Kensington Market - Hotbed of musical talent

There is more to Toronto than the CN Tower and the G20 noise cannon! Take a walk around the Kensington Market area and you'll find music on the street everywhere.
Check some of these folks out - guitar players bringing their sound to the people. In front of the liquor store, and guitar players on the patios of the pubs...you gotta love Toronto!

Ben Somer and Matt Paxton live on the CHCanada.com Indie Radio Show

Indie music fans you are in for a treat next Wednesday when two of Canada's new minstrels come to play.

Ben Somer and Matt Paxton are the new faces of Canadian singer songwriters. In the tradition of Leonard Cohen, or even Neil Young, these two performers have both released new music in the past year. They have been touring across Canada together and Ben just finished a great appearance at Canadian Music Week.

We are honoured to have them on the best indie music show on the planet (I am slightly biased). Rick Jones and Tom Beyer ask the questions and will provide the mics, for both performers to play live in studio.

Be sure to tune in Wednesday March 31st as these new Bob Dylanesque performers talk about life on the road, their inspirations, and where to get a good pad thai while on the road!

Big Star's Alex Chilton - Indie music's original Star

If you don't know who Alex Chilton is you are not alone. He was only 17 when he sang the hit song "The Letter" by The Boxtops back in 1967. He didn't write it but he sure did sing it. Sounding a lot older than he was, there was an emotional depth to his delivery.

Fast forward a few years to 1971 and Alex joined the power-pop group Big Star, with Chris Bell, recording at engineer John Fry's Ardent Studios. At Argent Sound they had the luxury of working for many months on what would be their first album #1 Record  Chilton and Bell co-wrote "In The Street" for Big Star's first album #1 Record, a track later known as the theme song of That '70s Show. But at the time this was not a hit record. In fact nothing from this record hardly got any airplay, never mind a hit record.

The group's recordings met with little commercial success but established Chilton's reputation as a rock singer and songwriter; later alternative music bands like R.E.M. would praise the group as a major influence.

He continued to tour and perform with many indie bands,always with a hardcore loyal following but never regaining the success he had when he was a teenager.

He came through Toronto in the early '90's playing at the Horseshoe Tavern. He had a new bass player who had a music stand for the sheet music he read off during the entire show. It was brilliant to see Chilton - he took requests from a rabid and rapturous audience. When I yelled out "The Letter" he smiled and dutifully played a heartfelt version of the song.

By the mid-1990s, he added to his schedule concerts and recordings with the reunited Box Tops and a version of Big Star that included two members of The Posies, Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow. A new Big Star album, entitled In Space, with songs penned by this lineup, was released September 27, 2005, on Rykodisc.

Chilton continued to perform live yearly, with sporadic solo, Box Tops and Big Star shows in theatres and at festivals around the world.

Chilton was taken to the hospital in New Orleans on March 17, 2010, complaining of health problems, and died the same day of a suspected heart attack. He is survived by his wife, Laura, and son, Timothy.

Here is a clip from the first Big Star album...




And here is a band that has the same indie asthetic as Big Star. Many indie bands owe a lot to Alex Chilton. Another great musican is now jamming at that big jam session in the sky!

Tom Wilson Debuts new song on the CHCanada.com Indie Radio Show

"Big Chief" is the latest from Canadian troupador Tom Wilson, of Lee Harvey Osmond fame. He is also in the Canadian Traveling Wilburys' - Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, and is having one of the best years of his life.

The new song was co-written by his son Thompson Wilson, of the band Harlan Pepper.
Check it out on the You Tube Clip supplied here. The entire interview will be uploaded to this blog shortly. We talked about life on the road, drugs, early life for Tom, and his love of painting. Also the passion he has for his hometown of Hamilton comes out during the interview.

The man is a true gentleman, even though he does look like a demonic Jesus - but don't let the look fool ya!

Lee Harvey Osmond's "A Quiet Evil" can be purchased by going to:
http://www.chcanada.com/category/Indie_Music?r=dfyt

Constantines up for an Indie Award

Canadian Music Fest has announced who the nominees are for the 10th Annual Independent Music Awards, "The Indies". The event will take place on Saturday, March 13 at 8:00 p.m. at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, Toronto.

The Indies acknowledge, promote and honour achievements of Canadian and international artists in the independent music sector. Tickets for this event can be purchased for $20 at Ticketmaster, www.ticketmaster.ca, www.canadianmusicfest.com, www.indies.ca, Rotate This and Soundscapes.

