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Old Fellas New Music Episode 43

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Episode 43

Stephen Sanchez – Evangeline

boygenius – Cool About It

Momma – Bang Bang

Valley – Good But Not Good Together

Cassandra Lewis – Six Stars

New Pornographers –  Really Really Light

Rahul Sipligunj, Kala Bhairaa, M.M. Keeravani – Naatu Naatu

Ryuichi Sakamoto – Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (Electric Youth Remodel)

Begonia – Married by Elvis

Cassandra Lewis

I could listen to her voice all day. Maybe I’ll do that.

“Darlin”-Official Music Video- Cassandra Lewis

Something about her

Portland, Oregon-based singer-songwriter Cassandra Lewis played her first real show in a retirement home. As a child, she grew up loving music and “dissecting” the voices of other singers she listened to. By five years old, she hosted little concerts in her basement, singing to a little karaoke machine her grandparents had bought her. 

“When people ask,” says Lewis, “I just tell them [I create] Cosmic Americana. Dolly Parton on acid. Janis Joplin on Jesus. I think people are starting to get what that means. I’ve gone through a lot of phases musically, but I’ve always been deeply rooted in classic country western, the blues, soul, and psychedelic rock.”

American Songwriter

Hall of Fame DJ Marco Collins’ Top 10 PNW Artists He’d “Sign Right Now”

Historic DJ Marco Collins is one of two Seattle disc-jockeys honored in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Collins, who broke bands in the ‘90s like Beck and Pearl Jam on his now-infamous radio station 107.7 The End

His number 1 choice is Cassandra Lewis:

“Cassandra is hand’s down one of the most authentic and striking voices I’ve heard in decades. I first saw Cassandra play on the Willamette River in front of a tugboat, in her hometown of Portland, Oregon where she stunned and brought an unfamiliar audience to their feet for a standing ovation. Not many artists can bring me to tears, Cassandra does it within three songs. That’s how pure this shit is.”

again American Songwriter

Stephen Sanchez

Stephen Sanchez

With a dusty baritone as bright as an eternally lit jukebox and tattooed fingers around the fretboard of a rare guitar, Stephen Sanchez tunes into longing and love with the acuity of a triedand-tested troubadour—yet he’s only 19 years-old. Transcending eras, he writes the kind of songs that can play just as well from your parent’s vintage record player as they could from the main stages of festivals a la Bonnaroo. If somebody told you he just pulled up from the fifties in a gorgeous Caddy, you’d have a hard time disputing it. 

From The Opera House (Toronto)

Just love this song. It is trending in Canada – on CBC’s Top Twenty this week, so I am a little late to this, but he has a great voice and the song has a unique sound (IMO).

Two videos featuring Stephen Sanchez – the second one is amazing – Unchained Melody!

Unchained Melody – Stephen Sanchez The Newport Columbus Ohio

He is ONLY 21 years old and his career seems to have started during COVID.

A bit from Wikipedia:

In June 2020, Sanchez posted a cover of Cage the Elephant‘s “Cigarette Daydreams” on TikTok and he built an audience through a steady stream of content, attracting over 122.1K followers on TikTok.[1]

After sharing a snippet of “Lady by the Sea”, singer-songwriter Jeremy Zucker reached out offering to produce the official version, which was released in July 2020; as a result Sanchez signed a deal with Republic Records. Sanchez worked with producer Ian Fitchuk on his debut EP What Was, Not Now which was released in October 2021.[1]

On November 4, 2022, he released a single with Ashe, titled “Missing You”.[2]

January 25, 2023, he then released a single titled “Evangeline” which kicked off his upcoming headline tour.

Sanchez appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to help promote the new song and his headline tour. Sanchez performed his song “Evangeline” on the show.

Rahul Sipligunj, Kala Bhairaa, M.M. Keeravani – Naatu Naatu

“Naatu Naatu” Wins Best Original Song in a Motion Picture | 2023 Golden Globe Awards on NBC

From Pitchfork:

RRR’s “Naatu Naatu” Wins Best Original Song at 2023 Golden Globes

M.M. Keeravani and Chandrabose have won Best Original Song at the 2023 Golden Globe Awards for “Naatu Naatu” from RRR. 

“I’m very much overwhelmed with this great moment happening,” M.M. Keeravani said upon accepting the award. “It’s been an age-old practice to say that this award actually belongs to someone else. So I was planning to not say those words when I get an award like this, but I’m sorry to say I’m going to repeat the tradition because I mean my words.” Keeravani then went on to thank RRR’s director S.S. Rajamouli, actors N.T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan, and the song’s lyricist, co-composers, programmers, and scene animator.

M.M. Keeravani and Chandrabose triumphed over Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and more – Pitchfork

“Naatu Naatu” (transl. Native, Local, Wild)[a] is an Indian Telugu-language song composed by M. M. Keeravani, with lyrics by Chandrabose and recorded by Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava for the soundtrack album of the 2022 Indian film RRR.[7] 

and you have to see this!

Naatu Naatu Full Video Song (Telugu) [4K] | RRR | NTR,Ram Charan | MM Keeravaani | SS Rajamouli

an additional interesting story – the Naatu Naatu dance scene was filmed in the Ukraine just before the Russian invasion – From Screen Daily

The search was on for a grand civic residence that might look as if it were in colonial India, but was actually in a part of Europe that was accessible to white western performers. The producers settled on Ukraine’s Mariinskyi Palace in Kyiv. In August 2021, just six months before the Russian invasion, Rajamouli’s team decamped to a setting that would soon be known by the wider world for very different reasons.

Momma

3 albums since 2019

Momma consists of Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten, who have been friends with each other since meeting at Viewpoint School, as well as drummer Zach Capitti Fenton

again from Pitchfork:

The Brooklyn duo’s cheeky spin on Gen-X slacker rock asks: What does it take to become a 1990s alt-rock star right this minute?

Should Momma indeed become household names, it’s the hooks that will get them there: The beefy riffs and call-and-response chorus of single “Speeding 72”—their best shot at a true hit—just barely outweigh its cliché of a good old-fashioned joyride. 

Pitchfork

Begonia

Begonia is the stage name of Alexa Dirks, a Canadian pop singer-songwriter from Winnipeg, Manitoba.[1] She is most noted for her 2019 album Fear, which was longlisted for the 2020 Polaris Music Prize[2] and shortlisted for the Juno Award for Adult Alternative Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2021.[3]

and from the Georgia Straight 2020

The singer isn’t new to the game; before going solo as Begonia she spent years kicking around the Winnipeg music scene, perhaps most notably as a member of the prog-folk unit Chic Gamine. With Fear, she decided to rip up her own playbook and push herself artistically, supported and guided by producers Matt Peters and Matt Schellenberg of ’Peg indie heroes Royal Canoe. Two-and-a-half years went into the writing and recording process, leading to Fear being hailed as an under-the-radar masterpiece by tastemakers (NPR, CBC, The Line of Best Fit) around the world.

A CBC video The Other Side

Begonia | The Other Side | First Play Live

a little too serious, this works much better

Begonia – Married By Elvis (Official Music Video)

Boygenius – Cool About It

Boygenius is a group formed in 2018 by Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus. If those names sound familiar, it’s because Dacus and Bridgers have been featured on Old Fellas in the past.  This “indie supergroup” released their first full-length album simply called The Record, earlier this year.  “Cool About It” seems to be the lead single

https://musictalkers.com/reviews/8786-review-boygenius-new-song-cool-about-it

Lucy Dacus explains that boygenius sardonically refers to “the archetype of the tortured genius, [a] specifically male artist who has been told since birth that their every thought is not only worthwhile but brilliant. The “boy genius” trope as boys and men we know who’ve been told that they are geniuses since they could hear”

Valley – “Good But Not Good Together”

This is the second or third Valley song featured on the Old Fellas podcast.  The Juno-nominated band is about to embark on their first headliner North American Tour.  See them if you can.

“ Good but not Good Together” is the latest single from the Toronto foursome. 

A new album is forthcoming.  Valley has developed a rabid fan base in Asia.  Here’s a clip of the band performing last year in Seoul.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TotigJntc30

New Pornographers –  “Really Really Light”

“Really Really Light” is the lead song from the New Pornographers 9th album Continue as a Guest.  Pitchfork has described the band’s sound as “peppy, gleeful, headstrong guitar pop” and “Really Really Light” is no exception.  The band welcomes back into the fold Dan Bejar (Destroyer).  

The video is kinda fun and quirky too! 

The New Pornographers – Really Really Light (Official Music Video)

 

Ryuichi Sakamoto – “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” (Electric Youth Remodel)

Ryuichi Sakamoto  passed away last week at the age of 71.  Few people can claim to have made their mark on classical music, synth pop, dance music and hip-hop. His musical career began with the Japanese electronic music group Yellow Magic Orchestra, which he co-founded in 1978. The group’s fusion of pop, rock and electronic music helped to pave the way for the emergence of synthpop in the 1980s.  Sakamoto composed scores for several films, including The Last Emperor (1987), The Revenant (2015) and, perhaps most famously, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983).  Canadian duo Electric Youth have reimagined the classic 80’s track for a new Sakamoto tribute album.

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence – Electric Youth Remodel | A Tribute to Ryuichi Sakamoto (Music Video)

I can recall picking up a second hand copy of this single at Vortex records in the early eighties

Pitchfork pays tribute

Old Fellas New Music Episode 63

On By paulmcguire2013In MixCloud, Old Fellas New MusicLeave a comment

Episode 63

The Smile – Wall of Eyes

Orville Peck, Willie Nelson – Cowboys are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other

Kim Gordon  – Bye Bye

Corb Lund –  Redneck Rehab

Charli XCX – Club Classics

Beyonce – Blackbird

CC Adcock & The Lafayette Marquis – Poke Chop

Jason Isbell – Strawberry Woman

The Drin – Tigers Cage

Orville Peck, Willie Nelson – Cowboys are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other

I am beyond honoured to be a part of this unreal lineup, celebrating our dear Willie Nelson’s 90th Birthday at the legendary Hollywood Bowl!

From part of a USA Today article

On Friday, Orville Peck and Willie Nelson released a duet cover of Ned Sublette’s 1981 song “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other,” a song about gay cowboys. Fans of the country singers have described the collaboration as “healing” when it comes to LGBTQ+ acceptance.

Peck, a gay country music artist, said in an interview with GLAAD published Monday that the duet was actually Nelson’s idea. “It’s actually been a long time in the making this whole collaboration. Willie asked me about it a couple of years ago,” he said.

More here from GLADD – He shares that Nelson wanted to “get gay married in the music video.” Saying he even said, “Annie, my wife, she can be the priest and she’ll give us away at the chapel!” 

Corb Lund –  Redneck Rehab

This is a great song so I thought I would add it here (above)

Then I found Redneck Rehab

Corb Lund — “Redneck Rehab” + “This Is My Prairie” | Neighborhoods (Live in Alberta, Canada)

This is his first album since 2020

From Taste of Country

“There’s quite an epidemic of drug use in rural North America these days. It doesn’t get talked about a lot but it’s a pretty big problem.”

Beyond the lyrics, the stripped-down nature of “Redneck Rehab” represents the musical direction of El Viejo. Lund recorded the new album in his living room, replacing the polished nature of a studio with the spontaneous feel of his home.

