The Hour's Disc Drop

I’m a big fan of CBC's The Hour and it is indeed my favourite way to spend sixty minutes on a cold Autumn night. Hosted by the uber informed George Stroumboulopoulos, the shows content is always engaging.

Two weeks ago he mentioned the recent closing of Canadian music retailer Music World and the sad decline of the record store, especially as a social place to discuss music. This is where the interesting part comes in; the powers that be at the hour came up with Operation Disc Drop. General idea is to make up a mix CD, leave a track listing (or artwork for those inclined); Label it as part of The Hour's Disc Drop, with the URL drop it off somewhere in the wilds and hope someone enjoys it.

I am going to try this and I’ll post the results (if anything) here. I encourage all of you to try the same in this, the season of giving. Peace and good mixtapes to all.

For full details on Operation Disc Drop go here.

Bless Me Axl For I Have Sinned

Feeling a little guilty because you just spent the weekend pillaging your favourite bit torrent site? Made a copy of the latest Avril Lavigne cd? Well now you can sleep in peace once again. Let Dear Rockers help you make amends for a just five bucks. In the tradition of anonymous blog site PostSecret, Dear Rockers asks repentent Soulseekers to write a letter of apology to artists whose music they may have downloaded illegally. The result is an original website that posts the letters fans write to bands like the Weakerthans, Honeymoon Suite and Wolf Parade asking for forgiveness. Monies collected are sent to the band’s management or official fan club (Dear Rockers provides all the addresses).

Guess I'd better get started on my letter to Loverboy.

Guest PLAYLIST 9 Ben Booker - Lover’s Island

This time out its Ben’s turn. A few of his favourites from 2007. Highly original and well worth seeking out these artists.

Lover’s Island

The General Specific - Band of Horses
Weighty Ghost - Wintersleep
Dents - The Acorn
Get Your Own Apartment - The Wet Secrets
Young Mothers - Sebastian Grainger et les Montagnes
Caged Warning - Arrows
Dokkoise House - Anathallo
Castles - Forest City Lovers
Bedhead - Shotgun Jimmie
The Crash, The Wagons, The Dying Horses - The Craft Economy
Your Ex Lover is Dead - The Stars
Down to the Ground - Sweet Thing
Warm Worm - Subcollisions
Everyone Else - Wooly Leaves
War - Ladyhawk
Stars & Satellites - Dan Griffin
Black Thumbnail - Kings of Leon
Intervention - The Arcade Fire
What We Had - Handsome Furs
Knighthawks - Two Hours Traffic

Thank you for the great picture too Ben.

The Almost-Impossible Rock & Roll Quiz

You may know the Replacements original monicker, but just who did Phil Spector threaten with a gun while in the recording studio? Challenge yourself to four decades of the trickiest, weirdest and most off-the-wall trivia questions ever in Rolling Stone's fifty-eight question quiz, and tabulate your own rock & roll IQ.

For the record I scored a 45. Ranking me as expert and apparently I know my Bowie from my Bambaataa.This is great fun. Leave your scores in the comments section. I’d love to see how you fared and what you think.

Click here or on Jimi to give it a try.

New Okkervil River Daytrotter Sessions

One of my favourite releases this year has been Okkervil River’s The Stage Names. This week the most excellent daytrotter.com posted sessions by Will Sheff and company. Four songs in total, three are covers and one a Okkervil original. (Listing below.) I recommend you download these sessions in handy MP3 format for your listening pleasure. While you are at it, check out the extensive library of sessions on the site. Mostly all very good stuff and recommended.

April Anne (Okkervil River) – unreleased John Phillips song
No Easy Way Down (Okkervil River) – unreleased Carole King song
Do What You Gotta Do (Okkervil River) – unreleased Jimmy Webb song
You Can't Hold The Hand Of A Rock And Roll Man (Okkervil River) (Skiffle Version) – original version appears on The Stage Names

Okkervil River Official Site
Jagjaguwar Records

Cryptic Radiohead Announcement

Another cryptic Radiohead message. Follow the links and enjoy. I suspect it will be archived for a period if you miss it.

