CiTR -- Exploding Head Movies

It's Part 14 of our all-ambient series and we circle back to some of the noteworthy releases from 2023 aside from some astronomical business. Astronomical business meant hopes to have this in time for the solar eclipse so you have to schedule your own sun blocker for maximum enjoyment. 01 - Transponder: Totality (Empire of the Eclipse, 2024) Synphaera 02 - Talk West: Abode (Black Coral Sprig, 2023...

Based on recent legislation from the governments of North Carelia (Finland) & Northwestern Ontario (Canada), we've had to viciously & suddenly change formats, so it's mostly blistering guitars with a metal focus going forward now. Who'd've thought the first of the month would've wrought this? 01! Tenacious D: The Metal (The Pick of Destiny, 2006) Epic 02! Dhidalah: Jovian Sky (Threshold, 2...

24It's time to return to the spice as we listen to Hans Zimmer's score to Dune: Part Two from director Denis Villeneuve. Along with other sonic inspirations from Frank Herbert's novels, we also profile a documentary about a failed adaptation: 2013's Jodorowsky's Dune with music by Kurt Stenzel. 01. Hot Chip: Freakout/Release (Freakout/Release, 2022) Domino 02. Klaus Schulze: Frank Herbert (X: Sech...

Award season is over so we play catch up with recent news as look at the Canadian director Norman Jewison (1926-2024) and cues from his groundbreaking films, focusing mostly on 1987's Moonstruck with music by Dick Hyman. 01. John Cale: Moonstruck [Nico's Song] (Mercy, 2023) Domino 02. Gerald Fried: The Discotheque Affair (The Man from U.N.C.L.E. TV Series: Volume 1, 2002) Film Score Monthly 03. Ap...

Our 7th & final part of our our annual Oscars profiles as award season draws to a close as we talk about who won! The 96th Academy Awards were handed out last night and amongst the winners, we hear selections from Joe Hisaishi's score from the Best Animated Feature from Studio Ghibli: The Boy and the Heron. 01. Benny Sings: Movie Star (Young Hearts, 2023) Stones Throw 02. Richard Bégin: Mouvem...

Our 6th part of our annual Oscars profiles does another check-in on Ludwig Göransson's Academy Award nominated score to Oppenheimer. 01. Oppenheimer Analysis: Men in White Coats (New Mexico, 1982) Minimal Waves 02. Osmanthus: Bloom (Between Seasons, 2024) self-released 03. Parliament: I Call My Baby Pussycat (Osmium, 1970) Invictus 04. Marlena Shaw: Liberation Conversation (The Spice of Life, 1969...

The 1st of our two repeat profiles is in the cards for the 5th part of our annual Oscar profile as we hear different cues from the late Robbie Robertson's nominated score to Killers of the Flower Moon. We hear additional indigenous voices too amongst others who have recently left us. The time has come. 1. A.S.O: My Baby's Got It Out for Me (A.S.O, 2023) Low Lying 2. Anthony Davis, James Newton &am...

It's Family Day in parts of Canada, so for our 4th part of our annual Oscars profile, we not only hear selections from John Williams' nominated score to Indiana Jones & The Dial of Destiny, but we also circle back through the rest of his music from the adventure film series. gak is jet lagged from all the red lines that pop up on the map as he flew a lot last week. 0.1 Ray Anthony: Holiday (Pr...

For the 3rd part of our annual Oscars profile, we listen to selections from Laura Karpman's nominated score to American Fiction. We also touch upon the lunar new year, acts playing in Vancouver and actor/director Carl Weathers (1948-2024). Thanks again to everyone who donated to 2024 Fundrive! 01. Beth Gibbons: Floating on a Moment (Lives Outgrown, 2024) Domino 02. Matty: Yessss (Arkive, 2021) Voi...

Part II of our annual Oscars profile collides with CITR's main annual event: FUNDRIVE so we'll hop along the themes of weddings and Las Vegas as we hear from the 5 nominees for Best Original Song along with some that missed the cut. Visit https://donatetocitr.ca today and pledge to Fundrive 2024 and tell'em Exploding Head Movies sent ya! Say it as we hover ahead on bended knee: YES! 01. Tom Petty:...

The nominees for the 96th Academy Awards were announced last week so it's that time of year: our annual Oscars profiles on the nominated original songs & scores! First up: Jerskin Fendrix's beguilingly quirky music from Yorgos Lanthimos' adaptation of Poor Things. 01. David Holmes & Raven Violet: Blind on a Galloping Horse (Blind on a Galloping Horse, 2023) Heavenly 02. Brian Ring: Aperol...

gak marks 16 years at CITR 101.9FM with another profile on the film score work of Ennio Morricone: 1971's Giù la Testa (aka Duck, You Sucker!) amidst the other mix of glitter and doom. Somehow we made this far. Somehow you made it here too. Can't do this without you. 01 - Tennessee Ernie Ford: Sixteen Tons (Asteroid City OST, 2023) ABKCO 02 - Elizabeth Reid & Alison Bruce Cerutti: Constable an...

gak's back with a spacious yet spacy mix that takes elements from synthesized bird noises and mixes it with drones, particular in honour of Catherine Christer Hennix (1948-2023). Sponges & buckets sold separately; bring the noise. 00. gak: intro DRONE QUARTER: A1. Constellation425: Undecided (Drone Day, 2023) self-released A2. Lawrence English & Werner Dafeldecker: Tropic of Carpicorn Pt I...

