Best Albums of 2014

Reviews coming soon

1) Future Islands - Singles (4AD)
2) Lower - Seek Warmer Climes (Matador)
3) High Tension - Death Beat (Cooking Vinyl)
4) Caribou - Our Love (Merge)
5) The Pixies - Indy Cindy (Independent)
6) Eagulls - Eagulls (Partisan)
7) Brian Eno and Karl Hyde - Someday World (Warp)
8) Bob Mould - Beauty and Ruin (Merge)
9) Trust - Joyland (Arts and Crafts)
10) The Horrors - Luminous (4AD)

Honourable Mentions: Mozart's Sister - Being (Paper Bag), The Wytches - Annabel Dream Reader (Partisan), Gazelle Twin - Unflesh (Last Gang), Single Mothers - Negative Qualities (Dine Alone), Jungle - Jungle (XL)

Who We Lost in 2014

Jay Traynor (Jay and the Americans)
Phil Everley
Joe Evans
Dennis Fredrickson (Toto)
Art Doyle
Pete Seeger
The Mighty Hannibal
Bunny Rugs (Third World)
Dirck Berk
Sean Potts (The Chieftains)
Gert Krawinkel (Trio)
Bob Casale (Devo)
Franny Beecher (Bill Haley)
Paco de Lucia
Frank Read (The Chi-Lites)
Gary Berger (The Monks)
Scott Asheton (The Stooges)
Dave Brockie
Billy Mundi (Mothers of Invention)
Frankie Knuckles
Wayne Henderson
Leee Black Childers
Jesse Winchester
Shane Gibson (Korn)
DJ E-Z Rock
Nash the Slash
Ed Gagliandi (Foreigner)
Jerry Vale
Doc Neeson (The Angels)
Don Davis
Alan Douglas
Jimmy Scott
Casey Kasem
John McClure
Johnny Mann
Horace Silver
Gerry Goffin
Norman Sheffield
Bobby Womack
Paul Horn
Annik Honore
John Spinks (The Outfield)
Charlie Haden
Johnny Winter
Johnny Rebb
Dick Wagner (Alice Cooper)
Rick Parashar
Don Pardo
Buddy MacMaster
Glenn Cornick (Jethro Tull)
Jimi Jamison (Survivor)
David Anderle
Robert Young (Primal Scream)
Bob Crewe
Joe Sample
Peter Gutteridge (The Clean)
Jackie Cain
George Hamilton IV
Kenny Wheeler
Paul Revere (The Raiders)
Tim Hauser (Manhattan Transfer)
John Holt
Michael J. Shamberg
Wayne Static (Static-X)
Acker Blik
Big Bank Hank
Jimmy Ruffin
Jon Star (Lillian Axe)
Nick Talbot (Gravenhurst)
Bobby Keys (The Rolling Stones)
Ian McLagan (Small Faces)
Brian Goble (The Subhumans)
Larry Smith
Larry Henley
Joe Cocker
Chip Young

DNTTA Playlist for December 19, 2014

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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Weed - Hard to Kill* - Hard to Kill (Nettwerk)
Cowards - So Dark It's a Joke* - World Champions in Male Chastity (Independent)
Psychosomatic Itch - Cold Call* - Live @ CFUV (Shake!)
Art Bergmann - Ballad of a Crooked Man* - Songs for the Underclass (Weewerk)
Energy Slime - Bustin' Up* - New Dimensional (Mint)
Energy Slime - Only Clouds* - New Dimensional (Mint)
WHOOP-Szo - Nyeengum* - Niizhwaaswo (Out of Sound)
Scott Walker and Sunn O))) - Fetish - Sosued (4AD)
Himiko - Minamata* - Victims of Greed (D-Trash)
Himiko - GMO Piggy* - Victims of Greed (D-Trash)
WTCHS - Nell* - It's Not a Cross, It's a Curse (Independent)
Century Palm - White Light* - Century Palm (Mammoth Cave)
Coil - Neither His Nor Yours - A Diamond Hidden in the Mouth of a Corpse (Giorno Poetry Systems)

DNTTA Playlist for December 11, 2014

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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Avec le Soleil Sortant de sa Bouche - Face a l'instant - Part 2* - Zubberdust! (Constellation)
Wayne Horvitz - Forgiveness - At the Reception (Songline)
Lenny Breau - If You Could See Me Now* - LA Bootleg 1984 (12 Hit Wonder)
Kogging - Yesterday's Horizon - Sketches of Ordinary Life (Sina)
Equilibrium - Thalassa - Liquid Light (Songlines)
Michel Morissette - Le Chant* - Nothing Toulouse (Effendi)
Kate Boyd - John Cage: Sonata 9 - John Cage: Sonatas and Interludes (Navona)
Yves Ramette - Solum in Modum: Riccercare - The Golden Galaxy (Navona)

DNTTA Playlist for December 5, 2014 - Compilations 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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All tracks from compilations

Huevos Rancheros - Get Outta Dodge* - Team Mint (Mint)
Ken Nordine - Flesh - Incredibly Strange Music Vol. II (Re/Search)
Pan American - What Do They Dream? - Kranky Kompilation (Kranky)
The Floor - Catastrophe* - Zed: Live Off the Floor (CBC Music)
Mark Mills - Straight to You* - Songs from the Workshop (Independent)
Soupcans - Young and Easy* - Songs from the Workshop (Independent)
Indian Police - I'm Gonna Kill Everybody I Know* - Ralph Nader Was Here (Independent)
Miss Kitten and The Hacker - Frank Sinatra - Party Monster OST (TVT(
Yellow Magic Orchestra - Seoul Music - Disco, Not Disco (Strut)
Jessy Lanza - Kathy Lee* - Everybody Dance Now Vol. 9 (Independent)
The Nirvana Sitar and String Group - The Letter - Incredibly Strange Music Vol. II (Re/Search)
The Enigmas - Teenage Barnacle* - Last Call (Zulu)

DNTTA Playlist for November 28, 2014

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 Hidden Cameras - Boys of Melody* - The Smell of Our Own (Evil Evil)
Perfume Genius - Fool - Too Bright (Matador)
MoonMuseum - Back There* - Present in the Haze (Independent)
Low - I'm on Fire - Dead Man's Town: A Tribute to Born in the USA (Lightning Rod)
North Atlantic Explorers - Spiral Into the Sea* - My Father Was a Sailor (Independent)
Tom Beaulieu - Space Man Coming - The Best of Tom Beaulieu (Independent)
Pet Sun - Lutes* - Feel Like I'm Going Away (Independent)
The B-52s - Dance This Mess Around - The B-52s (Sire)
Mi'ens - Sparklecore* - Experimentalsparklenoisepop (Independent)
Ringo Deathstarr - Never Drive - Colour Trip (Sonic Unyon)
William S. Burroughs - A Thankgiving Prayer - Dead City Radio (Island)

