Hi, fellow music maniacs! Welcome to the twenty-fifth episode of Listening Party! Wow, it seems like it was only a bi-week ago that we were doing Episode 24. Thanks to everyone for your support and contributions to these shows. It’s your enthusiasm that keeps us going!
This week, Dave brusquely snatches the reins back from Mary to present Dylan O’Connell’s first mixtape. As a response to Dylan generously sending Dave a mixtape of his favourite Australian bands, Dave put together a mixtape of some his favourite bands from Canada’s indie music renaissance of the mid-nineties.
We hope you enjoy it. As always, snuggle up in your most comfy chair with an appropriate drink and listen to the following songs:
- The Dears – “There Goes My Outfit” – Gang of Losers, 2006
- Sloan – “Everything You’ve Done Wrong” – One Chord to Another, 1996
- The American Flag – “The 3-On-1 Experiment (It’s All About You)” – The American Flag, 1998
- AC Newman – “Drink to Me, Babe, Then” – The Slow Wonder, 2004
- The Besnard Lakes – “For Agent 13” – The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse, 2007
- The Constantines – “Young Lions” – Shine a Light, 2003
- The Tragically Hip – “Ahead by a Century” – Trouble in the Henhouse, 1996
- Destroyer – “Rubies” – Destroyer’s Rubies, 2006
If you’d like to take a listen to Chris Roberts’ rather enjoyable playlist, he has provided a link to a Spotify playlist. We advise you to visit it here!
Thanks for listening.
Here is Ed Draganski’s fabulous drawing of our new mascot, PEANUT DUCK!!! Thank you, Ed!
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A steam table is that big metal thing at a buffet restaurant or behind the counter of a take-out place that keeps the different dishes of food warm.
Isn’t that called a “microwave”, Louise???
Thanks Louise – that sounds like the voice of experience!
I was sooooo thrilled to hear how much you liked the Peanut Duck sketch! And Thanks for posting it above. I’ve been inspired to take this little guy to the next level and render him accordingly…IN COLOR! I’ll send you the files and you can use them in any way you’d like…I’ll even make Mary a Peanut Duck Bumper Sticker. Once I have a few designs, I can upload them to my Redbubble designer’s page if you like where he can be applied to all sorts of items. Any money I make off the Peanut Duck designs or illustrations on Redbubble will be donated to the Sneaky Dragon Patreon fund!
I’m very excited about this!
First off, that Peanut Duck drawing is fantastic – kudos to ‘Sneaky’ Draganski!
Thanks, Dave, for your comments on my list. I’m very glad you enjoyed listening and liked most of the songs – and I laughed along with you mocking my typos, dammit. I love hearing both of you talk about music (obviously), and your views here were as thoughtful and insightful as ever. It was fun putting the tracks together, though it’s definitely more challenging to do a mix for other people than for yourself alone. It made me appreciate even more the care you’ve taken in compiling the mixes we’re now enjoying every biweek through these listening parties.
However, if it’s a Roches nerd-off you’re looking for, you’ve picked the right guy…
…In the first place, Mr Dedrick: when Maggie and Terre Roche made their album, they weren’t yet using The Roches as a band name. So I’m sticking to my guns in considering the group’s debut to be the eponymous record with all three sisters. Moreover, ‘Nurds’ (sic) was the trio’s second LP, and not the name of Maggie and Terre’s earlier duo record. That one was called ‘Seductive Reasoning’ (and had one of the worst covers ever, but that’s another story).
It was pretty cool to have a totally Canadian mix this time. These songs were all new to me so it was a really interesting listen.
The Dears – Oh dear, oh dear. Sorry, folks, I found this a dreary opener. It sounded like an early run through, as if the lyrics were still in draft and the dynamics of the melody hadn’t been worked out yet. The singer also sounded off-pitch much of the time, which is maybe where some folk hear a similarity with Morrissey.
Sloan – Good recording of a nice pop tune, well played and sung. I generally dislike ‘baby’ in a lyric though, so that got in the way.
The American Flag – Okay, now we’re cooking. Absolutely loved this one.
A C Newman – Great melody, inventive chord progression, lovely, lo-fi production.
The Besnard Lakes – A slow burner indeed. Really liked the atmosphere it created and the way the song built. Totally agree about the great glockenspiel sound.
The Constantines – Another winner. The Springsteen-ish vocals put me off a bit at the start, but once it went all discordant and weird, I was in.
The Tragically Hip – I liked this one. And yes, EVERYONE knows who Geoff Emerick was! Um, don’t they?
Destroyer – A real witty, fun track, and a great one to go out on.
Down with brown sauce!
Thanks Chris!! A much better rendered version of Peanut Duck is currently in the works! I have so many fun plans for him. I loved your playlist on Spotify, I was able to access it easily and enjoy your music. Thanks for sharing brother.
I’m glad you enjoyed the mix, Chris. I was a little worried it was kind of samey as I was drawing a lot from the same musical era and scenes, but it seems to have gone over a treat!
It’s Sunday night as I write this and Lezah, Mary and I just came back from seeing Sloan! It was great as always, of course. But no opening act!!! ????
Thank you for sending me the song by Mackenzie. Hopefully my home internet will be up and running in the next few days so I can retrieve it!
And thanks again for sending us your mix. Mucho enjoyablo!
Dave, I’m a little disturbed by the suggestion that my mixtape to you was mostly 80s synth-pop – one of my many least favourite genres! Looking over the list I can’t see any of that. I was attempting to send you Australian pop songs that you probably wouldn’t have heard, and the Easybeats ‘Friday On My Mind’ AND ‘Good Time’ are on there. When we have time, my wife and I plan to sit down and record our thoughts on those songs and send them to you…
You are right in saying that our musical tastes do not tend to intersect much. I picture a Venn diagram of two circles overlapping at a single point labelled “The Beatles”… That said, I’m enjoying the trip through your mixtape – I have to admit I didn’t listen to it much originally, but will be spinning these songs a bit more now!
Oh my gosh! I’m sorry, Dylan! I may have mixed up your mix CDs with someone else’s. My apologies! Especially after tarring you with the dreaded synth-pop label to boot! I hope you can forgive me!
Please send me you and your wife’s thoughts on your mixtape. I’d love to include it on the show. And I think it would be of interest to non-Australian listeners.
Anyway, we’ll always have the Beatles, Dylan! Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
It’s OK Dave. Glad to think there was another mix-tape to explain that, and also that I didn’t have to listen to that one. We can always blame Mary…
Sounds like I may have committed myself to recording my voice now. I’ll just have find some quiet time to do that.
Wonderful pod & we love catching a few Mary IANisms – hey walk over to STP – you would be great on that pod
Oops SPY – Please guest on Stop Podcasting Yourself
If only they accepted walk-ins! I’m afraid they’re “by appointment only”.
Thank you for your kind words though! I like Mary too.