Five-by-Five: Canadians of the 80s

I'm a Canadian, living in Canada and I grew up on Canadian radio and video stations that had to play 30% "Canadian content". So that, combined with the fact that we have some amazingly talented musicians here in the great white north, means that I like a lot of Canadian music. Here are some of my favourites from back in the 1980s.

This has got to be one of my all-time favourite tunes. It's from Markham Ontario band Blue Peter. It's called "Don't Walk Past".

Stream "Don't Walk Past"

Here's an intense tune from Dalbello called "Gonna Get Close to You". I'm not even gonna mention the cover version by metallers Queensryche.

Rough Trade were a provocative band that were breaking down the walls of prejudice 30 years ago. Here's one of my favourites, "All Touch".

Images In Vogue had Robert Smith-influenced haircuts but produced their own magnificent brand of pop music, as evidenced by the amazingly catchy "Call It Love". I wish I could find the backwards version "Evol Ti Llac" on-line.

Teenage Head with two versions of "Picture My Face". The first from their self titled début (which technically came out in 1979, but whatever) and the second from their 2008 album with Marky Ramone on drums.

Songs that made me smile

I was listening to some random tunes the other day and I noticed a few that made me smile. See if they do the same for you.

Those Dancing Days "I'll Be Yours" from Daydreams And Nightmares,

Guards "Ready to Go" from In Guards We Trust,

The New Amsterdams "Fountain of Youth" from 2008's At The Foot Of My Rival,

Eleanor Friedberger "Stare at the Sun" from her latest Personal Record,

and The Subways "I Wanna Dance With You" from 2011's Money And Celebrity.

Superchunk hate music, release new music

Awesome alternative rock band Superchunk have released a new album called I Hate Music. Here's the video for the track "Me & You & Jackie Mittoo". It sounds awesome. So, listen already, would ya?

And here's "FOH". Another great tune from I Hate Music.

If this is what hating music sounds like, then I hate music, too!

New Frightened Rabbit song

Frightened Rabbit have a new EP called Late March, Death March out across the pond. It will be out September 10 in North America. The title track is from Pedestrian Verse, and there are three new tracks, like the previously unheard "Radio Silence", and a live track.



Here's an acoustic version of "Radio Silence",

Here's "Late March, Death March",

And here's a cool acoustic version of "If You Were Me" courtesy of NME.

If you haven't seen this band live, and you definitely should, they're playing in Toronto on October 17 at Kool Haus. So glad I was able to see them at the Phoenix.

Two more new Nine Inch Nails songs from Hesitation Marks

As is the trend these days, Nine Inch Nails is releasing a bunch of tunes (4 so far) from their forthcoming September 3 release Hesitation Marks. I posted "Came Back Haunted" and "Copy of A" previously. Here are the energetic and up-tempo "Everything" and the intense "Find My Way".

They're, like, taped off the radio. How retro.

I am seriously looking forward to their show in Toronto on October 4.

The New Pornographers and Cuff the Duke put on great free show at the CNE's Bandshell Park

I was surprised when I heard that one of my favourite bands, The New Pornographers, were playing at the Bandshell at the CNE. I wasn't expecting them to come through town to do a free show at our annual summer fair. I figured that the next time I would have an opportunity to see them would be when they came through town promoting their next album. Well, I'm glad to be wrong.

I think the band was new to a lot of people, and perhaps that was the point, although I don't know if the commentary on Twitter about New Pornographers at CNE that demonstrated that some people had no idea they are a band, or someone in the crowd asking "Are these the porno people?" during Cuff the Duke's set, was really what they had in mind. No matter, I'm sure they turned a lot of people on to their catchy power pop.

"Moves" from Together was a great set opener. The band was in fine form and sounded great. The moved through a setlist that showcased their entire discography from 2000's Mass Romantic, through 2003's Electric Version, 2005's Twin Cinema, 2007's Challengers, and 2010's Together. Sadly, we didn't hear any new tunes.

