April 11 show rundown

Almost a month has passed and yet it only just feels as if we’re getting out of our CMW coma. That’s what plenty of live music does to you. Have no fear, listeners: we’re still in action as always, and we’ll be posting some of our most recent interviews — including those with Toronto acts Paint and Adaline, plus our CMW chats with Kalle Mattson, Samantha Savage Smith, and Poor Young Things — as the week goes on, and we’ll be getting back into that lovely Song of the Week groove (pun intended!) too.

For now, a recap of what we spun last week:

Said the Whale – Loveless
J.J. Ipsen and the Paper Crown – DaDaDa
Eight and a Half – Scissors
Octoberman – Dressed Up
Library Voices – Regina I Don’t Want To Fight
Gold and Youth – Time To Kill
Great Bloomers – Something More
The Wooden Sky – Take Me Out
Kalle Mattson – The Shore
Wintersleep – Resuscitate
Sarah Hallman – Electricity
GSJF – Messages
Bahamas – Lost in the Light

And be sure to tune into tomorrow’s show — 1pm on CHUO.fm or 89.1 on the FM dial for those listening in Ottawa — for our chat with Toronto songstress Darrelle London, who will be hitting up the Centrepointe Theatre in the nation’s capital this Friday, April 20!

‘Til then!

March 7th show rundown and SONG OF THE WEEK: Bravestation, “Signs of the Civilized”

Our latest show was a rather simple one, folks, as I took the opportunity to spin some tracks I’ve personally been lovin’ for the last few weeks. These included:

Phedre – In Decay
Plants & Animals – Why & Why
Kalle Mattson – Covered It All
Sound of Lions – Enders (Fevers Evil Mix)
John K. Samson – When I Write My Master’s Thesis
Little City – Arms Around A Picture
Grimes – Be a Body
The Glass Chain – Still Lives
Erin Passmore – Downtown
Bravestation – Signs of the Civilized
The Abbreviations – The Waiting Game
The Wooden Sky – Child of the Valley
ALX – I Will Love You More
Moon King – Theme From Moon King
Folly and the Hunter – Leaving Town

The next couple of weeks are going to be jam-packed with awesomeness as the CHUO funding drive is coming up, there are a couple of terrific Toronto bands playing Ottawa soon, and of course Canadian Music Week and JunoFest are just around the corner. And all of this is happening before April 1st! Madness. Sheer madness.

And to help get you excited about all of this madness, our latest song of the week is a sleek track from Toronto’s Bravestation, who we actually had on Now Playing Radio for a live session around this time last year. The indie-rock/pop quartet explores a terrific new tribal-pop sound that even harkens back to the ’80s with “Signs of the Civilized,” which they recently released in advance of their upcoming debut LP, expected later this year. Highly recommended for those who like to listen to Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight” every so often but won’t ever admit to it.

Bravestation – Signs of the Civilized

Listen if you like: smooth tribal pop; the idea of far-from-outdated, fresh ’80s soft rock; Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight” but updated, generally more cool, and with more electric guitar.

If you’re in Toronto, you can catch them next during Canadian Music Week on March 24th at the Horseshoe Tavern with Two Hours Traffic, Wintersleep, and more. You can also help support their efforts to create a music video for Signs of the Civilized here (and damn does it sound like they have a rad idea for it).

Feb. 29 show rundown with Teenage Kicks!

Everyone needs a little more rock in their day. We’ve been following these guys for the past few months and were psyched to get our hands on some fresh new tracks of theirs, which have provided the perfect kind of upbeat accompaniment over the last week! Peter and Jeff of Toronto rockers Teenage Kicks joined us last week to chat about their brand-spanking-new EP released just this week and tonight’s release show at the Horseshoe in Toronto, and you can check out the conversation below:

(Stream below or right-click to download)

And, of course, we spun some sweet tunes, too (some of ’em picked by the guys themselves, some selected by yours truly):

Teenage Kicks – Middle of the Night
Feist – Undiscovered First
Zeus – Anything You Want Dear
The Wooden Sky – Malibu Rum
Bry Webb – Undertaker
PS I Love You – Sentimental Dishes
Plants and Animals – Lightshow
The Dirty Nil – Fucking Up Young
Poor Young Things – Reckless Youth
Patrick Watson – Into Giants
Teenage Kicks – Shook Our Bones

Keep your eyes peeled: before the weekend’s up, we’ll finally have our interview with Ottawa electro-pop darlings Fevers, along with our SONG OF THE WEEK, which just might be a collaboration, of sorts, between them and another local favourite of ours… stay tuned!

Oct. 27 show playlist

Wednesday, October 27 heralded the wonderful return of the show to the CHUO studios! Here’s the deliciousness that was spun:

Andrea Simms-Karp – Silvering
Kalle Mattson – A to Z
Wooden Sky – Call If You Need Me
Yukon Blonde – Brides Song
Loon Choir – Microcosm
Rah Rah – Beaches
Lykke Li – Get Some (WEEKLY IMPORT)
Bent By Elephants – Salinity Blues
Basia Bulat – Run
Dan Mangan – Journal of a Narcoleptic
Cuff the Duke – By Winter’s End
Brett Caswell & The Marquee Rose – A Friend in Need
Dan Mangan – So Much for Everyone

Tune in this week — Wednesday, November 3rd at 1pm on CHUO 89.1 FM — for some more tasty tunes, including another Weekly Import from Sweden (!) and the return of our Mix/Mash of the Month.

‘Til then!

“Ottawa: keeping everyone grounded since…forever”: Rolf Klausener interview + August 11th show recap

Was — as always, yet again, etc. — super-psyched for the show today, as a) Rolf Klausener from The Acorn was dropping by in the second half and b) the Weekly Import, Pennsylvania’s Punchline, tweeted that we’d be spinning one of their tracks from their new album, “Delightfully Pleased” just before the show. Oh, and I stumbled upon even more amazing show listings.

And obviously snagged some great tracks to play:

Arcade Fire – Modern Man
Krista Muir – The Ride
Winchester Warm – Pardon
Punchline – Whatever I Want, Whenever I Want
Keek – It’s Love
Winter Gloves – I Can’t Tell You
The Wooden Sky – An Evening Hymn
Late July – Rewind
Tim Gilbertson – Beauty Queen
The Acorn – Kindling to Cremation
Royal Canoe – Dear June

Make sure to check out the listings page to find out when bands like Winter Gloves and The Wooden Sky are hitting up good ol’ O-town pretty darn soon (plus Stars, Young Galaxy, Yukon Blonde, The Besnard Lakes, Jason Collett, Basia Bulat… the list goes on!).

But back to business. Hometowns, friends, and excitement on the horizon with The Acorn’s frontman…

Rolf Klausener from The Acorn:

And oh yes, that indeed is a lovely new music player. Thanks to Nick (via Travis) for telling me about SoundCloud.

Many thanks to Cheryl at Ottawa Tonite for hooking up the Rolf bit — and hey, you should really check out the coverage over there of this weekend’s Folk Festival (yours truly just may be pitching in).