Band Swap 2K - Saturday, December 29, 2007

Last night I witnessed something truly funny, inspiring, and an all-around great idea: local band members drawing names out of a hat with 24 hours to prepare 3 songs. This is brilliant for so many reasons, including that it is around Christmas when so many displaced Saskatoon musicians have come into our great city once again. The result was absolutely hilarious and sometimes surprisingly good. In addition to all of that, there were some great door prizes from local businesses and everyone that paid their $10 to get in the door got a ticket... and all of the proceeds made from the show go to the Saskatoon Crisis Nursery, which is a place designed to help children in crisis situations.

Highlights of the night were "Bon Jodi" (as in Jodi Thomson's band with Alison Whelan, Dean Summach, and Kim Warner) playing "The Sign" and "Manic Monday." The climax was Shawn (from Dumb Angel) and Zach's (from Carbon Dating Service and Maybe Smith) band playing "Final Countdown." The best original song was Colin Skrapek's (from Maybe Smith) band playing "Band Swap, wooooah, somethingsomething group orgy." There were 8 bands in total and lots of short shorts and awesome costumes (Drabble's shorts may have been the shortest, but Jim Ginther's were the sexiest). Oh yes, and my absolute favorite song of the night was Mike (from These Hands) and his band singing "Who let the dogs out" as a BALLAD!!! So good.

My cheeks were so sore by the end of the night from laughing and singing along. It was a really fun night and anyone that was caught in the line-up to get into Amigo's or who thought that hanging out at home was better missed a really great night.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007 Playlist - Top 10 Albums of 2007!

This morning's show featured songs from my Top 10 Albums of 2007 list. Here is the order of my list and the songs I played:
(Artist - Song - Album; * = Canadian)

6:00 - 7:00 am
#10. The Deep Dark Woods - Hang me, Oh Hang me; They won me over on Saturday night and squeaked in to the last spot on my Top 10 list.
They Won't Last Long
Rumble in the Sky
Five Hundred Metres

#9. Ween - La Cucaracha; These guys are so messed up, but their albums are so interesting.
Your Party
Learnin' to Love
Sweetheart in the Summer

#8. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Living with the Living; He surprised me at his show and his album surprised me at how good it was.
Who Do You Love?
Bottle of Buckie

#7. The New Pornographers - Challengers; Such a great dancing album.
Go Places
Mutiny, I Promise You

#6. Little Miss Higgins - Junction City; Gotta love a local gal singing Memphis Minnie songs!
In the Middle of Nowhere
You Ain't Done Nothing to Me

7:00-8:00am
#5. Cuff the Duke - Sidelines in the City; A quick change of plans put these guys in the middle of the pack. I love this album a lot... it's got soul.
Long Road
By Winter's End

#4. The Heartstrings - self-titled; Local artists that bring it all together on many levels.
Orchard Morning
Mind the Signs

#3. Xavier Rudd - White Moth; Such a moving album from Aboriginal sounds to love songs... and the digeridoo!
Stargaze
Anni Kookoo

#2. Immaculate Machine - Fables; So fun that you can't help to dance along.
Nothing Ever Happens
C'mon Sea Legs
As promised, here is the recording IM did of Dear Confessor in Mandarin!

#1. Feist - The Reminder; She's really making it with this album: 4 Grammy nominations, The Rolling Stone magazine, countless interviews, and mainstream radio. This album is so good, it's hard to listen to... so listen to it a million times!
Past in Present
I Feel it All
1234

Honourable mentions: Radiohead, Maybe Smith, Basia Bulat, Nathan

Shuyler Jansen & The Deep Dark Woods - Saturday, December 15, 2007

The crowd change from Friday night to Saturday night was understandably astounding. The cell-phone carrying, fashion-caring, glossy-haired pouting crowd on Friday was replaced with smiling faces, wool coats, and flowing skirts of the alternative country crowd. I much prefer being in the positive environment of this crowd. On top of that, the show was amazing.

Shuyler Jansen has been in the music scene for over 10 years and has played more shows than I've even been to. His new album "Today's Remains" is a really good album that I've only had a small chance to peruse. With The Deep Dark Woods backing him, his songs were complemented greatly and it gave him a full sound that is just not possible to get on one's one. However, there is a serious lack of stage presence from Mr. Jansen. At one point during the show, someone shouted that she wanted him to play faster music. He remarked in a dead-pan voice, "Well, that was a ballad. Ballads are slow." This is all we got from Shuyler all night in terms of interaction with the crowd, vocally or otherwise. It's unfortunate because he's a great song-writer and has a decent voice.

