Who We Lost in 2015

Little Jimmy Dickens
Curtis Lee
Tim Drummond (Bob Dylan's band)
Kim Fowley
Ward Swingle
Edgar Froese (Tangerine Dream)
Thom Wilson (producer)
Sam Andrew (Big Brother and the Holding Company)
Steve Strange (Visage)
Gavin Clarke (UNKLE)
Lesley Gore
Clark Terry
Chris Rainbow (Alan Parsons)
Leonard Nimoy
Daevid Allen (Soft Machine)
Mike Porcaro
Bruce Crump (Molly Hatchet)
Andy Fraser (Free)
Michael Brown (The Left Banke)
AJ Pero (Twisted Sister)
Scott Clenemin (Death)
Preston Ritter (The Electric Prunes)
Dave Ball (Procul Harum)
Rob Burns (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Percy Sledge
Jack Ely ("Louie Louie")
Ben E. King
Craig Gruber (Rainbow)
Errol Brown (Hot Chocolate)
B.B. King
Tranquility Bass
Ray Kennedy
Archie Alleyene
Jim Ed Brown
Ornette Coleman
Chris Squire (Yes)
Red Lane
Dan Joyce (Negativland)
Lynn Anderson
Stephen Huss (Psyche)
Sam Price
David Shelley
Hal Willis
Dennis Greene (Sha Na Na)
Bryn Merrick (The Damned)
Gary Richnath (REO Speedwagon)
Martin Kearns (Bolt Thrower)
Phil Woods
Keepsta Knicca
Steve Mackey (The Stooges)
Smokin' Joe Kubek
Cory Wells (Three Dog Night)
Leon Bibb
Andy White (The Beatles)
Allen Toussaint
"Philthy" Phil Taylor (Motorhead)
P.F. Sloan
Ron Hynes
Scott Weiland
Gary Marker (Captain Beefheart)
Rainer Bloss
Mick Lynch (Stump)
William Guest (Gladys Knight and the Pips)
Steve Wright (The Easybeats)
Lemmy Kilmiester
John Bradbury (The Specials)

Top 10 Albums of 2015

1) The Soft Moon - Deeper (Captured Tracks)
2) Faith Healer* - Cosmic Troubles (Mint)
3) METZ* - II (Sub Pop)
4) Tacocat - NVM (Hardly Art)
5) ttwwrrss* - ttwwrrss_2 (Maisonnevue)
6) Viet Cong* - Viet Cong (Flemish Eye)
7) Shamir - Ratchet (XL)
8) Girl Band - Holding Hands with Jamie (Rough Trade)
9) Conduct* - Fear and Desire (Public Tone)
10) FFS - FFS (Domino)

Honourable Mentions: Sleater-Kinney - No Cites to Love (Sub Pop), Purity Ring* - Another Eternity (Last Gang), White Reaper - White Reaper Does it Again (Royal Mountain), Foals - What Went Down (Transgressive), Ought* - Sun Coming Down (Constellation)

I'll be counting them down Friday, January 15th 8-9 PM.

DNTTA Playlist for December 18, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Grimes* - California - Art Angels (Crystal Math)
Lilly Wolf - Wasteland - Deleted Scenes (Independent)
Colliding Canyons* - 8000 Dolphin Day - Colliding Canyons (Shake!)
LCD Soundsystem - Disco Infiltrator - LCD Soundsystem (DFA)
Terra* - Control - Couldn't Save This EP (Shake!)
Blu Shorts* - The Rip - Blu Shorts (Shake!)
The Shiverettes* - Bad for Me - Just Three Songs (Independent)
Juice Box* - Two Stars on Amazon - Tetra Pak (Independent)
OK Jazz* - Warning Light - Level Up (Independent)
Chron Goblin* - Give Way - Backwater (Independent)
We Hunt Buffalo* - The Barrens - Living Ghosts (New Damage)
A.P. Laurenson - Evidently - Desert Ethereal (Independent)

DNTTA Playlist for December 11, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Telstar Drugs* - Greyed Rainbow - Sonatine (Egg Paper Factory)
Skim Milk* - The Prince - Ghosts of Jazz (Independent)
North Atlantic Explorers* - Lapwing - All the Ships at Sea (Anniedale)
Bowery Electric - Floating World - Tea for 2000 (Beggar's Banquet)
Low - Spanish Translation - Ones and Sixes (Sub Pop)
Altered Images - Song Sung Blue - Pinky Blue (Portrait)
Homo Duplex* - Caves - 05 (Independent)
Hook and Eye* - Lost Brothers - Start Slow (Medicine)
The Nils* - Love to Hate - Ghosts and Shadows (Cobraside)
Betrayers* - 60/40 - Love Rat EP (Shake!)
Dri Hiev* - Good Shirt - Contravirtual EP (Shake!)
The Evaporators* - Cardboard Brains - Ripple Rock (Mint)

Earshot Reviews for December 2015

Decent stuff here, but avoid that Young Empires album...

Monkeyjunk - Moon Turn Red

The Sweet Lowdown - Chasing the Sun

Young Empires - The Gates

DNTTA Playlist for December 4, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Blue Hawaii* - Castle of Clouds - Blooming Summer (Arbutus)
Jerusalem in My Heart* - Ah Ya Mal El Sham - If He Dies, If If If If If If (Constellation)
Suuns* - Arena - Zeroes QC (Secretly Canadian)
Suuns and Jerusalem in My Heart* - Seif - Suuns and Jerusalem in My Heart (Secret City)
New Order - Plastic - Music Complete (Mute)
Alien Heirs* - War is News - To Heir is Human (Independent)
1977* - We Do - Twister (Independent)
Farao - Hunter - Till It's All Forgotten (Arts and Crafts)
Chairs* - Sleeper - Drawn Into Mazes (Kinnta)
Late Spring* - Topless - Late Spring (Independent)
Fine Young Cannibals - Love for Sale - Red Hot and Blue (Chrysalis)
Sinead O'Connor - I Want Your Hands on Me - The Lion and the Cobra (Chrysalis)

DNTTA Playlist for Nobemver 27, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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The Floor* - Impossible - Automony Off/On (Independent)
Kristien Nordevil/Elizabeth Brown - She Lost Her Voice, That's How We Knew (Part II) - She Lost Her Voice, That's How We Knew (Ravello)
Mother Falcon - Boxer - Good Luck, Have Fun (Universal)
Parkland* - Drinking Glue - Singularity (Offseason)
Spoons* - Camera Shy - Talkback (Ready)
Bodies That Matter* - I Confess - Glorify! Glorify! Glorify! (Optical Sounds)
Peter Murphy - I've Got a Miniature Secret Camera - Pump Up the Volume OST (MCA)
Fine Times* - Not Dead - Bad::Better (Light Organ)
Unalaska* - Salaryworld - Unalaska (Light Organ)
Tame Impala - The Moment - Currents (Modular)
Esmerine* - A River Runs Through This City - Other Voices (Constellation)

DNTTA Playlist for November 20, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Tanuki* - Top Floor - Sound System (Independent)
Shamir - Hot Mess - Ratchet (XL)
Appliance - Heroes of Telemark (Pole remix) - D4 EP (Warp)
Hau Li* - Luxury - Za Zhong (Art Not Love)
Sego - Psychobabble - Long Long Way from the Fridge (Dine Alone)
Julian Bachlow* - Can You Feet It - Family Ties (Independent)
Ensh* - Plaid Patterns - Both of Them Milenko (Independent)
Ded Sheppard* - Wrong Music - Ded Sheppard (East Van Digital)
Decoder - Circuit Breaker - Infinite Beat Vol. 1 (DGC)
Troye Sivan - Bite - Wild (EMI)
Wumpscut - Concrete Rage - Music for a Slaughtering Tribe (Metropolis)

Latest Earshot Reviews - Late November 2015

Three more finished and there's four more on the way. The Jeff Healey collection is the highlight here!

Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters - Father's Day

Jeff Healey - The Best of the Stony Plain Years

Souljazz Orchestra - Resistance

DNTTA Playlist for November 13, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Eric's Trip* - Kiss Me on the Head - Long Days Ride 'til Tomorrow (Sub Pop)
Woolworm* - Evil Until I Die - Everything Seems Obvious (Hockey Dad)
Snake Legs* - I Quit - Snake Legs EP (Independent)
Dilly Dally* - The Touch - Sore (Buzz)
Flat Duo Jets - Crazy Hazy Kisses - Athens, GA Inside/Out (IRS)
Fine Mist* - Stop or Start - CiTR's S.U.B. Pop (Independent)
David and the Woods* - Helianthe - De la Poussiere Orange a la Neige Opalescente (Independent)
Foals - What Went Down - What Went Down (Transgressive)
Hexagrams - Ghost - Analog (Shake!)
Twin Crystals* - Attraction - Child Life (Shake!)
Fist City* - Queen of the Slugs - Greatest Splits (Shake!)
Snake River* - I Saw You - Songs from the Adjacent Room (Independent)
The Spores* - Holy Cow - News, Weather and Spores (Sudden Death)

DNTTA Playlist for November 4, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Peggy Lee Band* - Path of a Smile - Invitation (Drip Audio)
Angelika Niescier/Hilmar Jenssen/Scott McLemore - 3 for 1 - Broken Cycle (Sunny Sky)
Glen Hall and Bernie Koenig* - Time for a Stiff Drink - Overheard Conversations (Slam)
Nina Simone - Plain Gold Ring (Fab Samperi remix) - Little Girl Blue Remixed (Naxos)
Ray Anger - Celebration of Life Suite - Supreme Sonacy Vol. 1 (Impulse!)
The Grassy Knoll - Down in the Happy Zone - III (Nettwerk)
Alicia Hansen and Ben Brown* - Rods and Cones - Companion (Independent)
John Scofield - Hangover - Past Present (Impulse!)
Ratchet Orchestra* - Yield - Hemlock (Drip Audio)
Combustible Edison - One Eyed Monkey - Schizophonic! (Sub Pop)

