Playlist: 1920s music remixed!

Hit That Jive from icollectlight on 8tracks Radio.

 
My love for Gramatik's remixes of older swing music got me thinking that he can't be the only DJ doing stuff like this and so I started searching the internet for similar stuff (Anything to put off studying really). Sure enough, there is a whole genre called "Electro-Swing" and I found  some gems! After almost half a day, I came up with this playlist of music from the 20s-40s with a modern electronic spin. There's also some swing versions of modern songs, and some classic Louis Prima that I just had to include. The whole thing is guaranteed to get you moving. It's great cooking music too!

If the embedded playlist doesn't play, just click the title on the top left and it will take you to 8tracks where you can listen to it. 

Current Obsession: J. Roddy Walston & The Business - Midnight Cry

J. Roddy Walston & The Business's "Essential Tremors" is one of the best albums I've heard in while. It is full of led zepplin-esk guitar riffs, smart lyrics, and surprising harmonies. J. Roddy Walston & The Business are a very versatile band, with their sound ranging  from southern rock to r&b to swing to classic rock. This is one band I would kill to see live. "Midnight Cry" is probably my favourite from the album. 

Old Favourite: Jose Gonzalez - Far Away

Been listening to a lot of Jose Gonzalez lately in anticipation of his new album coming out in February.

Reuben & the Dark - Live at The Media Club

Reuben & the Dark put on an amazing performance two nights ago at my favourite venue (The Media Club). They are a five piece band from Calgary and I would not be surprised if major fame is in their future. Their songs are beautiful and powerful, Reuben's voice is fantastic and the harmonies are phenomenal and the drums are epic, and the electric guitar and synths are magical. They played nearly every song on their album, and my friend who didn't really know them probably said "Okay this is my favourite song" at least three times throughout the show. The noisy crowd quieted right down after a few songs and Reuben sang "A Memory's Lament" without a microphone at the edge of the stage which was probably my favourite moment of the night because we were in such a small intimate venue and it was just so beautiful. "Rolling Stone" was fantastic and  "Bow and Arrow" and "Marionette" were probably my two favourite songs, but it is very hard to choose. They got an encore (which doesn't always happen at Media Club) and Reuben played a song that he made up on stage while in Saskatoon when they got encored and didn't have any songs left to play. I would highly recommend listening to their album "Funeral Sky" and seeing this fantastic band if you get the chance. 

 

Rolling Stone

 

Memroy's Lament

Bow & Arrow

Michael Bernard Fitzgerald - Live at The Vogue Theater

 

Michael Bernard Fitzgerald sure knows how to put on a show. The Calgary musician played the vogue theater last night and it was unlike anything I've ever seen before. The night started with four openers, all local artists from Vancouver performing songs they'd written in a "songwriter's circle" style explaining the backstories of each song, which I really enjoyed. The last opener were three members of the band Hey Ocean, (who are all currently recording solo albums) and they were all incredibly talented musicians. Michael Bernard Started off the show with a couple of love songs before he was joined by the rest of his band. A few songs later, a Vancouver children's choir and a small orchestra joined the stage. Just when I thought he couldn't possibly fit any more people on the small theater stage, 25 dancers joined the show for last couple of songs. It was absolutely insane. So much going on, but it really brought his music to a whole other level and I enjoyed every minute of it. "Man Overboard" and "Movie Life" were fantastic, but "Brand New Spaces" in the encore was probably my favourite moment with the whole crowd stomp-clapping and with a two minute sax solo.

Current Obsession: Foxygen - In the Darkness

The Gloaming - Live at The Chan Center of Performing Arts

The Gloaming is an Irish group made up of two fiddles, a piano, a guitar and a singer but it is so much more than that. Martin Hayes is a renowned and extremely talented fiddle player in Ireland and Iarla O'Lionaird is a famous Irish singer who sings in Gaelic. Caoimhin O'Raghallaigh plays the hardanger fiddle which has six strings underneath the main strings that resonate when the main four strings are played making it sounds almost like two instruments. Dennis Cahill is a talented acoustic guitar player from Chicago and Thomas Bartlett is a piano player/composer from New York who has played with bands like The National. So the gloaming is pretty much a super group of musicians adding their own style to traditional Irish music.

