Nash the Slash, the influential and experimental musician born Jeff Plewman, who frequently covered his face with surgical bandages and wore a top hat and sunglasses while performing, has died. He was 66.
Nash, a multi-instrumentalist known primarily for playing the electric violin, mandolin, harmonica and glockenspiel, was a solo musician before founding the prog rock band FM in 1976. He resumed his solo career following FM's debut album, Black Noise, and was a highly influential fixture on Toronto's music scene, helping local band's like Blue Rodeo get their start. He founded Cut-Throat Records in 1978.
As a solo act, he released more than 20 recordings that blended everything from New Wave to punk rock to country and included seven film scores, toured the world with Iggy Pop and was a go-to opening act for like-minded performers coming to Toronto, such as The Who and Elvis Costello (watch him talk about opening for Costello below).
Nash retired in 2012, issuing a statement on his website saying he was "rolling up the bandages." You can read part of it below, taken verbatim from his site.
I'm proud of my remarkable 40-year career in the music biz with no hit (commercial) records. As an independent artist without management, major label support or any grants whatsoever (thank you Canada Council and Factor), I toured internationally and accomplished so much. I was unique on stage and on my recordings. I refused to be slick and artificial. I opened for and toured with some of the best musicians in the world, and was regarded highly by my peers. Rolling Stone journalist Lester Bangs once reported, "Nash the Slash is the kind of opening act that makes the headliner work twice as hard."
Watch the video for his song "Dead Man's Curve," released in 1980, below.
Neil Young and Jack White have collaborated before (check out the video below of Young playing "Needle of Death" in White's Third Man Records' vintage recording booth), but this evening you can watch the multi-generational lions of rock perform and press vinyl live on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
Nash the Slash, the influential and experimental musician born Jeff Plewman, who frequently covered his face with surgical bandages and wore a top hat and sunglasses while performing, has died. He was 66.
Nash, a multi-instrumentalist known primarily for playing the electric violin, mandolin, harmonica and glockenspiel, was a solo musician before founding the prog rock band FM in 1976. He resumed his solo career following FM's debut album, Black Noise, and was a highly influential fixture on Toronto's music scene, helping local band's like Blue Rodeo get their start. He founded Cut-Throat Records in 1978.
As a solo act, he released more than 20 recordings that blended everything from New Wave to punk rock to country and included seven film scores, toured the world with Iggy Pop and was a go-to opening act for like-minded performers coming to Toronto, such as The Who and Elvis Costello (watch him talk about opening for Costello below).
Nash retired in 2012, issuing a statement on his website saying he was "rolling up the bandages." You can read part of it below, taken verbatim from his site.
I'm proud of my remarkable 40-year career in the music biz with no hit (commercial) records. As an independent artist without management, major label support or any grants whatsoever (thank you Canada Council and Factor), I toured internationally and accomplished so much. I was unique on stage and on my recordings. I refused to be slick and artificial. I opened for and toured with some of the best musicians in the world, and was regarded highly by my peers. Rolling Stone journalist Lester Bangs once reported, "Nash the Slash is the kind of opening act that makes the headliner work twice as hard."
Watch the video for his take on "Dead Man's Curve," released in 1980, below.
Michael Jackson's second posthumous album, Xscape will be released today. It's a mix of old MJ vocals from unreleased songs spanning Jackson's solo career reimagined with new music from top producers like Rodney Jerkins and Timbaland, among others.
Anticipation is high for the new album and that prompted us here at CBC Music to take a look back at some of our favourite Michael Jackson tunes. Check them out in the gallery above.
It pains me to say it, but I took a dim view of tenor Vittorio Grigòlo when he appeared on the scene in 2006 with his debut album, In the Hands of Love, a crossover project that packaged him as a studio performer of sentimental pop songs. He sang a duet with Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls; Simon Cowell recruited him for Il Divo. While he seemed destined for success, his music was just not that interesting for classical music fans.
But the intervening years have proved me wrong. With each successive album (there have been five), Grigòlo has shown himself to be a complete artist who backs up his alluring voice with prodigious dramatic instincts. His record label, Sony Classical, has wisely supported Grigòlo in purely classical/operatic projects, at which he excels.
