Today's song comes from the Vancouver indie-rock five-piece Minto, and their 2nd album "Lay It On Me", released in June of this year. The album follows up the band's 2006 debut release "Fields and Factory Floors", when they were still known as The Smokes. Now flying under the Minto banner, the band's lineup has solidified to consist of frontman Ryan Hoben, drummer Jimi Cuell, basist Suzy Easton, lead guitarist Evret Trucker, and rythym guitarist Kalvin Olafson. For the Vancouver natives reading this post, the band will be playing at "The 5th annual Minto Saves Xmas Salvation Army Fundraiser!" at the The Railway Club on [...]
Ok folks, it's Thursday, and so I'm going to skip the foreplay and get straight to the hot Canadian music video action. Well, not right to it, as it's in the hill's bylaws that we must give some preamble for even the simplest of posts. I'm sure many of you have already seen the video we're leading off with today, but that's too bad, because if Snoop picked this guy up, he'd immediately drop him, because, you know, he's hot. I speak, of course, of friend of the hill Dan Mangan, who released the video for [...]
Aw man, I feel for these guys. They're facing a touring band's worst nightmare. Five-piece folk rockers from Vancouver, Minto , are visiting Toronto for the first time. They're supporting their sophomore release, Lay It On Me with a show tonight at Rancho Relaxo. And their van got jacked. Please keep an eye out for them. It would be a shame for them to have to end their cross-Canada tour early because of such unfortunate circumstances. Vehicle: 1998 Plymouth Voyageur Colour: mauve License plate: 530 AWX (British Colombia plate) Taken from: Dufferin and Dupont, between [...]
From their album Lay It On Me Transformation. Rebirth. Renewal. The Vancouver vagabonds formerly known as The Smokes have charted something of a non-traditional course over their half-decade of existence. The beginning? A rustic ode to Appalachia and steel guitar strings. Now? A seething all-pistons rock band fresh off recorded an album with living legend Steve Albini. But the crooked path they've taken has made the five-piece all the more compelling. With Lay It On Me the transformation is monstrous. The band's sound [...]
From their album Lay It On Me Transformation. Rebirth. Renewal. The Vancouver vagabonds formerly known as The Smokes have charted something of a non-traditional course over their half-decade of existence. The beginning? A rustic ode to Appalachia and steel guitar strings. Now? A seething all-pistons rock band fresh off recorded an album with living legend Steve Albini. But the crooked path they've taken has made the five-piece all the more compelling. With Lay It On Me the transformation is monstrous. The band's sound [...]
It's easy to assume that after the success of Ladyhawk, bands in East Van would start trying to rehash the proggy, dirty, lost-in-the-woods-drunk-off-yo ur-ass, huge sounds that propelled the band to some nice National exposure. That;s just how scene build and music works these days, and I guess if you heard the sludgy guitars and sing/screamed vocals Minto offers up on Tonight I Lay My Head as a one off, you might be tempted to lump the Vancouver band as a sounds alike, but this Vancouver band has been at it for years. The thing [...]
I've been getting e-mails recently on musicians wanting me to check out. So this will be a short blurb on what to check out. Not sure if I made the right choices. Just wanted to write down something since I was in the mood to type something. Kalle Mattson A band from Sault Ste. Marie that just moved to Ottawa. Their music is indie pop folk. Favorite tracks which I heard on their Myspace: Whisper Bee and Drunken Sweater [...]
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