DNTTA Playlist for November 21, 2014

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 - The Sport* - I Was a Worker And Now I'm Old (Independent)
Ride - Deep Inside My Pocket - Tarantula (Sire)
Thurston Moore - Vocabularies - The Next Day (Matador)
Jons - Last Minute* - Serfs of Today (Independent)
Northern Elms - Horrorscope* - Raised by Wolves (Independent)
Cowards - Let's Talk About Our Feelings* - World Champions in Male Chastity (Independent)
VKNGS - Seventeen* - VKNGS (Acadian Embassy)
Legato Vipers - Brian's Beard* - LV (Psychic Handshake)
Single Mothers - Feel Shame* - Negative Qualities (Dine Alone)
Dungen - Bortglund - Ta Det Lungt (Kemado)
Blonde Redhead - 10 - In An Expression of the Inexpressible (Touch and Go)
The Nectarine No. 9 - Dept. of Nothing - Society is a Carnivorous Flower (Beggar's Banquet)
SIRR - Going to the Caribbean* - Charge! (Independent)

DNTTA Playlist for November 14, 2014

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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Crystal Castles - Courtship Dating* - Crystal Castles (Last Gang)
An Ant and an Atom - The Bathory Allure* - You Are No One (Independent)
Tarwater - Strawberry Shoes - Rabbit Moon (Capstack)
Caribou - Second Chance* - Our Love (Merge)
Gazelle Twin - Good Death - Unflesh (Last Gang)
Lovesprials - This Truth (Headache remix) - Out of Phase: The Headache Remixes (Uncoiled Loop)
NoProfit - Moon City* - (Independent)
Yelle - Moteur Action - Completement Fou (Kemosabe)
Lydia Ainsworth - White Shadows* - Right from Real (Arbutus)
Severed Heads - Golden Boy - Since the Accident (Nettwerk)
Roadside Picnic - The Prosthetical Door* - Split (Unit Structure)

DNTTA Playlist for November 7, 2014

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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Braids - Glass Deers* - Native Speaker (Flemish Eye)
Maurizio Biachi - Untitled (excerpt)* - Split (Unit Strucuture Sound)
Arditti Quartet, comp. Wolf Edwards - Ichos* - MusicWorks CD #120 (Independent)
Map 71 - Standing - 7" (Foolproof)
Aeolipile - Glut - 7" (Foolproof)
Kellar - Sunrise City Flux - 7" (Foolproof)
Marbin - Northern Odyssey - The Third Set (Moonjune)
Moraine - Fountain of Euthanasia - Groundswell (Moonjune)
Avec le Soleil Sortants de sa Bouche* - Super Pastiche Fantastique Part 1 - Zubberdust! (Constellation)
Hansmole* - Ray of Darkness - Whitest Whiteness (Shake!)

DNTTA Playlist for October 31, 2014

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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Annual Hallowe'en Special - Industrial, Goth and Metal

Skinny Puppy - Blood on the Wall* - Bites (Nettwerk)
Ministry - Every Day is Hallowe'en - 12" Singles (Wax Trax!)
Front 242 - Gripped by Fear - Tragedy for You (Columbia)
X Marks the Pedwalk - Danger - Abattoir (Cleopatra)
New Jacobin Club - Into the Fire* - Soldier of the Mark (Manitcore)
Malhavoc - Release* - The Release (Epidemic)
Out Out - In Phase - Voiceprint (Metropolis)
Mongol - Storming the Wall* - Chosen By Tengri (Independent)
Industrial Artz - Braineater* - 6 Demon Bang (Independent)
Numb - Trial* - Death on the Installment Plan (KK)
Hate Dept. - I Am Truth - Scavengers in the Matrix (If it Moves)

DNTTA Playlist for October 24, 2014

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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Vampires - There's No Kissing Anymore* - Every Kind of Light EP (Independent)
Sleater-Kinney - Oh! - One Beat (Kill Rock Stars)
Casiokids - Finn Bikkjen! - Topp Stemming Pa Lokal Bar (Polyvinyl)
The Wedding Present - Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft - George Best Plus (Cooking Vinyl)
Iceage - Glossy Eyed, Dormant and Veiled - Plowing Through the Fields of Love (Matador)
The Wytches - Part Time Model - Annabell Dream Reader (Dine Alone)
Hallow Moon - Don't Know Why* - Hallow Moon (Neptoon)
Zen Mystery Fogg - Ativan* - Zenn Mystery Fogg (Shake!)
Zeahorse - Onions - Doors (Dine Alone)
Invasives - Living Your Life Like It's Somebody Else's* - Robot Stank (Independent)
Coves - No Ladder - Soft Friday (Nettwerk)
Dikes of Holland - Little City Girl - Casual Victim Pile (Matador)

Latest Earshot Reviews

Earshot finally got all my new reviews up:

Jane Bunnett and Maqueque - S/T

Moire - Shelter

The Schomberg Fair - I Won't Be Afraid

Zaum - Oracles

DNTTA Playlist for October 17, 2014

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 Besnard Lakes - Disaster* - Are the Dark Horse (Jagjaguwar)
FKA twigs - Two Weeks - LP1 (Young Turks)
Grimes - Oblivion* - Visions (Arbutus)
Lali Puna - Antena Trash - Tridecoder (Morr Music)
Merchandise - Life Outside the Mirror - After the End (4AD)
Dark Horses - Saturn Returns - Hail Lucid State (Last Gang)
Shimmering Stars - You Were There* - Bedrooms of the Nation (Almost)
The Young - Moondog First Quarter - Chrome Cactus (Matador)
TOPS - Superstition Future* - Picture You Staring (Arbutus)
Tiny Danza - One Day* - One Day (Independent)
Jennifer Castle - Sparta* - Pink City (Idee Fixe)
My Brightest Diamond - Before the Words - This is My Heart (Paper Bag)

DNTTA Playlist for October 10, 2014

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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OPOPO - Clockstop* - OPOPO (Urbnet)
Brian Eno and Karl Hyde - Daddy's Car - Someday World (Mute)
Brian Eno and David Byrne - Help Me Somebody - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (Sire)
Brian Eno and John Cale - One Word - Wrong Way Up (Opal)
Electrohome - Aerodynamically Sound* - The Way We Were and Are (Independent)
Go Ghetto Tiger - Pop 'n Chaos* - Backstage at a Puppet Show (Independent)
Operators - Book of Love* - EP1 (Last Gang)
Twink - Track 6 (from Critter Club) - Critter Club (Independent)
Mozart's Sister - Good Thing Bad Thing* - Being (Paper Bag)
Secant Prime - Riemann Zeta-Fuction (excerpt) - Ambients (Independent)

