SLOAN

Halifax quartet Sloan has always been known for regressive retro pop rock. From the early Stones and Kinks infusions on One Chord to Another to the ‘70s rock references on Navy Blues, the group has always worn its retro heart on its sleeve.

Releasing last year’s The Double Cross (which marked the band’s 20th anniversary) must have got Jay Ferguson, Andrew Scott, Chris Murphy and Patrick Pentland into nostalgic moods, as they are now taking 1994’s seminal Twice Removed on the road in honour of its triple-LP reissue, filled with bonus material.

Playing the record in its entirety (as well as an hour-long set of other A- and B-sides to win you over) Sloan is another in a long line of ‘90s rockers who are taking time to re-learn a few oldies as it nods to the past.

“Twice Removed definitely has a lot more slower, weird ones we don’t play in our set on a regular basis,” Ferguson recently told Exclaim. “It has a couple more downer moments, like Loosens, but I love the whole record.”

It’s an important disc for many reasons. It was the band’s first (and only) release for Geffen Records, who famously wanted to shelve the album for “not sounding like Sloan.”

Selling a few songs to beer commercials in the late ‘90s allowed the band to buy back the masters, and since Sloan owns the rights to the disc that Chart Magazine readers twice voted the number one Canadian release of all time (in 1996 and 2005), the band is free to deliver a proper re-issue on its own terms.

It’s a brilliant disc that includes Worried Now, I Can Feel It, Bells On and CanRock classics Coax Me and People of the Sky.

Catch Sloan performing Twice Removed at the Pyramid Cabaret Thursday, Sept. 20. Tickets are $31 at Ticketmaster. Visit www.sloanmusic.com.

VIRTUOSI CONCERT SERIES

The University of Winnipeg’s Virtuosi Concert Series is a staple of the classical music scene and this year’s series, with 12 breathtaking programs in Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall at the U of W, promises to deliver more quality international artists than you can shake a baton at.

Opening Saturday, Sept. 22 at 8 p.m. with the violin/piano duo of Timothy Fain and Michael Boriskin (performing works by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Franc and Jalbert in Charisma), this event marks the only show of the year that will involve someone who appeared in an Oscar-winning film (Fain was in Black Swan).

The New York Times says his partner is “a pianist of the highest rank, with the Midas touch!”

Saturday, Oct. 13 at 8 p.m. finds The New Orford String Quartet performing a program called The Legend Reborn, and if the first disc from this group consisting of works by Beethoven and Schubert (which the Toronto Star called “nothing short of electrifying”) is any indication, the solid program of Mozart, Brahms and Hétu is going to be unforgettable.

The MYR Piano Trio will be performing various pieces from their solo repertoires as well as the E-flat Trio by Schubert. Consisting of Minsoo Sohn (piano), Yehonatan Berick (violin) and Rachel Mercer (cello), this world-renowned Canadian trio performs Saturday, Oct. 20 at 8 p.m.

Not rounding out the season (but rounding out our preview) is Mirian Conti, the Argentine-American pianist who will be performing a program entitled From Back to Buenos Aires on Saturday, Nov. 3 at 8 p.m.

Praised by Argentian magazine La Capital as having “the necessary mix of brio and tenderness, of fire and introspective melancholy, of strength and delicacy; a simplicity that only those genuinely endowed are able to master,” Conti’s program of Chopin, Bach, Schumann and a collection of Argentinian tangos might get you up out of your seats and dancing in the aisles.

Visit www.virtuosi.mb.ca.

CORY WOODWARD

Thirty-three-year-old Cory Woodward’s latest record is a winner.

The full-length follow up to 2007’s Princess of the Skies EP, The Truth, released last month, is filled with Woodward’s booming baritone, acoustic rumblings and poignant lyrics.

When Vancouver’s The Straight says that Woodward “has a voice that makes Nick Cave sound like a helium-inflated chipmunk,” you know he’s someone you need to stand up and take note of.

“The Truth is a collection of songs that are a detailed expression of my world during a time of major transition,” Woodward says in a press release. “They are songs written from personal experience, they’re cries for help, a longing for change of oneself and the world, all spawned from years of battling depression and addiction on numerous fronts.”

A voice like this attracts a lot of attention, and The Truth features a few special guests, such as Hawksley Workman’s long-lost sister Adaline, Debra Jean (of The Means), Odds collaborator Nat Jay and everybody’s favourite phone call requester, Carly Rae Jepsen.

Produced by Matt Rogers (Twilight Hotel, Adrian Glynn) and mixed by Shawn Cole (Bend Sinister, Yukon Blonde), it’s a solid disc that can only sound better in a live setting. Not convinced?

Check out the powerful, simplistic video for Woodward’s All I Ever Do single. That, and Exclaim boasts that “the Edmonton born singer-songwriter has the uncanny ability to spark a connection between himself and some of the greatest musicians of all time!”

Still not sold? Sharing the stage that night will be local comedy kings and queens Outside Joke, Chantal Marostica and Hot Thespian Action.

See Cory Woodward at the Park Theatre on Thursday, Sept. 24. Advance tickets are $10 at The Park Theatre and Music Trader. Visit www.corywoodward.com.

Published in Volume 67, Number 3 of The Uniter (September 19, 2012)