Stories told, songs sung. It's simple this history of ours. Tales of murder, pain, love and loss are written daily and forgotten instantly, but the best are passed from generation to generation like currency, land or genes. In a time where the public is more consumed by those that find and hoard to fuel their own greed or sickness, folklorist Henry Svec - last heard around here under the anonymity of The CFL Sessions - spends his time unearthing stories and documenting melodies for the community. Folk Songs of Canada Now [...]
With the exception of sex and drugs, there are few things more satisfying than a well executed key-change. Doin' , from Canadian Chris Adeney's indie/folk/progressive-rock project Wax Mannequin , features one such key-change; unless completely dead inside, listeners should experience a moment of head-bobbing. The song can be found on Wax Mannequin's fifth-full length effort "Saxon", released by Canadian indie-label Zunior on August 4th of 2009. The album follows-up on Adeney's 2007 "Orchard and Ire", and the 2004 release "The Price"; The Price features the song Message from the Queen which, if one has [...]
"A Bend In The Road" by Bend Sinister It's been a rough weekend and I'm super exhausted, but I just wanted to give a quick Monday morning shout out to this excellent looking documentary on touring Canada by Vancouver's Bend Sinister . Let's hope it comes out soon. In other Bend Sinister news, the band recently made the finals for the lucrative 100.5 FM Peak Performance competition in Vancouver, BC, which means they've got at least 50K (CDN) coming to them after their January 22, [...]
Get ready for these new releases today:Amanda Blank- ReviewThe Duke and The King- MP3Fruit BatsLightning Dust- ReviewMarmosetCale ParksJoe PerniceJulian Plenti (Paul Banks of Interpol)- MP3Wax Mannequin- ReviewYim Yames (Jim James of My Morning Jacket)- Review
I'm pretty confident I've seen the Wooden Sky open for someone, at somepoint, but needless to say they weren't overwhelming (or memorable). Their new album, If I Don't Come Home You'll Know I'm Gone , to be released August 25th, I think is going to be a different story. And, if the song "Something Hiding For Us In The Night" is any indication - which it is, I've heard the album - I'm not going to be not remembering tWS again. The song, like the album, (more on the album later, I expect) is [...]
When one first listens to Saxon, the forthcoming album from Wax Mannequin, one is immediately struck by the darkness of the music. The Hamiltonian's raw brand of folk just screams sinister.The album, out August 4th, opens with "Broken Friends", a track that sees Wax Mannequin deliver vocals with a timbre so eerily these could make Nick Cave's skin crawl. Combine that with equally evil lyrics
I know I've talked about Wax Mannequin before , but the Hammer from the Hammer (I just made up that nickname) is such a unique artist that he deserves as much press as we can give him. His baritone often tells heartbreaking, powerful tales with just the support of his nylon string guitar, but for his new LP – Saxon (on Zunior records) – he's backed by Black Blood . The support of bass and percussion allows Wax Mannequin to play with a bigger range of emotions and sounds, and the result [...]
Here's three more artists worth delving into:Wax MannequinFor those who like: Bon Iver, Iron & WineHailing from Hamilton, ON, Wax Mannequin is currently touring Canada in support of his new album.Wax Mannequin's MyspacePlasticinesFor those who like: Sahara Hotnights, The DonnasThese French lassies have recently brought their sugary power pop to North American as part of the Nylon Magazine
Hamilton's Wax Mannequin is hard at work on his fifth album Saxon. The album should be out later this summer.In the meantime you can get a sample with this compact fluorescent MP3:"Somethin' To Hide"- MP3Wax Mannequin plays Toronto on June 21st at Sneaky Dee's and June 27th at Tranzac.Wax Mannequin's Myspace
Whale Tooth - self/titled EP Sometimes when the summer hits and the sun starts beating down on you, infectious boy/girl pop becomes as much of a necessity as patios and water. Thankfully, Toronto's Whale Tooth is heading to Halifax to give us that refreshing chill. Their self-titled EP is a nice slice of jazzy pop, built on the terrific vocals of Elise LeGrow . Her voice is powerful, but never overpowering and the chemistry she and Norm Maschke have jump starts the lighthearted riffs. From the opening moments [...]
I'm pleased to announce that Wax Mannequin , WHK favourite and all around awesome character, has a new album in the can. It's called Saxon and will be released on the Zunior Label at some point in July of this year. I've had the pleasure to see a lot of these new songs live over the last year or so and I don't mind saying I think it's his strongest stuff yet. Don't want to take my word for it? Fine, be that way. Zunior is offering up a free 2 song [...]
I'm jealous of quite a few people. My friend Luther , for instance, is a talented multi-instrumentalist who actually gets paid to play and write about music, my dad can build or understand just about anything and there's a guy down the street who owns his own toy store. Everywhere I look there's someone to envy and last week that list got a little longer with the birth of Jenny Omnichord 's baby boy, Otis. You see, on the day of his birth little baby Otis was greeted by an entire album of duets made in [...]
Tuesday night I went to Guelph on a whim. Wax Mannequin and The Kettle Black were playing at The Family Thrift Store there and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to catch some great music and visit friends at the same time ( Jenny Omnichord 's dad owns the store). Borrowing my folks' clunky old minivan Laura and I hit the road...right into late rush hour traffic. Slowed down, but not dissuaded, we got there just in time to surprise Jenny and overhear that Wax Mannequin had canceled. I was slightly dissapointed, [...]
Well, it has taken me long enough, but I've finally started to get my Sappyfest photos and footage organized. For maximum ease of posting I'm going to separate my coverage into a writeup per day of the New Brunswick music festival. Of course, there's no way I can possibly give a comprehensive synopsis of every band's set-not to mention all the antics in and around them. Instead I'll give a brief rundown of some of my favourite moments and then let the photos, stills and video clips speak for themselves. We pulled in to Sackville, New Brunswick at [...]
Well, my Maritime adventure is over. We got in late last night and I've been busy capturing footage and formulating a plan of attack with regards to posting about the trip. As of right now I'm thinking of breaking it up into chunks for easy ingestion (not to mention keeping me sane), as I've got a notebook filled with random happenings, let alone the myriad of shows-including Sappyfest, which was everything I'd hoped for. It was also great to put some faces to a host of email contacts with whom I converse regularly. Finally meeting Bryan and [...]
Ever since the lineup for Sappyfest was announced I've wanted to get my butt to Sackville, New Brunswick in time to partake in the festivities. Hell, I've had a general itch to take a trip out east for a while now and this seemed to be the perfect excuse. That said, strapped for cash and without a car I had begun to lose hope in actually being able to make the trip. Enter Mathias Kom , saviour of my maritime aspirations. After a brief conversation before The Burning Hell 's gig at [...]
photo from WM's myspace by Stephanie Bell, 6 January 2006 Hey there b(oot)log fans. I've been neglecting you a bit, I know, but I haven't forgotten about you an will still be trying to sate your need for wonderful live music. As the students are heading out of town the frequency of shows tends to lessen [...]
Date: April 12, 2008 Venue: The Silver Dollar Where were you guys last Saturday night? Seriously, not nearly enough people came out to see the stellar pairing of The Burning Hell and Wax Mannequin at the Silver Dollar on the weekend. Sure, I've already made my bias towards these two acts quite obvious over the past few months, but let me up the ante with the following: both The Burning Hell and Wax Mannequin are easily in my top [...]
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