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Artist Spotlight: Riit
From the land that never melts comes a sound that radiates life, youth and promise. Riit, from majestic Panniqtuq, Nunavut, is a new artist making space for herself in the electropop world with Inuktitut lyrics and deep rhythmic vocals layered over gemological synth cuts and sticky, staticky electronic textures. Riit’s music emerges from very distinct circumstances of place, language and experience. Throughout her debut full-length album, produced by Graham Walsh (Holy Fuck) and recorded in Iqaluit, Nunavut and Toronto, Riit sings about the clarity of forgiveness, the imprint of the past on the present, and personal disconnection. In Inuktitut, Riit’s songs explore family, life and love. Riit also nods to…
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Tay Creek Folk Festival
Started in 2008 by Jenifer Jobbins, the Tay Creek Folk Festival (Tay Creek, NB) July 17 – 19, is an annual opportunity for New Brunswick musicians to gather & perform in a beautiful country setting. Tay Creek Folk Festival has received and ‘A’ on the Canadian Festival Report Card for the past two years. Visit their website for tickets and lineup info! http://taycreekfestival.ca/
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Artist Spotlight: The Galpines
The Infamous Galpines! A Nerdy Girly Dirt Band from Moncton, NB The past few years have been busy for The Galpines as they released their first full-length record entitled “Sorry Mom”, toured the summer festival circuit including appearances at Paddlefest, Folly Fest and Messtival, took their live show to Ontario, and added bad bitch Kendra Gale on the drums. If you enjoy your honky-tonk on the bawdy side, this award-winning, all-female, crass-country, hyphen-lovin’ comedy-band from the shady neighbourhoods of Moncton, NB will be right up your alley. Their rich four-part harmonies take centre stage in anthems about binge drinking, baby heckling, and bad credit. Armed with an arsenal of guitar,…
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Artist Spotlight: Kelly Bado
With influences from her African heritage, la chanson française and American gospel, Kelly’s music crosses cultural barriers to bring people together in joy and hope. Striking vocals and uplifting melodies make for a performance that stays with the audience long after the show is over. Kelly has created a sound and message that is an intoxicating blend of Soul/World/Pop. In a very short time she has transitioned from local prominence to National exposure. Her debut French language recording entitled “Entre Deux”, produced by award winning writer/producers Norman Dugas, Daniel Roa and Chris Burke-Gaffney has been rewarded with an unprecedented amount of coveted awards. The latest and not the least being…
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Artist Spotlight: Ursidae
If folk music is “all the music that fits between the cracks”, then ursidae springs forth from the lush, dark soil that lives between rocks and sidewalk squares. This alt-folk offering is the solo project of Vancouver-based musician Caro Deady. Tapped into tradition, and stirred by the indie folk stylings of Daughter, Bon Iver, and Sharon van Etten, ursidae gives voice to her own stories in her newest release, almost//closer: an EP steeped in dusky blues and the salty waters of lonely love. Tender and whimsical, honest and fierce, ursidae takes listeners on a journey through dreamscapes and back alleys—all the while reminding us that there’s beauty in sadness, that…
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A longish list of cis and trans women, trans men, and non binary artists and bands
When we talk about the idea of gender representation at festivals, bookers often say they “just can’t find” bands or artists, that “there aren’t enough women/trans/non-binary artists,” that they’ve “tried but it’s reeeeeeally hard.” These comments make those bookers look out-of-touch and bad at their job, but we figure that having a database of artists or bands made up of trans and cis women, trans men, and non-binary artists might be helpful, especially to bookers who are looking to improve their lineups and aren’t looking for excuses. So it took us a while, but finally it’s here! Secret Frequency Database of Cis and Trans Women, Trans Men, and Non-Binary artists…
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The Big Count 2018 – Canadian Festival Report Card
We need your help with The Big Count 2018 -for the Canadian Festival Report Card! La traduction française suit ci-dessous (nos excuses pour le mauvais français!) As we’ve done for the past few years (2016, 2017), we’re collecting data on festivals and music series to find out how many women-identifying, transgendered, and non-gender-binary people are being presented at festivals and concert series across Canada. What we need from you is to choose a festival that doesn’t appear on the list below and give us a link to their lineup online and a count of the number of women-fronted, men-fronted, transgendered-fronted and non-gender-binary-fronted people are included. It can be a festival that…
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A short list of women and gender non-conforming Canadian artists
ETA: Because this is awesome, we’re creating an accessible database for Trans folks, Non-Gender-Binary folks, and Women to add themselves and/or their bands so that bookers can find them. We launched it in Winter 2020; you can check it out here (and also add yourself or your band!). All of the artists in this short list are also in the database! ETA 2: When this post was originally published in Spring 2018 on our old website, it generated 138 replies from members of the community, listing more than 600 artists and bands. We’ve collected this information in the database above, and are looking for volunteer to help flesh out the…
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2017 Canadian Festival Report Card
The 2017 Festival Report Card is here! For the past twenty years, the music industry has seen its stages dominated by men in most genres and scenes. With the exceptions of the occasional women-focused festivals, like Lilith Fair, women have tended to see very little representation on stages, and nowhere is that more noticeable than at a festival, where sometimes hours can pass before a woman, a racialized person, or an LGBTQ, Two-Spirited, or Gender Non-Binary person walks on stage as a member of a band. With that in mind, we’ve been tallying up the numbers, and are presenting them below. We’d like to give a huge thank you to…
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NXNE PRESENTS A SAUSAGE FESTIVAL
From a piece I wrote for Electric City Magazine: “The Canadian music industry is a diverse, varied place, but you wouldn’t know it from the endless parade of white guys with guitars wanking across the festival stages and conference panels of the nation. Over the past month, NXNE have been releasing the lineup for their Portlands festival, and the list, while appearing more racially diverse with the most recent release, is still very dude-heavy. With three women-fronted bands and one genderqueer artist out of 16 total acts released so far, I have to ask: where the fuck are the women, NorthBy?” Read the rest at Electric City Magazine.