Read More: Corb Lund Shares Rollicking New Song, ‘Redneck Rehab’ [Exclusive] | https://tasteofcountry.com/corb-lund-new-song-redneck-rehab/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral

Beyonce – Blackbird

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-14/clip/16054224 https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-14/clip/16054224

From CBC

When Melba Pattillo Beals first heard the Beatles’ song Blackbird, she felt like it was written about her. Years later, she learned it actually was. As one of the “Little Rock Nine,” Beals trailblazed the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957. She tells us about the violence and hatred she navigated there, what Blackbird means to her, and how Beyoncé’s cover gives the song new life.

more background

While attending Horace Mann High School in Little Rock, an all-black high school, Patillo became aware that she was not receiving the same quality education as her peers at Central High School. Patillo then volunteered to transfer to the all-white Central High School with eight other black students from Horace Mann and Dunbar Junior High School in Little Rock.[1]

External videos
video icon “Interview with Melba Pattillo Beals” conducted for Eyes on the Prize. Discussion centers on her experiences as one of the “Little Rock Nine” who integrated Little Rock Central High School in 1957.

Beals was 15 years old when she chose to enroll at Central High school in May 1956.[2] The nine black students faced mobs that forced President Dwight D. Eisenhower to send in the 101st Airborne Division to protect their lives after the governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, used National Guard troops to block the students’ entry to the school. Beals planned on returning to Central High for the 1958–1959 school year, but Governor Faubus shut down all Little Rock high schools that failed to resist integration,[3] leading to other school districts across the South to do the same.[citation needed] Not until August 1959 did Central High reopen on an integrated basis.

Spc. Jeffrey Stevenson, from the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) escorts Little Rock Nine member Melba Pattillo Beals to the newly dedicated Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site Visitor Center after the dedciation ceremony Sept. 24, 2007. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class N. Maxfield

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Strawberry Woman

a quick substitution

Strawberry Woman

This is a look at what Pitchfork sees as the top country/alt-country albums in 2023

The Smile – “Wall of Eyes”  – S/T

The Smile is a side project for Radiohead’s Thom Yorke  and Jonny Greenwood .  The idea to form The Smile and record some tracks initially arose during the dark days of COVID.  Many critics likened them to a jazzier and looser Radiohead.

https://www.nme.com/reviews/album/the-smile-wall-of-eyes-review-lyrics-3573993

Kim Gordon  –  “ Bye Bye” – The Collective

Kim  Gordon is a bassist best know for her work with NY legends Sonic Youth.  She moved to New York City in the late seventies to start an art career but she end up forming Sonic Youth with Thurston Moore in 1981   She and Moore married in 1984.  Over the next three decades Sonic Youth would release over a dozen albums and become a major influence on countless other groups.  Her’s Sonic Youth at the height of their major label powers  

In 2011 Moore and Gordon separated after 27 years of marriage.  After the separation she released various projects and collaborations with others, but 2024’s The Collective is her second truly solo album.  Here are two versions of the song:.  The first is a pretty cool/creepy video which features Gordon and her daughter and the second is a live performance from Jimmy Kimmel.

https://pitchfork.com/news/watch-kim-gordon-perform-bye-bye-on-kimmel

Add to Kim Gordon….   https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/feb/24/kim-gordon-collective-interview-sonic-youth-solo-bye-bye

Charli XCX – “Club Classics” – Brat

Charlotte (Aitchisoni) XCX, is an English singer and songwriter. She took the name  XCX’s name as it’s  supposed to be Roman numerals.  It’s a hundred minus ten, then plus ten again which voila, is a hundred!  She started as young teenager sing in dance clubs in England  and started rising to fame when she began posting songs on MySpace.  She signed to a major record label in 2010 and since then, has released umpteen singles and mix tapes often in collaboration with others.  “Club Classics” is the new single from her yet to be released album Brat.    

Here’s an interesting article from ten years ago.  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/10905375/Is-Charli-XCX-the-new-Adele.html

CC Adcock & The Lafayette Marquis – “Poke Chop” – from the movie  Roadhouse

C. C. Adcock a southern performer noted for his Cajun, zydeco, electric blues and swamp pop-influenced sound.   He is also a Grammy-nominated music and film producer and film and TV composer.   Adcock has provided some music for the new version of the silly Eighties film Roadhouse which now is apparently referred to a cult classic.  Poke Chop is an excellent scuzzy bluesy number which would go well with the highly choreographed scraps that I am sure the film provides.

https://www.nola.com/gambit/news/the_latest/cc-adcock-tommy-mclain-rockin-dopsie-jr-and-jelly-joseph-add-louisiana-spice-to-road/article_b26cb51a-e8a6-11ee-b3d0-0f94a340158f.html

The Drin – “Tigers Cage” – Elude the Torch

The Drin’s are a group where even in the wide expanse of the interweb, I could find out very little about them.  We two old fellas have been toiling away at the podcast for a while now and this is  probably the least info for an act I have found. So in lieu of background overload, here is their Bandcamp page:

https://thedrin.bandcamp.com/track/tigers-cage-2

Episode 62

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Music for Episode 62!

Feist – Borrow Trouble

Neko Case – Oh, Shadowless

Lana Del Rey – Doing Time

Gustaf – Starting and Staring

Weezer – Africa, The Teal Album

Geese – Killing Mt Borrowed Time

Andrea Ramolo, Kalascima – Bella Ci Dormi

Beverley Copeland – Harbour Song (Song For Elizabeth)

Juliana Hatfield – Can’t Get It Out of My Head

Show 62 from Mixcloud

Feist – Borrow Trouble

Feist – Borrow Trouble (Official Music Video)

Feist is back with another new song from her forthcoming album, Multitudes. The latest single, “Borrow Trouble,” comes with a music video co-directed by Mary Rozzi, Colby Richardson, Heather Goodchild, and Leslie Feist. Watch the visual above.

Multitudes is out April 14. In addition to “Borrow Trouble,” the new album includes the songs “Hiding Out in the Open,” “In Lightning,” and “Love Who We Are Meant To.”

From Pitchfork

Lana Del Rey – Doing Time

and here come the cover songs!! And Lana Del Rey is a remake of the 50 Foot woman!! (1958)

From Wikipedia

On May 7, 2019, American singer Lana Del Rey teased a cover of the song and said it was “coming soon”.[4] Del Rey’s cover was officially released on May 17, 2019, coinciding with the premiere of a documentary about Sublime at the Tribeca Film Festival.[5] It was released as the fourth single from Del Rey’s sixth studio album Norman Fucking Rockwell!. On August 29, 2019, she released a music video for the cover, she increased in height from 170 centimeters to 17 meters, which referenced the film Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958). When asked about covering the song, Del Rey credited the transitioning of and shifts in genres to Sublime, saying the group “made a genre and sound totally their own”, adding that because of the indelible “SoCal vibe” the group created, “not a day goes by that [she does not] listen to at least one Sublime song.”[6

also from Wikipedia – “Doin’ Time” is a song by American band Sublime, appearing as the closing track on their self-titled third album. The lyrics tell of a cheating girlfriend, whose infidelities and poor treatment of her lover makes him feel like he is in prison.

Sublime broke up in 1996 when band member Bradley Nowell died from a heroive overdose.
Here is the 1996 Sublime song

Weezer – Africa, The Teal Album

This is the stuff of musical legend, and it is within our 2017 timeline!



Its been a while, man, lifes so rad. A while, that is, since we were awarded with a gold record! Thanks to everyone – Mary the @weezerafrica
twitter girl, our fans, terrestrial and satellite stations, streaming services, and Crush management – for supporting this crazy single!

Weezer, also known as the Teal Album or just Teal, is the twelfth studio album by the American rock band Weezer. It was released digitally on January 24, 2019, through Crush Music and Atlantic Records, with a retail release on March 8. The album is composed of cover songs, mostly from the 1980s, making it the band’s first covers album. It was announced and released on the same day as a surprise precursor to Weezer’s thirteenth studio album, which was released on March 1, 2019. The album received mixed reviews, with some praising the self-aware frivolity of the project, while others criticized the arrangements.

Weezer – Africa (starring Weird Al Yankovic)

On the morning of December 7, 2017, I was sitting at the Noisey desk, finishing up a hearty blogger’s breakfast (two bags of nacho cheese Doritos and one can of Red Bull) when I noticed my friend Luke O’Neil was tweeting about Weezer slightly more than usual.

“Please RT if you want to help make Ohio teen @weezerafrica’s simple, wholesome dream come true of seeing rock band @Weezer cover Africa by Toto,” he tweeted. Luke is an occasional Noisey writer, and is very adept at wandering into the dark rooms of the internet and causing trouble in them. So my interest was piqued. “OK, I’ll bite,” I thought, and gave Luke’s tweet the one true currency left in our capitalist hell world: my Click.

Upon opening his thread I realized Luke was trying to signal boost @weezerafrica, an underfollowed Twitter account whose sole purpose was to convince the band Weezer to cover Toto’s 1982 hit single “Africa.” The sentiment straddled that sweet middle ground between ironic detachment and genuine enthusiasm. It was so stupid. So irreverent. So utterly lacking in any useful information. I knew it belonged on Noisey. My intuition kicked in. On sheer instinct, my fingers started an email to Luke and threw his directive entirely into the subject line: interview the weezer/toto person for me plz.

Vice

and you have to see the original Toto version

Andrea Ramolo, Kalascima – Bella Ci Dormi

A live interpretation of a southern Italian serenata (love serenade) as part of the new international collaboration with Canada’s alternative folk songwriter Andrea Ramolo and southern Italian world music band Kalàscima.
“Five Minutes With” Toronto Musician Andrea Ramolo

January 21, 2020 Joel Levy Folk-Country, Music, Rock-Indie

Andrea Ramolo is a multiple Canadian Folk Music Award nominee and has been recording and touring her music since 2008. Born in Toronto to Italian immigrants, Andrea began her artistic life as a dancer and actress. In 2003 she picked up the guitar producing two albums “Thank You For The Ride’ and “The Shadows and the Cracks.” The latter earned her a nomination at the Canadian Folk Music Awards for Emerging Artist of the Year.

This is a great track and you can find it on Bandcamp here

Here is the trailer from a movie she made based on this collaboration

“The Canada Council granted me an amazing opportunity to make an ancestral folk record with a world music folk band, Kalàscima, in southern Italy,” she explained. “We’re making a documentary of the recording process and of the history of the ‘healing dance’ and the music of the south.” 
The film will premiere in June in Toronto with a six-song EP released at the same time. 
“I really hope to bring the band over for the premiere,” she said. “They did Folk Alliance in Montreal, which is where I met them. They were playing the ancient instruments like the Zampogna, which are Italian bagpipes. This is an ancient music they play from a time when the musicians were the healers, and they were paid like doctors.” 

Just Folk

Juliana Hatfield – Can’t Get It Out of My Head

Juliana Hatfield – Can’t Get It Out of My Head (Official Video)

excerpts from an interview – not a very good one at that. But Bob did fill me in a little about her. Three cover albums since 2018, the last one ELO recorded during COVID – pretty impressive.

