Spotlight on Canadian band the Odds

Here's the playlist, etc. for my seventh show (Feb. 28, 2011)... which also went for a double shift despite the fact that it is rumoured there is apparently finally a new host for "Mid-Day Mind Control" which runs after "The Dollar Bin". I did the last two shows with co-hosts but was solo once again for this one. I survived the hellish nightmare that was February... basically doing the equivalent of 7 courses at once... and then was sick for pretty much the whole first week of March. I'm guessing my body just said fuck you (with the aid of some sort of virus) and shut down until I'd had enough rest. I did manage to get this show done (despite a rather noticeable snowstorm that made travel in Ottawa more than a little difficult) before heading home and staying there until Friday.

As a reminder, my show is broadcast live and prone to mind-altering chaos every second Monday from 2PM to 3PM (Eastern Time) on 93.1FM in Ottawa or streaming audio on http://www.ckcufm.com/. You can always go here to find out when the next show will be (or read my playlists). Of this show, I wrote:

From the ultra rare (Elastica) to the impossibly good for only $0.50 (the Baba album... seriously a favourite find); from power pop to chip music and classic bar bands; there's always something good waiting for the adventurous listener in The Dollar Bin.

I was glad to be able to play a little more Canadian content on this one and did a spotlight on one of the ultimate Canadian bands: the Odds.

The Odds are a textbook case of what it takes to be successful as a Canadian band in our rather unforgiving musical landscape. The band was formed in ’87 in Vancouver, consisting of vocalist-guitarists Craig Northey and Steven Drake (both of whom had led different bands appearing on a Vancouver music compilation album, Spotlight '86), bassist Doug Elliott and drummer Paul Brennan. In the late 80s, the band played four nights a week as a 60s and 70s cover band called Dawn Patrol, while playing as the Odds on weekends and funding their own demo recordings, hoping for a break. The band members claim the name came when Brennan asked Drake, in a town somewhere on the BC coast, "What are the odds of us ever escaping bullshit gigs like this?" They traveled to Los Angeles doing showcases and eventually signed to Zoo Entertainment.

They released their debut self-produced album, Neopolitan, in ‘91, which spawned the radio hits "Love Is the Subject" and "King of the Heap". A third single, the sexually explicit "Wendy Under the Stars", failed to chart, but attracted the attention of a music critic for its unusual homage to Elvis, and the band was subsequently picked up by Warren Zevon, becoming his touring band for his album Mr. Bad Example. They released a followup album in ‘93 and began a somewhat controversial ongoing collaboration with the members of Kids In The Hall which continues to this day. During the recording of the album we’re listening to, Good Weird Feeling, their drummer left and joined Big Sugar and he was replaced by Pat Steward. The album went on to be their most commercially successful one. They did one more album in ‘96 called “Nest” and then broke up in ‘99 (releasing a singles compilation album in 2000). They got back together in 2007 to play on a music themed cruise in the Caribbean put together by the Bare Naked Ladies, and went on to record an album in 2008 and, after re-securing the rights to their material, they released an EP in 2009 and have started touring again.

I also had a wonderful treat with an ultra-rare in the form of a 4-track demo track from Elastica. I've been listening to it at home over and over and was happy to be able to share on The Dollar Bin. I have to say that Baba knocked my socks off as well... beatboxing, flute, and digeridoo... mind blowing (been listening to that too)! Without further adieu, here is the playlist for The Dollar Bin:

Elastica, Buy-Product 2: Brief Encounters, "Blue (Donna's 4-Track Demo)"
Camus, Sins Of The Father, "Send Her My Love"
Southern Culture On The Skids, Buy-Product 2: Brief Encounters, "Red Beans n' Reverb"
Fordirelifesake, Dance Pretend Forget Defend, "From Tragedy To Imaginary"
Baba, Mind Music, "Beatbox Logic"
Camus, Sins Of The Father, "Ouch"
Odds, Good Weird Feeling, "Mercy To Go"
Odds, Good Weird Feeling, "Leave It There"
Odds, Good Weird Feeling, "Eat My Brain"
Odds, Good Weird Feeling, "The Last Drink"
Stoa, Seireenia, "Maare Illuscend"
Liquified, 13 Methods of Hallucination, "Tiny Spacey"

For "Mid-Day Mind Control", I actually had someone call in with a request :)... for Root Boy Slim's "Dare To Be Fat" or The Bangles' "Walk Like An Egyptian". Well, I kinda played both... mwahahaha... got the first and decided to mix it up a little and play The Cleverlys' version of the Bangles song... yeah... I guess I'll post the video below... has to be seen to be believed (although their version of "Hocus Pocus" by Focus is a masterpiece of surrealist performance art). I also played one of my favourites... Captured! By Robots, off their album fully titled "The Musical Version of The Movie Version of The Ten Commandments"... where The Cleverlys are twisted, Captured! By Robots is a full on mindfuck... one guy and all the rest of the band are robots he built after being thrown out of a ska band. Okay... that's going to be the bonus video (I can't not post something of his)! Oh, and I also played a couple of tracks off the amazing soundtrack to the new Tron movie. I was really worried that Daft Punk would screw up it up (and I'm a Daft Punk fan), but they nailed it completely. Nice! Anyway, here's the playlist:

Morcheeba, The Antidote, "Ten Men"
Eurythmics, Greatest Hits, "It's Alright (Baby's Coming Back)"
Captured! By Robots, The Ten Commandments, "Nefritiri Sex Jam"
Root Boy Slim, YouTube Video, "Dare To Be Fat"
Chumbawamba, Tubthumper, "Smalltown"
Metric, Live It Out, "Monster Hospital"
The Cleverlys, YouTube Video, "Walk Like An Egyptian"
Beck, Buy-Product 2: Brief Encounters, "Novocaine"
Daft Punk, Tron Legacy Soundtrack, "The Grid"
Daft Punk, Tron Legacy Soundtrack, "The Son Of Flynn"
Chumbawamba, Readymades, "Sewing Up Crap"
Chumbawamba, Readymades, "All In Vain"

And here are ... the videos:

For all y'all foreign types with yer hookie pipes...

And Captured! By Robots... I fucking love this guy!!! In this video, he's playing Moses, the OTOG: the "Old Testament Original Gangster" as he says on his album ;).