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.

Upcoming shows:
24 Jul 2008 20:00 The Apollo Thunder Bay, Ontario
26 Jul 2008 20:00 The Horseshoe Tavern Toronto, Ontario
27 Jul 2008 20:00 Alex P. Keaton London, Ontario
29 Jul 2008 20:00 The Horseshoe Tavern Toronto, Ontario
30 Jul 2008 20:00 Zaphod Beeblebrox Ottawa, Ontario
31 Jul 2008 20:00 The Jupiter Room-Pop Montreal Music Series Montreal, Quebec
7 Aug 2008 21:00 O’Hanlons Regina, Saskatchewan
8 Aug 2008 21:00 Amigos Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
9 Aug 2008 21:00 New City Likwid Lounge Edmonton, Alberta
15-17 Aug 2008 20:00 Salmon Arm Roots and Blues festival. Salmon Arm, British Columbia
20 Aug 2008 21:00 The Biltmore Cabaret Vancouver, British Columbia
11 Sep 2008 21:00 Broken City Calgary, Alberta

In the heart of Canada’s largest city, Forest City Lovers — Kat Burns (vocals/guitar/piano), Kyle Donnelly (bass/guitar/vocals), Mika Posen (violin/piano/vocals) and a string of drummers — have strived to tame the urban wilderness and add some melody to the chaos.

Forest City Lovers, burst onto Toronto’s music scene with the release of their 2006 album, The Sun and the Wind. Released independently with the help of some talented friends, The Sun and the Wind a ten song journey through landscapes of cities and summer days, was a breath of fresh air and exposed the talent of emerging songwriter Kat Burns. Chart called the record “delightfully engaging” while Exclaim proclaimed Burns “enigmatic and subtly inventive.”

While touring in support of their debut record, Forest City Lovers developed into a cohesive and complete unit. With their new collaborative approach the band headed back in the studio to record twelve new songs.

With the help of their dear friends, previous drummer Jamie Bunton and Heather Kirby (Ohbijou), the band hunkered down for nine-months at their fledgling studio, Kirby’s Dreamland, in Toronto.

These sessions birthed Haunting Moon Sinking which straddles the line between heartbreakingly beautiful and intimately powerful. Forest City Lovers’ new album explores themes of love and life with lush and poignant orchestration. With members of Ohbijou, Snailhouse, Hylozoists, the Pill and other Toronto talents filling out chorused vocals and swelling string arrangements, Haunting Moon Sinking steps into a natural progression from the band’s previous effort.

The songs of Forest City Lovers are catchy, yet fragile, and hope to melt your heart, or at least make it beat.

10 Jul 2008 20:00 The Apollo Thunder Bay, Ontario
12 Jul 2008 20:00 Rock Island Lodge Wawa, Ontario

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.

Live, Waito is joined by drummer Nathan Ward and guitarist Jessie Stein, both from Miracle Fortress, as well as long-time collaborator, pianist Katherine Peacock of Telefauna. With sweet vocal harmonies, rock guitars, fluttering keys, and creative percussive arrangements, Adam & the Amethysts perform compelling live renditions of the songs of Amethyst Amulet that sparkle and thump.

Not unlike a large percentage of active musicians in every big city, Waito grew up in a small town. Waito’s supernatural lo-fi opus, Amethyst Amulet, is unified by an overarching focus on the remote Northern Ontario town of Thunder Bay where he grew up (one of the rare locations to mine amethyst in Canada). In its 13 tracks that traverse a great deal of sonic and musical territory–from tender Neil Youngian balladry, to reverb-drenched ’60s pop, to fuzzy ’90s-nostalgic indie rock–the listener can trace a narrative about revisiting the people, places, and events of the small towns that shape the identities of many urbanites, that we wear and carry with us to work, to school, and on tour with rock bands.

12 Jul 2008 21:00 CD LAUNCH @ Casa Del Popolo w/ Tune Yards, Mussaver Montreal, Quebec
25 Jul 2008 20:00 Babylon w/ Think About Life, Miracle Fortress Ottawa, Ontario
26 Jul 2008 20:00 Sneaky Dee’s w/ Think About Life, Miracle Fortress Toronto, Ontario
31 Jul 2008 20:00 Le Cercle w/ Think About Life, Miracle Fortress Quebec City, Quebec
03 Aug 2008 20:00 Sappyfest w/ Eric’s Trip, Miracle Fortress, Luyas Sackville, New Brunswick

Mark Berube is an artist that has proven to be very popular among our readers time after time so I’ve listed upcoming concert dates so that you can be sure to check him out in your area soon!

