Play List: June 28, 2009

The Vaselines –Dying for It (Enter the Vaselines)

Garbage – Hammering in My Head (Garbage)
Hercules and Love Affair – Athene (Hercules and Love Affair)
Elastica – Hold me Now (Elastica)

Gobble Gobble - Meteor Eschew (Neon Graveyard)
Gobble Gobble – Alabaster Bodyworld (Neon Graveyard)
Akino Arai – Ukraine (Natsukashii Mirai )

The Delgados – Is this all that I came for? (The BBC Sessions)
The Felice Brothers – Penn Station (Yonder is the Clock)
Megafaun – The Fade (Gather, Form and Fly)
Animal Names – Frogs in 2010 (Oh Yes You Better Do)

Orange Range – Spiral (Panic Fancy)
No Age – Teen Creeps (Nouns)
Nutsak – You are going to Prison (Failed Musician)

JJ – From Africa to Malaga (JJ no. 2)
Oumou Sangare – Seya (Seya)

Switchblade Symphony – Dirty Dog (Bread and Jam for Frances)
Assemblage 23 – Document (Document)
Bike For Three! – Lazarus Phenomenon (More Heart Than Brains)

Cymbals Eat Guitars – What Dogs See (Why there are Mountains)

Album of the Week: Gobble Gobble - Neon Graveyard

In an era where file-sharing basically encompasses the whole of how new musical artists are discovered, its refreshing to hear about artists brought to light by more unconventional means. Neon Graveyard, the debut album from Gobble Gobble (musical project of Edmonton's Cecil Frena) achieved circulation through copies of cassettes! The record itself is as unique and characteristic as it means of distribution. Frena's sound collages parallel works by Dan Deacon in that both use crashing cymbals and 8-bit video evoking beeps. However, while Deacon's works have been the musical equivalent of a sugar rush, Gobble Gobble's sounds are much more subdued and low key. The opening track "Meteor Eschat" sets the tone perfectly; minimalist, sweet, with pulsating bass, undulating guitars and tape-hiss abounding while Frena's fuzzed-out falsetto floats along underneath the barrage of noise. Its all surprisingly beautiful and the album is chock full melodies and hooks, but it is the layers of the album that are truly enticing. After a couple of spins you'll notice the cello playing in the background, the caw of bird from field recordings beneath the beats, the type of hidden sounds that only someone truly vested in their craft could pull off. Although the album often focus upon themes of death and decay, but it does so with a sense of humour as if laughing in the face of the inevitable (titles like "O Sacred Dandruff" are evidence enough to this). What Frenca has yielded with Neon Graveyard is a touching, often funny, often intelligent, and ever affecting record. Brilliant stuff.

Listen To: Alabaster Bodyworlds, Meteor Eschat, O Sacred Dandruff

RIYL: Dan Deacon, Xiu Xiu, Black Moth Super Rainbow

Play lists for July 7 and July 14 shows...better late than never, huh?

July 7:
Death from Above 1979 - Sexy Results (You're a Woman, I'm a Man)
Pointed Sticks - Part Of The Noise (Part of the Noise)
Newtown Neurotics - Living With Unemployment (Beggars Can Be Choosers)
The Got To Get Got - War of Letters (Sahalee)
Bibio - Ambivalence Avenue (Ambivalence Avenue)
Bibio - Fire Ant (Ambivalence Avenue)
J Dilla - I Told Y'all (Jay Stay Paid)
Sights & Sounds - Borderlines (Monolith)
Mary Elizabeth Mcglynn - One More tothe Call (Silent Hill Homecoming)
Meat Puppets - Hot pink (demo) (Up on the Sun)
Wilco - Wilco The Song (Wilco the Album)
Todd Snider - America's Favourite Pastime (The Excitement Plan)
R.E.M. - Harborcoat (Reckoning)
Nick Drake - The Thoughts of Mary Jane (Five Leaves Left)
Brock Geiger - Skin (Invitation)
Scatman John - Scatmambo (Take Your Time)
The Junior Boys - Bits and Pieces (Begone Dull Care)
See-Saw - Kikou (Moble Gundam SEED)

