Canadian Music Competition announces contenders in its elite Stepping Stone competition
Top emerging talents will compete at FREE public events in Ottawa
Stepping Stone schedule:
Finals at the National Gallery of Canada
Sunday, June 10
1:30pm
7pm
Winners announced at 9:30pm
| First elimination rounds at Tabaret Hall, University of Ottawa Sunday, June 3 Monday, June 4 Tuesday, June 5 Wednesday, June 6 |
Semi-finals at the National Gallery of Canada
Thursday, June 7 Friday, June 8 Finalists announced at 9:30pm |
Thirty astonishing young musicians and singers will compete in Ottawa in June to be named Canada’s most outstanding up-and-coming classical artist.
A veritable “Olympics of classical music” – for its contestants’ years-long devotion to study and hours-a-day practice schedule easily parallels the training regime of a world-cup athlete — the elite Stepping Stone competition offers a grand prize of $10,000 and a demo produced by Radio-Canada. The winner also receives an invitation to perform at the CMC’s gala concert in Toronto in July.
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Headwater Announces a Bold New Musical Direction with Push
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Headwater Push album launch
With C.R Avery & the Madison 22 Review and The River and The Road
May 4th at the Biltmore Cabaret
Doors at 8pm. Show 9pm.
Tickets $15 in advance
Available online at www.Ticket Web.ca
Or in stores at Red Cat, Zulu, Highlife, The Biltmore, and River Vintage
Part homecoming, part coming-of-age, and part coming-into-their-own-as-musicians, Headwater’s new EP, Push, is the musical product of some significant life passages – and the harbinger of a mature and confident new indie folk pop sound marked by breathtaking harmonies, contemplative songwriting, and countless nods to musical idols like Daniel Lanois, Peter Gabriel and Pink Floyd.
Recorded as the band’s founders marked their first decade together, the appropriately-named Push sees the four musicians – now pushing 30 – singing about major life transitions, and playing the style of music they say they always wanted to play, but previously weren’t good enough to pull off. It also sees them taking a break from their lengthy annual European tours to rebuild their base here in Canada.
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Ben Sures, Bubba Uno and David P. Smith share the stage for a showcase of outstandingly original songs
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The Death Ballad Love Tellers tour: the Second Coming
April 6 -Twin Butte General Store, Twin Butte, AB
April 7 – TBC, Black Diamond, AB
April 8 – House concert, Calgary. AB
April 9 – TBC, Lethbridge
April 10 – House concert, Fernie, BC
April 11- Penticton Art Gallery, Penticton, BC
April 12 – Chapel Arts, Vancouver, BC
April 13 – House concert, Vancouver
April 14- Discovery Coffee, Victoria
April 15- Arbutus Music, Nanaimo
Three of the West’s most madly-creative underground songwriters will be surfacing on one stage next month for the Death Ballad Love Tellers tour: the Second Coming.
Testosterone’s answer to the Scrappy Bitches of a decade ago, Ben Sures, David P. Smith and Bubba Uno will accompany each other on guitar, ukulele and accordion respectively while each takes a turn showcasing his songs.
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And what songs they are! Not content to stick with the tried and true themes of love and loss, Troy “Bubba Uno” Cook sets his acoustic indie folk music in make-believe post-zombie-apocalypse wastelands populated by robots, aliens, vampires and serial killers — and a satanic rabbit trying to restore old-fashioned evil on earth. The musician, poet, visual artist and spoken word performer first started composing while working as a truck driver in a coal mine — which might explain his penchant for barren landscapes.
He is currently touring to promote both a book, Warriors of the Zombie Hamlet, and the latest CD by his ensemble, Bubba Tres, Zombies in the Snow. He will also be performing songs from the upcoming rock opera “Peanut Butter Tongue: The Richard Speck Space Chronicles,” which follows the futuristic alien resurrection of serial killer Richard Speck during the great Zombie Apocalypse.
Ben Sures is touring to support his latest album Gone to Bolivia, which was CKUA’s most-played album
by an Alberta artist in 2011, and which made Sarah Greene’s Top 10 albums of 2011 in Toronto’s Now. “Yeah, yeah. That’s not so underground,” you say. Well, he was bound to get discovered eventually. Sures celebrated his 20th year in music with the release of Bolivia, and the great thing about him is, he got his acclaim by getting more – not less – inventive in his work. The latest album was produced by Rheostatics alumnus Don Kerr, whose quirky way with instrumentation is the perfect match for Sures’ idiosyncratic songs. The songs themselves – already category winners in the John Lennon and International Songwriting Competitions – have only grown more original since Sures’ stint as a regular musical guest on CBC’s The Irrelevant Show.
