2020 – Page 2 – (weewerk) records

#Releases

(weewerk) Is 6!

March 19, 2020March 21, 2020

A Special Compilation Release to Celebrate Our 6th Anniversary! This Album is in recognition and celebration of (weewerk)s’ 6th year of releasing folk, roots, alt-country & bluegrass music by some of the finest Canadian & International artists around. (weewerk) is 6!: NOW Rating N N N N N – “Local indie label (weewerk) celebrates six years of existence with this 23-track compilation of unreleased demos, rarities and forthcoming songs by its alt-country-focused roster. Many of the highlights come from bands we already know and love, including three tracks by the Great Lake Swimmers, whose Song For The Angels matches furious feedback with

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A. David MacKinnon

March 11, 2020March 22, 2020

A. David MacKinnon is a Toronto based songwriter, producer and recording engineer. From the late 90’s til the late 00’s he was one half of the band FemBots. In the years since the last FemBots album David retired from live performance, put his guitars away and abandoned singing to focus on instrumental, piano based music. MacKinnon’s first solo record “THE PAST IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY” was released in early April of 2012. The songs might best be described as the imaginary soundtrack to a film that doesn’t exist. The record draws inspiration from the sounds of mid-50’s Jazz (Dave Brubeck,

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Art Bergmann

March 11, 2020March 31, 2023

After self-imposed exile, Art Bergmann, the anti-hero-iconoclast of Canadian music for over 40 years, comes out of the wilderness thrusting a four song ep at the world tentatively titled SLOGANS FOR THE UNDERCLASS. To be released this fall on the label (weewerk), the new ep was recorded this April at Arch Audio in Calgary with producer Lorrie Matheson and a crew of talented players. If you think being on a dilapidated farm on the prairies of Alberta has mellowed him, you would be wrong, SFTU shows Art at his song writing best. His first new music since the Juno winning album, “What Fresh Hell is This”, Art is still full of

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The Barmitzvah Brothers

March 11, 2020March 22, 2020

The Barmitzvah Brothers & (weewerk) are extremely proud to announce the release of the new album, “Let’s Express Our Motives: An Album of Under-Appreciated Job Songs.” “Let’s Express Our Motives” is the fifth, full-length release from Guelph’s The Barmitzvah Brothers and their most accomplished to date. This 19-song album highlights and glorifies some of man’s most ordinary and ignored professions. From factory and construction workers, to bookbinders and piano tuners, this album will make you wonder what you’ve been overlooking. The Barmitzvah Brothers are Jenny Mitchell, Geordie Gordon, Johnny Merritt, and Tristan O’Malley. Within the last year, Tristan purchased a

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The Burning Hell

March 11, 2020March 30, 2020

After having a very ‘Happy Birthday’ in 2008, THE BURNING HELL are the proud new parents of ‘BABY’, a joyful collection of songs about children and death. Fronted by ukulele-slinger and songwriter Mathias Kom, the band has spent the last year touring non-stop across Canada and Europe. They also managed to squeeze in a few quick and dirty recording sessions in the process, and ‘BABY’ is the result. Recorded almost entirely live, ‘Baby’ displays the band at their most hyperactive, frantic and fun. Fans of older Burning Hell recordings have no need to fear, as Kom’s lyrics still take center

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Canteen Knockout

March 11, 2020March 22, 2020

Founded in 2004 by multi-instrumentalist Andre Skinner, Canteen Knockout is Toronto’s most original alt-country rock band. The title of their first full-length CD, “Navajo Steel”, is a glimpse into the vibe of Canteen Knockout: beautifully-crafted yet high-energy music inspired by long journeys along the road less traveled through hot, dry places; and a thirst that can never be fully quenched. Their passionate and rapidly growing fan base regularly packs Toronto rock clubs such as Silver Dollar, Horseshoe Tavern, and Cadillac Lounge. Now, as one might expect from a band like Canteen Knockout, they are poised to hit the road and

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Chairmen Of The Boards

March 11, 2020April 24, 2021

TORONTO ON — Today, Toronto surf rockers Chairmen Of The Boards offer another preview of their hotly anticipated debut album Surfin’ The Apocalypse with the track “Run-A-Wave.” The band has also produced their first video to accompany the song, a tribute to Del Shannon’s immortal “Runaway.” “Run-A-Wave” is available now on Bandcamp, ahead of the official release of Surfin’ The Apocalypse on Nov. 27 via (weewerk) Recordings, and the video can be seen at GIGSoup. “Run-A-Wave” proves once again that Chairmen of the Boards are not a typical surf-rock band, Keeping things lean and mean, the new trio consisting of Toronto scene vets Rob Hiemstra (guitars), Leonardo Valvassori (bass) and Gary Craig (drums) blast out 14 instrumentals guaranteed to

