Ever feel like dancing then crying then dancing again? Well Ottawa’s FEVERS can most certainly relate, and they made an awesome video for their song “Dance Cry Dance” which will get you on your feet and shaking what yo’ momma gave ya. Continue reading
Last year, A Tribe Called Red put out one of 2013’s best electronic album Nation 2 Nation which has since won them a Juno for Best Breakthrough Group. They just dropped a new video for their track “Sisters,” featuring contemporary Powwow Drum group Northern Voice, where a group of girls from a (presumably) far off town hear about ATCR’s monthly Electric Pow Wow party happening in Ottawa and decide to make the trip. Why not make it fun? They have good times getting dressed up, dancing in a convenience store, and drive through a beautiful Canadian countryside celebrating the fact that they’re going to see the group live. The final portion of the video is the ladies actually in the club, which happens to be their home base of Babylon on Bank Street. ATCR is on stage with a packed house, and you can also see Robbie of Fall Down Gallery doing some live art. A great song deserves a great video! Continue reading
Ottawa’s Pony Girl have released a new video for their song ‘Foreign Life’ of their upcoming LP, the title of which still remains a mystery. The song is fairly simple, containing soft keys and a series of bleeps and bloops. However, lead singer Pascal Huot’s relaxed and whispery vocals allow us to fall into the song and grasp the lyrics on our own. It’s the kind of song that only works short and simple. Paired with an eerie, dimly lit video that shows Pascal playing his keys on a stovetop while battling the darkness with intermittent fluorescent lighting, Pony Girl have certainly gotten off to a great start in garnering some attention for their upcoming release. I spoke to guitarist/vocalist Isaac Vallentin about the new track, and here’s what he had to say: Continue reading
Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene posted a video for “Good Sex”, the first single off of his upcoming solo album Darlings. According to Pitchfork, Drew put out a “call for couples to appear in his new video ‘engaged in passionate and intimate sexual moments’ and ‘in various states of undress.’ He explained, ‘I’m looking for real couples to come make out on camera for the greater good of vulnerability.’ ” Not only is the song great, but it’s really refreshing to see real couples (not actors) of all types expressing genuine passion for one another. Plus, who doesn’t like super sexy NSFW music videos? It fits the song perfectly. Read more here.
Ottawa’s Hip-hop Hippie, Alex Silas, just released a fresh new video for the lead single of his upcoming album. The track is called “This Town,” and is an awesome combination of hip-hop and folk. It is a little more on the folk-country side than some of his other stuff, but it still has that hip-hop and harmonica combo that drew me to Silas. There is definitely a lot of room for some harmonica and acoustic guitar in the hip-hop world and I truly dig it.
Anyone from Ottawa or living in the capital can certainly find familiar landmarks in this video, which is something I like to find in local releases. I love the opening line, “I want to make a record about, where I come from, where I am and where I am going. I want to make a record about growth.” If “This Town,” is a sign of things to come on his upcoming album, Roots, which is scheduled to be released this summer, I am pretty excited. Check out the track below and if you like it, he will be performing at Babylon this Thursday, January 8th during Back to Basics – January Edition with Philly Moves, Alex Silas and the Subterraneans and Eddie Quotez.
We don’t tend to write much about hip hop, which is a fault of ours since Ottawa’s got some pretty talented MCs and producers within the confines of its borders. While this is something we’re hoping to change in 2014, I can start by sharing some new material from one of the city’s most promising and talented MCs, G.Grand. Coincidentally, he also happens to be from my hometown of London, Ontario, where I grew up. Oh yeah, and some guy called Shad is from there too. No big deal.
But, like Shad and myself, G.Grand has moved onto bigger and better things. Continue reading
Ottawa’s folk extraordinaire Kalle Mattson have just released a video for their new song ”Darkness.” I really like the eerie video for this great track. It has a lo-fi DIY feel that is complimented by the fact that the video is in black and white. “Darkness” will appear on the band’s 7-inch coming out October 1st on Parliament of Trees record. Check out the video below.
WARNING: This video may be offensive to people with a fear of clowns.
Catch up with Kale Mattson on tour in October as they travel the country.