DNTTA Playlist for October 30, 2015 - The Spooky Muhahahaha Annual Hallowe'en Show

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Skinny Puppy* - Tin Omen - Rabies (Nettwerk)
Ministry - Every Day is Hallowe'en - 12 Inch Collection (Wax Trax!)
Death Industry - Like the Plague - Scavengers in the Matrix (If It Moves)
Mussolini Headkick - Jesus Collects - Themes for Violent Retribution (Wax Trax!)
Alien Sex Fiend - I Walk the Line - I Walk the Line (12")
Glenn Love* - Landscape of Ruin - Delusion of Reprieve (Sonic-X)
Love and Rockets - No New Tale to Tale - Sorted! The Best of Love and Rockets (Beggar's Banquet)
The Wake - Nazarene - Gothspotting (Cleopatra)
Lindemann - Children of the Sun - Skills in Pills (Atlantic)
Bleed* - Murder Baby - Hatred Inside (Independent)
GWAR - Sick of You - Scumdogs of the Universe (Metal Blade)
Gang Signs* - Antidote - Geist (File Under: Music)

DNTTA Playlist for October 23, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Intervene* - Sneaks - Plus One (Independent)
Seed of Dorzon* - Part II - Seed of Dorzon (Fundog)
Terrian* - Oblivion - Terrian EP (Independent)
Clock DVA - Sound Mirror - Sound Mirror (12") (Wax Trax!)
Parallels* - The Kids Will Save Detroit - Civilization EP (Marigold)
Young Truck* - Contraindications - Maximum Average (Not Unlike)
Mr. Flash - Over the Top - Ed Rec Vol. III (Ed Banger)
Electrohome* - Where Bears Are Sleeping - The Stuff that Dreams Are Made Of (Independent)
Black Mold* - Tetra Pack Heads - Blindness iz Crystal Antz (Flemish Eye)

Concert review: Daydreams/Pink Eraser/Woolworm at Zack's

I've been making good on my commitment to take in more live music and continue writing about the local scene. I've been concerned lately about the turnout at local shows, but it seems the younger crowd is still coming out in droves for shows. Zack's hosted two local bands, Daydreams and Pink Eraser, plus Vancouver's Woolworm on Saturday, November 14th.

I got to the concert just as Daydreams were finishing up. I heard about two songs from them, so I can't really make an honest opinion about how they were.

After a short break, Pink Eraser played. They've been playing for a couple of years around Kamloops. I liked what they had to offer. It was in the Dinosaur Jr./Buffalo Tom style of grunge, the melodic "wall-of-sludgy-guitar noise" style. The vocals were way down in the mix though, they were impossible to hear, so it felt more like an instrumental band than anything. They got a good groove going though. Total shoegazers though, aside from a few vocals, the band members rarely looked up from their instruments.

Woolworm finished up the show. These guys sounded great on record. Their latest EP, Everything Seems Obvious, is a solid 4 track album of grimy but melodic post-punk. They call their sound "blanket rock", whatever that means. The lead singer was a wide-eyed spastic, grinding out melodic guitar and howling into the mike, whirling himself around in the instrumental parts. Their sound is very reminiscent of early Sonic Youth, sudden, experimental and a bit nihilistic. The band also had a penchant for dropping into bursts of thrashy punk in the middle of a song, and then finishing a song abruptly. Solid, melodic post-punk, a bit unpredictable and very loud.

Zach's, lately, has been doing 2-3 shows a month, sometimes more, with a great variety, from acoustic acts to indy rock to punk and metal. Thanks to Zach's, there's more than a few great venues downtown for music

.

RIP Allen Toussaint

One of the giants of New Orleans jazz has left us. Allen Toussaint passed away early in the morning today (November 10th). While others more well informed on jazz will write a lot more on his legacy, I wanted to shed a bit of my own experience with his music.

Allen Toussaint grew up around music in a shotgun shack in New Orleans and is one of the most celebrated and successful musicians from the always vibrant New Orleans music scene. He was a musician, mainly on piano and vocals, a producer, a mentor, a composer, a song-writer and an arranger. The people he's worked with could fill a book. He's written music for Al Hirt, The Neville Brothers, Lee Dorsey, The Rolling Stones, Irma Thomas, The O'Jays and more. His greatest successes came as a producer in the 60s and 70s, for artists like the Nevilles and Lee Dorsey. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Allen Toussaint was in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005 and he was among the musicians feared killed by the storm, but he survived. He left New Orleans for New York. He was instrumental in raising money and rebuilding the city, along with other big names from the New Orleans scene. His 2009 album, The Bright Mississippi, ended up on many critics best of lists that year,

From my own experience, I know Allen Toussaint's music for three reasons. The first is fairly obscure, for Devo's cover of "Working in a Coalmine" from New Traditionalists. Devo's version of the song morphs it from a sad, soulful ode to the hard work and toil of a coalminer into a quirky, staccato new wave track about working robotically and enjoying it. I also found that Warren Zevon's "A Certain Girl" was a Toussaint song, a song that I enjoyed from Zevon and seems a bit out of place in his catalogue of songs, having a whimsical and playful tone that Zevon's usual somber and biting songwriting lacks. In 2006, Toussaint was tracked down by Elvis Costello, who helped him raise money for New Orleans relief and they collaborated on a wonderful album called The River in Reverse.

Released soon after Hurricane Katrina and while the tragedy was still fresh in everyone's mind, Toussaint and Costello's mutual and considerable gifts came together to make an album startling in it's emotion and beauty. Toussaint's piano playing deftly dances between sorrow and grief to hope and triumph. The River in Reverse celebrates the power of the human spirit, the joy of music and the soulful humanity of New Orleans. I'm not ashamed that the album moved me to tears several times upon listening to it that year, and I listened to it a lot. I chose it as one of my favourite albums that year.

Allen Toussaint was in Madrid for a concert when he passed away. He was 77.

Video Playlist #2: None More Black

November's video playlist is called None More Black, all bands with the word Black in their name. Difficulty: No metal bands.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2K_1qvIsFo&list=PL0QOmyo1JgZf9o4EO1gwjST0KfjvF1TQS

Black - Wonderful Life
The Black Angels - Evil Things
Black Mountain* - Old Fangs
Black Rice - Falling Down
Black Milk - What It's Worth
Black Moth Super Rainbow - Forever Heavy
Big Black - Kerosene
Blk Sonshine - Building
Black Flag - Nervous Breakdown
Black 47 - Bobby Sands, MP
Black Lab - Wash it Away
Black Lips - Funny
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Hate the Taste
Black Star Liner - Low BMW
Black Strobe - Blood Shot Eye

Earshot Reviews - October 2015

I had completely forgotten I recently finished some reviews for Earshot! I have more on the way too!

Alex Cuba - Healer

Boogat - Neo-Reconquista

Leeroy Stagger - Dream it All Away

Concert Review: Steve Hill at the Blue Grotto, Oct 22

This past Thursday, October 22nd, my little station brought in Steve Hill for a fundraising concert. Steve Hill is one of Canada's up and coming names in the blues, won the Juno for Blues Album of the Years and 4 Maple Blues Awards this year. But that's not what sold me on seeing him live.

I like musicians who do something different with their music. I've seen legends in traditional blues like John Mayall and Buddy Guy, but Steve Hill is a different sort of a musician. He's a one man band. He plays guitar and drums at the same time. I had to see how this works in concert.

Well, put simply, he's rigged up everything so he can stand and play everything at the same time. First, there's his guitar, which is pretty standard electric blues fare. He's got the bass kick drum set up his left foot, and a snare drum and hi-hat set up for his left foot, so he shuffles back and forth kicking drum pedals to create the beat. Lastly, he's got a drumstick strapped to the top of his guitar and uses that to hit a cymbal. And he does it all without missing a single note. You get a good example of it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWay6zUJtzA 
He also had a stage hand helping him go through his various guitars. I counted four of them. And there's an effect box he keeps near by to fiddle with in between songs.

All this makes it seems like he's a bit of a novelty act, especially watching him with the drumstick at the end of the guitar. His live show made me a believer though. This is straight up, balls out, electric blues and he deserves every allocade he's gotten so far. You're not watching a sideshow attraction, his is a true musician in charge of everything he does.

His first set was very high energy electric blues, with a strong Delta blues vibe going through everything. This is music made for dancing and grooving too. He reminded me of an electrified John Lee Hooker or the earlier work of ZZ Top. Gritty, driving, bruising blues.

The second set, he started with a couple of slow, acoustic numbers, then ramped it up a bit more for the rest of the set. I got up and stood right in front of the stage to see him operate all the equipment at once so I could see how it worked. Watching him play seems as if he slips into a musical trance. He's totally in the zone when he's playing. His work didn't seem mechanical either, that is, he's not focusing on making music. He's totally into it so he doesn't even think about what he's doing. His last song was a free-roaming 15 minute long medley that started in Delta blues, went through Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile" and ended up in Led Zeppelin territory. The things he was doing with his guitar defied description. I'd never seen anyone play guitar like that, and he was playing drums at the same time!

I urge anyone who loves guitars or loves the blues needs to see Steve Hill in concert. His next album is coming out in March 2016, so there'll be plenty of opportunities to see him!

