The second year of the second decade of the new millennium made my music belly go up a notch on its belt. Peterborough has always been prolific in the audible arts, but something is happening right now that is pretty special.
Be that as it may, being a musician does not necessarily mean you have any marketing sense, so there is a good chance that almost all of you have no idea that this is happening, and to be fair I might also be missing out if it wasn’t my remunerated interest to not be (never!). So in the afterglow of holiday giving, for the remainder of the month I will be bestowing upon you a selection of my favourite 2011 efforts by Peterborough artists of all genres. If you are tempted by my hyperbole, please purchase the band’s music on the web, or see them live at one of Peterborough’s fine venues. January is a lean month and the musician’s winter stores (beer) are sure to be growing thin.
The Express & Co. – Self Titled E.P.
Country music has roots in Peterborough.I mean this in both the party in the back, cowboy barfing outside the Montreal house AND the politely playing banjo at the farmers market ways.And while I am not one to debase the occasional spiritual purging, the timbre of the following group can be deduced through the fact that a member actually DOES play banjo (politely) at the farmers market every Saturday on Lansdowne St.Dylan Ireland and the Express and Co. have managed to evoke the wide open spaces and dusty highways we associate with the genre, while keeping perspective through contemporary lyrical imagery.On the bands 2011 self titled EP, all this is accomplished in a “sad tip of the hat before I turn and walk away” kind of way. While the band does not offer anything wildly new, their sound is comfortable enough that it won’t matter to most.Give this a listen if you used to like Cuff The Duke before they abandoned prettiness for whatever it is they do now.
Listen to “Out by the trees” at expressco.bandcamp.com
Soul Natural – The Way Out is In
Fraser McDonald is a local spoken work poet.It is no surprise that his hip-hop project “Soul Natural” tends towards wordiness.Although this can be a disaster for flow, I think McDonald pulls it off.The extra syllables sometimes push him over the expected length of a bar, which creates a stagger in the sound and an extra point of interest.The lyrics are positive and intelligent, his tendency towards moving back to standard phrases about his “spitting rhymes” (etc) lead me to think that sections of the album were free styled into existence during the recording process.The record has six producers involved to varying degrees of success.Some tracks are incredibly tight, the borrowing reflex endemic to hip-hop is upheld on track five, which is lifted from Lalo Schifrin’s “Danube Incident” (made popular through Portishead’s “Sour Times”).If you enjoy books and social justice, Adeem and Lateef the Truth speaker, chances are you’ll dig Soul Natural.
Listen to “Im ILL” at myspace.com/thinkingrhythm
Fire Flower Revue – White and Blue Album
The first time I met Jarret Prescott, he drank all my wine and told me he loved me... I said thanks. These days I see him all over town on brisk jogs, or gazing thoughtfully out his storefront window.I’ve been wracking my brain trying to figure out how this is a metaphor for the evolution of his electronic music project.Here’s what I’ve come up with.Fire Flower Revue is smarter now, more composed.The production is crisp and clean, the ever present garbled and filtered vocals have developed into the texture they were always reaching for.The mix of European scales played mournfully on an accordion or melodica with warm synths and technology beats create slow atmosphere, a visceral sense of time.While I was a big fan of his efforts with indie-electro and “club bangers,” the sophistication of this record is a really comfortable transition for me. Perhaps the collaboration with Meg Kendrick on the last couple albums has clicked something into place.It takes a true artist to mature with their audience, and even more so with themselves.I have long believed that Fire Flower Revue was Canada’s best undiscovered.And now I fear our city’s intimate relationship with the group is nearing its end. This record is going to come in slow and last a long time.
Listen to “your wet basement” at fireflowerrevue.bandcamp.com