This year's performers include Desperate Union, The Rural Alberta Advantage, Plants and Animals, Great Lake Swimmers and Constantines. The show will be broadcast live to air on XM Satellite Radio's "The Verge" and recorded for future broadcast on Galaxie.

Metric and Alexisonfire lead this year's Canadian nominees with four nominations apiece, followed by Phoenix with three nominations in the international categories.

And the nominees are.........

CHARTATTACK.COM FAVOURITE ALBUM
Alexisonfire - Old Crows / Young Cardinals (Dine Alone)
Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels (Nettwerk)
Japandroids - Post-Nothing (Unfamiliar)
Joel Plaskett - Three (MapleMusic)
Metric - Fantasies (Last Gang)

ASTRAL MEDIA RADIO FAVOURITE SINGLE
Danny Fernandes - Fantasy (CP)
Deborah Cox - Beautiful U R (DECO/Image/E1)
Faber Drive - G-Get Up and Dance! (604)
Marianas Trench - Cross My Heart (604)
Metric - Gimme Sympathy (Last Gang)

FAVOURITE GROUP/DUO
Constantines (Arts & Crafts)
Handsome Furs (Sub Pop)
Metric (Last Gang)
Patrick Watson & The Wooden Arms (Secret City)
Tegan and Sara (Vapor/Sire)

FAVOURITE SOLO ARTIST
Coeur de Pirate (Dare To Care)
Dan Mangan (fileunder:music)
Joel Plaskett (MapleMusic)
Julie Doiron (Endearing)
Timber Timbre (Arts & Crafts)

FAVOURITE VIDEO
Alexisonfire - Young Cardinals (Dine Alone)
Danny Fernandes - Fantasy (CP)
Lights - Drive My Soul (Underground Operations)
Marianas Trench - Cross My Heart (604)
Theory Of A Deadman - All or Nothing (604)

FAVOURITE LIVE ARTIST/GROUP
Alexisonfire (Dine Alone)
Arkells (Dine Alone)
Metric (Last Gang)
The Trews (Bumstead)
You Say Party! We Say Die (Paper Bag)

In addition to the nominees above, The Indies will once again present the Galaxie Rising Stars award and $5,000 bursary, sponsored by Galaxie. The award is part of the Galaxie Rising Stars Program, an original program that sets out to discover, encourage and promote emerging artists. Unlike the other award categories, the Galaxie Rising Stars Award is the choice of the nation's music critics. Music journalists from print, TV, radio and online media are asked for their top five Canadian independent releases of 2009. All submissions are then boiled down to a shortlist from which these same critics choose the most deserving recording and select Canada's emerging breakthrough artist of the year.

For further details and voting procedures visit the Indie Awards website at www.indies.ca

Gonna be a great night. Indie bands get your music to these folks to be eligible for next year's awards.

Here are Constantines caught last April Fools day at The Phoenix in Toronto...

Hamilton Indie Bands Live on the Radio

We are pumped to have a bunch of Hamilton Bands join us on the CHCanada.com Indie Radio Show this coming Wednesday. The bands you'll hear performing in the Caledon Radio Studio are as follows:

The Cartakers
Matt Paxton
Barry Mac
and the fabulous Mississppi Kings. If you listen to the show you know we like this act. They have a classic rockin' sound that mixes blues and funk with equal messure. It is an interesting stew of influences. Even the songs they cover are interesting - case in point is this attached video of them performing the old Marvin Gaye classic "What's Goin' On" with all proceeds going to charity. Now that's putting your money where your mouth is!
Be sure to tune into Radio Caledon on Wednesday night from 8 till 10 EST to hear some really unique performances. And if you miss the show, you can upload it from this blog.

Huron - Critic band pick for 2010

Now magazine and National Post music critic Tim Perlich was right on the money when, in his "bands to watch for in 2010" column he gives new band Huron the nod.

These guys have seemingly come out of nowhere to rock the planet. Where to start on influences heard in their music. Sometimes sounding like The Beatles in their white album faze - think Helter Skelter, mixed with the darkness and light of Wilco. They've got the boogie rock sound of the Allman Brothers Band, but also they have an almost Kraftwerk quality to their music - they do a song that sounds remarkably like that classic europop song Autobahn, but with guitars instead of synths.

So, in a nutshell these guys are a disciplined rock combo, that your Dad would like. A throwback to the '70's jam band sound, that includes some really wild improvisational forays.

