A good mixtape always fits the bill for Friday Fun, and I think we’ve got a good one here. Perhaps many of you have already sampled the offerings on k-os’ Anchorman Mixtape, but if you haven’t, I’m here to point you towards pleasure town. Oh we’re going there.
Seriously, I’m not sure I can talk about this mixtape without cramming in about 15 more Anchorman quotes. I know I’m far from alone, but I’m afraid I won’t ever tire of Anchorman – it is perhaps Will Ferrell’s premier performance where he essentially does nothing but the “Will Ferrell voice” for an entire movie. Anyhoo, there’s certainly plenty of goodness on offer here from my friend k-os: catchy bangers like opener Start Me Up and CBC radio favorite Dance in YO Car, and collabos with folks like Canadian legend Saukrates, Sebastien Grainger, and Drake! Man the kids love that Drake, and how can you argue with the kids? k-os certainly isn’t about to, so he’s taken the “can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em approach” with Canada’a latest (first?) US rap-scene-conquering phenom. And the whole thing is tied together with the Scotch-soaked wisdom of Ron Burgundy, it’s a winning combo.
HEY-O, I’m very aroused. I told you that was going to happen. Enjoy.
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It’s inevitable really. Living in a city with few economic certainties means that as summer draws to a close, people leave the comforts of their college days behind. Reality, it’s the train ticket you book when it’s time to pack the spindle bin and see what comes next. For Crissi Cochrane, this summer finds her leaving behind the city she called home, her song writing alias, her bedroom/bathroom style recordings and looking forward to the rest of her life.
With the release of Darling, Darling, Cochrane embraces these changes and leaves behind a surprisingly mature and seasoned release. Strings, mandolin and percussion are added to the arrangements thanks to producer Mike Kinsella – yes, THAT Mike Kinsella – and songs that have grown with Cochrane over her years in Halifax get a final treatment that will hit friends and fans with a sense of nostalgia each time the LP plays. It’s hard to imagine a song more fitting for where she is than “Coming Home”, but as Cochrane looks back at people, places and moments she holds dear over some gentle pics and plucks and a mandolin, it’s as if she gets to say goodbye in the most personal manner possible.
But Darling, Darling isn’t only about looking back. The eight songs are more mature than any 21-year old has the right to be and hint at a talent big enough to start a career. The country-pop feel on “So Far Apart”, starts the record off on a strong note, but thanks to her soothing voice and gentle pics (and the album’s short run time), she manages to avoid any setbacks or letdowns. Even when she touches on traditional subject matter – love, heartbreak, wine – or slows the pace nothing ever seems forced or disingenuous. She transforms the confession filled “Kinda Late” and the slow moving “Elevators” with beautiful string arrangement that let the songs take flight but keeps the record feeling light and whimsical.
It would be easy to gush and force unrealistic career projection on the young singer, but the music business is a hard road to travel. What I can say is that Darling, Darling finds Cochrane taken the first step, and putting her best foot forward. This record might be a goodbye to a time we all hold dear, but it’s one filled with smiles. It’s raised glasses and heartfelt hugs, not tears of sadness. The record would be worth buying just for the title track, an almost seven minute number that has Kinsella’s signature all over it, and could easily be worked into an Owen set, but for long time fans, the evolution of “Mexico” is something to behold, and little moments like the spirited percussion of “Lonely For Me” show that Cochrane’s time in Halifax has been a productive one. Now, much like Crissi, all we can do I wonder what comes next.
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It’s a scorching hot Thursday here in Halifax as we’ve been sweating it out all week, both literally due to the semi-heatwave we’ve been having all week, and figuratively as we await the arrival of hurricane Earl this weekend. Well then, time to focus on something else for a few minutes I’d say, so let’s make with the Video Hits shall we?
Leading off we have the first video from The Acorn’s rather anticipated new album No Ghost. Restoration is a psychedelic stop-motion affair that finds the band having a BBQ in the great outdoors before going on a trippy picnic table ride through the woods. The video for Kathryn Calder’s Slip Away is kind of trippy, but really much more on the sweet side of things, as homemade rabbits tell a tale of alien abduction. Sweet certainly isn’t a word I’d use to describe the stop-motion video for Eamon McGrath’s Dark Side of the Street, but the somewhat jarring tone of the video matches the song quite well.
