Monday, December 31, 2018

Top 10 Albums of 2018

1) Idles - Joy As an Act of Resistance (Partisan)
2) Actors* - It Will Come to You (Artoffact)
3) Low - Double Negative (Sub Pop)
4) Freak Dream* - Into the Sun (Artoffact)
5) Peach Kelli Pop* - Gentle Leader (Mint)
6) Alpha Strategy* - The Gurgler (Antena Kryzku)
7) Superorganism - Superorganism (Domino)
8) Plains Apparition* - Adrift (Independent)
9) Confidence Man - Confident Music for Confident People (Heavenly)
10) Dumb* - Seeing Green (Mint)

Honourable Mentions:

Single Mothers* - Through a Door (Dine Alone), Kaelan Mikla - Manadans (Artoffact), Dilly Dally* - Heaven (Dine Alone), US Girls* - In a Poem Unlimited (4AD), Beak> - >>> (Temporary Residence)

Saturday, December 22, 2018

DNTTA Playlist for December 14, 2018

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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Durban Poison - Too Many Fish in the Sea* - Stereophonic Tonic (Shake!)
The Buzzcocks - Harmony in My Head - Ever Fallen in Love: Buzzcocks Finest (EMI Gold)
Pete Shelley - Telephone Operator - Telephone Operator (12") (Arista)
Naked Raygun - Love Battery - Something's Gone Wrong Again (C/Z)
Map 71 - Nuclear Landscapes - Void Axis (Foolproof)
Single Mothers - Across the Couch* - Through a Wall (Dine Alone)
Forbidden Dimension - Infiltrating the Crypt* - Muchas Moscas (Fuzzwarp)
We Hunt Buffalo - Angler Must Die* - Head Smashed In (New Damage)
Ensign Broderick - Tear Stained Venus* - Bloodcrush (Six Shooter)
Invasives - Well to Do* - Just Another Under the Sun (Bummer)
Young Jesus - Fourth Zone of Gaits - The Whole Thing is Just There (Saddle Creek)
Ministry - N.W.O. - Psalm 69 (Warner)

DNTTA Playlist for December 7, 2018

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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Floes - Thrown for a Loop* - Passionals (Independent)
MC Sultan - Der Bauch - Mystic Groove (Quango)
The Herbaliser - Moon Sequence - Very Mercenary (Ninja Tune)
Thievery Corporation - Warning Shots (ESL)
Sievi - Charms* - Rebirth (Independent)
Jayne Murray - Sleeping Monsters* - lookgoodfor (Independent)
Rob Mitchelson - Asteroid Ice Cave* - Knightlaser: 2042 (Independent)
Bob Moses - The Only Thing We Know* - Battle Lines (Domino)
Graham van Pelt - Saving Grace* - Time Travel (Arbutus)
Fade - Fall in Love - Fall in Love (Luminelle)
Interplanetary Acoustic Team - Islands in the Cosmos

Thursday, December 20, 2018

DNTTA Playlist for November 30, 2018

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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Baron Samedi Esq. - Join Me Fashions* - Baron Samedi Esq. (Independent)
Songjae Son - Baram - Near East Quartet (ECM)
Trygve Seim - Birthday Song - Helsinki Songs (ECM)
Tord Gustavsen Trio - Duality - The Other Side (ECM)
Acid Bunny - Flax* - High School Fantasy (Bent River)
Myriad3 - Diamond* - Vera (Alma)
Nick Fraser - Arachnid* - Is Life Long? (Clean Feed)
Bad Luck - Capital - Four (Origin)
The Mackrosoft - Suck Out the Poison - Snakerhythms (Independent)
Ramsey Lewis - Do What You Wanna (Mr. Scruff remix)

DNTTA Playlist for November 23, 2018

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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Jerk with a Bomb - Don’t Forget Your Love*
Hate Drugs - Afterimage - Tsunami Soul II (Independent)
Dilly Dally - Sober Motel* - Heaven (Dine Alone)
Hex Ray - Helicopter* - Coin of the Realm (Independent)
Beanpole - Pumpkin Pickin’ Time - All My Kin (Chimera)
Pip Blom - Babies Are a Lie - Singles (Nice Swan)
Jooj - Crushed* - Jooj (Last Gang)
Iceage - The Day the Music Dies - Beyondless (Matador)
Spiritualized - On the Sunshine - And Nothing Hurt (Fat Possum)
Freak Dream - Can’t Connect* - Into the Sun (Artoffact)
Sci Fi Romance - Long Ways Left - Dreamers and Runaways (Broken Imagine)
Calvin Arsenia - Toxic - Cantaloupe (Fat Possum)