We mark the calendar year properly now as we profile Michael Small's soundtrack to the 1978 film The Driver in honour of the actor Ryan O'Neal (1941-2023). We also pay tribute to another Ryan (1976-2024) whilst recapping the recent Emmys in relation to music. 01. Novi Split: This Will Be Our Year (Covers Anthology, 2021) Cake Party 02. bvdub: Geometries of Water (Slowly Shifting Lakes, 2023) Past...

Before we charge into the new year properly, let's look back at the past 12 months as we try to make sense of 2023. Our soundtrack profile will be on the smash film Barbie in all the doll's many forms. 01. PJ Harvey: I Inside the Old Year Dying (I Inside the Old Year Dying, 2023) Partisan 02. Wata Igarashi: Floating Against Time (Agartha, 2023) Kompakt 03. Knower: Do Hot Girls Like Chords (Knower...

Christmas Day means the 1st true day of the 12 days of Christmas. It's also the morning when most open presents and then the afternoon of family visits. With all that in mind, this pre-recorded episode, marking the 16th annual alternate-Yuletide carol episode assembled in the central realms of Canada, profiles music from the 1989 holiday classic National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Podcast subsc...

From the Exploding Head Archives, this episode from 2013 celebrates the holidays in its own loopy fashion. This predates a single film theme, opting to hop around a fair bit. This includes the highly undocumented yet required December listening version of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas that aired on CBC radio some 30 years ago. Merry Crimble one and dang y'all! 01! George Slater: The Wassail Song...

For the 5th night of Hanukkah, we pay tribute to the physicist J Robert Oppenheimer, the subject of the 2023 Christopher Nolan film about the creation of the atom bomb. The score by Ludwig Göransson is starting to receive acclaim, so amongst that profile, we'll ease into nuclear themes and recapping the year about to end. 001. Massive Attack: Angel (Mezzanine [20th Anniversary Remastered Edition],...

This episode crams a lot in: CITR's Shindig finales happen this week; some other recent deaths & Robbie Robertson's posthumous score to Martin Scorsese's 2023 film Killers of the Flower Moon. 1. Monty Python: Henry Kissinger (Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album, 1980) Charisma/Arista 2. V Vecker Ensemble: Atonement (Acedia Phase, 2023) Hotham Sound 3. The Pogues: Whiskey You're the Dev...

Hip hop music started in South Bronx, NYC back in August 1973 and in fifty years, it's become a dominant form in pop music. This episode brazenly tries to recap it all, though with highlights on recent acts, Vancouver performers and then multiple soundtracks, primarily from the early 1980s with films like Wild Style & Style Wars amidst others like Krush Groove & Deep Cover. This is the bir...

As 2023 draws to a close, we look a hundred years hence to 1923. Amongst indicative recordings that have survived all that time, we profile Charlie Chaplin's score to one of his silent films of that era The Pilgrim (kinda redone in the 1950s). Hoopty-doo, let's blouse! 01. Roger Whittaker: Mammy Blue (Roma OST, 2018) Sony Masterworks 02. Bell Orchestre: Open Organ (As Seen Through Windows [special...

With both the actors' & writers' strikes over, we can play catch up on newish films as we dig into Wes Anderson's latest Asteroid City. High winds have messed with a bit the radio station's tech so behind the scenes, there's chicken wire & hay to prop things up and we sound great as always despite what the weather has wrought. 1. DJ Shadow: Ozone Scraper (Action Adventure, 2023) Mass Appea...

gak's back after some food poisoning so with Hallowe'en done, it's time to harken back to recent travels with a show that explores Glasgow, Islay & Scotland, profiling John Barry's score to the 1971 film Mary, Queen of Scots. 1. Orange Juice: Rip It Up (Rip It Up, 1983) Polydor 2. Melanie de Biasio: Alba (Il Viaggio, 2023) PIAS 3. Choir of Young Believers: Patricia's Thirst (Rhine Gold, 2012)...

It's been a while since we've profiled the music of John Carpenter so as we count down to Hallowe'en, we'll listen to music from a recent compilation of reworked themes from his past films and then profile the score he did with Dave Davies for the 1995 adaptation of Village of the Damned. Sinister sons & deadly daughters abound. 01. Claudio Simonetti & Daemonia: Mater Lacrimarum [end title...

Hallowe'en Horror Month continues here as we get properly glammy and camp with Richard O'Brien's subversive music from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. 1. Castle If: Suspension (Drivin' Easy, 2023) self-released 2. Deek Watson & The Brown Dots: At Our Fireplace (Bow-Wow-Wow 10", 1949) Manor 3. Nadja: Funkspiel Pt I (Nalepa, 2022) Midira 4. The Black Angels: Firefly (Wilderness of Mirrors, 2022)...