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Fellow music lovers (and especially jazz lovers) help me!  What is this tune?  It is mis-labelled in my collection and I cannot remember what it is called.  Listen if you like (it’s a GREAT tune, whether you can identify it or not), and if you can name it for me I’ll love you forever.

truth.

truth.

(Source: thesmithian)

Songs I Liked in 2011


I’ve been neglecting my Tumblr lately, but that’s partly because I’ve been thinking about this.  Here’s some songs I liked this past year.  Listen to them, if you like.

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Track of the Day:  Elliott Brood:  Write it All Down for You.  Today was Bucky Awards day on CBC Radio 3, which is always an exciting day.  I’m very involved with the community of R3 fans, and one of the categories in the awards is Fan of the Year.  This year, for the first time, it went to 2 people - a couple of great folks from Michigan who are huge fans and supporters of Radio 3 - Cathleen Hagan and Russ Gordon.  They met at an Elliott Brood concert, so this song goes out to them. 

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Track of the Day:  Funeral Party:  New York City Moves to the Sound of LA.  I wasn’t sure if this track was going to make it onto my list of favourite songs of 2011, but I’m really enjoying it right now, so it’ll probably make the cut. It’s a great driving rock tune that I loved running to this summer, and I was just talking about how much I love New York today, so I guess that’s why it’s on my mind.

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Track of the Day:  The Joy Formidable:  Whirring.  The “Best-of” lists are starting to come out - as they do this time of year - and I couldn’t be happier.  As a list junkie, I’m busy thinking about my own favourite songs and albums, and I think I can safely say that this Welsh band’s first full album was #1 for me in 2011, with this track my favourite from it.

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Track of the Day:  Queen:  Killer Queen.  The man with the best voice in rock music, Freddy Mercury, died 20 years ago today.  Has anyone else stepped up to take his place?  I don’t think so.  And don’t say that guy from The Darkness.  Not even close.

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Track of the Day:  Richard Reed Parry and Little Scream:  When You Know Why You’re Happy.  Have Not Been the Same Vol. 1:  Too Cool to Live, Too Smart to Die is a compilation of stellar cover tunes from the Canadian indie canon, recorded by equally-stellar members of this country’s current musical pool.  In my opinion, the gem of the album is this delicate, haunting rendition of a song originally penned by the incomparable Mary Margaret O’Hara.

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Track of the Day:  Bry Webb:  Get You Up in Peace.  There’s been a lot of buzz about this album (Provider) from now-disbanded Constantines’ frontman.  A lot of buzz usually makes me a little skeptical, but I’m happy that I overcame that skepticism because the album (and this song in particular) is completely lovely.  When you have a good melody, all you really need is an acoustic guitar and a few harmonized vocals.  Beautiful.

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Track of the Day:  Tori Amos:  Winter.  I always think of this song on the first day we get a real lasting snowfall.  Technically that was yesterday here, but it’s still coming down, so I think the song still applies.  I do get a little warm in my heart when I first think of winter, but that feeling usually doesn’t last as long as winter does in Manitoba.