February 2008 Archives

Best show yet, though the assembly was monumentally bewildering as the first hour had been sequenced multiple times. The only survivors of the vicious edit before the Nick Cave and Warren Ellis spotlight were the Radiohead to Pylon set, though I spent a good deal of time finding a non-corrupt version of Four Minute Warning since my copy cut out three minutes in (which won't do when the warning must be four minutes long. Plus six seconds).

Things clicked together when I found score excerpts on Carter Burwell's page devoted to No Country for Old Men, which was referenced in a CBC article on diagetic soundtracks, diagetic referring to on-screen sound whereby there's no "imaginary" music that wouldn't be heard by the people in the scene or the movie. I briefly tried coming up with a diagetic set, but that wasn't going to be easy to prepare in a week.

The first bit became a tribute to the Academy Awards, featuring some of the score and songs I had played in an earlier show, Episode 3. From there, the show crystallized as I found the Guitaro track, which was beautifully gauzy for me to find more shiny/noisy music. Afterwards, closing with Siouxsie to Mark Wilkinson to Junior Boys allowed for a gentle, though sinister, denouement. I was hoping to wedge in the PSA about organ donations in there but the timing was starting to slip.

For those of you expecting technical flaws, the only one I ran into is when the next host unintentionally poured out the coffee I had left outside the studio. I sorta forgot I left it there since I only had a few sips before going on air, only to find it gone once I queued up the last song. Gavin said it looked bad and old, which stems from the cinnamon sprinkled atop my latte. It's just as well since for the past six months, I had cut caffeine from my diet almost completely, with the odd bit once a week.

Otherwise, 'twas a line drive home run. Yea me.

Playlist follows:

At 3pm Friday, the message went out that the host for CITR's soul and R&B program Shake a Tail Feather [Podcast] had fallen ill. I agreed to fill-in for Jason, which gave me about six hours to prepare for airtime at 10 o'clock. Fortunately, one of my vaguely planned ahead shows had a small soul segment, which I fleshed out by combing my soul archives to fill out the entire two hour show.

So, for regular (?) listeners to my show, this fill-in was my first foray into one specific genre, and one that I'm sure few suspected that I dabbled in. There has been the odd soul song through past shows of mine, though they tended to be either heavily funky or super light. According to iTunes, I have enough material to cover a few more shows if need be, though I have to comb through some of the miscategorized albums to fully figure out what's what.

And overall, the show was solid, despite the tight deadline imposed on myself (somehow, I didn't include Booker T & the MG's song Time is Tight). Threading the show together was relatively straightforward once the songs were pared down to the 30+ that aired; since a lot of soul acts used the same musicians, either through the various labels' house bands or through travel, it was easy to spot commonalities.

The only major technical snafu involved my iPod locking up between Bettye Swann and Aretha Franklin, which required some on-the-fly troubleshooting. Thankfully, the laptop was ready to act as the backup, so a brief verbal segue covered up the change in cabling (though a bit of studio noise can be heard). Aside from that, there was a point where I had to wing together enrichment when I dug up the only Canadian soul album I could find in the station libraries (Wayne McGhie & the Sounds of Joy, which is a sweet little treasure from the past) to ensure I didn't utterly hose the Canadian content regulations.

However, one programming challenge arrived when the host for the next show showed up late (or at all?). Fortunately, I had some extra songs lined up since I had prepared for some overtime, though not an extreme amount. Since my regular show is only 90 minutes long, dealing with 120 minutes required some overcompensation on the usual programming. However, as you'll see in the MP3, the show went for 140+ minutes, which took more energy than I had left at that late hour. For the record, I'll state that two hours feels more complete than an hour and a half, since I'm usually still jazzed for more airtime at the end of any regular Radio Free GAK episode. But, naturally, 90 minutes is much better than 60 minutes, which is similar much better than no minutes at all, so I remain lucky enough as is.

Anyways, way too much blathering here. As I've said repeatedly through the broadcast, I wish Jason a speedy recovery and I didn't scratch the car up too horribly (I hope).

Playlist follows:

This was a fun show, both on air and off. Hopefully part of that merriment translated properly for those of you in the audience, but I scripted some segments to be more on the silly side rather than stupid (the faux-pilot announcement at the beginning and the attempt at reacting a scene from The Warriors being sorta highlights), found the more bizarre PSA's (though nothing will ever beat the Friends of CiTR advert) and ran with more fun tunes, especially the covers.