Highlights for me were "Moves", "The Laws Have Changed", "Crash Years", "From Blown Speakers", "Jackie, Dressed in Cobras", "Use It", "Mass Romantic", "The Bleeding Heart Show" and show closer "Twin Cinema". Pretty much all these tunes are featured below.

Since this was my first time seeing The New Pornographers, I was surprised at how they treated Dan Bejar's participation. He basically came out for the songs he sings on, and then retreated back stage for the other tunes. Frankly, Dan's songs are not typically my favourites and I found it a bit odd.

Overall, The New Pornographers brought all I could hope for (except maybe for Neko Case herself) and I'm looking forward to their new album, whenever they plan to release it.

"Moves" from Together

"Myriad Harbour" from Challengers

"The Laws Have Changed" from Electric Version

"Crash Years" from Together

"From Blown Speakers" from Electric Version

"Jackie, Dressed in Cobras" from Twin Cinema

"Use It" from Twin Cinema

"Mass Romantic" from Mass Romantic

"The Bleeding Heart Show" from Twin Cinema

"Twin Cinema" from Twin Cinema

Cuff the Duke did a good job warming up the crowd. I'm not a huge alt-country fan, so it's no wonder that I didn't know Cuff the Duke beyond their name. Live, I found that the country twang didn't come across to heavily and I would have described them as more of a roots band than an alt-country band based on the live show.

You can see what Cuff the Duke played by clicking through to their setlist. Here are a couple of tracks that I enjoyed:

"Count on Me" from Morning Comes

"Side by Side" from Union

New Yuck album Glow & Behold on the way; new tune!

Yuck released the aptly titled tune "Rebirth" last month. Now they've released another tune as well as the October 1 release date for their new album Glow & Behold. Check out the loud, swirly guitars and cool melodies of "Middle Sea" below.

Five-by-Five: A smattering of awesome tunes

Sometimes there's some kind of rational thread that holds these Five-by-Five posts together. Today there isn't. Hope you enjoy the tunes nonetheless.

This is a great track from The Courteeners called "Not Nineteen Forever" from their 2008 album St. Jude.

Here are two awesome Clash songs that I remember from my childhood, both from the 1979 classic London Calling.

"Train In Vain"

"Lost in the Supermarket"

I must have discovered Guillemots through their nomination for The Mercury Prize. This is one of my favourite songs of theirs "Trains to Brazil" from the 2006 release Through The Windowpane.

Years ago I saw a cool video of a group playing acoustically at a party. You could easily believe it was a hipster bash in Soho. And I was sure the band was The Oohlas. Of course, I can't find this video now.

But here's a great song by The Oohlas. It's "Lemming's Anthem" from their 2009 album Chinchilla.

Juliana Hatfield and Nada Surf's Matthew Caws are Minor Alps

I've been a big fan of Juliana Hatfield since 1993's Become What You Are. I've also been a fan of Nada Surf for quite a while. Now Juliana Hatfield and Nada Surf's Matthew Caws have teamed up as Minor Alps.

Here's a mellow, cool-sounding tune with great harmonies called "Buried Plans" from their forthcoming début album Get There, which comes out October 29.

Editors new video for Formaldehyde

Editors new album The Weight Of Your Love is out now. I posted the tune "A Ton of Love" back in May and now they have a cool video for the song "Formaldehyde".

And Rolling Stone has a sparse and emotive solo acoustic version of "Honesty".

Great tunes from Savoir Adore

Looks like the good folks over at Brooklyn Vegan are producing their own content. Savoir Adore are the fifth band to be featured on BV Presents. Check out some great sounding tunes, including a Purple Rain Prince cover.

"Beating Hearts"

"Dreamers"

"I Would Die 4 U"

I'm off to check out the rest of the BV Presents artists...

New clip from Yukon Blonde for Six Dead Tigers

When I saw the two-night Sex and Death shows that Stars put on at the Danforth Music Hall back in March, I got to see two great opening acts. Since I posted the new Said the Whale clip yesterday, and they opened for Stars, it's only fair that I feature the latest video from Yukon Blonde, who also had opening duties for Stars.

