Record Store Adventures in Halifax and St John's

My girlfriend and I just returned from a week long tour of the east coast.  This was Maria's first time east of Quebec City so i made sure that we had stops in the two greatest east coast cities i know... St John's and Halifax.  I suppose we will start the trip with St John's  mainly because it is the only place i can think of where the fact that 95% of all Lamb's Amber Rum is consumed is a source of provincial pride.  A wise Newfie once said "You can always tell a Newfoundlander in heaven....  they are the ones trying to get home".  After having been to the rock a few times,  i can understand why.  This is an island of astounding beauty,  unique culture (and language)  a nightlife second to none (as long as you love drinking)  and a great little record shop in Duckworth St.. 

While the Duckworth St. name may have been made famous by the CBC program "Republic of Doyle"  which was shot at the Duke of Duckworth pub,  this little shop proved to be one of the highlights of my trip (i accidently returned twice....  oops).  Along with their extensive collection of classics both used and reissue,  they also had a very good selection of new vinyl at extreemly reasonable prices considering this shop is located on an island.  On my first visit i picked up a copy of Run DMC - Walk this way / My Addidas / Peter Piper from the used section and a brand spanking new copy of Mastodon - Hunters for a cool 24$  a whole 26$ cheaper than i have seen it before.  One cannot deny the awesomeness that is the Rev Run, DMC and Jam Master Jay and now i have a new jam to rock out to when im wearing my Addidas this summer.  The new Mastodon album has been a staple in my car for months now.  An old co worker of mine introduced it to me last fall and ive been hooked ever since....  there is only one way to describe that album and that is the word crushing...... 

On the second visit to Fred's  i did some more digging and ended up finding a copy of the Flaming L:ips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and a used copy of an old Tina Turner album (Maria's Pick)  Before i get into the awesomeness of my new Flaming Lips album,  on a side note,  one of the downsides of sharing a hobby with your significant other is that it now becomes a competition as to who can pick the record store first....  i almost lost my Run DMC to her....  and my Flaming Lips too....  so i sacrificed the Turner for the greater good.....

I have had the privilege of seeing the Flaming Lips live about 3 times and they are hands down the greatest live show i have ever seen.  Wayne Coyne and crew have a passion for what they do and a connection with the people that listen that is very rare in this age in music.  every time you see the lips live,  it feels like you have shared a special and sacred experience  that is unique to all others......I still remember seeing them play do you realize live in ottawa at Bluesfest and as they were wrapping up the song and singing the lines "when you realize the sun don't go down, its just an illusion caused by the world spinning round"  the sun set on the concert.  im getting all nostalgic just typing this out lol.....

After 4 days of live music, record shopping, drinking, eating delicious animals, more drinking, and sightseeing,  we boarded a flight bound for Halifax.....  as captured above,  i finally conquered the wave in Halifax......  the same wave that won the fight on Canada day 2009..  long story,  but a very funny and drunk one i assure you all.

After a quick google search i found the place that Joel Plaskett calls his favorite record store.  Taz Records.

What the stores staff lacked in general hospitality (i found them a bit cold and unfriendly)  they definitley made up for in selection..... not only selection but also by nicely organized bins....  sorted by artist.....  and they had a huge selection.  I can't stress this enough.....  they had EVERYTHING!  they even had a section of old 78 rpm acetates... 

after the fiasco of competitive record shopping with Maria in St John's,  i decided to take a different approach this time.  I B-lined to the tracy chapman section and picked up her early nineties self titled album which Maria loves....  this distracted her while i pillaged the rest of the bins....  here is just a few highlights...

Yaz - Situation  -if you are a synth pop nut like me,  this is a must have
Bob and Doug McKenzie - Great White North.....  really a must have for any proud Canadian....  featuring Getty Lee
Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks
The Flaming Lips - Transmissions from the Satellite Heart
The Eurythmics - Touch

all in all a great haul for a great vacation.  While i hate that i now have competition when it comes to my vinyl shopping,  I love being able to share my hobby with someone who is almost as important as my record collection :)

Vinyl Junkie signing out....  for now that is.....

