RadarLake » Peters’ Pick

Peters’ Pick: You Say Party! We all remember a great guy.

Peters — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 13:00:13 +0000

In a previous life, while fulfilling the role of “tour manager” for a local super group; I got the opportunity to spend part of an evening with the band “You Say Party! We Say Die!” at a Bishops University show. After the concert, we parted ways as their band was whisked away to play another show in some obscure fishing town on the New Brunswick coast and we headed to the inevitable beer smash-down at the legendary “Golden Lion”. Though I didn’t get spend much time with them, I remember telling my friends how I really liked hanging with their drummer, Devon Clifford and hoped to run into him again on “the road”. Devon had a great sense of humor, was a generally personable guy and a great drummer. Tragically, Devon passed away on April 18^th when he collapsed on stage at a show in Vancouver and died of a brain hemorrhage a few days later. Though I did not know him well, it just proves the age old adage, bad things happen to good people.

Recently, the band has announced they are back after a hiatus, appropriately dropping the “We Say Die” from their name. This is great news to me as their most recent album, XXXX, was one of my favorites of last year. It was a huge leap forward in both musical and lyrical maturity from the first albums straight up dance punk pop. Though upbeat, it has a haunting quality that really gets me in the sweet spot. I still listen to XXXX often and find it especially gratifying when I am navigating the mean streets on my bike and pretending I am a participant in a “Tour de France” type racing event.

One of my favorite songs on XXXX is “Laura Palmer’s Prom”. This video was recorded on the CBC’s radio show “Q” in Toronto and really shows Devon’s fine and fluid stick moves. RIP.

Peters’ Pick: Now Featuring Words Such As “Dulcet” and “Mid-tempo Gods”

Peters — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:00:59 +0000

If someone asked me why I love music, and why I loved rock music especially, I would play them Rhiannon by the holy mid-tempo gods, Fleetwood Mac. This song can knock me out of any funk you can imagine. Just gored by a bull? Put on Rhiannon. Your girlfriend just had a threesome with a couple of midget circus clowns? Stevie’s dulcet tones will cure all your ills. You just realized that you just wasted the last 42 years of your life huffing glue in an alleyway? Mick Fleetwood’s drums will beat those blues away.

This song really is a prime example of how music can be the true emotional medicine. Recently I have been dealing with some moral dilemmas, most importantly, “how do I join the ever pressing adult world while keeping my street cred?” That’s when I pop on some cool rock classics like Rhiannon and realize that as long as my future kids know their Dad rocks to Fleetwood when he is driving them in the minivan to soccer practice, I have nothing to worry about.

This live version of the song is from a hip British show called “Midnight special” which is avaiIable on DVD. I highly recommend it to anyone up at 4 AM making grilled cheese and watching infomercials; three easy payments and it’s yours. The guitar solo half way through is worth it alone. Also, Stevie Nicks proves here why she is THE original rock babe. The voice, the looks, the drug habit…..amazing. Just watch the last minute of the video and you’ll get my drift. On a side note, I’m happy to see that Stevie still has it. At this year’s grammy awards, she gave current teen dream Taylor Swift a left uppercut/ right jab combo to the vocal chords. It was slightly shameful seeing my 70s goddess singing about some adolescent crush however.

Rhiannon can be played anywhere and anytime and you won’t get a complaint from me, this whole performance just oozes everything that was good about the 70s.

Neko Case: This Peters’ Pick Loves You

Peters — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:00:15 +0000

Although it’s a little late for a “year in review” piece, I would be remiss not to talk about my hands down favorite song of 2009. As a bonus, this pick also doubles as an open love letter to the song’s singer. Neko Case has a voice so rich you could by a small Indonesian island with it. It makes me think of all sorts of great things like winter nights in a pine forest or summer days in an old wooden barn (I LOVE old wooden barns). She has songs that make you want to cry and others that make you want to create your own maps in a medieval dungeon workshop.

The specific song, “This tornado loves you” has all the elements needed for an all-time classic. It has great lyrics; I especially love the line, “I’ve waited with a glacier’s patience”. The frantic guitars mesh seamlessly with her singing. It just works as a mid-tempo country-rock masterpiece. Plus, it is about a tornado falling in love with someone which is super weird and awesome.

As for Neko, here are some key facts why I am asking her to marry me:

She is a total babe. (I saw her at a bar in Montreal once and this fact is now scientifically confirmed)
She lives on a farm in Vermont with means she has an old wooden barn.
She wears David Suzuki tshirts on national American television shows.
On her latest record cover, she stands on a classic car in bare feet holding some sort of weapon.
That god damn voice.

Peters’ Pick: I’ll have a glass of Glenfiddich neat and some exposed support beams

Peters — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:35:35 +0000

I really believe there is something to the theory that the time of year affects what music we listen to. The eponymous new album by The xx is a great example. I picked this it up late summer, gave it a couple of listens, and threw it into Willy Wonka’s “bad egg” pile.

