The A.M.

Snowy mornings are the perfect time for wintery shoegaze, and this week's episode opens with a dreamy offshoot of You'll Never Get to Heaven, and indulges in new sounds from Zoon, Hammock, and SUUNS in the last hour. In between, a throwback to Television's Marquee Moon, folk-inspired songs from Meg Baird, L.T. Leif and Bobby Lee, forest spirits, wishes for better days, Quebecois prog, and other Monday morning sounds.

Playlist:

• Slow Attack Ensemble - Form and F a d e
• Biosphere - Poa Alpina
• Yves Malone - Smoke and Ash, Hand in Hand
• Yu Su, featuring Michelle Helene Mackenzie - Little Birds, Moonbath
• Nosaj Thing, featuring KAZU - My Soul or Something
• Selffish - Restless Dog
• Alex Goose, Matt Zara - Since I Lost You
• Andrew Wasylyk - Awoke In the Early Days of a Better World
• Carole Muriel, Joël Vandroogenbroeck - Forest Spirit
• Leland Whitty - Windows
• Meg Baird - Ashes, Ashes
• L.T. Leif - Quail's Egg
• Bobby Lee - Reds for a Blue Planet
• The Cape May - Still Island
• Television - Marquee Moon
• Nap Eyes - Stargazer
• Big Thief - Simulation Swarm
• Mac DeMarco - Rockaway
• Alexis Georgopoulos, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Madagascar
• Hammock - I Would Stare into the Sun with You Forever
• Zoon - A Language Disappears
• SUUNS - Wave
• Gnoomes - Loops
• Rich Aucoin - Hypernormalization
• Stilz, featuring Meteor - The Day I Lost You
• L.A. Takedown - Heatwave
• Contraction - Trois ou quatre
• Vanishing Twin - Language is a City (Let Me Out!)
• Postnamers - The Rolling Stairs of Arta

Jeremy Klaszus of the Sprawl joins in the third hour to talk about Calgary's civic identity—a topic that's endlessly engrossing to folks who live here, and hopefully tolerable to those of you who don't.

If you're here for the music, you'll be well-served, too. We've got an eclectic mix, from Quebeçois chanson to psych-pop, Danish ambient tunes to Dylan-inspired blues. All the better to start the week with. Enjoy!

Playlist:

• Drum & Lace - Felt
• numün - Vespers
• Jespers & Anders - Jet
• Brad Allen Williams - tecnologia
• Bristol Manor - Impasse
• Lee Paradise - Diamond Rain
• Project Pablo - No Interest
• Popp - 7O4
• In The Well - You Know Picnic
• London Odense Ensemble - Emerald Sea
• Jean-Pierre Ferland - Le chat du café des artistes
• Christian Kjellvander, Tonbruket - September Weather
• Kid Koala - Once Upon a Time in the Northeast
• Broadcast - Colour Me In
• David Crosby - Tamalpais High (At About 3)
• David Crosby - Music is Love
• Rozi Plain, featuring Alabaster dePlume - Spot Thirteen
• Yo La Tengo - Aselestine
• Jennifer Castle - Summer
• Silver Moth - Mother Tongue
• Sylvan Esso - Moving
• Robert Wyatt - Blues in Bob Minor
• The Reverie Sound Revue - This City Belongs to Us
• The Consonant C - Azeda Booth
• Benoît Pioulard - Halve
• River Tiber - In Between
• Zacht Automaat - Bite the Invisible Hand
• The Exorcist GBG - Starlight

Music for a misty Monday morning, opening with gentle neo-classical and post-rock, drifting through soft psychedelia, shoegaze and jangle pop, and ending off in kosmische territory (with a couple of upbeat detours along the way). Mogwai tackling Neu!, the return of M83, Mac DeMarco gone instrumental, Andy Shauf singing about God — lots to dig into and enjoy, or just ride the mellow vibes into the new week.

Playlist:

• Rosie Lowe, Duval Timothy - Gonna Be
• Francesca Guccione - Utopia I - Luca Longobardi Remix
• Faten Kanaan - Ard Diar
• Neil Cowley - Ticker Tape
• Bell Orchestre - The Upward March
• No Birds - Napping Not Counting
• Postnamers - Little Baby Flutter (Birdy, Bye Bye)
• Colin Stetson - A Revolution in Cuisine
• Brian Eno - I'm Hardly Me
• Cold Ghost, Andrew Tuttle - Nobody's Home (There's Always a Crow)
• The Heartwood Institute - The Druids Circle
• Khotin - Unlimited <3
• Andy Shauf - Wasted On You
• Shana Cleveland - Faces in the Firelight
• Mac DeMarco - Portland
• Megumi Acorda - You Forgot to Say Goodbye
• Bizarre - Ornaments
• Bizarre - Dream Reverence
• Unwed Sailor - Windy City Dreams
• The Death of Pop - Free Hand, Pt. 3
• Zoon - Sooner (Home Session)
• Fucked Up - How to Die Happy
• The Ecstasy of Gold - Earth in Hand
• Gianni Oddi - Dreamin'
• Pender Street Steppers - Raining Again
• Plone - Sunday Laid Moo
• Morgan Greenwood - Sunshine v
• Kanot - Nectar Eyes
• Neu!, featuring Mogwai - Super (Mogwai Remix)
• Harmonische-23 - First Ray of the Eternal Sunshine
• Chad VanGaalen - reformat (egypto)
• M83 - Oceans Niagara

After two weeks of AM Gold, we're back to the usual AM mix of new sounds, classic throwbacks, old favourites, and musical oddities. From occultish electronics and haunted psychedelia to free jazz, pop detours and joyful noise, it's an eclectic start to the new year.

Hope you enjoy it.

Playlist:

• Pascal Schumacher - By This River (Brian Eno cover)
• Skúli Sverrisson - Binding Garden
• Y Bülbül, Yumurta - Pay No Attention to that Man
• RAMZi - égrégores
• Kogane - Take Care
• Ryan Hemsworth - Afterglow
• Rupert Lally - Over Tracks and Roads
• Buildings and Food - South Current 2.0
• Bendu - Super Hit
• Mong Tong - Buntik
• Fomular - Talkoot
• Carl Didur - Maybe Next Time (It'll Be OK)
• Heavy Color - Soft Light
• Jairus Sharif - 9-5 Silver
• Postnamers - Horns of Trascala
• Cluster - Isodea
• Cluster - Avanti
• Bristol Manor - Hidden Signals
• Black Flower, featuring Meskerem Mees - Morning in the Jungle
• Gone to Color, featuring Kurt Wagner - Just Smile
• The Sadies - Message to Belial
• Great Area - Follow Your Nature
• Decisive Pink - Haffmilch Holiday
• Rich Aucoin - Esc
• Nils Frahm - Says
• Rozi Plain - Painted the Room
• HANAH - Solo
• Aoife Nessa Frances - Only Child
• Tom Tom Club - Sweets to the Sweet
• Bernardino Femminielli - Tatouage
• Scott Hardware - Joy

The second part of AM Gold 2022—starting the new year with a look back at some favourites from the old one. For the full 100-album list, plus Bandcamp and Spotify lists, visit https://theam.ca

Welcome to 2023. But remember, January 1st is a completely arbitrary start to the year. It's not a solstice or equinox. Not tied to the sun or the moon. It isn't tied to planting or harvesting, doesn't mark any particular change in season. It's just a day.

It's only meaningful because we say it is. If you want it to inspire change and ambition, great, but if not, don't get too hung up on it.

Playlist:

• Green-House - Morning Glory Waltz
• The Hardy Tree - Up on the Hill
• Charbonneau / Amato - Light Memoir
• Pocket Pavilions - Expo Transit System
• Maria Chiara Argirò - Bonsai
• Esmerine - Imaginary Pasts
• Forgiveness - Rainbird
• Lunar Lemur - There Is No Up
• Where`s The Other - Terminal Lucidity
• The Advisory Circle - Inner Activity
• Shabaka - Ital is Vital
• Monster Rally - Island Hopping
• Makaya McCraven - Dream Another
• Peel Dream Magazine - Self Actualization Center
• Sessa - Estrela Acesa
• Mabe Fratti - Algo Grandioso
• Winter - fool
• Living Hour - Miss Miss Miss
• Dana Gavanski - Indigo Highway
• Hannah Peel, Paraorchestra - We Are Part Mineral
• NETRVNNER - Forge
• Yonatan Gat - Slow American Movement
• Zacht Automaat - Now You Know It’s True
• Persica 3 - Faux Punk
• The Orielles - The Instrument
• Crystal Eyes - A Dream I Had
• Yves Jarvis - On the Line
• Large Plants - Don't Let Me Let You Down
• Korb - Korb’s Third Android
• Zoon - Giizhiig
• Blume - Let It Happen

Saying hello to the day and goodbye to the year on the last Monday morning of 2022, with the first of a two-part look at some favourite songs and albums from the past 12 months. Head to https://theam.ca for the full 100-album list, and enjoy these joyful, serene & celebratory sounds.

Playlist:

• Joyful Joyful - The Valley
• Morgan Szymanski, Tommy Perman - Dance of the Trees
• Clarice Jensen - Joy
• Rachika Nayar - Gayatri
• Time Wharp - No Furniture / Tanagra
• Test Card - (Seventeen Guitars and One Piano)
• Cole Pulice, Lynn Avery - Stained Glass Sauna
• Sanctums - Radiant Silver
• Duncan Marquiss - Fixed Action Patterns
• Andrew Wasylyk - A Confluence
• Shabason & Krgovich - I’m Dancing
• MISZCZYK, featuring Bile Sister - The Ecstatic Dance
• Misha Panfilov Sound Combo - Storm
• Untrained Animals - Only Fan of the Space Program
• Sankt Otten - Angekommen in der letzten Reihe
• OHMA - Between All Things
• Thanya Iyer - New Kind of Swim
• Tess Roby - Ideas of Space
• The Hologram People - Kommune
• Videodrones - Wasteland Interceptors
• Yoo Doo Right - The Failure of Stiff, Tired Friends
• Pneumatic Tubes - Mumbly-Peg
• Magic Arm - Good Views Near North
• Ghostkeeper - Summer Child
• Fiver - Song of the Mournful Millionaire
• Die Welttraumforscher - Sweet Bird
• Beach House - Once Twice Melody
• Carla dal Forno - Mind You’re On
• tstewart - baxter climb

On a frozen morning in the darkest week of the year, this week's AM brings glowing firelight, snow plows, blankets of fog, and prayers for peace. Keep warm this week — the solstice is nearly here and the days will only get brighter from there.

Enjoy the show!

Playlist:

• Aagtive - Fiery Night Light
• Lord of the Isles - Solo
• Eryk Salvaggio - Misting 2
• Afterlife - Home Planet
• The Golden Age Of Wrestling - ‎I Miss Eating Big League Chew and Watching Nitro In the Basement ...
• delay_ok - Yanavy Obaki
• Tobacco - Get Yourself Away
• T. Gowdy - Déneigeuse
• Kuedo - Aeolian Bodies
• Szun Waves - The Return
• Goodnight Girl - Snowfall
• Essential Logic - Prayer for Peace
• Alice Boman - Where to Put the Pain
• Bristol Manor - Life on Other Planets
• Rich Aucoin - Future
• Leland Whitty - Svalbard
• Nina Simone - I Hold No Grudge
• David Bowie, Angelo Badalamenti - A Foggy Day in London Town
• Rachael Dadd - Children of the Galaxy
• Black Belt Eagle Scout - Don’t Give Up
• Cassandra Jenkins - Pygmalion
• Pony Girl - As the Old Sing
• Horsegirl - Billy
• kkidss - whatever
• Tess Parks - Brexit at Tiffany’s
• Mike Baggetta, Jim Keltner, Mike Watt - Everywhen We Go
• Adrian Quesada - DG on the Keys
• D.R. Hooker - Forge Your Own Chains
• Can - Shikako Maru Ten
• Edena Gardens - An t’eilean Dubh
• I Am A Coyote - Other Birds
• Bell Orchestre - Salvatore Amato

The days are short and the mornings come later every day, but The AM is still here to help usher in the Monday sun. From Brutalist synth-work to mischievous Moogs, psych-soul grooves and French garage stompers, the extra-eclectic mix will hopefully make these dark days a bit sunnier.

Playlist:

• Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan - Community Square
• Rich Aucoin - Return
• hyenaedon - In Forthwick Feast
• Postnamers - Simon's Saintly Discotheque
• Erik Hall - Sections 17-30
• Brian Eno - We Let It In
• Leland Whitty - Awake
• Gold Panda - The Corner
• Loraine James - Maybe If I (Stay On It)
• Vernal Equinox - Sunrise
• Mesh Kimono - Afterburn
• Healing Potpourri - Truly Good
• Thanya Iyer - Please Don't Hold Me Hostage for Who I Am, For Who I Was
• Bill Callahan - Partition
• Zacht Automaat - Bite the Invisible Hand
• SAULT - Run
• Claude Denjean - Na Na, Hey Hey, Kiss Him Goodbye
• Claude Denjean - House of the Rising Sun
• The Notwist - Loose Ends (Live from Alien Research Center)
• Eerie Wanda - Birds Aren’t Real
• Apta - Days Like These (Low Tribute)
• Meggie Lennon - Night Shift
• Alvvays - Belinda Says
• Lab Coast - Back to Your Future
• Uh Huh - Somewhere Beyond
• The Orielles - Darkened Corners
• Puppet Wipes - A Web for Every Garden
• Suuns - Mirror Mirror
• Dry Cleaning - Anna Calls from the Arctic
• Kacimi - Le Ballon Songe
• Melody's Echo Chamber - Pecheuse de Lune
• The Radiation Flowers - Always on the Ground
• Kikagaku Moyo - Dawn

