Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: The Rural Alberta Advantage “Departing”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: The Rural Alberta Advantage
Album Title: Departing
Year released: 2011
Details: Black vinyl, 180 gram

The skinny: The sophomore record by Toronto-based indie folk-rock trio, The Rural Alberta Advantage, was released the year after I discovered them at Ottawa’s Bluesfest and then, fell in love with their debut. “Departing” is the logical next step in the band’s progression so it wasn’t a big leap for me to fall for it as well. The production is crisper and cleaner but it doesn’t take away from the raw energy and crazed percussion that made their first effort so hard to pull away from. Nils Edenloff’s rough hewn sneer is set against Amy Cole’s gentle backing echo, lyrics that paint love stories and memories of home. I only got this 180 gram, original pressing of the record recently, completing my collection of the band’s work (for now). The packaging is very similar aesthetically to the debut (which I featured in last weekend’s post), but the album cover is one of my favourites, a very Canadian image indeed.

Standout track: “Tornado 87”

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: The Rural Alberta Advantage “Hometowns”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: The Rural Alberta Advantage
Album Title: Hometowns
Year released: 2009
Details: Black vinyl

The skinny: I saw The Rural Alberta Advantage live for the first time at Ottawa Bluesfest in 2010, before I had ever listened to any of their recordings. I was so impressed by their crazy blend of folk/country, punk, and simply wicked percussion, that I immediately afterwards sought out their debut album, “Hometowns”, and then, proceeded to see them live twice more in the span of the following year. The Toronto-based trio of Nils Edenloff, Amy Cole, and Paul Banwatt fast became a favourite of mine so when I found a copy of this debut album at the now-defunct Record Shaap, I quickly made it part of my collection. And this, in 2012, in my collections’s early days, back when it was in the single digits and before I had even purchased my turntable. I still spin this original, plain black pressing with regularity because it is simply an excellent collection of raw rockers.

Standout track: “Don’t haunt this place”

Categories
Live music galleries

Live music galleries: Wintersleep [2012]

(I got the idea for this series while sifting through the ‘piles’ of digital photos on my laptop. It occurred to me to share some of these great pics from some of my favourite concert sets from time to time. Until I get around to the next one, I invite you to peruse my ever-growing list of concerts page.)

Wintersleep at Ottawa Bluesfest 2012

Artist: Wintersleep
When: July 12th, 2012
Where: River stage, RBC Bluesfest, Ottawa
Context: I attended Ottawa Bluesfest for the fourth year in a row back in 2012 but it was the first year that I purchased the festival pass and took full advantage of it. By the final day of its 10 day duration, I was pretty tired but headed down to the grounds anyway to enjoy a great slate of Canadian indie bands. Wintersleep, a five member indie rock band from Halifax, Nova Scotia, was a late, yet very welcome addition to the Bluesfest schedule for me because I had never before seen them live. Their 7:30pm set time on the River stage was bright and energetic, supercharged with wicked drum beats care of Loel Campbell (who is also really fun to watch) and the easily identifiable singing voice of Paul Murphy. You can really tell by watching them that Wintersleep are serious about their music. You almost get the feeling that when they hit their stride and they’re deep into their jam, it doesn’t matter whether the audience is big or small or even there at all. That’s not to say they don’t appreciate their fans but their dedication to their craft is obvious by the way they throw everything into their performance. I thoroughly enjoyed this set, especially their renditions of my favourite track, the anthemic “Weighty ghost” and new song (at that time) “In came the flood”. I would highly recommend seeing them live.
Point of reference song: “In came the flood”

Loel Campbell and Paul Murphy of Wintersleep
Jon Samuel and Tim d’Eon of Wintersleep
Paul Murphy and Chris Bell of Wintersleep
Mike Bigelow and Tim d’Eon of Wintersleep
Paul Murphy taking it away