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Vancouver music release roundup - January/February

Album releases aren't what they were a few years ago—especially so because many artists skip hard copy and jump straight to digital releases. But what's going on in Vancouver these days with those releases? We kick off a discovery in all genres…

Vancouver music release roundup

Welcome to the very first Vancouver music release roundup. The opening months of 2015 have produced an abundance of locally produced music across all genres, some of which we've had the pleasure to listen to, and now share with you. We've collected a broad selection of Vancouver recordings to reflect the vibrant diversity of our local music scene.

In this inaugural music release roundup, we were drawn to contemporary classical selections with concerts attached—that is, we attended a concert/ CD release party somewhere in Vancouver and have this to report back to you. You'll notice a preponderance of releases by Vancouver's Redshift Music Society—the same outfit that brought you a Aquatic Centre re-enactment of The Sinking of the Titanic by Gavin Bryar—but it's not any sort of nautical favouritism. (Redshift has just been great at getting their CDs out to us.)

As for the rest of the sonic sprawl, no such order existed: We recklessly dove into the treacherous depths of the interwebs, and with unwavering resolve sought out, and emerged with, the gems here on display. (Namely, several searches on Googlereckless searches.) This month's upper middle brow releases all roughly fell into the indie rock category, but as the year progresses we're sure to hear representatives from many of music's multitudinous microgenres. 

If you're a local artist, and would like to see your new release featured here, read below on how to submit your music to us.

Without further ado, we present our first group of local music selections:

Title: A Day's LifeTony Wilson & A Day's Life Band poster
Artist(s): Tony Wilson, guitar; JP Carter, trumpet; Jesse Zubot, violin; Peggy Lee, cello; Russell Sholberg, bass; Skye Brooks, drums
Genre: Jazz
Label: Drip Audio
Sample: Watch the first set of A Day's Life Concert on YouTube
Notes: 

This is the CD of the concert of the novella of life on the street in the DTES. But Tony Wilson transcends grittiness (drug addiction, prostitution, and all that) with a radiance of jazz that’s sympathetic to its source material. The CD has everything that the concert (at the VSO Music School's Pyatt Hall) had—except of course by Barbara Bourget (dance) and sign language interpreter (Maggie Harkins). Both the CD and the concert deliver charged social/emotional issues with simplicity. -JH

 

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