To finish things off, we’ll post some live footage of Halifax heroes Wintersleep doing Preservation from their latest release New Inheritors. Enjoy.
The Acorn – Restoration
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With the influx of affordable laptop recording software and the seemingly never ending obsession with lo-fi, it’s hard to find a bedroom pop artist that stands out. When it comes to Victoria’s Derek Janzen – aka First Nations – his unique collection of sounds probably shouldn’t grab you as easily as they do, but Before There Were Mountains is the type of record you find by accident and hold onto like a treasure map from One Eyed Willie.
Without sounding too cliche, it’s the risks and originality Janzen offers up that makes the biggest impact. The opening number – “When Silver Antlers Draw My Blood” – starts as barely audible blips and evolves into the equivalent to the sound of the TV going off the air when programming ends at the end of the day. It’s an odd introduction, one that Janzen rides out for almost 3-minutes before transitioning into the fantastic strummed acoustic/vocal sample of “Paper Heart/Leather Lungs”, but the subtle addition of big, echo filled tribal drums just behind the guitar really thickens the song and keeps the listener engaged and slightly unsettled.
And that’s probably all you have to know about First Nations, well that and the record is free if you want to download it. All of the ten songs Janzen offers up are ear pleasing, but every song has unexpected elements spliced into the core that make this bedroom project much bigger than the sum of the parts or the volume of the recording. Even when he drifts closer to the traditional folk singer (“Little Wings’), he still experiments with textures to give the delicate, slow moving song some rough edges. Whether it’s the infectious programming of “Ghost Lamp”, the dark dueling vocals of “Poorly Knitted Skull” or the delightful fade from chirping birds (“—/////+++\\\\\—”) to robotic, stomp percussion (“Son, We Are Animals”), Janzen has put together a well thought out LP born from alienation that happily invites you to listen.
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Oh my, where does the time go? Seems like only a couple weeks ago that I was planning to post on Toronto MC Arabesque‘s latest release, Nuclear Ambition, but a quick check tells me it was actually June when I received the album. Ugh, I’m certainly busy, but there’s no excuse for that kind of delay, especially when ‘Besque has a solid album/EP on offer like this. It sounds great and it offers a different viewpoint than today’s average MC; something you can’t discount when everyone coming out is claiming to be original, but they all blend into 2 or 3 rapper archetypes. A Palestinian-Canadian Rapper with a tight flow and wicked sense of humour doesn’t fit any archetype I know of.
Anyway, as I said, Nuclear Ambition is top notch, and I’d like you to listen to it, so here are 3 reasons you should do exactly that.
1. Charisma. This is something I’ve talked about in the past, and it’s hard to define exactly what it is that makes an MC charismatic, but Arabesque has it in abundance. He’s not the most complex rapper I’ve ever heard, but he puts together well, and brings a contagious energy to every song. As a result, pretty much every song he does grabs your attention, and Nuclear Ambition is no exception.
2. Old School Lyricism. Now I don’t mean inserting Melle Mel-esque hu-hu-hu-HA’s into his songs, but Arabesque is a throwback in that he writes songs about topics other than the current standard theme of how awesome you are (which is a traditional hip hop meme to be sure, but when no one outside of your myspace friends has ever heard of you, it’s time to chillax). So whether he’s doing a GZA-esque take on the topical theme of shady financial institutions (Devils Deposit), railing against the suckiness of the 9-5 grind (Blue), telling tales about the challenges faced by those who come to North America seeking a new life (Understand), or even rapping about 80′s TV (Three’s Company which features TO buzz-worthy singer Maylee Todd), ‘Besque can add some substance to your daily hip hop regimen.
