The Depth -Asymptotic

I am so pumped for my friend Jesse - his band The Depth have been working on an album for over a year and it is done and in the bag, and tonight is their CD release gig at a great local venue Amigos. A great local funky DJ The Gaff, is opening for them, and it promises to be a fine night. CFCR, our beloved local community station is sponsoring the show, because they too, are full of awesome sauce. :)Even if I didn't know Jesse and Aaron and think they were amazing people, their CD is really good. It's has an organic electronic rockish sound..a bit hard to describe. But Solid. Unique. 2 particular tracks Mother Ocean and Where You Are have gotten stuck in my head a lot lately, because - well - it's a damn fine album. Where You Are...is becoming one of my favourite songs period...who'd have thought? I shake my head sometimes that it's people I know making these sounds. :)

If you somehow hear of them coming to your town this summer, or happen to be at Motion Notion festival in Alberta, where I know they are playing, or can pick up or listen to their music, I highly recommend picking up the album. Especially track 10...:)

If you're anywhere about in Saskatoon, come by tonight and see them. It promises to be a great night!

Neat, I didn't know Chewie could play the tuba

Whew.
Star Wars last night was awesome! Forgetting my keys and being locked out of the house after? Not so much.
Thankfully we have company staying with us and they could come by let us in with their key...which is usually our hidden extra key. Yes. Good times.

There was a full orchestra. Video on a giant clear screen. Displays in the lobby including Chewbacca's costume, C3P0's costume, Imperial guard costumes, Kit Fisto's costume, Darth Vader's costume (my fave), Yoda (!!!!!) and lots of other props and costumes from the films... There was over 2 hours of music. They even started with the 20th century fox fanfare. It was lovely. And now I have a fridge magnet of Chewbacca playing the tuba. Excellent, no?

And yet...I am reaching critical mental exhaustion mass. Too much going on. Not enough sleep.
I do hope I can sleep and relax soon...
If I ever get a few minutes at home when I'm not asleep I will post some photos. They're still on my camera. I know I know. I'll get it together soon...maybe :)

I haven't been able to stop listening to the new Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach. it grew on me, as all odd albums do, but a few favourite tracks have been rolling around in my mind and still are there despite my best efforts at chasing them out with something else: Some Kind of Nature, Melancholy Hill (current fave), Glitter Freeze and Stylo...have a listen. iadmit I have a thing for the Gorillaz, and I think it was great that the lead singer of the Blur started this up. It made Blur's last album one I really enjoy from the influence of it all (not normally a Blur fan) and I've loved all 3 of their albums. Lots of guest artists and general weirdness. Their song Dare is still one of my all time favourites. Have a listen. If you can wade in through the slight weirdness you may find you like it too...

Friday Favourites: Pingu and pancakes

For your Friday enjoyment....2 of my favourite things: pancakes and Pingu.



I will be the lab queen this weekend...but hopefully squeeze in a few pancakes too. My project is going OK, and I feel as though I just might keep it together long enough to make it through to June :)
AND, my bike is all tuned up and as soon as the rain stops (pretty please?) I can start riding to work. YAY.

Have a great weekend!

Seventy Sevens - Friday Favourites by default (can't get it out of my head!!!)

I've had this song in my head all day - thought I'd send it your way.

The 77s are a band from my youth that I still pull out every once in a while, blow off the dust and have a listen to. At times soulfull, at times just good solid rock & blues...full of sorrow and regret and joy. I keep trying to pick songs to link to, but I think you should track them down and have a listen for your self...
Drowning With Land in Sight and Pray Naked are two great albums, along with their live album....Mike Roe's solo stuff was rather good too...I was lucky enough to see them back in university-one of their last shows together before one of the band members passed away.


If you ever run across their albums in a used music store grab them...grab a beer and have a listen. They still put out stuff every once and a while, but as they are largely printing their own stuff, I've never had the change to pick any of it up...erhaps after today I will.

All I know is I'm counting the minutes until I can go home.
Have a good weekend all :)

Is you is or is you ain't my baby? Friday Favorites #dickety two: Verve Remixed

I've been chilling in the lab this morning listening to the Verve Remixed compilation...it's sort of funky lounge music...mellow remixed music from the Verve Records vault of stuff...great music like Billy Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie and Ella Fitzgerald and the like. Some great DJs of the day have taken them and remixed them into some nice chilled music - what I'd play in the lounge of a cafe if I ever had one I think...
I'm in on a day off getting some work done for someone...just taking a swinging coffee break.
What kind of music do you like to chill to?

