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We're At The Garrison Flea Today from 1-7PM
We're delighted to have a stall at today's Garrison Spring Flea!
Come say "Hi" at any time between 1-7PM, where we'll have a bunch of Safe Sounds goodies on sale including vinyl, cassettes and other merch.
The Garrison address is 1197 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON M6J 1X3.
Facebook Event: https://fb.me/e/5cC2D0Tdi
Pretty's Acoustic Journey Can Now Be Streamed Worldwide
Today is the day that our two-track session with Pretty arrives worldwide to streaming!
Filmed and recorded in the bank vault here at Safe Sounds by Desiree Das Gupta and Bill Cutbill, these two acoustic tracks are lush and enchanting. Listen on Spotify or your preferred streaming platform now, and don't forget to get out in the world and support your local music scene!
Pretty are a Toronto band with a psychedelic sound and philosophy, fusing distinctive, dark and frenzied sonic landscapes. The band currently consists of Torin Craig, Eliot Rossi, Will Macquarrie, Brian Heyes and Morgan Zych.
Speaking of the release, Torin of Pretty said –
"These two songs – “Inheritance” and “Worry” – were previously released on our album
Sertraline Dream (2020) and EP Citrus Magic (2023) respectively.
In between those two releases we started getting more into folk and acoustic music, and scheming about making an acoustic EP or album. Because our guitar amps wouldn’t fit into Safe Sounds’ vault, we thought it would be fun to try an acoustic performance, as it would be a more natural fit for the space, and gave us the chance to explore musical ground we hadn’t yet covered.
I’d also just add that it was a super fun time and a very vibey experience, we had a great time working with the Safe Sounds crew!"
If you've not yet seen it, please watch the video version of these tracks on our YouTube channel, which exist alongside many other unique sessions we've recorded from Toronto based musicians.
You can catch Pretty performing live this year. They're organising a mini run of shows with Silks, and are opening for the Budos Band on June 15th at the Phoenix in Toronto. Get out and bask in the sunshine of life.
The Sin Gles Arrive on Shiny Orange on Orange on Orange Cassettes
Your Grandad are at it again, this time with the release of Sin Gles... an EP collection of, you guessed it, Singles. The best of the best of the best of the best.
We've released Sin Gles on strictly limited Safe Sounds cassette with an Orange on Orange on Orange theme. What's your favourite juice... AKA your juice opinion? Well of course, it's Orange Juice - the king of all the juices. Juicy fruits.
The release features a brand new remix of Your Grandad's classic track, 'Fake News', by our very own Bill Cutbill. Bill also came up with the cassette artwork and previously filmed the music video for Your Grandad's self-titled single.
Speaking of the Cockfosters remix, Bill explains -
"Cam and co had always been keen for me to hop on board to remix Your Grandad, and this one all started when I was travelling back to the UK via Dublin when my plane got delayed."
"I had my laptop on me, so decided to crack into the remix there and then in Dublin airport at 6am. I crafted the opening and recorded a sample from inside the airport terminal. The plane ended up being three hours late, which turned out to be the perfect amount because I later put a claim in to them and got refunded over $800 which pretty much paid for my return trip. Sometimes it's good to complain... always remember to complain."
"When I eventually landed in London, I jumped on the tube. The Piccadilly line service I was riding terminated at a station called Cockfosters, which the English voice over the tannoy reminded me of at every stop. In my jet lagged state I thought about the immature sense of humour of Your Grandad, and decided I should sample that as well."
"This remix doesn't really have a genre... it's more a journey through textures - the aim was to take you from the airport to a train journey, before dropping you down a spiral staircase, only to have you land on the other side of the earth entirely. I'll let you be the judge of whether I achieved that or not."
In addition to the Cockfosters remix, the Sin Gles includes the following tracks from their incredible debut album – Your Grandad, Poison, CERB and Aspartame. It's a rollercoaster ride that will try to throw you off at any moment.
So where do you grab one of these orange on orange on orange cassettes? We're not selling em online, cos the internet sucks, so if you want to secure some orange gold, you'll need to head to Toronto's Baby G on Tuesday April 9th ~
Vinyl copies of Your Grandad's debut self-titled album are also available and should be purchased post-haste.
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'Not A Band' - The Best Thing You've Seen On The Internet Since That Gorilla Waved For A Snack At The Zoo
Yeah yeah, we know... it's confusing. When you give your band a name like Not A Band it's like calling yourself Special Guest or Event Cancelled... it's gonna cause some confusion... especially when you end up on a festival poster.
