Telly Tunes: Test your TV theme song knowledge

Blur – No Distance Left To Run DVD (EMI)
For those of you who missed the world première screening of Blur’s fantastic feature-length documentary, No Distance Left to Run, in the theatre, or, if you’re bitter like me, rue the fact that the recently reunited band never played in North America, this consolation prize DVD will feel more like a blue ribbon. It’s not often a rock mockumentary can emotionally affect a viewer the way No Distance Left to Run did for me. The film brilliantly documents the British band’s short reunion, from its rehearsals to its moving live stage performances in London’s Hyde Park and at the Glastonbury Festival. This is much more than a concert film – here, we get to the core of the story of Blur from its very beginnings, through the explosion of Brit pop to the somewhat phoney feud with Oasis and finally, the emotional turmoil between guitarist Graham Coxon and singer Damon Albarn. If you were even remotely a Blur fan in the ‘90s, you must watch this film. It will make you nostalgic, and evoke a new love and appreciation for the band.
Recommended if you dig ... Blur or Brit pop.

Califone – All Of My Friends Are Funeral Singers (Dead Oceans)
Califone has managed to nicely put together a slow burning, rustic, folk album for the 21st century with All Of My Friends Are Funeral Singers. The band’s version of country folk carries more of a cool, ragged Exile On Main St.-era The Rolling Stones vibe, rather than looking back to Bob Dylan or Gram Parsons for inspiration. You know the guys in Califone could rock out if they wanted to – they aren’t traditionalists or hung up on authenticity – and clearly the band just threw in whatever they liked on this album. Songs like “Funeral Singers” and “Ape-Like” are driving, country ballad stomps, and if you prefer sweet, tender tracks, Califone shows its romantic side on “Krill” and “Evidence.” This band’s ability to go beyond its genre and into more experimental territory hits at something altogether new and thrilling.
Recommended if you dig ... Wilco.

The Besnard Lakes – The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night (Jagjaguwar)
It’s hard to describe what The Besnard Lakes sounds like since it’s not like any other indie rock band around today. This is a good thing. It seems to have come from a time before punk rock, before slackers and lo-fi, when bands spent a great deal of time crafting a polished, well-produced album and played with great skill to really master its sound. The Besnard Lakes is an album band in an age when the single is king. While this new record has some standout tracks, it would seem wrong to separate them from the record as a whole. Each song flows into another and the record creates this ebb-and-flow of sound. Vocals and guitars come in and out like waves hitting a beach, as drums crash into the rocks and keyboards gently lap the coast. The Besnard Lakes creates its own environment of sound and the band’s incredible ability for composition and production makes it easy for the listener to enter into the group’s imagined soundscape.
Recommended if you dig ... Arcade Fire or Broken Social Scene.

Jessica’s musical nerdiness started at a very young age thanks to Jem and the Holograms, CFNY’s Free At Last compilations and an early introduction to Nirvana. She has since developed a penchant for effeminate indie rock, soul/mod revivalists, Scandinavian singers and old school hip-hop.

After a stint as a music writer at Toronto’s acclaimed NOW magazine, Jessica now aims to make the couch potatoes of the world a little more music savvy in her column Telly Tunes.