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THE REAKTOR’S MUSICAL PICS OF THE WEEK!!

CJLO is known for its diversity, especially when it comes to music…so here is a little dose of what the REAKTOR is playing this week!!

Check it out, some songs are new, others are old but that is the beauty of music and CJLO… it is ageless, so read and listen on! Revamp that iPod/mp3 player or walkman, of yours and prepare yourself for an eargasm of musical happiness!

The Noisettes

New RPM, it’s got a rock/alt edge to it and makes you want to dance upper torso style!

Check out their video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qfmGokiPe8&feature=related

Their album is awesome and if you’re a fan of La Roux  and Pheonix I’m sure you’ll approve!

BEAR in HEAVEN

I love this album, it’s dark and poppy and the song lovesick teenagers is reminiscent of The Labyrinth,  haunting and disturbingly interesting and yet kid friendly!

 If you like The Cure, Sea Wolf and Longwave, then definitely give them a listen!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGS7vNLhxNA

PHEONIX

Everyones new favorite band and with good reason!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rbGj4_qYgI

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings

 This OLD SCHOOL style band from the 60’s gets re-edited and re-released…in other words, the best of Motown you’ll ever hear in this day and age. Do you like R&B, soulful music from the '50s and all around amazing music? I thought so… now go take a listen!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB69Ij5X6AE

OBJECT OF THE WEEK???!!!

The monocle. Why? Because you look smart and debonair while wearing it!

Don’t forget if you’re in a musical rut, never fear –because CJLO is always here!

Read and produced by Nicholas Fiscina

Stories written by Matthew Sarah Phelps, David Adelman and Gareth Sloan

Sade - Soldier Of Love

       Helen Folasade Adu was busy making smooth jams while the majority of you were still living inside your fathers' ballsacks. From 1984 onwards, Adu (known more famously as Sade, also the name of her band, confusingly enough) has been crafting passionate ballads in search of ways to perfect her signature sound, which came to life on 1992's Love Deluxe. The reclusive artist, who comes around and hands the world an album every decade or so, continues to slowly evolve, introducing subtle electronica elements to her music. The album's title track (and first single) is classic Sade, big on drums, reverbed percussive elements and vocal melodies, indicative of the direction of the rest of the album. Though the majority of Soldier Of Love sounds eerily similar to her previous work, the record retains enough enjoyable elements of her sound that it may be forgiven. Just call her the AC/DC of smooth R&B.

-Brian Hastie

Crime In Stereo - I Was Trying To Describe You To Someone

      As Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, "We change, whether we like it or not." In this case, I assume that by the first "We," he also meant "our favourite bands." 

      All of you who expect a punk band—a living organism comprised of living organisms—to stay exactly the same over long periods of time are kidding yourselves. Some do it, sure. But that's not art, that's a business model. Picasso went through periods both Blue and Rose in a five-year span. Why anyone would want Crime in Stereo to put out Explosives and the Will to Use Them 2.0 now, in 2010, is beyond me, though I know that some of you must harbour such a desire in your twisted title hearts. In any case, some punk bands are more into change than others (Propagandhi, Thrice, Brand New, I'm looking at you guys) and CiS, if their fourth full-length, I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone, is anything to go on, is another band in that vein. 

      The bulk of the work is done already, of course. 2008's fabulous Is Dead was a reasonably radical break from their previous sound (and I'm not just talking about the dance beats in "Small Skeletal"); a much more drastic departure from the very solid but relatively unambitious The Troubled Stateside than I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone is from Is Dead. Even so, there are still little shifts here—and seemingly all of them come at the expense of the more straight-forward melodic hardcore sound found in their earliest work. 

      There's the sonic backmasking that goes on during the climax of "Drugwolf," undoubtedly one of the standout tracks on the album. There's the, dare I say it, Nirvana-esque chorus of first single "Not Dead." There's the acoustic singalong of the heartrendingly beautiful "Young," and the re-worked "Dark Island City," a slowed-down, elongated and de-clawed version of the all-too-short little riffgasm that appeared on The Troubled Stateside, with just as many lyrics as the original. 

      The band has not, however, severed their ties with their older material. On track eight, "Republica," Kristian Hallbert twice sings "I think I'm starting to…" and it's hard not to mentally finish his lines with "relate… / To these troubled states." "Not Dead" seems as obvious a rebuttal to the title of their last album as is possible, and the aforementioned "Dark Island City" is a nod to—and update on—a song first released almost 4 years ago. The lyrics, which mix the personal with the political, the private with the public, in as beautiful and haunting a fashion as I think I've seen anywhere in punk, are vintage Crime in Stereo in their tone, but seem a like definite improvement on past outings. These guys haven't forgotten their past, but they certainly aren't wallowing in it. 

