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FYI

Music Biz Headlines, Dec. 22, 2017

Some Santa headlines mixed in with a potpourri of seasonal stories and eye-catchers from mainstream media at home and abroad.

Music Biz Headlines, Dec. 22, 2017

By FYI Staff

The music industry should be dreaming of a white Christmas

Despite its ubiquity during December, the appeal of festive music varies significantly by geography. Spotify provided The Economist with data for Christmas listening across 35 countries, and for every American state, on a day-by-day basis for the two months leading up to Christmas Day 2016 –  The Economist


Lord Buckethead released a music video for Christmas and it’s a must-watch

His song, A Bucketful of Christmas, rounds off a year which saw him battle against Theresa May for her Maidenhead seat in this year’s election – and it’s a belter.

The best classic Christmas songs for your festive playlist

The problem with this kind of list, unfortunately, is that no one has written a really decent Christmas song since Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" - but then again, sometimes it's best to stick with the classics – The Independent

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Mariah Carey's hair froze on the set of All I Want For Christmas Is You set

“I was actually in the snow, that’s not something that was created,” Carey recalls. “It was freezing in that one-piece ensemble, [my] hair was frozen – and I remember it like it was yesterday.” –  NME
 

The Jewish composers who wrote your favourite Christmas songs

Here is a countdown of my personal Top 10 Christmas songs by Jewish songwriters – Steve Kurtz, Fox News

O Canada market report

A growing economy is providing Canadian consumers with more disposable income, a proportion of which is finding its way to live entertainment, reports Steve McLean - IQ

Radiohead’s ‘OK Computer’ reissue leads Discogs’ 2017 most-collected coloured vinyl list

 Arcade Fire places second on the list – Jem Aswad, Variety

Yoko Ono’s The Riverbed coming to the Gardiner Museum

The acclaimed Japanese-American artist’s contemplative work will provide quiet counterpoint to the AGO’s Kusama extravaganza – Murray Whyte, Toronto Star

Melvv parlayed online success into a major-label deal

The young producer Jeffrey Melvin has no desire to follow the conventions of electronic music –  Kate Wilson, Georgia Straight

Lhasa de Sela remembered, on album and in concert

The late Montrealer was recently celebrated with a tribute show 20 years after her enchanting debut, and a live album captures a moment of evolution – T'Cha Dunleavy, Montreal Gazette

Getting through the holidays with Otis Redding

His music expresses the yearning to survive a cold season, to be warm and fed and fine – Nicholas Daweidoff, The New Yorker

Annual holiday dance-party tradition returns, with funk and new songs

The Funk Hunters bring their holiday dance-party Funk the Halls to the Commodore Dec. 22  –  Shawn Conner, Vancouver Sun

Eminem attacks Donald Trump: 'He's got people brainwashed'

The rapper continues his stream of invective against the president in a new interview, saying ‘his election was such a disappointment to me about the state of the country’ – Ben Beaumont-Thomas, The Guardian

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Celebrate the holidays Vancouver style with the Georgia Straight's all-local Christmas playlist

The list includes Bryan Adams, Michael Buble and The Be Good Tanyas  – John Lucas, Georgia Straight

Eight once-in-a-lifetime Toronto concerts from 2017

From the sweaty end of the Silver Dollar to an unprecedented gathering of Indigenous folk legends, these were the bucket list shows of the year – Staff, NOW

Two decades of funk 

The Mellotones turn 20 with a Marquee blowout in Halifax on Saturday  –  Noah Widmeyer, The Coast

Our film and video history is threatened by the rise of streaming video

For film historians and film buffs, the rapidity with which streaming has supplanted discs and tape as a viewing mode is a bug, not a feature –  Michael Hiltzik, LA Times

In the music spotlight: Poi Dog Pondering

The Chicago-based veterans are a sprawling band with more than a dozen members, and they have retained a loyal following  –  Jeff Elbel, Chicago Sun-Times

Calgary musicians, friends to hold memorial for Funeral Factory guitarist Greg Kucheran

The musician died on Dec. 2 and will be remembered at an event this Saturday –  Eric Volmers, Calgary Herald

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Théodora

Concerts

Francos de Montréal 2025 Highlights: One Language, A Thousand Faces

From June 13 to 22, Montreal transformed into a vibrant capital of Francophone music. From French rapper Théodora to local rockers Corridor, this year’s acts showed that the French language, far from static, is an endless playground.

In Montréal, June rhymes with music, and Francos de Montréal are the perfect proof. Once again this year, the festival celebrated the full richness of the French language in its most lively, vibrant, and above all, varied forms. While French served as a common thread, every artist inhabited it in their own unique way – with their accent, life experience, expressions, imagery and struggles. Between urban poetry, edgy rock and hybrid Creole, Francos 2025 showed that French has never been so expansive – or popular.

What Francos 2025 proved is that the French language is no fixed monument. It’s alive, inventive, plural. It can be slammed by a poet from Saint-Denis, chanted by an afro-futurist rapper, whispered by an indie band, or hammered out in Montréal neighbourhood slang. From Congolese expressions to Québec regionalisms, from playful anglicisms to Creole nods, the French language danced in every form this year. It was « full bon »!

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