Monday 16 April 2018

Cold Club - The Cold Club (1995)





We're going to shift gears from our usual alt/indie/punk-rock fare, and dig into the folk/roots/blues scene with this CD of, well, some pretty remarkable musicians. The Cold Club brought together flamenco guitarist Oscar Lopez, blues guitarist Amos Garrett, jazzy violinist Karl Roth, multi-mandoist David Wilkie, and the sadly departed keyboardist Ron Casat. This is well-played (of course), well-arranged and - most importantly - fun. Even if it is outside the standard CCPS fare.

Get cold here.

Sunday 15 April 2018

Busman's Holiday - 3 Credit Head (1995)



More catching up after that wave of 1998 CDs... we just realized we have another Busman's Holiday CD. This one doesn't offer up any more hints about the band. What it does is replace the issue Gene had with the lack of an apostrophe with an antagonizing inconsistency in apostrophe usage.

But still, we continue to offer the download.

Saturday 14 April 2018

Chixdiggit - Chixdiggit (1996)




How on earth did we miss posting this? The first Chixdiggit album, an absolute classic. We said that Born on the First of July had a lot of our favourite Chixdiggit songs? Okay, then this one has more.

Hey, remember when Chixdiggit got signed to Sub Pop?



Hey, remember when Chixdiggit got dumped off Sub Pop?

Looks like this is still in print, and we don't want to get sued by Sub Pop. So, uh, maybe just dig out your old copy from the back seat of your car?

Friday 13 April 2018

Busmans Holiday - Showtime (1998)



We don't know much about Busmans Holiday other than these three things:

  1. They may have been a fixture of Morgan's Pub in the late 90's;
  2. Their drummer was punk rock legend Marty Chatrin; and
  3. The lack of an apostrophe in their band name is a real sticking point for Gene. 
Still, we offer the download here.

Thursday 12 April 2018

Belvedere - Because No One Stopped Us (1998)



Okay, this CD we do have the original version of. Which is weird, because Gene hadn't actually seen the frantic punk attack of a Belvedere show until just last month, when he took in their concert at Dickens. Gene tells us that he probably should have spent a few weeks training for the show, working his way up to music that's as fast as these guys; going from Red Autumn Fall to Belvedere is a sure-fire recipe for whiplash.

We suggested to Gene that he should have watched videos of the band playing to packed houses in Japan, South America and Spain to get a sense as to what he was in for. He's watching this one at 0.75x right now, and he says he thinks it's easier to handle:



Thankfully, the CCPS CD player works at full speed.

Wednesday 11 April 2018

Knucklehead - Little Boots (1998)



We feel like we've let you down, folks. What we have here is actually the 2003 reissue of Knucklehead's 1998 CD, Little Boots. Oh, and we also blew our segue streak by not leading with the fact that this was produced by the drummer from the last CD we posted, Young Dave Alcock.

Sigh.

Well, while we're contemplating all of our errors, enjoy this 18-year old clip of the band:



Oi!

Tuesday 10 April 2018

Chixdiggit - Born on the First of July (1998)




If you took the time to read the liner notes from yesterday's Red Autumn Fall CD, you likely noted that the first band thanked was Chixdiggit - who also released a CD in 1998 (ha! another perfect segue!)! This second Chixdiggit full-length sees Young Dave Alcock taking on drumming duties, but to no less effect.


We forgot how many of our favourite Chixdiggit songs are one here - not the least of which is Calgary Songs Project finalist "Chupacabras," which we mention not just to relive the fun we had with that project, but also so we have another excuse to post this amazing video again:



This was re-issued not that long ago, so pick up a copy (if you don't have it already), or visit the Chixdiggit bandcamp.

Monday 9 April 2018

Red Autumn Fall - Departure (1998)




Speaking of Britpop (we did it! we NAILED that segue!), here's the kings of the scene, Red Autumn Fall. We've poked fun at RAF a fair amount over the years, but we're mellowing in our age, or something. When we posted their second CD a couple of years ago, we noted how... good it was.

And, uh, this one is also quite good. We like how compact Debutant is, but this one sounds better (is it the production? The mixing? The mastering? Our tinnitus?). And it's got both "Josephite" and "The Revenge of the Blazer Boys", so Gene is pretty happy.

If anyone wants us, we'll be sitting on the steps of the building that once housed the Republik, sipping gin from a thermos and listening to RAF on our Discman.

Sunday 8 April 2018

Lux - The Lux EP (1998)


If we had been astute (if we were astute?), we would have included a note in yesterday's Dino Martinis post that the band featured one-time CJSW Station Manager, which would have been a great segue into today's post, because we would have mentioned that the Lux also featured a one-time CJSW Station Manager, Maizun Jayoussi. Which would have been a lot more effective and readable that whatever words we just mashed into our keyboard.

The Lux is basically Brass with Jayoussi as a frontperson instead of Todd Kipp. So, the ever-present Britpop from the mid-90's Calgary scene. Which is a bit of a move from the first tape we saw her on, GASP! Maybe it's that 90's sound and Jayoussi's voice, but this reminds us a bit of Jale's second album. Which is a pretty obscure thing for us to be reminded of.

Anyways, get it from here.

Saturday 7 April 2018

Dino Martinis - Steak and Comedian Night (1998)




One of favourite things is opening a CD case and discovering something that's not a CD. As long as it's not, you know, poop or something. So we were really happy to rediscover the toothpick tucked into this Dino Martinis' release. 

Last time we posted about the Dino Martinis, we mentioned that their jump blues sound makes us want to go for a cocktail at Ming; with Ming closed, we're not sure what their spiritual successor is - Milk Tiger, maybe?


Wherever we end up, we hope there's some fine brown liquor to go with this download.

Friday 6 April 2018

Anne Loree - Beyond Cinderella (1998)



We've made a big deal of Anne Loree before; her mega hit "Insensitive" (featured on this disc in the form of a live, piano-focused version) is just a hint of her narrative-driven songwriting. The highlights for us on this disc are the tracks where she's paired with the gals from Same Difference. 


Go beyond here.

Thursday 5 April 2018

Airship One - Summers Ago (1998)



Still randomly pulling from the 1998 pile of CDs, here's what might be the earliest CD-R in our collection. We have find memories of dragging through the city in search of deals on CD-Rs in the late 90's. Okay, not really all that fond, since this involved going to Costco.

Anyways, we do have fond memories of this era of Airship One, when Chris Zimmel was accompanied by drummer Jay Wooley. Still the same introverted indie pop, but with percussion!


Get it here.

Wednesday 4 April 2018

National Dust - ...Blind Luck Ain't No Luck At All (1998)




Carrying on with favourites of ours, here's local sweetheart/curmudgeon Lorrie Matheson and his alt-country all star band, National Dust. After his short exile in Edmonton with Pal Joey, Lorrie picked up with alumni of the Burners, the Nex'd, and the R&B Keepers, and put out this gem. This is a nice progression from Fire Engine Red, with "Sadie Hawkins" being a highlight in Matheson's songwriting (although, looking through the liner notes we're reminded that Brooker Buckingham and James Hayden share the music writing credit).

Get lucky here.

Tuesday 3 April 2018

Straight - Happy Club (1998)




We're going to spend the next while digging through some CDs from the year 1998, and we've randomly picked this one, which just happens to be by one of our all-time favourites. Straight picked up on the excellent work of the Quitters, with Joe McCaffery's songwriting taking a Superchunk-y direction. We can't stress this enough: "Vacant" is the best self-loathing anthem to ever come out of this city.


Shortly before their one-off reunion alongside Fire Engine Red two years ago, Straight launched a bandcamp site - get the download or physical CD from there.