This is especially true of their Wednesday night residency at the Dakota Tavern in Toronto. Each Wednesday night since November they have been rocking the house with a couple of sets. Then, indie rock legend Ian Blurton joins them on stage for a set of his music, and finally a sprawling jam session to cap off the night.

Bring your earplugs – put them firmly in place and be prepared to be shaken. They play loud, inventive original rock n roll. The best place to see them is at the Dakota Tavern – a small intimate club that is one of the best rooms for live music in Toronto, if not all of southern Ontario.

Check out these clips – I’m sure you’ll agree!

btw: we have invited Huron to join us for an unplugged radio performance on the CHCanada.com Indie Radio Show, heard on the last Wednesday of every month.

Go go http://www.chcanada.com for all of your indie band musical needs.

Chris Murphy of Sloan - Underwhelming on CBC's GO

Chris Murphy is one funny dude! Not only is he one of the driving forces behind Sloan, he's also got a radio show on CBC (natch). He surprised the early morning crowd at GO on Saturday morning with his unplugged version of the Sloan hit Underwhelmed.

Although his appearance on the show was great (and funny), it was in the question and answer portion of the show where he really shone. This portion of the show does not go live to air, but is for the audience only. They should be broadcasting this portion of the show - totally off the hook and unfiltered!

Off air Chris talked about meeting Celine Dion back stage at a Juno presentation a couple of years ago. He witnessed Celine getting ready for her Juno performance - "is there anything on my teeth" she asks one of her people just before she goes on stage. Yes she is a real person, says Murphy. He also had the line "as Celine gets skinnier, she gets uglier - are we still taping?" Hilarious off the cuff comments that just scream for Chris Murphy to have his own drive program - if CBC could stand the heat of Murphy without a lease!

Check out his unplugged performance on this You Tube clip, performed live on CBC Radio One's GO.

Patrick Dickinson Live on the CHCanada.com Indie Radio Show

The clock is ticking and we are into 2010. Just saying 2010 sounds so futuristic. Shouldn't we all be driving flying cars, just like on the Jetsons?

The future belongs to all of us, and Patrick Dickinson is making a future for himself in music. Dickinson has been a frustrated songwriter for most of his life. But in the last couple of years he has turned that yearning into a solid new career path. In the last year he has written and recorded his first CD - "Sweet Weakness".
This year he'll be taking on the road touring around the country bringing his brand of country rock to a dance hall near you.

He joined us on the CHCanada.com Indie Radio Show in the final days of 2009. Performing three songs live in studio with his guitarist Grant Lyle.

You will be able to upload the the entire performance as a podcast - go to the posting listed as Wednesday December 30, 2009.


Let me know what you think of this new artist. If you like what you hear, his new CD will be available soon on CHCanada.com.

Most Popular Act of 2009 - Corb Lund

This country act is "the dark horse" of the musical race, to use a gambling term. Here is the lowdown on the Corb Lund You Tube clip attached:
Corb played Toronto for two nights at the venerable Horseshoe Tavern. This is a famous club downtown which has featured all kinds of musical acts - from The Police on one of their first tours, to Stompin' Tom Connors who filmed a movie there.
Anyway, Corb plays The Horsehoe on Friday, into the wee hours of the morning (the encore was played after 2:AM).

Corb gets a few hours shut-eye and then he's up bright and early for his performance on CBC Radio's GO. He had to be there for a 7:30 AM sound check.
In this clip he is performing at about 10:AM on the Saturday morning. He looks and sounds a little bushed. But what a trouper!

The kicker to all of this is that this clip has become the most popular clip on the DirkFimbob Channel. Go figure! Check it out and let me know what you think.

Indie Music Company of the Year - CHCanada.com

And last, but not least is the company that has allowed me the time and space to write passionately about one of my great loves - Canadian independent Music.
More precisely, kudos go out to Ryan Swain and Mike Smith. These two innovators see the benefit of new media, to actively promote online efforts to bring Canadian indie music to a larger audience. Through You Tube, blogging, radio, Facebook and Twitter, CHCanada.com has been actively getting the word out there about musical acts, waiting to be discovered.

The parent company has been in Canada for almost 50 years. For most of those years they were able to offer amazing deals on music to the Canadian public. Canadians of a certain age will remember the 12 LP's for a penny promotions. As new formats became popular, the music club offered 8-tracks, cassettes, and then finally CDs.
The compact disk is still the best sound when listening to music - hands down better than MP3 files.