They played The Chan Center on campus, which is large and ornate but also strangely intimate. It was a sold out show and more of an older crowd. They started the show with only the hardanger fiddle playing a slow beautiful melody, then the piano joined in and Iarla O'Lionaird stepped up to the mic to sing. He sang a line in Gaelic over the beautiful piano and fiddle and I felt instant shivers through my whole body and my eyes welled up with tears. They were playing a song that I didn't even recognize, or understand a single word to and yet it was so beautiful I felt like my heart was about to burst in my chest. Moments when live music makes you feel like that are what I live for.

Later, O'Lionaird explained that many of their songs are actually Irish poems and he explained what the poems were about before playing each song. The topics were things like dreams, birds, freedom, home, and being in love with a place.

Caoimhin O'Raghallaigh spoke of how beautiful it was flying into Vancouver at sunset and as he was looking at the airplane wing it made him think of an Antoine de Saint-Exupery quote used to describe an airplane wing: "Perfection is not achieved when nothing more can be added, but when nothing more can be taken away". He then used this quote to transition into the next song, "Sailor's Bonnet" which is perfect in it's simplicity as well. Martin Hayes's extraordinary skill with the fiddle was displayed on this song. It started off with choppy short burst of fiddle and piano and gradually gets faster and faster and then the hardanger fiddle joins in and it turns into a boot stomping irish jig that had the entire Chan Center tapping their feet along. It was amazing and I noticed I was grinning ear to ear and felt my heart would burst again, this time from pure joy.

Sailor's Bonnet  

( At 9:25 the crowd actually cheered, this was the best moment)

Current Obsession: Bear's Den

 

Just hold out against the night
And guard your hope with your life

Don't cry
Hold your head up high

Bet you can't make it through both these videos without crying - I couldn't anyway. 
Lovely songs though.  

Old Favourite: M83 - Too Late

Like a wall of stars

We are ripe to fall 

A beautiful song for reminiscing about life. 

Plus this space video accompanying it is pretty nice.  

Current Obsession: Fyfe - Holding On

Trust me.

You never know it's special 'til it's gone.

We're not holding on for nothing.

Please believe me.

We're far away from where we started from 

We're not holding on for nothing

Please keep holding on.

Feels like all I've been doing lately is holding on. This song really hits home.

Shred Kelly, Good for Grapes and Larry & his Flask - Live at The Imperial

 

 I think it's safe to say the wood floor of The Imperial has been officially broken in after last nights foot stompin, hand clappin', beer rasin' good time brought to us by three fantastic bands; Shred Kelly, Good for Grapes, and Larry & his Flask. Couldn't have asked for a better way to spend a post midterm Friday night than with good friends and good music. 

Shred Kelly, from Fernie, kicked things off strong with their mind blowing self described "stoke-folk" that sure got the dance floor moving. This was my second time seeing Shred Kelly and I was impressed that they are still such a high energy band. They also played a fantastic new song that was probably the best of their set. A very promising sign of more good things to come from this band.

My anticipation was high for Vancouver's own Good for Grapes, who took the stage next and completely blew me away. They had such a full sound complete with cello, drums, keyboard, trombone, and violin carried by great lead vocals and guitar. All their songs were fantastic and they got the crowd clapping, stomping and singing away. They even played a phenomenal cover of "Seven Nation Army" that slowed things right down before turning the crowd into a mosh pit. I found myself smiling throughout their entire set because I was so just so impressed by their talent, passion and energy. I can see this band going far and I hope they get all the success they deserve. Good for Grapes definitely gained more fans to their already large Vancouver fan base after last night's performance.

