Author: mcshanahan

It’s almost ironic to find an often synthesizer-heavy electro-rock/pop band like Metric, and lead singer Emily Haines, pleading “Hey! I’m not synthetica” on the title track of their new album, released in June 2012. On second thought, though, as the lyrics suggest, there’s a distinct difference between using synthetic sounds to express human emotions and becoming a manufactured and fabricated being, something made by someone else.

We’re all the time confined to fit the mold
But I won’t ever let them make a loser of my soul Continue reading “What does synthetic mean in Metric’s “Synthetica”?”

This song, from Saskatoon’s The Deep Dark Woods 2011 albumThe Place I Left Behind, is the sonic equivalent of simple food. Cooked with the finest ingredients and given careful attention to detail, dishes made with few ingredients can take your breath away. Continue reading “The Deep Dark Woods “Sugar Mama” even better appreciated thanks to Hermann von Helmholtz”

It’s the Canada Day long weekend here in the true north strong and free (okay even Edmonton isn’t that far north, but it’s part of our national identity so forgive me). It seems like as good a time as any to say something:

Dear Canadian Music,

I love you. Maybe I should be more coy in expressing my feelings but I really can’t. Continue reading “A love letter to Canadian music with Thrush Hermit’s From the Back of the Film”

Casually reading online last week, I thought about the staying power of different pieces of news. In my informal recollection and comparison, hardly another individual incident has shown up more often in my online reading spaces, from such a variety of friends and acquaintances, and for such an extended a time period as the death of Ray Bradbury on June 5. It’s a strong indication of the prolific writer’s impact on several generations of readers. Ray Bradbury was a storyteller in the truest and most powerful sense, filling readers with grief and joy in sometimes just a few short paragraphs. Continue reading “In honour of Ray Bradbury, Robin Woywitka’s bar fight in space”

With a candle in my hand and squeezed onto a picnic blanket full of friends, I’ll soon be spending another August weekend at the Edmonton Folk Festival. Tickets sold out in an hour on Friday morning, and I’m pretty pleased to have a pair. One of the acts I’m most looking forward to this year is Bahamas, the stage name of Toronto guitarist and singer Afie Jurvanen. Once a regular supporting player for Feist, his second solo album Barchords was released in February, much anticipated after his Polaris Prize nominated debut.

As Bahamas, he has created fascinating mix of breezy light songs that pulse with an undercurrent of melancholy. They seem almost forgettable at first and then grab hold of something and don’t let go. Part of the appeal is his rich soft voice. There’s also his attention to detail in how every plucked string sounds, often using vintage guitars from the 50s and 60s to get just the right tone. This week’s song, though, is even more clever than that. Continue reading “Bahamas’s Caught Me Thinking and the Shepard Tone”