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River and Sky 2022: OMBIIGIZI, Austra, Dilly Dally, Frankie and the Witch Fingers, plus more more more!

Will McGuirk April 25, 2022

By Will McGuirk

Oh its been a time of it but happy to hear River & Sky festival in Fisher’s Paradise, Field, ON., is up and running and the good folks at R&S will do it all once again Thursday, July 21 through to Sunday July 24, 2022. This has been a festival I’ve packed up the car and drove the several hours north, with joy and tunes, to settle in for an amazing weekend of boreal loveliness. I’ve done so for a decade or so and I would encourage all and anyone to take the trip.

Set along a bow of the Sturgeon River, among the pines and with a beach! R&S has hosted bands such the Sadies, Altin Gun, Mdou Moctor, Antibalas, - I’ve probably sold a dozen or so of Moctor’s record ‘Afrique Victime’ at Kops Oshawa, where I manage, but R&S had him a couple of years back. It speaks to the organizers uncanny knack of nabbing up and coming acts pretty well before most people have even heard of them. So if some of the names on the bill are unfamiliar, don’t let that be a deterrent - take on the adventure of trying the new; with R&S, I’m guaranteed you will not be disappointed. There have been of course familiar names such as Chad VanGaalen, Daniel Romano, Metz, and Pink Mountaintops, among them who have performed under the sky and down by the river.

This year, after the two year hiatus, the fest welcomes back Pink Mountaintops, along with electronica artist Austra, and alt-rockers Dilly Dally. Also on the line-up OMBIIGIZI, Wine Lips, Casper Skulls, and psych-rockers Frankie and the Witch Fingers. Lots of the area’s local acts are also in on the act so yeah, settle in for a real taste of what the scene north of the Great Lakes has to offer. Its always something special.














Tags River and Sky, OMBIIGIZI, Austra, Dilly Dally, Frankie and the Witch Fingers, Festival, Ontario
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Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Kate Boothman, Jack De Keyzer, Matt Berninger, Austra, Sylvan Esso, Rhye, the Blue Stones, Figure Walking, Flara K,

Will McGuirk September 11, 2020

By Will McGuirk

Kate Boothman, has released her latest single, the brightly breezy “My Next Mistake”. May be just what one needs to hear on this morning, scratch that, it is what you need to hear. Up and at them folks, up and at them.


Blues guru Jack De Keyzer has a new album dropping Sept 15, 2020. "Titled “Tribute” this is Jack’s twelfth album and features twelve original tracks. The first single “Lets Do It” is now available with video by Steven Frank.


Matt Berninger of The National will release his debut sole album, ‘Serpentine Prison’ on Oct 16 2020. The album will be on Book records/ Concord records. The first singe is “One More Second.” There’s a beauty tippy-tapp organ break provided by the legendary Booker T Jones, who also is the album producer.

“I wrote “One More Second” with Matt Sheehy (Lost Lander, EL VY) with the intention for it to be a kind of answer to Dolly Parton’s ‘I Will Always Love You’, or sort of the other side of that conversation. I just wanted to write one of those classic, simple, desperate love songs that sound great in your car”. - Matt Berninger

Buy the vinyl here ->

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Austra’s new album ‘ HiRUDiN’ is now out and available on Pink Fizz records. A remix for the track “Risk It” has been released. And its a banger!!

“India Jordan recently put out one of my favourite records in a while (complete with a very on point Tipping The Velvet reference) so I was very honoured they agreed to do this remix. The new track is sunny and euphoric and everything I dreamed it would be!” - Katie Stelmanis (Austra)

Buy the vinyl here ->

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Electro-pop duo Sylvan Esso have released “Frequency”, the third single from their new album, ‘Free Love’, coming out September 25, 2020, on Loma Vista Recordings. The song is accompanied by a new video directed and styled by Moses Sumney.

