ESB PLAYLIST 3/25/05

sometimes, no matter how much you prepare, being on the radio just doesn't go over smoothly. for instance, i was hitting the home stretch on yesterday's show and was just about to drop some shit like this Nintendo Entertainment System MIDI demo song but then i pressed the "random" button on the cd deck and my whole system of downloading a week's worth of material onto one cd for broadcast fell apart. i hate it when that happens.

in any case...

we did a profile for the first half hour of the show on 20JazzFunkGreats, which i have permanently bookmarked on my browser. i play at least one of their selections every week or so, and i fgured it was time to give them some further exposure. as i mentioned on the show, you'll have plenty of material for weeks with the stuff that's on the site now, and they update every few days. you'll find all kinds of sweet, boppin tunes and comprehensive info on everything they upload.

so here we go...

MARK MOTHERSBAUGH - Blue Star Cadets / Ned's Theme from the Life Aquatic soundtrack
THE PLOT TO BLOW UP THE EIFFEL TOWER - Drake the Fake
* these guys will be in Toronto on May 18th opening for the Blood Brothers at the Mod Club. Vice gave them a shitty review, but that magazine has become drunk with power.
TEN BENSON - Rock Cottage
* this will be a summer anthem at my own rock cottage.
DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 - Blood On Our Hands (Justice Remix)
BLACK MOUNTAIN - No Hits
BLACK MOUNTAIN - Bicycle Man
* Jazzfunkgreats describes them as a kind of "organic electroclash", while back in January, Glodkixx hailed them as the forerunners of the Vancouver music revolution that is sure to knock out the rest of Canada through 2005. despite my love of this band, i'm still adament that Toronto will destroy Vancouver this year for new music. We lost 2004 to Montreal, but we're a dynasty team intent on taking the 2000's to the trophy chest.
MIDLAKE - Kingfish Pies
* from Said the Grammophone.

CARIBOU - Yeti
JUNIOR BOYS - Birthday (Manitoba Mix)
HOT HOT HEAT - Island of the Honest Man
* The Big Ticket is celebrating its anniversary as an mp3 blog and have left us some sweet downloads this month, including the above can-con selections. Caribou and the Junior Boys will be hitting North American with a tour alongside The Russian Futurists which will be starting out on April 26th in my old haunt of Kingston, where our little CFRC Radio Dance to the Underground night has taken Kingston to new heights thanks to my successor Mike Sallot. I will most certainly try to make it to the show. If not, I'll do my best to check them out on April 28th here in Toronto at the Horseshoe.

PETRA HADEN - Armenia City in the Sky
* played in place of the MIDI NES samples while i fixed my aforementioned technical error. anyway, she's done an acappella version of The Who Sell Out and it sounds fantastic. listen to samples here and go buy the album.

Y PANTS - Off the Hook
Y PANTS - That's What Boys Are Like
* also courtesy of 20JazzFunkGreats. i'm nominating these selections for "mp3 blog find of the year". the downloads are no longer available on the site, but please read the writeup on the band, as it's a really thoughtful and personalized review of the what the listener feels when he or she experiences the Y Pants. i've made these songs available here, but they'll only be up for a week, so please take advantage of that time.

******

FRIENDLY BUT URGENT REMINDER!!!!!!!

OUR FUNDRAISING SHOW WILL BE HELD ON FRIDAY APRIL 8th!!! PLEASE CONTRIBUTE TO THE ECLECTIC SOUND BASEMENT BY PLEDGING $25 (or more, or less, or whatever you can afford, i reall yodn't care what the amount is. the $25 figure is a suggested donation made by the station).

PLEASE PLEASE PLEEEEEASE help us out. campus/community radio is the only place that will allow idealists like me to have a radio show dedicated entirely to the music available on the blogosphere. we rely almost entirely on the gracious donations of our listeners and our community sponsors. we bring you the gift of alternative radio where we represent YOUR VOICE. we're not some hackneyed, irrelevent, out of touch state funded radio station with top down programming and self-censorship. we are a sounding board for your ideas and desires, and we promote rather than "investigate" social change. The Eclectic Sound Basement does its humble part by bringing the blogosphere, one of the best resources for new and rare underground and indie music, to the radio. but your appreciative host, Steve Birek, also engages in other radio work, like hour long reports from community gatherings and political protests. a station that has healthy financial foundations can only help me produce these kinds of activities with the best equipment and facilities. so please, help us out.

"OH, STEVE, YOU'RE SO RIGHT! I LOVE YOUR SHOW AND I CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF YOUR CUTTING EDGE SPECIAL REPORTS! HOW DO I HELP YOU OUT?"

.1 send me an email at s_birek@hotmail.com and i'll set you up with the pre-pledge process. basically, all i'll need from you is some basic info, how much you wish to pay, and how you wish to pay for it.

.2 tune into our show on FRIDAY APRIL 8TH @ NOON EST on CIUT 89.5FM (you can listen live over the web as well) and call the number that will be repeatedly mentioned over the course of the show.

what do you get? well, if you donate $25, you get a membership to the Friends of CIUT 89.5fm, which entitles you to newsletters and an entry into the grand prize draw, which i'm not quite sure of yet but last season, we sent two lucky people to cuba for the havana jazz fest. more than $25 gets you various clothing items and posters and that kind of thing, and the entry into the draw as well. less than $25? you get a shout out on the radio and a thank you letter from me.

as always, THANKS FOR LISTENING!

your grateful friend and host,
STEVE BIREK

ESB PLAYLIST 3/18/05

a low energy show this week, but according to CIUT program director Ken Stowar, he was "enthralled by the show and totally attentive for the whole hour". he gave us some feedback on ESB in general which made the following points: 1) we're to the point, say what we need to say and let the music breathe; 2) we're doin something interesting that no one else is doing in the context of campus radio magazine style music programming; 3) we're a very low maintainance show and easy to deal with week to week; 4) we're excellent programmers.

here's what i have to say about ken: 1) he rocks; 2) he knows his shit, as he takes himself to where the music is instead of waiting for it to come to him; 3) he's been a huge part of ESB's revival in toronto after its departure from CFRC at kingston last year. ken has been all over the place and experienced some legendary musical-cultural moments of the 20th century. london in the late 70s? he's been there. mariposa folk festival scene in the 70s and 80s? he's done it. he's got an extensive resume and was one of the first program directors in toronto to put latin and black artists on the airwaves when he was program director for HITS 103.5fm. he came to CIUT a couple of years ago and helped turn the station around.

my favourite conversation with ken had to do with a certain classic single from grandmaster flash, melee mel and the furious five: "around 1980, i was a club dj in the city. 'the message' had only recently come out and hip hop was the newest thing in music and as of yet still fairly underground. i felt like i was taking a chance when i played the track for a crowd of sweaty, dancing people, but immediately they really started to get down, and i mean REALLY get down. i'd never seen anything like it and it will go down in my memory as a transcendental moment." by the way, i'm totally putting word in his mouth. it's not like i was there to record this candid story, besides, ken's too cool to use stupid shit words like "transcendental".

he's got a fa-bo-lus show on CIUT every sunday afternoon called Global Rhythms and it defies all that junk nonesense they've clipped into "world music."

et maintainent, le playlist, s'il vous plait! we had no show last week, so all the music is stuck in the time machine from a week and a half ago...

JANS LEKMAN - Are Birthdays Happy?
* this guy just toasted Toronto a couple of times this past weekend, once for Matt Blair's Dynamite Soul night at the El Mocambo, where he joined The Republic of Safety on stage, and then of course at Wavelength on Sunday where he headlined the show.

side note: check out Dynamite Soul's promo mix here. they're taking their act to kingston tomorrow night for the Transient Orange farewell show. i should get together with Mr. Blair and get drunk, as we've both said goodbye to our creations in that fabled land that is the Limestone City (my own band, FUN!, had our final gig there last weekend, and it was tragically enjoyable).

side note #2: The Republic of Safety are hosting their CD release party for their debut album at Stone's Place tomorrow night, 1255 Queen St. W. $5 cover, but if you pay $12 at the door, you get a copy of the new disc, which i can assure you is stellar.

THE ZOOBOMBS - Highway A Go Go
THE ZOOBOMBS - Jumbo
* read our review of their first CMW show here and another one here.

MICAH BLUE SMALDONE - My Angel's Wings
HARRIS NEWMAN - Continental Drift
KEPLER - Oh MY Other
KEPLER - You Must Admit
* all artists that have played or will play at Wavelength this month.

GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS - Bodies and Minds (title track of their new album)
* congrats to these guys for releasing an album to quick acclaim. an eye cover and several fantastic reviews have followed the swift emergence of this album into the national indie scene. it's already one of my favourite discs this year.

XPLODING PLASTIX - Tintinamputation
XPLODING PLASTIX - Treat Me Mean, I Need the Reputation
R-QUIEM ft. LOWBSS - Ad Hominem
* both of these groups have some relationship with local electro label Synaptic Plastic, who have just put together a website.

MELISSA WELCH - Stuffing Life Revised
* i take back all the bad things i've ever said about 16 year old girls from california. read about her and download her excellent, top notch self-produced tunes here. she also has a blog.

M. WARD - Vincent O'Brien
M. WARD - Big Boat
SIKTRANSIT - Testrock You Man
* my good friend Hally sent me these tunes, which i love. the last one is his own, and you've alreayd heard all kindsa wicked jazz about Siktransit on this show, so i'll let you find his music on your own. (hint: search for "Siktransit" on the information superhighway)

tune in next week, friday at noon hour et on CIUT 89.5fm in T-dizzle, or listen live from around the world for a FUCKING MONSTER of a show. we're doin a profile on 20 Jazz Funk Greats so it's bound to get hard and sick and dirty and all those adjectives that are in a literal meaning bad but actually connote goodness in modern slang.

like to get spanked? tied? whipped?

you lonely radio folk might be asking "if only i could combine my fetishes!"

you no onger have to wait...enter BONDAGE RADIO!

FROM ME TO YOU

i said i'd post it next week, but what the hell, why not today? download it soon, because it'll only be up for a week.

!!! - Live @ Brave New Waves 20th Anniversary Party, Salla Rossa, Montreal, 3-28-05

IN THE QUIET YOU START TO FALL APART

many of you missed another fantastic galaxy show tonight. as they mentioned, it took them a year to get to the stage at sneaky dee's and their debut, while modestly attended, brought more folks into the realm of influence that is galaxy. something about those overdriven low wattage amps and a beautifully tuned kit make a show worth watching. not to mention the confluence of katie and emma's vocal pairings. you don't know what your missing. i know it's all cold and everything, but if you stay inside during winter you miss some of the best local music you can find. the next galaxy show better be at full capacity or i'm gonna inflict some damage on you lazy muthafuckas. i realize that sometimes it can be lonely in toronto, amongst all these assholes and their coutoure tip, but the music makes it all worth while.

there will be no eclectic sound basement this week. i've been called to fulfill one last duty in kingston. FUN! will be playing our last gig at clark hall pub with the radical dudez, the steeltown sprigs and a couple of other acts in a four hour dance-with-the-devil-in-the-pail-moonlight jam-boo-ree. hope to see a few of you there, if y'all happen to be in the limestone city. it may be the last chance you'll get to see or hear our video-game-space-country-funk explosion in the Bay of Quinte. we might do a minitour with The Deviance to Ottawa and Montreal, but from then on, it's over...unless we record an album in the summer, in which case it's eternal.

so instead of the show at noon on friday, you'll hear either a fill in slot from whoever the managers can find, or some sort of prerecorded lecture. tune in anyway, you might just educate yourself a little. to make it up to you, i'll be poting an mp3 of the !!! concert from march 2004 at the salla rossa in montreal for the Brave New Waves 20th anniversary party.

it was at that show where i first saw steve kado live (opening for !!! with the Barcelona Pavillion). he showed me the sound booth set up tonight at sneaky dee's, which i am grateful for. at school, the rastafarians who teach me don't let me observe them in the field because i'm not an 18 year old asian female. anyway, steve was playing the minibosses between sets, they're from texas and they're video game prog heaven.

MINIBOSSES - Megaman 2

when i'm in kingston, i hope to hang out with kerri carisse, who you should all be listening to at this point now that you have the link:

KERRI CARISSE - Control

FUNKZOOBIEST!

despite numerous technical failures, scheduelling issues and the presence of too many greying industry hacks, things seemed to work out for Dan Burke's Canadian Music Week showcase last night at The Silver Dollar. flying the stellar Zoobombs in from Japan for a three night stand was an ambitious plan, but by the looks of it, burke has played his cards correctly.

accompanied by german art punk critic olivier sunnyday (who insists on remaining visually obscured when photographed), i set out to put together a solid review of the night's transpirings (mind you, olivier is far more picky about his music than i am).


Olivier Sunnyday

here it is, act by act...



THE DISRAELIS - 9:27pm

these guys were booked last minute to replace the oiginally slated no dynamics as the show's openers, but it was a nice change of pace. having an intense group like no dynamics perform at nine is like shooting off fireworks in the afternoon. (thanks to the band for posting two of my reviews on their site. i love you crazy ass motherfuckers.)

collin (bass, vocals), cameron (guitar) and stew (drums) are three nice looking gents with a Mancunian flair who deserved a larger audience than was present at the time. their relaxed pace and wide open electric sound marked the highlights of what was only their second performance since getting together. look for these guys to make more appearances in the future, and dig it to the utmost, ya hear?

olivier's comment: not available at press time.



LADIES AND GENTLEMENT - 10:26pm

in their coordinated pearly-white attire, the ladies and gentlemen played a set that built momentum with each passing song. they were not afraid to have fun even during periods of crisis, declaring a "percussion party" after the power cut out on the right side of the stage. despite technical difficluties experienced by four of the five members, Ladies and Gentlement pleased my yearning ears with their bright organs and tambourines. olivier, on the other hand, did not share the same sentiments.

olivier's comment: "you like these guys? sheesh."

fuck olivier.



BRUTAL KNIGHTS - 11:24pm

a fifteen minute machine gun shower of acid rain. "i hope you're wearing gasoline masks," said frontman / comedian Nick Flanagan (read his blog here), "because we're going to sodomize your face!" and that they did, making it absolutely sure that the stiff audience didn't get off easy. having witnessed broken bottles, exposed beer guts and stage gymnasitcs, all perpetrated by flanagan, the audience was perhaps ready to get out of their stupor and throw down for the Zoobombs.

olivier's comment: "it's not fair for me to say, they're my friends and they put me on the guest list...but they're fucking excellent!"



LES SIX - 12:04am

nothing too special from these fellas and ladies, but they set off a steady and emotive bass heavy sound that played to the audience's darker side. the lead vocalist evoked some nostalgic sentiments by enticing audience members to take part in a "grade eight slow dance" during a later number.

olivier's comment: none, as the bastard was nowhere to be seen...



