i'm here

when i first heard that one of my favorite directors spike jonze was making a short film based on shel silverstein's the giving tree, a book that I had grown up on, needless to say I was super excited.  after viewing the finished product, i was blown away.  it's a beautiful love story told in a very unconventional fashion. Plus it's got an amazing soundtrack to boot!

part one



part two

happy halloween!

in celebration of my favorite holiday of the year, I bring you this, the trailer for one of the craziest movies you'll ever see!  finally released in all of it's proper glory by the good folks at criterion, Hausu is a must for any movie fan.  have a good halloween!

sounds of science - 10/27/2010

on the cusp of my 34th birthday, this week's show celebrates some great new music from the war on drugs, demon claws, dead ghosts and games, as well as some old favorites from eugene mcdaniels, slave, the flying burrito brothers and mr porter wagoner. we remember john peel, who passed away 6 years ago, as well as gregory isaacs. and finally we talk to halifax filmmaker john walker about his excellent new film, a drummer's dream. if you missed the show, grab it over here.

set one
gregory isaacs - "stranger in town" from night nurse           
the undertones - "teenage kicks" from the best of the undertones
sugarloaf gangsters - "sayin' it & doin' it" from doin' James vol. 2     
javelin - "tell me, what will it be?"  from no mas                
ultramagnetic mc's - "give the drummer some" from critical beatdown     

set two
azymuth - "montreal city" from azimuth               
mayer hawthorne - "maybe so, maybe no" from a strange arrangement 
jimmy mcgriff - "canadian sunset" from groove grease         
the hidden orchestra - "wandering" from night walks
slave - "wait for me" from stellar fungk: the best of slave              
eugene mcdaniels - "supermarket blues" from headless heroes of the apocalypse            
            
set three
games - "strawberry skies" from that we can play      
joel plaskett emergency - "fashionable people" from ashtray
hefner - "i took her love for granted" from the fidelity wars     
the stolen minks - "rip it up" from family boycott       
demon's claws - "laser beams" from the defrosting of...    
dead ghosts - "detroit jerry" from dead ghosts  
tyvek - "future junk" from nothing fits      
the minutemen  - political song for michael jackson to sing" from double nickels on the dime                   

set four
the vaselines - "the day i was a horse" from the way of the vaselines
pavement - "embassy row" from brighten the corners  
shotgun & jaybird - "two & two is 4" from trying to get somewhere
the war on drugs - "baby missiles" from future weather
the pharmacy  - "coldest morning light" from weekend  
flying fox & the hunter gatherers - "anthony milton quits his job" from flying fox ep
okgiraffe - "black blood famine" from okgiraffe             
palace music - "new partner" from viva last blues       
the flying burrito brothers - "do right women" from sin city
porter wagoner - " the cold hard facts of life"  from the rubber room

a drummer's dream



R.I.P. Gregory Isaacs

music video goodness...

i can't decide which one of these is better, both excellent for completely different reasons.

first we've diplo versus deerhunter versus the streets of moscow.

and then we've got the books taking on arnie's army...




both tracks are fantastic, and it's nice to see someone getting creative on the video end of things, kicking things up a notch in what's become a pretty stale medium.

sounds of science - 10/20/2010

some great new music on the big show this week, including selections from a sunny day in glasgow, the dead c, a collabo featuring jim bryson and the weakerthans, the gaslamp killer and 3 potential album of the year candidates in darkstar, the wolf people and the fresh & onlys. as always if you missed out, you can check it on the DL.

set one
the clash - "hitsville uk" from sandinista!
a sunny day in glasgow - "drink drank drunk" from autumn, again
big boys - "bartender" from persian underground: garage rock, beat & psychedelic sounds from the iranian 60's & 70's scene
the fresh & onlys - "until the end of time" from play it strange
karkwa - "les chemins de verre" from les chemins de verre
jaded hipster choir & teen daze - "low glow" from collaborations

set two
real estate - "beach comber" from real estate
women - "untogether" from public strain
the dead c - "shaft" from patience
exploding star orchestra - "chromo rocker"  from stars have shapes
shugo tokumaru - "parachute" from exit
the flaming lips - "race for the prize" from the soft bulletin
ceo - "love & do what you will" from white magic
guided by voices - "smothered in hugs" from bee thousand

set three
wolf people - "painted cross" from steeple
sun wizard - "you gotta move on" from maybe they were right
black mountain - "the way to gone" from wilderness heart
cfcf - "you hear colours" from continent
the gaslamp killer - "when i'm in awe" (feat.gonjasufi) from death gate
cyclist - "bass face" from double dip ep darkstar - "when it's gone" from north

set four
jim bryson & the weakerthans - "metal girls" from the falcon lake incident
cheering for the bad guy - "teardrops don't lie" from to the last drop
the crooked brothers - "buried alive" from deathbed pillowtalk
gary higgins - "i can't sleep at night" from red hash
evening hymns - "tumultuous sea" from spirit guides
timber timbre - "under your spell" from medicinals
lorraine ellison - "only your love" from stay with me: the best of lorraine ellison
joe bataan - "crystal blue persuasion" from singin' some soul

check out the white hot theremin action!

