Tuesday, July 29, 2014

3am Mixtapes: Episode Forty Seven: Entrance Music

Each week on the 3am Mixtapes podcast, I will share with you the Top Six Songs of a certain subject. The topics can be as general like best Scottish bands. Some might be a little more... specific. Top Six Songs To Chill Out To While Around A Campfire.

I used to be a huge wrestling fan, and one thing that I was always jealous of was their supernatural ability to have a certain piece of music play any time any wrestler entered the ring. Which is why I imagine what I'd want to play when I came in any room with the Top Six Entrance Songs!

Get it going with:

"Stormy High" by Black Mountain
"How Do You Like Me Now?" by The Heavy
"Trainwreck 1979" by Death From Above 1979
"Get Out The Way" by Mother Mother
"The War on East Coast" by The New Pornographers
"Chances" by Athlete


Any questions or comments or waffles or criticisms or suggestions for future themes are welcome!



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Tuesday, July 15, 2014

3am Mixtapes: Episode Forty Six: Summer Jams

Each week on the 3am Mixtapes podcast, I will share with you the Top Six Songs of a certain subject. The topics can be as general like most Canadian songs. Some might be a little more... specific. Top Six Songs Whose Title Also Reviews the Song.

Since Vancouver had/is in the middle of a record-breaking heatwave, I guess that means it is officially summer, which also means why not the Top Six Summer Jam!

Sweat along with:

"Summer Fling" by Pleasure Cruise
"Summer Salute" by Steph Macpherson
"Summer Dress" by July Talk
"Summer Fires" by The Wilderness of Manitoba
"Summersong" by The Decemberists
"Feel Good Hit of the Summer" by Queens of the Stone Age


Any questions or comments or waffles or criticisms or suggestions for future themes are welcome!



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Tuesday, July 8, 2014

3am Mixtapes: Episode Forty Five: 3:33

Each week on the 3am Mixtapes podcast, I will share with you the Top Six Songs of a certain subject. The topics can be as general like best songs from 2004. Some might be a little more... specific. Top Six Songs Featuring a Guest Appearance From Serena Ryder.

And this week is the Top Six Songs Clocking In at Three Minutes and Thirty Three Seconds! Why 3:33? Why that specific time? Allow me to answer that with a resounding: why not?

With these tunes:

"How Darwinian" by Dan Mangan
"She's The Source" by The Ladies & Gentlemen
"In Case We Die (parts 1-4)" by Architecture in Helsinki
"Magic" by Two Hours Traffic
"Place Called Love" by Little Red
"If You Think Your God Is Dead" by Sit Down, Servant!!


Any questions or comments or waffles or criticisms or suggestions for future themes are welcome!



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Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds @ Orpheum -- 06/30/14

After twenty years of missing Vancouver, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds were back for the second time in only 15 months. While the last one was at the Vogue Theatre, this time they doubled in size at the Orpheum for not one, but two shows. And as much as I loved the relatively intimate nature of the Vogue, I couldn't think of a better setting than the beautiful (in both looks and sound) Orpheum.


Opening the night was Mark Lanegan, former frontman of Screaming Trees. With a Waits-ian rasp, he sang accompanied only by a guy on electric guitar, his voice definitely the defining quality of the set. But he wasn't very talkative, not even addressing the crowd once, and barely moved from his "singing position"; one hand on the mic, one hand on the mic stand.
His set  mixed his own solo material with covers like  Bobby Darrin's "Mack The Knife", and while it was by no means bad, a lot of the songs bled into each other, and I have a feeling it would have come across a lot more engaging were it at a smaller, club venue as opposed to a giant theatre venue. Or if I been more familiar with him, or with the lyrics.


Not long after, at 9 sharp, the six members of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds took the stage to wild cheers. They immediately launched into "We No Who U R", the lead track to the latest album Push The Sky Away before "Jubilee Street" from the same album, a song which built to an ending to intense, culminating in broken guitar strings. From there the two hour set spanned the band's entire 30 year career, from the latest album all the way back to their earliest work with songs like "Tupelo" from the '85 album The Firstborn Is Dead, which grabbed the crowd as Cave urged everyone not already packed at the stage to come forward.

As one of the most charismatic and intense frontmen I have seen, the only time Nick Cave was close to being still was when he was behind the piano for gorgeous songs like "Into My Arms". The rest of the set he was stalking the front of the stage with more energy and passion than anyone I have seen perform. Orchestrating both the band and the crowd, Cave posed and thrust at the edge of the stage, and even had boxes set up so he could wade into the crowd, which he did frequently, reaching for outstretched hands. During the raucous "From Her To Eternity" he even pulled up one lucky girl to dance with him. It was the exact opposite of Lanegan's stage presence, which was made apparent when Cave invited him out to duet on "The Weeping Song".
And that's to say nothing of the rest of the band. Incredibly tight and flawless, especially multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis, who tore it up on everything from bass to electric ukulele to microkorg, and especially on violin.

As well as spanning the band's three decade career, the songs ranged from beautiful to manic, two of the most extreme examples coming at the very end of the set; the Murder Ballad "Stagger Lee" in which Cave graphically acted out the wanton sexual and violent acts in the song's narrative, followed by the amazingly beautiful title track to Push The Sky Away, Cave softly crooning "Some people say it's just rock & roll / ah but it gets you right down in your soul" before saying goodnight.

But of course they were not done there (the mystery of the encore quashed a little by techs doing a quick bass check and drum tightening) as they were back for another handful of songs.
Starting off with another haunting piano number, the subversive "God Is In The House" was followed by requests shouted out from the crowd; older songs like "Papa Won't Leave You, Henry" and "Do You Love Me?" had Cave as full of passion as he was at the start of the set. And finally, the band wrapped it up fittingly with a twist on an old tale, "The Lyre of Orpheus" as they ended the first of two nights at the Orpheum.

For ten years now, Cave has been one of my favourite artists, and while I have only seen him live thrice (twice with The Bad Seeds, once as Grinderman) I can undoubtedly say he is one of the single best frontmen I have witnessed. I have seen people half his age with a quarter of the raw passion and visceral energy he pours out, and no one knows how to work the crowd quite like him.
There is a reason the band's live shows have been heralded as legendary, and I can't imagine anyone seeing them live, and not leaving breathless.


setlist
We No Who U R; Jubilee Street; Tupelo; Red Right Hand; Mermaids; From Her To Eternity; West Country Girl; Into My Arms; People Ain't No Good; The Weeping Song; Higgs Boson Blues; The Mercy Seat; Stagger Lee; Push the Sky Away.
(encore) God Is In The House; The Ship Song; Papa Won't Leave You, Henry; Do You Love Me?; The Lyre of Orpheus.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

3am Mixtapes: Episode Forty Four: Eponymous Songs

Each week on the 3am Mixtapes podcast, I will share with you the Top Six Songs of a certain subject. The topics can be as general like most Canadian songs. Some might be a little more... specific. Top Six Rock Songs With a Rap Breakdown.

While about 83% of all bands have self-titled albums, it's a little more rare to see a band name a song after themselves. And that's what we'll look at this week, with the Top Six Eponymous Songs!

With these self-titled songs:

"Top Less Gay Love Tekno Party" by Top Less Gay Love Tekno Party
"Louis XIV" by Louis XIV
"Grinderman" by Grinderman
"Young & Sexy vs The Arc" by Young & Sexy
"The Cracking" by The Cracking
"...And We Are The Trews" by The Trews


Any questions or comments or waffles or criticisms or suggestions for future themes are welcome!



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