Filed under: News , Exclusive , New Music , New Releases Joel Sage, AFP/Getty Images If a cover is the highest compliment one songwriter can bestow upon another, then few songwriters command as much respect as Leonard Cohen . It seems like thousands of artists have interpreted his work, especially his signature late-career song 'Hallelujah' which Cohen once told the CBC could use "a break." With the release of ' Old Ideas [...]
This year's top album list pretty much assembled itself throughout the year. The top 4 in particular are albums I expect to continue to listening to over and over for years to come. Click on the album titles to read the full reviews, purchase the albums, and, in some cases, download mp3s… Muruch's Top 25 [...]
Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah Slean has long been a favorite of mine and I'm happy to say her ambitious new double album, Land & Sea, is her best work to date. The two-disc set is grand in scope and beautifully complex, yet one of the most irresistibly accessible collections I've ever heard. This magnificent new song [...]
Filed under: News , R.I.P. AP Jack Layton, the leader of Canada's New Democratic Party and the country's Official Opposition, died Aug. 22 at his Toronto home after a battle with cancer. He was 61. Layton's sudden passing has rocked the nation, with musicians like Broken Social Scene 's Kevin Drew and more taking to Twitter to reflect upon his life and the amazing man he was (which you can get a sense from while [...]
Skins.S04.EP06:JJ Sarah Slean : Universe/ C'est What Toronto 20-Sep-1997 [ Previously...../my fave skins post ]
This seriously took forever. But I have to get these out before I can do anything else on this site! Gah! I tried to go away from artists that are so mainstream on sites like P4K or Stereogum for this list but I realised I couldn't get away from it...and I guess that's because stuff like Arcade Fire, Animal Collective...etc etc really deserve to be at the top. ***Finally I am posting these decade end lists. Gaaah I love and hate lists. They enlighten me towards new music yet at the same time they're ridiculously subjective. [...]
Historical Context A large section of the Antarctic Larsen Ice Shelf begins to disintegrate. Climate change experts believe that the 3250 km area of the ice shelf crumbled to make room for Bono's ego. Saddam Hussein is accused of harbouring weapons of mass destruction. In unrelated news, the Cheeky Girls form. Meanwhile, Ted Nugent continues to roam free on the savannah, feasting on the occasional gazelle. Also, just a quick reminder that I'm sticking to a 'one album per artist' rule and I ran into my first real judgment call here. So, [...]
The catch-all musical genre of 'singer-songwriter' has always been a problematic one. Technically, any old asshole with a guitar, vocal chords and too much damn time on his/her hands can call themselves a 'singer-songwriter', and therein lies the problem. In general, I find that female singer-songwriters lately seem to be a bit more innovative than their male counterparts. However, I don't think it's always true and sometimes women just get credit for things for no other critical reason than novelty – they sing about things that society has decided girls shouldn't (or don't) sing about, and therefore it's edgy. I [...]
Toronto - It's already autumn before you know it, and the inaugural year of the Canwest Cabaret is here to help us get through the colder patches (or expose us to, depending on how far you need to travel). Set in the Young Performance Center and backdropped by the hip distillery district, the event is a refreshing break designed to offend those head-nodding/booty-shaking shows and trump them with style. Although each show is only for 1 hour, the intimate cabaret setting generates a flare that's much higher class. Needless to say, it identifies with a different age bracket... [...]
This rocks my socks. Teresa Valdez Klein of teresacentric.com was so pissed off with the number of targeted weight loss ads on Facebook that she decided to do something about it. Shelling out $5.00 per day to place her own advertisement, she came up with the above. When clicked, viewers are taken to the Love Your Body Day website.Holly Combe referred to it as 'subvertising', which I think is a great term!It warms my cockles, it really does. What a positive message! And somebody that is actually... Please visit Ceci N'est Pas un Blog for the full [...]
This rocks my socks. Teresa Valdez Klein of teresacentric.com was so pissed off with the number of targeted weight loss ads on Facebook that she decided to do something about it. Shelling out $5.00 per day to place her own advertisement, she came up with the above. When clicked, viewers are taken to the Love Your Body Day website.Holly Combe referred to it as 'subvertising', which I think is a great term!It warms my cockles, it really does. What a positive message! And somebody that is actually... Please visit Ceci N'est Pas un Blog for the full [...]
I'm still feeling the aftertaste of that Bridges album and I think I need to clear my palate. It's also been a while since we touched on some cancon (Canadian Content, yo!), so this satisfies both of those needs. Sarah Slean has played in our town several times and I've managed to miss her every single time for one reason or another. I always regret it later, because I actually really like her albums. I realized today that I've yet to hear her latest album, The Baroness , in its entirety. [...]
I'm not sure how much of a review this will turn out to be. Firstly, I haven't had any time to spend on it, and secondly, I knew basically nothing about either Ms. Slean or opener Royal Wood. However, Petra is a fan of the Slean, so she was very excited to go, and I was happy to accompany her. I knew the Ack had posted a brief review of Royal's album recently, and I'd heard a couple songs, but outside of that I knew nada about him. Turns out he's a rather polite gentleman [...]
I do love songs based on or suggesting some relation to literature. So here's a double handful of my favorites, with snippets of whatever they might be drawing from. pedro the lion, "of minor prophets and their prostitute wives" [ buy ] This is looking farther back than most of the other literary-based songs in my collection; the title refers explicitly to the book of Hosea, and the song modernizes the constant call of the original work quite nicely. Its persistent beat and [...]
[ Sarah Slean: Goodnight Trouble ]
Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah Slean is releasing a new studio album, that as far as I know is yet to be titled, in March. The first single from this album is "Get Home" and she has made it available via her website until the album's release. She asks that you sign up for her mailing list in order to download it, but it isn't necessary (but please visit her website and follow the link to join the list if you are interested, she's worth it). Sarah combines the styles of her fellow Canadian songstresses named Sarah (McLachlan [...]
photo: Sophie Delaporte [ Maude Maggart Fiona Apple - Paper Moon ] I can write the saddest poem of all tonight. Write, for instance: The night is full of stars,and the stars, blue, shiver in the distance. The night wind...
radio head will always hold a very special place in my heart and no matter what, with the more music i listen to, its great to enjoy and stumble back to what ive already known. over the years, ive listened to terrible, interesting and meaningful radiohead covers. when one is performed, its important to me when artists have strength to forget and give into someone else's vision, show their own feeling, are open-minded and most importantly, are respectful of others creativity. theres something about the way music and melodies feel so [...]
If you read this blog, you may notice the weird scattershot way that I approach popular culture. Wide breadth, filled with peculiar gaps. For example, Radiohead . I'm sure I must have heard "Creep" when it came out in 1993. I just don't remember it. When The Bends came out in 1995, I really liked "My Iron Lung." Then, of course, I kept hearing about how OK Computer (1997) was one of the best rock albums of all time, but I never heard a note of it. [...]
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