DNTTA Playlist for October 16, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Black Mountain* - Evil Ways - In the Future (Scratch)
UUBBUURRUU* - Laying in an Angel's Corpse - Swamp Ritual (Kapuano)
Zulus - Gemini - II (Aagoo)
War Baby* - Dance Song - Jesus Horse (Bummer)
The Soft Moon - Far - Deeper (Captured Tracks)
Public Image Ltd. - C'Est La Vie - What the World Needs Now (PiL)
Bow Wow Wow - Louis Quatorze - Last of the Mohicans (RCA)
No Museums* - The Last Blackeye - Frightening Camera (Independent)
Half Chinese* - Boomerang - Safespace Compilation 2012 (Independent)
US Girls* - Damn That Valley - Half Free (4AD)
Girl Band - Pearls for Lunch - Holding Hands with Jamie (Rough Trade)
The Pink Noise* - Gross Crime - Decay (Not Unlike)
Frank Zappa - Dirty Love - Strictly Commercial (Ryko)

DNTTA Playlist for October 9, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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METZ* - Spit You Out - II (Sub Pop)
Pigeon Breeders* - Dilapidation - Concrescence (Shaking Box)
The Sword - Tears Like Diamonds - High Country (Razor and Tie)
Lindemann - Yukon - Skills in Pills (Atlantic)
Dirty Looks - Lie to Me - Dirty Looks (Stiff)
Hag Face* - Baby Doomers - RIP (Psychic Handshake)
Novel* - Johnny Don't Need No Mask - Discrete Noise (Shake!)
Mosfett* - Hand Sanitizer Cocktail - Roswell (Shake!)
Counterfeit Jeans* - Heavy Weather - Ride the Tempo Presents: Weirdest Tuesday (Baffled Octopi)
Parquet Courts - You've Got Me Wonderin' Now - Tally All the Things that You Broke (What's Your Rupture?)
Lint* - Give it a Go - Dry (Independent)
The Scramblers* - Solitary Man - Last Call (Zulu)

DNTTA Playlist for October 2, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Jad Fair and Phono-Comb* - Evil Eye - Monsters, Lullabies and the Occasional Flying Saucer (Shake)
The Bongos - Manbo Sun - Drums Along the Hudson (Passport)
Richard Barone - I Only Took What I Needed - Primal Dreasm (MCA)
Mas Ysa* - Margarita - Seraph (MapleMusic)
Frog Eyes* - Death's Ship - Pickpocket's Locket (Paper Bag)
Bettie Serveert - Tomboy - What's Up Matador (Matador)
Motopony - Changing - Welcomes You (E1)
Lucid Afterlife* - Change the World - I Am (Independent)
Fake Palms* - Melatonin - Fake Palms (Buzz)
Concealer* - Curses - Feted:Fetid (Independent)
No Aloha* - All Eyes - No Problemo (Poncho)

Video Playlist #1: A Trip Across Europe

I got an idea over the summer than I'm finally getting around to developing. I love the idea of obtuse and outside of the box music programming, and programming on a non-obvious theme. I tend to collect oddball ideas like this and never get a chance to really explore them. Today, I end that procrastination.

Let's take an idea. Bands named after something, like people not in the band, or food, or colours. Then program a playlist based on that idea. Not on good music, or if the music necessarily fits together, but on that theme regardless of what the music is. Then we'd get this idea.

I'll be trying to put up a playlist a month, starting with this one. The playlists will be at least 12 songs long. I'll also be trying to focus on obscure bands (especially Canadian ones) and not well known songs from more established artists. October's theme is places in Europe. And I already have more than enough music to make another playlist on the same theme. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mss_KldSE7w&list=PL0QOmyo1JgZdJvrKYQ_5Pbl40_nEmpvi4

Band - Song (* indicates a Canadian band)

1) North Atlantic Explorers* - Don't Want No One Else
2) Rejkyavictim* - Mediocre Superstar
3) Portugal, the Man - Modern Jesus
4) Spain - I'm Still Free
5) Madrid* - Siblings
6) I'm From Barcelona - Violins
7) Hey Marseilles - Heart Beats
8) Milanese - Caramel Cognac
9) Liechtenstein - Ambitions
10) Berlin - Metro
11) Radio Berlin* - Gare du Nord
12) Elvis Costello and the Attractions - Luxembourg
13) Norway* - Save Me
14) Architecture in Helsinki - Debbie
15) Danzig - How the Gods Kill
16) Rational Youth* - Saturdays in Silesia
17) Budapest - Clock Face
18) Mares of Thrace* - The Perpetrator
19) Sunburn in Cyprus - In the Sunshine

DNTTA Playlist for September 25, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Glider* - Route Nordique - Sand From Water (Where Are My)
Roisin Murphy - Evil Eyes - Hairless Toys (PIAS)
The Invisible Pair of Hands - Feu d'Joi - Disparation (Cup of Tea)
Ariane Moffat* - Debout - 22h22 (Hidden Pony)
Ratatat - Supreme - Magnifique (XL)
The Avalanches - Close to You - Since I Left You (Modular)
Fussible - Odysseo - Odysseo EP (Nettwerk)
Blancmange - The Day Before You Came - Mange Tout (London)
Fake Tears* - Hearts Break Loud - Nightshifting (Mint)
Knautic* - Nameless Rasta - Debut EP (East Van Digital)
Valiska* - Snow - Repetitions (Bow Bottom)

DNTTA Playlist for September 11, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Dusted* - (Into the) Atmosphere - Total Dust (Hand Drawn Dracula)
The Neutral States* - Trust - Split LP with the Little Lovers (Independent)
Solid Brown* - Overlapped Skin Breakdown - Our Rich Heritage (Independent)
Empty Heads* - Ethanol - Empty Heads (Debt Offensive)
FFS - Dictator's Son - FFS (Domino)
Yo La Tengo - Friday I'm in Love - Stuff Like That There (Matador)
Woolworm* - Useless - Everything Seems Obvious (Hockey Dad)
Night Terrors* - Bear Child - Wardenclyffe (Independent)
Sex with Strangers* - New Persuader - The Modern Seduction (Boutique Empire)
Dri Hiev* - Tooth - Dri Hiev (Shake!)
She Serpent* - So Bad - She Serpent (Chit-Chat)
Hex Ray* - Helicopter - Coin of the Realm (Independent)

DNTTA Playlist for September 4, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Jenny Omnichord* - Charlotte or Otis - Charlotte or Otis (Label Fantastic)
Joyfultalk* - Pommel Horse - Muuixx (Drip Audio)
DK5600 - Yolo Retto da Katrias - Distanza Katrias 5600 (Bugs Crawling Out of People)
Azfarat - Age of Reason - Yggdrasil and the Plague of Frogs (Bugs Crawling Out of People)
San Fermin - Astronaut - Jackrabbit (Downtown)
ONBC - Call it What You Want - Crash, Burn and Cry (Crunchy Frog)
Hush Pup* - Wait Up - Waterwings (Shake!)
Ratatat - Abrasive - Magnifique (XL)
Teen Daze* - Morning World - Morning World (Paper Bag)
Soak - B A Nobody - Before We Forgot How to Dream (Rough Trade)
D.F.* - Top Ten - A Chance Encounter (Shaking Box)

DNTTA Playlist for August 28, 2015 - All Covers Show!

Artist - Song - Album (Label)* indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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More Fun* - Barbra (The Modernettes) - Oh Canaduh! 2 (Lance Rock)
The Royal Iguana Fur* - The Girl You Want (DEVO) - Wingdings (Peace Country Diaspora)
Red Faced - That's Good (DEVO) - We Are Not DEVO (Centipede)
Moonsocket* - Hold Me Now (Thompson Twins) - Return of Our Stupid Noise (Squirtgun)
Teenage Head* - Brand New Cadillac (Vince Taylor) - Frantic City (Attic)
Dread Zeppelin - Your Time is Gonna Come (Led Zeppelin) - Un-Led-Ed (IRS)
Fischerspooner - The 15th (Wire) - #1 (Capitol)
Laibach - Sympathy for the Devil (Rolling Stones) - Sympathy for the Devil (Mute)
Langley Schools Music Project* - The Long and Winding Road (The Beatles) - Innocence and Despair (Bar/None)
Husker Du - Sunshine Superman (Donovan) - Everything Falls Apart and More (Rhino)
Heaven 17 - Holiday (Madonna) - Virgin Voices: A Tribute to Madonna (Cleopatra)
Mudhoney* - We Hate the Bloody Queen (The Queen Haters) - Oh Canaduh! 2 (Lance Rock)

SJWs Invade Music!

A few days ago, I read an interesting article that was linked up from the BC Musician magazine Facebook page, called I Was a Polaris Juror and it Sucked. Having been a Polaris juror myself several years ago, I found the article an interesting look back into the world I had left. When I was a juror, I was called in due to my position as music director at CFBX and enjoyed the opportunity to help determine the best music in Canada, regardless of commercial success. I only stayed as a juror for one year, since I found a lot of the discussion fairly off-putting, as the article above points out. The politicking, sometimes harsh (if passionate) arguing and name calling often drowned out the actual discussion about the music. I kind of shrugged the rest of the article off as sour grapes, finding the tokenism of the author wanting to include more diverse voices as a point of social commentary, rather than a discussion of music.

That is until this happened:



The very same band the author of the article was campaigning against has changed their name, due to pressure from outside sources. I understand why the band did it, to silence people complaining about the band rather than talking about their music, but it's a shame they were forced to do so. They didn't choose the name because it was offensive (though that would be a totally post-punk/middle finger kind of thing for a band like this to do), but because it resonated with them. Today I realized, after watching the hilarious and spot on portrayals of SJWs (Social Justice Warriors) as bullying frat boys from Monday's season opener of South Park, that SJWs are beginning to infiltrate the music industry. And it sucks.

The SJW movement has it's roots in something noble, the feminists movement, but has turned into something extremely offensive and often unintentionally hilarious. Check out the TumblrinAction subreddit for the type of thing I'm talking about. Yes, the rights of the trans-gendered, the gay and otherwise marginalized members of society should be protected. No, just because you think you're a wolf in a human body (or even more ridiculous things like a galaxy in a human body, or a colour in a human body (yes, that's apparently a thing), does not make you special nor deserving of special treatment. Because you think you have a mental illness and you are "triggered" by someone saying you're not special does not make you special. It makes you delusional. Real people with mental illnesses don't brag about their illnesses, they instead work through them. And when they're triggered (actually triggered, not whatever you think being triggered is), they curl up in a ball in the corner, a quivering mess of uncontrollable anxiety or depression. They don't blog about it. Nor do they whine on the internet, unless they're looking for attention. Like most of these otherkin folk on Tumblr.

