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Playlist for History of Us - August 12, 2014

2014-08-14T17:38:00.001-04:00

The B-52's - Planet Claire
The Cars - Moving In Stereo
Duran Duran - The Chauffeur
Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon
Sinéad O'Connor - Troy
The Psychedelic Furs - President Gas
The Clash - The Guns of Brixton
The Jam - Going Underground
Talking Heads - Crosseyed and Painless
A Flock of Seagulls - Space Age Love Song
The Human League - Love Action (I Believe In Love)
New Order - True Faith
The Diodes - Cat Walker
Blue Peter - Video Verite
The Pursuit of Happiness - Killed By Love
The Specials - Man At C&A
Fun Boy Three - The Lunatics(Have Taken Over the Asylum)
The English Beat - Whine and Grine/Stand Down Margaret
General Public - General Public
Orange Juice - Rip It Up
Romeo Void - Never Say Never
Tones On Tails - Go
The Cure - Charlotte Sometimes
Vital Sines - Collage
Joy Division - Shadow Play
Altered Images - Happy Birthday
Chalk Circle - 20th Century Boy
Images In Vogue - Call It Love
Teenage Head - Top Down
Joe Jackson - Look Sharp!
David Bowie - Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)
Simple Minds - Someone Somewhere In Summertime

ctrl + alt + retro - Friday, January 3, 2014

2013-12-30T14:08:00.001-05:00

I was back at Paddy Flaherty's in Sarnia spinning retro alternative music from the seventies, eighties & nineties. Here is the playlist. Hoping to be back soon.

Sex Pistols - EMI (Orchestral)
The Clash - The Guns of Brixton
The Demics - New York City
The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner
The Jam - Going Underground
Teenage Head - Brand New Cadillac
The Vapors - Turning Japanese
Toby Swann - Somewhere Over the Rainbow
The Diodes - Cat Walker
The Dead Milkmen - Punk Rock Girl
The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
Dead Kennedys - Holiday In Cambodia
Iggy & The Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog
Violent Femmes - Kiss Off
Wall of Voodoo - Mexican Radio
Radiohead - Anyone Can Play Guitar
The Cranberries - Zombie
The Bangles - Hazy Shade of Winter
The Lemonheads - Mrs. Robinson
Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend
Nirvana - Lithium
13 Engines - Smoke & Ashes
Hole - Miss World
Dinosaur Jr. - The Wagon
Weezer - Buddy Holly
Veruca Salt - Seether
Concrete Blonde - God Is A Bullet
The Timelords - Doctorin' the Tardis
Pulp - Common People
Supergrass - Pumping On Your Stereo
Ned's Atomic Dustbin - Kill Your Television
Kula Shaker - Revenge of the King
Inspiral Carpets - Commercial Reign
Blur - There's No Other Way
The Charlatans - Weirdo
The Stone Roses - She Bangs The Drums
Kasabian v The Stone Roses - Processed Waterfall
Kasabian - Fire
Happy Mondays - 24 Hour Party People
Specimen - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
The B-52's - Private Idaho
Madness - One Step Beyond
The Specials - Gangsters
The English Beat - Mirror In The Bathroom
Pigbag - Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag
Tones On Tail - Go! (Club Mix)
Yello - Oh Yeah
New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
Divine - You Think You're a Man
Talk Talk - It's My Life (Extended)
Spoons - Nova Heart
Nine Inch Nails - Ringfinger
Joy Division - Transmission
Siouxsie & The Banshees - Cities In Dust
The Police - Can't Stand Losing You
U2 - Paint It, Black
Semisonic - Closing Time
Sisters of Mercy - Gimme Shelter
Bauhaus - Telegram Sam
Ultravox - Sleepwalk
Japan - Adolescent Sex
Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy
Tom Tom Club - Genius of Love
Talking Heads - Take Me To The River
Doctor & The Medics - Spirit in the Sky
Flash and the Pan - Hey, St. Peter
Roxy Music - Love Is The Drug
The Jesus & Mary Chain - Happy When It Rains

ctrl + alt + retro - Friday, November 22, 2013

2013-12-30T13:45:00.003-05:00

I believe this was the first time that Paddy Flaherty's in Sarnia had a DJ as they usually have live music on the weekends. Here is hoping this I get to DJ here more often. Long live live music too!

