I've literally been waiting all year to post about Vishtèn. I discovered them last April, as part of a collaboration they did with The East Pointers. I posted it anyway, in April, but also, I went on a discovery of their music.
What I found was a fantastic folk band from Prince Edward Island whose music was heavily rooted in Acadian traditions. The Acadian culture is a minority primarily based in New Brunswick, whose language can only be best described as "Frenglish". Because of this, Vishtèn is primarily seen as a Francophone group... but they are so much more than that.
We'd be remiss if we didn't mention vocalist Pastelle LeBlanc - the primary vocalist on this song - passed away in 2022 after a battle with breast cancer. Her voice is certainly missed, and this is a song that shows you why.
Here is the band live in 2020 - playing a small hall in PEI - and you can see the chemistry the three had (after all, Pastelle, her partner and her sister were the band). Their sound is both bright and folky.
Every once in a while around our house, my SO will lose her phone, and ask the Google Home to "Find My Device".
Every once in a while, this song plays. It drives her nuts.
It's probably my fault.
It's probably because this song has been sitting in my drafts since last May.
Ayria is a Toronto-based synth-pop project formed in 2003 out of the ashes of Epsilon Minus by vocalist Jennifer Parkin. This song, released in 2005, is perhaps their best known - probably because people lose their phones.
The song is energetic and dark and industrial and exciting - and gets better as it goes.
So, I'm sorry, Courtney, but this song is not only good, it's Canadian.
Why yes, electronic artists do perform live. And they're quite good. Duel synths accompany Parkin, who has a strong stage presence.
Last year, I really sought to bring diverse artists to this annual celebration of Canadian music. I went out of my way to find music I had never heard before.
I started that on March 2nd with an artist from Montreal named Ruby Mckinnon - stage name Flower Face. That song, "Sugar Water", ended up being my most listened to song on Spotify in 2023 - and it wasn't close. It's got a head start on 2024 as well - but I'm trying to be more wholistic in 2024.
You see, her 2022 album, The Shark In Your Water, is arguably the best of that year, and in my top 3 or 4 for this decade so far. The whole album is so well written and performed. Every song on there is incredible.
This song is where the album gets its title - it is a song that starts simple and gets louder and scarier. It's beautiful AND beautifully constructed.
Oh, by the way, a spriacle is an opening on some fish, like a shark, that pulls water over the gills. It is part of the respiratory system - and are literally used to force water in while swimming quickly.
Live, the song features a full band and.... well, you can see the emotion.
Those who know me know I don't listen to noisy music like this all that much.
But man, that title.
This noise-rock band from Winnipeg is nominated for a Juno Award this year. They have won in the past for their heavy metal sound. This song is from their 2015 Juno-nominated album Success, and it has the best title.
The word "KEN" in the band's name is an acronym, for Kill Everyone Now. I don't believe they've acted on that, though.
This song is a banger on record, and it's a banger live.
Why, yes, that is a Sihk man from Brampton, Ontario slinging Punjabi hip-hop.
This song, released just a few weeks ago, is already a hit in New Zealand, where he has gotten a fair amount of traction as an artist. He's had some hits in the UK and Canada as well, and he is nominated as a Breakthrough Artist at this year's Juno Awards.
Every March for the last three years - this is our fourth - we've featured music exclusively from Canafian artists.
I can honestly say a lot of my favorite music today is a direct result of what I've been doing these Marches.
Babygirl is one of those artists I discovered while writing this blog who I have come to truly love. They make nice, smart, edgy light pop-rock music that should be absolutely gigantic everywhere, but for some reason, isn't. Hailing from Toronto, the duo met at Humber College and started making music there.
From the interactions I've had with them on Twitter.... sorry, X.... they also seem to be lovely people.
This single is from 2018 - so, why aren't you listening to them yet?
If you know Faith No More, you likely know them from their later stuff. This song, however, was one of their first - featuring a different lead vocalist than you might recognize.
The original lead vocalist and principal songwriter was a man named Chuck Mosley (who passed away of a presumed heroin overdose in 2017). The lyrics for this song were written by Mosley and Roddy Bottum, the latter of whom also had a hand in the music.
This version, the best known, is from their 1988 album Introduce Yourself, but was originally recorded for their 1985 rare debut We Care A Lot. At this time, you can really hear the Bad Brains influence on the band - very bass-heavy, very activist.
Now, compare that to the harder, sparser version from their 1985 debut. Yes, lyrically, it's a little different, but the musical differences are actually more apparent here - with a more drum-heavy mix going on here.
Mosley left the band soon after - some say he was fired, but it seemed to me to be more of a creative direction thing, as Mosley wanted to do less hard rock and more acoustic stuff. Bottum has characterized it as "fired without being fired" and somewhat amicable.
The band did not abandon their best known early song, though, and released a live version of the song in 1991 as a single, with Mike Patton on vocals. It's a different song, and Patton does a lot of ad-libbing while trying to hold onto the legacy of Chuck Mosley.
The band did eventually break up, but reformed with Mike Patton on lead vocals - and of course they still perform this song (as they did here in 2015), which still carries the anger and activism Mosley and Bottum wrote in 1984.
By the way, anyone questioning whether or not the Mosley departure need only look to this performance from 2010, which featuted him on vocals with the band performing several of his songs, including, yes, "We Care A Lot".
Here he is with the band AGAIN in 2016, a year before his passing, performing the song and others from their reissued debut,. He sounds great (and looks awful).
As far as we can tell, that's the last time the band has performed live, although they've scheduled other shows that were cancelled.
