Seasonal fare

Thanksgiving Monday found me with my pal, DeLayne, who trained out to Edmonton from Winnipeg to spend the weekend with me. We decided against doing a show that was themed around Thanksgiving, instead trading the particular for the general: songs themed around Christmas, Easter, and birthdays. DeLayne snagged a couple records from the "Jazz" section in our library, while I stuck to my usual playlist. Sadly, there was no jazz flute, but Pete Jolly's accordion was a good substitute.



"Ruby" - Louise Burns
"I won't be long" - Beck
"Native Dreams" - Rose Windows
"Haze" - Absolute Boys
"Christmas Waltz" - Eschete
"Red, Red Rose" - Deep Dark Woods
"Feeling" - Monomyth
"Had it any other way" - Lab Coast
"Autumn Festival" - Pete Jolly
"Burning Bridges" - Willis Earl Beale
"I am sold" - James Blake
"U'n'l" - Miles Davis
"Easterween" - John Southworth & Andrew Downing
"Birthday" - Royal Canoe

Rockin' the Pycks

FunDrive is over, so it's back to business as usual for the show. Of course, you can still give CJSR your money, but I won't be taking up my airtime asking for it.

Here's the recap: after Buffy St Marie's intro we launched right into a new song from the Dodos that's been stuck in my head for a good while (I've written more about it here). Cynthia and I were eventually joined by Trevor, who came with something to prove: he can rock. So he had Sleater-Kinney blow our eardrums and dropped a classic jam from Joel Plaskett's former band, Thrush Hermit. We will never doubt you again, Trevor!

Plaskett wasn't the only East Coaster on the show. Along with a new track from Cousins, we heard a slacker anthem from Monomyth, hand-pycked by Cynthia. From there, we surveyed some expletive-filled rock 'n' roll from King Tuff, some T. Rex-inspired acoustica from Ty Segall, some beautiful pop fuzz from Calgary's Lab Coast, and some enduring dad rock from the prolific Robert Pollard.



"Confidence" - Dodos
"Coming Through (feat. Cat Power)" - Willis Earl Beal
"Breakfast + Tea" - Ghost Cousin
"Easy Easy" - King Krule
"Dog That Bit You" - The Baptist Generals
"Feeling" - Monomyth
"Laserbeam" - King Tuff
"The Man Man" - Ty Segall
"Had It Any Other Way" - Lab Coast
"I'm Closing In" - The Obits
"River" - Cousins
"He Requested Things" - Robert Pollard
"The Fox" - Sleater-Kinney
"The Day We Hit The Coast" - Thrush Hermit
"Smoke" - Crosss

Let's relive some FunDrive glory

We survived another FunDrive. Below, you can listen to my first outing as a DJ during CJSR's annual week of fundraising (in years past, I've helped out in other ways). As for music, I decided to stick with some old standbys -- the Constantines, the Replacements, Women, the Pumpkins, etc. -- and showcase some of the best local artists I've discovered since moving to Edmonton. You'll hear a LOT of talking. More specifically, you'll hear a lot of talking about CJSR. At times, it gets pretty awkward, but hey, that's what college radio is for!

Special thanks are in order, especially to my folks, who donated a whopping $120 to the station, and to all the others who called in to support Edmonton's community campus radio station for another year.



"Little Instrument" - The Constantines
"Left of the Dial" - The Replacements
"Eyesore" - Women
"Slowly Soaking Up Some Rays on a Sofa" - Brazilian Money
"Billy and I" - Travis Bretzer
"Hummer" - Smashing Pumpkins
"Everything Flows" - Teenage Fanclub

Background music: Tomorrow's Harvest - Boards of Canada

Backlog

I've fallen somewhat behind with my weekly posts. Blame it on FunDrive. Below, you'll find my September 23rd episode, which features new music from the likes of Ty Segall, Delorean, Beck, Neko Case, Monomyth, and Brazilian Money. Towards the end, you'll hear a batch of folk tunes picked out by my friend, Trevor, who dropped by the station during his coffee break. We ended the hour with some aimless speculation about the 2013 Polaris Music Prize and didn't come at all close to predicting the outcome.



"Ode to subterrania" - Hooded Fang
"John the painter" - UBT
"The man man" - Ty Segall
"Animal Games" - Emiliana Torrini
"Ranchero" - Jordan Klassen
"December" - Braids
"Unhold (featuring Caroline Polachek) - Delorean
"Gimme" - Beck
"Bracing for Sunday" - Neko Case
"Coastal" - Monomyth
"Bones, bones, bones" - Brazilian Money
"Man of letters" - Hermetic
"Say darlin' say" - Corinna Rose
"West end sky" - Elliot Brood
"Ungirthed" - Purity Ring

FunDrive Preamble

Tomorrow morning's show will be a bit different than usual. Along with all my "pycks" I'll be plugging our annual FunDrive and asking listeners to donate some of their hard-earned dough to keep the wonderful CJSR afloat for another year.

If you donate ANY amount of money during my show (Monday, 10-11am MDT), you'll automatically be entered to win one of many fabulous prizes donated by local businesses here in Edmonton as well as some hot new LPs.

Donations of $30 or more also automatically receive some great swag from the station (like an exclusive compilation of music by local artists and the Star Card, which get deals all over town--t-shirts and other items are included for donations over $240). Here's the blurb:

As Edmonton's only volunteer-powered, listener-supported, campus based, community radio station, CJSR depends on the financial support of our listeners so that we can continue to broadcast diverse musical and spoken word programming that challenges the status quo. That's where FunDrive comes in; a listener pledge made during this year's FunDrive literally keeps us on the air for the next year. If you'd like to donate to your favourite neighbourhood CJSR, click here or call (780) 492-2577 ext 0.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor and the 2013 Polaris Music Prize

Congrats to Godspeed You! Black Emperor on winning the 2013 Polaris Music Prize, which was announced at last night's annual gala. I, of course, wasn't there and neither were the members of GY!BE (like everyone else who cared in Western Canada, I followed the event via Twitter).

Although I have misgivings about the award, as well as the mono-culture that has grown around it; and although I wasn't that excited about this year's shortlist, I'm happy to see a veteran band like GY!BE receive more recognition for last year's excellent Alleluja! Don't Bend! Ascend! It's an album that still gives me chills.

The main reason for this post is to direct your attention to the band's statement regarding their prize winnings. In it they express a similar ambivalence and an earnestness that cuts to the heart of our culture. The statement illustrates why this band was and is so important, why they deserved to take home the award, and explains where their prize money ($30 000) is going.

A FEW WORDS REGARDING THIS POLARIS PRIZE THING 

hello kanada.
hello kanadian music-writers. 

thanks for the nomination thanks for the prize- it feels nice to be acknowledged by the Troubled Motherland when we so often feel orphaned here. and much respect for all y’all who write about local bands, who blow that horn loudly- because that trumpeting is crucial and necessary and important. 

and much respect to the freelancers especially, because freelancing is a hard fucking gig, and almost all of us are freelancers now, right? falling and scrambling and hustling through these difficult times? 

so yes, we are grateful, and yes we are humble and we are shy to complain when we’ve been acknowledged thusly- BUT HOLY SHIT AND HOLY COW- we’ve been plowing our field on the margins of weird culture for almost 20 years now, and “this scene is pretty cool but what it really fucking needs is an awards show” is not a thought that’s ever crossed our minds. 

3 quick bullet-points that almost anybody could agree on maybe=
-holding a gala during a time of austerity and normalized decline is a weird thing to do.
-organizing a gala just so musicians can compete against each other for a novelty-sized cheque doesn’t serve the cause of righteous music at all.
-asking the toyota motor company to help cover the tab for that gala, during a summer where the melting northern ice caps are live-streaming on the internet, IS FUCKING INSANE, and comes across as tone-deaf to the current horrifying malaise. 

these are hard times for everybody. and musicians’ blues are pretty low on the list of things in need of urgent correction BUT AND BUT if the point of this prize and party is acknowledging music-labor performed in the name of something other than quick money, well then maybe the next celebration should happen in a cruddier hall, without the corporate banners and culture overlords. and maybe a party thusly is long overdue- it would be truly nice to enjoy that hang, somewhere sometime where the point wasn’t just lazy money patting itself on the back. 

give the money to the kids let ‘em put on their own goddamn parties, give the money to the olds and let them try to write opuses in spite of, but let the muchmusic videostars fight it out in the inconsequential middle, without gov’t. culture-money in their pockets.
us we’re gonna use the money to try to set up a program so that prisoners in quebec have musical instruments if they need them…
amen and amen.


apologies for being such bores,
we love you so much / our country is fucked,
xoxoxox
godspeed you! black emperor

Back in the Badlands

The last time I visited Drumheller, AB and the surrounding region I was about 9 years old. 18 years later and it all seemed new again. This time I was able to wear my 18-year-old dinosaur t-shirt from the Royal Tyrell Museum (which didn't leave my body the entire weekend) and managed to purchase its sequel (this time with a glow-in-the-dark velociraptor). The dinosaur museum was an obvious highlight, perhaps bolstered by my relatively new appreciation for Alberta's history (the first dinosaur bone was discovered by Joseph Tyrell back in 1884). But it was exploring the rugged geography of the badlands that made the trip really exceptional. A lot of the tunes you'll hear on this episode of Dyck's Pycks come from our trip down south. I was joined in the studio by Cynthia Spring, who you'll see roaming the range in the photo above.

Dyck's Pycks is back for the foreseeable future, every Monday from 10-11. I hope you'll tune in.



"In kind" - Braids
"Badlands" - Bruce Springsteen
"Smoke in the Water" - Rae Spoon
"Tiger Tank" - Speedy Ortiz
"Low F" - Superchunk
"It all feels right" - Washed Out
"Wave forms" - Islands
"Don't remind me" - Jay Arner
"Man" - Neko Case
"Adventure in the heart" - Shotgun Jimmie
"Tear it up" - The Backhomes
"The current" - The Dodos
"As I am in Tim Hortons, I realize that I hate Tim Hortons" - B.A. Johnston
"Doin' it right" - Daft Punk