What I Have Been Listening To? – S10E08

It’s been awhile since we last heard from Emmy the Great. For those who don’t know, Emma-Lee Moss is a singer-songwriter born in Hong Kong and raised in England. My interest caught on from a former host at RTHK Radio 3 and she’s now a producer for Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 2. I had Ryan Bresee of Whatever’s Cool With Me to play some of her songs awhile back.
I can almost relate to Emmy as she has a fondness for Cantopop.

Ever since her 2011 album, Virtue, Emmy the Great has moved to Los Angeles and now to Brooklyn while still making music and writing articles for Noisey.

I haven’t kept up to tabs on her updates through social media as I’m flooded with various tweets from people I know. It wasn’t until last week I found out that she released the music video (posted below) to her new song, Swimming Pool. I didn’t release the song was out in early November.

What I like about Swimming Pool is Emmy’s soft voice and parts of the lyrics just sticks on as it’s pretty catchy. Emmy is joined by Tom Fleming of the Wild Beasts. It’s a nice chill and relaxing song and I would never get sick listening over and over again.
I can never stop singing to this part of the song;

“Love is something that I’ve always thought
I could never go inside
Now I’ve seen you here,
I don’t know how
I even used to be alive
Can I stay here for a while?
Watch you till my heart unwinds
Until I know I won’t forget you
In your swimming pool.”

Compared to the music video, which seems to look dark but listening over and over, the lyrics don’t sound as dark. Aside the fact there was some funny jokes of the hologram use, it’s still a masterly crafted music video.

It makes me want to listen to more new materials from Emmy the Great as she will eventually release a full length album later in 2015. Her EP S will be out on January 27, 2015. You can get the song and pre-order the EP via iTunes.
The question now is whether I really want to jump into a swimming pool?

For This Week… – S08E38

On this week’s edition of the radio show at CKCU-FM, it was tribute to the late Teresa Teng and the annual songs for Mother’s Day. It’s quite fitting to commemorate on May 8th as it’s the 18th anniversary of Teresa Teng‘s death. She passed away in 1995. Teng was revered and beloved throughout East Asia as her music has garnered older and younger fans alike. I was able to play Faye Wong‘s version of Wishing We Last Forever (但願人長久). One of the Teresa Teng songs played was called Red Bean. A funny story was my former co-host, Candice, made a tweet that I am weird for not liking red bean. The tweet along with a photo can found here. Kudos to China Album for the support.
As usual, Mother’s Day is this Sunday and every year, I play certain songs for Mother’s Day. This year, I added Keep Shining by Shad as the song is an ode to strong females.
On the Wild 10 Countdown this week, New Summer by Young Galaxy takes the top spot as Ottawa was having warm Summer-like temperatures for the past week. The summary can be checked over at this link.
The playlist from the live show is over at this.

On the podcast part of the show, new tracks from likes of Vampire Weekend and She & Him were played. I’m still enjoying the new Daft Punk song, Get Lucky (featuring Pharrell). This week’s podcast used the M-Rock’s Bangin’ Disco Mix of Get Lucky. Starting off the podcast was playing a new Shad track called Peace but it’s a rough mix/demo, which won’t be on his upcoming album. Briefly mentioned the lineup for the Wolfe Island Music Festival as it was announced last week.
Playlist from the podcast is posted below. Red highlights Cancon.

This weekend, I will be checking out Ottawa Comiccon. Wish me luck when I see people in “unique” costumes and experience the geek/nerd culture. It’s been awhile I’ve gone to a comic book convention and it’s the first time to attend a major convention in Ottawa. The previous conventions I attended were in Toronto.

Lastly, I didn’t have an image to use and again, I used Vinylize Me to create the entry for this week.
Have a great week and wishing everyone a great Mother’s Day for Sunday!

Remembering Leslie Cheung, 10 Years On – S08E32

Hi friends, this is Candice with a recap of today’s edition of WildWorks.

This week was an important one for Lenny – the 10th anniversary of the death of Hong Kong Cantopop legend Leslie Cheung. Cheung was one of HK’s biggest stars, releasing more than 30 albums and acting in over 60 movies.  Known affectionately as “Goh Goh,” translated as ‘older brother,’ he was also one of the first pop singers in Hong Kong to publicly acknowledge his bisexuality. However, on April 1, 2003, Cheung committed suicide by jumping from a hotel room balcony. He was 46.

