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A Good Read A Good Listen and A Good Drink, Adam Sturgeon, WHOOP-Szo

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It’s a simple yet sublime pleasure, and just thinking about it can make you feel a little calmer, a little more content. Imagine: You bring out one of the good rocks glasses (or your favorite mug or a special occasion tea cup) and pour a couple fingers of amber liquid (or something dark and strong or just some whole milk). You drop the needle on the jazz platter (or pull up a blues album on your mp3 player or dig out that mixtape from college). Ensconcing yourself in the coziest seat in the house, you crack the spine on a classic (or find your place in that sci-fi paperback or pull up a biography on your e-book reader). And then, you go away for a while. Ah, bliss.

In this series, some of NTSIB’s friends share beloved albums, books and drinks to recommend or inspire.

WHOOP-Szo is a fluid musical collective currently operating out of Guelph/London, Ontario, Canada. Previously they were my most favorite purveyor of tone-poems inspired by the Canadian Arctic, but with Mirror North, the a-side of their offering for Record Store Day, things have taken a turn for the sludgy.

The record/song was created by an incarnation of the band that featured Adam Sturgeon, Eric Lourenco, Joe Thorner, and Kirsten Palm and recorded at the Quarantine in Port Greville, Nova Scotia with Colleen Collins and Dave Trenaman (Construction & Destruction) and Tim Glasgow (Metric, Sonic Youth).

It arrived in my inbox described as the sound of “a band in a single room; ocean, old cabin, blueberry hill, bear shit and all​” and, well, I don’t have much to add to that, really.

Well, ok, perhaps a few things: It has a certain hypnotic ebb and flow. I keep going back to it to sway along with the drum and meditate on the Baby I’m scared refrain and then be jarred back into alertness by the jagged roar of a guitar at the end. It sounds like the ocean in the sense that it sounds like the feeling of a great big rolling Atlantic breaker coming in, the choice: jump or dive, and the hard tug of the current that signals you’ll get hauled out to sea if you aren’t careful.

And now I turn the floor over to Adam Sturgeon, who has joined us today to share a favorite book, record and drink.

Whoop szo craven cottage-7941

A Good Read:

Kiss of the Fur Queen – Tomson Highway

This book speaks to me. It’s an emotional journey through one individuals life as affected by Residential School. It does a lot in that it makes me think of my own families history, and while notably different there are striking similarities that bring me close to my father and grandfather; building a greater capacity to understand our relationship. Not for the faint of heart, there is a huge let down as you hold hope that one character is different than the impending results.

A Good Listen:

Construction & Destruction – Mutatis Mutandis

How could we record our album with Colleen and Dave and not mention their albums. This one in particular has a ton of appeal for WHOOP-Szo as a band, our favourite track, The Bear:

A Good Drink:

Chaga [tea], [made from] the fungus that grows on Birch trees, a major influence on this record.

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Canadian Music Week: A Good Read A Good Listen and a Good Drink, Mary Caroline

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It’s a simple yet sublime pleasure, and just thinking about it can make you feel a little calmer, a little more content. Imagine: You bring out one of the good rocks glasses (or your favorite mug or a special occasion tea cup) and pour a couple fingers of amber liquid (or something dark and strong or just some whole milk). You drop the needle on the jazz platter (or pull up a blues album on your mp3 player or dig out that mixtape from college). Ensconcing yourself in the coziest seat in the house, you crack the spine on a classic (or find your place in that sci-fi paperback or pull up a biography on your e-book reader). And then, you go away for a while. Ah, bliss.

In this series, some of NTSIB’s friends share beloved albums, books and drinks to recommend or inspire.

For our second Very Special Presentation of A Good Read . . ., we’re jumping all the way up north to Yellowknife, NorthWest Territories, where singer/songwriter Mary Caroline divides her time between television and making indie-folk music.

As an introduction, here are some songs from her debut studio album, Life on Earth:

Songs of Winter is really about the end of winter, and romance blooming again in the spring:

Full Moon is surprisingly mellow, for a song about flying over thin ice and outrunning wolves:

And finally, the one that is probably my favorite, This Is Home, because it encapsulates the feeling of walking in the door and being able to exhale, and the subtle joy of sleeping in your own bed after a long time on the road.

And with that, I turn the floor over to Mary Caroline, who joins us today to share her favorite book, record, and drink.

Mary Caroline

Mary Caroline

A Good Read:

My favorite book is an easy one. It’s The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho. I read the Alchemist about once a year, and am always left inspired by it. Having just been on the road from January- March, and having very little money while on tour, and at times feeling deflated about my decision to pursue music full time, I would often think of the Sheppard in The Alchemist, and remind myself that following a dream isn’t easy, and isn’t always achieved in the way you expected it to be. Sometimes the harder you work at a goal the further you seem to be getting from it, and then all of the sudden you find yourself in an amazing situation that you always dreamed of.

