with Laura Beach
Laura Beach (twin voices) is a multi-instrumental musician who has lived across Canada, and now resides on Treaty 6 territory. On Nov. 23, they’re co-hosting a workshop on looping with respectfulchild at PAVED, and on Nov. 30 they’re opening Taylor Jade’s album release show at Christ Church Anglican. /Gregory Beatty
“I WILL NOT BE CONQUERED”
EEKWOL / GOOD KILL (2015)
I heard Eekwol perform with the Indigenous Poets Society, and HAD to check out her music. She has an incredibly powerful, lyrical voice, and her rhymes are political and personal. I’m captivated.
“NEEDLE”
BORN RUFFIANS / BIRTHMARKS (2013)
This song came out right before I moved to Saskatoon. I was struggling hard with depression, anxiety and self-harm. I was working at a café, and my manager Nicole and I would blast this song and dance around while singing at the top of our lungs. It kind of saved my life.
“BISON”
WAX MANNEQUIN / NO SAFE HOME (2013)
Wax Mannequin is a wonderful weirdo. He performs with a lit candle on his head, and lets the wax drip all over his face! This song HAUNTS ME. It has an eerie melody, with percussive, carnivalesque backup vocals. If I could choose a song to die to, this might be the one.
“ALL THAT”
CARLY RAE JEPSEN / E·MO·TION (2015)
OMG that fretless bass. CRJ. Canadian Pop Queen. Trust me, you’re not “too cool” for this track.
“DON’T GET ME WRONG”
THE PRETENDERS / GET CLOSE (1986)
If I’m like, “I don’t want to go out tonight, my body is telling me to stay in beddddd”, play this song and I’ll dance out the frickin’ door. The jangly guitar, syncopated drum beat, Chrissie Hynde’s amazing voice — I can’t HELP but snap my fingers and swing my hips like a plucky 1980s Courteney Cox in a Bruce Springsteen music video.
“I’M LISTENING”
QUARRY BAY (2016)
This track was made by a pal. We’ve talked about collaborating… but I don’t know if anything we could do would make my heart swell more than this beauty. The sad, slow instrumentation, and haunting, pitch-shifted vocal tracks combined with samples from Frasier (you know, that show with the psychologist brothers) speaks profoundly to the murk of mental health and hits me right where it hurts so good.
