CBC Music Magazine, Issue 4

Issue four | December 2015 SENIOR DIRECTOR, MUSIC Mark Steinmetz YEAR IN MUSIC

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Brad Frenette

Highs, lows and we-don’t-knows On a scale of Drake to Tidal, we chart the year in music.

by Dan Busheikin and Holly Gordon

LEAD DESIGNER Ghassene Jerandi

50 Best Canadian albums of 2015 From Buffy Sainte-Marie to Half Moon Run to, yes, Justin Bieber, we weigh in on the best albums of the year.

DIGITAL PRODUCER Holly Gordon DESIGNERS Daniel Busheikin, Heather Collett

Canadian Pop Explosion There’s never been a better time than right now to be a fan of Canadian music.

by Jesse Kinos-Goodin

CONTRIBUTORS Andrea Warner, Jesse Kinos-Goodin, Robert Rowat, Melody Lau, Del Cowie, Jennifer Van Evra, Andrea Gin, Judith Lynch, Grant Lawrence, Alanna Hildt Armitage, Nicolle Weeks, Ariane Cipriani, Matt Fisher, Mitch Pollock, Reuben Maan, Jeanette Cabral

Classically styled The best-dressed classical musicians of 2015.

by Alanna Hildt Armitage Behind the hits

Meet five Canadian producers who are responsible for Billboard’s top singles.

by Del Cowie

Twitter: @CBCMusic Instagram: @CBC_Music YouTube.com/CBCMusic Facebook.com/CBCMusic

2015: the year of the co-sign How big pop star endorsements from Drake and Taylor Swift have helped boost new artists

by Melody Lau

Photo credits Cover: Drake and Carly Rae Jepsen courtesy of Universal; the Weeknd by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

BEST OF

Page 4: Patsy Cline courtesy of Decca Records and Adele courtesy of Columbia Records

How music works Why do you get chills listening to favourite songs? Does music help plants grow? We find out.

by Jennifer Van Evra Feist and Chilly: in conversation The two friends and collaborators have a one-on-one chat about life, craft and, well, pyjamas.

by Jesse Kinos-Goodin You Oughta Know An oral history of Alanis Morissette’s unapologetic 1995 album, Jagged Little Pill.

by Holly Gordon On meeting Leonard Cohen Singer-songwriter Glen Hansard recalls meeting the Canadian icon — when he was just 15.

Quietest Concert Ever with Serena Ryder How we launched a silent concert between tides in Fundy National Park.

by Nicolle Weeks

Mobile? Download the App.

Page 5: Drake via “Hotline Bling”/YouTube; Buffy Sainte-Marie by Mark Metcalfe/ Getty Images; Adele via “Hello”/YouTube; fashion headdress via DavityDave/ Flickr; Prince via YouTube; Alessia Cara by Mike Windle/Getty Images; Tobias Jesso Jr. by Robin Marchant/Getty Images; Lauren Mayberry by Mike Lawrie/ Getty Images; Yannick Nézet Séguin by Ralph Orlowski/Getty Images; baseball bat by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images Sport; Chopin by Hulton Archive/Getty Images; Carly Rae Jepsen, Florence Welch courtesy of labels; Sleater-Kinney by Brigitte Sire/Sub Pop; Missy Elliott by Rick Diamond/Getty Images; Justin Bieber via YouTube; Grimes via Grimes/Facebook; Peaches by Daria Marchik; Bieber Roast by Kevin Winter/Getty Images Entertainment; soap by Boring Soap/Flickr; Kanye mic toss by Geoff Robins/AFP; Jimmy Iovine by Mike Windle/Getty Images Entertainment; Kanye/Beck by Robyn Beck/AFP; Tidal by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images Entertainment; Meek Mill via Meek Mill/Facebook; Coachella clothes via H&M; Viet Cong by David Waldman; Nicki Minaj via Nicki Minaj/Twitter; Skrillex via NYT screenshot; Kendrick Lamar by Christian San Jose/Top Dawg Entertainment Page 16-18: Víkingur Ólafsson by Ari Magg; Anne Akiko Meyers by Vanessa Briceño-Scherzer/Christie Stockstill; Andreas Ottensamer by Lars Borges/ Mercury Classics; Aida Garifullina courtesy of artist; Cameron Carpenter by Christian Marquardt/Getty Images; Sugar Vendil by Julia Comita; Juan Diego Flórez by Decca Classics/© Simon Fowler; Danielle de Nieseby Gareth Cattermole/ Getty Images; Yannick Nézet-Séguin by Marco Borggreeve; Yuja Wang by Norbert Kniat/DG Page 19: Cirkut by Che Kothari; Illangelo courtesy of the artist; Boi-1da by Amanda Edwards/Getty Images; Noah “40” Shebib by Frederick M Brown/Getty Images; Frank Dukes courtesy of the artist.

LOOK AHEAD

10 artists to watch in 2016

From rising pop sensations to buzzy bands, we look at Canadians worth keeping an eye on.

Follow CBC Music socially:

CLOSING NOTE

Buffy Sainte-Marie: What I’ve learned

The Canadian icon shares some wisdom she’s acquired over 50 years in the music business.

Page 20: Andy Shauf courtesy of artist; Ria Mae via Ria Mae/Facebook; Kaytranada

by Martin Pariseau; the Dirty Nil courtesy of the artist; IsKwé courtesy of artist; Alessia Cara courtesy of artist; Vogue Dots by Carolyn Hirtle; Bizzarh via Bizzarh/ Facebook; Charles Richard-Hamelin courtesy of the artist; Johnny Orlando via Johnny Orlando/Facebook Page: 21: Chilly Gonzales and Feist courtesy of Arts & Crafts Page 27: Glen Hansard courtesy of artist Page 30: Bay of Fundy by Nigel Fearon Photography Page 31: Buffy Sainte-Marie courtesy of True North Records

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YEAR IN MUSIC

YEAR IN MUSIC

Country icon Patsy Cline to return as hologram for 2016 tour

BY DEL COWIE

She died more than 50 years ago, but trailblazing country music legend Patsy Cline is returning for a 2016 tour — as a hologram.

According to Billboard, Cline will become the first-ever country star to be revived as a hologram, thanks to a deal between Hologram USA and the singer’s estate.

The tour will feature a full performance by Cline’s computerized likeness, commentary and audience interaction.

“Patsy Cline will demonstrate how we can bring all the warmth and virtuosity of a true icon back for new audiences,” said Alki David, CEO of Hologram USA, in a statement. “We chose Patsy as our first Country hologram project, and our first female hologram project, for a reason: she was a pioneer who influenced generations of singers around the globe.”

“We are very glad to share Patsy and her music with this new technology and format,” said Cline’s widower Charles Dick in a statement. “I am sure her fans, old

and new, will be thrilled.”

Cline’s hits include “Walking After Midnight,” “I Fall to Pieces” and “Crazy,” all of which will be featured in the show. Cline was one of country’s first female stars, and the first to cross over into mainstream pop fame. She died in a plane crash in 1963.

Hologram USA is the company behind the famed Tupac Shakur hologram at Coachella, which had the late rapper performing alongside Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre. They have also announced the digital resurrection of Liberace and Buddy Holly, and are setting up a Hologram Comedy Club that will feature repeat sets by comedy legends.

A hologram of Michael Jackson also created a stir — and kicked up controversy — when the pop star was brought back to life and performed a song at last year’s Grammys.

‘It was beautiful’: Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan on directing new Adele video

BY DEL COWIE Quebec filmmaker Xavier Dolan has opened up about the creative process behind the Adele video “Hello,” which he directed for the superstar U.K. singer.

In an interview with CBC News, Dolan spoke glowingly of the collaboration, citing the reciprocal trust that benefited the project. The singer and her label, XL Recordings, had specifically approached Dolan to work on the video.

“Aesthetically, we were just on the same wavelength from the beginning,” Dolan said. “She really trusted me. I trusted her. It was beautiful.

Artistically and emotionally, we just went full-throttle because we trusted each other.”

The nostalgic six-minute video, which has received nearly half a billion views, features Adele visiting an abandoned house that sparks memories of an ex-boyfriend, played by actor and singer Tristan Wilds (The Wire, 90210). The video 4

is peppered with flashbacks as Adele performs the song, expressing her regret for causing heartbreak. The idea for the setting came to Dolan after hearing the track for the first time in London. “As soon as I heard it, I saw the country.

I saw an old house, I saw Adele coming in and going down memory lane, making phone calls to someone from her past.”

Most of Wilds’s scenes were shot without Adele, whose schedule demanded that she be back in London for rehearsals, but the director improvised with the actor to ensure a genuine sense of connection in the video.

“Their paths, like, crossed for maybe two or three hours. But that day, we shot until, like, 3 a.m. with Tristan,” remembers Dolan. “I was sort of his Adele. He was talking to me. He was such a good sport.”

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cbcmusic.ca/science

HOW MUSIC WORKS Why do you sound better when you’re singing in the shower?

If you’re like most of us, your singing voice hasn’t quite reached star quality — but when you step into the shower, you sound like you’re ready to hit the stage.

So why do we sound so much better in the shower? In short, your shower works like a very low-tech sound mixer in several ways, each of them helping your voice sound fuller and richer.

First, most showers are small and lined with hard, smooth tiles which, unlike softer surfaces such as fabric, barely absorb any sound waves — so when you sing, the sound waves reflect around the small space before dying off, which

makes your voice seem louder and more powerful.

Ask most vocalists, or karaoke singers, and they’ll tell you that a little reverb can also go a long way toward achieving a fuller sound, as well as blurring those sour notes — and when the sound is bouncing around the shower, some of those sound waves travel a shorter distance to your ear; other sound waves travel farther before you hear them.

Because you’re hearing these multiple reflections in a short sequence, it stretches out the sound, and makes it seem richer.

Finally, your shower also gives you a bass boost. In the average shower, the resonant frequency is 100 Hz, which is at the low end of the range. (Human speech ranges from roughly 85-255 Hz.) So your shower stall naturally amplifies those bass tones, making your voice seem deeper and fuller.

So hop in and belt out your top songs, because it’s probably where you’ll sound your very best. (Warning: some roommates, spouses, children and/or pets may disagree.)

It's a phenomenon known as "musical frisson." But why is it happening?

A team of researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University monitored people’s brains while they listened to their favourite music—and what they found was that the music stimulated the same reward circuits as food, sex and drugs.

According to researcher Valorie Salimpoor, the human brain has evolved to reinforce adaptive behaviours such as

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eating and reproduction; so when people eat or have sex, the brain releases the pleasure drug dopamine to reinforce that behaviour. Some drugs also cause dopamine to be released.

But when their team scanned people’s brains as they listened to music they considered “intensely pleasurable,” they saw the same chain of events occur.

In other words, humans may have actually evolved to appreciate music, and those chills you’re feeling are your body’s way of saying that's a good thing.

What’s more, when the participants anticipated the most pleasurable parts of their favourite songs, a different area of the brain lit up.

“Right before people experience that

It’s a theory that dates all the way back to 1848, when a German professor published a book about the soul life of plants; and London’s Royal Philharmonic even recorded a special album called The Flora Seasons: Music To Grow To. But can sweet serenades really lead to perkier plants?

Turns out that, in the science world, it’s a heated debate.

peak emotional response, which in our experience was measured with chills, participants show dopamine release in a different region of the reinforcement circuit and this is the caudate nucleus,” said Salimpoor on CBC's Quirks & Quarks.

The caudate nucleus, she explained, is a region of the brain with strong connections to the prefrontal cortex, which houses complex thinking, and gives rise to the emotional pleasure we derive from music.

“The fact that an intellectual reward that’s housed in the prefrontal cortex can stimulate this part of our brain almost suggests that as human beings we’ve been evolved to appreciate aesthetic stimuli.”

THE BEST ALBUMS OF

2015

The best-known experiment was in 1973, when researcher Dorothy Retallack put groups of identical plants in two separate laboratories: one where plants received a steady diet of rock music, the other easy listening.

Retallack found the ones that were raised on easy listening fared much better, growing tall and healthy and leaning in toward the speakers. The plants that got rock ‘n’ roll leaned away from the speakers and died prematurely.

Why do some people get chills when they listen to their favourite music?

If you love music, you know the feeling: you’re listening to one of your very favourite songs, and it gives you chills.

Does playing music for plants help them grow?

Another study out of the University of Arizona involved sprouting seeds in four strictly controlled environments — one silent, one with music, one with “healing energy” (administered 15-20 minutes a day by an energy healer) and one with pink noise (like white noise but with more low frequency). There, seeds that were exposed to music sprouted more quickly and reliably.

And a paper out of South Korea asserted that even conversation-level Beethoven actually alters two genes that are involved in plants’ response to light.

But a study out of Penn State says it’s unlikely that music will help your plants grow. The researchers argue that plants definitely respond to external stimuli, so things like wind will induce changes in their growth — but that, for a plant, music is basically just another source of vibration. The Penn State researchers added that the most effective way to have your plant grow is to “provide them with light, water and mineral nutrition.”

