It’s an established fact that music comes in many different types of cycles. A sound and style will be big for a while, reach a peak with the public, and then slowly fade out. But once established, it’s unusual for a sound to completely disappear, never to be heard from again.

The only genre I can think of is—maybe alt-rock-style rockabilly? It was big in the very early 80s with bands like The Stray Cats. But then it just kinda went away. There’s never been a rockabilly revival—at least in the sense and style and scope of what we heard way back then when it was huge for about 18 months.

Instead, after enjoying a time at the forefront of music, many of the cycle-prone rock sounds recede into the shadows, never really going away. They lie in wait until someone comes along—often a generation or two later—to rediscover and reactivate it.

When that happens, it’s usually given a sonic update and if the timing is right, the sound enjoys a new period in the sun before the cycle repeats yet again.

The longer you live and the more music you become familiar with, the more you begin to see these cycles play themselves out, sometimes over and over again. We see it every decade.

The 2010s were no different. We saw a series of revivals, rediscoveries, and comebacks, all based on the musical DNA of what had come before. Let’s examine that. This is the history of the 2010s, part 4.

Songs heard on this show:

• • Tool, Fear Inoculum
  • Tame Impala, Elephant
  • Besnard Lakes, People of the Sticks
  • The World is a Beautiful Place and I am No Longer Afraid to Die
  • Radiohead, Burn the Witch
  • The Struts, Body Talks
  • PUP, Kids
  • DC Fontaines, Boys in the Better Land
  • The Interrupters, She’s Kerosene

• Of course, Eric Wilhite has a playlist for us.

The Ongoing History of New Music can be heard on the following stations:

• • 102.1 The Edge/Toronto – Sunday night at 7pm
  • Q107/Toronto – Sunday night at 9pm
  • Live 88-5/Ottawa – Saturdays at 9am and Sundays at 6pm.
  • 107.5 Dave-FM/Kitchener – Sunday nights at 11pm
  • FM96/London – Sunday nights at 8pm
  • Power 97/Winnipeg – Sunday nights at 11pm
  • Sonic 102.9/Edmonton – Sunday at 8am and 8pm
  • The Zone/Victoria – Sunday at 8am and 9pm
  • The Fox/Vancouver – Sunday at 11pm
  • Surge 105/Halifax – Sunday at 7pm
  • WAPS/WKTL The Summit/Arkon, Canton, Cleveland, Youngstown – Mon-Fri at 9pm

•  

•  

•  

•  

•  

•  

•  

•  

•  

•  

© 2023 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Next to spring, fall is the most interesting time for new releases. Not only is this New Music Friday material out now but some of it also sets up the kind of material we’re going to get this winter.

Singles

1. AWOLNATION, Candy Pop (Eleven Seven Label Group)

Okay, so I missed this one last week so I need to make good. AWOLNATION has released this new single (and its accompanying short film) as the third part of a trilogy. Frontman Aaron Bruno describes everything as “a story about escaping from never-ending technological advancements and constant connectivity and scrutiny…The adventure of a lifetime can come from ‘tuning out.” An EP with the trilogy and more will be available on November 10,

2. Black Pumas, Mrs. Postman (ATO Records/Cadence Music Group)

Black Pumas have already been nominated for seven Grammy awards, so the anticipation for this sophomore record is pretty intense. With Chronicles of a Diamond due on October 27, Eric Burton and Andrian Quesada (along with keyboards JaRon Marshall) want to take their view of rock and soul a little further. The first advance single, More Than a Love Song, already managed some chart success, so let’s see where this piano-based song takes them.

3. Sum 41, Landmines (Rise Records)

When I spoke to Deryck Whibley earlier this year, he told me that the new Sum 41 album could very well be a double record and that all he had to do was finish the vocals. The first single from that record is now here. Deryck is still recovering from a bout of pneumonia that landed him in the hospital, but the band is still scheduled to play the When We Were Young festival in Las Vegas on October 21 and 22.

4. Depeche Mode, My Favourite Stranger (Columbia)

Depeche Mode will tour the Memento Mori album deep into the fall. This is now the fourth single form the album and was co-written with Richard Butler of Psychedelic Furs. It comes with another enigmatic video shot by Anton Corbijn. Who’s the guy in the hat? And what does he want?

