Charlotte Cornfield, one of SlowCity.ca's fave singer/songwriters has a couple of gigs, one at the Burdock in Toronto May 12 and Le Cagibi in MOntreal. The Provincial Archives will open. Cornfield has also released a video for "Peonies" from her optimistically titled Consonant released Future Snowbird. The video was shot during her residency at the Banff Centre which she shared with members of Broken Social Scene.
Hamilton rapper Emay hears the angel's trumpet calling
Hammer MC, Emay has a new album, the self-produced Ilah. The Hamilton-based hiphop artist has released the first single, "Israfil angels trumpet". In traditional Islam, Israfil's trumpet announces the day of resurrection. The track itself has an intriguing backflow, a bubbling almost barking cacophony of horns on loop, over which Emay raps his suburban experience, video games and riding on transit dreaming of better days. Emay, one to watch.
The Nylons say Farewell Oct 7 at the Regent Theatre in Oshawa
Legendary Canadian a cappella group, The Nylons, are hanging up with one last tour. The four-piece have been happy together for 35 years ago and have earned seven gold and platinum records. They have criss-crossed the globe and make one last appearance at Oshawa's Regent Theatre Oct. 7 2016. Tickets are on sale May 11.
Royal Tusk are spearheading a return to classic sounds of rock 'n roll, play Oshawa Music Hall May 14
After Alberta band Ten Second Epic timed out, Daniel Carriere and bassist Sandy MacKinnon formed Royal Tusk from their shared love in all things epically rock ' roll. They added Quinn Cyrankiewicz (guitar), Calen Stuckel (drums) and Mike James (keyboard/guitars) and recorded with Gus Van Go. Their EP Mountain rose through the charts and they have been tagged as a band to watch. Their debut full-length album DealBreaker, produced by Eric Ratz, is available on Cadence Music. They recently toured with Collective Soul and are making their own stops including at the Oshawa Music Hall May 14.
SlowCity sent out some questions, Sandy replied:
Q: DealBreaker has a ring of finality to it, is this album a deal breaker and if yes what is the deal?
Sandy: "2015 was a bit of a crazy year for us guys here at the Royal Tusk camp. We really didn't know what the future held for the band. So when things started looking a little bleak, I think that is when we really caught our writing stride and felt the songs start moving in the right direction."
Q: There is an old school guitar sound, what drew you back to that older sound?
Sandy: "Everybody in the band are massive fans of rock n roll, heavy metal, pretty much if it has any notion of guitar wankery, we're in. There was no intent on doing any sort of throwback to an older sound, it just sort of ended up that way."
Q: "Cold On Me" is such a great track, I have it on repeat for much of the afternoon, little chinks of Doors piano and some Pink Floyd guitar vibes, and a Hall & Oates groove - such a mash, how do create your own thing out of these elements? At what point do you say OK, that sounds like Royal Tusk now?
Sandy: I'm stoked that you like that one, personally that is my favourite one as well. That was one was fun cause while we were writing it, it didn't seem to have an end in sight. We were able to put our favourite aspects of rock n roll into it. We got to experiment with spacey grooves, and then in the same breath open er up and let er buck.
Q: Ian Thornley collaboration, how did that come about?
Sandy: "We were very fortunate to have done a national tour supporting Big Wreck. On the tour, both bands became friends. The song "So Long The Buildup" we played on the tour and features a solo section which is probably 50% of the song. One night while we were enjoying a cocktail or two and we sort of just asked if he'd be willing to play on it. He said yes, we held him to it. The old "no takesy backsys" rule had to be implemented."
Q: Growing up how did you get most of your music, was it via live shows with local and touring bands, did you get it from the radio, or from sharing records?
Sandy: "Everyone in Royal Tusk has been playing in touring bands for as long as we can remember. So being a fan of new music definitely comes with that. Going to all kinds of shows, whether it was rock, punk, metal, or folk etc. Sort of kept everyone wanting to know more. You end up sharing music with one another wanting to hear new stuff and sharing the music that currently getting yer rocks off."
Q: Edmonton had two of my fave bands, Jr Gone Wild and Jerry Jerry and the Sons of Rhythm Orchestra, what are some of your fave E-town acts over the years?
Sandy: While growing up, my 2 older brothers were in an Edmonton (now alumni) punk band called "The Wednesday night Heroes". When I was younger, I used what they were doing as a blueprint for my own career. I'd see them touring relentlessly, an just putting themselves out there and it just sort registered as normal to me. Also, an Edmonton band we had the privilege of doing their reunion tour, was a band called "the smalls". If you're from the west, then you know what that meant for us.
