Royal Canoe's newest video is a brilliant piece of work clarifying that Winnipeg is a land of potholes, bargain stores, parking lots, guard dogs, tanks, tributes to Louis Riel, and love. As a band that are becoming our ambassadors by default ( as The Weakerthans were for a while, and Propagandhi too!), it's one of the most perfect homages ever. Funny, odd, outdated and a little bizarre, the video is just like Winnipeg.
Here's a live version for ya, with real strings!
Royal Canoe is often doing something noteworthy, like performing Beck's SongReader (you can hear a few track here), and here's some video.
Button Fumbla (Live)
The band also does a truckload of shows. Yeah, they've played your town. Twice. Here's the next few dates, find the rest here, ya lazy bugger.
Sep 13 Harvest Moon Festival Clearwater, Canada
Sep 20 Scotia Bank Stage - Rightsfest Winnipeg, Canada
Sep 30 The Exchange w/ Close Talker Regina, Canada
Oct 01 The Capitol w/ Close Talker Saskatoon, Canada
Oct 02 Pawn Shop w/ Close Talker Edmonton, Canada
Oct 03 Bo's Bar & Grill
Former Winnipeggers you may want to give some attention? Here you go.
Garfield/Odario Williams keeps getting more ambitious and broadening his palette. If he becomes a star in music, film, television or otherwise I will not be surprised.
Jahmeel Russell has been putting out his own stuff with Red Vienna, working with Fine Times, and is now playing with San Angelus. Quit being so lazy, slacker.
Royal Canoe's album Today We're Believers has been pushed back to September 3, but the title track and Bathtubs have been released for your listening pleasure. Me, I am still trying to digest the band's sound these days. Matt Peters always seems to be stretching for something different, from the powerpop strains of Pets, the mainstream radio rock of The Waking eyes, back to the jaunty pop of Kasparov with Royal Canoe from years ago. Royal Canoe seems to have moved on to incorporating influences from blaxploitation soundtracks, Afro-pop, David Byrne/Talking Heads, latter-day Radiohead, and of course the kitchen sink.
Bathtubs
The new Bathtubs remix by Alek.Fin
Bathtubs video
Today We're Believers - pop out the Soundcloud player to download the mp3
Show Me Your Eyes
Extended Play
You may have heard that Royal Canoe performed their interpretation of Beck's Song Reader as part of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's New Music Festival. Here are some tastes.
Selections from Beck's Song Reader.
TOUR Dates
Aug 22 - Winnipeg, MB - The Park Theatre, with guests
Aug 23 - Winnipeg, MB - Union Sound Hall, with Alanadale & DJ Rob Vilar
Aug 27 - Hollywood, CA - Palladium w/ Alt-J
Aug 28 - Hollywood, CA - Palladium w/ Alt-J
Aug 29 - Oakland, CA - Fox Theater w/ Alt-J
Aug 30 - Oakland, CA - Fox Theater w/ Alt-J
Sep 01 - Vancouver, BC – The Orpheum Theater w/ Alt-J
Sept 05 - Portland, OR - Music Fest NW w/!!!
Oct 01 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer w/ Tricky
Oct 02 - New York, NY - Webster Hall w/ Tricky
Oct 03 - Boston, MA – Royale w/ Tricky
Oct 05 - Washington, DC - U Street Music Hall w/ Tricky
Oct 08 - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue w/ Tricky
Oct 09 - Chicago, IL - Metro w/ Tricky
Oct 12 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues w/ Tricky
Oct 13 - Houston, TX - House of Blues w/ Tricky
Oct 14 - Austin, TX - Emo's w/ Tricky
Oct 22 - Ottawa, ON - National Arts Center
Oct 30 – Nov 03 - Reykjavik - Iceland Airwaves Festival
Royal Canoe is back with an EP (out Feb 21, I believe), one which makes me imagine a tour with Vampire Weekend might go over well, or heck, even a series of gigs with My Morning Jacket (Holding on to Black Metal, anyone?).
Extended Play:
1. "Hold On To The Metal" 2. "Bathtubs" 3. "Bloodrush" 4. "Caught In A Loop"
Here's some older tunes you should have caught the first time and links to hear a couple of demos.