Got your Christmas list all drawn up for Santa? Great. Now you can add these 50 Canadian albums to it!

While you were scratching away on the naughty/nice list, our editorial team fought tooth and nail over the 50 best albums of the year — and now you can see who made it out the other side.

The field is so talented this year that we had a tough time whittling it down to just 50. Some albums knocked us off our feet, others were slow burns and some simply demanded the space to be heard.

From Drake to Purity Ring to Buffy Sainte-Marie to Braids to Half Moon Run to so many more, we present CBC Music’s best albums of the year, in order of release date.

Tona Carpe Diem

Cairo A History of Reasons

While his win for best rap recording at this year’s Junos was as a member of Naturally Born Strangers for their self-titled conceptual project, Carpe Diem finds Tona looking inward for his latest solo project. “Maybe I rhyme too hardcore,” he muses in his booming baritone on “Show Me Some Love,” the album’s closing track. While it’s probably the result of serendipity rather than intentional sequencing (after all, the album does start off with a head-scratchingly placed intro), that self-reflexive line follows verse after verse of raw, unapologetic, skillfully delivered flaw-flecked rhymes mining Tona’s inner thoughts, frustrations and vulnerabilities. Hardcore, indeed.

— Del Cowie

The opening chant on the title track sets just the right tone for this debut album from the four-year-old Toronto quintet. Lead singer Nate Daniels and drummer Matt Sullivan lead the way on the propulsive, slightly ’90s-esque alt-pop track. Cairo tends to lean heavily on soaring choruses, and that’s all right because this record really is all about the power and dynamics of Daniels’s voice and the emotion it’s able to convey. A History of Reasons is a sparkling, confident debut. All this band needs now is a break.

— Judith Lynch

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Viet Cong Viet Cong

Drake If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late

Whitehorse Leave No Bridge Unburned

Badbadnotgood and Ghostface Sour Soul

Dear Rouge Black to Gold

Faith Healer Cosmic Troubles

Kathryn Calder Kathryn Calder

Spek Won Sofa King Amazing

There is a lot to love on this Polaris Music Prize shortlisted record. It’s all hard angles and soft feelings, weirdly playful and still vulnerable, drenched in muddy fuzz but still blisteringly, willfully and deliberately specific. It’s jolting but not disorienting; rather our ears and our brains are forced to interact in a more meaningful and critical way, constantly being shifted and jostled, like an intellectual and creative moshpit: bruising and punishing and thrilling without the physical risks. Fuzzy, loud, mournful and comforting is an impossible-to-imagine Venn diagram, right? Not anymore. The Calgary-based art-punk band does it brilliantly. — Andrea Warner

You could call Drake soft. Or you could say that he’s confident enough to talk about his feelings. With If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late, Drake pulled a Beyoncé (or a Radiohead, really) and dropped the album as a surprise free download. That’s confidence. “Energy,” “10 Bands,” “Know Yourself” — the album starts out strong and doesn’t lag after that.

It’s Pitchfork/Polaris/top-of-thecharts good: a critical and commercial success combo that’s rare and well deserved. Drake’s signature sound is present throughout and, coupled with his lyrical genius, convinces rap aficionados of his talent while converting the most reluctant rap listeners. — Nicolle Weeks

Continuing to prove that the whole really is greater than the sum of its parts, husband-and-wife duo Whitehorse have certainly ran their finest musical race yet with this excellent early 2015 album, Leave No Bridge Unburned. Luke Doucet is undoubtedly one of Canada’s greatest guitarists, and Melissa McClelland one of our smokiest vocalists. Together they make roots-noire excellence: a sultry, sexy mash-up of classic Nashville, potential spy thriller themes and Canadian roots gold. An added bonus: “Downtown” is now a hockey arena staple. Crossover appeal!

— Grant Lawrence

For many, the indelible image of WuTang Clan’s Ghostface Killah in 2015 will be of him perpetually hitching up grey sweatpants to admonish Action Bronson for doubting his relevance in a YouTube video (in smartphone portrait mode no less), sermonizing at length about the ending of “grace periods.” And that would be a shame, because it would overlook his finely paced performance on this collaborative project with Toronto jazz rebels BadBadNotGood.

While Ghostface unspools a tautly woven narrative arching from hardened criminal to enlightened griot, BBNG — under the auspices of producer Frank Dukes — show off its rapidly improving chops, undergirding Ghostface’s yarn with appropriate cinematic heft. — DC

“A new day, a better time” is loosely the concept behind the title track of Dear Rouge’s debut LP. It’s the band’s take on C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, where the book references “the fields are changing from white to gold,” signifying the new time for Narnia. And what a new time it is. Husband-and-wife duo Danielle and Drew McTaggart released the LP back in March, and what an incredible listening experience. It has this wickedly good vibe front to back that makes you want to move, even on slower songs such as “Wanna Wanna.” It’s this kind of record that helps push boundaries in terms of what Canadian could be. A new day, a better time indeed. — Matt Fisher

One of the very best debuts this year came out of Edmonton. We shouldn’t be surprised, since this northern capital has recently churned out such indie rock “it” artists as Purity Ring, Mac DeMarco, the Royal Foundry and Michael Rault, to name a few. You can now add Faith Healer to that great list, a band led by the soft tones of Jessica Jalbert.

The band’s debut, Cosmic Troubles manages to capture a fuzzy, timeless feel in that it could have been released in 1965, 1995 or 2015. If you’re a fan of the Velvet Underground, the Apples in Stereo, Alvvays or Sonic Youth, chances are you will love Faith Healer. — GW

Lean in as Kathryn Calder lays out an album of love songs, a fittingly and simply self-titled collection. It’s the third solo album from the New Pornographers multi-instrumentalist, and she needs no preamble before listeners dive in. It’s all there in the subtleties: the ache in the words “you can never be mine, no you’ll never be mine, love” in the first single, “Song in CM;” the slow build to the crashing chaos of “When You See My Blood;” the heartbreaker of a mantra in dance-party anthem “Take a Little Time,” where Calder sings, “And when you promise all the things that never last, I’ll forgive, and I’ll forgive you.”

On Kathryn Calder, the singer-songwriter doesn’t tiptoe around something we often ignore: life is short. And holy, is it heartbreaking. — Holly Gordon

After honing his craft as part of notable artistic collective 88 Days of Fortune, this Toronto MC delivered a strong debut effort imbued with refreshing honesty.

While the album starts with Spek Won tapping into his socially conscious and ardently righteous nature on tracks like the searingly relevant “Black Body,” an addictively head-nodding “E(art)h,” the second half’s spacey ambience is lyrically guided by the spontaneous and unpredictable nature of the id, ensuring Sofa King Amazing fully embraces its dichotomous nature. — DC

Purity Ring Another Eternity

Edmonton’s Purity Ring brings a welcome lightness to Canadian electronic music. The duo’s futuristic pop is easy on the ears without being simplistic, with beats that are uncomplicated without being annoyingly repetitive. Purity Ring’s ability to make its music malleable is just poppy enough to be aurally pleasing. Another Eternity is an excellent attempt at a sophomore album, retaining the band’s now signature sound. With electronic, hip-hop and pop influences, the songs on this album (“Begin Again,” “Push Pull” and “Heartsigh,” for instance) make uplifting, refreshingly danceable pop songs. — NW

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Joel Plaskett, The Park Avenue Sobriety Test

Tobias Jesso Jr. Goon

While living in L.A. and getting by as a session player, Vancouver songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr. ran head-on into a series of events that would change his life forever. First was a break-up with his girlfriend, but it was followed with worse news: his mom had cancer. Jesso hastily left L.A., leaving his instruments in a storage locker. Dejected, depressed, down on his luck and instrument-less, he sat down at the family piano — something he didn’t know how to play — and wrote some of the most affecting and heartbreaking songs of the year.

The collection of songs on Goon have a simplicity that makes them strong, and they sound great whether played with a seven-piece band or on solo piano, just as they were written in his mom’s basement when it seemed like nothing was going his way.

— Jesse Kinos-Goodin

Milk and Bone Little Mourning

The Park Avenue Sobriety Test, a.k.a.

“The P.A.S.T.,” wasn’t Joel Plaskett’s top-selling record, nor was it his most critically acclaimed, but if you want to hear Plaskett in a reflective comfort zone, listen to this album. The music rolls out easily, as if Plaskett has nothing left to prove, and really nothing to lose. He lets it all hang out here in a loose, fun, East Coast kitchen party of a record, surrounded by musical friends from the past 20 years. The title track is (almost) worth the price of admission alone, a classic Plaskett sing-along about a particularly treacherous corner in his adopted hometown of Dartmouth.

Let all us raise a glass to “The P.A.S.T.”!

— GL

Even before Little Mourning came out last March, many people were curious about Camille Poliquin and Laurence Lafond-Beaulne, two Montreal musicians who, despite only being in their early 20s, have been working for quite some time in the business, accompanying Ariane Moffatt, Alex Nevsky, les sœurs Boulay or David Giguère. With this first record, the two close friends give us eight absolutely delightful electro-pop songs, with an ’80s touch.

Their voices harmonise perfectly, as if they’re breathing from the same lungs, singing about love, solitude and sadness with vibrant bass, hauntingly beautiful strings and piano and smooth synths. It’s modern and refined, with hints of brightness between the sweet melancholy of the melodies.

— Ariane Cipriani

Shawn Mendes Handwritten

I still remember when I first heard the arresting opening verses of Shawn Mendes’s debut single, “Life of the Party”: “Who is behind that fragile voice, that seemingly improvised delivery, that innate ability to connect?”

On Handwritten, Mendes convincingly covers a wide stylistic range, from acoustic soul (“I Don’t Even Know Your Name”) to coming-of-age guitar anthem (“A Little Too Much”), from tear-jerking folk-rock (“This is What it Takes”) to pop (“Stitches”). More than a wannabe Ed Sheeran — with whom he’s often compared — Mendes has quickly established his own voice and devoted following. Something big is definitely happening. — Robert Rowat

Terra Lightfoot Every Time My Mind Runs Wild

There’s a strong argument to be made that Terra Lightfoot is one of the most dynamic Canadian rockers in the game today. Her holy trinity of voice/guitar/ soul forms the bedrock of her 2015 record, Every Time My Mind Runs Wild, a vital album and a spiritual cousin to the best of the Black Crowes or Alannah Myles. The first half of the record is best heard in a sweaty back room of a beerdrenched bar, while the second half is deserving of the impeccable acoustics of our nation’s finest theatres. Filled with power, emotion and sensitivity, Every Time My Mind Runs Wild is one of the very best of 2015. — Mitch Pollock

Braids Deep in the Iris

Jazz Cartier Marauding in Paradise

If you want an idea of what the next generation of Canadian rappers is going to sound like, Jazz Cartier is it. The 21-year-old is far enough removed from the boom-bap sound of ’90s hip-hop — a style that continues to influence most Canadian rappers over 30 — to instead grow up on a steady consumption of Southern rap and, closer to home, Drake and producer Noah “40” Shebib. Jazz Cartier has made one of the best, most energetic and satisfying Canadian rap albums of the year. It’s a dark, complex, cinematic and genre-spanning exploration of what it’s like to live downtown — a good look for a young rapper not only heavily influenced by Drake, but also looking to supplant him. — JKG

The first track off Braids’ Deep in the Iris begins with a sigh. It may be the shift of an instrument before the first piano note, or a warmer, human sound.

Either way, it’s a steeling of sorts: take that breath, and proceed to the heavy. On this, the Calgary dream-pop trio’s third full-length, we find vocalist Raphaelle Standell both perfectly restrained and heavily raging. Each track begins with her clear, powerful vocals, often ending in a carnal outpouring of sound. There is grief in these words; in these notes. Deep in the Iris is a punch to the gut, wrapped in rhythmic, electronic warmth. Don’t miss out. — HG

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Colin Stetson/Sarah Neufeld Never Were the Way She Was

Buffy Sainte-Marie Power in the Blood

Patrick Watson Love Songs for Robots

Boogat Neo-Reconquista

Mas Ysa Seraph

Lindi Ortega Faded Gloryville

Teen Daze Morning World

Carly Rae Jepsen E·MO·TION

Music can do so many things. It can pick you up or bring you back down. It can make you think or allow you not to for a little while. And sometimes it can just completely do your head in. Never Were the Way She Was did all of those things in 2015. For each of the eight tracks on the album, Stetson and Neufeld wrap their instruments (saxophone and violin, respectively) around a singular beat and then around each other. Each piece has its own rhythm but overall the results are frenetic, hypnotic, meditative, anxious and incredibly compelling. — JL

Buffy Sainte-Marie reasserts herself as the vital and thrilling musician she is, a Canadian icon we can believe in and a powerhouse provocateur. She’s a voice of reason, as ready with the rallying cries as she is with the pointed indictments of social injustice, racism and corporate greed. Power in the Blood is full of beats, evocative chanting and powwow, and spine-tingling, DNA-shaking references to the destruction of war, GMOs and commodification, and decolonization. But the Polaris Music Prize-winning record is never weighed down by its politics. Propulsive and profound, urgent and exhilarating, these are timeless anthems of resistance, protest, peace and love. — AW

Patrick Watson is a magician — one who brings you through a musical fairytale, where you forget you’re grounded.

