Matt Camirand (left) has nice jeans—I mean, genes. Photo courtesy of Jagjaguwar.

When I was fourteen, I had the biggest crush on Ricky Martin.

I used to fall asleep to the imaginary chime of wedding bells and pretend sweet, Spanish nothings were being whispered into my ear.

Yeah, I know. 

But before you laugh at my apparent Tiger Beat taste in men, let it be known that it wasn’t my fault.

Evolution made me do it. 

According to TV documentary The Musical Brain, the concept of a female musician was non-existent in prehistoric times. Only men sang or played instruments, and those males were seen as being smart, creative and healthy. 

Long story short, this translated into “good baby-making material.”

University of New Mexico evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller says the “prehistoric mind wires women to be instinctively drawn to strong, fit, intelligent men for protection and procreation.”

It’s this biological instinct that makes women fall head-over-heels for leather-clad, eyeliner-sporting rock stars. 

Mainstream musicians are still coveted by fourteen-year-olds and forty-year-olds today, no doubt. But for the most part, I’m inclined to argue that independent music has put a fork in the road of evolutionary desire. 

Although big-label artists (ie: Ricky Martin) are the equivalent to bottled pheromones, natural selection and survival of the fittest ultimately produce the cream of the crop. In other words, independent musicians need to work much harder to promote their music, making them heftier and more creative than a musician made popular by money.

This is why I no longer dream about Ricky Martin. And why I feel more drawn towards independent artists. 

Which leaves me with the question: What Canadian indie musician would be good baby-making material?

After a complicated formula involving the musical genre, instrument played, looks, clothing style, creativity and accomplishments (this year’s JUNO Awards being the common denominator of big accomplishments), here’s what I’ve come up with:

1. Black Mountain‘s Matt Camirand: He’s got tattoos head to toe, fitting the stereotypical rocker image; plays bass and naturally procures beautiful rhythms; fronts side project Blood Meridian; and, on the phone, is quite a nice guy. Right now, I say he’s top baby-making material.

2. Chad VanGaalen: Can make music out of almost anything; would be a great storyteller for the little ones (minus stories about murder ie: “Molten Light”); would also be a good coloring buddy for kids; and he is very tall so perhaps his genes would overpower mine. 

3. Elliott Brood‘s Mark Sasso: Always dresses sharp; sings and writes beautiful country tunes; would serenade you in a heartbeat; is a history buff; and has a raw hunger for music, thus dubbing his genre “death country.”

What indie artist do you think would be good baby-making material? Feel free to comment below. 

Black Mountain at the inaugural Pemberton Festival. Photo by myself.

Boy, that’s a loaded term. 

But it’s nothing music can’t explain. 

You see, today I stumbled upon a neat Canadian indie music blog called Herohill.com. It seems the fine folks over there are currently working on a feature called The Great Canadian Mixtape Project. The premise is to showcase independent music emerging from each province.

However, I think they’ve also created a little experiment. 

Music and the arts in general can reflect and promote identity, and in this case, a regional identity. That being said, by looking at the genres of indie music emerging from each province, we can see that our big ol’ country has taken on a number of mini identities.

Take Alberta for example: the land of wheat fields, oil money, big malls and juicy cattle. It’s also my home province (go Edmonton!). Despite all efforts to maintain a healthy mix of folk, country, electronica, rock, rap and whatnot, Alberta’s mixtape consists largely of urban/rural fusion genres such as alt-country and folk-rock. Artists like Corb Lund, Ayla Brook, Mark Davis and Jane Vain & The Dark Matter fit those categories.

The majority of Saskatchewan‘s artists produces music in similar genres to Alberta’s, although a lot more on the electric-roots side of the spectrum. It seems desolation has a sound, and it’s not silence. It’s whiskey, frigid winters and (frozen) tears. 

Then there’s Ontario. The home of indie rock, folk rock and a lot of rock in general by artists like Born Ruffians, The D’Urbervilles and Jason Collett. All thanks to Ontario’s large metropolitan centers.

And if we turn to the East Coast, Nova Scotia is a haven for bubbly, introspective singer-songwriter types like Jenn Grant, Rebekah Higgs and Daniel Ledwell. Perhaps solitary sailboat trips out onto the foamy ocean have something to do with it?  

