Ian & Sylvia Tyson - Calgary/Trucker's Cafe (1970)

We lost an icon yesterday with the passing of Ian Tyson, a man who had a huge impact on country music in our part of the world. After settling into Longview in the mid 1970's, Tyson also settled into country music - releasing a series of singles and recording several albums at Sundae Sound (which we posted last year). 

For us, this 1983 article by James Muretich is a really great profile of Tyson as he was releasing his Old Corrals &Sagebrush LP. "This isn't a comeback, I haven't been away really, just been right here doing my thing (raising cutting horses), which is as important to me as the music," Tyson said at the time. "If the success of the album dictates a higher profile then fine. But I won't get too far from Longview."

We're going to celebrate his legacy with one of the things we absolutely love here at the CCPS, a song about our fair city. "Calgary" is a great song that showcases Tyson's resonant baritone - we've listened to this more times than you can imagine over the past day. This single is billed under Ian & Sylvia Tyson, but it's from their 1979 Great Speckled Bird album - arguably a key moment in Tyson's move from folk to country. 

Get it here.

German Church Choirs - Ein Deutsches Weihnachtskonzert

This Christmas record is a collection of songs from five German Church Choirs (assumedly all from Calgary and region). We're calling this a Christmas record (on Vocal records) in a fit of assumptiveness - the songs are in German, so we're not 100% sure but that's clearly a Christmas ornament on the cover isn't it?

Get it here.

Sherry Kennedy - On Christmas Day

Today's Advent single is a single-sided single from Sherry Kennedy, a long-standing member of the Calgary music community. This soft rocker is an original composition about longing for your loved ones on that special day of the year.

Get it here.

Roy Thoreson - O Holy Night/God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen-We Three Kings (1979)

Switching over to the 7" single part of the CCPS collection for this next bit of your Advent Calendar... here's a record from World Whistling Champion Roy Thoreson. As you can probably imagine, both sides feature Thoreson whistling familiar songs to the accompaniment of a church organ. 

Get it here.

Centre Street Church Choir and Orchestra - Come & Behold (1996)

We had pretty low expectations when we put this one into the tape deck... but this one was a surprise to us with its high production value. The Centre Street Church Choir and Orchestra are huge and produce a lush sound. This is a big, ambitious production.

Get it here.

Trilogy - Two Thousand Years Of Christmas

Trilogy is a Celtic-tinged trio (hence the name) featuring Eileen McGann and her frequent collaborator David K, along with Cathy Miller. Our scan of the cover doesn't quite do this one justice - there's a bit of gold paint on this which is quite amazing. The songs on this tape are a mix of traditional English songs, original compositions by Miller and McGann... and "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch." It's maybe a weird one in the mix... but we're always suckers for that song.

Get it here.

Sargeant X Comrade - Magic Radio (2020)

We're super excited to have this tape in our mitts - Sargeant X Comrade, a collaboration between singer Yolanda Sargeant and producer Evgeniy Bykovets - is a quite excellent thing. They get pegged as low fi soul - but to our ears they owe more to trip hop minimalists Portishead, taking that 90's sound and updating it in a tasty, tasty way. Sargeant's voice channels a great combination of Nina Simone and Beth Gibbons while Bykovets's production is adds just enough experimental elements to not overpower the danceability of the tracks on this, their first full-length release. 

Get it from the the Sargeant X Comrade bandcamp.

Quit It! - Spilling Out (2022)

Quit It! got our attention with their excellent 7" EP last year - it came out of nowhere and captured the rage and anger we feel at watching politics today. Their new full-length keeps that burning - and it's quite welcome. Quit It! is a continuation of the River Jacks and Rum Runner, but gone are the accordion and folk rock leanings, this is a more straight-up punk in the tradition of Knucklehead. And, as we have kind of suggested, it's quite, quite good.

Get the download from the Quit It! bandcamp, or get the tape (or LP, if you prefer - heck, they've even put this out on CD!) from Wasted Wax.