The Cars - Moving In Stereo
David Bowie - Space Oddity
The Chameleons UK - Moonage Daydream
The Police - Walking On The Moon
The B-52's - Planet Claire
Peter Schilling - Major Tom
The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?
Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
Kraftwerk - The Model
The Payola$ - Eyes of a Stranger
Simple Minds - Waterfront
a-Ha - Take On Me
Elvis Costello - Radio, Radio
The Ramones - We Want the Airwaves
Blue Peter - Radio Silence
The Jam - The Eton Rifles
The Sex Pistols - Pretty Vacant
The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
Richard Hell & The Voidoids - Blank Generation
Echo & The Bunnymen - Do It Clean
R.E.M. - Driver 8
The Replacements - Kiss Me On The Bus
Beastie Boys - She's On It
Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
The Pretenders - Mystery Achievement
The Smithereens - Behind The Wall Of Sleep
Church - Under The Milky Way Tonight
Gene Loves Jezebel - Desire
The Cure - Friday I'm In Love
T.Rex - Jeepster
Siouxsie and The Banshees - The Passenger
Iggy Pop - Lust For Life
The Clash - London Calling
39 Steps - Slip Into the Crowd
The Damned - New Rose
The Call (feat, Jim Kerr & Peter Gabriel) - Everywhere I Go
Jona Lewie - Kitchen At Parties
The Psychedelic Furs - Pretty In Pink
Soft Cell - Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go (Extended)
Dead or Alive - You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)
Bananarama - Venus
Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax (New York Mix - The Original 12")
Depeche Mode Behind the Wheel - Route 66 Mega Mix
Men Without Hats - Where Do The Boys Go [Extended)
Re-Flex - The Politics Of Dancing
Gang Of Four - I Love A Man In Uniform
Moev - Yeah, Whatever (12")
Falco - Rock Me Amadeus
Yaz - Situation
B-Movie - Nowhere Girl (Extended Version)
INXS - The One Thing
Midnight Oil - Blue Sky Mine
Hoodoo Gurus - What's My Scene
That Petrol Emotion - Big Decision
Tears for Fears - Watch Me Bleed

Stardust Book Lounge Bash - November 9, 2013

2013-11-14T09:32:00.000-05:00

After 8 1/2 years, my friend Billie Jo sold her bookstore - Stardust Book Lounge - in Sarnia. She had a party at The Front Door to celebrate and thank friends so she invited me to DJ and Olenka to perform. I started the evening with a set of music that was somehow connected to books either by inspiration, song title, band name, or something more obscure. I even threw in a couple songs to pay homage to the name of the store. Between Olenka's sets, I played a selection of covers just for fun. After her second set, I turned things up a few notches because the book lovers were there to party.

Stars - My Favourite Book
Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights
The Police - Don't Stand So Close To Me
Led Zeppelin - Ramble On
The Smiths - Girlfriend In A Coma
Belle & Sebastian - Wrapped Up In Books
The Grapes Of Wrath - Misunderstanding
David Bowie - 1984
Radiohead - 2 + 2 = 5
Bauhaus - Ziggy Stardust
Generation X - Kiss Me Deadly
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Woodstock
The Doors - Love Her Madly
The Beatles - Paperback Writer
Better Than Ezra - Good
Bad Religion - Stranger Than Fiction
The Marble Index - This Book
Nouvelle Vague - Guns of Brixton
Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Redemption Song
Johnny Cash - Personal Jesus
U2 - Dancing Barefoot
Violent Femmes - Do You Really Want to Hurt Me
Echo & The Bunnymen - People Are Strange
Wall of Voodoo - Ring of Fire
Crystal Castles(feat. Robert Smith) - Not In Love
Radiohead - Lotus Flower
Joy Division - Transmission
Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
Happy Mondays - 24 Hour Party People
Talking Heads - Crosseyed and Painless
The B-52's - Private Idaho
Imelda May - Tainted Love
Violent Femmes - Gone Daddy Gone
Madness - One Step Beyond
The Specials - Gangsters
The English Beat - Mirror In The Bathroom
Pigbag - Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag
Tones On Tail - Go! (Club Mix)
The Fratellis - Flathead
Caesars - Jerk It Out (US Mix)
LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk Is Playing At My House
The Cure - Why Can't I Be You?
The Smiths - What Difference Does It Make?
Romeo Void - Never Say Never
Joe Jackson - I'm the Man
Teenage Head - Let's Shake
Men Without Hats - Where Do The Boys Go
Blancmange - Blind Vision
Falco - Vienna Calling
Dead or Alive - You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)
Re-Flex - The Politics Of Dancing
New Order - Blue Monday

A Heartfelt Evening - May 29, 2013

2013-05-29T22:32:00.001-04:00

I was honoured to be invited to DJ a benefit for the John Gordon Home - an AIDS hospice in London Ontario Canada. At the request of the Executive Director Bruce Rankin, I programmed an evening of music where all songs had the word "heart" in the title and/or the lyrics. I filled 3 hours with the playlist below, but I had enough music for 5 hours. Now I cannot take full credit for the song selection...Bruce made some great suggestions included below.

Raised By Swans - We Were Never Young
Sinéad O'Connor - You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart
The Grapes Of Wrath - Breaks My Heart
Starsailor - Restless Heart
To Hell With Burgundy - Heart
Nouvelle Vague - Heaven
Ian Brown - Home Is Where The Heart Is
Portishead - Glory Box
Radiohead - Lotus Flower
Crystal Castles (feat. Robert Smith) - Not In Love
Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy
Sade - Soldier Of Love
Alpha Yaya Diallo - The Climate Is the Heart
The English Beat - I Confess
Grace Jones - Ring Of Fire
Marianne Faithfull - Sweetheart
Bob Marley & The Wailers - Buffalo Soldier
Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken
The Proclaimers - Make My Heart Fly
B I E D E R B E C K - Hearts Home
Neil Young - Heart Of Gold
Blue Rodeo - Heart Like Mine
Johnny Cash - Sea Of Heartbreak
Olenka And The Autumn Lovers - Louise Of Littleville
Crash Vegas - I Gave You My Heart
Morrissey - Irish Blood, English Heart
Four Tops - Bernadette
The Style Council - A Solid Bond In Your Heart
Earth, Wind & Fire - Sing A Song
Mary J. Blige - Be Happy
Soft Cell - Where The Heart Is
Imelda May - Tainted Love
Tim Booth & Angelo Badalamenti - Heart
Manic Street Preachers - You Stole The Sun From My Heart
The Psychedelic Furs - Heartbreak Beat
Talking Heads - This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)
Blondie - Heart Of Glass
New Order - Regret
The Cure - Friday I'm In Love
Spoons - Nova Heart
Jeff Beck & Yardbirds - Heart Full Of Soul
Stevie Nicks - Stop Draggin' My Heart Around
Metric - Help I'm Alive