Albums

1. Art Bergman, ShadowWalk (weewerk)

Art Bergman, one of Canada’s most beloved indie cult artists, has dedicated this album to Sherri, his late wife of 31 years. The album “capture the darkness, grief and desolation that comes from such a soul-crushing loss, while also offering genuine hope that life will go on.” It might make for gut-wrenching listening.

2. Bakar, Halo (Black Butter)

All right, all right. I missed this one, too. British singer Bakar is just about ready with a highly-anticipated (and inevitably difficult) second album entitled Halo. He describes it as a song “fit for the indie sleaze generation.” Maybe this has something to do about most of the record being recorded in AirBnB’s and hotels between London and LA while he was in tour.

3. Black Stone Cherry, Screamin’ at the Sky (Mascot Records/Mascot Label Group)

This Kentucky band has been enjoying some decent success with the first single from this album (Out of Pocket was released in January) and now finally have a full album for fans. The video for Nervous was shot in an old piano factory that had been turned into a production studio filled with old TV and movie sets.

4. Taproot, SC/SSRS (THC Music/Amplified Distribution)

If you remember the nu-metal era of the late 90s, Taproot was a band from Michigan that was always hanging in the shadows of Limp Bizkit and Korn. Just when it seemed that they were going to break through, the whole scene seemed to evaporate in a puff of testosterone. Taproot stayed together, however, but haven’t released an album since 2012. Is nu-metal back? We’ll see.

5. Wilco, Cousin (dBpm Records/Sony Music)

This is the thirteenth album over the Jeff Tweedy and company have been in business and early reviews point out that there’s a slight change in attitude and approach, although it has to be said that this is still very definitely a Wilco record. The record is slower than most with little that can be described as being anything more than mid-tempo. It’s helped along by Welsh producer Cate Le Bon who has a reputation of being someone experimental.

 

 

© 2023 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Back when Pearl Jam was at their height, they had the clout to do anything they wanted. Anything.

On September 26, 2000, the band released 25 double CD live albums—what they referred to as “official bootlegs”—featuring performances from virtually every show they played on European tour in support of their Binaural album. Of those 25, five immediately made the top 200 album chart. This was the first time any act ever saw more than two new albums show up on the chart in the same week.

Two other sets just missed the cut. Had they made the charts that week, Pearl Jam would have joined The Beatles, The Monkees, and U2 as the only acts to that point with seven albums on the charts at the same time.

This was decades before Taylor Swift came along.

© 2023 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Looking for a driving song? This one from Liverpool’s It’s Immaterial (especially in this 12-inch iteration) fits the bill. It began with a full-on country-and-western vibe recorded with the Talking Heads’ Jerry Harrison, but the band didn’t like it. They returned to England to re-record it while Harrison took his name off the project.

The song’s full title is Driving Away from Home (Jim’s Tune). The “Jim” is Jim Lieber, a harmonica player in a blues band the group saw while in Milwaukee. He’s the guy we hear on the recording.

 

© 2023 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The separatist government of Nagorno-Karabakh said Thursday it will dissolve itself and the unrecognized republic will cease to exist by year’s end after a nearly three-decade bid for independence, while Armenian officials said over half of the region’s population has already fled.

The moves came after Azerbaijan carried out a lightning offensive last week to reclaim full control over the region and demanded that Armenian troops in Nagorno-Karabakh disarm and the separatist government dissolve itself.

A decree signed by the region’s separatist President Samvel Shakhramanyan cited an agreement reached Sept. 20 to end the fighting under which Azerbaijan will allow the “free, voluntary and unhindered movement” of Nagorno-Karabakh residents to Armenia.

That touched off the mass exodus of ethnic Armenians from the mountainous region inside Azerbaijan on Sunday. By Thursday morning, over 66,000 people – more than half of Nagorno-Karabakh’s population of 120,000 had fled to Armenia, and the influx continued with unabating intensity, according to Armenian officials.

After separatist fighting ended in 1994 following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Nagorno-Karabakh came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces, backed by the Armenia. Then, during a six-week war in 2020, Azerbaijan took back parts of the region in the south Caucasus Mountains along with surrounding territory that Armenian forces had claimed earlier.

Nagorno-Karabakh was internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan’s sovereign territory.

In December, Azerbaijan imposed a blockade of the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia, alleging the Armenian government was using the road for mineral extraction and illicit weapons shipments to the region’s separatist forces.

