blog post Tariq's Basement Studio: Best of the R3 Sessions and Concert Recordings, 2009

[Best of Sessions originally aired on New Years Day, but knowning there is a chance you were still in bed, we figured it couldn't hurt to run it again.]

I've always liked the expression "live off the floor".  There's something inherently exciting about it, like the musical energy is bouncing off the floor, around the studio walls and onto tape.

On today's show, we've put together some of the best recordings that have resulted from our in-house, 4 hour recording sessions with Canadian musicians over the last few years. 

Besides adding some reverb and compression, nothing has really been done to the original tracks.  Yes, they've been lovingly mixed by our skilled studio engineers, but apart from that, what you're hearing is true emotion, passion and musicianship from the artists themselves. 

We're also including some live concert recordings from this year in the show, like Amy Millan at the Harbourfront Festival and Champion playing at the Transmission Festival in Victoria BC. Trust me, these performances are incredible - you don't want to miss!

For a shorter, downloadable version of this show, get the Best of the CBC Radio 3 Sessions, 2009 Podcast.