“We had a fantastic and rewarding time collaborating with our friend and fellow North Carolinian, Moses Sumney, on building a visual world for Frequency. He had such a beautiful vision for the project, one that ran parallel to the song's initial source in a way that showed us new spaces it could inhabit. It's a beautiful exploration of being together and apart at the same time – we feel it rings clearly in this moment.” - Sylvan Esso

Buy the vinyl here ->

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Buy the vinyl here ->

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Tags Blue Stones, Indoor Recess, Austra, Killbeat, Sylvan Esso, Matt Berninger, Flara K, Whats The Story, Rhye, Last Gang Records, Kate Boothman, Nice Marmot, Jack De Keyzer
Yves Jarvis

Yves Jarvis

Slowcity.ca with Satellite and the Harpoon, Yves Jarvis, Jeremy Drury, The Elwins, Austra, Hen Ogledd,

Will McGuirk September 2, 2020

By Will McGuirk

Saint Etienne took on the heartache aware no doubt Uncle Neil’s lullaby can spin off into maudlin chaos in the wrong voice however here the Satellite and the Harpoon both get it done.

The track is on the EP ‘Satellite’ available for download on Sept 4.

“. . ..so this is our run at this classic, not planned, definitely not rehearsed, just childhood dreams being chased,”


The latest release by Yves Jarvis, ‘Sundry Rock Song Stock’ will be available on vinyl Nov 13.

“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

But the vinyl here ->

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Jeremy Drury of The Strumbellas has released his debut solo album, ‘Company Store’

“Reflecting on world events and global movements over the past few months has been a very enlightening, challenging, and inspirational experience for me. Recognizing the opportunities provided to me through good people being selfless, my benefit from the generosity, charity, support, and encouragement from my communities have shaped who I am as a person. A person who now finds themselves in a unique position, a person interested in helping provide some of the opportunities I've been afforded, to others.

Inspired both by those who came before me and those currently redefining what "business as usual" means, I've decided to donate 100% of proceeds from the first month's sales and streaming revenues from my first album "Company Store", to the following charities:

MusiCounts, Nia Centre for the Arts, The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund, and Canadian Music Therapy Fund.

I believe music and the arts have the power to heal. To inspire. To bring us closer together. I believe these organizations represent a broad cross-section of that kind of positivity being fostered in our communities. “ - Jeremy Drury


The Elwins, from Newmarket ON, will release their fourth Long Player, titled IV, out October 23, 2020.

‘the swimming feeling of getting lost thinking about the complexities of life’. - press release

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Austra’s new album HiRUDiN is now available as is a remix of “I Am Not Waiting” by Shura.

"Shura has dreamed up a lush, hazy rework of my track, a sonic palette that's so pleasing to listen to, I want to melt away every time I hear it." - Austra

Buy the vinyl here ->

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Hen Ogledd will release their new album ‘Free Humans’ on Sept 25 via Weird World.

“‘Crimson Star’ is a gentle, pungent pop song about a retired entertainer looking back on their adventures during the heyday of space tourism.” - Richard Dawson

Buy the vinyl here ->

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"Get It Back" is “a song that touches on seeking constant self-validation and the attempt to channel these emotions through fantasy,” - Heaps

Tags Hard Copy Media, Hen Ogledd, Whats The Story, Jeremy Drury, Satellite and the Harpoon, Austra, Killbeat, The Elwins
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Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Jerry Leger and Don Stevenson , Dana Gavanski, Austra, Nation of Language, NYSSA, PUP, Scenic Route to Alaska, Low Floats, All We Are, and the Happy Fits

Will McGuirk August 7, 2020

By Will McGuirk

To have hope but not faith. To continue although experience says other. To build, to make, to write, to sing, to continue. forward . . even as 2020 becomes a year of looking back and accepting we collectively took the wrong fork in the road. Will we ever learn? Look to the artist as they forge ahead, voyageurs on the stream which engulfs the rest of us.



