music

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.

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.

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

Laura Cole: Drying Tears with Her Gifted Voice and Soulful Lyrics

These songs go to whom are sick of dirty dirty cheaters, liars, tired of wham bam thank you ma’ams, still not understanding it’s not you it’s ME type of peeps! If you are in mood to listen blues/soul sounds with a bit of spiced up rock&roll, ladies and gentlemen let us introduce you Laura Cole Band! They will dry your tears with their lyrics and cheer you up with their sound and enthusiasm. Guaranteed by dearymusic! You are worth more than THAT anyway.

The first time I saw Laura was in Taste of Italy back in June 2014. I randomly stopped by the corner and bumped into a great show. A young blonde beautiful lady was singing love songs. After a couple of songs later, I found myself dancing in the crowd. I dearly loved the way she sang and how she interacted with the audience. I took a couple of photos and then started stalking her Facebook fan page.

To save you from the troubles of stalking; Laura Cole Band is formed by Laura Cole (vocal, songwriter), Ron Cole (keyboard), Steve Bings (guitar), Chris Chiarcos (bass guitar), Mark McLean (drums). Laura Cole is such a strong singer who started playing music when she was 3. We believe that she has one of the best voices that we have ever heard in the city. When we learned that she was going to play with her band (Laura Cole Band) at the Paddock Tavern, we got really excited and we even got a new digital audio recorder to capture the best sound! On the gig day, we arrived to the venue a little bit early to settle in. We couldn’t have the opportunity to meet with the full band but Laura welcomed us with great warmth and her sweetest smile. We grabbed a couple of great shots then waited for her to rock the stage.

Laura Cole Band (LCB)took the stage around 10 pm and started the set with “Darling Sweetheart” then continued with “Sweet Escape”, “ Unworthy You”, “ Week There One Day”, “ On My Own”, “ Let It Roll”, “ The Only One”, “ Dirty Cheat” and “Death Row”. It is really hard to tell which song was our favourite but “Dirty Cheat” definitely wreaked our chests out! We felt every single line of the lyrics in our hearts. It was maybe the best song of the performance. We also really enjoyed “Darling Sweetheart” which a high tempo love song will take you to your happy place with your loved one.

Overall the performance was absolutely great. Laura Cole literally puts her soul on the stage and blows all the songs away! Don’t get us wrong, every band member is amazing and especially Dad Ron Cole –yes, he is Laura’s dad- is an awesome keyboard player. They truthfully enjoy playing with Laura. We really love all of songs of LCB but we think that “Unworthy You” and “Death Row” have big potentials to become hits.

Laura has a great voice, the band rocks, lyrics are just awesome enough to cheer any broken heart and we know you haven’t planned much for couple of days now so if we were in your shoes we would definitely take this opportunity to see one of their shows. LCB plays in Toronto every month or so and they mostly play in Hamilton which is not very far J We’d definitely recommend to check her music. You can visit her website as well as her Facebook page but before that you may want to take a look at our video! We hope that you would enjoy her music. If you are having a bad day, she will dry your tears with her gifted voice and soulful lyrics.

p.s: Dear deary music followers, we have a surprise for you! Don’t forget to click the second video at the bottom. We have added a new feature now we have interviews with the bands/musicians! Hope you’ll enjoy!

Cheers!

Itir & Mustafa

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Most People: One of the most entertaining local bands in Toronto

“Those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music.” George Carlin

Are you ready for dancing? You better be! We’d like to introduce you one of the most entertaining local bands in Toronto. Most People will thrill you with their live performance. I discovered them two years ago at the Holy Oak Cafe.

Unfortunately I can barely remember that night because I was feeling a bit under the weather. After that gig, I had many chances to see their live performances at variant venues like Handle Bar, The Garrison, and Horseshoe Tavern. I probably saw their shows at least 6 times in the past two years that’s why they were one of the first bands that came into my mind when we decided working on the blog. Mustafa really liked their sound as well – yes, he does like dancing – so we thought why we wouldn’t bring their music onto deary music for our dearest followers?