Have a great weekend!

Friday Favourites - Lemon Jelly

I love Lemon Jelly.
Years ago, in our first apartment, we'd listen to the ambient music channel a lot. One day this song His Majesty King Raam, by Lemon Jelly came on. I loved it. Then another track by them "What do you do in the bath?" came on. I had to track down their album. I hunted down their first CD lemonjelly.ky, a collection of their first 3 EPS and loved it.
Lemon Jelly makes (mostly) happy Electronic, sample based music, some lyrics some not. they're very hard to describe...Ode to Patagonia, A Tune For Jack, Stauntin Lick, Page One...all great songs - many with happy memories to go along with them.

Their next album Lost Horizons followed, and other than Experiment #6, I love it too. Songs like Nice Weather for Ducks and Spacewalk. More of what I call my my happy music.

Their latest album '64-'95 was a bit of a surprise. Each song is made with samples from music of that particular year...it's a bit less ambient than their previous -more dancable than mellow. And...AND they do a track with the one and only William Shatner-Go. No I'm not kidding. And no it does not suck :) (Apparently he asked them to do Together on his album and they asked him to do one with them in turn...(Together is actually an OK track on what can only be described as a William Shatner album...but I digress). This album has tracks like Shouty Track and '76 Stay with You on it. I love to run to it...

Their music videos are also a treat...colourful. Happy. They make me smile.

I've had Spacewalk in my head all day for some reason... I think if you haven't heard Lemon Jelly yet, you should. They'll add a dose of mellow happiness to your life. I hope these links have given you enough of a taste that you want more...
Trust me.

Finally...

Thank god it's friday.
This has been what has seemed like the longest week ever. Lots do do...
FINALLY, J gets a day off tomorrow. Why is this significant? Well he hasn't had a day off since Oct 20...no kidding.
So it will be much napping and relaxing.
Tonight, the Fort Knox Five are in town along with Matt the Alien at the Odeon-this is a good thing. I do believe I will dance off some vibes by shaking my butt at the speed of sound to some great funk and breaks.
...and then veg out saturday...raking, trimming a hedge, making yummy food. Watching the new Futurama film. you know...live like normal people.

Because I'm too bleah and lame to do a full out friday favourites, let me just say that today, my brain has been stuck on the Cranberries ...an older album actually.
No Need to Argue is a great old album...and so, because the song has been in my head all morning...you can hear Zombie too. Go here. Universal is being a ponce and won't let me embed it...

Later tater..

Friday Favourites: The Aliens

I love these guys...their song about being a robot man

and about being happy

They make me happy.
And so for a friday favourite, check out the Aliens...their album Astronomy for Dogs is guaranteed to make you smile and tap your feet a bit. They even do a slower loungy version of Robot Man on the album which is also very good...

The Aliens are a Scottish band consisting of former Beta Band members Gordon Anderson, John Maclean and Robin Jones. They formed in 2005 after Beta Band was shut down over their lead singer having some personal problems.

J ran into their album through CFCR. I say this: I like. Solid happy rock with the odd wierd noise in it...gotta love it. There is a new album that they've just put out...I haven't been able to run into it yet. Hopefully it it is just as good. If you like off the beaten path happy rock, seemigly twiddled with a Super Furry Animals-ish sort of feel, check them out. I never was too much of a Beta Band fan other than their song Miles and Miles of Squares and Eclipse...a bit too droney. But The Aliens? They finally got it right for me.

So, my good peeps, enjoy the tunes, and have a happy Thanksgiving weekend.
I'm off to help my Mum bake obscene amounts of tasty things and toast marshmallows and play cards and drink hot chocolate for a few days...Yum.

Friday Favourites

Seeing as I'm busy up to my ears, here's a bit of the old: a friday favourite.

The Bloodthirsty Lovers self titled CD is a favourite of mine, and perfect for a rainy day busride, or when you're feeling a bit mellow. ( In fact, I'm listening to it right now).

