Well, it looks like winter has finally arrived. Whatever. Honestly, it doesn’t matter much to me if there’s three inches or three feet of snow out there; I barely leave the house either way. And why would I? I have everything I need right here: Couch, food, big-screen TV, high-speed internet and — more to the point — all the new Canadian music I can eat. Here’s today’s menu:
Moonriivr | Mother To Me
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Moonriivr, the quartet of vocalist Gavin Gardiner (The Wooden Sky), guitarist “Champagne” James Robertson (Lindi Ortega), bassist Ben Whiteley (The Weather Station) and percussionist Lyle Molzan (Kathleen Edwards), recently released their idiosyncratic indie-folk debut LP, titled Vol. 1. Here’s the video for the album track Mother To Me. “This song celebrates those relationships in life that are strong enough to withstand even the fiercest gales.” says Gardiner. “I’ve been learning to accept that time changes everything and sometimes you just have to be OK with where you are today and let tomorrow be tomorrow.”
M’Grasker | Kiss & Smoke Weed
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “M’Grasker are a coven of humanoid meat sacks forged in the Vats of Creation by Dr. Gorp. Their mission: to Rock. However, they are also permitted to Roll. Human terminology might define them as a “band,” however they would be more accurately described as Biological Property of M’Graskorp Unlimited Enterprises and Subsidiaries of the GlanGlan Group. M’Graskorp’s renowned legal team compelled Jesse Turnbull (Taurus Music) and Dave Monks (Tokyo Police Club) to engineer and produce their forthcoming self-titled album, due this year. M’Grasker present a psychedelic symphony in the form of Kiss & Smoke Weed, an amorous and trippy song that pays homage to the twin pillars of human joy: A kiss, the sweet interlocking of souls, and the goij, the herb that unravels the mind’s knotty woes. Imagine the harmonic convergence of lips meeting ‘twixt loving gazes and the effervescent dance of goij smoke waltzing through the air. Its intoxicating groove offers a kaleidoscopic sound, accompanied by a phantasmagoria of color and love.”
Laurence DaNova | Resurfacing
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Ottawa’s Laurence DaNova assures that “even after trauma, we survive” on the ‘90s trip-hop anthem Resurfacing. “Resurfacing represents a journey towards self-discovery, reconciliation, and escapism,” DaNova says of the nostalgia-invoking track. “It’s written as a metaphorical narrative of finding solace in an underwater world — a symbolic safe haven, away from the struggles and suffering of the land above.” The video was filmed in Ontario on Chantry Island within their 150-year-old lighthouse and the lighthouse keeper’s inn, and throughout the Tobermory area.”
Echoes Of… | Inurulutuinnaujuguk (ft. qiyuapik + Shine Your Light (ft. Naja P + Maazes)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Echoes Of…, the new project fronted by the vocals of Andrew Morrison (Jerry Cans, Terry Uyarak, Aakuluk Music) is sharing two new tracks from his upcoming album Euphemisms, out Jan. 26. First up: Inurulutuinnaujuguk. Morrison calls recording the song with qiyuapik (James Ungalaq) “one of the most special releases of my life. I remember when I first started singing in Inuktitut I faced questions from my community, including from qiyuapik / King James. Questions about who I was, where I was from, who/where is my community, questions about who I was to do what I was doing. Inurulutuinnaujuguk means we are only human, we are fallible, we make mistakes, we are flawed, but we are still human. We answer these questions in many ways over our lifetime.” Also being shared today: Shine Your Light, featuring Naja P and Maazes. “Shine Your Light was born in the woods at one of the greatest studios in Canada,” says Morrison. “The song draws energy from across the Arctic. A love song from the darkness that sometimes accompanies that feeling we all know. Live like you’re dead, scream in your head, lie on the floor. This is my favourite song on the album because the collaborative spirit pulled me — and all of us — outside my boundaries.”
Goddamsels | Better Than
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Following a whirlwind 2023 that saw The Goddamsels break into the Americana scene on the strength of their debut EP Wayward Daughter, the Canadian duo of singer-songwriters Mallory Chipman and Frédrique “Freddi” MacDougall kick off 2024 with the single Better Than, the first taste of their forthcoming eponymous album. With its jaunty melody, Better Than once again showcases Mallory and Freddi’s instinctive harmony vocals, as well as their evolution as songwriters. Better Than is about envisioning “something better than” the constant grind and hustle that many of us can get caught up in, especially those situations that prioritize productivity over personal connection.”
The Neighbourhood Watch | Patient Love
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Neighbourhood Watch’s story-driven blend of folk and indie-rock clearly touched a nerve when they released their album Community Protected (2017). Without any sort of label or industry support, the album racked up 10 million+ streams. Their followup albums Goodbye Childhood (2019) and Lost in Bloom (2021) received strong recognition. The Neighbourhood Watch have already proved that this was no beginner’s luck — and with their upcoming fourth full-length, the Toronto band are more than ready to take the international stage. Patient Love is a pop-folk, stomp and holler, kind of song. It’s about the idea that you shouldn’t lose faith that love is right around the corner. Sometimes, you just have to let go and it will find you.”
Old Man Luedecke | My Status Is The Baddest (ft. Bahamas)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “It’s been a few years since we last heard new music from two-time Juno winner Old Man Luedecke. Where exactly has he been? On a scallop boat of course, and working with Afie Jurvanen (Bahamas). Here is the first new track from their time together: My Status Is The Baddest, which sees Chris Luedecke leaving behind his signature banjo to explore songwriting and finding a freedom in it. The track is a joy-filled complaint of parenthood. Channeling Steve Miller and Tom Petty with a breezy existential refrain, Luedecke tries to sort out whether the high road of parenting is espionage against the true nature of the beast. Holding it all back to be a good parent, or trying to be, most of the time. Suppressing flight urges, keeping the train on the rails, trying to get the kids what they need. All these things are in this feel good ditty about how the joys and bliss of parenting are also really a lot of work, doubt and heartache with little right to but also little escape from complaint.”
Daniel Romano | Field Of Ruins
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Daniel Romano has been busy. Count the many hungry mornings at the post. Since the release of the massive, singular La Luna in those long ago days of autumn 2022, full brilliant albums have been made and set aside (maybe two, maybe more), vast landscapes have been crossed and re-crossed, the maps redrawn, songs remade nightly with passion and gusto. Now here, in the depths of northern winter, arrives Too Hot To Sleep, simultaneously a transcendent document of the spirit, and a swaggering, street level blast of power-pop and Rolling Stones-derived rock ’n’ roll; a surprisingly direct shoutdown of corrupt politicians and techno fascists that police our bodies, pollute our world, assault our connections; a reason and occasion to dance, to sweat together at one of The Outfit’s legendary live shows wherein everything comes faster than the next, no breaks, no outside, there is only now, there is only all of us here together, alive. A public offering of each to each.”
