Royal Canoe and Magnificent Cities are Soulful, not Slackers

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.

Royal Canoe-Me Loving Your Money by scruffy the yak

Royal Canoe Tour Dates

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

Imaginary Cities @ Lo Pub from Ben Myers on Vimeo.

Kathryn Calder Shooting an Arrow at You

photo by Caleb Beyers

Kathryn Calder (The New Pornographers, Immaculate Machine) is now offering a second stab at a cut from her new album, Are You My Mother?, which will be released August 3rd (though it's available on iTunes now). Arrow is the second track we've given you, Slip Away was featured in the probably-too-long-for-any-of-you-to-read-entirely Alphabet post. Calder seems like a bright light in a gloomy tunnel, with Arrow giving listeners a spare piano, theremin and harmony sundae.


Kathryn Calder-Arrow by scruffy the yak

"Kathryn Calder, who replaced (Neko) Case on vocals and keys, is incredibly charming and charismatic. Tonight, a photographer friend of mine blew a couple of rolls of film on her for this very reason." - Craig Finn (singer/guitarist, The Hold Steady) for The Guardian, UK

Here's Calder on the right hand side of your screen with her current day job.




Here's a New Pornos video I somehow missed.

The Morning Benders' Stitches and a Free Album

Illustration by Johnnie Cluney


A while back I posted the live in-studio production video for the Morning Benders' Excuses, the band has now made available another track with the cast of thousands, Stitches. I think the idea of creating new Phil Spectorish walls of sound is pretty cool in our ProTool world. If you've got enough soulful friends who will work for free and a nice big studio to work in, you can do it too. Go ahead, I dare you.

Yourstru.ly Presents: The Morning Benders "Stitches" from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

On the other side of the recording spectrum, The Morning Benders are giving away an album of covers recorded in an apartment, get it here. So far, I've only had time to check out the Talking Heads and Fleetwood Mac covers, but I like them both. I also appreciate the wide range of artists they've covered. Johnny Mercer, The Crystals, The Cardigans, The Ronettes, and Randy Newman are intriguing choices for an indie band to put their fingerprints on - it seems like the guys have done their homework.

the bedroom covers:
1. crying - roy orbison
2. mother and child reunion - paul simon
3. why dont they let us fall in love? - the ronettes
4. lovefool - the cardigans
5. i won't share you - the smiths
6. he's a rebel - the crystals
7. marie - randy newman
8. fools rush in - johnny mercer/rube bloom
9. temptation inside your heart - velvet underground
10. dreams - fleetwood mac
11. pull up the roots - talking heads
12. caroline, no- beach boys remix (bonus track)
12.5 why don't they let us fall in love? (live daytrotter version!)


The Morning Benders - "Dreams" (Fleetwood Mac Cover) by modernmysteryblog