The new Bird City record (the first official Bird City record) will be released this autumn on Label Fantastic! and Coax Records.  In the meantime, Jenny has teamed up with longtime pal/Constantines’ front man “Bry Webb” to accompany him on a bunch of his tour of small Ontario cities.  Bry is going LOTS of places, you can check out his post on facebook to see his full list of dates, the ones featuring Bird City are listed below.  Bry is carving out a beautiful reconnaissance mission of small town venue connections, quite a magical feat, and if the shows goes well hopefully many Label Fantastic! artists will return to these towns.  If you or your friends are near any of these places we’d love to see you out at the shows!

Bry Webb w/ Bird City:

May:

13 – Manitowaning (Manitoulin Island) – Debajehmujig Creation Centre

14 – Peterborough – Artspace

18 – Owen Sound – Heartwood Concert Hall - w/ Long Branch

19 – Sudbury – Fromagerie Elgin

20 – Durham - Garafraxa Cafe

25 Kingston – Next Church

26 Stratford – Montforte

June 18 – Grimsby – The Pumphouse

It’s here!  ”Saturn Return” by Old Cabin is officially released!  You can stream the album right now at Exclaim!   

Here’s the rundown: “The album opens with the previously shared addiction tale “Where Did You Go,” which is immediately followed by an accompanying suite cryptically titled “!?!” From there, we hear the stories of “Joe,” as well as “And Annie,” before Barr grapples with the absurdities of life on “I Got You,” and finally — and perhaps most powerfully — the aftermath of residential schools on “Don’t Leave Me Behind.”

Rich with layered characters and heavy themes, the album is am engaging exercise in modern musical storytelling told through a distinctly Canadian lens.”

It’s a great record – we were lucky enough to witness Jona perform it in its entirety on the Golden Bus earlier this month.  Be sure to keep an eye on his tour schedule.  If you’re out in western Canada, check out one of these upcoming dates:

Old Cabin is crossing Canada on tour!  In celebration of “Where Did You Go,“ the first offering from his forthcoming EP, Saturn Return, available later this summer via Label Fantastic!

Listen to the sprawling track HERE or below.

Catch him in a town near you!  Dates are as follows:

I am SUPER pleased to announce these two new releases.

One is a once-in-a-label-lifetime type of fantastical release, a compendium of 24 songs and beautiful art pieces that attempt to render a portrait to illustrate the mythological legendary “Mulagi”

One is a beautiful vinyl from one of my favourite bands from the BLOCKS Recording club era in my teen years.

We get to release a book/album about a legend, and an album FROM a legend.  This is a magical day.

Here’s some info about each – I hope your day is as great as mine is now!  Try to make it out to a release show near you!

The Ecstasy and the Void: an introduction to the Occult of Mulagi - The White Funz

Today!  One of my favourite bands of ALL TIME has given us a second full-length record to fall in love with.  If you had asked me three years ago if my favourite band in 2015 would be a MARKETING TEAM I would have thought that an extremely unlikely circumstance.  But marketing WORKS folks, at least when you’re marketing Blimp Festivals.  Check out their new album, check out their vintage office supplies, check out all things Blimp Rock at:  http://www.blimprockenterprises.com/

Here’s a word from the team themselves:

“ATTN: People of business!

We have a very important announcement for you today.  
Blimp Rock will be releasing our second album, entitled “Sophomore Slump” on April 7th.

“Let’s All Stay In Tonight” – the first single is not so much a rejection of the nightlife, but an endorsement of the indoors. It is a ‘call to couch’ for those of us who enjoy cheese plates, early evenings and small groups of people. Listen via Soundcloud, Bandcamp or watch the video.

As both a band and a marketing team, we have focused on funding our $700k festival that will take place on a blimp floating over Lake Ontario. We plan on reaching our goal by releasing albums, touring as a relatively unheard of Southern Ontario rock band, and selling vintage office supplies such as rolodexes, fax machines and floppy discs.

After the runaway success of “Lake Ontario Lifeguards (L.O.L.)”, expectations ran high at the BRE offices for a follow-up. Will we ever surpass the hype of L.O.L.? Was the first record better? Can we ever raise $700 000? Regardless, Blimp Rock has made a second album.

