weird canada » folk

New Canadiana :: Jessica Jalbert – Brother Loyola

admin — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 11:30:20 +0000

Jessica Jalbert
Brother Loyola
(Old Ugly)
Edmonton, AB
::web/sounds::

From the southern warmth of Aaron Levin:

Deep within Canada’s tundradic core lies a lush gully of acoustic majesty. As these warm vibrations pierce the embittered cold, their very migration needs a soundtrack; hymns to carry us while our ancient graves turn barren lives to eternal dust. While the sky turns Paris Green and our eyes drift softly into slumber, Jessica’s hymns persuade; Brother Loyola‘s warmth and gorgeous mellow shall swallow us in a liquid sun of minor-key mourning. The cover says it all: grip.

Jessica Jalbert – Paris Green
Jessica Jalbert – Necromancy

New Canadiana :: Matthew A. Wilkinson – Namers

admin — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:30:54 +0000

Matthew A. Wilkinson
Namers
(Self Released)
Grand Prairie, AB
::web/sounds::

From the brittle hands of Jesse Locke:

Surprise grip of the year. Softly diffusing from the northwestern margins of the Swan City (Grand Prairie), Matthew A. Wilkinson has upended Weird Canada HQ with his numinous folk incantations. Wordless murmurs melt into wasted drum circles, twinkling pianos and bent acoustic chant, as this boreal basement ritual summons malevolent deities of wavering gender. Songwriter, filmmaker and maybe even oracle, Wilkinson wields an unruly power. Lend him your ears.

Matthew A. Wilkinson – Hand Over Hand
Matthew A. Wilkinson – Like This
Matthew A. Wilkinson – Yes, My Knees Say

New Canadiana :: LOOM – Epyllion

admin — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 11:30:03 +0000

LOOM
Epyllion
(Self Released)
Toronto, ON
::web/sounds::

From the wondrous elipsus of Aaron Levin:

After several iterative imaginations, LOOM’s hypnotic perturbations are wholly realized within Epyllion‘s twilight embrace. Tenuous cinders warm the mesmeric dissonance embedding LOOM’s succession into dactylic grace and splendid nylon minimalism; a transfiguration well worth Epyllion‘s meditative endurance. Existing in a plane beyond idyllic notions of folk, pop, and mellowtude, the album emerges between disparate walls of sinusoidal classification, unveiling the lingering ashes of lysergic ritual. Grip gently.

LOOM – There is Blood in My Body
LOOM – Is It Love

New Canadiana :: Chief Thundercloud – June Street

admin — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:30:27 +0000

Chief Thundercloud
June Street
(Radiator Collective)
Halifax, NS
::web/sounds::

From the door crack of Gabriel Jasmin:

A collected batch of strung out six string slumps, some barely audible and some blown-out noisy, sewn together to give a rough impression of Chief Thundercloud’s inner demons. At times so very close and personal, it feels like listening in through a door crack to your roommate playing silently. Side A holds 19 short originals and the B side is 12 surprising, hollowed-out cover songs, ranging from the Spice Girls to CCR to the most uncool, anti-wanker version of Freebird ever recorded.

De la porte entrouverte de Gabriel Jasmin:
Une collection de pièces acoustiques fantomatiques, certaines à peine présentes et d’autres jouant du coude avec le noise, qui esquissent un portrait brut des démons intérieurs de Chief Thundercloud. Certains passages très fragiles donnent même l’impression d’écouter secrètement, par une porte entrouverte, quelqu’un gratter silencieusement sa guitare. La face A contient 19 courtes pistes originales et on trouve 12 covers surprenants et épuisés sur la face B, des Spice Girls à CCR à la version la plus anti-cool et anti-vantarde de Freebird.