Playlist for History of Us - January 3, 2012

2012-01-04T09:44:00.009-05:00

Spoons - Trade Winds
Spoons - Smiling In Winter
Spoons - Nova Heart
Images In Vogue - Lust for Love
A Flock of Seagulls - Telecommunication
Heaven 17 - (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thing
Soft Cell - Chips On My Shoulder
Sex Pistols - EMI (Orchestral)
The Ramones - We Want the Airwaves
Teenage Head - Let's Shake
The Dead Milkmen - Punk Rock Girl
The Smiths - Rubber Ring
The Jam - The Eton Rifles
The Clash - The Magnificent Seven
The Chameleons UK - Moonage Daydream
Chalk Circle - 20th Century Boy
Blue Peter - Radio Silence
The Pursuit of Happiness - I'm an Adult Now
The Stone Roses - Elephant Stone
The Charlatans UK - The Only One I Know
Happy Mondays - 24 Hour Party People
That Petrol Emotion - Big Decision
Hoodoo Gurus - What's My Scene
The Smithereens - Top Of The Pops
Wall of Voodoo - Mexican Radio
Joy Division - Transmission
New Order - Subculture
Echo & The Bunnymen - Do It Clean
Depeche Mode - New Dress (RZMD Mix)
Nitzer Ebb - Lightning Man
Love and Rockets - Motorcycle
Bauhaus - She's In Parties
Sisters of Mercy (ft. Ofra Haza) - Temple of Love (1992)

undertones @ The Morrissey House - November 26, 2011

2011-11-17T22:29:00.010-05:00

The Playlist

Nouvelle Vague - I Melt With You
Nouvelle Vague - Guns of Brixton
Nouvelle Vague - Teenage Kicks
Biederbeck - Hearts Home
Bad Lieutenant - Sink or Swim
It's Immaterial - Driving Away From Home
Best Coast - Summer Mood
Camera Obscura - French Navy
Pixies - Where Is My Mind?
Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
The Pretenders - Mystery Achievement
The Smithereens - Behind The Wall Of Sleep
The Ramones - We Want the Airwaves
The Diodes - Tired Of Waking Up Tired
The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
Dum Dum Girls - Bedroom Eyes
Metric - Sick Muse
Arcade Fire - Wake Up
Olenka and The Autumn Lovers - Sparrow
They Might Be Giants - Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
Phoenix - Lisztomania
The Fratellis - Flathead
Caesars - Jerk It Out
The Hives - Tick Tick Boom
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Stop
The Timelords - Doctorin' the Tardis
Oasis - Roll With It
Arctic Monkeys - Fake Tales Of San Francisco
Kula Shaker - Revenge of the King
Inspiral Carpets - Commercial Reign
Blur - There's No Other Way
The Charlatans - Weirdo
The Stone Roses - She Bangs The Drums
Kasabian v The Stone Roses - Processed Waterfall
Kasabian - Fire
Happy Mondays - 24 Hour Party People
Handsome Furs - Repatriated
The Clash - The Magnificent Seven
Radiohead - Lotus Flower
Crystal Castles - Not In Love (feat. Robert Smith)
The Cure - Why Can't I Be You?
The Smiths - What Difference Does It Make?
Echo & The Bunnymen - Do It Clean
Romeo Void - Never Say Never
Joe Jackson - I'm the Man
Teenage Head - Let's Shake
The B-52's - Private Idaho
Madness - One Step Beyond
The Specials - Gangsters
The English Beat - Mirror In The Bathroom
Pigbag - Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag
Tones On Tail - Go! (Club Mix)
Specimen - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Men Without Hats - Where Do The Boys Go [Ext. 12" Mix)
Blancmange - Blind Vision
Falco - Vienna Calling
Dead or Alive - You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)
New Order - The Beach
Simple Minds - Waterfront
Nouvelle Vague - The American

