Songs of the Week: May 27 - June 02, 2024

June 03, 2024 by Christine McAvoy in Song Of The Day, Songs Of The Week

“Kate Moon” by Said The Whale

Last week, Said the Whale released their 163rd song, “Kate Moon” — though members of their recently relaunched patreon may have heard it a bit sooner.

Joined by their long-time friend David Vertesi, who produced as well as played bass, the band described the new tune as “a warm hug on a cold and damp west coast day” which has been needed after the last few days here in Vancouver!

Sink into the embrace by listening below!

Kirk

“Say Goodnight” by Debra-Jean Creelman

Okay, this new single from Vancouver’s Debra-Jean Creelman is STACKED with talent.

First off, obviously the woman herself, but on trumpet on “Say Goodnight” you’ve got JP Carter (of Destroyer), multi-instrumentalist Sean Cronin, and Jo Passed’s Jo Hirabiyashi! And on top of that, in the live version below, Jasmin Parkin of Mother Mother on vocals, as well as a whole horn section.

The song itself “questions whether it’s possible to maintain one’s artistic edge while being in love”, and comes from DJ’s upcoming album Ego Death, which is out on July 12th (and I cannot wait!).

Christine

“Keep Me Free” by Peter Dreams

You probably know Peter Dreams better as July Talk’s Peter Dreimanis, but last week he unveiled a brand new solo project with the first single, “Keep Me Free”.

A bit lighter than July Talk’s grittiness, the new song is a breezy summer jam that was made in collaboration with the fine folks of MOONRIIVR.

No word yet on a full album from Peter Dreams, but he will be at the Hillside Festival in Guelph this summer, so here’s hoping we hear more soon!

Kirk

“Anyone Else's Eyes” by Meko Brain

Speaking of solo acts using a pseudonym that’s close to their real name: Mike O’Brien has debuted his latest project, Meko Brain.

Best known as part of Zeus, O’Brien has also worked with the likes of Dan Mangan, Bahamas, and Jason Collett (among many others) but now dropped his solo song, “Anyone Else's Eyes”.

The new single is a chill tune perfect for a warm evening, and Mike explains “I think we can all benefit from the old adage of walking a mile in someone else's shoes. It has to be possible to step back and zoom out and try to see someone else's point of view. The easiest way to adopt this mentality for me is to apply it to my immediate personal relationships. In a sort of montage way, I think I wanted to express this idea/feeling in the song.”

Have a listen below!

Kirk

Songs of the Week: February 19 - 25, 2024

February 26, 2024 by Kirk Hamilton in Song Of The Day, Songs Of The Week

“No Safe + Sound” by July Talk

A year after the release of their album Remeber Never Before, July Talk are back with a deluxe edition! The new version of the album features two new songs, including “No Safe + Sound”, produced by Kevin Drew.

According to Leah Fay Goldstein, the new song is “a series of promises. It is about greeting uncertain and imperfect futures with a willingness to show up and keep trying. The nagging divine and communal pressure that urges us to never lose hope is as mundane and as vital as the blood in our veins. You don’t tell your heart to pump or your lungs to breathe, they just do it. Yes there will be suffering, yes there will be valid reasons for fear, but there will always also be love. Love is the cure, love is the greatest assurance of all. Love is how we got here. Love is why we stay.”

The Deluxe album also features three live recordings from their 2023 tour, “After This,” “Human Side,” and “I Am Water", as well as a ‘piano version’ of “When You Stop”. Keep an eye out for it on March 8th!

Kirk

“Hello Everyone (Ceasefire Now)” by Jenn Grant

Last week Jenn Grant released “Hello everyone (Ceasefire Now)” alongside an incredible group of over 35 musicians from across Canada, Ireland and Australia.

The song was co-written with Daniel Ledwell, and features Aquakultre, Justin Rutledge, Mo Kenney, Sarah Slean, Terra Lightfoot, The Once, and Tim Chaisson, among many, many others.

You can pick up the song on Bandcamp, with 100% of proceeds going to Palestinian Red Crescent Society (as well as see a full list of everyone involved).

Kirk

  
    <a href="https://jenngrant.bandcamp.com/track/hello-everyone-ceasefire-now">Hello Everyone (Ceasefire Now) by Jenn Grant</a>
  

“Dancing For The Soldiers” by Adrian Glynn

Adrian Glynn (whose folk group The Fugitives was nominated for a JUNO in 2022) is about to release a new solo album (tomorrow!) titled You’re Just A Place That I Know.

The new work is based around his family heritage, and keeps his dark-folk sound, but uses the addition of traditional Ukrainian instruments and a Ukranian-Canadian Choir.

