Few budding artists are really willing to expose themselves to their fans. They wait patiently as they shine in the limelight and then discuss their rise to success. But JRDN (that’s Jordan for those unfamiliar) prefers to take a different route. With one smash single, ‘U Can Have It All‘ already under his belt, he decided to let his fanbase get a sneak peek into what really goes into becoming such a star. He’s released IAMJRDN, a short documentary shot beautifully by Melanie “eMCee” Chung. With short glimpses of our lovely city, a bit of studio work and describing what really made him want to get into this music thing, we get more of an appreciation for the hard work that an artist puts into his craft.
Keep your eyes on this guy. And bonus points if you can point out TVD’s Theresa in this vid somewhere (she’s in there a couple times!).
The best part? It’s free, in exchange for that little email address of yours. So head over to their download site and cop it before you miss out. TVD promises you’ll be happy.
Get Throwed/Steppin’ Uptown @ Crawford (2 different events on 2 floors @ Crawford – Get Throwed for all you southern hiphop fans, and Steppin Uptown if you feel like rockin out to a little new jack swing)
Scarborough natives The Carps are back once again with two new singles – Bo Jackson & Kelly Gruber. Since their last release, Waves & Shambles in 2008, the band has been hard at work, with Jahmal (drums) playing alongside the likes of MSTRKRFT, and Neil (bass/keys) doing what any other musician does on their off-time – studying for his PhD.
But nevertheless, the duo pick up where they left off, with their unique brand of soulful vocals mixed with hard, trashing instrumentals to bring you a couple tracks dedicated to some almost-famous athletes on the cusp of stardom but fell to injury. Something that clearly hits home for The Carps.
“We almost made a living off music for a second. This is our swan song, our knee surgery, our post Cadillac-golf club tabloid moment. These songs, some of them four to five years old are likely the most honest songs we’ve ever recorded. And whatever the outcome, we’re just happy to be The Carps.”– Jahmal
The album will be released as singles, so be on the lookout for 2 singles a month from these guys for the next 6 months.
BFF Fridays w/ TheFranDiscos and StillTricky (hey that’s me!) @ Andy Poolhall (this is a party that my friends TheFranDiscos have asked me to spin at, so is it bad that I don’t wanna mention any others for tonight? Ha! No, seriously, you should totally come to this. And if you email me – sebastian at thevinyldistrict dot com – I might be nice enough to give you some guestlist love.)
Stay home and watch the Superbowl (Go Steelers!) or you can hit up Parts and Labour or The Drake for some big screen action and some pretty great food.
Last Friday saw Das Racist hit Toronto for the very first time to a room that made it feel more like the middle of July than the end of January. What it also saw was a crowd of people that potentially left feeling one of two ways – confused with a ‘WTF’ look on their face, or content with what they just spent $20 on.
As two-thirds of Das Racist hopped on stage (after a great set by Blake Carrington and a god-awful set by some opening DJ), they seemed relatively worried as something was missing. Their 3rd member, Victor/Kool AD, was nowhere to be found, which left an uncomfortable DR trying to buy time and an awkward promoter on stage trying to figure out what the hell he’s gonna do if the show can’t continue. During this time, another major issue came up – the sound. While attendees could hear things fine, apparently DR couldn’t hear much out of the monitors, which quickly becomes the biggest issue for an artist’s enthusiasm.
When their 3rd member finally showed up, and the show started to click, it became evident that Das Racist’s real Toronto fanbase didn’t care about sound issues or how many members were on stage. What they really cared about was rapping along to songs they bumped while passing a joint around. With a laptop armed with WinAmp (you remember WinAmp right?) dropping tracks like ‘You Oughta Know‘, ‘Shorty Said‘ and ‘Chicken and Meat‘, they got the type of reaction that only comes with high anticipation, and their ending track ‘Rainbow in the Dark‘ is what really made it count.
Depending on who you ask, you’ll end up with a different answer in regards to the show. You might get an angered fan who paid admission just to hear “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell” (which didn’t happen, by the way). Or you might get someone who thought the trainwreck performance was fantastic. What’s certain is that Das Racist are a toss-up; if you’re familiar with the shtick, and aware of the fact that they’re not your typical rap group, then you knew what was coming. If you expected tight deliveries with a true-to-life hiphop stage presence, then maybe you’re not as big of a fan as you might think.
