My Hometown

Hey, remember that horrible TV show they used to play on YTV, My Hometown?

Well now it's on DVD!! All 40 episodes, that's 960 minutes of FUN! See a young Jay Baruchel, he plays a little homo. Or it seems that way at least.

But all that is beside the point. Today's track comes from my hometown, St. Catharines. It's pretty much a cultural wasteland, although a few characters have come out of the city:

Like 80s babe Linda Evangelista:

and this amazing precisionist artist I just found out about, Ralston Crawford:
and these crazies named Paul + Karla:
But back to business. One more from St. Catharines (well, not originally, but now he is) -- Find A Canary. This track has been around for a while, but it hasn't gotten the attention I think it deserves.


And guess what ladies, he's unsigned!!

Find A Canary - Tecta (zShare)

hot!

I've just come from Berlin, on a blogging adventure. Which is one of the reasons I haven't updated here in a very long time. But, for the occasion, here's a rare track from two ex-patriots, Peaches & Gonzales:


Peaches & Gonzales - Hot Pink, Hot Sex (zShare)
from the ep Red Leather (2000)

FROM OUTER SPACE

It took me ages to dig this up on the Internet.

Pierre Perpall went by a few names in the 70s. One of them was Pluton & The Humanoids, which is probably the coolest of them all. Although Purple Flash is pretty ok too.

I don't know, just look into those space-invaded eyes and tell me you're not curious.


Pluton and the Humanoids - World Invaders (zShare)
from the ep World Invaders (1981)

You can read an interview with Perpall about the 70s disco scene in Montreal here and you can buy some of his stuff here.

SYNTONICS

Syntonic Comma (n): In music theory, the syntonic comma, also known as the comma of Didymus or Ptolemaic comma, is a small interval between two musical notes, equal to the frequency ratio 81:80

I don't really know what this means, or if it has anything to do with what I'm talking about here, but maybe someone could enlighten me.


Syntonics (myspace):
Barbi Castelvi on vocals,
Mitchell Anthony Gomes on the turntables.

It's a wonder to me that Syntonics haven't made it huge in the blog house scene yet. I guess that's what I'm in the business of doing anyhow. I personally think Syntonics were sent here to save Toronto from a downward spiral of cynicism. There's none of that here, only old school beats and booty shaking (a personal favourite of Mitchell's). As for Barbi, in my humble opinion, I'd like to say fuck Uffie, Barbi's way more fly.

They're around Toronto lots, go check them out, leave your cynicism at home. You'll not regret it.


Upcoming dates:
December 28 @ Non-Stop, with another Canadian darling, Thunderheist.

Here's some CANADA DOESN'T SUCK exclusive tracks from Syntonics:

Syntonics - ROCK2NITE (zShare)
Syntonics - DROPPIN THA BOMB (zShare)

CANADA IS NUTS

I guess this drives the point home, but the Canadian Workplace Insurance Board may have just produced the most disturbing commercials of the year.

The first one's my favourite.

RICHARD REAGH

Call it autodidacticism or something else, but I try to find out as much as I can about my areas of interest. I guess that's why this blog has started. In my Internet digging, I found Swedes Please, which you should most certainly visit. It's this blog, but for Sweden.

Anyhow, the point of this all is that I've now been alerted to Richard Reagh (myspace), who's fled Vancouver for a colder and harsher climate: Stockholm. In spite of the affinity I automatically have for him in his exodus to Sweden, I feel I can say without bias that there's something very new about the music. In his words, it's "Portishead sleeping with George Jones, David Bowie taking over the Rolling Stones, Joe Jackson backing up Al Green." I'd file it somewhere between quirky Canadian indie and Swedish-influenced synth-pop. This is a new remix from Swedish Mr. Suitcase.


Richard Reagh - Winter Light (Mr. Suitcase Fat Kid Nosebleed Remix) (direct download)
original track from the album Is This The Blues I'm Singing? (2007)

AL-PDFA-1979MSTRKRFTJFK

There's this little band in Toronto that we call MSTRKRFT (myspace). They're Al-P and JFK. They do remixes, and they do music. Once upon a time they did DFA 1979. They're fond of letters and numbers, it appears. JFK and I have the same birthday, one day we'll have a joint party. You're all invited.

Anyhow, for now it looks like the two are branching out and doing a bit of solo work. Here's a little sampling of some of JFK's recent and wonderful remixes.

Mr Miyagi - Pick Your Poison (JFK Remix) (zShare)

MSTRKRFT's upcoming dates:
28 Dec: Celebrities (Vancouver)
29 Dec: The Hi-Fi (CLG)
31 Dec: Giant Maximus New Years Eve (LA)

Go see them, obviously.