DNTTA Playlist for October 3, 2014

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 - Tyrants* - In the Future (Scratch)
Zaum - The Red Sea* - Oracles (I Hate)
Tame Impala - Mind Mischief - Lonerism (Modular)
Instruments - Send Resend* - The End of Light By Heat (Independent)
Death From Above 1979 - Right On* - The Physical World (Last Gang)
Bob Mould - The War - Beauty and Ruin (Merge)
Advertisement - Processed* - Advertisement (Independent)
Swimfail - Bad Comedy* - II (Shake!)
Hagface - Bendy Wendy* - Ragface (Independent)
Tanya Tagaq - Howl* - Animism (Six Shooter)

DNTTA Playlist for September 26, 2014

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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Run Chico Run - Part of My Brain is Working Against Me* - Shashbo (Boompa)
Dub Rifles - Face Up* - No Town No Country (Sundowning)
Sounds of Sputnik - Light Scheme (Mind Moves Remix)*
M185 - Soon - Everything is Up (Siluh)
Slight Birching - Beacon Hill* - Cultural Envelope (Independent)
The Wax Girl - Departure* - Anosmic (Independent)
Static People - Stars Fall - Rare Creatures (Mass Ants)
Cygnets - Modern Youth* - Isolator (Independent)
Coronado - Burning Bright* - Give Up Nothing Vol. 1 (Independent)
Deerhoof - Rainbox Silhouette - Milk Man (Kill Rock Stars)
The Unicorns - Child Star* - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? (Alien8)

DNTTA Playlist for September 19, 2014

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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Dave Robbins Electric Band - Carboniferous* - Zap! (Cellar Live)
Peter Epstein Quartet - Tiny Expanding Universe - Polarities (Songlines)
Kartet - Binoculars - Grand Laps (Songlines)
The Westerlies - You Were Just Here - Wish the Children Would Come Home (Songlines)
Brahja Waldman Quartet - Boundless* - Sir Real Live at Resonance (Independent)
Pulsarus - Hieratic - Bee Itch (For-Tune)
David Mott and Jesse Stewart - Earthtones* - Anagrams (Art Stew)
Downing/Lewis/Occhipinti - Solar* - Bristles (Independent)
Up Bustle and Out - Ninja's Principality - One Color Just Reflects Another (Ninja Tune)
Kids Eat Crayons - Two Children Die in House Fire* - Dogs at Play Among the Ruins (Independent)

DNTTA Playlist for September 12, 2014

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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Death from Above 1979    Losing Friends* - Heads Up (Ache)
The Hydrothermal Vents    Neptune's Grave* - Secrets of the Deep! (Independent)
Reykjavictim    Illusion* - Xiao Di Fang (Metal Postcard)
PS I Love You - Bad Brain Day* - For Those Who Stay (Paper Bag)
Freeman - Covert Discretion - Freeman (Partisan)
The Raincoats - Don't Be Mean - Looking in the Shadows (Geffen)
Shimmering Stars - Shadow Visions* - Bedrooms of the Nation (Almost)
Future of the Left - Sorry Dad, I Was Late for the Riots - The Plot Against Common Sense (Xtra Mile)
Eagulls - Yellow Eyes - Eagulls (Partisan)
B-Lines - Normal Again* - Opening Band (Shake!)
B-Lines - Distractions* - Opening Band (Shake!)
Lab Coast - Pictures on the Wall* - Pictures on the Wall (Shake!)
Lab Coast - Radio* - Pictures on the Wall (Shake!)
Small Teeth - Dishwashers* - Small Teeth (Independent)
The Flaming Lips - Battling Forces from Beyond - 7 Skies H3 (Warner)

Best of 2013 #1: Savages - Silence Yourself (Matador Records)

When Sleater-Kinney went on hiatus in 2006, it left a huge hole to fill in music. Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss filled that void with their awesome Wild Flag project, but the band quickly broke up. Corin Tucker's solo work has been good, but a touch too melodic and folky to really be the next Sleater-Kinney. What we needed was another group of women to come in and make kick ass indy rock and post punk. Enter Savages. Hailing from the UK, their debut album, Silence Yourself, was bruising, uncompromising and exactly what the world needed. The band has been described as "deadly serious post-punk", which is an apt description. This is serious music for serious people. The band is just a couple of years into their career and they have the perfect balance of young punkish brashness and the polished precision maturity of a long running band. After listening to their album, you realize that this band won't be ignored.

Or maybe it's like a friend said to me, I just like women who play loud and scream...

DNTTA Playlist for August 5, 2014

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

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca
Manitoba - Kid You'll Move Mountains* - Up in Flames (Leaf)
Lee Negin - Janus Half-Baked - The Cheeze Chronicles Vol. 5 (Passing Phase)
Dan Deacon - True Thrush - America (Domino)
Dwntwn - Missing You - Dwntwn (Julian)
The Knife - A Tooth for an Eye - Shaking the Habitual (Mute)
Young Liars - Tidal Wave* - Tidal Wave (Nettwerk)
Animalia - Forgotten* - Mouth Full of Teeth (Independent)
Sylvan Esso - Dreamy Bruises - Sylvan Esso (Partisan)
Atomzero - Build Decay* - Symbiosis (Independent)
Mark Mills - Irish French Immersion* - Triple Fire Sign (Independent)
Gary Numan - I Nearly Married a Human (live at the BBC) - The BBC Sessions (Beggar's Banquet)

Best of 2013 #2: Chvrches - The Bones of What You Believe (Virgin)

Scottish band Chvrches (pronounced Churches) produced one of the most stunning debuts of the year, plus the best pure electronic albums this year. The band is just three years old, but their debut full length album displays a fully realized sound brimming with maturity. They have an unapologetically 80s synth-pop sound. Like quite a few bands I've loved in the past (Parallels, Crystal Castles) , this band has a solid retro electronic backing sound with a crisp female voice fronting the band. It'll be interesting to see if the sophomore curse hits this band.

DNTTA Playlist for August 29, 2014 - All Covers!

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

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

All-Covers Show!