Things got crazy when Larry and his Flask finished off the night with their insanely high energy "bluegrass punk". The already amped crowd turned into a massive mosh pit and at one point the drummer crowed surfed from the stage to the bar (where he received a beer) and back. Larry & his flask are a four piece band from Oregon with electric guitar, banjo, drums, and stand-up base. The drummer was awesome and played standing up which was something I've never seen done before. The stand-up base player was crazy. He would pick up the huge instrument and walk/jump around the stage while playing it! Although it was almost too much energy for me, and I am not a big fan of mosh pits, Larry and his Flask was an awesome experience. This was the last night of their tour before they take a year off and work on their next album so they really left everything on the stage. That's one of the nice things about the geographic location of Vancouver is that you get a lot of first and last shows of tours in this city which I think is pretty neat to experience. 

 

Shred Kelly - Cabin Fever

 

 Good For Grapes - Little Carmichael

Larry & His Flask - Call it what you will

Current Obsession: Broods - Bridges

It was sink or swim 

and I went down.

Broods is a musical sibling duo from New Zealand creating some nice indie electronica sounds. Love her voice.

Current Obsession: Banks - Drowning

You are not deserving

Banks is an artist that I have been really enjoying lately. Her voice sounds like a mix of Lana Del Rey and Lorde and her music is sort of dark electronic pop/R&B. Her debut album "Goddess" came out in September. 'Drowning' is the best song in my opinion, although I do have to say that I thought the lyric was "hot maid of honor" for the longest time until I realized it was actually "heart made of honor".

Current Obsession: Shakey Graves - Dearly Departed (ft. Esme Patterson)

 

You and I both know.

I don't use the term "Obsession" lightly on this blog. I am embarrassed to tell you how many times I've listened to this song over the last couple days. It's catchy, it's different, it's folky, it's a duet, it makes me happy, and I guarantee it will be stuck in your head for the rest of day. 

While I am on this note I should probably tell you that the entire Shakey Graves album "And The War Came" is excellent and that you should check it out.

 

 

Angus & Julia Stone - Live at Vogue Theater

 

One more band to cross off the 'Bands to see before I die' list. Angus and Julia Stone are a sibling due from Australia and have been a consistent favourite bands since high school. Their second album, "Down the Way" is still one of my all time favourite albums. The last time they played in Vancouver was five years ago at a bar, and because I was underage I couldn't go see them which nearly killed me. After that tour the siblings split up, each releasing a solo album, and I thought their days of being "Angus & Julia Stone" were over. Luckily they got back together, released a third album and came back to Vancouver for a sold out show at Vogue just in time for my last year here!

As you can probably imagine, expectations were pretty high. Angus & Julia did not disappoint. In fact, they sounded even better live than on their albums. Julia's voice is really something else. Their individual voices and musical styles complimented each other beautifully and was wonderful to watch/hear. Their new songs worked very well live, especially Angus's powerful, electric guitar heavy, "Crash and Burn". They played a lot of older songs as well, although not the most popular songs that the crowd was shouting like Mango Tree and Just a Boy. They chose to play songs like "For You", "Yellow Brick Road", and "Draw your swords" and "Devil's Tears". Although I would not have been opposed to "Mango Tree", I was delighted that they played Devil's Tears because that song is particularly meaningful to my boyfriend and I who have been in a difficult long distance relationship. He was with me at the show and it was awesome to experience that one with him next to me. Just when I thought the show couldn't possibly get any better they covered The National's "Bloodbuzz Ohio" in their encore. They started the song very minimalist with just Julia's voice and then later the whole band joined in. Julia added her own twist to the melody of the chorus as well. Although it's impossible to compete with The National, their version was different and quite lovely. The siblings ended the show singing together on the slow "Santa Monica Dream" before hugging and taking a bow. I was moved to say the least. Yet another fantastic musical experience in Vancouver.

Cat Power - Live at Vogue Theater

 

I don't even know where to begin.  Cat Power (aka Chan Marshall) is an American singer song-writer who performed at the Vogue theater two days ago supporting her new album Sun after a six year hiatus. It was definitely the strangest show I've ever seen but at the same time it was heart-rending and a whole new level of beautiful. 

I guess I'll start with the strangeness. I read Chan's biography several years ago and was aware that she is known for erratic performances and extreme stage fright (in her early days she performed entire shows facing away from the audience). I know she's had some psychotic breaks and some substance abuse issues as well. When she came on stage her movements were very strange, she kept pulling at her shirt awkwardly and even rambling incoherently between songs. After a particularly beautiful song she would apologize for not being good enough and at one point she stopped half way through a song, deciding she didn't feel like playing it.

