June 2012
91 posts
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88 Days of Fortune: 3rd Anniversary Party...
If you read this blog regularly, you already know about Stasia Irons and Catherine Harris-White aka Stas and Cat of THEESatisfaction. If you live in the T.Dot/GTA region and you have at all dug what they do, then you need to be at their performance tonight at the Third Anniversary celebration for the local urban progressive artist collective, 88 Days of Fortune. Don’t sleep, NOW magazine...
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 38. The Weeknd –...
This is one of the few nominated albums I was already familiar with before the Polaris long list was announced last week. Not to toot my own horn but I was the person largely responsible for getting The Weeknd short-listed last year. But as you know if you read this blog regularly, neither The Weeknd’s Thursday or Echoes Of Silence mixtapes made it onto my Long List ballot for this year....
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 26. Mares Of...
Look at that picture up top, then hit play on this album. Not to be sexist but yes, those women created this music. Others are raving about this ‘noise-doom’ (read, ‘metal’) duo’s album, The Pilgrimage. Frankly, I found it tough to get through, and even harder to process from a crticial point of view. Did I like it? Was it good??! I wonder if this is how pure...
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 40. Yukon Blonde...
This was an interesting one. The songs were very down-the-middle and accessible in sound. Nothing really cool or cutting edge about it. Tiger Talk kicked off with some tracks that reminded me of all those knock-off ‘new wave’ songs that you’d hear in 80s era teen B-movies and then some tracks that reminded me of the post-new wave UK acts who followed that era like Big Country...
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 27. Ariane...
This Quebecois singer’s synth-y flavored, bi-lingual indie pop wasn’t bad. I would term it pleasant and innocuous even (actually kind of liked the steel pan-powered “Too Late”). But music that sounds like it could soundtrack a late 20-something professional women’s kind of hip dinner or cocktail parties in their CB2/West Elm-furnished downtown condo lofts are...
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 21. Great Lake...
Heard this group’s name for while but never really knew much about them or their music. I finally got to hear the music because they headlined a show that Cold Specks opened for them on a few weeks back. Truth be told, I really went to see Cold Specks who blew me away live pretty much just as much, if not more than, she did on record. I stayed for a few songs of GLS’s set but ended...
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 22. Grimes -...
Grimes is one of those photogenic buzz artists, popular with critics and hipster fans alike, that you wanna hate. She looks .like an oddball Scarlet Johansson (sort of) and sings like Elizabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins) mixed with Minnie Ripperton (at least with the aid of studio trickery, she does. IRL? No idea). Her 80’s informed electronic, synth pop sound is heavy on effects and...
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 10. Kathryn...
I guess the most notable thing about Kathryn Calder is that she pinch hit for Neko Case as replacement vocalist in The New Pornographers when the latter left that acclaimed indie pop powerhouse collective to pursue a solo career.
But almost as notable is that this record was the second of two Calder recorded in her living room within a one year period while caring for her terminally ill...
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 25. Dan Mangan -...
Yes, more indie folk sounds! :/ To be fair, Dan Managan’s take on this apparently most favorite genre with Polaris jurors isn’t strictly the same ole’. Many of the tracks have a layered, orchestral feel with horns and instrumentation that lend some of them an anthemic feel. Breaking up what is rapidly becoming a monotonous listening experience for me in this way is...
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Michael Joseph Jackson: August 29, 1958 – June 25,...
Still the King and G.O.A.T. “I Want You Back” is my favorite pop song of all time and how I feel. R.I.P. we still miss you three years later, Michael.
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 18. Kathleen...
I won’t lie. it’s hard for me to get into these singer-songwriter type albums with their folk, country or other influences thrown in the mix. Honestly they all kind of sound the same to me unless the vocals or songs are unique or exceptionally stand-out in some way. No disrespect to Ms. Edwards but while I couldn’t honestly say her album Voyageur, a musing on travel from what...
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 16. Mark Davis -...
Had to sniff around online to get a context for what I was listening to with this one: roots rocks infused with some post-rock influences, huh? OK. I can’t say that this album was bad or anything like that, it just wasn’t the kind of sound that moves me or the kind of record that I would play regularly. Here’s the title track for your perusal though:
Dig that? The hit the...
