2014 SOCAN Songwriting Award winner Alejandra Ribera’s music career is a tale of slow-burning success. After releasing her demo, Navigator, in 2009, she was discovered by CBC during a stint as artist-in-residence at The Cameron House. It took several years for her debut full length, La Boca (Pheromone Recordings), produced by Jean Massicotte, to be […]
The Carleton Music Bar & Grill
Posted inArts + Music
Garden Ries
From singing church hymns to sharing the stage with Bon Iver and Anais Mitchell, Rachel Ries has come a long way. The daughter of Mennonite missionaries, the singer has always lived her life in song. Her music echoes the soulful melodies of Regina Spektor and Feist, while keeping in tune with the finger-pickin’, foot-stompin’ rhythm […]
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The Carleton’s new face
After five years The Carleton Bar & Grill (1685 Argyle Street) is getting a makeover, but the changes aren’t only skin deep. This week brought not just the news that the bar would be closed until Friday for renovations, but that Mike Campbell—a partial owner of the business from the get-go—had taken over majority ownership. […]
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Ever Green
Fans of Heather Green will be happy to hear that she’s gearing up to record another album with producer Dan Ledwell. But for now, they can continue riding high with her on the success of the 2012 album, Your Last War. With nominations for ECMAs and Music Nova Scotia Awards, this past year has left […]
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On the road
Winnipeg folk poet Jenny Berkel pulls no punches with her newest video for “Like a Rope.” She is trying to break your heart. Animated by Karsten Wall, the video features a beautiful and sad interpretation of Berkel’s heart-rending lyrics. Just try not to mist up. “When I wrote this song, a number of my dearest […]
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Meaghan Blanchard’s empowerment to the people
When ECMA winner Meaghan Blanchard hits town this week, fans should expect to hear songs that mark significant growth for the Prince Edward Island singer-songwriter. Fresh off the album release party for her first full-length, She’s Gonna Fly, Blanchard is looking forward to touring with songs that have a more literary approach than her previous […]
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Hitchcock presents
To borrow a phrase from another iconoclastic English singer-songwriter—in this case, Elvis Costello—Robyn Hitchcock is a man out of time. Coming from the same countryside that begat the simultaneously surrealistic and quaintly semi-rural stylings of Syd Barrett, author Douglas Adams and the Monty Python’s Flying Circus troupe, Hitchcock poked his head into the burgeoning punk […]
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Mike check
“I feel more comfortable making recordings than performing live,” says Mike O’Neill. “There’s an ‘entertaining the crowd’ component that makes me nervous. It doesn’t feel natural for me.” Could have fooled us. Hilarious banter, genius arrangements and talent are just plain entertaining. O’Neill’s lasting appeal with Halifax audiences hasn’t been an accident either—a good song […]
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Hearts on Feuerstack
Nova Scotia can only hope to be immortalized in one of Michael Feuerstack’s Vines. The folk-pop-magical songwriter has a way with a phone, filming mini videos of The Littlest Hobo, flashing motel lights or the shadows of blowing leaves in the sun. “It’s fun to capture a loop of something. It’s maybe a continuation of […]
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Go Long! is a catch
Ottawa first fell in love with the covers Go Long!—Danielle Allard, Lucas Haneman and Nicolas Crisafi—put its mark on, like T.I.’s “Whatever You Like” which transforms into something sultry. But the jazzy folk trio’s catchy original material is what sticks, lauded by local guitar legend Don Ross as crazy addictive, and you know, little ol’ […]
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All July Talk
You’ve seen it before.m You go to a show, the band dutifully plays its songs, note for note, and you realize you should’ve stayed home and listened to the record instead. There are many bands that do this. July Talk is not one of them. Formed last year in Toronto, July Talk writes its blistering […]
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A country Rose
It’s a good year to be a girl making country music, from Kacey Musgraves and Ashley Monroe challenging genre conventions to Rayna Jaymes and Juliette Barnes singing through the drama on Nashville. “I think there’s something of a revival happening right now, and I hope it’s not a trend,” says Whitney Rose, calling from the […]