ryan porter aka initial releases new record and the cape breton post covers it. read more here

keep an eye on the wentworth perk's events listings. they're almost always up to date.

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moxham castle - consume ep

the moxham castle ep has been unleashed to the world, via a free bandcamp download. this is the thrash influenced brainchild of sean macintyre. these bands are almost always serious about genre definitions, and as broadly as one can reasonably do so, is self-listed as black, grind and thrash in that order.

so we have four songs, the first not being quite twice as long as the others. start on track two and then listen in that order, ending with the first. this is what you call a proof of concept ep, recorded by brand spankin' new engineer on the block matty burke, working from his dungeon studio (appropriate, no?). proof of concept because it's not quite as polished as it could be for the genre, and the vocals go out of time frequently and it does get a little muddy sounding at times (i find this one of the hardest styles to mix because it's so loud). so it's wise to release it as a free things-to-come recording.

you can't quite call it thrash, but you can hear the influence on every song. mid scooped guitars hint at black metal, but don't go much farther, which is fine for me. guitar solos get close to nirvana-esque absurd (cyst extraction), and the band doesn't bother trying for that machine gun necrophagist sound, though i bet if they could play better they might give it a shot. vocals about 70% thrash, 30% death metal (slightly adjust to allow for moments of grind). works for the style of music. could i venture at post thrash? grind is obliged as far as you can go with some vocals and the music goes there a wee bit on these parts (a bit, but not so little as to say it wants to stick to thrash at all times). all four songs show effort at the songwriting process. best song is cyst extraction which you should start with the get a feel for the band.

never judge a band on song titles, but it can be telling. the more outlandish the more left field the music gets from my experience. song titles cut it right down the middle, with an obligatory trailer park boys ref. and the name of the band is pretty much perfectly suited to the music. i'm surprised nobody took it before. this is, of course, a very casual observation i just found interesting.

well worth a listen, perhaps more for things to come from the band or the members individually. conclusion: very briefly explores several different types of metal, doesn't peg itself, shows promise.

sprag session review: 9 hours.
average next big thing reveiw: 3.5 hours.
moxham review: 22 minutes.

Go to all of the dead skanks shows. 

nbt 4. lena murphy!

i almost blew up my pro tools rig and at 6:45 had to grab albert lionais' 003 unit to back me up. my gear ended up fine but i almost died. i captured it all, and eventually was able to write.

so the format is different yet again for nbt 5. each performer did two songs with a review from their coach, then a duet with their coach. after that was all over, each one did another song to a full review. i will review the first sets of each and then do it all over again with additional comments. the judges were rightfully wary to critique at this stage but hey writers gotta write.

lena murphy first with fast car. incrementally you don't see how far she's come, but the vocal control is at an even better level. no criticisms except for the utmost nitpicky. her coach is andrew doyle and i think he could probably produce in his own right. did he produce his own record? next is the duet. and i think it's great that the coaches duet with the contestants. also lends credibility to the judges. two duets here. hole in my heart. and shit can decota wail. next is the sopranos ender, don't stop believin. i kept thinking it would stop abruptly right where, um, what happens? does tony get whacked? this went well. love how she improvised the crowd participation at the end. this was not her best crack at rock but i think everybody had to pull out the stops just to get here. if you saved your best song for the finale you're risking too much. word just in (editing the kyle set now) that she's won it. well fought and well deserved! but you must write, you must write! [update: she already has a bunch of original videos on her youtube video. search google for lena murphy music].

kyle mischiek next. he didn't want to miss on his lyrics again, but it happened. a comeback happened too and i'll only take points off because i know he can make better recoveries. but it's difficult to review. difficult because he has written on a week's notice every show, difficult because he became a musician this year, difficult because a competition must be judged on the performance at hand. and difficult because of the nature of his advancement to the final round. kyle isn't the judge, and can't be faulted for it (more on this). without a doubt he can mature as a really good hip hop artist. lyrically he's great. the mix of the beat didn't sound great on any of his sets and that works against him. hip hop should sound a certain way and i would be cranking the beat. next is his unlikely duet with allison, who came out in some pretty outrageous garb. this was very funny. they did lose yourself by eminem (his only good song). kyle did a great job with the surprise beginning rap by allison, and playing off each other in the choruses. there is great potential here. allison can safely stick with the theatre. laugh a little people.

