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, and where to check them out in your favorite Canadian city! Pack your bags! We’re going on a road trip!
Dyad came together to play traditional American Old Time music after delving into everything from indie-rock and punk to classical and traditional music of various cultures. The Vancouver-based trio of Kori Miyanishi (vocals, banjo, fiddle), Leah Abramson (vocals, guitar) and Mark Beaty (cello, vocals), digs deep into song and instrumental traditions of the Appalachian mountain region of the USA, while incorporating these varied influences and expanding traditional themes into modern arrangements of original, traditional and contemporary song.
The band’s most recent album, No Pedlars or Preachers, was released in 2006 to enthusiastic international reviews and a Canadian Folk Music Award nomination for Best New/Emerging artist. With Be Good Tanyas bassist Mark Beaty returning to his first instrument, the cello, DYAD continues to pioneer onwards with their wholly fresh approach to traditional music and taking live shows into a more experimental stringband approach, blurring the line between old and new.
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.
DJ Pump is one of Canada’s best kept secrets. Also, coincidentally, one of Canada’s Best Kept Secret’s. He really redefines Turntablism and what it means to be a party DJ by focusing heavily on the overall musical composition when he’s mixing, scratching, and creating beat juggles or blending beats. His worldwide performances have earned him tonnes of respect amongst his peers as one of the most funkiest and versatile DJs around.
Regardless of whether singer/songwriter Adam Nation’s folk-rock outfit The Great Outdoors is performing as a five-piece ensemble, a moving trio, or even simply as a ‘one-man-band’ solo act complete with kick drum and bass pedals, the outcome at the end of each live show is always the same: a room full of people stirred to laughter, moved to tears, and outright musically hypnotized by one of the premier acts in the country.
As you might recall, Dan Mangan is one of my personal favourites. I’m rarely as instantly impressed with an artist as I was with Dan Mangan’s album Postcards and Daydreaming. Well, after talking to Dan today, I’ve found out that he will begin recording a new album beginning in October! I can’t wait to hear his new album. I hope you’re just as excited as I am!
Maybe, if we’re all nice enough, Dan will let us hear a preview when he’s finished – fingers crossed!
Be sure to check out one of his upcoming shows. Definitely a must-see!
Upcoming shows:
29 Jul 2008 19:00 The Living Room Manhattan, New York
30 Jul 2008 20:00 The Union Hall Brooklyn, New York
10 Aug 2008 20:00 The Town Lounge Portland, Oregon
30 Aug 2008 20:00 Old Familiar CD Release @ The Media Club Vancouver, British Columbia
20 Sep 2008 20:00 Richards on Richards w/ Elliott Brood & NQ Arbuckle Vancouver, British Columbia
26 Sep 2008 20:00 The Arts Space Prince George, British Columbia
Portico became a band in summer 2004. We recorded our first album at the Hive and released it in late 2005 on Hinge Records and distributed by Scratch. We’ve played shows at most of Vancouver’s live venues and toured extensively across Canada. In fall and winter 2006/2007 we recorded our upcoming second album at Mushroom Studios. We are Greg Murray (drums), Trent Hopton (guitars and keyboards), Mimi Mahovlich (bass), and Lyn Heinemann (guitar and voice).
From somewhere beneath the swelling strings and synths, the angular guitars and pulsating beats, cleaves the voice of Jamie Fooks of Jane Vain & the Dark Matter. In early 2003, Fooks started writing songs by her self in her basement apartment, to deal with the remaining demons of a reckless adolescence. Somewhat deterred by an open mic night that ended in tears, Fooks was encouraged to continue performing by the support of friends, and the interest of current guitar player Dillon Whitfield (of Raccoon). With the addition of Whitfield’s haphazard guitar playing, the foundation of Jane Vain & the Dark Matter was laid.
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.
With so much hype surrounding the acoustic guitar/sunny beach vibe emanating from south of the border, it would be easy at first glance to overlook western Canada’s Jon and Roy, if not for the sheer strength of their music and growing legion of fans. Leading the charge like a modern day Bobby D is Jon Middleton and his prolific songwriting coupled with the rhythmic flare of Roy Vizer.
The Jon & Roy collaboration began in 2004 amidst the buzz of a cluster-house centurion. Upon repeated requests from those who had seen Jon Middleton perform around Victoria before, Jon picked up his vintage L’arrivé, closed his eyes and let loose. Having crossed the Georgia Straight earlier that day to visit the island, Roy tuned up his bongos and added some rhythm. Warming up to the sound of one and one, the room quieted and found a lull. People listened. People laughed. People smiled.
The music? A blend of folk, hip-hop and reggae with an island tinge.
If Then Do is an attitude toward sound; a sensibility borne of noise, dance, abstract electronix, om, plainsong, power, improv and composition but most of all any and all music borne of ideas and love.
This is music that propells you in Limbo where only sounds can meet you. You can find yourself in a confused hospital wing or floating up into space station construction sites. I had the chance to play along side If Then Do at Le Petit Chicago a year ago and the duo blew me away. Stay on the lookout for If Then Do shows and be prepared to travel within the depth of their sounds. Download their tunes here.
United in early 2006, Becky Black and Maya Miller of The Pack A.D. mean business. They take life on the road, Civil War stories, coffee and cigarettes, stir them into a vicious concoction of garage rock and Jack Daniels and then boil it alive in the blues.
Holding the torch high in today’s garage rock revival, this Vancouver duo strikes with a raw, hell-torn, blues-rock swagger that is equally contemplative and unflinching. (Marty Rollins – The Approach) The Pack A.D. owes much of it’s heritage to the crossover-blues genre – one that’s recently become increasingly popular following the success of the White Stripes and The Black Keys. With the focus on rhythm-centric guitar, solid drum riffs, and passionate, unrestrained vocals, the Vancouver duo is at times haunting and at others irresistibly boot-stomping.
Their debut record Tintype, originally self-released, was re-released in January this year by Mint Records, who signed the band in the fall of 2007.
The next album is to be released in August this year. Until then, The Pack A.D. are here to take on the world, one town (and one cup of coffee) at a time.
