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Ep. #72: Marie LeBlanc Flanagan of Weird Canada

Marie LeBlanc Flanagan is the executive director of Weird Canada, a music site, whose mission statement is “to encourage, connect, and document creative expression across Canada.” It has earned renown for its curatorial acumen in promoting obscure, challenging music made across the country and for serving as a space for enthusiastic contributors to pay tribute to the artists who move them. Speaking of moving things, Weird Canada is launching Wyrd Distro, a means of distributing the physical manifestations of the music they love to people who want to buy or sell it. Wyrd Distro launch parties take place all across Canada on Saturday Feb. 15. Here, Marie and I discuss travelling across Canada, the wonders that are the people of Edmonton, what Wyrd Distro and Weird Canada are all about, how they serve musicians and music fans, why a Canadian music site like CBC Radio 3 would poll its users to name “Canada’s Best Music SIte” and what it means that its users voted for Weird Canada, how Weird Canada sustains itself with grants and an inheritance, why it needs to be volunteer-driven, a planned accessibility project in the works that aims to figure out who is and isn’t permitted in given spaces, how a capitalist ‘survival of the fittest’ mentality applies to outsider art and Weird Canada’s methodology, why it might not matter if Weird Canada is sustainable, how listsicles are impacting the coverage of artists and the consumption of art, how a change is coming, why mainstream media outlets seem less concerned about earning cultural capital these days, what the Wyrd Distro parties across Canada on Feb. 15 are going to be like and how people can best utilize the service, the song “Real Talk” by Dan Galway, and more.

Related links: weirdcanada.com vishkhanna.com

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Ep. #71: Alden Penner

Alden Penner is a respected and idiosyncratic singer, songwriter, and musician based in Montreal. Penner was a key figure in the influential bands the Unicorns and Clues and went on to make heartfelt, enigmatic, and questioning music in a project called Hidden Words. On Feb. 11, he quietly released a lovely new album under his own name; it’s called Exegesis and has prompted him to play at the Silver Dollar in Toronto for the Wavelength festival on Thursday Feb. 13, Montreal’s Le Cagibi on Friday Feb. 14, and the Le Pantoum in Quebec City on Feb. 15. Here, Alden and I discuss my issue understanding release dates, the fact that Exegesis is a personal compilation of sorts with at least one song that was partially conceived by Nick Thorburn when the two were in high school, the self-reflexive nature of putting this record together, Penner’s evolution as a songwriter and the distinction between his simpler and more intricate work, his earliest days learning how to play music in his teens and the impact “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” had on him and his guitar playing, jamming with his geography teacher, meeting and collaborating with Thorburn for the first time, the influence that Jimi Hendrix, Reverend Gary Davis, Elizabeth Cotten, and Fugazi had on his guitar playing, interesting guitar teachers and Syd Barrett, playing every instrument on a record yourself, the importance of band chemistry and the Avengers, the multiple meanings of the album’s title, which came to Penner in a dream, how religion has impacted Penner’s ability to find his own voice and feel bolstered by his community, the importance of self-assertion in the face of confrontation, Laura Crapo’s role in producing Penner’s new album, the mysteries of mysticism and psychic surgery, having faith, his upcoming shows, why the Unicorns must reunite to play shows and maybe even reissue Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone? in 2014, the song “We Seek,” and more.

Related links: facebook.com/aldenpennermusic vishkhanna.com

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Ep. #70: Joel RL Phelps

Joel RL Phelps is an American musician and songwriter who once played in the now-defunct band Silkworm. Upon leaving Silkworm, Phelps began collaborating with new musicians, most notably William Herzog and Robert Mercer, and formed a unique rock group called Joel RL Phelps and the Downer Trio. The band’s new album came out Oct. 8, 2013 via Triple Crown Audio Recordings in Canada; it’s called Gala and marks their first release in nine years. Here, Joel and I discuss living in Vancouver vs. Montana vs. Seattle, missing Steve Albini, seeing Shellac at the Starfish Room in Vancouver in 1999, the themes on Gala, as they relate to his recovery from alcoholism, some background into his condition and when and how it began to manifest itself, his experience with clinical depression and other mental health issues, the process of trying to get reacquainted with one’s self, how addicts tend to interact with and disconnect from the world, how all of these experiences might inform the music and lyrics on Gala, how he was barely able to walk before he entered recovery, his work with 12-step and secular recovery groups and how that leads him to discuss ideas and approaches regarding addiction, his role in the formation of Silkworm and the band’s earliest days, dropping out of school quite a bit, the circumstances that led to his leaving Silkworm, why he didn’t appear in the documentary Couldn’t You Wait? The Story of Silkworm and how it impacted the film, playing in the Downer Trio and his general temperament towards music these days, his touring/travelling difficulties, how Canadians are really into Canadian things, the song “So You’ve Decided,” and more.

Related links: joelrlphelps.net crowncrowncrown.com vishkhanna.com

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