2009, You Kinda Sucked. But Not For Music! My top thirteen musical purchases of the year. Not all records are from this year, some are older new discoveries for me or upgrades to this century (ie something other than cassette tape.). Get 'em yourself if you don't already have 'em. | |
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Al Tuck - Food For The Moon Andrew Vincent - Rotten Pear The Deep Dark Woods - Winter Hours Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True (only had it on cassette! needed to upgrade!) The Hylozoists - L'Ile de Sept Villes Jack Breakfast - The Escapers |
Julie Doiron - I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day Kate Maki - On High Martin Tielli - Operation Infinite Joy Ron Leary - The Road In Between That's the Spirit - Staying Places Timber Timbre - s/t Tom Waits - Closing Time |
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Oh, boy! Serious spine chills and sinister thoughts served in this month's suggested songlist. Just for kicks. |
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| Eyeball Kid - Tom Waits Demon Host - Timber Timbre The Seer's Tower - Sufjan Stevens The End - Ron Leary In The Pines - Leadbelly Ballad of Lonely Bear - Olenka & the Autumn Lovers Abatina Kobo Town The Birds On The Bridge - The Deep Dark Woods Caring Is Creepy - The Shins Certain Death - Brad Sucks The Crippled Eyes - The Hylozoists Crowd Surf Off A Cliff - Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton Elephants- Bell Orchestre |
It's Time To Get Freaky Again - Andy Swan |
Summer's Here and the Time is Right for... Music.
I love a hot sun in June. Everything old is new again. Below is my humble and partial suggested listening for a long day of burnt shoulders, grass between the toes, sprinkler sounds, cold beer in hand. Simplicity at its best. |
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Pulling
on a Line - Great Lake Swimmers |
Hey,
Hey! - Ron Leary |
Tremendously Sappy, Yet Great. I was listening to Oshawa's Oldies (CKDO) (yes! oldies!) and heard some gems that made me laugh AND turn the radio up and sing along. So I made a silly playlist of sappy songs for me and anyone that's looking for an enjoyable and memorable musical laugh. Memorable, that is, if you are around my age and your mother had the radio on all the time. If you don't already have these stalwarts of 70s top 40 in your collection (and really, why would you?), it'll cost you about twenty bucks on iTunes. Worth it. |
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You'll
Never Find Another Love Like Mine - Lou Rawls |
Don't
Pull Your Love - Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds (who??)
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| Don't be shy - turn
it up and roll the windows down! |
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There are certain records that fit perfectly with those spring days when the sun is warm and you are reminded that winter doesn't last forever. Email me your list of warm spring day records, as I am ever curious. info@pamelabrennan.com Here are some of mine: |
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Ella & Louis The Shins - Oh, Inverted World Wilco - Sky Blue Sky Any of the CDs from the (i can't see how anyone would regret buying this album) Check it out! |
Lynn Miles
- Love Sweet Love Neil Young - Rust Never Sleeps (Live) Selina Martin - Life Drawing Without Instruction Cat Stevens - Teaser and the Firecat |
Everybody
Knows This Is Nowhere |
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| See the Sky About to
Rain Round & Round (it won't be long) For the Turnstiles Down by the River Long May You Run Winterlong Love is a Rose Tonight's the Night |
A Star of Bethlehem Tell Me Why The Believer Burned Tired Eyes The Losing End (when you're on) Journey Through the Past Just keep going with it, you'd be surprised at how quickly four hours pass. |
It's
Gotten Rotten Cold Again. So, Music. |
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| Another treat coming
through the speakers: Ron
Leary's "the road inbetween". I have been told many
times that he's a great performer and songwriter, and after hearing
this unique record of varied styles (it's more than roots/rock, it's
more than alt/country, it's more than folk/pop) held together by
strong songwriting and his sweet voice - I am inspired to attend
his very next show. (which I believe is Wednesday Mar 4 at The Local
on Roncesvalles in Toronto) By the way, The Local is one of Toronto's best bars to see live independent music. |
And from Ottawa: That's the Spirit. Ben Wilson and I knew each other back in the 90s, for not only did we both play in bands around town, but shared sporadic attendance in a film class too. I was happy to re-discover his music, for it is alluring and wonderful. "Staying Places" is a record full of great sounds. Dreamy, dark, light, here, there. Go ahead and laugh: I feel like I'm walking through a magical forest when I listen to this album. Great band too - their live show is the record's equal. |
A good
place to buy independent Canadian music digitally is http://www.zunior.com |
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February
Bloo-Blee-Bloohs Cured By Music, My old friend Paul Reddick (who is a great writer and performer of music - www.paulreddick.ca) sent me this really cool link this week and it's spun me out of control, listening to live performances of all kinds. There is not enough time in this short life. http://croz.fm/index.php |
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| Right now, I'm immersed
in Warren
Zevon live at The Main Point in Bryn Mawr PA, 1976. I'm
actually at the show. Seriously. Turn it up. Next up: Willie Dixon at The Quiet Knight in Chicago, 1974 |
Also, I need to acquire
some Nellie McKay immediately. I've heard her music on NPR's All
Songs Considered and most recently was treated to a handful of tunes
on this great site: http://daytrotter.com.
