Three Tracks: 2018
Three tracks that defined my year in 2018. Low, “Always Trying to Work It Out” Hard to pick a track from my favourite album of the year, but this is a standout. “Everybody says that the war is over /...
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Three tracks that satisfied my ears in 2019. Sharon Van Etten, “No One’s Easy to Love” True. “Don’t look down, my dear, don’t be surprised […] Don’t look back, my dear, just say you tried.” Bonus...
View ArticleThree Albums: 2020
I’ve posted a “Three Tracks” list for a number of years (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020), but have always run into a bit of a problem: single cuts versus album tracks. A lot of the...
View ArticleThree Tracks: 2020
Three pieces that I kept coming back to in the (first) year of Covid-19. Nine Inch Nails: The Worriment Waltz Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross said “the current [pandemic] crisis was the reason they...
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CBC, HomePod, and Siri
There doesn’t seem to be a lot of information available on how to access CBC content using Siri on HomePod, so I decided to put together a guide based on my experience and research. I’ve used HomePod...
View ArticleThree Tracks: 2021
Here are a few of my favourite tunes. Wet Leg: Chaise Longue Single of the year. “Excuse me.” “What.” Apple Music · Spotify Four Tet: Parallel 4 Apple Music · Spotify James Blake: Say What You Will “I...
View ArticleThree Albums: 2021
Three of my favourite albums from last year. Morly: ‘Til I Start Speaking One of those albums that I discovered at precisely the right moment, a solitary rainy night. “Sounds like my jazz angel.”...
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BC Hydro: Just Give Me My Fucking Bill, OK?
Every month, I receive an email from BC Hydro. Here it is. I can: Make a payment (from your bank account by entering transit number, instituion number, and account number — essentially paying by...
View ArticleThree Tracks: 2022
These were a few of my favourite tracks. The Smile: Thin Thing (Live at Montreaux Jazz Festival) Radiohead is one of my all-time favourite bands, but for some reason The Smile’s A Light for Attracting...
View ArticleThree Albums: 2022
A few of my favourite albums. Beth Orton: Weather Alive Sublime sounds, beautiful tunes, lovely playing — including drummer Tom Skinner of Sons of Kemet and The Smile. Apple Music · Spotify Tomberlin:...
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I went to Japan.
In May 2023 I spent a couple of weeks in Japan, mostly in and around Kyoto. It had been six years since I had two weeks off.1 I’d never been to a non-Western country, and in many ways didn’t know what...
View ArticleThree Albums: 2023
A few of my favourite albums from the year. My listening habits have changed over the years: working at home, focusing more on individual tracks in terms of popular music as Apple Music goes off on...
View ArticleThree Tracks: 2023
These were a few of my favourite tunes. Indigo De Souza: Younger & Dumber Once in a while, a track like this comes along that feels devastatingly new and familiar and somehow personal. “Sometimes,...
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Fourteen Years After Divorce, a Day in the Life of a Canadian Spousal Support...
I’ve written a lot about the issue, so I’ll leave this here without further comment, except to answer a question I occasionally get: Q: When does this end? A: Never.
View ArticleWhat Happened to Vancouver’s “Four Pillars” Drug Strategy?
I have lived in Gastown, close to the Downtown Eastside (DTES), for fourteen years. During that time I have had no direct involvement in any charities or other efforts to address the issues in the...
View ArticleThree Tracks: 2024
I’ve been compiling this list annually since 2013. I’ve had a pretty varied list of artists. This year all three have appeared previously. Am I getting into a rut? Well, at least I’m listening to...
View ArticleThree Albums: 2024
I don’t listen to whole albums as much as I used to, so this is a skewed or kind of cobbled-together list this year. But I think there are great pleasures to be found here. Arooj Aftab: Night Reign...
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