In the end, it’s interesting to see how Canada’s sprawling geography has bred such distinct cultural centers, and how grassroots music has become a means of communicating those identities.

Music is just one of the many art forms that can bring together all aspects of a region’s identity and wrap it up in one melodically symbolic package.

And my identity, you ask? It comes in the form of country music: foot-stomping, pedal-steel tunes run through my veins while cattle beef lines my bones and oil money puts me through school. However, I’ve found my time spent here in Vancouver is slowly changing my tastes. I seem to be opting for mellower, more brightly-colored music these days.

Herohill.com hasn’t had a chance to stumble over the mountains yet, so I thought I’d name a few artists who deserve to have a spot on the B.C. mixtape. 

Let’s see how many I get right.

1. Black Mountain
2. Steve Dawson
3. Bend Sinister 
4. Jody Glenham
5. A.C. Newman
6. Geoff Berner
7. Brasstronaut
8. You Say Party! We Say Die!
9. Twin Crystals
10. Jon-Rae Fletcher

And by “you,” I mean all the ears I blabbered on and on to about Jenn Grant‘s debut Orchestra For The Moon, and how she was going to be the next Canadian indie idol.

Jenn Grant warms up with a wave at her November 20 show at the Biltmore. Photo taken by myself.

You see, it seems the Halifax singer-songwriter has gone from being a Canadian folk secret to an artist surrounded by gold—gold gramophones, that is.

According to her website and Halifax’s alternative weekly The Coast, Grant and her band the Night Painters will be visiting our southern neighbors to perform for none other than the Canadian consulate in LA during Grammy Week (the first week of February, the awards are on February 8). 

This is huge for Grant, especially since she only has one full-length album (2007′s Orchestra For The Moon) to base her success upon. Her sophomore effort, Echoes, is set to be released February 3 on Six Shooter Records.

I still remember the day I first discovered Grant. It was spring 2007, and I had received a tiny package in the mail from a publicist. After one listen, I immediately fell in love with her girlish charm, carefree persona and beautiful voice. 

I also remember thinking that, if Orchestra For The Moon was any indication of what was to come, I should be very excited. Myself, among others, felt that she was definitely an artist to watch in the future. 

And we were right to keep our sights on her. 

The Coast managed to get a comment from the bright-eyed, spunk-filled songstress about her upcoming trip to Grammyland and here’s what she had to say:  

“I am stoked, and, yes, I plan on stealing a Grammy. I hope to meet up with Beyoncé and do her woman dance with her. And I think Kinley (Dowling) would like to show Kings of Leon that she can sing in their band to the song ‘Sex is on Fire.’ David (Christensen) and Sean (MacGillivray) will be our bodyguards because after we show Beyoncé and Kings of Leon what we can do, they may try and kidnap us.” 

download avatar soundtrack

Over the holidays, I had the chance to sneak a listen to Grant’s new album Echoes and interview her about the final product. Unfortunately, we were both unaware of the Grammy news at the time, so we didn’t get a chance to talk about her planned “woman dance” with Beyoncé. 

Echoes, according to Grant, is a break-up record. But get this: she didn’t even know she was making a break-up album until she was halfway through recording.

Talk about cathartic.

The break-up album posed a problem for Grant, since she was actually in a relationship at the time. But once she heard her feelings screaming out from within her music, she had no choice but to listen.

Thus, the heartbreak—and consequently, a bona fide break-up album—became a reality. 

You can listen to a clip of Grant’s thoughts and reflections on Echoes below. 

will premiere in theaters.

Wintersleep vocalist Paul Murphy rocking out at the inaugural Pemberton Festival. Photo by myself.

And, if my prediction is correct, it’ll take less than one week for the soundtrack to this film to catch everyone’s attention. 

The movie features songs from some of Canada’s most talented indie artists such as Great Lake Swimmers, Joel Plaskett, Stars, Melissa McClelland, Wintersleep, LIGHTS, Luke Doucet and Sunparlour Players. 

Ah, yes. I can already see the hipsters tugging at their scarves to ease the heat of anticipation.

One Week tells the story of a young man (former Dawson’s Creek actor Joshua Jackson) who’s diagnosed with cancer. Instead of heading straight into treatment, he decides to travel across Canada from Toronto to Tofino on a vintage motorcycle in order to find meaning in his life.

The film reminds me a lot of another Canadian flick, Juno. Like Juno, One Week won’t feature dazzling special effects or an all-star cast. Rather, its the movie’s simple story line and timeless themes that will capture indie audiences.

The same goes with the One Week soundtrack. There are no big-label artists to carry the film along. Instead, it’s the little guys and gals pitching together to paint a picture of what traveling across Canada really sounds like.

According to Daniel J. Levitin’s book This Is Your Brain On Music, “we create … memory links between a particular set of notes and a particular place, time, or set of events.” In other words, having indie artists provide the background music to a universally-themed movie like One Week or Juno is highly beneficial to said artists, all thanks to visual association.

In Juno, the visually familiar themes of making mistakes and individual eccentricity will always be characterized by that Moldy Peaches song “Anyone Else But You.” Similarly, the air self-discovery presented visually in One Week—should it be performed well, of course—will forever ingrain in viewers’ minds the soul-searching songs we hear in the background.

I’ve interviewed musicians such as The Jealous Girlfriends and The 88 who’ve gone on to say they owe much of their success to movies and television shows. For them, having music on a hit series like The L Word or The O.C. is sort of like being signed to a major label. 

Nothing can promote your music more than the magic of moving pictures.

Which is why I can never listen to Lady Gaga‘s “Paparazzi” anymore without thinking about Gossip Girl‘s Blair Waldorf and the scene where she discovers her boyfriend is a Lord.

That being said, I sure hope One Week decides to use the Great Lake Swimmers as the background music for a sexy, shirtless montage featuring Joshua Jackson.

I’ll be listening to their music on repeat for days if that’s the case.

Kathryn Calder performing with The New Pornographers. Photo by myself.

Although the curly-haired musician is gaining more and more recognition for her involvement in bands such as Victoria’s Immaculate Machine and Vancouver’s The New Pornographers, it seems Calder isn’t only interested in the heights the spotlight can take her charming vocals.

Instead, she’s eager to learn how her voice—and all musicians’ voices, for that matter—can serve a greater purpose once the bar closes and the microphone’s been taken down.

This past weekend, Calder announced her involvement with the Yellow Bird Project, a Montréal-based, non-profit initiative that collaborates with musicians to support charities. According to its website, the Yellow Bird Project assists bands in designing t-shirts, which are then silk screened and sold by the organization. It’s a win-win situation for everyone: All proceeds go to a charity of the group’s choice, fans get a swanky new shirt to show off and artists get a chance to raise their own profile. 

With the support of both Immaculate Machine and The New Pornographers (which consists of heavyweight talents such as A.C. Newman, Neko Case and Dan Bejar), Calder took the initiative to spearhead and design the t-shirt. And what did she come up with? A whale swimming in a deep blue ocean against a pomegranate background. 

Too cute.

Calder also decided to donate all proceeds to the ALS Society Of BC. ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a devastating neurodegenerative disease that kills eighty per cent of those affected within two to five years.

Other Canadian indie musicians that’ve gone on to support their own charities include Broken Social Scene, Wolf Parade and Stars. 

The Yellow Bird Project is a great idea, and their mandate articulates my sentiment perfectly: “Musicians have a voice, and this is really useful—the people we want to help tend not to have much of a voice at all. The more musicians that get involved, the greater the voice we can give them.”

In the end, artists who choose to support charities aren’t only helping those less fortunate; they’re also practicing the standard D-I-Y ethic required to get out and get heard. Think Rock The Vote or Insite’s free street concert. Sure, it’s a great way to earn publicity, but in my mind, if you’re helping others as you initiate your rise to stardom, then by all means, go forth.

This is where I end my post with a little charity of my own.

Neko Case is reaching out to music bloggers everywhere, asking them to post her first single from the upcoming album Middle Cyclone. For every post, Neko Case and her label ANTI- will make a cash donation of five dollars to the Best Friends Animal Society.

So if you’ve got a music blog, you know what to do. 

Here’s the link to download “People Got A Lotta Nerve”: http://www.anti.com/media/download/708

Enjoy.

Another nurturing force enters the indie music scene. Logo courtesy of Myspace.com

It seems that Steve Lambke, Dan Romano and Jessie Stein must’ve gotten similar advice from their mothers on that final night of 2008, because the Canadian rock musicians have certainly entered 2009 on the right foot. 

Lambke (of the Constantines), Romano (Attack In Black) and Stein (Miracle Fortress) announced earlier this week that they had formed a new independent record label called You’ve Changed Records. The label was originally formed so Attack In Black could release a split EP—which is slated to be released early this summer—in conjunction with Toronto’s Baby Eagle.

But it wasn’t long before their exclusive party turned into a full-fledged shebang.  

New Brunswick’s Shotgun Jimmie was soon added to the roster, and now the label’s Myspace page is promising fans that there’ll be “much more by other wonderful Canadian artists to come.”  It’s great to see these guys dive right into the new year.

According to an article in Exclaim!  Magazine, independent acts and the independent labels that support them “are the musical equivalent of the slow-food movement: locally sourced, community-supported micro-productions that give us higher-nutrient, better tasting music.”

In the long run, the ambition and originality professed by You’ve Changed Records challenges other indie labels and artists alike to keep kicking things up a notch in order to compete. If You’ve Changed Records is any indication of the type of year ahead of us, then we should be doing a little happy dance right about now. 

Already, the releases for the first half of the year are looking mighty fine. Even CBC Radio 3 is optimistic that 2009 will be musically fruitful. 

I know I’m pumped.

I mean, new Jenn Grant!? Hot Panda!? Swan Lake!? Great Lake Swimmers!? 

Let’s just say my student loan won’t be going towards tuition this term.

Transgender country artist Rae Spoon adds new meaning to the popular Beyoncé song "If I Were A Boy." Photo courtesy of killbeatmusic.com

I sink in.

Whenever I sit and watch Rae Spoon‘s homemade music videos, my mouth always transforms into some sort of salivating venus fly trap. I don’t know what it is. In no way are the country/folk musician’s videos ornate: they’re just of him, usually sitting on his bed with laundry racks in the background, belting out tunes and staring at the camera. He manages to command internal silence with such simplicity.

Not many people can hold my attention the way this emerging artist can.

So you can imagine that I was very excited when I found the transgender singer-songwriter’s latest video—a cover of popular R&B artist Beyoncé’s “If I Were A Boy”—on YouTube today.

The former Calgarian (Spoon now resides in Montréal) has a handful of videos on YouTube that tickle my fancy, like “I’ll Be A Ghost For You” and “Come On Forest Fire Burn The Disco Down,” which can also be found on his critically-acclaimed October 2008 release SuperiorYouAreInferior . However, there was something about “If I Were A Boy” that not only turned me into a wide-eyed zombie, but also got the gears banging and clanking in my mind. 

Spoon had added another layer of social commentary to the song.

While Beyoncé sheds light on how gender relations still place women in vulnerable positions today, Spoon’s rendition takes it one step further. 

Sexual orientation and transgender issues are also very much alive. The fight against discrimination is still quite real for many people.

This isn’t the first time Spoon has sung about GLBQT prejudice and his own experience as a transgender musician. The trucking, upbeat track “Off The Grid, Underground” from his album SuperiorYouAreInferior deals with the topic, but isn’t quite as effective as watching him perform “If I Were A Boy.”

I think observing Spoon’s calm, placid persona is a bit like looking into a mirror. We see ourselves in him and realize how these issues touch us and the people around us. It’s much more effective than angrily bludgeoning listeners with political rants.

A great musician can persuade and entertain at the same time. Spoon does both.

Yup, this is only the beginning of a fruitful career for him.  

Watching his video makes me even more disappointed that I wasn’t able to make it to his vinyl release show at the Biltmore Cabaret here in Vancouver this past Saturday. I collect my all-time favorite records on vinyl so I can frame them and hang them on my wall. I’ll have to get me SuperiorYouAreInferior on vinyl one of these days.

Rae Spoon\’s \”If I Were A Boy\”