Posts Tagged ‘Toronto’

CHARLOTTE CORNFIELD – ” Storm Clouds “

Posted: March 1, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Known both as a songwriter in her own right, as well as a very talented drummer who’s played with the likes of Tim Darcy and Molly Burch, Toronto’s Charlotte Cornfield caught the ear of many with her 2016 release, Future Snowbird. Some three years later, Charlotte is back with a new album, “The Shape Of Your Name”, due in April. The record was the result of a residency at The Banff Centre, as Charlotte explains, “my initial intention wasn’t to make a record at all”, yet with a batch of songs as good anything in her career to date, let’s be very glad a record was made.

This week Charlotte has shared the latest single from the record, “Storm Clouds”, one of the first songs recorded during the Banff sessions. Featuring backing vocals from Kevin Drew, alongside contributions from a number of other Broken Social Scene Members, the track reverberates around the central repeated mantra, ‘storm clouds, elation, desire, mania, darkness’, described by Charlotte as a personal meditation, it’s a phrase she’s carried with her without ever quite knowing what to do with. Musically, the track has a loosely folky feel, the Lucy Dacus-like guitar line paired with a warm melody that has a touch of Natalie Prass or the aforementioned Kevin Morby. An album recorded over a three year period and numerous sessions,

The album has a more honed studio sound than Cornfield’s scrappier 2016 release Future Snowbird, and for good reason: it was recorded in 5 different sessions over the course of 3 years. The songs are Cornfield’s strongest and most striking to date – contemplative and contemporary, funny and heart-wrenching – and they’ve got that stuck-in-your-head-for-days quality that Cornfield is known for.

The Shape Of Your Name is many ways a tribute to taking your time; on this sparkling evidence, it’s time well spent.

Band Members
Charlotte Cornfield,
Sam Gleason,
Steven Foster,
Ben Harney,

The Shape Of Your Name is out April 5th via Next Door Records.

SANDRO PERRI – ” In Another Life “

Posted: December 12, 2018 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Sandro Perri returns with In Another Life, his first new solo album since the acclaimed Impossible Spaces from 2011 (which garnered a Best New Track and Top 50 Albums of 2011 from Pitchfork, among many other accolades). Perri has been called “one of the most singular producers in contemporary music” and his long affiliation with Constellation through various electronic and singer-songwriter guises (Polmo Polpo, Glissandro 70, Off World) has produced a uniquely adventurous and iconoclastic discography. In Another Life expands on this in peerless fashion.

The new album is what Perri describes as “an experiment in ‘infinite’ songwriting.” The title track is a 24-minute pop mantra for sequenced synth, piano, guitar and voice, progressing sideways rather than forward. A relaxed three-chord vamp runs the length of the album’s Side One, peppered with Sandro’s languid, lilting vocal and adorned with continually developing musical details – massaging the listener with the joys of repetition while defying stasis and monotony. Like the longer-form work of fellow-travellers Bill Callahan, Destroyer or Arthur Russell, Perri extends the notion of the meditative minimalist pop song to its literal maximum, flouting ‘commercial’ concerns in our streamingly short-attention-span era – and perhaps implicitly calling for a politics of slow consumption? The lyric of “In Another Life” suggests as much, moving through bemused critiques and degrees of equivocation about unrealized utopias, culminating with the final stanza: “Beyond the choice of create or destroy / inherit, steal, gift or employ / Fair is far too small a word we’d enjoy / In another life / So hold a promise no bigger than two hands / Hope scaled and re-read in human / And not reduced to a list of demands / In another life.”

Side Two of In Another Life features a similar approach, though in a distinct 3-part series: “Everybody’s Paris” begins with Perri on vocals, with the mic then handed over to André Ethier (The Deadly Snakes) and Dan Bejar (Destroyer) respectively, who each take a vocal turn singing lyrics of their own. Sandro calls this “a song-cycle designed to accept any lyrical variation fed into it: a fill-in-the-blanks questionnaire in the form of a song.” Of course “Everybody’s Paris” ends up being much more than this, with the evocative phrase of the song’s title serving as the lyrical tent pole and recurring refrain; an anchor point for signification and sentiment that intentionally belies the suggestion of anything prosaic or administrative about Perri’s formal conceit. In the hands of these three master lyricists and voices – and with Perri subtly reconfiguring the instrumentation and arrangements for each of the three parts – “Everybody’s Paris” emerges as a profound and fitting sibling (a set of triplet brothers?) to Side One’s ‘infinite’ title track. 

