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.

Title: Mother Mother
Location: Richard’s On Richards, Vancouver, BC
Link out: Click here
Date: 2008-11-28

The Vancouver-based band Mother Mother have just put out their sophomore album, O MY HEART, out on Last Gang Records. This is the same record label that has signed such bands as Metric, DFA 1979 and The New Pornographers. The band provides an artistic and original expression of modern pop music that contains rich vocal harmony, deeply poetic lyricism, and dynamic instrumentation. You can hear all the hits from their old albums as well as tracks you may have never heard before at their CD release party at Richard’s On Richards in Vancouver BC on November 28th.

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: 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: Kid Koala
Location: Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver
Link out: Click here
Date: 2008-12-22

Kid Koala will be ringing in the holidays in Vancouver on December 22nd and 23rd at Biltmore Cabaret in Vancouver Canada. Check out the Montreal turntable demi-god scratch the hell out of his famous collection of odd trumpet samplings and classic movie dialogue. Should be a sweet show!

A banjo songster like Old Man Luedecke is a rare type of musician. A songwriting one of such hopeful goodness, rarer still. In the tradition of solo banjo men and women of days gone by like Dock Boggs, Bascom Lunsford and Roscoe Holcomb, Old Man Luedecke sings his songs accompanied only by his loving five string, foot stomps and the occasional yodel. His songs are melodic gems blending old time sensibilities with an unusual vision and poetic sense. His music belies someone more than slightly ill at ease with modern life. This is a bizarre type of music Dock Boggs might have made if he’d studied poetry.

Old Man Luedecke left the big old city of Toronto, met a girl in the Yukon, fell in love, bought a banjo and fell in love again. After a couple of years of love and banjo and the makings of a brilliant performing career in sunny Halifax, he returned to the Yukon with his sweethearts. There he woodshedded. He wrote a tone of songs over the next year and a half. He held regular gigs playing banjo in a gambling hall with can-can girls and in a honky tonk called the Snakepit accompanying piano barnacle Bob. Even made an appearance at the Dawson City Music Festival. After a time, he left again for Halifax to renew musical acquaintances and record his debut CD Mole in the Ground. That CD has become a smash on college radio, was featured on CBC’s Atlantic Airwaves and is a hot item in stores and at shows. He continues to live in Halifax and perform there and around the country to ever-wider acclaims. His stage show blends hokum and inspiration into powerful and fun entertainment that will delight young and old. He’s still sweet on the girl he met up there in Yukon, and the banjo.

Oct 31 Yukon Arts Centre, Fri Oct 31 Whitehorse, YT
Nov. 2 St James Hall, Sun Nov 2 Vancouver, BC
Nov. 3 Salt Spring Island Folk Club, Salt Spring Island, BC
Nov. 9 Music Nova Scotia Awards, New Glasgow, NS
Nov. 15 Northern Lights Folk Club Edmonton, AB

Update – Chad VanGaalen’s next show will be at Richards on Richards in Vancouver on October 9th!

Be sure to check it out! And if you can’t make it to this show, be sure the check out his latest concert listings right here.

Kid Koala is on the road supporting his newest album on Ninja Tune, Your Mom’s Favorite DJ. On this record he shows that his chosen means of..the turntable) is used not as a way of showing that he can do faster crabs than anyone else, but as a way of telling stories. Although there is the romance, silent movie comedy and swing that your mother may well smile at and even shake her booty to, the enthralling deftness and complexity you’d expect from Kid Koala is also here – woven together with classic hip hop beats, breaks and generous swathes of heavy guitars.

Back in 1996, Kid Koala became the first North American artist signed to UK label Ninja Tune. In the years that followed Kid Koala released a string of remixes and toured North America with fellow Ninja artists: Coldcut, DJ Food and DJ Vadim. But it was not long before his skill, innovation, and performance style led him to attract attention from those outside the club community. In 1998, he was invited to join Money Mark’s band, and then went on the road to open for the Beastie Boys on their Hello Nasty world tour.

In 2000, Ninja Tune released Kid Koala’s debut album Carpal Tunnel Syndrome which received international praise by the press for having defied expectation. The album featured a video game and a 32-page comic illustrated by Kid Koala himself. Following the release of the album, Kid Koala toured extensively in North America and Europe as a member of groups such as Deltron 3030, Lovage, Bullfrog and on his own, opening for some of his favorite artists, Radiohead and Bjork.

While on the road, Kid Koala kept busy with pen to paper, illustrating a 350-page book called “Nufonia Must Fall” which was accompanied by a soundtrack that he composed on the piano. Shortly after the release of this book came the release of his second album, Some of My Best Friends are DJs complete with a 50-page comic book and mini chess game. This album was supported by a cabaret-style tour known as The Short Attention Span Theatre, which featured 3 DJs on 8 turntables, a slide show and a bingo game among other quirky surprises. Following this tour, Kid Koala performed DJ sets in Australia, Asia, Europe, Russia, North America and South America, all the while working on a new book and a very eccentric puppet show.

