“Hashtag BLM,” the latest single from Nova Scotian rapper Tachichi, was recorded in July of 2020. In the wake of the murder of George Floyd by on-duty Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, not to mention a few centuries of systemic racism and oppression, tensions had reached a snapping point. Now, with the release of this single nearly a year later, Tachichi reminds all of us that little has changed, least of all the message: Black Lives Matter. Continue reading A Year Later, Tachichi’s ‘Hashtag BLM ft. Skratchbastid and Jah’Mila’ Reminds Us That the Message Hasn’t Changed
All posts by Alex Cook
Adam Young Serves Up Two Styles of ‘Corned Beef and Garbage’
2018 was set up to be a slow year for Adam Young. On what he describes as a “lazy New Years Day,” with nothing else that looked terribly pressing on his schedule, he committed himself to a year-long songwriting challenge, ambitiously taking on the self-imposed project of turning out one song a day. The first single from that endeavour, “Corned Beef and Garbage” provides a taste of what to expect from Young in two flavours: a traditional version pairing Young’s Cape Breton style of piano playing against Chrissy Crowley and Colin Grant’s fiddles, and a second more modern New Orleans style with a jaunty beat from Brian Talbot propping up a whole section of woodwinds from Brad Reid. Continue reading Adam Young Serves Up Two Styles of ‘Corned Beef and Garbage’
Barn Bhreagh – How Keith Mullins Turned from Touring Musician to Producer for Three Cape Breton Musicians
East Coast Music Award-winning artist Keith Mullins has shown us a classic example of what to do when life gives you lemons; you hunker down in your backyard and construct a barn for your fledgling recording studio. Today we’re seeing the fruits of his labour, with the release of not just one, but three albums under the umbrella of Barn Bhreagh. Continue reading Barn Bhreagh – How Keith Mullins Turned from Touring Musician to Producer for Three Cape Breton Musicians
Maximilian Flint Returns to His Halifax Home with ‘East of the East’ but the Road Goes Ever On and On
When Maxmilian Flint moved back to Halifax after spending years in New Zealand, his return wasn’t quite the homecoming he had imagined. More than the city itself, Flint found that the years away had changed him and his perspective of “home” took on a mercurial nature; his arrival back in Halifax proved to him that life itself is a journey.
“East of the East” is Flint’s new single about that journey and where our concept of “home” fits within it. Continue reading Maximilian Flint Returns to His Halifax Home with ‘East of the East’ but the Road Goes Ever On and On
Mary Beth Carty Crafts a Modern Day Rosetta Stone with ‘Mo Mhathair’
“It’s pronounced ‘Mo Vaaaaair’,’ Mary Beth Carty emphasizes of her new Scottish Gaelic single, “Mo Mhathair,” meaning “My Mother.” No stranger to working in both French and English (not to mention a certain fluency in accordion, which seems to be a language all of its own), Carty has crafted a modern-day Rosetta Stone just in time for both Mother’s Day and Gaelic Awareness Month in Nova Scotia. Continue reading Mary Beth Carty Crafts a Modern Day Rosetta Stone with ‘Mo Mhathair’