Author Archives: Claire Orazietti

Shad announces TAO tour with stops in Vancouver, Victoria

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Juno Award-winning rapper and visual artist Shad is returning to the tour scene in the spring of 2022 to perform his latest album Tao, and his tour has two stops in BC, one in Vancouver on June 7th and in Victoria on June 8th, 2022. The Canadian rap veteran has a 15-year career that’s also seen him hosting programs like CBC Radio’s Q and the Emmy Award-winning series like Hip-Hop Evolution on HBO.  

 

His newest album, Tao was released October 1st 2021 and is named after the Chinese concept of Tao. In the album, he explores ideas of what it means to be human and find a way to exist in the world. Ironically much of this album was already written and produced before the first wave of the pandemic even happened, but it’s proving to be a profoundly timely album with Shad also discussing themes of Black identity, spirituality, and the compounding negative effects of capitalism that seem to have been stripped bare by the realities of the pandemic. 

 

Acoustically speaking the album is amazing as well, the beats are KILLER and I found myself liking half the album on Spotify before I realized I needed to just download the whole album.

I really have a soft spot for rappers like Danny Brown, Run The Jewels, Kendrick Lamar and Amine, and Shad fits in so well with his inventive musical beds, thought-provoking lyrics, and use of found sound.

Some of my favorite tracks off this album are are “Garçon”, “Body (No Reason)” and “Storm” but don’t take my word for it, give Tao a listen because trust me it’s a real gem of an album and you will find yourself coming back to relisten.  

 

D.O.A, Hardcore ‘81’s 40th Anniversary and Why I Love Hardcore

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Burnaby Green party city councilor Joe Keithley is swapping out his suit jacket for his denim vest for the 40th Anniversary of D.O.A’s Hardcore 81, presented by The Rickshaw and Sudden Death Records, with guests Bishops Green, The Spitfires, and Grrl Circus. 

D.O.A and the album Hardcore ‘81 helped establish and gave a name to the term the genre of faster, more aggressive, and often politically influenced style of punk-rock that we refer to now as “Hardcore Punk” or more simply “Hardcore”. Alongside founding groups like Bad Brains,  Black Flag,  Circle Jerks, D.O.A, and Joe Keithley helped pioneer the genre in the late 70s and early 80s.

Growing up in the 2000s the biggest way I was exposed to Hardcore and ironically still the biggest influences on my taste in music TO THIS DAY was through Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and Underground Jam series of video games and through those video games I learned that I really loved hardcore.

This probably might go without saying, but I was a bit of an angry child and with my ADHD problems I often felt left out, or like people weren’t giving me a shot, and hardcore was one of the few genres that I felt accurately captured what I was feeling. 

While D.O.A isn’t on any of the soundtracks (they really should be) I learned about them when scouring the internet for more about the musical style and you can imagine my excitement as a 10-year-old Canadian kid interested in something mainstream that a group from your city played such a pivotal role in its early years (even bigger shock when you find out the founder is also on city council). It just always felt like “cool” stuff wasn’t from Canada, it always had to be from America, but something I really loved about punk and hardcore was the way it wasn’t just “American” or “Canadian” there was a lot of crossover and collaboration across North America and I for one love to see an event like this happening. 

 

Ticket Info is here:

 

A Very Fionn Christmas

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I generally make it a habit to wait until December to play Christmas music, I realize for some they like to start in November or at least midway through November but after years of working in retail, my capacity is limited to a month. I am however making an exception this year to that rule for Fionn’s cover of the iconic Joni Mitchell song “River”. 

The sisters have had a busy 2021, releasing their sophomore album Candid Constellations in the spring/early summer, performing with Marianas Trench, and releasing the single “I Won’t Lie” with U.K.’s neo-R&B darling Mauvey.

 

 

Going back to “River”, in an Instagram post announcing the release of the cover, the sisters shared their love for Joni Mitchell and shared how her “Blue” album and song writing style greatly influenced in their writing of their debut self-titled album Fionn in 2018.  

I always like to hear about who the artists have been inspired by and I think it gives you more to think about and look for when you listen to an album.

What I like about really like about this cover of “River” is the focus on the seriously strong vocals of Alana and Brianne and there’s not the traditional heavy jingle bell blasted back-track that can really plague a Christmas song. Instead, we have a more minimal, subdued church organ-esque synth that rises and falls while the girls provide a sweet and emotive acapella for the main melody. It feels very current to the kind of pop music that’s become popular over the last couple of years and I really love it. It has me, the Grinchiest, Scroogiest person thinking Fionn should perhaps do an entire Christmas album because I would absolutely listen to it.

 

Mathew V teams up Matvey Emerson and Szanto Denis on new single “How to Love”

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Mathew V has been proving a mainstay on Canadian Pop Top 40 and he makes that clear with his outstanding singing voice and soulful songwriting. With his 3rd Studio Album coming out in 2020, and fresh off his latest EP release of “The Outer Circle” on Oct.1st, and another single in June with Mark Mendys and HADES, Mathew V hasn’t been missing a beat.