After cutting two solid covers albums, Juliana Hatfield Sings Olivia Newton-John in 2018, and Juliana Hatfield Sings The Police a year later, the singer is now issuing an even more passionate third set, Juliana Hatfield Sings ELO, revolving around the earworm work of that band’s brilliant symphonic-rock mastermind Jeff Lynne

but how she made the album is interesting – another product of COVID

when I was making this album, I didn’t have access to a studio, so I did it all in my bedroom. Or at least all of my parts, and then the bass and drums were recorded in a rehearsal space while I was there rehearsing the parts.

from the Illinois Entertainer – August 31, 2023 interview by Brassneck

but who is she? Juliana Hatfield (born July 27, 1967) is an American musician and singer-songwriter from the Boston area, formerly of the indie rock bands Blake Babies, Some Girls,[2] and The Lemonheads.  Thanks Wikipedia!

Neko Case –  “Oh, Shadowless” – Wild Creatures

Until about ten years ago, I thought Neko Case was a Canadian. However, Case was born in Virginia and moved to Canada in the nineties, to attend the Emily Carr Institute of Art in Vancouver. She became involved in the music scene played drums in several local bands, like Cub and Maow.  Here’s a young Neko Case in Maow’s  video “Ms. Lefevre”.   

Maow – Ms. Lefevre (featuring Neko Case)

  Also, she performed on Cub’s classic “Pillow Queen”

Of course, she came to prominence as one of the vocalists with West Coast “super group”The New Pornographers but by the late 1990’s she returned to the states.  She has seven solo albums out and in 2022 released a compilation Wild Creatures

https://www.popmatters.com/neko-case-wild-creatures-review  

The album comes with one unreleased wonderful song “Oh Shadowless”

Gustaf – “Starting and Staring” – Package Pt 2

This young NYC band came together in 2018.  Like most things, Gustaf shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  They finally starting releasing new material in 2021.  The Burning Wood blog was my inspiration for choosing these guys.  This is a great read.

https://burnwoodtonite.blogspot.com/search?q=gustaf. 

Scroll to the bottom for “Starting and Staring”

Geese – “Killing My Borrowed Time” – 4D EP

Geese are an American rock band based in Brooklyn, New York.  According to Wikipedia, “ The band formed in 2016 while the members were attending Brooklyn Friends School and Little Red School House in New York City. During high school, the band practiced and recorded material in the basement of Bassin’s home in Fort Greene. As a few of the members had received acceptance letters to attend schools such as Oberlin College and the Berklee College of Music, the band had intended to break up once they graduated high school in 2020. Towards mid-2020, however, the band’s self-produced demos attracted attention from several record labels, including 4AD, Fat Possum, and Sub Pop. Ultimately, the band signed with Partisan Records.”

Once again The Burning Wood blog comes to the rescue for inspiration and elucidation.  https://burnwoodtonite.blogspot.com/2024/01/these-are-geese.html. 

Let’s cha-cha to  “Killing My Borrowed Time”

Beverley Copeland – “Harbour Song (Song For Elizabeth)” –  The One’s Ahead

Beverly Glenn-Copeland  is an American-born Canadian singer-songwriter. I going to let Canada’s evergreen publication fill you in on this artist’s incredibly interesting life.  https://thewalrus.ca/beverly-glenn-copelands-late-bloom/ 

In fifty years, his released recordings have been sporadic but 2023’s The One’s Ahead has landed on many people’s year end best of lists.  At 80 years of age , he is finally receiving wider spread recognition.

Beverly Glenn-Copeland – “Harbour (Song For Elizabeth)”

Old Fellas New Music Junos 2024 edition!

On By paulmcguire2013In MixCloud, Old Fellas New Music2 Comments

This week on the show

TALK – A Little Bit Happy

The Beaches – Shower Beer

Shubh – OG

Dizzy – Open Up Wide

Morgan Toney – Dream Catcher

Valley –Natural

Hayden – Are We Good?

The Blue Stones -Don’t Miss

Dominique Fils-Aimé – Our Roots Run Deep

Glorious Sons – Dream

Our Spotify Playlist
here is the show, we had lots of fun choosing the music – so much great stuff to choose from! Some of the artists I had never heard of so my notes come from where I could find info.

TALK – A Little Bit Happy

APR 20
Nearest event · Ottawa, ONSat 7:00 PM · Bronson Centre

Platinum recording artist, TALK, has released his new single, “A Little Bit Happy”. The single — as well as TALK’s entire forthcoming album — is executive produced by Justin Tranter (Halsey, Imagine Dragons, Fall Out Boy), who fell in love with TALK after hearing his single, “Run Away To Mars”. “I was sent TALK’s first single, “Run Away To Mars” , a day after it came out and I was blown away. I immediately wanted to write with him. He is vulnerable, he is rock ‘n roll, and he’s a SINGER – in all capital letters,” Justin said.

When discussing the collaboration, TALK was smiling ear to ear as he talked about Justin’s involvement with the single and album. “Working with Justin Tranter was a dream come true. We’ve been in touch for a couple of years and had worked together a few times before. Everything from then on fell into place perfectly and we got to work on an incredible body of music. I’m honoured to call him a friend and mentor,” TALK said

Sound Cafe

Shubh – OG

Shubh – OG (Official Music Video)

Breakthrough Artist of the Year

Tik Toc Juno Fan Choice

Shubhneet Singh (born 10 August 1997), known professionally as Shubh, is an Indian rapper-singer and songwriter based in Canada associated with Punjabi music. Shubh rose to mainstream in 2021 with his single “We Rollin”. He released his debut album ‘Still Rollin’ in 2023.

His numerous singles have charted on the Canadian Hot 100,[5] New Zealand Chart,[6] UK Singles Chart and Billboard India. His single “Baller” charted on the Canadian Hot 100.[7] In 2023, his song “Cheques” from his debut album Still Rollin peaked at number 3 on Billboard India Songs, while album was charted on Canadian Albums Chart and New Zealand Albums Chart.

People call me OG
People call me OG

[Chorus]
Aye! What you think, I ain’t (I ain’t)
‘Where do we stay?’ We lowkey (Lowkey)
Low-ride whip bounces
Wherever I go, they call me OG
Aye! What you think, I ain’t
‘Where do we stay?’ We lowkey
Low-ride whip bounces
Wherever I go, they call me OG

[Refrain]
My flow is sick
Growing on my own
Why don’t you faceoff?
The ones on my shoe
Barking behind my back

[Verse 1]
Outfit is black (See, see!)
So are my deeds (Aye, aye!)
Rejoicing this life (Woo!)
To its very fullest
We all bachelors
High on the game (Yeah!)
Stars on my lavish whip (See!)
Sitting with the group
In an expensive whip

Morgan Toney -Dreamcatcher

MT_Promo_2021-12-07, 2 40 23 PM_MatthewIngraham.jpg

BIO

​

2024 JUNO-Nominated Mi’kmaq fiddler and singer Morgan Toney brings the fiery fiddling of Cape Breton Island with the old songs of the Mi’kmaq People together with brilliance and heart.

First Flight, Toney’s 2023 East Coast Music Award-winning debut album, celebrates language and heritage in Toney’s transformation of traditional songs like the Ko’jua and the Mi’kmaq Honour Song alongside highly original songcraft.

​

Ishkōdé Records introduced First Flight to the world on March 25, 2022.

Morgan Toney Music

so these three musicians I had never heard of before. If you look at their plays on Spotify they are relatively unknown. Now that the Jnos are over for this year I am sure this is changing.

These next two artists I know especially Dominique Fils-Aimé who is just so good. I think we have played her now at least three times on our show. No surprise I would say.

Hayden – Are We good?

Even when you enjoy a career as low key as Paul Hayden Desser, eight years between albums is quite the delay.

For the artist who plies his trade by his middle name — Hayden — and will support his just-released opus “Are We Good” with a performance at Massey Hall Saturday, the reasons for the interruption are numerous.

“It’s a bit of a long-winded answer,” Desser, 52, admitted over the phone late last week. “First, I worked on an album for a year with a novelist friend who was writing a book at the same time and we were going to do a project together.”

Toronto Star

Six years in the making with sixty plus songs in the running, Hayden’s ninth record Are We Good is a crowning achievement in the born storyteller’s loaded canon. The album posits Hayden, grizzled and peppered, by the pandemic or parenting, in an attic studio stand-off with writer’s block. Written, produced, and mixed predominantly at Skyscraper National Park, the studio at the top of his Toronto home, a perfect combination of complex family life – Hayden and his wife are parents to a child with developmental disabilities – and the grinding halt of creative inertia forced Hayden further out of his comfort zone than ever before

Arts and Crafts Records

Hayden – Are We Good (Official Video)

From Wikipedia:

In February 2023 he released the single “Miss Fort Erie”, his first new music since 2015.[17] He followed up at the end of the month with the announcement that his new album Are We Good will be released April 5, 2023, on Arts & Crafts;[18] the announcement was accompanied by the release of the album’s second preview track, a duet with Feist titled “On a Beach”.[19] Actor Steve Buscemi and musician Matt Berninger of The National appeared in the song’s video.

here is the video

Dominique Fils-Aimé – Our Roots Run Deep

Dominique Fils-Aimé – Our Roots Run Deep (Official Video)

Juno-winning artist Dominique Fils-Aimé has revealed details about her latest album Our Roots Run Deep, which begins a new trilogy of albums to come.

The announcement comes with the release of the album’s lead single “My Mind at Ease,” with a music video shot on location at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, directed by Adrian Villagomez, and choreographed by Mel Charlot, renowned for her work with Grammy Award winner Lizzo.

The new trio of albums follows Fils-Aimé’s award-winning trilogy of Nameless, Stay Tuned! and Three Little Words, which explores blues, jazz and soul music, respectively. Stay Tuned! was shortlisted for the 2019 Polaris Music Prize and won the Juno Award for vocal jazz album of the year in 2020.

While Fils-Aimé’s first trilogy conceptualized the history of African American music, the approach is more personal for this forthcoming album and trilogy.

“While the goal remains a quest for universal connection through musical frequencies, this internal journey quickly brought me to the importance of my roots,” she says. “It sparked a desire to shed light on our intergenerational treasures rather than intergenerational trauma, using these treasures to address and heal trauma. By being more open and vulnerable, I hope to lead by example and contribute to the dismantling of taboos surrounding mental health, taboos that are all still very present today, especially in BIPOC communities.”

Jazz FM 91

Juno edition!

The Beaches – “Shower Beer” from Blame My Ex

Last night Toronto’s The Beaches won both album and rock group of the year. What is shower beer?  According to Wikipedia, “ A shower beer is a beer consumed while taking a shower. While the concept is not complex, it did not become a cultural trend until the first decade of the 2000s” Who knew? But follow these simple rules and you will be fine. https://www.hopculture.com/golden-rules-shower-beer/

The Beaches take this fine idea and muse about broken relationships.

The Beaches – Shower Beer (Official Audio)

Dizzy is a band from Oshawa, Ontario,whose debut album Baby Teeth won the Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2019.  This year they were nominated for  Alternative album of the Year.  “Open Up Wide”  has deservedly receiving attention and airplay across Canada. https://canadianbeats.ca/2023/03/30/dizzy-shares-new-single-open-up-wide/

Here’s a nice live version from CBC Music Live. 