“At the moment, living in a complicated quarantine surrounded by invisible (and not-so-invisible) plagues upon us, fragmentation is palpable: a splintering of social ties, of nature's capacity to regenerate, of something vague that once felt stable and now feels unreal...... All of these things hover between us and within us.” - Peter Burr, Austra art collaborator


“I have this idea in my head that our music generally feels out of place against the backdrop of summer, but the dynamic of the city in its current condition really captured the solitude and confusion behind the song in a way that feels compelling.” - James Thomson, Nation of Language


“‘The Swans’ is a present day, apocalypse-era reply to Springsteen's ‘Dancing In The Dark’ or Bowie’s ‘Modern Love’. I wrote it before the pandemic, but in anticipation of the need to live above and against the fire and brimstone, to forever fall in love with the natural world. “ - NYSSA



Scenic Route to Alaska · Closer
Low Float · Here Before


Tags Auteur Research, Killbeat, Indoor Recess, Pavement PR, The Syndicate, Jerry Leger, Don Stevenson, Dana Gavanski, Austra, NYSSA, Nation of Language, PUP, Scenic Route to Alaska, All We Are, The Happy Fits
Austra

Austra

Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Austra, Liza Anne, Venus Furs, Le Ren, Patrick Krief, The Waterboys, Avi Kaplan, Callum Pitt, and Mav Karlo

Will McGuirk July 29, 2020

By Will McGuirk

It can be mobility, but it can also be stability. One can find pleasure in place, in staying in place, one doesn’t lose face by not visiting place after place, one can still be face to face with the same face in the same place and find pleasure. For once it may be where you are and not where you are going that has priority. Be Here Now maybe.


HOWEVER. . . when one has to move one can do so with this brilliant track from Austra in the earbuds. Or better blasting from the car stereo of the Uber driver as you step determinedly into the back seat. Breaking up is hard to do they sing but easier with this track at your back.


“how we hurt people when we’re not taking care of ourselves. I was spiraling, anyone with a bit of care for me saw that and tried to say something but I was walling myself off to any real advice. Making an echo chamber of ‘you’re not doing anything wrong’. Nobody grows in an echo chamber.” - Liza Anne


“It's about a woman who loses everything in a game of cards narrated by the dealer who cheats her while taking advantage of her inability to stop playing.  At the end of the song, the dealer nearly shows his humanity, turning away to hide the guilt of his actions.  The video attempts to tap into the emotions the dealer attempts to hide - guilt, regret and consequent turmoil. - Paul Kasner



“This is a song about truly selfless love, and letting that person know what the kingdom they have created looks like. Purple beaches and violet skies, heavy storms but none of it matters.  The palace is safe, and I’m happy to be in it.” - Patrick Krief





Tags Patrick Krief, Auteur Research, Austra, Killbeat, Le Ren, Liza Anne, Venus Furs, The Waterboys, Avi Kaplan, Callum Pitt, Mav Karlo

Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Slow Leaves, Sean Burns & Lost Country, Emily Rockarts, Caley Thomas, Riches, Austra and PUP

Will McGuirk February 6, 2020

By Will McGuirk

Don’t you just love how a song can grab you and swirl you ‘round the dance floor and you’re not even moving but still on the couch. We love all things slow here but we love love Slow Leaves. Just when you think you are a jaded old coot, a song still holds the power to awaken the youth within, willing to be thrilled so thrill me Slow Leaves thrill me.

“In a sense, I’m preoccupied with the past, perhaps at the detriment of the present. I’m not great at looking ahead. Naturally, I miss certain things and certain people. I guess that’s life.” - Grant Davidson



Emily Rockarts, photo by Jen Squires


“I think we can become preoccupied with trying to do someone else's work for them as a means of avoiding our own self-reflection." - Cayley Thomas




Tags Auteur Research, Killbeat, Whats The Story, Sean Burns & Lost Country, Emily Rockarts, Caley Thomas, Riches, Austra, Pup
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