SOME WICKED: Dashiell Brown's Blog

For any newcomers to my blog, just letting you know you can always catch a full edition of The New Spin at Oh!Zone Radio Network. The current episode streaming online is my playlist of Best of Canadiana of 2009. Click on Oh! Zone’s weekly schedule and scroll down on the calendar and you’ll find The New Spin on Mon at 5:00.

And of course, you can always listen to The New Spin on 93.5 CHMR-FM or online at the CHMR website at its regular scheduled time, Thursdays 9-11 PM Newftime, 7:30 Eastern.

in sound,

dashiell brown

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The New Spin’s goal is to expose the great underground musicians of today. But given that 35% of everything The New Spin plays must be Canadian, I have discovered many great Canadian bands from among the piles of crap that’s out there. So here is a list in the order that I discovered them (kind of), the cream-of-the-crop Canadian bands making waves on The New Spin for 2009, some of which I have already written reviews for (they have links included.)

Of course, to listen to any of these artists, you can always tune in to the show every Thursday night on 93.5 CHMR-FM, online here, 9-11 Newftime, 7:30-9:30 EST, 4:30 Pacific. You should be able to find most of them on CBC Radio 3. I have added a few keywords to describe each artist in case you only like certain genres. SL means “sounds like.”

Tonight I will do a special show playing these artists, so tune in and hear the best of the best in Canadian music.

Hear a playlist of most of these artists here.

Timber Timbre (truly unusual folksongs, like Patrick Watson, this guy’s in a class all his own.)

Bruce Peninsula (dark choir/chamber folk, oh yes.)

Geoff Berner (Klezmer punk, what more needs to be said)

The Hylozoists (all instrumental like post-rock, but wow.)

Headache24 (SL Pixies)

Japandroids (SL Fugazi)

Olenka and the Autumn Lovers (if you like Dead Can Dance, etc.)

Weather Station (folk on the laptop loveliness)

Rae Spoon (how many transgendered folksingers do you know who sound like women but are actually men and who trade in their guitars for computers? not many, I’m sure.)

Patrick Watson (one of the best of the year, avant-garde/progressive indie folk)

The Torrent (dark 80’s inspired electro)

Pat Lepoidevin (amazing folk guitarist with an oh-so-sweet Scottish touch)

Eleazer Vs John (like Junior Boys?)

Tiga (play this at any club and watch them feet move)

Rural Alberta Advantage (dark, folky, I like them better than Elliot Brood)

Lovely Feathers (indie rock)

Hidden Cameras (80’s, New Order-ish, I love their new album)

Dan Mangan (folk, songwriter)

Wooden Sky (dark folk, reminds me of 16 Horsepower a bit)

Kids on TV Remixed V.1 from Blocks Recording Club (beats!)

Cousins (I can’t get play “Growling” enough)

Spiral Beach (kick-ass garage rock/punk)

Acres and Acres (lo-fi folksongs with St. John’s guest Amelia Curran)

Brock Geiger (banjo heavy folk songs)

Reverie Sound Revue (SL Stereolab)

Dark Mean (a little EP, but let’s see what they do in the future)

The Got to Get Got (fun fun in the sun indie rock)

Ambisonic (avant-garde-ish)

Jordan Klassen (love this guy from Calgary, oh my. SL Sufjan Stevens, David Pajo)

Gypsophilia (my interview with them is on my site here)

The Diableros (they have a new album, but haven’t heard it yet!)

The Danks (you love da danks if you love da strokes)

Flotilla (harp-based folk stuff from Montreal. SL Sunday All Over the World if you know who the hell that is)

Extra Happy Ghost (I only like one of the songs on this EP, but it’s so incredible I have to mention it. That would be “mash up: neither being nor nothingness”)

Vincat (Vincat!)

Rival Boys (alt-country, but their EP has grown on me)

Jesse Matheson (this guy’s songs are hilarious and oh so fun)

Octoberman (SL Calexico)

hellothisisalex (unusual chill-out chipcore or chipcore chill-out, whichever sounds better)

The Sales Department (electronic)

The Mountains and The Trees (from St. John’s, they’re making waves!)

Errand Boy (he moved away from St. John’s, too too bad, but keep an eye out for this dude)

Islands (not really underground, but whatever)

Language Arts (whoah, spoken word/hip-hop folk, cool…)

Fritz Helder (not really my favorite, but he has a very original electronic style that’s hard not to notice and that you may love, who knows)

Gregory Pepper and His Problems (problems? on his eclectic album With Trumpets Flaring I don’t see any problems, this guy’s uber-talented)

Makita Hack (straight up bluegrass, but awesome bluegrass at that)

Miss Quincy and The Ramblers (less exciting than Makita, but if you’re a bluegrass fan, why not?)

Woody Johnson (this guy’s a whiz on the acoustic blues front. so is Trevor Caswell, for that matter.)

Let’s Go to War (funky, electronic stuff, probably worth mentioning. SL Groove Armada)

We are Wolves (easily one of the best Canadian albums of the year, wow…)

Peace (who is this dude??? dark 80s-like stuff. SL early P.I.L. or Wilderness if you know them)

Minto (don’t know the album too well, but it’s produced by Steve Albini. yes, Steve Albini!)

The Fugitives (find me, find me! oh god, I’m drooling over them banjo licks.)

Digits (this guy emailed me and showed me his music. I cannot stop playing “Endgame”)

Jon and Roy (from BC, “Another Noon” is one of the best songs of the year.)

Vivian Houle (WTF???)

Rep by Pop (one of my favorite Canadian albums of the year, Cell Phone Camera, just wrote the review.)

Devil Eyes (very raucous, loud, but in a good, trashy-garage-rock-kind-of-way)

Sex with Strangers (I just love “We Want the Fire”)

Richard Laviolette and The Oil Spills (good folky stuff)

You Say Party We Say Die (yep, this is a good album, very punchy and lively)

The Racoon Wedding (like if Arcade Fire came from a bluegrass angle with some brass thrown in for good measure)

Okay, that’s it, I hope that’s enough to keep you busy for awhile, assuming you read this. I’ll post another list of the best underground artists from the rest of the world later. If you’re a new spinner, you already know them. If you need more, here is my list of top ten most under-rated records of 2008.

in sound,

Dashiell Brown

www.thenewspin.ca

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on air in under an hour, The New Spin will feature brand new music by TGTGG, math the band, Dark Mean, Made In Iceland 2, Ambisonic, Royal City, Placebo, Portland Cello Project and more!

streaming online at 9-11 PM Newftime, 7:30 Eastern, 4:30 Pacific

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Looking for more playlists of underground music? Besides listening to The New Spin, BreakThru Radio should be just what you need to discover new artists. And since the SXSW festival in Austin is fast approaching (March 18th-22nd) some of the dj’s are featuring some of the bands that will be playing there. One band I particularly liked was La Snacks, which you can hear on the podcast called River Runs Red. It’s a great website, and I just discovered it today!

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goodnight!

Now Playing: ”we’re looking for a lot of love” hot chip and robert wyatt

“three babes” joanna newsom

“big city smile” jessie kussin (can)

 ”i loved him now he’s gone” castlemusic (cancon)

“not your saviour” peasant

“the island” lucky fonz III

“car alarm” sea and cake

“toys r loaded shotguns” flap

“records of a flagpole skater” surf city

“authentic klezmer wedding band” geoff berner (cancon) (hear my interview with him here.)

