R.I.P. Otis Rush, 1934-2018

Legendary Chicago West Side blues guitar slinger Otis Rush has passed away. Here's a Cobra label gem from 1958.

José James sings Bill Withers on new Lean On Me album

Jazz singer José James put his own stamp on the music of Bill Withers for his latest album for Blue Note out now. 

Happy Birthday Clarence Ashley

Remembering the late banjo great Clarence Ashley with some rare footage performing The Cuckoo. 

Asleep At The Wheel vs. Guy Clark

Ray Benson's version of Guy Clark's classic "Dublin Blues" is off Asleep At The Wheel's latest album, New Routes.

Whaddya mean you don't know Mary Sullivan

Part of Kitchener's thriving C&W scene of the early 60s, Newfoundland-born Mary Sullivan cut "False Hearted Man" for Mike's Records.

King Khan & The Shrines @ The Horseshoe, Friday

A sure Night Owl highlight will be King Khan's performance at The Horseshoe tonight. Check the schedule below.

Happy Birthday John Gilmore

Remembering legendary Arkestra saxophonist John Gilmore on his day with a couple of stellar performances. 

Monster Magnet @ Lee's Palace, Friday

Hopefully you got tickets early for Monster Magnet's return to Toronto because Friday night's show is way sold out.

One For The Weekend: Eric Bibb

Eric Bibb's new album Global Griot is out October 26. He's playing Montreal's Bourgie Hall  October 3.

Alex Pangman's Hot 2 @ The Senator Winebar, October 6

You should reserve early for Alex Pangman's first Senator Winebar show with her Hot 2 (Drew Jurecka & Nathan Hiltz) on October 6. 

Watch Nightseeker's new video for "The Nightseeker"

It wouldn't be a proper Nightseeker video without someone – or something – shotgunning a can of Old Style Pilsner. 

B-Side Wins Again: Buzz Busby

"Just Me and The Juke Box" was the flipside of Buzz Busby's 1956 debut for Jiffy Fowler's label from West Monroe. 

R.I.P. Robert Oumaou of Gwakasonné

Sadly, Gwakasonné founder Robert Oumaou passed away yesterday following a lengthy illness. He was 63.

The Soul Kids vs. Jackie Shane

Kinshasa's Soul Kids and Jackie Shane offer different takes on the James Brown classic "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" 

That time Screaming Trees appeared on The Tonight Show

Despite some obvious sound issues, Mark Lanegan and crew knocked out a great version of "Dollar Bill" back in 1993.

Elvis Costello & The Imposters new album "Look Now" due October 12

Elvis Costello's forthcoming "Look Now" album includes three songs written with Burt Bacharach. 

Analog Africa launches Dur-Dur Band retrospective with 3LP set

The 3 LP set of the first two albums (with bonus tracks) by Somalia's Dur-Dur Band is just the beginning. 

Here's the scoop from Analog Africa
When Analog Africa founder Samy Ben Redjeb arrived in Mogadishu in November of 2016, he was informed by his host that he would have to be accompanied at all times by an armed escort while in the country. The next morning, a neighbour and former security guard put on a military uniform, borrowed an AK-47 from somewhere and escorted him to Via Roma, an historical street in the heart of Hamar-Weyne, the city's oldest district. Although previous Analog Africa releases have demonstrated a willingness to go more than the extra air-mile to track down the stories behind the music, the trip to Mogadishu was a musical journey of a different kind. It was the culmination of an odyssey that had started many years earlier.

In 2007 John Beadle, a Milwaukee-based musicologist and owner of the much loved Likembe blog, uploaded a cassette he had been handed twenty years earlier by a Somalian student. The post was titled 'Mystery Somali Funk' and it was, in Samy's own words, "some of the deepest funk ever recorded". The cassette seemed to credit these dense, sonorous tunes to the legendary Iftin Band. But initial contact with Iftin's lead singer suggested that the 'mystery funk' may have actually been the work of their chief rival, Dur-Dur, a young band from the 80s.

