So I didn't update this blog with playsheets for the last three weeks. Just call it a case of forgetfulness. I was too busy listening to awesome new music!

The good or bad news (depending on how you look at things), I'm most likely going to stop doing this program once the year ends. Let some young blood get on the mic during a hot timeslot. As for my plans post-IACBT, well, you'll just have to stay tuned to find out.

October 8th, 2009
360. The Nymphets / "With A Girl Like You" *
361. Sea Wolf / "Wicked Blood"
362. Pete Yorn & Scarlette Johansson / "Blackie's Dead"
363. Gordon Gano & The Ryans / "Way That I Creep"
364. In Defense / "The Only Good Thing About Pizza Is The Crust"
365. Assassinate The Following / "Controller"
366. Monotonix / "Hunt You Down"
367. Brand New / "Gasoline"
368. Tony Wilson Sextet / "Let The Monkey Dance" *
369. Harris Eisenstadt / "Ups And Downs" *
370. Po' Girl / "Things We Believe In" *
371. Kent McAlister & The Iron Choir / "Pioneer Woman" *
372. Satomi Saeki / "Stream / Flow" *
373. Forro In The Dark / "Lilou"
374. Breakestra / "Show You The Way"
375. Kae Sun / "Too Young Too Soon" *
376. Lou Barlow / "The One I Call"
377. Rain Machine / "Winter Song"

October 15th, 2009
378. Joe Louis Walker / "Way Too Expensive"
379. Jim Byrnes / "Jailbird Love Song" *
380. Headlights / "Telephones"
381. A Fine Frenzy / "Bird Of The Summer"
382. Little Foot Long Foot / "Market Survey" *
383. Oromocto Diamond / "Tides Of Time" *
384. Louwop The Dirty General / "Yes Y'all" *
385. Brother Ali / "Breakin' Dawn"
386. Liftoff / "Number One Fan"
387. Taketron / "Laughter Club"
388. Hudson Mohawke / "Rising 5"
389. Zero 7 / "Ghost Symbol"
390. Orenda Fink / "Wind"
391. The Wheat Pool / "I'm Not Here" *
392. The Dutchess And The Duke / "Let It Die"
393. Castanets / "No Trouble"
394. The Dead Letters / "Cathedral Of Leaves"

October 22nd, 2009
395. The Jesus Lizard / "Boilermaker"
396. Lila Downs / "La Cama de Pe-dra"
397. Darius Jones Trio / "We Are Unicorns"
398. Oliver Jones / "Someone To Watch Over Me" *
399. Del The Funky Homosapien and Tame One / "The Franchise"
400. Zoot Woman / "Take You Higher"
401. Champion / "Backing Off" *
402. Fuck Buttons / "Phantom Limb"
403. The Avett Brothers / "It Goes On And On"
404. Ox / "Burnout" *
405. Mason Jennings / "Jackson Square"
406. The Diabaleros / "Wandering Dry" *
407. The Heavy / "Sixteen"
408. Dead Man's Bones / "In The Room Where You Sleep"
409. The Video Dead / "Cry Me A Rivers Cuomo" *
410. Baroness / "The Gnashing"
411. Times New Viking / "I Smell Bubblegum"
412. Black Feelings / "Gails"
413. Five Hole / "The Squid and the Wayne" *

This was my last proper show on CJAM (not counting the Pledge Drive program next week) before we switch to the 99.1 FM frequency. Starting off with Every Time I Die, I noticed that the next two albums also loosely had connections to death, so I thought I'd work with that for a while before realizing that it was a bit too morbid and unnecessary. As a whole, the show was put together without much planning because most of my week was consumed with preparing for said Pledge Drive.

On the topic, if you've ever enjoyed my radio program or anything else heard on CJAM, you should totally donate. As Music Director, I assembled a pretty impressive list of incentives that you can view on the CJAM.ca website, and coincidentally, there is a PayPal-based donation link to be found as well.

