The Ongoing History of New Music, episode 991: The History of the 2010s, part 4

It’s an established fact that music comes in many different types of cycles. A sound and style will be big for a while, reach a peak with the public, and then slowly fade out. But once established, it’s unusual for a sound to completely disappear, never to be heard from again.

The only genre I can think of is—maybe alt-rock-style rockabilly? It was big in the very early 80s with bands like The Stray Cats. But then it just kinda went away. There’s never been a rockabilly revival—at least in the sense and style and scope of what we heard way back then when it was huge for about 18 months.

Instead, after enjoying a time at the forefront of music, many of the cycle-prone rock sounds recede into the shadows, never really going away. They lie in wait until someone comes along—often a generation or two later—to rediscover and reactivate it.

When that happens, it’s usually given a sonic update and if the timing is right, the sound enjoys a new period in the sun before the cycle repeats yet again.

The longer you live and the more music you become familiar with, the more you begin to see these cycles play themselves out, sometimes over and over again. We see it every decade.

The 2010s were no different. We saw a series of revivals, rediscoveries, and comebacks, all based on the musical DNA of what had come before. Let’s examine that. This is the history of the 2010s, part 4.

Songs heard on this show:

    • Tool, Fear Inoculum
    • Tame Impala, Elephant
    • Besnard Lakes, People of the Sticks
    • The World is a Beautiful Place and I am No Longer Afraid to Die
    • Radiohead, Burn the Witch
    • The Struts, Body Talks
    • PUP, Kids
    • DC Fontaines, Boys in the Better Land
    • The Interrupters, She’s Kerosene

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© 2023 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

New Music Friday: 9 releases you should hear as September ends (29 Sept 2023)

Next to spring, fall is the most interesting time for new releases. Not only is this New Music Friday material out now but some of it also sets up the kind of material we’re going to get this winter.

Singles

1. AWOLNATION, Candy Pop (Eleven Seven Label Group)

Okay, so I missed this one last week so I need to make good. AWOLNATION has released this new single (and its accompanying short film) as the third part of a trilogy. Frontman Aaron Bruno describes everything as “a story about escaping from never-ending technological advancements and constant connectivity and scrutiny…The adventure of a lifetime can come from ‘tuning out.” An EP with the trilogy and more will be available on November 10,

2. Black Pumas, Mrs. Postman (ATO Records/Cadence Music Group)

Black Pumas have already been nominated for seven Grammy awards, so the anticipation for this sophomore record is pretty intense. With Chronicles of a Diamond due on October 27, Eric Burton and Andrian Quesada (along with keyboards JaRon Marshall) want to take their view of rock and soul a little further. The first advance single, More Than a Love Song, already managed some chart success, so let’s see where this piano-based song takes them.

3. Sum 41, Landmines (Rise Records)

When I spoke to Deryck Whibley earlier this year, he told me that the new Sum 41 album could very well be a double record and that all he had to do was finish the vocals. The first single from that record is now here. Deryck is still recovering from a bout of pneumonia that landed him in the hospital, but the band is still scheduled to play the When We Were Young festival in Las Vegas on October 21 and 22.

4. Depeche Mode, My Favourite Stranger (Columbia)

Depeche Mode will tour the Memento Mori album deep into the fall. This is now the fourth single form the album and was co-written with Richard Butler of Psychedelic Furs. It comes with another enigmatic video shot by Anton Corbijn. Who’s the guy in the hat? And what does he want?

Albums

1. Art Bergman, ShadowWalk (weewerk)

Art Bergman, one of Canada’s most beloved indie cult artists, has dedicated this album to Sherri, his late wife of 31 years. The album “capture the darkness, grief and desolation that comes from such a soul-crushing loss, while also offering genuine hope that life will go on.” It might make for gut-wrenching listening.