July 14:
Godhead - Eleanor Rigby (200 Years of Human Error)
Camera Obscura - Honey In The Sun (My Maudlin Career)
Vampire Weekend - Walcott (Vampire Weekend)
Amadou & Mariam - Africa (Welcome to Mali)
The Crystal Method - Blunts & Robots (Divided by Night)
Love Pink Pony - Men (Vida)
Front Line Assembly - Strategic (Civilization)
Beastie Boys - B-Boys Makin' with the Freak Freak (Ill Communication)
16 Volt - This (Demography)
Tiga - Turn The Night On (Ciao!)
Beborn Beton - Angel One (Another World)
Ramblin' Jack Elliott - How Long Blues (A Stranger Here)
Pat Lepoidevin - Blue Tornadoes (Blue Tornadoes)
Cass McCombs - Lionkiller Got Married (Catacombs)
Future of the Left - Land of my Formers (Travels with Myself and Another)
North of America - Minus Sign (This is Dance Floor Numerology)
John Foxx - Systems of Romance (The Garden)
Vieux Farka Toure - Souba Souba (Fondo)
Enigma - Incognito (Voyageur)

Album Cover Highlights - July 21, 2009

Before getting to the main body of the post, I would like to mention three albums covers that due to restraints of time and availability were not played on the program today, but should have been:

1) Pixies – Surfer Rosa

This is actually one of my favorite album covers. Though front man Black Francis came up with the idea for the model to appear topless, it was longtime Pixies visual collaborator Simon Larbalestier who came up with the crucifix and torn poster, claiming he wanted to load the picture with Catholic imagery. Inside the album art are other photographs of the flamenco dancer in several other poses.

2) The Durutti Column – The Return of the Durutti Column

This debut album for Manchester guitarist Vini Reily was encased in a sandpaper sleeve, scraping the images off of any other albums it was placed next to. This idea was made by longtime Factory Records art director Peter Saville.

3) Led Zeppelin – Houses of the Holy

Inspired by Arthur C. Clarke’s novel Childhood’s End, this infamous image of the weird naked alien children climbing over a rocky mass is actually a collage of image taken across Europe. This art actually holds some controversial history due to accusations of pornographic imagery. This led to Atlantic issuing the album in a paper sleeve to conceal the image from public viewing.

Now since that is out of the way, onto today’s play list:

Roxy Music “All I Want is You” – Country Life

The cover of Roxy Music’s fourth releases features two scantily clad German models Constanze Karoli and Eveline Grunwald. (the former was reportedly the sister of Can's Michael Karoli). The group’s singer Bryan Ferry met the pair in Portugal where he persuaded them to do the photo shoot. The two also are rumored to have helped written lyrics to the German lyrics to the song "Bitter-Sweet".

Joy Division “Interzone” – Unknown Pleasures

The image on the cover is taken from an edition of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Astronomy, and represents exactly 100 successive pulses from the first pulsar discovered. The idea of using this image was suggested by drummer Stephen Morris, and was designed by Peter Saville.

Big Black “The Model” – Songs About Fucking

An album cover as grotesque, unattractive, and uncompromising as the name of the album would suggest. A perfect parallel to the extreme post-hardcore sounds found on the record. This album features a cover of Kraftwerk’s “The Model” which is found off of a record with another brilliant sleeve design, 1978’s The Man-Machine.

Can “I’m So Green” – Ege Bamyasi

A pun on the German group’s name, the cover to their fourth LP indeed depicts a can of ege bamyasi (translated from Turkish as “Ageon okra”). Mmm…looks tasty, don’t it?

Iggy & the Stooges “Shake Appeal” – Raw Power

The album that perhaps best exhibited the animalist nihilism of the godfather of punk was sports a portrait of Iggy in his most iconic state. The lone figures cast against a black background appears threatening, sexual, confident, intelligent, and dangerous all at once.

Bob Marley “Concrete Jungle” – Catch a Fire

Perhaps Marley’s most famous album art, the original 20,000 pressings of the album replicated a zippo lighter, complete with a side hinge that made the package open like the real deal.

Miles Davis “Black Satin” – On the Corner

Miles Davis was never one to shy away from controversy. Perhaps one of Davis’ most foreword looking records (with sounds predating hip-hop, post-punk, and various forms of electronic music), On the Corner also featured a pastiche of black racial stereotypes to play on the preconceived images of black culture associated with funk and jazz music at the time. Many called it borderline racist, but Miles shone a light on the exploitative ideas within his own genres.

Sonic Youth “Mildred Pierce” – Goo

"I stole my sister's boyfriend. It was all whirlwind, heat, and flash. Within a week we killed my parents and hit the road." The text and image (a Raymond Pettibon illustration based on an existing photo of witnesses of the infamous "Moors Murders") encapsulate the range of danger, ugliness, beauty, and fetish of teenage rebel found in Sonic Youth’s music.

