Songs of the Week: Holiday Edition 2024

“Light the Light” by Tim Baker

Tim Baker is no stranger to holiday songs, and this year he released a whole holiday album, Full Rainbow of Light.

Comprised of twelve new songs, and a cover of the standard “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” Tim expanded on the album, saying: “I started recording this album in Montreal with my great friends & go-to collaborators Marcus Paquin & Liam O’Neill, but it sat sidetracked by other projects for over a year. It took a long east coast winter and half the musicians in St. John’s to help me finally get it there. I guess it makes sense it had to come home, since ‘Town’ is such a central character to it. I was lucky enough to get the likes of Tom Power, Aaron Collis, Emilia Bartellas, Matthew Byrne & Rich Klaas of the townie trad legends The Dardanelles; stars in the their own right Kelly McMichael, Mara Pellerin, Nico Paulo & Maria Peddle singing backups; not to mention social media superstar Billianne backing me up on the title track; Rob Brown on the haunting Uilleann pipes; Peter Lannon lending his lead guitar sweetness; honorary Newfoundlanders Mike Brushey & Jason Haberman grounding everything on bass & drums; my dad sings on it, my friends are all over it, to say it's ‘of my home’ is funny cause so much of it was actually recorded in my literal living room, pausing when the snowplows ground past, or the wind got too loud in the chimneys.” 

You can check out “Light the Light” below, or listen to the full album everywhere you get your music!

• Kirk

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“You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”/ “Vous êtes méchant, M.Grinch” by Jill Barber

Hot off her latest, French-language album ENCORE!, Jill Barber celebrated the season with a few covers of Christmas classics. And true to form, each song was recorded both in English and en français!

Below is her sultry version of Dr. Seuss’ “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” — as well as “Vous êtes méchant, M.Grinch” — but you can also hear her takes on “Sleigh Ride”/ Promenade en traîneau” and “I’ll be Home for Christmas”/”C’est la nuit de Noël” 

• Kirk

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“The Little Drum Machine Boy” by Jane’s Party

This was too funny not to include and I’ll just let Jane’s Party vocalist and guitarist Tom Ionescu tell you about it:

“With this holiday song, I wanted to add to the Christmas lore. One character that stood out to me as needing some extra attention and a revamp was the Little Drummer Boy. I’ve really been getting into old drum machines and exploring ways to include them into the songs we write and produce. With our attention on all this drum machine stuff, I thought maybe the modern re-telling of ‘The Little Drummer Boy’ would be ‘The Little Drum Machine Boy’. The rest of the concept fell into place quite fast!”

• Christine

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“It Can’t Be Christmas” by Johnny 99

It’s been a minute since we’ve heard from Johnny 99 — the solo project of John Sponarski, who is currently part of City & Colour (or long-time readers of this blog may remember him as one half of Portage & Main).

But now he’s back with a holiday song, “It Can’t Be Christmas”. Backed by his C&C bandmates Matt Kelly, Erik Nielsen, and Leon Power, the tune fits into the “sad Christmas song” genre, with Sponarski explaining, “This song was one of those magical moments you don't have to work for, or coax out of the ether. It leapt from my imagination as soon as I awoke early one morning with the holidays right around the corner. The previous evening I had spoken with a friend who was grappling with the loss of his mother. We talked about his grief, how it weighed on him and took away the joy and comfort he normally felt during the holiday season. It’s really a song for anyone who has experienced loss around Christmas, and how that has changed what it means to them.”

• Kirk

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“SantaClauge” by Elliott BROOD

Elliott BROOD did a Christmas parody of Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage”, and I kind of hate how well it works???

It’s incredible.

• Kirk

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“Santa Must Have Winter Tires” by Future Star

You can always count on Mint Records for some local Christmas cheer, and this year it comes from Future Star with “Santa Must Have Winter Tires”.

The bedroom-pop jam was written in about a snowy winter night in 2022, with Future Star dedicating the song to “all the shiftworkers and commuters who gambled on it being a mild winter and lost.”

Have a listen below!

• Kirk

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“The Sound Of Christmas” by William Prince

We got some more original Christmas music from William Prince his his track “The Sound Of Christmas”, as well as “Don’t Go Leaving Me (It’s Christmas Eve)” and a cover of “Silver Bells”.

In “The Sound of Christmas” he “puts an ingenious twist on classic themes, celebrating the role that music and the real-life sounds of Christmas - laughter, clinking of glassware, skates carving ice, bells carrying through the air - play in our memories and festivities.”

• Christine

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“Santa Man” / “Hot Christmas” by The Sheepdogs / BROS

We’ve got a double whammy of Christmas music from the combo of The Sheepdogs, and BROS (Sheepdogs bandmates Ewan and Shamus Currie).

