Ossington’s Dakota Tavern might make the headlines most frequently, but a quick scan of the city’s most storied venues—the Horseshoe, the El Mocambo and the Cameron House, among others—indicates that Toronto has deep roots in, er, rootsy music. Here, we explore Toronto’s ongoing love affair with folk, blues, country, R&B and garage—and their many, many permutations. From warped basement projects to coffeeshop auteurs, Toronto Is Awesome’s roots column spotlights the ramblers, the travellers, the drinkers, the lovestruck and the teenage glue sniffers—essentially, if you appreciate guitars and good stories, you’ll feel right at home. Beards appreciated, but not required.
This Thanksgiving weekend, explore a world of good at HarbourKIDS:Folk, celebrating the positivity of communities, families and friends through folk music, folk tales, folk art, folk theatre and more over three folk-filled days. The event is FREE takes place Oct 8, 2012 – Oct 6, 11:00am – 5:00pm daily, at the Harbourfront Centre on 235 Queens Quay West in Toronto. Harbourfront Centre is a Canadian charity operating the 10 prime acres of Toronto’s central waterfront as a free and open public site. We celebrate the multiplicities of cultures that comprise Canada and enliven the city through the creative imaginations of artists from across the country and around the globe.
Ossington’s Dakota Tavern might make the headlines most frequently, but a quick scan of the city’s most storied venues—the Horseshoe, the El Mocambo and the Cameron House, among others—indicates that Toronto has deep roots in, er, rootsy music. Here, we explore Toronto’s ongoing love affair with folk, blues, country, R&B and garage—and their many, many permutations. From warped basement projects to coffeeshop auteurs, Toronto Is Awesome’s roots column spotlights the ramblers, the travellers, the drinkers, the lovestruck and the teenage glue sniffers—essentially, if you appreciate guitars and good stories, you’ll feel right at home. Beards appreciated, but not required.
When I received New Country Rehab’s debut LP—and the press release that accompanied it—a few years ago, it raised plenty of red flags: It was labelled old-school country (which, in typical press-release speak, usually means “boring alt-country”). The band’s name in itself felt like an all-too-cool jab at the yokels who dug pop country. And to add, they made sonic comparisons to both the Arcade Fire and Rage Against the Machine. Without listening their record, I wrote the band off entirely.
Ossington’s Dakota Tavern might make the headlines most frequently, but a quick scan of the city’s most storied venues—the Horseshoe, the El Mocambo and the Cameron House, among others—indicates that Toronto has deep roots in, er, rootsy music. Here, we explore Toronto’s ongoing love affair with folk, blues, country, R&B and garage—and their many, many permutations. From warped basement projects to coffeeshop auteurs, Toronto Is Awesome’s roots column spotlights the ramblers, the travellers, the drinkers, the lovestruck and the teenage glue sniffers—essentially, if you appreciate guitars and good stories, you’ll feel right at home. Beards appreciated, but not required.
Chicago’s Brendan Kelly, best known for his work with the punk-esque Lawrence Arms, The Falcon, and his latest rambling project, The Wandering Birds, lands in Toronto twice this week: First, he hosts a folk-punk affair on Saturday night at the Bovine Sex Club (542 Queen St. W), playing solo alongside The Flatliners’ Chris Cresswell and the Organ Thieves’ Chuck Coles. The following day, Lawrence Arms performs at Fort York (100 Garrison Rd.) with Riot Fest, alongside with Andrew W.K., Fucked Up and The Descendents. Tickets for the latter, by the way, can be scooped up for free at King West’s Jimmy’s Coffee (107 Portland St.)—while supplies last.
Ossington’s Dakota Tavern might make the headlines most frequently, but a quick scan of the city’s most storied venues—the Horseshoe, the El Mocambo and the Cameron House, among others—indicates that Toronto has deep roots in, er, rootsy music. Here, we explore Toronto’s ongoing love affair with folk, blues, country, R&B and garage—and their many, many permutations. From warped basement projects to coffeeshop auteurs, Toronto Is Awesome’s roots column spotlights the ramblers, the travellers, the drinkers, the lovestruck and the teenage glue sniffers—essentially, if you appreciate guitars and good stories, you’ll feel right at home. Beards appreciated, but not required.
Although Toronto’s recently seen the welcome additions of Dundas West’s Grasshopper and College Street’s June Records—who, in tandem with Weird Canada, host a show with addictive Montreal sleaze-pop act Sheer Agony tomorrow—here’s a piece of shocking news: Hits and Misses (799 Queen St. W, right beside Rotate This) is shutting down. In two weeks, at that. They posted this on their blog today:
Ossington’s Dakota Tavern might make the headlines most frequently, but a quick scan of the city’s most storied venues—the Horseshoe, the El Mocambo and the Cameron House, among others—indicates that Toronto has deep roots in, er, rootsy music. Here, we explore Toronto’s ongoing love affair with folk, blues, country, R&B and garage—and their many, many permutations. From warped basement projects to coffeeshop auteurs, Toronto Is Awesome’s roots column spotlights the ramblers, the travellers, the drinkers, the lovestruck and the teenage glue sniffers—essentially, if you appreciate guitars and good stories, you’ll feel right at home. Beards appreciated, but not required.
While half the city seemingly headed to Montreal last week for Osheaga, one of the city’s best summer traditions lands on the Toronto Islands this weekend with THE ALL CAPS! fest, running from August 11-12. Presented by Wavelength—so, expect the festival’s programming to be top-notch, even if you’ve never heard of half the bands—ALL CAPS! is all incredible independent music, bonfires, camping and art installations. Support that shit: The festival, now in its fourth year, is running an IndieGoGo campaign right here, and it’s the only place where you can pick up island camping passes (for a reasonable $150).
But back to ALL CAPS!’s excellent musical lineup: With 14 bands scheduled hailing from across North America, it not easy to find an entry point into the festival. Not to fret, though, as we’re here to help. Here’s who we’re backing this weekend.
Ossington’s Dakota Tavern might make the headlines most frequently, but a quick scan of the city’s most storied venues—the Horseshoe, the El Mocambo and the Cameron House, among others—indicates that Toronto has deep roots in, er, rootsy music. Here, we explore Toronto’s ongoing love affair with folk, blues, country, R&B and garage—and their many, many permutations. From warped basement projects to coffeeshop auteurs, Toronto Is Awesome’s roots column spotlights the ramblers, the travellers, the drinkers, the lovestruck and the teenage glue sniffers—essentially, if you appreciate guitars and good stories, you’ll feel right at home. Beards appreciated, but not required.
Following in the fine tradition of “Wednesdays Go Pop”—the uber-successful new-music night at Kensington’s Supermarket (298 Augusta Ave.)—Toronto is Awesome and our hard-working pals at Audio Blood Media present a weekly residency with honey-voiced folk-popster J.F. Robitaille. We could wax poetic about how Robitaille’s won over audiences at NXNE, Pop Montreal and Ste. Catherine’s SCENE festival, or that he’s shared stages with legends like Julie Doiron, or that he’s built heavily on his work with his former band, The Social Register. But we won’t. Instead, we’ll just let his music do the talking: Download his latest album, Calendar, in its entirety right here, or better yet, come hang with us at Supermarket tonight.
And if you can’t? Don’t fret. Robitaille’s playing at Supermarket every Wednesday throughout August—so, like, see you there?
Photo: HarbourKIDS: Folk
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