After having agreed on covering their show, we started stalking them on Facebook. The closest gig was on the 7^th of September at the Wavelength Festival so we marked our calendars! On the gig day, one of our friends Marvin accompanied us to take our photos and some footage to be used in the teaser video. It was a fantastic ferry trip on a beautiful sunny day. We arrived at the island then figured out how to get to the venue. The festival area was really cool as well as the crowd. It seemed like everyone was having a good time. I was really pumped to dance but we were on a big mission so we immediately settled in for the shooting.

First, we watched an electronic based band, dressed like Daft Punk. They were pretty awesome. After them, Most People took the stage and started the set with “You Said” (on 2012 LP). This song has really cool guitar riffs and makes you feel hyper. Then they continued with “Young and Wild” “Falling Apart” (2014 EP) “Love Don’t Mind” (2014 EP) “No Name Yet” (upcoming ep) “Release” (upcoming ep)

We really liked Falling Apart from new E.P. It may remind you a little bit The Cure but it is quite different. All their songs are cycled through electronic tunes, double-drumming, and harmony-drenched vocals. Most People sounds very 90’s and this is maybe another reason why we really enjoy their music. Their live performance is also really energetic. They dance and jump. They are all over the stage. It is 100% team work and band members Brandon Gibson-DeGroote and Paul McEachern love playing together. We have to say that they jazzed up the crowd even though they had a really short set list!

If you’d like to see their live performance, they are not going to play soon in Toronto but they will be opening for Twin Shadow at the Halifax Pop Explosion on October 21^st so if you are in Halifax, check them out. You can also check our video to hear how they sound!

Cheers!

Itir & Mustafa

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CADE: Dreamy Folk Tunes

We’d love to introduce you a dream folk project based out of Toronto which was founded by Kaiya Cade. She is the daughter of a blues guitarist, Brooke Blackburn, of the band Blackburn. If you are a Torontonian, you have probably heard about Blackburn before! CADE is formed of Kaiya Cade (lead vocals, guitar, and piano), Josh Bois (supporting vocals and guitar), Wesley Allen (upright bass), Julian Clarke (percussion and drums), and Adelaide Beach (supporting vocals and violin).

Mustafa discovered them last year at the Free Times Cafe. He had a chance to watch their shows a couple of times in different venues. Since he knows how I dearly love folk music, he highly recommended me to check them out. I listened to a couple of their songs on band camp. Their music reminded me the rainy days that I used to take long walks along the Beaches. Calm, peaceful. When we decided to work on deary music, CADE was one of the bands that we would definitely share with music lovers, so we started to stalk them! The closest gig was on August 20^th at the Island Cafe. We were really pumped to watch them at an outdoor venue.

We met 2 hours before the show and took the ferry. The weather was pretty awful but we hung in there! This is the most fractionating thing of outdoor shows in Toronto because weather is always unpredictable – don’t get us wrong, we dearly love our city.

After a lovely ferry trip, we arrived on the Ward Island, took a couple of photos, and then we set forth for the show. First of all, we grabbed our drinks and then settled in for the shooting. CADE took the stage by 7 pm. The gig started with “How Can I Write” (Kaiya+Josh Duo) then continued with “Road”, and “James Donalnue” They had to stop playing after the 4th song because it started raining as we had expected! The break took about 15 minutes thus they had to make sure the instruments were safe and sound. It stopped raining after 20 minutes or so then they started playing St John. We’d recommend you to check that song out at their next gig because you may not be able to find it online. The rest of the set list was “Liar”, “Plans”, “Semicircles” , “Giant on Our Trail”, “Fruit Fly”, “Homesick” and “ It Doesn’t Know How”

Even though the weather was pretty chilly, they were very connected to the audience so everyone stayed to listen to their dreamy folk tunes. Our favourite was Homesick. We love the lyrics as well as how it sounds, but we also have to say that we are a big fan of Fruit Fly because its tunes totally reflect the band’s concept. Kaiya has a tremendous voice. Fruity Fly will definitely take you to your happy place. Guaranteed.