Back then, Mogadishu had been a very different place.
On the bustling Via Roma, people from all corners of society would gather at the Bar Novecento and Cafe Cappucino, watch movies at the famous Supercinema, and eat at the numerous pasta hang-outs or the traditional restaurants that served Bariis Maraq, a somali Beef Stew mixed with delicious spiced rice. The same street was also home to Iftinphone and Shankarphone, two of the city's best known music shop. Located opposite each other, they were the centre of Somalia's burgeoning cassette distribution network. Both shops, run by members of the legendary Iftin Band, would become first-hand witnesses to the meteoric rise of Dur-Dur, a rise that climaxed in April of 1987 with the release of Volume 2, their second album.

The first single 'Diinleya' had taken Somalian airwaves by storm in a way rarely seen before or since. The next single, 'Dab', had an even greater impact, and the two hits had turned them into the hottest band in town. In addition to their main gig as house band at the legendary Jubba Hotel, Dur-Dur had also been asked to perform the music for the play "Jascyl Laba Ruux Mid Ha Too Rido" (May one of us fall in love) at Mogadishu's national theatre. The play was so successful that the management had been forced to extend the run by a month, throwing the theatre's already packed schedule into complete disarray; and each night, as soon as the play had finished, Dur-Dur had to pack their instruments into a Volkswagen T1 tour bus that would shuttle them across town in time for their hotel performance.

The secrets to Dur-Dur's rapid success is inextricably linked to the vision of Isse Dahir, founder and keyboard player of the band. Isse's plan was to locate some of the most forward-thinking musicians of Mogadishu's buzzing scene and lure them into Dur-Dur. Ujeeri, the band's mercurial bass player was recruited from Somali Jazz and drummer extraordinaire Handal previously played in Bakaka Band. These two formed the backbone of Dur-Dur and would become one of Somalia's most extraordinary rhythm sections.

Isse also added his two younger brothers to the line-up: Abukar Dahir Qassin was brought in to play lead guitar, and Ahmed Dahir Qassin was hired as a permanent sound engineer, a first in Somalia and one of the reasons that Dur-Dur became known as the best-sounding band in the country.

On their first two albums, Volume 1 and Volume 2, three different singers traded lead-vocal duties back and forth. Shimaali, formerly of Bakaka Band, handled the Daantho songs, a Somalian rhythm from the northern part of the country that bears a striking resemblance to reggae; Sahra Dawo, a young female singer, had been recruited from Somalia's national orchestra, the Waaberi Band. Their third singer, the legendary Baastow, whose nickname came from the italian word 'pasta' due to the spaghetti-like shape of his body, had also been a vocalist with the Waaberi Band, and had been brought into Dur-Dur due to his deep knowledge of traditional Somali music, particularly Saar, a type of music intended to summon the spirits during religious rituals. These traditional elements of Dur-Dur's repertoire sometimes put them at odds with the manager of the Jubba Hotel who once told Baastow "I am not going to risk having Italian tourists possessed by Somali spirits. Stick to disco and reggae".

Yet from the very beginning, Dur-Dur's doctrine was the fusion of traditional Somali music with whatever rhythms would make people dance: Funk, Reggae, Soul, Disco and New Wave were mixed effortlessly with Banaadiri beats, Daantho and spiritual Saar music. The concoction was explosive and when they stormed the Mogadishu music scene in 1986 with their very first hit single, 'Yabaal', featuring vocals from Sahra Dawo, it was clear that a new meteorite had crash-landed in Somalia. As Abdulahi Ahmed, author of Somali Folk Dances explains: "Yabaal is a traditional song, but the way it was played and recorded was like nothing else we had heard before, it was new to us". 'Yabaal' was the symbolic starting point of this project. Listen to Yabaal below.

It initially seemed that Dur-Dur's music had only been preserved as a series of murky tape dubs and YouTube videos, but after Samy arrived in Mogadishu he eventually got to the heart of Mogadishu's tape-copying network – an analogue forerunner of the internet file-sharing that helped to keep the flame of this music alive through the darkest days of Somalia's civil strife – and ended up finding some of the band's fabled master tapes, long thought to have disappeared.