Chief Thundercloud – Almost Gone

Chief Thundercloud – Freebird

Chief Thundercloud – Stuck Underwater

New Canadiana :: Rebecca’s Room – The Burned CD II

admin — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 12:30:35 +0000

Rebecca’s Room
The Burned CD II
(Self Released)
New Waterford, NS
::web/sounds::

From the glass menageries of Aaron Levin:

With wild strokes of coloured psychedelia, Rebecca’s Room return with another lazer-graphed tome brimming with pop-lysergia. Languishing within their popular bedlam, the bedroom-laced mono-pop sizzles with uncanny waves of Eastern abandon; Dylonian moves displaced by a wicked array of tabla pounding beneath the devil’s anvil. A ridiculously curious leap forward for the New Waterford native. Deft grippage, please.

Rebecca’s Room – Happiness Rings
Rebecca’s Room – Song Bird

New Canadiana :: DoT – Mizz Teviak

admin — Fri, 06 May 2011 12:30:50 +0000

DoT
Mizz Teviak
(Old Ugly Recording Co.)
Edmonton, AB
::web/sounds::

From the heavy lids of Jessica Faulds:

Jesus, I wish I liked whiskey. A slow glass of the smoky stuff, a rocking chair, and DoT’s Mizz Teviak wafting from the victrola: that’s how this summer’s sweltering twilights should look. Too bad I hate hard liquids, and this album isn’t on vinyl — it’s exactly the kind of dusky, slack-jointed folk that the occasional needle-pop could only accentuate. Without reaching outside of an acoustic palate, DoT does everything from syllable-splitting yarns to softly swirling paranoiac melodies to wurly kitsch. Compounded, these tracks will have you mesmerized on your porch, too heavy-lidded to slap the mosquitos eating your flesh. Bliss.

DoT – Jimmy Jump
DoT – October Afternoon

Ephemera :: Jennifer Castle on Castlemusic

admin — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 14:00:26 +0000

Ephemera of: Jennifer Castle
Existing during the recording of: Castlemusic
(Flemish Eye)
Toronto, ON
::web/sounds::
[Photos: Landon Speers]

At the wintry tail of 2010, Toronto’s spook-folk minstrel Jennifer Castle teamed with the ever-enigmatic Wyrd Visions for a stunningly beautiful 12” split. Four months later, Calgary-based boutique label Flemish Eye gives us the follow-up, an expanded excursion through the wardrobe and into Castle’s enchanted kingdom. Accentuating pillow-soft vocals and delicate finger-plucks with flourishes of pedal steel, organ, medieval flute and signature fusion instrument ‘the guitlele.’ Castlemusic casts a spell you won’t want to counter. In line with the site’s physicality m.o., Weird Canada asked Castle to take part in the inaugural edition of our latest feature ‘Ephemera’, assembling a shrine of totemic objects that played a part in the album’s creation.

Feel free to listen to these two tracks from the album while you peruse the images below (which you can click for larger versions). The accompanied text was provided by Jennifer Castle. We’re very grateful to Jennifer, David Clarke, Ian Russell (Flemish Eye), and Landon Speers (photos) for this very special feature.

Jesse Locke
Weird Canada // Texture Magazine
weirdcanada.com // texturemagazine.ca/wordpress

Jennifer Castle – Neverride
Jennifer Castle – Powers

(click to enlarge)
Shrine: This is a shrine dedicated to the experience of making and releasing Castlemusic. It’s built on the piano I was given for my birthday two years ago and began writing on for the first time. “Way of the Crow” was one of the first songs I wrote on it.
Conch + Photo: This conch came from a small beach in Jamaica, just west of Kingston towards Black River, that I brought home for luck this winter. It’s a place with a rough and protective ocean, a hot and exhausting desert and a lush and inviting jungle all within a few minutes of each other. It has the best food in the world, positive vibes and uplifting friendliness. The ink portrait is of an old friend — a Jamaican immigrant himself — my late dad, Peter L. Castle. R.I.P.
Sage: This sage was bought from a man on commercial drive a year and a half ago while waiting for my sound check on a tour I did with Chad VanGaalen. It’s on top of my Harvard Reverb amp, which has the loudest buzz and is inappropriate to record with, even though I do.
1969 Harmony Rocket + Castlemusic Art: This 1969 Harmony Rocket guitar is well loved despite being almost nothing but problems. Then there’s the Castlemusic record itself, the cover of which is a photo of the arresting painting, DRAWBACK, by artist Mira Dancy . It’s an image so deep that no matter how much I think I know it I look again and realize I know nothing about it.
1969 Harmony Rocket + Castlemusic Art: This is my Yamaha guitlele that I tour with sometimes because it’s so light. It sounds awesome with a contact mic and a haze of distortion. I used it to record the song “Neverride.” Most think it’s a ukulele, but it has enough bass to keeps it grounded sounding.
Kom Jung BBQ Pork: This dish comes from Kom Jug, the BBQ pork joint across the street from 6Nassau where we recorded the record. It’s the food Dave Clarke lived on ($4 for a HUGE order) but that our engineer Jeff McMurrich wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole.
Magic Combo: For this magic combo, there are no words.