Glynn says: “After speaking with my Aunt Genya, the story-keeper of my Ukrainian side of the family, a couple years ago, I began composing a song-cycle that follows the details of my grandparents’ narrative, including: my Baba, at 16, being forced by Germans from her Carpathian village into forced labour a thousand kilometers away; my Dido folk-dancing to win cigarettes from impressed Allied soldiers in a refugee camp; my Baba invoking the words of poet Taras Shevchenko to lay her husband to rest after their long life together in Montreal; and lastly, to my own final visit with my Baba in her room at Royal Vic hospital, her memories now a mosaic of dementia as we flipped through an old photo album together”.

“This album is not about modern Ukraine, but certainly the current and horrific existential threat to my ancestral homeland spurred me to to tell this story of my grandparents’ flight from war to settle somewhere unfamiliar. A story that is all too true for Ukrainians today, 80 years on”.

Take a listen to one of the new songs, “Dancing For The Soldiers”, below.

Christine

“Bruised” by BOBBI

A few years ago, Vancouver musician Kaylee Johnston picked up, moved to London (England, not Ontario) and started making music under the name BOBBI.

New she’s back with a brand new song “Bruised”, which was mere weeks before her life -- and the entire world -- was upended in 2020. It’s a haunting electro-pop tune about ‘spiritual narcissism’, and is the first new single off her EP, coming out later this year.

The song was written with Model 86, and you can check out the video directed by Adem Boutlidja below!

Kirk

“She Told Me Where To Go” by Old Man Luedecke

Last week Old Man Luedecke released the title track from his new album She Told Me Where To Go.

The album was produced by Afie Jurvanen (Bahamas) and sees OML putting down the signature banjo for it. Don’t be worried though, as you’ll hear in the track below, the new music is hella fun.

He’s heading out on the road for a string of dates with Matt Anderson, and his own tour, and while there’s no Vancouver date yet, you bet I’ll be keeping an eye out!

Christine

Songs of the Week: December 26, 2022 - January 01, 2023

January 02, 2023 by Kirk Hamilton in Song Of The Day

“Repeat” by July Talk

Last month, on the winter solstice, July Talk released the latest song from their upcoming album, Remember Never Before.

“Repeat” is a slow burn of a song, with gorgeous interplay between the voiced of Leah Fay and Peter Dreimanis. According to the band, the song is “a meditation on the decisions we make and the reasons we make them.”

The new album is out in a few short weeks, on January 20, and you can check out the karaoke styled lyrics video for “Repeat” below!

Kirk

“Catch Your Eye” by Andy Shauf

It was hard to keep on top of new music over the holiday but this email…caught my eye.
Sorry.
”Catch Your Eye” is the new offering from Andy Shauf, and if from his upcoming EP Norm, out in February.
About a missed connection at a grocery store, (that could be ripped from the Georgia Straight “I Saw You” posts), it’s a sweet little song, with an equally sweet animated video.

Christine

“You’d Like To Believe” by Ten Kills The Pack

A poignant and timely song by Ten Kills The Pack, “You’d Like To Believe” is a new single off his upcoming album Thank You For Trying: ACT II.
The track “addresses the daily struggles with depression and how those suffering often rationalize their state with excuses”.
Thank You For Trying: ACT II will be released on March 10th.

Christine

Songs of the Week: October 03 - 09, 2022

October 11, 2022 by Kirk Hamilton in Song Of The Day

“After This” by July Talk

The new July Talk album is almost here. For what seems like months, the band has been teasing us on social media, culminating at a show last week at Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern, where they played the full album front-to-back. The next day they released not one, not two, but three brand new songs from the upcoming album, Remember Never Before.

“After This” opens the album, and the Kevin Drew-produced song is exactly the banger you would expect from the band.

Check out the video for it song below, and click here for the other two songs, “Certain Father” (which features Spencer Krug!) and “Hold”.

Kirk

“Lighthouse in Little Lorraine” by Adam Baldwin

Adam Baldwin is one of my favourite songwriters particularly because of his ability to tell a story with his music.
”Lighthouse in Little Lorraine” from his newly released album Concertos & Serenades, is another brilliant example of his talent.
The song is about out of work fishermen and what they turned to in desperate times. I’ll leave the description at that, because the music video that was directed by award-winner Andy Hines, does a beautiful job to match the song. Oh, and I did a double take when I realized Greg Thomey of This Hour Has 22 Minutes fame is in it!

Baldwin will be in Vancouver at the Fox Cabaret on November 8th.

Christine

“My People” by The Beaches

The Beaches have been coming out with banger after banger this year, and the new track “My People” is another one.
About being young and broke in Toronto, and what they do to scrape by, the new track has driving drums and a killer bass line.
Accompanying the song is a live video from their hometown show at History in Toronto - which is full of the energy The Beaches are known for. Oh, and for something totally random but fun, the band is going to appear on this season of Top Chef Canada!

Christine

“All Roads” by Dan Mangan

I know what you’re thinking, and no; the new Dan Mangan song is not a cover of the Arkells hit “All Roads”. And not only is it not a cover, but Dan even joked that the two songs are about as tonally opposite as you can get.

