RELEASE PARTY
Indy music scene sees explosion of productivity
Randy Bachman might get the credit for singing that bands tend to be creatively busy in cold prairie towns, but this is something that Edmonton musicians have always known in their bones.
Like Edmonton’s Betrayers, who are quickly following up the release of last October’s The Devil Doesn’t Want You EP with a new full-length album. The garage rock five-piece will be dropping their latest, 12 Songs to Haunt You, Thursday at 9910, but they’re not the only local band with new music coming down the pike in 2017. Here is a sampling of just a few of the acts releasing music this year.
For instance, hard rockers Striker are dropping their newest, selfreleased effort the very next day, on Friday at the Starlite Room.
A few days later, on April 16, Quarto & Sound release Box, an avant-garde adaptation of writer Wendy McGrath’s poem of the same name. They’ll be performing the mix of “spoken word/jazz/ poetry/electronic/noise” at Cafe Blackbird as part of the Edmonton Poetry Festival.
Goldtop has an album coming out in the summer called You Possess Me, with the single and video for Even Tonight dropping April 21.
Local label Mangled Tapes will release the Lovers Only compilation April 23 at the Buckingham. It features acts like Sister Ray, Max Uhlich, Cantoo and Rob Mallett, with all proceeds going to the Edmonton Immigrant Services Association. Unabashed blues rockers Boogie Patrol are over at the Needle on April 28 with their latest effort, Man on Fire.
The next month has a definite punk tinge to it, as Old Wives celebrate at the Needle on May 5 with new album Three, being released on Little Rocket Records. Psychobilly punks the Raygun Cowboys are also over at the Needle just a week later, May 12, for the release of their fifth album (the second on Stomp Records), the Cowboy Code. The Sewing Machine Factory will host pop-punkers The Blame-its for their 20th anniversary show May 19, which also features the release of five new songs on tape. In jazz news, the Audrey Ochoa Trio are at the Yardbird Suite on May 20 for their latest.
Barber Ha will be the venue May 27 as Slates unveil their latest, Summery, and Switches regroup for their Split Tender tape release, an excellent two-for-one deal.
Some venues for record releases have yet-to-be determined in May. Expect to see new work by Gender Poutine (Park Narc), Vibes, and Sister Ray (live recording), all from Sweety Pie Records. Hiphoppers Boosh & the Dip have a new album, River City Riot 2, along with a Kickstarter project trying to raise $6,000 for videos to go with it, while Pseudo Laboratories has projects by Kaunsel (Prairie Minimal), Soft Ions and Static Control planned for that month.
Double Lunch Records have a compilation slipping out on June 1, and the summer will be in full effect as singer-songwriter Celeigh Cardinal unleashes her album Everything and Nothing at All on June 10 at the Forge on Whyte. Also planned for the month are albums by Dead Fibres, Mark Templeton (a 12-inch on Graphical Recordings), and P.L.A.T.E, which is a compilation of Pseudo Lab artists. You might want to also keep an eye out for Uncanny Valley by experimental weirdos Private Investigators.
The relatively new Primeapes are dropping their likely self-titled first record at DV8 on July 29. They are “currently discussing the most ridiculous method of packaging.” Edmonton’s beloved Lad Mags may be gone, but their legacy lives on in Le Plaisir, a project put together by Lad Mags singer Amelia Aspen and recording engineer/ keyboardist/husband Doug Organ. They’ll be releasing a “concept EP about the apocalypse” on Aug. 1. Other summer records that have yet to be pinned down include The Etheric Fuzz by Sherry-Lee Heschel, Power Buddies’ second full length, Choir and Marching Band’s The Future Is Her Story, as well as a 7-inch and a full-length LP by the Real Sickies.
The Hearts have been busy in the studio over the winter, and we’ll likely see results in the form of an EP this fall, while Vissia has plans to put out her latest, Place Holder, on Sept. 22. Faith Healer are also on track to release their latest in September, actual date yet to be determined. Jumping ahead to October, electro-poppers Concealer return from a bit of a hiatus with their second release, It’s Immaterial. Dana Wylie is back with a new effort, The Earth That You’re Made Of, to be released in the fall. Folk-noir trio F& M are putting the finishing touches on a sixth record, possibly titled Lessons From Losers.
Other releases to keep an eye out for include a 7-inch single by Cutoffs, a full length from punks Golden Years, a series of 45’s by rowdy roots rockers The Give 'em Hell Boys, as well as releases by Counterfeit Jeans, RHG, King Vulture, Birds Bear Arms, Wildwood, Jay Gilday, Soft March and Iron Eyes. Also look for new work by Confusionaires, Slow Girl Walking, nêhiyawak, Allovers, Wet Secrets, Whitsundays and Tallest to Shortest. Bebop Cortez is putting the final touches on Sexual Health, and a split 7-inch between fellow musical travelers Pigeon Breeders and Pyramid// Indigo is coming out sometime in the winter.