Happy Birthday Barrington Levy!

Celebrating Barrington Levy's birthday with his George Phang-produced roots classic "Praise His Name" from 1983. 

Watch Motörhead's early British TV performances

Here's Lemmy and crew ripping through a few Motörhead classics on UK TV between 1979 and 1981. 

That time Alice Coltrane played Warsaw in 1987

Here's Alice Coltrane with her son Ravi Coltrane, Reggie Workman and Roy Haynes playing "Wise One," "Africa" and "Leo."

Guy Lafleur remembered by Chris Nilan

Boston-born Bruins fan Chris Nilan grew up hating Guy Lafleur's Canadiens but eventually wound up being his teammate and pal.   

Making A Record with Duke Ellington (1937)

Here's some rare footage of Duke Ellington in this short documentary on the process of producing sound recordings from 1937.  

R.I.P. Susan Jacks of the Poppy Family

Sadly, singer Susan Jacks passed away in Surrey, BC on Monday while awaiting a kidney transplant. She was 73. 

Happy Birthday Otis Rush!

Remembering blues great Otis Rush on his birthday with a performance of "Homework" from 1994 and "All Your Love" from '83.

One For The Weekend: Los Cuchillos

Here's Darren Merinuk's snazzy sleeve for Los Cuchillos' "Noche de Brujas en Transilvania" EP and the cauldron cookin' title track. 

Hank Williams Jr. vs. R.L. Burnside

Bocephus got some help from Dan Auerbach in taking on "Georgia Women" by the late Mississippi blues great R.L. Burnside. 

Get yourself a copy of Hank Jr.'s new Dan Auerbach-produced album Rich White Honky Blues right here. 

R.I.P. Orchestra Baobab's Rudy Gomis, 1946-2022

Sadly, Rudy Gomis – longtime singer for Senegal's legendary Orchestra Baobab – has passed away. He'll be greatly missed. 

That time Television played Portland in 1978

Check out performances of "Marquee Moon" and "Glory" from Television's show at The Earth in Portland on July 2, 1978.  

The Sadies share video for "Cut Up High and Dry" off Colder Streams album

Colder Streams, The Sadies final album with the late Dallas Good, will be out July 22. Dallas penned the 'anti-bio' below in October.

The Sadies - Colder Streams anti-bio 

By Dallas Good, October 2021 

'Colder Streams' is, by far, the best record that has ever been made by anyone. Ever. 

As we all know, the 'press release' is a tool meant to announce and promote a new recording project. A jaded and unreliable sales-pitch at best, the usual 'bio' invariably attempts to describe the project in question as some sort of second coming. But how do you sell sounds? The critics' voice must be heard at all costs, but this is something else entirely. Obviously, this is an ad. 

Knowing what you're getting is all anyone really wants to know. The details of how the recording is made might be interesting, but they aren't exactly crucial to the listening process. In our case, comparisons can be misleading too, because The Sadies don't really fit tidily into any genre, or even sub-genre. We aren't really 'pre or post' anything and we don't have the right hair-cuts or hats for any particular scene. Can't really call us modern or retro either. We certainly don't claim to have re-invented the wheel. We just are. And have been for a very long time. So, all that matters is the music itself, right? 

After making so many records, some things get easier. Most things do not. But just because it's harder doesn't mean it isn't better. I think it's gotten easier to know when we are onto something and that's in no small part due to working with Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire/Belle Orchestre) as producer. We put in a lot of hard work but he always made it easy and fun. This is, of course, totally irrelevant to your listening experience. 

We began this recording well over a year before the plague began and completed it in June 2021. The studio we worked at in Quebec is perfectly calibrated to our claustrophobia. It was mostly engineered by Pietro Amato (Belle Orchestre/etc.), who is great at everything he does when he's not doing something else. Jon Spencer (Jon Spencer!!!) was kind enough to intervene and rescue a song for us. My folks play on it. There was a church™ involved. Curfews were broken. Borders were crossed stealthily. Sean did all of the artwork. Travis and Mike did a lot of driving. I did the bio. 

