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)