Arbitrary lines in time

One more time:

December 31 7 PM - 1 AM

Felt - Felt 2: A Tribute to Lisa Bonet
Goldfrapp - Felt Mountain
Le Tigre - Feminist Sweepstakes
Festival de Salsa en Nueva York
Luscious Jackson - Fever In, Fever Out
Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
Stereo Total - Oh Ah!
The Heptones and Friends Volume 2


January 1, 2008 - 7 AM to 1 PM

Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending
Vaughan Williams - Symphony No. 2 "London"
Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
Bjorn Torske - Feil Knapp
Felix da Housecat - Rocketmann!
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
The Knife - Silent Shout
Cafe Tacuba - Un Viaje (Disc 2) - Check the original of that song too....

For the new year we ended up at the restaurant where one of our fellow hostel staff members worked, an Italian place by the name of the Steps of Rome. A little wine, a little bouncing around, and I was all set to sleep 4 hours and man the desk. Kasia gave me a one-shot bottle of Bailey's that I had with my black eye (incidentally also free - a lot of people at the hostel work at Starbucks all of a sudden), and it wasn't as bad as I expected because half the people checking out did so late.

So, somewhat concerned about getting everything out of the house but very optimistic about 2008!

the day dj valouchka was born

as i sit at the computer screen to write this, i'm still sort of high off of the fact that i officially got the thumbs up to open a show with a dj set next month. !!! holy fuck, i'm excited. (excuse the swearing.) the guy i'm seeing right now threw himself a birthday party last year. he rented a venue and booked two of his favorite bands. he asked a friend who djs for weddings to open the party. it worked so well last year (about 250 people showed up) that he's doing the same thing this year. he booked pony up (yes, that's how we know each other, we're their #1 fans) and i raised my hand when he said he had to look for a dj. i've always wanted to dj, and i've picked out my dj name for a while now (ever since i made a kick-ass playlist last year at a friend's bbq). in my mind, i am already a dj, only come next month, it will be fo real! thing is, i don't know shizz about actually coordinating the whole thing. the songs have to be smoothly faded out and in, and it will take me an ipod and a cd player-at least. i'll have to ask around about the other electronic material i'll need. i think i may actually ask lisa from pony up, cause she once djed for an afterparty and looked somewhat comfortable about the whole thing.
anyway, i'm so crazily psyched about this. i'm thinking about it all the time. i think i'll go to one of these t-shirt shops where you can customize them and have one made with dj valouchka on it, in sparkly colours. i think i'll have a few cards made, so that people can contact me if they want dj valouchka. i know that this is so bloated and i am in it way over my head, but in this moment right here, i'm exhilirated.
i may need your advice on my playlist, as i will be working on it in the next few weeks.

merry christmas and happy new year!
stat!

12 Out of 24, Part 2

Because last time was So Much Fun:

December 29, 1 PM to 7 PM

Roots Manuva - Dub Come Save Me
Divas of Cuba
Lali Puna - Facing The Books
The Good, The Bad and The Queen - The Good, The Bad and The Queen
Salsa Classics of Colombia
Manu Chao - La Radiolina
Sons & Daughters - Love The Cup
Thee More Shallows - More Deep Cuts
Califone - Quicksand/Cradlesnakes

And then,

December 30, 2007, 7 AM to 1 PM

Brahms - Piano Quartet, OP 25
Brahms - Piano Quartet, OP 26
Stavinsky - The Firebird
Electric President - Electric President
Tapes n Tapes - The Loon
Prefuse 73 Reads The Books EP
Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye
Joy Division - Substance: 1977 - 1980
Trojan Rocksteady Box Set Disc 1

Reggae night was all good while I was there - went home at around 12:45, but there were some problems after I left involving a stolen wallet, suspicion that the bouncers were in on it, a call to the police and near-fighting. Everybody's OK and that's the important thing, though it's interesting to note that, of late, I've had this good habit of leaving before things get ugly.

Still not sure about New Year's - either Me First & The Gimme Gimmes at the Parkside or the mashup night at the DNA Lounge, will need to talk to people & figure it out...

On Christmas Day in the Morning

On Christmas Day I put on Handel's Messiah twice and that was pretty much the shift - some odd Christmas songs here and there to close things out.

