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!
Rommel Teixeira Ribeiro is a Brazilian-born artist living in Ottawa. He’s quite multi-talented with his ability to play a number of string and percussion instruments from his native country, including the cavaquinho, craviola, pandeiro and berimbau. He often describes his music as being heavily influenced by his hometown of São Luís (in the northeastern province of Maranhão) which is known for its mix of African, indigenous and European cultures. He puts on a great show and he’ll be jamming at the Mercury Lounge on Friday, November 21st.
Brian Borcherdt (of Holy Fuck) is touring with Martha Wainwright to promote his new solo release ‘Coyotes’, released on October 7th thru Toronto-based label Hand Drawn Dracula.
Brian began playing music in rural Nova Scotia where he founded Canada’s first not-for-profit collaborative label, Dependent. After having left Novia Scotia and worked in film, he decided to go back to music, his true passion. After a few years with Canadian indie pioneers By Divine Right, Brian continued touring, playing with Holy Fuck and working on his solo career. Take the time to relax and be mellow with Brian Borcherdt at any of the below shows:
Nov 28 The Commodore Vancouver w/ Martha Wainwright Nov 30 Grand Theatre Calgary w/ Martha Wainwright Dec 01 Myer Horowitz Theatre Edmonton w/ Martha Wainwright Dec 02 Broadway Theatre Saskatoon w/ Martha Wainwright Dec 03 Pyramid Cabaret Winnipeg w/ Martha Wainwright Dec 05 Gig Theatre Kitchener w/ Martha Wainwright Dec 06 Danforth Music Hall Toronto w/ Martha Wainwright
Title: Alfa Rococo Location: Club Soda, Montreal Link out: Click here Date: 2008-11-29
Alfa Rococo are Justine Laberge and David Bussieres, a Quebecois duo that put out their first album in Spring of 2007. Their music and lyrics reflect their personality: colorful and poetic. They sound like Manu Chao if he had his girlfriend play in his band. They’re sure to put on a good show and if you’re feeling like dancing, I suggest checking them out at Club Soda on Saturday November 29th in Montreal.
Title: JADAH followed by JazzTronic Location: Mercury Lounge, Ottawa Link out: none Date: 2008-11-28
Jadah, a local Ottawa reggae band, is virtually impossible to find on the Internet. Why? It could be that having a MySpace isn’t the way this reggae band rolls, or maybe Jadah is just waiting for the right time. Ainsley is the lead singer and he’s been doing this for 20 years now. Count on Jadah to provide some great beats Friday November 28th at the Mercury Lounge in Ottawa.
Title: Mark Berube and The Patriotic Few Location: Montreal Link out: Click here Date: 2008-11-16
Mark Berube is half Quebecois and half Manitoban. In this regard, he truly exemplifies the Canadian culture that affects his music. On top of that, his cultural influences are diversified by a stint living in Swaziland while he was young. He currently lives in Montreal where he takes inspiration from Bob Dylan, Keith Jarrett, Abdullah Ibrahim, Hugh Masekela and Nina Simone. His music is described as rare and raw folk and he consistently delivers engaging and lively performances. Check out Mark Berube at La Divian Orange in Montreal on Saturday, November 16th.
[Update Nov 12: Now the video has been pulled from StreetCarnage.com. This is all that is left (above).]
Our good friend Pinky of TV Carnage directed the video for Crystal Castles‘ latest hit Vanished. Well it seems the video for Vanished is about to vanish along with apparently a ton of other Crystal Castles “official” music videos.
The only word I’ve heard as to why the video is being pulled is that it has something to do with a “long shitty story…all their management [are] suing each other.”
As much as I want to name drop here and talk about who said what, it’s a rumor so I’m not about to attach credibility to the post by putting official names. But the point remains that the video for Vanished has been forcibly pulled from TransCanadaRadio, and will soon be pulled from the director’s site StreetCarnage.com. Crystal Castles should really let the video continue because Pinky is incredibly talented and with a bigger budget, time and resources, could pull something epic together.
Feel free to comment your support for Pinky’s video and we’ll hopefully send a message to the band and get the video back up. Thanks for the link love Pitchfork!
The band has shared a stage with the likes of Mark Berube and The Patriotic Few, The Unsettlers, The Ladies of the Canyon, Lake of Stew, Charlotte Cornfield, The John Cohen Experimental, The Winks and The Winter Gloves. So if these bands are up your alley, you’ll get a kick out of their Eastern European gypsy soul. Check them out at the Mercury Lounge on Friday, November 29th.
Our good friend Pinky who does TV Carnage, directed the new Crystal Castles video for the track “Vanished”. Here is what he had to say about it:
Presenting the debut of the Crystal Castles video for VANISHED directed by PINKY of TV CARNAGE along with the loving involvement of Sir Vernon Chatman. Crystal Castles asked to have a video done without them appearing in it, so we discussed creating something that would involve eerie stupidity that warmed the soul and could possibly be turned into a sitcom or BET comedy special. We arrived at this. A video meticulously rammed together in the last week of May 2008 (including awesome choreography by Megan Kain) and shot at Union Pool in Brooklyn, NY.
The video has won some sort of thing in Berlin and is apparently sluttishly embraced by the Europeans.
God bless their cotton socks.
Special thanks to Ari Fishman of Petite Monster who is the only maniac who can produce this sort of thing at a moments notice.
P.S. I am also taking this opportunity to announce my candidacy for Chris Tartarro’s love. He sat in my crack den of an apartment for 2 days with a laptop atop his lap, helping me edit this thing.
Title: Said the Whale Location: Port Alberni, British Columbia Link out: Click here Date: 2008-11-20
Said the Whale is an indie band without the annoying hipsterdom that comes along with all things indie. Their music is described as witty, artful and soulful with a coating of Vancouver chill out. Be sure to check them out at The Academy in Port Alberni, British Columbia on Thursday, November 20th.
Title: Leif Vollebekk Location: Black Sheep Inn, Wakefield (Ottawa) Link out: Click here Date: 2008-11-27
Leif Vollebekk is from Montreal and his music is an acoustic guitar country meets Arcade Fire that reminds me of a never-ending road trip through rural Quebec. That doesn’t mean anything does it? In any case, his CD release party is going down at the Blacksheep Inn in Wakefield, just outside of Ottawa, on Thursday November 27. The Blacksheep is an awesome venue and he’ll be playing with OK Giraffe and Charlotte Cornfield.
