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, and where to check them out in your favorite Canadian city! Pack your bags! We’re going on a road trip!
DJ Cosmo Baker is like an insane trip down memory lane if memory lane was the sickest hip hop you remember from the past few decades. He gets a ton of respect from his fans and DJs alike. Check out what these DJs have to say about him:
DJ A-Trak “Cosmo Baker is hands down one of my favorite DJs. very few dudes can read a crowd like Cosmo, first of all. My man can rock it in so many ways, and he continues to surprise me. Cosmo lives and breathes music and his knowledge runs deep!! He’s a virtual librarian of music. After all this is the man who invented the category “Dad Rock.” But more than anything Cosmo’s a party rocker. And a close friend. Rock on, Cosmo”
DJ Jazzy Jeff “When it comes to keeping the Philly Music tradition going…Cosmo has it locked. His knowledge is incredible and his Crates are deep and his passion and skills makes him one of my faves.”
RJD2 “Cosmo is the club DJ I aspire to be – smooth, seamless, on top of his game, knows exactly what’s appropriate at any given time. He’ll play the song that I’m totally sure could not be resurrected, and bam – gangbusters. He’s definitely that guy.”
Diplo “I would sneak into Fluid when I was still under 21 to see Cosmo play at the legendary Remedy, his parties were part of my foundation in Philly. The dude has a sixth sense at turnin’ a crowd out.”
Check him out at any of the following Canadian events. You won’t be dissapointed.
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 @ Hi Fi – Calgary, AB Canada
Thursday, December 18th, 2008 @ Hi-Fi Club – Winnipeg, MA Canada
Friday, December 19th, 2008 @ Shine – Vancouver, BC Canada
Title: The Beat Freakers Location: CiRCA, Toronto Link out: Click here Date: 2008-12-12
The Beat Freakers are pretty much exactly what the name suggests. Two dudes who have sex with beats in a gyrating, pelvic assassination style. Didn’t make any sense? Well then check out their MySpace. Oh wait, they don’t care about MySpace. In fact, they go on a hilarious tirade about how much they hate MySpace on their profile. News Corp. didn’t catch the following:
“We hate Myspace and refuse to ever update this.
We don’t like to take pictures of ourselves, because we don’t matter. With a little luck and plenty of hard work, anyone can do what we do. They just won’t look as good doing it.
We’re the last of a dying breed of electronic musicians. We don’t care about genres, we don’t bother you to vote for us, we don’t talk about the philosophy behind our synthesizers, and most importantly, we enjoy getting up on stage and acting like complete and utter jackasses. We produce records that have no relation to what we’re currently playing, and we often pay out of our own pocket to give people a product that they won’t cut drugs on. We’re a riddle wrapped in a paradox, shoved down a question mark’s throat.
The funny thing is – this works.”
Do you love them yet? I do. The duo are both really young, 23, and put together insane mixes with the likes of Mix Master Mike, The Drummatic Twins, Soul of Man, Rabbit in the Moon, Donald Glaude (our favorite), Jesse Saunders, Ed Rush and Optical and DJ Craze. Check them out at CiRCA this Friday, December 12th. They’ll be playing a show that is sure to be as hype as the above vid.
Details:
19+ I.D. REQUIRED / $15
126 JOHN STREET, TORONTO, CANADA
+1 (416) 979-0044
Title: Christmas With Caridad Location: Zaphod Beeblebrox, Ottawa Link out: Click here Date: 2008-12-19
Zaphod Beeblebrox is holding “Christmas with Caridad,” featuring Cubano Son and starring salsa diva Caridad Cruz. Since immigrating to Canada in 2003 from her native Cuba, where she sang professionally for 10 years, Caridad Cruz has attracted a lot of attention. Her debut Canadian performance with Jane Bunnett’s Spirits of Havana was broadcast nationally on CBC’s ‘Global Village’ and inspired a Globe and Mail reviewer to applaud her “warm ocean of a voice.” Caridad’s performance has also been described as “best heard live,” so it should be a good time at Zaphod’s. Also, I know a lot of the strippers from Barefax are into Latino music, so maybe they’ll also stop by.
Here are the event details:
Friday, December 19, 2008
Zaphod Beeblebrox
27 York Street, Ottawa
Age 19+/ General Admission ADVANCE TICKETS: $10.00 at TicketWeb.
Click here for the flyer.