Zeus - Vasoline (Stone Temple Pilots)* - Cover Me! (Arts and Crafts)
Sonic Youth - Superstar (The Carpenters) - If I Were a Carpenter (A&M)
Les Thugs - Moon Over Marin (Dead Kennedys) - Virus 100 (Alternative Tentacles)
The Doughboys - Why She's the Girl from the Chainstore (Buzzcocks)* - Something's Gone Wrong Again: A Tribute to the Buzzcocks (C/Z)
It's OK - Wishing (A Flock of Seagulls) - Freedom of Choice (Caroline)
Steve Earle and Reckless Kelly - Reconsider Me (Warren Zevon) - Enjoy Every Sandwich: The Songs of Warren Zevon (Artemis)
The Proclaimers - My Old Friend the Blues (Steve Earle) - Sunshine on Leith (Columbia)
Neil Young - Early Morning Rain (Gordon Lightfoot)* - A Letter Home (Third Man)
Concrete Blonde - Everybody Knows (Leonard Cohen)* - Pump Up the Volume (MCA)
Trampled By Turtles - Where is My Mind? (The Pixies) - Live on First Street (Thirty Tigers)
The The - My Heart Would Know (Hank Williams) - Hanky Panky (Sony)
Weird Al Yankovic - Handy (Iggy Azalea) - Mandatory Fun (RCA)
Tankhog - I Woke Up in Love This Morning (The Partridge Family)* - House of Beauty (Zulu)

DNNTA Playlist for August 22, 2014

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

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca
Buck 65 - Square Four (excerpt)* - Square (Warner)
Young Liars - U-Dreams* - Tidal Wave (Nettwerk)
Royksopp and Robyn - Monument - Do it Again (Dog Triumph)
Jungle - Platoon - Jungle (XL)
Seikosays - Swimming* - Seiko Says (Vinyl Republik)
La Roux - Paradise is You - Trouble in Paradise (Polydor)
Kelis - Jerk Ribs - Food (Ninja Tune)
Times Neue Roman - Way Way Down* - Times Neue Roman (Independent)
Triune Gods - Causing Terror - Three Cornered World (Independent)
Kid606 - Smack My Glitch Up - The Action Packed Mentalist Brings You the Fucking Jams (Violent Turd)

Salmon Arm Roots and Blues Festival 2014

The Salmon Arm Roots and Blues Festival is one of my personal highlights of the summer and something I look forward to every year. This years line up promised to be very eclectic.The thing about festivals is that I never go knowing who's going to be playing or what's scheduled for the day. Going to experience the music, whatever it is, is the point. Often, the most magic moments don't take place where you are looking, but off the beaten path.

I arrived just after 11 AM on Sunday (I'm usually only able to go for one day) and checked out the schedule, then decided to see Rose Cousins at the Shade Stage. She plays a light, traditional style of country and folk. Her set was pretty good, and she worked best with accompaniment. She had two members of Winnipeg's Oh My Darling with her, playing bass and fiddle. It was a plus I was able to sit down on at a picnic table in the shade for the concert too. It was a nice, relaxing way to start out the festival.


I popped over to the Blues stage for my first workshop of the day. Workshops are often where magic starts to happen. What you get is 3-4 musicians together on a stage with a rough idea of what theme will happen, and the musicians work on that theme, often making some collaborative, improvised music. At least, ideally that's what happens. The blues stage featured Alvin Youngblood Hart, Little Miss Higgins, Jim Byrnes and Herald Nix. Jim Byrnes I've seen before, at Salmon Arm a few years ago, playing some very traditional blues and gospel with the Sojourners. Hart impressed me quite a bit with his intricate guitar playing. This session was disappointing otherwise. Everyone was great, but they didn't work together. Instead, they just played songs individually. Byrnes tried to do a bit of playing along to a couple of tunes though.


After a quick lunch, I was back at the Shade Stage for a second workshop n traditional folk music, featuring Doc MacLean, a blues player from Ontario, Mandolin Orange, an old-time folk band from North Carolina, and the country/folk band Oh My Darling. Here is when the magic started. After a couple of solo numbers, Oh My Darling did a traditional French Canadian tune, which turned into a bluegrass tune, which turned into Mandolin Orange taking it over and finishing it off. The last track they played was pretty similar, starting as traditional folk, into bluegrass, frantic fiddling and MacLean playing blues harp. Awesome session!



I dropped over to the Focus stage for another workshop, featuring Chloe Albert and Rolla Olak, whose albums I both liked. I was expecting something more on the country end, but instead got a singer-songwriter style of acoustic rock, a style of music I find grating. Sure enough, local artist Jesse Mast started into a "guy with a guitar" style tune, a style that's all over the radio right now, and it turned me off. Rolla Olak's tune wasn't much better. I stuck around to hear Chloe Albert play, once again expecting a country tune, but got the same, plus her husband playing the bongos. I headed out to the Barn stage to catch the last two songs from Vancouver's Good for Grapes, who are a decent indy rock band. They had the crowd jumping at least.

Next up was one of the bands I was excited to see play live: Jr. Gone Wild. These guys as close to Canadian royalty in indy-rock as you can get. They'd been broken up for a long while through the 90s and recently started touring again, so seeing them means I'd be seeing a tour-seasoned and experienced band. Sure enough, they played a quick 5 song set with American mandolin player Dan Zanes that was excellent. They had the feel of a good party rock band, but with the maturity of a seasoned band, merging fun rock and roll with country themes. They left the stage for Black Joe Lewis, from Austin, TX, who turned in a quick set of blues-drenched guitar rock. His style was like a punked-up Delta blues, a lot like the first couple of Black Keys albums, before they got huge and onto commercial radio. Awesome set.


After dinner, it was time for the main stage to start up. Paul Pigat's rockabilly band Cousin Harley was the first act of the night. I have a soft spot for rockabilly. Pigat is a stellar finger-picking guitar player and his back up band are actually both jazz players, so the playing was excellent. The band is very high energy too. They brought out rockabilly legend Bill Kirchen for the second half of the set, who played a cool extended version of "Hot Rod Lincoln", which included about five minutes of "spot the riff", playing riffs from songs from Muddy Waters up to the Sex Pistols. The whole set was great.

Oh My Darling were back up, making it the third time I got to see them that day. Like the previous two times, they did some nice old-time folk, from light poppy numbers to energetic bluegrass. I've already gushed about them, so not much to add here.

By this time, the sun had begun to dip below the mountains. Around this time in the festival is when the bugs start to swarm (and overwhelm the bug spray I had on) and the pot-smokers come out, which began to give me a massive headache. The next act on the stage was Josh Ritter, who isn't my cup of tea, so I headed back to the Barn stage hoping to catch MonkeyJunk. They took a long time to set up, I waited as long as I could but unfortunately wasn't able to see any of their set.

Overall, it was a great festival. It wasn't on par with last years festival (Malcolm Holcombe and Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside blowing my mind) but it was immensely fun!

