Canadian Broadcast Corporation

CBC Radio can be criticized for many of the same things that can fairly be said about National Public Radio in the United States: It can be pedantic, infuriatingly stodgy and its high culture outlook results in a lot of classical music references. Part of me is glad someone is out there being very, very smart - and, to be fair, the CBC does loosen up quite a bit on weekends with some very good jazz and avant-garde music programs. But on the whole it's just not something I'd listen to much if it were down to a choice between that and, say, a hockey game, eh?

But also north of the border they've got something of a commitment to indie rock, hip-hop and electronica through a program on the CBC Radio 2 FM network. Airing Saturday nights across Canada from Moncton to Burnaby, it's called (confusingly enough) CBC Radio 3, and subtitled Breaking New Sound. It's hosted by CBC jock Grant Lawrence, who has fashioned the show into a satisfyingly rich free weekly podcast of strictly Canadian music.

The podcast and website will soon be the only ways even Canadians can listen to CBC Radio 3 without paying. Starting this month, it will be kicked off the terrestrial CBC schedule and be broadcast exclusively on Sirius Satellite Radio. But it's worth tracking down. Is it really the best radio show in the world as some claim? Maybe this playlist will help you judge that assertion. This is from the CBC Radio 3 podcast for the week of March 4, 2007.

1. Controller.Controller, "Poison/Safe." Joy Division meets death disco. Very propulsive bass. I can see depressed people dancing to this in a George Romero-zombies kind of way. Angry, jagged guitar riffs punctuate Excene-type vocals from Nirmala Basnayake. You go, Nirmala!

2. Shout Out Out Out Out, "Self Loathing Rules." Electro-rock the Canadian way. Which I guess means, uh, it's smart? Syntho-dance-boogie. Even synthesizers rock in Canada.

3. A.C. Newman, "The Town Halo." Also known as Carl Newman, leader of the seminal Canadian indie band the New Pornographers, he uses viola strings to play the rhythm guitar part in this song, has a tinkling honky-tonk piano and he sounds like Ray Davies of the Kinks. Nice singer-songwriter pop. It's from Slow Wonder, a new solo album, in which he downsizes the big Pornographers sound into something a bit more bite-size.

4. Chixdiggit, "Koo Stark." These guys have been around for awhile now, plying the pop-punk side of the street like the demon pros they are. "Koo Stark" is from the 2005 album Pink Razors, a bouncy song that seems to be about Prince Andrew's cancer-stricken one-time girlfriend, although the lyrics are pretty obtuse and don't seem to be saying much about anything. Except that they include the word "shagging" which can only mean they dig Koo.

5. Chad Vangaalen, "Flower Gardens." A one-man rockestra. Chad plays all his own instruments and supposedly rarely leaves his house in Calgary. So cool. Here he's playing some very mean, greasy riffs and using his voice as a stuttering staccato percussive tool. Buzzy bass is the best.

6. The Wet Secrets, "Secret March." Kinda like the White Stripes with some cartoony-sounding keyboard fills. Good line: "You're making me sweat like a dog in a car."

7. The Golden Dogs, "Yeah." You've gotta like a song called "Yeah." "No long term plans in my hands." The "yeah" chorus is great, as are the George Martin-style hand-claps. The singer sounds a bit like Tommy Stinson when he screams. Old-fashioned psychedelic garage rock done up nice.

8. Tricky Woo, "Sad Eyed Woman." No-nonsense glam rockin.' Riffing like it's 1992 in Seattle. It makes me feel like it's all been worth it to hear youngsters sing "I'm going to save you with rock 'n' roll" and they actually mean it. Sort a chip off the crazy ol' Jet block.

9. Uncut, "Understanding the New Violence." Droning, buzzing dance rock with guitars so loud they will kill if left unattended. No wonder Bob Mould likes these guys. "This is the new violence," they sing, and you're left to wonder if they don't mean their own punishing music.

10. Tiga, "Brothers." Club music to me seems so insular. It's so obsessed with how it feels about itself that it makes itself unknowable. And if you're not going to let me know you, who gives a toss, eh? DJ Tiga apparently invented the club scene in Montreal, and I can certainly see this music serving as the background for a lot of moments spent touching up in front of the mirror.

11. Gentleman Reg, "It's Not Safe." Full, frolicking twee pop. Reg has an expressive falsetto. A chiming bass figure helps a lot.

12. John Smith, "Any Time." Only in Canada would you have a rapper from Churchill, Manitoba, the polar bear capitol on Hudson Bay. Here the Winnipeg MC is doing a fast-rocking rap built around the Beatles song "Any Time At All."

13. God Made Me Funky, "Won More Time." They're not kidding. God DID make them funky, and if you're into theatrical speed-rap with soaring female R&B backing vocals, GMMF is for you.

14. Death from Above 1979, "Little Girl." Now sadly defunct, this was a two-man power-rock combo whose sound was amazing. Jesse Keeler's distorto-bass was so very big, and Sebastien Grainger's singing drummer thing, if elemental, was an emotional powerhouse. Only two guys, but many ways to rock.

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See our growing collection of playlists, from Little Steven's Garage to the Illinois Institute of Technology. Contact Don Jacobson at don@beachwoodreporter.com

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