The Broken Speaker presents Jenn Grant and Cuff the Duke

Posted on March 18, 2013 | Comments Off

Night of indie folk pop and rock jenn grant

Peanut butter and jam. Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble. Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. Jenn Grant and Cuff the Duke. There are some combos out there that just make sense and work well together. The two artists toured together fall of 2012 and are set to play more dates together again this winter.

The Broken Speaker and the Dalhousie Student Union present Jenn Grant and Cuff the Duke at the Grawood on Friday, March 23. Both bands have been busy bees over the past year. Jenn Grant is getting back from a SXSW trip. Before that she was busy collecting an ECMA for Pop Recording of the Year for The Beautiful Wild. Cuff the Duke are gearing up for their 4th release since 2011, the covers EP In Our Time Part II. This is the follow up to part 1, a release that came out last year. Additionally they released the two part album of original tracks, Union and Morning Comes.

Doors for the show are at 9 p.m. Tickets are available at the Student Union Building info desk for $10. Tix go up to $12 at the door. The show is open to Dal students, faculty, staff and guests and is restricted to 19+. Visit the Facebook event for more details.

Jenn Grant – The Fighter

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New music: Heaven for Real

Posted on March 15, 2013 | Comments Off

New music from the Grundy Brothers and Co.

heaven for real

After keeping pretty quiet on the interwebs since their inception, the dreamy Heaven For Real have released an album. The four track Wanton is now downloadable over on their bandcamp page as a pay-what-you-want sort of deal.

The three piece band, consisting of the Grundy Brothers of Quaker Parents fame on guitars/vocals and Nathan Doucet on drums, has been kicking around for a few months now mostly playing live shows including a show at Halifax Pop Explosion.

On the bandcamp site, they have the album tagged with “baby jazz”, “experimental pop” and “secret pop”. Sort of silly tags, but also a good indication of the type of music to expect. Four lush tracks that fall in the 2-3 minute range that don’t follow your typical song-chorus-song formula.

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New album and tour dates from Gianna Lauren

Posted on March 13, 2013 | Comments Off

gianna lauren

Halifax via Ottawa artist Gianna Lauren is set to release a new album, On Personhood, on April 2 via Forward Music.

The first single, “Trouble”, gives listeners a sneak peak at the direction Lauren is taking on the six track album. The song features soft and calm vocals set against guitar riffs that hang in the background like a looming storm but never quite breaking.

On Personhood tracklist

01. Trouble
02. Ghosts
03. Thread
04. Bitches Brew
05. Anchor Down
06. Power Failure

Tour Dates

April 3 – Toronto, Ontario -The Piston
April 4 – Montreal, Quebec - Qua Des Brumes
April 5 – Ottawa, Ontario - Raw Sugar Cafe
April 6 – Kingston, Ontario - The Artel
April 7 – Peterborough, Ontario - The Red Garnet
April 10 – Quebec City, Quebec - House Show
April 11 – Fredericton, New Brunswick - The Capital
April 12 – Halifax, Nova Scotia - Gus’ Pub
April 13 – Sackville, New Brunswick - The Black Duck

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10 ECMA gala observations

Posted on March 12, 2013 | Comments Off

David Myles is one skinny dude

rose cousins

1. Teamrose vs teammyles

The running joke all night was David Myles and Rose Cousins were competing for the best host award. While Cousins may have consistently had the best lines and jokes, Myles evened the playing field with two stunts. The first one was walking out to the mic in a bathrobe only to take it and reveal the human twig was wearing a speedo. He really has no fat or muscle on his bones. The second stunt was when the hosting duo were handed a gift bag with random items that they apparently didn’t know about beforehand. Rose Cousins acted puzzles by the cigarettes inside. When a copy of the most recent Sports Illustrated Swimsuit was pulled out, Myles quickly stated “I’ll take that and the lotion” resulting in a roar of laughter.  Eventually the Best Host award was given to Joel Plaskett who had a pre-recorded video where he thanked a number of people including Coldplay. On the awards front, Cousins has quite the night taking home Solo Recording of the Year and Songwriter of the Year to go along with the Folk Recording of the Year won earlier in the week.
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LISTEN: City and Colour – Of Space and Time

Posted on March 11, 2013 | Comments Off

New set to come out this summer

city and colour

Dallas Green, a.k.a. City and Colour dropped a new single from his upcoming summer release on Soundcloud today. The track “Of Space and Time” is tagged with ‘elephant’ and ‘roaming through the hills’, possibly clues about the name of the album but also words or phrases found in the song.

