Saturday, November 23, 2019

Natural Selection with The Fruit Tones & Show # 801


Natural Selection is the debut album by Manchester band Fruit Tones. The music that Fruit Tones play is no nonsense. There are no gimmicks here. It is just raw, primal and rough around the edges garage rock with pop sensibilities. This album follows a series of releases from Fruit Tones. The trio consists of Tom Walmsley (guitar/vocals), Tom Harrison (drums) and Chris Wood on bass. Dominic Oliver played on bass on the record. In 2014 they released the Some Strange Voodoo EP on Stolen Body Records, a split cassette called Summer Slammin’ in 2016 and the Ripe & Ready EP in 2017 on Greenway Records. Recorded over three freezing cold days in December 2018 with Samuel Stacpool (Holiday Ghosts/The Black Tambourines), Natural Selection was released via Greenway Records in January 2019.

“I Know Where Love Comes From” opens Natural Selection. The song is a rush of grittiness ala the New York Dolls and The Stooges with dashes of 60s pop. As the song reaches the halfway point it attacks with its menacing guitar solo and stop and start build up. Released as the first single for Natural Selection with a video by Chris Wood featuring animations from Dominic Oliver, it isn’t hard to see how this fizzy garage punk track wins over listeners. “21st Century Boy” brings in surf guitar, garage punk dynamics and extremely catchy choruses. With lyrics such as “Life brings little joy/For a 21st century boy” the song searches for good times in a troubled world, “Frontline” slows things down a bit with rolling basslines, acoustic guitar and 60s garage catchiness. With lyrics “Make what I want when I feel like I should/I’m always holding you down/Strong when I’m bold and I’m tough like a bull/I’m always holding you down” and “Gonna take what I need from you/Gonna push my way to the front of the queue/Dress myself when the daylight shines/Gonna push my way to the front of the line” the song emphasizes the need to push forward from moments that hold you back with an undeniable looseness and melancholy. “Igloo” chisels away with intensity, shivering with influences of The Clash, Ramones and Nobunny, as Walmsley sings about someone frigid and closed off with the lyrics “You’ve got frostbite and it shows/Your loves like the arctic snows/I’m gonna break down the walls to your igloo heart”.

“A Bag For Life” carves in deep with its fuzzy guitar riffs as it addresses cheapskate shoppers in the grocery store, in “I’m Allergic” on edge lyrics find their way through this song about being allergic by distancing yourself to everything, “Invisible Ink” is a slow surf inflected number that also recalls an early Beatles/beat music influence. It tells the conflicted story a lovesick character that exits a relationship by leaving behind a note written in invisible ink. The song carries with it a certain mysteriousness with the lack of answers it provides. After hearing the song, we are left with a juxtaposition of invisible answers and complicated feelings. “Drunk At The Zoo” builds up with a loose, off kilter groove that gnaws and claws its way throughout the track. The song features rambunctious characters behaving badly while being drunk at various locations at the zoo. “Cross Pollination” features stop and start riffs that combine as the chorus collides into a Rolling Stones meets Ventures atmosphere. “Casual Boy” delivers a Link Wray-like delinquency contrasted with lyrics about a character that is “living loose and feeling free” that doesn’t give away too much.

“Jay Walking” is an up tempo R&B punk rave up track with lyrics “I don’t need an indication/I just got a revelation/I’m jay walking” that delivers a message of making your own path, not waiting for others to tell you what to do along with a helping of impatience, determination and rowdiness. “Conscientious Objector” brings in an Undertones meets Johnny Thunders guitar style in between the soulful drum fills from Harrison and in the pocket bass playing of Oliver as Walmsley sings of rejecting the daily chaos in the society and world around him, “Woke Up In Paradise” is a slower, mid tempo rock song that features catchy harmonies recalling surf, 60s pop and 50s rock and roll. With lyrics "If I dreaming/I don’t wanna wake up” and “When life gives me lemons and I’m feeling blue/I just juice that yellow into something new” the song delves into finding some kind of happiness in the real world by taking a different look at things when life goes sour. “Pop My Clogs” ends Natural Selection with full garage punk enthusiasm and catchy 60s pop vocals. “Pop My Clogs” is a 70s UK slang that usually means to die, but in the context of this song it may mean something else altogether. The listener is left to decide this as the character in this song ducks and dodges through the verses, choruses and dredges of monotonous everyday life, seeming to be more interested in having a dangerously good time at all costs.

