Assorted Tuneage (The Tragically Hip, Richard Cheese, etc.)

Five Assorted Tunes:

The Tragically Hip - Fly (from their new album World Container.) "Fly" is one of the songs on which the Hip unfortunately resort to filling in lyrical gaps by singing "That's right", a crutch they're too good to need. It's something that might make the song annoying on repeated listens but so far, it's still one of my favorite songs on the album. First single "In View" is jangly fun. "Family Band" and "Luv"(sic) are also standouts. "The Lonely End Of The Rink" is likely a future single but I think it's just okay. It feels calculated to me, a bit too consciously trying to be a Great Song. Some of the songs could be a bit tighter lyrically ("Yer Not the Ocean") but Downie and co. sound great and are still producing catchy, smart rock.

Richard Cheese - Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode's song transformed into a Christmas song, sort of, for Cheese's Christmas album Silent Nightclub, which includes covers of songs not generally thought of as holiday tunes such as, well, "Personal Jesus", as well as "Like A Virgin" and "I Melt With You". Keep a listen to the end of that one for a little surprise...)

Liquinova - Whatever Comes Along (a pretty electronic song by a duo working on their first album; available on Music For Cocktails (Part 6))

Josh Kelley - Beautiful Goodbye (lovely, twinkly ballad, available on the new album Just Say The Word)

Mirah - Telephone Wires (available on You Think It's Like This But Really It's Like This, which is from 2000; I've wanted to post this for a while. Lots of songs express yearning; this is a wistful song with vocals that have a nostalgic, 50s quality and fuzzy guitars and bursts of mild feedback that sound unmistakably modern)