New releases for the week ending March 31st 2017

Doc Walker – Weathervane (Open Road/Universal)

Jerry Leger – Nonsense and Heartache (Latent Recordings)

On Nonsense and Heartache, Jerry Leger sounds every bit like the road-weary troubadour, facing down the highway fork between folk and blues, that’s he’s surely aspiring to be. The Toronto songsmith’s new release features the fantastic fiddle work of multi-instrumentalist James McKie and the deft rhythm section interplay of bassist Dan Mock and drummer Kyle Sullivan, not to mention the sweet singing of guest Angie Hilts.(Exclaim!)

Julien Sagot – Bleu Jane (Simone Records)

Bleu Jane starts in a confused flurry of percussion, as if to scramble your brain in order to clear it in preparation for what’s to come. After a piano flourish the song settles down into a slow-burn David Lynchian number, complete with Sagot’s deep, mesmerizing gallic voice. It’s such a thrill that you think surely this is the prime cut and there’s nowhere else to go. Think again.(Ride The Tempo)

Lydia Ainsworth – Darling of the Afterglow (Arbutus)

As the clanging keyboard chords that open ‘The Road’ ring out like sinister church bells, it’s clear that Canadian composer and songwriter Lydia Ainsworth’s second album is going to be something very special indeed. Following a spate of recent pop culture nods to a hip new activism-based kind of witchcraft – indie movie The Love Witch and Lana Del Rey’s anti-Trump spell for starters – this seems to be the sound of lush electronic pop throwing its pointy hat into the ring. (NME)

Nelly Furtado – The Ride (Sony) (NelStar Entertainment)

Nelly Furtado’s exuberant energy elevates her new album. Her flexibility is an asset as she attempts many styles—synth-rock, R&B, and piano balladry among them.(Pitchfork)

Prozzäk – Forever 1999

Beloved cartoon duo Simon and Milo are back as Prozzäk and ready to deliver their brand new album Forever 1999, but Exclaim! is giving you an exclusive listen to the full record right now.(Exclaim!) +stream

Said the Whale – As Long as Your Eyes Are Wide (Hidden Pony)

As Long As Your Eyes Are Wide marks Said the Whale’s 10th anniversary. The Vancouver-based band, which was cofounded by co-singer-songwriters Tyler Bancroft and Ben Worcester, has weathered its share of changes over this decade — members leaving, marriage (the sweetly profane “I Will Follow”), babies and death (affecting gloom-pop single “Heaven”) — but the introspection isn’t an anchor dragging their sound backwards. Instead, they play with a lot of layers and textures, sonically and thematically, and it might be their best effort yet. (CBC Music) +stream

Saltland – A Common Truth (Constellation)

Halfway through the title track of A Common Truth, the haunting second album from cellist Rebecca Foon’s Saltland project, a seismic drone tears through the sombre meditation. As the roar cycles back and intensifies, it sounds like the Earth shuddering to its core. It’s a sound that transcends Foon’s artistic life.(Montreal Gazette)

By GarfieldUK| March 30th, 2017|Categories: New Music|37 Comments

37 Comments

Benoit from Ottawa March 30, 2017 at 05:55

Geez, a small assault of music!

From somewhere above: “Lana Del Rey’s anti-Trump spell”. Whaaaaa?
Benoit from Ottawa March 30, 2017 at 05:57

And good morning. We’re supposed to be getting another 7+ cm of snow overnight and tomorrow. It’s normal enough, but *siiiiiiiiiiiiiigh*.
GarfieldUK March 30, 2017 at 06:00

Hello
Benoit from Ottawa March 30, 2017 at 06:03

Hi. How are things in springy England?
GarfieldUK March 30, 2017 at 06:06

It’s quite nice here at 15°c and partly sunny but we haven’t had much snow but plenty of wind and rain over the winter
GarfieldUK March 30, 2017 at 06:12

other than snowy, how’s life in Ottawa?
Benoit from Ottawa March 30, 2017 at 06:29

Life here’s pretty normal. Except that, with a bus drivers’ and mechanics’ rotating strike on the Gatineau (Québec) side, people from there are having quite the time coping. (The modern centre of Gatineau is some distance from downtown Ottawa, and Ottawa’s a main source of employment — lots of traffic from Québec in the morning.)

Outside of that, the Trudeau Liberals are behaving (of course) as the Natural Governing Party, i.e. much more centre right than during the election process that finished already a year and a half ago. Again, pretty normal.
GarfieldUK March 30, 2017 at 06:38

I follow Canadian politics at an arms length getting most of my info from either The National, 22 Minutes or, Rick Mercer but I had noticed there had been a bit of a backlash against him for a while now
Benoit from Ottawa March 30, 2017 at 06:42

Out for a while. (Has the posted comment typeface just changed, or is it me?)
Benoit from Ottawa March 30, 2017 at 06:43

Changed back to normal. Was (?–>) Times New Roman for one moment.
Russ Gordon (@CDNz1) March 30, 2017 at 06:51

Good morning!
Yes, our rain will become Benoit’s snow.