The Arkells' new track "Private School", a love/hate relationship
Just in time for Mothers' Day every mom's favourite sons The Arkells have dropped a new single and video. The track "Private School", featuring Tokyo Police Club's Dave Monks, is from their new album, Morning Report, due to drop Aug. 5 on Last Gang Records. The proudly Hamiltonian five-piece have also released the track listings including the intriguingly titled "Drake's Dad" and a tour schedule which includes Bonnaroo, Wayhome and Lollapalooza. In a press release chief songwriter Max Kerman says the songs on the album are drawn from his own experiences, “A lot of songs start from what happened the night before – that’s where the title comes from: friends who text the next day and demand ‘Give me the morning report!’” The question is then, What happened at the private school Max?
Tracklisting
1. Drake’s Dad
2. Private School
3. My Heart’s Always Yours
4. Savannah
5. Passenger Seat
6. Making Due
7. Round and Round
8. Hung Up
9. Come Back Home
10. A Little Rain (A Song For Pete)
11. And Then Some
12. Hangs The Moon
Arkells 2016 Tour Dates
June 10 – Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival
June 15 &16 – Dover, DE @ FireFly Festival
June 25 – Kirkland Lake, ON @ Kirkland Lake Community Complex
July 14 – Pemberton, BC @ Pemberton Music Festival
July 23 – Oro-Medonte, ON @ WayHome Music and Arts
July 24 – Rock The Shores @ Colwood, BC
July 28 – Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza Festival
July 30- New Glasgow, NS @ The Riverfront Jubilee
August 21 – Leipzig, GR @ Highfield Festival
August 23 – London, UK @ Lexington
August 25 – Ubersee, GER @ Chiemsee Summer Fest
September 9 – Jackson-Triggs – Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON
The Strumbellas bring Hope to Oshawa Music Hall May 5
The key to The Strumbella's latest album, Hope, is to remember they began as a mostly a cappella act. Harmonies were the important element and as the band has grown, as they have played bigger stages, and as they have added more instrumentation and production to their sound they have still managed to prioritize the core element of harmony.
The studio add-ons are there to service the voices of Simon Ward, David Ritter, Jon Hembrey, Izzy Ritchie, Darryl James and Jeremy Drury; there is no room for solos in this band, (the track "David" may be the exception as it does have a great Sadies' guitar twang running off of it).
However because of the dominance of the choir of voices there is a similarity right across Hope that dilutes its power somewhat. Not a necessarily a bad thing at all and well, considering their recent success, its most definitely not a bad thing at all for their pockets or popularity.
The key to getting The Strumbellas is to see them live. Whether they are singing in a cafe, on a TV late night show or on a stage. The harmonics extend into the relationships and on stage is where it all comes together. The Strumbellas are an exuberant force and that harmony comes across as a gang of friends having the time of their lives, (witness their near stage collapsing performance at Guelph's Hillside Festival, around the 42 sec.).
It is noteworthy too the Strumbellas are yet another band from the Black Grass scene, one which travels across the Kawarthas, the Northumberland Hills and along the Oak Ridge Moraine. Songs are grounded in the blue grass tradition of early settlers, the roots music found in the same vein as Blue Rodeo, Wilco and The Band. Lyrically main songwriter Ward goes deeper into the malaise of survival. There are references to depression, to angst, to the dearth of reasons to stick around, to loss and to heartbreak right across the album.
But there is Hope isn't there, there is always hope. The Strumbellas' Hope rests in the camaraderie of an end of day camp fire, in the cold of a night, singing, one voice added onto the one voice.
Dan Romano mano a mano on Mono
For his fifth, yes fifth, album Mono, Dan Romano, the Maestro of Mosey, takes his cue from Lee Hazlewood, Serge Gainsbourg, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Randy Newman and Ennio Morricone. The record drops Friday May 27 and is available on New West but Dan has released a couple of videos already, "Valerie Leon" and most recently "(Gone) Is All but a Quarry of Stone."
Repartee fight for their right to partake, play Moustache Club May 14
Newfoundland's Repartee have released their album All Lit Up and are currently on tour. The four-piece make a stop in Toronto for CMW. They play Peterborough May 16 at the Red Dog and they make a welcome return to Oshawa, this time at the Moustache Club May 14.
Repartee are Meg Warren, guitarist Robbie Brett, drummer Nick Coultas-Clarke and keyboardist Josh Banfield. They have done their fare share of small bars but have also shared stage with LIGHTS, Tegan and Sara, Dragonette and the Arkells. They have won five MusicNL Awards and in 2013 they were nominated for an East Coast Music Award for Rising Star Recording of the Year, performing at the 2013 ECMA Gala.
Slowcity.ca had a chat with the Newfie kats.
Welcome back to Oshawa. You have played here a few times, your fan base has grown and are now playing bigger clubs like the Moustache Club. From outside its been great to see your growth as artists and in popularity. Tell me what that looks like from the inside?
