I ♥ Canadians

Yet again, I love Canadians.  The Winnipeg folk-punk band, The Weakerthans, will hold a special fundraising show for the Regina band, Library Voices, who lost their equipment and some personal possessions when a water line burst in their practice space.

By the time the telecast started, many of my favourite albums of 2009 had already won Junos: Bell Orchestre for instrumental album of the year (As Seen Through Windows), Charles Spearin for contemporary jazz album of the year (The Happiness Project), Billy Talent for rock album of the year (III), and K’naan for artist of the year. After decades of grumbling about the Junos, this was the first year I was predisposed to genuinely enjoy them. 

And yet they disappointed again—not because they were awful, but because they weren’t. Normally they are a combination of the painful and the ever-so-slightly profound, thanks to the cheap commercialization and the glimpses of comparatively obscure artists getting a shot in prime time. If we’re lucky, someone makes a decent speech. The 2010 Junos, by comparison, were like lithium: no highs, no lows, just even keel.

The saddest thing I’ve heard all week.  Vancouver Sun did a touching piece on the late Devon Clifford.  He will be missed greatly.

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Amazing singer/songwriter, Hannah Georgas, talks to earbuds and ticket stubs:

“Chit Chat” is about the kind of people that you meet all the time— you’re talking to them and they don’t even really care what you have to say. They just want to get all this verbal negative crap out and it’s really draining. That was the experience I had, and I just came home and unloaded it through song. I find that I do that a lot if I am affected by something. It’s my way of getting my shit out.

It’s time to stop calling Dine Alone an indie label.

They’ve got Arkells, City And Colour, Moneen, Alexisonfire and Hot Hot Heat among their ranks, and now they’ve added Tokyo Police Club. 

The Newmarket, Ont. indie rock quartet will release their Champsophomore album on June 8 through their Mean Beard label, which will be distributed through Dine Alone. 

Singer/bassist Dave Monks has described Champ as an album full of “fuzzy bigs, canadian spelling, hockey sound effects, me singing the lowest note in my range, [and] one (1) saxophone note.” It also sounds like a “disney” record, according to Monks.

Freakin’ love Spike Jonze!  Very good news!

According to /Film, the director will be in Austin, TX to do a short film with the band based on the concept of “friends growing apart.” MTV also got a Jonze spokesperson to confirm the collaboration and location, but he wouldn’t name any other details.

1. Hawksley Workman – (The Happiest Day I Know Is A) Tokyo Bicycle (*)
2. Paper Beat Sissors – Flicker
3. My Lovely Son – New Chance
4. Gigi – The Old Graveyard (Feat. Karl Blau)
5. Coeur De Pirate – Comme Des Enfants (*)
6. Lee Harvey Osmond – Cuckoo’s Nest
7. Cam Penner – All Of Yesterday (*)
8. Chris Page – Two Twenty Twos
9. Milks & Rectangles – Don’t Fall Into The Wrong Hands
10. We Are Wolves – Paloma (*)
11. The Shiny Diamonds – Portrait Of The Artists [Formerly Known As Prince] As A Young Man
12. Ghostkeeper – By Morning
13. Plastic Chair Explosion – Shoplifter
14. David Myles – Gone For Long
15. Apollo Ghosts – Snow On Mount Benson
16. Young Doctors In Love – Eloise And Her Sister Marta
17. No Kids – The Jazz Singer (*)
18. La Patere Rose – La Marelle (*)
19. Shout Out Out Out Out – Guilt Trips Sink Ships (*)

This week on the Sessions podcast we have a hand-picked selection of some of the outstanding performances recorded live in Brush Square at the Canadian Blast BBQ at SxSW.

• Radio Radio
• Justin Rutledge and the Beauties
• Hollerado
• You Say Party! We Say Die!
• Born Ruffians, Plants and Animals

Amanda Ash over at The Indie Files got a chance to attend The Cultch’s IGNITE! Mentorship Program.  After she spoke on a panel about media relations in the arts, she met the future of Canadian music:

These kids, ranging from spoken word gurus to songwriting superstars to drama queens to dancing kings, are quite talented. I later got the chance to sit in a group with just the songwriters and talk to them in-depth about the music industry, music journalism and music in general. It is moments like these that make me frustrated to hear about funding cuts to the arts. There are some truly talented and devoted teens who are eager to make music a career, but the reality is that’s going to be more and more difficult in coming years.

The above photo is what the future of Canadian music looks like. Doesn’t it look spectacular? I think so!