Playing Canadian Bands & Musicians with Asian Backgrounds – S07E37

It’s now May and a brand new month but first thing to mention, I had a great time on Monday night at the Ottawa International Writers Festival for the All In A Day Songwriters Circle: The Stage Name Summit. From the photo shown above, there was Masia One with DJ 2 Creamz and CBC’s Alan Neal. Other performers for the songwriters circle who attended were Snailhouse, Oh Susanna, Socalled and Joe Keithley (from the punk-rock band, DOA). Out of the five performers, the ones I’m familiar with were Masia and Snailhouse since I usually see them from time to time and been a great supporter to their works.
Overall, it was nice to watch the performers be witty among one another and giving their best performances to the audience on the final night of Writers Festival. The photos will be posted below.

The SOCAN Edition
Wednesday’s radio show was SOCAN week and to be unique, I decided to play Canadian bands and musicians with Asian backgrounds as May is Asian Heritage Month. It was a bit difficult finding a Canadian musician with Asian descent but I was able to pull through the live show. On the first part of the show, the new song by Metric got played and as usual, the Wild 10 Countdown with a new number one song to begin May.
The playlist is over at this link.

Audio/Radio Show
The May 2nd Radio Show – Press play to listen.

Photos from the All In A Day Songwriters Circle
  
 

It Was a Fabulous and Fun Friday – S07E17

I had a great time going to some events on December 16, 2011. To begin, I found out through Twitter that Arcade Fire released a music video to a favourite song that everyone loves from The Suburbs, it was Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains). I couldn’t stop watching and listening to the song.
The next exciting part was attending CBC All In A Day for Share Central at Ben Franklin Place. Performing there were Kool Krys and Natalia & Montuno. It was nice to see Kool Krys as I gave her the wonderful Kanpe Tea for DAVIDsTEA. In return, she gave me her second album, Listen To Your Art. Overall, I had a good time there and had a Beavertail.
Last but not least, I headed over to Raw Sugar Cafe to see Joey Wright and Rolf Klausener (of The Acorn) for a show. It was a good show filled with funny humour and not so keen language.
You can view the photos from below.
Oh yeah, since I didn’t post an entry for Wednesday, the radio show from Wednesday will be posted. I played part 1 of my Top 50 of 2011. The playlist is over at this link via CKCU-FM.

Audio/Radio Show
The December 14th Radio Show – Press play to listen.

Photos
CBC All In A Day – Share Central
    
Raw Sugar Cafe – Joey Wright and Rolf Klausener
 

The Dan Mangan and Braids Interviews – S07E09

It was quite a weekend as Lauren and myself got to interview Dan Mangan on Friday. It was great to see Mangan again and it was thrilling for my co-host to interview him. Mangan is very popular in the Canadian music realm and the release of Oh Fortune, his third album, has cemented it. Overall, it was a nice time to chat with Mangan. I wasn’t alone to interviewing Mangan, the crew from Apartment613 were there to interview him with video equipment in tow. I’m waiting to see their article on him. Lastly, it’s cool to take a Polaroid photo with Mangan as it’s posted above.
The next day, I had the opportunity to interview Braids but without my co-host. It was a fun interview as well. On Sunday, there was another interview I did, which will air in the future, that was Data Romance. They’re an electronic duo from Vancouver, British Columbia. It was quite jam packed for the weekend and there was The Sheepdogs in-store performance on Saturday. My co-host did go to the concert at Scotiabank Place as the Saskatoon band opened up for The Kings of Leon.
Aside from the excitement, Wednesday morning was not as exciting as the computers at CKCU-FM weren’t functioning. The Wednesday morning host (Special Blend) was in a bad mood when the equipments malfunctioned.
For the time being, the live airing of the radio show was not combined with the podcast version. What you will be hearing will be a full podcast edition of WildWorks. The live airing did not have Lauren joining me due to the fact that she couldn’t make it for the morning for the prerecording of the podcast.
You can listen to audio and interviews at the bottom. The Dan Mangan interview is not posted onto Soundcloud due to copyright issues.

This week’s playlist is posted at this link over at the CKCU-FM website.
The Wild 10 Countdown Summary for October 19th is at this link.

Audio/Interviews
The October 19th Podcast Show joined with Lauren B. – Press play to listen. Check Playlist.

The Dan Mangan Interview – Press play to listen or the interview without the songs being used.

