TRANSCANADARADIO is proud to celebrate Canada’s Current Cultural artists and their locations! Traveling across Canada’s vast surface and finding the best of the under and above-ground artists who are rooted in, Soul, Funk, Reggae, Beats, House, Breaks and all that afro-Jazz… and where to check them out in your favorite Canadian city! Pack your bags! We’re going on a road trip!
The music industry can be a tough game. Finding success in that game is something few artists can claim. Never is this more prominent than in Canada’s Hp Hop Industry. Halifax based artist Classified has defied the odds and has found success where others could only try. Through his own label, Halflife Records, Classified has dropped hit after hit, appealing to everyone from the casual to the most underground of fans. And after ten-plus years in the game, this critically acclaimed producer/mc is showing no signs of slowing down.
The Halifax-bred musician plays within the borders of folk-tinged yet she isn’t afraid to infuse her work with experimentation, incorporating vocal loops and electronic flourishes like her musical inspirations Bjork and Radiohead.
Recorded with Joydrop’s Thomas Rider Payne over an intensely busy three weeks in Toronto, Rebekah Higgs is the tip of the iceberg of what this talented songwriter has in store for a long career ahead. Her material is steeped in melody, showcasing her often witty, perceptive tales, while the layered production provides a complexity that invites listeners to come back again for repeat listens. This is music to knit impossibly long scarves to.
Keep an eye on TransCanada Radio for more upcoming concert dates because this is a musician you have to see!
Portico became a band in summer 2004. We recorded our first album at the Hive and released it in late 2005 on Hinge Records and distributed by Scratch. We’ve played shows at most of Vancouver’s live venues and toured extensively across Canada. In fall and winter 2006/2007 we recorded our upcoming second album at Mushroom Studios. We are Greg Murray (drums), Trent Hopton (guitars and keyboards), Mimi Mahovlich (bass), and Lyn Heinemann (guitar and voice).
Meaghan Smith’s first official full-length album, Take Me Dancing, is on its way out the door and straight into your CD player. Complete with string quartets, mellotron samples, a full piece horn section, a guest appearance made by the fabulously musical DJ Kid Koala, and topped with Meaghan’s smooth, soaring vocals, this new album is sure to make you want to cut some serious rug or grab your sweet heart for a good old cheek to cheek.
To make this album, I had to let myself relax. After speaking to my friend Scott Trivers about this horrible writer’s block I had for about a year, he gave me the best advice I’ve received. He told me to go home and write the worst songs I possibly could. So I did! I got over my fears of writing bad songs and instantly the dam was broken so to speak. These new songs are what flowed out of me in the following weeks.
Rose Cousins has a knack for stirring the heart. With a blend of her journey and thoughtful observation, her songs tell subtle stories open enough to belong to anyone.
Her genuine writing and unaffected voice have earned her great respect and recognition locally and internationally. Highly sought after, Rose has lent her voice to recordings by such artists as: Matt Mays, Jill Barber, In-Flight Safety, The Heavy Blinkers and Edie Carey.
Gravity Wave is, as Ken Farrell claims, an excuse to do what he wants.
First he made an electro-pop dance record with a Playstation video game. That stone killed a few birds simultaneously. Suddenly, there was no more carrying amplifiers to shows or concern for playing an instrument, even though Farrell is a multi-instrumentalist. Gravity Wave live shows became more about Ken and the audience, and soon the audience became part of the show. A twelve-year old tambourine player named Tom became the right hand man on stage, hustling his way into the hearts of confused and delighted partiers with every performance.
Between time on tour through the US, her Shadow Songs project with visual artist Shary Boyle spanning Canada, and creating compositions for television, film, and contemporary dance, Winnipeg’s Christine Fellows produced her fourth full-length album, Nevertheless (Six Shooter Records 2007), a stunning collection of songs celebrating spinsters, pigeons, the apocalypse and the power of art.
Spin Magazine, Pitchfork, and noted musicians like John Darnielle (of The Mountain Goats) hailed her 2005 album, Paper Anniversary, and Fellows’ song cycle/score for The Spinster’s Almanac was nominated for a 2007 Dora Mavor Moore Award.
She is currently dividing her time between her work as composer-in-residence at Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers (2007-08), building a pigeon coop, and touring in support of Nevertheless.
Upcoming shows:
3 Aug 2008 20:00 Sappyfest with Leanne Zacharias
From somewhere beneath the swelling strings and synths, the angular guitars and pulsating beats, cleaves the voice of Jamie Fooks of Jane Vain & the Dark Matter. In early 2003, Fooks started writing songs by her self in her basement apartment, to deal with the remaining demons of a reckless adolescence. Somewhat deterred by an open mic night that ended in tears, Fooks was encouraged to continue performing by the support of friends, and the interest of current guitar player Dillon Whitfield (of Raccoon). With the addition of Whitfield’s haphazard guitar playing, the foundation of Jane Vain & the Dark Matter was laid.
The duo played a string of shows, accompanied by only drums beats and bass, programmed by Fooks. These shows attracted attention from fans, promoters and other musicians.
Now, accompanied live by a rhythm section, (Shawn Dicey of Ox on drums, Markus Lake of The Incandescence on bass) Jane Vain & the Dark Matter have released their first full length, Love Is Where The Smoke Is, on Edmonton’s Rectangle Records, and are embarking on another national tour in support of their record. The record features contributions by local musicians Mark Hamilton, Foon Yap, and Annalea Sordi of Woodpigeon, Jesse Locke of SIDS, and Matt Flegel of The Cape May. Inherent in the music is a kinetic energy, as if Jane Vain & the Dark Matter are aiming for anxious chaos, but achieving a careful clarity.
Cameron Latimer - Empty Saddles Cameron Latimer has been a singer/songwriter from the time he first picked up a guitar sixteen years ago. Since then, he’s written over a hundred songs and recorded over a third of them professionally. He attended Malaspina University College where he studied Jazz Music. Here, he met musician Adam Dobres who was to become Latimer’s long-term collaborator. Together, along with Rueben Degroot, they formed The Seams, a band with a perpetual personality disorder perhaps best described as an alternative-pop-country-jazz band. They released their debut album Castaway Motel in 2004 and followed it up with several Western Canadian tours. Simultaneously, Latimer contributed significantly to the projects of other local artists such as Ridley Bent, Dustin Bentall, and the Grand Cariboo Opry alongside Barney Bentall.
Culling what he learned through these collaborations and drawing on such varied inspirations as the work of Elliot Smith, Django Reinhardt, Lyle Lovett and Jeff Tweedy, Latimer has been writing and recording songs for his solo debut, Fallen Apart. Featuring producer Johnny Ellis (Barney Bentall, Dustin Bentall, Ridley Bent), drummer, Pat Steward (Bryan Adams, Matthew Good) bassist Rob Becker (Colin James), and lead guitarist Adam Dobres (Daniel Lapp, Outlaw Social), Fallen Apart melds a vast wealth of experience, skill and emotional depth.
Osheaga music and arts festival kicked off for the first time in 2006 with a mind blowing line up of artists from Amon Tobin to Dinosaur Jr., Wolf Parade to Kid Koala, Final Fantasy to Sonic Youth, a list I shiver to utter. It is safe to say that every year, Osheaga has taken over Montreal with a last expressive outburst before winter’s hibernation. This August marks the festival’s third year and Osheaga is on no road to disappoint, from big names to indie underground the two day festival will be an event one would dread to miss. Check back here on TransCanada Radio for updates and videos on the artists who will be rocking it August 3rd and 4th, and who are putting Montreal and Canada on the map.
