Playlist: Feb. 24, 2009

TV on the Radio: "We are as confused about the spatula as you are."



Oscar Peterson – C Jam Blues (Night Train)
James Brown – I’ll Go Crazy (Live at the Apollo)
Jimi Hendrix Experience –I Don’t Live Today (Are You Experienced?)
TV on the Radio – Crying (Dear Science)
Jackie Washington – Why Won’t They Let Me Be (Best Of...)
John Coltrane – Acknowledgment (A Love Supreme)
Muddy Waters – Baby, Don’t Go (At Newport)
Toots & the Maytals – Louie Louie (Funky Kingston)
Boogie Down Productions – Poetry (Criminal Minded)
The Dears – Don’t Loose the Faith (No Cities Left)
The Upsetters – Dread Lion (Super Ape)
Funkadelic – You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks (Maggot Brain)
Cadence Weapon – Real Estate (Afterparty Babies)

The Bad Brains – Banned in D.C. (Black Dots)
Augustus Pablo – King Tubby Meets the Rockers Uptown (King Tubby Meets the Rockers Uptown)
Sam Cooke - Bring It On Home to Me (Best Of...)
X-Ray Spex – Art-I-Ficial (Germ Free Adolescents)
Tricky - Black Steel (Maxinquaye)
Sly and the Family Stone – Thank You For Talkin’ to Me Africa (There’s a Riot Goin’ On)
Alpha Yaya Diallo – Saya (Futur)
Miles Davis – Black Satin (On the Corner) [5:15]
Fishbone – Party at Ground Zero (Fishbone)
Jacksoul – 1979 (My Soul)
Oliver Jones – Ballad for Claire (Speak Low Swing Hard)
Alexis Baro - Wake Up Call (From the Other Side)
A Tribe Called Quest – Excursions (The Low End Theory)
Gnarles Barkley – Just a Thought (St. Elsewhere)
Dragons of Zynth - Take It to Ride (Coronation Thieves)
K’naan – ABC’s (Troubadour)
K’naan – Fatima (Troubadour)
Junior Murvin – Roots Train (Police and Thieves)
D'Angelo - Devil's Pie (Voodoo)
Run DMC - Song of Byford (Raising Hell)
Kreem – Triangle of Love (Triangle of Love)
DL Incognito - Too Late Now (A Captured Moment in Time)

Tune in to 91.5 FM this Tuesday starting at 1pm to catch a very special edition of Fear of Music. In celebration of black history month, the Feb. 24Th edition of Fear of Music will play exclusively black musicians from around the world. As well, to accommodate for the the program, this episode will broadcast for an extra hour and a half. That's right, 3 hours highlighting the contributions made by the African Diaspora in the field of music. Post me your suggestions, or phone them in during the program.

Album of the Week: Morrissey - Years of Refusal

To say that Morrissey’s post-Smiths solo material is a bit uneven is quite an understatement. Since his 1988 debut Viva Hate, the singer has spent most of his career criss-crossing between albums that range from the exceptional (Your Arsenal, Vauxhall and I) to the utterly bad (Kill Uncle, Southpaw Grammar, Maladjusted). Yet as of the mid-2000s, Moz’s career surprisingly took an upswing. Starting with 2004’s You Are the Quarry, and continuing on with 2006’s Ringleader of the Tormentors, Morrissey began writing and releasing material that arguably matched the quality of his stint with the Smiths (or at least the best parts of his solo career) while hardly dipping into the maudlin self-parody that the singer was present on his late-ninety faux-pas releases. Years of Refusal continues this resurgence of quality in Morrissey’s work, but ups the ante. This album is probably the best thing Moz has released to the public in the past 15 years, a barrage of intense glam-punk compositions fronted by Morrissey’s trademark croon and barbed-wire wit. His intoning of mutilation on “Something is Squeezing my Skull” sounds like its from a man half his age, proving that even nearing his sixties, Morrissey’s vocal range is still verbose and elastic. Lyrically, Moz’s themes of isolation, sexual frustration, and social deviance are just as present as they ever were, but are fine tuned to be their most impacting and comedic in ages. “All You Need is Me” is an attack on Morrissey’s critics who despite their distain for the singer cannot seem to help but to pay attention to him (resulting in one the best lines ever: “There's a naked man standing /Laughing in your dreams /You know who it is /But you don't like what it means”). Meanwhile, “That’s How People Grow Up” turns the tables on listeners who expect romantic panning from Morrissey (“I was driving my car/I crashed and broke my spine /So yes, there are things worse in life than /Never being someone's sweetie”). It’s not all gold though. “It’s Not Your Birthday Anymore” is the type of maudlin dirge that made albums like Maladjusted exercises in boredom while “You Were Good in Your Time” is hardly memorable aside from the annoying tape-looped outro. As well, it should be mentioned that Years of Refusal already has my vote for the worst album cover art of the year (really, he just looks creepy holding that baby). Yet beside a few weak points, this is the best Morrissey release of the decade, and undoubtedly one of the best in his solo career.

Listen To: All You Need is Me, Something is Squeezing My Skull, That’s How People Grow Up

RIYL: The Smiths, The Dears, Suede

Feb. 17, 2009 Playlist

It's a boy! Congradulations to Benjamin Bronfman and Maya Arulpragasam (better known as international hip-hop star/political activist/all around interesting person M.I.A.) on the birth of their first son. I just hope the kid realizes he has probably the coolest mother in the history of the world.

Luxury Christ – Escape from New York (Buy Our Love)


Sigur Rós - Hjartað Hamast (Ágætis Byrjun)



Godspeed You! Black Emperor! – Static: World Police and Friendly Fire (Lift Yr. Skinny Fists


Like Antennas to Heaven!)

Morrissey – Something is Squeezing My Skull (Years of Refusal)

Morrissey – All You Need Is Me (Years of Refusal)

The Lovetones – Love and Redemption (Dimensions)

Johnny Cash – I See a Darkness (American III: Solitary Man)

A.C. Newman - There are Ten or Twelve (Get Guilty)

Beastie Boys – Shake Your Rump (Paul’s Boutique)


M.I.A. – Pull Up the People (Arular)

Dehli to Dublin – Adham Shaik’s Dreaming in 4D (Remixed)

Alexis Baro – African Escape (From the Other Side)

The Kills – U.R.A. Fever (Midnight Boom)

Max Tundra – Which Song (Parallax Error Beheads You)

Faunts – Feel.Love.Thinking.Of. (Feel.Love.Thinking.Of.)

Fortunately, Everything Dies - Like Somebody Shot Bjork (Fortunately, Everything Dies)

Album of the Week: Sholi - Sholi

“Lay the blanket over hard ground/where it's quiet, out of reach from/all that can deceive you from loving me/all that we can see exists in memory.” Who says there’s no room for existentialism in rock these days? But this is the type of philosophical reflections encoded throughout the self-titled debut of Sholi, the three-piece experimental Bay Area band. Call it rock-n-roll Sartre if you must, for this is not music for those who like their rock fast, dumb and loud (sorry QOTSA fans, you might want to avoid the rest of this review). Sholi is packed with lyrics questioning the validity of love, trust in sensory experience, and being “taken by the talents of another one’s reality”. Thankfully though, the album never panders into pretension or bombast. Sholi’s quiet-loud dynamics, shifting time signatures, and arpeggio guitar chords (think Radiohead or early King Crimson without the guitar solos) lends versatility to the album, making it challenging while retaining enough pop sensibilities to not sound off-putting. The opening “All That We Can See” is a six-minute work out that encompasses all of the aforementioned qualities, slowly building momentum onto the complex rhythm by adding and taking away elements (guitar, piano, vocals, harmonica) and finally erupting into a crescendo nearly half-way through the piece. It recalls acts like Mogwai or Explosions in the Sky, yet as opposed to basing their songs purely on dynamics and instrumental technicality, Sholi use vocal melodies to hook the listener’s interest. “November Through June” features Malkmus-like yelps that could have come right off of Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, while “Any Other God” features an actual catchy chorus (albeit one about the futility of love and religion). Yes, Sholi don’t shy away from heavy subject matter, but this doesn’t distract from the wonderful songs and arresting melodies on the album. Just like the Talking Heads and Television before them, Sholi make existentialism sound fun. Long live rock-n-roll Sartre-ism!