His 2010 release, The Italian Tenor, found Grigòlo in top form singing a selection of arias by compatriots Verdi, Puccini and Donizetti.
On his newest album, The Romantic Tenor, streaming above until May 20, Grigòlo sings the most popular arias from French operas by Gounod, Massenet and Bizet, many of which he has performed live to great acclaim.
He made his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 2010 singing opposite Anna Netrebko in a new production of Massenet's Manon. The Guardian described it as "the most sensational debut to be heard at Covent Garden for some time. He's got everything the role demands — a voice that flows, terrific looks, an instinctive sense of theatre."
Netrebko isn't the only famous prima donna to share the stage of the Royal Opera House with Grigòlo. He sang alongside Angela Gheorghiu in its 2011 production of Gounod's Faust. His arias from Manon and Faust are highlights of his new album.
Grigòlo has a celebrity's knack for making headlines. He sang in the history-making April 5 broadcast of Puccini's La Bohème, live from the Metropolitan Opera, when soprano Kristina Opolais agreed to sing the role of Mimì at the last minute, unrehearsed, having sung Madama Butterfly on the same stage just 12 hours previously. The performance was electric; clearly Grigòlo thrives on this kind of adrenaline.
If you thrive on Grigòlo's passionate singing, preorder The Romantic Herohere.
Some music is best heard in the pristine acoustics of the concert hall as the performer feeds off of the energy of a large audience. Other music is more suited for the comfort of your living room, as if it was an intimate one-on-one conversation between musician and listener. The music on Khatia Buniatishvili’s latest recording, Motherland, is the latter.
From Brahms’ melancholy Intermezzo in B-flat minor to Debussy’s cool Clair de Lune, the music on her fourth recording shows the pianist getting personal and showing her sensitive side. Buniatishvili displays her personality and pride for her homeland with her own arrangement of the Georgian folk song, "Va Giorko Ma" and music by Georgian composer Giya Kancheli.
Buniatishvili has a long list of honours to her name, including being a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist in 2009-2011 and winning third prize at the 12th Arthur Rubinstein Competition in 2008. Meanwhile, critics have compared her outstanding energy and technique to Argentine pianist Martha Argerich. She makes her Toronto Symphony debut in October performing Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2.
Like what you hear? You can stream Khatia Buniatishvili’s Motherland using the player above until May 20, or preorder the recording here.
Next up in our series of musical matrices (matrixes, duh) is rapper Ice Cube. Unlike our previous efforts (Hall & Oates and Coldplay), we expanded this one to include Ice Cubes starring roles in movies, along with his music as a member of N.W.A, as well as a solo artist. We charted them all out from family-friendly to explicit, and from kinda popular to super popular. (We decided to leave out anything that was actually unpopular.)
(Design by Samantha Smith/CBC Music; Are We There Yet? photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures; black and white photo courtesy of Eva Rinaldi/Flickr)
Much has been made about Lorde's movements on stage. She twitches and slithers, somehow missing the rhythm completely. It's like visual jazz. She manages to move precisely where the beat isn't.
It's nothing new. Lorde belongs to a rich history of singers with weird stage moves. It's hard up there without an instrument to occupy your hands. And doing actual choreography isn't for everyone.
Here are 10 of the best weird stage movers from the past 50 years.
Joe Cocker — 1969
First, there was Joe Cocker, and he was playing some sort of air piano and wearing a pizza for a shirt.
Siouxsie Sioux — 1979
And then Siouxsie Sioux was like, "I'm running, I'm stopping, I'm singing, I'm miming."
Mick Jagger — 1981
Then Mick Jagger started doing a Mick Jagger impression.
Peter Gabriel — 1987
Peter Gabriel taught a whole generation of dads to do embarrassing butt-wiggle dances.
Axl Rose — 1988
People say Rose only had one move, but sometimes he'd run around in his underwear too.
Gord Downie — 2009
And then the Tragically Hip's Gord Downie figured out something weird to do during long guitar solos.
Lana Del Rey — 2012
LDR pretended to calmly drown in an invisible whirlpool.
Thom Yorke — 2012
Once Radiohead ditched the guitars, Thom Yorke had to figure out what to do with his hands (and feet and ponytail). His freakouts are exaggerated by the complete stillness of everyone else on stage.