A month after his last EP, he’s joined forces with Moscow-based DJ, producer, and songwriter Matvey Emerson and Romanian DJ. producer Szanto Denis (who is 21 and already sharing the stage with artists like Steve Aoki). The result is “How to Love” a moody, but very rich house beat with V’s crisp, soulful vocals blending deliciously with it. I will say that I am a bit more of a novice when it comes to house music but the more I listened to from Emerson and Denis’ catalogs, the more I appreciated their collaboration in the production of this track. 

I really like the feel of this track, it’s been on my repeat since it came out, and in addition to the memorizing beat, Mathew’s voice really marries well with this style. 

One thing I really like about Mathew’s vocals is how he can keep up and stand out amongst so many different genres no matter if it’s more blues-inspired, jazz, pop or deep house he knows his instrument well. 

 but also gets me excited to hear what other songs he’s got planned because as he teased in the above Instagram post he’s written/recorded 100 songs this year, so it sounds like he has a lot in store for us this tail end of 2021 and in the coming new year and I for one look forward to it.  

You can check out more work from Mathew V, Matvey Emerson and Szanto Denis on Spotify and Apple Music

Blackie and the Rodeo Kings to play the Commodore Ballroom, February 10th 2022

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The last years have obviously not been great for live music and I for one am itching to go to a live show again and have a good time. So it’s welcome news for fans of live music, good times and fans of Canada’s legendary roots-rock group Blackie and The Rodeo Kings. 

The band is taking a 25th-anniversary tour, and they’re making a stop here in Vancouver at the Commodore Ballroom on February 10th, 2022 with guests Digging Roots.

The supergroup consists of members Colin Linden, Stephen Fearing and Tom Wilson, and what I think is cool about this band is that they started in 1996, with each of the band members already being a solo artist, they initially only planned to release a one-off tribute album to Canadian singer-songwriter Willie P. Bennett, called” High or Hurtin’”. 

The album ended up being very well received by both fans of the individual artists and fans of Bennett, and in 1999 they released their Juno winning follow-up album Kings of Love.

The group have continued making music since then and 8 albums and several more Juno Nominations later they’re celebrating their 25th-year milestone. 

It’s cool to see how a group can come together for a one-off and end up being so good that they can stick around for 20+ years and I also like that each of the band members has also continued pursuing their own solo work and exploring their own styles during that time.

I also think it’s really cool to see how Linden, Fearing and Wilson are all highly esteemed musicians and artists not just in Canada but also in the US. 

Linden not only being an accomplished musician but also as a producer, arranger and engineer for a multitude of artists in Canada and the US. He even worked on shows like Nashville. Stephen Fearing has worked with artists like Emmy Lou Harris, Nick Lowe, City and Colour Lucinda Williams, Bruce Cockburn and touring globally while doing it. Tom Wilson was the founder of rock group Junkhouse before BARK and he’s also the brain behind the psychedelic folk group Lee Harvey Osmond. He’s also a best-selling author and painter. My point is the trio are all TITANS of folk and when you get them together it’s magic. 

Their guest performers sound really cool as well, Digging Roots are a Juno Award-winning Canadian group made up of husband and wife duo Raven Kanatakta and ShoShona Kish. Their music is a blend of genres like folk-rock, blues, hip hop and pop and I think this is probably going to be a really cool concert to kick off 2022 with.

You can find ticket info here.

Cast Announced for Movie Adaptation of Wicked

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Film adaptations of Broadway Musicals are nothing new, there have been several over the last decade with some high points like 2012’s Les Misérables and some definite low points with 2019’s Cats and after the latter film release, my trust for movie adaptations of musicals has been a little more tenuous (hello nightmarish CGI).

There is one adaptation I’ve been waiting for, however, and other fans of the Classic Broadaway Musical Wicked are no doubt aware that Universal Studios has been talking about a film adaptation for some time. With In The Heights  Director Jon M Chu on board, the question of who would play the iconic roles of Glinda and Elphaba was on a lot of people’s minds, and finally we have our stars with Ariana Grande set to play Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba. 

 

I’ve been a fan of this production since the original cast of Kristen Chenoweth and Idina Menzel and I’m really excited to see what Grande and Erivo bring to the roles but most importantly how they sound because obviously, people are aware of Grande’s singing voice as she is also one of the biggest pop stars in the world right now, but Cynthia Erivo’s voice is equally stunning and I absolutely cannot get enough of her. I really can’t wait to hear the two together because I think the pair will sound great together, but I’m also really looking forward to the solo performances.

 

I think it’s really cool to see how both Grande and Erivo come from musical theatre and broadway backgrounds, Grande having started on the Broadway Musical “13” before moving on to television acting,  film, and of course her Grammy-winning career in pop music. Erivo is almost at EGOT status, having won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical as well as the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre album with her starring role in the 2015 revival of The Color Purple and in 2019 was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress with her role as Harriet Tubman in Harriet. Erivo also performed the song “Stand Up” for this film and was nominated in the Best Original Song category as well.