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Don Brownrigg

March 11, 2020March 22, 2020

Newfoundlander Don Brownrigg wants to travel far. From the mountains and rivers of the Codroy Valley to his newfound homestead in Halifax, his musical meanderings are catalogued in his wonderful debut release “Wander Songs”. Don creates non assuming folk-pop music that has spirit, is sincere and heartfelt in its delivery. “Wander Songs” contains 11 songs of pensive, self-reflective, and morose imagery. The album features some of Canada?s finest musicians on various instrumentation and backing vocals, including former Thrush Hermit drummer Benn Ross, Down With The Butterfly’s Kris Pope, radical rhymer Tanya Davis, songbird Jenn Grant, Ottawa’s Jim Bryson on electric

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Elliott BROOD

March 11, 2020March 22, 2020

Elliott BROOD call their music Death Country – dark, gritty folk music built around whiskey-drenched vocals and lyrics evoking images of love, loss and murder. In their soul-thumping bluegrass songs, banjo keeps time to a strange and chunky angular stomp, with vicious Kentucky-hardcore acoustic guitar and somber, achingly confessional vocal harmonies. The Toronto-based trio’s six-song debut EP Tin Type is resembles an old-time photo album. Order it now from weewerk if you’re a fan of The Handsome Family, Johnny Dowd, Jon-Rae and the River, or The FemBots. Elliott BROOD areCasey Laforet : guitar, words, keysMark Sasso : banjo, guitar, wordsStephen

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FemBots

March 11, 2020March 22, 2020

About to release their fourth album, Calling Out (2008) on (weewerk), FemBots have set off in yet another new direction while in many ways returning to their beginnings. FemBots began as a home recording project of Dave MacKinnon and Brian Poirier and their debut, Mucho Cuidado (2000), featured songs written and performed on power tools, toys and broken down thrift store instruments. The duo quickly carved a unique space in the Toronto music scene bringing their post-industrial folk songs to the stage using tape loops and reel-to-reel machines mixed with often frantic live performances. Their critically acclaimed second release, Small

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Great Lake Swimmers

March 11, 2020March 22, 2020

Great Lake Swimmers – Biography Tony Dekker’s music spans nearly two decades as the lead singer and songwriter of Great Lake Swimmers. Over eight albums, multiple EPs, live broadcasts and reissues, the Toronto based singer-songwriter has established himself as a beloved indie folk artist in his native Canada and beyond. 2013 marked the release of his first solo album, “Prayer Of The Woods”, which is described as “Folk music that sounds like it was recorded on the periphery between the living room and the surrounding woodland … a humble and traditional folk work, focusing on lyrical analogies and aphorisms” -(Norman

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Harmonica

March 11, 2020March 22, 2020

Harmonica, from Oslo, Norway, consists of three women and two men that play sweet and danceable indie pop-rock with a new passion you’ve yet to experience. Harmonica is all about fantastic music, dancing, rock’n roll and having fun and their amazing live show contains visual effects, playfulness and tons of energy. Harmonica is your new favourite band! Harmonica was asked to play with The Magic Numbers and they played at the Norwegian Wood Festival with artists like Lou Reed, Roger Waters, Gnarls Barkley, Mew and Martha Wainwright. Harmonica has rocked Oya Festival’s club nights in Norway the last three years

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Jenny Omnichord

March 11, 2020March 30, 2020

Jenny Omnichord is the solo side-project of 22 year-old Jenny Mitchell, vocalist, song-writer and multi-instrumentalist for Guelph, Ontario’s noted young indie band The Barmitzvah Brothers. “Cities Of Gifts And Ghosts” is her sparkling debut album featuring a stellar cast of support musicians and producers, and is a passionate plea of the merits of the omnichord. In fact, it was the purchase of an omnichord in Jenny’s father’s thrift store 8 years ago that set her along this path, its carnivalesque, slightly Hebraic sounds leading two young gentile girls to pick the somewhat ironic “Barmitzvah Brothers” as the name for their

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Jerome Forde

March 11, 2020March 31, 2023

Jerome Forde is an American songwriter hailing from the upper Midwest. His songs combine folk, pop, and alt-country music styles, echoing the sounds of Neil Young, Elliott Smith, The Mountain Goats and Townes Van Zandt. Born and raised in Wisconsin, Forde began writing songs at a young age. At eighteen, he fell in love with a girl, left his hometown, and spent the next decade and a half traveling the country, studying mystical philosophy and starting a family. Repulsed by the Christo-fascist tendencies of American religion, Forde abruptly abandoned his brief stint as an ordained minister and moved with his

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Jon-Rae Fletcher

March 11, 2020March 22, 2020

Jon-Rae Fletcher is a Canadian singer-songwriter who grew up in Kelowna, British Columbia. Born the son of a preacher, Jon-Rae sang in his church’s choir by day and fell in love with the music of Kurt Cobain at night. Combining his passion for the sounds of country, gospel, rock and soul. Jon-Rae Fletcher created a unique blend of music, which at times is minimal and soul bearing, and at other times a full-blown-rock-throw-down. Releases Artist Links YouTube Myspace

