Rowan Lipkovits
@nicheinterests.bsky.social
Founder of @mistfunk, half of the @accordionnoir tag-team, onetime frontman of the #CreakingPlanks. Formerly UnwashedMass on the birdsite. Interests include vintage computing, #InteractiveFiction, cognitive dissonance, and free-reed aerophones.
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, I didn't cover Gordon Lightfoot's "Wreck", but Bobby Sands' song "Back Home In Derry" which shares its melody:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wlI...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wlI...
Back Home In Derry (Christy Moore, 1984) ... played on the accordion!
YouTube video by Rowan Lipkovits
www.youtube.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:47 AM
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, I didn't cover Gordon Lightfoot's "Wreck", but Bobby Sands' song "Back Home In Derry" which shares its melody:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wlI...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wlI...
As part of my #RemembranceDay duties, I have diligently recorded an antiwar song for last week's #StupidAccordionTrick: #ElvisCostello's 1984 #Shipbuilding, a look at the Falklands War.
youtu.be/ZWxtEPTYPNs
youtu.be/ZWxtEPTYPNs
Shipbuilding (Elvis Costello, 1982) ... played on the accordion!
YouTube video by Rowan Lipkovits
youtu.be
November 12, 2025 at 4:29 AM
As part of my #RemembranceDay duties, I have diligently recorded an antiwar song for last week's #StupidAccordionTrick: #ElvisCostello's 1984 #Shipbuilding, a look at the Falklands War.
youtu.be/ZWxtEPTYPNs
youtu.be/ZWxtEPTYPNs
Other than playing #StupidAccordionTricks in my basement I'm practically retired as a musician. But: I have a gig coming up to tell you about, a benefit for @accordionnoir.bsky.social 's parent radio station #CFRO taking place the night of Wed Nov 19 at the WISE Lounge, beneath the WISE Hall.
November 10, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Other than playing #StupidAccordionTricks in my basement I'm practically retired as a musician. But: I have a gig coming up to tell you about, a benefit for @accordionnoir.bsky.social 's parent radio station #CFRO taking place the night of Wed Nov 19 at the WISE Lounge, beneath the WISE Hall.
Reposted by Rowan Lipkovits
Good morning 😊
Yes, Sir Clive hated that the Spectrum was popular because of the games and a C5 could never go this fast, but I had a lot of fun making this tribute to Sir Clive Sinclair ZX Spectrum 👍
Animation made in Blender, sountrack made in Studio one
#zxspectrum #retrogaming #8bitgaming
Yes, Sir Clive hated that the Spectrum was popular because of the games and a C5 could never go this fast, but I had a lot of fun making this tribute to Sir Clive Sinclair ZX Spectrum 👍
Animation made in Blender, sountrack made in Studio one
#zxspectrum #retrogaming #8bitgaming
November 7, 2025 at 7:49 AM
Good morning 😊
Yes, Sir Clive hated that the Spectrum was popular because of the games and a C5 could never go this fast, but I had a lot of fun making this tribute to Sir Clive Sinclair ZX Spectrum 👍
Animation made in Blender, sountrack made in Studio one
#zxspectrum #retrogaming #8bitgaming
Yes, Sir Clive hated that the Spectrum was popular because of the games and a C5 could never go this fast, but I had a lot of fun making this tribute to Sir Clive Sinclair ZX Spectrum 👍
Animation made in Blender, sountrack made in Studio one
#zxspectrum #retrogaming #8bitgaming
To preserve the great balance of things, after I record a seasonally-appropriate experimental electronic anthem by Aphex Twin, I have to compensate for it by sharing a tenuously relevant Backstreet Boys hit.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2Jh...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2Jh...
Everybody (Backstreet Boys, 1997) ... played on the accordion!
YouTube video by Rowan Lipkovits
www.youtube.com
October 31, 2025 at 6:05 PM
To preserve the great balance of things, after I record a seasonally-appropriate experimental electronic anthem by Aphex Twin, I have to compensate for it by sharing a tenuously relevant Backstreet Boys hit.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2Jh...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2Jh...