342. Every Time I Die / "The Sweet Life"
343. Black Anvil / "On This Day Death"
344. Dying Fetus / "Atrocious By Nature"
345. Trevor Tchir / "Tearing Down The Gardens" *
346. The Chislers / "Goodbye Baby" *
347. Ben Spencer's Funeral / "Telegram From Schucksville" *
348. Soulsavers / "You Will Miss Me When I Burn"
349. B.A. Johnston / "Tetris Junkie" *
350. Mum / "Prophecies And Reserved Memories"
351. The Waitiki 7 / "Coronation"
352. Baaba Maal / "International"
353. The Very Best / "Rain Dance"
354. Anti-pop Consortium / "NY To Tokyo"
355. OK Cobra / "The Schwinn Bike" *
356. Kid Cudi / "Alive"
357. Paul Anka / "The Way You Make Me Feel" *
358. Wilson/Lee/Bentley / "Sinister Two" *
359. Zeep / "Ghost Town"

Another two weeks have passed since the last blog update, but I (partially) promise that there were good reasons. On Wednesday October 9th, The Most Serene Republic visited the station for an interview that didn't go too well, and to record a few live songs in-studio. No Wednesday programmers wanted this opportunity, so I switched time slots with our Program Director, and did it all myself.

Last year when I attempted to never repeat the same band twice, I ran into problems when special events took place. For example, in early 2008 Twilight Hotel released a new album so I gave it a play. However, I had no clue that I'd be interviewing them later that year, and it would have been a dumb move to say, "sorry, I can't play your music because I already played a song earlier this year." In the same kind of way, I'm not counting songs by The Most Serene Republic (and their touring partners in Still Life Still) toward staying true to the goal of never repeating the same artist twice.

311. Klang / "Fickle"
312. Canadian Brass / "Sweet Georgia Brown" *
313. Os Mutantes / "Anagrama"

The Most Serene Republic / "Heavens To Purgatory (live)" *
Still Life Still / "Knives In Cartoons" *

314. Grand Archives / "Oslo Novelist"

The Most Serene Republic / "Phi (live)" *

315. Nudge / "Burns Blue"
316. To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie / "Bridgework"
317. The Sales Department / "Sifting" *
318. Starting Teeth / "Burn The Roof Tropical (Aju's Edit)"
319. Kate Schutt / "If Spring Comes" *
320. Nathen Maxwell / "Salt And Sand"
321. The Bownesians / "How Allen Saved The Radio Station" *
322. David Bazan / "When We Fell"
323. Share / "Horse And Rider" *
324. Jemina Pearl / "Band On The Run"
325. Mew / "Introducing Player"

This week, the same kind of thing happened. The Majestic Theater provided CJAM with a number of guestlist giveaways for an upcoming Son Volt/Sera Cahoone concert. Although I'm positive that I haven't played any of Sera's excellent music yet this year, I didn't count it or the Son Volt track.

326. Off The International Radar / "Sans Olo" *
327. Signer / "Break My Arms Around You"

Sera Cahoone / "The Colder The Air"

328. Big Rude Jake / "Preacher's Got A Brother" *
329. Bloodshot Bill / "Pretty Lil Miss" *
330. Slaraffenland / "Hunting"
331. Kaki King / "Montreal"
332. Bruce Peninsula / "Drinking All Day" *
333. Us3 / "B-Boys"
334. Crown City Rockers / "Astroshocks"
335. Wax Tailor / "B-Boy On Wax"

Son Volt / "Pushed Too Far"

336. Julie Peel / "The Greatest Story"
337. Owen / "Amnesia And Me"
338. Absent Sound / "Raggamuffin (The New Reggae)" *
339. Vampires Of Dartmoore / "Hallo, Mister Hitchcock"
340. Science Fiction Corporation / "Dance On Mars"
341. Le Loup / "Beach Town"

In terms of super great new music, there has been a nice influx of hip-hop lately after a relatively slow year thus far. Muneshine, Us3, Crown City Rockers, and Wax Tailor all come highly recommended, although none will make my best of 2009 list. Additionally, a label called B-Music has started sending re-issued rarities and other curiousities to campus radio over the last few months. Vampires Of Dartmoore and Science Fiction Corporation are two fantastic examples, and rather than trying to explain them to you, it's best that you just visit the B-Music website instead.

One more show left before the 2009 pledge drive kicks into gear. I might go all old school hip-hop next week, but we shall see about that.

Yes, I forgot to update the blog this week, so please enjoy double the amount of content. Last week was rather uneventful: good music was played, but nothing overly blew my mind.

