This one probably falls into the latter category: it’s a track from Hawksley Workman (born Ryan Corrigan)’s first album, For Him and the Girls, released in 1999. Since then, he’s gone on to win Juno Awards for Best New Solo Artist and Best Video, started a record label and put out albums by Serena Ryder, and recorded a duet with Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard. He’s released ten albums, one of which includes the continually famous “Jealous of Your Cigarette” (2002), and has toured everywhere. It is hard to not have heard of Workman — he’s all over the place.

Like I said, though, this track goes back to his beginnings. It’s pretty straightforward, and feels shorter than it is (it clocks in at exactly four minutes), but it’s immediately likeable. Best enjoyed on a moving vehicle of some kind, preferably at night: it’s a calm and quiet evening travel sort of song, and Workman’s almost-Martin-Tielli voice is perfect for it. And the lyrics are just awwww.

Tunesday 18: Safe and Sound

Juanes is a Colombian artist (Spanish-language) and his stuff is shake-your-butt-around-the-house danceable, which is all I care about sometimes. It’s super catchy and especially fun to sing along with if you don’t understand Spanish. He’s been around for quite a long time in various projects, but I only found out about him around 2004 or so — my Spanish professor used to play his records when we had class study/work time, and I have always maintained that learning a language is way easier if you listen to music in said language, so I’m sure that helped.

(According to Wikipedia he used to be in a metal band, which sort of rules.)

This tune is from his second record, Un Día Normal, which is the only one that I know all the way through. It’s one of my favourites — I challenge you not to dance. It’s impossible … that bass line is practically an order! Go forth and be joyful.

Tunesday 17: La Paga

Coming up: a review of Willie Nelson at Massey Hall (including Billy Bob’s remarks!) and some comedy commentary, maybe.

Anyway, it’s high time we featured some jazz around here, and so that is exactly what I’m going to do.

The David Braid Sextet is a marvelous collection of Toronto-area musicians led by David Braid (piano), Mike Murley (sax), John MacLeod (trumpet), Gene Smith (trombone), Steve Wallace (bass), and Terry Clarke (drums). They’ve released a few records together, and all the musicians are involved in countless other projects, as is the way of music. Murley teaches at York University, and Braid can often be found collaborating with another York prof, Matt Brubeck.

This is from their first record, conveniently titled The David Braid Sextet. I first heard it in about 2003/04, when I took a jazz studies course in Grade 10 in high school (knowing a decent amount about jazz for a fifteen-year-old, but still, not that much). We were promptly directed to lift the solos from this record, something that I had never really done in the jazz idiom before — and this Murley solo was not the friendliest place to start. I never did get the whole thing done, but I finished significantly more than I had expected, so I guess that’s something.

Anyway, it’s one of Braid’s originals and is among my favourites — great groove, great solos, totally singable. His writing is terrific. As far as I know the song has nothing to do with the anime, but I’ve never asked.

Tunesday 16: Cowboy Bebop

Well, I’ve had it since it came out, and I’m still not convinced. So far it doesn’t strike me as being dynamic or interesting or having much variation — most of the 27 songs are hard to tell apart, and “Wishful Thinking” is still a huge disappointment when the first time I heard it was something like this. (OK, that was the second or third time, but you know how it goes.)

There are a few songs that have caught my ear enough for me to return to them, though, and one of them is nearly in the middle of the album: the third track on disc two, “Sailors Eyes”. It’s steeped in East Coast traditional style, featuring a whistle intro and a fabulously Maritime chord progression, and sounds like familiar Joel Plaskett. It gets stuck in my head a lot. I like it! Hope you do too.

Tunesday 15: Sailors Eyes

Oh yeah, and I don’t really want to devote a whole post to the Juno Awards, but I do want to comment on one thing: The Stills for best new group? Seriously? A cursory glance around the Internet proves that they have been active since about 2000, and I personally remember them being a source of reasonably steady hype since at least 2006. This past summer they opened for Paul McCartney for Quebec City’s 400th anniversary, playing to a crowd of about a quarter of a million, and they have released three records. THIS IS NOT A NEW BAND!!!

All right, Ruhee out. Sorry for the negligent blogging lately — I have eight courses this semester. Eight. It’s a wonder I can still communicate in full sentences.

The Canadian Press reports that Vancouver-based artist Matthew Good “has no desire to be a part of the Junos”. He and Howie Beck go on to say that the award show is based too much on sales and that the major nominees are irrelevant.

Heard this before?

“When it’s actually a television broadcast that celebrates actual Canadian music, rather than who’s doing well internationally and has been in car commercials and iPod commercials … I’ll go,” says Good. Amen. I don’t usually agree with him anymore, but I can’t deny that statement.

Also, Elvis Costello is presenting an award. Why? He’s married to Diana Krall. Oh, how I love Costello, but oh, how many things are wrong with this show. Remember how it was supposed to be about Canadian artists? Yeah.

The Juno Awards will be broadcast on CTV this Sunday, March 28, from Vancouver.

Anyway, so rather than post a track I’m not thrilled about, I’ll tie this post in to a mention of the now-distant Canadian Music Week shows I went to at the Mod Club a couple of weeks ago. Sloan played twice in a row, March 11 and 12, and opening for them both nights were the marvelously poppy and upbeat Will Currie & The Country French. Formed at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, the Country French are a large but surprisingly tight-sounding band who play piano-driven pop tunes with serious punch. They are on Sloan’s recently re-launched label Murderecords and released an EP called A Great Stage on it last year. A full-length is in the works.