The AM enters into December with a mix of ambient sounds and icy-cool dream pop. Opening with Richard Norris' ambient mix of Mark Peters' latest single, and closing with a track from Canada's Fresh Snow (in honour of the fact there's plenty of that in Calgary this morning), the episode's highlights include new sounds from Calgary (and ex-pat Calgarian) artists like Postnamers, Bristol Manor and LT Leif, psych-tinged grooves from Adrian Quesada and Beak>, and a throwback to "the most famous utterly obscure rock band in America."

Playlist:

• Mark Peters, featuring Dot Allison - Sundowning (Richard Norris Ambient Mix)
• Postnamers - Little Baby Flutter (Birdy, Bye Bye)
• Asta Hiroki, Tristan de Liège - Impressions
• Bristol Manor - Black Moon
• Daniel Avery, featuring HAAi, Kelly Lee Owens - Chaos Energy
• The Overload - The Subliminal Man
• Proxima Psychoacoustics - The Ocean Will Take It Away
• Nyx Nótt - Tearjerker
• Yuutsu - Sparkle
• Black Ox Orkestar - Tish Nign
• Rachika Nayar, featuring Maria BC - Heaven Come Crashing
• Khotin, featuring Tess Roby - Fountain, Growth
• L.T. Leif - Pass Back Through
• Living Hour - December Forever
• Rahill - I Do Wonder
• Lael Neale - Hotline
• Kristine Leschper - Figure and I
• The Rising Storm - A Message to Pretty
• The Rising Storm - She Loved Me
• Norma Tanega - I'm the Sky
• Sleep Party People, featuring Sound of Ceres - Moldering Fragments
• Rozi Plain - Help
• Shirley Hurt - Problem Child
• caroline - Good Morning (Red)
• Nightshift - Flower
• Various Artists - Like a Movie
• Japanese Television - Mosquito Dance Routine
• Adrian Quesada - Rise of the Have-Nots
• Shirley & The Pyramids - Sapanta Blue
• Ssaliva - The Longest Sleep
• BEAK> - Kosmik Musik (Part 7)
• Christopher Sleightholm - III
• Harmonische-23 - You Were the Only Light in the Room
• Light Conductor - Light Conductor
• Fresh Snow - Three-Way Mirror

Some groovy excursions on this week's episode, including throwbacks to the legendary Bernard Estardy and the less prolific but still great Aril Laury, and new gems from folks like Kutiman, Kit Sebastian, Miszczyk, and more. Plus a solo selection from Air's Nicolas Godin, meditative moments from Bitchin Bajas and Max Cooper, dreamy pop courtesy of Alvvays, Living Hour, and Carla dal Forno—all the soothing sounds you need to start your week on the right note.

Playlist:

• Bitchin Bajas - Amorpha
• Nils Frahm, Arthur Jeffes - Up is Good
• Where`s The Other - Terminal Lucidity
• s e r é n a t e - to all the plants i loved
• Hamish Lang - Dust Loom
• Max Cooper, featuring Kotomi - A Model of Reality
• Various Artists, featuring a-souvenir x O'Haara - a-O’
• Key Puncher - Corporation Meditation
• Christopher Sleightholm - II
• Group Listening - Seeland - MF Tomlinson Remix
• Nicolas Godin - Bach Off
• Étamine - Antiblue
• Bernard Estardy - Monsieur Dutour
• Bernard Estardy - Autoscopie
• Svaneborg Kardyb - Over Tage
• Aril Laury - Moody
• Anna Butterss - Ben
• MISZCZYK, featuring Bile Sister - The Ecstatic Dance
• Various Artists, featuring Hair Control - Road Song
• Peel Dream Magazine - Jennifer Hindsight
• Orquestra e Côro Som Livre - Uma Canção a Mais
• Gwenno - Tresor
• Carla dal Forno - Stay Awake
• Carla Sagan - Tugboat
• Alvvays - Tile By Tile
• Kutiman - Fresh Haze
• Kit Sebastian - Hayat
• Scanner - Alone Again (Naturally)
• Milk - Fugue
• Gloria de Oliveira, Dean Hurley - Something to Behold
• Living Hour - Hold Me In Your Mind