Yes, Johnnie Regalado, Viet Cong's name could be seen as offensive. But does that in any way reduce how good their music is? Fuck no. Their debut album is one of the best albums of the year so far, and I'd be pretty proud if the Polaris Prize went to them. Grant Lawrence is completely right pointing out that you don't seem to have any problems with other bands that have offensive names. The Dead Kennedys, named after the assassination of John Kennedy, are one of the most respected punk bands in the world. Joy Division are named after the group of "pleasure ladies" used to service Nazi leaders, and are one of the most important post-punk bands ever. Gang of Four are named after the repressive inner circle of Mao's revolutionary government in China, but still made several amazing and highly influential dance punk albums. The Lee Harvey Oswald Band, Marilyn Manson, Anal Cult, The Fucking Champs, The Dwarves. The list goes on and on of bands with offensive names that are making great music. Yet Viet Cong somehow twists your nipples and twisted a bunch of other people so hard that the band were forced to change their name because they got all offended by the choices they made. What right do you have to say that the band is wrong? How punk is it to knuckle down and bow to public pressure? Not very punk at all. And it robs the band of their ability to make an artistic statement.

This reminds me so much of the PMRC debates that happened back in the 80s, back when some morally upright politicians and their wives were openly complaining about depravity in the music industry. This was back when people were afraid that kids were killing themselves due to listening to heavy metal albums. The hearings that followed were amusing in a lot of ways, with Frank Zappa making the most poignant speech of the hearings. It's interesting to note that Zappa's Jazz from Hell album ended up with a parental advisory sticker on it, even though the album contained no lyrics, and there was nothing offensive on the album sleeve or liner notes. And Zappa was a staunch conservative. And, John Denver, who the establishment thought would for sure stand up for the depravity in the music industry, actually stood up for artistic expression.

Get your stinking moral high ground out of art and music. That sort of judgement stunts the artistic process and damages art and music. Viet Cong should not be forced to change their name.

FYI, here's Zappa's speech. It's a bit long, but worth listening to.

DNTTA Playlist for August 21, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)* indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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UBT* - The Bumby Song - Ego Orienation (Psychic Handshake)
Slayer and Atari Teenage Riot - No Remorse I Want to Die - Spawn OST (Volcano)
KEN Mode* - The Owl - Success (New Damage)
Love Battery - Harold's Pink Room - Straight Freak Ticket (PolyGram)
Algiers - Old Girl - Algiers (Matador)
Renny Wilson* - Escaping Alive - Punk Explosion/Extension (Mint)
Shooting Guns* - Harmonic Steppenwolf - Sounds from the Workshop (Independent)
White Reaper - Wolf Trap Hotel - White Reaper Does it Again (Royal Mountain)
Softess* - Star Death Chart - Dark Power (Thankless)
Softess* - Medicine - Dark Power (Thankless)
Basic Nature* - Eyelids - Circles and Lines (Sundowning)
Map 71 - Wrong Element - Wrong Element (Foolproof)
Hook and Eye* - God of Gamblers - Sounds from the Workshop (Independent)

DNTTA Playlist for August 14, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)* indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Altered Laws* - 99 - The Outsiders (Independent)
Jerry Granelli Trio* - Mystery - What I Hear Now (Addo)
Gypsophilia* - Dirty Circus - Night Swimming (Forward)
Tony Wilson 6tet* - The Laundry Room - A Day's Night (Drip Audio)
Jeff Richman - North Shore - Hotwire (Independent)
Skydirve Trio - Bravo - Sun Moee (Hubro)
Monkey Plot - Undertiden - Angående omstendigheter som ikke lar seg nedtegne (Hubro)
Hildegard's Ghost* - Some Things are Timeless - Stories (Independenty)

DNTTA Playlist for August 7, 2015 - BC Day Special

Artist - Song - Album (Label)* indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Connect_icut* - Tennis Players - Small Town By the Sea (Aagoo)
ohGr* - Sunburn - Sunny Psy Op (Eagle)
Landscape Body Machine* - Isolation - Structure (Liquid)
Gang Signs* - Poison One - Gang Signs (Independent)
Tough Age* - Warm Hair - I Get the Feeling Central (Mint)
Weed* - Thousand Pounds - Running Back (Lefse)
The Tubuloids* - Professor Bumbles - Surf Fukushima (Crapitol)
Fountain* - Emerald Dripping Flat - Fountain 2 (Independent)
NoMeansNo* - Slugs Are Burning - All Roads Lead to Ausfahrt (AntAcidAudio)
Purveyors of Free Will* - Eurosonic - The Folded World (Baffled Octopi)
Wendy Atkinson* - Something Overhead - The Last Fret (Smarten Up!)
Grim Tower* - Reign Doom - Anarchic Breezes (Outer Battery)
Aunts and Uncles* - Fictional - SafeAmp Compilation 2012 (Independent)

The Salmon Arm Roots and Blues Festival 2015

The Salmon Arm Rootsand Blues Festival is one of the highlights of the music festival season in the BC Interior. 2015's edition was a bit different than past festivals. The layout was a bit different and there was one less stage. Nonetheless, it was a great time for me.

As usual, I was only able to go on Sunday. I got to the festival just after 11 AM and after checking in, headed to the Barn Stage to see a workshop just finishing up. I saw the last two songs from Elephant Revival, Cara Luft, Tim Chaisson, Tony McManus at Colin Savoie-Levac of The Duhks. Elephant Revival impressed me just in those ten minutes, so I decided to come back and see them later.

I stuck around the Barn Stage for the next workshop too. Workshops are one of the hallmarks of the Salmon Arm Festival, and where the magic usually happens. What happens is that a few different musicians are put on the stage together, with one leading the show. They come on with no plan of what to play, then play off of each other to make music. You get a nice mix of improvisation and get to see musicians creating music out of thin air. This workshop was with 2015 Juno World Music Award winner Quique Escamilla, Canadian Latin band Marco Claveria Project and Canadian Latin fusion band Tacoy Ryde. What the crowd got was a high energy fusion of Latin with Tacoy Ryde, 20 year veterans of the music scene, mixing in hot percussion, reggae rhythms and some blues licks to boot. Truly amazing stuff, with Tacoy Ryde being the standouts.

Off to the Blues Stage for the next workshop. The Blues stage is a bit different with the workshops, with less improvisation and more showcasing one musician with the rest acting as the backing band. Usually, a musician will call out a key, say what song they are playing, then play it with some members stepping up to solo. This one had some legends, Canadian legend Amos Garrett, US acoustic blues hallmark Geoff Muldaur, some members of Canned Heat, along with some younger and lesser known musicians, two members of the reunited Rockin' Highliners and US musician Tyrone Vaughn. This was a typical blues stage. Everyone was good, but nothing special.

I headed over to the Shade Stage (after grabbing a poutine for lunch) to see Tim Chaisson. He was on the workshop at the Barn Stage earlier. I was also familiar with his work from hearing his first two albums, which impressed me with their maturity. It would be easy to discount Tim Chaisson was just another “guy with a guitar”, the kind that's all over Top 40 radio now, but his work is much deeper. He's got a country vibe to a lot of his work, plus he's also a fiddle player in the East Coast tradition. Of course, he had the women in the crowd swooning, but he's a great musician and showman on top of that. I was lucky enough to get one of his fiddle tunes on my phone and onto Youtube:

Later on in his set, he brought on one of the members of the Duhks on guitar while he played fiddle for some driving Celtic reels. His last two songs, he showed off a loop pedal. He plays a bit, recorded it into the pedal and then set the pedal on loop to act as his backing track. Watching him play and his familiarity with the technology, updating a very traditional Canadian style, was very eye-opening and exciting. Definitely a musician that deserves more exposure.

Back to the Blues Stage for another workshop. This one was supposed to be led by Josh Hoyer, but he was held up at the border. The main reason I wanted to check this one out was to see the Stooges Brass Band. Like I said earlier, the blues stage tends not to lend itself to wild experimentation, but I was reminded of seeing Hazmat Modine at a blues stage workshop a few years ago. Hazmat Modine are an odd mix of blues, rock and brass band jazz, and the addition of the brass section seemed to add a more experimental and unpredictable element. The Stooges, a brass band in the street-walking New Orleans tradition, certainly did that. They added an energy that's often missing at the blues stage, and blasts of horn added into some stellar blues playing was a great addition.

After a break for dinner (food truck donair, a ritual at any festival I go to), The Duhks took the main stage. The Duhks are a long running Canadian folk band, mostly in the East Coast Celtic style, but they also bring in rock, bluegrass and country elements. One song was also sung in French. Great band, put on a good set, if a bit unremarkable.

Over to the Barn Stage again to see Elephant Revival again, this time by themselves. This band was probably the highlight of the festival for me. Merging all sort of American folk styles, this ensemble band did a wide variety of folk songs. The main singer, Bonnie Paine, had a voice that was both belting and incredibly fragile. She did two songs acapella that were incredibly moving. The rest of the band were equally good, with several of them taking turns at singing and leading the band. Great band, great set.

The last band of the night for me was the legendary Canned Heat. And, they were disappointing. More often than not, I've noticed many of the legends I've seen in the past few years have been less than stellar. That's understandable, given age catching up to them and all. But there's something off about a classic band with no new material playing a festival, like Canned Heat. With a band like Canned Heat, the last thing you want to hear from them is “Here's something from our new album.” There is no new album from them. Everyone just wants to hear them do their set from Woodstock and not much else. There's no incentive for the band to be innovative or try something new, and there's no interest in the crowd to hear something new. So the band just keeps playing the same set every festival they play. Without new material and re-invention, then you stagnate. On the other hand, someone like John Oates (who was also at the festival) has worked hard to re-invent himself and distance his work from his iconic run in Hall and Oates, and made some very interesting and great folk music since going out on his own. Canned Heat were pretty boring and sloppy. Not bad, but they were never great. By the time they finished up, the sun had set, the pot smokers came out, and it was time for me to leave.