To mark the occasion, Lenny put together a few medleys of classic Cheung standbys. It featured songs like “Silence is Golden,” “Black Midnight,” and “A Man of Intention.” We also played a live version of Sandy Lam’s song, “At Least I Still Have You,” taken from the Passion Tour in 2000, which was the last tour before his death. Being the tenth anniversary, there are several events happening in Hong Kong to mark the occasion.
The image chosen for this year’s tribute is the cover to his 1987 album, Summer Romance. It’s an iconic image as the album became critically acclaim and put Cheung into major stardom.

If you’re reading this entry after April 1st, 2013, some links to check out. A story over at AsiaOne/The Straits Times about the last phone call that Leslie Cheung made on the fateful day ten years ago.
Huffington Post on the exhibit paying tribute to Cheung. Over at AsiaOne – “Two million cranes for Leslie Cheung.”
At Yahoo! Singapore Entertainment – “Leslie’s memorial concert a success.”

Elsewhere on the show, we played some good ol’ CanCon, with folky tracks from artists like Octoberman and the Abramson Singers, both of whom are playing at Raw Sugar Café tonight. We also referenced a bit about the two pandas arriving to Toronto and decided to play a song called Slippery When Wet by The Acorn as it mentioned about the cuddly animal.
Scary Bear Soundtrack released a new track called Victoria Island, as it got revealed on Tuesday night.

The Interview with Inlet Sound – S08E31

Hey friends, Candice here bringing you a quick recap of the March 20th edition of WildWorks.

First, some sad news that we need to share. CKCU was greatly saddened to hear that Chopper McKinnon, the long-time host of the show Canadian Spaces, passed away last week. Chopper had been a fixture of the Ottawa folk scene and his show had been on-air for more than three decades. He will be truly missed.

Lenny went through some of the Canadian Spaces playlists and found a fair number of Dan Mangan tracks there, so he dedicated Dan Mangan’s song “Basket” to Chopper’s memory. Mangan had written the song about his grandfather.

Today’s episode of WildWorks also featured an interview with Toronto band Inlet Sound. They were in Ottawa March 16 for a show, so Lenny had a chance to catch up with them and find out about more about their folk-styled album, The Romantics. Inlet Sound recorded that album in several interesting locales, including an old church and a cabin.

(And although I wasn’t able to make it to the interview, Inlet Sound was awesome enough to give me an autographed CD! : ) Thanks Inlet Sound and Lenny for the surprise – it really made my day!)

Later on the show, we played some tracks from Rah Rah, Whitehorse and former Ottawa resident Gianna Lauren. Rah Rah and Whitehorse will both be in town March 23, with Rah Rah opening for Two Hours Traffic at Zaphods and Whitehorse taking one of the stages at the National Arts Centre.

Today was the first day of Spring but there is still snow on the ground in Ottawa and no warmer weather. We played Cantopop songs that use one of the seasons (aka spring). Spring Wind, Fall Rain by Sally Yeh and Spring, Summer, Fall Winter by the late Leslie Cheung.
Next week’s show will have a tribute to Leslie Cheung as this year is the tenth anniversary of his tragic death.

This week’s Wild 10 Countdown found The Matinée in the top spot, with their track “Let Her Go.” It’s from the album, We Swore We’d See the Sunrise.

You can find the countdown here. (Note: Songs played in the first part of the show are listed in the countdown blog).

The playlist for the March 20th show is over at this link.

An Interview With The Bombadils and a New Blog Contributor – S08E20

This week, I give you a new blog contributor as well in making her return to the radio show. Here’s Candice So.

Hi friends, this is Candice So and I co-hosted with Lenny back in November 2011. It’s been a while, but hosting on WildWorks is just as fun as ever! Thanks to Lenny for having me back.

So today was definitely one of those days that makes you either majorly proud – or upset – to be an Ottawan. High of -23 degrees Celsius, dropping with -39 with the windchill, and pretty much everyone blowing up Facebook and Twitter by saying how freaking cold it is.

