Joe writes: Just heard Laura J Martin for the first time. This is an instrumental flute track but very infectious and quite unlike anything else I've heard recently. Different instrument, different vibe but I was reminded of Devil In The Kitchen by nineties Canadian fiddler Ashley MacIsaac: And this hypnotic track The Diamond Mountain by Sharon Shannon & Friends:

by teepoo Happy Canada's Day! To celebrate I decided to feature music from all the provinces and territories. Believe it wasn't easy, especially for the territories, but here is some Canadian music I hope you will enjoy. There is no particular reason why I chose each of these artists out of all the artists from their respective provinces. Some of these are known, some unknown but I hope you will hear something new and enjoyable! BRITISH [...]
Canadian fiddle sensation Ashley MacIsaac has a new preferred sideman in Quinn Bachand. After noticing Quinn and his sister Qristina on Youtube, the Cape Breton fiddler became a mentor to the young duo who were nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award in 2009 for their debut CD "Relative Minors". 14 year old Quinn Bachand [...]
Canadian fiddle sensation Ashley MacIsaac has a new preferred sideman in Quinn Bachand. After noticing Quinn and his sister Qristina on Youtube, the Cape Breton fiddler became a mentor to the young duo who were nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award in 2009 for their debut CD "Relative Minors". 14 year old Quinn Bachand [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , Exclusive , Movies , Canada When St. John's, Newfoundland plays host to the 2010 Juno Awards next Sunday, the city will be overrun with Canada's top musical talent, from Metric and Drake to Michael Bublé and Justin Bieber . Normally, Newfoundland isn't a regular tour stop for Canadian acts, much less international bands. So it was a big deal when the White Stripes rolled into the capital in [...]
Filed under: The Hit List "I'm a different kind of punk," Lady Gaga said when she first hit the radar screen. So was Sly Stone when the reclusive soul legend showed up at the 2006 Grammy Awards sporting a huge blond Mohawk. Punk isn't so much a music style as it is an attitude -- the refusal to do the expected. When they open the Punk Hall of Fame in some dive-bar bathroom, [...]

Filed under: News , Canada Joel Plaskett swept the East Coast Music Awards stage in a multiple of threes as the iconic rocker's triple-disc album 'Three' earned him six ECMA awards out of his leading eight nominations. The awards ceremony in Sydney, Nova Scotia was the culmination of a four-day music event showcasing the musical talent of Canada's east coast. Buyers, music consultants and other industry agents converged from as far away as Australia, Los Angeles and Nashville -- making the ECMAs to Sydney what [...]

The 2010 Winter Olympics are about more than sports, so Prince Edward Island singer-songwriter Tim Chaisson and his band Morning Fold have been video-blogging cultural events and night parties for Spinner. This time Chaisson goes to the Atlantic Canada House on Granville Island where he downs oysters and performs with famed fiddling star (and Jack White 's distant cousin) Ashley MacIsaac, fresh off his stint performing at the Olympic Opening Ceremonies.

Here's a treat for those of you who like remixes. As I've mentioned before, I'm not a big fan of having umpteen mixes of the same track as the b-sides for a single. I am, however, a huge fan of Ashley MacIsaac, and of this song in particular. And since I'm not likely to put these mixes up in a full post on Ashley, here's the promotional single for "Sleepy Maggie". Ashley MacIsaac with Mary Jane Lamond - "Sleepy Maggie" (Radio Edit) [...]

Poor Captain America, if only he was more familiar with MySpace , all this could have been avoided. Unless you've been locked in a Faraday cage stuffed under a large boulder, you've probably heard the news that Captain America has been killed off in a grand PR gesture by Marvel. Mike Sterling has an excellent tongue-in-cheek summation of the meta/media circus over at Progressive Ruin. My favorite part: Remember the 'Death of Superman' all those years ago? And all the hype around it? To this day, I encounter people who see [...]