Life is coming back to me
Gurevich, Gryner, July Talk, Le Tigre. Also: RIP to the Tragically Hip's mystery man.
I’m moving house this week, into a place I’m very excited about. Some business opportunities look extremely promising. Personally, it’s a time of new beginnings. The pandemic is not over, but I’m vaguely optimistic—which is unusual for me in the past three years. All of which is why this song by Michelle Gurevich has been in my head constantly for the last month:
I don’t know much about Gurevich, other than that she’s a Russian-Canadian who now lives in Berlin and has put out many records since 2007. I found her recently via the Late Night Tales compiled by Agnes Obel, which sent me down a rabbithole of her late-period-Leonard-Cohen-esque work, rich with wit and minor-key melancholy—and I learned that a former bandmate of mine plays on one of her records. I’ll investigate further and get back to you. Meanwhile, I’m in love with everything she’s done. But especially the song above.
Never-Ending Present readers and Tragically Hip fans: some news for you is behind the paywall below. But first, non-snoozy news for all:
Perhaps you’ve read Nick Cave’s widely shared, acerbic thoughts on AI songwriting: “The apocalypse is well on its way. This song sucks.” I was a bit more interested in veteran critic Simon Reynolds pondering whether ChatGBT could replace music criticism. His verdict: it can’t, because AI will only ever regurgitate consensus, commit to wishy-washy both-sidesism, is incapable of reviewing new music or live performance — and, of course, does not have a soul. Read that piece here. (And, again, thank you for subscribing to my human-generated newsletter.)
July Talk have a new album out now, produced by Holy Fuck’s Graham Walsh. In the past they’ve collaborated with heavy hitters (to me) like Tanya Tagaq, Weaves’ Jasmyn Burke and U.S. Girls’ James Baley. This time, Hearts on Fire readers will be interested to see Wolf Parade’s Spencer Krug make an appearance. The band talked to Indie 88’s Lana Gay about how that came about, and why the song is in part about friends who’ve fallen into a Jordan Peterson wormhole (not an unusual topic in my extended circle of friends, sadly). Watch it here. I’ll admit this band is a bit of a blind spot for me, outside of the big radio singles, but every time I hear them talk I like them a lot more. July Talk, with new (second) drummer Dani Nash in tow, play Massey Hall on March 10-11; Krug’s reunited Sunset Rubdown play the Horseshoe on March 24.
Emm Gryner has had a long and illustrious career, just as well regarded for her independent hustle as for her string of albums and collaborations. She published a book last year, The Healing Power of Singing, linked to her current side gig as a vocal teacher and life coach. She has a new yacht-rock album out this spring, Business and Pleasure, which marks the first time she’s shared writing credits with a collaborator: Michael Holmes, a poet and editor who, I should say, has also guided each of my three books into the world. He’s a great guy. She thinks so too: she married him. She writes about all that, about picking yourself up from a midlife crisis, and about the fact that everyone keeps asking her about her David Bowie gig 20 years ago, in this excellent piece for Huffington Post. Her new video is here.
The new Now magazine is now online. Is this some kind of soft launch? Because it’s certainly not going to threaten BlogTO… or anything else (although it does look considerably better than any given Postmedia site—a low bar). The culture section today leads with a story about anti-police protests. The only arts interview posted, with DVSN, is posted by the magazine’s owner — and popular YouTube host — Brandon Gonez. There are no music, theatre or film listings. Graham Isador elaborates on what’s going on for this piece in the Globe and Mail. Isador has something in common with myself and many of my peers: “It’s a running joke among my friends that every time I drink two cocktails I threaten to start an alt-weekly.” Meanwhile, former Now music (and other things) editor Richard Trapunski is lending a hand to The Grind, a new print publication trying to fill the void. Their fundraising campaign has raised only 70% of its goal after two months.
Bad news, good news: Belle and Sebastian have cancelled their North American tour, including May 2 at History, due to Stuart Murdoch’s ongoing health issues; the band cancelled other tours in the last six months as well. Meanwhile, I didn’t see this coming: Le Tigre are reuniting and touring, coming to Toronto on July 21—also at History. Saw them many times back then, including one of the greatest shows I’ve ever seen: in 2001, at Lee’s Palace. Speaking of health issues and Kathleen Hanna, fingers crossed that Bikini Kill show in Toronto will finally happen — three years later, and four years after tickets went on sale. Is that some kind of local record?
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