Listen To: All That We Can See, Any Other God, November Through June

RIYL: Mogwai, Television, The Microphones

Playlist: Tuesday, February 10, 2009

RIP: Erick Lee Purkhiser aka Lux Interior of The Cramps, 1946-2008

The Zombies – Care of Cell 44 (Odessey and Oracle)

TV on the Radio – Ambulance (Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes)

Art Brut – Good Weekend (Bang Bang Rock and Roll)

The Organ - Love, Love, Love (Grab That Gun)

Lucinda Williams - I Just Want To See You So Bad (Lucinda Williams)

Television – Venus (Marquee Moon)

Buck 65 – Heather Nights (I Dream of Love)

Broken Social Scene – Lover’s Spit (Bee Hives)

The Cramps – Love Me (Off the Bone)

Sholi – All That We Can See (Sholi)

David Bowie – Be My Wife (Low)

Farideh – My King, My Beloved (Symphony of Chemistry)

Randy Newman – Feels Like Home (Harps and Angels)

Stars – What I’m Trying to Say (Set Yourself on Fire)

Beach Boys – You’re So Good to Me (Endless Summer)

Elliott Smith – Twilight (From a Basement on the Hill)

Ron Leary – Everyday I Think of You (Laspe)

Sholi - November Through June (Sholi)

Album of the Week: Doug Paisley - Doug Paisley

Describing the sound of Doug Paisley’s music isn’t a difficult thing to do: his rustic folk recalls the likes of Neil Young and Wilco. The eponymous debut of this Toronto-born musician is just churning with such critic-baiting comparisons. Yet the album is charming with its modestly quiet arrangements, featuring a subtlety and restraint that contrasts to the bombast turned out by most indie-rock/alt-country acts from the past few years. Paisley’s music feels different. It feels unencumbered by commercial or critical pressures. To sum up the point, it seems strikingly honest. Take “Broken in Two”, a track depicting the aftermath of a break-up, surely conventional song-subject, yet one that Paisley’s subdued vocals and lyrical imagery lend a genuine pathos to (“Is this what you wanted/You can’t keep your love to yourself/Now you say your heart is haunted/Hell, will you give it to somebody else?”). While he has been touted ad nausea that Paisley’s songs “represent the American malaise” (whatever that means) a better fit description may be that his songs narrate rural distress and heart break, much in the vein of Will Oldham or Bon Iver. Sure, the Toronto native may have not broken any new ground in all of this, but he has joined in on a tradition of singer-song writers that ensure the quality of ‘the song’ above all else. For music lovers growing tired of bombast and outright insincerity featured in so many contemporary artists out there, here is an honest, modest, and charming little album.

Listen To: Broken in Two, Take My Hand, We Weather

RIYL: Neil Young, Will Oldham, Wilco

Playlist: Feb. 03, 2009

RIP: John Martyn 1948-2009 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Martyn_(musician))







Sonic Youth - Sleepin' Around [Rather Ripped]

Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed & The True Loves – Take My Love with You [Roll with You]

Don Cavilla – New Hollywood Babylon [Cryland]

Seasick Steve – Hobo Low [Dog House Music]

The Warlocks - It's Just Like Surgery [Surgery]

Seun Kuti and Fela’s Egypt 80 – Many Things [Many Things]

Anagram - Favourate Place [After Dark]

John Foxx – Burning Car [Metamatic]

Deadly Apples - Abuse [Infected]

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Today's Lesson [Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!]

