Sleep is for the meek. Turn up the volume and TURN DOWN THE SUCK every 1st and 3rd Monday of the month from 3-4 am for some seriously heavy listening with DJ Johnny Suck. For the most discerning of rock, metal and hardcore fans only. And if it isn’t loud enough to wake up your neighbours, you’re doing something wrong.

You can also stream the heaviosity live at ckut.ca and listen to past episodes in our archives.

Interested in becoming a CKUT music programmer? We’ve got two available spots on the grid that YOU could help fill with good music. Click here to find out more!

Renaissance Jams?

Another Monday come and gone, another episode of New Shit chronicled for the ages. This week’s show featured neo-renaissance jams, exclusive live in studio recordings, and as usual, the kind of banter that could only be had between a lady horse and her mistress. Check out the playlist and listen to the show archive here.

- DJ Noblesse Oblige + DJ Stolen Pony

Artist/Song/Album:

Joanna Newsom /Jack Rabbits/ Have One On Me

Damon Albarn/ The Golden Dawn/ Dr Dee

Damon Albarn/ Apple Carts/Dr Dee

Nico/Janitor of Lunacy/ Desert Shore

Jen Reimer/ Saint Urbain Underpass

Asonat/ Forgotten/ Love In Time of Repetition

CFCF/ Excercise 1 (Entry)/ Exercises

Beach House/Other People/Bloom

Father John Misty/Nancy From Now On/ FEAR FUN

Geist/Fausted/Fissures

Filthy Haanz/Maybe You Like/Be My Magic Octopussy

Death Grips/Get Got/The Money Store

Six Heads/ Side A: Smaller, Larger, Lighter/ Cardboard Oracle

Six Heads / Side A/The Cardboard Oracle

Anne – F Jacques/ Part of side A/ The Robert Street Tape

Maica Mia/Funny Way of Laughing/ Sparsity Blues

Each Other/ Live in studio recording

Mistress Barbara/ It Won’t Matter Anymore/Many Shades of Grey

Memoryhouse/ Little Expressionless Animals/ The Slideshow Effect

Miguel Atwood Ferguson/ Ghostfires from Heaven’s Far Verges Faint Illume/ Turn On the Sunlight Remixes and Collaborations

Elfin Saddle/ The Changing Wind/ Devastates

CKUT was voted #1 radio station in The Mirror‘s Best of Montreal readers poll! Thank you to everyone who voted and to our 300 + talented and dedicated volunteers for making CKUT 90.3 FM Montreal’s favourite frequency! We here at CKUT pride ourselves on our excellent programming, but we never forget to remain humble. That being said, here is what the music department will be listening to for the rest of the afternoon:

We are the Champions – Queen (sorry, CHOM)

Simply The Best – Tina Turner

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger – Daft Punk

The Greatest – Kenny Rogers

Remember The Name - Fort Minor

I’m Da Shit, Bitch – Gucci Mane

Beat It – Michael Jackson

Triumph – Wu-Tang Clan

Live to Win – Paul Stanley

Respect - Aretha Franklin

On Fire – lil’ Wayne

Suck It – D 12

I Believe I Can Fly – R. Kelly

Psychedelic Bonnie Tyler

This weeks Top 30, Jazz, Loud, RPM, Hip-Hop and World music charts are up! Have a look.

ckut.ca has a new Clip of the Week feature! This week’s clip of the week goes to CKUT’s funky overnighter, Listen You Smell Something? hosted by the one and only DJ Logic Johnson.  If you’re into talk about aliens and probes set to some old school slap bass,  check it out! And while you’re at it, take a listen to last week’s clip featuring a discussion with Reverend Gray about racial profiling in Montreal, courtesy of another one of CKUT’s outstanding and long-standing music programs, Bhum Bhum Tyme!

The music programming at CKUT is an embarrassment of riches. We’ve got great radio programs representing all different genres of music hosted by DJs who love what they’re doing and who’re doin’ it well. Our overnight shows are no different of course, so we thought that we’d give them some love here on the music blog by asking them to fill-out questionnaires for us.

Do check out the first overnight Q&A with Beyond the Horizon, a weekly freeform radio show that airs early Tuesday mornings from 2-3 am.

• No need to stay up late or wake up early to catch the show, cuz the archives have you covered: download past Beyond the Horizon shows right here.
• Interested in becoming a CKUT music programmer? We’ve got two available spots on the grid that YOU could help fill with good music. Click here to find out more!

Tune into the MUTEK Sessions from 3-5pm today to listen to Dan Melon spin some rad electronic music and hang with Marie Davidson (DKMD). Huzzah!

