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
Amy van Keeken: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard & Mild High Club, “Countdown”
A smooth track from one of five albums King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard wrote, recorded and released in 2017. That makes 13 albums for them in only five years. These are full length albums and just as marvelous, magical, complex and intricate as you would expect them to be. My mind is boggled just thinking of all the work that went into this insane project. I am also in awe. Stunning work and really really good tunes. The albums they released are: Flying Microtonal Banana, Murder of the Universe, Sketches of Brunswick East, Polygondwanaland and, released on December 30th, Gumboot Soup.
TD Mulligan: Gladys Knight and The Pips, “I’ve Got To Use My Imagination”
Where to begin? Great song. Sold over 1M. Wicked Groove. But it’s more than that. It’s about making the best of a bad situation and to keep on keepin’ on. That thinking is as relevant today as it was in 1973 when the song came out.
Got a bad situation? Let Gladys be your guide.
FYI. The b-side of single was “I Can See Clearly Now”. That’s another great idea.
Baba: The Bombay Royale, “Gunslinger’s Lullaby”
A western classic gets a 21st-century makeover thanks to this Bollywood influenced band from Melbourne, Australia.
Lisa Wilton: Alice Merton, “No Roots”
Born in Germany and raised in Ontario, Alice Merton now splits her time between Berlin and the UK, where her single, “No Roots”, made a splash last year. It’s a catchy, soulful and fresh-sounding track.
Grant Stovel: Kevin Breit, “Chevy Casanova”
This whole record is full of greasy, groovy gusto, all with a dash of delightful dissonance liberally sprinkled here and there. Kevin Breit, session guitar man and collaborator, with everyone from Norah Jones to k.d. lang and Harry Manx, clearly had an absolute riot making this brand-new, conceptual, instrumental album. The record is named after a newfound persona he’s adopted for the project, Johnny Goldtooth and the Chevy Casanovas. It’s a wacky, whimsical genre mash-up that mostly consists of Breit on a zillion guitars, as well as playing organ, upright bass, bass clarinet, melodica, vibraphone & more. It’s a ton of fun! The rollicking opening track, “Chevy Casanova”, has a kind of gleeful lope that I find quite irresistible.
Lark Clark: Jerry Granelli, “Meet Me In The Morning”
Legendary drummer, Jerry Granelli, teams up with Robben Ford and Bill Frisell for a “blues-soaked” album after a 25-year hiatus.
Tony King: Flunk, “Chemistry and Math “
Ulf Nygaard and Anja yen Vister lead this alternative pop ensemble based in Oslo, Norway. Something in the air of the misty fjords lends itself perfectly to the ethereal well-crafted music Flunk creates in their homes at the kitchen table and in ad hoc basement studios. The tentacles of everyday life find their way into songs like “Chemistry and Math”, which adds a certain wry charm.
Cathy Ennis: Sarah Harmer, “Lodestar”
For me, this song is profound and fills me with awe. Maybe it’s the lyrics, maybe it’s the instrumentation, but every single time I play or hear it, I’m affected by it. “Listen! The darkness rings.”