At The Drive-In – Arcarsenal [Relationship of Command]

John Martyn – May You Never [Solid Air]

John Martyn – Big Muff [One World]

Doug Paisley – Broken in Two [Doug Paisley]

Doug Paisley – We Weather [Doug Paisley]

Music for Money - Le Marche [Music for Money]

The Got to Get Got - War of Letters [Rattle Off 7"]

Charles Mingus – Hora Decubitus [Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus]

Album of the Week: Music for Money - Music for Money

Sure, many artists in the past decade have laid claim to the influences of Eno and Berlin-era Bowie (Radiohead, Unwound, Stereolab, just about every post-rock group). Now feel free to add Montreal group Music for Money to this collective. This eponymous titled release features the odd time signatures, space-age electronic sounds, and robot-rock precision that have been played out by MFM’s contemporaries, yet manage to culminate them into something distinct. The album’s tracks swell with shoe-gaze atmospherics, turntablism-style samples, and with instrumental compositions that hold affinity to Mogwai or Godspeed You Black Emperor! (without the inconsistency of the former or the bombast of the later). Check out “La Pasagere” with its Robert Fripp-like guitars that give the track a clear affinity to Eno’s works like “Everything Changes at Night” while “Rendez-Vous” (perhaps the closest thing to a ‘rock’ song on the album) evokes the fiery energy of Roxy Music’s first albums (think “Editions of You” or “Virginia Plain”). Yes, the music of Music for Money may never move from its influences, but like The Jam, Interpol, and Stereolab before them, this group still manages to make great and essential music…even if it is all sounds a bit familiar.

Listen To: Rendez-Vous, Le Passagere, Vague

RIYL: Brian Eno, Berlin-era David Bowie, Mogwai

Playlist: Jan. 27 2009

Randy Newman – Easy Street [Harps and Angels]

A.C. Newman – Submarines of Stolkholm [Get Guilty]

The New Pornographers - Jackie [Mass Romantic]

The Revelations feat. Tre Williams – I Don’t Want to Know [Deep Soul]

Sparks – Lighten Up Morrissey [Exotic Creatures of the Deep]

Sly & the Family Stone – Spaced Cowboy [There’s a Riot Goin’ On]

The Animal Collective – Lion in a Coma [Merriweather Post Pavilion]

Ali Farka Toure – Soya [Savane]

The Upsetters – Zion’s Blood [Super Ape]

Lee Scratch Perry – Having a Party [Scratch Came Scratch Saw Scratch Conquered]

Music for Money – Rendezvous [Music for Money]

Music for Money - La Passagere [Music for Money]

Air – Empty House [The Virgin Suicides]

Holy Fuck – Lovely Allen [EP]

Einsturzende Neubauten – Sabrina [Silence is Sexy]

This Heat – 24 Track Loop [This Heat]

Nurse with a Wound – The Tumultuous Upsurge (Of Lasting Hatred) [Homotopy to Mary]

Scott Walker – Big Lousie [Scott 3]

Woodpigeon – Anna, Girl in the Watchtower [Treasury Library Canada]

Red Red Meat – Gauze [Bunny Gets Paid]

Godspeed You Black Emperor – 09-15-00 [Yanqui U.X.O.]

Jon-Rae Fletcher – Oh, Maria [Oh, Maria]

The Creeping Nobodies – Pangrammatic Window [Sound of Joy]

Jay Reatard – Trapped Here [Matador Singles ‘08]

Mudhoney - Editions of You [Here Comes the Sickness: Best of the BBC Recordings]

Hank – Distraction [The Luck of the Singers]

N.O.I.A. – Stranger in a Strange Land [Italio Disco]

Roxy Music - The Numberer [More Than This]

The Good Lovelies – So Charming [The Good Lovelies]

Johnny West – Spider Ventriloquist [An Absence of Sway]

Francoise Hardy - Tous Les Garcons et Les Filles [Tous Les Garcons et Les Filles]

Aaron Young - Norwegian Wood [The Works]

Jesus and Mary Chain - Cut Dead [The Power of Negative Thinking]

Fleet Foxes - English Houses [Giant Sun]

Myagi - Heads n Tails [3 Years of Sun Rise]