Watch @Dizzyymusic perform “Open Up Wide” on CBC Music Live

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17sxpfEQK-U

Valley – “Natural” –   Lost in Translation

Valley hail from Oakville Ontario and are no stranger to Juno recognition. They received a Juno Award nomination for Breakthrough Group of the Year at the 2020 Juno Awards as well as a nomination for Group of the Year in 2022. this year they were nominated  for Pop album of the Year. Lost in Translation came out in early summer and is chockfull of hits. https://www.onestowatch.com/en/blog/valley-lost-in-translation-album

Once again CBC Music Live presents “Natural” live

Valley | Natural | CBC Music Live

The Blue Stones – “Don’t Miss” – Pretty Monster

Continuing our musical journey down the 401, The Bluestones are a Windsor Ontario duo who sometimes are fairly or unfairly referred to as Canada’s Black Keys.  The Blue Stones were nominated for the 2020 Juno Award in the category of Breakthrough Group of the Year.  This year they scored a nomination for  Rock album of the Year.   Pretty Monster received uniform rave reviews.https://tinnitist.com/2022/11/04/albums-of-the-week-the-blue-stones-pretty-monster/

I am leaning heavily on live clips this week rather than just video or audio samples as The Blue Stones especially need to be heard live. 

The Blue Stones – Don’t Miss – Live at (le) poisson rouge, New York City

Glorious Sons – “Dream” – Glory

Kingston’s Glorious Sons have released four full length studio albums. The results below are quite impressive.

    2015 Juno Awards – Rock Album of the Year (Nominee)

    2018 Juno Awards – Rock Album of the Year (Winner)

    2020 Juno Awards – Rock Album of the Year (Winner)

   2024 Juno Awards – Rock Album of the Year (Nominee)

Dream is my favourite song taken from the latest album. Here is a version from The Osprey Sessions: 

The Glorious Sons – Dream (Osprey Sessions)

Also this is a nice behind the scenes mini-documentary on the song. 

The Glorious Sons – Dream (Doc Series)

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Old Fellas New Music Episode 60

On By paulmcguire2013In MixCloud, Old Fellas New MusicLeave a comment

Taylor Swift – “Shake It Off “(Taylor’s Version)

Okan – La Reina Del Norte (OKantomi)

The Lemon Twigs – “My Golden Years”

The National – Crumble feat. Rosanne Cash – (Laugh Track)

Durand Jones – “Wait Til I Get Over”

Grian Chatten – Last Time Every Time Forever– (Chaos for the Fly)

Liam Gallagher and John Squire – “Just Another Rainbow”

Lonnie Holley and Sharon van Etten – None of us have but a little while (Oh Me Oh My) 

SPRINTS  –  “Adore Adore Adore”

Our show on Mixcloud

This is our second show of the best of for 2023. I chose my songs from a variety of best of lists – CBC Top 100 Canadian Songs, The Guardian – for The National (they were everywhere), The Guardian again for Grian Chatten, and The New Yorker‘s list for Lonnie Holley. These are all solid suggestions and write-ups so I have included them all here. I will include a few additional notes in some spots.

Okan – La Reina Del Norte (OKantomi)

Taking their name from the word for heart in the Afro-Cuban religion of Santeria, OKAN is an award-winning, women-led ensemble that fuses Afro-Cuban roots with jazz, folk, and global rhythms in songs about immigration, courage, and love. (Chamberfest Ottawa)

The open secret to Okan’s brilliance is the palpable creative chemistry of its married co-leaders Elizabeth Rodriguez and Magdelys Savigne. Their dynamic interplay — Rodriguez’s violin and lead vocals and Savigne’s percussion and backing vocals — is an enthralling dance, and evident in every aspect of their music. Okantomi, their third and most ambitious record yet, is a testament to the ways in which they’ve grown together as a band but also as individual musicians and composers. The artists draw on their shared Afro-Cuban roots and musical cultures to craft a brilliantly lush sonic garden of genre-defying jazz-classical-pop that’s as personal as it is experimental. Dance along to the joyful liberation of “La Reina del Norte,” exchange flirty glances to the sultry Afro-Latin pop of “Iglu,” and witness the urgent, fervent hope of the richly layered “Oriki Oshun,” which Rodriguez composed in the wake of a miscarriage and as a prayer for protection in her next pregnancy. — AW

CBC Best 100 2023

And from Errol Nazareth (CBC)

Okan, which comes from the word for heart or soul in Santeria religion, is an Afro-Cuban Latin jazz ensemble led by Elizabeth Rodriguez and Magdelys Savigne. The composers, multi-instrumentalists and vocalists are both from Cuba and have Afro-Cuban roots, but it wasn’t until they moved to Canada that they met and fell in love. The married duo released their first album as Okan in 2019 (Sombras) and followed that up with 2020’s Espiral, which won a Juno for world album of the year.

Taylor Swift – “Shake It Off “(Taylor’s Version) from 1989 (Taylor’s Version)

What can you say about Taylor Swift that hasn’t been said already? So there’s no need here to dispense with any biographical details.  However, in  2019,   Swift came in dispute with her former record label, Big Machine Records over the ownership of the masters of her first six studio albums.  This led her to release the re-recorded albums—Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Red (Taylor’s Version), Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), and 1989 (Taylor’s Version)—from 2021 through 2023 to gain complete ownership of her music.   

Rolling Stone magazine loves 1989: 

“Everybody here wanted something more,” Taylor Swift sang on ‘Welcome To New York’, the opening track to ‘1989’. “Searching for a sound we hadn’t heard before.”

And the search for that sound is what led Swift here, to her 2014 magnum opus in the all-bangers, no-clangers 1980s pure-pop tradition of Madonna’s ‘True Blue’ and Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’.

The Lemon Twigs – “My Golden Years”  – single

This is the  Lemon Twigs third appearance on the podcast.  The new single “My Golden Years” harkens back to the power pop sound of the early 70’s. The song is very reminiscent of the Raspberries. While all three Lemon Twigs selections are wonderful, the jury is still out on listening and enjoying a whole album by the band.  Here’s an interesting take on the band.

Back in the dark days of COVID lockdown, I wrote two extensive buyer’s guides to Todd Rundgren and Utopia. I am proud of those pieces, in part because, I was unafraid to point out the bad along with the good, something most disciples and fanboys just won’t do, as if the news would get back to the artist and then suddenly, no more Christmas cards from Mr. Rundgren. I love Todd with all my heart, but I also know when he either phones it in, or purposely sabotages an absolutely perfect pop song, something he’s done a little too often over his almost 60 year career. 

Everyone writes shitty songs or has shitty ideas. Everyone. Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Ray Davies, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Prince, David Bowie, Pete Townshend. EVERYONE!

Burning Wood blog also encapsulates this song the best. https://burnwoodtonite.blogspot.com/2024/01/that-bridge-that-coda.html

Durand Jones – “Wait Til I Get Over” from Wait Til I Get Over

I picked the title track from Durand Jones’s first solo lp.  The album is a  musical departure from his work with his main band, the Indications.

 

Jones really explores his gospel Louisiana roots on this number.

…

The National – Crumble fea. Rosanne Cash – (Laugh Track)

As frontman Matt Berninger confronted a debilitating breakdown towards the end of 2019, the National wondered if they would ever even make another album. Then they made two, of which Laugh Track was the surprise second release this year – and which proved that they hadn’t just regrouped but revitalised. For the first time in several years, they sounded like five guys hunkered down in the engine room, smelting lean, light-headed epics such as Deep End and Dreaming, and leaning on a quarter-century’s worth of trust to get out of their own way, letting classic ballads remain unfussed (Laugh Track) and manic dirges untrammelled (Smoke Detector – maybe their best ever song). And almost losing it all gave Berninger’s lyrics a newfound clarity about what’s worth holding on to, most strikingly expressed in Space Invader, which conveyed a kind of panicked gratitude for having recognised love and pursued it years ago when it could so easily have dissolved in a letter that went unwritten, a subway stop missed. LS

33
Grian Chatten – Last Time Every Time Forever– (Chaos for the Fly)

Fontaines DC remain a going concern, but their frontman made this solo release feel anything but a between-albums diversion. There are forays into new sounds for him, such as the breezy Rat Pack backing of Bob’s Casino and cosmic trip-hop on East Coast Bed, but what remains the same is his strength as a lyricist: he tramps moodily towards misanthropy, but a deep love for humanity prevents him from ever quite getting there. Chatten writes the way a sketch artist draws, in deft, sure lines – whether describing New York’s freezing sidewalks getting salted (“the whole of the city was seasoned to taste”) or pinpointing toxic acquaintances (“they will celebrate the things that make you who you’re not”). BBT

Liam Gallagher and John Squire – “Just Another Rainbow” single

Fellow Mancunians  Liam Gallagher (Oasis) and John Squire (The Stone Roses) team up for a song that sounds a lot like both their former bands. 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/dec/21/liam-gallagher-and-the-stone-roses-john-squire-album

It’s nothing more the a sturdy melodic rock number and there’s nothing wrong with that. . https://pitchfork.com/news/liam-gallagher-and-the-stone-roses-john-squire-join-forces-for-new-song-just-another-rainbow-listen/

SPRINTS  –  “Adore Adore Adore” from Letter to Self

Sprints are an Irish garage punk band, formed in Dublin in 2019. Their debut album, Letter to Self, was just released last week. This a wonderful album full of scuzzy guitars and great melodies.  The video for Adore Adore Adore is charmingly over the top. 

Karla Chubb, Sprints’ lead vocalist, explains the song::

“Adore Adore Adore is a guttural reaction to my experience of criticism, gender and misogyny. People can’t seem to stop pressing their idea of what being a woman or acting like a woman is or should be upon us. You can’t act like this, you can’t say that, you have to be born with this or that and it’s exhausting.

There is still a different standard of behaviour expected from me vs even the other members in Sprints. There is a different set of invisible rules I am supposed to abide by – I am supposed to fit their mould and give them what they want – and not deliver what it is I am here to do.So at a time when trans rights are under attack, people are trying to force upon us what they think a woman is or should be, this is the outward expression of my own frustration, struggle and rage.”

Here’s just one of the many overwhelmingly positive reviews of Sprints debut record.

8. Lonnie Holley, “Oh Me Oh My” (Jagjaguwar)

None of us have but a little while – Lonnie Holly, Sharon van Etten

At seventy-three, the visual artist and musician Lonnie Holley still seems to be discovering new worlds. I don’t know how to describe this music in a way that feels true to its magnitude or its singularity: there are strains of free jazz, folk, ambient, and gospel, but mostly it feels like the apotheosis of a genre that we don’t have a name for yet. Michael Stipe adds vocals to the title track, which, like all of Holley’s best and strangest songs, reckons with trauma and God and perseverance and joy. “I suggest you all go as deep as you can,” Holley sings. His delivery is gentle, but it doesn’t seem like the kind of advice anyone can afford to ignore.

The subject of this album is the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children.

COTTON PICKING, 1902. /nPicking the school cotton crop at Mt. Meigs Institute, Alabama. Photograph by Frances Benjamin Johnston, 1902.

Pitchfork has written a great piece about Holley here

Here is the opening:

The Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children was the kind of educational institution that traumatized its students more than it educated them. Founded in 1911, after the state of Alabama took over a large farming campus in the Mount Meigs community near Montgomery, the juvenile correctional facility became infamous for the horrific abuse and torture it inflicted on poor Black youth. In 1947, inspectors visiting the school found 300 boys “cooped up in cramped quarters with nothing to do or occupy their energies except to eat and live like hogs.” By the 1960s, a century after the Emancipation Proclamation, young inmates were forced to pick cotton from sunrise until sundown; beatings and sexual abuse were common. “This was functionally a slave plantation,” concluded the journalist Josie Duffy Rice, who spent a year and a half researching the school’s history for a podcast series.

sources

New Yorker Best Music of 2023

In the middle of a fail

On By paulmcguire2013In UncategorizedLeave a comment

This is not a negative post. I am not complaining, I am not angry, but I am trying to be mindful.