Armenia alleged the closure denied basic food and fuel supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan rejected the accusation, arguing the region could receive supplies through the Azerbaijani city of Aghdam – a solution long resisted by Nagorno-Karabakh authorities, who called it a strategy for Azerbaijan to gain control of the region.

Weakened by the blockade, with Armenia’s leadership distancing itself from the conflict, ethnic Armenian forces in the region agreed to lay down arms less than 24 hours after Azerbaijan began its offensive last week. Talks have begun between Baku and Nagorno-Karabakh’s separatist authorities on “reintegrating” the region back into Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani authorities have pledged to respect the rights of ethnic Armenians in the region and restore supplies.

Many residents, however, have decided to leave for Armenia, fearing reprisals. The only road linking Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia quickly filled with cars, creating a massive traffic jam on the winding mountain road.

There have been no reports so far of residents burning down their houses before leaving – something that happened in 2020 when people fled territories taken over by Azerbaijan.

On Monday night, a fuel reservoir exploded at a gas station where people lined up for gas that was in short supply from the blockade. At least 68 people were killed and nearly 300 injured, with over 100 others still considered missing.

It isn’t immediately clear if the ethnic Armenians still living in the region will remain there. Shakhramanyan’s decree urged Nagorno-Karabakh’s population – including those who left – “to familiarize themselves with the conditions of reintegration offered by the Republic of Azerbaijan, in order to then make an individual decision about the possibility of staying in (or returning to) Nagorno-Karabakh.”

On Thursday, Azerbaijani authorities charged Ruben Vardanyan, the former head of Nagorno-Karabakh’s separatist government, with financing terrorism, creating illegal armed formations and illegally crossing a state border. Vardanyan, a billionaire banker who was arrested on Wednesday, faces up to 14 years in prison if convicted, according to Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti.

Azerbaijani officials said Vardanyan, who made his fortune in Russia, was detained as he was trying to enter Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh along with thousands of others and taken to Baku. The arrest appeared to indicate Azerbaijan’s intent to quickly enforce its grip on the region.

Vardanyan moved to Nagorno-Karabakh in 2022 and headed the regional government for several months before stepping down earlier this year.

Another top separatist figure, Nagorno-Karabakh’s former foreign minister and now presidential adviser David Babayan, said Thursday he will surrender to Azerbaijani authorities after they “demanded my arrival in Baku for a proper investigation.” Babayan said in a Facebook post that he will head from Stepanakert, the region’s capital, to the nearby city of Shusha, which has been under Azerbaijani control since 2020.

“My failure to appear, or worse, my escape, will cause serious harm to our long-suffering people, to many people, and I, as an honest person, hard worker, patriot and a Christian, cannot allow this,” Babayan said.

Associated Press writer Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed.

© 2023 The Canadian Press

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, on an unannounced visit to Kyiv, said on Thursday that Ukrainian forces were “gradually gaining ground” in their counteroffensive against Russian forces.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Stoltenberg also said Russian troops were fighting for Moscow’s “imperial delusions.”

Stoltenberg announced that NATO now had over-arching framework contracts in place with arms companies worth 2.4 billion euros (US$2.53 billion) for key ammunition, including 1 billion euros in firm orders.

He said such contracts would allow NATO members to replenish their depleted stockpiles while also continuing to provide Ukraine with ammunition, a key factor in the war.

Stoltenberg also condemned Russian strikes near Ukraine’s border with NATO member Romania. He said there was no evidence such strikes were a deliberate attack on Romania but branded them “reckless” and “destabilizing.”

© 2023 Reuters

A question from new parents: “Should I expose my baby to live music?” The answer is “yes.”

A recent study at the University of Toronto revealed that infants have longer attention spans when experiencing live music. Sure, you might want to give them an iPad to stare at, but that apparently doesn’t work as well as live music. Videos don’t captivate them a whole lot but live music elicits physiological changes like a synchronization of heart rate to the music.

The final conclusion? “Findings suggest that performer–audience interactions and social context play an important role in facilitating attention and coordinating emotional responses to musical performances early in life.”

The big caveat? Volume. The live music cannot be too loud for those delicate little ears.

© 2023 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

UNI CEO Camille Thériault said the botched rollout of the credit union’s banking platform in July happened because it “wasn’t ready” for the change.