Amadou & Mariam - Djuru/Je to Kiffe [Welcome to Mali]

Album of the Week: Antony & the Johnsons - The Crying Light

There has always been a spiritual element to Antony Hegarty’s music. It could be the psalm like reverence that he performs his baroque-pop with, his lyrical motifs of transcending the body, or his blurring between the distinctions of death and life. He expresses spiritual longing and sensitiveness that is removed from so much of contemporary music: he’s written songs of falling in love with dead boys, desiring transfiguration into a bird, and hoping for something to be there waiting for him when he dies.
This thematic motif follows through on The Crying Light, Antony & the Johnson’s third full-length release (featuring string arrangements by Nico Muhly, best known for his work with Philip Glass and Bjork). Just listen to the transcendentalist calm of “Dust and Water” or annunciation evoking “One Dove”. The album’s standout track, “Another World”, expresses Antony’s spiritual longing in its most emphatic form: “I need another place/Will there be peace/I need another world/This ones nearly gone”. The song is not a lament but a meditation of transcending the physical while Antony himself acknowledges the passing of the sea, animals, plants, and all the things of this world he has loved. This is powerfully honest material that never falls into maudlin self-pity or religious righteousness. In this way Antony does of The Crying Light what Antony has done since the beginning of his career: tackle topics and content most other song-writers would seemingly rather leave alone. As usual, the album features Hegarty’s regular blurring of gender and identity (“Aeon” does this both, with the singer’s perspective never clear nor whom he addresses; is it a song to a male lover, a father, a son?). As well, Antony attempts to illustrate the beauty in the grotesque. Take “Epilepsy is Dancing”, a track that narrates an epileptic victim’s attacks as form a chorea (“Cut me in quadrants/Leave me in the corner/Oh now it’s passing/Oh now I’m dancing”). While some may find such lyrical content offensive, Antony tackles it with dignity and grace, never mocking but revealing the beauty in what others would find horrific or shocking. Even the album’s cover, a portrait of the legendary butoh dancer dancer Kazuo Ohno, decrepit from old age yet confidently garbed in drag, connects the groutesque and the beautiful.
Then there is Antony’s voice, as beautiful and characteristic as ever. Many have stated likewise, but what is most startling about Hegarty’s vocals is not his range (though exceptional) nor its affinity to songstress Nina Simone (which is almost uncanny), but it is how he is able to imbue each line with so much emotional resonance without ever over reaching himself to the point of bombast. As with Antony’s previous releases, his voice is going to be the selling point of the album. However, The Crying Light should be embraced as not just an exhibition of vocal gymnastics, but as a testament to the wonderment of the world and what lies beyond it in the way that only truly great art can. Antony’s art does something that no one else’s is attempting, and this is what makes this album truly essential.

Listen To: Another World, Aeon, Epilepsy is Dancing

RIYL: Nina Simone, Rufus Wainwright, Leonard Cohen

Jan. 20, 2009 Play List

TV on the Radio - Golden Age (Dear Science; 2008)

Can - Mary, Mary So Contrary (Monster Movie; 1969)

Buena Vista Social Club - Silencio (Live at Carnegie Hall; 2008)

Bon Iver - Blood Bank (Blook Bank EP; 2009)

Andrew Bird - Oh No (Noble Beast; 2009)

Talking Heads - First Week/Last Week ... Carefree (Talking Heads '77; 1977)

Madvillian - America's Most Blunted (Madvilliany; 2004)

Shellac - Song of the Minerals (At Action Park; 1994)

The Strip - The Russian Song (Stick to Your Guns; 2009)

Duane Andrews - Fables of Faubus (Rain Drops; 2008)

Antony & the Johnsons - Aeon (The Crying Light; 2009)

Antony & the Johnsons - Kiss My Name (The Crying Light; 2009)

Animal Collective - Summertime Clothes (Merriweather Post Pavilion; 2009)

Johnny West - Will Work for Food (Absense of Sway; 2009)

Hobson's Choice - Old Growth (Treelines; 2008)