When you take big risks there is always the possibility – a high probability – that you will experience significant failure. If you try you might fail. In education, people love to talk about how good failure is and how much you can learn from it. I think that is true, but some failures feel a little like part of an initiation ceremony. You have to get burnt a little (or a lot) before you might be able to move on.

I have been in this situation before and it hurts. Anyone who says it doesn’t is not being honest with you. It hurts and stings, but remember, this was always your choice and in some way even here there is learning going on.

I am not going to write about this particular fail here in this post- I don’t think that is important. What matters now is to get something down here for my own reflection. When you have a big fail you first have to resolve to go on. I have already done that. Then you have to look around to see what you could do next time, find out if you can understand what happened and start to learn. I am doing that too.

There is one part of all this, however, that you will go through on your own. It’s the pain of not making it. It is tied up in pride and calls for lots of humility. Humility is very good. This summer I needed a big dose of humility when the guides took my bag on Kilimanjaro – not for an afternoon, but for most of the trip. Without that humility I would never have made it to the summit, sometimes I am still surprised that I did make it.

With a big fail, there is also an element of fear. If I go on will I fail a second time? Will I make it? Should I even try? So far in my big fails I have always kept trying. That is probably natural stubbornness. Even though continuing runs the risk of another failure, I feel compelled to try.

With big fails there is sometimes a breather, a pause, before the next attempt. The pause is important. I need time to let the emotion settle, gather a bit of perspective and rebuild my confidence. At the start of a pause, it’s a good idea to get some things done quickly, without too much deliberation. Signal that you are going to make another attempt. This is very very important and I commit to trying again.

Then you can rest in the pause gather up strength and start the climb again.

This is not a complaining post, but it is part of the journey.

sometimes this is how it works

Episode 59 The New Year’s Edition!

On By paulmcguire2013In MixCloud, Old Fellas New Music, voicEd RadioLeave a comment

This Week!! Featuring

Brendan Hendry – Lonely

Bar Italia – Jelsy

Tobi – Flatline

Carly Rae Jepsen – Psychedelic Switch

Olivia Rodrigo – All American Bitch

Janelle Monáe – Only Have Eyes 42

​​Paramore –  ‘This Is Why’

Lankum – Newcastle

Nemahsis – I Wanna be Your Right Hand

Notes

Brendan Hendry – Lonely

all my notes this week are directly taken from different best-of lists supplied by Bob.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/dec/27/best-songs-this-year-small-artists

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-2023-1234879538/

https://www.cbc.ca/music/top-100-canadian-songs-of-2023-1.7043304

They make for interesting reading as each list has a different set of criteria for establishing what they consider the best. I am starting with one of the choices from the Guardian – The best songs of 2023 … you may not have heard

I like this list as it features a Canadian I have never heard of before. The description is interesting and the video is worth watching. A great start to my list!

The Guardian

In Canadian singer-songwriter Brendan Hendry’s self-directed video for Lonely – made with “$2, a box of wigs, some friends, and a 90s music video dream!” – he starts by placing a battered cassette in an equally battered boombox. What follows is a frayed-around-the-edges post-bar house party featuring flying wigs, snogging and the briefest flash of a bottom encased in leather chaps. The throwback visuals are anchored by a song that fits perfectly with our ongoing obsession with bratty, emo-coded power pop, from Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts album to Kelly Clarkson’s viral chat show cover versions to the return of 00s UK pop-punkers Busted. Hendry also continues the video’s queering of that 90s aesthetic, pairing a lo-fi drum machine, earworm acoustic guitar and big crunchy riffs with his tale of gay dating woes – essentially men are flaky and freakout at the first suggestion of real emotions. If the early verses grapple with the choice between dispassionate sex or no sex at all – “every now and then I still miss you in my mouth” Hendry sighs at one point – then the pogoing, top-tier chorus, which ramps up the emotional catharsis as the song grows sweatier, reaffirms the idea that being alone is better than being a fool. Michael Cragg

Bar Italia – Jelsy

bar italia –  “Jelsy” from Twits

bar italia, is a London-based rock band who released not one but 2 albums in 2023.  Both Twits and Tracey Denim are rather marvellous.  If you are fan of Wet Leg and the  Velvet Underground, this is a band for you.  All three memebrs contribute deadpan vocals with lots of fuzzy guitars.  “Jelsy” is the latest single from the November release Twits.  https://www.stereogum.com/2238511/bar-italia-jelsy/music/

Exclaim! review

…

8. ‘Flatline,’ Tobi

CBC

I really like this song. Once heard, it is hard to forget. This selection is part of a CBC 3-hour feature – The top 100 Canadian songs of 2023 by Pete Morey. Haven’t listened to this yet, but you can get the whole broadcast here.

they even give you a breakdown of the show:

Joined by friends and special guests, host Pete Morey rewinds the musical highlights of 2023 and cues up what 2024 has in store. The 23 best Canadian albums of 2023 at 00:00:00 The breakout stars of 2022 at 55:50:00 Albums to look forward to in 2024 at 1:21:15 Songs turning 20 in 2024 at 1:33:54 The top 10 Canadian songs of 2023 at 1:50:13

“Flatline” is the embodiment of Tobi’s self-described style of “unapologetic soul music.” Exploring the theme of power — who has it, how one seizes it, etc. — the Toronto rapper weaves the personal and political into one bold, ambitious track. Jabbing piano notes anchor “Flatline” as Tobi effortlessly raps around the beat, covering a swath of topics including the Land Back movement and Black death, as he unabashedly points out: “How they gon’ steal the wave? We on stolen land.” Pain is inevitable, but here, Tobi encourages listeners to transform that pain into power: “Flatline” is the motivational anthem that we needed this year. 

Carly Rae Jepsen – Psychedelic Switch

Carly Rae Jepsen  is a Canadian pop star who of course had an international mega hit with “Call Me Maybe” in 2012.  Her sixth album The Loneliest Time, was released in October 2022. It’s  companion album, The Loveliest Time, followed in July 2023.  This record is a collection of B-sides and tracks left off The Loneliest Time.  The track we chose is a wonderful pseudo Daft Punkish disco number “Psychedelic Switch.”  Don’t ponder the lyrics, just dance!

from Pitchfork

5 Olivia Rodrigo, ‘Guts’ (Album)

All American Bitch

The next two selections come from the Rolling Stone list – The 100 Best Albums of 2023

This is a great list that I want to return to for our next show. We have played lots of these artists over the year so we must be doing something right. I had to add Olivia Rodrigo, I just really like the sense of humour in her music. AND, this album is mentioned in the piece by the Guardian above.

On Guts, Olivia Rodrigo captures the insurmountable challenges of coming to fame while coming of age, with its romantic betrayals, vampiric exes, and fair-weather friends. Throughout the album’s heart-tugging ballads and sneering pop-punk cuts, the 20-year-old maintains a cutting lyrical precision — while unafraid to poke fun at her own shortcomings and social faux pas — that has cemented her as one of her generation’s best pop songwriters. As if to push herself out of the predictable path of “torch singer” and reject the well-mannered vision of femininity she skewers on “all-american bitch,” she delivers the full emotional breadth of teenager girldom through manic screaming, sarcastic sing-speak, and rage-fueled grit. —M.H.K.

Janelle Monáe – Only Have Eyes 42 –   The Age of Pleasure

Janelle Monáe Robinson  is of course is an immensely successful  singer, songwriter,  and actor. She has received ten Grammy Award nominations, and won a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Emmy .  In April 2022, she came out publicly as non-binary.  The song “Only Have Eyes 42” is about being in a polyamorous relationship and being open about it.  According to Songtell, the lyrics appear to be an account of a consensual and satisfying threesome.

More here

The song samples Derrick Harriot’s 1967 rock steady reggae classic , The Loser  

and Dick Powell’s 1934 version of I only have Eyes For You 

…

​​6. Paramore, ‘This Is Why’

Right after Olivia Rodrigo, a song that caught my attention. Don’t know anything about the band, but that’s pretty normal for me. But, read below – this band has been around for twenty years.

Hayley Williams, Taylor York, and Zac Farro made their return on This Is Why as masters of existentialism, and their deep familiarity with impending doom and self-destruction made from some rich emotional mining. Set against expertly executed post-punk and New Wave, they explore their fascination with the complexities of the human condition. Williams wonders about what it means to be a good person who isn’t able to save everyone, including herself. As the first album in the band’s 20-year career that was made with the same lineup as their last one, it was the first new Paramore LP that didn’t require them to rebuild themselves from ruins. What better way to begin building on that newfound foundation than by using the external world as a lens for self-examination? —L.P.

Lankum – Newcastle – False Lankun

Lankum  are an Irish folk music group from Dublin, consisting of Ian Lynch, Daragh Lynch, Cormac MacDiarmada and Radie Peat.  They have released the albums Cold Old Fire in 2014 and Between the Earth and Sky in 2017. In 2018, they were named Best Folk Group at the RTÉ Folk Music Awards.  The band were nominated for the RTÉ Choice Music Prize Irish Album of the Year in 2017 for their album Between the Earth and Sky, and won the prize in 2019 for their album The Livelong Day.  The band’s fourth studio album, False Lankum (2023), was released to widespread critical acclaim and  was nominated for the Mercury Prize and placed highly on several end-of-year lists. The selected track “Newcastle” is an absolutely haunting centuries old ballad.

Lankum – “Newcastle”

The Guardian gave a 5 star review to a recent performance. 

I Wanna be Your Right Hand,’ Nemahsis

This is another selection of the CBC list. A new artist, she seems to be putting out lots of music including the EP track (Eleven Archers) that we played at the beginning of the show.

This song makes it to #10 which is pretty impressive.

Palestinian Canadian pop artist Nemahsis expresses her love language on “I Wanna be Your Right Hand,” with her voice desperately reaching out to someone as she begs to be of service — to be useful in the name of showing her love and devotion. Over an acoustic riff that’s reminiscent of the Smashing Pumpkins’ “1979,” Nemahsis sounds equal parts steadfast and free, playing with her voice in ways she hasn’t in previous releases. While she’s already established her talent for writing heart-wrenching ballads — as displayed on her 2022 EP, Eleven Achers — “I Wanna be Your Right Hand” proves that the rising star has a much wider range that has yet to be fully explored. We can’t wait to hear where she takes her music next. (Songs You Need to Hear, March 22)

Here is a link to her interview with Tom Power

Episode 58 The Christmas Edition!!

On By paulmcguire2013In MixCloud, Old Fellas New Music1 Comment

Our Songs for this Saturday!!

