Today in That Just Can’t Be Right: Producer and musician Daniel Lanois is apparently celebrating his 72nd birthday today. Yep, you read that right: 70-goddamn-2. If you didn’t already feel old, well, that oughta do it. It sure did the trick for me. But here’s something that will help: Today’s roster of great new Canadian singles and videos from near and far. Just don’t break a hip pushing play:
Sluice | Agit Comme Du Monde
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Acadian powerpop band Sluice released the new single and video Agit Comme Du Monde. The single previews their sophomore LP Archiviste — a history lesson, a love letter to home, and a fist-pumping 10-track album offering up the most fun you could possibly have learning about niche Nova Scotian history while soaking in your 1990s nostalgia. Agit Comme Du Monde uses words and sayings particular to the band’s home region in a new way of preserving the culture of one of the oldest Acadian regions of the world. The accompanying video, directed by Jeff Miller and shot by Charlie Benoit, hones in on Sluice’s penchant for leaning into a ’90s aesthetic while also paying homage to their home turf.”
Night Lunch | Flames of Love
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Art-rock group Night Lunch share Flames of Love, off their new full-length Fire In The Rose Garden. It could be the Montréal outfit’s most assertive and clever venture into ghoulish punk to date. Akin to love’s fiery embrace, this insidious firestorm, equal parts devilish melody, motorik pulse and scorching production, promises to consume the listener, leaving but a little mound of dust on the dance floor. Perhaps the most urgent song on the record, Flames Of Love is a hurried, lovesick rocker, set apart with a darker and more aggressive palette. Alongside the single, the band taps into the dark ages with a medieval-inspired video directed by Vincent Papineau.”
Ken Tizzard & Music For Goats | Pain Free Living (I Like To Get High)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Hey folks,” says Watchmen bassist Ken Tizzard of his latest solo track, “We are super excited to let y’all hear the newest tune from The Dagg Sessions. These songs were recorded last year before the passing of drummer Steve Dagg and are being released as a dedication to our lost bandmate… Be well.”
Tim Baker | Pilgrims
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Due out almost a year to the day his latest LP The Festival, Tim Baker’s new EP Along The Mountain Road arrives Oct. 20. Today, he shares Pilgrims, alongside a video featuring his fellow pilgrims and touring band All Hands — another heartwarming video from Tim acknowledging the contribution and support of all those around him on his musical journey, or pilgrimage. “The song is sort of about being born in the wrong time — feeling more spiritual and religious than our modern, rational, digital reality encourages,” says Tim. “It’s about feeling close to sweetness, ease, goodness, enlightenment even, but always being pulled away from it by reality — specifically the reality of the climate crisis and our inability to fix it, ignore it, or find some deeper meaning in it beyond senseless destruction. It also speaks to my life as a traveller, a searcher, someone who is always leaving, always reaching for something, but never quite seems to arrive and find it. But somehow still has hope and keeps going.”
Dan Mangan | Just Know It (Elsewhere Version)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “As Dan Mangan prepares to hit the road again for a run of tour dates this fall, the celebrated songwriter is sharing a reimagining of his lush, driven track Just Know It (Elsewhere Version) from Being Somewhere. Dan’s powerful words, ‘Truth hurts and it always shows up dead last when the party’s over / Wouldn’t you just know it?’ are given new life as the minimalist piano track from the album have been laden with guitar and polyrhythms. Dan reflects, “When we reflect on the historical atrocities humans have thrust upon each other, we always ponder, ‘why didn’t anybody stop this before it got so bad?’ Then we apply the only logical conclusion we can muster — that with all this hindsight, we surely must know better now. But, of course, we do not know better now. Every time the dust settles, I want it to be crystal clear where I’ve stood.”
Jessica Rhaye & The Ramshackle Parade | Reaching Out To You
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Rootsy artists Jessica Rhaye & The Ramshackle Parade release the sentimental video for Reaching Out To You, a song featured on their recent album Sunshine Baby. “It gives me great pleasure to share with you this music video,” says Jessica. “This is a song and video I hold dear to my heart. My grandmother was the inspiration for this song — she was such a positive light in my life, and I think of her often. She passed away in 2011 at the age of 87. We filmed the video near my grandmother’s house and where I grew up. It features my beautiful mother, my daughter, and four of my nieces. It is the dreamiest, most cinematic video Jordan Mattie and I have created together. Huge thanks to my family and Jordan for making my vision for this song’s journey a reality.”
Radar Peak | Butane Glow
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Radar Peak, comprised of Nestor Chumak and Zack Mykula (Pup) and Matt Aldred (Modern Superstitions), are sharing another meditation on the themes of physical and emotional dislocation from their upcoming self-titled debut, due out Oct. 20. Framed by alternately chugging and jangly guitars, a melodic bass line, snappy drums and some homegrown production flourishes, Butane Glow starts off sparsely enough but by the end just about every hook imaginable is clamouring for attention. You might get a toothache if you listen to this one twice in a row.”
Sick Boss | Useless Genius 2
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Sick Boss unites some of Vancouver’s finest improvising musicians under the bold leadership of guitarist and composer Cole Schmidt. The band’s hefty, episodic compositions are mostly built upon sturdy instrumental rock foundations but will colourfully explode into detailed, vigorous arrangements. These expansive pieces inevitably unfurl into passages of improvisatory interplay, textural drift, and even diaphanous chamber-music-like junctures, revealing the vast and imaginative collective capacity of this brilliant group. Their forthcoming second album Businessless is in many ways more immediate and boisterous than its predecessor. It’s also more strange and volatile.”