erin king next with faithfully by journey. this is the most improved performance of the whole competition. leaving shadows of those earlier shakey notes far behind, she delivered. not sure how you got there but you got there. the judges noted she improvised when forgetting the lyrics which i would never spot. so good job there. a duet with aaron lewis next. whiskey lullaby. although i can't get into his original material, aaron lewis can surely throw down. and more confident vocals from erin. feedback issues happened throughout the whole show. not sure why this was, as i've always felt malcolm has the best monitor mixes.

johnathan macinnis next with an original, and gets extra points from me. writing your own music is paramount to your own satisfaction. i didn't expect it. he has yet to find his own voice, but everything else is in place. he hit a single bad note on the piano, which i have no problem with when the overall playing is so great. and nice head voice control. and then another aaron lewis duet (he had two of em in the finalist grab bag). aaron lewis throws down on keys, johnathan matches it. johnathan didn't make it, but this performance tops the night.

bonus review: the judges perform, with the performers judging. oh dear. keith urban somebody like you. i would have chosen lori meyers, or maybe dying degree. clearly the players here are barely literate musically and only make songs to interrupt the drudgery of their high paying day jobs. the soul sucking fuck music industry and (fuck) music scene only exist for us to secure a place on our high horses, fostering the dreams of the young youth just to watch their inevitable downfall (pathetically over a bottle or several of high proof but otherwise classy red wine). the newly assigned judges, so ne, so ne, so neve, blissfully unaware of their unfortunate music careers. joke's on you. or me? can't be me. i got me own website bah. i think the judges here were way too biased towards their coaches and this was blantantly obvious. laugh with me.. or at me heh heh.

i thought it was over. but now each performer comes back and does one more in the same order.

lena murphy, from the balcony, with amazing grace, acapello. other than three small mistakes, this was perfect. she's covered this competition with all sorts of varied performances, and this solidified a win for her. so much can go wrong at any moment and you can get tripped by anything. as commented by many, you could hear a pin drop. the good parts were so good and the mistakes so negligible. won it fair and square. i passed by her under the balcony as the judges talked and i could see the uncertainty which has her simultaneously floored by such a performance. congratulations, and start writing!

kyle mischiek with another original. now he will need to start looking into custom made beats. 570. doesn't miss on this one, and this makes him top four solid. but the pressure is off, and nbt season 5 can likely happen for him. but what's going to happen between now and then? keep delivering or stop delivering. retrospectively i've judged him the hardest, but he has what it takes to be a great and highly original hip hop artist. and only 3 months into it.

erin king with good girl by carrie underwood. this came out better on the recording than live and i can't fault her for it. slightly less vocal delivery than the last two songs, but still miles ahead of last week. walked down the stage and got in front of the crowd. did not participate in theatrics and the broken zombie comment (which she self parodied in review) was great. i had a year on her for my first show (she is 15) and the next two years will be telling. and to be a broken record, you must write!

johnathan macinnis with livin on a prayer.

intermission bonus review: mike mombourquette is a young jay smith without that magnificent hair. he's got the licks and the performance sensibility to boot. either write yourself into your own band or play in a damn good one. don't waste it playing standards at the steel city. rock or die. a+ player

johnathan macinnis with livin on a prayer. it's ambitious and i expected johnathan to get on keys at some point. he just did the vox, and he already played his ace last week with set fire to the rain. but you have to get to the top four. if he had have saved it for this week he could have won. so close to lena. a real gamble on the vocal range but fell a bit short of his earlier performances, although maybe the band could have been a bit fuller. but this is a game of strategy. can and will excel.

shoddy old meta analysis

high school talent shows weren't like this in the mid 90's.i played my first one in 1995 in my grade 12 year. played my first all ages show in june 1994 in grade 11. this was a whiles before american idol. those old talent shows were a one night affair where people would talk about them at the lockers the next morning. now there's video, audio, and malcolm's trusty 1972 pa system which i played a lot shows through (including my first and second). my band (static in action) won a battle of the bands in early 2010 through the same pa used tonight, manned by the same guys. anyway what i'm saying is that it's great to have this competition, and it helps develop local artists. i woulda killed to have this, and i bet the judges would have too. go railroad!