After a short break, The Deep Dark Woods took the stage and took the energy up a notch or ten. They were so tight that there were moments when I wondered how long it would be before they made the big time. The whole band seemed as relaxed as the crowd that were dancing hard to their music... they must have been happy to be back in Saskatoon after touring with Shuyler Jansen across Canada. Time seemed to not exist as they played on well past 2:00 in the morning. I didn't even notice as my weekend bedtime came and went easily.

It was a great show with great people around and I think everyone was glad to have The Deep Dark Woods and Shuyler Jansen back in Saskatoon.

Crystal's rating: 8/10

You Say Party! We Say Die! - Friday, December 14, 2007

I was pretty excited to see this band for the first time on Friday and they proved to be a really fun, high-energy band. The opening band, whose name I have purposely forgotten, was more of an annoyance than a band. I can't even remember what they sounded like. If You Say Party! We Say Die! wanted an opening band that made them look really really good, they definitely succeeded. YSP!WSD! played a really great, really short set. The lead singer was having some voice problems and apparently couldn't sing for longer than 30 minutes. So it was short, but sweet. The crowd was really into it and it is apparent that there are some hard-core YSP!WSD! fans in this town. I couldn't help but hear a lot of Metric in their sound. If Metric and Stars had babies, YSP!WSD! would be their child.

Crystal's rating: 4/10

Wednesday, December 12, 2007 Playlist!

Note: Next week's show will premiere my Top 10 Albums of 2007... make sure to tune in!

Artist - Song - Album (extra information)
* = Canadian

6:00 - 7:00 am
Cat Power - Lived in Bars - The Greatest (2006)
Christine Fellows* - A Spinster's Almanac - Nevertheless (2007)
Hawksley Workman* - A Moth is not a Butterfly - Treeful of Starling (2007)
Calexico - Alone Again Or - Convict Pool (1999)
P:ano: - I felt his presents/Doing the can-can - Ghost Pirates without Heads (2005)
Basia Bulat* - Little Waltz - Oh, My Darling (2007)
Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova - Falling Slowly - Once Soundtrack (2007)
The Bicycles* - B-b-bicycles - The Good, The Bad, & the Cuddly (2006)
Spiral Beach* - Made of Stone - Ball (2007)
Bella* - Didn't mean to break our love - Bella & Columbus EP (2006)
Nathan* - Scarecrow - Key Principles (2007)
The Heartstrings* - Songs about me Belle - self (2007)
Little Miss Higgins* - That Train's 'a Comin' Down - Junction City (2007)

7:00 - 8:00am
Magneta Lane* - Constant Lover - The Constant Lover (2004)
The Organ* - Love, love, love - Grab that Gun (2004)
Metric* - Handshakes - Live it Out (2006)
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Who Do you Love? - Living with the Living (2007)
The Ride Theory/New Rival* - My Girl June - In this City (2005)
Sloan* - Underwhelmed - Smeared (1992)
Shuyler Jansen* - Play Fair - Today's Remains (2007)
Xavier Rudd* - Better People - White Moth (2007)
Cuff the Duke* - Remember the Good Times - Sidelines of the City (2007)
The Sadies* - Loved on Look - Tremendous Efforts (2001)
Immaculate Machine* - C'mon Sea Legs - Fables (2007)
The New Pornographers* - Challengers - Challengers (2007)
Feist* - I feel it all - The Reminder (2007)

Ride 'til Dawn Amigos and The Fjords - December 8th

Maybe it was all the local musicians at this show or maybe it was all the people happy to be out of the -30oC wintery night, but Amigo's was full of positive energy for this show. I have seen The Fjords a number of times, but this was my first time viewing Ride til Dawn Amigos (yes, that is their catchy name). I thought they were fantastic! A little rough around the edges, but I was quite impressed with what I heard. I think that with a little more tweaking of the vocal sounds, they are going to be a great local band to be reckoned with. I was happy to see a few members of "Parades Against Parades," a great local now-disbanded band, playing music together. I'm glad that they gave Fraser a microphone for the in-between-song banter because it was quite hilarious to hear the joking banter of "you suck, no, you suck" that carried on throughout the evening. I look forward to hearing more from this great band. They will be playing shows over the holiday season and I intend to be there based on this performance.

The Fjords. Every time I see them, I think that they could "make it." Luke Ryalls has a certain "rockstar" quality to him... is he really becoming Saskatoon's local "Boss?" They are so tight and so full-sounding that I quite believe that they could be huge in the indie rock scene. They have a completely solid rhythm section and they're cute to boot! I have owned their debut EP for a while now and know all of the songs on it by memory. I was a little surprised they started the show with "Breezy Day," by far their most catchy song, but they totally pulled it off. Their new album is supposed to be coming out soon and I look forward to putting it on my Top 10 albums of 2008.

