The Bard of Montreal. The community of Canadian music is an amazing thing. Here, twenty-five artists signed up to donate time, recording studios and effort to pay tribute to one of Canada’s greatest poets. Leonard Cohen’s Old Ideas, a record so powerful and alive you start to wonder if Mr. Cohen will ever run out of steam, is the type of record that connects and inspires. It should receive awards - those as indie as the Polaris and those are far reaching as the Junos. Unfortunately, we don’t have the means or deep pockets (and no Christmas songs that could rise to the top) to give Leonard anything but our respect and love.
We asked our favorite bands to find a Cohen song that meant something to them and record it in the humblest, scrappiest way them could find. The results hiss and sigh, but they also soar. There are delightful stunning studio creations and humble, intimate bedroom recordings. There are punk rock guitars and glockenspiels. There are passionate moments, heartache and fire. There is everything that makes Leonard, well, Leonard.
We have twenty-four covers, and a spoken word piece from Mark Berube that shows admiration towards Leonard, but also helps gives us a look at the community of music in Montreal, a city that Leonard walks about freely as an equal. We have artists from Coast to Coast, including gems from The Heavy Blinkers (!!!!), Old Man Luedecke, INTRSTLLR, Kathryn Calder and many, many, many more. We couldn’t be prouder of this, and hopefully you fall in love with Cohen again, but also with the artists we feature here. If you do, buy a record or go to a show. Keep this community thriving.
Here are the artists, and the songs. Download the entire record here.
The Bard of Montreal - Mark Berube
Who By Fire - Kathryn Calder
Show Me the Place - Laila Biali
Paper Thin Hotel - The Heavy Blinkers
The Partisan - Bleating Hearts
The Law - Doug Hoyer ft. Mitch Holtby on sax
Bird on a Wire - Andrew Vincent
That Don’t Make it Junk - Daniel Ledwell
If It Be Your Will - Old Believer
One of Us Can’t Be Wrong - Zachary Lucky & Carly Maicher
Last Year’s Man - Tyler Butler
Memories - The Burning Hell ft. Katie Baggs
So Long, Marianne - Foam Lake
Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye - Ox (vocals by Ryan Bishops and mastered by A. David MacKinnon)
True Love Leaves No Traces - Extra Happy Ghost!
First We Take Manhattan - Les Jupes
LOVER LOVER LOVER - INTERSTLLR
So Long, Marianne - The Strumbellas
Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye - Pleasure Cruise
The Future - Weekend Dads
Avalanche - Cold Water
The Partisan - Teenage Kicks ft. Meaghan Pearce
Lady Midnight - Klarka Weinwurm
Closing Time - Old Man Luedecke
Chelsea Hotel #2 - WoodpigeonAudio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
MP3:: Mark Berube - The Bard of Montreal
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MP3:: The Heavy Blinkers - Paper Thin Hotel
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MP3:: Woodpigeon - Chelsea Hotel #2
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MP3:: Old Man Luedecke - Closing Time
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Download a Leonard Cohen tribute album with covers by Teenage Kicks, Old Man Luedecke, Kathryn Calder, Heavy Blinkers, and more | AUX New Music
[...] a spoken word piece too (by Mark Berube). Listen to a few tracks and download the entire collection right here. blog comments powered by Disqus [...]
Maria Viana
As a Leonard Cohen fan the only word that I have to say right now is: Thank You!
It’s always a pleasure to discover Leonard’s music in other voices.
Best regards to all
Maria
Nadia
Lovely to see other Canadians who have also covered LC. I released my own album of alt rock LC covers last year, wish I had known of this great collection coming out!
Dave
Great CD!!!! Nice job everyone. Will it be made available in high res format like FLAC?
Jared’s Podcast: Episode #167
[...] Woodpigeon - Chelsea Hotel #2 from “The Bard of Montreal” (Download it here.) [...]
Download Herohill’s Fantastic Leonard Cohen Tribute ‘The Bard of Montreal’ » Cover Me
[...] Download the entire album at Herohill’s website. Download, News Tagged with: Andrew Vincent, Bleating Hearts, Carly Maicher, Cold Water, Daniel Ledwell, Doug Hoyer, Extra Happy Ghost!, Foam Lake, Herohill, INTERSTLLR, Kathryn Calder, Katie Baggs, Klarka Weinwurm, Laila Biali, Leonard Cohen, Les Jupes, Mark Berube, Meaghan Pearce, Mitch Holtby, Old Believer, Old Man Luedecke, Ox, Pleasure Cruise, Ryan Bishops, Teenage Kicks, The Burning Hell, The Heavy Blinkers, The Strumbellas, Tyler Butler, Weekend Dads, Woodpigeon, Zachary Lucky [...]
soundtracking: download the Leonard Cohen tribute album, The Bard of Montreal « 11th ave
[...] Halifax label Herohill is offering a free download of The Bard of Montreal, an album of tributes to Montreal’s great Leonard Cohen, by indie [...]
W: Closing Time - Old Man Luedecke (Leonard Cohen cover) | Sound Vat
[...] you’ll find in the download. For all the info and to download the whole shebang, head over to Herohill. After downloading it and enjoying the hell out of it, you may want to consider sending three dozen [...]
Joe Gurba
You guys are the absolute best for doing this. This could possibly be my favourite record of the year.
Jackie Zhang
I am from China, love Cohen’s music. And thanks so much for your job.
Stumbling Over Chaos :: Linkity lurches along
[...] Download an excellent free Leonard Cohen tribute album from Herohill. (via Cover Me) [...]
| Alt PR
[...] a whole lot of love directed towards Leonard Cohen at herohill.com/2012/04/herohill-vs-leonard-cohen-the-bard-of-montreal.htm which is home to a free tribute album, The Bard Of Montreal, featuring all manner of local alt. [...]
Barbara MacCormack
Thank you so much for this beautiful tribute to Cohen. I admire his poetry and music enormously and am loving this delightful and soulful work by so many of our Canadian artists!
Download This, OR, Why Herohill Is A Blog You Should Read « Sounds Like Work - Adam Brady
[...] Download it, listen to it, love it, and give Herohill a high five the next time you see them. I think that’d mean you were in Halifax, but… Y’know, they deserve a high five. Share this:FacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. [...]
Covers: Doug Hoyer and Jessica Jalbert | Silent Shout - Canadian indie electronic music blog and Toronto DJ night
[...] synth-lounge vocodery take on Leonard Cohen’s “The Law” was a contribution to Herohill‘s massive tribute compilation last [...]