The Internet has been a double edged sword for Canadian music retailers - file sharing essentially decimated the music business. So there is no longer a CD club per se. Instead, a new online company was born, and can be found at:

http://www.chcanada.com

Online CHCanada.com carries all manner of indie CDs, major label CDs, DVDs, Blu Rays, T-shirts, and rock n roll books. The membership fee has been waived, so anyone can access the site to enjoy amazing deals. Your Entertainment Dollar goes a lot farther at CHCanada.com than anywhere else.

All of the blogging, You Tubing, and the Indie Radio Show gives us a chance to interact with Canadians on a whole new level. Getting out there listening, and finding new acts, selling their CDs online, and talking about them has given CHCanada.com a street profile, the parent company never had.

So, big props go out to CHCanada.com. Rocking in the free world, and bringing you the best in Canadian entertainment.
Grab a CD from your fave indie act. It is tough to make a living as a musician in this day and age. Profits from the proceeds of the indie CDs we sell go right back to the artist - we deal with each musical act directly.

CHCanada.com is looking forward to helping you with all of your entertainment needs for 2010!

Best Radio Show Host of 2009 - Brent Bambury of CBC Radio One's GO

There is no bigger friend of Canadian Independent recording artists than Brent Bambury. His name is synonymous with great musical talent from Canada. Brent has been a big booster of new music at the Canadian Broadcasting Corp for many years.

Brent launched his radio career at CBC stations in Saint John, Halifax and Montreal. He began to work for Radio Two's Brave New Waves in 1984, and he became that show's permanent host one year later. Brent became known as a purveyor of obscure and emerging music, and a guide to alternative culture. He stayed up late and drank the best coffee in Montreal.

In 1995 he joined Tina Srebotnjak on CBC TV's Midday. He's since come to his senses and returned to radio.

Brent thinks radio should be kinetic, full of life, fun, outrageous and thoughtful all at the same time. He lives this idea of radio every Saturday morning hosting the best variety show on CBC Radio One - GO.

The generosity Brent shows while hosting is incredible for a National Radio host. Case in point would be the clip attached. Arick Howser is a fan of the show who is in the studio audience on a regular basis. In this clip Bambury has the young aspiring comic come on the show, for a totally unscripted one on one. This just does not happen on most shows - a most generous host indeed.

And the reason for this blog is the music. The incredible live music that pours out of the studio every morning is absolutely ear bending! To get musicians
up that early on a Saturday morning to perform live in front of a studio audience, shows the importance of the show.

Hats off to Brent Bambury - our Radio Show Host of 2009. Must mentions in conjunction with this award are his amazing team - Contest Nana (Nana Aba Duncan), British Pete (Peter Morey), Anshuman Iddamsetty, Jeff Goodes (ex-host of Fresh Air), Bronwyn Page, Erin Noel and David Carroll. Also a big shout out to "Producer Paul" who's ears ensure the music feed going out on the radio show is perfect.

Let's hope this is the future for CBC Radio - relevent, funny, irreverent, and in touch with the audience - a live audience at that. This, and an amazing platform for our Canadian Musical talent!

Is Hamilton the new Seattle?

I've had a few days to reflect on my trip down the QEW to Hamilton, for the Hamilton Music Awards. This City has had it's fair share of unemployment and heartache over the last decade, with massive job losses in their manufacturing sector. If you are like most people, your only view of Hamilton is when you are flying along the highway going over the Skyway Bridge on your way to Niagara Falls and the US Border, or on your way to Toronto. It is not a very impressive sight, unless you are in the steel biz. Dirty smokestacks and flames from coke ovens are like a throughback to another era. And maybe they are.

Hamilton is reinventing itself as an arts and music town. With the downtown core neglected and frankly mishandled by local government mis-steps, pricing of real estate is in the basement - a far cry from the high rents and exorbitant costs of Toronto living. So, artists and musicians are flocking to Hamilton - remaking the city. And the whole arts culture is thriving.

Thus the 8th annual Hamilton Music Awards. As host Tom Wilson tells it, many of Canada's musical talent are from Hamilton (including rock royalty such as Daniel Lanois). Lanois has a very nice converted warehouse on Wellington Street in downtown Toronto where he stays when in Ontario, otherwise he owns a house in Hamilton (near Tom’s house) as he always has. Hamilton is Daniel’s hometown. (he also has homes in L.A. and Jamaica). His mother, brother and sister all live in Hamilton. Lanois arrived in Hamilton from Hull at the age of nine with his family, went to school here and established their first studios here, recording with Eno and many others. He still comes to Hamilton a lot to see family and friends. Lanois was the second artist to be given a lifetime achievement award at the HMAs.