THE ZOOBOMBS! - 1:15am

after several minutes of tension over shorted patch cables and other shortcomings in the equipment department, the main attraction finally set it off. rocking toronto for the first time in a long time, they took the anxious audience, now reaching full capacity, on a rainbow ride through highway city.

singer / guitarist Don Matsuo, perhpas the nicest guy you could ever hope to meet, set the tone for the rest of the band: calm and poised on stage, but relentlessly energetic from start to finish. though fast and at times excruciatingly loud, the band's extensive psychadelic jams radiated a beauty often unseen in the brash and metallic sonic world of rock music. directing the drum section on the final number with whispy hand gestures, Matsuo suspended the energy for a few magical measures, then brought it back to blasting levels for the band's final minute long thrust of pogo power. the audience were thoroughly in tune with the band's groove throughout the set, changing their steps at every transient and shaking the mites out of their long hair.

undoubtedly, this has been a great rock n' roll moment for toronto and there's more where that came from. make sure to check these guys out this weekend. you've got two more chances: tonight at The Silver Dollar with The Creeping Nobodies, The Diableros, Snowy Owl and Anagram, and again on Saturday at the Comfort Zone (next door to The Silver Dollar) alongside Femme Generation, Boy Ballz, Gentleman Reg, Shikasta and the Two Koreas. With the exception of tonight's Sixtoo gig the El Mocambo (which, as rumour has it, might feature a guest appearance from Outkast's Andre 3000), there's not much else woth checking out at a largely disappointing CMW.

olivier's comment: none...he had already left by then to go see Guitarwolf, the other Japanese band in town last night, at Lee's Palace. he'll never know what he missed.

more pictures from the Zoobombs' set below...


the zoobombs and the future of rock n' roll


Captain Dan Burke steers the ship


HST lives?


Chump Music stays relevant


local artist / playwright Jon McCurley sketches the action on stage


the silver dollar crowd loses their heads to the Zoobombs

ESB PLAYLIST 3/4/05

i caught The Zoobombs! last night at the Silver Dollar, and what a show it was! i've been asked to review it for Torontoist. it should be up by tomorrow, hopefully tonight. we'll also have an expanded review of all the acts that played last night on this blog later this evening. this blasted ringing in my ears should be gone by then, too.

a couple other blogs for you to check out this week:

HELLO I'M HALLY - Andrew Hallisey, aka toronto electro artist Siktransit brings us this goffy frolic into the blogosphere, which also serves as a front for his new group of winter adventure enthusiasts, The Toronto Sledding Society.

HEY SEEZ! - from CFRC 101.9FM Queen's Radio Business Manager and Kingston music scene saviour who in the past year has been responsible for bringing Uncut, Kid Koala, controller.controller, Disconnected, Manitoba, The Russian Futurists, Death From Above 1979 and the Creeping Nobodies to the starved audiences in the Limestone City as part of the Dance to the Underground monthly music series. he's also just climbed aboard the blogger collective Amphetamine Blues as a regular contributor.

and now, the playlist...

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM - Where is Love
SOULWAX - NY Excuse
* a couple of dancefloor smashes on their second run through the blogosphere. hear the soulwax track tucked into this mix from Laurie Laptop. it's the one that goes "this is the excuse that we're making, is it good enough for what you're paying? YEAH HEY!" for those of you who haven't heard it yet.

BOARDS OF CANADA - Trapped
BOARDS OF CANADA - 1969
* according to Headphone Sex out of the UK, some mp3s leaked of this early tape from the scottish electrominimalist duo, and then placed on e-bay for the price of $799. but have no fear, audio purists and impoverished music collectors! you'll be able to hear it on CD when they release remastered copies of all their early, unreleased material sometime soon. read about it further.

CAN - Pinch
CAN - Oh Yeah
* i'm pretty sure these were made available for download on Fat Planet, but i can't seem to find it at the moment, so i'll leave it up to you to search their archives.

THE ROWDEYMEN - Clap for the Wolfman
* these guys sent me an exclusive download of this song from their Guess Who tribute compilation, so unfortunately i can't make it available to you, but how fitting that this pops up right in the middle of Danger Zone's Hilarious House of Frightenstein Wolfman mix CD challenge!

tune in next week, friday at noon et at CIUT 89.5FM in toronto for the Zoobombs and other music from the japanese musical revolution. and don;t forget to log back on this evening for a review of the Canadian Music Week show they played at last night, with picture and all. baziiiing!