DNTTA Playlist for August 16, 2014

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

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

Prairie Cat - Bad Storm* - Who Knows Where to Begin? (Independent)
USA Out of Vietnam - Archangel* - Crashing Diseases and Incurable Airplanes (New Damage)
Kuato - Red Sand* - The Great Upheaval (Acadian Embassy)
Kids Eat Crayons - Eunni and the Good Life*
Life in Vacuum - I Don't Fit* - 5 (New Damage)
Jagged - Blue Drip* - Clown Grinder (Ulusulu)
Lower - Lost Weight, Perfect Skin - Seek Warmer Climes (Matador)
Psychosomatic Itch - Cold Call* - Psychosomatic Itch (Shake!)
B-Lines - World War Four* - B-Lines (Shake!)
JPNSGRLS - Tiger* - Circulation (Light Organ)
Scarves - Warm Beds - Empty Houses (Independent)
The Kropotkins - Seconds Past Midnight - Five Points Crawl (Independent)

DNTTA Playlist for August 8, 2014

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

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

 A Tribe Called Red - The Road* - Nation II Nation (Tribal Spirit)
Bidiniband and Selena Martin - The Grey Wave* - The Motherland (Pheromone)
Must Be Tuesday - I'll Save My Last Rifle Round for You* - Cover Me, I'm Going In (Independent)
Country Joe McDonald - Cocaine - Steal This Disc 3 (Rykodisk)
Sturgill Simpson - The Promise - Metamodern Sounds in Country Music (Signature Sounds)
Tower of Song - Everybody Knows* - In City and in Country (Independent)
Weird Al Yankovic - Lame Claim to Fame - Mandatory Fun (Way Moby)
Tanya Tagaq - Umingmak* - Animism (Six Shooter)
Kokono No. 1 - Masikulu - Congotronics (Crammed)
Blackberry Wood - 10 Cent Moonshine* - Strong Man vs. Russian Bears (Independent)
Cowboy Junkies - Working on a Building* - The Trinity Sessions (Latent)

New Earshot Reviews

Finally got some reviews done for Earshot, it's been a while!

Kytami - Remixed

Myriad 3 - The Where

No Sinner - Boo Hoo Hoo

The Soles - Anodos Kathodos

Already working on more, so there will be another post soon!

43 Bumper Stickers and a YOLO License Plate: Review of Weird Al's Mandatory Fun

I'll make no bones about it, I'm a Weird Al fan. I think he's an underrated genius. It takes talent to take another person's song and turn it into something entirely yours. He's so much more than a parody artist. This album sees Yankovic in pretty fine form.

The parodies are very solid this time around. "Word Crimes" is one of the best he's every done, taking Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" and turning it into a rant about grammar. The original sounds almost flat compared to the extra energy Al brings to the song. And maybe more importantly, it's a wagging finger at Robin Thicke's mindless misogyny in the original track, adding something intelligent while remaining dancy and fun."Tacky" is a great send up of Pharrell's "Happy" and his take on Iggy Azalea's "Fancy", relabeled "Handy", is classic Al. The two remaining parodies are a bit off the mark though, "Foil" (Lorde's "Royals") takes a wonderful dark turn in the second half of the song, but falls a bit short. His parody of "Radioactive" ("Inactive") is a bit cliched.

For original material, "First World Problems" is the standout here, a great piss take/homage on the sound of The Pixies. "Lame Claim to Fame" is an homage to Southern Culture on the Skids, an awesome band that more people should check out. The Crosby, Stills and Nash homage "Mission Statement" does it's job, replacing the 60s style folk lyrics with 90s style business gobbledygook, but doesn't hold up to repeated listenings. "My Own Eyes" is a spot on Foo Fighters homage, but interesting. His 9-minute homage to Cat Stevens, "Jackson Park Express" turns into randomness quickly.

Overall, this is a great album, but a bit behind is best work, like on Running with Scissors or Alpocalypse. It's worth listening to just for the parodies, which are some of the best he's done yet.

DNTTA Playlist for August 1, 2014 - An interview with Cygnets

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

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca
Cygnets - Hey Alexandra* - Bleak Anthems (Independent)
Cygnets - Sycophant Girls* - Bleak Anthems (Independent)
Cygnets - Telepaths* - Bleak Anthems (Independent)
Cygnets - Teenager* - Dark Days (Independent)
Cygnets - Leave the Prophets Dead Where They Lie* - Dark Days (Independent)
Cygnets - Sick Device* - Isolator (Independent)
Cygnets - Girlfriends* - Isolator (Independent)
Cygnets - There is Something Wrong With Us* - Isolator (Independent)
Cygnets - Human* - Isolator (Independent)
Cygnets - The Passerby* - Isolator (Independent)
Cygnets - The Mask* - Isolator (Independent)

Listen to the raw interview with Cygnets here.

Best of 2013 #3: The Thermals - Desperate Ground (Saddle Creek)

I'm a fairly recent convert to the Church of The Thermals. It wasn't until the last few years I really started to pay attention to this band. I've been aware of them for a while, but they never grabbed me much, outside of a few awesome songs. Then I began sitting down and listening to their albums. Then the brilliance started to emerge.

This band is a trio from Portland, OR who have an abrasive style of pop-punk. The singer, Hutch Harris, has a very unique voice, high pitched and emotive. The band overall reminds me of iconoclastic bands like The Fall and Pere Ubu, a band that is difficult to listen to, but so insistent in their sound that you have to listen. They have a feel to them that their sound is a giant middle finger to the music industry, that they don't care if you like their music, they're gonna keep making it anyway, But, unlike Mark E. Smith and Dave Thomas, this band is personable and charming.

Even more interesting is that most of their albums are concept albums. 2006's The Body, The Blood, The Machine, was a story about what America would look like if the ultra-right Christian politics took it over. Desperate Ground is about a soldier returning from war and trying to find his place in a world that isn't filled with killing. The songs themselves are great, but the way they hang together as a full album is what makes this amazing. I considered this album for my #1, but ultimately put is at #3.

DNTTA Playlist for July 25, 2014

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

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

Daphni - Yes, I Know* - Jiaolong (Merge)
Michael Brock - Green and Black* - Scorpio (Hybridity)
Rush Midnight - In Your Room - Rush Midnight (Last Gang)
Twin Shadow - Five Seconds - Confess (4AD)
Chvad SB - There Isn't a Day That Goes By - Crickets Were the Compass (Silber Media)
Electric Bird Noise - Seven - Kind of Black (Silber Media)
Feel No Other - Winter is All Over You - Feel No Other (Silber Media)
Beach Season - Situations* - Internet Evening (Independent)
Dixie's Death Pool - Rainbow Bridge* - Twin Galaxies (Leisure Thief)
Mount Sims - How We Do - Electro Kills (Nettwerk)

DNTTA Playlist for July 18, 2014

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

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca
Cygnets - Telepaths* - Bleak Anthems (Independent)
Night Committee - Let's See* - Heaven (Western Famine)
Ought - Pleasant Heart* - More Than Any Other Day (Constellation)
Pop Crimes - The Fly* - Split (7") (Bonzer)
Willower - Occident* - Split (7") (Bonzer)
The Fall - How I Wrote Elastic Man - 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong (Beggar's Banquet)
The Mants - I Smell Woman* - The Mants (Shake!)
Sianspheric - The Owl* - The Owl (7") (Noyes)
Owen Pallett - On a Path* - In Conflict (Secret City)
Himalayan Bear - The Lost Love* - Attacks the Brilliant Air (Self-Righteous)
Gary Flanagan - Memories of You* - Another Coin in the Daydream Machine (Independent)

