In case you missed it, here is Juno Award winner LIGHTS performing “Where the Fence is Low” from her new album Siberia on George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight. She is currently on tour in the U.S. and will be in Victoria on November 12th, sweeping across the Great White North. Tour dates are HERE.
Category Archives: News: 2011-10
Sarah McLachlan Is Doin’ It Right on the East Side of Town
While working as a singer-songwriter, Sarah McLachlan became frustrated by the unofficial policy of radio stations and concert promoters of not featuring two female artists back to back. She responded by organizing an all-female music festival named after folklore legend Lilith who, as Adam’s first wife, was rejected by him because she refused to be submissive. A series of Lilith Fair festival tours took place from 1996 to 1999.
Having broken down some of the misogyny in the music industry, Sarah McLachlan has centered her energies on a new venture: the opening of a music school for children.
The 1,486 square metre Sarah McLachlan School of Music has officially opened in east Vancouver. A $7.7 million grant for the building was provided by the non-profit Wolverton Foundation whose goal is to bring the arts to the children of British Columbia. The facility will provide free music lessons to children who could not otherwise afford it. Currently 280 students in grades 4 to 12 are enrolled in such pursuits as piano, guitar, percussion, and singing. Trends in educational curricula over the past couple of decades have been leaning more towards academics and less towards the arts, something that McLachlan hopes to change. Video below:
Le desert des solitudes, Catherine Major
Quebec diva Catherine Major has just released her third studio album, Le desert des solitudes, and it is #10 on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart this week. Her hauntingly beautiful piano pop and captivating voice have made her a rising star on both sides of the Atlantic. Check her out:
Graph Gonzales: “Eyes in the Dark”
For those of you who really miss 80s new wave, synths, and dance beats and wish there were some current artists creating music in such a vein, keep your eyes peeled for a new Canadian, Toronto-raised singer named Graph Gonzales. Her exquisite, silky vocals and strong song-writing skills led to her winning the Galaxie Rising Star Award. Having co-written songs for other artists and appeared as a guest singer numerous times, Graph is now ready to launch her own career.
Los Angeles-based dance label Citrusonic Recordings has signed her and her new single, which pays homage to Kim Carnes and Pat Benatar while sounding fresh in itself, is “Eyes in the Dark”. An EP is to follow. Citrusonic is headed by Orlando Puerta who has worked with Depeche Mode, Madonna, and Seal.
You can listen to a sample of “Eyes in the Dark” and download it on iTunes HERE.
Graph on …
We wish Graph and her record label all the best.
Long Time Ago, Current Swell
If someone says, “I’m from dee island, mon” you know the island he’s referring to is Jamaica. But what if he says, “Lookit, we’re on the island catchin’ some surf in Tofino, eh”? Yes, that would be Vancouver Island. Vancouver Island is developing its own musical community with a number of bands and singers. One of them is called Current Swell. They’ve already released a few albums and have just released a new one called Long Time Ago. Check out their sound and what they’re up to at their website HERE.
Mark Sultan: Whatever I Want Whenever I Want
Montrealer Mark Sultan who spent his early days in garage bands and more recently as a character on the King Khan and BBQ show, is releasing a double album of his punky rockabilly tunes. The first disc is called Whatever I Want and the second Whenever I Want. I suppose the “Wherever I Want” bit is embedded in his upcoming tour of Canada and the U.S.
More info, including song samples and tour dates can be found on his website HERE.
Avril Plan
Canadian superstar Avril Lavigne caught up with Simple Plan’s bass player David Desrosiers in Montreal where she is performing her final concert of the Canadian leg of her Black Star Tour. Simple Plan will be embarking on a U.S. tour shortly to promote their new album Get Your Heart On. They tour Canada in February next year at which time Avril will be performing in Japan.
New Releases, November 2011
Once Halloween is passed and we don the poppy, we can look forward to some new releases. Superstar Isabelle Boulay is releasing a country / folk inspired bilingual album called Les Grandes Espaces. Non-cowboy Albertans Nickelback will be releasing their seventh studio album Here and Now. Calgary’s Jann Arden is releasing a followup to her platinum 2007 album, Undercover Me 2. Justin Bieber‘s Christmas album, Under the Mistletoe, will be coming out. The first single “Mistletoe” has entered the Billboard Canadian Singles Chart at #9 (week of Nov. 5). London, Ontario’s Meaghan Smith will be releasing her Christmas album as well, It Snowed. Canada’s founding father of rock and roll, Paul Anka, is releasing his first Christmas album in over 50 years: Songs of December. Two Torontonian rap outfits are releasing albums this month: Down with Webster is coming out with Time to Win, Vol. II. and Drake‘s second studio album Take Care will be on store shelves on the ides of November. Chantal Kreviazuk co-wrote the first track. Montreal’s Coeur de Pirate (stage name for Beatrice Martin) is releasing her second studio album called Blonde and Les Cowboys Fringants’ Que du vent. On the west coast, two Vancouver bands are releasing new albums: Hedley‘s fourth studio album, Storms and Marianas Trench‘s third, Ever After.