Fast forward a few months to the grey, desolate, windblown landscape of late November. This song shuffled onto my Ipod and screamed amazing at me with a bullhorn. There is something about its sparse, clean and simple tone that translates really well to this “only fun to be had is drinking a bunch of scotch in an unfinished basement and singing show tunes” time of year. The album has been playing on repeat ever since and has become one of my favorites of 2009. Sometimes you need something like a kick ass tune to get you through the doldrums to the crisp nights on the outdoor ice and the general winter frolicking just around the corner.

Peters’ Pick: British anthropologists baffled by the phrase “party 2.0″

Peters — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:30:12 +0000

Going back to school has put me, a relatively old guy, into a young guy world. Most of the time this is fine, but once in a while there is a cultural gap that makes me feel as though I am a British anthropologist studying the baffling mating habits of a small pygmy tribe in the dark heart of Africa. A prime example of this comes from the apparent slang terminology “party 2.0”. When I walk the halls and hang out near the commons, I hear this term everywhere. I still have no real concept of the proper context for it. It seems that a nice dinner can be “party 2.0” but so can a new shirt or a girl’s sexual prowess. All I do know about party 2.0 is that it makes me feel as up to date as a Sega Dreamcast. I have decided the only solution is to use the term as much as possible. Make it my own.

That being said, this song by Delorean is definitely “party 2.0”. It is sort of like a synth-hippy-rave jam out. I feel like you might hear it at a hemp bracelet making festival or at a topless Italian disco. Sometimes when I hear it, I “party 2.0” in my pants.

There is a live version from some “party 2.0” festival in Spain which has a pretty awesome light show. I also like that they have a live drummer not a machine drummer. You can find it here.

I like the recorded album version better though.

Peter’s Pick: Beck and Charlotte Gainsbourg – Heaven Can Wait

Peters — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:52:58 +0000

I recently stumbled across a new video for a Beck and Charlotte Gainsbourg in collaboration. I’m pretty well versed in Beck’s awesome freaky deaky videos and lyrics but Charlotte, and the Gainsbourgs in general, are an enigma to me. Some quick research revealed that although Charlotte is an accomplished singer and actress, her parents are the real cake makers here. This is what her parents looked like back in the day. If you are not the coolest person on the planet with parents like that, you were born with a prehensile tail (actually that might make you cooler too, damn.) Anyway, her father Serge was a super-uber singer/actor/famous dude who was even more famous for being a lecherous drunk. Just check out his slick pickup moves on a teenage Whitney Houston (seriously, check it out).

So the obvious question to ask is what could a mad genius like Beck and a traumatized hipster protégée come up with for a video? The answer: A couple running on the beach with a broad sword, lesbians shopping for a shot gun, a skateboard on hamburgers, a dinosaur man in the bathtub, and a pancake astronaut.

And that’s only the first half of the video. The song is pretty great too. Enjoy.

Peters’ Pick: Sick like Gaborik

Peters — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:46:10 +0000

25 or 6 to 4 – Chicago

I was recently reading about how scientists were speculating that detonating a nuclear bomb in the eye of a hurricane could actually disperse the force of the winds and downgrade the impact. What? Wouldn’t it just create a radioactive hurricane? That sounds way worse to me. This got me thinking, didn’t pop-rock-jazz-fusion-second-only-to-the-Beach-Boys supergroup Chicago create a radioactive hurricane?

“25 or 6 to 4” by Chicago is an old school rock barrage of horns, awesome vocals, and insanely ridiculous guitar solos. In fact there is basically someone dropping a crazy solo in the background throughout the entire song. It makes me want to jump and high kick and shank someone with a broken whiskey bottle. I hope this song is wailing in the background if ever I’m in a beat-up pickup flooring it away from a radioactive hurricane.

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Empire State of Mind – Jay -Z

I agree with the general consensus that the new Jay-Z album is kind of middle of the road. Too bad because Jay-Z is hands down my favorite rapper and, by doing something average, he hurt my feelings. Luckily, there are still a couple of good tracks like “Empire State of Mind”, a love song to NYC. He raps about the Knicks and the Yankees, but where is the love for the Rangers? I would love to hear something like “I am dressier then Messier” or “my rapping is as sick as Gaborik “. But the real highlight of this song is Alicia Keys; that lady has got some serious pipes. It is not a mind-altering piece of art like “99 problems”, but it makes me strut a bit when I walk down the street because I feel 8% cooler than I actually am. What else do you need from a song? Sign me up.

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Take it or leave it – The Strokes

I recently saw this video from back when The Strokes were in their heyday and it totally blew me away. I dare you to watch this video and think it sucks. That’s how you know something is really good: it came out eight years ago and would still be as relevant and amazing as if it came out yesterday. These guys sort of single-handedly brought rock n roll back from its MC Mario-induced coma. Before this first album came out in 2001, Montreal only had a few small venues to see rock music. If you wanted to party, you had to expose yourself to techno DJs’ blippin and bloopin. Hats off to you, The Strokes, you saved my twenties.