Tag Archive for 'Sackville'

Wintermitts @ Hannah Georgas (Vancouver) Sept 13

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

In-Flight Safety ‘The Coast Is Clear’

In-Flight Safety

The Halifax-based quartets’ first full-length album The Coast Is Clear exceeds all expectations. The disc is a superb cinematic pop experiment that tugs at your heartstrings upon first listen.

Starting out in Vancouver, the band began work on five tracks with producer Warne Livesey (Midnight Oil, 54-40), who took the band under his British wing for a month-long recording adventure. On their return to Halifax the band enlisted Laurence Currie (Sloan, Ghandharvas) to help bring the record towards the finish line. But, when it came time to sculpt the album into a satisfying wall of sound, In-Flight Safety opted for the hands on approach.

More on Halifax’s In-Flight Safety

The Burning Hell @ Rancho Relaxo (Toronto) Aug. 15th

Taking its name from a religious tract, The Burning Hell has been slithering around in the muck in one form or another since the dawn of the millennium. Fronted by the moderately agoraphobic songwriter and occasional history teacher Mathias Kom on electric ukulele, The Burning Hell currently features between one and twelve people, depending on the night.

The variable lineup promises a very different show every time: sometimes loud, sometimes quiet, sometimes rock, sometimes roll. Always folk, never anti. Quirky? Maybe. Cute? Never.

The latest Burning Hell album, ‘Happy Birthday’, celebrates the beauty of age, the joys of decay, the possibility of dating after death, and the inevitable repetition of mistakes. Combining happy little melodies and depressing Old World fatalism, the music of The Burning Hell is sure to make you smile and want to give up.

(and if you want a good laugh, check out these boys doing an impromptu cover of Outkast’s ‘Hey Ya’)

The Burning Hell’s extensive upcoming concert listing

Mardeen @ the Capital (Fredericton), Aug. 1

Mardeen brings together the very best of the genre with distinctive pop hooks all their own. Think of the bright shimmering guitar of Built To Spill and Teenage Fanclub accented with the swirling distortion of My Bloody Valentine. Imagine the anthemic vocal delivery of Bob Pollard (Guided By Voices) or early Michael Stipe (REM) mixed with the sweet high harmonies of Rivers Cuomo (Weezer).

More on Mardeen including upcoming concert dates

Meaghan Smith @ Hillside Music Festival (Guelph) July 25

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.

More on Meaghan Smith including upcoming concert dates

Christine Fellows @ Sappyfest (Sackville) Aug. 3


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

Snailhouse – Dawson City Music Festival (Dawson), July 19th

Snailhouse
Snailhouse – Birds and BeesSnailhouse – Dollar Signs

Snailhouse is an ongoing collection of songs by Mike Feuerstack. Obscuring the distinction between a singer-songwriter and a rock band, snailhouse is always a labour of love. Over the course of three albums, an EP and a host of 7″s and compilations, Snailhouse has garnered a very loyal following in the underground music world.

Snailhouse has attracted collaborators as diverse and renowned as Julie Doiron, Dave Draves, Aaron Booth, members of Arcade Fire, Bell Orchestre, Maritime and most recently, The Acorn. Feuerstack is also a founding member of the Wooden Stars, who besides offering four of their own acclaimed full length CDs since the mid-nineties, were awarded a Juno for best alternative album for their collaboration with Julie Doiron (curiously titled Julie Doiron and the Wooden Stars).

Fans of Snailhouse come to expect many things – unique song-craft, stunning musicianship, and a lyrical prowess that is deceptive in its simplicity. From the bare acoustic recordings of (1994’s) Fine to the grandoise pop experiments of The Opposite is Also True to the subtle, skewed soul of The Silence Show, Snailhouse takes genres both new and old and weaves them into something that can never be listened to the same way twice.

Upcoming shows:
19 Jul 2008 20:00 Dawson City Music Festival Dawson, Yukon
30 Jul 2008 20:00 Shadow Lawn w/ Olympic Symphonium Rothsay, New Brunswick
31 Jul 2008 20:00 Capital w/ Rolf Klausener Fredericton, New Brunswick
3 Aug 2008 20:00 Sappy Records Music Festival Sackville, New Brunswick

Adam & the Amethysts: Amethyst Amulet, Babylon (Ottawa) July 25th

Adam & The Amethysts – Bumble Bee

Adam & The Amethysts – He Passed Away

Adam & The Amethysts – Sonic Youth Centre

Adam & The Amethysts – Stupid Ocean

Adam & The Amethysts – The Return

In between performing with groups Miracle Fortress and Telefauna, Amethyst Amulet was handcrafted with the tools Adam Waito had available in his Montreal apartment. In the spirit of long-lost concept albums of the past, Amethyst Amulet tells a story through unified musical and lyrical themes, yet remains, essentially, a collection of good pop songs about love and small-town remembrance, earnestly but playfully composed and humbly realized at home in the big city.

Find out more about Adam & The Amethysts including their upcoming concert dates and more right here!