Toronto's Orbital Ensemble launch "Orbital" debut @ 915 Dupont, Thursday

Check out the video and a performance of "Daydreams" off Orbital Ensemble's impressive "Orbital" debut out now.

Here's the scoop...

"Orbital" is the debut full-length album by multi-instrumentalist Felipe Sena, the composer behind Toronto's Orbital Ensemble (released June 30 via We Are Busy Bodies). 

Written and produced by Sena, the album features Lazar Miric on flute and saxophones, and renowned Brazilian percussionist M. Takara on two tracks. 

These early collaborators were the first extensions of the ensemble, as the album is prologue to the live experience, setting the stage for the larger Toronto-based live Orbital Ensemble — an eight-piece Toronto-based live band, which brings the album’s neotropical psychedelic sound to life with drums, Brazilian percussion, bass, guitar, sax/flute, acoustic guitar, keys, and vibraphone.

Released under We Are Busy Bodies worldwide and Balaclava Records in South America, "Orbital" blends vintage Brazilian influences with modern psychedelic and jazz elements, drawing inspiration from artists such as Clube da Esquina, Azymuth, Meta Metá, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Khruangbin, and Badbadnotgood. Watch the video for "Daydreams" followed by a live-in-the-studio performance below.  

Get a copy of the Orbital Ensemble's "Orbital" debut from Bandcamp right here. There's a listening party for  "Orbital" at 915 Dupont on Thursday (July 3) with a DJ set from We Are Busy Bodies main man Eric Warner at 7:30 pm, album playback at 8:15 pm, Cajú label DJ set at 9:15 pm, Local Dish label DJ set 10:15 pm.   

“There’s just something about psychedelic jazz from Canada. From Badge Époque Ensemble to Cosmic Range, and the majority of the Idée Fixe catalog, the country’s got a lock on the lysergic end of the jazz spectrum. Add a new name to the register with Orbital Ensemble.” – Raven Sings The Blues

“Sena knows how to smoothly mix Latin, African, the closely related Caribbean rhythms and spacy jazz rock into a sound that we will hopefully hear from many more times in the future. More than promising, this relaxed listening trip full of pleasant surprises” – Jazzism (NL)

“Toronto’s latest jazz masters…soaked in the sweet sounds of Brazilian jazz and soul, with occasional hints of psychedelia, too.” Far Out Magazine

Credits

Composed and Engineered by Felipe Sena

Drums, bass, guitars, keys, percussion by Felipe Sena

Flutes and saxophones by Lazar Miric

Additional Rhodes on Daydreams by Lazar Miric

Percussion and bells on Maré and Portal by M. Takara

Recorded at The Root Down, Toronto

Mixed by Roberto Kramer and Felipe Sena

Mastered by Noah Mintz at Lacquer Channel

Cover artwork by George Gilles

Design by Felipe Sena

Binky Griptite shares video for bluesy swinger "What's My Number"

Watch Binky Griptite's new clip for his Howlin' Wolf-inspired single "What's My Number" Parts 1 & 2 available from his site. 

From Birth to Binky Griptite

Franklin Stribling is better known as Binky Griptite, guitarist and emcee with The Dap-Kings and a co-founder of The Soul Providers (with Gabriel Roth) which were the Desco Records house band in the days before Daptone. He recalls the years leading up to becoming Binky Griptite in 1999 below. 

Born June 25th 1966 just after midnight at Milwaukee County General Hospital. I'm the youngest of 7 and the 4th boy child thus breaking the tie. I've been listening to music actively since I was 5, so that's 1971. I was raised on a combination of black radio of the time and my older siblings' and mom's record collections, ranging from David's Funkadelic and Deep Purple records to Ann's Three Dog Night and Simon & Garfunkel records, as well as the bands I saw on Soul Train and American Bandstand and Midnight Special. On TV I saw Al Green, James Brown, Bobby Bland, The Edgar Winter Group, The Faces, so many artists. Even Hee Haw! Anything with music and especially guitar players in the shot. 

Like, I remember when "Superstition" was the HOT NEW JAM by Stevie Wonder, stuff like that. Any music that happened after '71 or '72, I got to  experience it in real time and I'm very thankful for that. This is what informs everything that I play. 

My sister Ann's nylon string guitar was always around but the neck was too big for me for a long time so I mostly treated it as a toy until I discovered it made a pretty nice drum if I tapped it with my fingers so I truly started as a drummer. When I was first handed a set of bongos by my first grade music teacher I knew exactly what to do with them, thanks to my experience drumming on the guitar and from watching I Love Lucy. Thank you Ricky Ricardo!

Then my brother Ted showed me how to play Smoke On The Water by Deep Purple because one of his friends showed him. He didn't play guitar either but the beauty of the riff is that anybody can play it! I was 7 when that came out, so I had that to play for a while but I really didn't get on the path to playing til I was 12 or so.

The Funkadelic album Cosmic Slop also came out when I was 7 and has been my favorite record ever since. I wanted to do that, to be that. I decided to be a musician long before I was one. My brother David took me to P Funk shows at Summerfest in Milwaukee starting in '75 I think, and I became a Bootsy fan.

David bought me a bass when I was 11 or so but I had no one to teach me so it laguished for a while and eventually disappeared from the house under mysterious circumstances. I found it in a pawn shop some months later and it was rebought. I took a few lessons and it got stolen again when I set it down at a bus stop  on a cold day. 

It was replaced with an electric guitar. Still without a teacher I was intimidated by the 6 strings and thought bass would be easier so I traded it for a bass. Then I became intimidated by thinking "I'll never be as good as Bootsy so what's the point"

Round about this time I happened to see Devo on the TV show "Friday's" (wannabe SNL by ABC). I fell in love with the guitar Bob Mothersbaugh was playing. It was a brand new looking thing I'd never seen before and I wanted one. I wanted to play be a guitar player and I wanted THAT guitar.

The very next day I went to the music store I frequently loitered in and I found it, they had a cheap knockoff of the sparkly blue Ibanez Iceman that I wanted! The Lotus version was the wrong color and made of plywood but it was as close as I could afford to get to the real thing. It took a few weeks but I musta begged and traded or whatever to get it and it got got. That was the guitar that finally got me started at 14. Now, 42 years later I have a lot of guitars but I still don't have an Iceman.

Check out Binky Griptite's latest single "What's My Number" below. Get a copy from his site right here: Binkygriptite.com 

 

Austin's Cheap Fix unleash "Re-Animator Blues" off new Goodbye Boozy single

Cheap Fix return fully-amped for their new 7" for Italy's Goodbye Boozy Records housed in a boffo Olaf Jens sleeve! 

Cheap Fix

 "Re-Animator Blues" b/w "French Song"

Raw / Lo-Fi / Punk / Garage / R'n'R !!!!

Limited to 250 copies pressed with 200 in B&W, 50 in pastel green.

Here's the scoop from Italy's Goodbye Boozy Records...

Sloppy, rowdy, a little perverted. This is everything rock and roll should be.

Cheap Fix is James Arthur (James Arthur’s Manhunt, Fireworks, Necessary Evils), Doug Niemczura (Quazi Modo, December Boys), Chad Nichols (Enduro, The Transgressors, The Damn Times), and Stuart Sikes (Nice Surprise, Trainwreck).

Three guitars can make a lot of noise, and these guys don’t do a whole lot to hold them back.

So if you’ve been looking for that record that’ll set your nerves on fire and remind you what it’s like to be a free-range fuckup, the "Re-animator Blues" 7” from Cheap Fix is here with the good stuff to get you shakin’ and shoutin’ all night long and for days to come. Get ready for a helluva bender.

Brilliant original artwork by the amazing Olaf Jens.  

Those interested in a digital copy, you can get it via Bandcamp here. For vinyl copies, those in the E.U. should contact Goodbye Boozy directly. You can decide for priority shipping or ordinary air mail. Email contact: goodbyeboozy <at> tin.it  or  gabriele.digregorio3 <at> virgilio.it 

In North America, get a vinyl copy from Antone's Record Shop in Austin right here.

Also, on social media

www.facebook.com/gabriele.d.gregorio.77

and

www.instagram.com/gabriele.d.gregorio.77/

www.instagram.com/cheapfixatx 

Thanks a lot!!! 

Watch Cheap Fix perform both songs at Antone's Record Shop in Austin. 

Remembering Alvino Rey on his birthday

Celebrating the birthday of composer/guitarist/producer and inventor Alvino Rey with "The Bat" and some clips. 

Celebrate Canada Day with Friendly Rich's salute to The Nihilist Spasm Band

Friendly Rich pays tribute to fellow Canuck outsiders London, Ontario's Nihilist Spasm Band on his new album out today!

Industry Tactics podcast with Friendly Rich & Nihilist Spasm 

The new episode of Industry Tactics podcast focuses on today's release of FRIENDLY RICH SINGS THE NIHILIST SPASM BAND. It features interviews with members of London, Ontario's legendaryNihilist Spasm Band, John Boyle, Aya Ohnishi and John Clement along with members of Friendly Rich's New Orleans noise band Nichol Robertson, Michael Ward-Bergeman and Klaas Hübner.  Listen via Soundcloud right here. 

Preview tracks from the album Friendly Rich Sings The Nihilist Spasm Band and get a copy via Bandcamp right here. Watch a Friendly Rich clip below. 

Lammping enlists Bloodshot Bill for hip hop throwdown "Never Never"

Lammping's nutty idea of recording a hip hop album with Bloodshot Bill rockin' the mic works way better than you might expect. Check the clips.   

Here's the scoop...

Lammping is a Toronto-based psych project led by composer/producer Mikhail Galkin and drummer Jay Anderson. Galkin has a diverse background, having produced for hip-hop legends like J-Live, Boldy James, and People Under The Stairs, as well as releasing a critically acclaimed solo album as DJ Alibi and working as a film/tv composer. Anderson is a seasoned figure in the Toronto indie scene, playing in bands such as Badge Epoque Ensemble, Biblical, ROY and many others. The two first connected after seeing each other perform in different projects and bonding over their shared love for '90s New York hip-hop, skate videos, DIY culture, Beach Boy harmonies and everything in between. The project was born from their desire to create music without limitations - driven by a spirit of exploration, embracing all kinds of genres, sounds, and influences under the Lammping umbrella. The result is a uniquely eclectic project where anything goes, as long as it feels true to their creative instincts. The live version of the band is a 5-piece, with Toronto musicians Colm Hinds, Scott Hannigan and Matt Aldred lending their talents on vocals, guitar and bass.

Lammping, the genre-defying psych-rock project from Toronto, is set to release four unique albums over the next year, each showcasing the eclectic range of influences and talents of its founders, Mikhail Galkin and Jay Anderson. A collaboration with Montreal's Bloodshot Bill kicks off the series with a psychedelic, sample-driven freak-out that’s as unpredictable as it is fun, blending Lammping’s DIY spirit with Bloodshot Bill’s singular style. 

Get a copy of Lammping's surprisingly dope "Never Never" collaboration with Bloodshot Bill via Bandcamp right here. Check out the video for title track followed by the catchy "Won't Back Down" along with "One and Own" below. 

Frank Evans & Ben Plotnick duo @ Cameron House, July 1

Frank Evans & Ben Plotnick's Cameron House hoedown at 8 pm will get a jumpstart from Col Tom's Swingin' Doors at 6 pm.