the internet wins again!

words cannot describe how good this is...

sounds of science - 10/13/2010

back after a week's hiatus due to UMFM's seemingly never ending renovation project, here's a rundown on the goods i played this week!  if you missed it, you can grab it over here.

set one
richard hawley - "tonight the streets are ours" from  lady's bridge          
the monochrome set - "it's more than just love" from  early recordings:1975-1977
pinback - "crutch" from this is not a pinback lp
ted leo & the rX - "the ballad of the sin eater" from hearts of oak          
diamond rings - "you oughta know" from special affections
the clean - "odditty" from anthology      
library voices - "write me a myth" from denim on denim 
paper lions - "hands" from trophies       
rah rah - "what about love" from breaking hearts        

set two
salem - "king night" from king night     
borgore - "afro blue" from borgore ruined dubstep
soil & pimp sessions - "avalanche" from pimp master    
belleruche - "cat in a dog suit" from 270 stories    
birdapres - "do that dance (shake & go at it)" from get it done    
mf doom - "lightworks" from born like this 
raymond scott - "lightworks" from manhatten research inc.              

set three
willie williams - "armagideon time" from armagideon time
pax nicholas & the nettey family - "you" from na teef know de road of teef
jacky chalard - "super man, super cool" from je suis vivant, mais j'ai peur de gilbert deflez
grand theft canoe - "dreary days yet again" from bolivia + argentina = paraguay       
field assembly - "alkali" from broadsides & ephemera  
the moondoggies - "empress of the north" from tidelands              

set four
deer tick - "art isn't real (city of sin)" from war elephant   
old reliable - "tight knit seams" from pulse of light/dark landscape
hauschka - "union square" from foreign landscapes
little girls - "salt swimmers" from concepts       
wooden sky - "oslo" from if i don't come home you'll know i'm gone.
consumer goods - "and the final word is yours, sam katz" from happy bidet

      
                         

banksy strikes again!

hope all you folks had a great turkey day, spent some time with family and friends and managed to eat yourself silly. over the weekend those in the know whipped the interweb into a frenzy posting the intro from this weekend's episode of the Simpson's. while i haven't watched the show on the regular for 4 or 5 years now, no one will ever debate the merits of the shows first 10 or 11 seasons, which are pretty much untouchable. back then no one was safe from the crack team of writers who took satire and social commentary to a whole new level. so when I heard that banksy, the acclaimed UK activist/ graf artist, was on tap for putting together one of the intro's for the show this year i kinda perked up a bit. since seeing his debut feature film "exit through the gift shop" over the summer, i've been pretty consumed by the sort of art that this guy is producing on a near consistent basis. anyways, sufficed to say, his intro for the show this weekend certainly didn't disappoint. do yourself a favor and seek out his movie after you dig on this...

video hits

in yesterday's post, i was speaking about potential albums of the year, my front runner right now is the amazing "stimulus package" brought to you by heavy hitting hip hop twosome freeway & jake one. from the moment that it dropped it's been at the top of the list, and until then nothing has been able to touch it. the dynamic duo just released this video, which hopefully a taste of another great album to come.




and speaking of heavy hitting duo's, canadian scratch master extraordinaire a-trak and boston house legend armand van helden have been putting out some serious dance floor bangers for the past couple of years under the name duck sauce.  here's their latest opus, a nod to babs herself.  can't figure out what's better about this one, the serious booty shaking disco beats or the unbelievable cameos in the vid.  enjoy!

sounds of science - 9/29/2010

back in the saddle after a week off, lot's of great new music today including tracks from a couple of heavy album of the year candidates, including deerhunter's halcyon digest, aloe blacc's good things and harlem's hippies. Anyways here's the show, if you missed it, you can get it here.

set one
tom waits - "all the world is green" from blood money       
caribou - "skunks" from caribou vibration ensemble ft marshall allen    
husker du  - "girl who lives on heaven hill" from new day rising         
solar bears - "kill on" from the inner sunshine ep
rah rah - "communist man" from breaking hearts   
teengirl fantasy - "forever the feeling from 7 am                   
eternal summers - "i'll die young for rock n' roll" from silver

set two
deerhunter - "helicopter" from halcyon digest    
teen daze - "shine on, you crazy white cap" from four more years        
shed - "keep time" from the traveller
matthew dear - "i can't feel" from black city
cfcf - "snake charmer (young galaxy remix)  from the drifts ep
tornado wallace - " tornado never dies" from tornado never dies...  