With this fifth album, Watson and his longtime pals — bassist Mishka Stein and drummer Robbie Kuster — give us 10 marvelous new songs, creations that don’t reveal all their secrets after one listen. Love Songs For Robots reveals a surprisingly dark and warm sensuality, using Vangelis-like keyboard pads, assumed by François Lafontaine, while guitarist Joe Grass adds folky and bluesy colours. Watson remains a master of measurements, creating tantric music: he takes his time and builds fluid, ornamented crescendos that never evolve too quickly, yet hold promise of a soft landing. — AC

If you’ve never heard of the Montreal-based artist Boogat, now is the time to dig in. His 2015 album is an infectious blend of Latin genres and styles.

Boogat, a.k.a. Daniel Russo Garrido, raps and sings over reggae, cumbia, funk and other Latin rhythms. The native of Mexico is firmly entrenched in Montreal, and captures the joy of Sunday afternoon on the mountain in the song “En La Montana.” Boogat’s collaboration with Montreal collective Heavy Soundz on the song “Los Presidentes” is a Latin dance-floor banger — complete with politicized lyrics about injustice and exploitation that would make Manu Chao proud. Boogat sums up his feeling about this disc best with a statement from his website: “I believed that the only meaning of this new album was to regain the dignity and pride of the vanquished.” — Reuben Maan

Thomas Arsenault throws a lot into his full-length debut Seraph — throttling beats, fogs of synths, acoustic guitars, flutes, possibly a kitchen sink — but it’s all masterfully reined in by Arsenault’s best instrument: his voice.

Whether he’s quietly cooing over a minimal foundation of blips on “Garden” or howling above the cacophony of “Suffer,” Arsenault is a commanding presence selling every word he spouts with a captivating empathy. Seraph is a sonic playground filled with layers just waiting to get peeled back with each listen. — Melody Lau

Lindi Ortega created the idea of Faded Gloryville as both a fictional place and state of mind, one where you “let those feelings of disenchantment and jadedness or what have you, get the better of you.” With Faded Gloryville, Ortega’s fourth full-length, one thing’s for certain: she is nowhere near that jaded, fictional place. Working with four producers — Dave Cobb (Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell), Colin Linden and Muscle Shoals duo John Paul White (the Civil Wars) and Ben Tanner (Alabama Shakes) — this album is both heart and soul; country, blues, rock and everything in between. Ortega sings of picking up, moving on and telling it like it is, and it’s best to listen up. — HG

Morning World is a beautiful bird’s nest of a record. Teen Daze knows grief, but perhaps even more importantly, he is moving through grief and generously sharing his journey. Morning World’s lyrics are just a small part of the healing. Here, the music is everything, so deliberate and evocative that it can crack you in half with a perfectly placed acoustic guitar interlude then sweep you into a blissed-out zone, conjuring happy memories that maybe once were too painful to recall. Listening to a new record, feeling like it was pulled from your bones, knowing for sure you’re not alone. This is the sound of catharsis. There really is magic in music. Morning World is proof. — AW

Carly Rae Jepsen parses the complexities of love, lust and desire and infuses them into endless rich hooks on this new album. The soaring sax solo on “Run Away With Me” will sweep you off your feet and the smooth sensuality of “All That” is intoxicating. Every track is crafted to perfection thanks to Jepsen’s keen ear for melodies paired with key collaborations with pop heavyweights Rostam Batmanglij, Devonte Hynes and Ariel Rechtshaid.

For those searching for Jepsen’s next “Call Me Maybe”, there are 12 (15 if you count bonus tracks) new gems right here. — ML

The Weather Station Loyalty

Yukon Blonde On Blonde

Calvin Love Super Future

Mocky Key Change

Destroyer Poison Season

Coeur de Pirate Roses

The Weeknd Beauty Behind the Madness

Tami Neilson Dynamite!

Loyalty is a character-driven collection of stories that’s best served when you have the time to really listen. The third full-length for Toronto singer-songwriter Tamara Lindeman, a.k.a. the Weather Station, this album carries with it tracks like “Way It Is, Way It Could Be,” a slightly weary road-trip tale encased in a light, warm melody, providing a fitting soundtrack for driving across vast Canadian landscapes. Oft compared to Joni Mitchell, Lindeman isn’t solely interested in the visual terrain, but also the land that lies within relationships. Regardless of what you’re looking for, you can turn Loyalty up and drive away. — HG

I imagine the process for selecting a single from Yukon Blonde’s On Blonde was akin to drawing names from a hat.

Every song on the Vancouver rockers’ second album is an utter and complete summer jam — 10 euphoric exercises on saccharine, psychedelic pop fit for the cottage, patio, or turning up so loud in your car that people on the sidewalk start to walk in sync with the uplifting synth notes and frantic high hats.

Yukon Blonde reminds me a lot of Tame Impala, only the Toronto band is happy.

I’ve listened to On Blonde more than any other album this year, and every time, without fail, it gets the same response: unfettered jubilation and spontaneous dancing. — JKG

Calvin Love’s Super Future is as strange as it is compelling, an album full of lonely, heartfelt cries that are both solitary and seductive. “I wish you were my robot so I wouldn’t feel left out,” he sings on “Automaton,” a conflicted, unnerving sentiment accentuated with a propulsive bassline and sporadic howls doused in reverb, as if they’re being transmitted to us from space.

Hailing from Edmonton, Love comes off as an otherworldly crooner with a deep nostalgia for David Bowie and the Nuggets psych-rock compilations. It’s an album obsessed with the longing to connect, yet it was recorded solely by Love at his own Cool Creep studio. It’s that contrast that makes Super Future such a compelling listen. — JKG

Mocky’s latest creative full-length finds the Lumsden, Sask., native, a.k.a.

Dominic Salole, in Los Angeles after transplanting himself from his former Berlin base. And while he corrals the talents of frequent Canadian collaborators like Feist and Chilly Gonzales, most of Key Change plays like Mocky happened to fall in with a group of ridiculously talented L.A.-based musicians for a loose yet deceptively intricate jazz-tinged jam session, casually pressing record. When those collaborators include orchestral composer Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, future soul songstress Kelela and Mike Milosh of delicately melodic duo Rhye, giving Key Change a relentlessly heliocentric glow — and that’s definitely not a bad thing. — DC

Poison Season is confounding, exhilarating and wildly experimental. This is the enviable brilliance of Dan Bejar’s work as Destroyer: every song is dense and rich, a full and complete work of art that bears little resemblance to what has come before or what comes next, and yet the connective tissue is evident. These songs belong together.

— AW

Béatrice Martin amplifies her music to new heights on Roses. The Quebec songstress explores a more ambitious grandiosity in her pop-driven sounds here while dividing her songwriting between two languages (her native tongue of French, plus English), but it didn’t matter what language Martin performed in; the sentiments on Roses are expressed loudly and triumphantly.

Songs swell with heartbreak and discovery as she traverses the transformations of love and motherhood through an introspective lens, and the results are an important benchmark in Martin’s flourishing career. — ML

Beauty Behind the Madness is a fitting title for the Weeknd’s second studio album. There’s no shortage of madness in Abel Tesfaye’s songwriting — that’s been apparent as he’s moved up musical ranks over the past five years.

On his second album, the Weeknd is no longer a niche act leading a splinter genre like PBR&B; he is a certified chart-topper — in America, no less.

The sound of Beauty Behind the Madness, even if it’s a bit lightened up for a mass audience, is still Tesfaye’s brand of darkness packaged as something irresistible. It’s kind of what being 25 (Tesfaye’s age) is like. And that’s what makes it special — and one of the best albums of the year. — ML

This isn’t a retro novelty: Dynamite! is bold, fun, heartbreaking and full of whip-smart lyrics and attitude.

The energy bursts from every note, and the instrumentation is fantastic.

Neilson’s voice is the major star, of course, and it morphs seamlessly from the vintage siren soul of “Walk (Back to Your Arms)” to the jangly, twangy “Texas,” to the tortured torch number “Cry Over You” or the heartbreaking “You Lie.” Dynamite! more than earns its exclamation point. In fact, it’s one of the best Canadian albums this year, and establishes Neilson as a major “new” talent. — AW

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BEST OF

BEST OF

Souljazz Orchestra Resistance

Brett Kissel Pick me Up

Ben Caplan Birds With Broken Wings

Peaches Rub

Corb Lund Things that Can’t be Undone

Majical Cloudz Are you Alone?

Half Moon Run Sun Leads me On

Kardinal Kardi Gras Vol. 1

“Souljazz is more than just a band for us, it’s a way of life,” says saxophonist Ray Murray. The Ottawa-based band’s latest album, Resistance, is another bold statement as to what that way of life is. The disc is full of epic grooves steeped in Afro, Latin, funk and jazz.

Lyrically and spiritually, their vibe is heavily influenced by Afrobeat, with political lyrics delivered directly in a call-and-response style. After playing together for 13 years, the group is obviously supertight. The guys are workhorses, Souljazz prophets, spreading the gospel of “social justice and positive political change” with their feverish and furious horn-heavy dance parties. — RM

The pride of Flat Lake, Alta., crafted a perfect, paint-by-numbers pop country album in 2015. And that’s no slur.

There’s a familiar arc to the current new country sound but that doesn’t mean that everyone can do it. With big, sweeping hooks and highly polished production, not a note is wasted, but the album still sounds loose and inviting. Pick Me Up is efficient, effective and infectious, and manages to be the perfect album for both the diehard and non-country music fan alike. That’s range. — JL

For his second record, Halifax musician Ben Caplan recruited the brilliant musical mind of Montreal producer Socalled. The pair, along with 30-plus other musicians, created an album full of rousing choruses, eclectic instrumentation, dramatic and spooky lyricism and songs that are distant cousins to both Tom Waits and Gogol Bordello. Caplan’s distinctively deep voice is complimented by female singers, as demonstrated perfectly on one of the album’s standout tracks, the captivatingly soulful “40 Days and 40 Nights,” where the main character expresses anguish over being away from his woman for the titular time period. There’s plenty of call and response throughout the record to keep you singing along, and waltz-like rhythms that will make you dance in your kitchen. — Jeanette Cabral

Fierce, phenomenal, filthy and full of middle fingers to conventional thinking, stereotypes of femininity and gendered expectations, Rub’s backdrop is relentless beats, the thumping and pumping of a million hearts racing and pounding together. It feels deeply human, raw and primal, but it’s also genuinely vulnerable. An electrifying and powerful new record from Peaches, a.k.a. Merrill Nisker, the woman who just might save us all. — AW

If only you could take Corb Lund to the bank to guarantee your mortgage. For more than a decade he’s been releasing rock-solid “alternative” country albums, and if Lund was in the Farmers Bank business, we might not be listening to his matter-of-fact ballad “S Lazy H,” where the singer captures the conflict between modernization and traditional life on the ranch. No one wins but the bankers and lawyers.

Lund’s album is filled with metaphor and humour: “Weight of the Gun” digs into guilt and responsibility, “Alt Berliner Blues” raises a stein in a German beer hall, “Washed-Up Rock Star Factory Blues” is exactly that. And “Sunbeam,” a tender, heart-ripping lament about the loss of Lund’s niece, closes the album poignantly. — RM

Last fall, when Majical Cloudz dropped

by CBC Music’s Studio 211 in Toronto to debut songs from Are You Alone?, our producer Reuben Maan wrote about the powerful connection singer Devon Welsh had with the audience, making intense eye contact with almost everyone in attendance, and receiving some pretty raw emotional feedback in return: “Fans could be seen laughing, crying, dancing and returning Welsh’s gaze,” he noted. The album’s songs have such emotive power that even listening to the recorded versions are enough put you in a contemplative trance. Are You Alone? is an uplifting manifesto on the state of loneliness, a 12-song reassurance that being alone is something that’s awkward and heavy, but nothing you need to avoid. — AG

The Montreal quartet opens its sophomore album with a slow piper and Beatles-esque vocals, as singer Devon Portielje admits, “I’m really not sure if I could put things back together like before.” It’s a track that seems more fitting to the end of an album, but Half Moon Run is saying a different kind of goodbye: the band is leaving behind its 2012 debut, and forging ahead.

Called “Warmest Regards,” with this track the band wants you to know it’s moving on, no hard feelings. And it worked. Sun Leads Me On is a slow burn of an album, growing on you until it’s the only thing you play for weeks.