While thinking of dark, disturbing songs for the Halloween season, this abrasive #AphexTwin classic floats to the top of any such list. But surely it would be sheer folly to attempt to reproduce it on an acoustic instrument, especially one as inherently whimsical as the piano #accordion?
Come To Daddy (Aphex Twin, 1997) ... played on the accordion!
YouTube video by Rowan Lipkovits
www.youtube.com
October 25, 2025 at 6:21 PM
While thinking of dark, disturbing songs for the Halloween season, this abrasive #AphexTwin classic floats to the top of any such list. But surely it would be sheer folly to attempt to reproduce it on an acoustic instrument, especially one as inherently whimsical as the piano #accordion?
Part scary, part silly, all #StupidAccordionTricks: here's my take on the ghostly 1934 music-hall standard #WithHerHeadTuckedUnderneathHerArm
youtu.be/ydLoOdtSBMw
youtu.be/ydLoOdtSBMw
With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm (1934) ... played on the accordion!
YouTube video by Rowan Lipkovits
youtu.be
October 18, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Part scary, part silly, all #StupidAccordionTricks: here's my take on the ghostly 1934 music-hall standard #WithHerHeadTuckedUnderneathHerArm
youtu.be/ydLoOdtSBMw
youtu.be/ydLoOdtSBMw
Reposted by Rowan Lipkovits
Time to kick October into high gear with some creepy tunes! This is the late #TomLehrer's 1956 #TheIrishBallad, a gory tale of woe!
youtu.be/lHSIHOF9t_0
youtu.be/lHSIHOF9t_0
The Irish Ballad (Tom Lehrer, 1953) ... played on the accordion!
YouTube video by Rowan Lipkovits
youtu.be
October 11, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Time to kick October into high gear with some creepy tunes! This is the late #TomLehrer's 1956 #TheIrishBallad, a gory tale of woe!
youtu.be/lHSIHOF9t_0
youtu.be/lHSIHOF9t_0
The Chimney Swallows are playing in Chilliwack tonight, almost certainly too late for me to spur any of you on to go catch them, but ... nevertheless, I have recorded their call-and-response anthem "John Solomon" in promotion of their rare appearance: www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6Fc...
John Solomon Is Killing Me (the Chimney Swallows, 2013) ... played on the accordion!
YouTube video by Rowan Lipkovits
www.youtube.com
October 5, 2025 at 12:09 AM
The Chimney Swallows are playing in Chilliwack tonight, almost certainly too late for me to spur any of you on to go catch them, but ... nevertheless, I have recorded their call-and-response anthem "John Solomon" in promotion of their rare appearance: www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6Fc...
I was stuck circling an unenviable setlist of bleak antifascist dirges, but thankfully Jane Goodall died so I can break free from my holding pattern and send her off with King Louis' song from #theJungleBook: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT0p...
I Wan'na Be Like You (Louis Prima, the Jungle Book, 1967) ... played on the accordion!
YouTube video by Rowan Lipkovits
www.youtube.com
October 2, 2025 at 7:07 AM
I was stuck circling an unenviable setlist of bleak antifascist dirges, but thankfully Jane Goodall died so I can break free from my holding pattern and send her off with King Louis' song from #theJungleBook: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT0p...
I got a bigger response from my latest shrewd #StupidAccordionTricks selection than I expected & was a bit nervous about failing to read the historical moment & following it up with a dud. Sadly, this one is proving evergreen: the Italian partisan ballad #BellaCiao.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glm1...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glm1...
Bella Ciao (traditional, 1953) ... played on the accordion!
YouTube video by Rowan Lipkovits
www.youtube.com
September 25, 2025 at 8:45 PM
I got a bigger response from my latest shrewd #StupidAccordionTricks selection than I expected & was a bit nervous about failing to read the historical moment & following it up with a dud. Sadly, this one is proving evergreen: the Italian partisan ballad #BellaCiao.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glm1...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glm1...