With the bone-chilling weather in mind, on this edition of the show, we tried to keep things nice and cosy with an interview with The Bombadils, a Celtic folk band based in Montreal. Lenny spoke to the four-piece ensemble and asked them about their Lord of the Rings-inspired name, where they came from and where they’re hoping to go in the future. Then they were kind enough to record an acoustic set for us in CKCU‘s Studio B – give it a listen and see what you think!

Other highlights from the show include the latest offering from Tegan and Sara, a track from The Acorn and a very catchy just-released number from Young Galaxy. The entire playlist can be found here.

This week’s Wild 10 Countdown has Hilotrons at the top spot. The summary can be found here.

Seven Years On Without Leslie Cheung & More Music Related Stuff – S05.2E02

It’s every year that I always write about Leslie Cheung on his passing. It’s the 7th year since Leslie Cheung left his fans, followers and the Cantopop music industry in Hong Kong. This time is unique because I got to express it on my radio show. After several yearly entries of expressing by words, I got to express it by voice and music. As I explained on-air my reaction on the morning of April 1st in Canada, night time in Hong Kong, it still saddens me on April Fool’s Day because it was a total shock. Leslie Cheung is still missed but his legacy of his songs still continue on. I hope you will enjoy the March 31st edition of the radio show. I split it in 2 parts, one for the whole 2 hours and the other for the Leslie Cheung tribute.
Another thing, I aired the interview with Ottawa’s Musk Ox. They are a Neo-Folk and Classical trio based in Ottawa. It was recorded back on Feb. 28 at Bands Undone and it was after Team Canada won gold in Men’s Hockey at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
I also mentioned about Doctor Who returning to the airwaves (England first and then North America on April 17th) and “retiring” the theme to Series 4. The 11th Doctor brings on the new look, new theme and new series. Totally can’t wait for it. Another event was this past weekend happenings as I enjoyed the Said The Whale/In-Flight Safety/Graham Wright concert at Zaphod Beeblebrox. The following day was the Snailhouse concert at Raw Sugar Cafe. Expect those interviews to be aired around April.
Here’s the playlist for hour 1 and hour 2. Hour 2 will be problematic if you have a Chinese text encoder on Windows.
Click on hour 1 to view the playlist.
Click on hour 2 to view the playlist, if you can read Chinese.

Radio Show
The entire show – Press play to listen.

The Leslie Cheung tribute from the 2nd hour – Press play to listen or go to this link to listen.

Musk Ox Interview – Press play to listen or download it.

On YouTube, I found this Mandarin version of “Missing You.” Here’s the live clip.

Wrapping Up November With Hey Ocean!, Leif Vollebekk and The Radio Show – S05E25

It’s a November to remember because I had been going to a lot of shows and on Monday’s radio show, I played the ones that I attended. Before I get to that, I will review the shows I attended on the final weekend of November. First, it was Hey Ocean! at Bands Undone. To my own amazement, they played a great acoustic and intimate set. Of all the previous Band Undones I have attended, this was so unique because they were missing their members and the setup was very simple. It was David Beckingham with his guitar and Ashleigh Ball on her voice. Overall, I was pleased to see Hey Ocean! as they are down to earth and nice performers. Again, thanks to Kara for always organizing a great show for the bloggers, photographers and media for this unique session.
You can check the photos by going to this link.
The review on Bands Undone is now available on this link.
Here’s the video taken by Brian. YouTube version also available.

My radio show for Monday, November 30, 2009. I didn’t expect to go on half an hour early. Played some fillers like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Metric and Said The Whale. I aired the Immaculate Machine interview and then I played the bands and artists that I attended at their concerts throughout November. They were Elliott Brood, Silver Starling, Ohbijou, The Most Serene Republic, Think About Life, You Say Party! We Say Die!, Bravestation and Jill Zmud.
Without further ado, here’s Monday’s show. Press play to listen.

The interview with Brooke Gallupe of Immaculate Machine.
Press play to listen or download it.

All Things Bands Undone, The Bonjay Interview, and More – S05E24

This entry seems to be all things Bands Undone. On Tuesday afternoon, I checked out Kalle Mattson for Bands Undone. It was booked at the last minute and was an early show. They are from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario but some or all of the members are now residing in Ottawa for their studies. Overall, the session was pretty good as it brought a folk rock style. There was one song where the lead singer sang a Bob Dylan song. Following the session, there was jokes about Bob Dylan.
You can check the photos by clicking here. The BU section is now updated at this link.
You can watch the videos from Vimeo. Excellent quality provided through Vimeo.

Onto the Wednesday morning radio show, I am still co-hosting on Audio Sensory Resuscitation. The host played some tunes and I got my friend to request a song. We made an announcement for the upcoming guests for December and that will be loads of fun.
On my short show, I finally played my own show ID and it’s the one from The Most Serene Republic. I played a Christmas Chinese song by Mavis Fan and aired the Bonjay interview at Bands Undone and then played the song, Gimme Gimme. Played “Fish” by Hey Ocean! as a preview to Saturday’s Bands Undone. I hope you will enjoy the shows. It’s in two parts. One is with the whole show in its entirety or the second part, which is my half-hour show if you want to listen to the first song and the Bonjay interview.
As for the Chinese Christmas song, I was searching on Google for any translation or info, I found this site, Asia Pacific Arts: APA Top 10: Holiday Songs From Asia. The song I played is at #4. Mind you that this top 10 was done in 2008. Not sure if there’s a 2009 version coming up.

Audio Sensory Resuscitation/The WildWorks Show for November 25, 2009
Press play to listen.

The WildWorks Show for November 25, 2009
Press play to listen.

Here is the Bonjay interview at Bands Undone.
Press play to listen or download it.

I forgot to mention that I make a cameo appearance in the Bonjay @ Bands Undone video. Click here to watch the excellent video. There’s the Vimeo version at this link.

A Library Fades Into The Loving Machine – S05E16

Happy Halloween!
Friday night, I went to LiVE Lounge to check out three music acts but I did not know there was a fourth act to the list. That was In-Flight Safety. It’s my second time to go to LiVE Lounge. I forgot to mention in my previous post when I first went to LiVE Lounge, I encountered a radio host from LiVE 88.5. At first, I didn’t who she was as I rarely listen to that station. She said I was from CKCU-FM, which surprised me but she was kind to have me stay there and wait until I got to interview Said The Whale. Her name is Chelsea Miller. She seems like an awesome radio host and it’s nice she’s getting to know Canadian indie acts like Said The Whale and Library Voices.
OK, onto the concert. It started off with Julie Fader. Her set was soft, mellow and filled with folk styled music. She was joined by members of In-Flight Safety for some parts of her performance. All I can say is that she’s very talented. If you didn’t know, she’s also with the Great Lake Swimmers. I got a chance to do an interview with Julie Fader which will be airing sometime in November.
After Julie Fader was Ottawa’s The Love Machine. As usual with them, they were always rocking and very energetic. They still had a good crowd for their set.
Lastly, on to Library Voices, they were totally amazing because they kept jumping around, breaking a tambourine, going to the crowds and etc. They were totally crazy and the crowd just loved it. It was awesome when Library Voice got Julie Fader and In-Flight Safety to sing their final song. Even the radio host was probably surprised by their performance. I had an opportunity to do an interview with two of the members and will be aired sometime in November.
The funny thing was that it’s the second time I went to a concert where the bands say that Ottawa is the final concert of their tour. It must be lucky to have bands end in the Nation’s Capital.
Lastly, one funny note before the concert at LiVE Lounge, I saw a couple of members from Library Voices using a MacBook Pro. It’s the one that I currently have, the 13″ model. It’s pretty funny that it’s almost like Apple central.
Check out the photo by clicking here.

A Lovely October Night With Basia Bulat – S05E07

This is somewhat the 3rd and final time for going to The Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield, Quebec. I dubbed it the “Black Sheep Inn Fall Series” because the past two concerts I attended were Kyrie Kristmanson and The Balconies. It was in a span of a few weeks. This time, it was none other than Canadian indie darling, Basia Bulat. It was packed crowd because Basia Bulat is just popular within Canadian independent music. As often, Basia and her bandmates are usually happy to see me as I’ve been a great supporter of her music.

Before I review her performance, Basia’s opening act was Patrick LePoidevin, he’s a singer residing in Sackville, New Brunswick. What’s unique about his music is that he uses a looper pedal where plays a tune and it will repeat as he will continue playing a different tune. His style of music blends from the acoustic and Alternative. The last song he performed where he got the audience to sing along a part with “la la…” and then he started going around the crowd. Not bad for an opening act.