'Colder Streams' is a record made with love by loved ones. The Sadies have released a lot of records. This is one of them. 

Do any bands make their best work this far along in their career? I can think of artists who still make great music after all these years, but their best? Yet, here we are and that's what I'm accusing us of. I think it's our best but I've been wrong before. All I ask is that you listen to a few songs and decide for yourself what it sounds like. If you like it, you'll know what to do. But my description of the music would just be punishing for the both of us. 

I guess all that really needs to be said here is that if you like The Sadies, you will definitely want to get 'Colder Streams'. If you disliked or felt indifferent towards The Sadies, you will definitely want to get 'Colder Streams'. If you've never heard The Sadies and yet you're still reading, you too will definitely want to get 'Colder Streams’. 

You can pre-order The Sadies' Colder Streams via Bandcamp right here. Watch the video for "Cut Up High And Dry" below. 

90s Nostalgia: Jesus Lizard @ The Opera House, 1994

Here's David Yow and his mighty Jesus Lizard crew tearing up the Opera House in Toronto back on October 6, 1994.

Happy 75th Birthday Ann Peebles!

Celebrating the 75th birthday of soul great Ann Peebles with a few classic performance clips and a BBC session from 1974. 

Toronto's Surfrajettes unveil new Roller Fink album on a cruise ship

The Surfrajettes knocked out Blondie's "Heart Of Glass" and more aboard the Norwegian Pearl. Sez Chris Stein "I love it"

Get tickets for The Surfrajettes show with Ichi-Bons & The Mooks at The Horseshoe on Thursday right here. 

Dutch Treats: The Sound Magics

Nederbeat crew The Sound Magics feat. guitarist Rob Van Waegeningen cut "Don't You Remember" for Phillips in 1966. 

Watch John Cale on the New Music in 1979

For some reason, John Cale decided hospital orderly duds were perfectly suitable stagewear for his Toronto appearance in 1979.  

Steve Monite's Nigerian disco gem Only You getting legit reissue

Soundway Records is reissuing Steve Monite's now sought-after Only You album which failed to click on it's initial release in 1984. 

Here's the scoop from Soundway Records...

Following on from 2016’s Doing It In Lagos: Boogie, Pop & Disco in 1980s Nigeria, Soundway Records return to that blistering set for the first and only officially licensed re-issue of the highly coveted debut album from Steve Monite, featuring the single 'Only You' that recently seeped its way into popular culture. Lovingly restored and remastered for digital and vinyl. 

Shooting, space-synth sounds ripple and vibrate, incessant grooves keep the tracks in motion and Nkono Teles production, a producer often overlooked for his hand in the Nigerian boogie sound, sets the LP into orbit. An album that was largely overlooked on release in 1984, the track list includes the latter day hit Only You and Things Fall Apart, the melody of which was lifted for Young Franco’s 2020 single Fallin’ Apart. 

Now living in South London, Steve Monite (pronounced mon-ah-tay) was born in 1961 and grew up in Benin City, the capital of Edo State in southern Nigeria. A middle class kid, the boarding school he went to was owned by his uncle and had some famous alumni. Monite remembers the legendary Nigerian guitarist Victor Uwaifo, driving his sports car into the school yard and donating a trophy and cash prize for students to compete in musical performance. 

He had learned to sing in the Anglican school choir, which is where he realised that he wanted to pursue a music career. But the cultural backdrop was changing, and fast. In the late 70s and early 80s, where the end of a military dictatorship was coupled with an oil boom, Nigeria was flooded with money – and western records. 

“After the Civil War in Nigeria, everybody wanted something exciting,” says Monite. Highlife, the dominant music genre, was seen as outmoded. “The educated elite were listening to American and English music,” he continues. “My role models were people like Barry White and Michael Jackson – they were young men like me. I liked the [American] funk band Brass Construction; some English pop.” 

After his self-funded recording sessions in London failed in finding Monite a label home in the UK, he returned home to immediately be picked up by EMI Records in Nigeria instead. “They signed me straight away,” he says, and found himself in the EMI Studios with Nkono Teles, in the same studios where Paul McCartney and Wings recorded Band on the Run in 1973. 

Monite says that Teles had lived for a time in New York, where disco music was driven by the whirr of the synth, and he’d wanted to bring that into Nigerian music. There was a Moog synthesiser in the studio and it’s what took Only You in a spacey new direction. “I was the first African artist to play electro-funk,” says Monite. “Teles was the visionary behind that song.” 

Monite wrote a further three tracks, 'Welcome My Love', 'I Had A Dream’ and 'Things Fall Apart', which formed the basis of his one and only album. Monite wrote ‘Things Fall Apart’ after the military coup in 1983, when the country was yet again plunged into upheaval. “There was unemployment everywhere, food shortages, people scrambling for survival,” he says. “So many people, especially professional people like doctors, lawyers, businessmen, left Nigeria.” 

In a way, the song documented the end of the golden age. With the middle classes dispersed, Nigeria’s halcyon boogie period was over. Steve Monite released his debut album in 1984 but it fell on deaf ears, including that of the label, who didn’t seem to want to promote it. “When my record came out, everything went cold.” 

So much to his surprise, years later and having relocated to South London, did he find out that his music had finally found an audience he thought it always deserved. “‘Only You’ has woken up from the graveyard,” he chuckles. He found out he was famous thanks to his family in nearby Berkshire. “I went to visit my brother and my seven-year-old nephew told me, ‘Uncle, I didn't know you were a star.’ I said, ‘what are you on about?’ He said, ‘you’re an internet sensation now’. So I went on the internet, and I say, ‘Wow'. I saw Steve Monite everywhere.” 

Check out Steve Monite's Only You album – the vinyl version ships in October – on Bandcamp right here. Listen to the title track below. 

Happy Birthday Tony Visconti!

Celebrating the birthday of producer Tony Visconti with his memories of recording Marc Bolan, David Bowie and his first single.  

Takeshi Terauchi's Suite Nihonkai colloboration with Chisato Yamada gets recirculated

Japanese guitar slinger Takeshi Terauchi's 1981 throwdown with shamisen ace Yamada has been reissued by Italy's Cinedelic label. 

Suite Nihonkai – Takeshi Terauchi with Chisato Yamada

1. 第一楽章（渡来三味）First movement | Torai Zanmai (The Path Of The Shamisen) 06:25

2. 第二楽章（越前流れ節）First movement | Echizen Nagare Bushi (The Echizen Current) 04:47

3. 第三楽章（領民一揆浅瀬石川）First movement | Ryōmin Ichiai Aseishigawa (The Lord Of Great Humanity Aseishigawa) 04:51

4. 第四楽章（土着上河原節魂永遠に）First movement | Kamigawara Bushi Tamashi Eienni (The Kawigawara Song, Eternally In The Soul) 05:37

5. 津軽春唄 First aria | Tsugaru Haru Uta (Tsugaru Spring Song) 04:05

6. 津軽夏唄 First aria | Tsugaru Natsu Uta (Tsugaru Summer Song) 05:26

7. 津軽秋唄 First aria | Tsugaru Aki Uta (Tsugaru Autumn Song) 05:54

8. 津軽冬唄 First aria | Tsugaru Fuyu Uta (Tsugaru Winter Song) 04:15

Get a copy of Suite Nihonkai via Bandcamp right here. Listen to the album below.  

 

Whaddya mean you don't know Anthony King

Keyboard ace Anthony Lilly cut numerous sound library gems as Anthony King, Ian Langley, Synthesizers Unlimited, etc. 

Watch Martial Solal jam with Guy Pedersen & Daniel Humair in 1970

Here's pianist Martial Solal playing a short set with bass boss Guy Pedersen and drummer Daniel Humair for French TV in 1970. 

Happy Birthday Milton Banana!

Remembering Brazilian drummer deluxe Milton Banana with three classic trio albums from 1965, '66 and '68 back-to-back. 

Hugo Strasser vs. Hawkwind

When Hawkwind scored a surprise chart hit with "Silver Machine," German bandleader Hugo Strasser felt compelled to cover it. 

R.I.P. DJ Robert Ouimet, Montreal's "Godfather of Disco"

Sadly, legendary Montreal DJ Robert Ouimet died Thursday at the age of 74. Listen to his final sets right here and there. 

Elizabeth Fraser shares "Golden Air" from her Sun's Signature project

"Golden Air" is off the forthcoming debut EP from Sun's Signature featuring Elizabeth Fraser & Damon Reece out June 18th.  

Happy 100th Birthday Charles Mingus!

Remembering the late great Charles Mingus on his 100th birthday with performances from Stockholm in 1960 and Oslo in 1970. 

One For The Weekend: Manfred Schoof Quintett w/ Jacky Leibezeit

Here's a rare 1966 recording of Alexander V. Schlippenbach's "Blues For T." with Manfred Schoof and Jacky Leibezeit.  

Happy 75th Birthday Iggy Pop!

Celebrating Iggy Pop's 75th birthday with his 1981 appearance on the New Music and a 1979 appearance on Old Grey Whistle Test.

Midweek Mixdown: Sounds From The Ancient Archive w/ Nat Birchall

A typically heady mix from Nat's Ancient Archives featuring John Coltrane, Odean Pope, Dizzy Reece, Yabby You. 

Track list:

1. Nizipho -  Pharoah Sanders 2. Jays - Kalaparush Maurice McIntyre 3. Dadadun - Odean Pope & Misled Children 4. Communion - Dizzy Reece 5. Dial Africa - Wilbur Harden 6. Dial Africa - Rico Rodriguez 7. Keep Your Soul Together - Freddie Hubbard 8. Nature Boy (Live version) - John Coltrane 9. Things New - George Russell 10. Communication - Dewey Redman & Ed Blackwell 11. One For Trane - Dizzy Reece 12. Voodoo Sense - Joachim Khun feat. Archie Shepp 13. Metaphysics - Hassan Ibn Ali feat. Odean Pope 14. Obidiah Iziah (aka Long Time Ago) Johnny Kool/Run Bag O' Wire - Jah Tony 15. Daydreaming Of Africa - Lloyd Jones 16. King Of Kings - Yabby You 17. Oh City Of Zion - Yabby You & King Tubby 18. Ainash Nubia Dub - Yabby You & King Tubby

Check it out right here. 

New Brunswick's Stonemen get their rare 60s garage single reissued

The Stonemen's tough-to-find Martime label single has just been reissued by Montreal's Celluloid Lunch Records. Have a listen.

Here's the scoop...

This space...if written by Claude Surette, could speak of growing up in the mid 1960s around "rue principal" in Cap Pele and hearing music blasting from a house unlike heard before. Or if Ron Bourgeois (The Little General), could tell of when they were on his TV show “Top 10 Plus” a number of times. Or when they were in CKCW studios on Gordon St., Bill McFadden could elaborate on all the songs they recorded and what it was like working with them.

Instead, you’re stuck with me, who wasn’t there or knew them. My story starts in 1990 when Paul Roy gave me The Stonemen's "Faded Colors" b/w "In The Evening" record on the Maritime label, which he bought at Harrison Trimble High school at one of their concerts. The importance of this record wasn’t made apparent to me until I met Nardwuar the Human Serviette in 1993. Since then, their legend seems to keep growing.

From tracking down Norbert, Eric, and Danny for interviews, to Bad Luck # 13 covering the B-side, to the value of this record being boasted about on eBay and now this long-awaited reissue. There have been appearances on compilations but now for the first time, this record is once again made available.

So go back in time, get stoned, and hear what the rurals of Moncton was sounding. - Mark Gaudet

The Stonemen: Fernand Leblanc - vocals/rhythm guitar,  Danny Leblanc - lead guitar, Norbert Leblanc - bass/vocals, Eric Leblanc - drums 

Get a reissue of The Stonemen's rare "Faded Colors" single via Bandcamp right here. 

Check it out below. 

 

Happy Birthday April March!

Celebrating April March's birthday with both sides of her single with The Haves on Long Gone's SFTRI from way back in 1995. 

Acadian banjo boss Lisa LeBlanc goes full-on Chiac Disco

Some people took up baking during the pandemic, New Brunswick picker Lisa LeBlanc started recording disco tunes as 'Belinda.'

Here's the scoop from Bonsound HQ...

Produced by Benoît Morier and Lisa LeBlanc, Chiac Disco is a collaborative and vibrant album with a sometimes sixties, sometimes seventies feel, staging the improbable encounter between disco and chiac; where glamour meets rurality. With its eye-popping strings, its precise beats filled with soul and the bursts of trumpets and trombones, the whole album breathes joie de vivre, but still provides some clever reflections on modern society. A spontaneous response to a bleak 2020, Chiac Disco reflects the passion that a group of musicians can share when creating in total freedom, putting aside guilty pleasures. Packed with all kinds of musical glitter and colourful lyrics sung loud and proud, this is a groovy record above which hover the benevolent ghosts of Lee Hazlewood and William Onyeabor, while also being inspired by the musical chops of James Brown and the sparkling allure of Chic.

Get a copy of Lisa LeBlanc's great new Chiac Disco album right here. Check out the It's Not Just A Game, It's A Lifestyle EP by Lisa's bingo-obsessed alter-ego Belinda right here. 

Tickets are now on sale for Lisa LeBlanc's show at MTELUS in Montreal on June 16th over here. 

Check out a few videos and audio clips from the album below. 

Listen to Lisa LeBlanc's recent chat with Tom Power for CBC right here. 
 

Seattle's Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio hits the Horseshoe, July 4th

Tickets are on sale for Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio's Toronto debut right here. Check out their Live at Home show and last two LPs.

Check out Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio's RSD release Live in Loveland! via Bandcamp right here. 

Peter Brötzmann vs. Klaus Doldinger in 1967

It's Klaus Doldinger taking on Peter Brötzmann's trio in the German battle of pop jazz vs. free jazz hosted by WDR in 1967. 

Happy Birthday Skip Spence!

Remembering Skip Spence on his birthday with Moby Grape's 1968 appearance on the Mike Douglas Show and the Avalon in '67.  

Ad Spotting: The Rolling Stones sell Rice Krispies (1963)

Here are two different Rice Krispies commercials circa 1963 featuring a catchy jingle by the Rolling Stones. 

Happy Birthday Art Ellefson!

Remembering Canadian jazz saxophonist Art Ellefson with an appearance on Jazz 625 and a Ronnie Ross/Allan Ganley recording.

Happy Easter from Big Dipper!

Seems like the right time for "Easter Eve" off Big Dipper's Heavens album from 1987.

Happy Birthday Artie White!

Remembering soulful Chicago blues great Artie White with the funky Bobby Rush-penned "Gimme Some Of Yours" from 1970.

90s Nostalgia: The Shuttlecocks w/ Allyson Baker, 1996

Here's guitarist Allyson Baker – pre-Teen Crud Combo – rockin' the El Mo with The Shuttlecocks back in 1996. 

Happy Birthday Richard Davis!

Celebrating Richard's birthday with a NEA profile, two Sarah Vaughan clips and one with Sun Ra's Arkestra. 

LINKS

Allegro An interview with bassist Richard Davis

One For The Weekend: Beefheart & Zappa

Comic books were a great source of inspiration for Captain Beefheart as this collaboration with Frank Zappa circa 1964 shows.