Of “Santa Man” Ewan says: “There’s a lot of Christmas music out there, but not nearly enough Christmas Rock N Roll. So we’re making like Santa and delivering the December goods: a Xmas party banger for your next holiday shindig.” (I agree, more rock n roll holiday songs please!)

Shamus adds: “‘Hot Christmas’ is a spicy piece about getting away from it all and having a Christmas vacation complete with Latin grooves and rhythmic piano ideas.”

• Christine

Songs of the Week: March 25 - 31, 2024

“Highway Crawler” by The Porch Hounds

I was scrolling through Shred Kelly’s instagram ahead of their show in Vancouver last week, and notice the had posted that their bass player Nik Winnitowy was releasing a new song (and album) under the band name The Porch Hounds.

Well I made a mental note to look it up for today, and holy hell is it fun. The three releases so far are a combo of country, rock, and folk, and this single “Highway Crawler” just makes you want to move.
No news on the release date, but I’m going to be keeping an eye out for this one for sure.

• Christine

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“How Long” [Ace cover] by Jane’s Party ft. Zeus

Last week, Jane’s Party released a three-song EP, Common Guys (Super Deluxe), which comes with not one, but TWO collabs with the dudes from Zeus!

The first is a live session version of “Common Guys”, and also a cover of the 70's classic “How Long” by Ace.

This isn't the first time the two bands have worked together; first to record Jane’s Party’s Hot Noise album, then later to produce 2022’s Live Again. Vocalist/keyboardist Jeffrey Giles said, “‘How Long’ was on our list of covers to do, and with Zeus’ affinity for that 1970s classic aesthetic, we were over the moon when Neil and Carlin came on board for the jam. It is a tune we all know and love, and was grooving right out of the gates!”

Get your groove on below, and be sure to check out Jane’s Party at the Fox here in Vancouver this Wednesday.

• Kirk

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“Padam padam” by Jill Barber

Ten years ago, Jill Barber released her Francophone album Chansons, and now she’s back with an ENCORE!

ENCORE! features interpretations of songs by Charles Trenet, Blossom Dearie, Django Reinhardt, and Edith Piaf, with Jill sharing the classic “Padam padam” by the latter.

She explains, “It's always intimidating to interpret a song made famous by the spectacular Edith Piaf… but this is such a magnificent song, I couldn't resist attempting my own rendition. The trick is not to emulate her (impossible!), but to go for my own unique approach. I am so pleased with how this song, about a woman who goes quite mad, turned out.”

The full album is out on June 14th via Outside Music, and you can watch the video for “Padam padam” below!

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: January 15 - 21, 2024

“Mind Reader” by David Vertesi (ft. Jill Barber)

Last week David Vertesi announced his brand new album, and dropped his latest single, “Mind Reader”.

The new track features the lovely voice of Jill Barber, pairing excellently with Vertesi’s own smooth vocals, for a heartbreaking song. Vertesi explains, “Throughout the pandemic, many of my friend's longtime relationships began to crumble. Problems they had ignored for forever seemed to come to a head when they were stuck inside together for the lockdowns. This is loosely based on one of those stories.”

In fact the new album, Fictionalized, is essentially a concept album “on the collective spiraling of the pandemic years”, and aside from Jill Barber, features songs with Jordan Klassen, Haley Blais, and Sam Lynch.

Fictionalized is out February 27 on Tiny Kingdom!

• Kirk

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“True Love Waits” by Adaline

It’s officially two months until the new EP Hymnal from Adaline is released, and we have a new track from it to celebrate.

Of “True Love Waits”, Adaline says “This song draws inspiration from the evangelical purity culture movement of the 1990s, specifically 'True Love Waits,' which advocated abstinence as a means to honour God. This song explores the underbelly and dysfunction of this kind of teaching.”

As someone that went through Catholic school in the 90s and 2000s, and saw some of the damage and consequences that abstinence-only teaching can do, this resonates with me.
And on top of this it’s a beautiful song with gorgeous vocals and strings to boot.

• Christine,

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“Nobody Escapes” by Mother Mother

Last Friday, Mother Mother released their latest single, “Nobody Escapes”, but the even bigger news was the tour announcement which included a show here in Vancouver at Rogers Arena(!!)

The new song is the latest off their upcoming album Grief Chapter, and starts pretty chill before descending into a fever dream. Ryan Guldemond explains “we sing cheerily about the indiscriminate nature of death and how, regardless of status, good looks or physique, the reaper comes for us all. The animated video that accompanies our rollicking and blasphemous album opener follows suit, depicting a sinister factory where conveyor belts and machinery crudely sort through freshly fallen souls.”

Check out Grief Chapter when it’s released February 16th, and catch Mother Mother (with Cavetown) at Rogers Arena on June 15!

