Ernie's El Dorado Pt 5 - Canada

We have reached stop #5 on our American tour and its another biggie - Canada.

For my travel series I usually spend a lot of time carefully curating the playlist and then researching and drafting the liner notes of each post for the benefit of our esteemed audience. I haven't done that this time though, for two reasons. One is that I'm off on my holidays tomorrow and there is a lot to get done before I go. The other is that there was simply too much good Canadian music to choose from. It made the selection process for the previous post on Brazil seem straightforward by comparison.

In the end I just picked out some personal favourites. I have tried not to choose too many big names, so there is no Joni, Neil or Smiling Len for example. Not even any Carly Rae Jepsen, Loverboy or Bare Naked Ladies (some choices were easier than others). But I had to start with Gordon Lightfoot because he is Mr. Canada as far as I'm concerned.

I won't go through all the tracks individually but will note that a third of them are by immigrants to Canada, proving once again the wisdom of Blue Mink's words. Kiran Ahluwalia, MAR MVP Noel Ellis (son of Alton) and Drew Gonsalves of Kobo Town all arrived in Toronto as children from India, Jamaica and Trinidad respectively. Mr Jo Jo Bennett was already a musician when he also moved from Jamaica but The Fugitives were formed and performed in Canada.

Where the album the track comes from is on Bandcamp I have added a link in the artist's name. That covers half of them. For the rest you are on your own.

For the videos we start things off with the father of Canadian country music and his grandson after which things get a little more random. 

That's it from me for now. Stay groovy, see you in a couple of weeks.

"Canadian Railroad Trilogy" - Gordon Lightfoot

"Anew Day" - Mary Margaret O'Hara

"Whatever It Takes" - Ron Sexsmith

"Chips - Chicken - Banana Split" - Jo Jo & The Fugitives

"Stand Up Straight And Tall" - Jackie Shane

"We Can't Be Lovers With These Guns On Each Other" - Rae Spoon

"Black Stations/White Stations" - Martha & The Muffins

"Kaiso Newscast" - Kobo Town

"Mustt Musst" - Kiran Ahluwalia

"Can't Change the Colour of Your Eyes" - Skinny Dyck

"End Of The Day" - Doug Paisley

"To Hail Selassie" - Noel Ellis

Soca With Swallow

The August Bank Holiday weekend has arrived, which here in London means the Notting Hill Carnival.

I won't be going to Carnival. I used to enjoy it in my youth but these days I can't be doing with all the crowds. Instead I will be spending Sunday afternoon at the smaller and more sedate Clerkenwell Festival (this year's headliners: P.P. Arnold and The Rockingbirds).

Wherever you are heading for your fun this weekend there is nothing like some soca to get you in the mood. Today's tracks come from one of Antigua's finest sons, the late Sir Rupert Philo (aka Mighty Swallow), a man who was clearly up for a party any time, any place, anywhere.

"Subway Jam" - Mighty Swallow

"Party In Space" - Mighty Swallow

And here is a little something for the Clerkenwell massive.

Luxury Liner

I was wondering what to do for my midweek post this week when a thought struck me: why not feature one of the CDs that I have recently bought from a charity shop. It seems such an obvious idea I'm surprised nobody has thought of it before frankly.

The CD I picked out of the pile is "Bengali Bantam Youth Experience!", the second and last album by the Leeds-based outfit Black Star Liner. 

The album came out in 1999 and was sufficiently well regarded that it was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize. That was when Talvin Singh won the prize, so it was a big year for the Asian Underground (and also for  Stereophonics who were inexplicably shortlisted as well). 

More recently Uncut ranked it as the 465th best album of the 1990s. Based on a couple of listens and having reviewed the list I believe it deserves to be at least in the 300s. Here are a couple of my favourite tracks from the album. That's Jah Woosh guesting on "Pink Rupee".

"Pink Rupee" - Black Star Liner

"Inder Automatic" - Black Star Liner

The album that appears right at the bottom of Uncut's list of the 500 best albums of the 1990s also came out in 1999. I'll hand over to your friend and mine Conan O'Brien to introduce the performers.

Photo Ops Sings Of When

Word reached me at the end of last week that folk-popster Photo Ops (or Terry Price as his friends know him) has a covers album coming out next month. Called "Opening Up To Strangers", it is a selection of songs mostly from the 1960s and 1980s and mostly fairly well known.

This encouraged me to dig out his 2023 album "Burns Bright", which I enjoyed when it came out but haven't listened to since. It definitely rewards further listening. There is a bit of a Jimmy Webb influence in some of the melodies and arrangements - no bad thing if you can pull it off - and maybe a hint of Camera Obscura, with whom Mr Opportunities had toured shortly before making the album.

You can find "Burns Bright" on Photo's Bandcamp page along with the rest of his back catalogue. "Opening Up To Strangers" doesn't seem to be available for pre-order at time of writing, but to give you a rough idea of what is in store all the videos feature songs covered on the album. 

