Author Archives: Flint Flint

Bryan Adams and Canadian Music

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When you think of Canadian Musicians, who do you think of?

Is it the Weekend, Drake, or Justin Bieber? Most likely on that list is Bryan Adams who’s been in the music industry for quite a while now.

You’ll likely know his song Summer of ’69 which was released back in 1984 and became his most defining song.

Even today, his music get’s played on the radio quite often and one of the main reasons for that is what’s known as Canadian Content (CANCON) regulations.

Back when the regulations were introduced, it was to help promote Canadian artists by requiring radio stations to have a certain percentage of their content be Canadian.

This worked extremely well back then and help people like Bryan get into the spotlight internationally.

Today, a lot of those same bands and artists are still being played to help stations fill their CANCON requirements.

But that creates a problem for new Canadian artists to break out as their air time is still filled with older artists like Adams and Nickelback.

It seems almost like the regulations that went in to promote Canadian artists are having the opposite effect.

New Canadian artists are popping up and starting to make a name for themselves though most aren’t doing it through radio anymore.

Take Boslen who I had discovered from friends who played NBA Madden 23.

I think it’s time for a change in regulations and what I’d propose is a separation between old CANCON and new CANCON requirements so that new artists can get the airtime they deserve.

What Happened To Parodies?

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If you think back to the years between 2012 and 2016, there was a major influx of what are known as music parodies flooding onto YouTube.

This led to the rise of stars such as Bart Baker and most known, Weird Al Yankovich.

But what happened to these stars and where did this culture of making parodies go?

So, the first song parody I ever listened to was one released on the YouTube channel Captain Sparkles.

Okay, I’m a Minecraft fan but that’s not what I’m here to talk about.

This one song is what lead me to look for parodies of other songs from the time and to also eventually find Bark Baker.

Today, I don’t see this side of YouTube anymore though news about Weird Al Yankovic is still being spread.

While there aren’t any concrete known reasons for this once dominant trend to have died, I do have some ideas.

To start, according to copyright law a song can be considered a parody if it makes fun of or criticizes the original song that it parodies.

But, listening to what most people would call a parody, they don’t fit those criteria.

This is where I believe parody songs died.

Around 2016, YouTube made a big push to flag songs that infringed copyright and pushed those videos into the void.

And, as parodies walk a fine line between being infringing and not, they fell into that void.

Now, Yankovic did hold licenses to all the songs he parodied so he was in the clear but because what YouTube did was completely automated, it killed the genre.

Starting Into Online Music Streaming

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I’m probably one of the few people of my generation that still remembers the joy of going into Zellers and getting to pick out a new CD to purchase.

Today, Zellers is gone, minus the few knockoffs inside Hudson’s Bay Company, and buying CDs is almost a relic of the past.

The reason is that online music streaming has overcome those archaic ways of music distribution, with Napster being probably the most infamous of them all.

Napster was popular in the early days of the internet (Wikimedia)

Today, online music streaming is the most popular form of music consumption with the most well-known players being Youtube, Spotify, and Apple Music/iTunes.

Me, I clung to the old ways of ripping CDs for quite a long time, only getting Spotify Premium a few months ago.

Part of the reason I took so long to switch is that for the artists I follow closely and want all their music, buying their CD supports them better than streaming their songs.

Apple and Spotify are the two biggest players when it comes to music streaming services (Wikimedia)

So, why did I go with Spotify? Well, I was originally going to go with a service called Google Play Music a few years ago as it had all the features I was looking for. Until it went the way of the dodo.

I mean, they did launch Youtube Music but as it didn’t support seamless playback, I looked elsewhere.

One of the places I looked was what my friends were using and I was told to get Apple Music. The only problem is I don’t own a single Apple device.

So, I went with Spotify.

I can’t get every track from my CD collection through the service so I’m not gonna stop getting them, having that fast download to new music is a life changer.

Going Solo In A Band

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COVID saw the rise of many new bands and artists as people looked to find things to fill the time we were stuck at home.

But something that’s rare in the music industry is for someone in a band to spin off a solo career while still being in the band.

So rare, that I only know of one story like that, and they’re from here in BC.

Dwi is a new artist here in Vancouver though people have been listening to his music since 2016 as the bassist in the band The Zolas.

One thing I can say about his style of music is that it’s not a rip of The Zolas or really anything I can think of.

In his music, he includes views on the political landscape, childhood, addiction, and environmentalism.

While being active on his personal journey, releasing Scars just today, The Zolas are also still active having released a new single earlier this year.

Scars is a song about childhood and some of those events throughout that time of life that shape a person into who they are, both the good and the bad.

It also touches on childhood trauma and how it affects someone in later years.

 

If you want to a take listen to his work, you can find him on Spotify and Apple Music.

Concert Cancellations

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Throughout COVID, many concerts had to be cancelled due to Provincial and Federal mandates.

As someone who had tickets to one of these concerts, I understood that it had to happen, but seeing that refund still didn’t feel good.

But, that was back when COVID was still hindering our social experiences. Today, that’s not as prevalent.

Now, there are some times when having to cancel a show is needed, like when Justin Bieber cancelled his show due to medical concerns.

Things like that happen and are justifiable.

Then there are things that happen like today where a band cancels a show for no apparent reason.

Now, one thing is that a cancelled show does require ticket holders to get a refund so no money is lost. But hearing that a show you’re looking forward to is cancelled doesn’t feel good.

Part of the cancellation hate with the Zac Brown concert is that he was just in Seattle yesterday performing that show as part of his tour. Another is that the band has cancelled silently, with the only news being a statement on the Ticketmaster site.

If you were looking forward to the concert, hopefully, you are able to find alternate plans.