The gig ended with “It Doesn’t Know How”. The show itself was really candid. This is what we really like about CADE. Kaiya is such an open minded, friendly musician and all the band members are very talented. They love playing music and they love sharing with the audience. This is absolutely very exciting for us to see passionate people who love what they do and open to share with audience. Kaiya’s voice will touch your heart and soul. If you are curious about their music, you can watch our video below.

CADE is like the rainy days that you spend under your blanket. If you are seeking for warm and dreamy tunes, here you go, check them out! http://www.cademusic.ca/

Cheers!

Itir & Mustafa

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Fog Lake: Down to Earth One-Man Band

“Where words fail, music speaks.” Hans Christian Andersen

“One-man band. Based on an island.” This is how Aaron Powell defines his band called Fog Lake. The first time that I heard his music was in a friend’s car. After the first 15 seconds I immediately asked my friend whose music it was. He said “Fog Lake-Farther Reaches” and I replied, “This is so lovely!” Thus my journey began with Fog Lake. And I guess it will never end.

I had spent quite a bit time digesting all his albums and started to follow his Facebook page. I mentioned him to Mustafa and he was quite amazed by music as well. We were not sure when we could see him live since he is from St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. In the middle of the summer, he announced that he was going to go on tour in Ontario and Quebec. As soon as we got the good news, we started planning our pre- production. We were really excited to see him in TO because he came all the way to share his humble and naïve tunes.

On the day of the gig, we arrived to the venue -The Cavern- pretty early to set up our equipment and meet with Aaron. We got our permission from him to record the concert and talked a little bit about deary music. Everything was safe and sound. We were ready to go!

Before he took the stage, 3 different bands performed for 2 hours, and then Fog Lake appeared with his guitar and drum. Fog Lake is basically an one man band but from time to time his musician friends perform with him, depending on the show. The sound check was really painful. We could tell it from all the musicians’ eyes. There were several technical problems that nobody was able to fix, but then –probably- they found a way to make it work. The gig had started with Farther Reaches which is one of our favourites. Then continued with “Holy Cross”, “Despondency”, “It Was Never Enough”, “15 Ativan”, “Erik”, “Ambient Interlude”, “Inference (i)”, “Lost Love Letters” and “Space Station”

We personally very much like “It Was Never Enough” –you may realized that we used it on our teaser video- so it was pretty lovely to hear it live. The sound system didn’t make us very happy, but Aaron Powell is a talented and humble musician, and he quickly engaged the audience and recovered the technical problems. The best song of the night was Lost Love Letter, despite the song’s slow tempo. The show ended with Space Station from the last album which is a quite different tune among the other ones.

We had the opportunity to have a chat with Aaron Powell after the show. He shared his future tour plans with us. He hopes to be back in TO next summer or so. If you are curious about his music, you can check our video out. You may also want to take a look at his website http://foglake.bandcamp.com/

Cheers!

Itir & Mustafa

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Maneli Jamal: A Great Talent With A Humble Soul

“Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.” ― Lao Tzu

I had the opportunity to listen to Maneli Jamal’s incredible music at a friend’s house party. He played for such a small group of people and weaved intricate story after stories with his tunes. Everyone in the room admired him; we could see it in their eyes. After the concert, I had a chance to meet him and learn about his interesting life story…

Maneli Jamal is a Toronto based, Canadian acoustic guitarist but before he moved to Canada, he pretty much travelled the whole world. You will find his interesting stories between the lines of his songs.

We were really excited to watch his show on August 15^th 2014 at the Harbourfront Center, but unfortunately we were a little bit late for the show. Mustafa always bikes so it was not a problem for him, but I had to take TTC, so it was a big challenge during rush hour.

We arrived at the venue before he started playing a piece called “Most Glorious Day” which has a quite interesting story. During the show, Maneli told us little anecdotes about his songs. He said, Canada was the first country where he became a citizen and after the court day, he decided to make a song about his experience. “Most Glorious Day” has a beautiful and deep story but we don’t want to mention what it’s about because we’d definitely recommend you to see his live performance.