I'm a little young to have fond memories of Robert Redford's greatest movies, but nevertheless I was struck by Disney's acumen in tapping him for oldschool "classic suspense movie" vibes in Winter Soldier.
September 17, 2025 at 10:42 PM
I'm a little young to have fond memories of Robert Redford's greatest movies, but nevertheless I was struck by Disney's acumen in tapping him for oldschool "classic suspense movie" vibes in Winter Soldier.
Reposted by Rowan Lipkovits
Discovering computer as an adult makes you go crazy. Discovering computer as a baby makes you go crazy. In all of human history, there will only ever be one generation to discover computer at the correct age: 13
The problem with every post-Millennial generation is they got to go straight to high speed internet. Of course you'll get computer madness that way. Make them start with those old screeching modems and work their way up
September 12, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Discovering computer as an adult makes you go crazy. Discovering computer as a baby makes you go crazy. In all of human history, there will only ever be one generation to discover computer at the correct age: 13
For no particular reason, here's my #StupidAccordionTricks cover of #Chumbawamba's 1994 antifa anthem #TheDayTheNaziDied
youtu.be/s21IF7OWo8E
youtu.be/s21IF7OWo8E
The Day The Nazi Died (Chumbawamba, 1994) ... played on the accordion!
YouTube video by Rowan Lipkovits
youtu.be
September 11, 2025 at 2:24 AM
For no particular reason, here's my #StupidAccordionTricks cover of #Chumbawamba's 1994 antifa anthem #TheDayTheNaziDied
youtu.be/s21IF7OWo8E
youtu.be/s21IF7OWo8E
RIP #MarkVolman! I never had much occasion to tap this classic tune prior, but now for this week my #StupidAccordionTrick will be sending him off with #TheTurtles' 1967 #HappyTogether
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iEd...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iEd...
Happy Together (the Turtles, 1967) ... played on the accordion!
YouTube video by Rowan Lipkovits
www.youtube.com
September 7, 2025 at 7:26 AM
RIP #MarkVolman! I never had much occasion to tap this classic tune prior, but now for this week my #StupidAccordionTrick will be sending him off with #TheTurtles' 1967 #HappyTogether
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iEd...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iEd...
If you're around Strathcona next Sunday afternoon, you should stop by the park and take in a set of sweet squeezebox tunes, including some no doubt bizarre selections interpreted by yours truly
One week from today, we present the sixteenth installment of the ACCORDION NOIR FESTIVAL, bringing alt-squeezebox to the masses. Aug 24, 2-5 pm, by donation at Vancouver's Maclean Park, hear Geoff Berner, Lucy Lambert and @nicheinterests.bsky.social rocking their boxes!
August 17, 2025 at 9:00 AM
If you're around Strathcona next Sunday afternoon, you should stop by the park and take in a set of sweet squeezebox tunes, including some no doubt bizarre selections interpreted by yours truly
@danvie.bsky.social this is no Facebook, but glad to see you're still making the most of the services available to you
August 17, 2025 at 7:16 AM
@danvie.bsky.social this is no Facebook, but glad to see you're still making the most of the services available to you
This week's #StupidAccordionTrick was one of my wife's favourite #TomTHall songs, #ILove, covered on the occasion of her birthday!
youtu.be/SMenMafRDAo
youtu.be/SMenMafRDAo
I Love (Tom T. Hall, 1973) ... played on the accordion!
YouTube video by Rowan Lipkovits
youtu.be
August 17, 2025 at 3:36 AM
This week's #StupidAccordionTrick was one of my wife's favourite #TomTHall songs, #ILove, covered on the occasion of her birthday!
youtu.be/SMenMafRDAo
youtu.be/SMenMafRDAo
We do #Pride in August here in Vancouver, so for this week's #StupidAccordionTrick I've gone back to 1984 to accordionise #BronskiBeat's anthem of queer youth alienation, #SmalltownBoy. Recorded well after midnight, the entire performance is a kind of fugue state.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TBg...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TBg...
Smalltown Boy (Bronski Beat, 1984) ... played on the accordion!