It's from back in 2001, and they have another CD Delicate Seam out in 2004, and I've yet to get to that one. I don't know how easy it would be to track it down, but if you can, I'd recommend it. It's a bit experimental indy sort of electronically touched rock. (how's that for enough adjectives?). A bit like if Death Cab For Cutie and The Flaming Lips had a musical love child. It just clicks with my brain. I like it. Favourite tracks are Telepathic and Transgression #9.

It is a great album. A bit moody at times, but very nice. So have a listen...I think you'll like.

Friday Favoties Vol.8 - The Dream, by The Orb

After a TRULY horrid day I'm feeling much better...and thought I would post a long delayed new friday favourite. This album is new...it just came out late last year in the UK actually - I had to snag it through ebay to get it here at any reasonable sor tof price, but it was indeed worth it.
I've beena long time Orb fan...they often have hits and misses, but their first Ultraworld album is my favourite of all time.

Their new album, The Dream
is nothing less than fantastic. It has a real reggae dub influence, with a few good dance tracks and a few good ambient ones and everything in between. The whole album is solid and I've enjoyed listening to it many times over. It has fast become a favourite of mine. Alex Patterson has been working again withh Thomas Felmann and it shows...there is a solid bass reggae influence and a smooth flow to the tracks that makes it, by far, their best overall alnum in a while. Tracks 2 and 8 are particular favourites. The album rises and falls, ending in some nice ambientness.
Seeing as they aren't on any major label I don't know how easy this album will be to track down, but if you see it, grab it.
As for me..I'm off to tape Galactica and more Arrowroot cookies and gingerale. J is on his last night (yay) and perhaps I won't be sick much longer (I hope I hope).
Ta.

Friday Favourites Vol. 7: The desert needs a beer

Nothing as long winded or elaborate as last week I'm afraid.

I will just take a minute to pass on another favourite album of mine: Think Tank by Blur

Now, I have to admit, I'm not a huge Blur fan...a lot of their earlier stuff was a bit "off" my taste and a bit poppish and too similar to Oasis at times...but I liked both the Gorillaz side project albums that the lead singer has done, and their newest album (a few years old now) is a bit of a departure from their old style of music, with the loss of their one lead guitarist. And it turns out, I *like* their new sound.
A lot.

This album is fantastic. It's warm flowing sound, with still some of the louder Blur woo hooey tracks (like Crazy Beat and We've Got a File on You) and a lot of music that just really sounds great...with a lot of emotion and a good rythm...touches of the unique. The guitar melody of the song Jets was stuck in my head for weeks after I first heard it, and other songs like On The Way To The Club and Moroccan Peoples Revolutionary Bowls Club are all time favourites of mine. I am racking my brain to try and recall why they album has an explicit sticker...don't let it scare you off. If I can't even recall why, it can't be that bad :)

So have a listen. If you don't like Blur, you may now. It converted me...

The Road is hot and dusty

The desert needs a beer...

Friday Favorite, Vol. #...um...I forget...6? Yeah 6 is good.

Usually I pick an album but I've had a lot of singles running laps about in my head, so I think I'll make a list of a few of my favourite songs at the moment. Some are long time favourites, some are wierd, but all of them are good. They're not all super catchy or dance your ass off tunes...just favourites of mine.

1. Pop Juice - Gomez. Well pretty much any song by Gomez could wander onto this list, but at the moment, this is my favourite song by them. It's an extra track off a 2 disc compilation album...a song about an alcoholic. But it's good. Really. A close second in line right now would be Whipping Picadilly....couldn't find Pop Juice so have a listen to that instead. It'll do in a pinch.

2. Intergalactic - Beastie Boys. This song always makes my smile. The whole album is good really, but this track is great...the video is a laugh too.

3. Hell Yes- Beck. This is my current favourite song off an older Beck album. He did a remix of it on a Gameboy Variations EP that was even better. His most recent album is fabulous, but at the moment this is my favourite Beck tune.