How I Found French Pop

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I’m someone that loves to study languages, and one of the resources I use to learn them is music.

Now, I am not the first person to use music as a tool to learn languages but one thing it has done for me has opened up a whole new world of Pop music.

When I started listening to non-English pop, it was well… K-pop back when Psy released Gangnam Style in 2012.

Though Korean wasn’t a language I was learning and even today don’t know a lot about it.

No, it wouldn’t be until 2016 in my Grade 8 French class that I’d find a long of non-English music.

If you took French around that time, you might recognize this song called Papaoutai (Papa, where are you?).

I heard this song once and had to add it to my playlist.

This song also opened me up to Stromae’s long list of songs and through them, my french has improved. At least I think.

Though, when I hadn’t heard of any new music, I started looking elsewhere and found music in other languages I had been learning… until this happened.

Stromae released Multitude on Spotify and I must have repeated the album over 500 times since.

Another announcement that came soon after the album was his new tour with a stop here in Vancouver.

Now, getting tickets was a nightmare but I got myself one and knew this would be the perfect chance to test my comprehension.

To my knowledge, tickets are sold out but I’m looking forward to the event!

 

A Heavenly Sent is Coming To Vancouver

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The Scottish singer/songwriter Lewis Capaldi just made two huge announcements earlier today.

To break it down, he’s announced his newest album Broken To Be Heavenly Sent which will come out on May 19th, 2023.

With that, he’s also announced his newest tour titled Heavenly Sent, and one of the stops will be at the UBC Thunderbirds Sports Center on April 25th, 2023.

I was first introduced to the artist through his songs Someone You Loved, released in 2019, and Before You Go, released in 2020.

I also took a listen to his newest song, Forget Me, and it’s a bit of a departure from the style he used for those other two songs.

To me, his voice isn’t one that I could hear singing opera but for the style of music he does, it fits perfectly.

https://twitter.com/LewisCapaldi/status/1582413866322956290?s=20&t=67dB0NwecxkJOZfjaAJ2SA

With his tour, tickets go on sale this Friday, and if his UK/Ireland leg of the tour is anything to go by, you’ll want to get them quick.

The reason is that he got himself a Guinness World Record for selling out arenas, before releasing an album.

Not to mention his website’s acting like the Canadian immigration site after Trump was elected…

Either way, I’m looking forward to what Capaldi has in store for his new album and best of luck getting tickets when they go on sale.

Heaven For Real?

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No, I’m not asking if heaven is a real place. Instead, Heaven For Real is a band from Halifax, Nova Scotia that takes an interesting take on the indie rock format.

The band formed back in 2012 when twins Mark and J. Scott Grundy along with drummer Nathan Doucet and synth player Cher Hann got together and in 2016, they released their first album Kill Your Memory.

They aren’t anything new to music having released 2 albums, one of which was only released a few days ago.

Energy Bar is the first album of theirs I’ve listened to and it reminds me of a few other artists I know from my hometown.

Another thing I find interesting is that the album cover isn’t a majorly photoshopped thing, but rather a photo of what looks like a piece of tile art on a sidewalk.

Even using the term indie rock for their music seems kinda wrong as they incorporate elements from jazz, eletronica, britpop, and so many more genres that it extends far beyond the norm.

The last time the band played in Vancouver was back in 2016 and I think that they’re overdue for a return, especially with their label Mint Records being based here.

If you do want to take a listen for yourself, you can over on Spotify, or you can get it on the Mint Records Store. They even have it on cassette tape if you’re into older formats.

Arkells Coming To Vancouver

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Iā€™ll be honest, I didnā€™t know much about the Arkells until recently and their music is quite good.

Through COVID, the band released a couple of albums called Blink Once and Blink Twice.

I thought this was clever as theyā€™re almost meant to be part of the same era in the band.

Iā€™ve seen other bands where every album is kind of its own era but seeing multiple albums linked together is a nice change in pace. Especially after COVID shut down things like concerts and meetups.

If youā€™ve been trying to get in and see the Arkells live in concert, you might have had to deal with a few date changes because of COVID.

That now ends as they are coming to Rogers Arena on October 25th.

And for a Rogers Arena show, the ticket prices arenā€™t bad at only $100 for a floor ticket.

For me, finding out about the Arkells was through their song Knocking At The Door which was released back in 2017.

I didnā€™t hear the song for the first time until earlier this year.

I know, Iā€™m well out of the loop when it comes to Indie/Alt Rock but Iā€™m slowly catching up.

If you do want to check out The Arkells in concert, you can grab tickets online or at the door.

Trust me, this is a show youā€™ll have no regrets seeing.

What happened to Carly Rae Jepsen?

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It doesnā€™t feel like that long ago we were all saying call me maybe when we met someone we liked.

But thatā€™s because we still do that todayā€¦ I think.

One thing that feels like itā€™s been forever is Carly Rey Jepson releasing her song Call Me Maybe back in March 2012.

After 10 years, youā€™d think the BC artist would have released another chart-breaking song yet she seems to have gone dark.

Well, minus that one song with Owl City but we wonā€™t get into that.

Since releasing the charting single, she has recorded 4 albums and even opened for acts like Justin Bieber and Katy Perry.

If you asked me why she hasnā€™t been able to get that same success, Iā€™d say itā€™s because of the ways YouTube has changed over the years.

Today, sheā€™s still writing music with a new album coming out soon called The Loneliest Time.

After you get that album, you can also see Jepsen perform live at the UBC Thunderbird Arena on October 29th.

Tickets can be purchased online and the prices arenā€™t bad if youā€™re okay with being a bit away from the action.

Overall, itā€™s nice to know sheā€™s still out and doing, releasing new music, and hasnā€™t gone the ways of Gotye.