However, it is a good idea to get our sometime, so Blimp Rock will also be embarking upon a “Powerpoint Tour of Ontario” starting April 11th.
Each show includes a Powerpoint presentation on our business plan, followed by a rock concert.  

We’d be very appreciative if you shared the news with your associates.
Thank you for your business,

Blimp Rock Enterprises”

Presentations:

Apr. 11 – Guelph, ON – Kazoo! Fest
Apr. 16 – Oshawa, ON – The Moustache Club
Apr. 17 – Hamilton, ON – Homegrown Cafe
Apr. 18 – Maynooth, ON – The Arlington Hotel
Apr. 19 – Peterborough, ON – The Spill
Apr. 24 – Windsor, ON – Phog Lounge
Apr. 25 – Toronto, ON – The Dakota Tavern
May. 1 – Ottawa, ON – Raw Sugar Cafe
May. 2 – Montreal, QC – Le Cagibi
May. 8 – St. Catherines, ON – Mahtay
May. 9 – Midland, ON – The Boathouse

It’s true!  Jenny Mitchell of Label Fantastic! has been assisting in the booking of her tours for years, and has now taken the reigns to do it officially and efficiently.  Her first official booked-entirely-by-her tour this past November for Bird City and Shopkeeper was a huge success – fifteen shows in fifteen days, from highly respected bars, to alternative art spaces, to the basements of teenagers in the suburbs.  They had somewhere to stay every night, they made all of their money back and then some (including close to $1200 in flight costs) with tons of homemade meals along the way.  For two bands that have NEVER toured before it was an incredible feat.  The next hurdle is music festivals!  We are soooooo excited to represent so much amazing talent, it will be fun to see how many festivals think they’re as great as we do.  We’ll see!!!

Bird City (of Jenny Omnichord, Barmitzvah Brothers) is venturing out of her hidden musical home life to hit the road to the east with Guelph’s best all-star-under-the-radar heartbreaking band Shopkeeper. Shopkeeper is fronted by songwriter Scott Haynes and surrounded by Steph Yates (of Esther Grey) and Alanna Gurr (of Alanna Gurr and the Greatest State) They will have a brand new record for the road and they are honestly one of the most amazing bands you almost definitely haven’t seen yet. Bird City has pulled together a 16 song 14 year retrospective collection of bedroom recordings, new unreleased material, and tracks of Bird City-like moments from previous projects. They’ll have these albums for sale, and probably other magical merch. There are about eighteen shows in 16 days, stretching from Southern Ontario to Newfoundland and back again. Some of these folks have never played some of these cities so we reallllly hope you can make it out. Here are the shows so far (all are Bird City and Shopkeeper unless otherwise stated. Other bands mentioned are additional to Shopkeeper and Bird City):

Saturday November 8th: The Tranzac, Toronto Ontario w/ Jose Contreras!!!

Sunday November 9th: Wasted Space, Oshawa (Next Winter Festival)

Monday November 10th: Grumpy’s, Montreal – Chick pickin’ Mondays (Note: This show is Bird City, Alanna Gurr and Steph Yates but NOT Shopkeeper)

Tuesday November 11th: House show, Rothesay NB

Wednesday November 12th: Jazz Guys, Sackville, NB w/ Julie Doiron!!!

Thursday November 13th: Gus’ Pub, Halifax NS, w/ Cactus Flower and Nap Eyes!!!

Friday November 14th:  Prescott St. House show – Shopkeeper, Jenny Omnichord and Max

Saturday November 15th: Early evening show at Fixed St. John’s, NL – solo performances by Scott Haynes, Jenny Mitchell, Steph Yates and Alanna Gurr

Sunday November 16th: The Ship, St. John’s, NL w/ Alanna Gurr backed by Green and Gold!!! w/ Bird City, Rube and Rake and Lady Brett Ashley

Monday November 17th: The Rose and Thistle St. John’s, NL w/ “Imposter Grey” – a special St. John’s version of Esther Grey!!! Ilia Nicoll and Shopkeeper!!