Playlist for The Met Halloween Party - October 29, 2011

2011-10-31T15:15:00.005-04:00

Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead
Concrete Blonde - Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)
Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon
The Jesus & Mary Chain - Just Like Honey
The Chameleons UK - Swamp Thing
Generation X - Kiss Me Deadly
Joy Division - Dead Souls
Vital Sines - Collage
The B-52's - Planet Claire
Stray Cats - Stray Cat Strut
The Diodes - Cat Walker
The Cure - The Lovecats
Duran Duran - Hungry Like The Wolf
Sugarcubes - Delicious Demon
Love & Rockets - Haunted (When The Minutes Drag)
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Halloween
Ministry - Everyday Is Halloween
Oingo Boingo - Dead Man's Party
David Bowie - Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)
Peter Murphy - Fun Time
The Cult - She Sells Sanctuary
The Cars - Candy-O
Bow Wow Wow - I Want Candy
Gene Loves Jezebel - Desire
The Specials - Ghost Town
Bad Manners - My Girl Lollipop
The English Beat - Tears of a Clown
Madness - One Step Beyond
The B-52's - Private Idaho
The Cramps - The Creature from the Black Leather Lagoon
Teenage Head - Disgusteen
Teenage Head - Infected
Ramones - Pet Sematary
Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
Killing Joke - Eighties
Siouxsie & the Banshees - Spellbound
The Cure - The Hanging Garden
The Sisters Of Mercy - This Corrosion
New Order - Subculture
Gang Of Four - I Love A Man In Uniform
Divine - You Think You're a Man
Dead or Alive - You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)
Tones On Tail - Go! (Club Mix)
Nine Inch Nails - Ringfinger
Thompson Twins - Lies
Soft Cell - Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go
The Timelords - Doctorin' the Tardis
U2 - Paint It, Black
Sisters of Mercy - Gimme Shelter
Echo & The Bunnymen - People Are Strange
The Smiths - Bigmouth Strikes Again
XTC - The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead
The Church - Reptile
Joy Division - Atmosphere

Playlist for History of Us - July 26, 2011

2011-10-31T15:06:00.005-04:00

a-ha - The Sun Always Shines On T.V.
Billy Bragg - Levi Stubbs' Tears
Generation X - Kiss Me Deadly
Johnny Thunders - Eve of Destruction
The Jam - That's Entertainment
Felt - Primitive Painters
Cocteau Twins - Cherry-Coloured Funk
Depeche Mode - Shake The Disease
The Cure - Charlotte Sometimes
Simple Minds - Someone Somewhere In Summertime
Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Redemption Song
Violent Femmes - Do You Really Want to Hurt Me
Siouxsie and The Banshees - The Passenger
Echo & The Bunnymen - People Are Strange
U2 - Paint It, Black
Bauhaus - Telegram Sam
The Diodes - Red Rubber Ball
Teenage Head - Let's Shake
The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
The Ramones - Do You Remember Rock'n' Roll Radio?
Images In Vogue - In the House
Moev - Wanting
New Order - Shellshock
Soft Cell - Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go
Dead or Alive - You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)
Divine - You Think You're a Man
Sisters of Mercy - Temple of Love (featuring Ofra Haza)

Playlist for Canada Day - July 1, 2011

2011-10-31T14:46:00.006-04:00

Classified - Oh...Canada
Rival Boys - Movement
Rival Boys - Dark Science
The Fine Print - Last Night
Whipping Wind - Late Evening
NQ Arbuckle - Happy Birthday
Allison Brown - If I Was A Weathergirl
Fred Eaglesmith & The Flying Squirrels Big Hair
Blue Rodeo - Jokers Wild
Pink Moth - Carnival Girl
Raised By Swans - Longer Shadows, Shorter Days
Lido Pimienta - La Rata
Arcade Fire - Wake Up
Wolf Parade - California Dreamer
Controller Controller - City Of Daggers
Olenka And The Autumn Lovers - Go
Metric - Help I'm Alive
The Grapes Of Wrath - Misunderstanding
Crystal Castles - Not In Love (feat. Robert Smith)
Platinum Blonde - Doesn't Really Matter
Chalk Circle - 20th Century Boy
Blue Peter - Radio Silence
The Diodes - Cat Walker
Teenage Head - Brand New Cadillac
Pursuit of Happiness - I'm an Adult Now
Images In Vogue - Lust for Love
Moev - Yeah, Whatever (12 ")

Playlist for April 20, 2010

2010-04-20T20:35:00.004-04:00

Olenka and The Autumn Lovers - When We Were Children
A Horse And His Boy - Creatures
Art Bergman - Faithlessly Yours
The Sex Pistols - EMI (Orchestral)
Morrissey - Irish Blood English Heart
The Sugarcubes - Delicious Demon
The Diodes - Catwalker
The Diodes - Tired of Waking Up Tired
Teenage Head - Brand New Cadillac
Joy Division - She's Lost Control
Lido Pimienta - Progreso
Massive Attack - Saturday Come Slow
The Good, The Bad & The Queen - History Song
Bad Lieutenant - Dynamo
Bad Lieutenant - Sink or Swim
Monaco - What Do You Want For Me?
Pink Moth - Forest Fires
Raised By Swans - Hail of Arrows
Wolf Parade - California Dreamer

Playlist for April 6, 2010

2010-04-06T20:34:00.003-04:00

Raised By Swans - The Past Is The Prey
Fraser - Tonight
Olenka and The Autumn Lovers - Ballad of Lonely Bear
Allison Brown - Petition
Allison Brown - Something Holy (Live in Studio)
Allison Brown - If I Was A Weather Girl (Live in Studio)
Allison Brown - The Nice Guy
Lido Pimienta - Humano
Lido Pimienta - Progresso
Lido Pimienta - Mueve
Lido Pimienta - La Mingo
A Priori - Salt Water Ballad
Off The International Radar - A Cold Mirror
Growing - Camera 84
A Horse and His Boy - In The Lights

