Make The Road By Walking

Favourite Music of 2011

chrisrwhite — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 01:10:42 +0000

Top 5 of 2011:
1. Bruce Peninsula “Open Flames” — http://brucepeninsula.bandcamp.com/
2. Snailhouse “Sentimental Gentleman” — http://snailhouse.bandcamp.com/
3. Handsome Dan And His Gallimaufry “Best There Was” — http://hdahg.bandcamp.com/
4. Neon Indian “Era Extrana”
5. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart “Belong”

Top 5 Underrated Albums of 2011:
1. The Donkeys “Born With Stripes” — http://deadoceans.com/onesheet.php?cat=DOC047
2. Figurines “Figurines” — http://figurines.bandcamp.com/album/figurines
3. Adam & The Amethysts “Flickering Flashlight”
4. Miracle Fortress “Was I The Wave?”
5. The War On Drugs “Slave Ambient”

Also Highly Listenable:
- Battles “Gloss Drop”
- Big Sean “Finally Famous: The Album”
- Bry Webb “Provider”
- Deep Dark Woods “The Place I Left Behind”
- Eleanor Friedberger “Last Summer”
- Elaquent “Midnight After”
- Gold Panda “Companion”
- Hey Rosetta! “Seeds”
- JEFF The Brotherhood “We Are The Champions”
- Jon McKiel “Confidence Lodge”
- Kurt Vile “Smoke Ring For My Halo” & “So Outta Reach”
- Matthew Good “Lights Of Endangered Species”
- Mathemagic “Mathemagic II” — http://mathemagic.bandcamp.com/
- One Hundred Dollars “Songs Of Man”
- Richard Buckner “Our Blood”
- Timber Timbre “Creep On Creepin’ On”
- The Vaccines “What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?”
- Vetiver “Errant Charm”
- Washed Out “Within And Without”
- The Weather Station “All Of It Was Mine”

Great Expectations Led to Mild Disappointments:

1. Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears “Scandalous”

2. Mayer Hawthorne “How Do You Do?”

3. Ganglians “Still Living”

4. High Places “Original Colors”

5. Future Islands “On The Water”

Other Disappointments:
- Bibio “Mind Bokeh”
- Casiokids “Aabenbaringen over aaskammen”
- D-Sisive “Run With The Creeps”
- Duchess Days “In A Fung Day T!”
- Javelin “Canyon Candy”
- Low “C’mon”
- Malachai “Return To The Ugly Side”
- Murs “Love And Rockets Vol. 1″
- Ponytail “Do Whatever You Want All The Time”
- Raphael Saadiq “Stone Rollin’”
- Shlohmo “Bad Vibes”
- Those Darlins “Screws Get Loose”
- Thundercat “Golden Age Of The Apocalypse”

Predicting Polaris

chrisrwhite — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 11:29:54 +0000

During the last few years I was a juror for the Polaris Music Prize, but a decision to return to school understandably resulted in my removal from the jury. As a fun little experiment, I’m going to predict the 40 albums that will appear on the long list of nominations.

Update: 29 correct nominee selections (full/official list here) with a number of others less sure guesses appearing below.

Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
Austra – Feel It Break
Braids – Native Speaker
Buck 65 – 20 Odd Years
Chad Vangaalen – Diaper Island
Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Volume 2: Judges
Cowboy Junkies – Demons
D-Sisive – Jonestown 2
Destroyer – Kaputt
Diamond Rings – Special Affections
Dirty Beaches – Badlands
Drake – Thank Me Later
Fond Of Tigers – Continent and Western
Grimes – Halifaxa
Hey Rosetta – Seeds
Imaginary Cities – Temporary Resident
Jenn Grant – Honeymoon Punch
Jill Barber – Mischievous Moon
Jim Bryson and The Weakerthans – The Falcon Lake Incident
Land Of Talk – Cloak And Cipher
Les Jupes – Modern Myths
Little Scream – The Golden Record
Luke Doucet – Steel City Trawler
The Luyas – Too Beautiful to Work
Malajube – La Caverne
Minotaurs – The Thing
Miracle Fortress – Was I The Wave
More Or Les – Brunch WIth A Vengeance
Neil Young – Le Noise
One Hundred Dollars – Songs Of Man
PS I Love You – Muster Station
Ron Sexmith – Long Player Late Bloomer
The Rural Alberta Advantage – Departing
Sarah Harmer – Oh Little Fire
Sloan – The Double Cross
Tim Hecker – Ravedeath 1972
Timber Timbre – Creep On Creepin’ On
The Weeknd – House Of Balloons
Women – Public Strain
Young Galaxy – Shapeshifting