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David P. Smith is just plain touring, and that’s a big deal unto itself. The last time he did a tour was three years ago. That’s a long time to wait for fans of his raw, accordion-driven, reconstruction of blues and country music. In the intervening three years, Smith released his CD Mantennae on Vancouver indie label Northern Electric, formed a band called the Euphorians, recorded his fifth album with them (it comes out this spring), let the band go, and started a song-a-week blog at http://davidpsmithasongaweek.blogspot.ca/ which showcases his new solo work and eclectic repertoire – check out his YouTube videos of him performing everything from Hank Williams to Elton John. At the core, Smith is essentially a storyteller, albeit not a teller of the kind of stories you’re used to. His narratives are visceral and often hilarious. They peer into darkness and stumble into surrealism, before lurching back into universal everyday-isms.
Smith says touring with Sures and Uno is exciting because everyone on the bill is so different. “There’s not a chance to get bored,” he says. And that goes for the audience too. With Smith, Sures and Uno on one stage, listeners will be eagerly anticipating the next song and the next and the next.
Orchestral music meets modern folk in Plastic Acid Orchestra collaboration
The Plastic Acid Orchestra performs with Maria in the Shower
February 25th at the Vogue Theatre
Doors at 7pm
Tickets $20 in advance. $30 at the door.
Advance tickets available at Highlife, Redcat, www.plasticacid.com, and www.voguetheatre.com
http://www.youtube.com/plasticacid
http://www.myspace.com/plasticacid
Orchestral music meets rock and roots next month when Vancouver’s Vaudeville-inspired indie folk band Maria in the Shower teams up with the 45-piece Plastic Acid Orchestra, a genre-defying Vancouver outfit that bridges the worlds of classical music and rock n’ roll — and showcases fresh young Canadian composers in the process. Read the rest of this entry »
The Breakmen break through to new audiences with their plugged-in live shows
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The Breakmen on tour:
January 28 – Harrison Festival Society, Harrison, BC
February 3 – The Chapel, Bowen Island, BC
February 4 – McKinney’s Pub – Powell River, BC
February 5 – Hermann’s Victoria, BC
February 8 – Joe’s Garage, Courtney, BC
February 9 – The Waverly Tavern, Cumberland, BC
February 10 – Hornby Island Community Hall, Hornby Island, BC
February 11 – St. James Hall, Vancouver, BC
February 13 – Carlin Hall – Salmon Arm, BC
February 14 – Central Cariboo Arts Centre – Williams Lake, BC
February 15 – The Minstrel Café, Kelowna, BC
February 16 – Revelstoke Arts Council, Revelstoke, BC
February 17 – Miner’s Hall, Rossland, BC
February 18 – The Royal, Nelson, BC
February 19 – Wild Bill’s, Banff, AB
February 22 – The Rockwater Grill and Bar, Golden, BC
February 23 – The Royal Canadian Legion, Jasper, AB
February 24 – Full Moon Folk Club, Edmonton, AB
February 25 – Nickelodeon Folk Club, Calgary, AB
Take a few musicians with bluegrass roots, grow them up in Canadian soil, nourish them with influences like the Band, Blue Rodeo and Neil Young, and cultivate their talents in the tree-planting camps of Northern British Columbia — and you’ll get the Breakmen, an award-winning West Coast indie-folk outfit and worthy heirs of the Canadiana tradition.
Having already won the Vox Pop Award for Americana Album of the Year at the Independent Music Awards, and having earned two Canadian Folk Music Award nominations for their previous album, When You Leave Town, the band is now embarking on Round Three of its tour to support its latest release, Heartwood.
With Heartwood, the band paid tribute to its Canadian roots-rock idols and sought to bring its impeccably-crafted songs and tight tight harmonies to a wider audience – with bigger drum sounds and lots of vintage electric guitar. Since taking the album on tour, the band has gradually evolved the rest of its repertoire to match, making for a show that grabs listeners from well beyond the folk and bluegrass milieu.