Sorry.
Jeremy Slessor (@jslessor30) March 30, 2017 at 07:04

Good morning.

That Prozzak song is truly awful. The squelch of the auto-tune turned me right off.
justingrady March 30, 2017 at 07:13

Good morning everyone!
GarfieldUK March 30, 2017 at 07:20

Hi Justin, Hi Russ
Benoit from Ottawa March 30, 2017 at 08:23

Russ, thanks, but that’s o.k., we usually blame the States by default.
Benoit from Ottawa March 30, 2017 at 08:28

Strangely enough, Sless, I (not a fan of autotune) don’t actually mind it there; it seems appropriate somehow. It’s also done lightly.
Benoit from Ottawa March 30, 2017 at 09:06

Slessor, happy birthday! (thx someone’s FB)
GarfieldUK March 30, 2017 at 09:10

Oh yeah, Happy Birthday Sless
janet athanasiou (@janada59) March 30, 2017 at 09:12

Hello hello! Some great new music this week! I’m excited to listen to the new Said the Whale. I’m also intrigued by the new Prozzak.
Jeremy Slessor (@jslessor30) March 30, 2017 at 09:13

Hey! Thanks!
Loozrboy March 30, 2017 at 09:20

Good morning, some of you. Good afternoon, the rest of you.

Just got back from the Hopefully Soon To Be World’s Longest Concert in Stouffville. Still going strong on Day 13! It’s a very small venue; the room where the stage is is largely taken up by various organizer / technical booths, merch tables, a DJ broadcasting live on some rock station I’ve never heard of, etc. There are barely a dozen seats, plus room for maybe that many again standing, although I expect they squeeze more in on busy evenings. On a weekday morning, there was still plenty of room left to stand. For the purposes of the record, I’m pretty sure people in the larger room downstairs count towards the audience, watching on video screens.

They had a countdown clock running to the now irrelevant former record (~2d 19h to go!), but as I understand it that’s already been beaten by a group in Detroit that wrapped up a couple days ago, so the Stouffville people are going to have to go a couple days longer than planned to beat that.
GarfieldUK March 30, 2017 at 09:25

@Loozr, Did someone say that the count down clock was to the old record because I’m sure the clock was counting up when I watched it a few days ago before the new record was set.
Loozrboy March 30, 2017 at 09:27

I didn’t catch the name of the act that I was on when we came in, but the schedule says Avery Florence. Solo guitarist / vocalist. Aside from a cover of Country Roads, I didn’t recognize any of her songs, which may or may not mean they were her own. Looks and sounds about right: https://soundcloud.com/averyflorence. Seems she was in the first round of Searchlight: http://www.cbcmusic.ca/searchlight/2293

The second act was a local Stouffville gent named Brian O’Sullivan, who doesn’t seem to have any online presence I can find. Accompanied by a young woman who looked like she was probably his daughter (er, or granddaughter?) on violin. Mostly doing covers of (I think he said) 20’s and 30’s folk songs.

The schedule has someone called “The Dead Trumps” going on at 2am tonight, so if you’re in the area be sure not to miss that. 😛
Loozrboy March 30, 2017 at 09:30

@Garf: i was definitely counting down this morning. Different clock than the one visible on the live stream, perhaps?
Loozrboy March 30, 2017 at 09:33

(*it). Anyway, someone who may or may not have known what they were talking about said it’s been extended from 16 to 18 days to beat the hopefully short-lived Detroit record.
GarfieldUK March 30, 2017 at 09:50

It looks like they have removed the clock from the back right of the stage
Benoit from Ottawa March 30, 2017 at 10:00

Beats how-many-hotdogs-can-you-eat contests. (urk)

Off to make myself a late* mushroom omelet.

*Don’t ask me to explain: it’s English.
GarfieldUK March 30, 2017 at 10:03

I’m sorry for your loss, did you the anglophone mushroom omelette well?
Benoit from Ottawa March 30, 2017 at 10:05

Nonono, it’s the mushrooms that were tardy. They speak mycelium.
Benoit from Ottawa March 30, 2017 at 10:40

I punished them severely, those mush(burp)rooms! It was actually a very nice omelet — they don’t always turn out not botched and tasty.
GarfieldUK March 30, 2017 at 11:06

I can’t remember the last time I had a mushroom omelette

I do however have fresh cheese curds in my fridge

😀
darbarspecial March 30, 2017 at 11:17

Hi all!

I am glad you got there Loozrboy to check it out.

Happy Birthday Sless!
morgana March 30, 2017 at 11:44

How do we play a Birthday song for @Sless?

Good day all as well:)
morgana March 30, 2017 at 11:49

So much new music but alas late my night and subsequent sleep in has me rushing to get out the door for work. I will be back after work to hear what Nelly is creating these days and find out what some of these other new to me musicians are putting together.
darbarspecial March 30, 2017 at 12:02

Have a great day morgana! Talk to you later. 🙂
darbarspecial March 30, 2017 at 15:06

Hey people! Who is ready for a dance party? Well you better get ready because that is the theme of the playlist for tomorrow.
GarfieldUK March 31, 2017 at 03:13

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eiy3RSEBXkg