Chan was the most insecure musician I ever seen on stage burdened with crippling stage fright, but when the music started and she began singing it was the most beautiful thing. I burst into tears during Sea of Love, and l was not the only one. I could feel the entire audience almost holding their breath and even refraining from taking many photos to as not to scare away this beautiful and delicate creature we were all so fortunate to witness give everything of herself on stage despite her discomfort. 

Chan only played three songs from the new album; Cherokee, Manhattan and Nothing But Time which all sounded fantastic. Her live performance of The Greatest and I Don't Blame You was very different than the heart-rending ballads found on the album. They were almost unrecognizable except for the lyrics and were transformed into powerhouses of drums, electric guitar and stronger vocals. Maybe this is a reflection of a personal transformation from the time she wrote the songs. She also performed several covers of artists such as Billie Holiday, Patsy Cline, and Hank Williams as well as a gorgeous Italian song. When an audience member requested 'I found a reason' she frankly told him she hasn't played it in 15 years and can't remember how to play it. She sent her band away for the last few songs so it was just her and her electric guitar which was my favourite part of the evening. She kept mentioning how she had no idea how long she'd been playing for or how long she was supposed to play for and ended up playing for almost three hours but no one was complaining and I think we were all hoping she would never stop. There was no encore or anything, she simply ended with a french song that she used to play on the streets of Paris while begging for money and then the lights then came on and she stepped into the crowd to sign people's records. 

Although I would have loved to have heard 'Good Woman', 'Colors and the kids', and 'Maybe Not', I realize that she has so many songs and there's no way she could play everyone's favourites. It did seem like a strange mix of songs that she chose though however it matches perfectly to her performing style - completely unpredictable and beautiful at the same time.

On repeat: Sylvan Esso - Coffee

Wild winter, warm coffee
Mind's gone, do you love me?

School is getting insane and this song has been on repeat lately. The mellow vibes help to de-stress and unwind. 

Chet Faker - Live at The Commodore Ballroom

A few weeks ago I tried to get tickets for this show and was devastated when I found out it was sold out. Tickets on Kijiji were around $100, which is way more than I was willing to pay for a concert, so I faced the hard fact that this was a show I would have to sit out. As the day got closer, I was a actually a bit relieved because I had an insanely busy week with school and presentations and labs and probably shouldn't have been going to a concert anyways. At around 3pm I got a text that a friend had an extra ticket. Even though I had way to much school work to get done and knew I really shouldn't do it, I hastily took him up on the extra ticket.

Chet Faker played a rowdy and packed Commodore Ballroom. He was the best electronic musician I have ever seen. I hesitate to even call him a DJ because I feel like most DJs just hit play and jump around with their arms in the air. Chet was sweating through his beard, and pouring every once of himself into each knob and switch while performing his own vocals. It was quite incredible to watch. I was surprised when he played 'Drop the game' (one of my favourite songs at the moment) because I thought it was a Flume song. Turns out Chet Faker and Flume are roomates in Australia and created that song together. The highlight of the show for me was when he played Gold in the encore which is my favourite. The only downside of the show was that we couldn't understand a word that he said to the crowd because his accent was so thick. Overall, I am totally glad that I took the opportunity to go even though the next day of school was brutal. Sometimes you have to be a little irresponsible.

Owen Pallett - Live at The Imperial

I am now back in Vancouver for the next 8 months, which is exciting because there are so many great music venues with SO MANY good shows coming up (and not enough money haha). 

Owen Pallet played at The Imperial, a new music venue in downtown Vancouver, on September 9th. I had never been to The Imperial before and was pleasantly surprised by how well set up it was for live shows, and even had a fish tank. The only downside is that it's just around the corner from East Hastings, making for a bit of a sketchy endeavor. Fiction in Foxes and Avi Buffalo were the openers. I don't particularly like Avi Buffalo mostly because of his vocals, however they were much better live than recorded and had some great guitar riffs and keyboard.  It was hilarious when a lady rushed to the stage after their set shouting, "Owen! Owen! Why didn't you play 'I am not afraid'" to which he replied, "Because I'm not Owen Pallet". How embarrassing eh?! But it was true...they were no Owen Pallet.

