The 15th River and Sky Festival takes place July 20-23 2023 at Fisher’s Paradise in Field, Ontario. This year its a festival of friends with many of the artists having previously, as well as currently, been in bands together, on stages together and signed to the same labels. We give the open mic over to them.
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River & Sky 2023 announces The Sadies, Julie Doiron, Dominique Fils-Aimé, and Aysanabee
By Will McGuirk
One of the best shows thus far this year has been Daniel Romano Outfit opening for the Sadies here in Oshawa’s Biltmore Theatre. So great and afterwards I had a good number of folks come by the shop to buy up some Romano records.
If y’all want to re-live that well you are in luck. The Sadies and Daniel Romano Outfit are among the acts announced for this year’s River & Sky festival in Field, ON, north of Sturgeon Falls, running July 20 to 23. That is just fabulous news. And just as fabulous is the list of other acts also announced in this first wave.
River & Sky is one of the friendliest festivals and this year it seems they are bringing friends from all across the country together to hang and see each other perform, friends who live in other provinces and in southern Ontario, and for whom this Field is just about equal distance from all of them.
Julie Doiron will be there. Doiron of course was on record with Romano, along with Frederick Squire (one time resident of Oshawa), on Daniel, Fred and Julie, one of the first releases from You’ve Changed Records.
Also performing and another You’ve Changed alumni, Shotgun Jimmie, (one time resident of Ajax) so yah it is a very thoughtful line-up, but then again it has always been thoughtful. Consideration is in its DNA, consideration of community, of environment, of diversity, of economics, of transit, its just a beautiful experience in the woods, by a river below an expansive sky.
Aysanabee, Zoon, Dominique Fils-Aimé, Pelada, and Clerel are among the other performers announced. Tickets available here.
Radio Zeitgeist: Hear tracks by Julie Doiron, the RTs, Palette Knife, Nation of Language, Slow Down Molasses, and JW Francis
By Will McGuirk
Radio Zeitgeist spotlights the best of the week’s vinyl releases scheduled for a drop on Friday. This week we spotlight tracks by the RTs, Palette Knife, Nation of Language, Slow Down Molasses, and JW Francis plus a whole lot more. Dig in. It is available on the Spotify platform. Subscribe, Follow, Like, whatever it is they do do it there. We have been doing the RZ roundup for a while so there’s an archive too.
Ouri, photo by Kane Ocean
Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Myles Goodwyn, Frank Turner, half • alive, Ouri, The Velveteers, Wine Lips, Jeremy Voltz, and Astral Swans with Julie Doiron
By Will McGuirk
“. . . i came to realize that there was an anger-sized hole missing in our songs. there were stories that i was restricting myself from writing because i wanted them to be perfectly processed, with happy endings to tie everything together. but sometimes the unprocessed, unhindered emotion is what the song needs.” - Josh Taylor, half•alive
"Between fragmented souvenirs and sonic explorations, Frame Of A Fauna navigates mutable identity, magnetism and initiating a sense of belonging in an eclectic sound. Mixing classical, field recordings, and electronic and future trip-hop, this album provides a soundtrack to reflect your own shapes and space in this lifetime." - Ouri
“It’s about seeking out joy, and trying to escape pain in ways that backfire, within reference to the hamster wheel of late stage capitalism; consumerism, addiction, neoliberalism, the reduction of identity to social media posturing, etc ad infinitum. It’s about trying to escape something that seemingly has no escape, in spite of its glaring foolishness and lack, and the desperation which it brings to a person's humanity. In the studio we went for a 1970’s wrecking crew polished country vibe speckled with synth exploration a la Stereolab and Broadcast. Once again Julie’s vocals are the cherry on top. When I sent the final album to Jim Bryson (who’s one heck of a producer in his own right), He simply replied ‘you have Julie Doiron on it, you’ve already won the war’.” - Matthew Swann, Astral Swans