“pulling on a line” great lake swimmers (cancon)

“little bird” hexes and oh’s (cancon)

“b film” faded paper figures

“season of the shark” yo la tengo

“make believe” golden boots

“polar bear” kyle andrews

“parachute” shugo tokumaru

“summertime clothes” animal collective

“airport surroundings” loney dear

“idiots rule” jane’s addiction

“sister saviour” the rapture

“how longs gone” the magnificients

“rocket fuel” spiral beach (cancon)

“i got no nothing” the danks (cancon)

“reflexes” stolen minks (cancon)

“do you wanna dance” the maynards (cancon)

“trying to tame tyson” the birthday cakes (cancon)

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listen online now

Now Playing: muskox (cancon)

“tnt” tortoise

“even in the night” the organ (cancon)

“i’ll be a ghost for you” rae spoon (cancon)

“a minor place” bonnie “prince” billy

“death is not the end” nick cave and the bad seeds

“let’s pretend we’re bunny rabbits” magnetic fields

“barnyard in orbit” perrey and kingsley

“bonnie and clyde” serge gainsbourg with brigitte bardot

“the raven” isobel campbell and mark lanegan

“big city smile” jessie kussin (cancon)

“the narrator” the done fors (cancon)

“diary of wood” circulatory system

“summertime clothes” animal collective

“the blind man” the god machine

“hey man nice shot” filter

“Tainted Love” cover by My Brightest Diamond

“damaged goods” gang of four

“ancient klezmer wedding band” klezmer mongrels (cancon)

“promises” fugazi

“Trying to tame tyson” The Birthday Cakes (cancon)

“Birthday Cakes Theme” The Birthday Cakes (cancon)

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Listen online here

GOODNIGHT.

now playing: “oh well” escape mechanism

“no no man (part one)” steven jesse bernstein

“homeboys” dj/rupture

“wandering star” portishead

“sometimes” james

“christine” house of love

“morning sun” ruby suns

“promise” violent femmes

“range life” pavement

“diesel lungs” slithering beast

“my heart is a piece of garbage, fight, seagulls, fight” rae spoon (cancon)

“your rocky spine” great lake swimmers (cancon)

“sleep a million years” vetiver

“i got no nothing” the danks (cancon)

“mercy” plants and animals (cancon)

“little johnny brown” samamidon

“the truth hurts so this should be painless” her space holiday

“get ready” culture

“listen harmony” peter adams

“mentira” manu chao

“todoism” ekova

“authentic klezmer wedding band” klezmer mongrels (cancon)

“engwish bwudd” man man

“asbestos rock” raygun cowboys (cancon)

“the first song” band of horses

“endless corridors” origami ghosts

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goodnight!

The show’s on live right now, you can listen here.

Now Playing: “the past is a grotesque animal” of montreal

“Start a war” the national

“ode to street hassle” spacemen 3

“soul and fire” sebadoh

“a-punk” vampire weekend

“endless corridors” origami ghosts

“nothing down in hogtown” the diableros (cancon)

“last man on earth” key witness (cancon)

“return to oslo” the two koreas (cancon)

“factories” winter gloves (cancon)

“when we were still friends” herman dune (sounds like leonard cohen, no?)

“animals” ketch harbour wolves (cancon)

“before telling dragons” karl blau

“my baby is afraid of sharks” herman dune

“beware of darkness” leo blais

“sugar mountain” neil young (cancon)

“lover of the bayou” mudcrutch

“elephant gun” beirut

“imitosis” andrew bird

“no one does it like you” department of eagles

“fire and fast bullets” blitzen trapper

“Victor Jara’s Hands” Calexico

“Oh, the boss is coming” Arkells (cancon)

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This is a little note to you music fans to check out Soundscapes in order to discover some great new artists. It’s a record store in Toronto, and it was my favorite one when I lived there years back. They do a year-end recap of their favorite music, and it’s worth checking out. Their website in general is just awesome; i’ve been waiting for them to have one, and now that they do, they have delivered and then some. 

Also, I wrote my year-end recap of my favorite under-rated albums, which will be appearing in Current Magazine next Friday, so keep an eye out for that, but I’ll also be posting my favorite albums and songs of the year soon enough, as well as my favorite Canadian artists of the year, so stay tuned. I played all of them last night on The New Spin, so if you want to see what they are just read the playlist below this post. Meanwhile, go check out Soundscapes for their lists. Tell ‘em Dashiell Brown sent you, ha ha.

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