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Synth-Rock Duo Dear Rouge Announce March 30th Major Label Debut “Black To Gold”
Canadian indie-alternative synth-rockers Dear Rouge, who signed a major label deal last year with Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company, announced today the March 30th digital release and March 31st physical release of their anticipated debut album “Black To Gold”. The Vancouver duo announced the album release in addition to a 12-date Canadian tour as direct and sole support for Hamilton rockers and JUNO Award nominees The Arkells. Earlier this month, Danielle and Drew McTaggart revealed they will perform during the 2015 Canada Winter Games Opening Ceremonies in Prince George, BC on February 13th.
“Black To Gold” is available for pre-order on iTunes February 10th and will feature “I Heard I Had” and “Best Look Lately”, along with the brand new title track and #1 added single at Alternative Rock Radio this week, “Black To Gold”. The new album is the realization of an artistic vision that spans more than two years in the making, helmed by Drew McTaggart and producer/engineer Ryan Worsley, with input and influence from Howard Redekopp (Tegan and Sara, Mother Mother) and Gavin Brown (Metric, Billy Talent). In addition to previously released tracks, fans that pre-order the album will receive an instant download of the three featured singles, as well as two extra new songs prior to album release.
The iTunes exclusive version will include ten songs plus 1 exclusive bonus track, while the Spotify exclusive version will also feature 10 songs plus 2 exclusive bonus tracks.
With Danielle McTaggart’s unmistakable powerhouse vocals punctuated by the groups instantly recognizable blend of dynamic guitar hooks and uplifting synth layers, “Black To Gold” showcases the development and maturation of the husband and wife duo and is bolstered by the success of their introductory singles, “Best Look Lately” and “I Heard I Had” – the latter staking musical territory as the #3 most-played song at alternative radio in 2014 (behind only Kongos and Arctic Monkeys). Heading into 2015 it’s easy to see why CBCMusic named “Black To Gold” one of the 15 most anticipated Canadian indie albums of the year.
In less than two years Dear Rouge has crossed the country multiple times, sharing the stage with the likes of the Kongos, Phantogram, Dragonette and Lorde among other notable acts. With an undeniable chemistry both on and off stage, the group formed in 2012 and has since released two EP’s to increasingly enthusiastic acclaim.
Fans can expect Dear Rouge to deliver their impressive live show with the same palpable energy and fervor they’ve become known for when they embark on a 12-date Canadian tour with The Arkells. The tour kicks off in Vancouver on February 20th.
That song’s Canadian? Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame honour global hits with Covered Classics
As a long-standing advocate for Canadian music, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF) is proud to announce Covered Classics, a new element in its song induction program. The first song inducted through this series is “To Sir With Love” co-written by Don Black and Canada’s own, Mark London.
“We wanted to find new ways to increase the profile and visibility of Canadian songwriters and honour their contributions to our nation’s rich music history,” said CSHF manager Lisa Gaglia. “Covered Classics allows us to showcase Canada’s best in the music industry throughout the year.”
A collaboration between the CSHF and CBC/Radio-Canada, Covered Classics celebrates Canadian songs by inviting our country’s brightest musical talent to perform their own rendition of an inducted song. This provides an opportunity to honour the past and introduce a new generation of music lovers to these classic songs. The new covers, filmed at CBC studios in Toronto and Montreal, will be featured on CSHF and CBC/Radio-Canada platforms.
Bringing the first of the Covered Classics to life is Canadian jazz-pop singer-songwriter, Nikki Yanofsky, and guitarist Dan Kanter. Nikki is best known for her vocals on the theme song for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games on CTV, “I Believe”, and Dan is the musical director and lead guitarist for Justin Bieber. The collaboration between Nikki and Dan is available to view at cshf.ca andcbcmusic.ca.
“There is a lot of remarkable talent here in Canada and I am honoured to be recognized for my contributions to our nation’s music history,” said Mark London. “Creating this song was a labour of love and I am thrilled to see younger Canadian artists bring To Sir With Love to life for a new generation.”
“To Sir With Love” is the theme song from the 1967 film of the same name. Starring in this British drama was Sidney Poitier as teacher Mark Thackeray. The film traces his students’ transformation to maturity under his guidance amid social and racial tensions of an inner school in the slums of London’s East End. Pop singer Lulu, who played tough high-school girl Barbara Pegg, sang “To Sir With Love” at the year-end dance as the students’ gift to their teacher. Lulu’s single reigned at number one on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for five weeks in the fall of 1967, and was ultimately the Billboard Year End No. 1 single. It was Canada’s number two record for 1967, beating The Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love”.
A classic with staying power, “To Sir With Love” appeared on various Lulu albums and has been covered by musical greats, such as Chaka Khan and Jann Arden. The song has also been featured in numerous television shows and movies, most recently including Glee and Sons of Anarchy.
Jimmy Fallon, The Roots, and Music Superstars Sing “We Are The Champions”
In honor of the Super Bowl, Jimmy Fallon and the Roots join Carrie Underwood, Sam Smith, Ariana Grande, Blake Shelton, Usher, Meghan Trainor, One Direction and Christina Aguilera for an a cappella version of “We Are The Champions.”
http://youtu.be/KHHqPTQDIlo
Counting Crows Take ‘Somewhere Under Wonderland’ Tour To Canada
Counting Crows are following up their critically-acclaimed seventh album, Somewhere Under Wonderland, with a 2015 worldwide tour, including 15 dates across Canada. This is the band’s first tour across Canada in over 15 years, and will begin in Vancouver on April 28, continuing on through Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, and others, wrapping in St. Johns, NL on May 23.
Pre-sale and VIP tickets for the band’s Canadian dates go on sale Wednesday, February 4, and tickets will be available to the general public starting Friday, February 6. Counting Crows will also be touring across Australia, Europe, and North America this year. For more information, visit countingcrows.com.
Known as one of the most dynamic live bands performing today, they will be performing songs from the 2014 Top 10 album, which critics have been claiming as the “band’s best”, as well as their extensive catalog. USA Today called Somewhere Under Wonderland “one of their stronger works,” with Consequence of Sound comparing it to “a colorful and emotionally rich palette of sounds that combines past recording styles, flavors from covers album Underwater Sunshine, and the spontaneous spirit of their live performances.”
“It’s about time we’re getting back to Canada. After requesting it for years, we are finally getting a legit chance to play across the country. I can’t wait,” said Adam Duritz.
Counting Crows – Adam Duritz (vocals), Jim Bogios (drums), David Bryson (guitar), Charlie Gillingham (keyboards), David Immergluck (guitar), Millard Powers (bass) and Dan Vickrey (guitar) – have sold more than 20 million albums worldwide after exploding onto the music scene with their multiplatinum breakout album August and Everything After in 1993. The band released their seventh studio album Somewhere Under Wonderland in September 2014. Known for creating unique and innovative concerts and consistently ranked as one of the top live bands performing today, Counting Crows will continue their world tour throughout 2015.
Counting Crows also released the video for their second single off Somewhere Under Wonderland, “Earthquake Driver,” on Tuesday, January 27. Watch the video here.
Joining as the tour’s supporting act will be Twin Forks, the folk rock band started in 2011 by Chris Carrabba (Dashboard Confessional, Further Seems Forever). They released their self-titled debut studio album in February 2014.
Somewhere Under Wonderland Canadian Dates
Apr 28 Vancouver, BC Orpheum
Apr 29 Kelowna, BC Prospera Place
May 1 Cold Lake, AB Imperial Oil Place
May 3 Calgary, AB Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
May 4 Edmonton, AB Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
May 6 Saskatoon, SK TCU Place
May 7 Moose Jaw, SK Mosaic Place
May 12 Hamilton, ON Hamilton Place Theatre
May 14 Toronto, ON Massey Hall
May 15 Montreal, QC Metropolis
May 17 Ottawa, ON National Arts Centre, Southam Hall
May 18 Quebec City, QC Le Capitole
May 20 Moncton, NB Casino New Brunswick
May 21 Halifax, NS Halifax Scotiabank Centre
May 23 St. John’s, NL Mile One Centre
From 1969: The Beatles Remixed Beyond Recognition
Barbara London’s essay “Looking at Music” described it in the volume Rewind, Play, Fast Forward: The Past, Present and Future of the Music Video,
In October 1965, Nam June Paik screened his first videotapes as part of a series of “happening nights” at the Greenwich Village nightclub Cafe au Go Go—a venue that included Lenny Bruce and the Grateful Dead among its roster of performers. … Beatles Electroniques, 1966-69, made with the experimental filmmaker Jud Yalkut, is nothing less than an early black-and-white music video. Paik grabbed bits from the mock documentary A Hard Day’s Night (directed by Richard Lester in 1964), refilming and further distorting the footage through his video synthesizer (developed with engineer Shuya Abe). Snippets of the Beatles’ faces are caught in a loop of warped abstraction. To accompany the endlessly folding imagery, Paik created a sound track with Kenneth Lerner, which featured fragmented Beatles songs recited again and again. Whereas the original film is an upbeat paean to Beatlemania, Paik’s strategies of appropriation and repetition are conceptually closer to Andy Warhol’s silk-screened paintings of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, 1962, and Steve Reich’s phasing of spoken words from a publicized racial incident in his sound composition Come Out (1966). Like these works, Beatles Electroniquesbrought seriality into the realm of sensory overload.
