The 28th annual Canadian Music Week (CMW) hits Toronto in March. One of this music city’s answers to SXSW (the other being NXNE – North By North East), CMW is part conference, part film festival, and part concert series, but is definitely all about Canadian music.
Good new music venues rarely pop up around town so the Garrison on Dundas Street West is a welcome addition to the landscape.
As a teenager, I majorly missed out on music videos: I didn’t have MTV, and streaming video was a distant dream. So it’s only now that I am getting caught up on the great music video canon, especially Spike Jonze’s old videos. It’s entirely possible that I just don’t watch enough videos these days (I do have MTV but would never dream of sitting around and watching it — I mean, do they even play music videos anymore?), but it seems to me like they are so over produced and over reliant on sex appeal. Read More
Just a few weeks ago, I was drinking a Lone Star and listening to one of my favorite musicians of all time (Jonathan Richman of the Modern Lovers) sing some great tunes at the Austin landmark The Cactus Cafe. Located right in the bizarre student union of the University of Texas, this tiny bar has hosted a slew of musical legends since it opened its doors in 1979. Now the big news around town is that it’s on the verge of closing. Huh?! Read More
The Shout Out Louds’ new album work hits the stores this week and March see’s them tour Germany. The Shout Out Louds are one of Sweden’s finest music exports and are from Stockholm. Read More
Robag Wruhme is a mysterious German man who has been haunting my record box for nearly a decade. I always wondered what it would be like to be named Robag. There were other times when I wondered if such a man could even exist. His music sounds like it’s from outer space. Formerly one half of the infamous Wignohmy Brothers and currently opting to fly solo, the man, the myth, and the legend performed at Igloofest this year and despite the fact that it was -25 with wind chill, I bundled up and voyaged onward ho to catch some of his mind-bending musical meanderings.
While this new Kills album is a great party mix-up, and obviously this duo has been working very hard, at first I was confused by the ‘new sound’. Maybe they’ve progressed, but when I first heard it, I was confused that it was the Kills Read More
For a while I tried to keep track of the rumors surrounding Joanna Newsom’s next album, but eventually gave up.
Tonight my roommate mentioned something about it coming out, and lo and behold, it’s being released in a week and there are tracks streaming on Drag City’s website. Read More
Young, still in school, Rock‘n‘Roll and from Berlin. If you see the guys from Chuckamuck you won’t belive that they’ve been around for 5 years already (Yes, you’re right, they started playing when they were 13 years old, down in a cellar with nothing more than some stolen guitars and Chuck Berry riffs in their heads). Read More
Sade has a new album out and its pretty good, but with or without this record we are experiencing a second Sade moment- mostly due to twittering tastemakers being quick on the “Sade is back” claim. Read More
Owen Pallett aka Final Fantasy
Toronto native, Owen Pallett, released his new album Heartland this month. It’s the first album released under his own name (Owen was formerly known as Final Fantasy – a name change was in order after much legal wrangling with the 80s game makers).
Congratulations to Florence Welch and her manager Mairead Nash for winning the Best Album thing at the Brit Awards. Read More
Here’s a pic of the awesome, catchy and talented Jenny Wilson…she rocks! With a voice like a cross between Luz Elena Mendoza [of brilliant Portland based band Y La Bamba] and Santogold, her beats and song structures reverberate inside your head Read More
Peter Gabriel’s been pre-streaming a few tracks off Scratch My Back, his new cover album. So far, my favorite track’s been his cover of Bon Iver’s “Flume.” You can listen to that track, as well as his cover of Arcade Fire’s “My Body Is a Cage,” at Stereogum.
Last month I wrote about mainstream artists scoring points with the indie crowd. This month the roles are flipped, and back to a more traditional situation. Read More