I guess with this bunch, they're hoping people will turn up to the show expecting anything other than a band, only to be shocked when *poof* a band arrives. Let's just hope the audience didn't come because they specifically don't like bands, eh?
I thought about calling this post, 'Don't Read This'. It's this kind of viral genius that helps 15 second clips of gorillas at the zoo, frantically waving for some idiot to throw another biscuit into the enclosure, go viral.
It's hard to predict what is going to be a success these days. Sometimes it's the opposite of what you might think. And when you think about it even more, it's only a matter of time until we get smart phones to wild gorillas so they can film short clips of each other and upload it to the cloud for all species to enjoy.
Mark Zuckerburg would love that. Just like he loved to encourage musicians to create band pages on his cutting-edge social network, so that he could encourage fans to waste their time following the bands they like. Once all that information was gathered, Zuck executed his 'Kill Culture Make Money Plan'.
To execute said plan, all you have to do is gather a bunch of data and sell it to anyone who will buy. At the same time, you charge the bands to show their content to their own fans who follow. That way, the majority of fans don't see what they want and the bands have to pay for advertising.
"We've got your data baby" - Zuckerburg whispers to himself as he pretends to shave his child-like face in the mirror (despite not a single hair having ever grown on his cyborg chin).
And don't get me started on Spotify, in their emerald castle eating all manner of green themed sliders. Although, when I think about it, given 10 second clips of cars running red lights is our new preferred form of entertainment, I kind of agree with Spotify that musicians deserve to be paid nothing. In fact, musicians should have to pay Spotify a "creation" fee to even consider picking up an instrument.
Don't get me wrong, I am 100% ranting here and it is all rather incoherent. Mainly, I just wanted to see if anyone was paying attention. Sometimes when the winter is on your shoulders, the only thing you can do is bury yourself in art. And that's exactly what we've done here...
Frivol is a banging new track from Not A Band. Yes, getting back on the Not A Band train, we've got a little glitter for your afternoon coffee.
So shut out the rest of the internet for at least four minutes and fifty-nine seconds... if you can indeed go that long without seeing someone react to a burrito being assembled.
So who are Not A Band?
"What started as a carpe diem home-recording project for a duo in quarantine, quickly grew into a cast of friends from different disciplines and perspectives, building on a communal spirit of we’ll try everything once."
We're so stoked to have captured Frivol live from our little bank vault studio in downtown Toronto. We're sure you'll agree that the energy from Not A Band is electric.
There will be another live video from the group coming soon, so if you Subscribe on YouTube they might notify you when the next one is released.
Oh, and you can catch Not A Band LIVE at The Garrison very soon on March 2nd. If you didn't know, The Garrison is now Toronto's undisputed premiere venue, now every other spot in the city has been "cancelled" for various nefarious reasons.
It's a killer lineup that also includes Leona Hell, who will be releasing a new EP, plus Only God Forgives. Don't miss it.
Thanks a bunch for reading.
I'm fine, I promise. Send me memes.
Bill Cutbill's New Year's Resolution Project Gets a Reboot
Bill Cutbill has returned with Resolution Remastered - a New Year's resolution for 2024 that starts today and will either be kept or broken.
Many years ago Bill set himself the task to write, record, mix and master one new song with accompanying video every month for the whole year.
The rule was: each video had to be released before the end of the month. It was quite ambitious, and spoiler alert, there are 12 videos on the internet you could watch immediately if you have the right detective skills.
Speaking of the January track entitled, Treat Yourself, Bill Cutbill said -
“Here we are once again dealing with the January winter blues. Personally, I find a lot of comfort in sleep and that’s what this song is about.
Back in yesteryear when I was struggling with harsher mood instabilities, I found that by committing to a good sleep pattern I was able to start days with a better mindset.
I also find that tea helps… not with sleep necessarily cos of the caffeine, but a good cup of tea helps with every stress; any difficult moment life throws at you.
So yeah, brew yourself a mug and take this time of year to relax and recuperate. There’s a reason why animals hibernate.” - 💙 Bill Cutbill
Bill will be revisiting each track to give it a fresh burst of instrumentation/ mix/ whatever the hell he want.
Just like with the original RESOLUTION project, these REMASTERED songs will be released once a month with a fresh cut of the original video, formatted for the mobile phone age.
The real question is, will Bill be able to keep his Resolution?!
Only time will tell.