I dunno if anyone still reads this blog, but I'm no longer updating it.
If you like my writing, please check out MONDO Magazine and search for Jake. I'm the music editor and I write fairly often.
Cheers,
Jake.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
New column in Wavelength Magazine!
Toronto's Wavelength Magazine is featuring my new monthly column!
"Fear of a French Planet" will focus on Francophone music from Montreal, but is geared toward Anglophones from outside of Quebec. Each month I will discuss/review a new local artist in the hopes of spreading some of Montreal's amazing local French music to the English community.
Check out this month's Wavelength for an introduction to the column and a review of experimental rock band Karkwa's latest album, Les tremblements s'immobilisent, or visit this link to read the article: http://www.wavelengthtoronto.com/?q=node/2500.
Be sure to check Wavelength Magazine each month for a new installment of the column.
Thanks for reading!
"Fear of a French Planet" will focus on Francophone music from Montreal, but is geared toward Anglophones from outside of Quebec. Each month I will discuss/review a new local artist in the hopes of spreading some of Montreal's amazing local French music to the English community.
Check out this month's Wavelength for an introduction to the column and a review of experimental rock band Karkwa's latest album, Les tremblements s'immobilisent, or visit this link to read the article: http://www.wavelengthtoronto.com/?q=node/2500.
Be sure to check Wavelength Magazine each month for a new installment of the column.
Thanks for reading!
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Alex Goodman Quartet
This week's MONDO Magazine features my review of the Alex Goodman Quartet's new CD Roots. Go here to check it out!
(http://www.mondomagazine.net/music-r-goodmans.html)
(http://www.mondomagazine.net/music-r-goodmans.html)
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
New Groove Orchestra
Check out my review of The New Groove Orchestra's Illharmonic in MONDO Magazine!
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Major blog update
OK guys, here's the thing. I've been asked to be a freelance music writer for Toronto's MONDO Magazine, an online zine on par with weekly's like Montreal's Hour and The Mirror.
What this means is that while I'll still be writing fairly often, most of it won't actually appear here, but instead on the MONDO website. I'll put up a post here every time something of mine appears in the zine, which can be seen for free at mondomagazine.net. If I write something that won't appear there, I'll post it here.
So keep checking back here, browse the MONDO Magazine site, or email me to join the mailing list.
Thanks for reading,
Jake.
What this means is that while I'll still be writing fairly often, most of it won't actually appear here, but instead on the MONDO website. I'll put up a post here every time something of mine appears in the zine, which can be seen for free at mondomagazine.net. If I write something that won't appear there, I'll post it here.
So keep checking back here, browse the MONDO Magazine site, or email me to join the mailing list.
Thanks for reading,
Jake.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Kamau
If you read my blog about Tumi & the Volume, you know I'm constantly searching for good, conscious hip-hop. You might also know that an emcee who's got both rhythm and intelligence is a rare commodity in today's world of bling-bling gangsta rap.
Toronto's Kamau is one of those rare breeds. After hearing his prophetic verse on "Ballad of Noah," the last track on k-os' Atlantis, I put Google to good use and tracked him down. Despite several collaborations with k-os, who has become an international star, Kamau has stayed under the radar. His first and only album, 2003's 00:01 First EP, has long been out of print, and all that is readily available are a few tunes on his MySpace and a couple of verses on the Pangea Project's album.
The few tunes that can be heard are like hidden treasures: a few minutes each of stunning poetry, grooves, and positive messages, with beats made from a mesh of smooth funk and jazz samples and live instruments. Kamau's voice is like no other, and he intertwines his rapping and singing so smoothly that his music may well be classified as R&B rather than hip-hop. The aptly titled "Invitation," the opening track on 00:01 First EP, introduces us to Kamau's poetic style: a pulsing rhythm of rhymes over a deep groove:
Toronto's Kamau is one of those rare breeds. After hearing his prophetic verse on "Ballad of Noah," the last track on k-os' Atlantis, I put Google to good use and tracked him down. Despite several collaborations with k-os, who has become an international star, Kamau has stayed under the radar. His first and only album, 2003's 00:01 First EP, has long been out of print, and all that is readily available are a few tunes on his MySpace and a couple of verses on the Pangea Project's album.
The few tunes that can be heard are like hidden treasures: a few minutes each of stunning poetry, grooves, and positive messages, with beats made from a mesh of smooth funk and jazz samples and live instruments. Kamau's voice is like no other, and he intertwines his rapping and singing so smoothly that his music may well be classified as R&B rather than hip-hop. The aptly titled "Invitation," the opening track on 00:01 First EP, introduces us to Kamau's poetic style: a pulsing rhythm of rhymes over a deep groove:
"I would like to invite you to be / introducing you to me / a man, a poet, an artist, an emcee / inticing you to be a soul of creativity / taking your only lonely life to the Nth degree. / I'd like to give you something to feel / something that's real / something that hasn't been encouraged by mass appeal."
Kamau may be off the map and out of the spotlight, but he is the real deal. Check out a few tracks from his 00:01 First EP below, and visit his MySpace for a few more recent tunes.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Andrew Bird
How many singer/songwriters do you know who are famous for their whistling? I only know one, and that is Illinois multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird. Notorious for his world-class whistling, the songwriter is also a master guitarist, singer, violinist, and glockenspiel player - and master is no overstatement. Trained in Suzuki violin method from a young age and holding a Bachelor of Music in violin performance, Bird has developed a huge indie following, and with his newest album, Armchair Apocrypha, some modest commercial success. But it is on his previous album, Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs, where his bizarre lyrics and eclectic instrumentation are at their best.
The album opens with a sweet violin introduction and moves quickly into "Sovay," a light guitar ballad with a slinky glockenspiel melody. From there, Mysterious Production of Eggs explores a range of sounds from catchy rock to edgy electric folk, and everything in between. Ubiquitous is a thick, multi-layered sound in which Bird's expert violin playing meshes with acoustic and electric guitars, sparse drums, glockenspiel, and most uniquely, whistling.
On this record, Andrew Bird has created something new. With aspects of folk, rock, classical music, and country, Mysterious Production of Eggs defies categorization. Even more spectacular are Bird's solo live shows: accompanied only by a multi-track recorder, Bird plays and loops violin and guitar to create a lush texture, then loops his voice and whistling to produce gorgeous, harmonized melodies.
Here is a sampling of Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs.
The album opens with a sweet violin introduction and moves quickly into "Sovay," a light guitar ballad with a slinky glockenspiel melody. From there, Mysterious Production of Eggs explores a range of sounds from catchy rock to edgy electric folk, and everything in between. Ubiquitous is a thick, multi-layered sound in which Bird's expert violin playing meshes with acoustic and electric guitars, sparse drums, glockenspiel, and most uniquely, whistling.
On this record, Andrew Bird has created something new. With aspects of folk, rock, classical music, and country, Mysterious Production of Eggs defies categorization. Even more spectacular are Bird's solo live shows: accompanied only by a multi-track recorder, Bird plays and loops violin and guitar to create a lush texture, then loops his voice and whistling to produce gorgeous, harmonized melodies.
Here is a sampling of Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs.
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