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 7. The Barr...
Part of the delay I had in reviewing this and the Bahamas album which are next to each other on the page of Long List nominees was that I had a bit of a problem distinguishing one from the other when I played them.
I guess after multiple listen to both I would say this album more of an overtly Americana (Canadiana??) feel musically and vocally it has more in the way of harmonies courtesy of...
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 6. Bahamas -...
A facile description of this album would be to just call it singer-songwriter music with touches of folk and blues. I am not sure that’s really doing it justice though. Vocalist, Afie Jurvanen has an affecting voice that at times reminded me of Coldplay’s Chris Martin when he’s singing ballads and this is a sold collection of music (stream it above) that is a worthy Long List...
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 30. Sandro Perri...
This is f-cking NICE! Just this side of delicate. Imagine if Kid A-era Radiohead decided to go acoustic and dabble in samba and you’ll get at least some sense of what Sandro Perri is doing here musically. “Futureactive Kid (Part 1)”? Wow! The whole thing is just beautiful though….
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 28. Lindi Ortega...
This is more purely ‘alt. country’ (whatever that amorphous term actually really means) than that Rose Cousins album I posted last night. I’m not really much of a country music fan but Lindi has a helluva voice. From my point of view Polaris jurors tend to get it confused and think a deserving Polaris Music Prize album winner has to be ‘progressive’ sounding or...
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 39. Yamantaka //...
YT//ST by YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN
A lot going on here: art rock, prog rock, heavy metal with female vocals on top. It’s definitely on the cutting edge of what could be considered ‘different’ but, while others have been raving about this since it’s release and they put on a bit of a spectacle live (I saw them at the Lixar NXNE showcase last week), this isn’t...
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[Music Video] Tre Mission - Hilroy
I posted a video of this kid killin’ it on Tim Westwood on my tumblr a little while back. He’s from Scarborough in Toronto’s East End (aka where I used to dwell until I made the jump downtown) but he spits like a UK MC and is in fact apparently the only non-UK (non-London??) MC accepted in the grime scene. He’s already been on tour with Wiley and just finished an opening...
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 23. Handsome Furs...
Got to give credit to the Handsome Furs for creating an album in Sound Kapital that is obviously in debt to the synth pop, new wave and alternative pop sounds of the mid-80s but that still manages to sound fresh and contemporary at the same time. Not sure I’d vote for it on my short list ballot but I was kind of digging this. Unfortunately, this husband and wife duo apparently just split...
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 24. Japandroids -...
Turn of the century MTV-friendly alternative rock as re-imagined by underground, garage rockers or something. True to the title, this sounded like feel-good, stadium-friendly anthem rock for the hipster, new indie rock set. Not my thing but I can’t argue that it’s not pretty well done. Extra points for keeping it short and sweet with just eight tracks. #lifestooshort
[streaming...
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10 classic album covers re-imagined with...
CLICK HERE for the rest.
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 15. Rose Cousins...
I’m not gonna claim country-tinged singer-songwriter music is my usual bag or area of expertise but I recognize good music when I hear it. Ground-breaking? Not really. Well done though? Absolutely. One thing I like about being on the Polaris jury is that it does force me to listen to music that I otherwise would not likely be exposed to. This was an unexpected but pleasant surprise....
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 17. Drake - Take...
I was still living in NY when Drake first began to break. In fact it was a former co-worker (shout to Nickel D.!) who first put me up on the music which I promptly posted on the earlier incarnation of this blog (no bandwagon jumping here, son!).
That being said, as he’s evolved into a legit global hip hop superstar, I have to concede I don’t actually love his music that much...
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 14. Cold Specks –...
Another one from Arts & Crafts that will definitely be making my short list as I voted for it on the long list. This is helluva debut album. The voice alone seals it. Al Spx’s vocals are nothing short of absolutely phenomenal. Think Adele combined with Bonnie Tyler singing raw bluesy, turn-of-the-century field songs updated for the soundcloud era and you have some idea of what...
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 19. Feist –...
