By Will McGuirk
Kasador, photo by Ted Simha Webster
alt-image: The Beaches
Terry Uyarak
Slowcity.ca Open Mic: Justin Rutledge, Terry Uyarak, Duke and Goldie, Laila Biali, Nia Nadurata, Noisy, Mouraine and Westside Boogie, and Bensley
"This song is about the underdog becoming the Big Dawg. Growing up as the little guy with a big heart has always been a blessing in disguise. It humbled me, but it also never limited or kept me from achieving anything I wanted. 'It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.' Right Boogie?" - Mouraine
Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Donovan Woods, Kyp Harness, Matt Berninger, Middle Kids, Laila Biali, Paris Pick, Ormiston, LAL, and Gift of Tongues
By Will McGuirk
Vibrations, waves, across the universe, billions of years, then you appear, vibrating, making more vibrations, disrupting the flow, pushing out, pushing back at the noise of the Big Bang with your own voice. So keep going, keep voicing, keep being here, and going there.
(from PR)
In 2020, Donovan Woods released Without People via his own Meant Well label. It’s an album that ranks as Woods’ most successful release with more than 10 million streams and climbing. Due March 26, a new deluxe edition of Without People adds four bonus tracks (two new originals and two alternate mixes) and is available for pre-order now.
A new piano rendition of “Grew Apart” cuts right to the bone, and an acoustic interpretation of “Whatever Keeps You Going” pairs Woods with the pure voices of the J.P. Robarts Public School Music Project in London, Canada.
The school’s choir (consisting of grades 3-8) formerly sang with Woods in 2019 at one of his concerts in London. Woods always knew he wanted to feature the choir on a project, but during the pandemic, Woods learned that while the schools had reopened, the children were only allowed to hum during choir practice due to the nature of health and safety protocols. He then, with the help of their parents and choir director, Jane Kennedy, enlisted the children’s choir to individually submit homemade cell phone videos of themselves singing the song. All 19 students were able to share the “stage” again with Woods through this video.
Middle Kids, photo by Ellen Virgona
“I want to make music that loves its listener. Music that makes people feel seen, seen in the tiny little places that hide away in their hearts. I want people to hear our music, and feel a sense of love. And when I say love, it can be challenging, intense and tough. But it’s in the guts.” – Hannah Joy, Middle Kids
“Ciel is someone who we have watched grow and develop into a global talent at the same time embodying a local Toronto spirit. Her remix for us speaks to a Toronto that had no musical genres in clubs. It bends and weaves into an expression that is well known to the darkest clubs and most cavernous warehouses. We employ you to join in the vision of this remix in solidarity with the community and all that came to take part.” - LAL’s Nicholas Murray
“‘The Art Of Loneliness’ is a dance-pop song which sounds triumphant, but upon closer listen feels tragic.The lyrics here are the closest I get to a private monologue with me trying to convince myself that loneliness isn’t such a painful situation. I’m trying to trick myself into thinking being alone isn’t so bad and the artful way I do it." - David Johnston, Gift of Tongues
Slowcity.ca Open Mic pre-future edition with Braids, Dralms, Loving, Caveboy, Lord Dying, Nikki Yanofsky, Laila Biali and The Revivalists
By Will McGuirk
The future is inevitable, even the day after the Groundhog, round and round and round again, even after palindrome dates - back and forward, to and fro, but the sun rises and the mellow days of a waning winter approach, the endlessness ends and in the waxing we wait for the inevitable breaking of Spring. Perhaps earlier in this year of hindsight, perhaps earlier than ever. The sameness is no longer.
“Why is it that where we were or what we had isn’t clear until it’s gone and over? In the end, has the story written itself?” - Dralms
“The video was filmed on location in the countries that made up former Yugoslavia. It highlights both the beauty and strangeness of Spomenik (WW2) monuments, some of which have been forgotten by the sands of time.” - Lord Dying
“Forget is about being underestimated, overlooked and doubted, but prevailing. Going from the butt of a joke to being impossible to ignore, being everywhere (like a meme!). A song for the haters.” - NIkki Yanofsky
“I believe that nothing is wasted, that even life's greatest challenges can produce something meaningful, even if only to make us more aware of and empathetic to the struggles of those around us.” - Laila Biali