set three
joe cuba - "joe cuba's madness" from new york latin hustle
de la soul - "keepin' the faith" from de la soul is dead
shad - "we, myself, & I" from tsol                  
aloe blacc - "you make me smile" from good things       
roots manuva vs wrongtom - "jah warriors" from duppy writer          
nestor wynrush - "garbage hill" from trinnipeg !78     
white denim - "incaviglia" from last day of summer     

set four
harlem  -  "gay human bones" from hippies           
red fisher - "actus reaus" from war wagon         
paper lions - "don't touch that dial" from trophies          
rodriguez - "heikki's suburbia bus tour" from coming from reality
the poppy family - "beyond the clouds" from a good thing lost
the sumner brothers - "both back" from sumner brothers   
doug sahm & the sir douglas band - "juan mendoza" from texas tornado
the marked men - "a little time" from fix my brain

beisbol, she's been berry good to me....

if you're a baseball fan, it's a great time to be alive right now. as the season winds down, for the first time in a few years there are actually some new teams in the mix, and some pennant races that are going to come down to the wire. as a cleveland indians fan, my season has been in the dumper since mid-may, so I've had to subsist on the other interesting stories that make the game so great. so while my team will once again not be playing post-season ball, my love of the grand ol' game will keep me watching well into november.

once again Craig Finn, twin's super fan and lead singer for one of the best bands on earth, the mighty hold steady, has killed it with his latest ode to baseball, a great new song called don't call them twinkies. take a quick listen and cheer for the twins as the prepare for the postseason, because it sure beats cheering for the big money phillies or the evil dynasty in new york.

also returning this weekend on sunday night to those of you who have hbo is one of the funniest shows you'll ever see, eastbound & down. when we last saw our favorite washed out fireballer, kenny powers he was on the run for mexico, leaving the lovely april holding the bag a roadside gas station.



and finally, the show I'm probably most excited about is the premiere of ken burns "tenth inning", which picks up where his fantastic baseball documentary left off in 1994. from what i've seen, this next chapter in Burn's epic saga looks fantastic, focusing on the steroid era and ultimate baseball villian barry bonds as well as the end of the long suffering futility for the boston red sox. the show airs on tuesday sept. 28th and wednesday sept. 29th and should be considered essential viewing for any baseball fan!

have a great weekend...

first show back - september 15th, 2010

like I said, getting this blog up and running has been a bit of a process, so I have been playing catchup.  initially the whole idea behind this was to put something together to document the new radio show.  well since I was unable to do a show yesterday, here's the playlist from week one.

set one
the bad plus - "the radio tower has a beating heart" from never stop            
the fall - "u.s. 80's-90's"  from bend sinister         
women - "narrow with the hall" from public strain         
abe vigoda - "pure violence" from crush                 
cannon bros. - "out of here" from ep                    
the black angels - "true believers" from phosphene dream       
wire - "mannequin" from pink flag             

set two
grinderman - "evil" from grinderman2           
black mountain - "let spirits ride" from wilderness heart      
under pressure - "living on a dare" from still no future       
surf city - "see how the sun sets" from kudos                 
scientists - "when fate deals it's mortal blow" from blood red river       
jay reatard - "pull down the shades"  from stroke: songs for chris knox
young rival - "shirt and shorts" from young rival           

set three
poirier - "get crazy" from  soca sound system     
skream - "pass the red stripe" from soul jazz singles 2006-2007     
oriol - "night and day" from night and day         
cyclist - "pocket money" from double dip ep         
altar eagle  - "you lost your neon haze" from mechanical gardens    
hundred in the hands - "killing it" from hundred in the hands  

set four
no age  - "common heat" from everything in between 
rah rah - "fuck nafta" from going steady          
the best coast - "our deal" from crazy for you         
jaill - "thank us later" from that's how we burn    
the tallest man on earth - "the lion's heart" from the wild hunt         
the provincial archive - "you roll like raindrops" from maybe we could be holy
dent may - "girls on the square" from the good feeling music of dent may...
the atons - "yellow ribbon" from home schooled: the abc's of kid soul

I'll leave you with our ol' pal mark e. smith filling you in on the latest footy results.  thanks to jeff for pointing this amazing video!

before I get started....

so I've been trying to get this off the ground for a couple of weeks now, but it's funny how busy life gets sometimes.  anyways I hope to keep at this on the regular, documenting things as they go and posting playlists for my new(ish) radio show, the sounds of science, which airs on wednesday afternoons from 3 until 5 pm.  you can check it at 101.5 on the fm dial if you're in winnipeg, or online if you're not.