Two West Coast acts on short list
POLARIS PRIZE: New Pornographers and Tobias Jesso Jr. in the running
The Polaris Prize short list was announced last week in Toronto, with two West Coast-based acts on it — New Pornographers and Tobias Jesso Jr.
The prize is worth $50,000 and is not sales driven. Albums are selected by nearly 200 music-media types who judge nominees on the basis of quality.
This year, New Pornographers released Brill Bruisers while the debut of Jesso Jr., Goon, has become one of the year’s big stories.
Carly Rae Jepsen’s latest single and video is Run Away With Me. An album, E-Mo-tion, is due Aug. 21.
Rykka’s latest video is Movies and was shot inside a Swiss glacier. Rykka, a Peak Performance Project winner among other accolades, divides her time between hometown Vancouver and Switzerland.
Another winner, of CFOX’s Seeds, is Langley’s Little India, which issues a video Tuesday. An EP is coming and the band is getting airplay at FM 102.7 the Peak. The band is also performing at August’s Squamish Valley Music Festival.
Also out Tuesday is Been Around A While by Dellanah and Owen.
After 10 solo albums, Matthew Good sometimes is taken for granted, but he is radio’s fourth most played Canadian behind The Tragically Hip, Our Lady Peace and Michael Bublé. Good has also been nominated for 20 Junos. He has released his first album for Warner Music Canada, All You Sons And Daughters.
The Wild! has made a video of Slow Burn. The live footage was shot at its record release party in Kelowna and is interspersed with gunplay and boozing. Ted Nugent probably gives thumbs up to the gunplay but turns thumbs down at the boozing. Kind of pointless but it communicates what the band is about.
Ben Rogers unveils a new single, Wanted, from the forthcoming album, The Bloodred Yonder.
Rodney DeCroo represents Vancouver at the ArtsWells Festival in Wells. He’ll be singing songs from his current Campfires On The Moon and resurrecting his play, Stupid Boy In Ugly Town.
Art Bergmann turned to Pledge Music, which helped him raise the money for his album, The Apostate.
The next Mashed Poetics, in which poets recite a work inspired by the event’s featured band/album is July 24 at 7 Dinner Lounge. This time the band is Iron Maiden and its Number Of The Beast. Performing songs from the album are The Invaders.
The Roxy is soon to start its Roxy Launch Project. Essentially, it’s a battle of the bands that runs from July 30 to Aug. 27 with the finale set for sometime in October. The 20 chosen bands are playing for a single (plus other goodies) recorded at the Nimbus School Of Recording Arts.
Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra has a new single, Funeral, that comes in advance of its Love album.
CD of the week
Anyone who includes Nick Lowe among his influences has the immediate attention of The Garage. Brent Braidwood isn’t consistently as good as Lowe but, on the positive side, the album, Almost Lost My Nerve, is evocative in places of The Beatles’ White album. That can’t be bad. It isn’t when Braidwood closes with Are You Listening? This is orchestrated in a I Am The Walrus fashion and starts with a Paul McCartney-like vocal. Elsewhere, there are traces of John Lennon and Beatles circa Hey Bulldog. The album is up and down and after repeated plays is more up than down, stretching beyond power pop with So It Goes.
Festivals
The White Rock Blues Society goes outdoors with BBQ at Semiahmoo Park’s Spirit Stage on July 26. The local competition sends the winner to Memphis for its prestigious annual blues showdown. The two halves of this showdown have seven bands and five acoustic acts. They are Harpdog Brown, Jim Black Band, Arsen Shomakhov, Hells Gate Blues Band, McKinley Wolf, Gary Preston, The Blues Baron, Nash McInnes, Jimmy Zee, Jesse Roper, Lanate Glass and Murray Porter. Starts at 11 a.m.
Snailfest kicks off at the Rickshaw Theatre, Aug. 21.