Friday 31 May 2013

CCPS Miscellany: Open Channels - Doomroom (2013)


So, while we're skirting the Lethbridge-Calgary divide, we might as well post this. We're pretty sure these guys are all based in Lethbridge now, so we'll slap the Miscellany tag on it to keep our critics at bay.

These six songs are a nice balance of Tony Zucco's sour take on modern life and Jeff King's sweet electropop. We enjoy this, but then, we also enjoy alphabetizing our cassette collection.

We picked up a copy of this at Sloth; you can also hear a couple of tracks on thee bandcamp.

Sunday 26 May 2013

Fist City - Demos Live Fisting (2009)


So, by accepting Fist City as a Calgary band, we have an excuse to post this tape, which we think is from about 2009. But maybe it's from 2010. Surprisingly, even though it's on Bart records and carries their impeccable design stamps, we can't find a mention of it on their website. So, instead, we're going to make up stuff about it.

This is pretty low-fi, which makes sense considering these are demos and a live set from the band. One of our favourite things on here is a half-minute, fuzzed-out version of the Shadowy Men standard "Having an Average Weekend," which perhaps foreshadows the band's involvement with Don Pyle. We already mentioned how much we like Fist City, and this tape does a great job of capturing their gritty, manic energy.

Get fisted!

Saturday 25 May 2013

Fist City - Hunting You (2013)



In another case of us purchasing a tape which we already had on vinyl, Shake sent us (for a fee) their release of former Lethbridge kids Fist City's first record. We argued for a bit about whether to label this as a miscellany post, as the band is - from what we understand - still at least partly based in Lethbridge. However, their Sled Island bio claims they're from Calgary. But then Gene reminded us about the video for "Debbie Get Yr Boa":



That's too weird for Lethbridge. Plus, we're really big fans of Fist City - they're one of our favourite bands going in this city. Well, assuming you side with Gene on the Calgary-Lethbridge debate.

Buy the tape from Shake, or via the Fist City bandcamp.

Friday 24 May 2013

Throwaways - Throwaways (2013)



More new tapes! We bought this little gem from Victoria's Shake Records. Sure, it's comprised of stuff that the band already put out on a pair of 7" records (one a split with Dan Izzo's delightful Spastic Panthers). But these are great, great powerpop tunes that we don't mind having in the collection. Because, as we've already established, we believe the cassette is the higher media format. Regardless, "Taco Belly" and "Friday Date" make this tape well worth it.

Order it from Shake or listen to it on bandcamp.

Thursday 23 May 2013

Lucid 44 - Sweep/Sweep (2013)


We're going to take a bit of a break from the nostalgia posts - 'cos we got some new tapes in the CCPS collection! Starting with this. We were super, super happy to find out that the new Lucid 44 was out on both tape and CD. See, in the CCPS archive, we have a very specific hierarchy for media, which goes as follows (from most preferred to least preferred):

  1. Cassette tape
  2. 7" record
  3. 10" record
  4. 12" record
  5. Small format CD
  6. Regular CD
  7. 8-track
  8. DAT
Of course, there have been cases where we have managed to buy things over multiple formats. Because, well, we're like that sometimes. Too much disposable income and too much storage space are a bad combination.

Anyways, we managed to buy only the cassette of Markus Overland's newest opus, although there was a moment when we considered also buying the CD. And only partly becuase they had different cover art. Also because we're big fans of Overland's sad bastard folk. This is a really great sounding tape (wait, did we really just say that?) - with a full band treatment giving more form to Overland's sometimes rambling solo shows.

And, as a bonus, the band has made this available for free download via their bandcamp.

Friday 17 May 2013

Forbidden Dimension - Live at the Westward Club August 3, 1990 (1990)


Jeez, just when you think you've posted all the Forbidden Dimension you possibly could, what shows up in the Dropbox but another live recording! It's like Christmas. Or maybe more like Groundhog Day... every morning, you check the CCPS site, and it's another goddam FD thing.

Anyways, thanks to Chris Zuk for passing this tape, which is allegedly from a show where FD opened for Urge Overkill. We suspect that - given the timing - that would mean this show was at the Westward Club. But maybe not? What we do know is that this is the original, full band era FD. Actually, we don't know that. For all we know, it could be Jackson Phibes and a random bunch of Mount Royal College music students.

Actually, that might be a pretty cool thing to hear...

Wednesday 15 May 2013

Jackson Phibes - Old Devil Moon (1998)


We think, from what Tom Bagley once told us, that this single was supposed to have been a full FD thing, but after Widow's Walk, the band fractured and Tom was left on his own... and so, this ended up being a solo-ish outing. Maybe we're making that up, though.

We're never quite sure.


Monday 13 May 2013

Forbidden Dimension - Hallowe'en Everywhere (1995)


Alright! More FD vinyl deliciousness! Jackson and crew were clearly on a roll in the early 90's, with a series of singles second only to Huevos Rancheros.

Our scanner hasn't done the orange of the cover on this justice, but what could?

Sunday 12 May 2013

Forbidden Dimension - All About Evil (1994)



So, another day, another FD single. This single finds FD returning to their full band format for three glorious tracks - including a cover of Blue Oyster Cult's "Stairway to the Stars."

You know, we feel we're at the point where we've said pretty much all there is to say about FD. So just grab the download.

Saturday 11 May 2013

Forbidden Dimension - Dial "M" for Monster b/w Hand of Glory (1993)



We had an offer a while back of a bunch of singles, ones which we already had in the CCPS archive, but hadn't posted. Which made us wonder, why hadn't we posted them? So, back in to the vinyl we go... starting with this great single from Jackson Phibes and crew. This is a great, beefy-sounding drum machine version of two tracks that appeared on early FD cassettes but inexplicably didn't make it onto Sin Gallery.

As a bonus, here's Jackson in the basement revisiting the b-side:



Dial D for download!

Wednesday 1 May 2013

The Tickets - Extended Play (1980)


This has been sitting on the CCPS hard drive for a while, after we liberated it from Girls From Tahiti. We recently lost an opportunity to own this rare 7", we weren't quite as fast as another local collector. Sigh. That's the way it goes.

Anyways, we don't know anything about this band - other than they sound a lot like the Raspberries.

Get the ticket here.