By Will McGuirk
Staring at the wallpaper, listening for the silence of a snowfall, the randomness of one’s own thoughts, the dissonance of the internal incessant monologue and the intermittent outside interruptions, the polyphony of a pandemic we choose you to chase.
“This is a song about the impossible nature of the present moment, as individual people on a planet that’s too hot, too crowded, too connected, too divided,” - Robin Dann
By Will McGuirk
Here in the confines of Shwarawk City we are planning the Durham Region music awards, the OMAs. Lots to plan, lots to share, but for now lets take a listen to some tunes being put out by the very rad folks with roots in the Region. Robyn was among the 2020 OMA nominees and since then her star is rising rapidly. Great to see. Her fellow Uxbridge scenester Tania has a poignant take on a very personal issue and our old pals in Beams also get personal in these very individual times. Morningside also take a very individual approach to an international hit and we revisit the evocative work of Judgement. In between all of this glides Small Sins, the solo project of musician/producer Thom D’Arcy, been a fan of his translucent pop hooks for quite some time and its been some time since the Small Sins has released any tunes.
So there you have it, local kats keeping on, so stay safe and come see me at Kops Records here in Oshawa and lets get this keeping on thing keeping on.
By Will McGuirk
Channel Vinyl - we scan the wires for news on new releases, reissues and special editions plus other music and vinyl related stories.
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One of the delights of last year, among few let’s be honest, was the discovery for me of Rose City Band and the now ever present twang jammings of ‘Summerlong’. Rose City is the solo project of Ripley Johnson, of Moon Duo and Wooden Shjips. He has a new album coming May 21. - via Glide Magazine
Uncle Neil digs deep into the vaults for a new release ‘Young Shakespeare’ coming March 26. - via Stereogum
The Fall dig deep into the vaults for ‘Live At St. Helen’s Technical College ’81’, comes out Feb 19 on Castle Face Records. - via Louder Than War
Mogwai will release their latest album, ‘As The Love Conntinues’ on Feb 19. It will be available on Rock Action Records. via The Line of Best Fit
In 2018 New Order played their only show of the year London’s Alexandra Palace covering their own history as well as tracks from Joy Division. The album of that show, ‘Education Entertainment Recreation’ will be available May 7.
Floating Points (aka Sam Shepherd) will release his new album, a collaboration with Pharoah Sanders and The London Symphony Orchestra. ‘Promises’ will be out Mar 26 on Luaka Bop. via Uncut
Impulse! Records Celebrates 60 Years With Year-Long Campaign. via Analog Planet
By Will McGuirk
“Just before our love got lost you said,
I am as constant as a northern star
And I said, "Constantly in the darkness,
Where's that at?
If you want me I'll be in the bar."
Its the broadness of Joni Mitchell, her artistic scope, the length and breadth of her, truly authentic, really a badass, impossible to capture, an artist as an environment. If there was one to have spent some moments with, oh man!!, but we have the music, and we can spend more than moments with it, we can live inside of it, alongside of Joni.
“My first experience hearing Joni Mitchell's music was when I was still a music student at Humber College. Hejira and Mingus were the obvious starting point for a Jazz novice as equally interested in the musicians accompanying Joni as in Joni herself. But then along came Blue. That was the one, the album that triggered a lifelong fascination with Joni and her songwriting. She made my heart ache with every feeling, love and loss in the same breath. No song captures that more for me than A Case of You. I think it's the ultimate Valentine's song because it can reach you no matter where you're at – whether you're in love, longing for it, or mourning it.” - Laila Biali
“This song is about being obsessed with someone. Spinning round and round, your mind goes in circles and you never change your position. The fantasy remains a distant galaxy. Love is a mental projection. Somehow, this vivid tune resonates with our recent lockdown lifestyle. On loop.” - Frànçois Marry
By Will McGuirk
Channel Vinyl - we scan the wires for news on new releases, reissues and special editions plus other music and vinyl related stories.
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Foo Fighters interviewed on the occasion of the release of their new album, ‘ Medicine at Midnight’. via Kerrang!
