As with many of our more folk-oriented Covered In Folk subjects, I discovered the work of Dougie MacLean through two primary sources: through my father, who handed me one of his albums over a decade ago, and through label-watching, after discovering the same poignant song twice over, in separate female voices, and realizing that neither of them had written it. The song in question is Caledonia , the Latin name for Scotland, and as its matronymic title implies, though it treats its subject as an anthropomorphised object of desire, its lyrics truly [...]
JT and the Clouds Three reasons-as-good-as- Kitten-Mittens to head over to Lincoln Hall tonight... 1. I'm no Tom Skilling , but today's forecast calls for 80 percent chance of boogie as JT & The Clouds develop over Lincoln Hall's stage. The Chicago sextet specializes in southern fried rock peppered with groovy R&B and gritty soul. JT & The Cloud's latest album Caledonia sees the band crafting roots rocking tunes in the vein of the Rolling Stones or the Black Crowes. You'll want to [...]
Of all the local bands made good, I'm always surprised by how little attention we give Caledonia . The boys write solid songs, stand for something and aren't afraid to pile in the van and tour the shit out of their songs. In this era of blog TUMBLR-born and praised bands, it's refreshing to see a band still go out and earn fans the old fashioned way. The band has taken a pause, but refuse to idle. Zac Crouse just completed an epic Ottawa-Halifax sea kayaking journey to show [...]
CONTEST - Zac is offering up 2 tickets to the CD release show for You Plan To Do Nothing @ The Company House on Nov. 13th @ The Company House. To enter, simply hit us up with your details via email (HEROHILL AT GMAIL DOTCOM) or in the comments section below . Unfortunately, the stereotypical assumptions most have of a man going off into the wilderness is one of solitude; the need to escape from the machine and what's ruining society. Sadly, anyone that challenges the power of nature or embraces [...]
Codeine Velvet Club will be playing in Bucharest tomorrow and head to Japan later this summer for what will likely be their last gig. Still, the band fronted by Scotland's Most Eligible Lady Lou Hickey and Jon Fratelli went down a storm at SXSW and Lou recently spoke to us about that experience and more: Lou [...]
Happy 2010!! To everyone. Here is part 2 of my honorable mentions 2009. As the last post, these are some albums I forgot to put in my Best of 2009 list . Here is a added bonus Ruby Jean & the Thoughtful Bees - Ruby Jean & the Thoughtful Bees Rebekah Higgs side project and its a fun electro-rock-dance affair. Check out tracks: You Don't Miss Me [...]
Captains Dead Blog joins in the fray at Day 10 of the "Best of 20093 Blogger crew with a list that apparently requires a stroll down memory lane. Honestly, this stroll is one that could be rightfully taken out of yours truly's memory banks....almost. Regardless of the payoff being quite a spectacular list, it just might be worth it for a photo of Greg at 9 years old... ~Smansmith ~~~ The year was 1983... ...the year when I started [...]
Yes, you read that right. It's not a Best-of list because if herohill has proved anything in our six or seven years of existence, it's that we don't often sync up with the masses and despite our great efforts, not many people really gravitate towards Canadian content, especially the acts we seem to love. So when you look at the list and start to disagree, to quote Rob Base, "you don't like it, so what, I don't care." Obviously, we want to turn you on to a few new bands, but we can't hit the mark with everyone. [...]
Yes, you read that right. It's not a Best-of list because if herohill has proved anything in our six or seven years of existence, it's that we don't often sync up with the masses and despite our great efforts, not many people really gravitate towards Canadian content, especially the acts we seem to love. So when you look at the list and start to disagree, to quote Rob Base, "you don't like it, so what, I don't care." Obviously, we want to turn you on to a few new bands, but we can't hit the mark with everyone. [...]
the Halifax band Caledonia stopped by Canteen for a great installment of Bands Undone *. Let's say their set up was big. I really enjoyed the four song set the band did. Funny during the set when the keyboardist wore a duct tape hat. The band members were very nice. Surprised to find out that the band is nominated for four ECMAs. That Ottawa was their final stop of their tour. The band was also nice enough to give me their download [...]
