Post-Everything May 30 '08 (showfill)

I filled in for Stan this week on his fantastic show Post-Everything (Friday mornings, midnight to 2 am)...

Stan does a great show, definitely one of my favourites on the station. Stan is off on a musical vacation to Montreal where he is attending Mutek arguably one of the world's finest if not the best avant garde electronic music festival and Suoni Per Il Popolo (Sounds for the People), a festival of "avant garde and experimental liberation music" put on by Godspeed You! Black Emperor bassist, Mauro Pezzente and his partner Kiva Stimac, founders of the infamous Casa del Popolo (The House of the People) and La Sala Rossa (The Red Room) clubs in the Mile End district of Montreal). Casa Del Popolo is a family-run neighborhood vegetarian restaurant, part fair-trade café, part music venue, part bar, and part art gallery. The Arcade Fire, Sam Roberts, Dears, Stars, Metric, and Patrick Watson and many other now widely-acclaimed Montreal acts played some of their first shows here. La Sala Rossa is just across the street and is a beautiful room in a historic Montreal building built by the left-wing Jewish community in 1932 and has also hosted an amazing array of musical performances.

Hopefully Stan won't have his mind so blown by the astounding plethora of incredible musical performances over the next few weeks (and by the beautiful city of Montreal) that he decides not to come back.

In Stan's absence, I played some Spring Heel Jack, Arve Henriksen, Bohren & Der Club of Gore, Kangding Ray, Murcof, Jacaszek, Klimek, Steven Hess & Miles Tilmann, Erik Levander, Christopher Bissonnette, Bersarin Quartet, Marsen Jules, Skyphone, Tim Hecker, Growing, Max Richter, and Sonic Youth. Sorry, I was not able to record the show as my computer is in the hospital.

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Katharsis May 19 '08

Sorry folks, no show recording this week as my home computer is out of commission. I will try and make alternate arrangements to record next week's show.

It's a shame too as this week we played some new Fall, Mt. Royal, Young & Sexy, ShipShape, and some not so new Nina Nastasia, The Cape May, Royal City, Barzin, and Sonic Youth (and a bunch of other stuff I can't remember right now). Next week Peter will be doing half the show as part of his ongoing on-air training.

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Katharsis May 12 '08

Have a listen here

This week and for the next three weeks my new dj-trainee, Peter Hemminger is sitting in on the show with me. As music & film editor for ffwd magazine, a free local weekly and a must-read for those in Calgary & area looking for an independent and alternative perspective on local (and international) news and events, Peter has his finger on the pulse of the local music scene. Both Peter and fellow programmer Aubrey McInnis (host of Aubrey’s Shindig heard from 9-10, prior to Katharsis) were also recently chosen for jury duty for the 2008 Polaris Prize. They and other members of an independent panel of over 150 jurors from the fields of music journalism and broadcasting from across Canada will select a shortlist of 10 nominated Canadian Albums of the Year which will be announced to the media July 10, 2007. This speaks very highly of their reputation for critical and journalistic excellence within the Canadian music industry. With Peter’s considerable musical knowledge and insight, the next few week’s shows should be well worth listening to.

The music this week: The Ramblin Ambassadors (end of Aubrey’s Shindig), Eric Chenaux, Retribution Gospel Choir, Jonathan Kane’s February, Kayo Dot, Collections of Colonies of Bees, Yellow 6, Animal Collective, Aaron Booth, Francis Cheer, Joan of Arc, Graham MacRae, Vetiver, Field & Stream, Entire Cities, Willard Grant Conspiracy, Silje Nes, James Blackshaw, Frightened Rabbit, The River Pilots, and Christopher Bissonnette.

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Katharsis May 5 '08

This week a special treat...
(download here)

Brendan Fraser, who was lead man for Grandfather Fire and the Holy Morning (now on hiatus) and now performs solo as Forest Tate Fraser filled in for me this week. Brendan is a past intern office manager at cjsw and co-hosted The Audible Smile (with Kallen Law) heard until recently on Thursday afternoons on cjsw. He has a great ear and is a talented musician/producer/recording wizard. He also has impeccable taste in music and is well-versed in the stories behind the music and the connections betweens various rock-related genres and scenes (both local and international).

As expected, Brendan did a fantastic show. Have a listen to the recording and make sure to catch one of his upcoming live shows if you get the chance.

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Sled Island 2008 (update)

Sled Island organizers have revealed the (almost) complete line up of artists playing this year’s festival June 25-28 ’08 at various venues in Calgary...

and it's very impressive! Along with many of the most exciting up-and-coming local & western Canadian underground/indie/whatever musicians some fantastic international artists will be performing such as:

Wire
Mogwai
Deerhunter
Yo La Tengo
Dan Deacon
The Dodos
Grizzly Bear
No Age
Jose Gonzales
Portastatic
Nina Nastasia
Tren Brothers (2/3 of the Dirty 3)
Scout Niblett
The Gutter Twins (Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan)
No Age
Of Montreal
Jonathan Richman

Go here for the full line-up.

This year it looks like many of the bigger shows will be at outdoor venues such as Mewata Field & Olympic Plaza, with the rest happening at various indoor downtown venues. With this many bands playing, there will probably be some agonizing decisions about which gigs to hit. Full armband passes are $190 plus service charges can be purchased at www.sledisland.com.

I've been underwhelmed with the line-ups announced so far for the inaugural Calgary Virgin Festival the weekend before and the Calgary Folk Music Festival happening the following month, but live music fans in Calgary will certainly have plenty to choose from this summer.

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