"When I Think Of Tennessee" - Photo Ops

"When You See Something Beautiful" - Photo Ops

Thank Pluck Its Friday

We end the week with a report on what may be the world's mellowest title fight. It was held in 2013 to determine which is the best plucked multi-stringed instrument. The proceedings were captured on an album called "Clychau Dibon".

In the red corner representing Wales - Catrin Finch on the Welsh triple harp.

In the blue corner representing the Casamance region of Senegal and latterly Nottingham - Seckou Keita on the kora.

After a hard fought contest Ms Finch won on string countback (the triple harp's 75-100 strings massively outnumbering the kora's 21-25) but most judges felt there was nothing between them in terms of quality. Clychau Dibon won multiple awards and was described by one eminent reviewer (me) as the plucking equivalent of the Thriller in Manila.

The two selected tracks clock in at 8 and 7 minutes respectively so any devotees of the cult reading this may prefer to wait until Monday before listening to them.

"Les Bras De Mer" - Catrin Finch & Seckou Keita

"Robert Ap Huw Meets Nialing Sonko" - Catrin Finch & Seckou Keita

1000 Violins then put themselves forward as the next challenger. They should really be disqualified on a number of grounds - only 4 strings per violin, bowed not plucked etc - but after some genius matched them up with the Chinese Cultural Revolution Ballet I had to include them. 

Ro, Io, Ecto, Deva

Not a mystical incantation but a gig line-up. That said I haven't tried chanting it and I'm not sure I want to risk doing so. 

In the unlikely event that you have read any of my gig reviews that pop up here every now and then you will have noticed that the Shacklewell Arms in London's fashionable Dalston appears fairly regularly. It is one of my favourite local venues and there is always something interesting on.

One of many good things about the venue is that they will often lay on free gigs in conjunction with small labels and promoters, particularly in quiet times of the year like August. This month they are doing so in a big way with what they are calling their Label Mates festival. Mister F and I were there on Sunday and have two more gigs lined up for next week.

Sunday's show was well worth every penny that we didn't spend. There were three acts all of whom were associated in some way with Moof magazine in Brighton - our headliner had to decline an encore to make sure they caught the last train back there - and all were entertaining.

First on the bill was Christina Deva who describes herself as a "vocal based artist" which appears to mean ululating along to drones. She has an impressive voice but things dragged a little for my personal taste. The performance definitely benefited when she got out her bouzouki to add some variety and texture to the sound. 

Next up was Rose Io, the only one of the three I was previously familiar with at all as I have a few songs by her former band Rokurokubi in my collection. Rose's solo work is pretty similar to that with the band, no bad thing if you like lots of songs about death, ghosts and the afterlife performed in a style slightly reminiscent of Lavinia Blackwall (solo and Trembling Bells). I do.

Rose is an engaging performer and I enjoyed her set a lot. We were also treated to a mini 'set within a set' by her alter ego, a homicidal bunny rabbit called Ecto. Ecto's song outlining different ways you can kill and dispose of family members was one of the highlights of the evening. 

Rose played a lot of songs that will appear on her first solo album titled "Autumn Automaton" due out in October. Ecto is apparently planning to release an EP of their own later in the year.

Our headliner was Lau Ro, a Brazilian expat who treated us to a short but very sweet set of mellow samba that would not have been out of place on last week's visit to Brazil. They were accompanied by a cellist and keyboard player and the cello in particular enhanced the sound very nicely.

Lau Ro previously led the band Wax Machine whose albums I am just discovering and rather enjoying. As with Rose, there isn't a significant difference between the band and their solo work. Think of it more as a natural progression than a new direction.

Here are some before and after examples of the main two acts' work. All performers and their previous bands are on Bandcamp (except for Ecto The Bunny Rabbit). Just click on their names for the links. 

"Moon Milk" - Rose Io

"Saturn In Pisces" - Rokurokubi

"Assim" - Lau Ro

"All I Can Do" - Wax Machine

Now Playing At The Odion

This is the second Monday in a row we are featuring Nigerian music with a link to Fela Kuti. I only realised that after I had finished preparing the post. Please don't mistake this for a series.

Odion Iruoje was the #1 producer in Nigeria in the 1970s and 1980s. He is the man who signed Fela to EMI Nigeria and co-produced many of his early albums, and his list of production credits on Discogs reads like a who's who of Nigerian music of that era - Sonny Okosun, Tunji Oyelana and the Lijadu Sisters to name but a few.

Mr Iruoje only ever released one album under his own name but its a real cracker. Originally released in 1983, "Down To Earth" was reissued by the good people at Soundway Records in 2016. It makes a great way to start a new week.

"Anogo - Giri" - Odion Iruoje

"Alhaja And Obiageri" - Odion Iruoje

I tried to find another musical Odion for the video slot but met with no success - the former Watford and Manchester United player Odion Ighalo does not appear to have joined the ranks of footballers who have made records. I did find an Odia though. Obviously you are getting the terrible hit but it turns out she also did a decent ELO cover.