I am a huge fan of Owen's music but was completely swept away by his live performance. He began solo with just his keyboard and violin to create the most beautiful music. It was amazing seeing the songs live and seeing how all the different sounds are made and come together with the looping. It was really quite impressive that he was able to keep track of everything while singing too! Song of five & six was probably my favourite from this section. About half way through the set, Owen's band came to join him. They comprised of a base player and an incredibly talented drummer. The bass and drums added even more colour to Owen's looping. 'The Riverbed' was particularly mind melting. I was a bit sad however because he never played 'Man with no ankles' which is by far my favourite Owen Pallet song, and the song I was most excited to hear live. However, he closed the show with 'Lewis takes off his shirt', which is another great song and was a perfect way to end the show. That song was stuck in my head for the remainder of the evening (even after a freaky screaming homeless lady lunged at me on the way to the bus stop).

Album: Andy Shauf - The Bearer of Bad News

 

Andy Shauf is a Canadian musician from Regina. I was hooked on his music after hearing his first song at the Calgary Folk Fest. He has a unique voice and his melodies are hauntingly beautiful with lovely lyrics that tell dark stories. 'The Bearer of Bad News' is gorgeous and captivating  journey from start to finish. The piano, guitar, and clarinet coalesce to create a timeless sound. 'Hometowen Hero' and 'Jesus she's a good girl' are my personal favourite tracks. Definitely recommend this gem.

 

Their hearts weren't ripe so they fell apart

Current Obsession: Alt J 'Left Hand Free'

"Hey Shady Baby I'm Hot

Like a Prodigal Son"

The perfect song for the last days of summer. 

Love the beginning. 

 

Arcade Fire - Live at The Saddledome

 

Arcade Fire played at the Calgary Saddledome this summer and I was lucky enough to snag floor tickets nearly a year in advance for a front row experience. I knew they are a large band but I was shocked to see 12 people on stage playing so many different instruments from bongos to accordion. The band kicked off the show strong with 'Normal Person' from their latest album Reflector. They didn't waste any time before getting into their older stuff and played 'Rebellion Lies' next. I nearly cried. Rebellion Lies was one of those songs from my youth (junior high to be exact) that first showed me how good music could be. I loved the message to not blindly accept the world but to take action and to not believe people who tell you that you can't do something. This song was the highlight of the show for me. The energy was high throughout the whole show and the songs were a good mix from all of their albums and included a cover of Calgary's Feist's 'I feel it all'. 'Sprawl II (Mountains beyond Mountains)' really stood out to me as one of their best live songs. The band closed with an epic performance of 'Wake Up' dedicated to Robin Williams complete with confetti. Although I am not normally a fan of arena concerts, and the Saddledome's acoustics are far from great, Arcade Fire took advantage of the space and theatrics while staying true to the music resulting in an outstanding performance.

"I need the darkness,

someone please cut the lights."

Current Obsession: Kodaline - High Hopes

 

"I've got high hopes, it takes me back to when we started
High hopes, when you let it go, go out and start again
High hopes, when it all comes to an end
But the world keeps spinning around"

Kodaline is one of my favourite bands that came out of ireland, their songs are beautiful but also catchy and they make some stellar music videos. Here's a remix I am obsessed with at the moment.
 