    I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone is a very strong album, and there's likely enough melodic hardcore on it to satisfy even some of the old-school HXC die-hard fans. Nevertheless, it represents a slight evolution of their sound, and a clear step towards a more diverse sonic palette, not unlike Blacklisted's wonderfully varied 2009 full No One Deserves to Be Here More Than Me. Though both records feature somewhat ridiculous album art, if this is the new hardcore, sign me up for more.

-Alex Manley

Massive Attack - Heligoland

It is refreshing to hear a new album from a duo such as Massive attack that has been around a couple of decades now.  Heligoland is an album that remains true to Massive’s approach to trip-hop. The album leaves a lot of leeway stylistically. It chooses a strangely eclectic status by featuring many guest collative vocalists (on all but two tracks). The album is rendered something more of a joint effort which partially explains the variations in style. Each song was different from the rest not only in consequence of pooled effort but because of a confusing combination of varied time signatures, ambient noise and alternative pop riffs. The music kind of catchy but leaves you with the impression that you only have a certain tolerance for Massive Attack. Because the album is downbeat it would work to see a comedy after listening, nevertheless I believe that Massive attack was considerate enough to leave any DJ with an album which has potential for further electronic interpretation.

-Reem Wehbe

This past Saturday night Wilco gave a strong endorsement over two hours that they are currently the greatest touring band on the planet. Now, to use absolutes when dealing with something as arbitrary and objective as “greatest touring band on the planet” is not something that is recommended, but there are a few times in the history of this thing we call rock and roll that an argument can be made (Led Zeppelin 1973 Tour and Bruce Springsteen & The E. Street Band 1980-81 Tour, to name just two examples) While it is still open to debate, the arguments that these bands made and the one that Wilco is making right now is strong enough for me to break the rules of objectivity and make such a grand statement.

It has been a long and not always easy road for Wilco to get to this place. Forming out of the ashes of Alt-Country legends, Uncle Tupelo, in 1994, Jeff Tweedy struggled with finding the perfect lineup. The fact that only bass player, John Stirratt, remains from the original lineup proves two things, (a) Tweedy was willing to get rid of anyone unable to give him what the songs needed and (b) Stirratt is the prefect bass player for the songs that Tweedy writes. After numerous changes and a decade of searching, the pieces began to fall into place. In 2001 Glenn Kotche replaced original drummer Ken Coomer and then in 2004 came the biggest shake-up as multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone, piano/keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen and finally guitarist Nels Cline were all brought in to the band. The release of Wilco (The Album) in 2009 marked the first time Wilco had released an album with the exact same lineup from the previous album (Sky Blue Sky, 2007) – while Nels Cline joined the band in 2004 he did not appear on the 2004 album A Ghost is Born. The stability afforded by this, along with Jeff Tweedy overcoming his long battle with his own personal demons, which included stints in rehab to deal with clinical depression and an addiction to painkillers, have allowed Wilco to grow tighter and build upon each other’s strengths. With his band in place and his demons slain, Tweedy has finally found comfort in being “the front man.”

As the sold-out crowd at L’Olympia began to grow restless with excitement for the band to come on stage, the John Williams’ “Olympic Theme” began to play as the six members of Wilco took their places. During a rousing mix of applause, whoops, hollers and giggles the band kicked into “Wilco (The Song)” and the nights’ festivities were under way. Over the next two hours plus, they would play a selection of songs pulled from every studio album they’ve released as well as a couple tracks from the Mermaid Avenue collaboration with Billy Bragg and one DNA altering cover (more on that later). The song selections ensured that fans of every era would be left happy. Summerteeth, A Ghost Is Born, and Sky Blue Sky got four songs each, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and Wilco (The Album) each had five songs, with the first two records, A.M. and Being There, having one and two songs respectively. It doesn’t get much more diplomatic than that. It also shows that Wilco has one of the strongest catalogues to pull from when putting a show together.