There are harmonies, hooks and dance numbers, as well as slow drifters. Half Moon Run’s experimenting but, at its core, the band is still working with the lush layers on which it made a name. — HG

From the beginning of “Hope,” the first track featuring the insistent vocals of Merna, it’s evident that Kardinal is intent on delivering music with a message. While tracks like infectious single “Baby It’s U!” ensure Kardinal is not one to shun fun, much of the first half of the album concentrates on delivering thought-provoking home truths on tracks like “Insert Here” over speaker-rattling beats. Kardinal’s diasporic roots soon come to the fore, and the album branches out to incorporate a diverse sonic palette traversing dancehall reggae, R&B and hip-hop. — DC

Born Ruffians Ruff

Dralms Shook

City and Colour I Should Go Before You

Grimes Art Angels

Alessia Cara Know-It-All

Justin Bieber Purpose

We Are the City Above Club

Perpetually underrated, Born Ruffians serve up some of their most radio-friendly songs to date here, but it comes with a catch: underlying the undeniably fun dance-rock beats are some seriously malcontent lyrics. The resulting album is curious and a bit uneven, but on balance it’s a fascinating listen. Songs like “F--k Feelings” and “Stupid Dream” point to some kind of overarching lyrical theme of anger, or apathy, or both. There is a manic power in these optimistically sung songs about disillusionment, and it’s kind of grand. At the very least, Ruff deserves a spot on this list because it is probably the most pleasantly confounding thing you’ll hear this year. — AG

Fans of Vancouver singer-songwriter Christopher Smith will instantly recognize Dralms. Not only is it the name of Smith’s new band, also consisting of members from Siskiyou and Failing, but on their full-length debut, Dralms reinterpret Smith’s previously released “Pillars & Pyre” and somehow manage to make it sound even more devastating than the original. Critics have compared Dralms to Radiohead, especially for their lush, evocative synths and the way in which they breathe so much life into electronic textures. Add to all that Smith’s cooing falsetto and you easily have one of the most atmospheric albums of the year. — JKG

Dallas Green is still exploring the darkest corners, letting in little bits of light with every lyric and poetic fragment, but this is a much more robust City and Colour than we’ve ever heard before thanks to the inclusion of Green’s touring band in studio. Think a flock flying in full formation, rather than the solitary figure of bird versus sky.

Even in the record’s saddest moments, there’s a propulsive dynamic that’s incredibly refreshing. This is almost the sound of Green having fun, and at least half of the songs are among City and Colour’s best. — AW

Pop music is a vague, borderless genre that often absorbs elements from many places, from whatever is deemed popular to the masses. Artist Claire Boucher, a.k.a. Grimes, understands this better than anyone and has used this vast field as her playground for experimentation over the span of four albums. Her latest release, Art Angels, is her most successful yet, merging a melting pot of influences into a brand that is distinctly her own. This is a collection of dark, twisted pop songs with an attitude that cheers (“Kill V. Maim”), shrieks (“Scream”) and coos (“Easily”) with utter confidence. — ML

Poised, polished, confident and fully self-aware, Alessia Cara’s full-length debut was an eagerly anticipated one.

And it didn’t disappoint. We should have all had our lives together like this when we were her age. — JL

Purpose, Justin Bieber’s fourth studio album, has converted even the most stalwart disBeliebers. Part of the credit goes to the producers, with Skrillex and Diplo giving the world its first taste of the album on their single, “Where Are Ü Now.” Some rolled their eyes at the New York Times’ making-of video, but the song’s “expensive-sounding sounds” were everywhere within hours of its release. Bieber, who bared more than his soul in 2015, may still have some nonsense in store — he’s a 21-year-old pop star, after all. But with Purpose, he turns a page and the good part awaits. — RR

Glitchy beats, heavy drums, angular synths. At turns bombastic and hushed. We Are the City’s third album delivers nine songs that question and confront both big questions and small situations. Sometimes it feels like a pop record, albeit one your philosophy professor would actually admit listening to. — Brad Frenette

The Dears Times Infinity, Volume One

Years may pass and music trends may come and go, but if there’s one thing you can count it’s that the Dears will stay true. Their first album in four years, Times Infinity Volume One, has everything we’ve come to expect from them: tragic romance, dark comedy, an overwhelming sense of doom, all set to a backdrop of epic orchestral rock. In a world intent on formulating the perfect pop song, sometimes an album you need to listen to closely on headphones in a dark room while contemplating your mortality is exactly what you need. Here’s to the death of all the romance, indeed. — Andrea Gin

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Check out our lists of the best jazz and classical albums of 2015 at cbcmusic.ca/2015

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time, and what we’re dealing with feels like more than a good year.”

It’s too early for 2015 numbers, but based on chart success — not to mention the six SOCAN No. 1 Song awards that were given to the Weeknd in November — we’re on par for yet another record-breaking year.

BY JESSE KINOS-GOODIN

The Weeknd, Justin Bieber and Alessia Cara are dominating the charts, while Drake has become one of the most ubiquitous pop culture figures on the planet.

What a time to be alive.

There’s never been a better time than right now to be a fan of Canadian music.

Canadian artists are dominating the Billboard charts, selling more albums internationally than ever before and Drake has become one of the most ubiquitous pop-culture figures on the planet. In the history of popular music, never have Canadians been as successful and as relevant around the globe as they are at this very moment.

In the ’70s, Canadian content (Cancon) rules were introduced to force broadcasters to play a certain percentage of homegrown talent, so as not to be swallowed up by American culture. Today, we’re experiencing something of a Canconaissance: broadcasters don’t need to play Cancon in order to keep Canadian artists relevant; they need to play Canadian artists to remain relevant themselves.

But it extends beyond music, as Canadian culture at large — from our prime minister to our pop stars to our pro sports teams — is experiencing an unprecedented moment of, well, being cool. As one article in U.K. Guardian asked following the election of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: “Is it time for Cool Canadiana?”

That writer compared this current period of Canadian optimism and pop-culture cachet with a time in Britain referred to as Cool Britannia, “when a young prime minister named Tony Blair took office as Britpop was all over the charts.” The comparison isn’t far off, as Canadians are, truthfully, “all over the charts.” Actually, it would be more accurate to say they are sitting right on top of them.

This September, for the first time in history, Canadians occupied the top three songs on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, with Justin Bieber taking the top spot followed by Toronto R&B singer the Weeknd in two and three. At the end of September, when music from Drake’s collaborative album with Future, What a Time to be Alive, charted, he became only the fourth artist to score 100 top 100 songs in the history of the chart (started in 1958,) falling behind Elvis Presley, Lil Wayne and the cast of Glee, who have more than everyone. The Beatles, for comparison, have 71.

As September turned to October, the chart was inundated with red maple leafs, as Canadians went on to take 14

six spots in the top 10. By November, Canadians held seven of the top 10 spots, led by Bieber with three of those spots, and 17 overall on the top 100 (breaking a record for simultaneous Hot 100 songs, held previously

by Drake and the Beatles). Drake and the Weeknd were still in the top 10, with “Hotline Bling” and “The Hills,” respectively, but so was an even younger generation of Canadians: 17-year-old Shawn Mendes (“Stitches”) and 19-year-old Alessia Cara (“Here”). R&B, rap and pop, all from Canada, all sitting in the top 10 at the same time.

Even Adele, whose juggernaut single “Hello” planted itself in the top spot at the beginning of November, has a Canadian connection. Her followup single, “When We Were Young,” which she has said is her favourite song on her newly released and chart-topping third album, 25, was co-written by Vancouver singer-songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr., while the video for “Hello” was shot by 26-year-old director Xavier Dolan just outside his hometown of Montreal.

So what about actual sales? According to SOCAN, which distributes royalties to Canadian songwriters and composers, the current period is nothing short of record-breaking. In 2013, SOCAN collected $52.2 million from international royalties, the first time that money originating outside of Canada surpassed the $50-million mark. Ever.

Then, in 2014, it exceeded $55 million worldwide, with the largest consumer of Canadian content being the very country that Cancon was created to protect us against: the U.S., which accounted for 36 per cent of the international share. Canadian music is becoming so popular that the number of SOCAN members receiving royalties from outside the

country has more than doubled in the last decade, according to the organization.

“When people look at music, it’s often tied to one hit song,” says SOCAN’s international relations vice president, Catharine Saxberg. “What we are seeing now is more than the effect of one big song: it’s an overall increase in the value of Canadian music across the globe…. I’ve worked in the music business for a long

That said, not all Canadians who are part of the Canconaissance have risen to the top via the charts. Carly Rae Jepsen — though no stranger to the charts, as her 2012 hit “Call Me Maybe” was the top-selling song of 2014 — has cemented her place in the pop culture collective by shedding her one-hit-wonder moniker after releasing one of the best pop albums of 2015.

Following the release of Emotion in June, Jepsen became a “serious album” artist, a critical success, as “solid and spotless a pop album as you’re likely to hear this year,” according to Pitchfork.

The lead single even came with a video starring Tom Hanks lip-syncing the words “I really, really, really, really, really, really like you.”

“I remember reading a Canadian article somewhere where they had listed me as a one-hit wonder and I remember reading it and thinking, isn’t

that a little soon?” Jepsen says in an interview, adding, “It was a huge elephant in the room. I’d go to sessions and people would be like, how are we going to top that song? I think the most important thing anyone said to me was, ‘You don’t have to.’”

While Emotion is very much a Canadian-in-L.A. album, produced with L.A.-based hitmakers such as Max Martin and Ariel Rechtshaid, it proved that a songwriter from Mission, B.C., population 36,500, could not only follow up the biggest song on the planet, but hold her own in the mecca of the cutthroat music business.

The Weeknd’s Beauty Behind the Madness, released in August, is another L.A. record, also recorded with Martin, but singer Abel Tesfaye is very much a direct product of Toronto’s music scene, where he honed his craft singing to women on the street car and building an underground buzz by releasing three dark, cinematic mixtapes in 2012, for free, which challenged pre-existing notions of R&B. In 2015, he became one of the biggest pop stars on the planet, and is just one reason people are looking to Toronto — or “the 6,” as Drake has dubbed it — for the next big thing.

Anyone looking, of course, would be quick to find it in 17-year-old Mendes, the first major artist to build his success on Vine, a social media app built around users uploading six-second videos. Or in 19-year-old Cara, an R&B singer from the Toronto suburb of Brampton who’s already achieved a dream checklist of milestones for any pop star: she has appeared on Ellen and Fallon, singing her hit single “Here,” and was brought onstage

by Taylor Swift — all before the November release of Cara’s full-length album, Know it All, on Def Jam Records.

“I definitely feel like I’m part of this new wave that’s coming out of this whole Greater Toronto Area scene that’s happening,” Cara says.

“I don’t even know what to call it, but the underdogs, people from Toronto, Brampton, all these cities in Ontario, are just really coming out and dominating, and I love it.”

She also credits the success of the young artists before her, specifically mentioning Drake and Bieber, for making it easier to break through the lucrative U.S. market.

“I think as a Canadian artist, we might feel more confident to break into America, or to try to break into America,” she says.

“It’s important to see this new wave of people that have done it. It’s inspiring.”

A lot of this newfound success has been centred on Toronto, although it’s

by no means limited to the city. Grimes, from Montreal, released one of the most anticipated albums of the year, and Jepsen is from B.C. That said, it’s certainly a “transitional moment for our city,” says Kardinal Offishal, one of the earliest rappers to popularize the term “T.Dot.” in the ’90s.

“That T.Dot nickname, it started in hip-hop culture, but it grew and expanded to include everything,” he says.

“So Drake and those kids from Prime came up with this whole 6 thing … [Drake] has all kinds of people, still to this day, who have no idea what the 6 means but they are around the world just yelling it out, and that’s cool.”

Toronto, for its part, seems to be embracing it now more than ever. There’s even a proposal from a Toronto councillor to erect 3D signs that read “the 6,” “T.O.” and “T.Dot” that would mirror city hall’s new “Toronto” sign, in order to “reinforce the modern, ‘cool’ Toronto brand,” he’s said.

There was also the Blue Jays’ incredible season and playoff run — their first post-season since they won in 1993, and one that came with high expectations and a Sports Illustrated cover touting them as “the new Jacks.”

When Joe Carter hit his famous World Series homerun in ’93, arguably the greatest moment in the franchise’s history, the biggest song in the country was “Dreamlover” by Mariah Carey, and international sales of Canadian artists only amounted to $13 million.

Compare that to the $55 million last year, or to Jose Bautista’s bat flip heard around the world. Bautista’s walk-up song? Drake’s “Big Rings,” from 2015’s What a Time to be Alive (his previous walk-up song was “Trophies,” also by Drake).

In fact, across major league baseball, Drake is the single most popular artist for walk-up music, according to Billboard, which reported back in July that Drake appeared 17 separate times as a solo artist and another 13 times as a featured artist. AC/DC and its jock-rock staple, “Thunderstruck,” was second. Keep in mind that Canada only has one major league baseball team, so for a Canadian rapper to be the most popular artist across the league is nothing short of amazing.