Alternatively, I won’t be surprised if any of the following artists appear on the long list:
Black Mountain, Christine Fellows, Comeback Kid, The Creepshow, Daniel Romano, The Dears, The Golden Dogs, Gonzales, Hooded Fang, Kathryn Calder, KEN Mode, kd lang, The Meligrove Band, Memphis, No Joy, Peter Elkas, Rae Spoon, Rah Rah, Selina Martin, Shapes And Sizes, Shotgun Jimmie, Slow Down Molasses, Socalled, Stars, Tomboyfriend, Tokyo Police Club, The Warped 45s, and Wolf Parade.

A few more great artists with seemingly less chance of making the list:
DJ Cosm, Del Barber, Doug Paisley, Elaquent, Eric Chenaux, Eternia and MoSS, Forest City Lovers, Frederick Squire, Geoff Berner, Hrdvsion, Ketch Harbour Wolves, Laura Peek, Leeroy Stagger, Mark Berube, Michael Rault, New Country Rehab, Olenka And The Autumn Lovers, Slakah The Beatchild, The Telepathic Butterflues, and Timbuktu.

Favourite Music of 2010

chrisrwhite — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 19:13:38 +0000

Starting grad school at the University of Western Ontario really cut into my blogging and listening to music time, which helps explain the absence of any content over the last four months. However, after finishing my term paper writing and grading responsibilities, I took a quick skim through all the music I acquired in 2010 and put together the following lists.

Eight Favourite Albums:
01. Future Islands “In Evening Air”
02. Javelin “No Mas”
03. Fol Chen “Part II: The New December”

With extra emphasis on Future Islands and Javelin, the music of these three bands was new to me as of this year and I could not get enough.

04. Ernest Gonzales “Been Meaning To Tell You”
05. Flying Lotus “Cosmogramma”
06. Liars “Sisterworld”

It’s nice when albums that you’re looking forward to hearing meet the high expectations you set for them. In what is surely insanity, I bought the Flying Lotus album THREE times (LP, limited edition CD, and standard CD) plus two copies (LP and CD) of the Pattern + Grid World EP that came out a few months later. Liars released an overwhelming amount of music this year (the original Sisterworld album, a second disc of remixes, two EPs, and a live album) and all of it was great.

07. Phantogram “Eyelid Movies”
08. Yukon Blonde “Yukon Blonde”

Two other new (to me as of this year) bands that became new favourites. I don’t love every song on each album, but the highlights make up for the few low points.

Bonus End-of-the-Year (Re-)Discoveries (for those of you who like top 10 lists):

09. Damien Jurado “Saint Bartlett”
10. S. Carey “All We Grow”

Seventy Nine Songs From Albums I Enjoyed:

Aloe Blacc “I Need A Dollar” (from ‘Good Things’)

Baby Eagle “Crooked Coin” (from ‘Dog Weather’)
Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore “My Wealth Comes To Me” (from ‘Dear Companion’)
The Bird & The Bee “She’s Gone” (from ‘Interpreting The Masters Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates)
Blue Sky Black Death “Set Fire” (from ‘Third Party’)
Bocce “Michael Collins (Astronaut)” (from ‘Disambiguation’)
Bonobo “El Toro” (from ‘Black Sands’)
Buck 65 “The Niceness” (from ’20 Odd Years Volume 3′)
Burnt Ones “Gonna Listen To T. Rex (All Night Long)” (from ‘Black Teeth & Gold Tongues’)

Calibro 35 “Eurocrime!” (from ‘Ritornano Quelli Di’)
Casiokids “Fot i hose” (from ‘Topp stemning pa lokal bar’)
CFCF “Frozen Forest” (from ‘The River’)
Christopher Willits “Flowers Into Stardust” (from ‘Tiger Flower Circlue Sun’)
Cotton Jones “More Songs For Margaret” (from ‘Tall Hours In The Glowstream’)

