Pat LePoidevin's Blue Tornadoes, Innovative Folk from New Brunswick

Anyone heard of this guy, Pat LePoidevin? He's stationed in Sackville, New Brunswick, and his new album Blue Tornadoes is something to behold, especially for any of you folkies out there. By folkies, I mean people who like folk/Americana and International folk music, including bagpipes and tin whistle, the former of which he learned while living in Scotland. Similar to St. John's own The Mountains and The Trees, Pat LePoidevin apparently uses a looper pedal to create innovative soundscapes using organic instruments with some fancy fingerpicking. His voice has the power to make you cry, very similar to M. Ward and Nick Drake, very smokey. He gets a little too rock n' rolly with his voice almost going to an Eddie Vedder style on "Cancer," but it's not so bothersome that I can't get past it. Others will love it because of that, I'm sure. Other tracks on the album have some wicked bagpipe work.

Here's a sampling of his incredible music that you'll just have to hear for yourself. I'll also be featuring it this week on The New Spin this Thursday night, 9-11 P.M. on 93.5 CHMR-FM, 7:30 EST.

Make sure you listen to "The Bird and The Basement," very Cat Stevens...

in sound,

dashiell brown,

host of The New Spin, "the best music you've never heard."

Album Review: Patrick Watson's Wooden Arms is Nothing Short of Incredible

Winner of the Polaris Prize in 2007 for Close to Paradise, Patrick Watson's new album on Secret City Records, Wooden Arms, will truly leave you spellbound, especially if you're a fan of progressive/experimental (and even classical) music that utilises the whole gamut of the musical spectrum for pure sonic ear candy. Any instrument you can think of, it's probably on here, with just about every style, save perhaps Latin American. Though originally from CA, like me, he lives in Montreal and this album could be easily classified under the new weird America tag that you might've seen on last.fm.

With a tenor-like/falsetto voice similar to M. Ward, Devendra Banhart, Iron and Wine, Nick Drake, and Bon Iver, Patrick Watson serenades with you sweet nothings and lullabies, but these songs are anything but simple, rather they are meticulously layered and composed with complex arrangements like Animal Collective, Yeasayer, and The Microphones, leaving you with unlimited opportunites to explore this album's exciting depths like an undiscovered gold mine. Every song on this incredible album will take you far on a journey somewhere that you never knew you could go to or even wanted to. Whether it is the stunning barrage of Kodo drums thundering in your ears on "Beijing" taking you to fog drenched hidden mountains in the farthest depths of Asia, the Cabaret-like Tom Waitsian numbers, the beautiful classical arrangment of "Hommage", the exquisite alt-country/folk harmonies of "Big Bird in a Small Cage" against a backdrop of quiet guitar fingerpicking and banjo, or the utterly exciting track, "Where the Wild Things Are," this is easily my favorite album of the year, one I will play constantly on The New Spin.

Having also released last year's Polaris Prize-nominated Plants and Animals to well-deserved critical acclaim, Secret City Records are clearly a label that wants, deserves, your attention, and Patrick Watson's Wooden Arms is their latest secret weapon, one that will shoot you straight in the heart and leave you begging for more.

--Dashiell Brown, host of The New Spin, "the best music you've never heard."

Lhasa's Rising Up: can you hear it now?

I don't even know where to begin. Of course, I'll tell you that she was very generous during the CD launch showcase on Monday: what a gift it was to hear several (7, maybe 8) songs from the latest album... I lost count. Created with great musicians playing with her and everything fell right in place: as the album was recorded live to tape, the cohesion was there much more than what usually happens during a CD launch performance. You want some names of the artists who have contributed to her album? You will recognize Joe Grass, Freddy Koella... and Lhasa in the heart of the creative process: it is her signature, her world.
I always have felt exhilarated after her concerts. What is different this time though? Her voice? Yes. Soemthing in the intensity, the introspection is new. Somehow the emotion even more palpable than with the previous albums. Including some anger, held in. Very few songs remind me of her previous album "The Living Road": maybe "Soon This Space Will Be Too Small" is more in the same area emotionally.
I can only urge you to listen closely as her sincerity will certainly shake you and you can thank her for it. You might emerge feeling more alive and vibrant. Hopefully.

Toronto's The Weather Station, Avant-garde laptop folk noir

Four years in the making on a Toshiba Laptop using Sonar 4, Tamara Lindeman's project The Weather Station is a true lo-fi wonder complete with all sorts of organic soft spoken instruments which combine to give us a dark, desert-like, haunted record about loss and loneliness. The Line is a lovely blend of folk ballads along with a taste of the avant-garde, with Tamara's voice slinking and slithering on top. For fans of Patrick Watson, Nick Cave, Woven Hand, Cat Power, PJ Harvey, you get the idea. It's dark, noir folk at its finest.

Hear some of it tonight on my show, which will be streaming online 9-11 P.M, 7:30 EST.

in sound,

dashiell brown

host of The New Spin, "the best music you've never heard."

Other Canadian music featured tonight:

Headache 24, Patrick Watson, Olenka and the Autumn Lovers, Japandroids, Ghost is Dancing, Steve McBean's Pink Mountaintops (of Black Mountain), and St. John's Mountain and the Trees

www.myspace.com/dashiellbrown

Review: Rae Spoon's Superior You Are Inferior

Here is my latest review for Rae Spoon's latest album. Rae Spoon is a transgendered alt-country/folk singer who turned in his banjo for a computer. While in Europe, he wrote about his Canadian experiences. This is his 4th solo album.

I play Rae Spoon on The New Spin all the time. And I noticed that Rae Spoon is not on the list down there about bands you should know about. Like I said, my show plays "the best music you've never heard," and obviously Rae Spoon is "Off the Grid" here as well.