It’s next to impossible to name any of the actual Beatles’ songs used, so take your guess, and be ready for a mind (or ear) blown.
http://youtu.be/Q5hHX6mN9Hc
Stevie Wonder” ‘I never thought of being blind and black as a disadvantage’
“…It’s funny but I never thought of being blind as a disadvantage, and I never thought of being black as a disadvantage. I am what I am. I love me! And I don’t mean that egotistically – I love that God has allowed me to take whatever it was that I had and to make something out of it. I was just blessed to have ideas. The genius in me is God – it’s the God in me coming out.” – Stevie Wonder, The Guardian
The 1966 Art Film Funded By The Canadian Government With Music From Leonard Cohen
This is a film about a young man, a girl and a dog, in which the visuals are overexposed or, more technically, given a high contrast. The girl tries to fly with wings more symbolic than practical; the young man and the dog make similar attempts. Music by poet Leonard Cohen, played by The Stormy Clovers (one of Cohen’s early musical projects.)
The film received Honourable Mention at the International Annual Film Festival, a Chris Certificate Award in the Graphic Arts Category at the International Film and Video Festival, First Prize in the Arts and Experimental category at the Genie Awards and Special Mention at the Festival of Canadian Films.
Angel from National Film Board of Canada on Vimeo.
Ron Sexsmith Announces “Carousel One” Release Date
Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith has today announced that his new studio album, Carousel One is set to be released in North America on Tuesday, March 31, 2015. The album will be released in his home country by Warner Music Canada.
Carousel One was produced by Jim Scott and features an incredible cast of studio musicians helping to bring Ron’s songs to life including bass player Bob Glaub, whose previous clients include John Lennon, Lucinda Williams, Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, Dolly Parton, Graham Nash and hundreds of others; guitarist Jon Graboff (John Lee Hooker, Dr John); drummer Don Heffington (Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Lone Justice); and keyboard player John McGinty (Dixie Chicks, Whiskeytown, Neal Casal, Matthew Sweet). The album takes its name from the luggage retrieval belt at Los Angeles airport where bags off Toronto inbound flights are delivered.
2014 was an incredible year for Ron Sexsmith. In March, his 2013 album Forever Endeavour won the Juno Award as Best Adult Alternative Album marking the third Juno win in Ron’s career. In April, Sir Peter Blake (the man who created the cover for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band) unveiled a mural he was commissioned to do for the Royal Albert Hall in London featuring people who have played there. Ron’s image is included alongside those of Roger Daltrey, James Brown and Janet Jackson. In May, Sexsmith was named Honorary Fellow of The Royal Conservatory in Toronto. On June 3 he received an honorary doctorate degree from Brock University in his hometown of St. Catharines, Ontario. It’s no wonder that in July of 2014 he was in a particularly good mood entering the studio to record Carousel One.
“I didn’t realize until we were putting the songs together for Carousel One that this would be more outgoing, there’s a lot more humour,” says Ron. “I mean, there’s even a smiling picture on the cover, which I’ve never had before. I just hope it doesn’t scare the children.”
Carousel One features 14 new Sexsmith compositions including the first single, “Saint Bernard,” a tribute to an anonymous family dog from a photograph picked up in a second-hand shop by his wife Colleen. The CD and digital versions of the album include two bonus tracks.
“They’ve always been my favourite type of dog,” says Ron, recalling the genesis of the song. “I was sitting in the kitchen one day playing guitar, I had this melody but no lyrics, so I looked up at the picture and just started singing the opening lines. I guess the album is kind of a travelogue of music that I like which was mostly a happy accident.”
Carousel One tracklisting:
Sure As The Sky
Saint Bernard
Loving You
Before The Night Is Gone
Lucky Penny
Getaway Car
Nothing Feels The Same Anymore
Sun’s Coming Out
Lord Knows
All Our Tomorrows
No One
Can’t Get My Act Together
Tumbling Sky
Many Times
Bonus tracks on CD and digital album only:
The Other Side (Bonus Track)
Is Anyone Going To San Antone (Bonus Track)
Video: Mark Mothersbaugh’s Synth Collection
The bright green, circular building of Mutato Muzika in Los Angeles is easy to spot when cruising down Sunset Boulevard. But most people might not realize it contains the creative hub of Mark Mothersbaugh, a founding member of DEVO turned award-winning Hollywood composer. Famous for his use of the synthesizer, Mothersbaugh has accumulated a vast collection over the years. Cool Hunting had the chance to check out a small selection of Mothersbaugh synths and spent some time talking about the future of music with the prolific artist.
Cool Hunting Video: Mark Mothersbaugh's Synth Collection from Cool Hunting on Vimeo.