As usual, this festival was great. I've been to years that have been better. All of the bands were at least listenable, with most of them being great.

Forgotten Music #19: Cristina - What's a Girl to Do (1984)

1980s New York produced a shocking amount of music. Being ground zero for a great deal of punk, post punk, jazz, new wave and experimental music, a few bands rose to the top, and a huge amount were ultimately relegated to footnotes in history, at best. Cristina was one of them.

Cristina, the musical persona of Cristina Monet-Palaci, was part of the no-wave movement in New York. Her first single was called "Disco Clone" and was released on her husband Michael Zihlka's ZE Records. It was a left-field hit and ending up putting ZE on the map. ZE ended up releasing material from many notable musicians including Alan Vega, James Chance, John Cale, Kid Creole and The Waitresses, amongst others.

Cristina recorded two albums, her first in 1980, a self-titled effort, and her second, Sleep it Off, in 1984. She was known for a deadpan vocal delivery, which she showed off in two offbeat covers, Peggy Lee's famous jazz standard, "Is That All There Is" and the Beatles' "Drive My Car". Her music was a strange mix of Lydia Lunch style talk/singing, disaffected Eurotrash pop and snotty punk.

I'll admit, I hadn't heard of Cristina until I heard "What's a Girl to Do" on Ladytron's 2003 DJ mix/album Softcore Jukebox. That album is a wonderful mash up of retro electronics and oddball electro-rock. There's more that's worth looking at in future installments of Forgotten Music, like Fanny Pack, Pop Levi and Dondolo.

Cristina's career was very short, just five years. She now works as a writer in New York. Her two albums were re-released by ZE Records in 2006. "What's a Girl to Do" was from her second and last album, Sleep it Off.

DNTTA Playlist for July 31, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)* indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Nap Eyes - Dark Creedence* - Whine of the Mystic (You've Changed)
Jennifer Castle - Working for the Man* - Pink City (Independent)
Catholic Girls - Berlin* - Psychic Woman (Independent)
Fauna Shade - Marzipan - Baton Rouge (Independent)
Alvvays - Archie, Marry Me* - Alvvays (Polyvinyl)
Ashley Soft - Glass Advice* - Leave (Shaking Box)
Vague - Black Sheep - Tempdays (Siluh)
Untrained Animals - Visitors* - III (Independent)
Braids - Letting Go* - Deep in the Iris (Flemish Eye)
Caribou - All I Ever Need* - Our Love (Merge)
Doldrums - Funeral for Lightning* - The Air Conditioned Nightmare (Sub Pop)
Rose Windows - Strip Mall Babylon - Rose Windows (Sub Pop)

DNTTA Playlist for July 24, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)* indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Delerium feat. Rykka - Aurora* - Rarities and B-Sides (Nettwerk)
Portishead - Sour Times (live) - Roseland NYC Live (Go! Discs)
Seoul - Real June* - I Became a Shade (Last Gang)
Brendan Philip - Warning* - Brendan Philip EP (Dine Alone)
Paranerd - Hi Hat Sex* - Split EP (Port Vanderlay)
Oxygenfad - King Glitch* - Split EP (Port Vanderlay)
Uaxyacac - The Love You Feel is Something Else* - Homemade Myth (Port Vanderlay)
Squarepusher - Baltang Ort - Damogen Furies (Warp)
Shamir - On the Regular - Ratchet (XL)
Holly Herndon - Unequal - Platform (4AD)
Wolfgang - Every Second - The Wicked Truth About Loving a Man (Hypnote)

DNTTA Playlist for July 17, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)* indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Mecca Normal - Who Shot Elvis?* - Who Shot Elvis? (Matador)
The Backhomes - One More Time* - Tidalwave (Independent)
Infilm - Advent* - Infilm (Independent)
Mocky - Living in the Snow* - Key Change (Independent)
Tanlines - Two Thousand Miles - Highlights (4AD)
Harrison - You're Light* - Colours EP (Last Gang)
Django Django - Shake and Tremble - Born Under Saturn (Because)
Slight - Tasting* - Oh Hi Vol. 1 (Oh Hi)
Gastr del Sol - Black Horse - Camoufleur (Drag City)
The Quiet Room - My Side of the Story - All the Frozen Horses (Independent)
Dolby's Cube - May the Cube Be With You - Aliens Ate My Buick (Manhattan)

DNTTA Playlist for July 10, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)* indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Gypsy Ghosts - Hell Hounds* - Mad Men Only (Independent)
Mauno - Nothing* - Rough Master (Independent)
Mauno - Burn This* - Rough Master (Independent)
Big Audio Dynamite - Dragon Town - Megatop Phoenix (Epic)
Swervedriver - For a Day Like Tomorrow - I Wasn't Born to Lose You (Dine Alone)
Jooj - Jessica* - Jooj (Last Gang)
Slan - Night Crawler* - Electric Blues (Last Gang)
Bob's Your Uncle - Talk to the Birds* - Last Call (Zulu)
Mile Me Deaf - Living in a Shrinking Hell - Eerie Bits of Future Trips (Siluh)
Ceremony - The Pattern - The L-Shaped Man (Matador)
Fountain - Egg Island* - Fountain 2 (Independent)
Eliot Moss - Slip - Highspeeds (Grand Jury)

A (Brief) Review of the Khatsalano Festival

This past weekend, I took some time off of work to check out the Khatsalano Festival in Vancouver. It's a short review, because I only caught the last couple of hours, since I got to Vancouver about 6 PM, and to the festival at 7 PM.

Khatsalano is an free open-air festival, they close of West 4th Avenue from Burrard to MacDonald, put up five stages of music, plus lots of food trucks, business and roving performers. The music was a nice mix of indy rock with a few bigger names to get people to show up. The crowd was quite unique for a music festival, given that this is basically a neighbourhood gathering and not strictly for music fans. There was an even mix of hipsters (beards, trucker hats and skinny jeans are still in fashion here!), bros, hippies and 50 year old guys in khakis.

Showing up at Burrard, I spy the main stage right at the front. The Belle Game are in the middle of their set, but I don't stop, since I've already seen them once at Salmon Arm and they didn't do much for me. I wander down to Zulu Records and turn the corner to find... The Backhomes putting in a set! The Backhomes are a wonderfully spacy, noisy, drony post-punk/psych-rock act from Victoria. They're a duo, a guitar and a bass, with a keyboard and a drum machine. Almost oblivious to the crowd, they drones and barely moved. Excellent ambience. I really should have bought their new album, but I had driven four hours and needed to eat.

Wandered back to eat a vegan sausage on a bun (apparently there are such things as vegan sausages), browsed Zulu and picked up a bunch of disks for $1.50, then wandered back to the main stage to find Yukon Blonde there. They're on the upswing on their career, and the crowd showed it. They were a good 60 feet deep. Getting close to the stage was not an option and my ears hurt from 60 feet away. The band seemed to beginning to act like the swaggering rock stars they were becoming. I turned around and walked the other way, hoping to find the Ballantynes finishing up their set, but they were already done.

Instead I found the PEAK Performance stage, and a band called Little India. This stage was to highlight the 12 bands in this years PEAK Performance contest, unsigned BC bands vying for a cash prize and time in the studio to put out some music. Surprisingly, two local acts played earlier in the day, Vernon's Windmills and Kamloops' own Van Damsel. Little India were the last band on stage that night, and they were a decent but unremarkable alt-rock band.

This festival looks fun and would probably be well worth a full day if you can get out to it. Some of the bands earlier in the day were interesting, including sets from old-timers The Pointed Sticks, No Fun and the legendary Enigmas. The Maple Stage had some really exotic bands, from The Backhomes to Fake Tears to Energy Slime.

The other reason I came down, outside of needing a brief vacation, was to visit some friends and to, of course, record shop, which I did. I shop for as much discount as I can, and rarely buy anything new unless I am really looking for something. And I'm routinely astounded by the music I can find for under $5, often under $3. I bought the new albums from Purity Ring, Viet Cong and METZ new, but the rest was used.

Highlights:

The Floor - Doll EP
Redd Kross - Born Innocent
Big Black - Songs About Fucking
Shearing Pinx - Poison Hands
Bob Mould - S/T
Weed - Running Back
Secret Mommy - Very Rec
Magnetic Fields - i
Low - Drums and Guns

Because I had some time, I stopped in Port Coquitlam because I remembered a shop I was at years ago where I found some interesting albums. I'm glad I did, since I found some really rare stuff. If you're in Port Coquitlam, just turn off of Highway 7 onto Shaughnessy and Mostly Music is right on the first corner after you come under the bridge. They have a good selection, but their prices are a bit high, and the place is cramped and needs to be tidied up. I found Elvis Costello's Girls Girls Girls collection, only available as an import in Canada, and the Producers for Bob album released on DOVentertaiment, which is super rare and very hard to find in the wild!

DNTTA Playlist for July 3, 2015 - All Canadian special

Artist - Song - Album (Label)* indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

--

Alvvays - Adult Diversion* - Alvvays (Polyvinyl)
Rabs and Mooves - Let's Get Numb* - Huevos EP (Independent)
Braids - Miniskirt* - Deep in the Iris (Flemish Eye)
Noia - Crayola Party* - Noia (L'Oeil du Tigre)
Moev - Crucity Me* - Yeah Whatever (Nettwerk)
Purveyors of Free Will - A Sigh, a Squall* - The Folded World (Baffled Octopi)
Etiquette - Brown and Blue* - Reminisce (Hand Drawn Dracula)
Ferlo - Not to Blame* - Out of Place (Independent)
METZ - The Swimmer* - II (Sub Pop)
Oromocto Diamond - Ouroborous* - Oponoi (P572)
Astronauts - Soul Seeker* - Astronauts EP (Independent)
Holzkopf - Botfly* - Sober Materials (Attenuation Circuit)

Concert Review: Mauno, Gianna Lauren, Abby and Cloe

This summer, I've been making more of a concerted (ha, a pun) effort to get out and see live shows. And, I've also been putting more effort into writing about music more regularly. Two weeks ago, I saw Hildegard's Ghost at The Art We Are (great band, oddball jazz with a harp player). On July 8^th, I saw Halifax musician Gianna Lauren at Zack's.