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Award-winning Aussie Ash Grunwald brings Hot Mama Vibes back to Canada
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B.C. and Alberta tour dates
February 2 – The GLC, Whistler
February 4 – The Media Club, Vancouver
February 5 – The Last Drop, Revelstoke
February 6 – Snowshoe Sam’s, Kelowna
February 7 – Wild Bill’s, Banff
February 9 – Rockwater Grill and Bar, Golden
February 10 – The Royal, Nelson
February 11 – Minstrel Café, Kelowna
Australian surfer, snowboarder and award-winning blues rocker Ash Grunwald is heading back to Canada this winter for round two of his Hot Mama Vibes tour – and this time, audiences will notice an evolution in his sound, thanks to two new side projects.
When not touring his solo work, Ash has been performing with Tiger vs. Shark, a collaboration with London-based Aussie producer and multi-instrumentalist Fingers Malone. The music is influenced by London Dub Step — a dark style of electronica that, like the blues, grew up in the underclass. He’s also got a trippy, psychedelic blues rock project called KRASH that features Kram, the guitarist from the chart-topping Aussie alternative rock band, Spiderbait. The beats, the electronica, and the dub step elements from those projects are all starting to creep into Ash’s solo show, adding even more layers to his already-huge and complex solo sound.
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Alicia Hansen plays the Western Front January 6
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One-time Vancouver Chamber Choir singer performs music from Fractography
Friday, January 6, 2011, 8pm, at the Western Front
(Doors at 8:30, show starts promptly at 9pm)
$15 at door, $12 in advance
Tickets at www.BrownPaperTickets.com
“Her ethereal voice and classically informed arrangements come together in experimental pop that’s both listenable and challenging” – Benjamin Boles, Now
Bowen Island’s Alicia Hansen made an auspicious debut in Eastern Canada earlier this year, earning a feature article in Toronto’s Now to preview her first ever solo show in the city.
Now, she’s returning to Vancouver to perform music from Fractography, the album that Now called “a strong collection of off-kilter piano pop that has a real shot at wider success.”
“Fractography” is defined as “the study of fracture surfaces of materials to determine the cause of failure.”
And by choosing this heavy metaphor as the title for her debut, Hansen prepares the listener for the hauntingly beautiful and disturbing work contained within.
Hansen, a Royal Conservatory grad and one-time professional singer with the Vancouver Chamber Choir, creates an eerie musical landscape marked by powerful piano hooks; chorus-like harmonies; plaintive vocals; complex, jazzy, piano chord progressions; and dissonant passages that feature dramatic singing over chaotic piano and electric guitar. The lyrics – deeply poetic and metaphorical – document the tortured relationships and mental anguish Hansen grappled with as she threw off the constraints of the classical world and sought to find her voice, musically. (It worked, by the way. Anyone who listens to the album will be relieved to hear that Hansen is feeling great these days.) Read the rest of this entry »
Funny and fearless lesbian artist Kate Reid launches Doing it for the Chicks
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September 24th, 8pm, at St. James Hall, Vancouver
Tickets $24 ($20 for Rogue Folk members)
Available at Highlife, Rufus’ Guitar Shop, on-line at www.roguefolk.bc.ca or by calling 604.736.3022
National tour:
September 28th, 8pm, Victoria Event Centre (Tickets $12-$15)
September 29th, 8pm, Saltspring Lion’s Hall ($12-$15 sliding scale at the door)
October 1, 8pm, Artspace, Prince George ($12 adv. / $15 door)
October 20, 8pm, Revival, Toronto
October 21, 7:30pm, Tallulah’s @ Buddy’s in Bad Times Theatre, Toronto ($12 adv. / $15 door)
October 22, 8pm, London Music Club, London
October 23, 8pm, Free Times Cafe, Toronto ($6 at the door)
October 26, 7:30pm, Showplace Theatre – The Lounge, Peterborough
October 27, 8pm, Little Bean Coffee Bar, Kitchener
October 28, 8pm, Pearl Company, Hamilton
November 3, 8pm, Fusion Café, Woodstock NB
November 4, 8pm, Pump Nightclub, Saint John NB
November 5, 7:30pm, the Company House, Halifax
November 18, 8pm, the Junction Bar, Edmonton
November 19, 8pm, the Jasper Legion
November 23, 8pm, the Ironwood, Calgary
November 26, 8pm, Sid Williams Theatre, Courtenay
December 3, 8pm, the Art We Are, Victoria
Kate Reid calls her new album Doing it for the Chicks, but the beautiful thing about Reid’s music is that “chicks” are far from the only people who get off on it.