DNTTA Playlist for July 11, 2014

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

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

Diversions - Shorter Than Me* - American Squalor (Independent)
Obara International - Unloved - Live at Manggha (For-Tune)
Gorzycki and Gruchot - Chaotic Method - Experimental Psychology (For-Tune)
The Intuition Orchestra - Zeriba, Zeriba - To the Inside (For-Tune)
BadBadNotGood - Since You Asked Nicely* - III (Pirates Blend)
Brasstronaut - Same Same* - Mr. Chimara (Unfamiliar)
Sam Davidson - Deep Field* - The Case for Space (Independent)
Skim Millk - Truth and Consequences* - Skim Milk (Independent)
Stanley Schumacher - No Technique (excerpt) - No Technique (Independent)

Best of 2013 #4: Chelsea Light Moving - S/T (Matador)

It's been a bleak couple of years for Sonic Youth fans (like me), with the band on indefinite hiatus. But 2013 was a good year for side projects, with 3 albums coming out. First we had Lee Ranaldo and the Dust's Last Night on Earth, a solid noise/indy rock album. Then we had Kim Gordon's collaboration with Bill Nace, Body/Head, whose album of skronky guitar noise, Coming Apart, made my honourable mentions list (more on this soon). And Thurston Moore put together a new band, Chelsea Light Moving, who put out a great self titled album. Of the three albums, Chelsea Light Moving got closest to the Sonic Youth sound of old, and the sound they were recapturing in their last proper album, The Eternal (coincidentally, my favourite album of 2009). Those needing a Sonic Youth fix, check here first!

DNTTA Playlist for July 4, 2014 - All Canadian 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 

KC Accidental - Anorexic He-Man* - Anthems for the Could've Been Pills (Arts and Crafts)
Solids - Haze Away* - Blame Confusion (Bonsound)
Ought - Forgiveness* - More Than Any Other Day (Constellation)
Cygnets - Dread City* - Dark Days (Independent)
Numb - Dead Inside* - Christmeister (Metropolis)
Skinny Puppy - Three Blind Mice* - Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse (Nettwerk)
Squid Lid - Wormhole Key* - Tackle Box EP (Independent)
Chad VanGaalen - Frozen Paradise* - Shrink Dust (Flemish Eye)
Bron Halpin - Cold Feet and Hands* - Condition Code Red (Independent)
Jesuslesfilles - Gentil* - Le Grain D'Or (Independent)
Kytami - Kiss n' Tease (Marcus Visionary Remix)* - Remixed (East Van Digital)

DNTTA Playlist for June 27, 2014

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

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

Foam Lake - Die Fighting* - Force and Matter (Aporia)
Brave Radar - Too Long Weekend* - Message Centre (Fixture)
Tiger Suit - Book About Your Life* - Tourist Attraction (Independent)
The Peptides - Heaven Help Us We're in Love* - Love Question Mark (Independent)
Tune-Yards - Look Around - Nikki Nack (Rough Trade)
The Horrors - So Now You Know - Luminous (XL)
Kenna Burima - The Warning* - Kenna Burima (Independent)
Twin Library - Kick it Apart* - Historical Tumblers (Independent)
Big Audio Dynamite - Green Grass - The Globe (Virgin)
The Extras - Circular Impression* - The Best of Ready Records Vol. 1 (Ready)
Vogue Dots - Mercy* - Toska (Indica)
Jef Barbara - Song for the Loveshy* - Soft to the Touch (Club Roll)
Devo - Uglatto - Hardcore (Superior Viaduct)

DNTTA Playlist for June 20, 2014

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

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

Crown Land - Popstars and Politicians* - Crown Land (Humboldt Valley)
Conrad Clifton - Crystal Handgun - Picture in Picture (Independent)
Sohn - Ransom Notes - Tremors (4AD)
Chet Faker - Talk is Cheap - Built on Glass (Downtown)
Pigeon Breeders - Whirlwind* - Pixxx 4 (Unit Structure Sound)
Bitter Fictions - Little Joy* - Pixxx 4 (Unit Structure Sound)
Dixie's Death Pool - Wind Plays Tricks w/ Sleep* - Twin Galaxies (Leisure Thief)
Meat Beat Manifesto - Prime Audio Soup - Actual Sound and Voices (Nothing)
Leisure Cruise - Earthquake* - Leisure Cruise (Last Gang)
Christian Loffler - Young Alaska - Young Alaska (Ki)
Disco Dollies - Super Trouper - Thank You for the Music: An Electro-Pop Tribute to ABBA (Independent)

Record Review: The Pixies - Indie Cindy

Before tackling this review, there's an elephant in the room that needs to be dealt with. When the Pixies first reformed and started touring in the mid 2000s, there was always the rumour that new music would be coming soon. But, there's a problem when a band so critically acclaimed reforms. Their output will never compare to what they have already put out. Especially for a band as mythic as The Pixies, who's back catalogue is among the most revered in music critic's and hipster's circles alike. Given the band's acrimonious attitude towards each other at times, it seemed that any material released would be fraught with controversy regardless. Bassist Kim Deal left the band shortly before they decided to lay down the tracks that would become the 3 digital EPs, that would eventually come together as the album Indie Cindy. The band replaced Deal with the wonderful Kim Shattuck (of the equally wonderful punk/grunge band The Muffs), and summarily dismissed her after just two months. Then the cries from fandom came: How could this be the Pixies without Kim Deal?

The primary problem here isn't the music on Indie Cindy. After repeated listening, this is a solid album. The problem is trying to compare this album to the rest of the Pixies catalogue. Let's face it, the Pixies aren't likely to release anything as iconic as Doolittle again. Indie Cindy isn't Doolittle. It's not even Trompe Le Monde, recorded 23 years before Indie Cindy. But it is a Pixies album, Kim Deal present or not. And it's a great album. The first single we heard, "Bagboy", has the Pixies growl and snarl to it, the sarcasm and the wall of noise, but it's also identifiable as a new direction for their sound. There are drum loops here, plus keyboards and samples. This song is a bit idiosyncratic of the rest of the album, which careens the way a Pixies album should, from bombast and feedback wails ("What Goes Boom", "Blue Eyed Hexe") to more melodic guitar blasts ("One Toe in the Ocean", "Silver Snail"). To compare this to their back catalogue is inevitable, but pretty unfair to the band. Truth be told, this album is one of the most solid rock albums of the year. If Doolittle never existed, this album would likely stand by itself as good as the bulk of The Pixies and Frank Black's solo work. Don't punish this band by expected them to relive what they've already done. They've matured, and you'd expect them to tone it down a bit, but they haven't really. They've taken their experiences, used what they know now and what they knew then and made something just as enjoyable as anything they're released. Let it stand by itself and enjoy it!

