By Will McGuirk
Mike Edel at the Dakota Tavern Friday Feb 3 2023. Tickets here.
Scott Nolan
Slowcity.ca Open Mic: Scott Nolan, She and Him, Sylvan Esso, Ghost Caravan, Flostate, Mike Edel, Living Hour, and Cola,
By Will McGuirk
“it’s now being sung from the inside of the experience. It’s empowered and a little cheeky. I’m saying - “I know you wanna know what I’m saying… and I know what I choose to say has power. Whether it’s to help or hurt… it has power.” - Shaina Silver-Baird, Ghost Caravan
"This album is an exploration of our emotional worlds. Through the lyrics and sound, our music evokes our internal world to the external, the only way to connect deeply with ourselves & those around us." - Avery Florence and MKSTN, Flõstate
“The song is about struggling with internal worlds, habits and daily circumstances,” - Sam Sarty, Living Hour
Sylvan Esso - Sept 1 2022 - Toronto, ON - Budweiser Stage. Tickets.
Mike Edel, photo by Brian Van Wyk
Slowcity.ca with Mike Edel, Kate Boothman, Josh Tavares, Paul Babe, Jake Etheridge, Blue Stones, and Monowhales
By Will McGuirk
Yah, its a good picture, its the way we feel, an exhausted wtf. I’ve been out, went to a bar, brief as possible, masked, folks confound me, I’d rather stay home, rather avoid it all, work, home, work, home I see my music community take the brunt of this, I see the impact and the resilience and I see the selfish behaviour and the resistance and I wonder and run my fingers through my hair, wtf!
“in the 'before times' I assembled a cast of friends together to shoot a music video for ‘Still Thinking About You’. The En Masse project was so collaborative, and in our isolated era it has taken on a new form. The 'Still Thinking About You' video reminds me that I am an extrovert and reminds me that I love seeing all my family, friends and supporters when touring an album. I'm so happy that I got a bunch of my Vancouver friends and made this video with them. To them I would say; I love you, I miss you, I’m Still Thinking About You.” ~ Mike Edel
”17 is one of those songs that emerged fully formed. I wrote it after a particularly heavy day during a particularly heavy time in my life. I was overworked, overwhelmed, under-slept, heartbroken, and generally confused. I got home at around 11 pm after being away for a while. I lay down on the floor for an hour and when I finally got up I wrote the entire song in only 20 minutes or so.” ~ Kate Boothman
Slowcity.ca Open Mic with the OBGMs, Bahamas, Hawksley Workman, Elvis Costello, A Family Curse, Mike Edel, Josh Tavares, Mike Block,
By Will McGuirk
Every now and then you get some new tunes you can just get behind, an introduction which causes one to declare Ooooo baby gimme more. . . we have a few today including this lead off track from the OBGMs which features a collab with TO rapper Clairmont the Second. The OBGMs’ debut album will be out Nov 30
The saddest of the hunkiests, Bahamas, will release his latest album ‘Sad Hunk’ on Friday Oct 9 2020. Bahamas aka Afie Jurvanen has a new single, the very welcome “Trick to Happy.”
“This is a song about picking an argument with time, the very clock face, either running too fast or too slow, depending on the company you keep”. - Elvis Costello
‘En Masse’ is the latest album from Mike Edel, his fourth, it will be available Nov 20, 2020 on Pennant.
“If I could co-write a song with Springsteen and The National, then put a bit of pixie dust on it, ‘Good About Everything’ is it. I co-wrote the song with two friends in San Diego after a night of eating ramen, riding around on scooters, getting denied from a capacity tiki bar, and after seeing some friends’ show. We ultimately decided to write about what a good night we had the night before.” - Mike Edel
Jyoti (Georgia Anne Muldrow), photo by Pricilla Jimenez
Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Jyoti, Lou Canon, Jonsi, Mike Edel, Luka Kuplowsky, Busty and the Bass with Macy Gray, The Lagoons, Shred Kelly, Seether,
By Will McGuirk
Happy to spend time in the presence of Jyoti, the name given to Georgia Ann Muldrow by Alice Coltrane. The presence of the track in my feed reminds me of parallel worlds, cultures, lives which continue on, evolve, live, express and rarely cross my path. It is into these worlds we must challenge ourselves to step, I must challenge my self to step, to go beyond and understand the language of other cultures, other lives. And when its this good, this evocative, this clear, this expressive, this welcoming, this comprehensive well, who wouldn’t want to visit longer, and visit deeper. Its new tunes from an upcoming album Mama, You Can Bet!. Go forward with this and then go retrieve.
“This song is about pushing higher, going further, moving deeper. And engaging with the world in a sensual way. There is a passage by James Baldwin that encapsulates this sentiment, ‘To be sensual, I think, is to respect and rejoice in the force of life, of life itself, and to be present in all that one does, from the effort of loving to the making of bread.’” - Lou Canon
“I don’t really feel the doubt, I just wanna sing it loud” - Mike Edel
“Written in an empty apartment shortly after moving in with my partner. A sincere expression of love. A sacred love song attuned to the natural world - thunder, wind, moonlight and a dolphin.” - Luka Kuplowsky