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
Lionel Rault: Paul Simon, “The Boy In The Bubble”
Graceland is a watershed album in the history of world music and popular music in general. Drawing on such diverse root systems and an international cast of players, Paul Simon produced an enduring masterpiece and, just perhaps, accelerated the pace of social change in South Africa.
Darcy Whiteside: Kaia Kater, “Nine Pin”
Kaia is one of the performers at the Edmonton Folk Festival and one I’m excited to see perform. Originally out of Montreal, she received a scholarship to Davis and Elkins college in West Virginia to study old-time music and culture. The title of this song comes from a square dance formation, but the lyrics are heavily tied to the entire Appalachia region.
Orest Soltykevych: Andy Miles, Duisburg Philharmonic and Jonathan Darlington, “Solfeggietto” by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Andy Miles is a clarinettist that plays both jazz and classical music — often crossing over between the two styles.
This is a piece written in 1766 for keyboard by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, and arranged by the Argentine orchestrator and arranger Jorge Calandrelli, who’s been nominated for two Academy Awards and 22 Grammy Awards.
Matt Masters: the smalls, “Natural Woman”
In my short time as a CKUA DJ, I’ve seen more emails about the smalls than any other band! There’s a province-wide love for the music of the smalls and their take on Carole King’s “Natural Woman” is raw and rocking.
Hayley Muir: Victory, “A Happy Song”
Veteran Central Park busker, Victory Boyd, quietly released The Broken Instrument in June and yowza! A beautiful album full of soul, RBb and jazz influences with a delicate pop brushstroke. “A Happy Song” is exactly that: uplifting, bright, warm.
Baba: Arthur Buck, “I Am The Moment”
First, it is like a marriage of two established entities: Joseph Arther and Peter Buck. Second, the lyrics are profound, maybe not truth, but pretty close.
Roy Forbes: XTC, “Love on a Farmboy’s Wages”
I mentioned Andy Partridge of XTC in my Judee Sill House Blend post. This put me in mind of the infectious “Love On A Farmboy’s Wages” from XTC’s 1983 Mummer album. Check it out.
David Ward: Joe Henry, “Blood of the Forgotten Song”
The producer of choice these days for a certain strain of seasoned performers, e.g., Bonnie Raitt, Billy Bragg, Bettye LaVette, has made time for a new batch of his own songs. From his latest, Thrum, Joe Henry sings a slightly off-kilter and mysterious waltz: “Our future writ out on the walls of the past in the blood of the forgotten song”.
Lark Clark: Fatoumata Diawara, “Dibi Bo”
Can we have light-hearted music? Is that still allowed? I defy any frowns to stick around while this goes down!
Amy van Keeken: Ian & Sylvia, “Farewell to the North”
In 1968, Ian & Sylvia made the record, Nashville, in Nashville, effectively being the first to record a pop-country cross-over album there — even pre-dating The Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo. “Farewell to the North” is such a lovely track from this oft over-looked album.
Tony King: Odetta Hartman, “Widow’s Peak”
This song is a perfect example of how traditional influences can dive into the proverbial phone booth and become something completely contemporary sounding. Odetta Hartman smartly fuses the old-timey sound of the banjo with samples and loops to create music that would be perfectly at home strolling through the dusty landscape of a David Lynch-scripted Coen Brothers film.
Kodi Hutchinson: Deanne Matley, “Necessary Evil”
A duet from Calgary vocalist, Deanne Matley, and Canadian vocal icon, Ranee Lee. A fun and swingin’ tune.