Listen Locally

Arkells

A couple months ago I wrote this article on the "ARKELLS" for the paper:
http://www.thehamiltonspectator.com/Entertainment/article/363036

Since then, local gentlemen the Arkells have been hard at work. New album coming out, hopefully in the fall. The reason I'm writing about them again is because I'm listening to them on the Toronto based radio station EDGE 102.1 FM. They just finished up an interview, and now they're performing live. The broadcast is live from the pre-Edgefest party. Tomorrow they're opening up the main stage at the station's mega music festival, EDGEFEST. Hearing them on the radio giving an interview and performing instills a local pride within. Knowing that a little band we've watched grow from the "Charlemagne" days  had what it takes to become even just a little bit bigger, proves that talent and lots of hard work eventually pay off.  Next week they're heading out west to open for the Black Crowes.

At the risk of repeating myself, I'll let you read the original article to get the details.

Congrats Arkells!

The Millions Too Many

It was a moment. And it happened. And we were there. A Northern Chorus played their last chords.

"I'm a bit verklempt" joked Stu Livingstone, co-founding member of the band. It may have been Pete Hall, the other half of the founding members, who knows. Other than voices, distinguishing anything onstage was tricky. The room was so full, the stage was hard to see.

They were one of those bands. All about atmosphere. It was a combination of layered voices, cellos, guitars, drums and a violin that set a breathtaking stage. It's a shame it took their demise to bring fans, friends and family together to share the night.

The band began their set with the title track from The Millions Too Many. In a recent conversation with Pete Hall, he explained the motivation behind the label. "The Millions too many is basically a comment on just how huge the music world is now," says Hall, "There are so many bands touring and putting out records that it's very difficult to find your own place."

From that point on there was no turning back. Attempting to remember specifically what songs were played is next to impossible. A good chunk of every A Northern Chorus release was performed. After a solid hour of music, the crowd was still going strong as was the the band. Few, if any, audience members had left their spot on the floor. The night was almost over, as the clock struck 1:30 a.m. This was the moment of the first "break". You knew they'd come back, but you still cheered them on. After a few sips the band collected themselves again and played four more songs or so. Quarter to two, they're done for good this time, right? Right? Tears were shed. Eight years of solid music and touring about to come to an end.
One more song. Skeleton Keys.
"You know this kind of thing has never happened before. You know this kind of thing will never happen again."

And it was over.

New Harbours Music Series

Picture this. You're taking a stroll down James North one Friday night, enjoying the monthly Art Crawl, when suddenly you hear noise coming out of Christ's Church Cathedral (at 252 James N). I know I'd be interested in finding out what the heck was going on. And I was. And I did. Perhaps you will.

The New Harbours Music Series began in April, presented by the Hamilton Artists Inc. Since then, on the second Friday of the month during the ever popular social outing that is James North Art Crawl, experimental music has been tested out inside the church. Past performers include Polmo Polpo, Orphx, Michael Snow and Matthew Boughner.

Tonight, at 9 p.m. listeners and art fans alike can bear witness to out-of-town experimental act Slither perform with local artist Fossils warming up the crowd, free of charge. Attaching live music to the Art Crawl adds yet another medium to the already stellar displays.

CHRIST'S CHURCH CATHEDRAL

FRIDAY NIGHT

9  P.M.

FREE

www.myspace.com/newharbours

You, me and International Skweee makes three

Slow Hand Motëm is known for bringin' the fonk to Hamilton. The gentleman known as Motëm, GBZ, or even Gregg to his friends has dabbled in a style of music without a name in any part of the world. To sum it up, that's what Slow Hand Motëm is.   "Whaaaaa?" you ask. Exactly. That's it.

"We're hosting a Skweee show in a couple weeks" Mr. Motëm informed me a few weeks back. I was baffled with this term. Politely, I nodded, thinking he had said something completely different and changed the subject. I still wondered what I missed in the conversation, because he continued to talk about it. Asking for clarification would have been too simple, I apologize for my ignorance after the fact. Then I found the post online: "Skweee Invasion!". That's the word. Skweee. S-k-triple-e. I was directed to the ever-knowledgeable Wikipedia (this site seems to be a common thread with Slow Hand Motëm, hear: Home Alone). I'm trying to write Skweee for Dummies here. Synths, funkin' bass lines and soulful rhythms pepper the sounds of Skweee.

But Slow Hand Motëm is not a Skwee band. An album called International Skw*** Compilation was released by Skweee label Harmönia in Finland, featuring a SHM tune.

"I think they call Slow Hand Motëm 'Skw***', like on the compilation," explains Motëm, "It's not quite Skweee [explaining the expletive deleted asterisks]. No one around the world knows exactly what to call the Slow Hand Motëm music, which is how I like it."

The connecting factor between Slow Hand Motëm and Skweee is the Funk. The groups pull from inspirations in the funk music genre.

Skweee music bubbled to the surface for Gregg just last summer. After finding out about the obscure music on the internet, he was in contact with Harmönia. "I had never tried to make Skweee music in a contrived way or anything," says Gregg, "It just happened naturally."

So he made his funk, and they made theirs. Until now. A plethora of Skweee bands got a hold of Slow Hand's music and re-re-re-remixed it. So far, Skweee artists Limonious, Mesak and Mrs. Qeada have put their spin on Motëm tunes. This resulted in an upcoming Slow Hand Motëm remix album. The remix album doesn't only feature artists from Northern Europe, though. Local DJ's, MC's and artists have lent their talents to the SHM remixes. That list includes Soundambulist, Riddle Lizard, The Intuitive Hypa, Good Rev Overdrive, Solid DJ Oak and Bocce among many others. The disc is expeceted for the summer, and I'll be sure to let you know exactly when.

Everyone wants a piece of Motëm. Harmonia artist PJVM is set to perform his first Canadian show, with Motëm by his side. This show is happening June 28th. If you're interested contact me here or SHM himself through myspace.

 

Pick up SLOW HAND MOTEM's latest release Ear Sports through www.somethingsecret.ca.

www.myspace.com/slowhandmotem    Slow Hand Motëm

www.myspace.com/harmoenia            Harmonia

www.myspace.com/reklamaatio          PJVM

 

 

Como Dices En Espanola? A Project By Aaron Goldstein

When I mention the phrase “one-man band” what do you think of? A lone performer, instruments strapped to every available limb, creating a sound full of off-beats and staccato rhythms?

A street busker with an overturned cap singing for his supper?

That’s not what I mean at all. Meet Aaron Goldstein, local music sage. Ask him for his credentials and he’ll hand you a business card. This guy has a resume longer than… well that’s a tough one. Usually in a situation where I try to exaggerate the length of one’s resume I use Aaron as the punch line. Time for some new material, I s’pose. This revolving door performer has been in/is a member of an infinite number of musical projects. Solidly, he’s a member of local heavy alt-country band Jawbone (a name derived from a release by weighty (ha) influence ‘The Band’), and plays steel and electric guitar as one of Dan Griffin’s Regrets. Goldstein is also a founding father of the Hamilton collective the Surly Young Bucks, and boy are they surly. Their on-again-off-again status led me to list them separately from the solid list. I think they’re at on-again, but don’t quote me.

“I like to lend my talents,” says Aaron Goldstein, “I’ve always been more of a side man then right up front.” For someone with this much skill, he’s modest too. “Everyone has something to offer” he says. This mantra keeps the Bucks going, as their roster revolves quite a bit.

Aaron can also be found gigging around town with locals Matt Paxton and Ben Somer when not performing, recording or producing with (hold your breath) Arkells, Deromantic, Drew Smith, The Foreign Films, Junior Boys, (still with me?), Shotgun Jimmie, The Spades, Stumbleweed and Tom Wilson. And he used to play in a Led Zeppelin cover band.

What could be next for Mr.Goldstein? A solo project of course. Class, please welcome Espanola our new teacher in the subject of good ol’country with a hint of ragged rock’n’roll.

“I’m warning you,” Goldstein, er, warns, “This new stuff is very Gram Parsons...drunk Gram Parsons”. Espanola is a new venture for the freshly solo artist. The idea of working on his own had always kicked around in the back of his mind, but was never a priority.

“I only really decided a couple of weeks ago to do this [Espanola] because I was offered a gig and realized a member of every one of my other bands was out of town that weekend,” says Goldstein. So he sat down with some notebooks, and looked through some old material. The songs he performs are what one could call “homeless”- think the island of misfit toys in the Rudolph Holiday Special. A twang here, a twang there, and they just didn’t fit with a band. Besides, everyone else was making a record, so why not?

He records all of the instruments and vocals himself. “Being on my own for once provides me with complete artistic control,” says Goldstein, “From the beginning I knew exactly how I wanted it to sound and now I can call all the shots.”

Aaron will (without a doubt) be meticulously writing, recording and performing for the next while. The inaugural Espanola gig happened this past weekend (with backing band the Northwest Division) on the Jackson Square Rooftop in the blistering heat. He's got some out of town dates with Dan Griffin and The Regrets coming up, but the next time you can catch him in Hamilton is July 1st at "It's Your Festival" in Gage Park performing with Jawbone. 

For show dates, music samples, and more visit www.myspace.com/thegoodrevoverdrive
(Photo by Aimee Rochard)