Missed last week’s show with Patti Schmidt? No worries, you can check out the playlist and archive right here.

New Shit Monday with DJ Stolen Pony!  Take a look at the playlist from today’s show and have a listen to the archive if you missed it.

Artist/Song/Album

Esmerine / Sprouts/La Lechuza

Mary Halvorson Quintet / Forgotten Men in Silver/ Bending Bridges

Crisopa/ Intro/Biodance

Don Preston/ Analog #3/Filters, Oscillators & Envelopes

Cornershop/Who’s Gonna Lite It UP/ Urban Turban The Singhles Club

Santigold/Disparate Youth/Master Of My Make-Believe

CocoRosie/ We are on Fire/Single

Solar Year/Global Girlfriend/Waverly

CFCF/Exercise 2 (School)/Exercises

DEwanatron/Amphibious Assault/Semi Automatic

Daphne Oram/For Granada/The Oram Tapes Volume 1

Daphne Oram/ Ceramics Deconstruction/The Oram Tapes Volume 1

The Boats/????/Ballads of the Research Department

Beach House/ Wild/Bloom

Parlovr/ You Only Want It Cuz You’re Lonely/Kook Soul

The Shins/The Rifle’s Spiral/Port of Morrow

Eight and a Half/Go Ego/ Eight and a Half

Tops/Turn Your Love Around/Tender Opposites

Grimes/Genesis/Visions

Than Mai/Long Uneven Hair/Saigon Rock & Soul : Vietnamese Classic Tracks (1968-1974)

Noi Buon Con Gai/ The Sadness of a Girl/Saigon Rock & Soul: Vietnemese Classic Tracks (1968-1974)

Rob/ Loose Up Yourself/Make It Fast Make It Slow

Derdiyoklar/Yodoy/Ikilisi Disco Folk

Arriving at the Casa on the late side after blowing a tire 6 blocks away, there was still a good wait in the completely packed room before the show got under way. Not this reviewer’s typical live music choice, but these people are heavy weights; so there were high expectations that something special was going to happen. Especially from Derome, who’s music I simultaneously love and dislike. The man is a monster on alto sax, one of the few who can conjure actual magic out of an instrument typically employed to allow warbling divas time for cocaine breaks. Yet he is not satisfied warping minds with this talent, and spends equal time exploring the realms of unpredictability and experimentation in the world of contemporary improvisation. So depending on what combo he’s playing with, he’s just as likely to bust out with the most killer and (tear jerking) bop-instructed sax wailing, or screech and bleat for 45 minutes whilst blowing into a variety of cereal box whistles and re-purposed flappy objects.

The trio started their set with fifteen minutes of playing with everything at their disposal. Unlike Frith and Derome, Chan kept her explorations within the mechanical limitations of her instrument. Frith mostly used his electric guitar as a sound table to excite using towels, knitting needles, chains, shoe polishing brushes, etc, while Derome took the express lane through his tickle trunk. Most of the first set was exploratory, but I found Chan to be the only one working away at conjuring plausible inventions.

Thirty five minutes later when the set was over, I contemplated leaving, but the excellent deal on Tennessee whiskey next door and the great Howling Wolf track that the DJ was playing kept me inside, so I detoured back for the second set. This time the trio took a different tack, honing their collective energy towards something approaching and even hovering above the threshold of beauty. There were moments of calm, with Chan weaving crystalline webs of tones around the droning strings and winds (mostly via e-bow and bass flute, respectively). The set ended after a long meditative passage. The room was quiet, no one clapped, the musicians were still. Then Derome whipped out a toy flute and played a ridiculous but perfectly appropriate ditty. Chan and Frith soon joined in for some more intense jamming. Again they stopped, no clapping, more music. The performance ended with much applause.

On the way home I yearned to listen to something earthy, feeling a little hollowed from the stretching my ears had undergone – which usually happens to me after listening to contemporary improv of the European school (rather than, say, African via “jazz” evolutions). At the same time, I felt like my soul had been given a big booster shot because the music those three played was the exact antithesis of sad sack language wars, Line Beauchamp, tar sands, 10 dollar tacos and all of the other lies of life.

Amanda C. Stanhaus

Saturday night, Montreal saw the release of Flying Fortress by Saxsyndrum – David Switchenko (sax), Nick Schofield (drums). They are the last men standing of various previous projects, and expand on this experience with Saxsyndrum. At the core, both are naturally talented musicians. Add to that skilled production technique, social commentary, and pop culture references, and what results on Flying Fortress is a joy to listen to. Listen carefully, it is witty just as you lull into the beats. Stream/download Flying Fortress here. Name your price – I say top dollar!

See our Q&A with Saxsyndrum below!