Zack's downtown is quickly becoming a hotbed for local music, thanks to new owners. Lately, there's been a lot of punk and metal going on there, and a huge amount of local concerts. It was unusual to see an artist as decidedly non-metal as Gianna Lauren playing there. I also had just completed an interview with Gianna on Saturday (watch the blog for the audio of the interview, coming soon...)

The openers for the show were locals Abby and Cloe, two cute-as-buttons teenagers playing acoustic guitars. Half of the crowd was clearly there to see them, probably family members and friends. This was their debut as a live act, they did three covers and two originals, mostly on the folk-pop end. They were decent for a first try at live performance. Half the crowd left after they finished their set.

Gianna Lauren was up next. She's touring in support of her upcoming fourth album, Moon Through Window. Gianna was using the headliners, Mauno, as her backing band. Gianna's voice is wispy with a bit of a throaty edge. She started with a couple of lighter tunes, her music a bit like the work of Kate Bush, but without the string section, and with Beat Happening as her back up band. After she played her latest single, “Mistakes”, she seemed to find her inner rock-goddess and started drenching her guitar with reverb. She did about an 8 song set and really had the crowd listening by the end of it.

Halifax's Mauno were the last band. I feared that most of the crowd would leave before they hit the stage. There were only three of us left in the crowd while they set up, but about a dozen people came back to listen to their set. Mauno's music is really hard to pin down. The band is a trio, Nick Everett on guitar and lead vocals, Eliza Neimi on bass and Evan Matthews on drums. Mauno have a noisy post-punk feel to it, with the start-stop tempo changes of a math-rock band. The closest band comparison I could make is Archers of Loaf, pretty heady company for a young band. Nick's guitar was front and centre, using no less than eight effects pedals, alternating shredding riffs with intricate strumming and picking. Interestingly, Nick and Eliza shared a microphone, bringing a striking intimacy to their music, having their faces inches from each other when they sang. The vocals were subtle, light singing with no screaming or posturing, almost mumbling at times. Evan Matthews jazz like drum playing added to the math-rock stylings of the band. For their last song, Eliza and Nick swapped instruments and vocal parts. I picked up their album, Rough Master, after the set, I was so impressed with this band. Their live show is more incendiary than their work on album, but both are very satisfying.

DNTTA Playlist for June 25, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)* indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

--

Nubile G and Spurious Whiz - Your Jolly Giant* - Death of Vinyl (DOVentertainment)
Cut From the Team - Kickz - See U (Urbnet)
Auxx - Harmonics - Harmonics Contrast (Urbnet)
OPOPO - Exorcism* - Extracts (Urbnet)
Crystal Precious - Apple Pie* - The Striphop EP (East Van Digital)
Dizzee Rascal - Stand Up Tall - Homework (XL)
Times Neue Roman - Come Find Me* - Versions (Independent)
Ghislain Poirier -Go Ballistic* - No Ground Under (Ninjatune)
Talking Heads - Crosseyed and Painless - Remain in Light (Sire)
Socalled - Extra Ordinary* - Peoplewatching (Dare to Care)
The Qemists - Drop Audio - You Don't Know (Ninjatune)
Consolitated feat. Paris - Guerillas in the Mist - Play More Music (Nettwerk)

Forgotten Music #18: Minutes from Downtown - "Heaven Street" (1983)

Minutes from Downtown are a Canadian one-hit wonder that aren't very well known even for their one hit, "Heaven Street". Admittedly, I hadn't even heard of them until running into them on a compilation called Pure Canadian Retro 80s, and I pretty much champion every obscure Canadian band from the 80s there is. "Heaven Street" captivated me from the first time I heard it a few years ago, and I scoured around to find more information about the band, but not finding much about them on the web. Reaching out to my fellow Canadian new wave fans, my friend Gary Flanagan said he had found a place in the States that had a LP pressing of their one and only album, and he payed a pretty penny to get it. The original LP was out of print and I was unlikely to find it in any of my many digs through dusty record bins that I so love digging through.

Last year, during my bi-monthly search through pawn shops and second hand stores in Vancouver, I found it. But, I found a CD repressing of the album, that was pupulisted by Popguru Records back in 2009. I had no idea it had been released on CD and neither did Gary. Even better, it was still sealed in plastic. The second-hand store had no idea what they had, and doubtful too did the person who originally owned it know what it was. I bought it for $2.

To be honest, the full album is no great shakes. It's pretty standard 80s pop fare. "Heaven Street", however, is on a very different level. It's one of those rare pieces that perfectly captures the sound of the day in shimmering brilliance. It deserves to be celebrated with the best pop songs of the 80s, alongside Split Enz "I Got You", The Hoodoo Gurus' "I Want You Back" or ABC's "The Look of Love".

The compilation I originally heard it on is also pretty interesting. There's a lot of tunes you'd expect to see on a Canadian 80s comp (Men Without Hats' "Safety Dance", Martha and the Muffins' "Echo Beach", Glass Tiger's "Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone"), but there's a lot of more obscure acts that deserve their own post in Forgotten Music some day (The Jitters, Strange Advance, Bamboo, National Velvet, The Deserters)

Covers Courageous #7: Mudhoney - Hallowe'en

It seems strangely apropos that we find Mudhoney covering Sonic Youth here. Both bands were seminal bands of their time, but ended up being overshadowed by other, more commercially successful bands, only for both bands to gain notoriety later on in their careers.

Sonic Youth started in the heady early days of the New York City punk scene in the late 70s and early 80s. While The Ramones, Talking Heads, Television and Blondie were tearing up CBGB's and signing contracts to major labels, no-wave bands like Suicide, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, DNA and Sonic Youth were twisting the post-punk sound into highly abrasive and unstructured noise. Sonic Youth toiled at their music for more than ten years, releasing albums on several obscure and defunct labels until the rise of grunge in the 90s saw them signing to the DGC label, alongside of bands like Nirvana and Beck. Their first unlikely mainstream success came soon after, with the albums Goo and Dirty getting rotation on MTV and alternative radio. After Sonic Youth's day in the sun, they slunk back into the underground for several excellent albums ranging from their traditional sludgy noise to more structured work with David Grubbs of Gastr del Sol, until they went on hiatus in 2011.

Mudhoney's story is similar. A groundbreaking band in the late 80s in the Seattle grunge scene, Mudhoney formed out of the ashes of early grunge band Green River (which also featured members of Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Mother Love Bone). Mudhoney pioneered the grunge sound of fuzzed out, heavily distorted guitar rock, which other bands took to much greater success, like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. Like Sonic Youth before them, their more successful co-horts went onto major label contracts while Mudhoney stayed local with Sub Pop Records. Mudhoney eventually graduated up to the Warner label for a few years and had a few minor hits, like having theiir “Touch Me I'm Sick” song featured in the movie “Singles”, then headed back to their old Sub Pop home. The band still records and tours, seemingly outlasting the bands they inspired.

Mudhoney's cover of Sonic Youth's “Hallowe'en” comes from a split single released by Sub Pop in 1990, with Sonic Youth covering Mudhoney's “Touch Me I'm Sick” on the A-side and “Hallowe'en” on the B-Side. Theoriginal Sonic Youth tune is a creepy, creeping, minimalist noise-fest. Mudhoney turn it into a feedback-drenched wall of guitar noise.It also appears on the deluxe edition of Mudhoney's Superfuzz Bigmuff.

DNTTA Playlist for June 19, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)* indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Modern Superstitions - Bandits* - Modern Superstitions (Last Gang)
Ornette Coleman and Pat Metheny - Video Games - Song X (Nonesuch)
Zebrina - Revolution of the Mind - Hamidbar Medaher (Independent)
Useless Eaters - American Cars - Singles: 2011-2014 (Slovenly)
The Blind Shake - Diamond Days - Fly Right (Slovenly)
Broken Water - Thread to Connect - Tempest (Hardly Art)
Teenage Head - Drivin' Wild* - Some Kinda Fun (Attic)
Crosss - Golden Hearth* - Lo (Telephone Explosion)
Heat - This Life* - Rooms (Kitsune)
Needs - The Only Good Condo is a Dead Condo* - Needs (File Under: Music)
Gateway Drugs - Friday's Are for Suckers - Magick Spells (Dine Alone)
Colin Stetson and Sarah Neufeld - In the Vespers* - Never Were the Way She Was (Constellation)

Latest Earshot Reviews June 2015

My latest reviews for Earshot. ttwwrrss is the definite standout here.

Wendy Atkinson - The Last Fret

Laila Biali - House of Many Rooms

San Fermin - Jackrabbit

ttwwrrss - ttwwrrss_2

DNTTA Playlist for June 12, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)* indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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DD/MM/YYYY - Inifnity Skull Cube* - Black Square (We Are Busy Bodies)
Old Kid - Yorkshire Lady* - This Echo (Maisonneuve)
The Acorn - Cumin* - Vieux Loup (Paper Bag)
Lene Lovich - Telepathy - Stateless (Stiff)
Suzanne Nuttall - Comme une trophee* - Trophy Wife EP (Independent)
Helium - Oh the Wind and Rain - The Dirt of Luck (Matador)
Venera 4 - Red Blooms - Eidolon (Independent)
Spring - To Accuse* - Celebration (Independent)
Ponctuation - Morts et Vivants* - La Realite Nous Suffit (Bonsound)
Kensico - Halifax Road* - White Swan (Independent)
Three Inches of Blood - Balls of Ice* - Battle Cry Under a Winter Sun (Teenage Rampage)

RIP Ornette Coleman

I haven't been blogging lately, but that I'm hoping to change very soon. And I haven't talked about avant-garde jazz in a while. With the death of one the style's originators, it's time to talk about it a bit.

