 | This article includes a list of general references, but it remains largely unverified because it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(February 2015) |
Weird Canada is a blog that celebrates Canadian emerging music, literature, spaces, ideas, and art. It was founded in 2009 by Aaron Levin and Marie LeBlanc-Flanagan in Edmonton, Alberta.
In 2011, Weird Canada won CBC Radio 3's Searchlight competition for Best Canadian Music Website. [1] As of 2012, the blog is completely bilingual in English and French. [1]
In 2011 and 2012, Levin was a judge on the Polaris Music Prize panel.
In 2012, LeBlanc-Flanagan incorporated Wyrd Arts Initiatives, a national nonprofit with a mandate to "encourage, document and connect creative expression across Canada" with a focus on emerging and DIY arts communities. The organization presents music showcases both independently and in partnership with festivals and other organizations, creates resources for the independent and emerging arts community, and continues to publish the Weird Canada web site. LeBlanc-Flanagan has been the Executive Director of Wyrd Arts Initiatives since its inception. The organization is supported by over 450 volunteers (from Victoria to Nunavut) and continues to spark dialogue and change relating to accessibility, inclusivity, organizational openness, and responsive community building.
Canadian indie musicians Grimes, Mac DeMarco [2] and Sean Nicholas Savage [3] got their first exposure through Weird Canada.
A $50,000 grant from FACTOR went into the creation of Wyrd Distro in 2014. [4] The Wyrd Distro is a nationwide music distribution service that allows music fans to buy physical releases from the bands that are featured on Weird Canada's blog. [2]
"Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and semi-raw materials and parts to produce, transform, or reconstruct material possessions, including those drawn from the natural environment ". DIY behavior can be triggered by various motivations previously categorized as marketplace motivations, and identity enhancement.
A zine is a small-circulation self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images, usually reproduced via a copy machine. Zines are the product of either a single person or of a very small group, and are popularly photocopied into physical prints for circulation. A fanzine is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon for the pleasure of others who share their interest. The term was coined in an October 1940 science fiction fanzine by Russ Chauvenet and popularized within science fiction fandom, entering the Oxford English Dictionary in 1949.
The Dears are a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec. The band is led by the husband-and-wife duo of singer-guitarist Murray Lightburn and keyboardist Natalia Yanchak.
Music Canada is a non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, manufacture, produce, and distribute music in Canada. It also offers benefits to some of Canada's leading independent record labels and distributors.
Chart Attack was a Canadian online music publication. Formerly a monthly print magazine called Chart, it was published from 1991 to 2009. While the web version appears to be available online, the domain is now used as a popular media outlet, similar to BuzzFeed, almost entirely excluding music. Content ceased to be updated from mid 2017 to 2019 when owner Channel Zero laid off the site's staff.
Indie pop is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and subsequently generated a thriving fanzine, label, and club and gig circuit. Compared to its counterpart, indie rock, the genre is more melodic, less abrasive, and relatively angst-free. In later years, the definition of indie pop has bifurcated to also mean bands from unrelated DIY scenes/movements with pop leanings. Subgenres include chamber pop and twee pop.
CD Baby, Inc. is an online distributor of independent music. The company was described as an "anti-label" by its parent company's Chief Operating Officer Tracy Maddux. The CD Baby music store was shut down in March 2020 with a statement that "CD Baby retired our music store in March of 2020 in order to place our focus entirely on the tools and services that are most meaningful to musicians today and tomorrow."
Sonic Unyon Recording Company is an independent record label based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Their former retail store was located on Wilson Street near James Street North. The label has put out releases by bands including Tristan Psionic, Sianspheric, Shallow North Dakota, Eric's Trip, Hayden, Chore, Frank Black and the Catholics, A Northern Chorus, Raising the Fawn, Teenage Head and Voivod.
Cinema Speakeasy is about a curated film screening series based on the West Coast of the United States.
Givers is an indie pop group from Lafayette, Louisiana. The band is made up of vocalist and percussionist Tiffany Lamson, vocalist and guitarist Taylor Guarisco, and bassist and guitarist Josh LeBlanc. The band's origins date to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which displaced Lamson and Guarisco from their New Orleans apartment and school, leading them to return to Lafayette with little to do. The duo began playing music together, and they recruited the other members shortly before a last-minute performance at a local pub in 2008. The band came together as the result of the unplanned, improvised jam.
Mageia is a Linux-based operating system, distributed as free and open source software. It was forked from the Mandriva Linux distribution. The Greek term mageía (μαγεία) means enchantment, fascination, glamour, wizardry.
Emmabuntüs is a Linux distribution derived from Ubuntu/Debian and designed to facilitate the repacking of computers donated to humanitarian organizations like the Emmaüs Communities.
SolydXK is a Dutch Linux distribution based on Debian. It aims to be simple to use, providing an environment that is stable, secure, and ideal for small businesses, non-profit organizations and home users.
OpenMandriva Lx is a Linux distribution forked from Mandriva Linux. It is maintained by the OpenMandriva Association.
ClearCenter is headquartered in New Zealand, and has its primary product offices in Orem, Utah, along with marketing, support, research and development facilities around the world, ranging from Canada, Taiwan, China, Netherlands, UK and India helping to develop ClearCenter's Hybrid Products for an emerging type of Managed Service Provider known as the emerging Hybrid Service Provider. Many of ClearCenter’s products are based upon ClearFoundation’s ClearOS.
Since the late 2000s, numerous musical artists from the neighborhood of Mile End, Montreal have recorded, released and performed what the press has considered to be weird, experimental, DIY music of a variety of styles. All of these acts that are considered a part of the DIY scene initially played their music at parties only around the Montreal area, but it wasn't until the year of the release of singer-songwriter Grimes' album Visions (2012) that the subculture garnered attention worldwide.
DistroKid is an independent digital music distribution service, founded in 2013 by American entrepreneur Philip J. "Pud" Kaplan. DistroKid principally offers musicians and other rights-holders the opportunity to distribute and sell or stream their music through online retailers such as iTunes/Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Tidal, Deezer, iHeartRadio and others.
C86 is a cassette compilation released by the British music magazine NME in 1986, featuring new bands licensed from British independent record labels of the time. As a term, C86 quickly evolved into shorthand for a guitar-based musical genre characterized by jangling guitars and melodic power pop song structures, although other musical styles were represented on the tape. In its time, it became a pejorative term for its associations with so-called "shambling" and underachievement. The C86 scene is now recognized as a pivotal moment for independent music in the UK, as was recognized in the subtitle of the compilation's 2006 CD issue: CD86: 48 Tracks from the Birth of Indie Pop. 2014 saw the original compilation reissued in a 3CD expanded edition from Cherry Red Records; the 2014 box-set came with an 11,500-word book of sleevenotes by one of the tape's original curators, former NME journalist Neil Taylor.
Samuel Henry Levin is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.
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