Fontaines D.C.'s dark, brooding set opener, Romance.

The things I would do for this man

Stone Temple Pilots! I just realised it. Fontaines’ song Sundowner reminds me a bit of both My Bloody Valentine and Stone Temple Pilots. Curly who wrote the song and sings it says he was going for a shoegazey feel on this, and what I’m hearing is the wash of Loveless alongside the drumming of Pretty Penny. Then Motorcycle Boy has the Smashing Pumpkins influence. Very 90s, but also so timeless that Fontaines are the sound of the now. What do we think?

Talkin' bout my generation... ;)

These were some of my singles/albums of 2020. Were you listening to these? What were you listening to?

It’s Friday and I’ve had fun with this over the last few weeks, so I’m back bearing more songs! Here’s another song wizard new music Friday, a weekly poll to take a lesser-known song along with you as you scroll!

As with last week, choose songs based on the 30-second Spotify snippets if you don’t know them (I’ve tried to make sure there’s something new and lesser known), and if you like them they’re yours* to carry take on your trip!

*as in add them to your library etc., if you like them a lot come ask me and I’ll try and dig up a Bandcamp like for you, hee hee

[last week’s poll, which itself links back to the first week’s, which aren’t open anymore, in case you wanted more songs to take with you. Or just come talk to me, I love a music chat! Always.]

Poll’s open for a week, but we’ve been going three weeks (!) now, so if you miss this one, I’ll hopefully be back with another next Friday.

Any genres you’d want me to throw in more music from? I know my circle of influence is very alt and rock, so I’ve been sparing with my jazz, pop and hip hop picks, but if you want more, I’m happy to add more of them!

Happy scrolling! If you want to give your dash a few songs, reblog, I’m just bored :)

“Before 2001’s Silver Side Up… before 2000’s The State… there was Curb, Nickelback’s debut from ‘96.’

Someone’s been spinning early Nickelback on air lately, I came across this album in our radio station’s studio this week!

I don’t think Nickelback are on Virgin Records anymore, so I’m quite confident you can’t abuse the email address we were given ‘for interviews, giveaways and events’ ;)

Incredible performance honestly

GUYS

Favourite band in the world returns

!!

That slice guitar can eat my soul I do not care. Or maybe that’s not the best way to phrase it. I do care, I’m loving this so much!

The Astros go ever-so-slightly denim and country, and it comes out as some of the most beautiful, diamond-studded indie I’ve heard this month. Song of the Day. Who does it remind you of?

[temporary post]

In case any of you are bored tonight and want to join me, I’m on radio playing some brand new bangers on air for an hour and a half! I don’t usually post radio stuff on here because I don’t want to make it too easy for people to draw connections between me IRL and me shitposting on tumblr, so I will probably delete it later, but this week’s show is a lot more guitar and rock heavy than it has been in recent weeks, and I feel I’ve got a good mix of folks you know and stuff that will be completely new to you but you’ll still enjoy.

Besides, one of my favourite things in the world is people listening along and messaging me live as the show goes on, it really makes me feel that’s the way radio is meant to be!

So if you need some energetic tunes on in the background/want to hear some of my favourite picks for this week, I’m live in approx 2.5 hours from now (8 PM EST) on cfrc.ca, so hop along!

playlist preview:

I am fucking loving the new Berwyn album, it is true. also, I dove a little into the scenes on the Channel Islands, Gurnsey and Jersey so that’ll be fun too.

Been a little 'in the public eye' if you can call it that, in a musical context in the last few days, and as a result of that and being young, a lot of people have been asking me how I discover new music, and that's an excellent question that just becomes trickier as the age range of my questioners changes. I do have multiple sources, some of which are more analogue than others, while some are purely digital. And I do recognise that it's tricky to even keep up with some of these methods: I don't know if I can feasibly tell a 60 year old that five of the artists I played on my last show were bands I found through Instagram and gave a chance to. I can't tell a busy person to read through DIY or Dork Magazine. Bandcamp deep diving also takes its time. I know people that would scoff at the idea of taking an algorithmically recommended band from Spotify or YouTube. Picking up names from the lineups of showcase festivals (which are specifically for emerging artists) is a Task, especially since when artists are smaller, there's less available out there on them. I can't just tell them to listen to BBC 6 Music. I love 6 Music, but they're not going to tell me about the new Canadian artists who literally are touring our country and stopping by our venues. The CBC doesn't serve its mandate in that regards at all.