helo

there will be something on the box tonight

its another test

but right now we are entangled in cables

however

weather permitting

our technical experts will resolve the entanglement

itll be broadcast as a quicktime h.264 stream

if youve got a mac you could read it with quicktime player

if youve got a pc you might need to download the installer (click here to download and install)

then

www2.radiohead.tv

try it about 10 pm gmt

Stanley

RADIOHEAD WEB EXPERIMENT UPDATE

After more than a few technical delays last night at www2.radiohead.tv earnest viewers were handsomely rewarded. After sitting through everything from, a monkey puppet DJing in silence to Thom Yorke spinning his own remixed version of his solo "Harrowdown Hill," the band eventually achieved "web" magic. Thom Yorke last year admitted his desire to cover his "favourite song ever," Björk’s "Unravel." Last night, he got his wish, playing only the piano for a simple, melancholy version of the Homogenic standout; the rest of Radiohead (minus drummer Phil Selway) added gentle ambience. The test broadcast concluded with a soundless video of Radiohead artist Stanley Donwood writing "To Whom It May Concern" and then "I Give Up" in chalk on a mini-blackboard. While the testcast ended up being a success content-wise, we’re hoping the technological lapses are repaired by the time the band’s next rumored webcast airs at some point this early evening.

Isn't it great being a music fan right now?

Genesis is Number 2 in Kazakhstan

You know that magic program (and timesaver) that pops up when you are trying to rip a cd? Gracenote, the company that is responsible for that “magic software” launched an interesting Music Map application that shows the "popularity" of artists and albums by region and country in many parts of the world. It does this based on how often Gracenote's database is queried about particular albums or artists. This is pretty darned cool, at least to this systems geek. Have a look and see what people around the world are listening too.

PLAYLIST 8 - I Will Always Love Porter Wagoner

Country music superstar Porter Wagoner, died Sunday at a Nashville hospice. Wagoner, 80, had been diagnosed with lung cancer.

He had for years been the front line host of the Grand Ole Opry, inheriting that post from the late Roy Acuff. His illness came after a comeback that saw him recording again and gaining new fans even as he reached his 80s.

In May, he celebrated his 50th year in the Opry and signed his first record contract in years. His new CD "Wagonmaster" earned rave reviews. Over the summer he opened for the White Stripes at a sold out concert at New York's Madison Square Garden, where young fans embraced his music wholeheartedly.

His many hits included "Green Green Grass of Home," but he is perhaps best known for hiring 21-year-old Dolly Parton in 1967 to be his duet partner. A playlist today then to honour Porter Wagoner, the subject Parton’s 1973 penned hit I Will Always Love You. Her partner and mentor for many years, love is the theme this time. I thought it most appropriate.

I Will Always Love Porter Wagoner

Crazy Love - Marianne Faithfull
The Desperate Kingdom Of Love - PJ Harvey
Fistful Of Love - Devendra Banhart
Big Love - Kevin Drew
I'm Not In Love - 10cc
Careless Love - Bonnie "Prince" Billy
Found Love - Jimmy Reed
I Can Feel Your Love - Felice Taylor
How Do You Keep Love Alive - Ryan Adams
How Will You Love Me - Nina Nastasia & Jim White
I'm Always In Love - Wilco
I Love You Golden Blue - Sonic Youth
Impossible Love - Daniel Johnston
In Love With A View - Mojave 3
It's True That We Love One Another - The White Stripes
I Love You More Than Words Can Say - Karen Dalton
Limit To Your Love - Feist
Love and Other Planets - Adem
It Was Love - The Elected
I Trained Her To Love Me - Nick Lowe
Love's Been Good To Me - Johnny Cash
The Lions Of Love - The Two-Minute Miracles
Love And Some Verses - Iron & Wine
I Will A Give Me Your Love - Curtis Mayfield
The Look Of Love - Nina Simone
Love And Happiness - Al Green
Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town - Talking Heads
Our Love Will Still Be There - Dean & Britta
Sea Of Love - Tom Waits
Without Love - Elvis Perkins
Love Makes You Feel - Spoon
You Try To Find A Love - Bill Withers
I Will Always Love You - Dolly Parton

Hey Everybody - It’s Time to Dig out Your Old Poppy Family Albums

Neil Young Tops Canadian Album List

Last week author Bob Mersereau's new book was released in Canada. Authoritatively titled, The Top 100 Canadian Albums, the hardback compiles the best albums recorded by Canadians in the last 50 years. Like any such book, many favourites are excluded and a few dark horses are included, but it's a terrific, comprehensive volume in which Mersereau plays arbiter, editor and chief bottle washer. (The fact that Eric’s Trip and Simply Saucer were included pretty much confirmed sealed his credibility for me.)

To arrive at his top 100, Mersereau polled nearly 600 music journalists, retailers, musicians and DJs — of all ages — from across the country. The list is based on a tally of their top ten selections.