Spoon - All the Pretty Girls Go to the City (Kill the Moonlight; 2002)

Roxy Music - While My Heart is Still Beating (Avalon; 1982)

The Tree Streets - Rocking Chair (Right to Stand; 2008)

Joy Division - Ice Age (Heart & Soul; 1995)

Novalima - Liberta (Coba Coba; 2008)

Crystal Slilts Shattered Shrine (Alight of Night; 2008)

Pixies - Manta Ray (The Complete 'B' Sides; 2001)

Kaya Fraser - The Thing Is (Tremor & Slip; 2007)

Timber Timber - Magic Arrow (Cedar Shakes; 2008)

Swervedriver - Duel (Mezcal Head; 1993/2008)

Bradleyboy -Livin' Between the Lines (The Farm; 2008)

Trigger Beat - The Sky Fell in Love (2008)

Deadmau5 - Complications (Random Album Title; 2008)

Blah Blah 666 - Dogs (It's Only Life; 2008)

Frank Black - I Heard Ramona Sing (Frank Black; 1992)

Electric Six - Watching Evil Empires Fall Apart (Sexy Trash; 2008)

Said the Whale - This Winter I Retire (Taking Abolonia; 2008)

Kieran Hebden/Steve Reid - Between B & C (NYC; 2008)

The BPA - He's Frank (Slight Return) feat. Iggy Pop (I Think We're Going toNeed a Bigger Boat; 2009)

Flying Lotus - Paper Crane Gang (LA EP 2; 2008)

The Decemberists - Days of Elaine (Always the Bridesmaid Vol. II; 2008)

January 13, 2009 Album of the Week: Johnny West - An Absence of Sway

After the enormous success that was "Chicken AngelWoman with a Triangle" it appears local musician Johnny West has donewhat he has always done following a release: reinvent himself. Sure he mayreject comparisons this way to the likes of Bowie or Radiohead, but similarlyJohn does not seem content fixing himself to a single genre or style. Yetunlike these former artists who tend to reject in totality the styles of theirprevious work, John's progression can be seen as cumulative. For his newest release,"An Absence of Sway", the folk/blues influence of his previous workis not direct but is subtly integrated to works with avant-jazz time changes,death-rattle country harmonies, and a return to his beloved piano arrangements.Sure, some may say it is not as accessible or as immediate as "ChickenAngel Woman", but "Absence" is instead a grower, revealing it’s selfafter multiple listens. These listens reveal John’s compositions at their mosttechnically competent and also at their prettiest. 'The Sun is a Red Ball ofLies' which features violin work of Anna Atkinson tackles allusions toabortion, abandonment, and isolation, all with hymn-like melodies floating throughout. 'Defensestrate Your Heart' recalls the poppiest elements of Talking Heads(think 'This is the Place' or 'Heaven'). Meanwhile, 'Revenge is Sweet' is anhonest to goodness love song that could have been penned by McCartney himself.Of course being John, a lot of the tracks are turned on their head; check outthe jarring 'Shoelaces of the World, Unite' or the mock-opera of 'Do theMountain Hop'. Then there are the tracks that are a bit of both, such as mypersonal favorite, 'The Ass, Enchanted with the Sound' which transform fromspare piano and whispery vocal into Junior Boy style electronic dance-pop intofinally a dada-esque sound collage with John chanting what I guess is"strudel." "An Absence of Sway" may not be as immediate ashis previous releases, but with a clear advancement of jazz-like compositionsand pop-sensibilities, this is one of his best.

Listen To: Defenestrate Your Heart, Will Work for Food, The Sun is a Red Ball of Lies Tonight

RIYL: Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Smog, Silver Jews

Jan. 13 Playlist - Ron Asheton Tribute Show

The Stooges – No Fun (The Stooges)

The Stooges – 1969 (The Stooges)

The Stooges – Loose (Funhouse)

The Stooges – Dirt (Funhouse)

The Polymorphines – Black Sky (Split the Difference)

The DoneFors – Mouth Full of Marbles (How To Have Sex With Canadians)

Rah Rah – Tentacles (Going Steady)

The Stooges – Gimme Danger (Raw Power)

The Stooges- Johanna (Year of the Iguana)

The Stooges – I Got a Right (I Got a Right)

The Stooges – Gimme Some Skin (I Got a Right)

Kraftwerk – The Model (The Man-Machine)

Novalima – Ruperta Puede Ser (Coba Coba)

Animal Collective –My Girls (Merriweather Post Pavilion)

The New Order – Sidewinder (The New Order)

Destroy All Monsters – Meet the Creeper (Bored)

Destroy All Monsters – Goin’ to Lose (Bored)Gordon Grdina Trio – The Monk (If Accident Will)

Marv Johnson - Come to Me (The Motown Singles Vol. One)

Ruby Jean & The Thoughtful Bees - Girls You Love (Ruby Jean & The Thoughtful Bees)

Viosac – Sonnet 139/66 (Rusty Pile)

Mason Jennings - The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll (I'm Not There)

Iggy Pop & the Stooges – Little Electric Chair (Skull Ring)

The Stooges – My Idea of Fun (The Weirdness)

The Stooges – Passing Cloud (The Weirdness)

Johnny West - Defenestrate Your heart (An Absence of Sway)

Johnny West - The Ass, Enchanted with the Sound (An Absence of Sway)

The Rusty Halos - Calling My Children Home (Live @ The Phog)

Luger Boa - Mutate or Die (Mutate or Die)

The Tallest Man on Earth - Pistol Dreams (Shallow Grave)

Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson - Monkey on a Wire (Rattlin' Bones)

The Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog [live] (Telluric Chaos)

Jan. 07, 2009: Album of the Week: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

Though not receiving CD release until the 20th, the newest release by the neo-pyschedelica group Animal Collective is already in stores on double-album vinyl format, and is already contending to be one the year's best releases. 'Merriweather Post Pavilion', the group's ninth studio album overall, is also the Animal Collective's most accessible effort so far. Psychedelic sound collages and dada-esque chanted lyrics are still as prominent as ever, yet the song's are structured in a much more traditional pop fashion, while the production by Ben Allen makes the vocals of Panda Bear and Avey Tare sound better together than on any previous effort. For evidence of this new-found pop-prowess check out the shimmery 'My Girls' or 'Summertime Clothes' which combines the sweet pop of Beach Boys and the effervescent jams of the Grateful Dead. Though people who listen to the Animal Collective for nothing more but sound-experiments and 'weird' psychdelics might find 'Merriweather Post Pavilion' too conventional for their taste, most who listen to this album should experience one of the greatest releases of the decade (plus, it has one of the TRIPPIEST album covers I have ever seen).

Listen To: My Girls, Bluish, Summer Time Clothes

RIYL: Panda Bear, The Microphones, Atlas Sound

Jan. 07, 2009 - Ron Asheton R.I.P.

Ron Asheton R.I.P. Category: Music
It's a sad day in the world of music. Ron Asheton, legendary and influential guitarist best known for his work with the Stooges was found dead in his Ann Arbor home yesterday on January 6, 2009. He was 60 years old. Though no official cause of death has been stated, police suggest Asheton died of a heart attack and had apparently been dead for days before his body was discovered.
Asheton's guitar style, an aggressive fusion of fuzzed out riffs and jazz-style leads became extremely influencial, especially in punk and alternative rock. His style has been praised and emulated by the likes of Mark Arm (Mudhoney), J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.), Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), and Kurt Kobain (Nirvana) to name a few. He was prehaps best known for his work with Iggy Pop & the Stooges, playing guitar on their self-titled 1969 release, and on 1970's 'Funhouse' before switching to bass on 1973's 'Raw Power'. After years of commercial failure, Ron left the Stooges to form the New Order (not to be confused with the UK post-punk group), and Destroy All Monsters. In the subsequent years following the Stooges demise, the group became a cult-favourate and have been credited as the initiators of the punk rock genre with groups like the Clash, Sex Pistols, and Ramones directly claiming influence by the group and Asheton's fierce gutiar style.
Recently, Asheton was ranked by Rolling Stone magazine as the 29th greatest gutiarist of all time. In 2003 he reunited with fellow Stooges Iggy and brother Scott Asheton, along with new-comer and former Minutemen/fIREHOSE member, Mike Watt. From their reformation in 2003 until 2008 the group has toured internationally, have recorded tracks for Iggy Pop's 2003 album 'Skull Ring' and an entire new album's worth of material in 2007, 'The Weirdness' which was produced by the self-professed Stooges fanatic Steve Albini.
In a statement issued by his band mates, Ron was claimed to be 'a great friend, brother, musician, trooper. Irrepalceable. He will be missed.' Iggy Pop added his own personal statement, claiming: 'I am in shock. He was my best friend.'
The January 13th edition of Fear of Music will show-case the best of this legendary and influencial artist, and honour the contributions he has made in the world of music.

Tuesday, January 06, 2009 - 2008 Year in Review

25 Best Albums of 2008

1. Johnny West - The Chicken Angel Woman with a Triangle - "He Was Saved by Poultry from the Shadow of Beef"

2. Portishead – Third – "Magic Door"

3. TV on the Radio – Dear Science, - "Dancing Choose"

4. The Bug – London Zoo – "Judgement"

5. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes - "Blue Ridge Mountains"

6. Deerhunter – Microcastle/Weird Era Continued – "Agoraphobia"/"VHS Dream"

7. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago – "For Emma"

8. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Dig Lazarus, Dig!!! – "Hold On to Yourself"

9. Steinski – What Does it All Mean? – "It’s Up to You (Television mix)"

10. Amadou & Mariam – Welcome to Mali – "Ce N’est Pas Bon"

11. The Hold Steady – Stay Positive – "Constructive Summer"

12. No Age – Nouns – "Sleeper Hold"

13. M83 – Saturdays=Youth – "We Own the Sky"

14. Shearwater – Rook – "Rooks"

15. Marnie Stern - This Is It & I Am It… - "Transformer"

16. Shugo Tokumaru – Exit – "Parachute"

17. The Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark - 'The Home Front'

18. Flying Lotus - Los Angeles - 'Robertaflack'

19. Q-Tip - The Renaissance - 'Shaka'

20. The Dodos - Visitor - 'Fools'

21. Deerhoof - Offend Maggie - 'Numina O'

22. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) - 'The Cell'

23. Harvey Milk - Life...The Best Game in Town - 'Motown'

24. Brian Eno & David Byrne - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today - 'Poor Boy'

25. Glasvegas - Glasvegas - 'Daddy's Gone'

Canadian Short List

Wolf Parade – At Mount Zoomer – “Bang Your Drum”....
Nicole Lizzee – This Will Not Be Televised – “Girl, You’re Living a Life of Crime”....
Elliott Brood – Mountain Meadows – “Woodward Avenue”....
Born Ruffians – Red, Yellow, & Blue – “Barnacle Goose”....
What Seas, What Shores – Threnodies – “Twice, Twice, Twice”....
Golden Hands Before God – Here – “The Ladder”....
The Dears – Missiles – “Crisis 1&2”....
The Buttless Chaps – Cartography – “Complications May Arise”....
Lowfish – Frozen and Broken – “Engine”....
Martha Wainwright - I Know You’re Married, But I Got Feelings Too – “So Many Friends”
Islands – Arm’s Way – “Creeper”

Adam says, "Welcome to Fear of Music's brand new blog-festacular!"

This is the inaugural posting on Fear of Music's new blog. If you enjoy music variety, tune into CJAM 91.5 FM every Tuesday afternoon from 1-2pm. You can also stream it online at http://www.cjam.ca/. In an attempt to make this blog seem somewhat cohesive, I am going to post all of my previous entries from the last blog I had onto this one. Check this blog for weekly play lists, my album pick of the week, and news related to CJAM and Fear of Music.