Damien Jurado “Rachel & Cali” (from ‘Saint Bartlett’)
Deerhunter “Coronado” (from ‘Halcyon Digest’)
DM Stith “Be My Baby” (from ‘Heavy Ghost Appendices’)
Doug Paisley “Always Say Goodbye” (from ‘Constant Companion’)
Dutch “California Cloaked In Wool” (from ‘A Bright Cold Day’)
DVAS “Inner Sanctum” (from ‘Society’)

Eamon McGrath “No One’s Gonna Love You When You’re Gone” (from ‘Peace Maker’)
El-P “Time Won’t Tell” (from ‘Weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamixxx3′)
Elaquent “Merlot Grapes” (from ‘Persona’)
Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed “Come And Get It” (from ‘Come And Get It’)
Ernest Gonzales “Self Awakening” (from ‘Been Meaning To Tell You’)

First Aid Kit “Heavy Storm” (from ‘The Big Black And The Blue’)
Fitz And The Tantrums “Moneygrabber” (from ‘Pickin’ Up The Pieces’)
Flying Lotus “Dance Of The Pseudo Nymph” (from ‘Cosmogramma’)
Fol Chen “In Ruins” (from ‘Part II: The New December”)
Forest City Lovers “Oh The Wolves! (Ou Est Ma Soeur?)” (from ‘Carriage’)
Frederick Squire “As Long As One Sun Could Shine” (from ‘March 12′)
Free The Robots “Granite Rock” (fromm ‘Ctrl Alt Delete’)
Future Islands “Vireo’s Eye” (from ‘In Evening Air’)

High Places “On Giving Up” (from ‘High Places vs Mankind’)
Hot Panda “1995″ (from ‘How Come I’m Dead?’)

J. Tillman “Singing Ax” (from ‘Singing Ax’)
Janelle Monae “Tightrope” (from ‘The ArchAndroid’)
Japanther “She’s The One” (from ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Ice Cream’)
Javelin “On It On It” (from ‘No Mas’)
jj “My Life” (from ‘jj no 3′)

Kings Go Forth “Get A Feeling” (from ‘The Outsiders Are Back’)

Laura Marling “Rambling Man” (from ‘I Speak Because I Can’)
Laura Merrimen “Go On Now” (from ‘Love Letters For Lonely Hunters’)
Laura Veirs “Silo Song” (from ‘July Flame’)
Liars “The Overachievers” (from ‘Sisterworld’)
Library Voices “Insider Trading (On Outsider Art)” (from ‘Denim On Denim’)
Lisa Bozikovic “The Letting Go” (from ‘Lost August’)

Maximum Balloon “Shakedown” (from ‘Maximum Balloon’)
Memoryhouse “Lately (Deuxième)” (from ‘Years’)
Mi Ami “Harmonics (Genius Of Love)” (from ‘Steal Your Face’)
The Mohawk Lodge “Done Fighting” (from ‘Crimes’)
The Moondoggies “Empress Of The North” (from ‘Tidelands’)
Mr. Chop “T.R.O.Y.” (from ‘For Pete’s Sake’)
Murs “The Lick” (from ‘Fornever’)
Mux Mool “Breakfast Enthusiast” (from ‘Skulltaste’)

Nice Nice “See Waves” (from ‘Extra Wow’)

Onakabazien “Makin’ It” (from ‘That Young Shit’)

Phantogram “You Are The Ocean” (from ‘Eyelid Movies’)

Royaume Des Morts “The Tape Deck Ate My Hit” (from ‘Royaume Des Morts’)