the shows: a lot of promotion, and andrew mortimer gets props for it. the finale had a triple crowd size with 700+ at the big fiddle. and i think everybody expected superior production values.

the judging: 50% split between the four judges, and 50% from the audience vote. not sure if this was the case at the finale. there was an upset last week with jonathan smith getting eliminated. this opened up kyle for top four. i did not judge it from numbers, having no idea about the metrics. i saw lena and johnathan as top two, kyle being eliminated, jonathan smith being in, and a toss up between erin and tess. i don't know for sure, but i think that with the cbusu bursary they had to play it by the numbers or else it becomes very precarious. if andrew mortimer played god it would have thrown the whole thing out the window. so if kyle had high numbers then so be it. this would mean that kyle beat jonathan as well as tess. numbers gotta win.  so jonathan could have ostensibly came in sixth but likely fifth (in my opinion top three). kyle aimed for top four but i'm sure wanted it legit. so while jonathan smith could have given a run for first, kyle fought in this round for top four. had he not flubbed last week, there wouldn't have been a controversy. and he was not out of place in this round. i'm not sure jonathan smith could have won, but he could have went for it. anyway the 50% crowd vote was too heavy last week, but in the end everything worked out. at the end of the day i think vanna could have went another round, and keep an eye out for jonathan smith. and i'm sure andrew will learn from this, just like everybody else will. by and large this was a great competition.

locals awards

best solo performance: jonathan smith song for you.

best duet: kyle mischiek tess carrigan - ass back home. runner up: johnathan and vanna.

best fashion sense: ramsay drover

worst fashion sense: lena murphy extra slob def leppard tshirt.

most improved: erin king. runner up kyle mischiek.

best coach: andrew doyle

conclusion: this was fun to watch and write about. i would not work well as a judge but i'd love to work it again as a recorder where i can write. congrats lena and andrew on a job well done. also the judges, contestants, crew and volunteers. see you next year?

briefly stated, briefly stated (writer's edition, writers)

what's goin' on magazine comes back to life with a great piece on the upcoming wilhelm scream show at our favorite new venue, the elks club. click here to read on. also check out the wgo homepage for more goodies.

leah noble's dream big cape breton blog. you should read this! lots of cool stuff on why it's worthwhile to live here. and may feature a piece with yours truly in the future. there is also a busy facebook page

the next big thing finale is tomorrow night and anything can happen. check out their fb page for lots of videos of the last four shows. i will review it tomorrow night and then hopefully talk about the show in the bigger context.

the next big thing: judging explained

this was written by somebody at nbt and posted to the nbt facebook page. hopefully they don't mind me pasting it:

Here is an explanation of how our point system worked last night, and how it will work next week

This point system ensures that the fairest decisions are made, an
that the audience and judges have an equal influence in how the winner is selected

Basically there are a total of 200 available points, 100 from the
audience, and 100 from the judges

After the audience votes each contestant is assigned a number of points, this number is equal to the percentage of the audience votes that were cast for them (votes for them / total ballots cast)

Example: A contestant has 90 votes, and 900 total votes were cast, they would receive 10 points because 10% of the votes were for them.

Then the judges see the results, and each judge has 25 points to award,
(4 judges, 25 points each = 100 points) they can split them up or offer all of their points to one act, it is up to them.

The 4 acts with the most points after the audience and judges scores were calculated advanced to the finale show next Wednesday! Next Week, the act with the most points will be named "Cape Breton's Next Big Thing" and the winner of the grand prize package valued at $13,000

Hope this cleared things up!

nbt4.4

the format for this one was a little different: we heard each performer do a beatles tune, then on the second round, they would do a song and the judges would then comment on each contestant's performance. this format worked well. i'll combine the performances for this review. the judges opened up with some more constructive criticism. i do kind of think it should have been like this from the start, and they picked up some things that i would have missed. from my perspective, one borderline elimination, and one from left field. tl;dr: tess and jonathan smith (red hair).

standard disclaimer: i was hired by nbt to record live audio from the board. i was asked to write about the shows, and i write independently. this is a fun competition and there is a lot of talent at the table.