DNTTA Playlist for June 13, 2014

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

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

U-J3RKS - Eisenhower and the Hippies* - Last Call: Vancouver Independent Music 1977-1988 (Zulu)
Xevi Reija - John's Song - Resolution (Moonjune)
Biblical - All Justice No Peace* - Monsoon Season (New Damage)
Odonis Odonis - Mr. Smith* - Hard Boiled Soft Boiled (Buzz)
Chemistry Set - Underground - Sub Pop 200 (Sub Pop)
Screaming Trees - Change Has Come - The Grunge Years (Sub Pop)
Sultan Bathery - Flowers of Evil - Sultan Bathery (Slovenly)
Blind Horses - M51* - Blind Horses (Independent)
Whoop-Szo - Is it Day or Is it Night* - Qallunaat/Odemin (Out of Sound)
Memo - Lay With Lions* - Suicide Forest (Independent)
Catholic Girls - American Scream* - Sheila Joined a Cult (Independent)
SIRR - Let My Horses Run* - Plus (Independent)
Skaters - Miss Teen Massachusetts - Manhattan (Atlantic)

DNTTA Playlist for June 6, 2014 - A Love Letter to Vancouver

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

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

Download - Pleck* - III (Nettwerk)
Pink Mountaintops - The Second Summer of Love* - Get Back (Jagjaguwar)
Bison - These Are My Dress Clothes* - House of Burners (Pre-Rock)
Shearing Pinx - Deep Trench* - Infinite Siblings III (Independent)
Lie - Pressure* - Masters EP (Independent)
Skinny Kids - Cool Fetish Girls* - Skinny Kids (Independent)
Cult Babies - Cult Baby Blues* - Cult Babies (Independent)
Thee Ahs - Love Sleep* - Corey's Coathangers (Independent)
Blank Cinema - What You Have* - Eras (Independent)
The Pointed Sticks - What Do You Want Me To Do?* - Waiting for the Real Thing (Sudden Death)
The Modernettes - Suicide Club* - Get it Straight (Sudden Death)
The Modernettes - Barbra* - Get it Straight (Sudden Death)
Sex with Strangers - Slaves to the Night* - You Know Something We Don't? (Independent)
Bear Mountain - Everybody Wants to Rule the World* - 7" (Last Gang)

DNTTA Playlist for May 30, 2014

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

Fond of Tigers - Sept. 16th, 2005* - Continent and Western (Drip Audio)
Paul Richey and the Fusionauts - The Grass is Always Bluer* - Paul Richey and the Fusionauts (Independent)
Ari Brown - Groove Awakening - Groove Awakening (Delmark)
The Spandettes - Let's Go to the Beach* - Spandex Planet (Do Right!)
Brad Mehldau and Mark Guiliana - Hungry Ghost - Taming the Dragon (Nonesuch)
Dewa Budjana - Capistrano Road - Surya Namanskar (Moonjune)
The Grassy Knoll - Floating Above the Earth - The Grassy Knoll (Nettwerk)
Husker Du - Don't Wanna Know if You Are Lonely - Candy Apple Grey (Warner)
Failing - Golden Palms* - The Apple in the Pig's Mouth (Independent)
Diamond Mind - Closed Circuit* - Fake Tapes (Independent)
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks - Duplex Trip - Enter the Slasher House (Domino)

DNTTA Playlist for May 23, 2014

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

CFCF - Bowl* - Music for Objects (Paper Bag)
Mark Mills - Escape Artist* - Triple Fire Sign (Independent)
HLDN - In the Stars* - In the Stars (Independent)
Tensnake - Kill the Time - Glow (Virgin)
Christian Loffler - Notes - Young Alaska (Ki)
Me Succeeds - Rongorongo (Arp Aubert remix) - Rongorongo Remixed (Ki)
Colo - The View from Nowhere - Ur (Ki)
Men Without Hats - Editions of You* - Greatest Hats (Aquarius)
Shriekback - Fish Below the Ice - Oil and Gold (Island)
M0 - Maiden - No Mythologies to Follow (Glassnote)
Manitoba - Bijoux* - Up in Flames (Merge)

DNTTA Playlist for May 16, 2014

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

Black Mountain - Set Us Free* - Black Mountain (Scratch)
The Pixies - What Does Boom - Indy Cindy (PIAS)
The Pixies - Bagboy - Indy Cindy (PIAS)
Howler - In the Red - World of Joy (Rough Trade)
Role Mach - Holy Shades of Night* - Holy Shades of Night EP 7" (Independent)
Role Mach - Hobgoblin Blues* - Holy Shades of Night EP 7" (Independent)
Village - Stranger Thoughts* - Stranger Thoughts EP (Independent)
Mudhoney - Mudride - Superfuzz Bigmuff (Sub Pop)
Walrus - Bulash* - Glam Returns EP (Out of Sound)
Shooting Guns - Taylor St. Champagne Room* - House of Burner (Pre-Rock)
The Thermals - When I Died - Now We Can See (Kill Rock Stars)
Nash the Slash - Dead Man's Curve* - Children of the Night (Dindisk)

Best of 2013 #5: John Grant - Pale Green Ghosts (Partisan)

My pic for #5 album of 2013 wasn't a favourite when I first heard it. It took several listens for me to start to hear the brilliance within. At first, I found the album a jarring mix of styles that didn't really fit together. John Grant comes from a roots/indy pop background, starting with a Colorado based band called the Czars. His first solo album in 2010, Queen of Denmark, was a lush indy pop album. His follow up, Pale Green Ghosts, was nothing like his debut. Grant has a dense, rich baritone voice well suited for indy pop, but clashed greatly with the music in Pale Green Ghosts, which was performed by Biggi Viera of the lush, experimental Icelandic electronic band GusGus. As I said, the two styles don't fit together easily, but settled down into a dense, atmospheric and almost funky groove upon multiple listens. As typical for Icelandic bands, more depth reveals itself after long sessions with headphones. This album is a grower, and not for the casual listener. You'll find more and more the deeper you dig.

DNTTA Playlist May 9, 2014

Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet - (Relax) You Will Think You Are a Chicken* - Sport Fishin' (Cargo)
Pif Paf Hangover - Bombay* - Curry Love (The Good People)
Medicine - Time Baby III - The Crow OST (Atlantic)
Phono D'Enfant - I Wear the Scarf She Made* - The Wild Rose That Is (Independent)
Mark Mills - #Moms* - #Moms EP (Independent)
Sounds Around - Season* - Psych Pop 2 (Optical Sounds)
The Civil Wars - Billie Jean - Between the Bars EP (Columbia)
Mecca Normal - 1922* - The Observer (Kill Rock Stars)
Violent Femmes - Gone Daddy Gone - Violent Femmes (Slash)
The Frolics - Love* - Sippin' Lemonade (Independent)
The Frolics - Fame* - Sippin' Lemonade (Independent)
Tough Mitts - First, Do No Harm* - Tough Mitts EP (Independent)