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The result is a gently yet enormously affecting album that basks thoughtfully and discerningly in a slow, sweet melancholia. In Another Life is a supremely listenable return to form for Sandro Perri, the music like a temporal analogue to a tender nature tableau registering slight changes under shifting light and a meditative gaze: at once appearing to signify only itself, while auguring the promise of harmonious life. 

Released September 14th, 2018

DEANNA PETCOFF – ” Stress “

Posted: November 18, 2018 in MUSIC
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Hailing from Toronto, Deanna Petcoff was inspired to pick-up a guitar by the likes of David Bowie and Patti Smith, and then learnt what to do with it when she attended Girl’s Rock Camp Toronto, back in 2011. Inspired to form a band, Deanna spent most of her High School years performing and writing with Pins And Needles, and following their demise is heading off on a highly promising solo career.

Back in March she shared her excellent debut single, Terribly True, and this week Deanna has followed that track up with a new single, Stress. The track is a dissection of a fading relationship, and the complex array of emotions that comes with that, as Deanna explains, “way too often, I find that feeling is described by leaning heavily on the sadness that it comes with, ignoring all of the anger in it, as well. I wanted to show the range of emotions women feel with the loss of love that aren’t just the sadness of heartbreak”. Musically, the track is a blast of guitar chords, tumbling flourishes of piano and Deanna’s dextrous vocal performance; one moment wistfully asking, “I could walk around your town for weeks, but I feel like you’d never even notice me”, the next raging into the pronouncement, “honey I don’t know how I’m not sick of you”. Deanna works on the premise of, “happy songs about sad things”, with her eye for an emotional detail and way with a perfect melody, the sad songs couldn’t hope to sound any better.

Stress is out now.

BLACK DRESSES – ” Hell Is Real “

Posted: November 1, 2018 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Black Dresses is the collaborative effort of the artists known as Dei Genetrix (formerly Girls Rituals) and Rook, and we named their debut album Waste Isolation one of the best albums of 2018 so far. Not long after that, Black Dresses put out the Hell Is Real EP. The duo’s noisy dark-pop is as ferocious as it is fun, even when they’re singing about traumatic experiences. Catharsis is this band’s driving force; if you don’t have anything to scream about, they’ll give you something to scream about.

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This is like lesbian Death Grips…. On second thought, these women make Death Grips look like Bryan Adams. Synths that can abrade away cities and lyrics that will send violent shivers down everyone’s spines. It’s painfully honest, horrifically brutal, and definitely one of the best things I heard this year!

DILLY DALLY – ” Heaven “

Posted: September 14, 2018 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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In the short time since they released their acclaimed debut record, ‘Sore,’ Dilly Dally toured the world and took the press by storm, only to nearly collapse under the weight of their own success and call it quits forever. Rising from the ashes with more power and conviction than ever before, the Toronto rockers’ new album is, appropriately enough, titled ‘Heaven,’ and it’s a fierce, fiery ode to optimism, a distortion-soaked battle cry for hope and beauty in a world of darkness and doubt. Frontwoman Katie Monks describes the songs as coping mechanisms, and the collection does indeed form something of a survival kit for hard times, but even more than that, it’s a declaration of faith in the power of music and a burning reminder that we need not wait until the afterlife for things to get better.

 Recorded with producer Rob Schnapf (Elliott Smith, Beck), ‘Heaven’ highlights Dilly Dally’s rough edges in all their ragged glory, drawing every potent ounce of energy from the foursome’s swampy tones, raspy vocals, and volatile rhythm section. While the music is undeniably ferocious, there’s uplift woven into the fabric of every track. ‘Heaven’ opens with the dreamy “I Feel Free,” which begins as a floating, untethered soundscape before transforming into a soaring anthem for a world that’s ready to finally turn the page on all the darkness and disillusion the last few years have wrought.