This song is from that album, and was also on a four-song demo that they sold at a show I saw pre-Murderecords (opening for another East Coaster Rich Aucoin). It’s called “Surprising Me,” and it’s pretty representative of their great sound. Their live show is just as energetic, or perhaps more; they could benefit from a little variation in their sets, as they seem to drag in the middle for lack of stylistic change-ups, but that’s really the only complaint I have about them.

(Oh yeah, and Sloan played too! Ha. They were also great. The first night almost seemed like a rehearsal for the second, in retrospect — though solid, it was a somewhat run-of-the-mill set and show, although we were treated to “Iggy & Angus” in the encore. Night two was really rock ‘n’ roll, including some old favourites like “Before I Do,” “Deeper Than Beauty” and “Underwhelmed”, and shockingly, “The Marquee & The Moon”! The setlist didn’t quite top last CMW’s show, but it would be pretty hard to. They’re still always fun to see live. I’ve done it thirteen times now, though — frequent flyer card yet?)

Anyway, back to WC: this song was also the iTunes Single of the Week sometime in 2008, which was probably extra exciting for this young band. Look for their name everywhere in coming months! Hope you enjoy.

Tunesday 14: Surprising Me

The fabulous Nicole Brennan lends her pipes to this version, which is probably better than the original just for sheer audacity. It’s from the album Steak and Comedian Night, which is really awesome. It even comes with a little toothpick in the spine of the jewel case to add to the diner flair.

Also, I’ve discovered there is some sort of weird timing problem on my scheduled posts which is why you’re seeing this later than I’d hoped. I’ll fix it for next week, I hope. Enjoy!

Tuneday 13: The Ace of Spades

We finally get a sneak preview, though, as the band recently released an mp3 of the song “1901″ for our auditory enjoyment. It sounds like classic Phoenix, but more synthy than It’s Never Been Like That. I can already hear the club remixes coming. Still, it feels like they infused the whole thing with sunshine; it’s bright, it’s snappy, it’s breezy, and it’s just as great as anything from their previous record. I hope the rest of Wolfgang sounds like this, because it’s going to be the best beginning-of-summer album ever. Guys, I love this band.

Phoenix’s poppy electronic-infused hooks have always reminded me a little of Field Music, and maybe that’s why I took to them so quickly. Europe has a lot of sweet exports. Whatever the case may be, this track is awesome, and you can bet I’ll be picking that album up the day it comes out. Hope you like it enough to do the same!

Tunesday 12: 1901

The last time we had a real release from Brent was the delicious EP Quite Precisely, which came out in 2003 (!). If you’ve heard that album, be prepared for an experience: Paddington Green sounds infinitely brighter, better produced, and cleaner than the preceding EP. Now, I love that little record quite a bit, but I’m amazed at how much the Pinecones’ sound has been worked on since then. About time, I guess, considering how long the wait has been!

Paddington is fairly sleepy as far as albums go, but in the positive sense: many of the songs are dreamy and lilting, with the right amount of pop piano and Randall’s crooning voice. This one also features some horns (always a welcome addition, says the horn player!) and a delightful re-recording of old favourites “Snowdrops” and “Bluebirds, Flowers and Other Things”, both previously featured on the Just Friends Sampler of Love.

It’s one of those that I’d like you all to hear. “Bluebirds, Flowers and Other Things” has long been a favourite Brent Randall track of mine, since they have had it as a staple live song for quite some time and it’s always gone over very well. This new slightly uptempo version, featuring some excellent horns and a whole lot more energy, encapsulates the Pinecones perfectly. It’s equal parts fresh and retro, and I promise you that you’ll be singing “You are the one that I lo-o-ove” all day afterwards.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Tunesday 11: Bluebirds, Flowers and Other Things

Anyway, here we are at the double Tunesday post. In case you haven’t noticed yet, I love country and country-laced music, but we’re not talking Keith Urban or Garth Brooks here. I’m talking real country, that folky stuff with banjos and good bass lines and a little twang. In other words, the good stuff. It goes by any name: alt-country, Americana, bluegrass, folk, nu-grass, country-rock, or perhaps even psychedelic cow-punk (sorry).

The first track I want to share is by a fairly legendary Canadian outfit by the name of Blue Rodeo. I’m sure the name itself gives you some hints about its country leanings, but they are by and large a rock band (with a healthy amount of hoedown). Blue Rodeo have been around for 25 years and 11 studio albums, and they’re still doing pretty much the same thing they’ve always been doing. I mean this in the best possible way: they’ve found a working formula and made an incredible amount of great music using it. It’s bands like these that Canada should always be known for.

This song is from their incredibly popular 1993 record Five Days in July, which went 6x platinum … not bad for a bunch of guys from the Great White North. Here y’are.

Tunesday 10-1: Cynthia

The other track is by “nu-grass” favourites of mine, The Be Good Tanyas. I keep recommending this song to everybody I know, and then they’re always disappointed when their other songs aren’t quite like this one. Regardless, it was responsible for me collecting all of their albums and seeing them live, and it is still among my favourites. There’s something about it that just feels like sunshine — or as my friend Alex so eloquently said, “It makes me want to cook breakfast for someone in my underwear”.

Tunesday 10-2: The Littlest Birds

Enjoy! Sorry again about the incredible delays. Technology … not always a solution.

Also, I recently found out that Phoenix’s new album is going to be called Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. I love it already.