3. Great Production. Nuclear Ambition sounds great from top to bottom, thanks in part to the stellar production it features. Anonymous Twist only does a couple songs (Understand and Devils Deposit), but they are both great, especially Understand, which is a smoothed out banger for certain. Really, check out the song or the video below and if that one doesn’t have you doing the head-nod or a little chair dance, then I’ll eat the Ack’s fancy hat. Other folks do some fine work as well, like the awesomely-named Chunksahoy, who contributes the excellent Blue, among others.
So there are your reasons, now go check out Arabesque for yourself.
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A few years back, Ruby Coast was traveling the same path – figuratively and literally considering they were tour mates – as Tokyo Police Club and the two became linked (almost evey review mentioned TPC). Flash forward to present day, and TPC have reached the success levels most Canadian blog bands can only dream of while Ruby Coast kind of fell off most people’s radar.
In reality, the Ontario band was taking time to write, record and master their debut LP, “Whatever This Is” and today the first songs from the record are being released to the masses. What will it cost you? Well, only a tweet my friend, only a tweet. Musically, these first two songs – the title track and “Creep Me Out” – show the benefits of patience. The opener leaves most of the angst and rebellion of life behind and lets a floaty melody and controlled vocals set the tone, saving yelps and screams for impact, while Creep Me Out finds the band offering up playful hand claps, synths and a chorus that bores into your cranium after the first thirty seconds. Basically, it’s just what you need to keep this never ending summer going and you won’t have to download a new browser to hear the songs in their true glory. My advice; launch up your twitter accounts, grab the songs and get excited to hear the rest of the record in a few months to see if the band delivers on the promise we hear from the digi-single.
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The hip hop scene in Western Canada is fairly fascinating for someone like myself who has observed it from afar. From what I’ve seen, it’s a fairly vibrant scene, and although there are certainly some acts with a populist, Swollen Members-like bent, the majority of the hip hop we’re sent has a decidedly underground and/or alternative flavour to it. In fact, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Swollen Members themselves were considered underground until they blew up on the Muchmusic and other places.
If I were looking for an example to illustrate this phenomenon, Factor’s Lawson Graham is pretty much a perfect example of this. One of the West’s busiest producers, Factor has been mentioned on the hill numerous times, both as a result of his solo releases, and his collabo’s with folks like Moka Only. Like many of his compatriots, Factor’s has clearly made some connections with a number of American underground hip hop luminairies. Guys like Sole, Kirby Dominant, 2mex, Pigeon John, Myka 9, and his label boss Ceschi all pitch in on Lawson Graham, no doubt because they appreciate the experimental spirit Factor brings to his production .
The album starts really well with two of my favorite tracks: Missed the Train and Ain’t Nothin’ Gonna Change. The former features Guelph indie warbler and hip hop enthusiast Gregory Pepper adding some vocals to a catchy, wistful track (I love this song, hence I’m excited for the Factor/Pepper collabo under the nom-de-knob-twiddle Common Grackle), while the latter is a mesmerizing head-nodder from Factor that features Barfly, Heresy Mae, and one wailing guitar solo, that somewhat strangely, fits perfectly.
Those who’ve been around the underground hip hop scene for a while will be heartened by Anticon stalwart Sole’s appearance (along with Radicalface who sings the hook portion) on the dark Living In A Vacuum. Everyone in Western hip hop’s favorite Belgian crooner Nomad returns to bless the sunny, almost 60′s rock-sounding Oh Oh Andy with his particular brand of high-pitched, semi-accented singing.
Throwback sounding Mental Illness featuring 2Mex is at once menacing and light with thick organ lines and floaty female vocal samples, it works well. Popstravaganza is also rather floaty, and features some good work from the best Halifax ex-pat with a latino-MC name in the biz, Josh Martinez. West Coast underground mainstay Pigeon John unleashes his sing-songy delivery on the first part of They Don’t Know before finishing off Factor’s percussion-heavy track with a verse.
Some Canadian content finishes off the album, with Moka Only sounding perfectly at home over his Ron Contour-partner’s beautiful beat, and fellow Saskatchewanian Def3 comes fairly hard over one of the more aggressive, traditional hip hop sounding beats on Battle Scars. I know that’s a pretty brief thumbnail sketch for an album that has as much going on as Lawson Graham does, but I’d encourage you to check it out for yourself if you’re interested in really well-crafted hip hop that takes some risks and features some really top-shelf underground talent.