Fucked Up “Looking for God” - The Chemistry of Common Life

The Toronto post-hardcore group’s second full-length release features a shot of a Manhattanhenge or Manhattan Solstice. This biannual occurrence happens when the sun sets in alignment with the east-west streets of Manhattan’s street grid, producing a spectacular natural phenomenon.

Feuermusik “Full of Grace” – No Contest

The Toronto duo’s avant-jazz sophomore release. Heh, ever notice Feurermusik kind of sounds like “Fear of Music?” Just wondering.

Public Image Ltd. “Socialist” – Metal Box

True to its name, the legendary post-punk outfit originally released their second album in a metal canister. Though the record would be reissued the following year as Second Edition feature more standard paper packaging, this release marked not only an innovative highpoint for P.I.L. but also their record company Virgin, who fully complied with the band’s creative intentions.

P.O.S. “Drumroll” – Never Better

CD packaging that allows the owner to customize their own album cover. Demonstrated in this cool video.

DJ Shadow “Organ Donor” – Endtroducing...

A beautiful shot of inside California music store Village Records, where Joshua Davis (aka DJ Shadow) reportedly attained most of the albums he sampled for this milestone record. The two figures in the photo are actually Solesides members Chief Xcel and Lyrics Born.

Sigur Ros “Intro” - Aegetis Byrjun

The weird baby-angel-alien figure was drawn by Gotti Bernhöft, who apparently based the sketch off of legendary Icelandic spirits called “Huldenfulk” (roughly translated as “the hidden people”). Listening to this lush atmospheric release with sounds of alien beauty, its not hard to see where he drew the parallel from.

Jimi Hendrix “And the Gods Made Love/Have You Ever Been” – Electric Ladyland

The original cover was soon banned due to controversy over the presence of naked females photographed for the artwork. Too bad really, because the subsequent releases feature a rather generic image of Hendrix’s face on the cover. Some people just don’t have taste I guess.

The New Pornographers “The Fake Headlines” – Mass Romantic

Reportedly discovered at a yard sale during the album’s recording process the image depicts two lovers embraced as a mountain goat (yes, a mountain goat) watches on menacingly. Though not technically good art, it sure is amusing to look at.

Neutral Milk Hotel “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” – In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

This album cover was designed in collaboration between Neutral Milk Hotel mainman Jeff Mangum and Chris Bilheimer, whose previous work included fellow Athens, Georgia band R.E.M.. The surrealist imagery perfectly reflects the abstraction of Magnum’s lyrics, and reflected the album’s motifs of fascism, spirituality, and youth. The design was actually based off of a postcard found by Magnum of a bathing resort.

Radiohead “Faust Arp” – In Rainbows

Designed by longtime visual collaborator Stanley Donwood, the cover to Radiohead’s seventh release was the unique result of putting prints into acid baths. The packaging itself includes stickers that can be placed onto a standard jewel case in order to make your own In Rainbows album art.

Buzzcocks “Orgasm Addict” – Orgasm Addict

The infamous iron-headed woman who adorns the Manchester group’s debut single is one of the freakiest image I have come across by far. Designed by visual artist Linda Sterling, she described the piece as commentary on the comodification of sexuality, a theme the groups would often turn to in their music. Freaky, just really freaky.

Thrush Hermit “1991” – Rock and Roll Detective

I had never heard of the group until Dave from Revolution Rock pulled out this single. A beaver in a wood paneled living room. Yes, you can bet they are Canadian.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor “Sleep” – Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven

The themes of political exploitation and social unrest often tackled by Godspeed are superimposed by imagery of dismembered hands, skeletal masked figures, and scissors. As a bonus, the vinyl edition features a diagram that illustrates the song names and lengths.

Talking Heads “Stay Hungry” – More Songs About Buildings and Food

Showing that art-school pays off, Heads front man David Byrne conceived and executed the design for the front cover, a photo mosaic of the group composed of 529 close-up Polaroid pictures.

The Velvet Underground “There She Goes” – The Velvet Underground and Nico

Sometimes referred to as the "banana album" due to its print of a banana on the cover as provided by one Andy Warhol. Initial pressings of the album invited the owner to "Peel slowly and see"; peeling off the banana skin revealed a flesh-colored phallus underneath. Warhol claimed it to represent the monkey-on-the-back which was drug addiction that the Velvets so freely sung about.