But for the 27th I decided to put together a playlist of Music From Or Inspired By Valouchka:

December 27, 7 AM - 1 PM

Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
Stars - Set Yourself On Fire
Of course, Pony Up! - Make Love To The Judges With Your Eyes
Malajube - Trompe L'oeil
Islands - Return to the Sea
Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming
Pony Up! - Pony Up! (cos once isn't enough!)
Jean Leloup - Les Fourmis

Man, am I glad the Christmas Season is over - looking forward to the new year, whatever that might bring!

12 Out of 24

The playlists for the last couple days are as follows:

December 22, 2007, 1 PM to 7 PM

Boom Bip - Blue Eyed In The Red Room
Violeta Parra - Las Ultimas Composiciones de Violeta Parra
Illumination Radio 10/15/2007
Los Aterciopelados - Caribe Atomico
Donkey Wrangler to the Stars - Xmas Hangover Edition (though that particular episode seems to not be there anymore)
The National - Boxer
Loo & Placido - DJ SET AUCARD DE TOURS FESTIVAL MAY 2007

There are a number of Chileans who are here for the southern hemisphere summer, and Violeta Parra is (I am led to believe) well-known and well-loved in Chile.

December 23 - 7 AM to 1 PM

Beethoven - Violin Concerto (he only wrote one, it seems)
Ms. John Soda - No P. Or D. Eclectic Mashpod Episode 5
Jose Gonzalez - In Our Nature
Nick Drake - Pink Moon
Josh Pyke - Feeding The Wolves EP
Miles Davis - Porgy & Bess
Opium Jukebox - Sticky Bhangra - A Tribute to the Rolling Stones (link goes to amazon page because they don't seem to have a single video on youtube...)
J Dilla - Donuts

A very Sunday morning mix, I think.

As for the Christmas show, the DNA Lounge tends to be pretty good about the recording for posterity thing, so I'll only mention that the music associated with burlesque tends to be tunes from the 40's and 50's - there was a number heavily evoking Ella Fitzgerald, another that owed much to Bing Crosby (though it was a Christmas show, and Christmas music in general owes a lot to Bing Crosby.) There was actually a boy burlesque troupe as well, (complete with gay.com ...domestic-partner-beaters). The swing band New Morty Show closed out the evening but I wasn't there, I was instead making sure I got home in time. But I saw them New Year's Eve last year, and we were indeed swung by them in a most pleasantly energetic manner, and had I been walking home I would have stayed. (The Oktoberlesque show was nice too...)

EDIT 1/1/08: Provided direct link to Christmas Show photo page.

my turn!

i managed to listen to all of the clips from your last playlist and i'll be going backwards to your first playlist post. i felt inspired, so here's my short list of must-sees (and for the record, i think we should keep doing this link-sharing thing!):

krista l.l. muir - la grenade
the hidden cameras - death of a tune
telefauna - under the underground water (i'm head over heels for this band)
we are wolves - magique
grizzly bear - knife
and finally: i found a live clip of random recipe, taken at the show i attended (don't mind the screaming friends).

incidentally, i purchased the new beirut lp before i read that you had been listening to it. i had no idea that owen pallett was involved in this project. and i'm glad to hear that. he, formely in the arcade fire, has a brilliant solo career going (final fantasy).

stat!

It's fun to play

OK, so the playlist is a little longer today because I'm covering a few hours for somebody else:

Good Shoes - Think Before You Speak
Boards of Canada - Music Has The Right to Children
Broadcast - Tender Buttons
Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass
Black Star - Mos Def and Talib Kweli Are Black Star
The Black Keys - Thickfreakness
Cocorosie - La Maison de Mon Reve
The Books - The Lemon of Pink
Wolfmother - Wolfmother
Andrew Bird - Andrew Bird And The Mysterious Production of Eggs
Morvern Callar Original Soundtrack
El-P - I'll Sleep When You're Dead

I just found out that Me First & The Gimme Gimmies are playing a New Year's Eve show at Thee Parkside - one of many options under investigation at this point. Other options include the Bootie NYE show maybe, and Mango...though maybe I'll just hang out at the hostel and save my pennies.

Tiger, tiger, burning and a little bleary

The playlist for today is

December 16, 2007 - 1 PM to 7 PM

Solvent - Apples & Synthesizers
Slick Rick - The Great Adventures of Slick Rick (bonus: the Black Star cover of the tune)
Numbers: Death
Billy Bragg - Brewing Up With Billy Bragg
The Clientele - God Save The Clientele
B. Fleischmann - The Humbucking Coil
Roisin Murphy - Overpowered
The Hallelujah Chicken Run Band - Take One

(That last clip isn't actually of the band, but their drummer/singer Thomas Mapfumo went on to be a superstar in Zimbabwe, and so the clip is of him.)

Tigercity were surprisingly good, the place was very small and packed, so there was a great deal of heat and humidity (it felt like summer in, say, Bangkok, or Houston, or Miami - you get the picture). They got the crowd to actually move around to a certain extent, which is remarkable for San Francisco (where nobody dances) and for it being so warm/humid. At that point we had been to the gallery opening part of the evening, gone to the hostel for karaoke (where I did "Material Girl" and "Because I Got High") and come back, so none of us were exactly sober, but I wasn't hung over the following day, so I couldn't have had that much.

On a different, but still music-related note - have you ever walked into a store in December and left before buying what you came to get because you couldn't stand the Christmas music? I still need to pick up some laundry soap cos that happened to me the other day...

Visualise!

So the playlist for December 14, 2007 - 7 AM to 1 PM is:

Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique
Tunng - Good Arrows
Silver Jews - American Water
Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala
The Black Kids - Wizard of Ahhhs EP
The Rough Guide to Bollywood Legends: Asha Bhosle
Juan Luis Guerra - Ni Es Lo Mismo, Ni Es Igual
Trojan Dancehall Box Set, Disc 1
Ruth Brown - Miss Rhythm (Greatest Hits and More)

The links go to youtube videos of the artists because 1) it's easier to find youtube videos than find streaming audio and 2) videos are fun. Though the videos are fun in different ways.

Trying to see if I can get to the Space Gallery maybe tonight, these hyper-local gatherings are always very variable but sometimes you stumble upon things of interest. It's nearby, too, which is a plus. A"live performance" can be almost anything, but entities under the name of Silk Trade and Tigercity will be doing their thing, and I may very well be reporting later.

rah rah for kyrie

the black kids are pretty hot right now but i don't know them very well, unfortunately. i love the black lips and the black keys, so this could be strike three.
i have to talk about this young performer named kyrie kristmanson. she's from regina and has now settled in ottawa. i knew of her because she's in a band called rah rah. back when i was a volunteer at pop montréal about 2 years ago, they were the opening act to fellow canadian bands wintersleep and our very own wonder boys: malajube. i remember that she caught my attention because she was wearing this big furry white hat and was about 5-feet tall. i met her after their show and she was really excited and grateful (this was their first-ever show outside of regina). i think we may have high-fived, i don't know. regardless, through myspace a few months later, i got my hands on rah rah's independently-released ep. it's so hand-made that it's cute. anyway, there was a folk fest last summer in ottawa and i noticed that she was playing solo. and now she lives there and is much more accessible, in a sense, because it's 2 hours away (and i have family there, so might as well make the trek one of those days). she played again this year at pop montréal but there was so much going on that i failed to see her. i heard an excellent review of the show in a paper called exclaim! and apparentely she was wearing that white hat again. maybe she's developped a signature style...
as a solo artist, she is totally simplifying things with very few instruments. sort of a low-key, toned-down joni mitchell. and my roommate, just now as i played a song of hers, compared her voice to bjork's.
you can hear that acapella track here: http://balados.culture.ca/explorez/show/4958

Start at the beginning, and when you come to the end, stop

Since I haven't been to a show in a while, and will probably not in the interests of saving my pennies for where they will go farther, I'm unlikely to be able to throw down a post like valouchka's any time before January (but look for updates on the Buenos Aires scene in 2008, and the music of a very special Christmas performance!).