Tuesday November 18th: The Levee, St. John’s NL, w/ Bird City, Shopkeeper and Green and Gold!!!

Thursday November 20th: The Capitol, Fredericton, NB w/ CFL Sessions (Henry Svec)

Friday November 21st: Le Cagibi, Montreal, QC w/ Swag Train (Renee Deschenes)

Saturday November 22nd: Raw Sugar, Ottawa ON, w/ Richard Laviolette!!

Sunday November 23rd (MATINEE): The Garnet, Peterborough ON w/ Nick Ferrio

Sunday November 23rd (evening): The Cornerstone, Guelph ON

To keep updated as to any amendments or additions you can follow the event on face book at https://www.facebook.com/events/767925283269265/?ref=br_tf

Shopkeeper

Shopkeeper is a band of song singers assembled in the Ontario music hub of Guelph, Ontario. Scott Haynes (Bill Killionaire, Dutch Toko) formed the group in the fall of 2013 to showcase sets of minimal folk rock songs he had composed the previous summer. Steph Yates (Esther Grey, ex-Hinidar) was recruited to play the drums, and Alanna Gurr (Alanna Gurr & The Greatest State) was added on bass.

Bringing compelling vocals and emotive instrumentation to Haynes’ songs, these three musicians have built Shopkeeper into a powerful live act, drawing emotion and engagement from audiences in their short time as a band. Songs of love, loss, and longing are brought to light not with dreary seriousness to reinforce the gravity of the material, but with a triumphant spirit. Feelings of helplessness seemingly near breakdown give way to exuberance and epiphanies throughout.

Shopkeepers debut album will be released on Label Fantastic! and Little Room Labs on November 18th!

We are really REALLY excited for this one.  Label Fantastic! has been pretty lucky with the beautiful variety of artists we’ve managed to collect – recent releases have ranged from the computer-generated country-folk of Henry Svec’s project “Livingston”, to the perfect pop orchestration of Pink Moth to the lush and swooping Canadian landscape of Man Meets Bear.  But Label Fantastic!’s inaugural artist Jenny Omnichord has been getting kind of lonely over in the synths and keyboards department.  Until NOW.  May we present you with “Tyson” a one-man-keyboarding-pop sensation.  Known primarily for his exceptional powers with a gameboy, this album brings Tyson to a whole new level of keyboard domination and pop production.  It’s a treasure, he’s a treasure, and we are so pleased to get to team up with Little Room Labs for our second co-release together.  Do you guys know how coveted the music is that’s coming out of Little Room Labs?  Every little indie label in the area would LOVE to get to throw their names on the magic that comes out of that studio, and as soon as the music hits the streets the big labels will be chasing them too.   We definitely know how lucky we are.

TODAY, Tyson will release his debut album, casio fiasco, on hand-printed compact disc. the celebrations will begin with a pizza party. then our dear friends blimp rock, fresh back from their european tour, will dish out a fine set + powerpoint presentation. the newly assembled tyson trio, featuring steph yates on bass and dan paillé on the kit, will then cap off this early evening affair. this is going down at silence, 46 essex st, guelph. details here. join us, why dontcha.

CASIO FIASCO is LRL06, co-presented by us over here at label fantastic! be prepared to fall in love with this album’s multi-coloured strange-pop landscape. tyson has really pulled up his studio socks with this one, showing off his reverberating ankles and his keen sense of sonic adventure. you’ll sink with him to mean, dark places; you’ll dance with him through the neon fog of anxiety; you’ll float with him to soft, pink cloud castles.

to preview some tracks from the album (available online next week), check out tyson’s interview with chelsea of THE FLANNEL HOUR : TUES AUG 05 2014, 3 PM.

We are please to announce we have collected a new artist and friend, the delightful Soren Little Brothers, known for his musical work in various awesome projects (such as the Funz) in multiple provinces and countries including BC, Quebec, and Germany.  We’ve got him down here in Southern Ontario with us for the time being and we couldn’t be happier.