Check this clip out of husband and wife team Melissa McCelland and Luke Doucet. This fab couple have come back to Hamilton to live - make the trip down to the Hammer for a show or to see a gallery. You'll be surprised.

Lee Harvey Osmond Comes Home - Hamilton Music Awards

http://www.hamiltonmusicawards.com is where you are going to find all of the info on a great weekend in Hamilton. This City in Southern Ontario has become a hotbed of Indie Music. With low rent, and a funky downtown, the musos and artists are starting to populate this great City.

This weekend it is worth the drive to the Hammer. One band not to be missed is Tom Wilson's new project LeE HARVeY OsMOND. These cats call what they do Acid Folk, which is a pretty good description. This band has been on tour with the Cowboy Junkies all over Canada, and down into the US.

The new LeE HARVeY OsMOND CD can be purchased by going to:
http://www.chcanada.com

Nothing beats a hometown show - Tom and the band are stoked to be playing back in Hamilton.

Check them out this weekend, as part of the Hamilton Music Awards. The Mississippi Kings will also be particating (their most excellent CD can also be purchased at CHCanada.com), along with a bunch of other local acts. Don't miss it!

Symphony Of Nine - Prog Rock comes to Caledon Radio

Wednesday night we had a great performance by a Toronto Band on the verge of greatness. With their new CD Radio, Symphony of Nine are a band that is unique in sound. All of the members are too young to remember the hay day of progressive '70's rock - in fact some of the members weren't even born in the '70's. But their sound is a throw back to the "Classic Rock" sound. Shades of Styx, Queen, Kansas, and even Wings sneak into their groove.

They came in and played unplugged on the CHCanada.com Indie Radio Show. Check out one of their performances on the attached You Tube Clip. If you like this band check out their entire unplugged set by uploading the podcast of the show. It can be found at the Wednesday November 25, 2009 link. Drop me a line and let me know what you think of this new band...

Most Original Band of 2009 - Hank & Lily Show

This band took me completely surprise at this years North By Northeast Music Festival in Toronto this past summer. These cats came out looking like they were completely out of their minds! Weird clowns, back-up singers dressed as nuns, a female drummer who had no drum seat and stood as she played and sang. And the guitar players looked absolutely strange with their bizarre ant eater type face masks that they wore. This iswhy the vocals sound so out of it - they sound like they are singing into a tin can.

Crazy, wacked out for sure - but boy did they entertain. Don't ask me what any of it actually means, if anything.

This band for me was the most entertaining, and frankly disturbing acts I saw all year.

Best Instrumentation of 2009 - The Hidden Cameras

This band had the most interesting instrumentation of any bands seen in 2009. What pop band can claim to have a harpist (real harp player, not a harmonica), and a cello player and an upright bass player in the band?

Here The Hidden Cameras perform live in the CBC Radio One's GO studio early one Saturday morning.

They are like tonic to sooth your aching mind. Relax and float downsteam listening to this...

Sleepy Cowboy sings the gambling blues

Corb Lund is travelling this great big country from coast to coast singing his brand of new country. He's got a great way with words, and his songs are actually about something. He sings about losers, real cowboys, and gamblers. In fact this song is written about him. Yes he's the one looking for that one game that will make his fortune.

A real trouper he showed up early one Saturday morning with just his guitar. With only a few hours sleep, Corb rose to the challenge and performed two songs on CBC Radio's GO.

Rappers Delight on CBC Radio's GO

More or les and his band of pj clad rappers and dj's rocked the house early one Saturday morning on CBC Radio's GO.

Check em out...intelligent and thoughtful rappers, more Gil Scott-Heron than Akon.

Peter Bloom Comes to Visit The Radio Show

Peter Bloom and East Coast Adam were on the CHCanada.com Indie Radio Show recently performing some tunes off the latest record "Random Thoughts (from a paralyzed mind)".

Peter Bloom has had quite a ride getting to where he is today. He started out in the 1990’s as the singer and drummer for Montreal alt-rockers The Elementals. Bloom hung in through several style changes that saw the band turn into a more traditionalist and more successful rock band re-titled Furious Styles.

Now with this new release he is ready to take on the world. The English language version of the record has just been released. He has recorded the record in the French language, and there are plans to do the record in Italian and Spanish!

Take a listen to this unplugged version. The CD will be available soon from CHCanada.com