Cairo: The rhythm of the whole, the sound of the pure love!

“You could call it folk. Or rock. Or ambience. If you wanted to deny that parts make a whole. It is realer than that! It is love! Yes, love!” as the band Cairo describes themselves as which Mustafa and I totally agree on. They are one of the best, more importantly loveliest folk, rock, and orchestral alt pop bands in Toronto. It won’t take you long to fall in love with them once you see them on the stage; just close your eyes, follow the rhythm. Then BOOM! You are charmed. Officially. When I first saw them at Horseshoe back in 2013, I was hooked by dreamy lyrics, heavenly violin tunes and cottonous vocals of their first EP “Young Love”. And of course as any person in love would do, I took every opportunity to check their gigs whenever, wherever possible; Horseshoe, The Garrison, The Rivoli etc. And then, the day came! They were releasing a new album. As soon as I found out about it, as deary music we got them under the radar because we believe that every band member of Cairo loves making music. The band is formed by Nate Daniels (Vocals/Guitar), Matt Sullivan (Drums/Percussion), Caitlin Grieve (Strings/Vocals), Dante Berardi Jr (Guitar/Vocals/Synth) and Joel Dalton (Bass/Key/Synth) They have been playing in the city since 2011. They make something that it comes in the bottom of their hearts. That was pretty much why they were under our radar and we were pretty curious and excited to hear the new tunes of their new album “A History Of Reasons”. As you would predict, we went to the gig to cover their live performance.

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They started the set with the song “A History of Reasons” which has a super cool intro within soft vocals and fragile violin tunes. The song itself tells the story and carries the all the elements of folk, pop and rock. The Rivoli’s perfect lighting and sound system also helped everyone to experience the song in a different level. That was one of the best moments of the night. They continued the set with “With You”, “Age/Sex/Race”, “Kingdoms”, “Render” and “Starry Eyes”. We must say that we loved pretty much all songs but “With You” was one of the our favourites. We were a little bit disappointed the fact that they didn’t play any other songs from the previous EP called “Young Love”. We wish we could listen “Selfish” and “Addict” at that night.

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It was a very short but also a very fun set. We had a great grasp of the new album. And it’s enough talk about our good fortune. We have 3 great news for you: First great news is NOW the album is available to purchase. And you can order it online! Second great news is they are going to tour in UK so even if you are not in Toronto anymore or ever been and if you are somewhere close to UK, here is an opportunity to see a lovely Canadian band. That’s pretty sweet, eh? Highly recommended to follow their Facebook page and track their upcoming shows in Toronto and UK. Third great news: We have two videos in the bottom for you to hear their tunes. If you are patient enough to watch a 16 minutes video, you can almost watch the whole concert but if you think you don’t have time – which we can understand – here is a 4 minutes short video from that night. Enjoy and support local music! Cheers! Itir & Mustafa

                  

Edgewater Hotel: One of the most promising alternative rock bands in Toronto

You cut me down to size, you say
Be straight, behave

Just crack me up and split my sides
Up wide

You stole my gaze, now pawn my eyes
The price is high

This is not the deal I made…

Ladies and gentlemen, we are very happy to introduce you groove based – alternative rock band Edgewater Hotel! I clearly remember the first time when I heard those lyrics. That day Mustafa sent me their Soundcloud link and recommended me to listen their EP. I have never heard about them before that day and I was totally hooked by the abstract lyrics with cool guitar riffs and dreamy saxophone melodies.

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Edgewater Hotel is formed by Alex Hanes – Bass, Jordan Circosta – Drums, Julian Powell – Guitar, Gary Sahsuvar – Tenor Sax, Rachel Vandezande – Vocals, Mama Worthy – Synthesizers. They have been playing in the city for the last few years. You may have seen them playing at the various venues such as The Opera House, Dundas Square, Lee’s Palace, The Velvet Underground, The Drake Hotel and The Silver Dollar Room.

We were very excited to cover their show because we believe they are one of the more promising new alternative rock bands in the city. So promising; the type of the band whose music from this year we’ll hear on the radio in five years, we believe. They are also a part of Headquarters Coorperative which is a not-for-profit organization made up of like-minded musicians and artists that makes the band more interesting for us.  On the gig day, they experienced various technical difficulties at the Coalition: T.O  so we did as well as you might notice at the video below. But as the venue was almost packed and the crowed was pumped, nothing could get us down that night. Plus, we all were excited to hear their new single “White Rabbit”  (Jefferson Airplane cover) so you might as well want to check the link.

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They started the set with Best So Far, Black Market, Anthems For The Arsonist (Parts 1 + 2) White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane cover), Stepping On Stars, Breathe Easy and followed by Mad Fellow, Hindu Cow and Not My Home. We are a big fan of Black Market since we totally hooked up by lyrics and melody. We think that they have a big potential in the Toronto music scene. It is obvious that they love making music together and they totally have fun during the gigs.  Overall the performance was good and the audience was happy with their set list.

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If you are curious about their live performance, you can take a look at our video at the bottom. We also had the opportunity to interview with them as well –coming soon-. They are going to play at the Silver Dollar on Jan 9th. You wouldn’t want to miss that opportunity!  You will definitely have fun, we guarantee you!

Cheers!

Itir & Mustafa