The Jays were defeated by the Kansas City Royals, who went on to win the World Series (with a Drake-free lineup, incidentally), but the Jays playoff run, when combined with the newfound Canadian chart dominance and the election of a prime minister touted as “cool,” made for one of the most exciting buildups in Canadian pop-culture history.

Even the Toronto Raptors, Canada’s only NBA team, have capitalized on this new cool, undergoing a rebranding this season behind the strength of their highly successful “We the North” campaign. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that one of the major players behind this move was the team’s newly appointed global ambassador, Drake.

It feels appropriate, then, that on “Big Rings” Drake would also rap the one line that so succinctly and perfectly captures what it means to be a Canadian at this precise moment: “Man, what a time to be alive.”

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YEAR IN MUSIC

YEAR IN MUSIC

CLASSICALLY STYLED:

THE 10 BEST-DRESSED MUSICIANS OF 2015

BY ALANNA HILDT ARMITAGE

It’s time to unveil the fashions of 2015 that caught our attention and the dazzling classical stars who wore them.

The honorees we chose this year dress predominantly in black, albeit of varying shades, textures and silhouettes.

In some fashion circles, our decision to applaud monochrome may be considered controversial, but our editorial sympathies lie with Emmanuelle Alt of Vogue Paris (or was it Wednesday Adams?), who declared, “I’ll stop wearing black when they invent a darker colour.”

Admittedly, our annual best-dressed list may not be the most renowned, but will any other take you travelling from Iceland to Italy? Or recognize instrumentalists and singers, regardless of sex, with a nod to gender fluidity? We feature one opera star who lives in a castle and another who went to the ball. We even boast a snappy vintage sports car!

Though we won’t reveal who takes our crown, we will hint that this highly esteemed artist is the only one in our history to make a repeat appearance. Curiosity piqued? Put on your favourite sonata, and read on.

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VÍKINGUR ÓLAFSSO PIANO If Wes Anderson were asked to imagine a brilliant classical pianist, he would likely fashion Iceland’s Víkingur Ólafsson and his particular brand of Nordic cool. Quirky and intense, Ólafsson’s look has considerable specs appeal with his signature frames by Moscot, the iconic New York optician. Favouring a skinny silhouette, as seen here in his fly front overcoat by Adam of Monday, the pianist sometimes dresses in a ‘70s, Marmite palette, but is more often than not a man in black. As he says, “When out and about in the lunar landscapes of Iceland, I try to dress in black, so as to not disturb the colours.”

For his Eyjafjallajökull-like virtuosity on the piano, he was named performer of the year at the Icelandic Music Awards, and newly appointed the artistic director of Vinterfest, Sweden.

ANNE AKIKO MEYERS VIOLIN Born in California, of American and Japanese descent, Anne Akiko Meyers’s style offers a masterclass in minimalist dressing. Here, Zac Posen’s creation in charcoal silk flatters with the simplicity of its feminine, sensual lines. For a trumpet gown, the effect is decidedly überpianissimo, allowing the full-spectrum of sound and colour to emanate from her legendary violin, the Vieuxtemps Guarneri del Gesù of 1741, and beautiful Tourte bow.

Like the Vieuxtemps, coveted for its pristine condition, Meyers is flawless. Be further mesmerized by her latest release on eOne Classical: Serenade: The Love Album, featuring Leonard Bernstein’s concerto based on Plato’s Symposium, recorded with Keith Lockhart and the London Symphony Orchestra. The album also includes works for violin and orchestra that Meyers commissioned from seven contemporary composer-arrangers.

ANDREAS OTTENSAMER CLARINET At first blush the image of such a fine figure in a fitted T-shirt and trousers reads as though a young Marlon Brando abandoned his urban brooding, decamped to the salubrious countryside and learned to play the clarinet. Tailoring is key to achieving this casual look, which the Austrian clarinetist pulls off with effortless elegance, in a Boss shirt and pants by Cinque.

Fans worldwide appreciate Ottensamer’s preference for body-hugging attire, such as the blue cashmere pullover by Massimo Dutti pictured on his second album for Deutsche Grammophon, Brahms: The Hungarian Connection. Thank Marcs for the V-neck tee that Ottensamer wears like a second skin with a Drykorn tuxedo at the ECHO Klassik Awards in October, where he was honoured as instrumentalist of the year.

AIDA GARIFULLINA SOPRANO Upon the release last March of Kenneth Branagh’s live-action Cinderella, the cultural cognoscenti were abuzz, trying to fathom how the most famous fairy tale of all could be refashioned for 21st-century feminism. In all the spilled ink, no one imagined that the heroine might be at the ball because it’s her job!

Enter the enchanting Garifullina, pictured here performing Gounod’s “Je Veux Vivre” at February’s prestigious Vienna Opera Ball.

The Russian soprano is ethereal in a magical creation from Zuhair Murad Couture. Inspired by the designer’s garden in Lebanon (no word if any mice assisted), the dramatic princess gown befits the grand occasion, with twirling silk tulle and shimmering tonal embroidery. Would anyone truly be surprised if her slippers were made of glass? Keep an eye out for Garifullina’s debut recording from Decca Classics, which will include a folksong in her native Tatar.

SUGAR VENDIL PIANO/ARTISTIC DIRECTOR CAMERON CARPENTER ORGAN The American-born organ virtuoso pulled out all the fashion stops and owned the red carpet at the 2015 ECHO Klassik Awards in Berlin. Creative in its highlow styling, Carpenter’s look epitomized the gender-fluid chic seen at fashion weeks around the globe. The jacket by Balenciaga and A-line Versace skirt backgrounded playful accessorizing with a purple ribbon, Patricia Field pearls, a Chanel rose on a rubber band and boots from the Army Surplus.

To paraphrase the legendary Diana Vreeland: all who have style are original.

And Carpenter is never ho-hum. Could we really expect the inventor of a revolutionary touring organ to arrive in anything so bland as a conventional tux? What a bore! Look forward to his upcoming release on Sony Classical, All You Need is Bach (and a fabulous Valentino clutch!).

There’s nothing old-school about Sugar Vendil.

The Filipino-American pianist is the artistic director of the Nouveau Classical Project, which is part performance ensemble and part production network for initiatives intersecting classical music with other contemporary art forms, primarily fashion. While Vendil has collaborated with talent such as Pamela Love, Gretchen Jones, Novis and Tanya Taylor, here she wears a striking, laser-cut top by the emerging Brooklyn-based designer Titania Inglis.

Inspired by the geometries of bridge architecture, the edgy creation was sewn from vegetable-tanned leather and connected with gunmetal studs. The look metaphorically situates Vendil as a nexus between old and new, East and West, even the Sacred & Profane — a work she directed this year, combining recent arrangements of the 15th-century Missa prolationum by Johannes Ockeghem with clothing from Jenny Lai’s womenswear brand, NOT. Who said dead white guys are not in fashion?

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YEAR IN MUSIC

YEAR IN MUSIC

JUAN DIEGO FLÓRE TENOR

DANIELLE DE NIESE SOPRANO

O sole mio! The Peruvian tenor radiates on the Sorrentine peninsula with the sprezzatura of a modernday Baldassare Castiglione due, in part, to the sophisticated ease of his attire by Ermenegildo Zegna. Always impeccable, Flórez, more commonly in evening formal, does not disappoint in casual trousers, Trofeo shirt and a deconstructed navy jacket to compliment his blue suede loafers. What other shoe would suit the “king of bel canto”? And, as Downton’s Lady Mary might say, “Oh golly, what a snappy chariot!”

She may be opera’s coolest soprano but de Niese brings smouldering glamour to our list in the custom Vivienne Westwood she wore to perform at Proms in the Park in London last September. As if her voice and the bordeaux paillettes weren’t dazzling enough, de Niese accessorizes with breathtaking jewelry of diamond-set flowers by Van Cleef & Arpels. The effect is almost as dramatic as the woman herself.

Born in Australia to Sri Lankan parents, the soprano now resides with her husband, Gus Christie, at the storied Glyndebourne Manor, with a renowned Opera House in her backyard. A new mom to son Bacchus, born in June, she must appreciate the short commute.

De Niese is presently starring with the Lyric Opera of Chicago in Bel Canto, an exciting new work based on the best-selling novel by Ann Patchett.

One listen to Flórez’s latest release, Italia, from Decca Classics, and you are transported: breezing along the Italian countryside in that vintage Fiat Spyder, while his canzone popolare and melodious tralla-la-le-las trail into the sea air — you choose who drives. Take note: with winter fast approaching, the sunshine in Flórez’s sound might just be the cure for the common cold.

YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN CONDUCTOR Currently the music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra and of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain, the brilliant French-Canadian has had a dreamlike 2015, being named artist of the year by Musical America, and performing before a visiting Pope Francis, to mention but a few highlights. And at every turn, NézetSéguin demonstrated his fashion prowess, artfully avoiding the suitsameness that can vex even the most seasoned red-carpet veteran.

In Lanvin, pictured here, the conductor displayed a mastery of tone-on-tone dressing. To lead Verdi’s Otello at the Metropolitan Opera, he chose an evening tailcoat by Dior Homme. The standing collar sans tie injected a little élan, as did his maroon Dolce & Gabbana worn for the Academy Ball featuring Al Pacino.

By the way, have you heard the one about the maestro, the Pope and the Godfather?

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YUJA WANG, PIANO No one does sequins like Armani. So should anything less adorn the inimitable Yuja Wang? The eye-catching ensemble, styled by Silvia Naefe for Wang’s latest Deutsche Grammophon release, Ravel, echoes the sensual beauty and syncopated rhythms of the Concerto in G and the Concerto for the Left Hand in D, which were written after the French composer had visited the jazz clubs of Harlem and New Orleans. With pants

by Zara, the high-low look also references the latest craze for wearing fabrics more typically found in living-room decor.

That’s not to say Wang is a wallflower — au contraire! She’s an international sensation with sartorial skills to match her electric musical talent. Who else could rock neon Atelier Rosemarie Umetsu at Buckingham Palace? And only true fashionistas know that the jumpsuit is the new black, like the Trina Turk example Wang wore to perform in Los Angeles. Clearly, she is a young woman who can do it all — with one hand tied behind her back.

Meet five Canadian producers who are responsible for the signature sounds of Drake, the Weeknd, BadBadNotGood and more.

BY DEL COWIE In the last few months of 2015, artists like the Weeknd, Drake, Justin Bieber and Shawn Mendes have dominated the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart, marking the first time in history that the

Cirkut While he might now be known as a high-profile collaborator with Dr. Luke (himself a graduate of the Max Martin school of production and songwriting), Halifax native Henry “Cirkut” Walter’s break came at the Dream House studio he helped co-found in Toronto when he co-wrote and co-produced “High for This,” a pivotal early track for the Weeknd’s House of Balloons.

Somewhere along the line, a fortuitous opportunity surfaced to produce a Britney Spears track, helping to broker Cirkut’s relationship with Dr. Luke and Max Martin, which led to writing and production work on virtually every omnipotent track from Katy Perry or Miley Cyrus you’ve heard in the last couple of years (“Wrecking Ball”? Check. “Dark Horse”?

Check.) Despite this, Cirkut has managed to maintain a relatively low profile, while he continues to work with and develop relatively new acts while continuing to produce for superstar artists like Nicki Minaj. And amid the hubbub surrounding current chart-topping acts like Drake, the Weeknd and Justin Bieber, Cirkut had writing and production credits on R. City’s “Locked Away,” with Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine that was in the top 10 at around the same time.

first four slots have been occupied by Canadians. But why now? The answer is a changing tide in the people shaping the hits — producers who are also Canadian.

