Monday Listening: Fisticuffs

Fisticuffs by Emily

Fisticuffs (or Jordan Kurtz) of Saskatoon is new but not ‘new’ to me.  You see, I am a fan of fellow prairie folkster Zachary Lucky and these two seem to be thick as thieves.  So I keep seeing Lucky’s twitter feed calling out this “@heyfisticuffs” and then after getting back into a favourite Shot At The Dark video session with Calgary artist Benjamin Bullock, who was the very next video?  Well, it was Mr. Fisticuffs himself – I watched and listened and then slapped myself full across the face for not listening sooner.  That story is completely true…except for the violence.

So this brings me to the Fisticuffs – I picked up his 2010 EP ‘The Wheat Weather’ over the weekend and started listening – right up my alley I have to say.  A bit of lo-fi indie dream folk (because I can’t fit anymore genres in one sentence…I’m terrible at that stuff) and essentially a more acoustic release.  The EP is 6 tracks total with my current favourite being the ‘recorded in the distance’ track Bellows – solo acoustic, echoing vocals, haunting piano strikes and overall just great stuff.  Turns out my boy Zach Lucky even played some guitar and banjo on the release.  I guess it makes sense that the two of them are touring together with some dates still coming up (see Lucky’s MySpace page for dates).

So let’s take a look at that video from Shot At The Dark (love those guys) that started it all along with a couple of embeds from the EP, The Wheat Weather:

SHOT AT THE DARK – Fisticuffs from Shot at The Dark on Vimeo.

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There you have it, my new find, is your new find for this Music Monday.  Please swing by and visit Fisticuffs on his Facebook Page, Bandcamp Page ( <— purchase and sample 3 free downloads) and even his MySpace Page.

~Smansmith