If you don’t think this is one of the main contenders to be shortlisted and quite possibly take the whole thing, you’re kidding yourself and/or just hating. This is a big record: great songs, great performances, immaculate production and the feel of real body of work, an album as a cohesive work of art. That all major label music should sound like this… oh wait, this is...
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 13. Leonard Cohen...
Leonard Cohen is a Canadian, nay international musical institution. He’s lived a life many would envy and is responsible for at least one song, “Hallelujah” that has become a standard covered by many, many artists and one of the all-time great songs in the pop music canon. And at 77 he’s still doing it, as this Old Ideas album attests. However, while you can feel the...
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[MP3] Nas Feat. Rick Ross - Accident Murderers
Another heatrock from Nas. This Life is Good album (due July 17) looks like it’s shaping up to be a banger. Shout to Biz Markie though.
Previously on The Kitchen:
Nas - The Don | DJ Premier & Bumpy Knuckles feat. Nas - Turn Up the Mic (remix)
[via 546inthemorning]
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The hypocrisy of the Toronto news media's coverage...
So John Raposo survived a mob hit 5 years ago (in which his friend died), was deep in the mob-run illegal gambling world and had known ties to biker gangs but there’s less media hysteria around his death than over the Eaton Centre shooting? The hypocrisy of Raposo being mourned as an ‘innocent’ victim who people are shocked was shot while Ahmed Hassan was demonized as having...
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 3. Rich Aucoin -...
This album by East Coast rocker, Rich Aucoin is kind of interesting. Dude used over 500 musicians to create the record. The scope of his ambition is clear. The end results less so. The album had its moments but felt a little too all over the place to me but which might be the point. Two of the odder (or intriguing depending on your point of view) moments follow below: “Brian Wilson is...
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 9. Cadence Weapon...
I think I’ve been pretty clear on how much I dislike this album. Polaris jurors know even more so. That being said, inexplicably jurors seem to love this guy so expect him to make a strong run at becoming a short list nominee. Disagree with me?
[stream via Exclaim]
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 8. Blackie and...
This roots/country ‘super-group’ project features guest appearances by Emmylou Harris, Roseanne Cash, Lucinda Williams, Mary Margaret O’Hara and more (?) perplexing Exene Cervenka (of legendary LA punk band, X), Patty Scialfa (aka Bruce Springsteen’s fellow band-mate and wife) and jazz singers, Cassandra Wilson and Holly Cole.
Every time I hear a...
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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 1. A Tribe Called...
Once again it’s that time of the year. The Polaris Music Prize Long list was just announced last week and I did pretty well: 3 of my 5 picks made the cut which ain’t bad although I still feel like the Saukrates album, which didn’t make it, has been getting short shrift from his fans and the public at large.
As a member of the Polaris Music Prize jury who wants to do...
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“You grow up in Black america and it’s like living in a pressure cooker. Babies...”
– H. Rap Brown (via commonright)
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Check me out on the @PolarisPrize Long List Salon... →
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[Music Video] Saukrates - Tomorrow
I’m a little late on this but here’s the latest video from Saukrates’ new Season One album. I love the album, which can be considered as much an urban pop album as a hip-hop one, others not so much. Whatchu think though? Hit the jump to stream the entire album if you didn’t hear it yet from the last time I posted it.
Follow Saukrates online - twitter | facebook | ...
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"The shooting at the Eaton Centre stayed the top... →
A friend’s analysis of the disparity between the Toronto Star’s coverage of the recent Eaton Centre and Little Italy shootings in Toronto. [note: the link embedded in the quote above goes to a Rosie DiManno op-ed on the same topic at The Star]
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From @SpecterMagazine #10: “Of Breakbeats and... →
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WatchIce-T’s The Art of Rap (@artofrap) documentary [trailer]: www.theartofrap.com
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Can you engage in Racial Profiling and not...
via @HipHopwired:
The NYPD is amassing a reputation for the most racist force in the country, and Michael Deragjati is only adding to the fury. The officer, accused of falsely arresting a black man under the protection of the city’s “stop-and-frisk” policy, has admitted to racial profiling–but says he’s not racist.
CLICK HERE to read more.