“I’m a writer trying to write my mind out of hell..”
Toronto native D-Sisive (or Derek Christoff, his given name that his next LP will be released under) has borrowed Sigur Ros‘ “Festival” to release some dark inner thoughts in a way that might have you wondering why you didn’t pay attention to him before this. Discussing the music industry, being unable to be sold as that ‘picture perfect’ mainstream artist, and really just putting his heart and soul into his music, “If I Live to See Tomorrow” covers topics that have noticeably rubbed D-Sisive the wrong way for quite some time.
With a relentless flow and an ability to vividly paint the picture of frustration he’s been going through, he’s eager to win over those who’ve doubted him in the past.
We here at TVD Toronto have taken it upon ourselves to get you caught up on what’s happening this weekend in our lovely city. We know you’ve had a rough week (we all have – it’s cold as a mother out there!) and you might need a drink or 6, so here’s what we think are the best parties to down a few beers at and get your swerve on.
The second week of January is that perfect time to reflect on what really caught our attention in the year that passed and place bets on what you think is going to pop off in the new year. Needless to say, we here at TVD Toronto had to put our brains together to come up with what we think will be the records we’ll be talking about in 2012. And it gives you lovely readers a chance to see what we’re really all about when it comes to tastes and our abilities to see past the marketed hype. So here it is, our respective Top 11 of 2011 (see what we did there?).
Yeezy probably had the best year anyone could’ve hoped for, and with this release slated for March, it’s safe to say he might just have keep that ball rolling.
If Weezy’s lead single “6’ 7’” doesn’t make you want to punch someone in the face for absolutely no reason, well, I don’t know if there’s any way to fix you.
Toronto’s most loved and hated superstar drops his sophomore effort this year and will once again erupt in heated debates amongst hip-hop heads everywhere.
Local cats Cass and Jay have been doing the rounds in Toronto for quite a while, and with an EP slated to drop this year, now’s a good chance for you to get real real familiar.
I’ve seen Ninjasonik a bunch of times here in Toronto, and it seems like they’re here for every festival so I felt compelled to give them a shout out on our first day. Here’s their new vid for their track “Global” featuring Spank Rock. Oh, and do yourself a favor and head over to their website to download their mixtape “When Anxiety Attacks!!” for free in exchange for that email address of yours.
Welcome to The Vinyl District’s long awaited Northern takeover. As 2011 finally gets its motor running (which comes with a significant decrease in the “hey, happy new year!” greetings), we felt compelled to further involve Toronto’s budding music scene in order to make that whole ‘world domination’ thing a little bit easier. So here we are, let’s introduce ourselves, shall we?
TVD Toronto will feature two full time writers – both with genre-spanning tastes, strong opinions and unique writing styles. And we’re definitely not hard to look at, either. Up first isTheresa, whose time spent as a music writer, publicist at Fontana North, music marketing extraordinaire in NYC and now the founder of tenfour Communications (a music, entertainment & non-profit focused publicity company) gives her more than enough street cred to cover what’s really happening in Toronto. And alongside her is me, Sebastian, a DJ/producer/blogger/generally awesome guy (I really enjoy writing my own bio, too), who’s here to cover the events you might’ve missed, tell you about the songs and albums you’re supposed to be listening to and point your eyes and ears to the local artists you oughta know about.
But in reality, we’re both really here for one reason: that lovely collection of 12” records we all want to continue building. As digital consumption continues to rise, we’ve got to do what we can to keep vinyl alive and well. So be on the lookout for features on your local record store workers/owners, stories on some bad ass record collectors and perhaps a couple contests for some free vinyl (if you’re nice).
So that’s our crew. Keep an eye out for guest writers to take over from time to time – we promise they’ll be great.
If you’ve got any questions, holla at us. We also encourage any and all submissions, so shoot us an email at toronto [at] thevinyldistrict [dot] com and we’ll get back to you ASAP.
