a kick in the blood

Battery Point

Battery Point has come a long way since forming just over a year ago. Their new album, A Kick in the Blood has been nominated for an East Coast Music Award in Best Rock Recording category, and recently won Rock Recording of the Year at the 2009 Music PEI awards. The band is comprised of Dennis Ellsworth and Bruce White, who share the guitar and vocal duties, and Brady and Craig MacDonald, as the rhythm section. The writing is a collective effort.

It’s straight up rock and roll, but with a twist—Battery Point has two capable vocalists. The album is upbeat. The band says, “It’s fast and fun and rocks start to finish.” “Whole Lotta Nothin,” the album opener, sets the precedent for what follows. “Losing Sleep Oversleep” is a crowd favorite live. “A Chapter of Accidents” has a chorus that highlights Battery Point’s vocal harmonies. “Damage City” is a rhythmic stomp with dynamic drums and a melodic chorus.

A Kick in the Blood was recorded at Shell Lane Studios in Malpeque, by Paul Milner during the summer of 2008. Before the recording session began, the band had written over thirty songs. From those songs they narrowed it down to ten songs that they feel fit well together. They worked on the songs for months tearing them apart and putting them back together in many different shapes and forms before final decisions were made. The album was completed in August and released by Sandbar Music on September 30, 2008.

Love


Aaron Collier

Islander Aaron Collier, who now calls Toronto home, released his first CD of electronic music, Love, in August 2008.

This classically-trained pianist’s distinctive sound and style have secured his place among Canada’s frontier-pushing musicians. He has won numerous awards including a silver medal for the highest Royal Conservatory Exam grade in Atlantic Canada. In 2001 Collier became the keyboardist for The Jimmy Swift Band. To date they have three studio albums, one live album and have just released their first live DVD. When he is not performing with JSB or recording in the studio with Bruce Guthro, Nick Eede and other artists, Aaron can be seen playing as a member of “looping madness duo” Scientists of Sound or sharing the stage with Halifax DJ Nick Nonsense. Collier’s is also the resident composer and sound designer for Halifax theatre troupe Angels & Heroes. In 2005 he produced and individually handmade his first EP Islands.

Love is available at Back Alley Music and The Green Man in Charlottetown, and Taz Records and CD Plus in Halifax, and on CDBaby.com, iTunes, Amazon.com, and Rhapsody.

www.myspace.com/aaroncolliermusic
www.facebook.com/pages/Aaron-Collier/19250901028

Between You and Me

Drea Macdonald

Born in Cardigan, Drea has travelled to and lived in places across Canada. Previous releases include Visions (2003), Where have all the Spacemen Gone? (2004), The Finer Things (2006) and This Time (2007). In January, Drea formed a new band with Thomas Mears, Mike MacDougall and Simon Joseph (all friends from the local PEI music scene).

Unlike her previous recordings, this project, Between You and Me, has a cast of backing musicians, and was engineered by local recording artist Adam Gallant. The talented group performing with Drea on this CD includes Thomas Mears, Andy Hodgins, Dean Dunsford, Jon Mullins and Tim Gormley, who sang a duet on the song “To Love You.”

With elements of blues, folk and country rock, Between You and Me features the songwriting and clear alto voice of Drea, who hopes that the recording is something just a bit different for music listeners.

Food for the Moon

Al Tuck

Summerside-born singer-songwriter Al Tuck has released a new studio recording, his fifth, entitled Food for the Moon. The new disc features twelve Al Tuck originals, plus a cover version of Gene MacLellan’s “Snowbird.”

Sessions at Charles Austin’s Echo Chamber Studios (Buck 65, Matt Mays) in Halifax yielded nine of the album’s tracks. Additional work in Halifax engineered by Tyler Myalls at the Music Room provided one song. Two were produced in Toronto by Don Kerr (Ron Sexsmith, Rheostatics) and a final selection was cut in Charlottetown this past Christmas day by Adam Gallant (Nudie and the Turks). The recording was mastered at Archive Mastering by J. LaPointe and Al worked with Peter Holt to create the CD jacket.

Al sang, played guitar, keyboard and harmonica and many musicians contributed. At the Halifax sessions: pianist Erin Costelo; drummer Chris Cookson on the cajone; bassist Andrew Glencross. In Toronto: drummer Don Kerr; organist Dafydd Hughes; bassist Chris Banks and guitarist Paul Mathew. Drummer Alex Porter, guitarist Phil Sedore, organist Adam Baldwin, violinist Allison Corbett, pedal steel man Dale Murray and guitarist Andy Hodgins were also instrumental. Backup vocals were provided by Erin Costelo, Amelia Curran, Becky Siamon and on one track by Catherine MacLellan.

Water in the Ground

Catherine MacLellan

Island singer-songwriter Catherine MacLellan will release her third CD in March on the True North Records label. Water in the Ground is a collection of new songs which features Catherine along with some of the most prominent roots musicians in Canada, including Treasa Levasseur, Justin Rutledge and David Baxter.

From the first track, “Take A Break,” a light and cheerful mood is prominent throughout the CD to the finale “Flowers on Your Grave.” In Water in the Ground Catherine invites you to listen in on her conversations and share her musical and emotional journey.

Voted Critics Favourite New Discovery by Penguin Eggs Magazine in 2008, Catherine has quickly built up a loyal fan base and has been a hit with critics worldwide. Her last album Church Bell Blues hit #1 on the iTunes Canada Roots charts and received critical acclaim from international magazines such as Q, Maverick, fRoots, the Austin Chronicle, and Boston Globe. She has toured with Bruce Cockburn in the USA and with Steve Forbert in the UK, and showcased in Paris, Cannes, Berlin, New York, London, and Memphis.

We Are An Empire, My Dear


In Flight Safety

In-Flight Safety, the Halifax-based four-piece band, took to the woods in Nova Scotia last winter to do some recording with Laurence Currie (Sloan, Wintersleep). The result is we are an empire (Night Danger/Outside Music), a 12-track collection of pop songs.

Currie temporarily relocated from Toronto to the old Fox River schoolhouse joining band members John Mullane (vocals, guitar), Brad Goodsell (bass), Daniel Ledwell (guitar, keyboard), and Glen Nicholson (drums). They converted the schoolhouse’s ballroom into a live room and the hallway into a makeshift control room, leaving the group just enough living space to keep cabin fever at bay during three blizzards.

we are an empire explores our fierce fever to connect with one another, seeing this terrain through lenses of wealth, gree, love, faith, and discovering humanity’s ability to change.

In-Flight Safety have previously released an EP Vacation Land (2003) and their debut full length album The Coast Is Clear (2006). The latter earned JUNO and Much Music Video nominations and three ECMAs including Rising Star, Alternative Recording and Group Recording of the Year in 2007. Daniel Ledwell and Glen Nicholson are PE Islanders.