A quick break ... for MUSIC!

Checking out a service called 8tracks, I discovered the following playlist (not by me, despite the title) by someone with good taste. So I give it to you.

COW XX -- 20 years of Crusty Old Wave

WPRK threw a party and invited me ... and, by proxy, you ... to a celebration of 20 years since the first episode of what would become Chas’ Crusty Old Wave. I returned to Florida for the first time in nearly two years, and we did not one but two two-hour shows featuring the music we all love so much -- the red-headed stepkids of the 80s!

Today, three months after the event, we present the first of the two anniversary shows, hosted by Phantom Third Channel and myself. We get on terribly well and giggle like schoolgirls reading Tiger Beat magazine when we talk about music and bands and records and stuff, and this shows in our several extended conversation breaks -- but don't worry, there's lots of great music there, with an emphasis on Brian Eno, David Bowie and Elvis Costello. A lot of the tunes on this episode slot neatly into that all-too-brief era between the fall of UK punk and the rise of commercial "alternative" music. For a bit there, before MTV and in a few cases even before punk rock, there was a period where Weird Was Good. We touch on a lot of that with things like the Stiff Records single You'll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties by Jona Lewie, or Bruce Woolley's original take on Video Killed the Radio Star, or Bow Wow Wow's call for sonic revolution, C30 C60 C90 Go!.

We also hit some songs that are sheer nostalgia for me personally, within and without the New Wave movement -- such as Love and Loneliness the most over-produced record in the world, and Monochrome Set's odd little B-I-D Spells Bid, one of the very few songs written by and about the lead singer of the band. There's also some Ultravox from both "eras" of the band, some bona-fide classics like Gary Numan's Me! I Disconnect From You and more. You can grab your copy from the website or directly from iTunes.

Enjoy.

COW your head -- the epic Episode #19 is complete!

Like the relief felt at the completion of the end of the Lord of the Rings, I have managed to split a massive six-hour (well, five after editing) show into two parts, including artwork and for the most part very high audio quality into two great new episodes of Chas’ Crusty Old Wave (actually, its predecessor Chas n Gwen’s Pop Pajama Party), both parts of which you can now download directly from the website or via iTunes.

As was the case with Chas n Gwen’s Pop Pajama Party more so than the later solo show, we mix up the 80s songs with a healthy helping of music from the very early 90s, to great effect in my opinion. This far on, only the most dedicated collectors and historians of the New Wave era will remember specifically that bands like They Might Be Giants (for example) weren’t part of the original New Wave movement, but of the first wave of great stuff that came after it, so it all ends up a bit of a wash of nostalgia. Looking back, it’s kinda cool to see the obvious impact the punk aftermath had on artists that were actually paying attention -- before that awful grunge crap came around and ruined everything for a while.

I'd suggest -- if you think you can stand five hours of 80s, 90s and Chas with his multiple personalities -- downloading both parts of episode 19 and use them as a good workout tape or just for revelling in memories of your own misspent youth. There’s a heck of a lot of great stuff in there. Enjoy.

Fall Back, Spring COW

With the flowers and warmer weather comes a great new episode of Chas' Crusty Old Wave (actually, its predecessor Chas n Gwen's Pop Pajama Party), part one of which you can now download directly from the website or via iTunes. Part two of this (originally) six-hour funfest will arrive next month, and we hope you will subscribe (it’s free) so that new somewhat-monthly-ish episodes are automatically delivered to your computer.

I’m very pleased in particular with the audio quality on this episode, given the age of the tapes -- there is still a hint of carrier-wave static and normal FM compression as always, but for the most part you won’t even notice it. Mainly because you’ll probably be dancing around your kitchen a lot -- this is some seriously great tunes.

A Boxing Day Bounty

A momentary diversion from the countdown of the 12 best Canadian bands of 2009 (will we get to #1 before 2010 ends? Stay tuned!), to bring you a little prezzie for the season.

I’m as sick as you are of Christmas music. Very few of the usual suspects are any good to start with, and only if you’re quite lucky did you hear the “good” versions before all the crap ones started rolling in, and man that pile of crap gets bigger every year, with 99 percent of them easily graded as “absolutely dreadful.”

That said, winter (particularly the bit around the holidays) is a special time of year, astronomically if in no other way, so I can put up with a bit of Christmas cheer here and there -- in limited quantities. Of course, that’s the problem -- you never get “limited” quantities. :)

Anyway, I resolved to find some winter music from people who know winter very well indeed -- Canadians. With the help of some fellow Canadian music blogs, I was eventually able to pluck 17 examples -- mostly original songs but with some covers old and new -- of seasonal music that doesn’t send me screaming out of the room. I call it Head North for the Holidays -- and while Christmas is featured, so is winter generally, and even Diwali gets a shout-out!

This compilation will be packaged up and available in other formats, but for now I wanted to at least offer a streaming, playable version. The entire album is 50 minutes -- and I do hope you’ll stay with it even if this or that song is not to your liking. Most of them are quite short, so sit tight and a “good” one will be on soon, I promise.

If you’re not completely sick yet of music that talks (a lot) about snow, you might give this a little spin. My gift to you for no particular reason. :)

“Head North for the Holidays” curated by chas_m

12 Canadian Bands - #7 Chad Van Gaalen

If Neil Young and Daniel Johnston donated some DNA to be mixed together and formulate a new person with the combined abilities of those two men, that creature would probably sound and project an image very much along the lines of Chad Van Gaalen.

High-pitched and homespun, with a gift for original metaphor and memorable lines and a sideline of crude folk art, Gaalen doesn't always hit the mark but when he does it is spectacular. There is a touch of majesty in his folky indie pop, an elusive quality that just pops out from time to time, "bits of a hit" you might say. He seems like a genuine eccentric, or maybe just trying to be a Serious Artist, but there's a lot of melancholy fun to be found in his music. Sweet and gentle for the most part, with some fine arranging for such a home-made production, you may want to pick this up for those off-kilter days.

“Willow Tree” by Chad Van Gaalen

12 Canadian Bands - #8 - Gregory Pepper & His Problems

There were literally a metric tonne of bands I considered for this position, but so many of them either put out their music in 2008 or not till 2010 that they just didn’t qualify. All I’ll say now is that my Canadian best-of for 2010 (whenever I get round to it) will be killah.

Gregory Pepper of Guelph, Ontario was a late discovery, but a breathtaking one. In an indie scene filled to the brim with moody oddballs (see the upcoming Chad Van Gaalen as but one example), it’s nice to have someone who’s got the endless optimism of XTC and the ear for instrumentation of Sir George Martin all mixed there. His sophomore album, With Trumpets Flaring, takes on a rollercoaster of refreshing unpredictability; this guy works hard on making his arrangements different with every song, using his voice in different ways, and generally trying really hard not to bore us. He succeeds.

While I don’t much much about the fellow personally, his homemade artwork and obvious pop-culture affection gives his presentation very much a whole Dmitri-Martin-of-music feel -- that kind of oddly-happy off-beatitude that could have only happened in a post-They Might Be Giants world. As they often did, Pepper limits his songs to just long enough to express the idea, and out. Again, I love it when people have good judgement on how long a concept should linger before saying goodnight; “leave us wanting more” is a philosophy that sorely needs a comeback.

Picking one track to try and represent this album is completely impossible; every track is its own story and most are told entirely differently to each other. Here's a track I think is closest to typical for him, but I would recommend a sampling via iTunes of the whole record to get a much more accurate feel for his music. Problems like these, I should be so lucky ...

“7ths and 3rds” by Gregory Pepper & His Problems