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
Terry David Mulligan: Van Morrison , “The Prophet Speaks”
This is the title track from Van’s latest album. It’s the last track of fourteen on the album. You travel through songs by Sam Cooke, Solomon Burke, JL Hooker, Willie Dixon, JD Harris and six by Van. On this track, Van is joined by his co-producer Joey DeFrancesco on organ, piano and trumpet. Van plays harmonica and alto sax. The whole song is built to stand the test of time — haunting and deep.
Lionel Rault: Jenny Lewis, “Red Bull & Hennessy”
In such stellar company as Beck, Benmont Tench, Ryan Adams, and Ringo Starr, Jenny Lewis releases her first new music since 2014. Enjoy!
Orest Soltykevych: Raúl Garello & Julio Oscar Pane, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, “Cuando tú no estás”
Carlos Gardel was born in Toulouse, France to an unwed mother. To escape the stigma associated with having a child out of wedlock, mother and son fled to Buenos Aires. There young Carlos became a popular singer of tangos. In 1917, he sang his first tango, and eventually became a national idol singing tangos and milongas. In 1935, at age 44, Gardel was killed in a plane crash.
Lark Clark: Salif Keita & Ladysmith Black Mambazo, “Gnamale”
After a career of 40+ years, Salif Keita says his latest album, Un Autre Blanc, will be his last. On this track, he teams up with an unlikely partner: South Africa’s Ladysmith Black Mambazo. On this ancient praise song for hunters, he experiments with a Vocoder — to hypnotizing effect.
Darcy Whiteside: Chatham Rabbits, “Come Home”
This husband and wife duo recently quit their full-time jobs to pursue music full-time. Their debut album, All I Want from You, was released January 11. This song tells of a separation from two points of view. Beautiful harmonies with fiddle from Libby Rodenbough, Mipso, and mandolin from Andrew Marlin, Mandolin Orange.
Leo Cripps: Mayra Andrade, “Segredu”
Mayra’s new album, Manga, is set for release on February 8th. I believe this is an artist that fits the CKUA audience.
Hayley Muir: Sarah Louise, “R Mountain”
Sarah Louise has expanded from her twelve-string fingerpicking roots on her second full-length album, Nighttime Birds & Morning Stars. Here, she’s using numerous six-string electric guitars, overdubbing each in a beautiful, modern, ambient expression of her Appalachian traditional folk. “R Mountain” is a meditative, uplifting piece.
Amy van Keeken: Juliana Hatfield, “All Right, Yeah”
Her new album, Weird, is full of hook after hook, riff after riff and jam after jam. This woman writes a killer rock song, each one catchier than the last. Long live Juliana Hatfield.
Grant Stovel: Emily King, “Remind Me”
Prior to writing her new album, Scenery, Emily King made some changes. First, she finally got her driver’s license. Then, she got in the car and drove from the block of New York’s Lower East Side, where she’d spent all of her three decades on the planet, and drove upstate to Woodstock, New York, where she now makes her home. That change of scenery sparked her new album’s opener, “Remind Me”, which was the first thing she wrote in her new home. It’s breezy, soulful, and seems to evoke a sense of both nostalgia and hopefulness. Like looking simultaneously backwards and forwards — the full picture. It certainly feels like this very talented artist has found both her vehicle and her milieu.
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