Then he played Zim Blues, Us Against Them, Ziur, On the Run and Awakening -we are not very sure about the exact order- Us Against Them is one of his greatest songs which carries an interesting story. Maneli and his family used to live in Unites States for about 9 years, and then one day they received a letter from US immigration that asked his family to leave the country in a month. The song definitely makes you feel his sadness and fragility and maybe a little bit anger. Basically, every song has its own story, which makes Maneli is a unique musician because the audience can listen to his beautiful tunes with interesting stories. Maneli was in full storyteller mode, which we saw at the Harbourfront Center once again.

Most of the songs he performed were from his previous albums or his latest album called Lamaj Movement, but there was also a brand new one called Zim Blues. He said he was really inspired during his Zimbabwe tour. This piece particularly sounds pretty different than his other pieces. It is a heavily blues-influenced tune with some percussive use of the guitar. If you would like to hear this song, you can find it on his Youtube channel. It is difficult to write about a talented musician and we have to say Maneli’s live performance is amazing. The way he played and communicated with the audience was fabulous. We did not hear any mistake during the show which is not quite possible during live performances. If you are curious about his music you can check our video out. We highly recommend you to see his show, because he is a great talent!

Cheers!

Itir & Mustafa

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Innovative Jazz Tunes from The Peripheral Vision

Members: Trevor Hogg – Saxophone Don Scott – Guitar Michael Herring – Bass Nick Fraser – Drums

Genre: Jazz

“It bugs me when people try to analyze jazz as an intellectual theorem. It’s not. It’s feeling.” Bill Evans

Since we dearly love jazz music, we’d like to introduce you a very niche Toronto based Canadian jazz quartet called Peripheral Vision. The quartet was founded by guitarist Don Scott and bassist Michael Herring. They have been performing in the Toronto jazz scene since 2008. They call themselves “one of the most exciting and innovative jazz quartets to have recently appeared on the international jazz scene” We totally agree with them since we had the opportunity to see their show at the Tranzac on August 5^th 2014. The quartet itself is very dynamic and collaborative.

We discovered The Peripheral Vision through another of Don Scott’s bands Idioteque (Toronto based Radiohead Tribute) We were quite curious about Dan’s other projects and then we found out about The Peripheral Vision through our investigation.

NEW TUNES AT THE TRANZAC

We arrived the venue before the gig and settled in and grabbed our drinks. The audience was formed of musicians. The gig was overall based on new tunes. They played 6 pieces and The Ill Conceived Plan (by Michael Herring) and Patina (by Don Scott) are from their upcoming album called “Sheer Tyranny Of Will” which will be released by September 23^rd 2014. We have to say the new pieces included experimental tunes. They took us through the heaven of jazz . The set list was: “Portrait of a Man in a Late 19th Century Frame” (by Michael Herring) – “Syntax Error” (by Don Scott) – “The Blunder” (by Michael Herring) – “Chubby Cello” (by Don Scott) – “The Ill Conceived Plan” (by Michael Herring) and “Patina” (by Don Scott)

We were really excited to hear “Living the Dream “(one of our favourites) but all the tunes they played were brand new. We have to say we were pretty impressed by the pieces called Patina and Syntax Error. You can check the Patina in the upcoming album. The show provided us the good tunes from “Sheer Tyranny Of Will”. We lost ourselves in experimental tunes as well as in jazz melodies.

After the gig, we had the opportunity to have a chat with Don Scott. They are all very excited about the new upcoming album and very happy about how it sounds and looks. The Peripheral Vision is obviously a group of musicians deeply invested in what they do and offer. You can check the video below and see how they deeply feel and dance with their instruments. Even if you are not into jazz, The Peripheral Vision could be a good starting point to explore more about jazz scene in Toronto. If you are curious about their live performance, you can find them at 80 Gladstone on September 27^th 2014 for their CD release concert and you can also check our video out. If I were you, I wouldn’t miss that opportunity to feast my ears. You can find them at http://www.peripheralvisionmusic.com/

Cheers!

Itir & Mustafa

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