A couple weeks back, Edmonton musician Michael Rault made stop in Saskatoon and put on a great show at The Fez on Broadway. The following day, we dragged Michael and his band out of bed to play a couple of songs, just for us. Local film production outfit Chuckla Films was on-hand to capture the performance, and we’re excited to share it with you now. Michael played one original tune (“The Flood”) and an old soul cover (“You Don’t Miss Your Water”), both of which you can check out below:
“The Flood”
“You Don’t Miss Your Water”
Watch for much more video content coming to CFCR’s website, as we plan on collaborating much more with Chuckla in the future.
It’s been a long time coming, but Saskatoon-to-Toronto Hip Hop artist LEO37 finally has a new recorded release on the horizon. The EP, entitled Fanfare was recorded with Toronto producer/multi-instrumentalist John Poon.
“(He’s a) phenomenal artist,” said Leo in an online interivew. “Most every element on the album was played by him (keyboards, synths, drums, bass, guitars, etc.) and working with him was an absolute pleasure.
“Essentially I’ve never been in studio with someone who I felt outworked me,” he said. “I hate to feel like I’m being outworked, so it was good to have him there ’cause just his presence made me wanna work that much harder. On top of that, we were just on the same wave length the whole time we were working on this.”
This is technically Leo’s first release in nearly five years, which has given him time to gain a different world view.
“I’m a lot more confident in what I believe in and what I don’t believe in and I actually feel like I’ve lived enough life where I have something to contribute in terms of perspective and experience,” he said. “The content is darker then on any of my previous releases, and I’m lot more aggressive than in the past but hopefully people can still see the light at the end of the tunnel in these songs and sense the implied upward turn.”
This aggressiveness rears its head on the title track of the EP, a short, snarling track with harshly minimal production and a very combative vibe. Check out the track below, or head over to LEO37′s bandcamp to grab a free copy for yourself:
Leo has also just released a video for the track. The video was shot by Joyce Wong and edited, animated and directed by another Saskatoon export, Howie Shia.
“The song is minimal so we wanted to make sure the visuals depicted that,” he said. “Howie’s a genius. And I hate how carelessly that word is used, but for Howie, it applies. He just sees things differently from everyone and thankfully, what he sees is generally always a mindf*ck (in a good way). I was just blessed that him and Joyce had the time to do this for me. I’m definitely humbled by all the people who worked on this project with me and I can’t wait for y’all to see the rest of it. ” Check the video out here:
A few weeks back, we posted a track by a brand new Saskatoon band called Powder Blue, featuring members of Color Field, Foggy Notions, The Ultimate Power Duo and We Were Lovers. Since then, we’ve been having trouble getting the song, entitled “I Can Go On Forever,” out of our collective heads, so we thought we’d learn a little more about the band. Our Program Director, Jay Allen caught up with guitarist/vocalist Shelby Gaudet by email, Facebook and the phone to get the low down on this up-and-coming group.
JA: Who are the members of Powder Blue and how did you get started?
SG: I sing and play guitar. Sarah (Krawec) plays bass and sings, Janice (Weber) plays guitar and sings. Elsa (Gebremichael) and Amber Kraft trade off on drums and keyboards and Elsa sings. (Sarah and I) were talking about playing together for a while, and at Elsa’s birthday in July, Amber, Elsa and myself jammed at the end of the night for fun but then decided to make it a project. After playing together a few times we decided we needed another guitar and so we pressured Janice into the band. We’ve only been playing together for a couple months.
JA: Who is writing the songs in the band?
SG: So far we’ve been working on my songs, but everyone adds on their own parts, so it feels more like a collective.
JA: You’ve started recording already. Are you writing as you record or do you have a bunch of songs ready to go? Was that done on purpose to record before you had played live shows?
SG: We did record before playing a show on purpose; it’s just nice to not have to try and explain what we sound like, and the opportunity just kind of fell onto our lap. Barrett Ross recorded for us and we’d like to work towards an EP. We have a few songs but they’re still in their early stages. We are planning to record in the new year.
——————————————————————–
As Shelby states, Powder Blue is focusing on recording rather than playing live at the moment, but you can catch the band in the new year, opening of Shuyler Jansen at The Bassment in Saskatoon on February 10th. And while we’re at it, let’s revisit “I Can Go On Forever” one more time:
Local electro-popsters We Were Lovers have been hard at work over the past few months, touring, writing and recording. On top of touring across Canada, where they shared the stage with acts like Mother Mother, Handsome Furs, Braids, Tegan & Sara and Hannah Georgas, the duo of Elsa Gebremichael and Ash Lamothe have been busy recording a forthcoming full-length album.
The band has already made one of the album’s tracks available to check out on Soundcloud. The song, entitled “We’ve Got It” is a four-and-a-half-minute reason to get up and dance in front of your computer in your underwear. Watch for the rest of the as-yet untitled album sometime in the Spring of 2012.