tess carrigan starts with black bird. to a backing pre recorded guitar track that i thought was kind of weird when heard live. the recording made more sense. still has the nicest natural voice of all 12. her other song was rumor has it by adele, to a mid tempo dance remix. i sense that she may be a country gal at heart. in this particular competition backing beats don't work as well as the live band. the beatles song went well with some slight changes to melody (one which i really liked, into the light). the adele cover was fine but not overtly impressive. i thought her timing, pitch and vocal delivery were pretty good throughout. maybe if the pitch was off it is nitpicky. she got eliminated, and i thought maybe she would too. i thought it would be kyle, and a toss up between tess and erin.

johnathan macinnis next. with john lennon's imagine. i guess this is still beatles canon. another near perfect performance in his own style (more on this), with really good control of his head voice which is particularly hard for male singers. i will agree with andrew doyle's remark that he is kind of a one trick guy. exceptionally talented, but delivers in a very predictable format. the elton influence, even applied to rita earlier in the competition. i was especially thinking this when he went into adele's set fire to the rain. oh boy. he started on piano where i thought he'd stay, ditched the piano then ruled the stage on solo vox, hit the keys at the end. and the delivery was a lot different. winner or second. he maybe missed three notes throughout.

jonathan smith next and the surprise elimination. i don't know if eleanor rigby was his own interpretation or another take on it, but it was pretty great. maybe the super ambitious playing had some note problems; not in the execution but in the chosen notes. then not so usual by jason mraz also had a nice trombone solo (is it a trombone?) which was unexpected but also didn't surprise me (this is good though). he didn't have great control over his sm58 and should always hold it with 2 inches (max) and always sing directly into it. this caused the vocals to sound wonky when he was holding the mic. not many off note keys, and this elimination surprised me. i thought he would be top 3 for sure. i thought that although he approaches with jazz and contemporary, you can't peg him as hard as johnathan macinnis.
 
lena murphy plays oh darling next. effortless performing and i think her best singing yet. knows how to capitalize on those long hanging enders (as does johnathan). and heading into the high note (note quite falsetto) like that was great. then unwritten by natasha bedingfield. this performance was not as good, and the judges said they saw it better in rehearsal. i think if the band was fuller it would have helped. the choruses were tight with the backing vocals. can belt. winner or second.

kyle mischiek with a rearranged come together, set to a backing band. hey, we are an island worked. this went great in the first verse with kyle capitalizing on timing. first verse fine, second verse he stalled, tried to restart then gave up. kyle wanted to pull it, but the band played on. kyle did a great job on two recoveries so far. but ironically couldn't do it again. unfortunately, this is eliminatable to me. then 3am by matchbox 20. i didn't expect him to play guitar or try to sing. he more or less got through it and unexpectedly ran it into another rap. this went a lot better for him, and was pretty funny. but i don't think it was enough for him to avoid an elimination. he learns fast and could possibly be a threat next week. but i don't think he should have made it this week.

erin king does let it be. still shakey but holds out a little more. i don't think that moving is the problem, i think it's letting go and doing the performance. moving on stage only comes from killing it, or else it's contrived and more or less silly. always a distant second to vocal performance. stage performance will come naturally afterwards, and it's the little things that people notice. then rascal flatts i won't let you go. not a super performance and a lot of pitch issues. prediction is third unless she has a rabbit in her hat. she's shown that she'll try anything.

so the top four and final round is next week. i think lena and johnathan will compete for first, kyle and erin will duke it out for third. but anything can happen. this will be worth going to. best of luck to all of the contestants, and congrats to tess and jonathan, who performed admirably.

briefly stated, duly noted

i created a vimeo page, with almost all of the scenery material from the first two videos, as well as the video magazine sole episode and a bunch of old shows from 2002. i've added a link to the navigation on the left for quick reference. check it out: at http://vimeo.com/cblocals

went to the elks club show on friday and this venue will go down in the record books. a punk rock show for those of you with record collections be it early clash or the wu tang debut. not modern punk, but great music nonetheless from hash jesus, the high tide, and lady slippers. give the high tide a second look.

scenery 3 moves along nicely, check it out at http://facebook.com/scenery3. a static page on cblocals (roster, music, etc) to follow.

recorded a demo for a new rock/punk band called "yeah, blood!" check out a video from one of their songs here.

this wednesday night is next big thing 4. it's gonna be a whammy, especially with the surpise move of cbusu deciding to cover the winner's first year of tuition at cbu! this is great news.

i'm watching for events to post on facebook, if i'm missing anything here send me an email to admin@cblocals.com and i'll post em!