Since the rollout in early July, the credit union’s members have been dealing with all sorts of technical issues, like paycheques being deposited late, loan payments coming out on loans that had been completely paid off, or difficulties sending bank transfers.

“UNI chose to do this because Desjardins could not, or did not want to continue with this relationship,” Thériault said at a press conference Tuesday. “They started it all and there was a deadline of that date.”

Thériault said numbers show UNI has lost 2,600 out of 170,000 members since the start of July.

Mathieu Lewis is one of them.

After being unable to send an e-transfer to a friend using a different bank in early August, he called UNI and was put on hold for an hour and half.

“The employee said in a blunt manner, ‘Yes I know there is a problem. Call back tomorrow…maybe after tomorrow.’,” Lewis told Global News in French.

He said after calling a second time, the employee couldn’t find his account.

He has since switched financial institutions.

Thériault said the transition has taken a toll on employees, and UNI has had to temporarily close several locations due to a lack of staff, in part because some of them are on stress leave.

He said the company is working with Pinnacle InfoSys, the company that created their new banking platform, on creating an improved version that is more user friendly.

“I have talked with a lot of the employees who are involved in this project. Everyone agrees that basically, the engine of this banking system is very strong. Now we have to dress it up to make sure that the whole car will be moving very smoothly in the same direction,”

Thériault said he could not provide an exact date for when the improved banking platform would be rolled out, saying it would be available for public consumption when it was “really ready”.

He said the company was actively recruiting more staff to be able to assist with the high volume of calls and visits to the branches.

He said there was a decline in the number of calls and visits since early July.

Bernie Buotte, an UNI member visiting Moncton’s Morton avenue branch on Wednesday, said his paycheques were deposited late in July.

“I remember this place was jam packed and I see the people the line was long outside and the wait time was two to three hours,” he said in an interview.

He said he had considered switching to another bank, but decided against it, as he’s been a client for over 40 years.

“I was with them for a long long time. I don’t wanna change at all. Right now its so far so good,” he said.

 

© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The House of Commons will resume sitting Thursday morning for the first time since Speaker Anthony Rota officially stepped down from his post.

Rota resigned at the end of business Wednesday after apologizing for inviting a man to Parliament whose military service was linked to the Nazis.

All MPs applauded Yaroslav Hunka on Sept. 22 before they understood he had fought with a Ukrainian military unit set up by Nazi Germany to fight the Soviet Union.

An interim speaker is in place now until Tuesday when a new speaker will be elected by MPs.

The fallout from the incident continues, with MPs expected to call for various House committees to investigate how it could have happened.

Liberal MP Anthony Housefather says Parliament needs to fix the procedures so something like this never happens again.

“It’s totally unacceptable that someone with that kind of past was recognized in the chamber,” Housefather said.

© 2023 The Canadian Press

Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) says it has voted in favour of a binding arbitration process meaning there will be no strikes or lockouts during negotiations.

The members voted 78.4 per cent in favour of the bargaining proposal.

“The approved proposal provides there will be no strikes or lockouts during this round of bargaining between the government and OSSTF/FEESO as any items that cannot be agreed to at the central and local bargaining tables will be sent to arbitration,” OSSTF said in a release.

OSSTF said bargaining at two central tables will continue until Oct. 27, then any matters that have not yet been settled will be put before an arbitrator.

Local bargaining across Ontario will continue until March 28, 2024, “at which time all remaining items that have not been settled may be sent to arbitration.”

“For over 14 months, we have tried to engage the Ford government in good faith bargaining but we haven’t had a partner at the table that cares about safeguarding our public education system,” said OSSTF president Karen Littlewood.

“Now we have the opportunity to bypass traditional bargaining pathways to secure a fair collective agreement,” Littlewood said.

Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce said this is a “significant” step towards providing stability for high school students.

“I am very pleased that the members of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation have voted in favour of this deal that keeps kids in class,” Lecce said in a statement.

“This will allow students to focus on their studies as our government ensures school boards get back to basics,” he said.

Lecce said he also encouraged other outstanding teacher unions to reach a deal.

OSSTF said the proposal also creates a pathway for members in the school board sector to “receive a remedy for wages lost under the Ford government’s (unconstitutional) wage suppression legislation, known as Bill 124.”

© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.