The inexorable “Believe” insists on self-confidence, while the driving “Sober Motel” celebrates the lucidity a clear mind, and the lilting “Sorry Ur Mad” makes a case for releasing yourself from the prisons of anger and resentment. Escape is a frequent goal—from the bruising “Marijuana” to the epic queer tragedy of “Bad Biology”—but it ultimately solves very little, at least in any permanent way, and so the album carves out its own atheistic religion to get through the day, a faith that validates our pain as real but responds with a beaming light of hope (and maybe a little bit of weed).

Monks and guitarist Liz Ball originally formed the band in high school after bonding over a shared love for explosive, grungy rock and roll. By the time they recorded their debut, the pair had fleshed out the lineup with bassist Jimmy Tony and drummer Benjamin Reinhartz and hit a blistering stride that floored critics on both sides of the Atlantic. Rolling Stone hailed ‘Sore’ as a “blazing” breakout that “sounds like an unleashed id with a sick distortion pedal,” while Fader said it “hits that ever-elusive sweetspot between total recklessness and sly control,” and Pitchfork raved that the record “oozes with female desire” and offers up “a heavy swagger redolent of some of the best ever alt-rock.” In the UK, The Guardian praised the band’s “bludgeoning bass, gnarly guitars and red-raw vocals,” and The Line Of Best Fit dubbed it “a seminal first album.” The music earned Dilly Dally dates with Grouplove, METZ, and Fat White Family in addition to their first-ever international headline tour and festival appearances from Osheaga to Field Day.

“Doom” from Dilly Dally’s new album ‘Heaven’ out now!

GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS – ” The Waves, The Wake “

Posted: August 15, 2018 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Toronto Canadian band Great Lake Swimmers have established their alluring sound through a combination of low-lit ambiance and celestial soundscapes, essential ingredients that have helped lend an atmospheric element to their wholly mellow musings. For their latest opus, titled The Waves, The Wake, these Juno Prize contenders operating under the leadership of chief helmsman Tony Dekker opted to take things down even further in terms of their unobtrusive settings.

The object was to record the album absent one of a key instrument: acoustic guitar. Presumably that means someone was on furlough, but as evidenced by the results, that timbre was barely missed at all. The band still manage to ply their lovely, if elusive, melodies, and if specific tracks—“The Talking Wind,” “In a Certain Light” and “Falling Apart”in particular

“The Talking Wind,” seems especially hushed, it’s merely an outgrowth of their usual unassuming approach. When asked about the new song, Dekker replied, “’Alone But Not Alone’ is a straighter shooter than some of the other tracks on the new album, with a little more of a familiar 12-string jangle, and it’s sort of a bridge back across our fifteen-year, seven-album catalogue. We set out to make a breezy, 1960’s AM radio inspired kind of thing, with a few twists and turns, because it seemed to be what the song was asking for, in the midst of experimenting with sounds for some of the other new songs. As for the lyrics, sometimes it can be easy to find yourself in a crowded place but still feel utterly alone. This song is a reflection on that sense of suffocating connectedness while still feeling disconnected at the same time. In the end it’s a pretty lonely place, but there’s a resolve to keep an open heart and mind.”

The shimmer that illuminate such songs as “Mouth of Flames” and “The Open Sea” are contrasted, albeit briefly, in the upbeat tick of “Alone But Not Alone” and the quiet insistence of “Side Effects,” but it’s the acapella “Visions of a Distant World” that best defines the effort overall. The album was recorded in the 145 year-old Bishop Cronyn Memorial Church in London, Ontario, and given the environs, it gives some indication as to the sedate, worshipful nature of the songs.

While some may tend to interpret those twilight tones as a slumber fest, the overall beauty of The Waves further illuminates its charms. The delicate pluck of strings that resonates throughout “Holding Nothing Back” and “Unmaking the Bed” simulates the sound of a lullaby while underscoring melodies that are both elusive and surreal. Granted, it’s hardly the kind of thing one would play for guests at a wild party or as the prelude to a night out, but it resonates all the same. The Waves, The Wake is simply an extension of Great Lake Swimmers’ ongoing instincts, and in that regard, it finds them following through to until they realize those very last strokes.

DILLY DALLY – ” I Feel Free “

Posted: July 2, 2018 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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It’s been a tempestuous times for Dilly Dally since the release of their critically acclaimed debut album ‘Sore.’ It appears that the pressure environment of life on the road, the cycle of relentless promo and touring took a toll on the band’s mental well being to such an extent that they almost called it quits.