Joe Strummer gets a new compilation, ‘Assembly’ due out on Dark Horse/BMG March 26. - via Uncut
Big Thief Adrianne Lenker co-produced the debut album ‘echo’ from Oz artist Indigo Sparke out on March 19. via GorillavsBear
Clash interviews Celeste, her album ‘Not Your Muse’ is available. via Clash magazine
Blue Note Records announces the 2021 Tone Poet Audiophile Reissue Series release schedule. via Analogue Planet
Death From Above 1979 to release ‘Is 4 Lovers’ on March 26 through Spinefarm. via Consequence of Sound
King Diamond talks up new album plus upcoming Mercyful Fate record, first in over two decades!! - via Brooklyn Vegan
Death metal heads Cannibal Corpse have new album due April 16. via Revolver
The Weather Station, photo by Daniel Dorsa
By Will McGuirk
“‘Everywhere we go there is an outside, over all of these ceilings hangs a sky // And it kills me when I - you know it just kills me when I see some bird fly // It just kills me, and I don’t know why.”
I don’t know if, in all of my time I’ve been doing this, have I heard an artist who sums up the now so succinctly as The Weather Station has in this song, and in a way which captures something so global, so immersive, so common to all, so human, in a manner which expresses that human experience so readily, and, and, and. . . with such a propulsive hopefulness. When one hears other ones speak of music as an universal language this song is what they mean. There have been those who create an understanding of the recent past, the distant past, maybe even what the future was going to be and understood when that future has come to past but to be here, to be now, right here in all of this and give us this which so concisely sums up what I believe we are all feeling and I know I am feeling and with all of the artistry around it, all of the newness and exploration and abandonment and honesty of just being in this here and in this now and in the this of this is it and its so all of all of it, so . . . I have compared and others have, since The Weather Station’s first airings, compared Tamara Lindeman to Joni Mitchell and one can say with this one song Tamara Lindeman has both lived up to that comparison and stepped out of that comparison for ever more.
The Weather Station’s latest album ‘Ignorance’ comes out Feb 5 via Next Door Records - get it.
Chad VanGaalen, photo by Sebastian Buzzalino
By Will McGuirk
Renaissance man? Multi-media man? Applicable to Chad VanGaalen; singer/songwriter, animator, record label launcher, performer, multi-dimensional artist, and yet down to earth as a culvert. A genuine artist no matter how you look at it but look at it, deeply.
“I think there’s a lovely and beautiful weightlessness to that last second you feel before hitting the water in a dive, I think this song encapsulates that split second.” - Edwin Raphael
“It’s about the beauty of being alive and the courage that can take,” - Raine Hamilton
Allison Russell, Photo by Francesca Cepero
By Will McGuirk
Been a fan of the ‘Mac for so much time, happy to see them back in the spotlight, being shared, being covered, all over the globe and in so many different voices. Born witness to the Birds of Chicago and the sense of spirituality they bring onstage, of being wholly involved, so this is one where birds of a feather etc.
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“Music saved my life. I learned that women could write music too. I discovered that I was a musician; that I was a writer. But, I was a listener first. Every time I listen to a modern song that moves me it feels like resistance. These brilliant artists - Sade, Stevie Nicks - powerful writers all, make me feel brave and fully human. These songs each create a world that I want to visit and revisit. They sound like freedom to me.” - Allison Russell
By Will McGuirk
So much to unpack in Steve Wilson’s new video, but you may have to sign up for a course on McLuhan to fully get it - however the artist express the next now in this now so here we are now, you ask to be entertained but entertain this - how many do you know and ask yourself why you know. The Wilson track is from the new album, ‘The Future Bites” so there’s a clue.
“‘SELF’ is about our new age of narcissism and self-obsession, one in which a human race that used to look out with curiosity at the world and the stars now spends much of its time gazing at a little screen to see themselves reflected back in the mirror of social media. In that sense everyone now can take part in the notion of celebrity, and has the potential to share their life with an invisible mass of people they will never meet. The video take things further by exploring the idea that anyone can now project a version or ‘self’ that has no bearing on reality, and by using only well known faces the deception is made transparent.” - Steven Wilson
“Hall & Oates meet Joan Didion in a big box parking lot." - Lydia Hol
“I think we all can agree 2020 was a real drag. But here we are in 2021. “Wake up, Brother/Sister/Change the world” Let’s put on our shoes and kick the fu**ing door open to tomorrow. Happy NY!” - Andrew Gabbard
By Will McGuirk
So a few hats I am wearing - I am sponsorship manager for the OMAs and I wrote the story for downtownsofdurham.ca about the OMAs linked below but here’s the takeaway the OMAs Durham Region Music Awards will go ahead for 2021 and will air in September, and depending on Covid-19 conditions possibly on a stage near you (if you live in Durham Region).