New year, new way to waste money

Yeah,  its been a while.  Ok a long long while.....  I tracked and lazy... mostly lazy.  I have done a fair amount of vinyl shopping in various cities over the past 6 months.  My significant other (see partner in crime) and I did a couple weekend trips to Montreal and Toronto to see family and friends, and as always,  i found some time to steer the trip slightly askew to feed my record habit.  In Montreal i managed to pick up a copy of John Lee Hooker's "Fried Chicken" and a couple other LP's that were not already weighing down my record shelf.  That little hounding escapade was disguised as a nice leisurely saturday stroll down Rue Ste Denis on the way to my favorite restaurant in the city.... Le Milsa....  conveniently,  there were no less than 5 record shops along the way....... 


We spent a weekend in Toronto before Christmas to visit our good friend Tarah and do some touristy things like get inordinately drunk, go skating in Nathan Phillips Square,  see the Christmas displays at the Hudson Bay Company etc etc...  That Saturday evening we went down Queen St west to do some shopping (clothes... ick)  and much to my pleasant suprise, every single clothing store had a vinyl section!  Finally,  a form of clothes shopping i like,  Maria can shop for things to wear,  and i can shop for more records!  Over a course of 3 or four shops i managed to grab a few gems...  Ten Years After - "Recorded Live"  featuring my favorite Ten Years After track, "I'm Going Home (by helicopter)",  while this version doesnt quite carry the same colour as the version recorded at woodstock,  its still one of my favorite jam/blues songs.  Another choice piece of wax i found was a mint copy of The Cult - "Love" and The Beach Boys - "Endless Summer"  (yeah i know, but i grew up listening to that album on cassette in the car on many many family vacations.......  there is something to say for nostalgia)


Over the Christmas break i travelled to Florida with my mom and dad for a nice week long vacation of well mainly drinking and golf,  but this is me we are talking about....  I took a drive from our resort in San Destin down the Emerald Coast to a town called Seaside, made famous as the location where the film "The Truman Show" was shot.  I found this amazing little record store in the center of town called Central Square Records.  I popped in just to browse around for a bit and ended up having a lengthy conversation with one of the owners.  I must say the staff at that store are collectors first and business second.  It was fantastic to be able to chat with someone who shared my strange addiction.  After talking music and collections for a while i picked up a copy of Grand Funk's 1969 self titled LP with the song "Paranoid" on it..  if you haven't heard this track yet.....  well you are missing out.  I also scored a copy of Primus' new album the Green Naugahyde, which, if you like weird music,  is a must have.

Anyways,  one of my new years resolutions is to post more.... So hopefully i will try to keep these updates at least weekly....

Canada Post

Let me preface my first post in over a month with a brief list of jobs that pay 18$ an hour for a starting wage with a grade 10 education.....


-any job that has membership in the CAW (Canadian's against Working)
-any job with Canada Post....if the corporation has its greedy way... (they currently start at 23$/hr)

Am I the only person who sees the problem with this?  I spent 6 years after high school getting my degree,  another 4 years getting my professional license and even now,  almost 5 years into my career im only making 7 dollars an hour more than some bloody mail carrier?  What happened to the notion in our society that you get paid a fair wage for the value of your work?  Since when was a paper boy considered to be on the same pay scale as an engineer or doctor?

If the union could come up with a rational argument as to why a entry level mail carrier (see paper boy with a pension)  deserves 23$/hr starting wage,  full benefits, up to 7 weeks vacation, unlimited bankable sick days and a pension that is second only to that of a federal MP,  i might be inclined to view their current situation with some degree of empathy...  As it stands right now,  the only solution i want to see is that each and every one of them gets canned,  benefits stripped  and they are offered their jobs back at 14$ an hour until such time that they learn the value of hard work again.

I realize there will always bee a major division between the public sector and the private sector when it comes to things like work ethic,  job security, pension (or lack thereof if you dont work for the government) and pay scale  but i would like to see the public sector held more accountable for these golden contracts they hand out.

If unions want to show the Canadian public that they still have relevance,  they need to start acting less like 3 year olds with a list of toy demands.  Companies are not infinite sources of money,  people deserve fair pay for what they do.... if you deliver mail all day,  you dont deserve the same pay as an engineer...  if you want to make that kind of money,  go to school and get a degree...  I can understand that the union is upset with proposed changes that dont provide a net increase to their pay and benefits but i hope they take the time to look at the situtation from other points of view....  I work my ass off,  I get paid a fair wage for my work and i receive competitive benefits.... I get raises and perks based on my performance as an employee,  not based on my seniority in an antiquated, obsolete labor movement.

moral of the story,  quit yer bitchin and get the hell back to work....