Title: Rudely Interrupted Location: Sneaky Dees, Toronto Link out: Click here Date: 2008-12-09
Inspiring is a word that gets tossed around all too often in music journalism. But in the case of Rudely Interrupted, it’s the most fitting adjective possible. Arguably Australia’s most unique group of musicians, five out of six band members share a range of physical and intellectual disabilities – blindness, deafness, Aspergers, Autism and Down Syndrome. But you’d have no way of knowing listening to pop gems like “Don’t Break My Heart,” because, as Time Out suggested, “their music is some of the most energetic and genuine to emerge from the Australian rock ‘n’ roll underground in recent times.” The band will be making a Canadian appearance before heading off to the UK. Check them out at Sneaky Dee’s in Toronto tomorrow, December 9th.
Title: MALA Location: The Lamplighter Pub, Vancouver Link out: Click here Date: 2008-12-14
Mala is one half of Digital Mystikz: South London’s popular drum and bass duo. Pioneers of the thriving dubstep scene, Digial Mystikz are producers & DJs as well as label owners and promoters. These renaissance men unleash a dense concentration of good vibrations that would make Jah Shaka and Aba Shanti equally proud.
Digital Mystikz’ record label DMZ is a flagship for the movement. They have the respect of Aphex Twin’s Rephlex label and their popularity keeps growing. Their monthly DMZ night in deepest Brixton is where spiritual explorers go for the grittiest grime aftermath, where all drops come spiked with bouncing natty dreads and rude MCs.
Mala is dubstep royalty. He’s playing a Sunday night at The Lamplighter Pub in Vancouver because according to the organizers: “it’s the only day in the next half-year we could bring Mala to Vancouver.” It should be a great show so check him out on December 14th in Vancouver.
Moonstarr is back with a vengeance. After a long minute making beats for other peeps like Voice, LAL, Daedelus, DJ Kentaro, Zero DB and scoring music for film, our man heeded the calls and poured energies into his latest album, Instrumentals Forever. This is his second full-length release on Public Transit Recordings. Definitely a treat for all the heads, given the worldwide rounds and critical acclaim that followed his bossabreakbeat and synth-infused debut album Dupont earlier this century. Check it out!
If you’re still unaware, Sway, an upcoming media figure and musician from Toronto, launched a youth music program called Outside The Box to encourage and facilitate free music lessons for underprivileged children in Toronto aged 7-13 in response to cuts in arts funding. The program has been highly successful and it is the aim of everyone involved to make it a national campaign by 2010.
The first season of classes is about to end and there will be a wrap party with a media presence on Saturday 13-December. It’d be awesome if you could help promote this event and the wonderful program. You are also, of course, invited to attend and support the event.
Full details:
Masaryk-Cowan Community Centre
220 Cowan Avenue
Toronto, ON
M6H 3Y1
11am-4pm
*All activities and recording will take place on the 2nd floor.
Jaxpratt, aka DJ Jeff LaPratt, plays a great set on pure party anthems at the Mercury Lounge on Friday nights. This month is looking a little sparse with Jaxpratt at the Merc, but only because it’s the holidays and Friday nights are being ate by other performances. Jaxpratt has made a name for himself all over the St Laurent region playing electronic hits and mixing his own unique selection of beats. If you’re in Ottawa on a Friday night, check him out at the Mercury Lounge.
The Ottawa Xpress posted an article this week about the Canadian Floor Masters and their 25th anniversary. The crew got a ton of coverage back in the day for their trip to Russia during an unstable time. The crew followed Stephen Leafloor (a.k.a. Buddha), the founder of the group, and went on to do shows as well as community work. Working with first nations peoples, CFM were giving an otherwise underground dance, a good rep. The group affiliated themselves with the New York City Breakers and did great things for putting Canada on the map for something other than having a huge land mass. Congratulations guys!
Join CBC host Alan Neal for an eclectic triple bill concert featuring four Ottawa musicians. The concert will be recorded for national broadcast on CBC Radio Two’s Canada Live! Linsey Wellman (saxophones), Mike Essoudry (drumset, percussion), Adam Duncan (guitar) and Megan Jerome (voice, piano) are graduates from the music programs at Carleton and Ottawa Universities, and are now enjoying the spaces and flavors between traditional music categories. The concert takes place at the University of Ottawa, in Frieman Hall (Perez Building), on Sunday December 14, at 2:00pm (doors open at 1:30pm). Continue reading about the upcoming live concert on CBC Radio 2