Playlist for March 23, 2010

2010-03-23T20:03:00.004-04:00

Yellow Dog - Sugarush
YellowDog - Little Owls
Sinead O'Connor - You Made Me The Thief of Your Heart
Gerard Mann - Cry Little Sister (Theme from The Lost Boys)
Nouvelle Vague - The American
Raised By Swans - Hail of Arrows
Triplight - Our Paradox
Black Feelings - Lost Ring Part 1
Five Star Trailer Park - Set Fire To Me
The Rez Bombs - Sweet Nymphomaniac
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (Live) - Weapon of Choice
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (Live) - Rise or Fall
Friendly Rich and the Lollipop People - Fatwa
A Horse And His Boy - Sidewalks
The Arcade Fire - Wake Up
The Arcade Fire - No Cars Go
Radiohead - Last Flowers To The Hospital
The Replacements - Alex Chilton

Playlist for March 9, 2010

2010-03-09T20:04:00.004-05:00

Raised By Swans - How Do These Hearts Unfold
Raised By Swans - The Past Is The Prey
Raised By Swans - Longer Shadows Shorter Days
Nouvelle Vague - Say Hello Wave Goodbye
Nouvelle Vague - Master and Servant
Nouvelle Vague - God Save The Queen
Basia Bulat - Go On
Basia Bulat - Run
Basia Buat - Sugar and Spice
Olenka and The Autumn Lovers - Ballad of Lonely Bear
Olenka and The Autumn Lovers - Northern Lights
Olenka and The Autumn Lovers - Kochana
Triplight - The Weight
Triplight - Blow Up The Moon
Triplight - Day By Day
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (LIVE) - Berlin
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (LIVE) - Red Eyes and Tears
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (LIVE) - Love Burns
Electric Six - Danger High Voltage
New Order - Subculture

Raised By Swans Interview (unedited)

2010-01-30T13:19:00.013-05:00

I sent Raised By Swans frontman Eric Howden a list of questions to help me write a 450 word article about the band and their new album, No Ghostless Place, for the February issue of The Beat. His response was a very candid and personal 2000+ words and they are posted here, unedited.

TPU: How does No Ghostless Place differ from Codes and Secret Longing (creatively, lyrically, production/recording process)?
EH: Most of me was sent to the manufacturing plant in late November, where my guts and most of my heart and brain were pressed into a thousand compact discs and then wrapped up in jewel cases. For Codes and Secret Longing the scraped-out effect wasn't so dramatic; with No Ghostless Place I think I've actually succeeded in crossing the line between putting a brave but still relatively comfortable amount of myself out there and going way, way, way too goddamn far - hahaha. That's certainly the difference creatively - more than ever before I was strangely compelled to empty myself out, but also to be a little more honest with myself in the process - and ideally, if I could possibly manage it, less despondent and self-centred in the way I approached the lyrics. As much as it might ache to listen to the songs, there's more hope in this album, more of a need to connect, even if the connections I always seem to imagine feel (literally) far away, like someone finding a CD of ours in a seashell on the shore of the Red Sea, or like someone finding a song in 2166, long after all of us are dead and gone, and osmosing it, or however the hell one will enjoy music nearly two hundred years from now. Lyrically, I was more aware of my words this time, and became obsessed with making almost every line/title have multiple meanings; there's a lot of wordplay happening on this album, which pleases me if no one else. But it's not gratuitous; there's nothing worse than being clever or enigmatic for no other reason than to appear clever or enigmatic. The layers are all carefully considered and I mean every word (twice - hahaha). I also love hiding secrets here and there; I want people who listen to find them like one finds scribbled things in margins or in the end pages of old books; clues, codes, coordinates, names, underlined or highlighted words/passages. As always, though, and this is not a difference but a similarity that I want to share, I wanted to shut myself away and devote myself to the songs, take as much time as I/we needed to take; in my mind, when you put your head down and shut out the world and make music because you love it ferociously, take your time even though it hurts to let time pass by as you work, that music is more likely to emerge purely, and as a result, to have staying power. Good songs, to me, are like lighthouses, as unoriginal as that is to say; they're always there, tirelessly lighting up the night, even when no one's close enough to tell. They can take a long time to find, and in some cases, they should. But to be discovered, and to resonate once they are found, they have to be able to pierce heavy darkness, and they have to be built to last.
From a technical standpoint, it's funny looking back at how deluded I was at the outset of recording (or maybe not deluded, I was more like a child with my hands over my ears, shouting gibberish to drown out what I knew in my heart was the truth) - I had wanted to make the process very different than Codes and Secret Longing, which was built up in tiny increments over a very long period of time. It's not that I didn't want to give the new album the attention and time that Codes and Secret Longing received, more that it can be terrifyingly daunting to think that you might be only at the start of years of hard, hard work once you plug in your guitar that first time. I wanted to be a tiny bit more productive this time, maybe shave off a year - hahaha. Anyway, for No Ghostless Place we started out booking a few weeks of solid time at the House of Miracles, back in March or April of 2007; I figured that we would bang out the songs like a 'normal' band does (I think we only went in with eight or nine at the outset), come away with most of the tracking done, or at least the beds, and then add a few more new songs over the next few months, as well as finish up any additional tracking.
This of course led to about seventy erroneous release dates, because needless to say (and as usual), I was monstrously wrong about everything. Besides what influenced the songs themselves, the album was built up in much the same way that Codes and Secret Longing was; that first few weeks only served as an icebreaker of sorts. It was really nice to see the guys again, and to be at the House of Miracles with Andy and the rats and the renovations and the new furnace. And everyone played amazingly. But in the long run, we still ended up taking the same long, circuitous route as we always seem to take. Which isn't to say - and this is an important point - that any of the songs are pointlessly layered and layered until they're suffocating and numb (much like the way my grandma used to pile mountains of blankets on top of us when we were kids, convinced that there was no such thing as 'too warm'). The challenge for me comes from writing and recording songs as if they've been played lovingly onstage for years, each tiny part evolving slowly and tastefully with each repetition of the song - it's just as much about leaving things out as it is adding nuances and melodies and harmonizing elements.
Brady played most of the drums but Andy played on a few this time - his playing was beautiful and sparse and intuitive. There's a song (Night Fighter) where Andy and I played the percussion with our bodies - we stomped his wooden floors and slapped our thighs, kind of like We Will Rock You, but performed by two bespectacled gentlemen in an old, empty house. I had weird Australia-shaped bruises on my thighs the next morning. There is traffic sound on the album; a truck goes by in the night just before North of Light's End begins. I love that stuff. Also making appearances: creaking floors, faint conversation, wind from the eastern coast, captured on a camera. Walkie-talkies. And ghosts, for sure.