Corta Vita - Non, Je Suis Mort! (2022)

We were pleasantly surprised a few weeks ago to hear that this was in the works - a reissue of the collected works of the legendary emo/screamo band Corta Vita by Semi Collective Records. Side A is their 2002 CD and a previously digital-only posthumous released, while the B side is their 2001 demo tape. It's a very nice package that celebrates the importance of the Corta Vita.

If you hustle over to Melodiya, they may have a couple of copies of the limited issue tape. If not, hit the Semi Collective bandcamp for the download.

CCPS Miscellany: Cindy Lee - Tatlashea (2012)

 

We weren't going to post this tape, but since we invoked the name of Women yesterday - and considering the legacy of that band in our city - we figured we might as well go for it. This is the first release from Patrick Flegel's Cindy Lee - a project we've seen called "confrontation pop," which is an amazingly apt description. The songs on here veer between noisy experiments and quiet, understated beauty - an approach that Flegel has been perfecting since this came out.

You can stream this over on the Realistik soundcloud.

Temps - Mid Cycle (2022)

We posted a tape by David Lavoie last year, and somehow totally missed that he was a member of the excellently-named Telstar Drugs. Well, he's back in the indie rock saddle with Temps, a band which very much carries on their tradition of angular guitars and stop-stutter drums - we can't help compare them to a jazzier version of Women, slightly parallel to bands like Body Lens (but not as arty) and Fitness (and not as frantic). 

Get it via the Temps bandcamp.

Minks - Von Gundy (2002)

 

The Minks are a band we had missed/forgotten about until Andrew Wedderburn name-checked them in his list of picks for the Calgary Songs Project. We're glad we took the time to find this CD - it's a scrappy batch of power pop-skewing punk that reminds us of the Hardship Post and early Thrush Hermit. We know NOTHING about this band, though - as far as we know, the Minks were the only band the members played in. If you know otherwise, please let us know!

And if you don't know, grab the download.

Mannequin Depressives - Trash-Eighty (2002)

Up until the mid 2010's, Calgary felt like a no-fly zone for synthpop. Mannequin Depressives always kicked against that - and we're quite happy they did. Trash-Eighty is the first of two full-length CDs they put out (along with a few CDR EPs) and it's a pretty great thing. Drawing on the sounds of bands like Depeche Mode, Psyche, and Cabaret Voltaire, this is an ambitious and highly enjoyable affair. We remember it being panned a bit for sounding overly retro when it came out - but with so much darkwave and synthwave coming out now, it's really hard to make that argument about the Mannequin Depressives these days.

This one's streaming on Apple Music.

Lorrie Mateson - You Should Know By Now (2002)

 

After the demise of the excellent National Dust, Lorrie Matheson embraced playing and recording under his own name and released this, his first solo CD. This picks up where National Dust left off - maybe skewing more power pop than that band. It's always struck us as a bit weird that Matheson recorded this in Edmonton with a bunch of session musicians, but maybe that was just him trying to distance himself from the legacies of National Dust and Fire Engine Red.

This one is available for streaming via Spotify.

Kris Demeanor - Lark (2002)

Here's Kris Demeanor's second CD, which sees his wordy songs backed up by a stellar band made up of Peter Moller, Chantal Vitalis, Diane Kooch, and assorted guests. For us, this CD hits its stride with tracks like "One of Two Things" and "Extreme to Me," on which Demeanor flexes his verbal skills and cutting insight into our world's darker parts. Also, the video for "Extreme to Me" is one of two Calgary videos we can name that feature dance sequences in office buildings - and we do note that the other, Hot Little Rocket's "Like Killers," came out a few years after this:

Demeanor's discography can be pretty hard to track down (looks like only his last CD is on Spotify), so grab the download here.