11 Jul 2008 20:00 Winnipeg Folk Festival with The Fugitives Winnipeg, MB
17 Jul 2008 21:00 Maxwells Music House Waterloo, ON
18 Jul 2008 21:00 Tranzac – Fundraiser for Toronto Slam Team Toronto, ON
19 Jul 2008 19:00 Mercury Lounge Ottawa, ON

And…

Mark Berube will be touring across Canada to promote the release of “What The River Gave The Boat!” He had this to say about the upcoming tour and album:

“The band and I started recording What the Boat Gave the River in early April after my tour with The Fugitives. We kept it intense, lots of sessions, lots of jams with different musicians and now we’re just over 2 weeks away from finishing it. I have to admit that this album is somewhat of a milestone. It’s been about 8/9 years of recording, touring, sluggin’ away…etc. This album makes me feel that it’s all paying off. I recently signed with Redux Records, headed up by Keith Brown. He’s the vice-president of Aquarius Records of the DKD Label Group ( Arts and Crafts, Last Gang Records, Tacca Music, Aquarius) and he’s started up his own label kind of specifically for us. So far, we’re happy with how everything is going. Keith is good people and willing to work hard along side us. Now the real work starts… It’s looking like What the Boat Gave the River will be released in Quebec in August, and the rest of Canada in September. The road has been good thus far, hopefully it will continue to bear fruits.”

Be sure to check him out!

Aug. 21 Victoria, BC @ The Solstice Cafe – Victoria Release Party
Aug. 23 Vancouver, BC @ The Wise Hall w/ Dan Mangan – Cd Release Party
Aug. 25 Penticton, BC @ Voodoo’s
Aug. 26 Edmonton, AB @ Hulbert’s
Aug. 28 Calgary, AB @ The Soda
Aug. 29 Regina, SK @ The Club
Sept. 2 Onanole, MB @ Earthrhythms House Concert
Sept. 4 Brandon, MB @ Lady Of The Lake
Sept. 6 Winnipeg, MB @ The Academy Bar And Eatery with Ann Walton
Sept. 7 Thunder Bay, ON @ Definitely Superior Art Gallery
Sept. 8 Sault Ste. Marie, ON @ Loplops
Sept. 12 Guelph, ON @ E-Bar w/Royal Wood and Nathan Coles
Sept. 13 London, ON @ London Music Club w/ Alex Krakus and Kaya Fraser
Sept. 14 Toronto, ON @ Tranzac with Claire Jenkins Trio
Sept. 16 Ottawa, ON @ Shanghai Restaurant
Sept. 20 Montreal, Qc @ Epingle

And then he’ll be playing at Pop Montreal!
Oct. 3-7 POP MONTREAL, Montreal, Qc

With all the thousands of bands taking part of the web community, Youtube.ca invited Said the Whales to there launch party last November.

Said the Whale are presently on a cross Canada tour. They will be playing with an amazing list of artists including; Hey Ocean, Dan Mangan, Matthew Barber, Lotus Child and The Hermit. Check your city to catch one of their shows, you should definitely hit it! S.T.W also have some slick T-shirts, I got my self one.

As a bonus, I’ve included a clip of their show at the Merc and an unbelieveable experience that happened outside just after their show.In this video a local Ottawa ByWard Market vagabond, was so moved by the name of the band “SAID THE WHALE”, that he reached deep into his bag to show the band members that he had a “SAVE THE WHALES” pin! In actuality it was a “SAID THE WHALE” tour pin from Vancouver.

UPCOMING SHOWS:
June 5th, 2008 Vancouver, BC | Biltmore **CD RELEASE SHOW!!** w/ Lotus Child and Maurice
June 13th, 2008 Windsor, ON | Phog Lounge
June 14th, 2008 Toronto, ON | NXNE @ The Rivoli w/ Matthew Barber
June 15th, 2008 Hamilton, ON | Casbah
June 17th, 2008 Sault Ste. Marie, ON | Loplop’s w/ Hey Ocean
June 18th, 2008 Thunder Bay, ON | Jack’s w/ Hey Ocean
June 19th, 2008 Winnipeg, MB | The Lo Pub w/ Hey Ocean
June 20th, 2008 Regina, SK | The Exchange w/ Hey Ocean
June 21st, 2008 Lethbridge, AB | The Slice
June 22nd, 2008 Calgary, AB | VIRGIN FESTIVAL
June 25th, 2008 Canmore, AB | Canmore Hotel w/ Hey Ocean
June 26th, 2008 Golden, BC | Roadhouse Tavern w/ Hey Ocean
June 27th, 2008 Kelowna, BC | Doc Willoughby’s w/ The Hermit

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.