297. The Balconies / "The Slo" *
298. Reverend Horton Heat / "Drinkin' And Smokin' Cigarettes"
299. Rough Skeletons / "The Dealer" *
300. Woody Johnson / "Candy Man" *
301. Andy Martin / "Pick Yourself Up"
302. Kevin Breit and Jesse Stewart / "Positively Negative" *
303. Nurses / "Technicolor"
304. The Entrance Band / "That Is Why"
305. The Fury / "Sinking"
306. Unleash The Archers / "Eat What You Kill" *
307. Miles Jones / "Trust Me" *
308. Speech Debelle / "Finish This Album"
309. Casual Sax / "4x12=Yaay!"
310. Otto / "6 Minutos"

This week, on the other hand, was full of amazing and/or highly-anticipated releases. The debut album by Lullabye Arkestra (via Constellation Records) was one of my favourite albums of 2006, and the follow-up ("Threats/Worship" on Vice Records) is just as enjoyable. While overly simplified, I told the CJAM DJs to think of Handsome Furs meets Death From Above 1979, so we'll see if this helps the band rise to #1 on our charts next week.

Øorn is CJAM volunteer, Andrew Murphy, and he surprised us all with an album full of dark instrumental drones and sound experiments. Much like my album, his is available as a free download from http://www.myspace.com/oornmusic.

Speaking of sound experiments, Tyondai Braxton's new solo album is often like the soundtrack to a cartoon on crack, and I mean that in the best way possible. He and his band members in Battles exploded in popularity a couple years ago, so it'll be interesting to see if anyone at the station cares to indulge his album, "Central Market."

Anyone listening to the show today heard me overly gush and crush on Rick White. I promise that I'm not an obsessed fan in love with him, but don't understand how his level of success and popularity isn't as large as it should/could be. I've listened to the first half of his latest solo album ("1-3-7" on Blue Fog Records), and didn't hear a bad song. I'm willing to bet the second half is just as good. At 20+ songs and 60+ minutes in length, it's an epic one.

If these releases weren't enough, Brownout, the Kind Of Bloop compilation (see the song by Disasterpeace), Zoos Of Berlin, Ramona Falls (side project of a member of Menomena), More Or Les & Fresh Kils, and pretty much everything else on the show this week blew my mind.

311. Madcowboys / "Overanalysis" *
312. Lullabye Arkestra / "Surviving The Year Of Wolves" *
313. Øorn / "Confuser" *
314. Tyondai Braxton / "Opening Bell"
315. Eric Copeland / "Corn On The Cob"
316. Disasterpeace / "Flamenco Sketches"
317. Andy Milne and Benoit Delbecq / "Pyramides" *
318. Brownout / "Pole Position"
319. The Paint Movement / "Faults" *
320. Rick White Album / "Perception" *
321. Zoos Of Berlin / "Our Jailor Eats Alone"
322. Ramona Falls / "Russia"
323. Dustin Bentall Outfit / "Pontiac" *
324. Tin Star Orphans / "Let You Down" *
325. More Or Les & Fresh Kils / "Pop N Chips" *
326. 14KT / "I Still Buy Vinyl"
327. Stew Gunn Band / "The Silent Sea" *
328. The Bronzed Chorus / "Tiny Oxen"

Artist or band #300 is quickly approaching, but based on the totals last year, that means I'm only about 1/3rd of the way through the goal of never playing the same artist twice over a period of one year. So close, but yet so far away!

I love guilt-free downloads and hip-hop, so it made me especially happy to start off the show with two new-ish releases on Neferiu Records. While freely available, the goal is to have fans donate money if they enjoy the music, which is an idea that I like and use in the distribution of my own music as well. Following these songs with an electronic cover version of the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" by two guys from France doesn't get any better.

Actually it does! Sally Shapiro has released another fun album of highly danceable and party-starting music on Paper Bag Records. If she was from Canada like most of the artists on the label, our DJs would be playing her like nuts. However, sadly plays on CJAM aren't at the level that I would have hoped for yet.