Must get to the store and spend some dough! I would love to see a Selina
Martin/Nellie McKay show. Gee, I hope Selina thinks that's a
compliment. ! |
| The
Making of One Hundred Photographs: Four Years, Two Months, Fifteen
Days, Seven Hours, Twenty-Two Minutes and Forty-Two Seconds. Approximately. |
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| November
2004. Somebody's show at the Drake, during which Peter Murray and Pamela Brennan, two old friends who had not seen each other in a couple of years, meet again... Pamela: Hi Peter, how the heck have you been? Peter: Hi Pamela, great! How the heck have you been? Pamela: Great! What's new? Peter: Figuring out my new recording studio in my home, what's new with you? Pamela: Writing songs and playing solo since the band broke up. Peter: Cool. Pamela: Coolio. Peter: Want to to come record at my house? Pamela: OK! |
 And thus began the long journey of Peter Murray and Pamela Brennan as they crawled their way towards the finish line - my very first solo record. |
Early months: Drums and Bass at Halla Music The choice was always clear, before I had even considered making a record - Paul Brennan was to be the drummer on my album. Not just because of his most excellent last name (and not even related!), but also because the man could whack those drums steady, strong and true with just the right hint of tenderness. I remember being mesmerized, completely trapped in the groove, the first time I saw Paul play live. |
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And that Peter Murray, hell, he wrote the book on bass! (I'm not even kidding - http://www.thermidormusic.com/) Peter's vast understanding and passion for music comes through everything he plays. We recorded drums and bass with the kind and gentle master of sound Peter Hudson at his studio Halla Music.
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  And the timeline pattern began to emerge here: these two sessions were about four months apart. |
Junction Soundbox: The Next Three and a Half Here's where the bulk of the recording fun, hilarity, and downright madness occurred. Luckily or unluckily, Peter Murray and I share not only musical sensibilities but sense of humour as well. I do believe that at one point during our many recording sessions there was talk of "playing" his vacuum cleaner, if this is any indication. We didn't in the end, luckily or unluckily. |
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Guests, Wonderful Guests I'm lucky to know a lot of great musicians. In the Parkdale neighbourhood alone! And with Peter's list of friends, there were too many interesting musicians to choose from. I would've crammed more in if I could've, but we might still be working on this record if I had ('ve). The first guests were the flawless
Maury LaFoy on double bass and the lovely Paul Aucoin
on vibraphone. Paul Brennan said to me during the drum
session for Another Lonely Day, "dude, I totally
hear vibes on this song, man" (just kidding, he
doesn't talk like that), and so I ran with it. And bang!
The song unfurled like a beautiful flower. |
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In the picture here, you can see me in rapt attention as Paul "bows" his vibes to match Maury's bowing (I had to clamp some piece of the vibraphone that was loose, so was literally staring into Paul's armpit while he played.) Notice the weird name coincidence so far on this record: Peters Hudson and Murray, Maury, Pauls Aucoin and Brennan, and me Brennan. Weird. |
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| This frightening name spell was broken when we were joined by Annelise Noronha and Jay Clark Reid, who came in to sing backups and do some snapping and clapping with our friend Deirdre (I heard Deirdre snap in a bar one night and knew she was the one). Annelise also gave Amsterdam a nice, continental feel on her accordion, Stevo. | |
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Ah, Jack Breakfast on piano. What can I say - I could listen to him tickle the ebonies and ivories for hours, and I did, because on our first session the piano was not quite in tune and we just couldn't hide that fact, so we did it all over again a couple of months later. A good, generous and funny man and if you can see him play live, do. |
 
Multi-talented Darrin Davis of neigbourhood band The Strip designed a much better saxophone section than I did, and he alone is the reason the album begins with Departure. He also plays the banjo? What luck! Kevin Fox. Well just listen to that breakdown in Dream, won't you? I met Chris Staig when he was recording his album at the same studio my band was in back in 2000, before I had even moved to Toronto. Years later we ended up living two blocks from each other. I once watched Chris accompany a number of musicians on his open stage night at the Old York and realized just what a sensitive and versatile guitar player he was. He is also a walking encyclopedia of the history of rock and roll. Everything, he knows everything. |
 
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Ms. Miranda Mulholland of The Roaring Girl Cabaret is a firecracker! She played such sweet violin on Departure and Sleep; parts that give us a morsel of an idea of what she's capable of. Also a great live show to see. We play together sometimes in The Better Homes and Gardens Revue, which has nothing to do with gardens or homes, really. But it sure is fun. Not to be confused with Jack Breakfast or Paul Brennan, Jack Brennan sang on our very last recording session at the Junction Soundbox. Now here's a Brennan that IS related to me on this record - he's my Pa! My Dad has been a singer of the home karaoke persuasion for many, many, many years now (start spreadin' the news, i left my heart, oh the shark, babe...), so singing backups was a mysterious concept for him to grasp at first. But what a trooper! Lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala - count 'em, Pa. And one extra tidbit here - have a listen to the Rhodes piano solo in the Victoria breakdown. This is the sheer genius of Peter Murray. Eh? |
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| The
Knitting Sessions A perfect marriage of work and leisure: editing and scarf-making. |
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Mixing With My Mates Annelise Noronha and I went to high school together. I had to sneak into the bar to see her play. I was inspired not only by her musicianship, but by her innate ability to cut down a heckler of any shape or size as well. She encouraged me to put myself on a stage too, and thus my very first paid gig was with Annelise, in the Holy Cross Parish basement for the Catholic Women's League annual pot-luck dinner. Wow - what a legacy! Who else could possibly mix my record? |
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| Stay
tuned... there's more to come! |
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