This triple LP / double CD reissue of the band's first two albums – the first installment in a three-part series dedicated to Dur-Dur Band – represents the first fruit of Analog Africa's long labours to bring this extraordinary music to the wider world. Remastered from the best available audio sources, these songs have never sounded better. Some thirty years after they first made such a splash in the Mogadishu scene, they have been freed from the wobble and tape-hiss of second and third generation cassette dubs, to reveal a glorious mix of polychromatic organs, nightclub-ready rhythms and hauntingly soulful vocals.

In addition to two previously unreleased tracks, the music is accompanied by extensive liner notes, featuring interviews with original band members, documenting a forgotten chapter of Somalia's cultural history. Before the upheaval in the 1990s that turned Somalia into a war-zone, Mogadishu, the white pearl of the Indian Ocean, had been one of the jewels of eastern Africa, a modern paradise of culture and commerce. In the music of the Dur-Dur band – now widely available outside of Somalia – we can still catch a fleeting glimpse of that golden age.



Dur-Dur of Somalia, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2
A1. Ohiyee 5:57 A2 Yabaal 5:56 / A3. Heelo 8:58 /
B1. Hiyeeley 4:00 / B2. Aw Baahilowlow 6:17 / B3. Doon Baa Maraysoo 7:27 /
C1. Intro Vol.2 1:05 / C2. Jaceyl Mirahiis 5:20 / C3. Dab 7:46 / C4. Saafiyeey Makaa Saraayeey 2:50
D1. Jaajumoow Jees 5:43 / D2. Diinleeya 5:43 / D3. Caashaqa Maxaa ii Baray 5:10 /
E1. Keene Gardaran 4:00 / E2. Jubba Aaka 7:35 / E3. Aduun Hawli Kama Dhamaato 8:40 /
F1. Salkudhigey (Previously Unreleased) 6:40 / F2. Haddi Aanan Gacaloy (Previously Unreleased) 8:50

Lee Ranaldo joins Greek art rockers The Callas for "Trouble and Desire"

The Callas' new album Trouble and Desire is out October 26 via Dirty Water Records – pre-order it right here.

Here's the scoop...
Sez Lee Ranaldo: "It’s been a pleasure for me to know and collaborate with The Callas on their new album Trouble and Desire. We met a few years ago and I’ve been drawn into their artistic world in Athens. I’m a fan of their visual art tapestries and their art studio/venue and I’ve been having a great time making music with these like-minded travelers. Our collaboration took off quickly and was such a natural fit – we speak the same language and the performances we’ve done together have been a total blast! I love the community of artists that they have gathered around them, and I hope we will do more collaborations in the future." Watch the clip for the album's title track below.

Nick Cave's Distant Sky – Live In Copenhagen EP out September 28

The 4-song EP includes live versions of  From Her To Eternity and The Mercy Seat (below). Nick is now in L.A. working on a new Bad Seeds album.

Nap Eyes, Kiwi Jr, Bearabara @ The Horseshoe, Monday

Nigel Chapman and his sleepy Haligonian homeboys promise to jangle up a storm at The 'Shoe Monday night.  

The Beatles' White Album gets deluxe reissue treatment

A 7-CD version of the White Album will be issued November 9. Check out the Back In The USSR demo after the teaser.  

Edan & Homeboy Sandman's Humble Pi out October 26

Watch the video for "Never Use The Internet Again" & "Grim Seasons" off Edan & Homeboy's Humble Pi album.

Happy Birthday John Coltrane!

Remembering the saxophone titan with tributes from Clifford Jordan, Nat Birchall & José James.

Sons Of Kemet @ Longboat Hall, Sunday

Don't miss Shabaka Hutchings and his Mercury Prize contender jazz crew making their T.O. debut on Coltrane's birthday. 

Togo's Vaudou Game previews new Otodi album with "Tata Fatiguée"

"Tata Fatiguée" is the first single off Vaudou Game's forthcoming album Otodi out October 26 on Hot Casa. 

Catl record release extravaganza! @ Dakota Tavern, Saturday (early show)

Catl. will be performing songs from their hot new platter Bide My Time Until I Die on Saturday – doors open at 6 pm!

Toronto, ON - catl. are a rock n’ roll duo hailing from Toronto with a reputation for getting folks off their asses for some serious drinkin’ and dancin’. They have released four full-length records to critical acclaim and toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe and Canada since 2010.

Yes, they'll have colour vinyl LPs available for purchase.

The band is celebrating the release its fifth full-length record “Bide My Time Until I Die” on Beast Records (and Romanus Records in North America) with a two-night extravaganza featuring special guests The Maness Brothers from St. Louis at The Dakota Tavern on Friday (September 21) playing the hits at 10 pm and Saturday (September 22) performing the new album from top to bottom. See the set times for each show in the flyer below. Also – just between us chickens – there will be 10 uniquely splattered colour vinyl copies of the new album available for purchase at the Dakota Tavern.

Of course, there will also be shirts & hats!

catl. features guitarist Jamie Fleming bashing away on his 40’s Gretsch, while singer/percussionist Sarah Kirkpatrick holds down a steady, dirty groove on the 2-piece drum kit. This super-charged couple have been lauded for their intense performances and engaging stage presence. See for yourself in the live clip following the entertaining video for "Baby, You All Wrong" below.

catl. has shared the stage with Alabama Shakes, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, The Sadies, Andre Williams, The Sonics and The Reigning Sound. They have played The Montreal International Jazz Festival, NXNE, SXSW, Pop Montreal, Sled Island Music Festival, TURF, Deep Blues Festival in Bayport, MN, and Clarksdale, MS, as well as The Raut Oak Fest in Germany.

Catl on tour:

9.21 & 22 - TORONTO, ON - Dakota Tavern  9.29 - LONDON, ON - Call the Office 10.5 - HAMILTON, ON - This Ain't Hollywood 10.6 - KITCHENER, ON - Boathouse 10.11 - SANDUSKY, OH - HALO Live 10.12 - CHICAGO, IL - Montrose Saloon 10.13 - DETROIT, MI - Theatre Bizarre at the Detroit Masonic Temple 10.14 - CINCINATTI, OH - Urban Artifact 10.16 - NASHVILLE, TN - the 5 Spot - $2 Tuesdays w. Derek Hoke 10.17 - CLARKSDALE, MS - Shack Up Inn  10.19 - MEMPHIS, TN - Bar DKDC 10.20 - PADUCAH , KY - Maiden Alley Cinema Oktoberfest  10.27 - TORONTO, ON - Dakota Tavern - catl's 4th Annual Hallowe'en Spooktacular 11.16 - SARNIA, ON - Refined Fool 11.17 - MARYSVILLE, OH - Dalton Union 12.7 - BUFFALO, NY - Mohawk Place 12.8 - ROCHESTER, NY - Bug Jar

Carla Olson's back with new Textones album!

Check out "Downhearted Town" off The Textones' Old Stone Gang album out now on Blue Élan Records.

Released on Friday (September 21), Carla Olson's way overdue new Textones album Old Stone Gang features George Callins, Rick Hemmert, Tom Jr. Morgan, and Joe Read with appearances by original Textones members Markus Cuff, David Provost, Phil Seymour, Kathy Valentine, Barry Goldberg, and a special appearance by Rusty Young adding mandolin and his world famous pedal steel guitar! You can pre-order a copy of The Textones new album right here. Listen to "Downhearted Town"

The Maness Brothers opening for Catl. @ Dakota Tavern, Friday & Saturday

Those Maness boys from Missouri (right) will be rockin' the Dakota ragged on both nights of Catl's record release party. caption

Here’s the schedule for Friday night's festivities:
9-10pm DJ Ms MoveOnUp
10-10:45pm Maness Brothers 
10:45-11:15pm DJ Ms MoveOnUp
11:15-12:00am CATL set 1
12:01-12:45am DJ Ms MoveOnUp
12:45-1:30am CATL set 2 — with Jake Maness!