Lorde — 2013
Last year, Lorde came along and started velociraptoring around the stage.
Sam Herring — 2014
Finally, the Future Islands singer made headlines for playing to the back of the room, and terrifying them.
It's no secret that it's getting harder and harder for musicians to sell their music these days. Artists are having to get increasingly creative to raise the funds they need to record an album or go on tour.
Enter PledgeMusic, which is direct-to-fan crowd-funding site, not unlike Indiegogo, Kickstarter or Rockethub, where artists can offer a range of incentives to their fans in exchange for 'pledges' to support their music.
It's been around since 2009, but recently it seems to have risen in popularity, with artists like The Hold Steady, Kate Nash and Tokyo Police Club all signing up.
We decided to comb through the listings and bring you the weirdest and most wondrous exclusives available on PledgeMusic right now. Do you need a dry ice bath or someone to email you thoughts about the NHL Playoffs? Check out our list in the gallery above.
Have you ever been part of a crowdfunding project? What was the last artist or project you gave money to? What do you think it the most effective way for bands to market and distribute music to their fanbase? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @cbcradio3.
There's been a lot of excitement built up around the upcoming Constantines reunion, but before that happens, frontman Bry Webb is releasing his second solo album, Free Will.
Recorded at Kensington Market in Toronto, this album features backing band the Providers, which includes Nathan Lawr (Minotaurs) on drums, Anna Ruddick (Ladies of the Canyon) on bass, Aaron Goldstein (Lee Harvey Osmond) on pedal steel and Rich Burnett on guitar and lap steel.
Free Will contains 10 songs and two bonus cuts, one of which is "Someplace I'm Supposed To Be," a song commissioned for This American Life's "Coincidences" episode.
Each day, Rich Terfry and Radio 2 Drive wraps up your day with music and stories about the interesting things going on in the world.
NEW ON TUESDAY: Jake Bugg is back with an EP of unreleased material called "Messed Up Kids".
JUNK IN THE TRUNK:
The meanings of 32 car names:
The how to shoot a better video song:
Kids taste coffee for the first time:
RICH'S PICK: "Yes We Can" by Lee Dorsey:
MARK'S PICK: Frank Sinatra "Dindi"
REAR VIEW MIRROR:
Each week on Rear-view Mirror, Rich Terfry and the Radio 2 team look back at a great R&B/soul song from the good ol’ days. In today's story, we look at the protest song disguised as a joke, the Coasters' "Run, Red, Run."
When you think of protest songs in pop music, you probably think of the '60s and acts like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. But before all of that, there was a song released in 1959 by, of all groups, the Coasters.
The Coasters started out as a doo-wop group and became known for novelty songs like "Charlie Brown" and "Yakety Yak." But they, and the songwriting team behind them, had something to say, too.
"Run Red Run" is essentially a song about civil rights, wrapped up in the Coasters' signature comedic style. On the surface, it tells the story of a man named Red, who teaches a monkey how to gamble and get drunk. But a closer look reveals a song about racism, challenging stereotypes and overcoming oppression and injustice.
Asked about the meaning of the song, Leiber said "once the monkey knows how to play poker, he knows how to understand other things. And once he understands that he's being cheated and exploited, he becomes revolutionary."
The twist in the tale, and perhaps the strongest moment in the song, comes when the Coasters frontman Carl Gardner sings the line "Monkey said Red/ you made a man out of me/ now I'm going to make a monkey out of you." You can hear Gardner's wicked smile and his satisfaction as he sings the line.
The protest era in pop music was still several years away in 1959, so the genius of the song is that it's veiled as a novelty song and given a pop polish. It wasn't the biggest hit the Coasters ever had, but it did crack the top 40. So here it is, perhaps the very first pop protest song from the most unlikely of sources.
Here are some other great editions of Rear-view Mirror:
Owen Pallett was performing live in Studio Q this morning and allowed us to capture not only a rare sighting of him playing live at the piano, but also the debut of his song "I Am Not Afraid" from his forthcoming record In Conflict. Enjoy!
Neil Young made history last night for being the first artist to cut a vinyl record, live on late night TV.