S. Carey “We Fell” (from ‘All We Grow’)
School Of Seven Bells “Dial” (from ‘Disconnect From Desire’)
The Secret Sisters “My Heart Skips A Beat” (from ‘Silver Threads And Golden Needles’)
Seven Project “Elegant Hot Dog” (from ‘Seven Project’)
Shigeto “Ann Arbor Part 2″ (from ‘Full Circle’)
Shlohmo “Hot Boxing The Cockpit (Tokimonsta Remix)” (from ‘Shlomoshun Deluxe’)
Silly Kissers “You Could Even Like Me” (from ‘Precious Necklace’)
Small Black “Sun Was High (So Was I) (Best Coast cover)” (from ‘Photojournalist’)
Smoke Fairies “Strange Moon Rising” (from ‘Through Low Light And Trees’)
Solex “Don’t Hold Back” (from ‘Amsterdam Throwdown King Street Showdown!’)
Superchunk “My Gap Feels Weird” (from ‘Majesty Shredding’)

Teebs “My Whole Life” (from ‘Ardour’)
To Rococo Rot “Bells” (from ‘Speculation’)

The Watson Twins “Give Me A Chance” (from ‘Talking To You, Talking To Me’)
Wavves “King Of The Beach” (from ‘King Of The Beach’)
The Wilderness Of Manitoba “Hermit” (from ‘When You Left The Fire’)
Woodpigeon “Enchantée Janvier” (from ‘Die Stadt Muzikanten’)
Women “Drag Open” (from ‘Public Strain’)

Yukon Blonde “Bride’s Song” (from ‘Yukon Blonde’)

Missing From These Lists:
Probably a lot!

Fortunately Everything Dies Album Covers Pt 3

chrisrwhite — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:56:07 +0000

Here are the last of the promo CD covers. All fourteen were shipped out to Canadian campus radio stations early this week, and should be arriving very soon. For everyone else, Horror will be available for free download on Monday afternoon via my Bandcamp site.

Fortunately Everything Dies Album Covers Pt 2

chrisrwhite — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 22:21:35 +0000

Here are four more of the hand-made CD promo copies for my new album, which will be available on July 5th as a free download.

All of these CD booklets were re-purposed from rejected submissions to a campus radio station. Why a major record label would send music by popular artists like Queen Latifah, Saving Abel, and LMFAO to an organization that exists to present programming not offered by commercial radio is beyond me. However, I’d like to thank EMI for being clueless!

Fortunately Everything Dies Album Covers

chrisrwhite — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:09:26 +0000

Horror is the new album by Fortunately Everything Dies, which will be released as a free download on July 5th, 2010. I had some success with sending out limited edition, hand-made promo CD copies to Canadian campus radio stations, and I thought I’d try it again. I take promotion about as seriously as the music creation process, so don’t be shocked by DIY design.

Happy Long List Day?

chrisrwhite — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:28:39 +0000

I have not made a blog post in more than a month because I have been equal parts lazy, busy with preparing to move, and working on the completion of my next album. More about that another day though.

June 17th is a big day for the Canadian music world, as the Polaris Music Prize Long List was announced. As one of the numerous jurors, I cast my votes for the following albums…

#1 = The Got To Get Got – Sahalee
#2 = Ghettosocks – Treat Of The Day
#3 = Evening Hymns – Spirit Guides
#4 = Kae Sun – Lion On A Leash
#5 = The Wooden Sky – If I Don’t Come Home You’ll Know I’m Gone

Ghettosocks and Kae Sun didn’t appear on my Best of 2009 album list, but both are excellent selections that easily could have, and continue to grow on me. I tried to vote strategically, but unfortunately, the results were very minimal. If you visited the link near the top of the page, you’ll notice that only The Wooden Sky actually made it to the next round.

I’m disappointed!

Yes, I’ll certainly be able to find five albums from the list of forty that were selected, and re-tabulate my ballot when the time comes. I just won’t feel as strongly about it because, in my opinion, many of the nominees just aren’t overwhelmingly spectacular.

For example, I would undoubtedly call Holy Fuck one of my favourite bands. I own all of their releases, lots of remixes, rarities & bootlegs, three t-shirts that I wear regularly, and have seen them live seven times. As I said on the jurors message board, Latin doesn’t sound like a huge re-invigoration of their sound, and in turn, it doesn’t wow me as much as their first two albums. It is a very good album, but not one of the best things I’ve heard in recent memory.