Behind those chart-topping

Illangelo While much of the advance press surrounding the creation of the Weeknd’s chart-topping album Beauty Behind the Madness has focused on the increased mass appeal of his work with super producer Max Martin’s songwriting team, it is worth noting that many of the songs were produced and mixed by Calgary native Carlo “Illangelo” Montagnese. Illangelo has been a constant presence in the Weeknd’s circle of collaborators ever since the initial Dream House sessions for House of Balloons, the first mixtape the enigmatic Scarborough, Ont., singer released in 2011, crafting what would become “Crew Love,” a track originally meant for a Weeknd mixtape but that ended up on Drake’s 2011 album Take Care. While he was not involved in the Weeknd’s decidedly mixed major label debut, Kiss Land, Illangelo’s return to the fold as an executive producer and a primary collaborator for the Weeknd on Beauty Behind the Madness has yielded immediate returns, most notably the virtually inescapable Billboard number one hit single “The Hills.”

artists are a group of Canadian producers providing the sonic backdrop for Drake’s willingness to blur the lines between R&B, hip-hop and pop and the Weeknd’s unorthodox take on R&B,

Boi-1da While Drake has now managed to lodge an astonishing 100 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, an overlooked fact is that Kardinal Offishall was actually the first Canadian hip-hop artist to have a hit on the chart with “Dangerous” in 2007. Not 4 Sale, the album from which that single was taken, featured Matthew “Boi-1da” Burnett’s ’s first high-profile production credit for Kardinal Offishall’s “Set It Off.” It was the break the Toronto native needed and, by 2009, he had produced Drake’s breakthrough 2009 single “Best I Ever Had.” And his production of If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late’s track “Know Yourself,” which has popularized the phrase “running through the 6 with my woes,” underscores his ongoing importance to Drake’s work. And as key as Boi-1da’s production work for Drake has been over the years, his willingness to facilitate opportunities for others is also notable: he has helped create opportunities for other Toronto producers such as T-Minus, who has worked with Kendrick Lamar and Nicki Minaj, as well as Nineteen85, co-producer of the now-ubiquitous “Hotline Bling,” and Wondagurl, who famously produced a track for Jay Z’s Magna Carta Holy Grail when she was 16 years old.

tweaking — but not necessarily disrupting — the hit formula currently in place to carve out their own paths.

Consequently, part of the explanation for the recent high-profile success of

Noah ‘40’ Shebib When people refer to Drake’s music as reflecting a Toronto sound, they are talking about the nocturnal, bass-heavy ambience popularized by Noah “40” Shebib, Drake’s close friend, go-to producer and key collaborator.

At this point, 40’s role extends far beyond mere knob twiddler.

As the chief purveyor of Drake’s identifiable sound — which now incorporates a globally broadcast Apple Beats1 radio show and a record label, OVO Sound, featuring acts like Majid Jordan and PartyNextDoor — 40 is ostensibly a curator, one who wields considerable influence incorporating producers who fit the OVO mould into a burgeoning production team. On top of it all, 40 is charged with providing the sonic backdrop for Drake’s Views from the 6, whose title alone has already changed the colloquial name of the city of Toronto without even having been released yet.

Canadian music artists may lie in the people who are behind the music, those who seemingly operate within a few degrees of separation.

Below, we look at five Canadians behind the hits.

Frank Dukes When the 2015 Polaris Prize short list was announced earlier this year, it featured Drake’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late and Sour Soul, the collaboration between Toronto’s jazz band trio BadBadNotGood and Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah. Read the credits of these records and you’ll find the name Frank Dukes, a.k.a. Adam Feeney, on both of them. Dukes runs the Kingsway Music Library, a service that recruits live musicians to commit loop-friendly instrumentals for the benefit of hip-hop artists and producers. Dukes also helped out with “Charged Up,” Drake’s critical first response to rapper Meek Mill, who had accused Drake of using ghostwriters to write his lyrics. When you hear Drake’s “0 to 100” you’re hearing producer Boi-1da’s chopped-up interpretation of a groove initially laid down in Dukes’s Toronto studio by members of BadBadNotGood. Ask any member of the jazz trio and they’ll tell you that Dukes, who produced the whole record with the group, shepherded Sour Soul from conception to completion.

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LOOK AHEAD

10 ARTISTS TO WATCH IN 2016

From rising pop sensations to buzzed-about bands, we look at the Canadians worth keeping an eye on.

This is the time of year when we usually feel the need to wrap things up (both literally and figuratively), but while we were working on our bestof-everything lists it made us wonder: what should we be looking forward to in the year ahead? Which artists will be releasing new material?

Embarking on world tours?

Who will our new favourite artist be in 2016?

From rising pop sensations to buzzed-about bands to prize-winning pianists, we take a look at 10 Canadian artists worth keeping an eye on in 2016.

Andy Shauf

Ria Mae

Kaytranada

The Dirty Nil

IsKwé

Andy Shauf had a notable year in 2015, releasing The Bearer of Bad News in the U.S. to critical acclaim and signing to indie powerhouse labels Arts & Crafts in Canada and Anti- in the U.S. It seems, though, that 2016 has even more in store for the Regina singer-songwriter.

His next release, expected early in the year, is a concept album called The Party, written from the different perspectives of people attending said social gathering. He has already shared a jaunty tune about infidelity from the album, called “Jenny Come Home,” and if it’s any indication of how The Party will sound, we can look forward to hearing songs that are more poppy and upbeat than his previous efforts, but thankfully, just as affecting. — Andrea Gin

In the last year, Halifax’s Ria Mae went from emptying her bank account in order to pay for radio play to being signed to Sony, managed by Nettwerk’s Terry McBride and having her radio hit, “Clothes Off,” mixed by five-time Grammy winner Serban Ghenea (who also mixed Taylor Swift’s 1989). Mae’s first major label release — which she has partially worked on with rapper Classified — was supposed to be out last summer and has since been pushed to 2016. It all means Mae’s going to have one hell of a new year, too.

— Holly Gordon

Kaytranada first bent a few ears after posting his lush, ambient remixes of ‘90s R&B tracks to his Soundcloud page. That doesn’t necessarily differentiate him from a ton of other new producers, but his reverential retooling of Janet Jackson’s “If” was arguably superior to the original version.

Consequently, 2015 found the Montreal native tiding us over with a slew of free downloadable internet loosies and booking a number of production gigs for about-to-blow artists (like Vic Mensa, Mick Jenkins). With a deal from Adele’s U.K. label, XL Recordings, in his back pocket, logic dictates that Kaytranada will be in the same position himself, capitalizing on his rapid ascent as 2016 unfolds. — Del Cowie

For the past couple of years, we’ve been keeping our eyes on the Dirty Nil, a ferocious, gravel-throated punk rock ‘n’ roll three-piece out of Dundas, Ont. (a town previously known musically for the comparatively mellow beats of Caribou). After touring North America relentlessly on the strength of a litter of well-received EPs and singles, the Dirty Nil has signed with Toronto powerhouse label Dine Alone Records, and is now poised to bust out in a big way in 2016 with the release of its debut album, Higher Power, on Feb. 26. The record was mixed by John Goodmanson (Sleater-Kinney, Death Cab For Cutie, Unwound), and is an 11-song blast of pure energy.

The band makes its U.K. debut in January. — Grant Lawrence

Winnipeg’s IsKwé certainly has the qualities of a star in the making.

Her vocals are confident and soulful in a way that belies her age, she knows her way around a dance jam and, perhaps most importantly, she is willing to speak up. Her 2015 single “Nobody Knows” was one of the most devastating songs released this year: a powerful anthem inspired by the more than 1,100 murdered or missing indigenous women in Canada. Hopefully 2016 will see her release a new full-length album that furthers her exploration of the personal and political. Until then, we will be waiting with baited breath. — AG

Project Alessia Cara

Vogue Dots

Bizzarh

Charles Richard-Hamelin

Johnny Orlando

With Alessia Cara’s first single, “Here,” the singer established herself immediately, both musically and lyrically, as a vital new voice. The texture is warm and rich and the words are fire: candid, confident and real, she communicates with beats and unabashed honesty, and it’s incredibly refreshing. With a headlining tour in support of her debut album, Know-It-All, 2016 will be all kinds of magic for the 19-year-old Bramptonite.

— Andrea Warner

Both Ryan Hemsworth and Rich Aucoin chose fellow hometowners Vogue Dots as a band to watch at this year’s Halifax Pop Explosion, but don’t just take their word for it: listen to the single “Way With Silence” and you’ll be swirling to an all-encompassing synth-pop beat all on your own. Made up of Halifax-based New Brunswick natives Tynan Dunfield and Babette Hayward, Vogue Dots released two EPs, Mauka and Toska, in 2014, and we’re hoping for something fuller in length in 2016. Based on their dreamy Pop Explosion set, there’s a lot of magic to expect. — HG

Powerful voices, refined beats and a wild cleverness that separates the soul/rap duo into their own domain, Bizzarh’s Dollar Paris and Charlie Champ are co-rulers of the Island of Misfit Musicians.

The tracks on their Soundcloud are packed dense with loose, sexy grooves and so much agency, it seems almost impossible that not everybody knows their names yet.

Dollar Paris and Charlie Champ are ready. Don’t keep them waiting.

— AW

In October, 26-year-old Montreal pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin won second prize at the 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition. He also won the prize for best performance of a Chopin sonata, bringing his prize winnings to approximately $52,000. In January, RichardHamelin will tour Japan with the Warsaw Philharmonic and the five other prize winners, kicking off a year that is sure to fill up with international concert dates. Until you get your chance to see him play, check out his excellent new all-Chopin album.

— Robert Rowat

Johnny Orlando is a fresh-faced, mature-beyond-his-years 12-yearold musical sensation from Toronto who quite simply is getting hard to ignore: he has more than 430,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel, where he has become famous for posting his covers of hits like the Weeknd’s “I Can’t Feel My Face,” and on Instagram, he has more than 230,000 followers who love his every move with tens of thousands of likes for every photo.

Those are some serious social media numbers, a.k.a. an audience, for which most musicians would kill. And what about the music?

Think earnest, mainstream pop. If Orlando can successfully navigate puberty, he could be the next Bieber. — GL

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SUNDAYS 4:30PM cbc.ca/arts #CBCArts

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chilly gonzales

feist

BY JESSE KINOS-GOODIN

The longtime collaborators have a one-on-one conversation about Canada, cowboys and their craft.

Verses is a series in which we pair musicians together for an informal talk in the hopes that we will gain more insight into their lives, music and personalities. For the first instalment, we asked Chilly Gonzales and Feist to record a conversation when Chilly was CBCMusic.ca’s guest editor.

Chilly Gonzales and Feist go way back.

Back to a time before they were known worldwide as, well, Chilly Gonzales and Feist.

When they met around 2000, Gonzales, as he dubbed himself back then, was the keyboard player in the band of Canadian electronic musician Peaches. Feist, who had just released her debut solo album, Monarch, the year before, had joined Peaches on her European tour as a singer, rapper, dancer and sock puppeteer known as “Bitch Lap Lap.” Video, whic h is as embarrassing as it is amazing, exists of this period, as you will see below.

Fast-forward to 2004. Feist releases her followup album, the critically acclaimed Let It Die, which becomes her first commercial success. It was co-produced by none other than Chilly Gonzales, who, among other things, suggested she do some cover songs to get over her writer’s block. The Bee Gees’ 1979 hit “Inside and Out” appeared on the album, as did her first hit song, “Mushaboom.”

That same year, the pianist released his first album of solo piano material, Solo Piano, which became a major step in his transformation to the character of Chilly Gonzales, “the musical genius,” or Gonzo, as he’s known.

In 2007, Gonzo co-produced another Feist album, The Reminder, which we all know as the album that catapulted her to international stardom based on the strength of its hit single, “1234.” Gonzo co-wrote several songs on the album with Feist, including “My Moon My Man” and “The Limit to Your Love.”

The conversation below happened in July, when Chilly Gonzales was visiting Toronto.

LESLIE FEIST: Where did this bathrobe onstage persona begin?

CHILLY GONZALES: It was an outgrowth of wanting to wear pyjamas onstage,

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I don’t remember why I did that, but it must be a secret subconscious unwillingness to respect how people are supposed to look when they play the piano. Because this coincided with Solo Piano I. I had such outrageous outfits before, like safari suits and pink suits, so it’s like “ok, I’m a piano player now.”

FEIST: And you don’t want to be too serious.

CHILLY GONZALES: Yeah, but at the same time, it doesn’t really work to wear the pink suit. It might be too distracting from the piano or something. So I went with a grandpa look, with a cardigan at first, and it slowly morphed into wearing a lab coat onstage, when I was “the scientist of music” with white gloves, and I finally settled on the bathrobe, via always wanting to play in pyjamas.

FEIST: I have tenure in pyjama-wearing onstage because of By Divine Right. We were forced to wear these really ugly, multi-coloured pyjamas on the Tragically Hip tour in ‘99 because we had worn pyjamas in our video, where we were making doughnuts.

CHILLY GONZALES: You’re from Calgary.

FEIST: Yeah, maybe I grew up watching the rodeo princesses at the front of the Stampede parade and secretly associating the power they had over everything.

CHILLY GONZALES: Here is where the YouTube link goes, in the article, of Gonzo and Feist live at Trash.

FEIST: Hey, I thought of that in the Regina Value Village, which my grandma at the time told me it would have been from Buffalo Days, which is the Regina, B-grade Stampede that happens. Why are you interviewing me right now? I’m supposed to be interviewing you.

CHILLY GONZALES: I have a Calgary connection, because I lived there and so did you.

“When you add strings to something, it instantly becomes an interplay of strings and piano, and strings represent classical music, so... it becomes a statement. You are commenting on music itself.” — Chilly Gonzales

CHILLY GONZALES: So you became trapped by your own iconography?

FEIST: Trapped by multi-coloured pyjamas. Yeah, exactly.

