Male duets are where it's at

For fans of: The Wooden Sky



OK, so I'm a few months late on this one. But AIdan Knight is worth waiting for.

The Victoria, BC native has proven himself. After dropping his first full-length album in March, he has gone on to win one of this year's CBC Radio 3 Bucky Awards, he came fifth in a prestigious BC talent contest and he'll wrap his nationwide tour Dec. 11. Not bad for a 24-year-old.

The kid keeps good company. In 2007, he took a 10-day bike tour with the likes of Said the Whale, Hannah Georgas and Jeremy Fisher -- a motley crew of musicians who have all seen their stars rising since that voyage.

I won't go into details describing his soothing and rhythms and folk sensibilities. I will, however, say his single "Jasper" absolutely makes a tight, warm ball of pride rise within my chest. Glad to see that this year's Bucky Award for "Most Canadian Song" had nothing to do with arbitrary nationalism and everything to do with the visceral experience of our landscape.

He's got a lovely version with female harmonies on the LP, but I can't get enough to the male vocal harmonies in this version with Vancouverite Dan Mangan (winner of Bucky's Best Live Performance -- a must see). Check it above.

Can we all acknowledge that male vocal harmonies are hugely underrated?

La musica que trasciende idiomas

Newly obsessed with an old favourite. I would pay copious amounts of the money that I don't have to see Silvio Rodriguez live in concert. If you don't know, Rodriguez led the "nueva trova" movement that emerged in Cuba post-revolución, combining political lyrics with folk sensibilities.

It's a non-political one, but you can't think of Rodriguez without thinking of 'Ojalá', his #1 hit from 1978. It's a heart breaker. Spanish-language songs seem to get away with extra cheese in a way that only French-language songs can too.

FUN FACT: Did you know Silvio Rodriguez is a national deputy in the Cuban government?

Music festival fails

Like many bands that make mediocre music, the Flaming Lips have built a solid reputation on performance. At the Ottawa Bluesfest this month, the show included twenty-or-so costumed stage dancers, exploding paper missiles and sexy/weird psychedelic videos of naked ladies. And we can't forget lead singer Wayne Coyne's signature entrance: emerging cloaked in a clear plastic mass of material that inflates into a hamster-ball. I've got to hand it to him, Coyne crowdsurfs like no other.

The only problem: I saw the exact same performance three years ago. Right down to the "off-the-cuff" banter. And based on a quick youtube search, it seems as though the Lips haven't reinvented their performance in even longer.

I mean, I get that they hit the nail on the head when they designed this show. But... really? Years and years of the same performance is weaksauce. Even the some of the song introductions were almost identical, making them come off contrived and insincere. No, namedropping Obama didn't make Coyne's usual anti-war speech before 'Do You Realize' much fresher.

I'm not asking for an entire redesign. Coyne can keep his hamsterball of comfort. But I wonder how a band built on gimmicks can maintain a loyal fanbase when they don't at least add some new tricks or update their look from time to time.

IN OTHER FESTIVAL FAIL NEWS, Kings of Leon are total divas. They walked off a St. Louis stage after playing only three songs, because of birds... at an outdoor festival. Read on.

Canada's "blogotheque": A music video renaissance?

Internet killed the video star... Or so television would have you believe. MTV and MuchMusic have been doing their best to distance themselves from their founding content: the music video. Now, they air music videos during the unpopular timeslots of 11pm-6am. In their place, reality shows and teen dramas are throned with prime time. MuchMusic is even in the process of trying to decrease the number of music vids they're required to air from 50% to only 25% of the network's content. Yikes.

But maybe internet just killed the cable star. That's what OKGo believes. They've battled with record labels and ultimately made a break for it -- establishing their own label last month, so they can focus on distributing free videos, with no red-tape worries.

There's also the Takeawayshow phenomenon, initiated by Paris-based Blogotheque.com. As indie acts shuffle through Paris on world tours, the producers at Blogotheque challenge them to a one-take impromptu one-take music video. Unplugged, unsynthesized. It's a test of raw talent and creativity. Andrew Bird whistled his way through Montmartre. St. Vincent crooned from tiny white apartment overlooking the city. Yeasayer tapped and footstomped on the metro.

The Takeawayshow has been replicated in other places, as with the Black Cab series in England. But now, proud Canadians, we have one of our own. And there's something special about it. While Take Away Shows and Black Cabs have documented bands passing through on tour, Southern Souls documents the artist in his natural environment. That is, Canadians in Canada. Sometimes in their own homes, or the grocery store they shop in. Maybe in their childhood house, with their parents peeking in. The website, Southernsouls.ca began as a documentary of the Hamilton music scene. But it has burgeoned into, first, a video archive of southern Ontario acts. And now it is expanding outward, with the filmmaker traveling to Montreal and more. Soooo check it out: www.southernsoul.ca

So what do you think? Is the music video really dead or is this a renaissance?

A Retrospective

First year of the MJ program finished two weeks ago and I'm desperate to write again already. So back to my comfort blog. I'm about to start an internship on CBC Radio's Q with Jian Ghomeshi and just bought my Ottawa Bluesfest pass... so music is on the mind.

It's fun looking back on yesteryear's up-and-coming bands/artists and seeing what progress they've made. Especially those featured on Turn It Up, Jane. Some have made it big. Others... not so much. A sampling:

Darling DeMaes

- THEN: had small following in Montreal, awarded grant to make more music

- NOW: produced a new album, got some press, but I haven't heard their name since leaving the Montreal bubble.

Charlotte Cornfield

- THEN: getting some well-deserved hype. Four Ns in Toronto's NOW magazine, called the next Kathleen Edwards.

- NOW: Slow and steady. Playing C'est What in Toronto this week. Still not widely known.

The Tallest Man on Earth

- THEN: virtually unknown. I had to scour the web for information about him.

- NOW: Indie folk god. Touring internationally with sold out shows, new record featured prominently in every independent record store in the city, Pitchfork approved.

Brasstronaut

- THEN: Myspace songs had under 250 hits. British Columbia bubble.

- NOW: More than 30,000 hits, played CBC Radio 3, and booked for the Hillside Festival in Guelph. Promising!

Anyway. Lots of new talent and tunes to talk about! Let's see how long this blogging streak lasts.