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Ox

March 11, 2020March 22, 2020

As soon as we hear Mark Browning’s drawling vocals creak on the opening song “Miss Idaho” we instantly know that Ox has delivered an album of stature. Dope-soaked, derelict and wired, “American Lo Fi” features 11 songs that give a nod to Velvet Underground meets Bruce Springsteen, trading New Jersey urban fairground for Pacific interstate moonscape. Ox’s long awaited follow up to the seminal alt-country, indie hybrid classic, ‘Dust Bowl Revival’, fuses weary with vicious, punk with hillbilly, the farmer in the city with the electro-magnetic aura of tape hiss and amp crackle. ”American Lo Fi” was recorded in the

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Picastro

March 11, 2020March 30, 2020

Picastro, an active force in Toronto’s music scene for over 10 years, released their seventh and newest record “Exit” this past June. Led by vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Liz Hysen, this latest offering features the talents of her band, cellist Nick Storring, synthesis Matthew Ramalo (Khora), and drummer Germaine Liu. On the albums’ eight songs, Hysen systematically removes herself from her own stories while playing around with the roles and expectation of the creator as the central voice of their artistic output. While the music still sits in continuity with the bands previous work, Hysen relinquishes her role as singer

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Proof Of Ghosts

March 11, 2020March 22, 2020

The ground is dry and there is no rain in sight. In the heat of the 2003 blackout Proof of Ghosts came to be. On a crowded bar patio by candlelight with the humid haunted black skyline against a still blacker sky Steve Shoe began to sing. That simplified and honest experience slowly grew, out of napkin song ideas and a basement recording session, Proof of Ghosts gradually began to flower, and in 2005 Steve began to perform his new songs live. With a core trio consisting of Steve Shoe (The Electric Shoes), Mike Duffield (The Postage Stamps), and Mike

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The Slowinks

March 11, 2020April 23, 2021

With a sound that combines Classic Country, Jazz and Western Swing, Montreal’s The Slowinks have successfully charmed their hometown and are now poised to do the same to the wider world with their debut album Stay With Me A While, released April 2, 2021 on (weewerk). Recorded in February 2020 by acclaimed Quebec singer/songwriter Fred Fortin at his home studio in the wilds near Lac Saint-Jean, the eight tracks on Stay With Me A While capture The Slowinks in their purest form yet. With powerhouse vocalist Felicity Hamer, formerly of United Steel Workers of Montreal, front and centre, the drummer-less

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The Travelling Band

March 11, 2020March 22, 2020

(weewerk) is ecstatic to announce the Canadian signing of The Travelling Band, from Manchester, UK. (weewerk) will release their EP “The Redemption Of Mr.Tom”, digitally thru Zunior and IODA as well as thru mail order on May 20th. This record was released April 21st in the UK by the band to great response, and is a follow up to their critically acclaimed debut EP “If This Is A Gag, I’m In” and is further proof that their debut album scheduled for a late summer release in Canada and UK will be a corker. No matter what your taste in music,

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Two-Minute Miracles

March 11, 2020March 30, 2020

J. Andrew Magoffin & (weewerk) are extremely proud to announce the release of the new Two-Minute Miracles full-length album, Volume IV – “The Lions Of Love”. It has been four years since their last release but rest assured “The Lions Of Love” has all the loose shingles of Volume I, all the hope and spark of Volume II, and all the complex and beautiful songwriting of Volume III, making it the best Two-Minute Miracles record to date. The Two-Minute Miracles have been creating ragged alt-country and mesmerizing harmonic pop music since the beginning of singer/guitarist Andrew Magoffin’s tape-recording and songwriting

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United Steel Workers Of Montreal

March 11, 2020March 22, 2020

Montreal’s beloved six-piece, the United Steel Workers of Montreal, have wowed audiences from coast to coast with the infectious draw of their unique brand of blue-collar alt-country. A potent mix of blues, jazz, country and swing, The USWM’s live performances are filled out with dry wit, tall tales and some outright lies. Dancing is optional but hard to avoid. Following in the wake of their critically acclaimed albums, Broken trucks and Bottles and Kerosene & Coal, THREE ON THE TREE sees the band branching out from their earthy, acoustic-country-punk roots to experiment with gospel (Jesus We Sweat), historical ballads (Mary

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Great Lake Swimmers / Picastro – European Tour & Split 7″ Single

March 7, 2020March 25, 2020

Great Lake Swimmers & Picastro “Getting To The Heart Of It” with “Where Are You” + “Thursday”Release Date: March 6, 2020 Tony Dekker (Great Lake Swimmers) and Liz Hysen (Picastro) are embarking on a solo acoustic tour as a double bill in Europe in April 2020, to promote their latest releases, The Waves, The Wake (Acoustic), and Exit, respectively. Dekker provides vocal support on Exit, and the two have also recently collaborated on a split 7” record; a double single featuring the new, unreleased tracks Getting To The Heart Of It and Where Are You + Thursday. The physical release

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PICASTRO – EXIT

February 21, 2020March 30, 2020