4. Stained Glass and Chrome - Ott. this song is one of my most favourite songs of all time. It is off an ambient dub album by Ott...and it makes me happy. There's no official video for it but you can listen to the track here on this fruity video made with quotes from the Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment. And the album has a smiling robot on it. How much better can it get than that?? :)

5. The Test - Chemical Brothers. This song will always be a favourite of mine. And the video is rather cool too.

6. I Know My Chicken - Cibo Matto. A lot of Cibbo Matto stuff is a bit hard to listen to, but this song...man it's stupid and catchy. I heard it once long ago in my car driving about in our car late on a snowy Saturday night listening to Brave New Waves on CBC radio to escape January cabin fever. I still love it...can't help it. It's not the real video, but at least you can hear part of the song...

7. Levitation Nation - Shpongle. Couldn't leave out a great dance track from the last Shpongle album. Great song...great album. Shpongle is great at mixing ethnic anf organic percussion with techno and trance music. I've had the joy of hearing him mix live...this album makes my feet move every time.

8. Mi Swing is Tropical - Nikodemus. This album is fantastic. I've linked to this song before...but it is so good. It had to be on the list.

9. Warning Shots - Thievery Corporation. I love Thievery Corporation. They have this crazy funk/dub/vibe/reggaeish/something else. I don't quite know how to describe them. They even did a great remix of old funk tunes from the Verve label archives. This song doesn't quite encompass all they sound like... but it's my favourite of theirs at the moment...

And so there you go. I was going to list 10, but this is taking too long and I should end my coffee break and get back to work. I'll save some more for another time.

Oh OK. One more...#10. Natural Blues by Moby. Longtime favourite from my favourite album of his. There. That's ten.
Buhbye.
Mee hee.
Have a great weekend all. :)

Friday Favourites - Vol. 4 - The Flaming Lips

Although I can't think of a specific favorite album today...I've had this song in my head all day and it is a favorite of mine...it's a silly song, but a loud and slightly odd one and despite it all, I like it.
And so, for a somewhat lame Friday favourites I present a favorite old song of mine by an alltime favourite band of mine:

Tangerine Song - by Flaming Lips

I know a girl who thinks it goes
she'll make you breakfast,
she'll make you toast
but she don't use butter, and she don't use cheese
she don't use jelly or any of these

she uses vaseline
vaseline

I know a guy who goes to shows
when he's at home and he blows his nose
he don't use tissues or his sleeve
he don't use napkins or any of these

He uses magazines
magazines (x3)

I know who a girl who reminds me of Cher
she's always changing the color of her hair
she don't use nothing that you buy at the store
she likes her hair to be real orange

she uses tangerines
tangerines (x5)


Ah...I do so love the Flaming Lips. They're odd, quirky and their lead singer Wayne likes to pour fake blood all over himself while performing, mow the lawn wearing green wellies, have their road crew dress up as superheroes and occasionally walk over the crowd in a giant inflatable ball. The first song I'd ever heard by them was Bad Days back in school and I've liked them ever since.
They've advanced from the loud clanky crude sounds of this song and the album Transmissions from the Satellite Heart into what they are today. I've loved all their recent albums: The Soft Bulletin is an amazing album - Songs like A spoonful weighs a ton and Suddenly Everything has Changed are beautiful and haunting.
Their next album, an all time favourite of mine, is Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. The whole album, start to finish is fantastic - at times loud, at times waxing poetic. All in all a fine album, and I think just barely, my favourite of theirs so far. Songs like Do You Realise, Fight Test and Are you a Hypnotist? are all time favourites of mine. Their most recent album At War With The Mystics is more of the same goodness...with Yeah Yeah Yeah and other great songs like Pompeii Am Gotterdammerung, I look forward to more from them. Little bonus songs on their EPs like "Thank you Jack White for that Fibre Optic Jesus that you Gave Me" push them over the edge into brilliance.
Someday I may be lucky enough to see them live...I bet it'd make me very happy...

OK, so maybe this isn't such a lame favourite after all...happy friday all.

