Our weekly (or however often) roundup of this week’s discoveries and old faves. Usually it’s friends of mine or just music I like. Now including “liner notes” to help guide you through this journey and hopefully introduce you to some new, great music!
THIS MAD DESIRE / JESSICA MAGOCH –O COME ALL YE FAITHFUL
Our version of O Come All Ye Faithful is our latest contribution to the Christmas cannon and appears on our new EP Holiday Classics V1 which features Jessica and moi singing this one, Deck The Halls, the Fanfare Edition of my original This Christmas (co-written with Kim Thompson) and a few alternate versions. The instrumental arrangement is mine and it’s pretty faithful to the traditional tune. Because Jessica lives in the Philadelphia area and I’m in the Toronto area, we recorded this remotely, which I’m finding to be a great way to work. We didn't have to take any airplanes or make much of a carbon footprint at all! My friends Carleen in LA and Cheryle Dueck in Toronto both sang background vox and are featured on the classic-looking album cover image. We are trying to get an endorsement from Whoopi Goldberg so if any of you know her, please get in touch!
SELINA MARTIN –IF YOU WERE A RIVER
Another great track from Selina Martin. This one’s very melodic and pretty and drenched in really gorgeous reverbs. I’ve been a fan of Selina’s for years and we’ve crossed paths a few times. The first time I encountered her was at the Albion Hotel in Guelph –which was one of my go-to places to see/perform live music in Guelph when I was in university. This one night Selina was opening for Bob Wiseman and totally blew me away with her singing, performance, and clever songwriting. Even more surprising it was to me when she was also part of Bob’s band! In fact, she sang lead on some of his songs including Airplane on the Highway and I have to admit that when I bought the Bob Wiseman Sings Wrench Tuttle album with Airplane, I was disappointed that she wasn’t singing! Anyway, I like to keep up with whatever she’s releasing. She has some really great stylistic traits in her songwriting including a use of half-steps that I really like that create lots of musical tension.
KARI LYN –DAYLIGHT
Kari’s new single! Our favourite Cottage Core Rockstar comes from PEI and lives in Toronto now. She sings background vocals on Deck The Halls on our new Holiday Classics V1 EP. She has a great voice and definitely is someone to keep an eye on!
CARLEEN –NEED TO BE
Carleen’s new single! Our favourite Alternate-Folk-Fusion artist in Los Angeles. Carleen and I have just written a song that should come out next year and she appears on O Come All Ye Faithful above as a background singer. This new song is an anthem about personal strength and reminds me a bit of certain Madonna eras.
GREG SPERO/RUSLAN SIROTA/MONONEON/ROBERT SPUT SEARIGHT –ORGANIZED CRIME
I’ve known Greg for a couple of years now and had some funny exchanges on socials. I met him as the CEO of Pitch, which is an app where you can bid on things an artist should do and then if the money looks right, the artist can do it! Anyway, I then found out he was the touring keyboardist for Halsey, and I was like, “Who is Halsey?” and then my buddy Erica Corbo in Philly explained to me how cool Halsey is and I have since dove right into her catalogue. Greg is a fantastic piano and keyboard player and this is his latest jam. It’s great!
TONE 30 –EVIDENCE, PT. 1
I just learned about Tone 30 from crossing paths online at Indie Week and I’m quite enjoying these instrumentals. Looking forward to hearing more. I also thought that an instrumental called Evidence made sense after one called Organized Crime. Lol
THIS MAD DESIRE –STORM THE COUNTRYSIDE
One of my personal favourite tracks on our new album OPEN HEARTS OPEN MINDS. It’s a pretty old song and I’ve recorded various versions in the past but this one is the latest and maybe the greatest. It’s definitely the shortest. In its original form, it was almost twice as long but I was able to trim some of the instrumental bits to get it down to a more manageable length. I also really had to dig into old recordings to learn the parts of my former bandmates Gerald Taylor on bass and Bonar Bulger on guitar. I even emailed Bonar asking if he could remember what he played. Dan Konopka from OK Go is on drums on this one. It has one of my personal favourite lyrics as well. Very carpe diem!
PUSCIFER –THE REMEDY
Great track about internet trolls.
BOXCAR BEN/KRISTEN PRINCE –LITTLE PILOT
I’ve known Boxcar for a few years. We met at an open stage downtown Hamilton and then he opened a gig for me and I’ve tried to keep an eye on his sonic output. This is a brand new track and features Kristen Prince on sax. This track seems particularly good to my ears.
SARAH SLEAN –THE DARK
I’ve been a fan of hers since she burst onto the scene years ago. Most recently she’s been playing Joni Mitchell songs with orchestras across Canada. How cool is that?? I’m sure we’ll cross paths at some point and I, for one, cannot wait! This track really appealed to my philosophical sensibilities as it looks both outwards into the expanse of space and inwards to the machinery of love in the human heart.
LADYTRON –CITY OF ANGELS
I’m not sure how or why Ladytron became so cool but whatever they’re on, I want it!
THE BEATLES –GOT TO GET YOU INTO MY LIFE
I wanted to check out this new mix of Revolver, which is something of a technological marvel. I won’t bore you with details but the way they recorded their initial albums was archaic to say the least, which only makes their sonic achievements that much more breathtaking. I don’t like the Beatles that much, but I’ve always liked this song.
JOHN CALE/WEYES BLOOD –STORY OF BLOOD
John Cale and Weyes Blood? ‘Nuff said.
MOBY / VIKINGUR OLAFSSON –GOD MOVING OVER THE FACE OF THE WATERS
Moby is obviously known as a techno/EDM artist so this album of orchestral versions of his tunes is a very cool idea and everyone knows I love the piano playing of Icelander Vikingur Olafsson so obviously this track is fantastic.
KISS –I WANT YOU (LIVE)
This comes from the super deluxe edition of Creatures of the Night that just came out and includes demos and live tracks, etc. This recording is interesting as it’s the only “classic era” track presented in a live version here (all the others are COTN songs) and so we get to hear Vinnie Vincent and Eric Carr playing on this one. There isn’t a whole lot of Eric Carr live stuff available officially so that alone is already noteworthy. The guitar solo is pretty different and Eric was always a heavier drummer than Peter Criss and that’s true here as well. Definitely interesting but I prefer the version on Alive II.
And with that, this wraps up this week’s playlist. Hope you enjoyed it!!
If you like this playlist, please share it and follow these artists. Music is the fuel that fills our soul.
If you are an artist that would like to be included in the future, reach out anywhere and I’d love to check out your tunes!
Yours in music,
Mac