Simon Kearney ft. Gabrielle Shonk – Jusqu’a  Noel

Samara Joy – Warm in December

Grandaddy – It Was a Silent Night At least Until Jeff Lynne Arrived

Jon Pardi – Beer for Santa

Chateaubriand – Notre Dernier Sapin

Bright Eyes and John Prine – Christmas in Prison

Emmy Law – John Denver

Panter Bélico – Un Vaquero En Navidad (A Cowboy At Christmas)

Valley – Christmas Lights

Our Notes for you

Simon Kearney ft. Gabrielle Shonk – Jusqu’a  Noel

Simon Kearney is a Quebecois singer-songwriter. He released his first album, “La vie en mauve”  in 2015, when he was only 17 years old.  Here he is joined by Gabrielle Shonk.  Shonk  is a Juno nominated performer who we have featured before on Old Fellas.  The daughter of an American father and a Québécois mother, Shonk was born in the States but  raised in Quebec City. Although fluently bilingual, she writes songs almost entirely in English, which she attributes to having been influenced primarily by Anglophone rather than francophone music.  Jusqu’a Noel is a wonderful ballad.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApNEDkm8P2c

Some background:  https://christmasagogo.blogspot.com/2023/12/simon-kearney-ft-gabrielle-shonk-until.html

Grandaddy –  “It Was a Silent Night At Least Until Jeff Lynne Arrived”

Grandaddy is an American  band from Modesto, California. The group was formed in 1992, and managed to release four studio albums before splitting in 2006.  The band seemed to achieve more recognition in the UK than North America.  The band  reformed in 2012, made a number of live appearances and released its fifth studio album, Last Place, in March 2017.  This is very silly song but nonetheless fun. Bandleader Jason Lytle explains ,”Santa Claus gave me some pretty cool gifts as a kid. But I have to say Jeff Lynne has given me about a million or so more. Here is my little light hearted holiday combo-homage to the two of them.” 

Grandaddy – “It Was A Silent Night At Least Until Jeff Lynne Arrived”

This isn’t the first silly mash-up by Grandaddy. In 2000  they released this goofy gem.

Chateaubriand – “Notre Dernier Sapin”

This the second offering from “la belle province”   To quote Montreal based Chateaubriand from their band camp page, “Nous sommes un groupe de musique qui aime beaucoup la musique.”  Fair enough.

Our last fir tree  as far as I can make out, seems to be a song about regret and If the singer takes down his tree, his dreams will end.

This lovely number comes from a Christmas ep Laisse le Sapin Allume.  Check the whole thing out here.

Châteaubriand – Laisse le sapin allumé (2023)

Emmy Law – “John Denver”

Emmy Law is an indie pop singer-songwriter based in Nashville. Check out her website.    https://emmylawmusic.com/bio/

Law explains the genesis of this wonderful song, “ I started writing it when I was doing some object writing over the summer…found myself writing about my childhood Christmases. One of my high school best friends lost her mom this year and I’m very close to my mom…I was thinking about them when writing it.”     The video mimics both the movie Love Actually and Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues”

Valley – “Christmas Lights”

No stranger to this blog , Juno nominated Valley have released a Christmas song.  It’s a cover of a Coldplay offering.  https://www.universalmusic.ca/press-releases/valley-share-sentimental-reimagining-of-a-coldplay-original-christmas-lights/

The video features childhood footage of the band from winters and Christmases’ past.

Samara Joy

This is a beautiful song, definitely an artist I need to listen to more in the New Year!

some quickly gathered notes:

Samara Joy McLendon[1] (born November 11, 1999) is an American jazz singer. She released her self-titled debut album in 2021 and was subsequently named Best New Artist by JazzTimes. Her second album, Linger Awhile, was released in September 2022, winning the award for Best Jazz Vocal Album and herself for Best New Artist at the 2023 Grammy Awards.

Samara Joy has followed up her major label debut album, Linger Awhile, with a new take on a holiday song, “Warm In December.”

“Warm In December” was originally written by Bob Russell and is relatively unknown and rarely performed by modern artists. The most commonly known recording of it was released by Julie London in 1956, and Joy’s new version provides a refreshing addition to the holiday song cannon.

“I’ll keep you warm in December/Warm when the cold breezes blow,” she sings in her rich tone over double bass, piano and brushed drums. “My arms so lovin’/A kind of oven/To melt the sleet and snow.”

Samara Joy is back with another taste of her forthcoming Verve Records debut Linger Awhile, out September 16, this time reimagining Ronnell Bright’s 1960 tune “Sweet Pumpkin.” She joins a long line of musicians who have tackled the classic track including Bill Henderson, Freda Payne, Gail Wynters, Irene Reid, and more.

“All the songs that I chose for my first album were standards that I’d learned in the previous couple of years when I was in school just gathering material,” Joy told What’s Up Newp in a recent interview. “Now I’m experimenting with some new material, it falls under the same vein of standards, just different ones that maybe people haven’t heard of.”

Jon Pardi – Beer for Santa

another up and coming artist (morte like multiplatinum star) getting stuff out there for Christmas

13 DECEMBER 2023 (TORONTO, ON) – Multi-Platinum singer/songwriter/producer Jon Pardi continues to celebrate a milestone year on the heels of his Grand Ole Opry induction as the first California native ever inducted with the release of his first-ever holiday album, Merry Christmas From Jon Pardi. 

Jon Pardi is changing things up this Christmas with his first animated music video – “Beer For Santa.”

“I picked this song because it was just so fun when you heard it and wasn’t like anything I had heard before,” Pardi said. “Literally, wasn’t your typical Christmas cookie-cutter song and a fun one to dance to.”

Jonathan Ryan Pardi (born May 20, 1985) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Signed to Capitol Nashville, he has released four studio albums: Write You a Song (2014), California Sunrise (2016), Heartache Medication (2019), and Mr. Saturday Night (2022). Pardi has also charted fourteen singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts, of which four have hit number one on the latter: “Head Over Boots“, “Dirt on My Boots“, “Heartache Medication” and “Last Night Lonely“. Pardi’s music style is defined by neotraditional country influences.

In 2023, he gained one of country music’s crowning achievements when he was inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry.

Panter Bélico – Un Vaquero En Navidad (A Cowboy At Christmas)

as I said on the show, it is hard to find out this musician. Even on Wikipedia the information is sparse:

Arturo González Galeno (July 8, 2002), known as Panter Bélico , is a Mexican singer , composer and musician of regional Mexican music . 1 From 2020 to 2023, he was the lead vocalist and accordionist of Grupo Arriesgado. Since then, he has had a solo career.

BUT – I was able to find some material on Spotify. He is a rising star so i will include some of their material on him here.

Just 21 years old, Panter Bélico has become one of the leading lights of the Música Mexicana scene. The former Grupo Arriesgado member broke through as a solo artist earlier this year, topping charts with hits like “LA 701” and “Símbolo Sexual,” along with releasing his debut album, Punto Y Aparte. 

For this year’s edition of Spotify Holiday Singles, the rising star took a different approach and contributed an original song: “Un Vaquero En Navidad.” 

More on the inspiration for the song and the style of Mexican music Bob asked about during the show.

When they asked me to record an original Christmas corrido, I thought I’d go outside of the traditional and tell a story about something I’m passionate about, which is horses. I imagined being a cowboy at Christmas time, and that’s where the lyrics came from. And with my musicians, we realized that the northern cumbia style was best for the period. 

Bright Eyes and John Prine – Christmas in Prison

This is a good story from Pitchfork on this song. Best let them tell it, pretty nice version.

Bright Eyes have shared a new cover of the John Prine song “Christmas in Prison.” Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Nate Walcott’s new rendition features a sample of Prine’s “A John Prine Christmas.”

Proceeds from the song will benefit for the late Prine’s charity, the Hello in There Foundation and its 2023 beneficiaries: the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, Porters Call, the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, and Renewal House. They’re also selling a Bright Eyes and John Prine holiday ornament to benefit the foundation.

“It is strange to get a chance to share a track with a hero of mine who has passed on,” Oberst said in a statement. “Normally not something I would do. I don’t like holograms. But I have so much love and affection for John as a person and his music. He really changed my life on a lot of levels. When I heard the sample of him talking about Christmas just put such a big smile on my face and I couldn’t help but want to share it with other people. A little Christmas gift to a stranger. It’s all about John and his beautiful song. But I am happy to sing in the choir. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone all around the world. I wish love and light this season to you and yours.”

Revisit 2020’s “Remembering John Prine, the Ultimate Songwriter’s Songwriter.”

Here are some of the links Bob mentioned on today’s show

https://christmasagogo.blogspot.com/

https://merryandbright.blogspot.com/

https://ernienotbert.blogspot.com/

https://christmasunderground.com/

Episode 57 Our Notes Old Fellas New Music

On By paulmcguire2013In MixCloud, Old Fellas New Music, voicEd Radio1 Comment

Music this week!

Episode 57

Philip Selway – Check for Signs of life

Black Pumas – More Than a Love Song

Nell Smith, The Flaming Lips – Red Right Hand

Say She She – Reeling

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Burning

Prince Fatty – Expansions

The Strumbellas – Hold Me

CMAT  – Where Are Your Kids Tonight?

Aysanabee – Waste My Time

Philip Selway – Check for Signs of life

Philip Selway – Check For Signs Of Life (Official Video)

So Philip Selway is a member of Radiohead, I didn’t know that. This is his third solo album since 2010 – “today, Selway is announcing a new album called Strange Dance, which will be out in February of next year.” (Stereogum)

In the Stereogum article, he talks about aging – I like this “One of the things I’ve liked about this record is it’s me as a 55-year-old not trying to hide that fact,” he noted in some press materials. ““It feels kind of unguarded rather than seeing that ageing process as something that needs to be hidden.”

Nell and The Flaming Lips – Red Right Hand

I forgot that Red Right Hand actually goes back a ways

Here is the original video and song pretty great

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Red Right Hand (Official Video)

This is an amazing cover

Nell and The Flaming Lips – Red Right Hand (Nick Cave cover version)

This is a pretty amazing story. Nell Smith is a 14-years old and a big fan of the Flaming Lips.

Spin Magazine tells the story best

Smith first met singer Wayne Coyne at a Flaming Lips show in Calgary three years ago. A regular at Lips’ concerts always bearing a parrot costume, Smith was eventually recognized by Coyne, who sang a David Bowie cover directly to her in Calgary, and Smith sang back. Staying in contact with Smith through her father, Coyne inspired Smith to pick up the guitar and write her own songs. Coyne planned a trip to record with the band in Oklahoma and suggested that Smith record some Nick Cave tracks and email them to the Lips so they could record backings. This is the result.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Burning

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Burning (Official Video)

New Album – first in nine years. This is their second single off the album.

you can hear and see them reaching back to the 1960’s in Burning (RS) – Frankie Vallie and Beggin’

and they have been around for decades

from Wikipedia:

Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O (born Karen Lee Orzolek), guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase.[4]

The Strumbellas – Hold Me

a great song, a fun video

Hold Me (Official Video)

I didn’t know they were still around.

Part Time Believer is their new album and it comes out in February. This is the first single off the album. Exclaim! has a piece on the new album

The Strumbellas are back! The Kawartha Lakes-hailing folk-rock outfit have announced their forthcoming new album, led by the single “Hold Me.”

Aysanabee – Waste My Time

I really like this song. It is currently trending on CBC. I used a song of the last album as my intro this week. Bringing the Fire is off the 2022 album Watin which was short listed for this year’s Polaris Prize.

Waste My Time is off his new EP Here and Now.