Friday Favourites Vol. 3

Not much time today but I had to pop in quick to do a favourites...my most favouritist album of all I think.
The Orb: Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld


It is hard to believe that this album came out in 1994...I didn't discover it until about 8 years ago. Despite it's age it is still an incredible CD. In fact, this CD actually just had a 15 anniversary rerelease, remastered with an extra CD of remixes (which are all very good...one in fact which I prefer to the original mix). This CD is amazing...someone ambient, mostly electronic and still, after many years, my most favourite CD. The music starts out in Arizona...and moves out into space, past the moon, our universe and finally into the Ultraworld, where the Giant Pulsating Brain at the centre of the universe lives. There's dub with sounds samples and great music. 2 CDs of great listening...
Please listen to it. I can't even try to do it justice in words.
Have a great weekend all :)

Friday Music - Vol. 2

It's tricky to try and select "favourites". I like a lot of different music for a lot of reasons and whenever I listen to something I enjoy it can really twig memories, or inspire a mood in me. I don't know if it's cheating to pick a compilation, but as I do listen to this album often and in its entirety, so I'm wedging it in.

The compilation CD "@ Home @Sunrise", is a fantastic collection of ambient "chill out" (god I hate that term) music. It's DJ mixed for continuous listening, and is full of a great collection of mellow songs by a lot of my now favourite artists: DJ Food, Moby, Goldfrapp, Electric Skychurch and Mandalay. There's a more upbeat partner CD to this (@ Home @ Sunset) which is also quite good, but this is a CD full of ambient stuff....but it isn't so slow or dull that it bores you. It has a mellow groove to it that bears up to repeated listening.

I cannot count the rainy days and romantic evenings I've spent listening to this CD. It's full of great music that makes me happy and fills up my soul whenever I hear it if I'm feelin less than level. It's not cheesy or new agey or anything of the sort...just a great collection of ambient electronic and remixed songs. It was actually recommended to me in an A&B sound years back, and the guy who did so had such a joyous look on his face when he described it to me I took a risk and picked it up without blinking. I figured any music that made the guy who ran the ambient electronic section in A&B was worth a listen...and it was.

If you're looking for mellow music to listen to on a rainy day I'd recommend it.
Think I'll go put it on the iPod right now and get busy in the lab...

Friday Music - Vol. 1

One of the things that makes the bus ride to work enjoyable, or at least not annoying, is having picked up an iPod a few years back. Having 40GB to stash every album you own in to have with you at all times is a lifesaver. No matter what mood I'm in, there's something for me (and often I can't decide and put it on random and see what pops up). I'll admit a lot of the time I stick to current or new albums, or favorites, but lately, I've been trying to dust off old albums I used to love quite a lot on fridays and listen to them. And so, I thought "Hey? Why not a regular post on friday of favorite music? And they both start with f...it's got to happen!" So here's a blurb about music, artists & albums I love, tacky or no, current or old, and why they mean something to me. Here we go: Volume 1.

It was hard to pick the first one, so I'll just pick the old favorite album I listened to this morning:

Zooropa, by U2.

I've liked U2 for a long time off and on- my favorite albums were when I was in university - Achtung Baby, Pop and Zooropa. They went through a huge range of styles and have mellowed a bit for my taste now, but in their prime, they were fantastic. J and I went to see the Popmart tour - the giant lemon ball was a thing of tacky beauty...Zooropa is, I think, just slightly ahead as my favorite U2 album. ..and one of my all favorite albums actually. I like U2 for the lyrics, singalongability (is that a real word?) and the Edge's ability to play the guitar like a hopped up, electric angel.
Zooropa is a great album for a rainy day...a happy day...hell, any day. I find I need to listen to it in it's entirety...there isn't one song on it that I don't like, and it really plays well as a complete album. Some say it's a moody album, but that's why I like it. I have many memories attached to it, and all of them good: long relaxing afternoons with J when we first met, walking in the rain in university with my discman, singing the squeaky part of Lemon along with my brother and J one afternoon in the sunshine, and even sitting and watching the snowfall on an early morning on New Year's day in the mountains, as my friend Peter put this album on after the KLF Chill Out album to relax to as the grand New Year's party of 2006 wound down in the snowy mountains of BC. I catch myself singing along to it unawares when I listen to it, and on more than one occasion have been smiled at while walking or on the bus as I sang outloud to it. Songs like Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car and Lemon are great cranking loud in the car tunes. "The First Time" has lyrics that have profound meaning to me... it all ends off with a haunting track "The Wanderer", sung by the Man in Black himself, singing about a post-apocylyptic man who loses and finds himself...almost.
I love it. If you haven't heard it, please do. It's not your typical U2 album, and a lot of people didn't care for it...me? 'Tis a grand thing.