CHILLY GONZALES: What about you?

Have you ever had a uniform?

FEIST: I hit upon something I liked once so I had it knocked off in all these different colours. Basically it was, I don’t know, why did I think “fringe in a Dolly Parton throwback irony”? Fringe?

FEIST: Yeah, Saddledome!

CHILLY GONZALES: And the Vicious Circle, the Coop, those were some cafés I used to go to.

FEIST: You are always in so much control of every aspect of your Gonzales-ness.

I can never believe it when I see two shows in the same city. The jokes always seem spontaneous, and yet the timing is really deft. I know, in our history of reading a lot of autobiographies, I can hear the Marx brothers. You’ve vetted every joke, weighed every word, you know, and down to the controlling of how you put it out. Even last night, showing me stuff on the piano, you had a really taskmaster-style teaching method. And all of this is leading to a radical sabbatical…. Is Gonzales going to take a step back from the boundary line?

CHILLY GONZALES: [pause] … Maybe at some point. Maybe there will be less concerts in the future and more time for composition.

FEIST: Do you think that you will ever be able to write for solo piano again without hearing full chamber arrangements in your head?

CHILLY GONZALES: Absolutely. I am already plotting to get back to the atomic level of music. When you add strings to something, it instantly becomes an interplay of strings and piano, and strings represent classical music, so if you use them differently, it becomes a statement. You are commenting on music itself, the minute you add strings to your piano. But if it’s just piano, if there is a concept, it’s that you just cannot get to a less reduced unit of music than when you are playing some accompanying chords and a melody on top. Therefore this atomic level is very pleasing and it’s what I always end up coming back to. Everything else is a comment. Everything else has context, whereas solo piano is contextless. It’s almost like the platonic ideal of what music can be.

FEIST: Beautiful. I have to admit, sometimes I get exhausted by the arbiter of aesthetic. The snare tone, or in heavy production when making music, I just get overwhelmed by the commentary in every detail of a band production. Guitar tone, drum tone. Someone I know put a fretless bass on a record and felt that it was an enormous statement.

CHILLY GONZALES: I wouldn’t fret about it.

Read the full interview at CBCMusic.ca.

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“What you’re born with is what you’re born with, and the noise you make is the noise you make. And the noise she makes is so extraordinary.” — Glen Ballard

Fierce. Vulnerable. Unapologetic. Alanis Morissette’s voice tore out of 1995 with an album that split the decade. Jagged Little Pill’s sharp arrival was unexpected: Morissette’s previous work included two teen pop albums and a single that gave her the moniker “Too Hot” Alanis.

It also gave her a dance-pop image she wanted to shake. At 21 years old, Morissette no longer let others define her; Jagged Little Pill was her truth.

Dropped from MCA Records after those first two albums, Morissette travelled to California to write new songs and eventually found a co-writer in Glen Ballard (Michael Jackson, Paula Abdul).

Madonna’s label, Maverick Records, picked up the resulting album, and come June 1995, Morissette released a feminist manifesto in Jagged Little Pill that sold more than 33 million copies

The making-of: ‘I have zero regret about anything’*

an oral history of Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill

BY HOLLY GORDON

Fierce. Vulnerable. Unapologetic.

Alanis Morissette’s voice tore out of 1995 with an album that split the decade.

We talk to the people behind Jagged Little Pill.

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Morissette: I really was dying to go to Hollywood. But I knew that if I went from Ottawa straight to Hollywood it just would’ve been too big of a cultural change for me. So I spent about a year or so in Toronto, and then I was dropped by MCA. And so I just kept writing. I was a workaholic then, I’m a recovering workaholic now.

I was just writing day and night — I have calendars from that period of time where I have a writing session in the morning and a writing session at night, seven days a week, Saturdays and Sundays, and that’s all I did.

Ballard: In February of 1994, a young publisher named Kurt Dinney, who was at MCA Music Publishing, and was working in the L.A. office, he called me and said that he had a writer coming in town from Canada and he had thought me to write with her and that’s how it all started. It ended up that was Alanis Morissette. And he told me that she was going to be in town for a short time and wanted to write songs.

Morissette: I just didn’t want to stop [writing]. And it’s why I moved to Hollywood and wrote with so many different people, I didn’t want to stop until a song really represented exactly what I was thinking and feeling. [I’d already written] probably 50 songs?

[Laughs] I was a people pleaser, and I had a hard time stopping the process if I was writing with someone out of respect for them, so I would finish the song, but I knew that I would never use the song. The exercise of it was really illuminating for me but I knew I hadn’t sort of found my rightful seat, so to speak.

Ballard: She was trying to figure out who she was in that moment, and it was this incredible thing. I just felt like she just was shaking her tree and fruit was falling out [laughs]. I mean, she was just so ready to have that happen. So it was a beautiful, beautiful time. And it rarely happens that way. I mean perfect time, perfect place.

She was 19 and 20 years old at the time, and on her 21st birthday this record came out and it was a pretty nice birthday present [laughs].

Morissette: When I moved to L.A. I continued writing with a handful of different people and it just didn’t click until I met Glen. He was intellectually sophisticated, so there was no ceiling for me there, and then musically he was really sophisticated, so there was no ceiling there, and then he was just really curious about who I was and left this huge open space for me to write.

Ballard: She walked in my studio in March of 1994, Encino, California, just about six

weeks before that there’d been a huge earthquake, and my studio was just getting back online and when she showed up, she actually helped me finish the last day of getting it online. We were late getting started; the studio wasn’t ruined, but a lot of stuff had been shaken up. So it was kind of after this huge, seismic event. And then when we’re writing the record, literally this O.J. Simpson saga was happening and at one point, Robert Kardashian, he lived in Encino not far from my house. There were all these helicopters going over, chasing O.J. Simpson down the street and we were going, “What the hell is going on?” We were writing a song called “No Avalon,” which is not on the album but it’s a very powerful song. It was kind of influenced by that event. So it felt like there was a lot going on. Certainly every day was a pretty magical thing. There was no question about it. That doesn’t happen every day.

Morissette: A lot of other people that I’d been put together with to collaborate had their own agenda. Especially in Canada, understandably. They’d known me as a teenage artist. So everyone had an agenda often when I would go into the studio with them, whereas Glen had no agenda. His begged question for me was, “Who are you? What do you wanna write about?

What’s going on with you?” That was a real freedom, it was beautiful.

and won multiple Grammy and Juno awards.

This month marks 20 years since Morissette set off on her Jagged Little Pill world tour, a.k.a. the Can’t Not or the Intellectual Intercourse tour. But the album’s story starts in a small studio in Encino, Calif., just after an earthquake, at the same time and place as the O.J. Simpson police car chase. When a 19-year-old Canadian woman with a hell of a lot to say headed west from Toronto and found her voice.

With interviews from Morissette, Ballard, Maverick’s Guy Oseary and more, we present the complete oral history of Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill.

Editor’s note: all interviews have been edited for clarity.

Ballard: The first song was called “The Bottom Line” [which later became “All I Really Want”] and we recorded it, we wrote it and recorded it all that day and that became our pattern. We finished it that night, recorded it and played it for our publisher the next day and they liked it, and they said keep going. So we did.

Morissette: Our ritual was such that we would just get together, maybe at noon or 1, we’d go to lunch, we’d have some conversation, some philosophical conversation about whatever the topic was that day, and then we would go into the studio and often the song would be about that topic.

Ballard: I think the biggest thing is that she wasn’t on a record label, and we weren’t really trying to write something for the radio or for an A&R guy or whatever, we were just writing songs and I think that’s the best thing that could’ve happened, because I think she was much too original.

She didn’t want to copy anything, I mean that wasn’t in her. And so it was the least derivative thing I’ve ever done, it was literally just whatever we wanted to do we started doing.

Morissette: We did the music together the first few songs — so “Closer Than You Might Believe” and “The Bottom Line” and “Ironic” were written by him and me, and he dove into some of the lyrics with me, too. So I was leaning on him a little bit in that regard for the first few songs. And then afterwards it just became obvious — well it didn’t become obvious, but I

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just really sort of came into my own, so to speak, and was writing the music with him but then the lyrics would be written all at the same time with me and I felt like I was off to the races, with his support.

Ballard: The best thing that happened in all the writing was that she sang a lot. She just was singing. She didn’t have all the words yet but she was singing, singing, singing. And singing these melodies and changing things. For me, getting to hear her voice in the room a lot, that’s how we were able to write those songs, one a day.

So that was sort of the predicate, and literally every song we did in a day, and it was just the two of us.

Morissette: I think as we started writing more and more songs together, I just thought, “Oh, this is an invitation, this is complete freedom for me to be who I am yet at the same time feel safe,” right? So it wasn’t like there were 500 people in the studio in the room, staring at me, judging me [laughs]. And again the lack of agenda was just a very soulful experience for me, his lack of agenda. I had a really big agenda: my agenda was to be self-expressed and to be as authentic as I possibly could, and I wouldn’t stop until that happened.

Ballard: I recorded all those vocals at the end of the night, sometimes one take.

“You Oughta Know,” one take. Most of ‘em, two takes. And it was that part of it, to this day, amazes me more than anything.

Because she did not ever, ever get neurotic about vocals. A lot of singers just naturally will be. She just couldn’t be less concerned. She just would go out and sing.

Morissette: I think the process for me was really sacred, but it wasn’t precious. If I were to have gone in to re-record these vocals, they would’ve been very awkward [laughs]. Because I already had them, you know? There was a really urgent, visceral, immediate, real-time capturing that Glen was able to do with his C12 mic, his magic mic, the original Magic Mike. And so I just felt the vocals were already there, and he did too.

Ballard: So much of it happened just with the two of us, honestly it’s the most intimate record you could make. Because the first two days we were working, I didn’t have a recording engineer, largely because

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of this earthquake thing. I was just doing my best to get it on tape. Recording it on 8-adds. I have a nice studio but I don’t consider myself to be a recording engineer, but on Jagged Little Pill I was. So the first two things we did, it was just me, and she said, “I like writing like that.”

So I engineered all the original demos, every single one of ‘em.

Morissette: I think there were a couple times where we tried to maybe do another vocal take and it just sounded like I was copying myself [laughs]. So we kept a lot of the original demos. I think “Hand in My Pocket” is maybe the original demo with a few tweaks.

that my own personal intimate experiences were things that people related to or were inspired by or comforted by. That came much later.

Recording engineer Chris Fogel was working for Ballard during the time Morissette wrote Jagged Little Pill, and mixed most of the album.

Fogel: I’d come in in the morning, [Glen would] decide which song I was gonna mix, he’d leave me for the day to do my thing with it, he’d come back and listen to it, make his tweaks to it and then we’d have Alanis come in that evening, listen to it, make her tweaks to it, or they’d listen to it both together for the first time and make their tweaks. I’m sort of the third wheel.

Ballard: On “You Oughta Know” it was 11 Ballard: On May 26, we wrote the song o’clock at night, she sang it once. We were “Ironic.” So that was the third song we’d exhausted. written. And That was it. honestly, when That’s the we wrote that record, that’s one I was really the vocals. excited because From a vocal I loved it, it’s standpoint, no still one of my one has that favourite songs, much courage. and everything Everybody that happened wants to fix in the writing their shit, she of that song never did. She convinced me never did. She that this was — Alanis Morissette on just wanted special. her writing process it to be that.

And of course *Morissette: it was specI think the tacular. But malapropism there was no Auto-Tune, no double track. in “Ironic” was the only thing I regretted We doubled certain things just for effects, [laughs]. I was like, oh God, if I knew more but all those vocals are just her at the end than 10 people were gonna hear this, I of the night, singing something she just would’ve been a stickler instead of being wrote. And that’s the most amazing thing shamed publicly, planetarily, for 20 years. to me, is the way she finished it.

And Glen and I wrote that one together.

But, you know, other than that I have zero Morissette: There is this illusion of safety regret about anything. for artists, when you’re alone in a room.

Until the crazy fame that ensued, I literally Fogel: We were listening to a lot of indie thought maybe 10 people would hear this rock at the time, I think at the time the song. I didn’t think anyone would really Cranberries were very popular. So we were hear it. I mean, I wanted to share it with going for a little bit edgier, not so polished as many billions of people as I possibly sound, and I think if you listen to the vocal could, but I was alone in a room with Glen, sound in “Ironic,” particularly the bridge and it was safe for me to talk and share section, that’s heavily affected, that’s and write, and so I did, and it felt really something that I came up with for the mix. liberating. It was only later that I realized

“I thought that maybe ten people would hear this song

Ballard: We wrote a few more times and then she had to go back to Canada. And honestly, we wrote, I think the last thing we wrote was in June, and then I did not write again with her until October of 1994.

In a short span we wrote “You Oughta Know,” “Mary Jane,” “Forgiven,” “Head Over Feet,” “Hand in My Pocket,” “Right Through You,” “You Learn,” all that was in October or November. We were just on such a roll at that point, it just felt like we knew what we were doing.