After enjoying a pre-release copy for a month now, the new album by The Wooden Sky has finally arrived in CD format, and I believe it will be in stores this coming Tuesday. While the electric guitar-driven, up-tempo rock songs appear a little less frequently on than their last album, the songwriting and overall instrumentation is still fantastic. If this isn't on my Best of 2009 list in a few months, I'll be quite surprised! This week I've also enjoyed the new releases by Amelia Curran and The Cave Singers. Like The Wooden Sky, their new albums are just as enjoyable as their last.

The show ended with a 30 minute song by Nadja. What else do I need to say about that?

285. DJ Moves / "Infinite Universe" *
286. Dirty Sample / "30 Minutes Of God" *
287. The Penelope(s) / "Sabotage"
288. Sally Shapiro / "Save Your Love"
289. Amelia Curran / "Wrecking Ball" *
290. The Wooden Sky / "Oh My God (It Still Means A Lot To Me)" *
291. The Cave Singers / "I Don't Mind"
292. Sian Alice Group / "White"
293. Stefon Harris And Blackout / "Tanktified"
294. Holland/Rubalcaba/Potter/Harland / "Otra Mirada"
295. Puberty / "Common Sense" *
296. Nadja / "Absorbed In You "

Very few new releases at CJAM blew my mind this week (yet I still added 67 new titles to our on-air library), but maybe being totally won over by Little Claw last week set the bar too high. However, we were one of only 85 or so stations in North America to receive a copy of the new Mount Eerie album, which is called "Wind's Poem." I've never been an obsessive fan of The Microphones/Mount Eerie (in other words, you won't find me spending $200 on one of Phil's photographs), but I respect his hustle and work ethic. The new album is quite good, and is supposedly influenced by Twin Peaks and ambient black metal. Upon first inserting the CD, I was immediately drawn to an 11+ minute song slotted at track #2, which is a pretty brave move when it comes to sequencing. I had to play it!

When I give the new album by HEALTH more play, I'll surely be able to recommend it, and the new 7-inch from Devil Eyes has two pretty enjoyable songs.

In the near future, I have high hopes for the new album by Lullabye Arkestra and Christopher O'Reily. May both arrive at CJAM without much effort!

268. Devil Eyes / "Please Don't Touch" *
269. HEALTH / "In Heat"
270. Mount Eerie / "Through The Trees"
271. Wolf Eyes / "Free"
272. Helado Negro / "Dos Suenos"
273. Casey Foubert and James McAlister / "Big Moth"
274. Huun Huur Tu and Carmen Rizzo / "In Search of a Lost Path"
275. Sean Blackman / "Annur"
276. Nestor Wynrush / "Garbage Hill" *
277. Magnum K.I. / "Gun Shy" *
278. Philly Moves / "Alarm Clock" *
279. Black Moor / "Acid Biker" *
280. Beatallica / "Everybody's Got A Ticket To Ride Except Me And My Lightning"
281. Wax / "It Ain't Funny Anymore"
282. The Vanishers / "Hitgirl" *
283. Jo Serrapere / "You Smile"
284. Alan Vega / "Jukebox Babe"

Call it a week where I fell in lust with dirty, dirty, dirty rock & roll. The new album by Little Claw ("Human Taste" on Ecstatic Peace) blew my mind, and I took great joy in playing the new High Watt Electrocutions album on vinyl a couple times in my office this week. The debut album by Extra Happy Ghost!!! is also a great listen, and satisfied my expectations after reading the press release a couple weeks ago.

250. Little Claw / "Breathing Tate"
251. Tyvek / "Flashing Lights (demo)"
252. Band Of Skulls / "Death By Diamonds And Pearls"
253. High Watt Electrocutions / "Tut Will Have His Revenge" *
254. YPPAH / "Sunflower Sunkissed"
255. The Gaslamp Killer / "Birthday Music"
256. 900X / "Carlsbad, 1982"
257. Noah23 / "Toy Story" *
258. Solillaquists Of Sound / "Popcorn"
259. Heroes & Villains / "Kick The Good Stuff"
260. Cale Parks / "Crystal Air"
261. Extra Happy Ghost!!! / "Sympathy For The Moron" *
262. Voivod / "Deathproof" *
263. Augury / "Faith Puppeteers" *
264. M. Ashraf / "Mera Mehbob Hai"
265. Nathan Rogers / "Better Than Me" *
266. Beyond The Pale / "Solution" *
267. Glenn Gould / "String Quartet Op. 1 " *