A Good Listen:

I’m a big fan of Florence and the Machine‘s album, Lungs. I just love Florence Welch’s song writing. Its gritty and beautiful and strong. I’m a pretty solitary song writer, but I sometimes fantasize about polishing off a bottle of scotch with Florence Welch and writing songs together.

Florence +The Machine - Drumming Song

A Good Drink:

My recommended drink was introduced to me this past winter by my American friend, Ariel Benarroch. We work together on a TV show that is filmed in Yellowknife, and on our days off the whole crew would play hockey on an outdoor rink on Great Slave Lake. Each game, Ariel would bring out a thermos of hot buttered rum! Playing hockey in the sub-arctic is quite an experience. The guys would have frost encrusted beards and we would bring out the set lights so we could see the puck past 4pm, but it was really the hot buttered rum between periods that turned the weekly event into a utopic winter scene.

[Ed note: Great Slave Lake’s name has First Nations origins, and is derived from the name given to the local Dene by the Cree, who were their enemies.]

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Canadian Music Week: Cassie and Maggie MacDonald, Sterling Road

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Cassie and Maggie MacDonald. Photo credit: Haley Anne MacPhee

Cassie and Maggie MacDonald. Photo credit: Haley Anne MacPhee

Previously on NTSIB’s own personal Canadian Music Week: some rock, some punk, some sweet dirty blues, from the rust belt and the praries. Today we’re jumping out to the Maritimes, to Nova Scotia, and to Cassie and Maggie MacDonald, who have an invigorating sound that draws from Scottish, Irish and Cape Breton traditions.

Here are a few tunes from their new record, Sterling Road:

Jimmie’s, written for an uncle and the family farm, is a charming delight, sweet as sea breeze on a warm summer day:

The Dusty Meadow Variations, a glorious piano and fiddle romp:

And finally, their interpretation of Buain A’ Choirce (Reaping the Oats), a Scots Gaelic milling song, which I like because it is both beautiful and gloomy:

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Canadian Music Week: Two Songs from: The New Wild

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thenewwild2

The New Wild are Sean and Daniel Guezen of Winnipeg, Manitoba. They play heavy, bluesy garage rock, the kind of thing that will rattle your bones and pin your ears back if you’re standing in the front row.

This is Dallas, the first song from their self-titled EP, which causes me to sway along in my chair, grinning, every time I listen to it:

And this is Play It By Fear, from the same EP, which is . . . something of a cautionary tale, complete with guitars that burst out like the sharp end of a buzz-saw:

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Canadian Music Week: Steak and Eggs, Flamingo Bay

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flamingobayse

Steak and Eggs is the latest record from Flamingo Bay, of Hamilton, Ontario. Like it’s diner-staple namesake, this record is solid, filling, and comfortingly familiar without being tedious.

Here are some of the highlights:

Culprit of the Tahiti Pearl, is seven minutes long, and is really two, perhaps three songs in one. It is also the first song, and sets the swamp-garage tone for the record:

Checkout Line is the second song, and brings some stompy bluesy swagger to the proceedings:

And finally, Righteousness, the closest thing they have to a slow jam:

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Canadian Music Week: Heart Static, YouYourself&i

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So, as some of you may know, Canadian Music Week kicks off today in Toronto. I am not there, but, in honor of the occasion, I’ll be shining my light on some Canadian bands and musicians that I love.

First up: YouYourself&i (Daniel Gélinas), of Montréal, Québec, with a new EP Heart Static which I like because a) he does actually use static as an instrument! and b) the songs are like sonic puzzles, full of unusual shapes and complicated connections. The tone is gloomy, in places, but yet also shot through with bright shimmery tones.

As an example, here is Mummies, the first song on the EP:

And also Blubber, which I could perhaps describe as “a heartbroken computer muttering to itself:”

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A Good Read A Good Listen and A Good Drink: Lylit

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It’s a simple yet sublime pleasure, and just thinking about it can make you feel a little calmer, a little more content. Imagine: You bring out one of the good rocks glasses (or your favorite mug or a special occasion tea cup) and pour a couple fingers of amber liquid (or something dark and strong or just some whole milk). You drop the needle on the jazz platter (or pull up a blues album on your mp3 player or dig out that mixtape from college). Ensconcing yourself in the coziest seat in the house, you crack the spine on a classic (or find your place in that sci-fi paperback or pull up a biography on your e-book reader). And then, you go away for a while. Ah, bliss.

In this series, some of NTSIB’s friends share beloved albums, books and drinks to recommend or inspire.

Lylit, of Austria, is a classically trained pianist and jazz vocalist who studied at the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz, Austria. Now she’s brought her considerable talents to bear on pop music, and is releasing her first record today, called Unknown. It’s a collaboration with producer/drummer Andreas Lettner; Unknown is the first single from that record, and it is really great.

I liked it because it has a killer beat and is essentially about the joys of backflipping into the slipstream and calling the landing as you’re coming down.

And now, here is Lylit, to share a favorite book, record and drink.

