Tag Archives: Sloan

12.24.08
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A Modern Mystery Holiday Party with Jay Ferguson of Sloan

Welcome to another round of a Modern Mystery Holiday Party! Today we have Jay Ferguson, guitarist and vocalist of indie pop Gods, Sloan.

Okay, I personally was super excited when Jay agreed to do this for us. Sloan is one of my all time favorite bands. I have seen them so many times, I’ve actually lost count. Their harmonies are to die for and their melodies are always extremely catchy.

I could lilterally go on for days talking about Sloan’s greatness. This year Sloan released Parallel Play which of course, was jam packed with their signature sound. They will sure be one of our Top 10 Records of the year on here (which will be up next week).

Jay was kind enough to share with us his Top 10 Songs of 2008 and more. Here’s to more Sloan in 2009!

My Top 10 Songs of 2008

1. Jay Arner (of International Falls) – Undiscovered Sun
2. Solange – I Decided (Part 1)
3. Phoenix – Twenty-One One Zero
4. Will Currie & The Country French – Honest People
5. The Bicycles – Once Was Not Enough
6. MGMT – Electric Feel
7. Brent Randall & His Pinecones – Snowdrops
8. Jay Reatard – Always Wanting More
9. Pony Da Look – Wishstick
10. Last Shadow Puppets – Standing Next To Me

Best Thing and Strangest Thing that happened to me this year are probably one and the same:

A dinner with Johnny Marr discussing a wide range of topics including Family Guy and Keith Richards’ moves. A toppermost gentleman.

Fave Holiday Memory:
Any snowball fight circa 1976-78.

12.23.08
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A Modern Mystery Holiday Party with Kevin Hilliard of Small Sins

Yes, we still have some more indie greats joining us at our little Modern Mystery Holiday party! Today sharing with us is Kevin Hilliard of the Small Sins!

Small Sins is one of our favorites over here, and we were lucky enough to see and meet Kevin during his New York tour stop with the great Sloan earlier this year. Kevin of course, had been doing his MRCH dj set as ‘Skip Lowe’ for the Sloan shows, which is by far amazing. He even played the Flashing Lights during his set!

Kevin was kind enough to share with us his Top Songs of the Year and other words of wisdom.  We hope there is more Skip Lowe in ’09. Actually, we demand it!

My Top Songs of the Year

1. Dave Marsh – Backstreets (True Love Rules): The best album that you haven’t heard. Why are you still reading this and not buying it? Best lyric of the year: ‘Just another reason/get the fuck outta high school’. Davemarsh.ca

2. Weezer – Troublemaker: Best pop-rock number of the year. Almost negated by ‘Heart Songs’ the worst song Weezer have ever released and almost the worst song of all time.

3. Sloan – Not A Kid Anymore: If only because of the AMAZING clapping and ‘refrigerator thumping’ courtesy of yours truly.

4. Rivers Cuomo – Longtime Sunshine. Written many years ago (so not really from this year) but still a cool tune.

5. AC/DC – Rock ‘N’ Roll Train: I would swim through a river of flames to listen to JUST the amazing drum tracks of Phil Rudd. A true God amongst men. The worst title of all time.

6. Flight Of The Conchords – The Most Beautiful Girl In The Room: Saw the girl (‘Sally’) who played her on the TV show at The Troubadour in LA. H.O.T.T.

** Author’s note: This year only deserves a ‘Top 6’ because of the travesty that is ‘All Summer Long’ by Kid Rock. Holy Shit – this flaming turd hardly counts as a fuckin’ song! It’s like they put a monkey in a cage, threw in a MacBook with ProTools and the monkey shat out this ‘song’. Ring-tone rock! Strictly for ball-capped jocks/retards. You’d think it would take a lot to offend the late great Warren Zevon. Hasn’t he suffered enough? Rollin’ in his grave, the poor bastard.

Heaven help us – fuck you, music industry.

 Best thing to happen this year 
 The birth of Skip Lowe. Google it, people.

 Strangest thing to happen this year 
The death of Skip Lowe:  See it Here

Best Holiday Memory
 The year I got the James Brown Box set. I knew Santa was funky, but that funky? He truly did have a brand new bag.

12.15.08
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Merry Mixmas, Part 2.

The Strokes Christmas

I guess its the Holidays that have my head in a fog, but somehow there were a few Christmas songs that I forgot to add to the list this weekend. One of them being a current favorite, ‘Seasons Greetings,’ by Robbers on High Street.

Speaking of Robbers on High Street, we here at Modern Mystery have some Holiday surprises up our sleeves for the next couple of weeks. Not to give anything away, but it includes bands such as Robbers on High Street,  Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Phantom Planet, Sloan, Miniature Tigers, Of Montreal, and more…….

Its pretty awesome if I may say so myself, and you will just have to wait and see what some of these bands had to share with us.

Merry Mixmas Part 2

Robbers on High Street- Seasons Greetings
Belle and Sebastian- O Little Town of Bethleham
Feist- Lo, How a Rose E’re Blooming
Great Lake Swimmers- Song for the Angels
Blitzen Trapper- Christmas is Coming Soon
*The Hives with Cyndi Lauper- Christmas Duel
Low- Just Like Christmas
Long Winters- Sometimes You Have to Work on Christmas
Pedro the Lion- God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Polyphonic Spree-Merry Christmas (War is Over)
Rufus Wainwright-Spotlight on Christmas
Of Montreal- Christmas Isn’t Safe for Animals
Marbles- Gift for You
Fabulous Bird with Bill Doss- Its Christmas Time Again
Summer Hymns- Santa Couldn’t Fit You Under My Tree
The Sixth Great Lake- Always After Christmas Boring
Elf Power- The Winter is Coming
Jet- Back Door Santa
Belle and Sebastian- Santa Claus

Sufjan Stevens- That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!
* The Hives and Cyndi Lauper doing a duet? I know. Its just as weird as it sounds. They seem like a pretty unlikely duo.  Ironically for Christmas when I was about 4, I had gotten my first cassette tape. It was of Cyndi Lauper’s ‘True Colors’ album. I still have it. I had to be the most hip kid in Kindergarten.