Aysanabee’s quote taken from Exclaim! has been featured several times already on CBC

“This is the first of more records that will explore the impact of colonization on Indigenous love in this country,” Aysanabee explained in a statement. “This country never made me feel worthy of love, and in turn never made me feel worthy of the love of another. Through this record, I wanted to be honest by facing my own fallibilities when it comes to building and keeping relationships.”

Here from Exclaim! is the tracklist for the EP

Here and Now:

1. Waste My Time
2. Letting Go
3. Alone
4. Somebody Else
5. Here and Now
6. The Giver

Bob’s reviews

Black Pumas – “More Than a Love Song”  from Chronicles of a Diamond

Black Pumas is for lack of a better term, a neo soul band from Austin, Texas.   The group received its first Grammy Award nomination in 2020 for Best New Artist.  “More Than a Love Song” is the lead single from their second  album.  This surprised me as I thought the band had been around a lot lot longer. https://newsoundsmag.co.uk/2023/08/24/single-review-black-pumas-more-than-a-love-song/

SINGLE REVIEW: BLACK PUMAS – MORE THAN A LOVE SONG

Nearly 4 years after the release of their self-titled debut, Black Pumas, a psychedelic-rock and soul duo from Austin, Texas including Eric Burton and Adrian Quesada, have released a brand new single in preparation for their sophomore record titled Chronicles of a Diamond. The album will not be released until 27 October of this year, but ‘More Than a Love Song’ gives listeners a taste for what’s to come. 

Here they performing on The Tonight Show   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WasO43LHvLg

Say She She –  “Reeling” from Silver

According to the promotional material, “ Say She She is a soulful female-led trio, standing rock solid on their disco-delic duty with their boundary-breaking sophomore album Silver . The strong voices of Piya Malik (El Michels Affair, Chicano Batman), Sabrina Mileo Cunningham and Nya Gazelle Brown front the band. Following the NYC siren song, the trio was pulled from their respective cities — Piya from London, Nya from DC, and Sabrina from NYC — to Manhattan’s downtown dance floors, through the Lower East Side floorboards, and up to the rooftops of Harlem, where their friendship was formed on one momentous, kismet evening!!!”

Say She She Conjure Up a Call to Action in Honor of Mother Earth in New Video For “Reeling”

Earlier this year, Say She Say do their stuff on the long running BBC show Later… with Jools Holland.

Prince Fatty –  “Expansions”   single

Mike Pelanconi, better known under his record name Prince Fatty, is a British sound engineer and record producer.  For almost twenty years,  Prince Fatty has been producing  reggae and dub which harken back to vintage Jamaican sounds.  His name is a playful nod to legendary sound engineer King Tubby.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxAl3Jijs20

The track featured here is a remake of Lonnie Liston Smith’s Expansions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwFXFximJ8g. 

You can compare it to the original.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YJwNPMB4zU

Learn more about Prince Fatty here, https://headlinermagazine.net/mike-pelanconi-prince-fatty-reggae-rare-neve-8068-desk.html

CMAT  – “Where Are Your Kids Tonight?”  From Crazymad

Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson is known professionally as CMAT.  She is an Irish singer, songwriter, and musician.  Her debut studio album, If My Wife New I’d Be Dead, was released in February 2022 and entered the Irish Albums Chart at number one. The Guardian wrote of her music; “Her songs are mournful yet accessible, emotionally literate and cleverly crafted, but, crucially, with a huge sense of humour…” Her second studio album, Crazymad, for Me was released in October 2023.  On the chosen track, she is accompanied by John Grant, formerly of The Czars.   https://www.stereogum.com/2229816/cmat-where-are-your-kids-tonight-feat-john-grant/music/  The video seems to pay homage to early 80’s MTV promos.  The gauzy  cinematography wouldn’t be out of place in a Bonnie Tyler or Laura Branigan video.

Episode 55 Old Fellas New Music!!

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This week:

Loon Choir – Small Fires

Boygenius – Black Hole

Michael Wilford, Sail Cassady – Rattle My Bones

Old Fire – Mephisto

Snotty Nose Rez Kids – I got paid today

Mountain Goats – Clean Slate

Bar italia – world’s greatest emoter

Everything But the Girl – Nothing Left to Lose

Yeule – 4ui12

Loon Choir – Small Fires

My first two selections come from Surkeus a music label in the Maritimes – Spotify link

I talked to the founder and community member Josef Mieto at his record shop Bad Eyes Gallery in Kentville. We talked for a bit about music and the work he is doing promoting Canadian artists. Here is a short video from their website

“It Takes a Community” – Surkeus Records

The tracks Small Fires and Rattle My Bones come from their 2022 compilation album. I am going to feature other artists from Surkeus in the future.

Here is a little bit from their website

Surkeus (“Surkeus” is said the same way as “circus”) is a community, an artistic alliance, and a record label. 

Since 2019, Surkeus has cultivated a unique identity in the Canadian arts and music scene by helping artists expand their creative communities by being a part of ours. As a community, we focus on working together as a force for good through fundraising, charitable events, and coordinating special projects and releases.

As a label, our focus is now mainly on physical releases (cassette, CD, vinyl) of special recordings. We also offer artists promotion, radio distribution, and agency.

Loon Choir is an Ottawa band that will be playing at Irene’s December 9

From their website

“The Ottawa indie rock collective has been going strong for just shy of ten years now. They formed early in 2009 and released Expansion Forces in 2010, a full-length debut. Onto the scene arrived Loon Choir, this seriously entertaining synth-rock ensemble with five vocalists, strings, and a super upbeat rhythm section.” – Apt613

Loon Choir’s music and lyrics allude to injustice and the destruction of nature. It’s a tall order to fill, and these musicians deliver with a live set packed full of enthusiasm, spontaneity, and sincerity.

The band released their fourth album, In the Age of Alienation, with a sold-out launch party at NAC’s prestigious Fourth Stage.

Loon Choir has been raising its profile nationwide for about 10 years, with highlight tracks featured on CBC, a successful cross-Canada tour in 2013, and a shortlist for the R3 Bucky Award for Rookie of the Year in 2012.

this is a great video of Loon Choir

This video was filmed at the Algonquin Commons Theatre in Ottawa ON by ROGERS TV. Always Golden is a song about the alienation of work. The theme takes on the idea of selling our lives to the capitalist class for their profit and our survival. The lyrical style is somewhat tongue-in-cheek and poking fun at the western work ethic of working hard and staying loyal for social mobility: whether it’s an office worker getting dolled up for the day or a retail worker memorizing polite platitudes. Ideally, listeners will recognize the innate exploitation that occurs daily, that the working class has tremendous potential and “we don’t have to live like this.”

Michael Wilford, Sail Cassady – Rattle My Bones

The second selection from the Surkeus 2022 compilation, Michael Wilford is a drummer from British Columbia. It turns out this is a Halloween song – he writes


“Rattle My Bones was written during and in response to the loneliness that came from the periods of pandemic-driven self-isolation during the winter of 2020. The song characterizes my depression and anxiety as a ghost in my closet but treats the heavy subject with a wink and a nod as the ghost ends up being a ‘nice surprise’ due to the break from the monotony. It is perfect for the crisp autumn weather (and the seasonal depression that comes with it) and its instantly singable chorus about ‘ghosts in your closet’ fits nicely with the upcoming Halloween season.”

He doesn’t have many likes on Spotify, but I really think he will be getting more – a great song.

Snotty Nose Rez Kids – I got paid today

I don’t think we have played Snotty Nose Rez Kids so I am out to rectify all this.

Snotty Nose Rez Kids – I Got Paid Today (Official Video)

Not a feeling I get much of anymore, but these guys have come up with something fun. You have to watch the video – great sense of humour.

From CBC Songs You Need to Hear November 1


Snotty Nose Rez Kids’ latest single, “I Got Paid Today,” captures the euphoric feeling of when your bank account is healthily full. With a nod to Mean Girls in the intro (“Get in loser/ we’re going shopping”), the two Haisla rappers set the scene for a blinged-out ode to spending dollars. Teaming up with Cree and Salish singer Tia Wood and rapper Lex Leosis, who lend their glossy vocals to the track, Yung Trybez and Young D bring their signature humour to the infectious chorus: “I got paid today/ bitch we goin’ shopping/ don’t save for rainy days/ bitch we goin’ shopping.”

Bar italia – world’s greatest emoter

This is a terrific band and productive – this is their second album for 2023.

From Far Out Magazine

For a band that freely plays around in multiple genres, ‘World’s Greatest Emoter’ is as straightforward as Bar Italia have sounded on record. Solidly between driving indie rock and atmospheric post-punk, ‘World’s Greatest Emoter’ has all the hallmarks of a classic track, bolstered by the three-part shifting vocal lines that the band have made their signature.

All the new material makes one wonder if Bar Italia simply work fast or if they’ve been sitting on some great songs for a good long while. Notably, it’s only a few months removed from the band’s first album of 2023, Tracey Denim.

Whether it’s old or new doesn’t really matter, ‘World’s Greatest Emoter’ is another great addition to a growing discography of killer tracks. With any luck, Bar Italia will become the new King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, dropping multiple albums a year forever

Yeule – 4ui12

I don’t know what this song is about, but I really like it. Below we can read what it is all about.

The song “4ui12” by yeule explores themes of dehumanization, romanticization, and the transformative power of art. The lyrics suggest a complex relationship in which the narrator feels both objectified and idolized.

I found this track going through The Guardian always a great place to find out about new music.

Each project from Singaporean-British singer-songwriter Nat Ćmiel, AKA Yeule, comes as a surprise. Their 2014 self-titled debut EP was a blend of ethereal, processed vocals with melodically driven electronic production, while 2019’s Serotonin II album manoeuvred through dream pop and wistful electronica, and 2022’s breakthrough Glitch Princess produced shuddering dancefloor beats. Their latest record is just as unexpected.

great music – described as possessing “a driving, energising pulse.” (again, The Guardian) 

Boygenius – Black Hole

boygenius  is an American indie “super group”  consisting of American singer-songwriters Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus. Earlier this year they released their first full length album, The Record which this old fella happily purchased on a road trip to Montreal’s venerable record shop Cheap Thrills.  https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/cheap-thrills-montreal-downtown-records-vinyl-1.6189282

boygenius have now compiled an EP of four tracks that were not included on the album. 2023 simply entitled, The Rest.https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/music/boygenius-the-rest-ep-review-phoebe-bridgers-lucy-dacus-julien-baker-b1113110.html

Black Hole was chosen based on the mention in the lyrics of “having a dart on the back porch”  I thought a dart as a term for a cigarette was solely Canadian but there you go. https://www.dictionary.com/e/canadian-slang/

Here’s great live version.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0WZ4HNWV3A

Old Fire – Mephisto   Iterations EP,

Old Fire is mainly producer/musician John Mark Lapham. Over the years, he has enlisted the help of various musician in his projects.  One musician Lapham has used on more than one occasion is Bill Callahan.  Callahan used to be in the band Smog but has released  a ton of very cool music over the years.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfEkegI3ySIexample

Callahan is featured as the vocalist on this atmospheric number Mephisto.   https://pitchfork.com/news/listen-to-old-fire-and-bill-callahan-new-song-mephisto/

Mountain Goats – “Clean Slate” from    Jenny From Thebes

The Mountain Goats are a Californian band formed in Claremont, California, led by and sometimes composed only of John Darnielle. For almost 30 years, he has been releasing quirky music under sometimes producing lo-fi recordings even on just a cassette deck boom box.  Recent years Darnielle has used a full band and more sophisticated recording techniques. Apparently Steven Colbert  and this old fella have the same favourite Mountain Goat’s song. 