Waagaaskingaa is the 18^th and newest album by Man meets Bear, recorded in Kitchener, Ontario. Soren Little Brothers, the songwriter and only musician appearing on this album, is a professional ecologist studying the Great Lakes and their synergistic connections to the land and atmosphere. Waagaaskingaa explores some of the ecological concepts which come up in his research, as well as the mythology of Ontario, presenting a lattice of biology, spirituality, Ojibwe language, and other aspects of the Ontario landscape. The cover art is “Northern Painting 25/Northern Lake II” by Lawren S. Harris, a member of the Group of Seven. The distinctive Ontarian expression of theosophy inherent in much of Harris’ work provides a fitting counterpoint to the themes of Waagaaskingaa, and as such, the artist’s family gave permission for this image to be used as the album cover.

Spending the last ten years based out of cities such as Osaka, Montreal, Vancouver, and Berlin, Man meets Bear has collaborated with artists such as Dirty Beaches and Aidan Baker (of Nadja), among many others. Waagaaskingaa was mastered by Todd Macdonald (Norvaiza, The Winks), and its release will be celebrated by a brief tour of Ontario and Quebec.

Some acclaim for Man meets Bear’s previous album, Buffalo Comets:

“Islands of beauty descend upon our memory before flashing through the unattainable grasp of our senses.” – Weird Canada

“Beautifully crafted” – Gray Owl Point

“… these Buffalo Comets race across the sky like furry stars. Watch them burn, listen close, let them go.” – Luna Kafé

For more information, contact sorenbros@hotmail.com

manmeetsbear.bandcamp.com

www.facebook.com/ManMeetsBear

Upcoming Waagaaskingaa tour dates:

June 21st Guelph with Toby Goodshank (The Cornerstone)
22nd Toronto with Norvaiza, Slight Birching, and Birdsacrosswater (The Central)
23rd Blyth with Slight Birching and TBA (Queen’s Bakery)
24th Brantford with Slight Birching and Dark Bird (house show of Paul and Sarah)
25th Guelph with Slight Birching and M. Mucci (Red Brick Cafe)
26th Kitchener with Slight Birching and Catlantis (Cafe Pyrus)
27th Montreal with Slight Birching, Make Love, and TBA (house show of Merida)
28th Montreal with Slight Birching, Brenden Orange, and Le Fruit Vert (house show of Andrew Forsythe)
29th Montreal with Slight Birching (early-4PM in-store show, Phonopolis Records)

They’re also listed here on facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/1428156727437707/

So as the huge fan of Pink Moth that I am (and I am a HUGE fan) I am extremely excited to announce this release.  The album was written in Berlin and mixed by Label Fantastic!’s best friend Andy Magoffin (Great Lake Swimmers, Constantines, Jim Guthrie)  at the House of Miracles in Cambridge .

Pink Moth has 7 releases under their belt before this one, one full-length and an incredible six-EP series.  As far as I am concerned they have never written so much as one bad song, and by extension they have earned the title of “most consecutive repeats in my car”.  I’ve been anxiously awaiting this new release for a year now, and even as I am typing this I feel like it’s that moment that happens sometimes in the company of  your musical friends,the last moment you get to write about a band as though they’re your own personal secret gem before they explode to having the kind of success that if it weren’t for the date stamp on your web post, you wouldn’t actually be able to convince yourself they were ever unknowns.  If all goes well, if this record gets the exposure it deserves…well, I honestly don’t even think I can wrap my head around all the possible explosive outcomes of that.  I’m going to anxiously await that too.  Please track this record down, please watch the videos and circulate!  This shouldn’t be kept  secret.

Pink Moth has three album release shows over the next three days. Tonight (March 26th) they will be at the Piston in Toronto with label mate Jenny Omnichord and “The Island Years”.

Tomorrow (March 27th) they’ll be at the APK in London with Eric Howden and Taylor Holden.

Friday March 28th they perform in Oshawa at “Wasted Space” with The Island Years and Clara Engel.  Stay tuned for more dates soon!

Here are videos for two of the singles off this new record.

Video for “Lines” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGJJDzKCSyw

Video for “Eclipsed” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GEBG8v-pTI