Her solo debut, Our Lady of Broken Souls, was released in March of 2007 to much critical acclaim, including a nomination for Best Folk Album of 2007 by the Ottawa Xpress alongside local folk sensations Jim Bryson and Andrea Simms Karp. The album charted and received solid airplay on local college and community radio stations across the country.

Take this paragraph break to go pick up her album at CD Baby but make sure you come back and read all about her upcoming concert dates!

(Back? See, that was painless.)

Right now Marie-Josée is busy with her many musical and artistic endeavours, performing and recording with a multitude of musicians, working with theatre groups and filmmakers.

2007 saw her play the main stage of WestFest, play Toronto’s Nuit Blanche, embark on her first successful cross-country tour, and recently share a stage with other celebrated female Ottawa artists like Kellylee Evans and Kathleen Edwards for a live recorded performance for a CBC Radio 1 broadcast.

As 2007 brought her international shows in England and Norway, she aspires to continue to transport the streets and cafés of Paris to the clubs, theatres and festivals of Canada and beyond.

In this video: Tebo interviews accordion player Marie-Josee Houle on ‘The Rocks’

Upcoming Shows:
7 Jun 2008 13:00 Lisa Poushinsky’s Famous Round Barn Party Russell, ON
4 Jul 2008 20:00 w/ Guelph’s Meredith Grant Rasputin Folk Café Ottawa, ON
5 Jul 2008 20:00 w/ Michael Reinhart The St-Ambroise Montreal, ON
6 Jul 2008 19:00 Gladstone Hotel Toronto, ON
7 Jul 2008 20:00 w/ Ginger St. James Pepperjacks Hamilton, ON
8 Jul 2008 20:00 The Spill Peterborough, ON
9 Jul 2008 21:00 Alex P. Keaton London, ON
10 Jul 2008 21:00 w/ Ginger St. James Blue Moon Lounge Burlington, ON
12 Jul 2008 20:00 Loplops Sault Sainte Marie
13 Jul 2008 21:00 The Apollo Thunder Bay, ON
15 Jul 2008 20:00 Lady of the Lake Brandon, MB
16 Jul 2008 21:00 Bushwakkers Regina, SK
18 Jul 2008 21:00 Café Vivant Saskatoon, SK

“Blues for people who hate blues,” they distill rock ‘n’ roll, punk and country into their heady house-rockin’ punch. Give them a stage, any stage and they’ll put on the best show they can for whoever’s there. Each one is a seasoned pro on their instrument of choice but, never afraid to take chances, the boys are fond of switching it up in an on-stage game of musical chairs. To quote a much used and abused cliche, The Perpetrators have to be seen to be believed.

Buy their albums!

Now… go see them!

28 Mar 2008 21:00 The Bristol Place London, ON
29 Mar 2008 20:00 The Horseshoe Tavern Support for Luke Doucet’s CD Release Toronto, ON
30 Mar 2008 20:00 The Boathouse Kitchener, ON
4 Apr 2008 22:00 The Bristol Place London, ON
8 Apr 2008 22:00 Pepper Jack Cafe Hamilton, ON
10 Apr 2008 20:00 The Dakota Tavern Toronto, ON
11 Apr 2008 21:00 Loplops Sault Ste. Marie, ON
12 Apr 2008 21:00 The Apollo Thunder Bay, ON
18 Apr 2008 02:00 Ryerson Elementary School Winnipeg, MB
19 Apr 2008 22:00 Brunkild Bar & Grill Brunkild, MB
9 May 2008 20:00 Ozzy’s Winnipeg, MB
10 May 2008 20:00 Ozzy’s Winnipeg, MB
18 May 2008 20:00 Private Party Vancouver, BC
18 May 2008 20:00 Private Party Vancouver, BC
24 May 2008 22:00 Lydia’s Pub Saskatoon, SK
8 Aug 2008 20:00 Trout Forest Music Festival Earfalls, ON
9 Aug 2008 20:00 Trout Forest Music Festival Earfalls, ON
10 Aug 2008 20:00 Trout Forest Music Festival Earfalls, ON

Bambi Blue