Tag Archive for 'Alberta'

K-OS brings us back, Calgary Nov 28

Published on November 24, 2008 in Event and Live Music. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Title: K-OS
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Link out: Click here
Date: 2008-11-28

K-OS was raised a Jehovah’s Witness in Toronto. Not that it has anything to do with his music but maybe it does. Are Jehovah’s Witnesses into rap? Maybe they like trance. In any case, K-OS has had a whole bunch of jams and an incredibly long career. His mainstream superstardom has lasted a whopping 6 years. If you’re looking to feel nostalgic about old albums or interested in what he’s doing these days, check him out in Calgary on the 28th of November.

Wintermitts @ Hannah Georgas (Vancouver) Sept 13

Published on August 29, 2008 in Live Music. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Wintermitts are Lise Monique, David Thomas Manzl, Shane McMillan, Swann Barrat and Trevor Dunnett, a force of unique musical talent you cannot help but love. Wintermitts have a bilingual set list and a full length album “Cascadia Fault”. The recording took place in the wet Vancouver Winter of 06/07. They recorded all the music on this lovely little compact disc huddled in the dry warmth of Shane’s living room, the Lise Monique Manor, the Sullivan family basement and producer Christian Chaumont’s bedroom.

More on Wintermitts including upcoming concert dates

Revival Dear @ The Rainbow (Ottawa), Oct 9

Published on August 20, 2008 in Live Music. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

Revival Dear

There was a time when music was a craft performed by artisans who rode the rails and played from the heart. A time when music was central to communities, bringing people together and inspiring change. If you have ever longed to go back to such a time, then Revival Dear will ride straight into your heart.

Revival Dear has found a way to pay homage to the past and herald in the future at the same time. Imagine a marriage between classic rock legends The Band and Fleetwood Mac, and you’ll have a pretty good idea of their sound. Yet Revival Dear’s music is fresh, totally alive, and very relevant in today’s music scene.

Upcoming concert listings

Olivier Jarda @ Mercury Lounge (Ottawa) Sept. 2

Published on August 20, 2008 in Live Music and Update. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Olivier Jarda was born in Ottawa, Ontario in 1984 to Haitian immigrants. He began playing piano when he was five, and picked up a few more instruments before settling on the guitar.

After high school, Olivier moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia to attend Saint Mary’s University. There he co-hosted the student open mic for a few years with Jon Mckiel (of Jon Mckiel fame) and Matt Whiston, playing mostly originals but covering artists including Elliott Smith, Neil Young, Bob Marley, Feist, Wyclef, Ryan Adams, and Wilco.

Throughout university, the band released the first LP in 2006, Thirteen Telephone Towers. The band toured the country from coast to coast and has gone as far north as Whitehorse, Yukon, and can be heard on Canadian radio from time to time.

Upcoming concert listings for Olivier Jarda

The Gravity Wave @ Otto’s Shrunken Head (NY) Aug. 19

Published on July 22, 2008 in Live Music. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

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.

More about The Gravity Wave including upcoming concert dates

Marie-Josée Houle in profile: Yes, accordion can be sexy

Published on June 3, 2008 in Featured and Live Music. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Click to listen to Marie-Josée Houle’s “Blase D’La Vie” marie-josee-houle-blase-dla-vie

Marie-Josée Houle was born in Val d‘Or, Quebec and raised in Edmonton, Alberta and celebrates her dual cultural roots through music. She sings and writes fluently in both English and French, she brings the Townships to the Prairies and beyond. This lady scores major points with me personally for having been classically trained on the accordion at age five. But, like yours truly, her musical history is as varied as her hair colour. In 2000, she took up the electric bass and saxophone in order to form two very eclectic projects in Edmonton: “Pangina”, an all-girl punk band and “The Elevators”, a post-modern muzak band. Her reconnection with the accordion coincided with a move to Ottawa in 2003 and culminated in the world music collaboration known as “Casadore.” The success of that project – including a performance at the 2005 Ottawa Folk Music Festival – served as a springboard for her solo work. Continue reading ‘Marie-Josée Houle in profile: Yes, accordion can be sexy’

BKS Productions: Alberta Canada’s Best Kept Secret

Published on February 26, 2008 in Producers. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Best Kept Secret (BKS) is a production company run out of Alberta by a trio of passionate Hip Hop artists: promo/hypeman Degs, AJK, and DMC & ITF champion DJ Pump. Like true Hip Hop purists, they continually strive for the balance between the soulful and the street. I’m a big fan of old school mixers and it really helps that they draw a lot of their style from from old school R&B and funk cuts.

They feature drops and shout-outs from all kinds of artists from Hi-Tek and Alchemist to Kardinal Offishall and Stretch Armstrong. Their website seems very simple at first glance but if you poke around a little like I did, you’ll find that they actually feature a full copy of ‘Fresh Produce’, their debut effort from 2007, for free download! I like BKS Productions’ sound because of its diverse mix of artists — everyone from Jay-Z, Biggie & M.O.P., Clipse & Slim Thug, and even some notable street poets such as Common & Nas. With fresh product like that, they’re all set to make a name for themselves in the underground Hip Hop community.

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