The ability to shift from style and textures from one song to the next is one of the reasons that a Wilco show is so unpredicitable and allows the listener enjoy the show without ever knowing what is coming next. Seamlessly moving from the avant-garde balladry of “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart” to the dark, brooding “Black Bull Nova” and on it went, one gem after another … “A Shot In The Arm” … “Muzzle of Bees” … “Pot Kettle” … all filled with the experimental instrumentation that pushes all of their songs far beyond the limited “Alt-Country” tag of their early days. As the night flowed onward, Tweedy began wooing the crowd further with compliments and his wit. At one point he congratulated us for the amount of Winter Olympic medals Canada had won, and then mentioned that they had been at the Olympic games, “to compete in the six man rock sled” but had to leave “because the event doesn’t exist.” During “Impossible Germany”, at about the mid way point of the opening set, Nels Cline proved that he belongs in any discussion of contemporary guitar gods, with a blistering display that never crossed the line into guitar-wankery. Which should come as no surprise when you learn that he has appeared on over 150 albums ranging from rock, jazz, pop and experimental in a career that is over three decades long. As great as that song was though, the highlight of the first set may have come a few songs later when Tweedy stepped to the mic and told the packed house that it was now their turn to join in. As the band started to play “Jesus, Etc.” he stepped away from the mic and allowed the audience to sing the song, which they did with an overwhelming enthusiasm. Immediately following the song, Tweedy explained that while he has always tried to be polite about it, he has heard many “dog shit versions of that song”, but that one might have been the greatest one yet and “you may have proven yourselves to be the perfect audience.” It was one of those rare moments that make seeing live music such a special occasion and one this fan won’t soon forget. Four more songs before the opening set of nineteen Wilco classics finished with the spotlight shifting to the drum kit where Glenn Kotche started “I’m The Man Who Loves You” with a long drum roll on the gong behind him (that I had been curious of since before the band took the stage) before jumping onto his drum kit, arms raised in the air, drums sticks pointed up, as the crowd went wild and another great sing along was about to begin, this one included Jeff Tweedy.

As spectacular as the show was, the encore was even better. Returning after a very brief break, the band kick into a wild version of Neil Young’s “Broken Arrow”, which Tweedy stated was their “homage to Canada”. This was followed by a terrorizing version of “Via Chicago”, “The Late Greats” off of A Ghost Is Born was “dedicated tonight and always to Anvil”, “Heavy Metal Drummer”, one of the greatest songs ever written about teenage summers, two classics from Being There, the haunting “Red Eyed, And Blue” and the rocking “I Got You (At The End Of The Century”, the A.M. classic “Casino Queen”, Mermaid Avenue’s “Hoodoo Voodoo” and the final song of the night went to “I’m A Wheel”. Two plus hours later the audience was blissfully spent and we can only hope that it won’t take another five years before we see Wilco headline a show in our city again. Were there any songs I wished to hear and didn’t? Sure, but it doesn’t mean that I wasn’t completely satisfied. Plus I never expected to hear “Casino Queen” or “Red Eyed and Blue”, so like with any band that has so many great songs, it all works out in the end.

Now back for a moment to that idea of “greatest touring band on the planet.” I know that Wilco will never break Led Zeppelin’s attendance records or have a record that sells as many copies as Born in the USA, but things are not the same in this digitally downloadable music universe. You never hear Wilco on commercial radio and only very recently did they even start to garner the proper attention in the mainstream music media.

The music industry is not run by music people anymore, it is run by people with accounting or other business school degrees and they can’t see the forest for the trees (maybe the greatest example of this would be the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot debacle that led to Wilco being dropped by their label only to be picked-up by another subsidiary of the same label and have the album be certified Gold by selling nearly 600 000 copies). Jimmy Page had Ahmet Ertegun and the Boss had John Hammond, music industry powerbrokers and men who saw talent and knew when to get behind a band. Talent is no longer a requirement, and if you don’t believe me then explain why Nickelback was named Band of the Decade for the 2000’s by Billboard magazine. If things were judged on talent then I wouldn’t even need to be writing this article because Wilco would have assumed their rightful place alongside the likes of Bob Dylan and Neil Young. Don’t get me wrong, it is not like Wilco lives in some sort of vacuum where only a handful of people know about their existence. They have won a Grammy (ironically for their most inaccessible album to date, A Ghost Is Born) and been nominated for two others, they’ve been on Letterman and Saturday Night Live and play to sold out crowds all over the world. Yet it still feels like they don’t get the respect that a band of this caliber should get, and they are not alone. My Morning Jacket, Spoon, and a host of other bands all fall into the same category of bands whose talents far exceed their recognition.

It is easy for those of us who were at the Wilco show to forget that although everyone we hang out with knows who they are, the great majority of people still don’t. However, it is not these peoples fault. If the commercial rock radio station that claims to be the spirit of rock doesn’t even play Wilco when Neil Young hand picks them to open for him at the Bell Centre, like he did in December 2008, what are people who don’t go anywhere else for music to do? Instead they get force-fed watered down version of what passes for rock and roll or pop music so damaged by the American Idolization of music that it may cause brain damage. They are told that nothing compares to the music of the 60’s and 70’s, so they needn’t try to find it. Well if that bums you out as much as it bums me out, don’t worry, we have the greatest touring band on the planet on our side and besides, Wilco will love you, baby.