John K. Samson vs. Innuit Throat Singing vs. Synths. A Worth it Battle!

Yes, you read that post title correctly.  John K. versus Nikki Komaksiutiksak with some electronic/looping via Blunderspublik.  Yes, you read that correctly as well.

One of the most interesting things I have seen in a while – the overall project of “Record of the Week” and then this track – how indie is this??  First off the project:

The Record Of The Week Club is a weekly recording session featuring musicians from diverse musical backgrounds. Never knowing who their co-creators will be – an incognito and disparate group of musicians meet at MCM Studios in Winnipeg, Canada every Wednesday evening. Over the course of one evening they are charged with the task of getting to know each other, arranging, rehearsing and recording a piece under the guidance of Mike Petkau. The song is immediately mixed and uploaded and made available for download that same night.

Okay, Winnipeg (or “The ‘Peg” as I know it) is a pseudo home town for me and ya gotta represent.

Secondly the song:

Tonight Nikki introduced us to one of the 52 languages spoken amongst the aboriginal people in Canada’s arctic. The verses were written by John after getting a lesson in northern geography. Nikki wrote the chorus; the translation is “I am happy to be who I am.”

We built the song around several takes of Nikki’s throat singing. Curtis (Blunderspublik) processed parts of my recordings of Nikki’s singing and John’s guitar, as well building several loops. He also laid down a lead guitar in the chorus. John played guitar and piano, and sang.

The song itself, “Keewatin Arctic”: featuring the vocals of John K. Samson (of Weakerthans fame – kind of a Winnipeg Icon for independent music) and mix in some (not so) surprisingly uniquely beautiful throat singing with electronic accents.  POW – pretty damn sweet, down tempo electro-acoustic track.  Some tracks don’t necessarily fall into the Slowcoustic arena as there is quite the diversity across the project.  This one track however comes highly recommended.

Visit the project Website for a bit more info or to pick up a copy of the 16 track album (15 very affordable Canadian dollars here people!).  If you are in the Winnipeg area – the CD Release show is on June 18th at the West End Cultural Centre – pick up tickets HERE.

~Smansmith

p.s. “Keewatin” is an Aboriginal word in the Cree language and means “Blizzard of the North” – this I get from also living in Northern Manitoba for half my life!