TPU: What is the inspiration for the album title?
EH: It comes from both hopefulness and hopelessness; it's deliberately two-sided because most of us are pretty much torn in half, I think - I tried to articulate my own confusion on this album better than I perhaps have in the past. From a positive angle, it's meant to be a comfort; the idea that everyone and everything is gently haunted, powered somehow by our/their interactions with the world, and of course by memories - for my grandfather who passed away this year, whose memories died before he did, it's meant as words to take with him wherever he is now, to suggest that even in the burned-out world of confusion he occupied for the final months/years of his life, there had to be something way down deep that kept him warm, kept him safe, kept him connected, kept him alive, somewhere beyond what anyone could see or imagine. There had to to be something. Even something untrue, something idealized. But even if it's not true, the title makes it so, obstinately. I want to make it so for him, retroactively, even now that it's too late. I want to believe that once a forest burns down, something stirs above and beneath the layer of ashes (and I'm not just talking about in a biological sense), that the spirits of the trees somehow remain, or at least, as echoes of themselves or as dormant, restrained energy or whatever the hell I'm trying to say (this is why I love Hayao Miyazaki's vision of the forest spirit, and the kodama, in Princess Mononoke so much - what a beautiful idea, and so much better articulated than my chimp-talk). On the cover of the album you can see a faint (horizontally inverted) mirror of the trees (which are meant to also represent roots/shadows of icicles/beheaded sound waves) reaching up from the bottom of the panel - to me this gives the image warmth, and hope.
But there are two ways of looking at it. When it comes to the darkness and frustration in the title, it's about our filthy, clogged up pasts, all of us, and about how every square inch of the planet, even the invisible parts, the microscopic parts - everywhere is crawling, humming, twitching, piercingly loud and blindingly lit up with energy, noise, used objects, conquered territory, blinding fucking light everywhere - it's kind of horrible when you think about it. You can't see the true sky at night anymore, not even when you escape the cities; light pollution makes me absolutely furious. You can't find a tree in the wilderness that doesn't have a crumpled up plastic bag or an empty beer can abandoned beneath it. Someone's been there, and they haven't even been kind enough to maintain the illusion that they haven't. The tiniest electrical component, a clod of dirt in a farmer's field, Antarctica, the jungles, the moon - our hands are all over and into everything. The mysteries of the world are dying, even inside our own bodies, because we're compelled to plug ourselves into social networks and spread ourselves all over everything and everybody like too little butter on too much shitty, stale bread. It's boring, and it makes me feel old and used up sometimes. But you have to come to terms with it, somehow. I have no idea how. But you have to. Werner Herzog, like Miyazaki above, is the one to go to for a better articulated rant on the death of adventure. On a smaller battlefield, though, with the past and the phantom histories that have destroyed relationships of mine a million times over, lately I'm trying desperately to see the past as a friend as opposed to an enemy. Or maybe not a friend. As something I have to better understand, and somehow accept. Because memories certainly aren't the enemy. But lately the planet is buckling under the weight of too many of them.
Or maybe I just need to move far, far away. Maybe Neptune. So long as I had my books and Number Six and a couple of friends, and some oxygen, I could do it.

TPU: Did writing and recording this album help you to exorcise any personal ghosts?
EH: Sort of. The problem is that it's attracted a big, jostling crowd of new ones to make up for the ones I managed to shake free. And the old ones haven't really left, they just pretended to. They tiptoed away, stifling smiles, but then crept back when I had my back turned. They hang out like thugs around my bed as I sleep. Sometimes they poke me or slap me or whisper terrible things in my ears. I wish I was joking.

TPU: Which song on the album do you consider the most personal? Why?
EH: When I think of each one of them I feel like a fish that has swallowed a fish hook; a sharp painful tug happens way down in my guts. I tried answering this question but got bogged down almost immediately. All of them are equally personal to me but for different reasons, all of them are precious and beautiful and incredibly special, achingly so. Sorry, that's all I have for this one right now.