Erin Costelo previews new Sweet Marie album with "All In Your Head"

Erin Costelo's much anticipated Sweet Marie album is out October 19. Check out "All In Your Head" below.

Here's the scoop...

Award-winning Canadian soul singer Erin Costelo will release her new album, Sweet Marie, via Compass Records on October 19th.

Recorded in 10 days in a timber-frame home on the ocean in Little Harbour, Nova Scotia, Costelo is backed by an ace group of players on this album, including Glenn Milchem on drums (Blue Rodeo), Anna Ruddick on bass (Randy Bachman, Ben Caplan), Leith Fleming-Smith on organ (Matt Mays) and her long-time partner, Clive MacNutt, on guitar.

Taking inspiration from sources as varied as Ryan Adams and Randy Newman, Sweet Marie is a genre-defying album that sounds at once timeless, timely and completely fresh. The album finds Costelo looking at a world and an industry that pushed her to the edge of ending her musical career – and pushing back. Pulsing with a confident and cathartic energy, her incredible voice, drawing comparisons to such icons as Nina Simone and Carole King, soars even as her songs dive deep.

This project is complete with a “making of” documentary directed by Juno-winning songwriter-turned-filmmaker, Amelia Curran. Her 2016 release, Down Below The Status Quo, was nominated for 12 awards in her home on the East Coast of Canada including a win for Solo Recording of the Year and Producer of the Year, making her the first woman to receive the prestigious award.

You can pre-order Erin's forthcoming Sweet Marie album from Compass right here and for the moment, you can stream the album for free over here. Watch Amelia Curran's nicely shot clip for "All In Your Head" below.

Happy Birthday Leonard Cohen!

Remembering Leonard Cohen on his day with Ron Sexsmith's solo acoustic version of Sisters Of Mercy. 

Matt Berry offers his take on British TV theme music

Toast Of London and The IT Crowd actor and musician Matt Berry salutes his favourite TV tunes.

Here's the scoop...
"It's a covers album, just an appreciation of a time when the signature tune and title sequence were both important elements within the overall theme, atmosphere and tone of a television show. I've always loved these now lost, rare and in some cases forgotten themes so, as with everything I do artistically, I set out to please myself and capture these gems as best as I could and make them available on vinyl, some possibly for the first time?"

BAFTA award winning actor Matt Berry returns with a new album, cleverly titled Television Themes released on October 5th. Inspired by his youth, it’s a collection of TV theme tunes that have not only influenced Berry but undergone a fascinating and unique metamorphosis under his musical stewardship.

Television Themes was recorded on his own and with his regular band The Maypoles in his newly built studio. It includes favourites from the 60s, 70s, and 80s such as Are You Being Served? and Rainbow alongside lesser known themes from Picture Box and Wildtrak amidst those that transcend the decades, Doctor Who and Top Of The Pops…

Combining his love of music production and his passion for the 'signature tune',  Television Themes sees Berry enhance his musical reputation following the success of  his previous releases encapsulating  Berry’s formative years as a viewer and  paired with  his boundless appetite for music -  be it  psych-folk, electronica, jazz or Prog. Genre-defying, mixed with a love of nostalgia, Matt Berry once again finds a home at the small but perfectly formed London-based independent label Acid Jazz Records. Pre-order a signed copy of the vinyl version right here. Check out Matt's versions of Sorry! and Are You Being Served? following the track listing.



Track-listing for Television Themes:
Are You Being Served? (1972-1985)
The Good Life (1975-1978)
LWT (1968 – 1972)
Blankety Blank (1979 – 1990)
Top Of The Pops (1963 - 20050
Picture Box (1966-1990)
The Liver Birds (1969 – 1979)
Thames Television (1968 – 1992)
Rainbow (1972-1997)
Doctor Who (1963- present)
Wildtrak (1979-1984)
World In Action (1963-1998)
Sorry! (1981 – 1988)
Open University

Gboyega Adelaja's disco-funk gem Colourful Environment resurfaces

Check out "Ere Aladun" (co-written by Gaspar Lawal & BLO's Mike Odumusu) off Colourful Environment out now on Odion Livingstone. 

Velvet Crush's stellar debut album gets reissued in October

Glass Records label honcho Dave Barker shows off the turquoise vinyl version of the Velvet Crush's 1991 classic. 

On October 19, Glass Records' Glass Modern subsidiary is reissuing the debut Velvet Crush album In The Presence Of Greatness, originally released on Creation Records in 1991. In The Presence Of Greatness was recorded on eight tracks by Rick Menck, Paul Chastain and Jeffrey Borchardt with their pal Matthew Sweet in his basement in Princeton, New Jersey 1990-91. Repackaged in a new sleeve with photographs from the original session by Michael Lavine. Initial copies of the 180 gram pressing will be on turquoise vinyl. You can pre-order the Velvet Crush's 90s indie rock gem from Forced Exposure right here after listening to a few magical tracks below.

Guitar guru Peter Walker sits in with Mercury Rev side project Harmony Rockets

The new Harmony Rockets album Lachesis/Clotho/Atropos is enhanced by the picking of Peter Walker & Nels Cline. 

Longtime Woodstock resident, guitarist Peter Walker recorded two albums for the Vanguard label in the late Sixties in a style best described as American folk-raga. He studied with Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan, and was Dr. Timothy Leary’s musical director, organizing music for the LSD advocate’s “celebrations.” He was also a close friend of fellow Woodstock resident, the late folksinger Karen Dalton, and helped produce Remembering Mountains : Unheard Songs by Karen Dalton (Tompkins Square), which features unrecorded Dalton compositions brought to life by Sharon Van Etten, Patty Griffin, Lucinda Williams and others.

Rediscovered by Tompkins Square in 2006 after decades out of sight, Walker has remained active into his 8th decade, recording for Jack White’s Third Man label, and now, collaborating anew with fellow Upstaters, Harmony Rockets. Joined in a mighty super-session with Harmony Rockets (Mercury Rev), Martin Keith, Nels Cline (Wilco), and Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth), Lachesis/Clotho/Atropos is a mind-melting inter-generational collaboration that could only have coalesced around the wool sweaters, warm teacups and moldering bookstores of “Old Old Woodstock”, both the real and mythologized versions. Watch a clip of Peter Walker playing solo below.

Turkish psych fans delight in two volume Gülden Karaböcek retrospective

Gülden Karaböcek's tough-to-find Anatolian psych-pop recordings have been compiled by Pharaway Sounds on two LPs with unusually lame artwork. 

MC50 w/ U.I.C., Public Animal @ Danforth Music Hall, Wednesday

Wayne Kramer is celebrating 50 years of kickin' out the jams w/ Public Animal at 7:30pm and U.I.C. at 8:20pm.

Supersuckers honour lesser known greats in their History Of Rock 'n' Roll

"History Of Rock 'n' Roll" w/ shoutouts to Danko Jones, Zeke, L7, Gories, Lazy Cowgirls, New Bomb Turks, etc is off  the Suck It album out Sept. 21. 

The Dirty Nil's Master Volume is out now!

Watch The Dirty Nil perform "Bathed In Light" off their whumpin' new album Master Volume available here.

R.I.P. Big Jay McNeely, 1927-2018

Hard honkin' saxophone blaster Big Jay McNeely died of cancer on Sunday. Check out the Big Jay documentary below. 

Happy Birthday Peter Zaremba!

Raising a glass to international star of stage and screen, Peter Zaremba with a few noteworthy performances.

One For The Weekend: Lacy Gibson

Check out "I'm Gonna Unmask The Bat Man" by Lacy Gibson backed by Sun Ra's crew.

Happy Birthday Cannonball Adderley!

The remix of Czarface & MF Doom's Ka-Bang is based on a sample of Cannonball Adderley's Hummin' flipped by Prince Paul for 3rd Bass.