DNTTA Playlist for November 16, 2018

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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Sully - Palidrome* - I Have Much to Report (Nettwerk)
Mary Lou Newmark - Oceanica - Room to Breathe (Green Angel)
Laurie Anderson - Slip Away - Life on a String (Nonesuch)
The Babe Rainbow - Eureka - Double Rainbow (30th Century)
Richard Reed Parry - Song of Wood* - Quiet River of Dust (Independent)
Body/Head - In the Dark Room - The Switch (Matador)
J.Alpinist - Waldorf* - Offerings (AlpineHaus)
Dave Soldier - And When You See a Fire - Naked Revolution (Mulatta)
Olafur Arnalds - Partial - Re: Member (Mercury KY)
Wishkaah - Winter Sun* - After (Independent)
Art d’Ecco - Lady Next Door* - Trespasser (Paper Bag)

Thursday, December 13, 2018

Best of 2017: #1 - The Horrors - V (Wolf Tone)

The Horrors are no strangers to my year end Top 10 lists. In 2009, they were #2 with Primary Colours, and in 2014, they were #10, with Luminous. This year, they're #1, with V, appropriately, their fifth album. The Horrors have long been one of my favourite modern bands digging into the style of the 80s and merging it with a more modern style. 2014's Luminous was a nice return to form for the English band, with a punchy, garage tinged retro style, but this year's V was a remarkable leap forward. Intensely catchy and rooted in the giants of early new wave, the album is reminiscent of the best work of Gary Numan and Echo and the Bunnymen. "Hologram", the lead off track is vintage Numan, detached, dark, brooding and paranoid synth-rock. "Something to Remember Me By" plumbs Depeche Mode and Portishead for a catchy, shadowy dance floor vibe. "Machine" is one of the best tracks of 2017, equal parts crisp new wave and bruising post punk.

DNTTA Playlist for November 9, 2018

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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Digital Poodle - Metal Fight* - Combat! (Cleopatra)
Sarah Davachi - Third Hour* - Gave in Rest (Ba Da Bing!)
Shmu - Amulet - Lead Me to the Glow (Independent)
Mai Lan - Vampire - Autopolot (Cinq7)
Christine and the Queens - Doesn’t Matter - Chris (Because)
Ciive - Black Water - My Giraffe (Qusp)
Underworld and Iggy Pop - Get Your Shirt - Tea Time Dub Encounters (Caroline)
Beat Market - Elastic* - All Good (Indica)
Dragon Inn 3 - Backstabber - Double Line (American Laundromat)
Figurine - An Electronic Address - Transportation + Communication = Love (Blackbean and Placenta)

DNTTA Playlist for November 2, 2018

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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Duchess Says - Talk in Shapes* - Sciences Nouvelles (Blow the Fuse)
Dark Time - Raven* - Dark Time (Independent)
White Denim - Fine Slime - Performance (City Slang)
Wyves - Distractions - RU OK? (IndependentO
Kaelan Mikla - Umskiptinger - Manadas (Artoffact)
Alpha Strategy - Pissed Out the Fire* - The Gurgler (Antena Kryzku)
Cope - Trench Foot* - EPs (Norwegian Blue)
The Jesus Lizard - 7 vs. 8 - Goat (Touch and Go)
Phono Pony - Tattoo of My Face* - Monkey Paw (Independent)
Adventure Violence - Fierce Invalids - Adventure Violence (Imaginator)
Arson Cult - Bad Samaritans* - Lay Waste to Past Erections (Independent)
Girl Band - Baloo - Holding Hands with Jamie (Rough Trade)
High Tension - Mountain of Dead - Death Beat (Cooking Vinyl)

Thursday, December 6, 2018

DNTTA Playlist for October 26, 2018 - Halloween 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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Skinny Puppy - Worlock* - Rabies (Nettwerk)
Ministry - Every Day is Halloween - Twelve Inch Singles (Wax Trax)
Xymox - Blind Hearts - Twist of Shadows (4AD)
Nitzer Ebb - Violent Playground - That Total Age (Geffen)
Cygnets - Dark Romantic* - Dark Days (Independent)
Human League - Love Action - Greatest Hits (Virgin)
Bauhaus - Stigmata Martyr - 1979-1983 Volume One (Beggar's Banquet)
Three Inches of Blood - Destroy the Orcs* - Battle Cry Under a Winter Sun (Teenage Rampage)
KEN Mode - Learning to Be Too Cold* - Loved (New Damage)
Dead Girls Academy - I Can’t Feel a Thing - Alchemy (Victory)
Grand Massive - Am I Demon - Gdansk: A Tribute to Danzig (Metalville)
Plaster - Disconnected Heart - Transition (Kvitnu)

DNTTA Playlist for October 19, 2018

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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Cursed Arrows - Dear Widow* - Rebirth (Independent)
The Records - Starry Eyes - Shades in Bed (Virgin)
Glass Animals - Young - How to Be a Human Being (Wolf Tone)
Joyfultalk - Monocult* - Plurality Trip (Constellation)
The Cure - Why Can’t I Be You - Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me (Elektra)
Devo - That’s Good (EZ Listening Version) - EZ Listening Disc (Ryko)
Kraftwerk - Computer World - Computer World (Elektra)
Jeremy Dutcher - Egpahak* Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa (Independent)
Basement Revolver - Baby* - Heavy Eyes (Sonic Unyon)
Sonic Youth - Silver Rocket - Daydream Nation (DGC)