2. Bakar, Halo (Black Butter)

All right, all right. I missed this one, too. British singer Bakar is just about ready with a highly-anticipated (and inevitably difficult) second album entitled Halo. He describes it as a song “fit for the indie sleaze generation.” Maybe this has something to do about most of the record being recorded in AirBnB’s and hotels between London and LA while he was in tour.

3. Black Stone Cherry, Screamin’ at the Sky (Mascot Records/Mascot Label Group)

This Kentucky band has been enjoying some decent success with the first single from this album (Out of Pocket was released in January) and now finally have a full album for fans. The video for Nervous was shot in an old piano factory that had been turned into a production studio filled with old TV and movie sets.

4. Taproot, SC/SSRS (THC Music/Amplified Distribution)

If you remember the nu-metal era of the late 90s, Taproot was a band from Michigan that was always hanging in the shadows of Limp Bizkit and Korn. Just when it seemed that they were going to break through, the whole scene seemed to evaporate in a puff of testosterone. Taproot stayed together, however, but haven’t released an album since 2012. Is nu-metal back? We’ll see.

5. Wilco, Cousin (dBpm Records/Sony Music)

This is the thirteenth album over the Jeff Tweedy and company have been in business and early reviews point out that there’s a slight change in attitude and approach, although it has to be said that this is still very definitely a Wilco record. The record is slower than most with little that can be described as being anything more than mid-tempo. It’s helped along by Welsh producer Cate Le Bon who has a reputation of being someone experimental.

 

 

© 2023 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Ongoing History Daily: Pearl Jam bootleg overload

Back when Pearl Jam was at their height, they had the clout to do anything they wanted. Anything.

On September 26, 2000, the band released 25 double CD live albums—what they referred to as “official bootlegs”—featuring performances from virtually every show they played on European tour in support of their Binaural album. Of those 25, five immediately made the top 200 album chart. This was the first time any act ever saw more than two new albums show up on the chart in the same week.

Two other sets just missed the cut. Had they made the charts that week, Pearl Jam would have joined The Beatles, The Monkees, and U2 as the only acts to that point with seven albums on the charts at the same time.

This was decades before Taylor Swift came along.

© 2023 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Throwback Thursday: It's Immaterial and Driving Away from Home (1986)

Looking for a driving song? This one from Liverpool’s It’s Immaterial (especially in this 12-inch iteration) fits the bill. It began with a full-on country-and-western vibe recorded with the Talking Heads’ Jerry Harrison, but the band didn’t like it. They returned to England to re-record it while Harrison took his name off the project.

The song’s full title is Driving Away from Home (Jim’s Tune). The “Jim” is Jim Lieber, a harmonica player in a blues band the group saw while in Milwaukee. He’s the guy we hear on the recording.

 

© 2023 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Ongoing History Daily: Babies and live music

A question from new parents: “Should I expose my baby to live music?” The answer is “yes.”

A recent study at the University of Toronto revealed that infants have longer attention spans when experiencing live music. Sure, you might want to give them an iPad to stare at, but that apparently doesn’t work as well as live music. Videos don’t captivate them a whole lot but live music elicits physiological changes like a synchronization of heart rate to the music.

The final conclusion? “Findings suggest that performer–audience interactions and social context play an important role in facilitating attention and coordinating emotional responses to musical performances early in life.”

The big caveat? Volume. The live music cannot be too loud for those delicate little ears.

© 2023 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Official causes of deaths disclosed at London, Ont. vehicle attack trial

As Catherine McDonald reports, Veltman, who has pleaded not guilty, admits he used his truck to deliberately kill a group of people because they were Muslim.

Warning: Readers may find the contents of this story disturbing.

The trial for the man accused of deliberately driving a truck into a Muslim family continued Wednesday with the jury learning the official causes of the deaths of four members of the Afzaal family.

The Crown read to the court that Salman Afzaal, 46, his 44-year-old wife, Madiha Salman, their 15-year-old daughter, Yumna, and her grandmother, Talat Afzaal, all sustained blunt force injuries, fractures and internal bleeding and the cause of death for all is listed as “multiple trauma.” As well, the jury heard that Talat Afzaal likely died on impact.