Knucklehead - Hostage Radio (2002)

We figure no one will object to another Knucklehead post here... so here's their 2002 EP, Hostage Radio. This is from that great era where bands discovered that they could also put videos on CDs, so this one includes the vid for "Flight Of The Living Dead," which someone had the smarts to upload to youtube already:

And like a good chunk of the Knucklead discography, this one is available on their bandcamp.

Jeff Caissie - I'm Just Trying Not To Lose My Mind (2002)

This solo CD from the usually audacious and over-the-top frontman of the Browns picking up an acoustic guitar and throwing his heart on his sleeve for a CD of stripped down, more singer-songwriterly tracks. Jeff Caissie's inspiration might be the Replacements' Paul Westerberg (whose "Here Comes a Regular" is covered as the hidden track on this - and covered quite, quite well, we should note) and he (Caissie, that is) does pretty well in that tradition. The songs on here are heartfelt and really great - they show that hardcore kids can turn it down and not suck.

Stream it on Spotify.

Kara Keith - The Love Years (2002)

In between playing in the Earthquake Pills and launching Falconhawk, Kara Keith released this excellent CDR (featuring a few of our favourite songs from the first Falconhawk CD). The songs on here are primarily just Keith and the talented Dave Alcock on drums/recording... but it still sounds great, if lacking the heavier production that came with Falconhawk's releases. 

It looks like this CD (with different art - our copy is obviously a one-off, handmade affair) is available for your streaming pleasure on Kara Keith's Spotify.

Honeyrocket - Comforting Violence (2002)

 

Oh, wow - we had forgotten about Honeyrocket until we pulled out this CD for posting. We had featured singer Thérèse Lanz on an ¡Olé! 7" a few months ago, but forgot about her earlier work with the all-grrl Honeyrocket. We're going to turn to She Rox for the full story:

Honeyrocket began in the early 2000’s, based out of Calgary, Alberta they quickly gained local notoriety for their punky guitar driven brand of grunge rock. Founded by sisters Therese Lanz aka Trezzy-Guitar and vocals, Francesca Lenz aka Franni-Bass, along with Jen Foster-Drums, and Jamie Fooks on vocals. This line-up proved however to be short lived, and guitarist Marlene Lau and new drummer Stefani Makichan would solidify the line-up. Touring throughout Canada with punk legends Fugazi in 2001 opened the band up to larger punk base, although many described the band as Canada’s answer to L7. By 2002, Honeyrocket would release their debut album “Comforting Violence”, with its guitar driven hooks the album received numerous positive reviews and saw their popularity reaching far beyond their local music scene. However not long after its release the band called it quits leaving many of their fans wondering why. Founding members the Lanz sisters would continue on with drummer Stefani Makichan and form the all female trio Kilbourne, a punk influenced sound with hints of pop in it, he band would last until 2009 and eventually add a male guitarist to the line up. By 2010 only frontwoman and guitarist Therese Lanz and drummer Stefani Makichan remained and the duo switched to a heavy doom metal sound and became the duo known as Mares Of Thrace, which proved to be the most successful out of all the incarnations of the genius that is Therese Lanz. Guitarist Marlene Lau would go on to found the co-ed band Kill Matilda and remained that band's guitarist until eventually leaving the band. Honeyrocket however may remain an undiscovered gem by many and for those is becoming a much sought after band that were indeed forerunners in what some have called Canada’s Riot Girl movement.

Get it here.

Failure - The Failure (2002)

The Failure started as a four-piece band, a direct(ish) line from The Everymen and Guilt Trip. This is the first of the two CDs they released before changing their name to The Evidence - and it's very good. It doesn't hurt that they've got Casey Lewis' monstrous drumming and powerhouse recording ear to give this all the oomph it delivers. Plus, look at those little babies on the inside cover!

Get it here.

Daggers - Right Between the Eyes (2002)

We recently posted the Daggers' earlier 7" single and kind of blew what we had to say then. Forbidden Dimension blah blah Horrorpops blah blah The Presence blah blah... BIG ROCK SOUND. 

Get it here!