We Were Lovers are currently on tour until November, ending with a homecoming bash at Amigos. Check out all their remaining dates below:
10-20-11 Halifax, NS Halifax Pop Explosion Showcase @ The Seahorse
10-22-11 Fredericton, NB @ The Cellar Pub
10-25-11 Cambridge, MA @ All Asia
10-26-11 Hamden, CT @ The Space
10-27-11 New York, NY @ The Rock Shop
10-28-11 New York, NY @ Pianos
10-29-11 Philadelphia, PA @ The Barbary
10-31-11 Pittsburgh, PA @ Belvederes
11-02-11 Detroit, MI @ TBA
11-03-11 Toledo, OH @ The O Tavern
11-04-11 Chicago, IL @ Loft Party Show
11-05-11 Minneapolis, MN @ Cause
11-10-11 Saskatoon, SK @ Amigos *Tour Homecoming Show*
More news from local (soon to be Haligonian) neo-folkster Mike “These Hands” Hanson. On top of digitally releasing songs, starting a publicity company and playing a bunch live shows (he’s currently on tour to Halifax, where he’s going to set up shop for a while), Hanson recently found time to play a lovely little jam on a porch in Saskatoon. And luckily for all of us, local filmsters Sica Films were there to capture the magic.
You can check out These Hands, along with guests Brendan Lett on piano and Levi Soulodre on violin, strum out the tune “Golden Town” below:
Saskatoon’s own merchants of murder balladry The Deep Dark Woods have been spending the last couple of months playing shows and festivals, cruising on the boatloads of praise for their latest full-length The Place I Left Behind, which was released on Six Shooter Records in Canada on August 2nd. Recently, Six Shooter announced that the album will be released in the US by Nashville-based label Sugar Hill Records on October 18th. In celebration of the release, the Woods are taking a quick jaunt to Music City USA for two shows before returning to Saskatoon for their official hometown album release show at the Broadway Theatre on October 29th (Presented by CFCR and Planet S Magazine). Tickets for that show are on sale now and are selling fast, so get yours today at either McNally Robinson or the Broadway Theatre.
After their homecoming show, the boys are back off on the road for a literal slew of dates all over the US, including a chunk of opening dates with Americana master Robert Earl Keen. Check out their complete tour schedule tour from now till almost Christmas below:
10-15-11 Nashville, TN – The Basement
10-17-11 Nashville, TN – 3rd & Lindsley
10-29-11 Saskatoon, SK – Broadway Theatre (Presented by CFCR & Planet S)
11-02-11 Chattanooga, TN – Track 29*
11-03-11 Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium*
11-04-11 Newberry, SC – Newberry Operal House*
11-05-11 Winston-Salem, NC – Ziggy’s*
11-06-11 Athens, GA – Georgia Theatre*
11-08-11 Asheville, NC – Orange Peel*
11-09-11 Mobile, AL – Saenger Theatre*
11-10-11 Macon, GA – The 567 Center
11-12-11 Orlando, FL Orlando Calling
11-26-11 Vancouver, BC – The Biltmore Cabaret
11-27-11 Seattle, WA – Tractor Tavern
11-29-11 Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge
11-30-11 Eugene, OR – John Henry’s
12-02-11 San Diego, CA – Soda Bar
12-04-11 Los Angeles, CA – The Satellite
12-05-11 Los Angeles, CA – The Hotel Café
12-06-11 San Francisco, CA – The Hotel Utah Saloon
Saskatchewan’s own folk experimenter Mike Hanson (aka These Hands) has just released a brand new track via Bandcamp, and for a mere dollar, you can have a digital copy of your very own. The track, entitled “Outside Source,” features Charlotte Oleena (aka Sea Oleena) and her brother, producer Felix Green. The song combines the familiar These Hands-branded drifting folk-scape with a sharply minimal percussive track.
Rather than releasing a new album, per se, Hanson is releasing new These Hands material one track at a time. “Outside Source” joins the track “Swimming The Notions,” which appeared on These Hands’ SoundCloud a few months back.
Hanson has also simultaneously released a beautiful video for the new tune, which you can have a look at below. The video works in prairie imagery with some very kaleidoscopic overtones:
In other These Hands news, Hanson is taking the show on an extended road trip with a move to Halifax. He’ll be touring his way east, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, and some of the smaller centres in between.
“I have a few prospective east coast festival dates, a potential label signing, and a potential publicist,” Hanson said by email when asked about the move. “I may be opening for a respectable singer-songwriter, and there’s of course tonnes of networking opportunities waiting for me,” he said. “It’s a new threshold to tap into, to pierce the heart of the Canadian music industry which is Toronto, and to tour the Eastern Canadian music circuit.”
Hanson’s also taking his UrbGyp Publicity venture along for the ride, an entity that helps promote singer-songwriters and bands such as Sea Oleena, Felix Green and more.
Hold on to your hats, folks, there’s a new kid in town. What do you get when you combine members of such local Saskatoon bands as Color Field, We Were Lovers, Ultimate Power Duo and Foggy Notions? You get the brand new band, Powder Blue. This all-girl quintet has already been busy writing and recording, and just today unleashed the following nugget of beauty to the interwebs. The tune, entitled “I Can Go On Forever” is a slow-burning, dense psychy jam with lush reverb-y guitar and vocal harmonies.
The band has made the track available to stream for free, so put those headphones on and check it out below:
A couple weeks back, Edmonton musician Michael Rault made stop in Saskatoon and put on a great show at The Fez on Broadway. The following day, we dragged Michael and his band out of bed to play a couple of songs, just for us. Local film production outfit Chuckla Films was on-hand to capture the performance, and we’re excited to share it with you now. Michael played one original tune (“The Flood”) and an old soul cover (“You Don’t Miss Your Water”), both of which you can check out below:
