Song of the day

This is the first single and video from Retribution Gospel Choir's debut, 2, featuring Alan Sparhawk of Low. Is it just me or does the intro sound like it could be a TV on the Radio tune?

2 is in stores on Tuesday, Jan. 26.

R.I.P. Kate McGarrigle

Eleven years ago, Edmonton music fans were lucky to see folk singers Kate and Anna McGarrigle, plus Kate's children -- Rufus and Martha Wainwright -- perform at the Folk Fest.

Kate, 63 , died on Monday, Jan. 18 after a battle with cancer.

Here is an interview with Martha, from 1999, about her mom, music and family:

Martha dips her toes into Folk Fest limelight with an open heart
Edmonton Journal
Mon Aug 9 1999
Page: C2
Section: Entertainment
Byline: Sandra Sperounes, Journal Music Writer
Dateline: Edmonton
Source: The Edmonton Journal

Martha Wainwright thinks the Folk Fest is a great place to fall in love.

The singer remembers going ga-ga for an accordion player in 1992 and she's been looking out for prospects this weekend.

Love and broken hearts are two of Martha's favourite song-writing topics. Then again, her mom and aunt, Kate and Anna McGarrigle also tread over those subjects in their tunes. So does Martha's older brother, Rufus. (As for their father ... well, let's just say Loudon Wainwright III is too cynical to sing traditional love songs.)

Until recently, Martha has been content to keep her toes out of the limelight. But after years of singing back-up for the McGarrigles and Rufus, Martha is slowly coming into her own. Rufus even wrote a song encouraging her to step out of the shadows.

Don't expect Martha to be a carbon copy of the McGarrigles, though. The 23-year-old sounds more like a cross between Billie Holliday and Edie Brickell than a pair of folkies.

Martha almost didn't make it to this year's festival. Minutes out of Toronto, the airplane she was flying in started losing fuel. The plane then had to make an emergency landing after dumping more fuel in Lake Ontario.

Thankfully, Martha arrived in time to perform solo and with her family on Saturday. The Journal managed to lure her away for a few minutes.

Q: When did you know that music was going to be your life?

A: I think in the back of my mind it was always a given. But as a teenager, I didn't want to do it. I wanted to be an actress. I studied art history. But I think I had to take a shot at it and if I didn't, I think I would've felt like an idiot.

Q: What was it like growing up in such a musical family?

A: I had a great time. It was really a happy, happy life. Kids love going backstage, staying up late and going to clubs to see musicians. And it was very exciting to have a mom that worked and was so strong.

Q: What do you remember from your childhood?

A: A lot of memories of being in the house (in Montreal) and being around music and being around adults. My mom had a four-track in the basement and her boyfriend was her bass player, so they'd do these crazy recordings.

Q: Does your heritage make it easier for your career?

A: It definitely makes it easier to get your foot in the door and people know who you are and take you somewhat seriously right off the bat. Although they expect something a lot folkier and I think some are pleasantly surprised.

But that's okay, because I'm not looking for the same type of career. It's a different time.

Q: Your songs seem very autobiographical.

A: They're all really autobiographical, mostly about love. What else does a 23-year-old girl think about?

Q: That subject seems to be a trend in the family. Why?

A: I think because we all have broken hearts. We're all really emotional, guided by some sort of mystical vision of true love.

Q: What's your idea of true love?

A: Maybe it comes from all those crazy love songs where they're killing each other because they can't be together. But I'm definitely getting more realistic about the whole thing. I've already gone through two or three heartbreaks.

Q: Are you going to fall in love this weekend?

A: I hope so. These are the times when you get to spend three days with other musicians, so love can flourish in three days. But then they usually end up living half-way across the world -- so it doesn't make for very good relationships.

Love, love, love ...

You Say Party! We Say Die! will play a free show on Monday, Jan. 18 at Megatunes. Time: 4 p.m. (A gig at Sonic 102.9 FM is also in the works.)

The Vancouver dance-punks are making up for one of the previous cancellations, according to the Whyte Avenue store's website. The show is part of YSP!WSD!'s quick loop of AB/BC ... before they head south for their first tour of the U.S. in four years. (They were stymied by a silly little legal issue, which was recently cleared up. Congrats!)

I HAVE to see this film!

If you've followed me over the years, you'll know that I'm an unabashed fan of Blur and by extension, any of Damon Albarn's subsequent projects. Lately, I've been listening (and yes, grooving) to Blur's 1994 single, Girls & Boys, thanks to Wii's new gaming sensation, Just Dance.

The Brit-pop act reunited last year, but the foursome won't be touring through Canada. Fans can catch a glimpse of Blur's 2009 shows at Glastonbury and Hyde Park in the new film, No Distance Left To Run, which will screen on Thursday, Jan. 21 at Cineplex South Edmonton Common. Tickets are available this Friday via Cineplex's website.

In the '90s, Blur was even bigger than Oasis -- in Britain. Not so in the rest of the world, where Oasis ruled the charts and Blur was best known for its two minute of chaos, Song 2. In 2003, the band disintegrated and Albarn went on start a cartoon urban-pop group, Gorillaz, who were nominated for four Grammys in 2005. Their next album, Plastic Beach, is due in March.

Gigs: Wale, Collett, Zeus

* Rapper Wale will headline his first Edmonton show on Friday, Feb. 26 at Tonic, according to Pollstar.com. The D.C. native was one of Jay-Z’s openers last October at Rexall Place. Wale’s debut, Attention Deficit, was released in November.

Singer-songwritert Jason Collett and two of his label mates, Bahamas and Zeus, will perform Wednesday, March 31 at The Pawn Shop. The three acts, who are signed to Toronto’s Arts & Crafts, will play “together and alone during a night-long set of incredible music,” reads the label’s newsletter.

Collett, who sometimes performs with Broken Social Scene, is releasing his fifth album Rat A Tat Tat, on March 9. Zeus will be releasing their first, Say Us, on Feb. 23.

Ticket details to both shows have yet to be announced.

Two new discs from three-word-named bands

* My Sister Ocean is going against the tide. Instead of feeding our needs for instant gratification, the local pop-rock duo is releasing its new album, one song per month, between now and November.

We Die Alone is the first track from The Month of Tuesday. The ditty is now available on iTunes or MSO's site. Each subsequent song will be released on the first Tuesday of each month. Burn The Truth is due Feb. 2, while Please Don’t Say It’s So follows March 2 ... and so on and so forth until November.

"I wanted to do something to promote this album that would give people something to look forward to all year. I also know that promoting the same album all year gets boring pretty quick, so I wanted to have an excuse to get the My Sister Ocean name out there more often," says frontman Holden Daniels.

"There are some other 'music business' type benefits such as getting more features on the stations that would never play us in rotation, but that regularly play us one time every time we release a single. I just got the chart numbers for the first week, and if we did these numbers every month instead of every 3-6 months like we used to, I think it will help us secure a decent summer tour, which was the real hope behind the whole concept.

"Who knows - music directors might hate the idea and they might stop playing anything we send them, but we're trying something different and I think the concept is fresh enough to stand out from the same old strategies that record labels have been using for years.

"What I really love about this idea is that none of our songs get picked as being 'better' or more 'radio friendly' than the other ones. They're all going to have their shot at radio, and we'll see at the end of the year which ones had more success.

"And even more exciting to me is the comfort in knowing that we did not write this album to be radio friendly. As a producer for other bands (Jezibelle, Parachute Penguin, Mockteerah, Cara Albo), I tend to have this notion of what makes a song radio friendly and I try to get songs to conform to those ideas. With all the new My Sister Ocean material, we threw out the radio rule book and just tried to write songs that would translate well in a live show; the irony is that a lot of them ended up being under 4 minutes and having hooky choruses (both great ingredients for radio).

"We have the ability to upload directly to iTunes through Edmonton label Oddball Productions, so since the process has been simplified, we figured we may as well try it."

My Sister Ocean will also be releasing three EPs, via Edmonton's new online shop, Music On Demand, throughout the year.

* Radio For Help’s second album, You Don’t Wanna Miss This, is in stores Tuesday, Jan. 19. The pop-rockers teamed up with R&B/pop singer Quanteisha Benjamin for their first single, Breathing, now available on iTunes.

The band will host its CD release party on Saturday, Jan. 30 at The Pawn Shop with The Flash Jam, Seventh Rain and Maryland. Tickets are $10 at the door.

Flame on!

Christian Hansen and the Autistics, The Secretaries, Cadence Weapon, and The Be Arthurs are some of the Edmonton artists who will be serenading Wednesday's Olympic torch relay as runners and flame make their way around the city.

Hansen and his bandmates are some of the performers at the first stop in the Butterdome. (Time: 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.) The Secretaries will rock it out in Abbey Glen Park, on Jasper Avenue and 102nd St. (Time: 5:55 p.m. to 7 p.m.) Cadence Weapon and The Be Arthurs are part of the festivities at Winston Churchill Square, where the torch relay will end around 7 p.m.

Here's the full schedule.