New Beginnings, and other such nonsense

I haven't been able to put together a post for a couple weeks on account of being way too busy.  Apart from the joke that was the federal election,  i also had one roomate move out on his own and a new mystery replacement roomate move in.  From previous experience with roomates,  i typically have had friends move in mainly due to common interest and lifestyle as well as a general comfort level of knowing the person you live with rather well....  This time i decided to think out side the box a bit....  I must say after a week in the new situation,  its been a dream....  considering i met my new roomate the day she moved in from Vancouver!.

I have to give her most of the credit as I'm generally one of the most laid back individuals on the planet, so while i was curious as to how things might change,  I knew i could roll with anything that came my way.  Much to my surprise,  things couldnt have worked out any better had i planned it.  Every once in a while you come across people in your life that you just click with for some reason or another on a level that just defies rational explanation.  For some reason  you just trust that person 100%  without even knowing them.  I have been fortunate enough to meet a few people like this in mylife,  but i honestly never thought i would be living with one lol!

Side effects have been increased pasta intake and significant increase in week night boozing,  both of which im totally ok with.  I have lived with good friends,  and Carl,  over the past four years and its been a slice,  some legendary parties,  great laughs,  and good times... except for Carl....  mainly because i wanted to punch him in the face all the time....  and i still do......  Every Single day......  i wake up to the thought of punching Carl in the face and it puts a smile on my face.... stupid gingers....  ah well i digress...

 I suppose im looking forward to this new experience and if  it holds out like it has for the past week,  its going to be one hell of a summer.....

As kevin and I coined it last night.....  Its the summer of George's.....

When you are this awesome, you have your own soundsystem

Well more specifically, you design your own soundsystem to convey your awesomeness to the audience, and in some cases render them deaf.

This is what Lemon D and Dillinja did. The reasoning? from their own interviews, they attribute the need for their creation to the fact that modern loudspeakers do not posess the capability to replicate the deep sub base frequencies commonly used in drum n bass and jungle production. It was this reason that motivated them to create one of the most scary, increadible and truly bad ass things of all time, The Valve....

What is the Valve? its a soundsystem designed by UK Dj's Lemon D and Dillinja and is loosely modeled after the old jamaican sound systems of the 60's and 70's that brought around the advent of reggae and dub music. The system itself features scooped bass bins and valve amplifiers. Valve vaccum tube amplifiers have a distinct rounded soft and full rich characteristic that you cannot replicate with modern tranistor amplifiers.

Now two low speed bass drivers and a nice amplifier can produce gorgeous lows in your home or studio... what dillinja and lemon D did was inject it with human growth hormone and steroids thus creating the valve sound system.....

Lets put it this way..... if you want to move the system around.... you need 3 full sized transport trucks, two massive 12 foot by 20 foot stacks of scooped sub bass bins, low bass bins, mid bass bins, high bass bins, mid range and tweeters. 75,000 watts of amplification, and the only sound system in the world that requires you to wear ear plugs...

for a taste, here is a test of the system... well only 8 of the speakers...... and they set off car alarms..


a quick documentary on the valve.

Musical Pet Peve of the day - Dubstep

Attention Hipsters and other such D-Bags......  your new found obsession "Dubstep"  is not cutting edge,  new or original.....  Its merely an older,  more awesome and more innovative form of music,  slowed down so your feeble brains can comprehend it....

Specifically its a shittier form of Jungle,  which in itself is a shittier form of Drum and Bass,  which in itself boils down to this....



That ladies and gentlemen is the Amen Break,  probably the most influential 5 seconds in music history brought to us by a group almost no one remembers from a song that almost no one has heard....  yet i guarantee everyone has heard that 5 second drum solo.  It comes to us from teh B-Side of a 1969 Single "Color him Father" by the Winstons.  This little 5 second drum fill was cut, sliced and sampled by thousands of artists after them.  listen to the intro to NWA's "straigh outa compton"  its there,  Public Enemy's "fight the power", its there too.  Other genres have used this sample as well (outside of the jungle / dnb genres)  Oasis,  the Prodigy, Nine inch Nail and linkin park are just a few.  While some genres sampled the loop in its original form (NWA, Public Enemy)  other acts have sampled each individual drum voice and re cut the beat into different pattens (Dillinja, Lemon D, The KLF). 