Meg Warren: It's very exciting. We knew Oshawa was gonna be awesome when we played our first show there back in 2013 (or was it 2012?). We performed at this festival called Broken Arts Fest and no one knew who we were but everyone was super responsive and warm and enthusiastic. Every time we've been back since then it's been great. Seeing things grow and our hard work pay off is really rewarding for sure.
There is a very strong music scene out East obviously with so many styles and musicians to see live, hear and to be influenced by, Traditional, folk, alt-rock, why did you gravitate to the synth-pop sounds: what is it about the style that you find allows you full artistic freedom?
Robbie Brett: I guess it's not really artistic freedom as much as it's something that we are all passionate about. When Meg started the band it was less about what the style was an more about what kind of music she wanted to write. It had more of an indie rock vibe in its earlier stages. Once the members that are in the band now joined and we started touring extensively we started to shape our sound around the direction we thought the songs were going in. What made the most sense and was the most honest interpretation of the songs. Ever since we found the identity of the band then it definitely paved a clearer path, but who knows what the next release might be. It's definitely circumstantial, and that's what's really artistically free about the whole situation.
You have finally released your debut record. Is All Lit Up the culmination of all the work you have done since inception or is it a new beginning and the start of a new journey?
Meg: It's definitely the culmination of a lot of work for a long time, but not since the inception of the band. We essentially started focusing on this album about 2 years ago. There are songs on it that are a lot older than that, but they've been revisited and reworked. It feels like the start of a new journey in the sense that we took some time in the background, honing our sound and our image and a lot of other different aspects of the band. We knew that when we came back with this album, we wanted it to be the best representation of who we are right now.
Titles like "Dukes", and "All Lit Up" resonate of Newfoundland, it can be a tough place, folks party and fight. On other tracks, "Nice Girls" for example, you sing “don’t fuck with me” and “gotta be tough, gotta be brave.” Do you draw from your own lives when writing songs? If yes can you tell me about where "Nice Girls" and "Dukes" come from?
Meg: Yes, we do. I personally use lyric writing as a bit of an outlet or as a way to talk about how I feel, for sure. There are also other songs on the album where the lyrics are more fictional and I look at as more of a 'short story' ('Carelessly, Carelessly' and 'Miracle' are more examples of that). Nice Girls was written about my experience as a woman in this industry, which can be really tough and cut-throat. No place for polite, sweet, passive girls here! And Dukes comes from kind of the same idea, but how when you love someone or something and you feel strongly about it, you want to fight for it. Conflict doesn't seem so scary when the subject is really important to you.
Montreal's Braids weave solace and soul on new EP, Companion
Photograph by Norm Wong
Wintersleep visualize Amerika, and yes Trump shows up
Its brave for a band to centre their song in a time and place, to sing about a present, in particular a political present. However at the same time newspaper editorial boards across America are coming out against Donald Trump, calling his campaign a danger to the country, Halifax alt-rock band Wintersleep release a provocative video for the instantly classic track "Amerika" from their new album The Great Detachment, available on Dine Alone (breathe). Director Scott Cudmore has created a fine visual partner to the song and it sings to the unease the world is feeling at the moment as even the Yankee’s closest allies wonder wtf!!
We live in interesting times.
Wintersleep have a couple of dates at Candian Music Week 206, they play the Dine Alone showcase May 6 at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto and then head down the east coast of the states before returning to their hometown.
May 4 - Toronto, ON @ The Phoenix (Canadian Music Week - INDIE AWARDS)
May 6 - Toronto, ON @ The Horseshoe Tavern (Dine Alone CMW Showcase)
May 10 - Washington, DC @ DC9*
May 11 - Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brendas*
May 13 - Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade*
May 14 - Boston, MA @ Great Scott*
July 8 - Halifax, NS @ Gridlock Festival
July 10 - Quebec, QC @ Festival d'été
July 14-17 - Pemberton, BC @ Pemberton Festival
Aug 21 - Elora, ON @ Riverfest Elora
* w/ Plants and Animals
Programm, Islands, Holy Fuck - a trio of new videos
WYATT Records' Chad VanGaalen/Bry Webb 7" spit available to stream
Photograph by Jeff Cooke
Adam Baldwin heads back to 1985 with a silver bullet band
Adam Baldwin debuts "No Telling When (Precisely Nineteen Eighty-Five)" June 24 on Sonic Records. Baldwin was a member of Matt Mays' band but is a solo artist in his own right. The title track has a brassy American rock a la Springsteen doing his best Meat Loaf feel, so close its just this side of parody but its no joke, the songs deal with political issues including the elusive nature of the Canadian Dream for many. Baldwin's album features members of Sam Roberts Band, Alvvays and July Talk and was produced by Liam O'Neill of The Stills. Some pedigree on the tracks.