“This one had deep connection to us both, and I think it shows.” - Aysanabee.
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Slowcity.ca Open Mic: Skye Wallace, Great Lake Swimmers, Ombiigizi, JJ Shiplett, Cat Power, Lal, Omega Mighty, and Aysanabee
“There's a power in looking back with pride and care for the kid you were.” - Skye Wallace
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Slowcity Open Mic: Gord Downie and Bob Rock, Skydiggers, Shirley Collins, Jerry Leger, Great Lake Swimmers, Cowboy Junkies, Andrina Turenne, and Dennis Ellsworth
By Will McGuirk
“Sometimes a collection of songs just comes out feeling one way and they all work together,” - Dennis Ellsworth
Slowcity.ca Open Mic: Dawes, Martha and the Muffins, Rachel Bobbitt, Night Moves, Sylvia Kay, Burn the Louvre, and Tove Stryke
By Will McGuirk
“The first half of this song could be about tyrants. But it could also be about anyone who thinks that a little more control is gonna make everything ok. The second half is a response to that developing reality of the first half. The world might be a scary place sometimes but, to some degree, I want to believe I can decide how I respond to it.” - Taylor Goldsmith, Dawes
“It’s all about this body that I have, suffering from the migraines I’ve inherited from my mom, but it’s also about how some people see women as being made for having children, something I don’t even necessarily want at this point.” - Rachel Bobbitt
“In August of 2021, the songwriting process really began and it hit me that this was my last year of high school, my last year in this hometown, and the last time I’d see a lot of these people ever again. The whole first half of the song is exactly that: reminiscing and the nostalgia behind it all. The second half is all about the process to maturity — that there was something so much greater beyond, a whole world I hadn’t discovered yet.” - Sylvia Kay
Aasiva, photo by Lisa Milosavljevic
Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Aasiva, iskwē, Bernice, Hildegard, St. Vincent, Middle Kids, The Human Rights, and Faiyaz and The Wasted Chances
By Will McGuirk
“This was at the very beginning of my independent artist career and I had many shows lined up. I was very excited to be an artist full time, and I just kept wondering, where will my music take me?
Also, I feel like this is a question that we often ask ourselves: ‘Where are we going? What are we going to do next?’ That was my inspiration for this song.” - Aasiva
We have the opportunity now to remake the world, to see the connection we all share, even if its just a virus attacking, even if it is just a common enemy, it is a least a commonality. But do we walk away from each other or stand together. What indeed are we going to do next?
I don’t of course have an answer, just to merely suggest we may need to look elsewhere, outside our normal. And I am buoyed by what is washing up on my shores.
Going on the journey of marriage with Tim has been profound. It is very liberating having someone see you in your entirety and stay. Tim embodies that kind of ‘stacking chairs’ love - he’s not just about the party. He’s around afterward when I’m tired and ugly and loves me in those moments.” - Hannah Joy on bandmate and hubby Tim Fitz
Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Hayden Thorpe, Jacques Green, Richard Dawson and Evangeline Gentle
By Will McGuirk
The night symphony in full voice in the garden which earlier played host to monarchs idling their way south, holding on to another hour dancing in the sun, like me holding on to another hour outside, reluctant to leave this still night and the companionship of the Harvest moon.
Photo by Matt Barnes
Slowcity.ca Open Mic - Lee Harvey Osmond, The Building, Pram, Pup, Leaf Rapids, Ada Lea, Dan Moxon, The Contorntionist
By Will McGuirk
Fields and forests and festivals beckon - including soon, Mariposa Festival, where the multi-faceted Tom Wilson will perform. Looking forward to this one. A few years back Wilson didn’t have a mid-life crisis so much as had one thrust upon him. As an artist he met it all head on, sharing his journey in his new album ‘Mohawk’ and a autobiography, ‘Beautiful Scars’.
“It’s a story of adoption, of growing up thinking you’re a big, sweaty, Irish guy, and finding out at the age of 53 that you’re a Mohawk.,” he says in a press release.
Check out Lee Harvey Osmond as well as The Building, Pram, Pup, Leaf Rapids, Ada Lea, Dan Moxon and The Contortionist.
Julian Taylor Band, photo by Jerome Joyce
Slowcity.ca open mic - with Julian Taylor Band, Kalle Mattson, Foxwarren, The Unfaithful Servants, Wintersleep, Ponytails, Once A Tree, Hot Chip and Mauno
“A lot of people are left feeling sad and lonely because of death. I understand how that feels. It’s a sadness that only eases with time but never goes away. As you move forward it will stay with you but it will help strengthen you too. Felt deeply. Felt not as in touched. Felt within, touching us." - Julian Taylor, press release
Julian Taylor Band, Kalle Mattson, Andy Shauf’s Foxwarren, Wintersleep, The Unfaithful Servants, Ponytails, Once A Tree, Hot Chip and Mauno.
Leaf Rapids
Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Cat Power, Tariq, Leaf Rapids, Bad Books, David Gray and Sessa
By Will McGuirk
As we waver between seasons, on the verge of summer, on the waning of Spring, wary of winter’s return we see this inbetweenness in the music stepping up for the open mic today - its a mixed bag with the swales and swells of Cat Power, the poptimism of Tarig, the icy Canadianism of Leaf Rapids, a double hit of the erudite Bad Books, the songwriterly David Gray, and Brazilian spiritualism from Sessa, Yes just go with the flow, we will get your there.
Peter Perrett - Photoi by Steve Gullick
Slowcity.ca Open Mic - Get Back Up edition with Peter Perrett, Sarah MacDougall, Lydia Ainsworth, Haviah Mighty, Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Bear’s Den, Night Moves
Happy Earth Day, and happy come-down from a fab weekend; The To Oshawa With Love gig at the Oshawa Music Hall with The Stables, Say Ritual and Melanie Payne, was wow wow wow - An army of local music lovers came out. This city, our city has many social issues - it is in trauma. But those of us who know know music helps. Today’s Open Mic is filled with resilience; Peter Perrett, one-time member of pop punks The Only Ones, is resilient. A former addict Perret is now reconnecting with his sons, working with them on this new music. Welcome in to your lives too, Sarah MacDougall, Lydia Ainsworth, Haviah Mighty ( her track she says is “a soundtrack for day-to-day self-motivation,” Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Bear’s Den, and Night Moves. Let’s keep on keeping on.
Shows:
Haviah Mighty - Friday, May 3 @ Drake Underground, Toronto
Bear’s Den - Friday, May 24 @ Phoenix Concert Theatre, Toronto
Sarah MacDougall - Saturday, June 15 @ Old Town Hall, Waterford, ON.
Snotty Nose Rez Kids - Saturday, June 15 @ Yonge/Dundas Square, Toronto
My Father’s Son - plays Springtide Festival in Uxbridge
Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Springtide performer My Father's Son, plus Merin, Old Man Canyon, Dead Soft, Bear's Den, Hayden Thorpe, Clinic, Ronley Teper & the Lipliners,
Welcome, thanks for showing up. Its vital that, showing up, its what makes a scene. Showing up this week from Montreal is My Father’s Son., who will performing at the Springtide Music Festival of Uxbridge, just a couple of weeks away.
Also coming in is the Pavement-like Merin from Thunder Bay and Old Man Canyon from Vancouver and Dead Soft, also of Vancity. And some Brits breaking out, listen to the shimmer of Bear’s Den, the trilling beauty of Hayden Thorpe and the pyschedelia of Clinic. TO Art punk from Ronley Teper & the Lipliners, close out the mic. Dig in, thanks for showing up.
Shows:
My Father’s Son - Saturday/Sunday April 27 & 28 @ Springtide Music Festival, Uxbridge
Ronley Teper & the Lipliners - Friday, May 3 @ the Dakota Tavern, Toronto
Merin - Monday, May 6 @ The Burdock, Toronto
Old Man Canyon - Saturday, May 11 @ the Rivoli, Toronto
Bear’s Den - Friday, May 24 @ the Phoenix Concert Theatre, Toronto
Photo by Sion Marshall Waters
All The Kings Men and the Wild Beasts go out on that high note
Wild Beasts roll All The Kings Men over the roiling hills of some English landscape, the startled vocals and the steady drive - its the final fling for the UKsters Last Night All My Dreams Came True coming out on Domino Documents, a greatest pulling from their faves and finest and recorded live. For me its an introduction and an invite to dig deeper in to all these pretty things, for you maybe its a fare thee well.
Photo by Hollie Fernando
UK Hookworms drive into the heart of the Microshift
I'm old school - I'm a sucker for songs which skip the head and the heart and go straight for the crotch, if you can get all three all power to you but if you are going to pick one go low. Hookworm from Leeds. UK, go low. There's a lot of head and heart in their tracks, lot of drone, lot of prog, lot of smarts, lot of strings but there's also a drive and an energy and a rumble and veering and its get-loose-time in the best of the Velvet Underground/ Pink Floyd-dy psychotic trips. But there's a new album due, "Microshift" - it seems based on the available tracks they have just shifted up a gear.