Nevertheless, I think it might be interesting (or at least a good starting point) to mention what I'm playing at the hostel each day. So, yesterday was

1 PM to 7 PM, December 10 2007

Illumination Radio Podcast #14
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Pink Mountaintops - Axis of Evol
Juana Molina - Son
The Beatles - Love
Beirut - The Flying Club Cup

And the playlist for today is

7 AM to 1 PM, December 11, 2007

Mozart - Violin Concerto in A
Mozart - Violin Concerto in G
Rachel's - Music for Egon Schiele
Boards of Canada - In a Beautiful Place Out In The Country
Ella Fitzgerald - The Best of the Song Books
Sam & Dave - The Best of Sam & Dave
The Tough Alliance - A New Chance
MIA - Arular
Neu! - Neu!
The Magnetic Fields - i

Since I'm often listening to podcasts about current events and/or politics while walking around, in the kitchen or in the gym, the desk represents a substantial part of my actual music exposure time.

Incidentally, ever heard of Black Kids? There's an EP available on their Myspace...

And as long as we're link happy, check out this gloriously 70's performance by Hector Lavoe - old school salsa at its finest!

EDIT 12/19 - Added playlist links.

it's like all i listen to now is canadian...

it was a very fulfilling weekend: i went to 3 shows in 3 nights. not that my wallet is agreeing...
i went to see pony up (stop-i can hear you yawning!) friday. this time they were opening for stars. they are a band who i always considered canadian in the sense that some members are from montreal, some toronto, whatever, they are from canada. but the media coverage on stars last week insisted that they love montreal and that they are based here and that they consider it home. fine by me, they are very good. they honestly impressed me live--although i drank too fast and by the end of the show there i can't remember what they played. nevertheless, we shall concentrate on what i do remember: they have two singers (one guy, one girl) who are great vocalists. it sounds a lot more orchestral than on cd, and it works for the better. they're a harmonious rock band on cd, and then you see them live and it becomes this grand spectacle of outbursts of emotions and sounds. back to the ponies: i missed the first 20 or so minutes. umph. they played a new song called "charlies something something", again, the alcohol flowing through me, i can't remember what sarah told me it was. it has a hell of a lot of synths to it, which scared me a little bit. pony up has keyboards but this was way more floating-through-space kind of keyboard sounds. the response to the song was super though, so i'm glad for that.
then i went this hip-hop show saturday with a machismo band opening. they rapped about sex and women and all i could do was sip my beer and try not to burp. then came montreal's wonder woman: giselle webber aka giselle numba one. she's also the singer of hot springs, but this is her solo rap act. she was very good--i'd never seen her but heard repeartedly of her rapping talent. she was joined on stage by these 2 girls known as random recipe. one of them is beat-boxing while the other plays mandolin. really! it's very cool. they're also playing friday at a free show, might go see them again. then the main act that night was gatineau, an undescribable hard rock/rap band. it's truly joyous to see live because they are animals on stage (not in a screamo way, but in a genuine-explosion-of-self way).
then sunday was the hidden cameras. i could count 9 of them on stage. they are super fun and i danced a lot and felt good. the show began with more intimate songs and then it was total happy time. if you can try to find their song "awoo", you'll sense it in there. the happy, fun stuff. or go to the cbc radio3 website, they probably have a stream of some of their songs. they were selling vinyls but i had something like 8$ bucks left that i had to keep for the option of taking a taxi home.

stat!

You know what's the good sounds these days for me? It's the old sounds.

Been looking through my hard drive, did a lot of ripping of my dad's CD's back in the day, figuring I'd have time to listen through the stuff and then never did. A lot of classical-type things, Stravinsky's Firebird suite and Dvorak string quartets and the Berlioz Symphonie fantastique, but also the original James Brown Live at the Apollo, Sam & Dave and Dusty Springfield. And then there's the old-school salsa - Hector Lavoe, Ruben Blades, Willie Colon, the whole Fania crew, El Gran Combo and La Sonora Poncena. Listening to the new Beirut album too, which (as one might expect) has an old-ish feel to it, as does Jose Gonzales, maybe?

On the new music side, there's a podcast by "The Illuminoids" called Illumination Radio that's vaguely mashup-inspired dance-esque music for bouncing up and down to.