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“It’s a community we have turned to more and more in 2020, and it’s a community we will celebrate loudly and proudly in 2021. The diverse and varied music community of Durham Region will be centre stage at the Oshawa Music Awards (OMAs), taking place in September 2021. Whether the stage will be physical or virtual is not yet known, but what we do know is that the value music has to our collective economic, spiritual, and mental well-being will be acknowledged, recognized and honoured. This has been a time when so many have turned to music for personal solace, but also to send a message of hope and support to frontline workers—and it’s a message heard around the globe. Music, in some ways, was our first line of defence to stave off this Coronavirus.”
READ MORE AT : Oshawa Music Awards Expands to Celebrate All Durham Musicians
By Will McGuirk
Our fave singer/songwriter, the Toronto-based Jerry Leger, has released his new single and has announced a deluxe edition of his very very fine album ‘Time Out for Tomorrow’, which first came out in 2019.
His latest single “Jumped in the Humber” will be included as a flexi-disc with the deluxe edition as well as a limited edition sticker and poster.
Leger will also be issuing the previously digital only album “Songs from the Apartment”, a surprise acoustic album released in March 2020 after the Covid-19 lockdowns began to roll out. The album consists of home recorded demos Leger made over some years but only 300 will be pressed and on red vinyl, so get your pre-orders in here. Trust me on this, Jerry is the realest of the real deals.
Both albums are scheduled for March 26 release.
The Guardian UK has an interview with Goat Girl, their new album drops Jan 29. - via Guardian UK
This one came to me via the Facebook so there you go, must be on their robot’s radar. Either way Julien Baker, yes. Third studio album, recorded in Memphis, dropping Feb 26
UK artist Arlo Parks will release her debut album Jan 29. via Brookly Vegan
Scottish big stars Teenage Fan Club have announced a new album, ‘ Endless Arcade’ - via Louder Than War
Tune-Yards will release ‘sketchy.’ on 4AD March 26. - via Line of Best Fit
Dire Straits’ ‘Brothers In Arms’ and Mark Knopfler’s soundtrack to the Bill Forsyth flick ‘Local Hero’ will both be treated to half-speed vinyl masters releases. Both will be available March 19. - via UDiscoverMusic
FIrst time on vinyl!: Lloyd Cole’s 2006 ‘Antidepressant’, his eight solo record, will be available March 19 - via SuperDeluxeEditions
Barry Paquin Roberge
By Will McGuirk
You should be dancing yeah, and I hope you are, even alone, the joy of music is still very much part of this pandemic experience. Its no vaccine but it can be an antidote, so get on the glad rags and shimmy across those laminate floors to the shimmering sounds of Barry Paquin Roberge. Their album ‘Exordium To Extasy’ is available February 26 via Costume Records (Milk & Bone, Plants and Animals). And like every other musician on this planet they are grounded and doing the best with it. We reached out to see how things are in Montreal.
Slowcity.ca: Who are the members in your band?
Étienne Barry, Sébastien Paquin, Alexis Roberge, Anna Frances Meyer, Jocelyn Gagné, Jonathan Lafrance
SC: Where are you from?
Montreal, Canada
SC: Have you been able to perform together in any capacity - if yes how?
We did one virtual session and organized 3-4 rehearsals. We even ate pizza together just before Christmas!
SC: Where and when was the last gig you played before Covid-19 guidelines on shows kicked in?
It was at the Cienfuegos AHS, in Cuba in March 2019. No joke!
SC: Do you have any recorded music available online, if yes where?
https://barrypaquinroberge.bandcamp.com/
SC: What are you doing during this break from live music, any new hobbies?
Snow sliding and puzzles!
Megan Nash, photo by Aaron Sinclair
By Will McGuirk
The art of persuasion is nothing about art. The art is not there to persuade but to present; not to persuade but to reveal; not to persuade but to be. The artist is there to make for us and for us to make what we will out of it; the artist is to propose with no purpose. So we present. . . and you make what you will of it.