The accused, Nathaniel Veltman, 22, has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. Prosecutors have alleged his actions in London, Ont., on June 6, 2021 amount to an act of terrorism and argued he was motivated by white nationalist beliefs.

The day’s proceedings were brief, with the jury dismissed around noon Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Const. Sarah Cochrane again took the stand, this time facing questions from defence lawyer Christopher Hicks.

Cochrane was the first officer on scene at Cherryhill Mall on the evening of June 6, 2021, where Veltman was arrested. Surveillance footage of his arrest was again played for the jury, with Hicks asking Cochrane if the accused was “compliant at all times.”

“Mr. Veltman was cooperative,” she confirmed.

Hicks also noted that Veltman was first arrested for “dangerous operation” at 8:47 p.m. but he was not read his rights or primary caution at that time. He was, however, read both when he was arrested for attempt murder three minutes later and then again when he was arrested for first-degree murder at 8:55 p.m.

The jury then rewatched footage of Veltman and officers inside of police headquarters, without audio. Again, Hicks had Cochrane confirm that Veltman remained “compliant and cooperative” throughout their interaction.

Cochrane’s interactions with Veltman on the night of his arrest lasted roughly an hour, ending with him being taken to a phone-room.

The trial, which is taking place in Windsor, Ont., is expected to last six more weeks, including the remainder of this week.

© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Two separate gunshot incidents shake Dauphin: Manitoba RCMP

RCMP in Dauphin, Man., say two separate gunshot incidents in the city have led to an investigation, and police are asking the public for help.

On Monday, at 8:30 p.m. police say they received a report of shots fired at a strip mall in the 1300 block of Main Street South.

Police say officers went to the scene and began to investigate. No one was found to have been injured and no buildings were damaged, but police did find shell casings in the parking lot.

Police are looking for a blue car, perhaps a Chevrolet Cruise or Malibu, that was at the location at the time of the shots. They say there were three occupants in the vehicle, and it left the parking lot heading south on Main Street.

Police say only a couple hours later another gunshot was reported at a home on Main Street North.

Adults and children were inside the home at the time of the shooting, but nobody was physically injured.

Police say when officers arrived, it was noted that there were multiple bullet holes on the north side of the home, however, only one shot was heard.

Police say the shot could have come from a shotgun containing buckshot ammunition.

Additionally, police say at this point of the investigation the two incidents do not appear to be related.

RCMP are looking for information on both of these incidents. If you have information, please call Dauphin RCMP at 204-622-5020, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477, or secure tip online.

© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Election speculation in New Brunswick grows louder as Higgs muses about snap vote

A group protesting gender identity curriculum in schools received a visit from New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs and Education Minister Bill Hogan, who mingled with the group for about an hour posing for pictures and shaking hands. But Higgs wouldn’t say if his presence at the rally endorsed some of the anti-LGBTQ2 sentiment expressed at the rally. Silas Brown has more.

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs is dangling the prospect that he could send the province to the polls this fall, a year ahead of schedule, citing the risk of “instability and stagnation” if the legislature resumes sitting next month.

Higgs says in an emailed statement that he is worried “political drama” could overshadow elected officials’ job of helping New Brunswickers when the new session of the legislature opens Oct. 17.

The Progressive Conservative government has faced internal revolt in recent months, following changes made to the province’s policy on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.

Two ministers — Trevor Holder who held the labour portfolio and Dorothy Shephard in social development — quit earlier this year, citing Higgs’ leadership style and the changes made to the gender identity policy.

After six Tory members of the legislative assembly voted with the Opposition in June to call for an external review of the policy, the premier dropped dissenters from cabinet and named five new ministers.

J.P. Lewis, political science professor at the University of New Brunswick, Saint John, says speculation about an election has been swirling for months, but there might be more reason now for Higgs to want to strengthen his position and call an election ahead of the October 2024 date specified in provincial law.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 27, 2023.