The tune is "Six Dead Tigers" and it's from the incredibly solid album Tiger Talk.

Hope you enjoy it.

Great new tune from Said the Whale called I Love You

Earlier this year, Said the Whale put out the I Love You EP featuring the track "I Love You". I caught them live opening for the amazing Stars, too.

Now they've announced the September 17 release of the full length album hawaiii. To coincide with the announcement, they've released a silly video for the great tune "I Love You". Check it out!

New Nine Inch Nails tune Copy of A

Nine Inch Nails new album Hesitation Marks is out September 3. We've heard "Came Back Haunted" and now we get to hear "Copy of A". I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of the album and to finally getting to see NIN live.

Five-by-Five: 2005 was a very good year

As I posted last week, 2005 stands out as an amazing year in music for me. I discovered some amazing bands and some of my favourite bands put out their strongest albums in 2005. Here's part two of my Five-by-Five post on amazing tunes from 2005.

"Monster Hospital" from Metric's guitar-driven Live It Out

"Sunken-Eyed Girl" from Mike Doughty's super-solid Haughty Melodic

"Anytime" from My Morning Jacket's unbelievably good Z

"Abel" from The National's near perfect Alligator

The title track from The New Pornographer's stupendous Twin Cinema

Not to mention Hard-Fi's The Stars of CCTV and Maximo Park's A Certain Trigger that I featured in another Five-by-Five post.

New Placebo tune called Too Many Friends

The always intensely awesome Placebo will release their new album Loud Like Love on September 17. We heard a bit of the title track in their album teaser and now we get to hear two full-length tracks. First, here's "Too Many Friends" along with a quirky, mysterious and unique video clip. It features the culturally significant Brett Easton Ellis.

And here's the lyric video for "Loud Like Love".

I think this is going to be a great album. Can't wait!

New Cults: I Can Hardly Make You Mine

I really enjoy the smooth indie pop sounds of Cults. Tunes like "Abducted", "Go Outside" and "You Know What I Mean" from their eponymous 2011 album are awesome. Their new album Static comes out October 15. This is "I Can Hardly Make You Mine" and it sounds great.

New music from Joan Jett: Any Weather on Kimmel

Joan Jett is what you might call a rock and roll survivor. She was in The Runaways, which formed in the latter half of the 70s. She achieved blockbuster success with the song and the album I Love Rock and Roll in the early 80s. And she's never truly stopped rockin' out.

Her latest album Unvarnished comes out October 1. Here she is kickin' it out on Jimmy Kimmel with the tune "Any Weather". The new album features guest appearances from Dave Grohl and Against Me!’s Laura Jane Grace. Lookin' forward to it!

Haerts video for All the Days

I was impressed enough with Haerts' music to post two songs from their forthcoming album. Now we know that the début is an EP called Hemiplegia and that it's coming out September 17.

Here's a video for "All the Days" from Hemiplegia.

New Jane's Addiction track Another Soulmate

If you knew I had a choice between posting this new Jane's Addiction song and posting the nude video of Lady Gaga that's been circulating around the internet and you knew it didn't take more than a second to choose the Jane's Addiction track would you be proud of me?

And if you knew I wrote this just to get some search hits for "Lady Gaga nude video" - since "P!nk nude" is one of the searches that brings a lot of people to this site even though there are no nude P!nk pictures here - would you be ashamed of me?

Whatever your judgement - and who are you to judge, anyway!?! - check out this absolute rocker from Jane's Addiction called "Another Soulmate" cuz, well, we could all use another soulmate, right?



And if you really want to see that Lady Gaga nude video, just click here.

New MGMT song Your Life Is A Lie

Like many, many people, I love MGMT's 2007 début album Oracular Spectacular. Perhaps on purpose, their subsequent output has never hit the popularity of that début. They released Congratulations in 2010 and now have an eponymous album coming out September 17.

Will "Your Life Is A Lie" hit the earworm status of songs like "Time to Pretend", "Kids" and "Electric Feel"? I guess only time will tell.

