Getting excited for shows this week, especially the one I’m helping put on this saturday. White Whale Records is turning 7 and Eamon McGrath is set to perform. Check out Eamon performing a new unreleased song “Young Canadians”.
Don’t forget to download the sampler (featuring Snailhouse, The Abramson Singers, The Mohawk Lodge).
We can thank tendonitis for bringing us The Abramson Singers. A few years back, singer-songwriter-guitarist Leah Abramson of folk band Dyad developed tendonitis in her wrist and wasn’t able to play guitar, so she borrowed an 8-track and started recording a cappella vocal pieces. The result is a side-project turned primary focus, a mesmerizing indie-folk noir self-titled album on White Whale Records (February, 2010) that showcases Leah’s glorious vocals in arrangements of up to eight-part harmony.
The Abramson Singers perform on Saturday, June 18th as part of the White Whale Records 7-year-itch B-Day party during NXNE.
Here’s “Fool’s Gold“.
To celebrate 7 years of bringing you great Canadian indie music, Vancouver-now-Toronto based label White Whale Records want to throw a party, afternoon showcase style during this years NXNE festival. Montreal’s Snailhouse will headline the event with support from The Mohawk Lodge, Eamon McGrath, The Abramson Singers and Goodnight Webcams. Check them all out in the player and download the tracks here.
White Whale Record’s “7 Year Itch” B-Day Party
Saturday, June 18th 1pm-6pm
The Bellevue (61 Bellevue Ave, Kensington, Toronto)
set times tba
more info at whitewhale.ca and indiemusicfilter.com
facebook event here
I’ll be featuring all of the bands on this site leading up to the party as well as updating you with more details as I get them. Hope to see ya there.
7 Year Itch (White Whale / Indie Music Filter NXNE 2011 Showcase) by indiemusicfilter
Toronto’s Octoberman will be releasing their third full length album, Fortresses, on September 1st in Canada and (more fittingly) October 1st in the US on White Whale Records. I’m thinking of this as their birthday present to me, and what a heartfelt and warm present it is.
Fitting right in along with the writing of Connor O’berst, Elliot Smith, Matt Mays, and even a touch of Lou Barlow, Octoberman’s efforts on Fortresses present a solid blend of dramatic pop that should hold up well over time. I’m partial to the 5th track on the album, thirty reasons. It feels like a song off of Tom Petty’s Wildflowers.
Octoberman will be touring across Canada from September 16th to November 2nd, so take the opportunity to check them out if you get a chance. Head over to their MySpace page to check out more tracks off the album, or give a listen to their CBC Radio 3 session.
Now for a small sample of some self indulgence, here’s their video covering one of my favourite Bruce Springsteen songs.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhwdHHmscVg[/youtube]
There was music going on that Sunday, but I opted for something a little different.
Three words. Fucking Roller Derby.
A couple of us spent most of the afternoon sipping some margharita’s and red bull coolers. The Meligrove Band were there, Eric from V2, Endearing Records and Ryder from White Whale. I checked the local weekly and found an ad for Roller Derby. The Rhinestone Cowgirls were taking on the Holy Rollers (both from that A&E show about Roller Derby) at the Austin Convention Centre later on that night.
When in rome….
Here’s how it works. 10 girls start on the track, 5 from each team. 8 girls start skating together in a pack around the circular track. Then, the remaining 2 skaters start a little behind them. Their objective is to skate past the pack, then lap as many opposing players as possible, in one minute. And without getting killed.
Players get points based on how many people they pass. And there are 4 quarters (with live bands during halftime).
Before the match, a woman walks around with raffle tickets for ‘Spank Alley’. If your number was drawn, you and 9 other people were allowed to sit in Spank Alley, located just off the course on one of the turns. When a player is penalized a punishment wheel is spun for them. When the wheel lands on ‘Spank’, all the people in Spank Alley go up to the course with Fly Swatters and start smacking them on the track. Then the penalized player skates by them bent over and gets her punished.
The ‘Reverse Spank’ is the opposite. And the pillow fight always turns into a brawl. Seriously, I have never seen women kick the crap out of each other like this.
Rumour has it that Toronto and Hamilton are setting up teams….
