Single Servings, Nov. 15, 2021
On this week’s Single Servings, The Sadies come back blazing, The Tea Party gets heavy, Amanda Rheaume pays tribute to Louis Riel, and much more!
By Jason Schneider
In this week’s Single Servings, The Sadies come back blazing, The Tea Party gets heavy, Amanda Rheaume pays tribute to Louis Riel, and much more!
July Talk – I Am Water
Release Date: Nov. 10
Label: Danuta/Six Shooter
The Toronto rockers launch a new partnership with Six Shooter Records with this single, a jittery banger produced and mixed by Graham Walsh (Holy Fuck). The release of I Am Water coincides with July Talk’s first tour since 2019, which kicks off Nov. 28 in Ottawa and covers most of the country up until the final date on Dec. 23 in Victoria.
Stream/Purchase here
The Sadies – Stop And Start
Release Date: Nov. 9
Label: Dine Alone Records
Canada’s finest roots/psych unit has been getting increasingly weirder with each record they’ve put out, and this first taste of their upcoming, as-yet-untitled collection, produced by Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry, suggests it could be their most brain-melting yet. At the very least, Stop And Start could have been in high rotation at the Manson Family ranch.
Stream/Purchase here
Haviah Mighty – So So (feat. Dai Burger)
Release Date: Nov. 12
Label: Foundation Media
With the arrival of her highly anticipated new album Stock Exchange, Haviah Mighty has shared this radio-friendly track featuring New York rapper Dai Burger. The combination is both seamless and lethal, as So So pushes them to new lyrical heights.
Stream/Purchase here
OMBIIGIZI – Residential Military
Release Date: Nov. 10
Label: Arts & Crafts
This new collaboration between Zoon’s Daniel Monkman and Status/Non-Status’ Adam Sturgeon—Anishnaabe for “s/he is noisy”—explores their cultural histories through the psych-rock/moccasin-gaze sounds they’ve both become known for. Residential Military contains strong echoes of late-period Sonic Youth, with Monkman and Sturgeon’s guitars blending into a gooey mass that still somehow manages to be catchy.
Stream/Purchase here
Graham Brown Band – Let’s Get High (On Love)
Release Date: Nov. 12
Label: Independent
Vancouver roots-rock guitar hero Brown has produced another clip for a track from his band’s current album Spirit And Soul, recorded live-in-the-studio just prior to the 2020 lockdown. Let’s Get High (On Love) underscores the album’s theme of putting aside past mistakes and enjoying life in the moment.
The Tea Party – Hole In My Heart
Release Date: Nov. 12
Label: Coalition Entertainment
The CanRock veterans have been doing some interesting things off the mainstream radar since reuniting in 2014. For example, they spent their quarantine time recording covers of Joy Division’s Isolation and Morrissey’s Every Day Is Like Sunday, but their attention was mainly occupied by a new album, Blood Moon Rising, out Nov. 26. Hole In My Heart is a crushing blues-rocker featuring Age Of Electric’s Todd Kerns that should get longtime fans’ blood rushing.
Stream/Purchase here
PUP – Waiting
Release Date: Nov. 9
Label: The Orchard Music
Juno-nominated Toronto punks PUP have been itching to get back on the road for the past year, and they’ll finally get their chance starting in February with an extensive North American trek that wraps up in May with two dates at Toronto’s just-opened club, History. The band has released two new tracks, Waiting and Kill Something, to mark the occasion, with the former sure to inspire a lot of crowd participation with its anthemic chorus.
Stream/Purchase here
James Noble – Focus
Release Date: Nov. 11
Label: Independent
This Calgary hip-hop artist, who also happens to be a pastor, certainly gets a motivating message out on this new track that marries an intense beat with a barrage of lyrics that actually demand that you do, indeed, focus. While Toronto and Montreal remain Canada’s main hotbeds of hip-hop, it’s good to see artists in other cities like Noble demonstrating that they also belong in the conversation.
Stream/Purchase here
Amanda Rheaume – 100 Years
Release Date: Nov. 16
Label: Ishkōdé Records
Although Metis singer/songwriter Rheaume’s new album isn’t due to arrive until next Spring, she’s releasing her first single 100 Years on Nov. 16 to mark the anniversary of Louis Riel’s execution. In a statement, Rheaume says, “100 Years is a song about the resistance and the resurgence of my people and all Indigenous peoples here on Turtle Island. 100 Years is a song about the thousands of young bodies being uncovered at former residential school sites. 100 Years is a song about this generation, my generation, and generations to come, waking up, standing up and taking back what is rightfully ours.”
Stream/Purchase here
ModernFolkRevolution – No One Is Really From L.A.
Release Date: Nov. 12
Label: Independent
The latest track to be shared from the new project by Lonnie James (Super Friendz, The Lawn), exudes a wasted elegance that typifies his evolution as a songwriter after serving as a go-to session drummer for many years. The song’s overall feel will likely strike a nostalgic nerve in fans of pre-Internet, lo-fi indie rock.