Dan’s “All Roads” is a floaty indie-rock track about Mangan’s philosophical reflection ‘the thing I thought that was in the way, well it was the way’. He goes on to explain: “It’s absurd and beautiful how much consideration and yearning we place into a life so fleeting. In a billion years, it’s all just space dust. No John Lennon, no Oprah. Relativity is infinite, and we are infinitesimal. And yet, in the here and now, how could anything matter more? This song is about being emancipated by the beautiful humility of littleness.”

“All Roads” is the fourth song released off his upcoming album, Being Somewhere, which you can pick up at the end of the month, October 28th. Or if you want even more Dan Mangan Content, you can subscribe to his recently launched substack called Reality Shield, where you can find demos, AMAs, essays, and live show recordings.

Kirk

Songs of the Week: November 08 - 14, 2021

November 15, 2021 by Christine McAvoy in Song Of The Day

“I Am Water” by July Talk

After weeks of teasing on twitter what their new album would sound like, July Talk has returned with a brand new single, “I Am Water”. The new tune, produced by Graham Walsh, is “ruled by a vast force of emotion, just as the tide is controlled by the moon”, fitting since it features the familiar ebb & flow between Leah and Peter’s vocals.

With the new song, they’ve also partnered with Six Shooter Records and founded Danuta, which is “equal parts independent record label, production company and creative collective, as a new home base for Leah Fay Goldstein and Peter Dreimanis’ many creative pursuits.”

They’re also gearing up for a Canadian tour, which includes a stop right here in Vancouver, at the Queen E Theatre on Dec 22nd, with Kandle supporting them!

Kirk

“Waiting” and “Kill Something” by PUP

PUP has this excellent way of making even their heavier songs super sing-a-long-able (is that a word? It is now.). This is exactly what you get from “Waiting”, the first of two new tracks the band released this week.

The second, “Kill Something”, is about lead singer Stefan Babcock’s dog Moose. Apparently he loves to “destroy his favorite things, and then is sad that those things are destroyed” - which is definitely a dog thing.
The band will be touring again starting in February, including a show at the PNE Forum with Billy Talent on Valentine’s Day.

Christine

“Look Out!” by Peach Pit

And now to mellow you out, the new song from Vancouver’s Peach Pit.

“Look Out!” has summer-beachy-sounds - which we can definitely all use right now - and comes with a super fun little video that give me serious Wes Anderson vibes. They’re new album, From 2 to 3, is set to be released on March 4th, and they’ll be heading out to tour it shortly after.
Two shows are listed for Vancouver - an all ages afternoon show and a 19+ one, both at the Commodore on April 24th.
Can’t wait for more music to be released between now and then, but in the meantime, watch the new video below.

Christine

Song of the Day: March 31, 2018 - "I Really Like You" by Little Junior (Carly Rae Jepsen cover)

March 31, 2018 by Christine McAvoy in Song Of The Day

Not sure I knew that I needed a shot-for-shot remake of Carly Rae Jepsen's song "I Really Like" you, covered by Toronto power-pop band Little Junior, that stars Schitt's Creek's Annie Murphy in a (pretty freaky) Tom Hanks mask...but I guess I did.

From the band:
"Whatever money we get for covering this tune by the flawless Carly Rae Jepsen is going to Youth Line, a youth-led organization that provides peer support for LGBTQ2 youth in Toronto. It's a great cause and we feel we have a responsibility to use our privilege to give back to our community. To our LGBTQ2 family and friends: we see you, we're here for you." - Rane Elliott-Armstrong

Also, good luck getting it un-stuck from your brain after watching it!

P.S. The band will be on tour across Canada with Born Ruffians, including a stop in Vancouver on May 4th at Fortune Sound Club.

Song of the Day: October 30, 2017 - "Love Too Soon" by Born Ruffians

October 30, 2017 by Christine McAvoy in Song Of The Day

We've got a new single AND a video from Ontario's Born Ruffians, called "Love Too Soon", and fun fact, the video was directed by Leah and Peter from July Talk!

The Ruffians have just wrapped up their tour with the New Pornographers, and if you're wondering when you can see Luke Lalonde next, he recently made his acting debut in a film called Sundowners (which Leah is also in) - check out the trailer here, and you can rent the film (in Canada) in iTunes by clicking HERE.

Song of the Day: July 07, 2017 - "Little Things" by White Hot Guilt

July 07, 2017 by Kirk Hamilton in Song Of The Day

Earworm Warning: Josh Warburton (of July Talk) and Thomas D'Arcy (Small Sins/Tommy Hawkins/producer extraordinaire) have teamed up for a song that is going to get stuck in your head for days.

"Little Things" is the first single from White Hot Guilt, and I dare you not to be singing "ooo-oo-hoo-oo-ooo" for the rest of the day.

The duo is releasing a self-titled EP on July 21st, and all the proceeds from sales will be donated to 'SKETCH' - a Toronto-based community-arts-development initiative that "creates equitable opportunities for young people homeless and on the margins from across Canada to experience the transformative power of the arts."