Lylit_Unknown

A Good Read:

When I think of a good book, i think of the writer Martin Suter. He’s been fascinating me with his creations for years now. I read his novel A Perfect Friend in, I think, two days- I just couldn’t stop. A young man, called Fabio Rossi, finds himself waking up in the arms of a stranger, who claims to be his girlfriend and missing his entire memory of the last 50 days. His old girlfriend is now living with his best friend, his beloved ones turned their backs on him and his whole life seems to have changed in these last and lost weeks. From that moment on he tries to retrace his steps to find out the truth and getting to know his new life, while trying to get back his old one.

[Editor’s note: I could only find A Perfect Friend in German and French, but a few of his other novels, including The Chef, are available in English.]

A Good Listen:

My favourite soundtrack to this book would be the album Bon Iver by Bon Iver. It always makes me wander around in my own past, my memories and dream about things that might come.

Bon Iver - Perth (Deluxe)

A Good Drink:

If I had to choose a drink that would go perfect with this book then it would be a Mezcal Mule. I am a major foodie and this drink’s smokey and intense taste always gets me. A dark room, an old wooden table, a couple of slices of sourdough bread with olive tapenade, Perth coming out of the speakers and this book. Perfect night.

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A Good Read A Good Listen and a Good Drink, Catherine Feeny

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It’s a simple yet sublime pleasure, and just thinking about it can make you feel a little calmer, a little more content. Imagine: You bring out one of the good rocks glasses (or your favorite mug or a special occasion tea cup) and pour a couple fingers of amber liquid (or something dark and strong or just some whole milk). You drop the needle on the jazz platter (or pull up a blues album on your mp3 player or dig out that mixtape from college). Ensconcing yourself in the coziest seat in the house, you crack the spine on a classic (or find your place in that sci-fi paperback or pull up a biography on your e-book reader). And then, you go away for a while. Ah, bliss.

In this series, some of NTSIB’s friends share beloved albums, books and drinks to recommend or inspire.

Catherine Feeny, indie folk solo artist has teamed up with jazz percussionist Chris Johnedis to make a record, and it’s scheduled to emerge into the world later this month. I’ve had the pleasure of listening to some tracks ahead of time, and here’s what I can tell you: it’s a many-faceted folk-jazz fusion gem.

These are the two songs that are currently available the listening public. The first one is called Harm and is about unapologetically loving people that might be (probably are) bad for you, because, well, it’s a thrill.

The second one, Carrier Pigeon, is about toxic love letters. I think. Maybe just about the power of love letters. It’s lovely, anyway, and left me thinking about the thrill of receiving actual mail from loved ones, of delicate air mail paper and foreign stamps, of addresses written out, some with care, others, in an untidy scrawl. And, too, the letters that people keep – that I have kept – even when everything else has burned down or faded away.

And with that, I turn the floor over to Catherine Feeny, who has graciously agreed to join us today and tell us about a favorite book, record and beverage:

CFCJcolor Chris Johnedis (left) and Catherine Feeny (right)

A Good Read

I am always a few years behind on my reading — I tend to find books in free piles or on the sale shelf. I just picked up The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach, and I really enjoyed it. It is an intelligent, generous, entertaining novel with a large cast of characters that is long enough to let you really dig in. And badass Harbach founded N+1, a rad New York-based magazine and publisher.

A Good Listen

One of my favorite records of the year is Comfort in Doubt by Portland-based band Sama Dams. It is dark and complex and compelling. Sam and Lisa Adams are the husband-wife team who share writing and vocals, taking turns behind a weird 70s organ. Chris Hermsen, the drummer, is this passionate mathematical genius who alternates between cool reserve (as in the song My Ears Are Ringing) and unbridled energy. They are friends as well, so I get to see how they work up close.

Sama Dams - My Ears Are Ringing

A Good Drink

My favorite drink right now is a fermented tea called puerh. The tea is picked and then they get it wet in massive piles and let it sit. Finally, they dry it into cakes. When you find a good one (and they vary a lot) it has this rich, yet mellow concentrated ‘tea’ flavor. You can steep the leaves several times — often for the second steeping I let it sit overnight with cardamom seeds then heat it with milk and honey.

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TIO, A Simple Way

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And now for something that does not involve a couch: A Simple Way, by TIO, of Toronto.

This song is everything I like about electronic music: hypnotic, shimmery, but with a hint of drone, sandpaper and ancient videogames. Plus some ambiguously sexy cover art. Come, let us listen and squint at that picture and wonder if it’s a dick together.

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The Honorable South, Faithful Brave & Honest

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Faithful Brave & Honest is the second full-length from The Honorable South, and while a little bit more mellow than I Love My Tribe, it is no less delightful. Their funky soul vibe is very much intact; if anything the slightly slower pace gives one more space to appreciate their complex jams and Charm Taylor’s beautiful voice.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Overdue, which has trippy alternating tones floating over a slow, hypnotic beat:

Champagne, which is built around a heavy, aggressive rock and roll guitar:

And finally The Sun Dance, which is fluid and mellow and a call to try harder and shine brighter: