Willie Nile, photo by Cristina Arrigoni
Hillside is a festival with a big heart and a small footprint and we give over the open mic to Hillside acts we think you should pay some attention to: Adrian Sutherland, Ariel Posen, Billianne, DEBBY FRIDAY, Steven Lambke, Tami Neilson, Willie Nile, Witch Prophet
Read More
Adam Baldwin, photo by Griffin O’Toole
By Will McGuirk
“It's my love letter to all of us who defy convention, whether by choice or necessity. It's my plea to everyone to follow your heart. You never know what other underdog you'll inspire to be heroic.” - Adam Baldwin
By Will McGuirk
Cuff The Duke, Mauvey, Ariel Posen at the Dakota Tavern Saturday Jun 11 2022. Tickets Here.
By Will McGuirk
Ariel Posen at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern Friday, May 2022. Tickets here.
By Will McGuirk
“The lockdown has given me time to reflect as well as a shared experience with others in terms of dealing with grief and the uncertainties of life. Things have happened globally and locally, to people I know and care about, and also to strangers that I may never meet. The necessity of this project seems to have grown daily within the year that we've been working on it. This makes me proud to have captured the feelings and thoughts of my family and friends and excited to share these expressions and observations with the world. This is my favourite body of work thus far.” - KTheChosen
“I’ve always doubted myself, and I still do, but this album makes me think, ‘Hey, you’re doing all right, kid. You just need to keep going.’” - Billy Strings
“It just seemed like everyone was looking for answers but there weren’t any, people seemed angry at the wrong things, and there was just a lot of hate and not a lot of peace and love. . . I realized that there is nothing I could say to make anyone feel better or much I could do. I felt that all we can really do, is slow down our pace of life, listen to each other, be there for each other, try to enjoy the small things, and do the small things to be kind to each other.” - Tennyson King
By Will McGuirk
“are you afraid? Are you ready? Do you have any sense of what's to come?”
Loss, its nibbling around the edges, biting, stalking, looming, this global so local, this so many down to just one, one life lived in one time, each one begats one, each one regrets one, each one meets one, and each one repeats. . . until silence.
***
“My grandmother, a grand storyteller her whole life, lost the ability to speak due to a severe stroke and has been living between the earthly and astral plane for some time. In this song I am coming to terms with this impending transition, loss. I am also asking my grandmother all the questions that I can't ask her in real life - are you afraid? Are you ready? Do you have any sense of what's to come? I am peeking into the future while keeping one eye on the past of my grandmother's storied life and reflecting on the profound impact her life has had on mine.” - Dana Sipos
By Will McGuirk
Its the music, it moves us all, the common bond which binds our feet in dance, I advocate for orchestras to be at the forefront of the revolution.
"When in the future we recall Saint Patrick’s Day 2021, let us have returned with even more energy to music as we lift the glass slowly, and replenish it even slower. Music and creativity were our resource in the pandemic, and in the music of the heart is rehearsed that for which words are insufficient, feídearachtaí ag heitheamh dúinn – forms of renewal, possibilities rehearsed, journeys to wonder and new places."
- President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins
“When I play on my fiddle in Dooney, Folk dance like a wave of the sea” - W.B. Yeats
“When you better yourself, you better the world. Even if you only interact with one person in your life, the effect of trying to see things for what they are is vast. Change can feel like a fantasy, but I’m not fatalistic about it. I make music because I get results that way. It’s why I promote creativity, whatever that means for anyone.” - Yves Jarvis
“Crab Walking” is less a lament for times disappeared than it is a unifying call for the present. “Old haunts and landmarks that once were and are no longer. Conjuring good memories of good times” - Jason Collett
“Despite how badly you can be treated by someone, sometimes we refuse to see ourselves being with anyone else.” - Ariel Posen
“I almost didn’t put it on the record because it is so close to the bone it almost feels too self indulgent, but it was my intention to write a song that felt more vulnerable than anything I had ever written before.” - Jehnny Beth
Lal, photo by Nadja Sayej
By Will McGuirk
Fast and furious babies not slow and level like we like - but with everyone home and tech so close those who make songs are making a lot of them so this open mic is going late. But lets start with slow - Slow Leaves, one of my fave finds in the last couple of years, authentically heartfelt, its the perfect sound for times like these; small, isolated, longing yet finding the warmth, the purpose, in the small slow things, in the domestic, the familiar, the inevitable. Yes hunker down, we are in for the long haul, we are in for the lockdown but with Slow Leaves in the ears we will get through it . . Slow Leaves is Grant Davidson, take the time.
“The song inspired an idea where the people and their surroundings are stuck in their own behavior, both physically and mentally. It’s a deeply touching song moved by a lot of energy, where the illustrations and the motions reflect a feeling of my interpretation of the song’s intention and atmosphere, without being too distinct.” - video director and animator Jonna Hallberg
“Respect the Gift" is about using our ‘gifts’ for good, and not taking for granted the everyday freedoms and luxuries we have. There’s never been a more important time to appreciate all that we find precious, especially given the world we’re living in today,” - Adrian Sutherland
nêhiyawa, photo by Levi Manchak
By Will McGuirk
The wave is the wind’s masterpiece. The artist is as a wave swelling on the tide, the artist can break and wash and dissolve, leave a wake, be seen, be heard, move the environment, be moved by the environment. The artist is aware of the tide, sees context, place, history, the continuum, and rises.
“I felt like there is an incredible love story to be examined between Michaelangelo and Tommaso, As well to point out to some of the realities of having the master’s work commissioned required the spoils of colonial exploits. For me the idea of having another indigenous artist (Maria Buffalo) visualize concepts knowing some of the back story of the lyrics in the music, but relating that to images of Maskwacis First Nation, the body, hands, and indigenous people; I could imagine an incredible juxtaposition. The story of the song deepens with additional perspectives working their own ideas into this piece.”
- nêhiyawa
"that the fate of the water resolves in the sand, that maybe all we’re doing's for nothing.”
- Lucas Fogale
“The song's about how I feel trapped sometimes because of the overwhelming media that's all around us these days. It's discouraging because it often makes you forget what’s important to yourself. If you don't slow down and take the time to question your beliefs and the beliefs of those around you you're gonna get drained by the Vampire's Jaws.”
- The High Loves
“I was watching an old film noir when I stumbled upon the main bassline that would form our new single,”
- Golden Cinema
"So often we can find ourselves feeling trapped in the mundane cycles of life. This song is a reminder to take a step back and shake things up,” - Once A Tree.