• Kirk

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“Lost Without You” by Shred Kelly

I was VERY excited to hear that Shred Kelly was heading out on the road to celebrate the release of their album Blurry Vision.

In February, March and April, the band will be jaunting back and forth across the country, including a stop here in Vancouver on March 29th at the Biltmore Cabaret, with Vancouver’s Hyaenas in support.

And while we wait for that magical day to come, they’ve also released a beautiful and wonderfully fun video for their track “Lost Without You”, that they partnered with cinematographer and animator Kenta Kikuchi from Pender Island to create. Check it out!

• Christine

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“So What” by JEEN

Want another February release? Then JEEN has good news for you! Her latest album, Gold Control, drops February 2nd, and last week she gave one last tease before its release.

“So What” is a hazy, dreamy tune that JEEN says is about “never-ending uphill battles, and wishing you could freeze time to stay with someone you can’t enough of.”

Check out the lyric video below!

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: October 23 - 29, 2023

“Dark Angel” by Rose Cousins, Jill Barber, and Jenn Grant

Can you think of a better trio of Canadian singers than Rose Cousins, Jill Barber, and Jenn Grant? Neither could Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy.

Barber explains that she was backstage at a Blue Rodeo show last spring with Grant, when “Jim Cuddy turned to us and suggested that, along with Rose Cousins, we should form a trio... like a Canadian version of the Dolly Parton, Linda Rondstadt and Emmylou Harris ‘Trio’. The next thing we knew we were sending Rose a video message saying: ‘we're doing this, because Jim said so’.”

So of course, their first single is a gorgeous & haunting cover of “Dark Angel”, which celebrates the 30th anniversary of Five Days In July.

Hopefully we hear more from the trio in the future, but for now, check out the cover below!

• Kirk

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“Halloween Store” by Andy Shauf

Phewf! We got this one in under the wire…couldn’t leave out “Halloween Store” by Andy Shauf the day before Halloween!

It’s a fun, and chaotic, little song, and now it has a fun, and chaotic, little video to go along with it.

I hope you all have your costumes for tomorrow - I have to get back to work on mine.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

• Christine

Songs of the Week: November 28 - December 04, 2022

“Headrush” and “Homes” by Georgia Harmer

Earlier this year, Georgia Harmer released the excellent debut album Stay In Touch, which she’s now revisiting, sharing alternate versions of a pair of songs.

“Headrush” and “Homes” are both turned into gorgeous, piano driven tunes, wth Harmer explaining, “It’s been just over a year since ‘Headrush’ came out and started slowly introducing the world to Stay In Touch. The songs on the album were written over the course of many years, through many periods of huge growth. These alternate versions take two of the foundational songs on Stay In Touch back to how they sounded when I first wrote them, just words and melodies of emotional processing. Singing them now in this way brings me back to their meaning, and the way it evolves and stays true over time.”

Check them out below!

• Kirk

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“Beautiful Life” by Jill Barber

We’ve already had a couple glimpses of Jill Barber’s upcoming album Homemaker, and the latest comes with “Beautiful Life”.

Barber says it’s a reminder “that social media doesn’t tell the whole story. That a pretty picture doesn’t always reflect the whole truth, and that living a rich and beautiful life is about embracing the messy chaos of it all- the raw, authentic, and real moments, rather than just the highlight reel.”

And the new tune comes with a charming lyrics video that (literally) illustrates that point, which you can watch below! Then, mark down February 10th for the release of Homemaker, on Outside Music.

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: September 26 - October 02, 2022

“Instant Cash For Gold” by Jill Barber

Jill Barber is back and planning on trading her old songs in like “Instant Cash for Gold”.

The brand new song is a competitive folksy tune, which Jill says is “a reflection on the chasm that exists between the personal value that music holds for people, relative to its commercial value. Sadly, the persistent undervaluing of music forces so many of us musicians to trade it all in—often in a defeated way, much like those willing to trade in their most valued possession out of pure desperation to have cash in hand.”

“Instant Cash for Gold” is the first single off her upcoming album Homemaker, written about the disparity between Jill Barber the musician, and Jill Barber the wife & mother. She jokes, “One day I was headlining Massey Hall, and the next day I was sweeping a messy hall”

Mark down February 10th as the release date of Homemaker, on Outside Music

• Kirk

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“I Can’t Grow Up” by Tegan and Sara

Another week, another track from Tegan and Sara’s upcoming album Crybaby - due out October 21st.
”I Can’t Grow up is a fun little pop song about “not being able to grow out of bad habits in relationships”, which definitely seems to be a recurring theme with the new music.

On top of the album the twins new show High School, which is based on their NYT best-selling memoir, is also debuting this month on Amazon Prime on October 28th. I’ve seen a few clips and am definitely going to be tuning in!

