Art

Band of the Month: LadyFace

- Greg

Happy Friday!

Today’s Band of the Month is LadyFace. A charming, guitar driven Toronto four-piece, who’s hooks are dead set on having you singing them in your sleep. Chalk full of friendly, fist-in-the-air choral anthems and memorable melodies, LadyFace also exposes a softer side with sweet and sensitive ballads. LadyFace’s first album, When We Go!, is a perfect display of their dynamic ability and the power of a poignant refrain.

Check out the link below to hear some of their tunes, and see them on stage tomorrow at the El Mocambo with Bonwit Teller and SCISSORKICK.

BOTM by Greg O’Toole

Stylish Pocket Art

- Adam Clare

Canadian artist Gary Taxali has teamed up with fashion retailer Harry Rosen to create pocket squares focused on Canadian. This is good because it seems so rare that Canadians celebrate their own talent in such a way.

Celebrating the culturally-rich heritage of Canada and featured cities – Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver, each of Taxali’s unique designs plays off of the character, culture and landmarks of each city. The result is a colourful and comical, yet highly wearable, collector’s item.

“I was inspired by how diverse our Canadian cities are, and I tried to capture the different moods and stories of Canadian life in a playful way,” says artist Gary Taxali.

More info here.

Band of the Month: Craig Brown

- Greg

Happy Friday, readers.
After a two month hiatus, Band of the Month is back!

Today’s band is Craig Brown. A multi-instrumentalist and producer with a great gift of transforming life’s celebrations, insights, and reflection into song, both musically and lyrically.

Craig Brown has just released his sixth album, Hysteresis. Colourfully upbeat and joyously dynamic, Hysteresis is bouncing with progressive, yet accessible melodies from beginning to end. Seldom seen on stage, Craig’s time in the studio has proven hours well spent. Check out some tunes from his bandcamp below.

Band of the Month by Greg O’Toole

A Protest Song About the NSA Reading Your Emails

- Adam Clare

The band YACHT has gone back to the glory days of Dylan and the like by writing a protest song. The song is about the NSA illegal spying the USA, which should bother pretty much anyone who cares about privacy. Until now, there was no good news to mention about the questionable actions revealed by Edward Snowden so hat tip to YACHT for singing what we all think.

“We claim full citizenship in the nation of Internet,” Evans told me over email, by way of explanation. “We wouldn’t be where we are if it weren’t for the existence of an open, free, and direct line to our fans–and to the world.” The idea that an intelligence agency could be listening-in struck Evans and Bechtolt as, well, creepy. “The analogy we’ve been using is that nobody wants to dance when there’s cops in the club,” says Evans.

The song came first, but soon after came the idea of putting it to work. The song became a pay-what-you-wish fundraising website for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, one of the best-known advocacy groups pushing to keep the Internet free. Evans says the donations have rolled in “steadily” since the site launched, with the largest single donation coming in at $30.

Read more here.

As always, check out our the band of the month if you like music.

Artists Better Protected Against Cognitive Decline

- Adam Clare

People who engage in music or visual arts are better protected against dementia and other cognitive decline issues. Nows the time to pick up that instrument you keep meaning to learn how to play!

Artists compared with non-artists are better protected, he added. “Due to their art, the brain is better protected [against] diseases like Alzheimer’s, vascular dementia, and even strokes. They have more reserve in their brain in order to give functions.

“So [we know], based on other neuroscience studies, that art in any of its forms uses different neuronal avenues inside the brain to do their work. And the activity, the talent and the art per se gives reserve when the brain requires that reserve.”

Read more at CBC.

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