New music from Mark Martyre: Bluebird

Mark Martyre has just released a new album called Bluebird. Mark continues to refine his songwriting and performance, delivering a package of easy listening and emotionally rich songs. Give the album a listen, check out my pictures from a show last fall, and take the opportunity to see him next time you have a chance.

New music from Biffy Clyro: Wolves of Winter from Ellipsis

Biffy Clyro are one of my favourite bands and one of my big regrets for missing their last Toronto show. I really hope that doesn't happen again. The boys have a new album called Ellipsis coming out on July 8. They've just unleashed the first single "Wolves of Winter" on the world.

It's a powerhouse track of the kind that only Biffy Clyro can deliver. Those power chords, that drumming, Simon Neil's in-your-face vocals, the shifting dynamics and tempo. It's all fantastic and indicative of a great new album. Give the track a listen below.

Pic from Facebook.

CMW Feature: Line-up and artist feature

Canadian Music Week, CMW, is ringing in its 34th year from May 2-8, 2016 in various venues around Toronto. There are club shows, the iHeart Radio Festival, the Indie Awards, a.k.a. "The Indies", and much more. These festivals are amazing for seeing your favourite bands, the coolest up-and-coming artists and for checking out new bands. You're guaranteed to find some new artists to grace your music library.

The very cool line-up features personal favourite Bob Mould, Tegan and Sara, Skepta, Dilly Dally, No Joy, and David Bowie’s longtime producer Tony Visconti with his band Holy Holy, along with Eagles of Death Metal, The Strumbellas, Wintersleep, Sate, The Beaches, Partner, Wild Nothing, Royal Canoe, Le Sera, Tops, White Lung, Duchess Says, Dearly Beloved, guitar gods Steve Vai, Nuno Bettencourt and Yngwie Malmesteen and much more.

Many of these artists have graced the virtual pages of this very web site, including Bob Mould, No Joy, The Strumbellas and again, Wintersleep, Sate, Partner, Royal Canoe, Duchess Says, Grounders, The Beaches and again, A Fellow Ship, The Julian Taylor Band and again, X-Prime and more. Click those links to see my pics and check out some tunes.

Surf on over to the official CMW site for additional details, grab tickets or a wristband and get out there for some great music.

Here are some of the artists I'm most looking forward to seeing:

Bob Mould

Tegan and Sara

Dilly Dally

No Joy

Eagles of Death Metal

The Strumbellas

Wintersleep


The Beaches

Sate

Julian Taylor Band

White Lung

SATE at The Silver Dollar Room - Concert Pictures

I might have a bit of a problem. Not only have I seen Sate perform, and photographed the incredible performances, five times now, she and the band are so photogenic, dynamic and just so damn into it, that I end up taking way too many photos. That leads to way too much time sifting through photos, picking out the best ones, tweaking and posting. But in the end it's all worth it because Sate and the band put on one of the best shows around, with amazing tunes and raw, impassioned delivery. I just have to share. To play off of Sate's name, they're always satiating.

If you haven't seen my previous pics, click on through to the first time I caught Sate, at The Horseshoe Tavern as part of the TURF Club Bonus Series, then check out her Sunday afternoon TURF performance at the festival proper, her fantastic show as part of Cover Me Impressed this past Boxing Day and her jam-packed headlining show at The Horseshoe in January.

She's got a CBC First Play taping coming up on April 11, so get in on that if you can.

This time I caught Sate as the third act of four to hit the stage at The Silver Dollar Room on Friday, March 19. Let me just say that Sate has never disappointed and this show was no different.

Sate owns the stage. With swagger, energy, confidence, passion and an immense amount of talent, Sate commands the attention of the audience, and in return, the audience experiences one of the best emerging artists in the city.

The band was as rock solid as ever. Giving the heavy with the groove during a short but satisfyingly intense set featuring highlights like "What Did I Do?", "Know My Name", their incredible cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs", "Warrior" and the big closing tune "Silence", before being demanded back to the stage by the crowd for an encore tune.

Take a listen to some Sate:

 "What Did I Do?"

"Try"

"Know My Name"

"Warrior"

"Silence"

Shearwater at The Horseshoe Tavern - Concert Pictures

On St. Patrick's Day, March 17, I got to see Shearwater perform at The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern for the second time. The first time was almost exactly two years ago to the day and it was an early show in my concert photography adventure. Take a peek at my pics from that show.

When I saw Shearwater back then, I remarked on the beauty of their sound and songs. This time, I enjoyed the added noise and heaviness that they developed. The band sounded more intense and they took more time to jam on their tunes. I loved it.

They also got into the seasonal spirit, asking the crowd if anyone would like to buy them a whiskey. If I recall correctly, Jonathan Meiburg told us that he would play with more gusto and less precision with the addition of whiskey, just so we were clear. Well, the Toronto crowd chose their option with an equal amount of gusto as somewhere around 10 whiskeys appeared on stage from various angles.

Shearwater took to the stage with "Prime" from their new album Jet Plane and Oxbow. Jonathan had a cool glove with a light in the palm, which made for a unique and compelling visual to start the show with. They proceeded with a set that was heavy on tunes from the new album along with tunes from Animal Joy, Rook, and Palo Santo.

We heard stories about Jonathan's previous visits to The Horseshoe, the galactic equivalents of the distance they've travelled on the road in the past decade, and the traumatic nature of some of Jonathan's recent non-tour travels, from which he sought therapy in David Bowie's Lodger. While Shearwater didn't treat us to the full album run-down of Lodger, they did play three songs from it for the encore. We heard "D.J.", "Yassassin" and "Look Back In Anger". Fantastic. The band came back for a second encore, too, finishing up the night with "I Was A Cloud".

Give a listen to some tunes from their setlist:

"Quiet Americans" from Jet Plane and Oxbow

"You As You Were" from Animal Joy

"I Was a Cloud" from Rook