• Christine

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“Ghost” by Tim Sheinman

What if Celine Dion and Elliott Smith fell in love, when they were both up for an Academy Awards in 1998?

That’s the question that the upcoming narrative puzzle game Riley & Rochelle wants to answer. A tale of love & pop in the 90s, the game features music co-written by developer Tim Sheinman and Natalia Yanchak from The Dears, who also co-write the game.

In the game, you put together a documentary about the titular pair, piecing together their rise and fall, in both music and love, with an original 16-song soundtrack that spans their careers. Natalia says "We get to a point in the story where Riley and Rochelle are writing music together, and we really see their worlds collide. While these two musicians are super happy recording whatever songs they want, their labels and fans are not. So we have our indie rocker and our pop diva collaborating on something that comes out like Portishead, Bjork, or Zero 7. Riley and Rochelle are making weird, unusual art without any consideration for marketability or capitalist intentions. The fallout is brutal and you'll have to play the game to find out how it ends!"

“Ghost” is the second song released from the game, and featured vocals from Colombes Ran. You can check out the full soundtrack, as well as the game, on October 18th. But if you can’t wait, you can check out a demo of the game on Steam right now!

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: May 02 - 08, 2022

“My Mother’s Hand” by Jill Barber

This past weekend was Mother’s Day, and to commemorate the day, Jill Barber released a gorgeous, heartfelt song called “My Mother’s Hand”.

Though it was released ahead of Mother’s Day, the song was actually written for Jill’s mother’s birthday, after realising she had forgotten to send a card. Jill says "I wrote this song on my Mother’s birthday last year, and quickly recorded a rough demo and sent it to her as a voice note. We are very close, but live very far apart and hadn’t seen each other for over a year. I wanted to express my gratitude to her in the best way I know how, through my music. I am a mother myself now of two young kids and I sometimes worry that I’m not doing as good a job as she did with me… but I know she set the example I will always strive for, and I wanted to thank her with this song."

Have a listen below!

• Kirk

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“Gimmie Spirit” by Dear Rouge

New video and track from Vancouver’s Dear Rouge this week. “Gimmie Spirit” from their album Spirit that was released last month was directed by non other than Steve Bays, and follows the band around a party, and some beach fireworks.

If if you want to see them perform live, you’ve got a lot of chances coming up. They open for Vance Joy on May 27th, headline Friday at the Constellation Festival on July 22nd, and then are opening for Metric on August 13th!

• Christine

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“3 Sisters” by The Rural Alberta Advantage

Hot off the release of their recent EP The Rise, The Rural Alberta Advantage have released a brand new video for the song “3 Sisters”

The video — directed and animated by Jared Sales — follows the band’s tour van across the country, going from show to show. Sales stated, "We wanted to show the synergy a touring band has with each other, their audiences and the landscapes between them. Stylistically, we told the story from a bird's eye view and using 3D animation was the most effective way for me to bring it to life."

And you can catch the band with their van this summer on tour, including a date here in Vancouver opening for Broken Social Scene (or, if you find yourself in California next week, you can see them in LA with me!)

• Kirk

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“Part of Me” by Blunt Chunks

Even if you haven’t heardthe Toronto-based Blunt Chunks before, you may be familiar with some of the faces involved. Fronted by Caitlin Woelfle-O'Brien (of Jaunt), the band also features members of of The Weather Station, Luna Li, Hooded Fang and more! And not only that, but their latest single “Part of Me” features vocals and piano from Broken Social Scenester Brendan Canning.

Dubbed a “narcissistic anthem” by Woelfle-O’Brien, the song features her voice soaring to a crescendo, where it’s joined by a choir of others. Have a listen below, and check out the self-titled EP out now!

• Kirk

Song of the Day: April 09, 2018 - "Girl's Gotta Do" by Jill Barber

I never would have thought of this collaboration, but now that I've heard one song, I want more: Jill Barber and Mother Mother's Ryan Guldemond. 

And luckily, we will hear more, as Ryan has co-writing credits on four of the nine songs on Jill's upcoming album Metaphora, including the upbeat and very dancable single “Girl's Gotta Do". Jill says the song aims to "challenge the patriarchal status quo, as we usher in a new era of equality." 

She also says "Writing with Ryan was a big departure for me, and very exciting. He's extremely creative and not afraid to push my creative boundaries. The sessions became part songwriting and part therapy because I was writing about things that felt pretty raw; politics, sexism, being a mother. I started to realize that this was going to be a very different kind of album for me. I had more that I needed to say and Ryan helped bring that out with his uncanny knack for melody and song structure."

The album comes out June 22, but you can hear "Girl's Gotta Do" in both english and en français below!