You might have noticed the lack of song last week. I apologize. I was in Charlottetown for East Coast Music Week. A gathering of the east coast’s musicians, industry pros, fans and international delegates – OR, in other words… a big east coast party. I think we wore out some of the international delegates, but that’s the fun part.

Anyway, I struggled with which song to post as the Thursday Track, as I got to see many of my clients, and have a renewed joy for their offerings. There are new albums on the way from Gabrielle Papillon, Ria Mae, The Fortunate Ones, and more (yay!), but you can’t hear that yet.  So, after careful consideration, I decided to present for you, my girl Kim Wempe.

With a raspy voice, she delivers her bluesy songs with an effortless passion. Reminiscent of Joan Osborne and sometimes Sheryl Crow, this album had my attention from the day it landed in my inbox. Ladies and gents – Kim Wempe’s “Never Promised You Nothing”.  “You never gave me no lovin’, so don’t you give me no lip. I never promised you nothin’. Don’t you say I did.”.  Take that, jerk! 🙂

“Kim Wempe has one of those strong, raspy voices that’s only made better by whisky and more emotive by a sad song. She embodies the storytelling nature of the country genre, that slow burning hurt we know to be true of the blues, and these soulful gospel melodies that recall something almost spiritual.” 
-Alan Cross-Rock and Roll Journalist

“Kim Wempe sings directly from the soul, and the result is incredibly powerful. She instantly draws you in with her voice, and holds you there with the strength of her performance and her songs.” 
– Jill Barber

Instead of posting a Thursday Track this week, I wanted to pay tribute to our friend Jay, who has been gone from us for exactly 1 year, now. The link to his album is still live, and I encourage all who knew him to take a listen to remember. I strongly encourage those who didn’t know him to take a listen to get to know him better.

Jay was a great songwriter. He wrote with the likes of Grammy Award winner Gordie Sampson (who wrote ‘Jesus Take the Wheel’), and found friends wherever he went. People liked Jay. His friends loved him. He made really awful puns and strange wordplay jokes that you could ONLY laugh at if they came from his mouth. He stayed too late at parties. He was a father of 2. He gave us great songs.

To Jay.

http://jaysmith.bandcamp.com 

As mentioned on the socials and the Exclaim! post below – The Olympic Symphonium has a new album out this week. The Thursday Track comes from that album, Chance To Fate. It is called “Home”. It’s an indie folk lullaby of sorts. Dreamy and contemplative. “I’m ready and I want to go home”. Listen below.

Also – if you’d like to see the guys pull off another pretty piece in the backseat of Jeff’s Musical Car, check out the video below. Three men, two guitars, one stand-up bass. Yep – a stand-up bass.

The Thursday Track for March 13th is a really nice piece from Brooklyn-based, NS raised Producer / DJ / Remixer, Bit Funk. He’s toured the US, Europe and Canada and he’s mad awesome. Can I say that? Mad Awesome? EIther way, here is Bit Funk’s “The Long Road Ahead”.

From Indiecurrent – March 2013:

Bit Funk is a straight up craftsman; there’s no way around it. With every small intricacy and beautifully flowing beat that he puts together, you can see the time and effort that Bit Funk puts into each of his singles, and nothing is a greater example of this than his newest single, “The Long Road Ahead.”

In it’s fullest form, “The Long Road Ahead” is a mellowed out disco beat that is entrenched with vocal loops and repetitively punchy beats. Listening to it all the way through, you may find it hard to believe that this groovy beat, which is elongated over multiple loops, isn’t tiresome or drawn-out. Instead, the single begins to take on an enlivening aura of it’s own and soon enough you’ll have the enthralling beat playing it on repeat.

Again.. I IMPLORE you to listen to the Adam Baldwin EP. He is a special kid. This song gets me. I get this song. Can’t say it enough… I am a huge huge fan. Just watch!

This week’s Thursday Track is from a brand new signing from Halifax, No Bodies. Craig Hamlin and James O’Toole bring us this Sadies-esque, trippy cool EP, recorded with the halifamous Charles Austin. The song I’d like to showcase is “Tell Me Who You Love”. Listen HERE!