Calgary Folk Fest 2014

After all the years I have missed out on folk fest and thought, "next year I will go" I finally decided to just buy a ticket way in advance this year and work around it, and man am I glad I did!!
This also meant I had no definite plans of who I would be going with and I ended up spending a large majority of my time at the festival on my own. There is definitely something to be said for attending a music fest on your own though. It meant I could see exactly who I wanted to see, become fully absorbed in the music, and easily sneak up to the front of every stage.
My favourite thing about the festival was the "workshops" that include about four different bands jamming together on stage. A lot of the best and most memoral music from the weekend came from those sessions.
Trampled by Turtles kicked things off Thursday night with an awesome high energy performance. Unfortunately I massively underestimated the amount of people that would show up early at the main stage stage (think soccer field full of tarps and blankets) and was pretty far back for that show. Basia Bulat then put on a stunning performance at a less crowded stage, and quickly won over the audience with her cute stage banter, multi-instrument talent and chill inducing vocals. Then it was back to the main stage to catch the second half of Hey Rosetta!. They played the golden hour with sun streaming through the trees and sounded great. Andrew Bird finished off the night with some beautiful violin and some whistling. Unfortunately he didn't play a lot of his more popular songs, but non the less it was still an incredible performance complete with "Three White Horses" my favourite of his.

Friday I only caught one band; Great Lake Swimmers. And they were enough to make me feel completely satisfied about my night after they closed with "Easy come, easy go". I would highly recommend checking out one of their shows. 

Saturday kicked off strong with Jaron Freeman Fox, who was playing a smaller shaded stage and quickly attracted quite a crowd with his talent on the violin supported by clarinet, guitar and drums. In my opinion, he was the best artist at folk-fest. He was full of energy on stage, making the audiance laugh before taking them on wild and beautiful musical adventures, truly a great musican.

Following his performance was the first "workshop/session" that included Typhoon (11 piece complete with a horn section, violins, and xylephone) The Lone Bellow (southern rock trio) and David Birdie (piano). I didn't know what to expect but I was completely blown away by what took place. The bands alternated playing songs, and all coloured in each others songs. They even did a CCR cover (Fortunate Son) that got the whole crowd dancing and finished of their set with a cover of "Don't Stop Believing". Things slowed down a bit with Deep Dark Woods (Saskatoon) who cooled off the hot day with some low vocals, great electric guitar and an organ.

Next I caught a session that included Jaron Freeman Fox and fell in love with him a little bit more as he stole the show again (this time with three other bands on the stage). Typhoon then played a full concert. Their eleven piece band and big sound got the whole crowd dancing again and I was totally blown away, especially when they slowed it down for a moment and played the beautiful and haunting "Possible Deaths".

Just when I was thinking this day couldn't possibly get any better Chad VanGaalen took the stage and totally killed it in front of a fierce crowd of Calgarian fans. He played a lot from his new album and it all sounded awesome (he's much better live than recorded). "Where are you" and "Weighted Sin" stood out in particular. Only slightly dissapointed he didn't play "Willow Tree" for us.

Sunday I caught a wonderful bluesy workshop with Jaron Freeman Fox, Oliver Swain, The Polyjesters and David Bromberg and stayed for Oliver Swain's show after. I was super impressed by Oliver Swain's dreamy vocals mixing with the fast violin and cello.

After grabbing some lunch I caught another session with Great Lake Swimmers, Andy Shauf and Calgary's Boreal Sons and Astral Swans. Astral Swans made some beautiful music but I was most impressed with Boreal Sons. They sounded amazing live and made me want to go home and listen to their album all over again (I love when a band does that).

Andy Shauf was an artist I hadn't heard of before but I was pleasantly surprised by his talent (and young age). The next session was by far the strangest one. I went there to catch Jaron Freeman-Fox one last time but stayed for the incredible mix of sounds. There was a band called Geomungo Factory from South Korea with strange string instruments and drums that sounded almost like war music, and Iva Bittova who is a Czech singer/violinist who uses her voice to make all sorts of sounds, and James Hill who is a force to be reckoned with on the ukelele. These four bands created the most unique and wonderful music I have heard in a long time and I found myself wishing it would never end.

 The last act I caught was James Hill who was charming and oh so talented with the ukelele. He even had an electric ukelele! Also, he is from Nova Scotia, and I found out he is releasing an album with Joel Plaskett in the fall which I am super excited for!

Well that pretty much sums up all the great bands and artists I experienced this weekend. What a wonderful festival we put on here in Calgary. I am already looking forward to next year!

Current Obsession: Stolen Dance - Milky Chance

I want you by my side

So that I never feel alone again.