This one is quite different from the usual fare of this ilk. In fact it’s surprisingly earnest and refreshing in its approach. For instance, many acts who enjoyed great record sales in their heyday aren't included. They might have sold, but as Mesereau explains, “they didn't make great records of impact or influence.” The book is successful because it achieves a balance between the monumental and the unexpected, records that have stood the test of time and those that might have staying power. He could have made this a lot easier for himself.

Neil Young has the number-one album, Joni Mitchell the number two. Bands such as The Guess Who, Rush and The Band, all of whom were true music pioneers in their way, are featured prominently.

Without further adieu… The top 100 albums, according to Bob Mersereau's book.

1. Harvest, Neil Young (1972)
2. Blue, Joni Mitchell (1970)
3. After the Gold Rush, Neil Young (1970)
4. Music From Big Pink, The Band (1968)
5. Fully Completely, The Tragically Hip (1992 )
6. Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette (1995)
7. The Band, The Band (1969)
8. Funeral, Arcade Fire (2004)
9. Moving Pictures, Rush (1981)
10. American Woman, The Guess Who (1970)
11. Songs of Leonard Cohen, Leonard Cohen (1967)
12. Reckless, Bryan Adams (1984)
13. Five Days in July, Blue Rodeo (1993)
14. Twice Removed, Sloan (1994)
15. Up to Here, The Tragically Hip (1989)
16. Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, Neil Young with Crazy Horse (1969)
17. 2112, Rush (1976)
18. Court and Spark, Joni Mitchell (1974)
19. Whale Music, Rheostatics (1992)
20. Acadie, Daniel Lanois (1989)
21. Day for Night, The Tragically Hip (1994)
22. Rust Never Sleeps, Neil Young & Crazy Horse (1979)
23. Gord's Gold, Gordon Lightfoot (1975)
24. You Were Here, Sarah Harmer (2000)
25. Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, Sarah McLachlan (1993)
26. Road Apples, The Tragically Hip (1991)
27. Gordon, Barenaked Ladies (1992)
28. You Forgot it in People, Broken Social Scene (2002)
29. I'm Your Man, Leonard Cohen (1988)
30. Tonight's the Night, Neil Young (1975)
31. Decade, Neil Young (1977)
32. Miss America, Mary Margaret O'Hara (1988)
33. Surfacing, Sarah McLachlan (1997)
34. One Chord to Another, Sloan (1996)
35. Songs of Love and Hate, Leonard Cohen (1971)
36. Cyborgs Revisted, Simply Saucer (1979)
37. Ingenue, k.d. lang (1992)
38. Melville, Rheostatics (1991)
39. Love Tara, Eric's Trip (1993)
40. On the Beach, Neil Young (1974)
41. Not Fragile, Bachman-Turner Overdrive (1974)
42. The Best of the Guess Who, The Guess Who (1971)
43. Let it Die, Feist (2004)
44. The Last Waltz, The Band (1978)
45. Night Train, The Oscar Petersen Trio (1963)
46. Down at the Khyber, The Joel Plaskett Emergency (2001)
47. Harvest Moon, Neil Young (1992)
48. Cuts Like a Knife, Bryan Adams (1983)
49. L'heptade, Harmonium (1976)
50. Teenage Head, Teenage Head (1979)
51. High Class in Borrowed Shoes, Max Webster (1977)
52. Hejira, Joni Mitchell (1976)
53. The Goldberg Variations, Glenn Gould (1955 and 1982)
54. Forgarty's Cove, Stan Rogers (1977)
55. Wheatfield Soul, The Guess Who (1968)
56. Si on avait besoin d'une cinquieme saison, Harmonium (1974)
57. Dancing in the Dragon's Jaw, Bruce Cockburn (1979)
58. Frantic City, Teenage Head (1980)
59. Hymns of the 49th Parallel, k.d. lang (2004)
60. Hot Shots, Trooper (1979)
61. Robbie Robertson, Robbie Robertson (1987)
62. The Trinity Session, Cowboy Junkies (1988)
63. Ron Sexsmith, Ron Sexsmith (1995)
64. Nothingface, Voivod (1989)
65. Come on Over, Shania Twain (1997)
66. Everything I Long For, Hayden (1995)
67. Outskirts, Blue Rodeo (1987)
68. Joyful Rebellion, k-os (2004)
69. Sit Down Young Stranger/If You Could Read My Mind, Gordon Lightfoot (1970)
70. Love Junk, The Pursuit of Happiness (1988)
71. Jaune, Jean-Pierre Ferland (1970)
72. Somewhere Outside, The Ugly Ducklings (1966)
73. Electric Jewels, April Wine (1973)
74. Sundown, Gordon Lightfoot (1973)
75. Left and Leaving, The Weakerthans (2000)
76. Clumsy, Our Lady Peace (1997)
77. Harmonium, Harmonium (1974)
78. Share the Land, the Guess Who (1970)
79. Greatest Hits!, Ian & Sylvia (1970)
80. Steppenwolf, Steppenwolf (1968)
81. Ladies of the Canyon, Joni Mitchell (1970)
82. Bud the Spud and Other Favourites, Stompin' Tom Connors (1969)
83. Shine a Light, Constantines (2003)
84. Shakespeare My Butt, The Lowest of the Low (1991)
85. Clayton Park, Thrush Hermit (1998)
86. Smeared, Sloan (1992)
87. Living Under June, Jann Arden (1994)
88. The Hissing of Summer Lawns, Joni Mitchell (1975)
89. Bad Manors, Crowbar (1971)
90. Official Music, King Biscuit Boy With Crowbar (1970)
91. Lightfoot!, Gordon Lightfoot (1966)
92. Mad Mad World, Tom Cochrane (1991)
93. Rufus Wainwright, Rufus Wainwright (1998)
94. Face to the Gale, Ron Hynes (1997)
96. Hobo's Taunt, Willie P. Bennett (1977)
97. Cowboyography, Ian Tyson (1986)
98. Favourite Colours, The Sadies (2004)
99. The Way I Feel, Gordon Lightfoot (1967)
100. A Farewell to Kings, Rush (1977)