Fogel: We did live versions of “Hand in My Pocket” with studio drummers and studio musicians and presented those to the label. We did versions of songs that never existed.

[We started] doing a whole bunch of different versions of the package that became Jagged Little Pill and eventually wound it back to what it was.

On meeting

Leonard

BY GLEN HANSARD

hen I was 15 years old my cousin gave me the Greatest Hits of Leonard Cohen, the one with the yellow cover where he’s looking into a mirror, and I absorbed that record. I breathed it in, I drank it, I fell utterly in love with “Famous Blue Raincoat” and the atmosphere and the energy and the particular oddness of it.

Ballard: What astonished me was that she was writing stuff in real time. I mean “Perfect” she wrote right in front of me, and the whole concept of a child, sort of the pressure that a child feels from their parents. I mean, we weren’t even writing that song, she wasn’t thinking about it, it just kind of jumped into her brain.

It’s more than the recording, it’s more than the lyric, it’s more than the melody. There’s just something about that song that just creates a space – which is something you hope to do as a songwriter, to create a space in one’s career where I want to be.

Ballard: There was so much non-verbal intention in her vocal. You can hear there’s the cry in the sound of her voice. What is that emotion, you know? What are the words that go with that? And somehow, she was able to do it. I mean, it was just an extraordinary thing to witness. And I was sort of hearing her do it as I’m making these tracks, and we’re kicking stuff back and forth with the music, but she’s just writing furiously, and then singing some, writing, singing, writing, singing, it was great. Sitting on the floor, never would sit in a chair [laughs].

So I was 15, and Leonard came to Ireland and my cousin

bought me tickets. And Leonard was doing two shows one day, there was an evening show and a matinee show. Back in the day if your gig sold out they’d stick on another one that same day, and so we got tickets for that show. We’re sitting in the fourth or fifth row and during “Famous Blue Raincoat,” my cousin, who was an epileptic, took a fit. Leonard stopped the song and said, “Is that boy OK?” We were taken out by the John’s ambulance people and some man with a pass came along and said, “Hey, if you guys make it back for the later show, if he’s ok, here’s two tickets for tonight’s show.”

So we got to the hospital, and by the time we got to the hospital my cousin was fine, we went straight back and got on the queue for the next show. When they let us in they put us into a box, which was really fancy, and

we watched the show again and we couldn’t believe it. It was so wonderful.

Afterwards, the guy with the pass said “Wait here a minute,” and Leonard came up and he shook my cousin’s hand and said, “Are you ok?,” and then he shook my hand. I was 15 and it was the moment I really committed to being a musician. I was shaking his hand and it was like something passing. The master passes on something, some kind of energy, to the student, because I had just learned guitar and had just figured out how to play “Famous Blue Raincoat.”

Three years ago, in the north of Spain ... Leonard was honoured with a [Spanish Letters] award and I was one of the people invited to sing. So I got to sing “Famous Blue Raincoat” to him. Afterwards we spoke and I told him the story. He didn’t

remember, of course he didn’t – he was through a lot and he was on a lot – but it was very nice for me to go and sing that song to him all those years later and finish that circle.

Glen Hansard is an Academy Award-winning singer-songwriter.

On September 18th, he took over CBCMusic.ca’s as our guest editor.

People think that she was in this heavy state of mind when making it, the opposite was true. I’ve never been funnier, she laughed at everything I had to say. She was just in a place of wanting fun and laughter, and she was making me laugh, so hard that I couldn’t even sit up. Honestly, it was that fun.

To read more of Jagged Little Pill’s oral history — including the details behind the secret track and how Alanis got signed to Madonna’s label — head to CBCMusic.ca/ JaggedLittleWeek.

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THE YEAR OF THE

YEAR IN MUSIC

how big pop star endorsements from Drake and Taylor Swift have helped boost new artists

BY MELODY LAU People say it can get lonely at the top sometimes. So what better way to resolve that than to lend a helping hand to upcoming artists looking to climb the charts themselves? See it as pop stars trying to champion newcomers or, if you’re a pessimist, big names trying to stake claim on the next wave of musicians. Ultimately we can see it as the musical equivalent of Oprah’s Book Club: if you got a shout-out from Taylor Swift or Drake this year, you were guaranteed to reap the benefits.

It should come as no surprise that Taylor Swift looks up to Oprah Winfrey. In her September cover story for Vanity Fair, the pop star — who has ruled 2015 between the continued success of her record-breaking album 1989 and the ensuing world tour — revealed that she would ideally want a career trajectory similar to that of the media mogul’s. “If you look at Oprah, she’s made so many people happy over the years,” Swift told the magazine.

“She’s made so much money, but she’s given so much of it away.”

YOU CAN’T HYDE FROM YOURSELF

SERIES PREMIERE JAN 11

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If making money and providing joy to others is her goal, then Swift has made it, but the two pop culture figures have another important thing in common: the power of influence. Oprah’s ability to skyrocket book sales with her long-running Oprah’s Book Club has become one of her biggest successes. This is essentially what Swift has done but with music and social media in 2015. Never have the words “Please welcome to the stage” been so effective as when Swift said it at every single one of her 1989 tour stops, inviting surprise guest after surprise guest onstage to collaborate, or just wave hello. Those few minutes in the spotlight have proven beneficial to many of Swift’s “good friends.”

While Swift’s guests varied in levels of fame, younger artists such as British girl group Little Mix or its American equivalent, Fifth Harmony, noticed an immediate increase in iTunes sales and chart success following their appearances. Little Mix’s single “Black Magic” landed on the Billboard charts at number 44, and the same happened for Fifth Harmony, who jumped up several spots to number 23.

Many other artists received massive spikes in social media popularity. Billboard noted examples like Cincinnati newcomers Walk the Moon, whose Twitter mentions went up by 381 per cent, and even Toronto R&B star the Weeknd — no newcomer by any means — but who got a 53 per cent increase in Twitter mentions (his Instagram likes rose by 244 per cent).

While Swift’s onstage guests are picked on the basis of songs and artists she likes, it’s definitely an exercise in showing how tuned-in Swift is to the current pop landscape. Not only does she know who shares the charts, but she actively helps sculpt those same charts when, as part of her feminist rebrand, Swift strives to boost those around her as opposed to taking them down (misunderstandings with Nicki Minaj aside).

Toronto rapper Drake has also proven to be a savvy one, keeping his ear to the ground of emerging rap and hip-hop artists. While Drake doesn’t have the same coordinating senses as Swift does with her tour de force of celebrity guests, his platform has become his Beats 1 OVO Sound radio show, and he has maintained a place in the upper echelons of rap because of his intuitive skills in applying styles of hip-hop that are of the moment.

Fans of the rapper can spot the pattern: in 2013, Drake hopped on a remix of Migos’s “Versace;” in 2014, Drake remixed ILoveMakonnen’s “Tuesday;” in May 2015, Drake remixed Mississauga, Ont., artist Ramriddlz’s slow-burning track “Sweeterman.”

In each of these cases, Drake boasts an innate ability to adapt to different styles of hip-hop, be it trap or cloud rap, but he also raises the profile of those he chooses to remix. Migos, ILoveMakonnen (who signed to Drake’s OVO Sound label) and Ramriddlz all found their stocks rise, including charting on Billboard for the first time.

At the middle of Swift and Drake’s influential Venn diagram is Brampton, Ont., R&B singer Alessia Cara, who has won over both stars. Swift has given Cara multiple shoutouts on Twitter ever since discovering her cover of “Bad Blood” in July, even garner-

ing a spot on Swift’s playlist of “songs that will make your life more awesome.” Drake approached Cara at this year’s Squamish Valley Music Festival and posted a photo with her on Instagram, giving her the title “my lil one from the 6 side.” Even though Cara had achieved a modest fanbase with her YouTube covers and a record deal with Def Jam Recordings, some of her arguable overnight success must be attributed to this famous-fan clout.

But there can be a downside to these endorsements. For Drake, there is a fine line between co-signing and bandwagoning.

In June, Drake remixed rapper Fetty Wap’s track “My Way.” While Drake’s remixes have sometimes helped put artists on the map (or charts), Wap was already having a successful year with multiple number-one hits including “Trap Queen” and “Again.”

Suddenly, Drake was playing catch up as opposed to being ahead of the curve.

There’s also the latest controversy surrounding Drake’s new hit, “Hotline Bling.” Many have been quick to point out the song’s similarity to Virginia rapper D.R.A.M.’s single “Cha Cha,” which came out six months earlier. In an interview with the Fader, Drake sort of clarifies these accusations by talking about wanting to borrow a particular style for his track.

“Imagine if we got one beat and every single person — me, this guy, this guy, all these guys — had to do a song on that one beat,” he said. “So sometimes I’ll pick a beat that’s a bit, like, sunnier, I guess is the word you used, than usual, and I just try my hand at it.”

Swift’s problems with influence are less intertwined with the artist’s music and more problematic in SEO results. When Swift retweeted a video by Montreal artist Emilie & Ogden covering her hit single “Style,” it transformed the harpist into a viral sensation — which was the problem.

“I was getting all this attention but I was, like, maybe this is for the wrong reasons,” Emilie Khan told the Toronto Star. The attention did boost Khan’s career, but she feared she would become a one-hit wonder — for a hit she didn’t even write.

Regardless of the politics surrounding a co-sign, 2015 was the year when music’s biggest artists opened up their platforms, ensuring a more level playing field as opposed to the hackneyed idea of fighting each other to the top. And if the charts are being somewhat determined by artist curation, there will also hopefully be less bad blood.

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with Serena Ryder

In late August, CBC Music took to Fundy National Park to plot out an ambitious undertaking: staging a concert on the ocean floor of the Bay of Fundy while the tide was out.

BY NICOLLE WEEKS

After months of meticulous planning, we rolled in and set up the concert (very quickly, you can imagine).

Another twist? We couldn’t make a huge racket in a serene national park.

Instead, we set up the concert so that it would broadcast into 1,000 wireless headphones.

What happened after that was magical: a beautiful set played by Serena Ryder to 1,000 lucky fans on the ocean floor.

Watch the full set on the CBC Music YouTube channel.

The Canadian icon shares some of the wisdom she’s acquired over 50 years in the music business.

As told to Andrea Warner

Quietest Concert Ever is a collaboration between Parks Canada and CBCMusic.ca

They wanted me to come out in fringes and braids and shit [laughs] and that’s not what was going on.

I had just graduated with a degree in philosophy and was on the way to India, I wasn’t interested in their kind of circus image.... I mean, you don’t ask white people to run around in pilgrim costumes.

Not everybody is a Lakota from the 1800s... I’ve always had a real respect and love for the reality of Aboriginal people as I find them. I’ve been treated so nicely and I’ve spent a lot of time at a lot of reserves with a lot of people, in the city, in the country, everywhere. We don’t have to fit into somebody’s Halloween image of us in order to be who we are.

I’m not part of the corporate structure. I wasn’t invited into it in the very beginning of my career — you know, you have to have certain managers competing with certain other managers — so I was never really a part of that big-time show business.

I didn’t have Bob Dylan’s manager, I didn’t have people really pushing my

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career, so my career has always been an out-springing of who I am as opposed to the other way around.

and oh my God, it’s like it turns into a war of fraud and thieves. The idea of alternatives that have not occurred to that marketing department don’t make it into the headlines. A lot of us who are marginalized by where we happen to live or our gender or our economic status as poor people, we really need to discover that sense of the sacred within ourselves.

I took 15 years off to raise my son. I took four years off to see my mom through her final days. I’ve often taken a lot of time off and I think it gives me a different sense of comfort in the world than I would have if I was merely a careerist “I LIVE ON A FARM, AWAY trying to FROM EVERYTHING, AND I’M compete in JUST NOT A COMPETITOR. the system to I JUST NEVER HAVE BEEN. have a better IT DOESN’T MEAN I STAY record than QUIET ABOUT WHAT I THINK, somebody I’M JUST A LITTLE BIT else.

DIFFERENT.” I very deliberately have lived [in Hawaii] for 50 years and I live way in a rural farm, way in the mountains, away from everything, and I just love it. I think it probably does inform not only my music but the stamina of my heart to stay positive.

In show business, and really in the world at large, a corporation decides to market one thing and they target everything

what you hear on the radio, explore the entire heart and soul of world music, because it’s all wonderful and it’s exciting

Buffy Sainte-Marie’s latest album, Power in the Blood, won the 2015 Polaris Music Prize.

We allow each other so little enjoyment or even tolerance for our individualities, our uniquenesses, and yet to me, that’s what it’s all about.

For me, the hip word is mutate. We’re ripening all the time.

You know what I’m always pushing Aboriginal musicians for? Jeez, learn more than those three chords over and over again, those same three pop-country chords. I’m really always pushing people to polish up their chops, polish up their musicianship, listen to more music than

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