For now, listen to brand new MGMT.

And if you missed it before, check out MGMT's Record Store Day tune "Alien Days", which will be on their new album, too.

Five-by-Five: 2005 was a very good year

2005 stands out as an amazing year in music for me. I discovered some amazing bands and some of my favourite bands put out their strongest albums in 2005. Here's part one of a two-part Five-by-Five post on amazing tunes from 2005.

"Helicopter" from Bloc Party's incredible début Silent Alarm. One of the most frantically amazing albums from front to back.

"An Honest Mistake" from The Bravery's eponymous 80s tribute

"7/4 Shoreline" from Broken Social Scene's amazing self-titled album

"Munich" from Editors unparalleled The Back Room

"Broken Ship" from Immaculate Machine's Ones and Zeros

Video for Chvrches' The Mother We Share

Hey, everybody, it's Friday! A great day to get happy with the official video for the first song I ever heard from Scotland's Chvrches. I love this song. It was number 28 on my favourite tunes of last year list and I posted it at the end of October 2012.

So listen to the polished new version with the new video and start your weekend right.

Chvrches début full-length album The Bones Of What You Believe comes out September 24.

Never before heard Stars song Wishful

Stars are releasing two never before heard songs from The North sessions. The songs are "Wishful" and "The Light". Limited edition 7" vinyl is available September 1 and the songs are available digitally September 10.

Check out "Wishful". Great tune!

Great tunes from Haim's forthcoming album Days Are Gone

Haim, the Los Angeles quartet who released the earworm "Forever", which came in at number 35 on my top tunes of 2012 list, have finally given us a release date for their début full length. The album will be called Days Are Gone and it will be out September 30.

Here's a smattering of songs from the album:

The new single "The Wire",


The official audio for "Let Me Go",

The video for "Don't Save Me". I posted this song late last year.

The video for "Falling",

And if you've never heard "Forever" check out this post or check out the great performance of the tune on Letterman below.

New song by Mounties: If This Dance Catches On

Back in January, I posted the ridiculously catchy song "Headphones" by Mounties. They've released another track called "If This Dance Catches On". It's pretty groovy, too.

Cam Jones

Writing about music that you like sounds like an easy thing to do. And picking some tunes and posting about them can be quite easy. Explaining why you like a song and why someone else should like it is harder. It gets you into a world of subjectivity and intangibles. The same words come up again and again and start to sound meaningless. Over the years I've ended up coming back to one word consistently that describes the music that I like. It all shows passion. There's energy, emotion and commitment. There's excitement. Yes, "passion" is something that I like in the music I like.

I started listening to Cam Jones' music and right away I heard it. Passion. He's emotive in both his guitar playing and his singing. It comes through in the songs. Give it a listen. I hope you agree.

Five-by-Five: Great UK bands

Why does the UK have such a stronghold on freaking awesome bands? I was grooving to a playlist of 5-star songs and I heard Radiohead, The Kooks, Biffy Clyro, Hard-Fi, and Maxïmo Park. Rule Britannica!

"High And Dry" by Radiohead from 1995's The Bends

"Naive" by The Kooks from 2006's Inside In Inside Out

"Saturday Superhouse" by Biffy Clyro from 2007's Puzzle

"Hard to Beat" by Hard-Fi from 2005's Stars of CCTV

"Graffiti" by Maxïmo Park from 2005's A Certain Trigger

New Sebadoh track I Will

J. Mascis' Dinosaur Jr. bandmate Lou Barlow has his own band, Sebadoh. They've been around since '86 and have a new album Defend Yourself coming out September 17. Here's the first single, the guitar heavy 90's sounding track, "I Will". It starts off nice and mellow and amps up the intensity as it progresses.



They've also released a video for the track "All Kinds".

New video for The 1975's Sex

From the instant I first heard it, I loved The 1975's tune "Sex". It was #17 on my top tunes of 2012. They've got their first full-length album coming out September 3 and they've just released this new clip for the great tune. If you haven't heard it, check it out below and see what you think.