Ornette Coleman died today (June 11) at the age of 85, from cardiac arrest. Coleman played the alto sax, which has become one of the more iconic instruments associated with avant-garde jazz, due to it's range and noisy wail, and no one could wail noisily like Coleman.

Coleman took up the alto sax at age 14. Interestingly, he played a more straight ahead style in his early career in the early 50s, but showed a drive to create his own, often radically different, music was usually met with derision from audiences. Once he began study in jazz at The Lenox School of Jazz in 1959, he met Don Cherry (not the hockey guy...) and they began a long collaborative friendship, often playing in each other's bands and opening for each other on tour.

1959 saw Coleman release The Shape of Jazz to Come, a landmark in experimental and free jazz. His albums were polarizing, some claiming they were genius, others calling him a fake. Nonetheless, the album set the jazz world on it's ear, and other improv and free-jazz players became to emerge, like Charlie Haden and John Coltrane.

The 70s saw Coleman form his Prime Time band, described as a "double quartet", featuring 2 guitarist, drummers and bassists. It also saw the landmark album, Song X, with Pat Metheny as collaborator.

Into the 90s and 2000s saw more released, and Coleman branching out into rock collaborations, playing with Joe Henry and Lou Reed. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for his album, Sound Grammar.

Coleman was a forward thinker, and an obtuse one too, seeing jazz as something more about personal and free expression. To many, his work was difficult, even impossible, to access, But his approach was the thing that drew me to his work, and to avant-garde jazz in general. Let's turn things sideways, take away the things we take as habit and see where things go. That's the essence of experimentation.

DNTTA Playlist for June 5, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)* indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Johannes Welsch - Moon Dance* - Stunderthorm (Independent)
Konono No. 1 - Ungudi Wele Wele - Congotronics (Crammed Discs)
Baaba Maal - Demgalam - Wango (Stern's Africa)
Suuns and Jerusalem in My Heart - 2amoutu 17tirakan* - Suuns and Jerusalem in My Heart (Secret City)
Caetano Veloso and David Byrne - Voce e Linda - Live at Carnegie Hall (Nonesuch)
Os Mutantes - Ave, Lucifer - Everything is Possible (Luaka Bop)
Tony Succar - Billie Jean - Unity: A Tribute to Michael Jackson (Sony Masterworks)
Easy Star All-Stars - No Surprises - Radiodread (Easy Star)
Eric St.-Laurent - I Will Follow You* - Epoch (Independent)

DNTTA Playlist for May 29, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)* indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Fond of Tigers - Let's Carve Forever Together* - Release the Saviours (Drip Audio)
Deep Listening Band - Section I: Invocation By Ione* - Dunrobin Sonic Gems (Independent)
Gray Matter - Footsteps* - Footsteps (Independent)
Matana Roberts - Dreamer of Dreams - Coin Coin Chapter III: River Run Thee (Constellation)
Robert Kusiolek - Qui Pro Quo: Act V - Qui Pro Quo (Multikulti)
Mark Wingfield - Mars Safrron - Proof of Light (Moonjune)
Jon Lundbom and Big Five Chord - Scratch Ankle - Jeremiah (Hot Cup)
Pugs and Crows - Like the Clouds*  - Fantastic Pictures (Independent)

The Problem with Record Store Day

I've usually been a big booster of Record Store Day. I always go to small record stores, used record stores and pawn shops when I look for music, and I know where all the decent stores when I go to other cities. Heck, I even bought a t-shirt back in 2010 from the Record Store Day website, and I'm wearing it as I write this article. But, since the rise of RSD and vinyl sales in general, I fear that the event is taking away the joy I feel from the event and killing the stores that the day was created to help.

The problems are many, and, while Record Store Day is still a great idea, the problems have come together to start to significantly affect the day itself. First, there's the glut of bad vinyl on the market. As vinyl has started to blow up in sales again, there's been a real explosion of dubious and overpriced records being released. Check out the release list for this past year's event.There's 7" singles from electronic bands, old science fiction movie soundtracks, coloured vinyl 7"s of long released singles, and a shocking amount of classic rock. There's even a lullaby album of Grateful Dead songs. All of this is often priced at 2-3 times what it would cost you normally, depending on where you are picking up the music. It's also all in limited edition, very small publishing runs of under a couple of thousand copies.

This, in turn, has led to rampant speculation on the records.Because the records are so rare, collectors who want them and are willing to pay for them will pay huge prices to get them. People bought up the records and started reselling them on eBay for trumped up prices. If you're an independent record store, you're likely getting only 1-2 copies of the promos, those will be priced normally (say $25-$35 bucks or more), buyers get them then resell them online for ten times that much. There was even reports of a store selling their material for high prices before they even had the records in hand!

There's the issue of the quality of the vinyl too. Neil Young recently commented about how vinyl is a fad and has become a fashion statement. He also said that the music on vinyl isn't any better than what's on CD, since the vinyl is just a copy of the CD audio. And since vinyl has a lower dynamic range than CDs, it sounds worse. I could go on and on about the difference between CD and vinyl, the loudness wars and such, but safe to say that CD audio on vinyl is always going to sound worse than the CD itself. I've also heard that coloured vinyl, which a lot of RSD releases are pressed as, sounds worse than normal black vinyl, though the debate is still going on. Also, Neil Young seems to be going a bit off his rocker lately with his Pono player, claims that the higher resolution of the files there will be appreciated more than standard digital files, despite science saying no human ear could tell the difference.

Then there's how the day pushes out the independent artists that really need the exposure, which is my biggest problem. When the CD came into vogue, record companies stopped making vinyl records. Vinyl pressing plants were closed and less vinyl was pressed. Now, with vinyl coming back onto the hipster radar, more is being pressed. But look at the release list again. Notice all the big older names on that list? That's what's being pressed: lots of Beatles, The Kinks, Grateful Dead, Rolling Stones, lots of bands who have already sold millions of records and don't really need to sell many more. Furthermore, most of the records being released are already in ample supply and in print, so the only real reason to own them is to say you have a picture disc or limited release vinyl version of them. They're collectors items, rarely sold for their value as music, but as items of interest, designed to be put into a tight vinyl sleeve, put into a box and stored away to accrue value. Due to this, time for small labels and independent artist to press their records is limited, and, in fact, is being pushed back for months. And these aren't limited releases like the RSD records, they're regular releases for these labels, which is how they make back their money. It lead to the closing of Mammoth Cave Records, one of Canada's most critically celebrated indy record labels. Because they couldn't get time into pressing plants, and they had no desire to release music digitally, they had to close up shop:

"Since we started, music fans went from 'collecting' to 'downloading' to 'streaming.' We are a record company, not a digital music servicing company," the label wrote. "We love records, we don't love playlists. And the nonsense about the 'return of vinyl' has come at the cost of the people who have been keeping it alive all these years." 

Sadly, Record Store Day is killing records.

This reminds me a lot of the comic book implosion of the 90s. Back in the early 90s, there was a big surge in printing small print runs of special covers, gimmick covers and other kinds of unusual comics. Some of these comics ended up being super valuable, like Superman #75 (which was the Death of Superman), which came packaged in a sealed bag with a poster and black arm band. A lot of folks bought these comics and stored them away, or resold them for twice the cover price or more. Series were relaunched with a #1 issue with special covers, or printed with multiple variant covers, or sealed in bags. There were shake-ups in the stories as well, shifting them in radical directions for the sake of increased sales through controversy. Older comics were also being sold at record prices. All this led to collectors running into the market, buying up comics, then storing them away hoping they would become valuable. But, the comics in the 50s and 60s had smaller print runs, weren't collected and often ending up forgotten in attics, to be discovered decades later. The comics of the 90s were abundant and everyone was collecting them in mint condition. After a couple of years of this, the comics were worthless to collectors and the medium had been destroyed for readers.

For me, music is about enjoying listening to it, not collecting it. Having the record in your hand, putting it on your turntable, listening to it and enjoying the pops, skips, warbles and wobbles is what music is all about. I've also much more enjoyed records on CD rather than vinyl due to the compact nature of it, while still having the artifact quality to it. You can still hold it in your hand, look at the artwork, read the liner notes. There's the satisfying feeling of "I own this" to it, that doesn't exist in a digital file on  your computer, phone or iPod. CDs also sound better to me as well. But, there's some music you just can't get on CD, which is where vintage record collecting comes in. I don't see much point of buying a new record for three times the price of the CD when I can have the CD. The thrill is digging through a box of records, going into the back of a used book store, and pulling out a long forgotten record that hasn't been heard in ages. And paying a few bucks for it to boot! And then putting it on your record player, not putting it in a box in a dust resistant sleeve never to be heard ever.

In my opinion, as with the 90s comic implosion, the quicker the record collector, the collector that does their collecting for financial gain, and especially ones who do it on the backs of music fans, the sooner this kind of collector leaves the hobby, the better. Record Store Day started with the best of intentions, but has turned into a lumbering marketing gimmick for major labels, and a cash cow for speculators. Records need to be put back into the hands of music fans, of small record labels and of independent bands, or the same thing will happen to vinyl that happened to comics in the 90s. As an interesting side effect to this, there's been a huge upswing in DIY labels and independent artists to begin releasing cassettes again, leading to an upswing in sales. Tapes are cheap, their plentiful and it's very easy to record onto a blank cassette and mass produce them.

Like William Gibson said, "The street finds it's own use for things."

DNTTA Playlist for May 22, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)
* indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Melinda - Paperweight Hands* - A Lullaby (Independent)
Raised by Swans - I Know It's Real* - Oxnaladur (Independent)
Scattered Clouds - People Walk* - The First Empire (E-Tron)
Masters of the Hemisphere - Sailboat Kite - Protest a Dark Anniversary (Kindercore)
Blue Peter - Shell Shocked* - Radio Silence (Ready)
Milk and Bone - Elephant* - Little Mourning (Bonsound)
Kitty, Daisy and Lewis - No Action - The Third (Sunday Best)
Altered Images - See You Later - Pinky Blue (Portrait)
Ace Martens - Silent Days* - Silent Days (Independent)
Jeffrey Lewis - Part Time Punks - Stop Me if You Think You've Heard This Before (Rough Trade)
Boxed In - Subtle Knife - Boxed In (Nettwerk)
Apocalyptica - Slow Burn - Shadowmaker (Five Seven)

DNTTA Playist for May 15, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)
* indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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No Museums - While I'm Still Warm* - The Malcontents (Independent)
Faux Hotel - I am Them* - Delusion Lake (Independent)
Moths and Locusts - Why Am I Normal?* - Mission Collapse in the Twin Sun Megaverse (Independent)
Archers of Loaf - Ethel Merman - The Speed of Cattle (Alias)
Lids - Sarsfest* - Sarsfest (Telephone Explosion)
Lids - Blank Flag* - Sarsfest (Telephone Explosion)
The Backhomes - Chaco* - Tidalwave (Independent)
Screaming Blue Messiahs - Wild Blue Yonder - Gun-Shy (Warner)
Conduct - Public Issue* - Fear and Desire (Public Tone)
Big Black - Stinking Drunk - The Rich Man's Eight Track Tape (Touch and Go)
Towanda - Underraged* - Black Sheep (Independent)

DNTTA Playlist for May 8, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)
* indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Reverie Sound Revue - Rip the Universe* - Reverie Sound Revue (Independent)
Purity Ring - Bodyache* - Another Eternity (Last Gang)
Ghosttwin - Mystic Sabbath* - Here We Are in the Night (Independent)
Gary Flanagan - Shanghai P.I.* - Dead Rhythm Bureau (Independent)
Bjork with Funkstorung - All is Full of Love (in Love with Bjork) - Roots and Branches (FatCat)
Channel X - Rave the Rhythm - XL Records: The Second Chapter (XL)
SohCahToa - Cart* - Northern Faction 2 (Balanced)
Twin Shadow - To the Top - Eclipse (Warner)
Aero Flynn - Crisp - Aero Flynn (Dine Alone)
Yabra - Zero Gravity* - Yabra (Independent)
Longwalkshortdock - Choked By Robots* - Squashing Machine (East Van Digital)

DNNTA Playlist for May 1, 2015 - Mint-Stravaganza!

Artist - Song - Album (Label)
* indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Lie - Pressue* - Masters (Independent)
Renny Wilson - Feel Like a Child* - Sugarglider (Mint)
Jay Arner - Broken Glass* - Jay Arner (Mint)
Tough Age - Nicholas Bragg* - Plays cub's Hot Dog Day (Mint)
Tough Age - Through My Hoop* - Plays cub's Hot Dog Day (Mint)
Tough Age - Summer Samba* - Plays cub's Hot Dog Day (Mint)
cub - Everything's Geometry* - Come Out, Come Out (Mint)
cub - Box of Hair* - Box of Hair (Mint)
OK Jazz - Julius* - OK Jazz (Independent)
OK Jazz - Pioneer Valour* - OK Jazz (Independent)
Embassy Lights - Lady Down the Line* - Embassy Lights (Boompa)
Twin River - He's Not Real and He Ain't Coming Back* - Should the Light Go Out (Light Organ)
Joseph Bridge - Ricky the Mouse* - Joseph Bridge (Independent)
Excelsior - Got No Right* - Punk Floyd EP (It's Trash!)

DNTTA Playlist for April 24, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)
* indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Huevos Rancheros - 64 Slices of American Cheese* - Dig In (Mint)
Malhavoc - Second Image* - The Release (Epidemic)
Dessau - Sun 90 - Dessau (Masoleum)
Radical Face - Assimilate* - From Cover to Cover (Nettwerk)
Faith Healer - Acid* - Cosmic Troubles (Mint)
Future Peasants - Waiting for the Sunshine* - Glittering in the Dark (Independent)
The Lemming Ways - We Lost* - The Lemming Ways (Music Mansion)
Programm - Like the Sun* - Like the Sun (Independent)
The Jesus Lizard - Good Riddance - Drop (Capitol)
Moon Tan - Space Horse* - New Age Renegade (Independent)
Kappa Chow - Can't Have You - Collected Output (Kiss the Void)
Hey Mandible - Human Ape - The Arse (Fort Lowell)

DNTTA Playlist for April 17, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)
* indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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ttwwrrss - I Need You* - ttwwrrss_2 (Masionneuve)
Charles Barabe - Les Confessions II* - Split Single (Unit Structure Sound)
Pedro Monkeyfinger and Protagonst/Antagonist - PMPA05* - Split LP (Unit Structure Sound)
Bent Spoon Duo - With Christopher Riggs - Part 2* - With Christopher Riggs and Jack Wright (Unit Structure Sound)
Mid Pines - Bond Lake* - Year of the Horse (Cirsuit Song)
Ensemble SuperMusique - Le Fruits de Hasard* - MusicWorks #121 (Independent)

Best of 2014 #1: Future Islands - Singles (4AD)

North Carolina's Future Islands third album, Singles, is a singularly unique album. It's an odd mix of 80s style synth-pop and new wave, with a crooning, melodramatic and powerful lead singer, Samuel T. Herring. It's a weird album, but it's also oddly catchy. One can't help but be pulled along with Herring's enthusiastic vocal presence. He's earnest and seems very excited to do what he's doing. The music behind it is oddly soothing, sometimes lilting and sometimes jarring. Their odd juxtaposition of the music and Herring's odd vocal approach comes to a head on the song “Fall from Grace”, with Herring building a howling, almost screaming crescendo while the band crafts a Julee Cruise style dirge in the background. It's a compelling album, startlingly and unapologetically unique, like a 2010s version of Pere Ubu.

DNTTA Playlist for April 10, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)
* indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Uzeb - Hit It* - You Be Easy (A&M)
Lan Tung - Ba Ban Variations* - Musicworks #121 (Independent)
Kronomorfic - Cellar Door - Entangled (OA2)
Billy Bang and William Parker - Sky Song - Medicine Buddha (NoBusiness)
Barry Guy - Fizzle 4 - Five Fizzles for Samuel Beckett (NoBusiness)
Tom Trio - Clocks - Radical Moves (For-Tune)
BadBadNotGood and Ghostface Killah - Mind Playin' Tricks* - Sour Soul (Lex)
Portishead - Undenied - Portishead (London)
Ibeyi - Think of You - Ibeyi (XL)
Nihilist Spasm Band - I Dreamt I Was Living in Paradise* - Live @ Western Front (Independent)

DNTTA Playlist for April 3, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)
* indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Hermetic - Prevenative Arrest* - Civilized City (Independent)
David Parker - Three Lighthouses* - Noise Noise Noisy Noisy Nooise (Independent)
Milk Toast - Weird Way* - Noise Noise Noisy Noisy Nooise (Independent)
Freak Heat Waves - Dig a Hole* - Bonnie's State of Mind (Hockey Dad)
Moon - Narrow Draw* - Moon (Bruised Tongue)
Brainiac - Vincent Come On Down - Hissing Prigs in Static Couture (Touch and Go)
Polysics - Jhout - Now is the Time (MySpace)
Kellar - Shining Sun Makes a Dwelling in the Sky - The Even Keel (Foolproof)
Big Dick - Last Days* - Disappointment (Dirt Cult)
Oromocto Diamond - Osoyoos* - Oromo Kumakis (P-572)
Ace Martens - Waiting* - Silent Days (Independent)
Waingro - Tailwind* - Waingro (Independent)

DNTTA Playlist for March 27, 2015 - Women's Day Special

Artist - Song - Album (Label)
* indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Minutes from Downtown - Emotion Under Pressure* - Minutes from Downtown (Popguru)
Delerium feat. Emily Haines - Glimmer (Emjae club remix)* - Glimmer EP (Nettwerk)
Curve - Fait Accompli - Doppleganger (Too Pure)
Lederhosen Lucil - Chicken on Clark* - Guten Tag Gemini (Hypo)
Anamai - Abris* - Sallows (Buzz)
Belle and Sebastian - The Everlasting Muse - Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance (Matador)
The Amps - Full on Idle - Pacer (4AD)
Voice of the Beehive - I Walk the Earth - Let it Bee (Capitol)
Body/Head - Last Mistress - Coming Apart (Matador)
Tamara Filyavitch - Chernobyl Box* - Noise Noise Noisy Noisy Nooise (Independent)
I Am Spoonbender - Stopwatch Static* - Sender/Receiver (Mint)

Latest Earshot Reviews - April 2015

A few new reviews I've finished for Earshot Online:

And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - IX

Gord Downie and The Sadies - The Conquering Sun

Purity Ring - Another Eternity

DNTTA Playlist for March 20, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)
* indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Black Mold - Memes* - Snow Blindness is Crystal Antz (Flemish Eye)
TL0741 - Accelerant - Before Waking (HC3)
TL0741 - Called Down - Circulation (HC3)
Accolade - Bleeding Cry - Catharsis of Rhetorik (Independent)
Vire - Mirroring* - Human Contact (Independent)
Laggards - So Sad* - So Feels (Cloudsounds)
Uaxaycac - Stars Stars* - Homemade Myth (Independent)
A.P. Laurenson - Everywhere - Lisle Skyline (Independent)
Laika - Let Me Sleep - Silver Apples of the Moon (Too Pure)
Vikings - Open Up Your Eyes* - Vikings (Independent)
Bizarr Sex Trio - Your Pregnancy Begins Now - The Improper Use of Knives (Invisible)