it's next big thing 4.3, east coast night

as we get down to the top 8 the competition heats up but not as much as it's gonna. this was an interesting show with a few surprises. the judges got ever more slightly critical although i'm not sure the contestants are getting the kind of feedback to help make them perform at their absolute best. i also do not understand the metrics of the judging.  read on for my perspective.

jonathan smith is first with luc tardif's le troisieme quinze. google is duly thanked and i should admit up front that i am not familiar with many songs and artists throughout this competition. this song is in french, and jonathan yet again exercises what seems to be a pretty broad palette of contemporary musical tastes. i wonder if his parents are also artists. maybe his parents are sam waterston and frances conroy. he did well on keys and vox and then brought in a full band for maroon 5's sunday morning (sigh). pulled off scat with little effort, though i would employ this very very judiciously. i didn't hear anything weird about enunciation, but maybe i'm not looking hard enough. again, i have the advantage of going over the audio as i write.

i might comment that malcom at railroad is doing sound with his old 72 delux. i played my first show through this rig back in 94 and i've always been a fan of his work and his monitor mixers.

lena murphy next and it is highly possible she can take this home. a fantastic rendition of sarah mclachlan's angel, going in and out of her head voice with complete control. i did not expect her to play it on keys as well, which was nice. yep sarah mclachlan's from halifax and fun fact: she played a show at the capri before she got big. melissa etheridge cover next. with a rock band backing. lena shows off her entire range here, sporting an extra slob def leppard shirt (what has 9 arms and sucks?). i could nitpick about super minor vocal issues on the melissa etheridge song but what's the point? this girl has it.

dirty rabbit choir with a wintersleep cover. now with glenn merkley on bass. no surprises here and you will want to keep an eye on any of these guys involved in the greater den scholars collective. there were some minor timing issues, but overall pretty tight. vocals weren't as on point for this set but again it's only pitchy by a touch. then an original (the mysterious moustache of alex trebek). i do not think there's extra points for original songs, but i personally think it's great. at the end of the day you want to win this thing and go on to make your own art at a high level. i have just learned they got cut. i think in this sort of competition, it's a little more tricky for a full band. drummer's t-shirt.

erin king next and i'm happy to report she gets points for most improved. lee ann womack's i hope you dance. this was a pretty good performance, though she gets shaky a little bit, and i would like to see her open up a bit when the powerful notes come out. this was her best yet, but she was about to top it. the cottars version of the briar and the rose featuring one of the guys from the cottars! this is cool. i think she made some wise choices here, playing stuff that was in her safe zone while simultaneously topping both of her prior performances. bridging the gap to lena and tess. my advice is when getting shaky, open it up just a bit and block everything out but the task at hand.

ramsay drover next and sadly this did not go well for her. the first song was an original and i think the guitar was way too ambitious for the backing band. nobody was really in time and ramsay wavered considerably on vocals. i've been here myself and can sympathize. she took it with grace (and that all knowing sigh) and went into a plaskett cover. this didn't work out too well either. she got cut, but some of her material at the other two shows was nice. best of luck ramsay, and sorry this went badly for you tonight.

johnathan macinnis next. i think we have opposite tastes in music, but man can he throw down. rita's working man, with a hugely confident performance. then we were teased about a potential original which i would love to hear. but another cover, johnny reid's today i'm gonna try and change the world. a full band plus bagpipes backed him. top 4 at the least, could take it.

bonus review: mike mombourquette rocked out on guitar at all of these shows. great solo on lena's tune and general great playing and backup harmonies. would be a real asset to an original rock band.

tess carrigan with a nice surprise. got out of her comfort zone with a lennie gallant cover. she is almost pitch perfect and machine gun timing to boot. one of the judges commented on the high key of the lennie gallant song, but the note is so obstensibly missed that i would let it pass. i did not expect an original and that was great too. i understand this is her third shot at this competition, and while i don't know how she did in the others, i think she could get to the top four. nicest natural voice.