The Braids Interview

The Post Pop Montreal Edition and Tackling Album Reviews – S07E04

This week’s edition is a post Pop Montreal edition. I was suppose to have Lauren join me on the show but she’s under the weather. As much I try not to play a lot of Arcade Fire songs, I couldn’t help my own excitement because of the music festival, which celebrated its 10th year.
With the media pass, it was privilege to go to O Patro Vys as they had a good lineup from Friday and Saturday night. There were a lot of choices to go to but I stuck with O Patro Vys because Ohbijou has a new album and the opening acts have a connection to one another. The Evening Hymns and Forest City Lovers are friends with Ohibjou. It was quite a surprise to check out Tasseomancy. They seem to have an influence to Bjork. One thing I forgot was that Tasseomancy are the touring members of Austra. I had a chance to watch the Polaris Music Prize on MuchMusic HD and I didn’t realize they performed at the gala.
Saturday night was quite an interesting one, after attending the Pop Vs. Jock charity basketball game, I rushed to O Patro Vys to find out the 8pm performance never happened. Although, I didn’t know Silver Creek, who they performed at around 9pm, are from Ottawa. I noticed several CKCU-FM hosts are supporters of the band. This brings to Gianna Lauren, as I saw her on back to back nights. It was nice to see her perform in Montreal. The funny thing was saving a spot for her parents, who’s a great supporter of her music career. By Divine Right came up next and they totally rocked out. Then, came Allie Hughes as I haven’t seen her in a year. The worse part, I didn’t get a chance to say hi or bye to her. Finally, Sheezer packed O Patro Vys and for any Weezer fans, they didn’t disappoint. Overall, I had a great time in Montreal and I know I wouldn’t stop gushing over Arcade Fire. Kudos to Pop Montreal for the great music festival they organized. It was a fun time.
Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to play a track from Evening Hymns, Silver Creek and Sheezer as I was not able to find their albums to provide on the radio show.
Don’t forget to listen to the radio show from below.

The Arcade Fire Free Outdoor Show at POP Montreal – S07E03

It was a marvelous time at Place des Festivals/Quartier des Spectacles as Arcade Fire performed a free show in Montreal for Pop Montreal. It was an amazing time to be there as the band capped off an incredible year. Just days from winning the 2011 Polaris Music Prize, over a 100,000 crowds packed the place. The opening acts were Kid Koala and Karkwa. I totally forgot about Karkwa opening up for Arcade Fire. Both opening bands were great, Kid Koala played a few classic tracks with his own spin. Moon River was one and it sounded touching. Karkwa rocked out their set and their lead singer did say that they only sing in French as it’s a beautiful language.

As for Arcade Fire’s performance, it was definitely amazing! I kept singing along to all of the songs. There’s too many to list out as everyone would know all of their song since they’re recognizable.
My favourite, Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) was the final song and they had giant lighted beach balls bouncing through the crowds. I got bonked in the head several times as the balls kept flying around.
It was the best time enjoying all three acts in Montreal. Anyone from Montreal and Quebec should be proud at the band’s accomplishments and the free outdoor show was a way of giving thanks for the support.
Even though the attendance crowd is fluctuating from reports, here’s one from review from Spinner. It’s someone that I know of.

Who I got to see in Montreal?
I did not expect to see The Balconies earlier in the afternoon as I was hanging out at the Notman House. When I headed over to Place des Festivals in the mid-afternoon, I didn’t expect to bump into CBC Radio 3‘s Craig Norris and Steve Pratt. Briefly talked to them about Polaris Music Prize. It was great to see them.

From Storify, some of my tweets from the Arcade Fire outdoor show.
View “The Arcade Fire Free Outdoor Show for Pop Montreal on September 22, 2011″ on Storify

Photos
 

Summer Special 2011: Blue King Brown

I had the opportunity to chat with Natalie Pa’apa’a of Blue King Brown at Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest on Friday night. They are an Urban Roots band from Australia. It was nice to chat with an international band and have a good insight on other kinds music not in North America.
My experience of seeing them live was quite a surprise because I didn’t expect an energetic crowd. Kudos to the Bluesfest organizers for bringing an exciting band.
Afterwards, I rushed over to The Hard Rock Stage to see Hey Rosetta and unfortunately, the rain came and I only got to see the band play three songs. I had to go to the Canadian War Museum to get dried up. The sad part, I didn’t know Hey Rosetta resumed playing. Such a shame on my part.
Aside from that, you can listen to the interview with Natalie Pa’apa’a of Blue King Brown and the July 16th radio show summer edition.
Then there are photos I used from the iPod touch.
To check out the playlist, it’s at this link.
The Wild 10 Countdown for July 13th is at this link.

Audio/Podcast
The July 16th Summer edition radio show – press play to listen.

The Blue King Brown Interview

Photos
  
  
 

Summer Special 2011 – Canada Day

Since it’s a summer entry as the blog won’t be updated regularly for the Summer months. It will be less writing and more visuals.
It was a nice and sunny day in the Nation’s Capital on July 1st, Canada Day. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to see the Royal couple, William and Kate and then the fireworks. Here are photos that I took at the Ottawa Jazz Festival in the afternoon.
Enjoy!

Ruby Jean and The Thoughtful Bees at Ottawa Jazz Festival on Canada Day. Surprise to see Jenocide join Ruby Jean on the tour they’re embarking.
  