© 2023 The Canadian Press

Calgary Flames' AGM Chris Snow suffers brain injury, is not expected to recover

The wife of Chris Snow says the Calgary Flames assistant general manager has suffered a “catastrophic” brain injury after going into cardiac arrest and is not expected to recover.

Kelsie Snow says on social media that her husband became unresponsive and suffered a heart attack on Tuesday.

She says paramedics and doctors were able to get his heart beating again, but suffered a brain injury due to a lack of oxygen. She said his doctors do not expect him to wake up from the injury.

Snow, 42, was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2019.

ALS is a progressive nervous system disease affecting brain cells and the spinal cord, and causes a loss of muscle control.

Snow’s father, two uncles and a cousin also died of what’s also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Gehrig, a New York Yankee, was diagnosed with it at age 36 and died in 1941.

Chris and Kelsie Snow met when they were both sportswriters for The Boston Globe and were married in 2007. They have two children, Cohen and Willa.

Chris Snow was a baseball writer when the NHL’s Minnesota Wild hired him as their director of hockey operations in 2006.

When the Wild made changes, the Flames brought Snow on board in 2011 as director of hockey analysis. He was promoted to AGM in 2019 and worked primarily in data analysis.

Snow continued to work for the Flames after his diagnosis. He participated in clinical trials and lived well beyond the bleak 12-month prognosis he was given.

ALS weakened his muscles and hampered his ability to speak, eat and eventually breathe.

© 2023 The Canadian Press

University study: Wildfires can impact rivers by destroying watershed vegetation

It might sound counterintuitive, but wildfires can impact rivers.

That’s the finding of a university study that examined the long-term impact of a massive wildfire from six years ago.

The recently published article looked at the 2017 Elephant Hill fire in B.C.’s Southern Interior, how it burned 192,000 hectares and more than 100 homes, and how it impacted the Bonaparte River near Cache Creek.

“It takes a few years to gain a full picture of how a wildfire has impacted a river. It’s sort of like a fog of war slowly lifting,” said Alessandro Ielpi, an assistant professor and researcher at UBC Okanagan in Kelowna.

“The Bonaparte River’s watershed was significantly impacted by the Elephant Hill Fire — about half of the entire watershed was burned to some degree.”

The Bonaparte River, said Ielpi, has a watershed of around 4,000 square kilometres — tiny compared to massive rivers like the Fraser — but still notable enough.

“Watersheds such as the Bonaparte River represent a sweet spot between sizes large enough to host mature floodplains with farmlands and communities, and small enough to be significantly impacted by large wildfires,” Ielpi said.

“And even though wetlands and riverbanks may not have directly burned, barren soils from hillslopes started releasing higher amounts of sediment to the river once the stabilizing vegetation was gone.”

The research team surveyed the Bonaparte River in 2019, then again in 2021 and tracked the changes at three locations.

The study said the river has widened up to 130 per cent, with researchers estimating that the pace of erosion has increased by 230 per cent.

According to the university, people who live nearby or depend on the river also noticed a change in spawning beds, an increase of river silt immediately after the fire and that the water was supercharged with sediment.

“It generally isn’t until two or three years later that you really start to see what’s happening,” Ielpi said.

“And what we saw is that the channel expanded and widened in response to the addition of sediment from burned slopes. And it also accelerated its pace of erosion — the speed at which it erodes banks and moves across the floodplain has accelerated substantially.”

Ielpi said that the study can’t predict if every river near a wildfire will be impacted, but that the data is now being used to estimate potential sediment increases.

“We can’t say with certainty how long-lasting this change will be; rather, we expect — and hope — that it will recalibrate with time,” Ielpi said.

“But it’s still important for communities and planners to understand that in a five-year timeframe after a wildfire, rivers and floodplains continue to be affected.”

© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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