#ontario music

[michaelelvidge]

Michael Elvidge - Hear It All Tomorrow (2015)

Just finished this new music video for my song "Hear It All Tomorrow", this originally appeared on Coverage Records 001 Michael Elvidge self titled album. One of my more popular songs you can buy it here on bandcamp https://michaelelvidge.bandcamp.com/album/michael-elvidge

[blackmarket-playlists]

Playlist with NEW SHOEGAZE FROM CANADA on Spotify with a new playlistcover: the fantastic band DEER FANG (three great singles released so far). Swirling elements of grunge, shoegaze & alternative. Ontario-based.

Recently added also great new songs by, a.o.: • Softcult - '9 Circles', one of the most wonderful songs on her brand new album ‘Heaven’.

• never easy - 'choke', another nu-gaze killer tune

• Heavydive - 'Escondidos' from the brilliant, brand new album 'Foreign Patterns'

• la lune - 'i feel like i'm pretending' from their stunning new ep 'disparity'

and many more!

104 songs/ different bands to discover; emerging and/ or unsigned artists mostly, current songs only, updated regulary, hand-curated.

[thepermanentrainpress]

BRENDAN SCOTT FRIEL: 2021

2021 – Brendan Scott Friel Release Date: October 13, 2023

Track Listing:

Tiny Machines

Resolutions

Simon the Doubter

Michelle

Tuesday Morning

Let’s Get Together Soon

Cold Air

It’s Just Been a Hard Year

This is an album Brendan has put a lot of clear expression, emotion, and effort into. The production, particularly for a solo artist, is smooth yet detailed. It reminds me of Sufjan Stevens: very soft, sad, and reflective in a personal way.

There are little details in the background of the production best appreciated on headphones. The rhythm time and the horn section are examples of the subtle engineering. There's some deep bass, mellow guitar, and rising sounds that I took in more with every listen.

A major theme is the singer's grief following the loss of his father. Other subjects intertwined include the juxtaposition of fun and happy memories while grieving, and the toll Covid and quarantine took on his psyche alongside the world. 

"Tiny Machines" starts off very slow before a rapid tempo change halfway through. This runs parallel with the lyrics – the contrast between trying to sleep and the symphony of thoughts occupying Brendan's head. It's an interesting and even jarring entrance with the sudden shift in style, but it sets the atmosphere for what is to come.

"Resolutions" was my personal favourite from the album. It's upbeat, detailed, and probably the most "fun" of the tracks considering the context. It's also the happiest of the stories told here. Amongst seemingly endless grief there is joy, beauty, and a meaningful connection in the world taking place. It is sparks lit up, metaphorically and literally amongst the final minutes of New Year's Eve. 

The third track echoes the content of "Tiny Machines," both featuring feelings of being restless and out of control, trapped and confused, "floating away." There's some good rising trumpet halfway through, and the guitar riff stands out for being rapid. The tempo syncs up to the themes of stress – as if the guitar is a pounding heartbeat.

"Michelle" is the story of the singer's sister and his perspective on their shared loss. He reflects on their distance and failed connection. He also describes how she is processing the grief during all the other stressful aspects of life, like motherhood. While very sad in context, it also ends on a note of hope – unconditional love and support.

The string section/riff on "Tuesday Morning" is genuinely moving. One finds themself lost in sadness just from the sound of that violin. It is met with lyrics of depression, of not being able to leave your bed. All that while dealing with a dying loved one, and the guilt felt of suppressing the grief and miserable feelings. 

"Let's Get Together Soon" is the tale of running into an old friend, and the understanding that comes with seeing the relationship in a new context. It's a very human story that most people go through at some point: feelings of regret in a dissolved friendship, and thinking about things you wish you'd done differently. The story describes the friend pulling away after the death of their father, and the narrator's realization and empathy of their behaviour in the aftermath. We all get older, lose loved ones, and have social relationships come and go. Brendan has captured the feeling not just lyrically, but musically and emotionally. You can really feel what's going on, almost as if it's happening to you personally.

"Cold Air" is another track reflecting on past memories, happier times, and that special feeling of being out with friends one particular night. Of course, the feeling is interrupted by a wave of grief and the narrator departing. As he walks home, he reflects on his circumstances ("What the hell am I doing here?"), aging, and what comes next. It's another wave of mixed feelings most of us go through at some point – all the more striking when processing loss. You can practically feel the cold air in the lyrical description.

The final track is simple lyrically and musically. It concludes stating the obvious – "It's Just Been a Hard Year" and the absence that comes with losing a loved one is overwhelming. Where do you go? What are your blessings? Are you processing the grief properly? When will you feel better? These are the questions the singer asks himself, and they have no easy answers. 

2021 is a deeply personal album crafted with beauty and integrity. It isn't exactly something you can dance to, and one should be in the right headspace to listen to it. Nevertheless, it's lovely and cathartic. 

Written by: Cazzy Lewchuk

[hwy95eh]

[09-06-23]

SHUFFLE UPDATE: ONTARIO | PROVINCIAL PLAYLISTS

🗣 EVERY Friday, I do a shuffle update on a MOUN.TOWN/FM mix cd playlist — ANNNND — this week’s “shuffle up’d 8” comes from the ongoing '95 tracks from 95 different artists' soundtrack of tunes exported from the Canadian province of ‘ONTARIO'… which you can tune into whenever/wherever you are (or whatever) + you can find more context & things over on the full blahg post (including available-on-Bancamp links/embeds & more): hi54.blog/content/ontario-hi54mixcds 🤘

[riphertoshreds]

Alejandra Villarreal at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto, Ontario on October 30, 2024. Photographed by David McDonald.

[pr4dictable]

video of kittie, making of the second album 'oracle' - 05.2001

[stylized-corpse]

Tonight in Ottawa!

[youliveonavenueq]

I AM SO SICK OF ONTARIO!!! GUYS THERE ARE OTHER PLACES IN CANADA!!!!!! OH, LOOK, THEYRE DOING A PRODUCTION OF RENT, COOL LET’S ALL GO SEE IT, OH WAIT WE FCKIN CANT BECAUSE ITS IN ONTARIO DAMMIT!!!! GUYS LOOK A PRODUCTION OF FALSETTOS, WE CANT SEE IT, ITS IN GODDAMN TORONTO!!!! GUYS LOOK A PRODUCTION OF MY FAVOURITE MUSICAL, WE CANT SEE IT THOUGH, I’LL LET YOU GUESS WHY……THATS RIGHT! IT’S IN ONTARIO!!!! GUYS!!! THERE 👏 ARE 👏 OTHER👏 PLACES 👏 IN 👏 CANADA

(not a complaint about people from Ontario or Ontario, JUST THE FACT THAT EVERYTHING IS ALWAYS THERE AS IF CANADA WAS JUST ONE BIG GODDAMN ONTARIO.)

[johntorrington]

highly recommend walking around your mom’s dismal hometown alone in the cold listening to the disco elysium soundtrack. it will make it worse

[sothisisablog]

Calling all Greek Mythology theatre kids.

The following play will be running the Stratford Festival from August-September 2025.

[michaelelvidge]

Michael Elvidge guitar warm up July 4 2023.

[pecan390]

An introduction!!

[thepermanentrainpress]

New Music Video: “Worse For Wear” - Portraitures

[cogumellow]

decadence (iykyk) // toronto, canada // 2010 // ©

[riphertoshreds]

Dany Villarreal at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto, Ontario on October 30, 2024.

[rizno]

Try Honesty (Billy Talent) [Music Video]

I'm insane, it's your fault, so sly Your well of lies ran dry And I cut the cord, free fall From so high we seem so small