Megan Hamilton: New Album and Tranzac Residency

Toronto's Megan Hamilton has a new album coming and a residency at the Tranzac starting Feb. 26.

Her Album See Your Midnight Breath in the Shipyard will officially be turned loose on the world on April 7 - her own introduction to it is below.

Between now and then though, she will be playing the last Thursday of every month at the Tranzac and has a couple of Canadian Music Week showcases coming up as well. For the first Tranzac show (next Thursday) she will be joined by Lisa Bozikovic. After that try

Mar. 12th @ CANADIAN MUSIC WEEK SHOWCASE at Rancho Relaxo
Mar. 14th @ CANADIAN MUSIC WEEK SHOWCASE at Delaware House
Mar. 26th @ TRANZAC RESIDENCY w. Jimmy Rose
April 20th @ TRANZAC RESIDENCY w. Eric Welton

See Your Midnight Breath in the Shipyard - An Introduction



Photo (top left) by Paul Watson

Andrew Vincent & Cam Malcolm

So I went down to the Tranzac on Friday for Andrew Vincent's CD release party for Rotten Pear. Andrew Vincent was pretty much what you'd expect. I mean, if you're into brilliant songs from a talented singer, songwriter and musician done with sincerity and a sense of humor then you are a fan of Andrew Vincent. (He'll be in Peterborough at the Spill on Jan 29, Ottawa at the Gluepot Pub Jan 30 and at L'Escogriffe in Montreal on Jan. 31.) I also have some video from the Tranzac but that will come later. For the moment if you really want to grab the new album and aren't going to be at any of the upcoming shows head over to Zunior where you can listen to the new stuff and grab a digital copy of the album.

The real suprise of the night was Cam Malcolm and the Owls. I'd heard a few songs previously but wasn't really familiar with them. If the intersection of Joel Plaskett and the Kinks sounds like a place you'd like to check out then you should make an effort to check them out. Go to their Myspace for more info on when and where.

Cam Malcolm and the Owls - the Thing About Us

A Full Day of Great Music This Sat. at the Tranzac

This Saturday (January 10) at the Tranzac looks to be one of the best days of the year, certainly of the winter, for live music.

First at 12 noon in the Main Hall there is the "The Singing Lamb Launch Party" for singinglamb.com, on the bill are:

Montreal's Hexes and Ohs who I haven't caught yet but everyone I know who has is in love with them.

Winter Gloves also from Montreal - their song 'Factories' has been on heavy rotation on Radio 3 for awhile now.

Then Guelph's Green Go who have been generating significant buzz for about a year and who you might have caught on
King Kaboom

Toronto's Sports: the Band

and finally Ms. Maylee Todd. Maylee's first album isn't out until later this year but if you listen to Woodhands or Henri Faberge and the Adorables then you know the voice. It is, for me anyway, one of the most anticipated albums of 2009.

So that show is a whopping $5 but that's just the start. For another $10 bucks ($8 with a non-perishable food item) you can stay on for the Out of This Spark 2nd Anniversary Party. It starts at 8 and features: Forest City Lovers, the D'urbervilles, Timbre Timbre and Jenny Omnichord!

That is a whole day of good music for fifteen bucks! And it's a good excuse to stay inside all day on a cold, cold Saturday in January.

Now, giving credit where it's due I wouldn't have found out about this without Jennifer Polk. You can keep up with pretty much every indie music show in Toronto by following Jennifer's blog historyjen.blogspot.com or by joining her google group or her Facebook Group. You can also catch her weekly on the Zygiella Podcast.

Thanks Jen!!
H

Laura Barrett - Consumption Video

Video from Laura Barrett's CD release for 'Victory Garden' at the Tranzac in Toronto. As I've mentioned you can hear the entire concert at CBC Radio 2's concerts on demand. You can also but a copy on Zunior and vote for Laura (and other great Canadian artists) at the CBC Radio 3 Bucky Awards.