They took time out to deal with their own individual needs, find some much-needed headspace and when they the felt ready regrouped and made a decision – ‘fuck this, let’s do our thing.’ The result is their second album, the appropriately named ‘Heaven’ which guitarist and singer Katie Monks has described as “the album we’d make if the band died and went to heaven,”. The lead track ‘I Feel Free’ demonstrates that Monks’ trademark razorwire nettle sting roar remains as impassioned and potent as ever whilst her bandmates have reignited that raging fire that made their debut such a thrilling listen.

The wonderfully poignant cinematic accompanying video, written and directed by Monks herself, sees her literally digging her bandmates (and a rather sexy flying V) from the grave in an attempt to bring them back to life. It acts as a curiously moving metaphor for the recent turbulent times the band have endured as Monks desperately tries to revive them, pleading with them as if to say – let’s not kill this, let’s fight for each, the band, and what we’ve created between us.  It’s a stunning return from Dilly Dally who have always managed to mix rage with vulnerability to produce some wonderfully real visceral music and ‘I Feel Free’ just might be the Toronto four piece’s most succinctly powerful moment yet.

“I Feel Free” from Dilly Dally’s new album ‘Heaven’ out September 14th, 2018.

The VYPERS – ” Champion 100 ” 10″ Vinyl EP

Posted: May 9, 2018 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Toronto’s Vypers released a new 4-song EP back in March and if you want the limited vinyl, you’d better act quick!, The four-track offering will be treated to a physical release on clear 10-inch vinyl via Fishbum Records.

Vypers play loud high energy psychedelic garage rock all enveloped in a wall of noise and plethora of hooks.

A couple of the tracks are previously released but no matter, “Mr. Girl” deserves to be played at least as much as “Despacito.” . Beyond that, you can also check out the new video for “My Girl.” It was shot on a ’90s camcorder and the band blew their $50 budget on “dollar store confetti guns and gin.” The results are exactly as fun as they sound.

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Vypers The Band are:

Nic Waterman – Fuzz Guitar, Vocals
Damien Florio – Drums
Patrick Lefler – Bass
Liam Cosby – Verb Guitar, Vocals

ALVVAYS – ” Dreams Tonite “

Posted: April 22, 2018 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Representing the softer side of indie rock, Canada’s Alvvays are set to bring their light, breezy vibe to the desert. In 2017 the band released Antisocialites, a deceptively anxious collection of warm, dreamy melodies and jangly guitars. It was one of our favorites of 2017. Toronto-based five-piece Alvvays combine their fuzzy, jangly indie pop with infectious, sugary melodies that recall the likes of Scottish outfit Teenage Fanclub and nod to the U.K. post-punk act the Dolly Mixture. Lead vocalist Molly Rankin — the daughter of John Morris Rankin from the popular Canadian folk family group the Rankin Family — was joined by childhood neighbor Kerri MacLellan on keyboards, and met guitarist Alec O’Hanley at a show as a teenager before they proceeded to write music together. Rankin self-released a solo EP in 2010 with the help of O’Hanley before bringing the rest of Alvvays together, with Brian Murphy (bass) and Phil MacIsaac (drums) joining the fold.

NORTHERN HEIRS – ” Quiet Company “

Posted: February 22, 2018 in MUSIC
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Northern Heirs is a rock band from Toronto Ontario. This project is a labour of love born of a desire to make honest, thoughtful music. Debut 6-Song EP was released in May 2017.

This is a compelling sound indeed. This Toronto act blends folk, rock, and dream pop to form an art all their own. Vocally, it reminds us of City & Colour while instrumentally, it can vary depending on what point of the track you are currently listening to. Lyrically they are surprisingly talented and relevant, mixing a variety of life and dreams. With one EP under their belts, the act are currently working on crafting more well received tracks for their next anticipated effort. We cannot wait to hear more from the guys.

The indie rock outfit formed by recording Toronto artist Scott Carruthers and producer Michael Norberg to fill the creative space between the down time of their own personal projects became this lovely formidable thing. Scott’s considerable backlog of material crafted between two like minds became the debut EP

Single from Northern Heirs, released February 2018.

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