Sunday, August 28, 2016

Not That Kind Of Girl

Here's a close cousin to the All Kindsa Girls mix from early in 2015. The theme is fairly obvious - maybe a little too obvious, because there's so many awesome "girl" songs to pick from that I've got a Volume 2 (which even kicks off with a whole different song called "Not That Kind of Girl") compiled already. It's not too late for suggestions though. In fact, I'd appreciate it because, in the realm of the obvious, I feel like some of the most obvious are eluding me.

He Looks Like Pete Murphy To Me

1. Rocket Not That Kind Of Girl
2. The YoYos Sunshine Girl
3. Nick Curran & the Low1ifes Reform School Girl
4. Materia1 Issue Ordinary Girl
5. Coyote Shivers Bisexual Girl
6. Miss 45 Weekend Girl
7. The Lime Spyders Slave Girl
8. Sun Wizard Golden Girl
9. Ike Rei11y Assassination Farm Girl
10. The Boyz Punk Rock Girl
11. The Paybacks Black Girl
12. The Stemms Sad Girl
13. The Undecided By Defau1t Nobody's Girl
14. Giant Sand Milkshake Girl
15. The Sorrows Lonely Girl
16. The Prissteens Party Girl
17. John Wes1ey Harding Goth Girl
18. The Muffz Rock and Roll Girl (Beat cover)
19. The Yum Yumz Imaginary Girl
20. Matthew Sweet American Girl (Petty cover)
21. The Nice Boyz Another Girl
22. The Greatest Liar Motel Girl
23. The Pogues London Girl
24. Brins1ey Schwarz Country Girl
25. S'Coo1 Girls Destiny Girl

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

A Tragic Sampler



Last week, the Tragica11y Hip's last show snuck up on me. I don't mean that I didn't know it was coming; I mean I didn't fully realize the magnitude of meaning the event would have on me. As the show began, I told my girlfriend (who is American) that I didn't know much of the band's music, and explained that for me they were like Pearl Jam or REM: all long-lived bands that followed their own peculiar muses with little consolation to the mass market and earned my respect more than my fandom. Nothing wrong with any of them, but I'm not getting the tattoo. And then, as the concert continued, I realized how many of the songs weren't just songs I knew, but songs that seemed part of my DNA.

This will not be a mix for Canadians. These songs most will already know all too well. These songs are the reason the band's final concert was such a big deal it facillitated the national broadcaster to postpone their coverage of the Olympics to air the entire show, uninterrupted and sponsor-free. These songs are why an entire nation was forced - relunctantly, tragically, and ultimately jubilantly - to come to terms with their own mortality as vocalist Gord Downie faced his own grim diagnosis so valiantly. These are the tracks that your typical Canadian will roll their eyes at while complaining that I forgot "Blow at High Dough" or "Nautical Disaster" or "place favorite Hip song here."

But these are also the songs that will be revelatory to people who are new to the band and remain kinda confused by it all - and that's who it's aimed at. If you find nothing here to like, then go no further. If, on the other hand, you find an entry point or two, then there's a 30 year discography to dig into. Take it slow and - as an entire nation learned so profoundly - enjoy every fleeting minute while you do.

One Nation Under Gord

1. Small Town Bringdown
2. Last American Exit
3. New Orleans is Sinking
4. Boots or Hearts
5. Little Bones
6. Long Time Running
7. Courage
8. Locked in the Trunk of a Car
9. Grace, Too
10. Ahead by a Century

Tracks 1, 2 from self-titled EP (1987)
Tracks 3, 4 from Up To Here (1989)
Tracks 5, 6 from Road Apples (1991)
Tracks 7, 8 from Fully, Completely (1992)
Track 9 from Day For Night (1994)
Track 10 from Trouble At The Hen House (1996)

Monday, August 1, 2016

BC Day

On the occasion of BC Day, August 1st, 2016, the Un-Herd Music presents a hastily assembled mix of artists hailing from the great province of British Columbia. I'm sure there's a bunch of omissions I'll remember tomorrow, but this isn't meant to be any kind of organized comprehensive best-of anyway. Maybe it'll become an annual event.

I Think We Can Overlook That Tonight

1. The Smugg1ers Vancouver BC
2. Mark K1einer Power Trio So Good To See You
3. The Yoko Casionos Cigregrettes
4. Jody Burch Rock & Roll Karma
5. Pink Mountaintops Through All The Worry
6. Sons of Freedom Super Cool Wagon
7. Art Bergmann (She) Hit Me
8. Rich Hope & His Evi1 Doers Sweet Vanilla
9. Vea1 Everybody Wants More Cocaine
10. Need1es//Pins Outta This Place
11. Jerk With a Bomb Those Hard Wrecks
12. Chains of Love In Between
13. The Manvi1s Pretty Bleed
14. John Ford Bullets For Dreamers
15. Jung1e Come Into My Life
16. New Pornographers The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism
17. Rat Si1o Oh, Fuck Off Tony
18. Pure Denial
19. S1ow Have Not Been The Same
20. Bum Bent on Being Bent
21. Grapes of Wrath Good To See You
22. The Circus in F1ames Down on the Fraser