Tag: Toronto

Ep. #123: Bahamas

Post author By vish
Post date August 19, 2014

Afie Jurvanen is a gifted musician and songwriter who works under the tropical moniker Bahamas. Jurvanen has been an in-demand guitarist who has worked with Feist, the Weather Station, and Zeus among others. He has released three records of his signature folk-tinged rock over the past five years, earning a broad fanbase and award nominations and critical acclaim along the way. His latest album is called Bahamas is Afie, which is out now via Universal Music Canada, and it’s prompted him to tour across the U.S. and Canada over the coming months including a stop at Riverfest Elora on Friday August 22. Here, Afie and I discuss wearing shorts on stage (S.O.S.), Thrush Hermit rules and Joel Plaskett’s legs, the assertively explanatory title of his new album, the lush production of Bahamas is Afie, Don Kerr and the Rooster, distinctive musical chameleons like Bob Dylan, David Bowie, and Beck, that moment where you think of an idea, hope in sad songs, Willie Nelson, wanting to name your hypothetical unborn child Owen, choosing music over sports, social hobbies, going your own way when pushed by your parents, moving to Toronto from Barrie and making friends in a music community, grade 13/OAC, the Miami Heat, Chris Bosh, Fantastic Pop festival in Windsor, Afie’s early band Paso Mino with members of Zeus, Jason Collett, competition and ambition in music, contemporary cultural consumption and metrics, how artists are adapting to the new face of the music business, we are the product, Peter Elkas is under-appreciated, the Aretha Franklin chugging Diet Coke in a golf cart before kicking ass at the Grammys story, playing in a rainstorm at a festival in PEI, the pros and cons of making and promoting music, opening up a laundromat, how to do your laundry, Michael P. Clive’s cooking show and Afie’s unreleased instrumental music for it, making the Weather Station’s new album in France, being added to Riverfest Elora at the last minute, Jason Tait of the Weakerthans, the song “Waves,” and then the heat is off.

Related links: bahamasmusic.net riverfestelora.com vishkhanna.com

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Ep. #118: Steve Sladkowski of PUP

Post author By vish
Post date July 24, 2014

Steve Sladkowski plays guitar and sings in a Toronto punk-infused pop band called PUP. Originally called Topanga, PUP changed their name ahead of releasing their first, self-titled debut album, which is out now via Royal Mountain Records. PUP plays Guelph’s Hillside Festival on Saturday July 25. Here, Steve and I discuss staining fences in Toronto, living in Guelph and putting on shows and working for the Guelph Jazz Festival, touring the U.S. with the Menzingers, single A baseball in Iowa, America is weird, this is Texas, talking to Americans about baseball, the Oakland A’s and Moneyball glitches, regular seasons are a drag, why the Skydome sucks and seeing baseball in America rules, I don’t think I like Toronto, talking to people outside of Canada about Rob Ford, playing ska-punk, Protest the Hero, the 3tards, and the Reverb, working with Dave Schiffman on the PUP record, pathetic use of potential, Toronto punk is thriving, when Weezer was wonderful, my membership in the Weezer fanclub and contributing “Mykel and Carli” to its first covers compilation, Rivers Cuomo goes back to the shack, impersonating Fucked Up at the Halifax Pop Explosion, feeling honoured to get to do cool stuff, it comes and goes, self-promotion, not needing day jobs but working harder than ever, their Polaris Music Prize nomination, the status of hard music in Canada, Peter Bradley is in Alaska, Constellation Records, forced conversation, Tanya Tagaq should win awards, PUP’s new songs, throwing down, writing songs in extreme emotional places, marrying real-life with fictional narratives, the song “Guilt Trip,” and then it is outta here!

Related links: puptheband.com royalmountainrecords.com hillsidefestival.ca vishkhanna.com

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Ep. #114: Nat Baldwin of Dirty Projectors

Post author By vish
Post date July 8, 2014

Nat Baldwin is a talented double-bassist, singer, and songwriter who originally hails from the state of New Hampshire but lives in Maine. Baldwin is a skilled musician who studied with jazz and improvised music giant Anthony Braxton and, for the past decade, he has been a member of the Brooklyn, NY band, Dirty Projectors. In 2011 Baldwin released People Changes, his second solo album, and this year brings us its captivating, lovely follow up, In the Hollows, which is available now via Western Vinyl. Baldwin has a couple of shows in Massachusetts later this month and he plays The Monarch in Toronto on July 24, Casa del Popolo in Montreal on July 25, and Guelph’s Hillside Festival on July 26. Here, Baldwin and I talk about Love Lane, training for a marathon you can’t run and making music, an injured achilles’ heel, losing control of your physicality, the late, American middle/long-distance runner Steve Prefontaine, Nat’s long history of connecting athletic iconography with the music he makes, running rhythms, process-oriented parallels between bands and basketball teams, learning how to play music at 18, running/reading/music regimens, underground literature networks, Barry Hannah, Blake Butler, Lindsay Hunter, Amelia Grey, the song “Cosmos Pose” and bodybuilding, death, playing in a wedding band, Nat’s dad’s band Ben Baldwin and the Big Note, Ray Charles, seeing the Moonbeams sing the national anthem at Celtics games at Boston Garden, Larry Bird, visiting French Lick Indiana and Larry Bird Boulevard, getting into Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman, Charlie Haden, Cecil Taylor, Albert Ayler, Anthony Braxton, and other jazz heroes, loaning William Parker a dodgy bass amp, losing interest in music, double bass and voice songs, what’s new with Dirty Projectors and David Longstreth’s writing habits, the song “Knockout,” and then we cross the finish line.

Related links: westernvinyl.com/artists/natbaldwin.html vishkhanna.com

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