Sonically this is nothing new or surprising from Green, your typical lush acoustic guitar driven song with vocals that make you cry if your heart is sad.

The official City and Colour website is currently down, so perhaps we’ll find out more about the new album soon.

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ECMW25 Friday roundup

Posted on March 9, 2013 | Comments Off

PEI artists win big on friday

Coyote

Friday saw PEI bands Coyote take home the People’s Choice Rising Star award and fellow English Words win electronic recording of the year for Red Potion. English Words celebrated by playing to a jam packed Durty Nellys where the crowd was in a drunken tizzy. For a full list of award winners so far check out the ECMA website.

More photos after the jump.

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ECMW25 Thursday roundup

Posted on March 8, 2013 | Comments Off

Jenn Grant, Mo Kenney, Paper Lions and more perform Thursday

Jenn Grant

Thursday was the first full slate of shows as part of East Coast Music Week. Jenn Grant had a busy day, performing three shows including one out of the Red Bull tour bus on Grand Parade. She also took home her first ECMA for Pop Recording of the Year for The Beautiful Wild. 

The Cape Breton Embassy showcase brought music back to the Marquee, a venue that has been pretty idle the past few years with the exception of Halifax Pop Explosion. Carleton Stone was joined on stage by Breagh Mackinnon and Dylan Guthro. Mackinnon and Guthro played together earlier that night at the Company House.

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VIDEO: Mo Kenney – ECMW25

Posted on March 8, 2013 | Comments Off

Mo Kenney delights Company House crowd

Not many young artists can step onto a stage for a short set and sarcastically talk about Joel Plaskett producing her album and cover a Bowie song and actually pull it off.

Mo Kenney did just that at the Company House last night as part of East Coast Music Week. She showed great confidence on stage, equipped with an acoustic guitar and crowd that was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. With her dry sense of humour, she introduced songs and kept the mood light before playing some talented singer-songwriter stuff. The type of stuff that keeps you focused on what’s going on even if it is just one person and one instrument. Mo Kenney will be a mainstay in the East Coast Music scene for a long time.

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A few words with Jane’s Party

Posted on March 7, 2013 | Comments Off

This post originally was set to be posted in February right before the release of the ’Til You Got Yours EP by Toronto’s Jane’s Party. Unfortunately the blog was offline for two weeks so nobody actually got to read it. But here it is, an interview with Jane’s Party from the Carleton where I caught up with them before their Halifax show.

Jane's Party

Jane’s Party have recently released a new single/EP, ‘Til You Got Yours, a couple songs that double as a teaser for their new full-length album set to come out May 2013. The single and record was recorded at Zeus’ Ill Eagle Studio with Taylor Knox, a talented drummer who has played for The Golden Dogs, Zeus, Hayden, Rich Aucoin and many more. Basically he knows a thing or two about working with Canadian bands with a firm understanding of both rock and pop. Knox mixed, produced and engineered the record. Knox also jumped in laying down some percussion, singing backup vocals and playing rhythm guitar.

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ECMA show guide

Posted on March 6, 2013 | Comments Off

The 25th edition of the ECMAs kick off in Halifax today, but the majority of musicians and delegates descend on the city tomorrow. Thursday is highlighted by a freeshow at Grand Parade featuring Heather Green, Jenn Grant, The Stanfields and Ashley MacIssac. There are also a number of fantastic looking events at the Palace all weekend, with most of them including an award being dished out. If the full ECMA schedule is looking a little daunting, check out some of the highlights we’ve picked out of the schedule.

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