Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The Rucksack Willies
Letter to Anne

                My casual love for Roots/Bluegrass music is a friendship that still rears its head from time to time; I might get that thirst that needs quenched after hearing just a few fretboard notes from a mandolin or catch a commercial that uses some familiar three finger picking that I immediately start tapping my foot too, so when I was first introduced to The Rucksack Willies earlier this year I knew immediately that my casual love affair was about to get serious.

         With little fanfare, the release of The Rucksack Willies debut CD "Letter to Anne" should, nor I mean will further this groups following to include not only the downtown crowds that come to experience their astounding live shows that evoke memories of the Old Time Country and Bluegrass pioneers but new fans from coast to coast seeking out that sound to soothe the heart and burn the soul.

          Front-Woman Angela Hilts leads the charge with a voice that is not only beautiful but forceful; she does not let you down.  I'll put this down in writing, for Angela Hilts not to get a rightful place in the prestigious list of great Canadian Singer/Songwriters would most certainly be a crime. The rest of the band, group of musicians and singers that on any day could take a stage and burn it to the ground with their playing lay the base for a record that after seeing them live captures their live show perfect.

     "Letter to Anne" begins with the haunting tale of love lost "Beautiful Stranger", then moves its way through to tracks like "Higher" that showcases the astounding base vocal range of Lucas Gadke, we then swagger into "Summers Over" where you can picture the leaves falling and the winter air approaching. "Waiting for a Sign" just has this dirty, sexy semblance as it wages its war on our senses; this is one of my favorite tracks off of the record.  The records rounds out with "Take Me down", a tale of sin and consequence that starts with a one two bluegrass punch and never slows down, you can feel it being played in that small cabin deep within the Muskoka woods.

   Wrapping their enticing stories around music that hits you were the soul lives, The Rucksack Willies are a welcome addition to any musical library …I say put nudge them in between some Black Market Clash and Bill Monroe, then you have yourself a party.

The Rucksack Willies are:
Angela Hilts (vocals, guitar, banjo)
Megan Thomas (vocals, washboard)
Galen Pelley (drums)
Lucas Gadke (upright bass, vocals)
Adrian Gross (guitar, mandoline)
Michael Eckert (dobro, pedal steel)

"Letter to Anne" is available on iTunes


The band are currently playing every Monday night from 6 to 8 at The Cameron house in Toronto



Joe Cornelisse-SSGS

Sunday, October 23, 2011

D-SISIVE
RUN WITH THE CREEPS






HITTING THE STREETS 
NOVEMBER THE 15TH 2011

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Lou Reed & Metallica-It's Not Good News

    
    Metallica and the legendary Lou Reed are set to release their much talked about collaboration titled "Lulu".  I have never had any problems with Metallica, even caught them live a few years ago…killer show (except for Lars, who after a while gets quite annoying). Lou Reed, well without Lou pushing the boundaries from the late sixties on we would not have had any number of musical genres that graced our musical memories. But…and it’s a big But, I know this is supposed to work as maybe a performance piece where Lou reads/sings the lyrics throughout and Metallica provides the musical base for it all and occasionally we hear James scream something…I just can’t seem to get the picture of them as their own individual artists out of my head , they just don't mix together well.

     If you take Lou’s voice tracks and maybe mix them with some different music it might take on another whole life of its own that works, and the same goes for Metallica…..but together in my opinion just does not work, peanut butter and chocolate it is not.


  Lulu is released Oct 31st worldwide and November the 1st in North America, you can check it out now for free as it’s streaming at Lou Reed & Metallica

Joe Cornelisse-SSGS

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore Announce Split

   The couple that a lot of people looked up to as the blueprint in the Rock N' Roll marriage game have done the unimaginable...they have split up (How dare they). Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore of the always super cool (my words) band Sonic Youth released a joint statement through their Matador Records rep that reads

"Musicians Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore, married in 1984, are announcing they have separated. Sonic Youth, with both Kim and Thurston involved, will proceed with its South American tour dates in November. Plans beyond that tour are uncertain. The couple has requested respect for their personal privacy and does not wish to issue further comment."

   So it seems at this time the future of the band seems up in the air, and here's where I throw my 4 cents in....as a band for 30 years Sonic Youth have managed to stay fresh through their many side projects but I think this will be the time to fade out and let your admirers enjoy what you once were, and give the myriad of musicians that have yet to distorted a guitar follow the pathway to a non-conformist way of life you have created for them.





Joe Cornelisse-SSGS

Friday, October 14, 2011

Live recording of Fucked Up at The Mod Club - Toronto - October the 11th 2011

    Most of you already know by now Fucked Up played a killer set this past Tuesday night at The Mod Club in Toronto, besides taking a few good shots I also brought my small digital recorder that I would normally use for interviews, but tonight I decided to record their complete set....so without further ado...for the unlucky few that did not make it to the show...here is Fucked Up LIVE 
     
**click on the link below**



Joe Cornelisse-SSGS
 




Set List
No.1 Queen Of Hearts
No.2 Black Albino Bones
No.3 Remember My Name
No.4 David Comes To Life
No.5 Under My Nose
No.6 I Hate Summer
No.7 The Other Shoe
No.8 A Slanted Tone
No.9 Turn The Season
No.10 Running On Nothing
No.11 The Recursive Girl
No.12 Police
No.13 Son The Father
No.14 Baiting The Public
No.15 Two Snakes

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Fucked Up with C'Mon, Biblical, Actual Water @ Mod Club - Oct.11

    Toronto's Favorite *Band FUCKED UP are returning home after crisscrossing the globe it seems like many times this year. They are set to play Toronto's Mod Club on October the 11th, now this means there will be no Toronto Halloween show this year so if you have not seen them perform songs from their latest opus David Comes To Life get out and get your tickets now. Advance tickets are $17.00 (plus SC) you can pick them up at Rotate This and Soundscapes , you can also get then online at TicketWeb.

     Other bands that have been added to the bill are C'Mon, Biblical, Actual Water and Wyrd Visions.

       Last week a video got released from Fucked Up's David's Town Record Store Day release called "Do You Feed? (The Curry song)" by the fictional band Animal Man. Here is the video...Ben and Sandy look like they are having alot of fun in it...now if we could just convince Sandy to perform it live and also convince Mike to let them do it.






 * Most writers will add a label to Fucked Up...Hardcore, Punk, Experimental Hardcore..etc, but I know them just as a Band.


Joe Cornelisse-SSGS