The new album Jenny from Thebes is his 22nd album!  The album apparently serves as a sequel to the band’s 2002 release All Hail West Texas,  which tells the story of the character “Jenny”  Darnielle describes the album as being about “the individual and society”, and about Jenny’s “southwestern ranch style house, the people for whom that house is a place of safety, and the west Texas town that is uncomfortable with its existence.” Here’s the band performing the track “Clean Slate”

 Darnielle is a pretty compelling guy https://pitchfork.com/features/interview/inside-john-darnielles-boiling-brain/  He is also a novelist.   https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/1029937.John_Darnielle

Everything But the Girl – “Nothing Left to Lose” from Fuse

It’s really nice to see the return of the UK duo  Everything But the Girl.  For 40 years Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt have been making great music.  I’m including my two absolute favourite tracks from many years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ME8T4S4cjA   and    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8C4tQvMUkI

ETBTG have now released Fuse, their  the eleventh studio album. It’s their first album in almost 24 years. The album was preceded by the single “Nothing Left to Lose”.

https://www.npr.org/sections/now-playing/2023/01/12/1148205946/everything-but-the-girl-nothing-left-to-lose

Welcome back!   https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/everything-but-the-girl-fuse-1234708286/

…

boygenius – “Black Hole” from The Rest EP

Old Fellas New Music Episode 54

On By paulmcguire2013In MixCloud, Old Fellas New Music, voicEd RadioLeave a comment

Episode 54 Old Fellas New Music

Forest Swords – Low

Noname – namesake (Pitchfork)

– BO2A3 ALWAN (COLOR PATCHES)

Big Thief – Vampire Empire (Pitchfork)

Barry Can’t Swim – Define Dancing

Alison Russell and the Resistance Revival Chorus – Take Me to Church (Exclaim!)

Sleaford Mods – UK Grim

The Resonance Between – The Passage (Frequencies)

Sparkle Division – Oh Yeah

This week’s episode on Mixcloud!!

Noname – namesake (heard on Pitchfork)

I didn’t know what this song was about (see below), but I kept on seeing Noname on my playlist so it was time to play one of her songs.

So, what is namesake about?

from Confidence

Noname has never been shy about calling out big names, and on her new track, “​​​​​​namesake,” the Chicago rapper disses titans of the music industry as hypocrites for working with the NFL. Spitting in a rapid-fire flow over a slinky instrumental from Slimwav, Noname specifically hits out at JAY-Z, Kendrick Lamar, Rihanna, and Beyoncé on the Sundial cut.

On the second verse, Noname makes it clear where she stands regarding Jay and his relationship with the NFL. “I ain’t fuckin’ with the NFL or JAY-Z/ Propaganda for the military complex,” she raps. “The same gun that shot Lil Terry/ Out West, the same gun that shot Senair in the West Bank/ We all think the Superbowl’s the best thing.”

From noname

Go, Rihanna, go
Watch the fighter jet fly high
War machine gets glamorized
We play the game to pass the time
Go, Beyoncé, go
Watch the fighter jet fly high
War machine gets glamorized
We play the game to pass the time
Go, Kendrick, go
Watch the fighter jet fly high
War machine gets glamorized
We play the game to pass the time

Genius

Big Thief – Vampire Empire (heard on Pitchfork)

From Wikipedia

Big Thief is an American indie folk band based in Brooklyn, New York. Its members are Adrianne Lenker (guitar, vocals), Buck Meek (guitar, backing vocals), Max Oleartchik (bass), and James Krivchenia (drums).[1]

Here is Big Thief on the amazing KEXP

Big Thief – Full Performance (Live on KEXP)

This is yet another band that I know nothing about, but they have made a lot of music and Pitchfork loves them.

There’s an imperial effortlessness to Big Thief’s music-making that’s hard not to find dazzling: five full-lengths, including a double album, three solo Adrianne Lenker albums, all in seven years, with no “minor” one, no asterisk in the catalog. Once you start grasping for comparison points, you wind up pretty quickly in superlatives territory: Elliott Smith. Bob Dylan. Prince.

what is imperial effortlessness??

This is what they have done since 2016:

5 albums

2 EPs

21 singles

4 music videos

Grammy nominations in 2020, 2021, 2023

Alison Russell and the Resistance Revival Chorus

The Take Me to Church single is part of Spotify’s Singles Series. The series asks artists to reimagine one of their own songs along with a song they love. Some more from Exclaim! Magazine on Montrealer Allison Russell, an artist we play on a regular basis on this show.

…in 2021 her track “Nightflyer” was on Barack Obama’s annual best-of-the-year playlist, and in 2022 she earned three Grammy nominations and won the JUNO Award for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year, becoming the first Black artist to do so. “The timing of it, the fact that we were at a conjunction of pandemic, of major social justice, and racial reckoning. There’s a lot of things that happened for this record to be listened to in the way that it was and continues to be,” she reflects. “I’m still pondering these things in my heart.”

The Resonance Between – The Passage

There is very little written about The Resonance Between, probably because this is a collaboration, not a band.

So, here is a bit about the project from Bandcamp

The Resonance Between (TRB) is the new collaborative album by artists Alam Khan, Arjun K. Verma, and Del Sol Quartet — an ensemble of remarkably synergistic vision and virtuosity.

Despite their many aesthetic similarities, Indian classical and European classical music have rarely been combined, and generally have been done so in mere juxtapositions rather than with fluid integration. TRB presents a groundbreaking new level of fusion between these cultural genres, crafting a contemporary instrumental sound for this unique original work that is so much more than simply the sum of its parts.

Here is a good article on the collaborators for this project from Seattle Sacred Musi

Alam Khan, Arjun K. Verma, Del Sol Quartet: The Resonance Between

and a little more about this amazing project from World Music Central

The album highlights the Indian classical mastery of Khan and Verma, who teamed up with cross-cultural composer Jack Perla. The American string ensemble Del Sol Quartet, led by violist Charlton Lee, adds a unique touch with their multicultural approach to chamber music. The strings of the quartet beautifully complement the Indian instruments, resulting in cinematic soundscapes that are both emotionally expressive and thought-provoking.

Forest Swords – “Low” from Bolted

Forest Swords is the stage name for English record producer and  DJ, Matt Barnes.  He has released three studio albums, of which Bolted is his latest.  This Old Fella is stepping out of his usual wheelhouse and presenting a little UK electronica this week.

     Mojo magazine calls the album  “ a master class in sound design, Bolted creeps up slowly then engulfs you.”

The online Treble magazine is much better at describing this tune than me.

As a dedicated fan of science fiction, I’m a keen believer in the concept of the multiverse. One of the lesser alternate timelines I imagine for myself involves dropping my political science degree to study music theory and composition instead. I envision falling in love with jazz and postmodern classical music, pursuing an advanced degree or two, and finding experimental electronic music earlier that I did in this timeline. Eventually, I would have landed a gig teaching at either a mid-sized high school or decent community college, and made my own music on the side. And when my students ask me about the sort of art I both create and appreciate, I think it might exist in the same sphere of music as the work of Forest Swords.

Ramy Essam – “BO2A3 ALWAN (Color Patches)” from Metgharabiin (Outsiders)

Ramy Essam is an Egyptian musician who came to prominence during the Arab Spring uprisings in Egypt in 2011.  His songs of protest in Cairo were seen by millions of people.  His music was considered incendiary by the Mubarak regime and he was forced to seek exile in Sweden where he has resided ever since. Here he is captivating an enormous audience in Tahir Square in 2011. 

His new release includes this mesmerizing selection which comes with an equally captivating video.  

Barry Can’t Swim –“ Define Dancing” from When Will We Land

Barry Can’t Swim is just one guy, Josh Mainnie, a London-based producer and musician. He makes a type of laid back tuneful house music with an emphasis on piano and interesting samples.  For example, see if the repetitive piano riff in “Define Dancing” doesn’t remind you of a sound off of Pink Floyd’s 1973 Dark Side of the Moon. 

   

Do you have a question for Barry can’t Swim?  Well here’s ten answered.

10 QUESTIONS WITH BARRY CAN’T SWIM, FOLLOWING THE RELEASE OF HIS NEW EP ‘MORE CONTENT’

BY HEATHER CLEAL


1. Can you describe your sound in 3 words?

“Fairly jazzy stuff.”

2. How has your childhood in Edinburgh influenced the musician that you are today?

“It’s definitely a big influence, although I would say the people I grew up with shaped my music more than the city itself in all honesty. Edinburgh isn’t amazing at supporting the grassroots scenes, especially compared to somewhere like Glasgow. But I met a lot of incredibly talented musicians growing up there.”

3. If you wrote a screenplay about your life, what would it be called and who would play you?

“Probably Sonja from Eastenders or Steve Buscemi because we all share boggly eyes. It would be called the mindboggling life of Barry.”

4. You worked with many different artists to produce this EP, but who would be your dream collaborator?

“There are so many amazing people I’d love to collab with, but Jai Paul probably pips it, purely because of how elusive he is. I just wanna talk to him man.”

5. What is the greatest highlight of your career so far?

“I think the first-time seeing people singing along to your tunes when you’re playing live. That is such a mad thing to experience, man. Seeing people you’ve never met before in places you’ve never been to before singing along is still so surreal.”

Sleaford Mods – “UK Grim” from UK Grim

Sleaford Mods are a duo, from Nottingham, U.K.  They have been around for almost 20 years.  Prolific (a dozen albums) and popular in their native land, Sleaford Mods haven’t gained much traction on this side of the Atlantic possibly due to their spoken word rants of British class struggles and angst delivered in a thick Midland’s accent.  Check out their latest.  

Here is Pitchfork’s assessment of their latest offering.  

It’s the irascible British duo’s most varied album to date. Just don’t expect anything to change.

Sleaford Mods don’t make music about how terrible things are in hopes that they will get better. Over the past decade, Andrew Fearn and Jason Williamson have channeled public discontent and everyday malaise in the UK, scrutinizing their country’s faults as well as their own. And though they’ve found personal growth and commercial success, the Mods’ outlook hasn’t brightened.

If this peaks your interest, Sleaford Mods have been the subject of several full length documentaries like this.  

Sparkle Division – “Oh Yeah” from Foxy

I am getting lazy here so I am going to describe Sparkle Division by lifting straight and from the All Music Guide. “Sparkle Division‘s play lounge funk and blunted instrumental hip-hop that still had a degree of poignancy to it, given that two of its guests had passed on since its creation, and another song paid tribute to the late David Bowie. The collaboration’s sequel, Foxy, fully dives into the realm of fantasy, loosely following a story line taking place in 1969, about a pair of Hollywood film interns attending a lavish party at a Beverly Hills estate owned by a pimp and drug dealer named Foxy. The music sounds much closer to an Austin Powers-like revision of the late ’60s than the era itself, retaining elements of exotica and spy soundtracks but adding ’90s-style lounge grooves and break beats.“Oh Yeah!” picks up this thread and dives head-first into late-’90s atmospheric jungle, with busy beat programming skittering beneath fluttering sax. Maybe the next Sparkle Division record will be an imaginary soundtrack to a Home Alone-style holiday caper.” — AMG  

In summation: