Slowcity.ca with Elizabeth Leslie, Once A Tree, Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Mattie Leon, Peter Katz, Grace Gillespie, Ghost Love, Busty and the Bass, Gillian Stone, and Black Collar Union

Will McGuirk November 30, 2020

By Will McGuirk

“Now is the time to look up from your phone and look around you. What can you do to effect change? I'd like for listeners to come away with a feeling of power, that we, as a collective society, are powerful, but only when we are not divided.” ~ Elizabeth Leslie

“To our knowledge there hasn’t been an Indian and ‘Indian’ (Indigenous) mash-up in Hip-Hop. It seems like an obvious choice that Indigenous people and Indian people would collaborate, as their histories are intertwined in one colonial historical moment where, thinking he’d reached India, Columbus dubbed the people he sought to conquer and eradicate, ‘Indian’.” ~ SNRK

"Part of what I wanted to do with this new music is to not have it be just about my story. It’s in there – it’s all in there – but I think that my older approach to writing was about holding on rather than letting go; This music feels like letting go to me. And I hope that when people hear it, they can hear their own story in it and that maybe it can help them feel like letting go too." ~ Peter Katz

Grace Gillespie · For Nick Drake

Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Ben Rogers, Zoon, METZ, Sylvan Esso, Ellyn Woods, Grace Gillespie, Hen Ogledd, and Steven Wilson

Will McGuirk September 22, 2020

By Will McGuirk

Some great tunes today on the Open Mic, musicians are not on stage but they are still working hard creating. In particular we welcome Ben Rogers back. He will be live-streaming an acoustic show from his BC base on Sep 27, 2020. Tickets here. Rogers is a mix of Andy Maize of the Skydiggers, Matt Mays and whole lot of empathy. He has a new video for an older track.

“During this pandemic that has affected us all, we can’t forget those hardest hit. Since the public health emergency there has been an increase in overdoses in Vancouver. This song is dedicated to the people of the streets of East Van who have lost their lives and those who are struggling to survive. They cannot be forgotten or abandoned." - Ben Rogers

First Nations musician Zoon (Daniel Monkman) has released his latest single and video, “Brokenhead,” from his debut album, ‘Bleached Waves’ issued on Paper Bag Records. back in June 2020 The song’s title comes from the Ojibway reserve where Monkman grew up and is a reflection on how he felt leaving family behind.

"I could see my dad and my uncle in the rearview mirror waving goodbye as distance between us grew further and further away. I felt a kind of Triumph and yet a rush of sadness/happiness. When I was recording the guitars, I kept focusing on that feeling." - Zoon

Buy the vinyl here ->

Monster noise-rockers METZ have announced a live-stream performance of their new album, ‘Atlas Vending’ plus they have released their new single and video, “Blind Youth Industrial Park.” METZ will be taking the full album live from the Opera House in Toronto on Oct 15 and 17, 2020. The album drops Oct 9 on Sub Pop and Royal Mountain Records.

“Something that is intrinsic to who we are as people has been taken away. We want, so badly, to find that feeling again, to forget the world for a moment, and share a brand new album that we love very much (plus some oldies) with you” - Alex Edkins

Buy the livestream tickets here ->

Buy the vinyl here ->

“It’s the centre of the record - a song about being obscured by someone’s loving impression. A mirror on a mirror.” - Amelia Meath

House of Youth · Ellyn Woods - Tangerine

Grace Gillespie · Hoppers

Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Haviah Mighty, David Strickland, Le Couleur, Grace Gillespie, the OBGMs, Alex Izenberg, Mike Block, Bros Landreth, Owen Barney, Chris Grey,

Will McGuirk July 8, 2020

By Will McGuirk

The vocabulary around electronic media is drawn from water - waves, streams, surfing, navigating, and the fuel for electronic media growth has been music. Music is as ubiquitous and necessary as water. Music is utility.

“Thirteen speaks factually and candidly, to the painful journey of Black people in North America. And it speaks to how that journey has morphed into continued racial prejudice, using the media and using the law. To get rid of white supremacy is to identify it at its root. I hope when people watch Thirteen, they feel moved to do their part in reversing white supremacy. I hope we can begin to see one another as equal – a dream I've always hoped could one day be a reality. And I hope people realize that it's going to take WORK! Who is willing to work, to make change?” - Haviah Mighty

“Much of my time is spent trying to reassure myself through rationalizing and acceptance, heard in the song’s verses, coupled with outbursts of inward frustration that I express in the choruses. I think it’s a pattern we have all been through throughout lockdown. We are trying with all our hearts to make the most of this gift of time and be ‘grateful for the day’ but then realizing that we are sipping coffee and trying to create (or just get on with work) while ambulances are filing past.” - Grace Gillespie

Mike Block · Expression of Concern (feat. KINAN ADNAWI)

“As dancers, we express ourselves through movement. We tried to capture what it was like for us in that moment and empathize with those who were going through the same thing. It’s easy to forget we don’t fight this by ourselves, and this video is our way of reaching out to say we are there with you.” - Liam Caines, Royal Winnipeg Ballet