The out lesbian singer-songwriter and musical comedienne sings boldly and sometimes heartbreakingly about lesbian life, but first, she gets people of all orientations on-side with her outrageous sense of humour and her giddy, self-effacing schtick.
Indeed, if there’s a person left alive who still thinks lesbian feminists lack a sense of humour, Reid will set them…well…not straight…but you know what I mean.
ECMA-Winners Gypsophilia Launch New Album Recorded with Montreal Producer Howard Bilerman
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Central and Eastern Canada launch dates for Constellation
6th October, The Upstairs, Montréal, Québec
8th October, The Black Sheep, Wakefield, Québec
11th October, The Mansion, Kingston, Ontario
13th October, The Tranzac, Toronto, Ontario
28th October, The Seahorse, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Other dates of note:
17th September, Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival, Fredericton, New Brunswick
23rd September, Deep Roots Festival, Wolfville, Nova Scotia
24th September, Deep Roots Festival, Wolfville, Nova Scotia
23rd March, 2012, Collaboration with Symphony Nova Scotia, Rebecca Cohen, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Having already built a following among fans of indie rock and other decidedly non-Django genres, Halifax’s ECMA-winning hot jazz ensemble, Gypsophilia, has stepped out of the box once again, this time recording a new album with the Montreal producer and engineer who’s best-known for his work with acts like Stars and the Arcade Fire.
Yet the product of the band’s first collaboration with Howard Bilerman, titled Constellation, is actually a more sophisticated and classic-sounding album than its sophomore project, Sa-Ba-Da-OW!
Bilerman’s most conspicuous contribution to the record – to which he describes himself as something of a midwife – is its warm, crisp, and spacious sound. The recording feels intimate – as if the listener is right there in the room with the band. Bilerman didn’t conceive a “new” sound for the ensemble, but rather made their collective voice come through loud and clear.
Beyond that, the 11 new tracks are a product of Gypsophilia’s own musical evolution, which is marked by an increased reverence for classic genres and a continued desire to mix things up for the modern age.
Bonnie Ste-Croix launches her pan-Canadian recording project
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Including Natalie MacMaster, Catherine MacLellan, Laura Smith, The Once and Stephen Fearing among the guest artists on Canadian Girl
Launch dates
September 17 – The Company House, Halifax, NS with guest Dylan Guthro
September 22 -Best Western Manoir Adelaide, Dalhousie, NB
September 24 – La Petite Eglize, Gaspe, QC
October 6 – Centre Ambroise, Montreal, QC with guest Dale Boyle
October 7 – The Rainbow Bistro, Ottawa, ON
October 8 – The Spill, Peterborough, ON
October 9 – Acoustic Grill, Picton, ON
October 12 – London Music Club, ON
October 13 – Bohemian Fridays, Dunnville, ON
October 14 – Little Bean Coffee Bar, Kitchener, ON
October 16 – The Pearl Company, Hamilton, ON
October 18 – C’est What, Toronto, ON
October 19 – The Moonshine Café, Oakville, ON
October 22 – Pearl Theatre, Lunenburg (with Ken Whiteley), NS
October 28 – Vintage Bistro, Hampton, NB
October 29 – House Concert, Fredericton, NB
November 7 – Ironwood Stage & Grill, Calgary, AB
November 10 – WISE Hall, Vancouver, BC with special guest
November 11- Duncan Garage, Duncan BC
November 12 – Merlin’s Sun Home Theatre, Victoria, BC
November 13 -House Concert, Ladner, BC
November 15 – Voodoo’s, Penticton, BC
November 16 – Minstrel Café, Kelowna, BC
November 24 – The Rose and Kettle, Dartmouth, NS
November 25 – Evening Primrose B&B-House Concert, North Tryon, PEI
November 26 – The Dunk, Breadalbane, PEI
November 27 – Marigold Cultural Centre, Truro, NS with guest Alycia Putnam
The idea is just so Canadian it’s amazing someone didn’t think of it years ago: travel across the country, record a song in each province, invite guest musicians from each region – like, say, Natalie McMaster, Catherine MacLellan and Stephen Fearing – into the studio with you, and get the Six String Nation guitar in there for good measure.
Well, Bonnie Ste-Croix has just made that quintessential Canadian album.
This fall, Ste-Croix launches Canadian Girl, a collection of 13 timeless-sounding roots songs recorded in 14 different studios in 12 towns with a total of 46 musicians and singers from all corners of the nation.