El Chupacabra - El Chupacabra (1998)

Whoops! We were re-filing our 2000 CDs, and realized we missed posting the first El Chupacabra (not to be confused with Chupacabra, or the excellent Chixdiggit song of the same name) CD.

Here it is, better late than never!

Dino Martinis - 50,000,000 Santa Fans Can't Be Wrong (2000)

So, if there's one thing we at the CCPS are comfortable with, it's being out of season. So, Merry Christmas everyone! Here's a seasonal treat from the seasonal favourites, the Dino Martinis!

If there's one band that we can't fault for making a Christmas CD, it's these guys, who never take themselves too seriously. Mixing traditional tracks and originals, all that's missing is a recipe for the perfect Christmas cocktail.

Ho ho ho!

Tomko Lamb - No Real Hurry (2000)

We probably haven't done Tomko Lamb's prior releases justice, simplifying them to focus on his use of hammered dulcimer. If we're counting correctly today, this is the third release of his we've featured, and continues his blend of, yes, hammered dulcimer and - here's the part we've omitted before - folk/country songwriting.

Get it here.

Brown Eyed Susans - Afraid Of Heights (2000)

Okay, here's why we had to play catch-up with the Brown Eyed Susans. Looks like after they moved to California, they started to make a second record with pop guru Jason Falkner. This sees the band further delving in to the textures and sounds of classic pop music, with touches of Beatles throughout.

Get it here.

Brown-Eyed Susans - Afternoon Tea (1996)

Whoops, we've got a quick make-up post here. And to really make up, we've got a double blast of CD art. We don't know how we missed posting this originally, since we have two different editions of this disc.

Anyways, we've had tracks by Brown Eyed Susans touched away on a couple of compilations we've posted previously, so here's the first full-length, a slice of well-cooked pop music in much the same vein of Jellyfish. It looks like these guys relocated to California shortly after the release of this, hence the second edition on a US label.

We ripped the original, though. We think?

El Chupacbra - Double Drop Blues (2000)

A few years ago, we posted a tape from local hardcore band Chupacabra, with a comment that they weren't to be confused with El Chupacabra. Well, now it's time for us to post a CD by El Chupacabra, and note that the website for these young blues rockers is now a dead link.

So we'll just point you here.

Dry Fisted - In God We Thrust (2000)

There's a good possibility that we've got the year on this CDr wrong. We have no idea who Dry Fisted were, and are unable to provide any more details about this hardcore band, since their myspace page is, well, on myspace.

Get it here.

Everymen - The Everymen Vs. The Lowest Common Denominator (2000)

This CD is a testament to, among other things, the sticktoitiveness of the Everymen. With a career that spanned over 15 years, these guys certainly had time to hone their craft - and write A LOT of songs. It's also a testament to drummer Casey Lewis' engineering talents - this is probably the best-sounding release by the band.

Get it here.

A-Team - Non Merci 1994-1999 (2000)

Good grief, what the heck happened to this CD cover? We usually take very good care of our musics, but for some reason this cover is QUITE distressed. Maybe it was spent too much time partying at Rock Central?

We've had a few pieces of A-Team content over the years, and this CD brings it all into one place. The one crucial track on here that we think isn't anything else we've posted is the very fun "Old Time Hockey":



Huh. The version on this CD is a lot more, uh, rough. Grab it here!

Shecky Formé - 002 (2000)

Okay, back on it! It's a bit odd that the only release by Shecky Formé is called 002. Where is 001? Was there a 003? But oddness suits this band, with the art-pop Chris Vail. There's an archived ffwd article over at the theyyscene that reminds us that this was Vail's first major band, prior to XL Birdsuit, Vailhalen, and Key to the City. Vail's clear, soaring voice delivers gorgeous melodies couched in complex time signature and weird chord progressions. 

Get it via the Shecky Formé bandcamp.

Rayovaq - Tendency To Sway (2000)

Favourite records are a weird thing. We find that it's hard to pull apart if our love of a record comes from the music or the memories associated with when we first heard that record (or a combination of both). This Rayovaq CD is a favourite of ours, and while we love the music, we also love that when we put it on, we're instantly taken back to the late 90's and later nights at the Night Gallery. Yup, it's a bit of both in this case. We usually don't listen right through most CDs as we're posting them, but this one we did. Sigh.

We posted Rayovaq's first tape over ten years ago, so it's been a bit of a long game getting to this. Call this mopey indie rock, call it quiet-loud-quiet-loud rock, we don't care. Barb Noad's sweet whispering vocals, Derek McEwan's subtle-to-ferocious guitar, and a super solid rhythm section... we loved this band.

There's been a lot of hyperbole in this post, more than usual. So what? Go grab this one.

Airship One - Times of Days (2000)

Despite being released on CD (or CDr? we can't tell), this fourth release from Airship One is a deliciously low-fi affair, with minimal overdubs beyond Chris Zimmel's voice and acoustic guitar.

The Airship One bandcamp lists this as being released in 1999, but we're going with 2000, as per this copy's notes. But we're still going to point you to said bandcamp for the download.

Cripple Creek Fairies - Blast Off (2000)

More schtick bands! Led by Cam Hayden, the Cripple Creek Fairies rank fairly high for us in the pantheon on Calgary schtick bands. Maybe it was how well they executed their schtick, maybe it was the sheer amount of recordings they put out... we're not sure.

This CD appears to be a collection of early recordings. It has the year 2000 on it as a release date - but we're somewhat skeptical about that. But who cares, this has the wonderful ode to the band's keyboard player, "Conrad Montana," so we're happy.

Get it (along with about 1,643 other CCF releases) at the Fairies' bandcamp.

Agriculture Club - Smell the Dairy Air (2000)

Following on the Von Zippers (maybe Calgary's greatest schtick band), here's another schtick band from our fair city (or rural routes nearby, at least).

The Agriculture Club fused country and western cliches with love for hard rock. And puns like this CD's title, which are a nice little wink so we know that they know that we know they're a schtick band. Or something.

Smell this!

Von Zippers - Blitzhacker (2000)

Whoops, we lost a few days there. This is the problem with this life of enhanced isolation that we're living, we have no idea what day it is anymore. Anyways, it's Saturday, and time for some Von Zippers!

This CD is a repackaging of a bunch of previously-released VZs material, mostly 7" singles that we've already posted here. Packaged with a lovely post-hockey injury photo of bassist Doug Boland, if stories we've been told are correct.

Since we basically posted these previously, here's some video of Al and the Von Zippers from five years ago, laying down some Link Wray at the band's 20th anniversary show:



Get blitzed and/or hacked here.

Field Day - The Dawn Of A New Day (2000)

One of our favourite jokes here at the CCPS is claiming that ubiquitous bassist Steve Elaschuk played with random bands (who can forget his shows with Nickleback!). But this time, we're serious - after Jonas Smith headed north to the Yukon, pop punk stalwarts Field Day brought Elaschuk on board, and happily left us with this CD as a document of that phase of the band.

Get your Field Day fix here.