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
Bob Chelmick: Joni Mitchell, “Night Ride Home”
This ‘Canadian’ fourth of July song summons the gods of summer.
Baba: David Wilcox, “Bend A Little”
Meaningful poetry, performed with respect and gentleness coming from a man who can surely rock a ‘Hypnotizin’ Boogie’! Go ahead and be like Gumby: bend every which way or sway softly.
Amy Van Keeken: Julia Holter, “Sea Calls Me Home”
Julia Holter’s latest release, In the Same Room, is a live studio recording of songs from her last two albums, 2013’s Loud City Song and 2015’s Have You in My Wilderness. There is a rawness and space to the recording that really feels like you’re on stage with the band — so immediate and real. “Sea Calls Me Home” is gorgeous and anthemic with such interesting chord progressions — destined to be a timeless tune.
Allison Brock: Dixie Chicks, “Long Time Gone”
I just happened to stumble across my old Rise & Shine playlists from 2011 and 2012 last week. “Guilty Pleasure” submissions from listeners became a bit of a feature on the show. I also had input from CKUA staffers and quite a few celebrity picks too. This one was actually Leeroy Stagger’s Guilty Pleasure, so I thought it would be fitting to add it as my House Blend pick this week in honour of Leeroy’s Dirty Windshields Radio Hour becoming a regular CKUA program every Saturday afternoon, right after Wide Cut Country!
Kathryn Calder: Woods, “Bleeding Blue”
Woods latest album, Love Is Love, is a beautifully-crafted, horn-filled, sometimes-spacey-psych-jam journey that takes us through Woods’ meditation on what love is. The album was recorded in NY in the months following the last US election and their song, “Bleeding Blue”, is lyrically set in that time and place. The song is filled with soaring horn lines, Beatles-y flourishes, and underlying it all, a spirit of determination to fight for love over hate.
David Ward: David Myles, “Night & Day”
Needing only two minutes and twenty seconds David Myles channels his inner Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley.
Lionel Rault: Frank Sinatra, “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”
The inspired song-writing of Cole Porter, the inimitable voice and phrasing of Frank Sinatra are all tied in a beautiful bow by the arrangements of Nelson Riddle. What’s not to like!
Cam Hayden: Bonnie Raitt, “Love Me Like A Man”
Classic song from a classic blueswoman. This live version has real bite!
Kodi Hutchinson: Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass, “O Canada”
It’s Canada Day for my show! Why wouldn’t I feature the most hip version of our national anthem possible? Feel free to sing along with whichever version of the national anthem you know!
*This version of the anthem is not available on Spotify. Listen to it here.
Oskar Zybart: Emiliana Torrini, “To Be Free”
Up until a moment ago, I believed this to be the kickoff track to Emiliana Torrini’s debut album. Turns out Love In the Time of Science was actually her fourth LP, but was the first to be released internationally. “To Be Free” is a swirling statement of arrival from the talented Icelandic singer. Melodic; trippy; cinematic; wonderful — this record sounds like the end of the 1990s, in a good way.
Lisa Wilton: Amaara, “Blue”
Amaara is the solo project of former Calgarian, Kaelen Ohm, who usually plays alongside her husband, Reuben Bullock, in Reuben and the Dark. “Blue” is a stand-out track from Amaara’s recently released Black Moon EP. It’s a beautiful number — dreamy and atmospheric without being sleepy. It has a lovely melody as well.
Tony King: Jeanne Lee with Ran Blake, “Where Flamingos Fly”
The Newest Sound Around is the name of the album from which this song is taken. That title may punctuate the irony of my choice as this is music released in 1961. “Where Flamingos Fly” is just one small example of the rare chemistry captured on record from a duo that produces a sound that is so singularly uncategorizable it evokes cascading technicolour images rather than adjectives. The crystalline minimalism of Ran Blake’s touch on the keys is a perfect match for the sensual puff of smoke realized by Jeanne Lee’s vocal phrasing.
Mark Antonelli: Atrium Musicae de Madrid; “M’Saddar” from the album: Al Andalus – Musique Arabo-Andalouse
This is a recreation of medieval music from Moorish Spain. The album was an early recording of early music out originally in 1977. The music has a definite Middle Eastern feel to it and even features the sound of trickling water. Perhaps a musical depiction of a holy site with a fountain? I’m not sure, but it’s certainly evocative!