On Natural Selection, Fruit Tones deliver an album that is ripe with multiple meanings about adjusting and surviving in the environments of our modern times despite the negative outliers that are all around us. With “the sass of The Dolls, the fizz of Four Loco, the Stones-esque looseness, juiced into 14 tracks”, on Natural Selection, Fruit Tones evoke a garage punk aesthetic with surf and 60s pop influences that evolves with the uncontrollable urge to have a good time.

Show 801 (Originally Aired on November 16th, 2019)(Richard Berry & The Pharoahs, Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash, Fruit Tones):

1. Richard Berry & The Pharoahs - Louie, Louie
2. Takeshi Terauchi - South Pier
3. The Wailers - Shanghied
4. Feet - Petty Thieving
5. Guided by Voices - Heavy Like the World
6. Mikal Cronin - Caravan
7. Ron Leary - The Ancient Seeds of Ojibway
8. Leonard Cohen - Happens to the Heart
9. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - The Devil's Throat
10. Bob Dyan & Johnny Cash - I Still Miss Someone (Take 5)
11. Bob Dyan & Johnny Cash - Big River (Take 1)
12. The High Dials - Work of Fiction
13. Mount Eerie & Julie Dorian - Widows
14. Dead Ghosts - Drugstore Supplies
15. Dusty Mush - Not Wild
16. Oblivions - Can't Last Another Night
17. Needs - Walk, Cycle, or Take Transit Like Jehu
18. Little Girls - Tambourine
19. The Presence - Disease
20. Juliana Hatfield - Can't Stand Losing You
21. The Hold Steady Star - 18
22. The Replacements - Anywhere's Better Than Here (Live University of Wisconsin - 6/2/1989)
23. Fruit Tones - Casual Boy
24. Fruit Tones - Jay Walking
25. Corridor - Goldie
26. Sprinters - 3's & 4's
27. Steve & James O-L - Country State of Mind
28. Jose Contreras - Grand Central Station

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for November 16.

Show 802 was a repeat of an all James Brown episode of the program that originally aired in February. You can download/stream this episode here and find the playlist here.

Saturday, November 09, 2019

CJAM 2019 Fall Fundraiser & Shows # 797, 798, 800


This week marks CJAM FM’s fall fundraiser. Every year CJAM holds a pledge drive in which they raise funds to keep providing the unique programming that they offer every day. CJAM FM is a non-profit campus/community based radio station that provides music and spoken word programming to different parts of the Windsor/Detroit areas through 99.1 FM and online through downloads/streaming and archives at www.cjam.ca.

Earlier this year the Ontario Government announced a new change in university tuition fees giving student the ability to opt-out of any fees deemed non-essential under the Student Choice Initiative, which included campus radio. With no consultation or warning before the announcement, CJAM FM staff and volunteers were left scrambling to raise funds in the few months before the fall semester began to ensure financial stability. At the University of Windsor, CJAM FM has seen a 29% opt-out rate for the 2019 fall semester. This represents a decrease in the student levy fund of about $15,700 for the station. If the opt-out percentage remains the same for upcoming the winter semester, the station will lose roughly $31,400 this school year. “The fall fundraiser is extremely important for us because it represents a significant portion of our annual budget. While effectively combatting the loss in fees makes us optimistic, the fundraiser has always represented approximately 30% of our annual budget and is essential in maintaining our ability to broadcast.”  Station Manager Brady Holek stated in a recent press release.

For over 35 years now CJAM FM has continued to provide quality programming in the Windsor/Detroit areas often highlighting many events and issues while providing a different outlook from the usual mainstream media outlets. We also have a strong online audience that listens through our archives and live stream that is listened to worldwide. As I stated last year “CJAM provides the listener with something you won’t find anywhere else. A program like Revolution Rock would not exist anywhere else if it were not for a place like CJAM FM. If you listen to CJAM, regardless of how, consider making a donation to help the station continue to grow in the world of the broadcast arts that it provides on a daily basis."

CJAM is currently in the midst of their fall fundraiser and could use your support. If you would like to show your support for CJAM FM you can donate, here are the ways.

We also offer incentives as a thank you for your support.

Any Amount – CJAM sticker
$10 – CJAM Enamel Pin
$10-20 – Music Prize Pack (CDs/vinyl/cassettes)
$50 – CJAM 2019 T-Shirt (Designed by Greg Maxwell)
$100 – CJAM Prize Pack (including 2017 t-shirt and gift certificates)

Individuals looking to donate can call in during Pledge Drive week at 519-971-3630 (Windsor) // 1-855-344-2526 (toll free from Detroit and around the world). Donations are also accepted via a secure online at https://grouprev.com/CJAMFM or through my individual page for the pledge drive at https://grouprev.com/CJAMFM-revrock2019.

Below you can find some playlists to recent episodes of Revolution Rock and an example of the type of programming that we offer.

Show # 800 (Originally Aired On November 9th, 2019) (All Canadian 2019 Pledge Drive Playlist):

1. Middle Sister - Dear Weatherman
2. Whoop-Szo - Homemade Candles
3. Jose Contreras - At the Slaughterhouse
4. Shotgun Jimmie - Suddenly Submarine
5. Chocolat - L'Album
6. Dumb - Content Jungle
7. Duotang - Nostalgia's a Vice
8. Wine Lips - Fly Swatter
9. The Electric Cows - Porkpie Hats & You That Yes Feeling Theme
10. LTD - Chief Sleeps in the Park
11. Ancient Shapes - Piss Coloured Glasses
12. Orville Peck - Take You Back
13. The Sadies - Violet and Jeffrey Lee
14. Daniel Romano - What’s To Become of the Meaning of Love
15. Walrus - Bored to Death
16. Pottery - Smooth Operator
17. Paul Jacobs - Coffee
18. Paul Jacobs - Life Lessons II
19. Peach Kelli Pop - Hello Kitty Knife
20. Female Hands - Divided by Three
21. Science is Fiction - Getting Late
22. Terra - Couldn't Save This
23. Tire Swing Co. - I'd Name You Aubrey
24. Cellos - Head to Stone

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for November 9.

Show 798 (Originally Aired On October 26th, 2019) (Halloween Themed Episode):

1. The 5.6.7.8's - Highschool Witch
2. The Mummies - That Things From Venus
3. The Sadies - The Creepy Butler
4. The Gruesomes - El Diablo
5. Deja Voodoo - Three Men, One Coffin
6. The Ketamines - Evil Intentions
7. The Cinch - Mystery Train
8. Frankie & Jimmy - Hellhound On My Trail
9. Junior Wells - Two headed Woman
10. Bo Diddley - Bo Meets The Monster
11. Billy Riley - Flying Saucer Rock & Roll
12. Ernest Carter & The Hymn Trio - Ain't No Grave
13. Ernest Tubb - Saturday Satan, Sunday Saint
14. Zamboni Drivers - Skatin' Ghost
15. Screaming Lord Sutch - Dracula's Daughter
16. Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds - Spider Baby
17. The Cramps - I Was A Teenage Werewolf
18. Johnny Thunders - In Cold Blood (Alternate Version)
19. Thee Oh Sees - Ghost In The Trees
20. Flesh Rag - One Foot In The Grave
21. TV Freaks - Snake
22. The King Khan & BBQ Show - Killing The Wolfman
23. The Ventures - Exploration In Terror
24. C & C Surf Factory - Cobra Basket
25. Atomic 7 - Phantom 101
26. The Scientists - Swampland
27. Sam Coffey & The Iron Lungs - Season Of The Witch
28. The Epsilons - Fever To Kill
29. Thee Tsunamis - Psycho
30. Wand - Floating Head
31. Johnny West - Zombies On Parade
32. XTC - Science Friction

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for October 26.

Show 797 (Originally Aired October 19th)(Ginger Baker Tribute, The Black Lips, Dead Ghosts):

1. Cream - NSU (Live BBC Light Programme 1967)
2. Cream - Swlabr
3. Graham Bond Organization - Harmonica
4. Mudhoney - Pokin' Around
5. Dr. John - Danse Fambeaux
6. Middle Sister - Garden by the Bay
7. Big Thief - Not
8. Angel Olsen - Spring
9. Foggy Tapes - Dark Haired Queen
10. Donovan - Sunshine Superman
11. Silver Jews - How to Rent a Room
12. The Black Lips - Odelia
13. Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds - Lurch
14. Dead Ghosts - Thunderbird ESQ
15. Dead Ghosts - I Want Your Love
16. The Stolen Minks - Rip It Up
17. Code Pie - The Room
18. Oromocto Diamond - Black Feelings
19. Leather Uppers - On the Mic
20. Terminal Licks - Hot Today
21. Pretty Matty - I'm Fine
22. The Danks - Shifty
23. Rats On Rafts - Meggy
24. Paul Jacobs - Life Lessons II
25. Japandroids - For the Love of Ivy
26. Futureheads - Hounds of Love
27. Les Robots - Ode To Yull Brynner
28. Takeshi Terauchi & The Bunnys - Test Driver

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for October 19.

For those keeping track, Show # 799 which aired on November 2nd, 2019 was a repeat of a previous episode that aired in August (episode #790). You can download/stream that episode here and find the playlist here.