DNTTA Playlist for May 2, 2014

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

Cygnets - The Girl That I'll Exit With* - Bleak Anthems (Independent)
Solvent - Sender* - New Ways (Suction)
Gary Numan - I Dream of Wires - Telekon (Beggar's Banquent)
Sabota - Teacher* - Sabota (Hybridity)
Ghost Beach - Without You - Blonde (Nettwerk)
Small Black - Proper Spirit - Limits of Desire (Jagjaguwar)
Mussolini Headkick - Europe - Themes for Violent Retribution (Wax Trax)
Thievery Corporation - Bateau Rouge - Saudade (ESL)
Metronomy - Love Letters - Love Letters (Because)
Top Men - Drop the Hammer* - Top Men (Independent)
Model Clocks - Scribblers* - Mabel (Independent)

DNTTA Playlist for Friday, April 25, 2014

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

The Cape May - On Sunprinted Thumbs* - Central City May Rise Again (Catch and Release)
Psychic Pollution - Gamma Bootis* - Spatium Tympanum (Eat Glass)
Fresh Snow - BMX Based Tactics* - I (Independent)
Brave Parents - Locus of Control* - Someone to Jump Out at You (Independent)
Soupcans - Deadbeat* - Good Feelings (Telephone Explosion)
Connoissuers of Porn - Joker* - Dead Pets (Independent)
Times New Viking - The Wait - Rip it Off (Matador)
Biblical - The Quiet Crooks* - Monsoon Season (New Damage)
Nap Eyes - No Man Needs to Care* - Whine of the Mystic (Plastic Factory)
Broken Bells - Holding on For Life - After the Disco (Columbia)
Future Islands - Spirit - Singles (4AD)
Acta Non Verba - 14 Day Trend* - Et Tu, Brute? (Little Whore)

Best of 2o13: #6 - Jay Arner - S/T (Mint Records)

Mint Records had a stellar year in 2013, releasing fantastic albums from Renny Wilson, Pick a Piper, Tough Age and another great Pop Alliance compilation. But Jay Arner's solo debut was the real standout. Arner had been kicking around in several Vancouver bands (International Falls, Fine Mist, Bleating Hearts) plus working as a producer. His debut as himself was a fun mix of indy pop, garage rock and a big helping of new wave and synth-rock. The album bounces all over the place, his influences are also all over the place. It's playful, it's dynamic and it's loads of fun. Watch for his next album to be just as fun.

DNTTA Playlist April 18, 2014

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

Hellhorn - Hellhorn Variation 3* - Hellhorn (Independent)
Sean Cronin - New Life* - Very Good? (Independent)
Sean Cronin - Surpass My Expectations, Please* - Very Good! (Independent)
Hat and Beard - Boo Boo's Birthday* - Reflections: The Music of Thelonius Monk (Trio)
Pat Metheny Unity Group - We Go On - Kin (Nonesuch)
Fareed Haque - Trance Hypothesis - Trance Hypothesis (Delmark)
Hamid Drake and Jesse Stewart - Lotus*- Timelines (Independent)
Norm Howard and Johannes Welsch - Voodoo Supreme* - Marking the Infinite (Independent)

DNTTA Playlist Friday, April 11, 2014

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

Lederhosen Lucil - Two Vikings* - Guten Tag Gemini (Hypo)
Dirty Inputs - Oberon Approach* - Oberon (Independent)
Twitch - Number (Integer remix by Tekhnotron)* - Number (Independent)
Kashka - We Let the Shadow In* - Bound (Independent)
Carnival - Disillusion* - Love=Solution (Independent)
The Rain and the Sidewalk - Love Bites* - The Obligatory Covers EP (Independent)
Grimes - Vowels = Space and Time* - Visions (Arbutus)
Numbersix - Potion* - Telekinetic Lovers (East Van Digital)
Self Evident - Lawless* - EVD Bass 3 (East Van Digital)
Trust - Four Gut* - Joyland (Arts and Crafts)
Ghost Beach - Faded - Blonde (Nettwerk)

Best of 2013 #7: Darkside - Psychic (Matador)

Nicholas Jaar was a name I knew for a while, but didn't pay much attention to. His name was thrown around as an up and coming electronic artist, but from what I had heard, he seemed like Just Another Electronic Musician to me. It wasn't until this past year's release by Darkside that he started to catch my ear. Darkside is New York's Jaar along with his touring guitarist Dave Harrington. This project is set apart from a standard electronic soundscape by Harrington's guitar work, which merges into a spacy and textured groove through most of the album. It's a satisfying mix of genres and emotionally moves the listener.

Wrestlemania XXX

In honour of today's Wrestlemania, here's something I just remembered existed.

Best of 2013: #8 - Yuck - Glow and Behold (Fat Possum)

2013 could have been the year Yuck faded into obscurity. After a strikingly good debut self-titled album in 2011, Yuck had become one of the bands to watch coming out of the UK. But, their lead singer Dan Blumberg abruptly left the band for a solo career. The band regrouped, with guitarist Max Bloom taking on lead singer duties. Few bands survive losing their lead singer and continue on with the same sound. Fewer still will put out a follow up album as solid as Glow and Behold. Yuck play the droning, melodic style of post-punk similar to the shoegaze movement, like My Blood Valentine, and the morose new wave style of The Cure. Glow and Behold is a showcase of the melodic and wan style of shoe-gaze, but often seems almost happy in places. The album peaks with the shimmering "Memorial Fields" and the poppy "How Does it Feel", which adds some Burt Bacharach horns into the mix. One of the best in shoegaze this year and a welcome addition to the growing field of new bands adopting this style.

Best of 2013 - #9 - The Besnard Lakes - Until in Excess, Imperceptible UFO (Jagjaguwar)

The Besnard Lakes are fronted by a husband and wife team from Montreal. Their music is spacy, melodic and more than a touch menacing. They remind me a lot of Mogwai, if Mogwai dropped most of the guitar noise and added more vocal harmonies to their work. I picked their album Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse as my favourite album back in 2007. Their follow up, 2010's Besnard Lakes are the Roaring Night, I found lacking and uninspired. It wasn't til this past year that I felt they had reclaimed the greatness they had in 2007.The album's name comes from a mangled foreign language to English translation of a review of one of their past albums. Here's the soaring "Colour Yr Lights In":

Best of 2013 - #10 - !!! - Th!!!er (Warp Records)

We begin taking a closer look at some of my favourite music of 2013, beginning with my #10 pick, !!!. !!! (usually pronounced chk chk chk), are a New York based band that seems to show up on my annual top ten lists whenever they produce a record. Their sound is a high energy mix of rock, electronics and funk. 2013's effort, Th!!!er (perhaps a tribute to Michael Jackson there?) was a more melodic effort than previous albums, much less percussive and in your face. Only a couple of tracks really bust out with pounding funk rhythms. Perhaps the band is getting softer with their age? Who knows. Th!!!er was an enjoyable listen, even if a step behind their previous albums. Here's "One Boy/One Girl":