Every week, CKUA’s hosts submit their songs for our weekly House Blend playlist: an exciting new release, a beloved classic or just an old personal favourite. We mix it all together to create a sonic concoction that’ll help kick off your week. Check out what’s on this week’s playlist.
The Playlist
The Picks
Cam Hayden: David Bromberg Band “The Blues The Whole Blues and Nothing But The Blues”
The title says it all — but seriously, it’s great to see a musician I’ve been listening to for over 40 years out with a new, vital recording. Worth checking out the whole thing: The Blues, The Whole Blues, and Nothing But The Blues!
*This song is not available to stream
Lionel Rault: The Band of Heathens “All I’m Asking”
Heart-felt performance, strong hook…
Terry David Mulligan: Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers “Hard Bop”
Sublime. Ridiculously joyous.
*This song is not available to stream.
Mark Antonelli: Philippe Sly and John Charles Britton, “Der Leiermann, Op. 89, #24”
Sly is an incredibly-talented, Canadian singer. He sings Schubert with guitar accompaniment, which is rather unusual. It’s thought that Schubert may have composed some of his many songs with the guitar in mind. The music seems much more intimate with guitar rather than piano — conjuring images of a lover’s serenade or some kind or romantic balcony scene.
Baba: The Beach Boys, “Sail On, Sailor”
In 1972, The Beach Boys were at stress point with Brian Wilson sort of going ‘too strange’. Blondie Chaplin, formerly with South Africa’s, The Flames, now a full-fledged Beach Boy, sings the lead vocals. It is a stand-out single from the 1973 Holland album. Sail-On!
Kodi Hutchinson: Vince Guaraldi Trio “It’s De-Lovely”
Best known for his music associated with the Charlie Brown animated television specials, pianist Vince Guaraldi had a wealth of music earlier in his career that led up to those hallmark recordings.
Orest Soltykevych: Bergmann Duo, Piazzolla: “Oblivion”
A two-piano arrangement of a piece by Argentine composer, who popularized the tango, performed by a Vancouver based, husband-and-wife piano duo.
Grant Stovel: Laura Marling “Nothing, Not Nearly”
Laura Marling’s new album, Semper Femina, will be out on Friday — it’s going to be breathtaking. Each of the several advance cuts has been amazing, wistful and gorgeous in its own unique way. On this latest single, she reminds us that “nothing matters more than love – no, not nearly”.
Allison Brock: Jim Lauderdale, “This Changes Everything”
The title track, from Jim’s release of late 2016, has exactly what first drew me to his work back in the early 1990s: a catchy-as-all-heck, hummable melody. Close to three decades later, he can still turn out a great “poppish”-sounding song without being mainstream. Feel free to hum along!
Amy van Keeken: Cate le Bon, “Rock Pool”
The title track from Cate le Bon’s Rock Pool EP released in January, is especially catchy — I wanna sing this all day. I wonder if she’s looking for any new back up singers. Cate! Pick me!
*This song is not available on Spotify. Hear it here:
Oskar Zybart: Noveller aka Sarah Lipstate, “Trails and Trials”
A 21st-Century guitar hero, Sarah Lipstate creates solo, hypnotic, cinematic tapestries under the name, Noveller. She’s recently released her newest album, A Pink Sunset For No One. The LP’s fifth track, “Trails and Trials”, is the first single released. Very cool stuff, and a good introduction to her sound.
*This song is not available on Spotify. Hear it here:
Lark Clark: Kris Drever, “Going To The North”
A reassuring, energizing, loving exhortation — in case someone needs a bit of reassurance, energy, and love.
Tony King: Lee Konitz, “Darn That Dream”
At 89-years-of-age, Lee Konitz releases new music that stands as a testament to the fertile creative mind, regardless of one’s station in life. Konitz’ imaginative interpretation of this standard, complete with a mumbling scat, is sparkling, quirky and just weird enough to make it a nice addition to his canon of work.
Kathryn Calder: Neko Case, “This Tornado Loves You”
I love how the music itself sounds a little bit like a tornado in this one.
Lisa Wilton: The Waterboys, “Fisherman’s Blues””
This is one of my all-time, favourite songs. It manages to be melancholy and uplifting at the same time. Mike Scott’s writing and singing are at their best here. An absolute classic in the folk-rock genre and one of The Waterboys’ best tracks.
Monica Miller: Roberto Lopez, “Oye Candelaria”
“Remember those big, beautiful stereo receivers from the 1970s? Well, some of them had a mic input in that shiny metal face plate. When Roberto Lopez was a teenager growing up in Bogota, Colombia, he would plug his black Les Paul knockoff guitar into his parents stereo and crank it up until he got that sweet distortion that he was after. Much to his parents’ dismay of course.” So begins the press release for Lopez’ new album, Criollo, pronounced: CREE – OY – YO, Electrik. The album was produced with Ivan Duran in Belize: Garifuna Collective, Danny Michel, KoboTown). I had trouble deciding just which track on the album was the best “House Blend” choice. In the end, I went with the groovy bass line that kicks off “Oye Candelaria”, pronounced OY yay CAN dell ARE ee UH. By the way, Roberto Lopez has been based in Montreal since 1994.