New Canadiana :: B.A. Johnston & The Magnificent Sevens – George The Animal Steele

admin — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 12:45:51 +0000

B.A. Johnston & The Magnificent Sevens
George The Animal Steele
(Transistor 66)
Hamilton, ON
::web/sounds::

From the unlovable troll mode of Paul Lawton:

I’ve seen B.A. Johnston’s live show over a dozen times and I’ve yet to grow tired of it. In the truest sense, B.A. Johnston is a traveling karaoke time-machine doing at least two coast-to-coast Canadian tours a year, playing in all the towns most bands are unable (or unwilling) to crack. B.A.’s audience ranges from alley-living crust punks to the upper-class indie elite, and he does it almost 100% DIY with little or no push from outside sources. The sheer magnitude of what B.A. Johnston has accomplished by delivering the goods at every show and inimitable work ethic is astonishing and worth note. On this, his first 7” on Transistor 66, Johnston teams up with Winnipeg’s Magnificent Sevens (road warriors themselves). Together, they give Johnston’s comedic balladry a hearty bluegrass backing. The four songs on this 7” find Johnston in his full-on unlovable troll mode, packed to the brim with obscure pop-culture references and moments of unexpected sweetness. There’s much to learn from this.

B.A. Johnston & The Magnificent Sevens – George The Animal Steele
B.A. Johnston & The Magnificent Sevens – I Love It When You Dress Up

New Canadiana :: Ayal Senior – Hebrew Lips

admin — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 14:00:37 +0000

Ayal Senior
Hebrew Lips
(Beniffer Editions)
Toronto, ON
::web/sounds::

From the perturbed sinusoids of Aaron Levin:

With a Perhacsian flare for vocal layery, Ayal Senior burns through sixteen candles of lysergic phantasia on this album of “SONGS.” Hebrew Lips is a manic rally between meditative passages within the folk cosmos and a perturbed flexing of the pop continuum, most of this accomplished via wavering and unsettling synth drones amongst a clamor of guitar strokes and choral phasing. Heavy basement vibes permeate every surface in ways not heard since the moon reached its Stone Harbour. Beautiful die-cut packaging care-of the illustrious Beniffer Editions.

Ayal Senior – Falling Backwards in a Dream
Ayal Senior – Religious Dogs
Ayal Senior – Warp Speed 9

New Canadiana :: Jom Comyn – Comynge Tegythere

admin — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 14:00:35 +0000

Jom Comyn
Comynge Tegythere
(Self Released)
Edmonton, AB
::web/sounds::

From the hangdog lament of Jessica Faulds:

Jom Comyn takes another giant leap forward in the development of his own micro-genre: snowglobe-folk. Guitar lines still sometimes eddy like slow-floating sediment, settling gently along a song’s backbone, but Comynge Tegythere‘s meteorological sphere harbors more devastating weather as well, sometimes verging on sheer white-out. Layers of noise stratify and coalesce, parting curtain-like to reveal full-bodied songs, scuzz-jazz meanderings, and hangdog laments in Jim Cumming’s signature baritone — a voice which has never held more weight than it does in the ghostly haunting number, “Been Down Blues.” Jim buffs winter sadness to a dull glow of acceptance in a city where the snow never leaves. Shake hard. [Packaged with an elaborate zine for those who attended the tape release.]

Jom Comyn – Been Down Blues
Jom Comyn – Brooklyn Girls