2/21/12 – Regina, SK @ O’Hanlon’s 2/22/12 – Saskatoon, SK @ Amigo’s 2/23/12 – Calgary, AB @ Broken City 2/24/12 – Banff, AB @ Banff Centre 2/25/12 – Edmonton, AB @ Wunderbar 2/26/12 – Lethbridge, AB @ The Slice 2/27/12 – Kelowna, BC @ Habitat 2/28/12 – Victoria, BC @ Lucky Bar 3/1/12 – Vancouver, BC @ Media Club 3/8/12 – Fresno, CA @ Audie’s Olympic 3/11/12 – San Diego, CA @ Tin Can Alehouse 3/14-17/12 – Austin, TX @ SXSW 3/19/12 – Atlanta, GA @ Mint Gallery 3/21/12 – New York, NY @ Spike Hill 3/22-24/12 – Toronto, ON @ Canadian Music Week
Winnipeg's Royal Canoe heard you're feeling down about the endless winter. To combat those icicle-in-your-head blues, the band is giving you a free new song, Today We're Believers. Well, the tune is also a preview of the next album, as well as being an advance celebration of the boys' forthcoming showcases at Canadian Music Week and SXSW. Let's say the song is a showcase for a showcase. Featuring slinky bass, undersea bubbly water-drop synths, echoey piano, radio-ready electro-percussion, some cleverly-placed handclaps, confident falsettos and studio baritone, it came as a bit of a surprise. I half-expected that Royal Canoe would veer toward indie-rock with new tunes, but if anything, we're steering into the skid and embracing full-on spooky funk. Can I have some more, please?
Furthmore, RC snagged SXSW award winning director Matt Maryniuk (2009 SXSW Best Experimental Film for Cattle Call) to film a live-in-the-studio recording of another new track, Nightcrawlin. I've been told that the video features guest appearances by members of Winnipeg's wacky music community and will be released in late February.
Everyone's got a best of the year list. Sorry, not here. But you do get a bunch of music that I loved this year (some of which may have been released prior to 2010, I don't care), some of which I've blogged about already, and some of which I didn't get to sharing. So here it is, Part Two, come on back for the next parts.
The Decemberists'new one The King is Dead ain't out until January 18, but single Down By the Water is already giving out goosebumps. Colin Meloy has been showing off his knack for melody for years, but add on Peter Buck imitating himself circa Fables and then Gillian Welch lending vocals? Nicely done.
Sanford finally released songs I've had in my head for years, and actually they were better than I remembered them live. 'Pegger Rob Pachol is Sanford, and he told me he just recorded these tunes to get 'em out and done with. So no shows, no promo, and probably not a big following for this project, which is a shame.
Shout out Louds make passionate, classy pop. Unapologetically catchy, not joining the forced artiness brigade. Hard not to enjoy Shout Out Louds, don't you think?
A few years back, a singer and a drummer I knew lived in an old house on Lipton Street in Winnipeg. They had monster parties there, the kind that spill out onto the street, make new friends and enemies, give birth to outlandish stories...you know. Sometimes it seemed like anyone who had ever been to the Albert was at every party there. Of course, there was always good music at these shindigs. So when I heard there was a rock band going by the name of The Liptonians, I knew we were in for some memorable music and good times. The Liptonians are getting set to celebrate the impending February 8 release of a new long-playing record album, Let's All March Back Into the Sea. A CD release party will happen sadly not on Lipton Street, but at the West End Cultural Centre on Feb. 6. Here's an acoustic version of one of the songs off the new one:
The Liptonians may have seemed like one of those sweet little finds coming outta nowhere for their first record, but now that the group's garnered some fine press and won a Western Canadian Music Award for Outstanding Pop Recording ("Outstanding" sounds so much better than "Best", it brings up an image of a person standing alone, head held high, in the middle of a wheat field), lots of folks will be expecting good things from the new one. Coming out on the Head in the Sand label and the fine Sonic Unyon label, distribution by Universal, promoted by Killbeat - seems like the ducks are in a row for this one. And since Liptonian founding members Matt Schellenberg and Bucky Driedger are part of the Head in the Sand collective and have played and recorded with Winnipeg bright lights such as Royal Canoe, Courier News, Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers and Les Jupes, an extra buzz is being generated already, two months before the official release date. Can't you hear it?
"Earnestly delivered music for fans of Wilco and Spoon", the band's website proclaims. Not that the band will be frequently confused with either of those bands, but like them, The Liptonians have no problem taking elements of classic rock and pop and messing with them just enough to make 'em sound kinda newfangled. Here's You Know I Did from Let's All March Back Into the Sea, it's a pretty good example of that sweet messin'.
Here's the tracklist. I haven't heard the whole thing yet (Ahem! Killbeat!), but I can't wait to hear tracks 5 and 8 just based on their titles. You can listen to a few more tunes on the band's website, as well as a few more on the Facebook page, where you can also enter a contest to win shiny vinyl and CD copies of the album before it comes out and two tickets to the Liptonians Dec. 19th show at the Pyramid. You can also download another Liptonians tune, along with tracks from Boats, Les Jupes, Holy Fuck, Japandroids and more, from the Pop ETC. festival.
1. Terrell's Dream 2. You Know I Did 3. Hey! Hey! Help Is On Its Way Now! 4. Growing Old In The City 5. The Privatest Parts 6. Perfect Swimmers 7. Calling You Out 8. Ghosts In My Garden 9. Lesage 10. Roller Coaster 11. March Back Into The Sea
The album is not available for pre-order, at least not at the moment, but it should be available at all fine music stores as well as the Head in the Sand site. This video explains the creation of the new album pretty well, and if you want you can see more "making of" footage here.
Winnipeg's Royal Canoe already gave us the falsetto funk of Me Loving Your Money from the album Co-op Mode, now the band is gifting Kasparov, a "love song from the super-computer Deep Blue to chess champion Gary Kasparov". It's a good choice, because it showcases a totally different side of the record, head-bobbing indie pop with lyrics that actually make use of the word "behoove". Yes. Download it. Pass it on. Buy the album.
Oct 09 – Winnipeg, MB @ The Cavern w/ Les Jupes + The Liptonians Oct 14 – Edmonton, AB @ The Nest Pub Oct 14 – Calgary, AB @ The Palamino Oct 15 – Lethbridge, AB @ The Slice Oct 16 – Edmonton, AB @ The Starlight Oct 18 – Penticton, BC @ Voodoo’s Oct 21 – Nelson, BC @ The Royal Oct 22 – Vancouver, BC @ The Media Club Oct 23 – Kelowna, BC @ BreakOut West
Some video of band interviews and live footage from the West end Cultural Center can be found here and here.
PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW. Why shouldn't Royal Canoe be the biggest thing to come out of Winnipeg since The Guess Who? The names rhyme, they both have shaggy-coiffed singers, funny yet poignant lyrics, catchy tunes, Lenny Kravitz fans dig 'em...
Sometimes musicians seem like slackers or perfectionists, because for one reason or another it takes years (or decades) to release music for the masses while we wait impatiently. You can probably think of an example. My Bloody Valentine springs to mind, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel. Winnipeg artists are no different. Especially if their first name starts with J (Hello, Jay Churko (Chords of Canada, Transistor Sound & Lighting Co.. Yeah, you too, Jason Allen (Rowdymen)!). But in reality, juggling personal finances and life with artistic pursuits is a long hard road for many, which means that your desire for aural nourishment or ear candy goes unfulfilled.
But today we celebrate a couple of fellows who might look like slackers at times, but still manage to give listeners something to chew on. In Pets and Waking Eyes, Matt Peters and Rusty Matyas have shown a couple of different sides of their musical profiles. Although Waking Eyes haven't put out anything lately, they've both got new things to tide you over.
Peters's band is called Royal Canoe, which reminds me of another great Winnipeg band we haven't heard from forever, Grand Theft Canoe (come back, Evan Kroeker!) R.C.'s album, Co-op Mode was created years ago, but is just getting an official release now. The album features co-writes and performances with Peters, Nathan Blanchard, Rusty Matyas, Jo Snyder, Dave Wiebe, Steve Senkiw, Tom Keenan, Joey Penner, and Andy Freund. Last year Peters recruited Bucky Driedger and Matt Schellenberg (The Liptonians), Jeff Bruce (Jicah) and fellow Waking Eye, Joey Penner to fill up Canoe seats. Although songs such as Kasparov display the power pop sensibilities sometimes heard in Pets, the album also features some smooth, funky soul; listen to and/or download (click the downward arrow on the player) Me Loving Your Money.
8 Jul - Regina, SK @ O'Hanlons 9 Jul - Saskatoon, SK @ Amigo's Cantina 10 Jul - Edmonton, AB @ Brixx Bar & Grill 12 Jul - Penticton, BC @ VooDoos 13 Jul - Vancouver, BC @ TBA 16 Jul - Calgary, AB @ Broken City 22 Jul - Ottawa, ON @ Zaphod Beeblebrox 23 Jul - Montreal, QC @ Trois Minots 24 Jul - Toronto, ON @ Sneaky Dees 27 Aug - Morden, MB @ Morden Corn and Apple Festival
Rusty's band with Marti Sarbit is equally difficult to pigeon-hole. Imaginary Cities has not jumped on any particular bandwagon. Sarbit's soulful voice soars and dives and generally operates for the good of mankind, while the instrumentation tastefully pushes her sweet sounds further. What would you call it?
Imaginary Cities are giving away 5 songs from their yet-to-be-released album, you can download 'em here.
Upcoming shows:
21 Jul 2010 22:00 Lo Pub Winnipeg 31 Jul 2010 21:00 Peir Stage Gimli, MB (Islendingadagurinn! Icelandic Fest, don't you know) 14 Aug 2010 20:00 Kelwood - Festival Site Kelwood, MB
mp3s will be posted for a limited time and are for promotional purposes only. If you like it, buy the albums, go to the shows, buy the t-shirts - support the artist so they can keep on keepin' on. Artists - if you would like an mp3 or video removed, please contact me directly at chrisyakchart@hotmail.com.
If you've got something Scruffy should hear, same email. Snail mail is cool too.
Scruffy the Yak 34 Allenby Cres Winnipeg Mb R2C 3J4
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