cmw

CMW Song Of The Day: Yi – Not So Dead

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Yi is the collaborative effort of Jordan Allen of Rolemodel and Jesse Crowe of Beliefs.

The pair started writing together in winter of 2015 and the end results were a pair of EPs, fittingly titled EP1 and EP2. According to band’s bio, EP1 embodies “the quiet of winter pushing forward into the waking of the spring,” which seems a fairly accurate description of the Dinosaur Jr-esque “Not So Dead.” Meanwhile, EP2 will deal with “the frantic energy autumn presents.” EP1 will be released April 14th via Hand Drawn Dracula.

Yi will be playing the Silver Dollar on April 20th alongside Teagan Johnston ,Luna Li, The Seams, Japanese Breakfast, and Heaven For Real.

CMW Song Of The Day: Caveboy – Monochrome

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I managed to catch Montreal’s Caveboy for the first time during last year’s Canadian Music Week where they managed to impress with an energetic live show and their atmospheric yet danceable electro/dreampop sound. Since then, they’ve played a whole bunch more shows, including appearances at Pop Montreal, CMJ, SXSW. Hillside, Pride Toronto, Osheaga, and Rifflandia.

The band have returned for another CMW and will be playing The Silver Dollar as part of the NeXT POP MTL @ CMW showcase on April 19 (I’m still processing the fact that the Dollar is almost gone) as well as a show with Ria Mae at Adelaide Hall on April 21.

Check out the video for “Monochrome” below:

CMW Song Of The Day: 54-40 – One Gun

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Canadian Music Week will soon be upon us once again, with a whole bunch of Canadian and international artists and industry folk descending on Toronto for a week of shows. Of the Canadian acts, one of the notable names is 54-40, the Vancouver band who helped to define the CanRock sound of the ’80s and ’90s with songs such as “I Go Blind,” “She-La,” “Nice To Luv You,” “Baby Ran,” and “Assoholic.”

After 30 years as a band, 54-40 have reached the point where they’ve started to look back over their career, releasing the compilation album La Difference, an all-acoustic rerecording of some of their greatest hits last year.

54-40 will be playing the Indie Awards on Wednesday, April 19 alongside The Nursery, Repartee, Dan Mangan, The Wooden Sky, and Hollerado and will also be inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall Of Fame this year. Check out an acoustic performance of “One Gun” below:

CMW Mega Preview Part 2

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Here we go with the second half of our CMW Mega Preview, highlighting one band for every letter of the alphabet. Except for Q and U, because nobody really likes those letters anyways. Check out Part One here.

Mangled Meat
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Based on the photo alone, this Guelph based electro-industrial artist seems like a freewheeling, fun loving sort of fellow. On the subject of CMW bands with meat-related names, honorable mention also goes out to Chicago’s Meatwave, who get bonus points for naming themselves after an Onion headline.

Nyssa
The former singer for Modern Superstitions takes thing in a more electronic direction for her solo project.

ooluu
In a previous life, this Ottawa band was apparently known as Oompalunatiks. ooluu is a much better name, so good on them.

Partner
Sackville’s Partner put on a fun show and are pretty good at stage banter. They’re playing the Silver Dollar for 3 nights in a row, so there’ll be plenty of opportunity to check them out.

Return For Refund
You might think it’s a bit obvious to make a joke about asking for a refund if you aren’t impressed by this band’s set and you’d be right … but I’m not above making obvious jokes. This should be abundantly clear by now.

Secret Guest
I love these guys! I hear they’re going out on a tour after this with TBA! (see above re: obvious jokes)

Twin Peaks
Who else is totally stoked about that Twin Peaks cast announcement that came out the other day? Maybe this band is. (Public service announcement: This isn’t the Chicago garage rock outfit, but rather two ukulele playing ladies from Fort St John, BC, which could also be good.)

Vallens
Great band. Nothing funny to say here. Just go see them.

Wolkoff
The Panic Manual wrote about this Brooklyn based electro-pop artist’s song “Homecoming” a while back, so rather than say anything more about her, I’ll just tell you to go and read that. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

X Ambassadors
I’ve never even listened to these guys, but I get the impression that they’re fairly popular and they’re one of only 2 bands whose name starts with “x” on the lineup so I basically flipped a coin. They’re also playing a hotel ballroom with Tegan and Sara so that could be interesting I guess. Or go see something at The Silver Dollar instead. Whatever, you’re going to do what you want to do and I’m not the boss of you anyways.

Yngwie Malmsteen (and also Zakk Wylde)
We close out the alphabet with two guitarists who will both be a part of the Generation Axe show at Massey Hall alongside Steve Vai, Nuno Bettencourt and Tosin Abasi. Stop by and maybe you’ll see some Arpeggios from Hell! The most extreme!