All this tells me if that there is certainly still a hunger for new music, and a need for someone to present it to people in a way that helps them make sense of all the noise. The over 40s are not going to comb through Tiktok's latest shoegaze revival. Radio should still play a massive, massive role in the music industry, and it's a shame that most people won't know it's out there when they really want it. Commercial radio serves advertiser interests, not that of music fans. Unfortunately that's what most people think radio is at all.

People have got to rediscover their local independent stations, whose curators are only driven by a love for exciting new sounds and acts they've found. Obviously because they don't rely on sponsors like that, they're basically always in need of donations and on the precipice, but we have ways of helping that out. The biggest perhaps is just actually listening to them, and letting people know that they're important. To you, to your friends, to the music community. When campus stations and other independent art initiatives apply for grants and funding from art councils, the work that we're doing and its impact on, and our involvement in the community is a big factor in whether we get funding or not.

I don't quite know what the 'call to action' on this post is, I'm genuinely just thinking out loud since I've been talking to people who showed up at these festival gigs drawn by a headliner but impressed by the openers and wanting to know more new bands! All I can say is show up for openers, stay tuned to the avenues bringing up new music, and spread the word about them! Music isn't dead, not yet ;)

Same, Justin, same

Josh Homme of Queens Of The Stone Age, with all the love in his heart, wishing you get hit by an Uber driver on mushrooms

The Struts performing their set closer and hit, Could Have Been Me, opening for Queens of The Stone Age on The End Is Nero tour.

They were high energy! I had never seen the Struts live before, but they definitely seem like the kind of band that cut their teeth underground, learning how to work a crowd and not giving up until they'd managed to impress them, you can see how they got to where they are!

All the same, they do also seem a quintessentially UK 2010s indie band, don't they? Radio X, The Courteeners, lots of 'woah!'s, the Jack Grealish curtain haircut. A Welsh flag on the drumkit to top it off! (Drummer is from Wales)

But they were good fun, their crowd interactions were exciting, I could get into a few of their songs for sure! Not all entirely what I would listen to on my own, but I can definitely appreciate what they do. Singer Luke Spiller came on stage and said, tonight it is our job to make sure you're all well warmed up for Queens of The Stone Age. And that's what we'll do!

That's exactly what they did, great work lads.

Guys I need you all to watch this, the beginning of The Last Dinner Party's set live on this tour. I am still recovering from seeing them live hee hee. They're so good. They were so good. Boundless energy. Excellent atmosphere. Timeless in some ways.

Singer Abigail Morris is so energetic on stage, she barely ever stopped moving around and dancing the entire hour that she was on stage.

I love the dressing, every member had their own style on stage, and you could see this was a group of people each bringing ideas to the table. Also, as is often the case with new bands, entirely democratic. From guitarist Emily Roberts in the fairy/angel dress, to Abigail's Edwardian corsage, and the various biker-rock and punk rocker looks the rest of the band adopted.

What struck me (and this is almost strange to me) is that when they first came on stage, given we'd all only ever seen them in pictures so far, was that they were so small. So tiny. They were literally just girls, like many of us in the crowd, and so small... and then as the show progressed, I noticed them change in my perception: they seemed to grow taller, grander, bugger before my eyes. I cannot explain it, because it's not as if we didn't go into this loving them, but somehow they began to cut a taller, more impressive figure before our very eyes as our admiration grew. They almost grew into that role, you could say. I mentioned this to my friend, who was also beside me on the barrier (we got barrier! Queued for 7 hours), and they felt the same. It might just be an effect the girls have!

So here for you to try and live second-hand and vicariously through, is the intro to their live set, Prelude to Ecstasy, and the first song they performed, Burn Alive.

This song means everything. This song represents everything to me.