TPU: It has been five years since the release of Codes and Secret Longing. Why has this album taken so long to come to fruition?
EH: I work full time, which is a big part of it. Getting home after eight hours of work and picking up a guitar or bending over a keyboard or a bass or a notebook so heavy with ink it's twice its original thickness can be so exhausting it makes one want to burn the entire city down. But exhaustion aside, I also work very slowly on music, and since I'm developing each part from scratch, and also devoting as much care and attention to each part as I can muster, it tends to take a long time. That said, and I have no idea why anyone reading this would believe me, I have every intention of releasing another album before five more years have passed.

TPU: How did your music come to the attention of Canadian/Armenian filmaker Atom Egoyan?
EH: Atom's been a fan for a while now - he's a genuinely wonderful, talented and kind man who we're proud to have been involved with. Our music now appears in two of his movies (Adoration (2009) and Chloe, which is out in 2010); the coolest thing about being involved with him is that years ago, it was The Sweet Hereafter that first made me think of how lovely it would be to have a song in a movie so beautiful and chilling. So it's been pretty unreal to work with him.

Playlist for January 26, 2010

2010-01-26T20:33:00.006-05:00

Pink Moth - We Walk
Pink Moth - The Land
Pink Moth - Gravedigger
Olenka and The Autumn Lovers - Soldier's Waltz
Olenka and The Autumn Lovers - Northern Lights
Olenka and The Autumn Lovers - When We Were Children
Raised By Swans - The Past Is The Prey
Raised By Swans - Longer Shadows, Shorter Days
Raised By Swans - Hail of Arrows
A Horse and His Boy - Sidewalks
Sam Allen - Lost In The Leaves
David Bowie - Pablo Picasso
New Model Army - White Coats
The Diodes - Cat Walker
The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
The Ramones - We Want The Airwaves
The Smithereens - A Girl Like You
The Smithereens - Top Of The Pops

The Parallel Universe will be on hiatus from the airwaves and is scheduled to return on March 9, but check back regularly for random musings from yours truly. Also be sure to check out the February issue of The Beat for my article on Raised By Swans and their new album No Ghostless Place.

Playlist for January 12, 2010

2010-01-12T19:05:00.003-05:00

Raised By Swans - We Were Never Young
Raised By Swans - Hail of Arrows
Raised By Swans - Secret Garden /s.c
Raised By Swans - Easier
Raised By Swans - Night Fighter
Raised By Swans - By An Ion
Raised By Swans - How Do These Hearts Unfold
Raised By Swans - The Waiting's Over
Raised By Swans - Old Fires
Raised By Swans - The Past Is The Prey
Raised By Swans - Longer Shadows, Shorter Days
Raised By Swans - There's Hope Yet
Raised By Swans - North of Lights End
Pink Moth - The Call
Pink Moth - Forest Fires
Pink Moth - The Long Grass
The Necks - Abillera
The Necks - Hanging Gardens Exit

Playlist for December 22, 2009

2009-12-22T18:57:00.015-05:00

Seasonal Selections
Martin Tielli & Friends - The River
On! Air! Library - Snow Miser
The Inflatable Men - We're a Couple of Misfits
Automatics - Come On Santa, Hand It Over
Olenka & Simon - Red and Green Blues
Hawksley Workman - 3 Generations
Fucked Up - Do They Know It's Christmas
Adam Sandler - The Chanukah Song
Richard Cheese - Christmas In Las Vegas
The Bobs - Santa's Got A Brand New Bag
Ingrid Lucia - Zat You Santa Claus
Matt Dusk - Cool Yule
Bad News - Cashing In On Christmas
The Ramones - Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)
The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping
The Hot Dogs - Holy Shit It's Christmas
Tom Waits - Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis
Joel Kopischke - Shopping Mall of Broken Dreams
Joel Kopischke - Christmas In The Sun
Henry Rollins - 'twas The Night Before Christmas
NQ Arbuckle - Christmas In Hell
The Reverend Horton Heat - Santa On The Roof
Mojo Nixon - Son of Santa
The Great Shakes - Heat Miser

Recommended Releases From 2009
(not a top 10 list)
Pink Moth - Forest Fires
from the album The Wild
A Horse And His Boy - Sidewalks
from the self-titled EP
Triplight - Day By Day
from the album Sophisticated
Iggy Pop - Je Sais Que Tu Sais
from the album Préliminaires
Slaraffenland - Meet and Greet
from the album We're On Your Side
The Decemberists - The Rake's Song
from the album Hazards of Love
Phoenix - Lisztomania
from the album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Franz Ferdinand - No You Girls
from the album Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
Metric - Help, I'm Alive
from the album Fantasies
Muse - Uprising
from the album The Resistance

The Parallel Universe Band of The Decade
Radiohead - Everything In It's Right Place
from the album Kid A (2000)
Radiohead - Pyramid Song
from the album Amnesiac (2001)
Radiohead - Where I End And You Begin
from the album Hail To The Thief (2003)
Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling Into Place
from the album In Rainbows (2007)
Radiohead - Up On The Ladder
from the bonus In Rainbows box set bonus disc (2007)

From The Album No Ghostless Place
Raised By Swans - We Were Never Young
Raised By Swans - Hall of Arrows

The Parallel Universe will return to the airwaves on January 12, 2010 and will air on alternating Tuesdays from that date forward.