The Tranzmitors “Teen Man” – Tranzmitors

Looking all blue and science-fictiony, this Vancouver based power-pop quartet know how to strike a pose. A little generic but neat looking.

The Rolling Stones “You Gotta Move” – Sticky Fingers

The album featured a zipper that opened on the jeans to reveal a man in his undies (YIKES!). Conceived by Andy Warhol, photographed by Billy Name and designed by John Pasche. Aside from being both provocative and unique, this album cover also comes with a little bit of a mystery. Though Joe Dallesandro is credited as the model whose crotch was depicted, many involved at the time of the photo shoot claim that Warhol had several different men photographed and never revealed which shots he used. The possibilities range from Warhol’s lover at the time Jed Johnson to Factory artist Corey Tippin. Also noteworthy is an alternative cover for the album in which a can of beans is opened to reveal a set of dismembered digits floating about.

Update: Two Daves and a lot of album covers

An unexpected increase of general shenanigans going on in life right now are keeping me rather busy and not able to devote the time I wish I could to the blog. The last few weeks of play lists will eventually be posted (promise!). In the mean time some news: CJAM is officially changing over to 99.1 in the near future so stay tuned for that. In conjunction with the station’s frequency change, expect a major overhaul around this blog. Also you may have noticed a new voice on the air with me for the past little while: that would be David Foot, a co-host to previous CJAM programming and now full-time co-host of Fear of Music.

Check out next week’s program for a very special edition of Fear of Music where I will be counting down my 20 all-time favorite albums covers. Wanna see if oen of your favorites make the cut, tune in this Tuesday at 1pm to CJAM 91.5 or stream it at www.cjam.ca. this show will also feature Dave of Revolution Rock whose own program I will be co-hosting earlier in the day. It is sure to be a good time.

Album of the Week: Cass McCombs - Catacombs

I unfortunately don’t have the time to write a full review for my album pick of the week, Cass McCombs’ Catacombs. Let me just say that this is a beautifully sprawling dedication to McComb’s wife that weaves between the folk sounds of Dylan and Cohen, and is comparable to Bill Callahan or the mellower moments of the Velvet Underground. My thoughts on this records are neatly compatible to this review supplied by the NME’s Martin Robinson: "You’re led into ‘Catacombs’ by the primitive lure of guitar, percussion and a seductively pure voice. But once in the darkness, hypnotized by the country swagger of ‘Dreams-Come-True-Girl’, McCombs then shines a light on some unexpected corners. ‘You Saved My Life’ sounds almost like The Human League; an atmospheric, deeply romantic pop gem. ‘My Sister, My Spouse’ is a midnight howl that’s like Lou Reed at his most grimly fearless, and perfectly melodic, while ‘Lionkiller Got Married’ sounds like late Joy Division. This is an album of long, mysterious love songs to get lost in for days – seek it out."

Listen To: Dreams Come True Girl, You Saved My Life, Lionkiller Got Married

RIYL: Bill Callahan, Leonard Cohen, acoustic Velvet Underground

Album of the Week: Bibio - Ambivanlence Avenue

As his first release for Warp Records after a five year stint with Mush, Ambivalence Avenue sees Bibio, aka Stephen Wilkinson, raising the bar on his distinct style of experimental electronica. Drawing from fellow comtemporaries such as Flying Lotus and Boards of Canada, Wilkinson utilizes sampled found sounds and field recordings, while expanding his pallet to include electronically treated guitars and etheral synthes. The result of this is an album that is difficult to classify. Dream-pop guitars chime over ghostly vocals while down-tempo trip-hop beats mesh with psychedelic sound collages. The album takes as much from DJ Shadow as it does Galaxie 500, with enough beats to appeal to hip-hop heads, but the melodies and song structures that ought to attract indie-kids. Perhaps the most surprising thing about it all is just how pastoral Ambivalence Avenue sounds; the feelings of open space and fluidity the album evokes is enough to nearly fall into ambiance, but those guitars keep it sounding like some Arcadian landscape. Yet its not exactly folktronica either, for all one needs to do is listen to the searing synthes of "S’vive" or the beat-brakes of "Dwrcan" to remind of how urban Bibio’s roots are. I’m not certain what to call it, but I do know Bibio has created a work sure to appeal to many and leave even more in sheer awe.

Listen To: Ambivalence Avenue, Jealious of Roses, Fire Ant

RIYL: Boards of Canada, Flying Lotus, Galaxie 500