Welcome to my weekly roundup of inexpensive indie(ish) musical happenings in downtown Toronto, all for $10 or less. If I'm missing something you think I should list, or you have any comments, let me know. I star (*) shows that most interest me. Like this list? Join my Facebook group or subscribe to this blog. Subscribe to my podcast (or download the episodes) here , or through iTunes . The latest ones are here . Make sure to [...]
With CBC threatening to cancel the 5 PM airing of the Simpson, it only seems fitting that I run a Simpsons inspired "clip-show" style post trying to bring some shine to local artists. It's been an impressive year already and with Rich Aucoin, Jon McKiel and Ruth Minnikin all holding finished records in their respective vaults, we obviously aren't done yet. Obviously, record like Joel Plaskett , Classified and Jenn Grant would be standing high on this list, but if you are from Halifax and reading a music blog, chances are you already [...]
Frank Yang Woodpigeon shows are like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get. The first time I saw them live at Pop Montreal 2007 , they were a rhythm section-less five-piece, more church choir than pop band but the next time, opening for Calexico last July , they were kitted out as an eight-piece and most certainly capable of bringing the rock. So it was anyone's guess as to which Woodpigeon would come to roost at the Horseshoe on Saturday night, opening up [...]
You'd think with all the rain we've been having that I'd be able to spend more time writing, but for some reason it's not working out that way. I am as behind as ever. Today I sat down and imported more than 100 songs that had piled up in my download folder. Now if I could just find time to listen to them all! Any hoo , a couple of things intrigue me and I figured I'd share them today since there's not much else to do to distract me (aside from the [...]
Mason Hastie If there's one thing I learned from being on the Grand Jury for last year's Polaris Prize , it's that the duties of being a regular jurist are far, far, far, far less stressful. There's a real burden of responsibility when you're one of the 11 whose duty it is to choose Canada's "best album of the year", forcing you to consider each nominee on the short list objectively, checking as much as possible personal biases towards genre, personality, history, whatever. It's a lot of work. And while in [...]
It is always a safe bet to name your band after a great song. The name alone could easily grab the attention of many listeners, as most of us can recite our favorite songs word-for-word and consequently have the title phrase embedded in our minds. Whether the name gets potential fans to listen to one song in disgust or become a diehard fan is irrelevant because it aids in one thing that many musicians desperately seek: exposure. When I saw Caledonia 's envelope in my mailbox, the name instantly reminded me of the great song by The Band, "Caledonia [...]
![Caledonia - We Are America [Album Review]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/1744729_lg.jpg)
It seems that every folk or alt-country style band I've fallen in love with in recent days hails from our neighbor to the north. That's Canada for the geographically challenged. Caledonia are the most recent twang-tinged band to grace our inbox and their debut album, We Are America , has been in steady rotation for a few weeks now. I always love a good band back story. Caledonia's bio talks of the lead singer/guitarist looking into the mirror at his friend's apartment in Calgary. Steve Gates saw the signs of his crossroad from the darkness under his [...]
i have seen many a person walking the streets frantically scribbling whatever it is onto a half beat to shit piece of paper. i always assumed it was random incoherent drivel, or stick figures with big boobs. not so, as it turns out, in the case canada's caledonia front man steven gates, who after a few traumatic life experiences wandered the streets penning the opening track, "restless year," for what would become his bands most awesome debut, we are america . right now this, the dawes' north hills , isbell's sophmore disc, justin townes earle's [...]
Click here to view the embedded video. ' Friday Night Rock Song ' by Caledonia . Looks like a good party.
We Are America . Three simple words that force thoughts and emotions to run through the mind of any Canadian citizen. The world's a fucked up place, there's no doubt about that, but all too often we push the blame onto our neighbor to the South. The economy? Not our fault ! The environment? Even though we are doing worse at meeting our Kyoto commitments, it's the mega consumers and greed of the US that is killing our world ! We can often be heard stripping the humor (and originality) from the memorable South Park [...]
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