Behind the scenes, I got to the station early after a longer-than-expected bike ride in the relatively warm sunlight (fun fact for non-Vancouverites: today was the first day when the temperature was done in the usual warm weather way, whereby the initial temperature is followed with the slightly cooler temperature by the water). UBC was surround with a light mist, cooling the air noticeably. I hung out with some of the news and arts teams, some of whom were running into technical difficulties with recording telephone interviews when not shooting the breeze about lighter topics. As some songs played, I had visitors sitting in the studio with me, playing with the most recent addition of the totems I bring with me when on air: an old Lupin the 3rd doll I found at the Kitsilano Sally Ann for $2. (Sometime, I'll properly highlight the weird distractions I carry in for luck.)

As songs go, the Breakbot song was a blessed find from one of the MP3 blogs I spin through: Hyperbole. The X -> LCD Soundsystem -> Poni Hoax sequence came out from the iPod shuffle during one walk around False Creek. The Epoxies cover of the Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains was something I had in my collection of music for years, but I was floored to discover that the station had a better quality version of the song in their archives, which came from the Dirtnap Across The Northwest compilation. That compilation includes a lot of Vancouver bands, though some defunct like the New Town Animals.

Playlist follows:

From a technical standpoint, the show was pretty steady. The only obvious slip was blowing the intro to the Stereoheroes track by playing an empty CD player for a few seconds. At another point, a second song was starting up in the background as something else was broadcast, but I caught it before the eager song really picked up.

However, the primary error I ran into was during Red Astaire's Song to Angie, a caller asked what the sampled vocals were from. I didn't manage to write that bit of info down at the time, but before the song ended, a quick Google search brought me to Angie Stone, who originally sang Wish I Didn't Miss You on 2001's Mahogany Soul album, out on J Records. However, I retrieved half that info in time for the segue, relaying the rest about Angie Stone at the next break. The sad part was that I had that information at one point as I compiled the playlist, but I edited it out and blanked out when asked. Not a major issue, but yet another to bear in mind when preparing shows going forward.

Great track, nonetheless. Of the initial versions of the first half hour of episode #5, Song to Angie was the only cut that survived the mighty scalpel. Originally, there were going to be more tracks in the vein of the Stereoheroes, drifting more into the early 1980s synth sound that collectives like Valerie champion. I'll probably place acts like Maethelvin, Narctrax and Digikid-84 later, but the flow in the first half hour felt bogged down. The Portobella fit snugly in their place, which has been a track I've been hoping to air for two years now (it didn't survive the cut during my shared two and a half hour slot with Mr. Kent and Mr. Faulconer on CILU back in June 2006).

One fact I'm particularly proud of, which is utterly unimportant; this was the first show that was (pretty much) done to the letter. There are going to be no carryover tracks to the next week's programme, meaning that I don't have to relocate albums or songs. Another thing I'm happy about – the Oscar nominees for best score have been completed in this their third week, which was a good topical bit to explore but the typical scores that get nominated aren't the sort I typically listen to. This means more time to devote to my more favourite odder gooses from the cinematic realm.

Playlist follows:

Overall, a solid show. Obviously, comfort is kicking in slowly though the first minute or so remains a basket full of nerves. The previous host, Henry, had to take off in a hurry, which gave me some unprecedented setup time.

The main change is that I used my iPod for the bulk of MP3's, though there was a set where I switched back to the laptop to compare sound quality (which led to my main mistake for the evening: forgetting to take the cue off when I was trying to get some cue music for the concert listings. So I miscued the cue, which joins the mental list of "Things to be aware of when mixing live"). The iPod sounded a bit flat when compared to the laptop, though the last half hour sounded fine when working with the less compressed soundtrack pieces. I may have to tinker with the equalizer to see if there's a optimal setting, though based on the options, each song may require its own setting. I also dropped 3 CD's in the show, which continue to broadcast the highest fidelity. I should try some vinyl soon (outside of Burli however; I played the Aislers Set a few weeks ago from a recorded seven inch).

The show flowed all right, especially the clean mixing in the first half hour. My current thoughts have the last half hour dragging a touch though, probably since the pieces rang longer than I initially thought. Part of that stems from my jostling of soundtrack selections almost up until airtime, but another part is from some behind-the-scenes action: I'm in the first week of a new apartment and I'm still not sleeping properly. I think the apartment is too quiet yet the walls are too thin, meaning amongst the still of the night, whenever the dreaded elevator is used, or footfalls clack on the tiled lobby floor, I'm up. I'm trying earplugs now, which makes me feel shut off from existence, thus makes me uncalm. I need white noise, or evening baths, or something.

Next week's show should wrap up the Oscar nominated scorework, which though important, allows me to move back to the weirder soundtracks out there which are starting to form a logjam through my cachet of selections. I'm also looking to do some theme shows soon, right now centring on covers, space and the ever-so-critical Canada-only focus.

Playlist follows: