“I just love Ontario, I truly enjoy this province.” – The Mountains & The Trees LIVE at CHUO + Dec. 8th show rundown

On his last day of touring, the afternoon before his last show of the year at the Blacksheep Inn in Wakefield, Jon Janes — aka The Mountains & The Trees — hung out with some of us at the CHUO studios, chatted, performed a couple songs, chatted some more… he even played an impromptu cover of Bahamas’ “Already Yours” (also posted below, thanks to Lenny for the recording). Point is, Janes is a great guy and we were thrilled to host him in the studio for a few hours. (And many thanks to Ming, too, for snapping some photos.)

Check out the interview, plus some of the live songs below:

The Mountains & The Trees – interview

The Mountains & The Trees – More & More & More

The Mountains & The Trees – Goodbye Little Town

BONUS – The Mountains & The Trees – Already Yours (Bahamas cover. Yes, that’s me gushing a few seconds in — thanks again to Lenny for recording it in the hallway outside the CHUO studios!)

If you want to purchase the latest full-length release from The Mountains and the Trees, “I Made This For You” — named one of Exclaim’s top 10 folk albums of 2010 — check out the digital release on Bandcamp, where Jon is selling the album on a pay-what-you-can basis and will be donating all proceeds to the Children’s Wish Foundation. Awesome stuff.

And, of course, can’t forget all the tracks we played:

Modern Superstitions – Go-Between
Mathias Mental – Heart Attack
Winter Gloves – Invisible
Azure Ray – Make Your Heart [WEEKLY IMPORT]
The Record Holder – Perfect Drunk
Extra Happy Ghost!!! – Sympathy for the Moron
The Mountains and the Trees – Goodbye Little Town (Live at CHUO)
The Mountains and the Trees – More & More & More (Live at CHUO)
Little City – Hard to See
Jane Vain and the Dark Matter – That Night
The Golden Dogs – Underwater Goldmine
Flora Poste – In the Open
Jenocide – 2 Hot 2 Hold

Thanks again to Jon, Ming and Lenny, and especially Tom and the team at CHUO for helping to make this all happen. Stay tuned for some more awesomeness coming up next week!

Acoustic lovin’. Or just general awesomeness lovin’. – Nov. 10 show recap

The killer beats from today’s show, ladies and gents:

Meligrove Band – Bones Attack!!!
Rich Aucoin – PUSH
Random Recipe – Without You
Kathryn Calder – A Day Long Past Its Prime
Gianna Lauren – Nightmares
The Mountains & The Trees – More & More & More
Two Door Cinema Club – Kids [WEEKLY IMPORT]
Diamond Rings – All Yr Songs
Feed The Birds – Bees
Winter Gloves – Glow in the Dark
Owen Pallett – A Man With No Ankles
Whale Tooth – Sleepwalking
Mark Berube and the Patriotic Few – Tailored to Fit
Shelley O’Brien – Generous Waters
Siskiyou – Never Ever Ever Ever Again
Elvyn – The Decline

Don’t forget — you can check out the Meligrove Band TONIGHT at Mavericks, playing with Ruby Coast and The Gallop (hometown love!). Ten bucks in advance, 8pm doors. Facebook event is here.

We’ve also got some exciting stuff in the works… but more on that later. ‘Til next week, fellow music lovers!

Sound of Lions interview and Sept. 15th show recap

It feels good to be back in action. Well, half back in action — yes, today’s show was prerecorded. But that didn’t make it any less kickass. This week’s tracks:

Winter Gloves – Plastic Slides
The Balconies – Elephant Lamp
Caribou – Leave House
Rich Aucoin – Brian Wilson is A.L.I.V.E.
Parlovr – Pen to the Paper
The Gallop – Evenings Over the Hills
Sound of Lions – Enders
Land of Talk – Cloak and Cipher
Free Energy – Dream City
Two Hours Traffic – Noisemaker
Tokyo Police Club – Not Sick

A couple weeks ago, I got to chat with Whitney and Christian (and their adorable kitty Mixtape) about their incredible project, Sound of Lions. A little trip-hop, a little lounge, and a whole lot of awesome, Sound of Lions has been in the works for over a year, but this Friday, the 17th, marks their first live show with a full band. Whitney and Christian have been recording a bunch of tracks themselves, in their ecclectic Centretown apartment, but have also been working on expanding their sound with some fantastic fellow local musicians. We talked about working on this new sound, the hip-hop scene in Ottawa, and where they came up with their majestic name:

Be sure to catch Sound of Lions this Friday, Sept. 17th, as they open for Skratch Bastid at Ritual Nightclub on Besserer St. More deets in our Local Listings section.

Speaking of listings… go check that shizz out. Let alone the next few weeks and months, there are actually some incredible shows happening TONIGHT, if you happen to read this in time. Get out of the house and check out at least one of the following:

– Caribou and the Russian Futurists at Babylon on Bank St. (though I hear tickets at the door are limited)

– The Anybody at the Cajun Attic on Dalhousie St. (1opm)

– The Golden Isles at the Avant Garde Bar on Besserer (I just interviewed these guys — they’re great — and will be airing the chat next week)

That should keep you occupied — ’til next week!

“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).