kyle mischiek with two mashups and all original vocals. the first is a social awareness tune to a kanye beat about our east west localized drug epidemic. lyrics are beyond his years, and timing is great. the beat was undermixed on the first song. pitch is an issue here for me, but he was kind of working against the beat. but the final song of the night would sweep the crowd and win kyle the fan choice award. an original set to we are an island. and yes, i was expecting a classified joint too. he's working at a disadvantage like dirty rabbit choir are, but he squeezed through. enough cape breton references to make just about anyone smile, and stage presence to match the best of them. i agree with the judges about the novelty of rapping to a backup band, but i also understand that beats are paramount. this is clever and has potential.

and so ends nbt 4.3. it's going to get serious next week.

cbmic: cape breton embassy at ecma 2012

i ended up in moncton friday night for the cbmic unofficial ecma event at the crowne plaza hotel downtown. cbmic helps develop the music industry in cape breton by exposing the artists to the available resources, including ones that aren't necessarily cape breton-centric. it also helps export-ready bands make it out of the country where venues and festivals will welcome them, and if you're lucky refuse your tip at the bar. i was working this gig for shot on site, shooting video with a dslr. i took in pretty much the entire show.

six acts, five of which squarely sit in cblocals territory. jamie foulds was on hand to multitrack the whole thing into pro tools from the sound source board. shot on site had a six camera dslr shoot, and i dare say you will see some kick ass looking and sounding videos on youtube in the weeks to come. you'll forgive me if all of the bands performed at a fairly high level.

breagh mackinnon first. it's so simple: win next big thing, conquer world. if only it were so easy, young contestants. i did not know she was as apt on the keys, and she did some originals and covers (thelonious monk!). she has found her own voice big time and pretty much played a perfect set. i can't say enough about her. this was impressive by any metric.

carleton stone next. this is a super tight mainstream pop rock act that is not for everybody. carleton's a good frontman, good guitar player, excellent singer, got the look (heh), good arranger. and you wish you had his backing band. but his creative juices are so strange that i found myself watching some of it in disbelief. would do well on a hermans saturday night. you may find the songs thematically juvenile, but the band delivers on its premise.

jimmy rankin gets a guest pass on cblocals. i'm only familiar as far as what i've heard while eating supper in nice restaurants, country music playing on the radio. it didn't really strike me that i would be watching somebody this good at his craft. i just never gave it any thought. these songs are expertly made. and he can sing so well i almost couldn't believe it. a huge range and a monster rhythm guitarist. he had a guy on electric backing him up and he was also one of the best players i've seen. i heard that brian talbot and ed woodsworth were going to play with him, but i don't know for sure.

sprag session next with the show stopper. i recently reviewed the self titled debut record, and i did indeed keep listening to it. i found there are only 3 or 4 songs i don't like on this record. i went to the flavor 19 show, reviewed it very briefly, then pulled it becasue i wanted to focus on the next big thing show. at flavor 19 i thought they played well, stuck to the general execution of the record, and i was happy enough to recognize my favorite riffs. and the pa was very, very quiet for my tastes. last night's show was an entirely different animal. this was really loud, drum heavy, fiddle heavy, and had all the energy i could ask for. the fiddle and banjo are so tight with each other i thought i was hearing some sort of bizarre hybrid instrument. donnie in particular rocked out. the set time given to sprag session was perfect, playing after jimmy but before tom fun. this gave the band liberty to play their heaviest material, and much heavier than the record presents it. gwanwitchya, disasterability, s'niceatron, etc.

tom fun next with no fiddle and vic choosing a telecaster instead of the banjo. the crowd started to dwindle after sprag session and the band's collective and comprehensive hangover probably didn't help things. they are playing a lot of material from their upcoming record, which is slowly but surely moving towards post production. i've been mulling over how to approach an article covering this band's genesis and progession, as the story is incredible. i kind of would have liked to see all the trimmings (fiddle, banjo, etc), but one of the neat things about this band is a revolving door of members and instrumentation. you never know what to expect, and that keeps it interesting.

slowcoaster eventually got to the venue and got down to business. the crowd got ever more slightly intense. their catalogue is so extensive that they can craft a set in seconds tailored to the show. it doesn't get much tighter than this folks. when introduced as a preimere canadian jam band it sounds like hype but this is actually the case. funny isn't it. i asked mike if they ever have to play to an empty room at this stage in the band's career. he says it's good, but they still have their off shows especially if a major label band is playing close by. life could be worse i suppose.

next big thing talent show part three this week. i've become invested in the competition, and there is some serious talent at the table. stay tuned...