Upcoming shows:
3 Oct 2008 21:45 L’imperial de Quebec Quebec City, Quebec
11 Oct 2008 20:00 La Casilla Sports Centre Bilbao, Barcelona
12 Oct 2008 20:00 DJ workshop @ Bilbao Rock Bilbao, Barcelona
16 Oct 2008 20:00 Teatro Central Seville Spain, Sevilla
17 Oct 2008 20:00 Sala Apolo Barcelona, Barcelona
18 Oct 2008 20:00 Joy Eslava Madrid, Madrid
14 Nov 2008 21:00 Fleda Brno Czech Republic, No State
15 Nov 2008 22:00 N.O. Jazz Festival Zagreb Croatia, No State
21 Dec 2008 0:00 Garfinkles Night Club Whistler, British Columbia
22 Dec 2008 20:00 Biltmore Cabaret Vancouver, British Columbia
23 Dec 2008 20:00 Biltmore Cabaret Vancouver, British Columbia

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.

Wintermitts have opened for such acts as Julie Doiron, You Say Party! We Say Die! and Laura Barrett amongst other great local Vancouver talent. The ‘mitts self released a full album July 2007, co headlined a cross Canada tour with Portico in August 2007, including a stop at Sappy Fest in Sackville NB.

Fall 2008, the five ‘mitts, will be putting out a little cd with much love called “Heirloom”. The cd produced by Shawn Cole (You Say Party! We Say Die) and co-produced by Futcher (the be good tanyas) has songs that will make you shake that ass of yours and maybe cry a little while you’re doing that. mom approved, we can’t forget that one. fuck there are even handclaps.

13 Sep 2008 21:00 WM CD RELEASE – w/ Hannah Georgas Vancouver, British Columbia
16 Oct 2008 21:00 Railway club w/ greenbelt collective, lala Vancouver, British Columbia
17 Oct 2008 21:00 WCMA Showcase -The Artery w/ GBC and others Edmonton, Alberta
18 Oct 2008 21:00 The Distellery w/ GBC and Axis of Conversation Calgary, Alberta
19 Oct 2008 21:00 Lydia’s w/ GBC and a gentle forest Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
20 Oct 2008 20:00 tba w/ GBC Winnipeg, Manitoba
21 Oct 2008 21:00 Apollo w/ GBC Thunder Bay, Ontario
23 Oct 2008 20:00 tba w/ GBC Sudbury, Ontario
23 Oct 2008 21:00 The Boat w/ GBC and guests Toronto, Ontario
24 Oct 2008 20:00 tba w/ GBC Guelph!, Ontario
25 Oct 2008 20:00 Le Cagibi/ acoustic styles with GBC + more Montreal, Quebec
26 Oct 2008 21:00 Le Divan Orange w/ GBC and the Unsettlers Montreal, Quebec
29 Oct 2008 20:00 Mondragon Winnipeg, Manitoba
30 Oct 2008 20:00 O’hanlons w/ Thee Hoolies Regina, Saskatchewan
31 Oct 2008 21:00 Wunderbar Edmonton, Alberta
7 Nov 2008 20:00 WISE HALL – Saint.Pierre cd release show!!! Vancouver, British Columbia

Mark Berube – Flowers On The Stone

Alright all you Mark Berube fans – I’ve got a special treat for you: a previously unreleased track! That’s right – Mark Berube’s given me a copy of his soon-to-be-released album, What The Boat Gave The River, and I’m going to give you a sneak peek!

Don’t thank me… buy the album on September 16th!

21 Aug 2008 21:00 L’inspecteur Epingle – Solo Montreal, Qc
26 Aug 2008 21:00 Divan Orange with Orillia Opry Montreal, Qc
29 Aug 2008 21:00 Sala Rossa Montreal, Qc
25 Sep 2008 17:00 Cabaret Juste Pour Rire – 5 a 7 Montreal
25 Sep 2008 21:00 Cabaret Juste Pour Rire – CD Release Montreal
26 Sep 2008 20:00 Mercury Lounge – Ottawa CD Release Party Ottawa, ON
8 Oct 2008 21:00 Divan Orange – Cross Canada Tour Kick Off Montreal, Qc
9 Oct 2008 20:00 King’s College Lounge London, ON
10 Oct 2008 21:00 Maxwell’s Music House Waterloo, ON
11 Oct 2008 21:00 Cervejaria – Toronto CD Release Party Toronto, ON
14 Oct 2008 21:00 Lo Bar – Winnipeg CD Release Party Winnipeg, MB
22 Oct 2008 20:00 The Old Firehall Rossland, BC
24 Oct 2008 21:00 The Biltmore – Vancouver CD Release Party Vancouver, BC
1 Nov 2008 20:00 The Art Space Prince George, BC