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When it comes to Nova Scotia born, Hamilton based guitar shredder Luke Doucet, most of Canada takes his songs, his talent and his sound for granted. The man’s versatility allows him to beef up the afternoon radio friendly songs of Sarah Mclachlan, rip through surf rock jams as part of Veal, or build folky/roots riffs for his muse Melissa McClelland, but that diversity carries over to his solo career.
Luke’s put his heart on sleeve with records of folk, blues, country tunes and dDespite all his success, something’s never quite clicked when it comes to mass appeal. Praise always follows the , “he’s a great guitarist” school of thought, not that “he’s a great artist.” So, if you asked me if the answer for Doucet was shifting to a more classic rock sound, I probably would have shook my head disapprovingly, but when you settle into Steel City Trawler – a tribute to the city he calls home and the people in his life – a new found musical freedom that rewards honesty, big guitar licks, solos and catchy choruses fits Luke like a well tailored suit. Petty infused rockers chug along giving Steel City Trawler a hint of nostalgia that Doucet not only embraces, but embellishes.
Any music fan pushing the borders of thirty will smile when the New Order/Joy Division tribute “The Ballad of Ian Curtis” – a song that should find Doucet sharing radio time with the artists he’s helped out over the years – or the Replacements sneer and energy of “Dusted” explode out of the speakers, but this is a record that spans generations (I mean, a Lightfoot cover. How timeless is that?). Remarkably, the forage into classic rock allows Doucet to put his guitar work front and center without worrying about the repercussions of solos and intricacy.
SCT opens with as big a sound as you’ll find, the faded denim and tattered leather of “You Gotta Get It”, and Luke and his band manage mood, pace and sweat masterfully for the rest of the record. Tender ballads like “Magpie” and “Hey Now” slow things down and highlight the songwriter Doucet has become. These songs aren’t just a talented guitarist slopping through stories and emotions to get to a solo or chunky riff; no, Doucet has spent years finding his voice and his point of view and Steel City Trawlers might just be him reaching the summit. The 11 songs hide some touching lyrics and social commentary just underneath the hooks, but Doucet almost never overreaches to the point where the message overpowers the medium.
Some of the credit certainly falls to first time producer, Sloan’s Andrew Scott. His freshness provided a sounding board for Doucet and the harmonies, cymbal crashes and quick trips across the pond (“Monkeys”) give this Hammer based LP a very classic Halifax feel. In fact, if the world was a fair place, SCT will get some of the same airtime as Plaskett’s latest opus – when the female vocals bust out of the melody on “Hey Now”, you can’t help but think of Ana Egge and Rose Cousins contributions on Three – but I wonder if people are willing to accept that Doucet continues to evolve. I wonder if people can see past the talented fingers and huge White Falcon guitar and acknowledge the strides Doucet and his band have made this time around. Lets hope so, because we need someone willing to turn the amps up to ten to play music for the masses… whether they are ready to hear it or not.
Thanks to the good people over at Six-Shooter, we have an exclusive d/l of “Some of You Folks”, a song where the chime of the guitar will warm your heart and the the acoustic and keys that dance over top the reverb are enough to get the dead moving.
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MP3::Luke Doucet – Some of you Folks WEB::http://www.lukedoucet.com/ Some of You Folks – Luke Doucet
“From a literal standpoint, this story is for many of the women in my life but will likely find empathy with most; men & women alike. I wrote this as the ultimate expression of the proletariat in the sense that I imagined offering the opening stanza to a room full of people, knowing full well that it could be addressed to most of them individually, and then to share in the awkward intimacy that might result from exposing a collective loneliness. While this was initially written with specific people in mind, I think there are truisms here that are universal.