Laura Barrett - Consumption

Laura Barrett at Concerts on Demand

If you weren't able to make Laura Barrett's CD launch for the (soon to be Polaris nominated) Victory Garden now you can be (kinda). The show has been uploaded to CBC Radio 2's Concerts on Demand!

Both of the opening acts for the release were also included! So first have a listen to Dan Werb (of Woodhands).

http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/cod/concerts/20080921dwerb

Then the Ghost Bees from Halifax.

http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/cod/concerts/20080921ghost

and finally Laura herself
http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/cod/concerts/20080921lbart

If you can't find Laura's new album at your local record store you can grab a high quality, DRM free, MP3 version of the album (complete with album art) for the an extremely reasonable $8.88 at Zunior http://www.zunior.com/product_info.php?products_id=2149&mo=9&yr=2008

Laura Barrett shows off her Victory Garden on Sunday

This Sunday at the Tranzac in Toronto, Laura Barrett will unveil her new album "Victory Garden" over brunch. People will gather at 11:30 a.m. for a brunch catered by Barrett herself and then at 1:30 the music starts. Dan Werb of the Woodhands and Halifax's Ghost Bees will be joining Laura for the CD release.

Unlike Barretts previous EPs "Victory Garden" will feature a full band including Werb, Basia Bulat.

The first review is up on Eye Weekly:

"Barrett’s debut long-player (her EP Earth Sciences was re-released by Paper Bag in February) Victory Garden offers 13 originals and the addition of a full band — fleshed out by local players like Dan Werb, Basia Bulat and Paul Aucoin. Riding high on swoony melancholy and offset by cinematic shimmers of strings and woodwinds, the pervading plunk of Barrett’s kalimba plays like a children’s music box in double time, wisely employed as an accent rather than punctuation. Her emphatic storytelling works two ways: musical theatre monologue (“The Sharper Side” marries Sweeney Todd with Dancer in the Dark), and piano-bar camp (“Rien A Declarer” holds a franglais charm), aided by the ephemeral harmonies of Ghost Bees’ Sari and Romy Lightman. Though it sounds ready-made for book-club kids, Victory Garden is a compelling album even if you haven’t done all the required reading."

Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra: Thursday @ Tranzac

Normally this would go in the events section, but it's kinda last minute and by the time I send out the next events list it'll be over.

The Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra is playing an early show (7:30 pm) at the Tranzac tomorrow (Thursday, April 24).

Audio from the Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra is available at http://www.parkdalerevolutionaryorchestra.com.

Last Minute Gentleman Reg Show (Toronto)

According to a note sent out this morning Gentleman Reg (Reg Vermue) will be playing this Wednesday (April 23) at the Tranzac with Gret Aunt Ida and Bellewoods - the show will start at 9 pm and is expected to be over by midnight. Reg also mentioned that this is his first Toronto show since New Years and that this might be a 'disappearing act.' We'll hope not but I'll pass it on if I hear anything.

Gentleman Reg - Over My Head (directed by Sara St. Onge)

New Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra CD

Yesterday, Benjamin Mueller-Heaslip dropped by with a copy of the brand new Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra disc "Truth in the Dark. For those of you not familiar I have written quite a bit about Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra before, their sound is largely their own (some influences though are mentioned in the article linked to above.) There are times when you would say it is classical, and times you would say it's cabaret but after a full show (or a full listening to the new CD) you would have to agree that it's neither. It is definitely an alternative to alternative but not mainstream in any way. If that's something you'd like (even once in awhile) you might want to check out the CD release party this Friday.

Friday November 23
@ the Tranzac Main Hall (292 Brunswick Ave.)
$10 / $15 with CD

Featuring:

Music by The Silt (Ryan Driver, Doug Tielli, and Marcus Quinn)
Aerial Dance by Camille Greenstein
And "Much More!"

Samples of the Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra's new CD can be found at
http://www.parkdalerevolutionaryorchestra.com/ or http://www.myspace.com/parkdalerevolutionaryorchestra