TOUR DATES:
10/4/2013 – Sault Ste Marie @ Loplops
10/5/2013 – Thunder Bay On @ The Apollo
10/7/2013 – Moose Jaw @ 23 Main St
10/8/2013 – Lethbridge @ The Owl
10/9/2013 – Fernie Claw @ Hammer
10/10/2013 – Golden @ Rockwater Grill
10/11/2013 – Vancouver @ The Cobalt
10/12/2013 – Kelowna @ Streaming Cafe
10/14/2013 – Winlaw @ Cedar Creek Cafe
10/15/2013 – Red Deer @ Slum Land
10/17/2013 – Edmonton @ Wunderbar
10/18/2013 – Saskatoon @ Vangelis
10/19/2013 – Regina SK @ Artful Dodger
10/20/2013 – Winnipeg @ Park Theater
10/24/2013 – North Bay @ The Raven & The Republic
10/25/2013 – Ottawa @ NAC 4th Stage
11/6/2013 – Quebec City @ L’Agitée
11/7/2013 – Montreal @ Quai des Brumes
11/8/2013 – Sherbrooke @ La Petite Boite Noire
11/9/2013 – Repentigny @ Bar St. Maurice
11/13/2013 – Toronto @ The Dakota Tavern
This year, we here at Ottawa Showbox are proud to be media partners with the best new up-and-coming boutique arts festival in Canada, Arboretum. Before we deliver full coverage of the festivities, we’re also really happy to collaborate with Jackpine, a new digital media agency chock-full incredibly talented and inspirational individuals, to bring a series of short video features. The first instalment features the co-owner of N-Product, Dominic Coballe, co-owner of Victoire Boutique, Regine Paquette, and artist Drew Mosely. If you’re wondering what that really great song is in the video, it’s called “Thailand” by Ottawa’s own Boyhood.
There will be more videos to come, and the festival is coming up very, very soon. So get ready! Watch the first video below.
Last weekend a bunch of us gathered at Fall Down Gallery for what was to be a hot, smoky music video shoot for The Love Machine‘s new song “Sorry My Dear”. The video is being made with a string of Vine videos, each 6 seconds in length. I have certainly never seen anything like this before, so the end result will be pretty interesting. With lots of confetti and dancing, I think the shoot was a pretty huge success overall. But wait, The fun isn’t over yet!
The Love Machine, along with Dan Rascal Productions, are allowing fans to get involved by submitting a Vine video of their own to be included in the final cut of the video. Here’s how it works:
1. Follow The Love Machine on Vine (handle: thelovemachine)
2. Fans can then download the song segments from the Dropbox link provided
3. Fans can make their own segment(s) and upload it and hashtag it with #TLMvine
4. The segment submitted is eligible to be in the final product!
Now check out the video teaser that The Love Machine just released!
Here’s TLM’s video description:
“We want YOU to create your own vines for The Love Machine’s newest video – Sorry My Dear.
The first thing you need to do is follow this link to a special Dropbox Folder. Inside are all the goodies you will need to create your own segments which we will review. If we like…then there is a good chance it will make the final cut of the video!
Here is the Dropbox Link:
dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16496841/SORRYM_MY_DEAR_VINE.zip
In the Dropbox folder you will find 33 Segmented clips of the entire song. We broke the song down into 6 second partitions and filmed each one. Now we want you to pick your favorite segment and re-create it any way you want. We also included the mastered song so you can think about the video as a whole and well….it makes for a nice gift too!
You’ll also notice that each clip has 3 seconds of quiet and 6 seconds of loudness! We wanted to make sure you recorded on the loud part but we also wanted to give you some time to cue yourself up. Make sure you practice and try to get it as rock solid as possible!
Get creative! Do something zany! We accept parodies of your favorite vines, stop motion whatever whatever!
Once you have your segment finished, don’t forget to tag them so we can see them.
TAGS
@thelovemachine
#TLMVINE
The following was posted by Ottawa pop-punk band The White Wires‘ Facebook page, and it’s awesome. Notice Caylie of Boyhood filling in for Allie Hanlon on drums?! The sound is totally muffled, but the party is all there.
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After 4 days, and nearly 100 bands, this year, on the Saturday night of the Ottawa Explosion, at about 2am, some of Ottawa’s finest thought it would be a really good idea to have an after party in Phil’s house…and to get the White Wires to play. Obviously, we agreed. Even though Allie couldn’t make it from California, we got Caylie to fill in on the drums.
At 3am, about 200 people showed up to Phil’s house. and Phil’s house turned out to be an apartment. We did 2 song sets to make sure we could cram it all in. Robot’s Everywhere played 1, the Mandates played 2, and then the White Wires played 1.5 songs.
I’m not kidding, it was hilarious! So much fun. This one will be with me forever. Here’s an idea of how crazy it was!!!
Ottawa Showbox 