In the same kind of way, I have difficulty seeing what is incredibly special about albums by nominees such as The Besnard Lakes, Jason Collett, Frog Eyes, Hannah Georgas, Dan Mangan, The New Pornographers, Plants And Animals, Justin Rutledge, Tegan And Sara, Hawksley Workman, You Say Party! We Say Die!, Young Galaxy, and/or Zeus. Again, they are all very good artists and albums, but it’s hard to differentiate what is so special about them. When you flip it around, I’m sure someone else could easily say the same about my selection of The Got To Get Got.

Overall, I guess it’s interesting to see how name recognition, industry connections, and product visibility can affect the results of a voting process such as this. There isn’t much that complaining will do, so I’ll move on to thinking about how to effectively help my favourite nominees make the short list.

IACBT 05/06

chrisrwhite — Sat, 08 May 2010 15:11:15 +0000

I wouldn’t count this as one of my better shows, but I did happily stay away from the world of indie rock, which was somewhat nice because it provided more time for hip-hop. On that note, Neferiu Records is quickly becoming my favourite source for Canadian hip-hop, and it’s especially excellent how many of their releases are available for free or a pay-what-you-can style.

In a similar way, the new album by Magnolius is available on their Bandcamp page, but their CD packaging is so beautiful that you’re really missing out by not purchasing it. It’s difficult to notice from the photo, but it comes in an over-sized (approx. 8″ x 8″) booklet, with the lyrics and liner notes transcribed on aged/recycled paper. Magnolius performed in Windsor last night, but I already made other plans to see Laura Marling, The Middle East, and Smoke Fairies at The Magic Stick.

Anyhow, here is the playlist for the May 6th edition of my radio show…
Michna “Avante”
Sightings “Tar And Pine”
Zebrabook “Barry White”
Lali Puna “Future Tense”
Jacky Terrasson “Say Yeah”
Nels Cline Singers “Scissor/Saw”
Hot Club of Detroit “Duke And Dukie”
Magnolius “Selaron”
Ricca Razor Sharp & The Equazn “Procrastination”
Planit & The Dirty Sample “Balaclava’s For Paychecks”
Ginsberg’s Inkling “Burning Libraries”
Dark Time Sunshine “All Aboard”
Phosphorescent “We’ll Be Here Soon”
Natalie Merchant “Calico Pie”
Canteen Knockout “Back In The Sun”
Did “Time For Shopping”
Flying Lotus “German Haircut,” “Recoiled” and “Dance Of The Pseudo Nymph”

April Albums Recap plus IACBT 04/22 and 04/29

chrisrwhite — Wed, 05 May 2010 18:19:34 +0000

The idea continues to blow my mind as every month passes, but according to my tabulation, I have previewed/sampled/reviewed 1,016 albums over the first four months of 2010! If you think that is crazy, I have a peer who claims that his total is in the 1,400+ range. While I plan to leave campus radio in August, I love the idea that it would have been feasible to be exposed to more than 3,000 albums over the span of a year.

After pondering the stats on my Last.fm profile, I realized that I don’t have any artists with anything close to 1,000 plays. A few weeks ago I decided to choose a random artist from my music collection, and see if I can force myself to listen to 1,000 of their songs. Of all the choices available, I thought it would be humourous to go with…

Yes… Cypress Hill. My reasoning was:
-they have a new album called “Rise Up” that was released on April 20th.
-the Cypress Hill discography is rather lengthy, and I somewhat lost interest in their music around the “IV” album, so this could be a good chance to familiarize myself with what they’ve been doing since 1998.
-I like any opportunity to listen to their self-titled and “Black Sunday” albums. My teenage self gave the later a lot of listens, and I still consider it to be one of the best hip-hop albums ever made.
-if I’m going to challenge myself to something like this, I might as well have fun with it.

Forced listening challenges aside, the music of Javelin is truly owning my attention lately. I could probably listen to their new album (“No Mas”) on repeat for an entire day and still find enjoyment in it. Sadly, I haven’t been able to find a copy for purchase in local record stores.

I’m also eagerly anticipating the arrival of the new Flying Lotus album (“Cosmogramma”). I tried to buy it on its release date, but vinyl copies had not arrived yet. I resisted the urge to listen to pre-release leaks, but finally gave in when a promo copy arrived at CJAM late last week. I don’t love it as much as “Los Angeles” but have a feeling it will seriously grow on me with future listens.