Crystal's rating: 7.5/10

Wednesday, December 5th Playlist!

Sorry for the tardiness!
Artist - Song - Album (extra information)
* = Canadian

6:00-7:00am
The Decemberists - The Island: Come & See, the Landlord's Daughter, You'll not feel the drowning - The Crane Wife (2006)
Glen Hansard & Market Irglova - Falling Slowly - Once Soundtrack (2007)
Po' Girl* - Home to You - Home to You (2007)
Billie Holiday - I'll be Seeing You
Sarah Harmer* - Uniform Grey - You Were Here (2003)
The Cracker Cats* - Yer Sure Purdy - Livin' on the Run (2005)
Stars* - Your ex-lover is Dead - Set Yourself on Fire (2003)
Regina Spektor - On the Radio - Begin to Hope (2006)
Feist* - Mushaboom - Let it Die (2004)
Tegan and Sara* - Knife Going In - The Con (2007)
Feist* - Past in Present - The Reminder (2007)

7:00-8:00am
Jason Collett* - Tiny Ocean of Tears - motor motel love songs (2002)
Corb Lund* - Hard on Equipment (Tool for the Job) - Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier! (2007)
Barley Wik* - Highway 3 - Beyond the Down (2006)
Corin Raymond* - Days Go By - Record Lonesome Night (2005)
PJ Harvey - Grow Grow Grow - White Chalk (2007)
Neil Young* - Beautiful Bluebird - Chrome Dreams II (2007)
Christine Fellows* - Spinster's Almanac - Nevertheless (2007)
Grizzly Bear - He Hit Me (and it felt like a kiss ) - Friends EP (2007)
Basia Bulat* - December - Oh my Darling (2007)
Shotgun Jimmie* - Bedhead - The Onlys (2007)
The Deep Dark Woods* - Straight and Narrow - self (2006)
The Sadies* - Anna Leigh - New Seasons (2007)
Carolyn Mark* - Happy 2B Flying Away - Nothing is Free (2007)

Christine Fellows - November 30, 2007

I can't think of a better way to wave goodbye to a cold, stormy, and tumultuous November than a great show at Amigo's with great people and Christine Fellows! I was feeling particularly good after a couple glasses of red wine. So when I got to have a chat with CF herself in the washroom, I talked to her about the crazy cold temperatures, how the dry air just messes with our skin, and how the guys travelling with her were from the east and they were whining about the weather. We laughed together, knowingly.

Before Ms. Fellows took the stage, Baby Eagle played a few tunes with Shotgun Jimmy. Baby Eagle is a solo project for Steven Lambke from the Toronto-based, superduper rock group The Constantines. His song-writing is great and Shotgun Jimmy was a great accompanist, but the whole Bob Dylan singing style has been a little over-done lately. So I wasn't as into that. Not that he didn't do it well, I just don't think I would go out of my way to hear it.

When Christine took the stage, someone set up this spotlight in front of the stage and out of nowhere there was an interpretive dancer in front of the stage where people would have otherwise been standing. At first I found her to be amusingly distracting and wondered what was going on. I've seen some pretty crazy things at Amigo's, but I've never seen anybody willingly roll around the dirty, beer-spilled floor in front of the stage (I sat on it once and I'll never do that again). After a while, I really got into the music through her dance and she did such a good job of complementing the music. Christine Fellows mentioned that Susie Burpee was the name of the contemporary dancer that was dancing on "the dirty white carpet" on the stage at Amigo's.

The fun didn't stop there, though. Shotgun Jimmy and Christine sang us a special Christmas cover song that will definitely not be heard in the shopping malls this holiday season called Me and Little Andy by Dolly Parton. The chorus of the lyrics go like this:
Ain't ya got no gingerbread
Ain't ya got no candy
Ain't ya got an extra bed for me and little Andy
Patty cake and bakersman
My mommy ran away again
And we was all alone and didn't know what else to do
I wonder if you'll let us stay with you
It was the oddest thing I've ever seen.

This show went down as the second oddest show I've seen this year (the first being the Julie Doiron show where Calvin Johnson played ridiculously long, awkward songs for an uncomfortably long time on a Monday night and part of the audience actually left). But all-in-all, the charm of the musicians and artist made the show so wonderful and a pleasure to see. Now if only we could get the crowd to cooperate and understand how rude it is to yell while there is a quiet show going on.

Crystal's rating: 7.5/10
Special thanks to Franny for pointing out my unintentional changing of my rating scale for the Stars review... I have changed it to be out of 10. :o)