The sound of this recording is probably the closest to late era Veal recordings and for that reason it is almost nostalgic to my ears. The guitar is as pure “White Falcon” as possible. That guitar remains my #1 but many of the tracks on Steel City Trawler were put together using Fender Telecasters & Les Paul Juniors. For this song, I wanted the pure Falcon tone to dominate, with the springy sound of a Fender Deluxe Reverb on the verge of breaking up and very little else to color the sound until the end, when we disintegrate into a post-Hendrix, fuzz drenched orgy of feedback. I was once asked if music could convey a specific idea or simply an emotion. I was stumped by the question but I understand it better after having used this guitar explosion to convey the violence of loneliness.”
Over the next few days we’ll be highlighting some tracks from the highly anticipated Steel City Trawler, the new long player from Luke Doucet. To get you excited, we picked his brain and got some honest, well thought out answers about the subject matter and inspiration of his new songs. We’ll have a review and an exclusive MP3 on tomorrow when the record drops, but until then, we wanted to give Luke a bit of extra shine and invite you to see how the man’s brain works.
Today we are going to talk about “Magpie”:
Magpie: Although this record was meant to be a rock & roll album through & through, my classic rock tendencies always insist on a Classic Rock-style acoustic ballad. My inner Pete Townsend thinks he’s Elliot Smith. This is a love song. It begs forgiveness for cynicism: ‘Please bring me back from “I don’t care” to “You & Me”, the city makes a fool of me sometimes.’ Are we, as musicians (dancers, cinematographers, fashion designers–artists) so self-obsessed & narcissistic that we allow our reflections in the shop windows along Queen Street to obscure the real people we are (or claim to be)? In the annals of popular public discourse, the battlefields of Us & Them are often demarked by City & Country (or worse, the dreaded Suburb–the 416 vs 905…604 vs 250…312 vs 708). And while I fear I will always be a city boy, I am aware that our self-congratulatory big city ways are only eclipsed by our country brethren’s propensity for the provincial (who do you think YOU are?). I suppose in parts of this song I am calling myself out, for the times I lose myself at the expense of the person I love.
There is a place at the bottom of a man’s falsetto voice that is both the most difficult to use and the most vulnerable. I wrote this song in a key that would require I mine the shallow waters of this vocal soft spot. It may not be entirely flattering but it puts the vulnerability front and center.
I had nada for this week’s OSM, and in my search for something to post up, I found some more mixtapes I made back in the day, so that was the move. I’ve already done a coupleOSM’s on the back of this idea, and since those were so immensely popular (with the Ack and myself at least), I figured it was a solid plan.
So today’s OSM is based on a mixtape I made called Who’s This?, and like last time, I’ll be posting the first five songs on side A. I vaguely remember making this mix, and it’s comprised of songs from some of the more obscure tapes I had, ostensibly so that I could play the tape for people and get some kind of rap-merdly satisfaction from people saying “who’s this?” when they had no idea who any of the song’s were by. I know, I know, it’s impressive stuff really. I just like to think of it as though I was an underground rap enthusiast before underground rap even existed – I was ahead of the curve.
As it happens, I posted the opening song from this mix a couple weeks ago. I told you that I was a big fan of Funkytown Pros’ Genius, and its placement as leadoff hitter for this mix backs that up. I posted the second song on the mix, Vicious Beat Posse’s Party Trooper a couple years ago in an even-weirder-than-normal OSM that paired it with Nas for some reason. I still love Party Trooper though, it’s a solid jam. The third song is perhaps from the most “known” artist: Juice Crew legend Craig G. I suppose it’s an appropriate song, because one of the things Craig has been known for in the last little while is ghostwriting to battle raps for 8 Mile, so featuring Ripped To Streads, which is Craig just murdering MC Shan in a verbal fashion, make sense. It’s an a pretty amazing diss song too, I should add.
The Coup brings some political west coast funk to the Who’s This? mixtape, and although pretty much any rap nerd worth his salt would be able to ID this song in the internet age, back in the day this was still pretty obscure. We finish with a duo that I think remains fairly obscure today: NY duo Da King & I, comprised of MC Izzy Ice and DJ Majesty. I put Let’s Take A Trip on the mix, but I remember this being a pretty great tape so I might have to re-visit it for a future OSM dedicated solely to it. Enjoy!
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