I Am Collecting Beautiful Things won the listener-voted CJAM Jammy Award for Best Music Variety program, which was a huge surprise. It took seven years to actually win a Jammy, but I’m glad that it finally happened! Moving onward, here are playlists for my last two CJAM radio shows.

April 22nd, 2010
As special, yet loosely-themed, Earth Day programming, I attempted to strictly use digital music submissions. I didn’t feel like a DJ by queuing up a playlist of MP3s and speaking on mic every so often, and was happy to put this show behind me.

Kings Go Forth “One Day”
Ancient Astronauts “Put Em Up”
Eulorhythmics “Green St. & Avers”
Eulorhythmics “Hot & Nasty (instrumental)”
Balkan Beat Box “War Again”
Broken Social Scene “All In All”
The Weakerthans “Aside (live)”
Plants And Animals “The Mama Papa”
The Smashing Pumpkins “A Song For A Son”
The Great Mundane “Tremor Dancer”
Fuck Buttons “Olympians (Spaceman vs The Olympians Remix)”
Jahcoozi “Watching You (Deadbeat Stalker Dub)”
The Sight Below “New Dawn Fades”
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings “Window Shopping”
Hess Is More “Yes Boss (Revenge instrumental)”

April 29th, 2010
Dean Drouillard “In Light”
First Aid Kit “Hard Believer”
Horse Feathers “Belly Of June”
Inlets “In Which I, Robert”
Relic “Count Your Blessings”
Circle Research “Out of this World”
Circle Research “Gummy Worm”
Silly Kissers “Adrian”
Bocce “Wheel of Fortune Cookie”
Grimes “Venus In Fleurs”
The Mynabirds “Numbers Don’t Lie”
The Kissaway Trail “New Lipstick”
Lou Rhodes “The Ocean”
Young Jazz Rebels “The Sun”
Kings Go Forth “Now We’re Gone”
Trombone Shorty “In The 6th”
The Flatliners “The Calming Collection”
The Birthday Boys “Wasted”
The Birthday Boys “Machine”

IACBT 04/08 and 04/15

chrisrwhite — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 19:57:22 +0000

As known to do, I slipped a little and haven’t posted the radio show playlists for the last two weeks, so here they are. More and more it feels like I have to play albums that the other volunteers are ignoring, just so I can report semi-positive things back to record labels and promotion companies. The life of a Music Director….

April 8th:
Chet Doxas “Goodbye”
The Spades “Can’t Sleep”
Guilty Simpson “Prelude”
Madlib “Mandingo Swing”
Sade “Bring Me Home”
AutoKratz “The Idiots Are Winning”
Growing “Camera ’84″
Mux Mool “SFW Porn”
Daedelus “Order of the Golden Dawn”
Microbunny “Electrical Fire Incident”
Nice Nice “Double Head”
Awesome Color “Zombie”
Dog Is Blue “Song Written Upon Getting Cut By The Argos”
Slow Club “When I Go”
Christina Maria “Carolina”
Oh My Darling “Caught You Looking”
Thom Swift “Down The Road”
Michou “Eavesdropping”

April 15th:
Javelin “C Town”
Javelin “Off My Mind”
Javelin “Susie Cues”
Raised By Swans “The Waiting’s Over”
Thanks to Eric Howden of Raised By Swans for doing a live on-air interview with me on this afternoon. The band played in Windsor on Friday night, but unfortunately I missed it due to illness.

Laura Marling “Rambling Man”
Tyler Shipley “On The Picket Line”
Dave McCann and the Firehearts “Standing In The River”
Ruth Purves Smith & The 581 “Godzilla”
Cypress Hill “Shut ‘Em Down”
Nedry “Squid Cat Battle”
Quadron “Pressure”
PDF Format “This Is What It Means To Feel”
Drink Up Buttercup “Gods And Gentlemen”
Lawrence Arabia “Eye A”
Sally Seltmann “I Tossed A Coin”
Aloha “Cold Storage”
David Myles “Gone For Long”
David Myles “So Far Away”