April 23 - South Africans, supergroups, solo artists and stuck-in-your-head songs

Since I write a lot about the podcast I figured it'd be best to show what I played first instead of making you scroll to the bottom :P

Songs played (* Canadians):

• Kongos - Come With Me Now
• Fantasma feat JOSIAHWISE IS THESERPENTWITHFEET - Sefty Belt
• Joel Plaskett* - The Park Avenue Sobriety Test
• The Backhomes* - Solid Gold
• Hello Blue Roses* - Errant Sophia
• Tough Age* - Electric Chair (cub cover)
• Kathryn Calder* - Slow Burning
• Purity Ring* - heartsigh
• Ill Tone* - Everybody BAILED!
• The Elwins* - So Down Low
• Will Butler - Anna
• Young Fathers - John Doe
• Twin Shadow - Eclipse

Since Jacob Gradowski, the host of the Arts Show (occupying the slot before me 5-8pm every other week), is heading to South Africa, I've kicked off this Jumbalaya set with two of my favourite South African artists...or rather, two of my favourite artists period: Kongos and Fantasma. Neither of them are on the playlist, but they fuse Western mainstream music with world music influences, especially music from South Africa such as kwaito and maskandi, both beat-oriented.
Fantasma's maskandi guitarist is called Bhekisenzo Cele. I don't think I said his name correctly on air...this is what happens when I play artists on the fly and only partially remember artists' names :/

Joel Plaskett...he's a Canadian artist who Jacob interviewed. It's on earshot-online.com. Not what I said on air. Sorry >_<
I do enjoy his songwriting though. 'The Park Avenue Sobriety Test' (the song) is very catchy and memorable...one of the many catchy tracks I play on air at CJSF 90.1FM :P He also has one heck of an earworm on radio stations like the Peak 102.7FM, with his band the Joel Plaskett Emergency: "Nowhere with You". Listen to it. It's very cheery and the words will stick with you for a nice long while ;)

This playlist also features some supergroup artists, both as a band and as a solo artist/in a side project. Fantasma is a band, while Kathryn Calder, Dan Bejar and Will Butler appear outside of their better-known bands. (You could say Neko Case too, somewhat, as a covered artist...she used to be part of cub.)

Tough Age...as much as I think they're a great band, for some reason the record sounds really odd. It's a 7-inch vinyl that I was playing from, but when I played it at the standard speed for 7-inch records it sounded like the band was on helium. Kind of unfortunate considering how well-established in Canada both these bands were (though not at the same time). It was a Record Store Day special release, entitled Tough Age Plays cub's Hot Dog Day EP. The vinyl record itself is very pretty, with it being red and transparent. Just...not very functional, I guess. I think I'll play more tracks from the record, though from SoundCloud.

I also managed to squeeze in some highly catchy tracks. Besides Joel Plaskett, I also played stuff by Ill Tone (local MC), The Elwins (they have some really awesome light-hearted pop rock going), and Will Butler (Arcade Fire member). Guaranteed to get the songs by those three stuck in your head :P

Audio links:
http://cjsf.ca/vanilla_archives/2015_April_23_20_00.mp3
http://cjsf.ca/vanilla_archives/2015_April_23_20_30.mp3

April 16 - a little bit of my personality?

On this Jumbalaya show I showcased three artists I happened to catch at record stores on Main Street: Lisa LeBlanc on Tuesday at Neptoon, and the Backhomes and Frog Eyes on Saturday (Record Store Day) at Red Cat. I'll probably talk about the LisaLeBlanc and the Backhomes performance in a separate blog post, but they were both great! Frog Eyes I didn't end up staying for unfortunately since I had to go elsewhere.

I kind of wish I stayed around Red Cat for Hello Blue Roses, who played after Frog Eyes, since I listened to a bit of their newest release WZO and it's sounding great so far! I'll showcase their stuff next week.

I also played songs by three artists from the P572 label we have on our playlist: Arthur Comeau, Oromocto Diamond, and Zoobombs. P572 have been in operation for 10 years in Eastern Canada but we only recently started getting some of their releases here at CJSF.
Oromocto Diamond and Zoobombs have actually had their live performance in Tokyo recorded directly from the soundboard and they've released the recording through P572, under the name Oromo Kumakus! While I'm not one for live albums (the audience claps kind of get old after many a listen) the performances on Oromo Kumakus are highly energetic and a lot of fun to listen to. It also serves as a little peek into Japan's indie music scene, at least that's what I imagine it's like in Tokyo (where I'm unfamiliar with).

I got a request towards the end! I'm happy to learn that people actually listen to my radio broadcasts :D The song I played was Modest Mouse's 'Lampshades on Fire'.

Next week's setlist will be a lot more varied. I'll most likely re-showcase the Backhomes, and throw in some Hello Blue Roses. I might add in some non-CJSF playlist music too.

