“We have all these underlying issues: we all went to high school together…” Feb. 22nd show rundown with Poor Young Things

We had a great time chatting with Matt, Mike and Dave from Toronto alt-rock group Poor Young Things (originally from Thunder Bay, ON) late last week about their current tour, their brand-spanking-new EP, and, well, the trials and tribulations of high school. They also selected some sweet tracks to spin, including The Trews (with whom they’ll be touring soon), The Arkells, and Teenage Kicks. Check out the entire show’s playlist and the interview below:

Poor Young Things – Blame It On The Good Times
The Trews – Every Inambition
Yukon Blonde – Stairway
Bahamas – I Got You Babe
Teenage Kicks – Middle of the Night
Silkken Laumann – On The Mend
Dan Griffin – Age of Empires
Arkells – Agent Zero
Samantha Savage Smith – The Fight
The Darcys – Josie
Poor Young Things – The Low Road

Chat with Matt, Mike and Dave from Poor Young Things (right-click to save, stream below)

Best of all, they’re playing in Toronto TONIGHT at the Horseshoe Tavern, and they’ll be hitting up Zaphod’s in Ottawa tomorrow (Friday the 24th) — be sure to head out and get your weekly dose of rock.

“This is therapy, right?” Feb. 15th show rundown with Spencer MacEachern and the Fabulous Yawn

We caught up with Spencer MacEachern of The Fabulous Yawn earlier this week to talk about — well, a whole slew of things. Finding inspiration on the street. Playing in a band with a bunch of your talented friends. The fact that, while there’ll always be Topanga (also the name of the band he’ll help open for next Friday), apparently Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jennifer Love Hewitt once upped the ante on ’90s primetime television. But perhaps most importantly, plenty of good music was spun:

The Fabulous Yawn – Compliments

Born Ruffians – Retard Canard II

The Elwins – Stuck in the Middle

Graham Wright – Heavens Just for Moviemakers

The Darcys – Shaking Down the Old Bones

The Meligrove Band – Racing to Shimmering Lights

Said the Whale – We Are 1980

The Fabulous Yawn – Summer Got Me Dirty

Check out the interview (and some Fabulous Yawn tracks) here:

(Right click to download)

And don’t forget to check ’em out next Friday night at Sneaky Dee’s for the Topanga 7″ release party!

Dec. 7 + 14 show rundowns… with Inlet Sound and Dave Norris & Local Ivan

Finally! And actually, this is the perfect time to be talking about our Dec. 7 show with Michael Wexler from Inlet Sound — they just premiered their new music video for “Mademoiselle” on AUX.TV this week! You can check out the video — which was also directed by Wexler — online here. And as for the tracks we played on Dec. 7:

Inlet Sound – Mademoiselle
Bon Iver – Holocene
Himalayan Bear – Only Dreams Let Me Hold You
Inlet Sound – The Peculiar Disappearance of Marion Bojangles
Hollerado – Got To Lose
Noah and the Whale – Blue Skies

And for our briefly-back-in-Ottawa show on Dec. 14 (well, sort of!) with Dave Norris of Dave Norris & Local Ivan:

Fevers – My Heart Is In The Basket On The Front Of Your Bicycle
Doldrums – I’m Homesick Sitting Up Here In My Satellite
The Darcys – 100 Mile House
Dave Norris & Local Ivan – Song For an Ad
Dave Norris & Local Ivan – Alma Mater
Dan Mangan – Rows of Houses
Said the Whale – Heavy Ceiling
Behind Sapphire – Tahera
We Are The City – Dark/Warm Air
Acres of Lions – Reaction
Kathryn Calder – Five More Years

Be sure to check out Inlet Sound’s Dream Awake EP on Bandcamp here and Dave Norris & Local Ivan’s debut full-length, Alma Mater, on Bandcamp here. Both are pretty darn cheap ($5 and pay-what-you-can, respectively!), which is pretty darn sweet.

In more exciting news: be sure to tune in on Wednesday, December 28th for our end-of-year, best-of-2011, four-hour mega-blowout show! From noon to 4pm EST, we’ll be broadcasting live from the CHUO studios in downtown Ottawa, inviting you to call in/tweet/Facebook/comment with YOUR best-of-the-year picks — and we’ll have guest appearances and giveaways, too! We’ll also be unveiling our fabulous new look, just in time for the new year.

Get excited — and be sure to start thinking of your best-of-2011 picks now! If you have favourite tracks released this year that you’d like to hear on air, comment below, tweet at us @nowplayingradio or send your picks in an email to emma [at] nowplayingradio [dot] com and be sure to tune in at CHUO.fm on the 28th!

Oct. 26th show rundown (that re-aired this past week!)

While round two of an unfortunate cold took away any remaining voice I had to record a new show, re-airing the Oct. 26th show at least allowed us to re-air some more awesome music again. And if nothing else? We’ve got some sweet, sweet shows coming up over the next few weeks… read on for more info!

What we (double-)spun:

The Coppertone – Last Goodbyes
Belgrave – Distance
Paper Lions – Lost The War
Dan Mangan – Starts With Them, Ends With Us
Grey Kingdom – Haunted
Inlet Sound – The Peculiar Disappearance of Marion Bojangles
Right By Midnight – Hey Rialto (don’t forget: you can help these guys fundraise for their new album here)
Kathryn Calder – Who Are You?
The Darcys – Shaking Down The Old Bones
Dave Norris and Local Ivan – Alma Mater
Arkells – Bloodlines
Hey Rosetta! – Seventeen

Coming up this week: great friends of the show hotshotcasino were in town this weekend and graciously gave me a hand in co-hosting the show. No, really – they picked out songs and everything. Tune in this Wednesday at 1pm, CHUO 89.1 FM in Ottawa or online at chuo.fm. And keep your eyes peeled for yet another exciting announcement, about next week’s show…