Ohbijou at Ottawa Jazz Festival on Canada Day

Beethoven’s Ode To Joy at The NAC on Thursday Night – S06E41

It’s once in awhile that I attend a classical music concert and I’ve forgotten that I did attend a concert done by the NAC Orchestra but it was based on Sci-Fi music (go to back to Season 4′s entry). Thursday night was the first of two nights of the National Arts Centre Orchestra’s final concert of the season. I went because there was also blogger’s night and I got to meet some bloggers. Apologies with the image quality on top as it was taken before the start of the concert and it was used on the iPod touch. What was used unique about last night’s concert was that it started off with a video interview with Malcolm Forsyth telling about the creation of his composition, “A Ballad of Canada.” After the interview was the world premiere of A Ballad of Canada. My thoughts on the 25 minute musical composition brought a lot of raw emotions. There were times where the music felt epic because the themes were based on poems from lands and wars. In Flanders Fields, considered to be the most well-known poem. Overall, it was all in sheer brillance. To top it off, Forsyth was in attendance and was given tremendous applause from the crowd. It’s been in the media that he’s going through cancer and making it to Ottawa made it emotional as her daughter, Amanda Forsyth, being the principal cellist with the NACO having the family connection. After that was an intermission and then finally, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. The worse part at that time being that I shouldn’t have have drank a cold soda because I was getting sleepy but I still persevered for the 71 minutes of pure amazing music brought by the legendary composer. It’s just amazing how Beethoven created this piece as he was deaf and pulling off quite a beautiful composition. The part that finally get me alerted were the soprano and tenors. One of the sopranos being, Arianna Zukerman, Pinchas Zukerman’s daughter. What caught my ears were that they didn’t need microphones. Just beautifully sung along with the Ottawa Festival Chorus. To end it off, both programs were amazing and I never expected to go for this ever. Afterwards, the bloggers were treated with a ten minute session with Arianna Zukerman as she’s big on social media and blogging. It was nice to hear her perspective of the arts and how important to get butts in the seats. Then, we got a tour backstage of the main stage of the NAC. Photos are posted below.
Hats off to the National Arts Centre for giving myself and the bloggers a chance to experience brilliant music. It’s one of those opportunities to go for it. The irony is that I seem to be going to NAC often for 2011. It’s my fourth time. The three were The Genie Awards, Prairie Scene and the fashion show (Rip The Fab Lane 2011).

Lastly, on an unrelated note, due to the delay in posting Wednesday’s radio show on CKCU-FM, it will be provided here as well. It has been posted on my Twitter and Facebook, at least it’s finally got a place here, two days late. If you want to check the playlist while listening, it’s over at this link. To the graduating students, I decided to kick off the show with Graduation (Friends Forever) by Vitamin C.

Audio/Podcast
Radio Show from June 8, 2011, press play to listen.

Photos – Backstage Tour at The National Arts Centre.
 

Chatting and Hanging With Grand Analog Again – S06E35

It was a tough first week of May as I was sick with a cold from the events. Friday night was certain the end of the craziness as I got to see Grand Analog return to Ottawa as part of Prairie Scene. If you’re wondering why there’s a Hip-Hop band in the Prairies? The frontman, Odario Williams was originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba but he’s now based in Toronto.
Overall, I had a great time at their show at Ritual Nightclub. I also brought along someone to help me interview the band. I got to thank Tiffany for assisting in the interview. The funny part was airing the long interview on Wednesday’s radio show. I apologize if it was very lengthy.
Another message to bring up. I haven’t been able to update the top 10 entries from the Wild 10 Countdown on the blog as I mentioned that I have been sick and I just forget to update. Please bear with the delays as the top tens will eventually be posted up. You can check out the playlist at this link.

Audio/Podcast
The May 11th Radio Show – Press play to listen

The Grand Analog Interview

The George Stroumboulopoulos & Young Galaxy Interviews – S06E28

That’s right, I tried to make it a bit secretive on who I was going to air for the interview segment for the March 16th radio show at CKCU-FM. I did Twitter and Facebook a few people that I got to interview George Stroumboulopoulos. As written from the last entry on the Genie Awards, there’s no need to summarize my experience.
Today’s radio show was not too bad but the recording for the podcast version was held in a different location and you will notice a bit of difference in the sound. Radio Camp is happening at the station because of March Break for elementary and high school students in the Ottawa area.
Also on the show was another interview with Montreal’s Young Galaxy as they were in town on the weekend embarking on their tour. The band is back with a new album, Shapeshifting and they have new members. So far, they are sounding amazing and it was privilege to see them live again.
Album pick for week of March 16. It finally came out and it could be considered a release for 2011 but originally released in September 2010. It’s none other than Passive Me Aggressive You by the New Zealand band, The Naked and Famous. I have been playing them a lot. Expect to hear other tracks aside from Punching In a Dream and Young Blood.
Without further ado, you can check the playlist at this link. The Wild 10 Countdown summary is at this link.
Don’t forget to listen to the show or the interviews.

Audio – Radio Show & Interviews
March 16 – Radio Show/Podcast - Press play to listen

Interview – George Stroumboulopoulos

Interview – Young Galaxy

Photo
With Young Galaxy