It's a pretty specific milestone, sure, but it's definitely unique. With the help of Jack White and his vinyl recording booth, Young appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and performed Willie Nelson's "Crazy." As he was doing that, White pressed the record before the studio audience. The performance was in connection to Young's upcoming LP, A Letter Home, streaming on CBC Music May 19, which was recorded the same way.
The performance included a backdrop that read "1984 IS NOW," one very manic male backup dancer, two niqab-clad backup non-dancers who just stood in the background, two women holding DayGlo machine guns and sitting in front of glowing cubes, plus two glow-in-the-dark drones. (By drones, we meant the unmanned craft kind, not the Tim Hecker kind.)
M.I.A., you're amazing. Never stop doing whatever it is you're doing.
Retired Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield announced this morning that his zero-gravity cover of David Bowie’s "Space Oddity" will be removed from YouTube at the end of the day for copyright reasons.
The video has been viewed well over 22 million times and features Canadian musician Emm Gryner on the piano.
If you’re among the few who haven’t seen it, or want one last chance to watch the video again, this is it.
Our video of Chris Hadfield and Barenaked Ladies performing the first ever space-to-earth musical collaboration, however, isn’t going anywhere. At least, not today.
Owen Pallett returns to Studio Q to perform songs from his forthcoming record In Conflict including this complex performance of "Song For Five & Six".
According to an Associated Press article on CBC.ca, a judge has ordered an investigation into the mysterious disappearance of former Top 40 host Casey Kasem.
The music industry pioneer (and voice of Shaggy from the Scooby-Doo cartoon), who suffers from advanced Parkinson's disease, can no longer speak and requires treatment in medical facilities, has reportedly been removed from Los Angeles without his children's knowledge.
Kasem's daughter, Kerri Casem, was appointed his temporary caretaker after she and her siblings complained that they were unable to see their father, which was a direct contradiction to an agreement made with their stepmother, Jean Kasem.
The judge's decision came following a bizarre admission by Jean's attorney, who claimed that Casey was "no longer in the United States," though he couldn't specify an exact location. The judge, who noted his concern over the revelation before making Kerri her father's temporary caretaker, also ordered a court investigator and adult protective services to find out where Casey is being treated.
Malik Bendjelloul, the Oscar-winning director of 2012's Searching for Sugar Man, has been found dead in Stockholm, according to reports.
Updated on May 14: Johar Bendjelloul, Malik's brother, confirmed this morning that Malik took his own life following a period of depression.
The Swedish filmmaker, who also made the 2001 made-for-TV documentary The History of Heavy Metal, was just 36 years old.
Bendjelloul gained international notoriety when he brought to light the unusual story of Rodriguez, a musician from the 1970s who had faded into obscurity in Detroit despite massive fame overseas. Bendjelloul's film, Searching for Sugar Man, brought Rodriguez firmly back into the spotlight and resurrected his career in North America.
If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, please consult SuicidePrevention.ca for a list of resources and hotline phone numbers throughout Canada.
A choir is a lot like a family: a group of people with different personalities who spend a lot of time together, treat each other with a special loyalty (occasionally accompanied by sibling-like rivalry) and bond over shared experiences. Sometimes those experiences can be inspiring and moving. But just as often, the moments that unite a group of choristers involve a good dose of funny — both ha-ha and strange.
Taking a page out of the Awkward Family Photos hymnal, CBC Music has decided to create a friendly forum for the choral community to share their embarrassingly uncomfortable choir-related photography. We want you to send us your awkward choir photos, and we'll publish the best on our site.
Please send your submissions to classical@cbc.ca (subject: awkward) along with a description, photo credit, your name and contact details. In the meantime, please enjoy the above gallery of cringe-worthy snaps from around the choral world.
Spring is in the air, and with the internet still buzzing about losing Hollywood’s legendary bachelor, George Clooney, to his recent engagement, we thought we’d take a look at some of the most eligible bachelors in Canadian music.
We asked some great single gents in the Canadian music world, from pop stars to indie rockers, to answer a few questions to help you get to know them. Flip through the gallery to meet the bachelors.
Who do you think should be on the list? Who is the hottest bachelor? Who would you date? Post your comments on the blog or tweet @CBCRadio3.