To put it short, these two sound like great casting choices and I look forward to seeing this in the future. 

 

Avril Lavigne Signs to New Label, Teases New Music on TikTok

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The time of the Avril Lavigne renaissance is here and I could not be more excited about it. On Friday the 5th she posted a teaser image for her next single, “Bite Me” which she will release under Travis Barker’s DTA Records. The Canadian legend signed to the label earlier happened this week and she has been teasing new music on social media since then, and on Saturday she posted a TikTok video of her playing a snippet of the song alongside Barker on the drums and it really made my mid-2000s inner child cry tears of joy, I love Avril Lavigne and I love Travis Barker and to see these two pop-punk titans working together like this is amazing.

@avrillavigne

Baby you can BITE ME #TravisBarker

♬ Bite Me – Avril Lavigne

I also think Avril’s usage and popularity on TikTok have been something really fascinating to watch, especially as she picks up with gen Z artists like WILLOW and Billie Eilish. It’s exciting to see artists you liked growing up influence a whole new generation of artists, but she also posted a video with Tony Hawk on TikTok a couple of months ago so there’s very much some 2000s nostalgia coming back and I’m savoring every moment of it.

The social media element and “doing it right” seem to be the key to success for both emerging and established artists in 2021, but capturing the hearts and minds of TikTok is REALLY key. 

Travis Barker has also had a really interesting resurgence in the 2010s and the way he’s managed to keep up beyond pop-punk and collaborate with artists in hip hop and rap has been cool to see, and I think his influence really is there even before 2019-2020 when the pop-punk revival really picked up with artist like Yungblud and Machine Gun Kelly releasing projects with Barker.

Either way I really look forward to hearing more from Avril Lavigne, and I’m looking forward to hearing what she and Barker have been working on.     

Tragedy at Astroworld Music Festival

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Like many readers I too have been looking forward to the day concerts and music festivals could start returning back to a state of normalcy, where we could go back to enjoying the music we love in a crowd setting without having to worry about catching COVID19. 

While we frustratingly are not there yet with the virus, select music festivals have started up again in parts of Canada and in the US. 

One of these festivals going on last night, November 5th 2021 was Travis Scott’s Astroworld music festival, held at NRG Park Stadium, Houston Texas, where at approximately 9pm, a crowd of 50000 began to surge forwards towards the stage and all hell seems to have broken loose from there. Attendees were fainting, some in cardiac arrest, some were getting physically crushed but other attendees eager to move into any free space and when security and medical aid arrived they struggled to cut through the sheer volume of people. 

At the time I am writing this, 8 people are dead, at least 25 were injured and hundreds had to be treated at the medical facilities on the premise.

Houston PD is now investigating the mass casualty event, and Houston Police Chief Troy Finner urged people not to assume or jump to conclusions about what happened saying, “I think it’s very important that none of us speculate. Nobody has all the answers tonight”

It’s particularly scary to me to think something like this could happen at a concert especially after the pandemic because it feels like so much of the last years have been about preventing COVID19 that we forgot we can still die from other things and regardless of how this happened I hope isolate it, so that something like this never happens again. 

For More Information: https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-arts-and-entertainment-houston-travis-scott-273af3bdc9bddf6f32686cf4de80ffab

Road Apples’ 30th Anniversary

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For fans of The Tragically Hip the 30th anniversary edition of Road Apples is here.

I was not around when the album first came out (Road Apples was released 1991 and I wasn’t born until ‘95) but like many Canadian children growing up in the 90s I listened to The Hip by virtue of the adults around me and I ended up loving them too, but as I got older, and music streaming platforms became more available I was able to catch up to old records and enjoy them all over again. 

Road Apples is my favorite album and I was really excited to check out the 30th Anniversary edition on Spotify. It’s been remastered by Ted Jensen, who is quite literally a legend in audio engineering and mastering, working with bands like The Eagles, Talking Heads and Billy Joel. 

The remaster sounds pretty damn good but sometimes you wonder “Hey I bet this would sound even better on vinyl” and that’s how I found out there’s also a  30th Anniversary Edition Set.

The set is 4 discs, and includes the remastered edition of Road Apples, also includes the Saskadelphia EP (which also sounds amazing with the remaster) as well a disc of demos and outtakes called “Hoof-Hearted” and “Live at the Roxy Los Angeles, May 3, 1991″. There’s also a ATMOS Blu-ray Video edition and a 36 page booklet with reproductions of Gord Downie’s handwritten lyrics, liner notes, and rare photos. 

There’s 2 versions of this set, the CD version is $120 and honestly for what you’re getting I think it’s good price, but for $225 you can get the vinyl version and for anybody looking for a gift for a the die hard hip fan (and for my relatives who read my articles) I think this would constitute a pretty sweet Christmas gift.  

The whole collection is also available to listen to on Spotify and Apple Music