Of Radio and Research

I have recently gotten back into radio... that could mean so many things! well, okay maybe just a few things, but to dissect its actual intended meaning:

In university I hosted a radio show. Well actually I started out filling in for people who were sick/had exams or were in plays or whatever, then moved on to hosting a radio show with my friend Robyn, then later on a movie soundtrack show with another friend, Jess. I kind of loved it. For someone who used to be afraid of speaking in front of large crowds of people radio was perfection (yes perfection). It was just me and my friend, two microphones a couple turn tables, a tape player and a CD machine (ok CD player, but tape player followed by CD player just sounded lame...). No audience. Not in the studio, likely not even on the other end of the radio. Perfection! Well until the day when a person we had never met called in and we realized that there actually were people listening on the other end of the line... actually that was a really weird feeling, that you are being heard by people you've never seen and will likely never meet...More importantly you might play a song that introduces them to their future favourite band! Screw being afraid of talking in front of people, the possibility of  introducing someone to new music far outweighed any fear. I was hooked.

At least until the end of university...

Once you get out into the real world its a little more difficult to get involved in radio. At least I thought it was... I later discovered that several people I knew had local radio shows, mostly on campus or community access radio, but I knew from experience that the fun part was the idea that even just one person you've never met might hear something you play and like it. If three people heard it, all the better, but I really couldn't (and still can't) fathom the idea of many more people than that hearing my voice on the radio (despite evidence to the contrary...)

So when Shawn asked me if I would do a Canadian music segment for his weekly radio show/podcast I lept at the chance. Not only was I  excited to get back into radio, I was especially pumped to have an excuse to be up on Canadian Music. Alright, alright, I don't really need much of an excuse, but its nice to feel like there's a reason beyond "I just like it though...". Don't get me wrong, that is definitely enough of a reason for me, only sometimes, when people realize the depth of my love for it and the extent of my random can-con knowledge they seem a little weirded out by it. Tacking on "Well I do a weekly radio segment on Canadian bands..." takes the edge off a bit!

So this past week I went a bit bonkers with it. And my 'it' I mean research. And by 'research' I mean listening to a crap-ton of bands on a crap-ton of websites and blogs, and mining the minds of friends and fellow music lovers for their current favourites.

And it was awesome.

Alright the computer-dazed-headache thing  wasn't so hot, but once the dust settled I was left with at least a handful (and at most an extensively annotated and very very long list...) of new-to-me bands to add to my listening list. And that most definitely is awesome. So I thought I would share a few with you!

First off, the tantalizingly-few-released-songs of Writers' Strike. Hailing from Halifax, this is the first band that has made me miss the Hali music scene since I moved away almost a year ago.  Plus you can download their music for free (or 'pay what you feel like' which always makes me actually want to pay for the music)! Text-book Indie, the kind of band you hear and think "I bet they're good live..." I am going to have to send some of my east coast friends on reconnaissance missions over the next few months... Looking forward to the eventual release of a full length album

Though my 'research' was geared towards Canadian music, the band I have not been able to stop listening to is from Iceland. Of Monsters and Men.  A little bit Arcade Fire, a little bit Library Voices, and a little bit Mumford and Sons, with maybe a dash of Phil Collins  (okay that might just be me, but seriously, just a liiiitle bit!) their back-and-forth vocals, storytelling lyrics and loverly selection of horns, guitar and la la las gets me right in the stomach. Plus they've got the awesome (though sometimes subtle) Icelandic accents that just make all of the lyrics seem trapped in some sort of netherworld between Europe and North America, like they're singing from a bubble atop the Atlantic Ocean... or Iceland. Either way I am very much enjoying it!

Also not Canadian but instead from Rhode Island, Math the Band. Cheeky, a little silly, and a lot like 8-bit video game music, these guys are far from sophisticated, but way too much fun to not love. I spent the last three days listening to them while editing K's extensively long film-preservation paper and they acted as both excellent background music, and an exceptional distraction. Odd combination, but you'll just have to trust me on that. Like B.A. Johnson and The Beta Band had some sort of nintendo-playing wiz kid, they walk the line between quirky and ridiculous in an entertaining and (usually) fairly listenable manner.

So with the monster list I have awaiting further 'research' there are bound to be more of these types of posts in the next few months/weeks! If you've got any other bands you think I should check out, send em my way! Maybe I'll play them on the radio (well, only if they're Canadian, but I will listen to them either way)!