Back to my original point, Dubstep is nothing but Jungle (or debatably even Ragga) slowed down to a tempo so painfully slow, that i could draw a parallel to listening to burt bacharach on half speed. Im all for innovation but dropping the tempo down by 60%  doesnt constitute innovation.  Its just lazy production from the new generation of lazy producers....  Deadmau5, Skrillex and MSTRKRFT (which i actually do like alot,  but i fully admit to them being cookie cutter copypasters) are perfect examples of everything that is wrong with this new wave of "electronica artists".  Point in case, Listen to one Deadmau5 track,  thats all you have to do,  because everything else he has produced sounds exactly the same,  not just a signature synth,  or signature kick drum or something mundane like that....  the exact same synths,  the exact same baselines, the exact same bloody percussion....  its just total garbage...  Deadmau5 doesnt need another US frat party boy getting a mouse head tatoo,  he needs a propper music theory lesson followed by about 6000 trips to a good cosmetic dentist!

Deadmau5 has done for Electro house what America did for Iraq......  violated it,  and left it for dead in some grubby ditch along the interstate....

Ill leave you with some propper Jungle,  just to illustrate my point.... This stuff came from a time when being dirty wasn't an option,  it was a requirement

First up,  the great Aphrodite,  The tarzan of jungle,  so fresh he just swang in on the vine this morning mate.






The one and only - Dillinja (pay no mind to the MC.....  they really are the only thing wrong with Jungle/DnB)  One of the only two artists who can actually claim that they produced sounds so dirty that they had to design their own custom sound system to listen to it....  (a post elaborating on this point will be made soon)




Dj Krust - Warhead  (one of the great floor shakers of the 90's)


Finally,  in my opinion (which is better than yours), the greatest jungle track of all time....  thats right,  its Aphrodite - Superman Theme
This track has seriously re-arranged the brain cells of just about every junglist out there, Its so dirty that even charlie sheen wouldnt touch it!




One more....  just to throw some fresh canadian talent into the mix, because DnB isnt just a british invasion thing,  I give you Toronto's own Freaky Flow and his remix of the theme from peanuts.....  this is Linus and Lucy,  if they were funky, fresh and fly

Elections, Debates and all that jazz......

I was actively debating a buddy of mine over facebook today,  mainly to get him wound up about his beloved green party so i can make fun of him  but the debate turned to the "first past the post" system (or Plurality voting system for those who like to use the proper terminology)  vs the "proportional representation" model.  I would like to point out that i fully understand both sides of this argument, but i wholly dismiss proportional representation based on the fact that it is, for lack of a better term,  stupid.

I suppose i should explain myself.  First of all,  proportional representation tends to be a model supported by the fringe party supporters... (green party, marxist-leninist  etc etc) mainly due to the fact that it would increase their chances of actually winning a seat by combining the small pockets of supporters nationwide into one voting block.  My problem is that this system would effectively remove direct local representation from our parliamentary format.  If i have a personal issue with a law, pending legislation, regulation etc,  i can visit my local MP's office or send my local MP a letter/email and request that he look into my concerns or take up the issue in parliament.  I can do this because my local riding elects a representative who best represents the political ideology of the people in that riding.  If we were to change to a proportional representation system,  the seats of the house of commons would be split based on the percentage of the popular vote obtained by each party.  but what party would represent my region?  Democracy is not meant to be some kind of utopian ideal,  it is a balance of interests.  The political leanings of the country tend to very greatly based on geographic location,  this is why it is important to have local representation.

While i agree that a party like the Green party has loyal supporters across the country,  unless you have a local riding where the majority of voters support your party,  you don't deserve a seat.  The bloq quebecois wasnt given a free ride into parliament,  they did it the old fashioned way,  they won seats in local ridings which gave them seats in the house.  Numerous partys have formed over the years and have gained seats in the house the old fashioned way.  The reform party and the Canadian alliance are just two examples (mind you they were both full of idiots).  The Green party has to take the same route to legitimacy and I do hope Elizabeth May finds a riding that will elect her someday,  she has tried 3 already........

I guess my overall message to the supporters of proportional representation........  if you are no good at a sport,  changing the rules isn't the way to go about winning.  Politics isn't perfect,  nor will it ever be.  If the candidate you support in your riding doesn't win,  its not the end of the world,  it just means that they didn't appeal to the majority of the local voters.  Blaming it on the fairness of our electoral system is just sore losing. 

that's my $0.02