Disagree with Mr. Mersereau? I welcome your additions in the comments section.

Special Canadian Playlist due soon.

w00t – The Digital Revolution Will Not be Televised (But You Can Download it)

Bob Ostertag, sound artist and professor of technocultural studies at UC Davis, just released a new sound recording entitled "w00t!" on his website. The katamari-inspired "cover" art, co-option of the sounds of many popular games, and intelligent writing about digital art in the internet age fits the bill perfectly for mention on this site.

Unlike Radiohead and NIN with their massive followings, catchy songs, and built-in marketing, Bob has a long standing and well-known reputation of ingenious sound artistry and political writing. That is to say, he's not selling a lot of records, but he is paving the way for artists of the future. (Like Thom Yorke’s and Trent Reznor’s projects, remixes, of course, are encouraged! Bonus points if you can mash up all three.)

w00t was composed entirely from fragments of music from computer games. The names of the games are listed on the download page. The w00t art work is a collage of images from these same games, made by artist John Cooney.

Download it here.

Actually It is Easy Being Green – Blog Action Day Today

After a week of nothing but Radiohead it’s time to turn our attentions to another pursuit. Today is Blog Action Day, and Everythingispop is on board to help bloggers around the web unite to put a single important issue on everyone's mind: the environment. Consider this "blogger's Earth Day," to help get related blogs, on your radar. The result, get a few more people on board for the green.

My contribution? Links. Let’s forget about music for two hours and check out who is participating in this noteworthy event. Click to your heart’s content into the extended green blogosphere to see what people have to say about the planet. With any luck, this'll be the first day of many that green topics get their due in blogs around the world.

Please visit these links.

Go green with treehugger.com

More suggestions on living a greener life from lifehacker.com

And links galore from the Blog Action Day site

The power of the blog never fails to impress and inspire.

Radiohead Sell 1.2 Million Copies Of 'In Rainbows'

(Everything Radiohead week continues, all sweetnesss and rainbows. Just wait til the eventual backlash hits...)

By Scott Colothan on 11/10/2007 Gigwise has learnt that Radiohead have sold an amazing 1.2million copies of their seventh album ‘In Rainbows.’

The band and their long-term management company Courtyard Management have remained tight lipped about the exact sales figures, seemingly in a bid to add to keep a mysterious air around the album.

But speaking to a source close to the band last night, we’ve discovered that the Oxford band have achieved this monumental sales figure.

Even if every person who downloaded the album paid just 10 pence, the band will still rake in a massive £120,000. That figure is likely to be higher, with many speculating the average figure will even out at around the £1 mark.

With growing media hype around the release of ‘In Rainbows’, these unprecedented sales figures look certain to keep on rising. If they finally announce a world tour, audience figures are expected to be higher too.

Thom Yorke and co. will cash in again when the payments clear for the ‘In Rainbows’ box set which are on sale for £40 a go.

As expected, Radiohead are the clear victors of this radical way of releasing their album. Their success should prompt other big names to follow suit.