Songs played (* Canadians):

• The Backhomes* - That's All
• Frog Eyes* - Don't Give Up Your Dreams
• Walk the Moon - Spend your $$$
• Lisa LeBlanc* - You Look Like Trouble (but I guess I do too)
• Lisa LeBlanc & Quartom* - J'pas un Cowboy (live at Neptoon Records)
• Arthur Comeau* - Allergic a la Jinxx (feat. Karim Ouellet)
• Oromocto Diamond* - No Pressure, No Diamonds
• Zoobombs - Highway a Go Go
• Milk & Bone* - Tomodachi (feat. Terrell Morris)
• The Mighty Mocambos - It's the Music (feat Afrika Bambaataa, Charlie Funk, Hektek & Deejay Snoop)
• Modest Mouse - Lampshades on Fire
• The Elwins* - You Have Me
• Mord Fustang - No Way to Stop 

Audio links:
http://cjsf.ca/vanilla_archives/2015_April_16_20_00.mp3
http://cjsf.ca/vanilla_archives/2015_April_16_20_30.mp3 

April 2 - Sick picks and mini rants

This episode of Jumbalaya showcases the stuff I've rated with a 4/6 while reviewing CDs for playlist addition. Yes, I get to judge what should go on the playlist, as well as what I recommend. :D Isn't that awesome?? Also, volunteers can get their hands on advance copies, like the East India Youth album...i.e. you can get the music before the record is officially released!

I was feeling a little sick that night and just ended a short but very stressful week, so I was a little out of it...sorry about that. I kind of got into a small rant about how unfairly often white hip-hop artists often get accused of 'cultural appropriation'...to me, it's a big pet peeve I've had for a while, both in independent and mainstream music. I don't play or listen to stuff that is commonly referred to as 'Asian music' that often (J-pop, K-pop, that kind of stuff), and I don't think people ought to put racial tags to music and completely claim them as 'theirs'. There are plenty of amazing white hip-hop artists and black alternative rock artists, both of which deserve as much airplay as the other.

But other than that, I sincerely hope you enjoyed my picks! They're pretty much what I think are awesome releases we've got here at CJSF. :)

Songs played (* Cancon):

• Aero Flynn - Crisp
• East India Youth - End Result
• Programm* - Like the Sun
• Odesza feat. Shy Girls - All We Need (Robert DeLong Remix)
• Geographer - I'm Ready
• Shlohmo feat. D33J - Apathy
• Joanna Drummond* - Lullaby for a New Mother
• Alfa* - Skinny Liz
• Lozen feat. Animal Nation & Spade* - Daydream
• Until the Ribbon Breaks feat. Run the Jewels - Revolution Indifference

 Audio links!
http://cjsf.ca/vanilla_archives/2015_April_02_20_00.mp3
http://cjsf.ca/vanilla_archives/2015_April_02_20_30.mp3

March 26 - Lots of locals

For now, since I've switched to a new computer I can no longer make video podcasts, so I'll just include the mp3 links on the blog posts for podcasts.
I'm currently trying to figure out a way to upload podcasts/MP3 streams online, possibly on iTunes, so the podcasts will be a lot easier to find and access.

This Jumbalaya includes a lot of local talent, including some community radio staff and volunteers playing in bands! They include the CiTR music director Sarah Cordingley drumming for Ace Martens, CJSF's very own Arts & Entertainment coordinator Jamie Cessford drumming for Did You Die, and CJSF volunteer and host of world music show Wandering Rhythms Nick Lagasse playing with Mngwa.

(CiTR 101.9FM, just in case you didn't know, is UBC's campus radio station. CJSF 90.1FM is based at SFU, so that makes us sister stations! :D )

Wandering Rhythms is on Mondays 12-2pm btw. Sorry I messed that little info up...

I've also played songs I knew a lot of fellow CJSF volunteers would like, including tunes by A/B Trio, Humans, Ibeyi, BadBadNotGood & Ghostface Killah, and Purity Ring.

I also showcased a new song by NEEDS, who has a self-titled LP coming out in May. I saw them at the concert I reviewed on March 3, along with Ontario rockers the Dirty Nil and locals BRASS. They had just gotten back from SXSW - that must have been exciting!
The new LP looks very intriguing too. I'm so glad I got to see them live!!

Next week I'll showcase my personal playlist picks as a reviewer. Yep, I'm reviewing music to be added to the playlist - it's so much fun! Also, there's nothing like getting my hands on advance copies of CDs to potentially put on rotation on the CJSF airwaves. In other words, sometimes we get first listens before it's officially out! ;)

Songs played (* Canadian content):

• Ace Martens* - Incredible
• Mngwa* - La Rumba de Kingsway
• A/B Trio* - For Carson (Intro)
• A/B Trio* - For Carson
• NEEDS* - Rescue Don
• Did You Die* - Nail Polish
• Humans* - Tell Me
• Ibeyi - Oya
• Mord Fustang - Drivel
• BadBadNotGood & Ghostface Killah - Six Degrees
• Purity Ring* - push pull

Audio links:

http://cjsf.ca/vanilla_archives/2015_March_26_20_00.mp3

http://cjsf.ca/vanilla_archives/2015_March_26_20_30.mp3