Playlist for December 8, 2009

2009-12-08T20:36:00.003-05:00

Yellow Dog - Sugarush
Yellow Dog - Little Owls
Dead Can Dance - I Can See Now
Dead Can Dance - American Dreaming
Raised By Swans - Secret Garden / s.c.
Raised By Swans - Hall of Arrows
Raised By Swans - There's Hope Yet
Raised By Swans - How Do These Hearts Unfold
Sam Allen - Lost In The Leaves
A Horse and His Boy - Home
Echo and The Bunnymen - Shroud of Turin
Camera Obscura - French Navy
Moneen - Great Escape
Muse - Uprising
Spiral Beach - Domino
The Smithereens - A Girl Like You
Ian Brown - By All Means Necessary
The Stone Roses - Fool's Gold

Playlist for November 24, 2009

2009-11-24T20:24:00.003-05:00

Olenka and The Autumn Lovers - When We Were Children
Olenka (solo) - Badge of Honour
Olenka and The Autumn Lovers - Kochana
The Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored
Ian Brown - In The Year 2525
Ian Brown - Always Remember Me
The Visitors - Hello Moon
The Visitors - Hi
Raised By Swans - Secret Garden / s.c.
Raised By Swans - Hall of Arrows
Raised By Swans - There's Hope Yet
Raised By Swans - How Do These Hearts Unfold
Slaraffenland - Long Gone
The Raveonettes - Last Dance
Triplight - The Wait
A Horse and His Boy - Sidewalks
The Chameleons UK - Swamp Thing
The Chameleons UK - Moonage Daydream

Playlist for November 17, 2009

2009-11-17T20:42:00.002-05:00

Radiohead - Sit Down Stand Up
Elvis Costello - Radio Radio
The Ramones - We Want The Airwaves
The Ramones - Do You Remember Rock & Roll Radio?
Wolfmother - Violence of the Sun
Tom Waits - Headin' Out West
Bloodshot Bill - Leave Me Alone
The Eatons - Destroyer
Triplight - The Weight
Triplight - Day By Day
You Say Party We Say Die - Cosmic Wanship Avenger
Spiral Beach - Scour + Devour
Do Make Say Think - Do
Gordon Gano and The Ryans - Man In The Sand
A Horse and His Boy - Sidewalks
Jello Biafra - Terror in Tinytown
Danko Jones - Never Too Loud
Sisters of Mercy - This Corrosion
The Clash - Brand New Cadillac

Playlist for November 10, 2009

2009-11-10T20:34:00.003-05:00

Billy Bragg - Levi Stubbs' Tears
Johnny Thunders - Eve of Destruction
Generation X - Kiss Me Deadly
The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
Davita G - Sleep Is Nothing
The Diodes - Tired of Waking Up Tired
Spiral Beach - Domino
Triplight - Dark
The Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored
The Visitors - Hi
Muse - Uprising
Arctic Monkeys - The Jeweller's Hands
Hidden Cameras - In the NA
In Flight Safety - Big White Elephant
The King Khan & BBQ Show - Invisible Girl
39 Steps - Slip Into The Crowd
Electronic - Getting Away With It
New Order - Blue Monday
Kraftwerk - The Model

Playlist for November 3, 2009

2009-11-03T20:33:00.003-05:00

Pink Moth - The Land
Rob Szabo - Watchin' A Movie
The Arcade Fire - Ocean of Noise
The Visitors - Hello Moon
Slaraffenland - Long Gone
A Horse and His Boy - Sidewalks
Echo and The Bunnymen - Think I Need It Too
Spiral Beach - Scour + Devour
Arctic Monkeys - My Propeller
The Eatons - Destroyer
Triplight - Our Paradox
The Angry Dragons - Melvin
Big Rude Jake - Road Outta Hell
Deep Distance - Under Raga Flight
Magneta Lane - Violet's Constellation
The Smiths - Paint A Vulgar Picture
Psychedelic Furs - Sister Europe
The Pretenders - Mystery Achievement

Playlist for October 27, 2009

2009-10-27T20:37:00.002-04:00

Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead
Olenka and The Autumn Lovers - When We Were Children
A Horse and His Boy - In The Lights
Raised By Swans - A Cipher In A Foreign Sky
Raised By Swans - Violet Light
Deep Distance - Killing Time
Deep Distance - Land On Your Feet
Wolf Parade - California Dreamer
Spiral Beach - Domino
Triplight - New Day
Oingo Boingo - Dead Man's Party
Danko Jones - City Streets
Killing Joke - Eighties
Flying Lizards - Money

Playlist for October 20, 2009

2009-10-20T20:39:00.002-04:00

Pink Moth - The Call
Pink Moth - Forest Fires
Pink Moth - Carnival Girl
Olenka and The Autumn Lovers - Ballad of Lonely Bear
A Horse and His Boy - Sidewalks
Slaraffenland - Meet and Greet
The Stone Roses - Waterfall
Arctic Monkeys - Potion Approaching
Lee Harvey Osmond - Lucifer's Blues
Staylefish - Colour By Numbers
Spiral Beach - Scour + Devour
Triplight - Covenant
The Stand Stills - Let Me Go
Iggy & The Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog
Specimen - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Splodgenessabounds - Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
John Acquaviva - Metal Detector