pixies - Winterlong
I'm a sucker for tribute albums, even when they're those awful industrial albums that Cleopatra trots out every so often (heck, I own four of them!). Often, they'll have some perfect collaboration between the vision of the coverer and the coveree. Or they'll be some perfect eyebrow raiser you wonder why they recorded, but having it turn out to be amazing. Luckily, "The Bridge: A Tribute to Neil Young" has both of these, one of which we'll look at today.
Neil Young barely needs an introduction, but the concept behind this album deserves a mention. Young formed a society called The Bridge School, which raises money for educational technologies for handicapped children. Young's own son Ben has cerebral palsy. So, a bunch of folks got together to do this album to raise funds for the Bridge School. The Pixies were one of the more loud and grungy acts that did a song (along with Sonic Youth, Soul Asylum and Dinosaur Jr. on that end), and their style of tense noise rock fit well with Neil's ramshackle, broken down sludge rock. Taking on "Winterlong", it's one of the highlights of the album.
http://youtu.be/mWWjMgzhbu4
The Bridge, the album, is long out of print and a bit difficult to find, but The Pixies included this cover in their B-Sides album, so you can find it easily there.
For those curious of the other cover, it's Psychic TV doing "Only Love Can Break Your Heart'. Look it up, we'll be looking at it soon.
Neil Young barely needs an introduction, but the concept behind this album deserves a mention. Young formed a society called The Bridge School, which raises money for educational technologies for handicapped children. Young's own son Ben has cerebral palsy. So, a bunch of folks got together to do this album to raise funds for the Bridge School. The Pixies were one of the more loud and grungy acts that did a song (along with Sonic Youth, Soul Asylum and Dinosaur Jr. on that end), and their style of tense noise rock fit well with Neil's ramshackle, broken down sludge rock. Taking on "Winterlong", it's one of the highlights of the album.
http://youtu.be/mWWjMgzhbu4
The Bridge, the album, is long out of print and a bit difficult to find, but The Pixies included this cover in their B-Sides album, so you can find it easily there.
For those curious of the other cover, it's Psychic TV doing "Only Love Can Break Your Heart'. Look it up, we'll be looking at it soon.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Scratch Video
I've been looking at some old Howard Jones videos tonight and remembered how innovative and colourful his videos were.
http://youtu.be/XD3qA54Fn_Q
I got to thinking about the early days of video (this being the 30th anniversary of MTV going on the air) and how experimental the video form was when it really started to take off, about 1984 to 1988, then remembered this brilliant slab of video and music:
http://youtu.be/UWglhugZZ-c
I remember seeing the video for "Life in One Day" on MuchMusic and wondering what the heck I was watching. I thought it was difficult to watch, but it held my attention. I couldn't turn away. Eventually, Christopher Ward (one of my musical heroes, BTW) explained it was a concept called "Scratch Video". The video was directed by noted video producers Godley and Creme, who tried to turn the video into the visual equivalent of a DJ sampling and scratching on a turntable. Needless to say, the experiment wasn't entirely successful, but it's an interesting look into the past of music video.
Godley and Creme are also famous for their own groundbreaking video for "Cry":
http://youtu.be/KxtPRF6NG7I
http://youtu.be/XD3qA54Fn_Q
I got to thinking about the early days of video (this being the 30th anniversary of MTV going on the air) and how experimental the video form was when it really started to take off, about 1984 to 1988, then remembered this brilliant slab of video and music:
http://youtu.be/UWglhugZZ-c
I remember seeing the video for "Life in One Day" on MuchMusic and wondering what the heck I was watching. I thought it was difficult to watch, but it held my attention. I couldn't turn away. Eventually, Christopher Ward (one of my musical heroes, BTW) explained it was a concept called "Scratch Video". The video was directed by noted video producers Godley and Creme, who tried to turn the video into the visual equivalent of a DJ sampling and scratching on a turntable. Needless to say, the experiment wasn't entirely successful, but it's an interesting look into the past of music video.
Godley and Creme are also famous for their own groundbreaking video for "Cry":
http://youtu.be/KxtPRF6NG7I
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