In case you missed the new releases in October, see HERE.
As more November new releases come to our attention, we’ll be updating this posting through the month.
Michigan Left, The Arkells
Winners of the 2010 New Group of the Year Juno award, Hamilton rockers The Arkells have just released their second studio LP, Michigan Left. The album includes their previously-released single “Whistleblower“. The band consists of Max Kerman (vocals, guitar), Mike DeAngelis (guitar), Anthony Carone (keyboards), Nick Dika (bass), and Tim Oxford (drums). Check out their website HERE. Update: The album is #5 on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart, week of November 5th!
Into the Sun, David Myles
David Myles (don’t know if he’s related to Alannah) is a singer-songwriter from Fredericton, now based in Halifax. He was in the Shanghai area in 2001 attempting to learn Mandarin. It was there that he bought his first guitar. When he was growing up, he learned the trumpet. Already at studio album number six, Into the Sun has just been released. The popular track currently is “Simple Pleasures” (see the MV below). For those of you who like lighter, fun, reggae-flavoured music (reminds me of Sugar Ray), check him out. His website is HERE.
hanDover, Skinny Puppy
Vancouver “industrial” band Skinny Puppy will be releasing its 11th studio album on Tuesday, a work entitled hanDover. The outfit that formed in 1982 performs a style of music that could be called “electronic punk”: a combination of punky percussion, synthesizers, and an abrasive singing style. Their first couple of studio albums attained gold certification and they are one of the few mid-80s groups still churning out new music. The release of their new album has been pushed back since 2009 due to financial problems of their record label. You can listen to samples of the hanDover songs HERE.
It Snowed, Meaghan Smith
It looks like the Biebs and the Bublenator are not the only Canuck artists releasing Christmas albums this year.
London’s Meaghan Smith (that’s our London, not the other one) will be launchnig It Snowed on November 1st. Meaghan won the Juno for Best New Artist this year. Her independently-released The Cricket’s Orchestra was deemed worthy of distribution by the big boys. Warner Music took care of that in early 2010. Her cover of The Pixies’ “Here Comes Your Man” was featured on the soundtrack of the feature film 500 Days of Summer.
Chantal and Raine to Receive the Allan Slaight Humanitarian Spirit Award
Canadian recording artists are doing all they can to help a world “spiritually destitute, morally bankrupt, politically disrupted, socially convulsed, economically paralyzed, writhing, bleeding and breaking up”. Recently Nelly Furtado travelled to Africa to look into developing programs to educate girls in impoverished rural areas and made a donation for the building of schools. Avril Lavigne has launched a foundation in support of children and youth with serious illnesses and disabilities.
Along these lines, it has just been announced that wife and husband team Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida (Our Lady Peace) have won the Allan Slaight Humanitarian Spirit Award. This award, named after a leading figure in the Canadian radio industry, is one of the honours presented by the Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry. Winners are selected by a panel of judges who are registered Canadian music industry professionals. The Allan Slaight Humanitarian Spirit Award recognizes musicians for their high ideals and humanitarian service. Chantal and Raine will be presented with the award in Toronto next March during Canadian Music Week.
The couple have been very active with a number of charitable organizations, including War Child, a non-governmental organization founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 with headquarters in Canada and the Netherlands as well. Its focus is to provide assistance to children living in war-ravaged areas of the world (e.g. the former Yugoslavia). Kreviazuk is one of the founding members of War Child Canada. Her husband Raine created Busking for Change which helps fund War Child projects such as building schools in war-torn regions. The couple have made personal trips to the Sudan and Iraq.
Other humanitarian services rendered by the duo are contributions made to hospitals and charities that support world peace, education, and a better environment.
The Canadian Music Blog offers its congratulations to the beautiful couple, wonderful family, stellar team, excellent musicians, and fabulous humanitarians. Well done!
Mia Martina Is a Devoted Canadian
Fabulous New Brunswick dance artist Mia Martina has released versions of her hit “Latin Moon” in both official languages which appear on her album Devotion that was released at the end of August. The French version is entitled “Phare de la Lune”. Martina is wrapping up a tour of Ontario and Quebec. Chances of her coming to an arena near you in the rest of Canada would increase if you picked up a copy of her album (hint).
Devotion also includes her platinum-selling Top 10 hit “Stereo Love”. We are very excited at the rise of Canadian dance music with artists like Mia Martina, Deadmau5, and Kristina Maria. As the Chinese would say, jia you! Below is the MV for the French version of Latin Moon which I believe would be luna latina in Latin.