YouTube video by Rowan Lipkovits
www.youtube.com
August 9, 2025 at 6:43 PM
We do #Pride in August here in Vancouver, so for this week's #StupidAccordionTrick I've gone back to 1984 to accordionise #BronskiBeat's anthem of queer youth alienation, #SmalltownBoy. Recorded well after midnight, the entire performance is a kind of fugue state.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TBg...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TBg...
Rest in Power to #TomLehrer, whose transgressive songs about life and politics were so powerful when he wrote them sixty years ago that I dare not record most of them even today! From 1967's That Was The Year That Was, here's #Pollution.
youtu.be/3wpSCWBXMuo
youtu.be/3wpSCWBXMuo
Pollution (Tom Lehrer, That Was The Year That Was, 1965) ... played on the accordion!
YouTube video by Rowan Lipkovits
youtu.be
July 28, 2025 at 2:12 AM
Rest in Power to #TomLehrer, whose transgressive songs about life and politics were so powerful when he wrote them sixty years ago that I dare not record most of them even today! From 1967's That Was The Year That Was, here's #Pollution.
youtu.be/3wpSCWBXMuo
youtu.be/3wpSCWBXMuo
Late in the night, I finally had a chance to record an #OzzyOsbourne memorial #StupidAccordionTricks tribute -- you know, as quietly as possible so as not to awaken my family. As one does! Last stop, everyone off the #CrazyTrain!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBcS...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBcS...
Crazy Train (Ozzy Osbourne, Blizzard of Ozz, 1980) ... played on the accordion!
YouTube video by Rowan Lipkovits
www.youtube.com
July 23, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Late in the night, I finally had a chance to record an #OzzyOsbourne memorial #StupidAccordionTricks tribute -- you know, as quietly as possible so as not to awaken my family. As one does! Last stop, everyone off the #CrazyTrain!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBcS...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBcS...
20 yrs ago, this nonsense poetry arrangement was a centrepiece in our avant-garde cabaret "That's My Brain... and you're KILLING it!" Four of its alumni were at a picnic last weekend, so I took the opportunity to commit the nonsense to video for weird posterity.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHv5...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHv5...
Hot Socks (Brotus, That's My Brain... and you're KILLING it!, 2005) ... played on the accordion!
YouTube video by Rowan Lipkovits
www.youtube.com
July 15, 2025 at 8:16 PM
20 yrs ago, this nonsense poetry arrangement was a centrepiece in our avant-garde cabaret "That's My Brain... and you're KILLING it!" Four of its alumni were at a picnic last weekend, so I took the opportunity to commit the nonsense to video for weird posterity.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHv5...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHv5...
Usually if you said I was playing #AllNightLong, it would just be a metaphor for how interminable this #StupidAccordionTricks set was, feeling like you'd never see the blessed end of it. But in this case you'd just be accurately naming #LionelRichie's 1983 song.
youtu.be/zeq1DtqwTUA
youtu.be/zeq1DtqwTUA
All Night Long (Lionel Richie, Can't Slow Down, 1983) ...played on the accordion!
YouTube video by Rowan Lipkovits
youtu.be
July 13, 2025 at 5:14 AM
Usually if you said I was playing #AllNightLong, it would just be a metaphor for how interminable this #StupidAccordionTricks set was, feeling like you'd never see the blessed end of it. But in this case you'd just be accurately naming #LionelRichie's 1983 song.
youtu.be/zeq1DtqwTUA
youtu.be/zeq1DtqwTUA
Explaining the plot of the Terminator movies to my kid who thinks that Skynet is underplaying its hand by only attempting to assassinate the resistance leader. Why not send a death robot further back to kill Jesus? Well that would be a problem for Christianity but human society would keep going...
July 12, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Explaining the plot of the Terminator movies to my kid who thinks that Skynet is underplaying its hand by only attempting to assassinate the resistance leader. Why not send a death robot further back to kill Jesus? Well that would be a problem for Christianity but human society would keep going...