It’s no secret that Toronto’s mainstay indie record label, Arts & Crafts, has backed some of the biggest and best bands this country has to offer. This year, the label celebrates 10 years at the top of the music-making business, and in celebration, it is offering up a smorgasbord of cool things to do, see, eat, wear and hear.
A&C alumni announced an upcoming compilation album this week, known as X, which will feature new tracks and reinterpretations of classics. While the track list is still under wraps, they’ve enlisted Stars, Feist, Broken Social Scene, Chilly Gonzales, Dan Mangan, Snowblink, The Darcys, Zeus, Jason Collett and loads more to join forces and put together 10 collaborative tracks. The album drops May 28, and if we’ve learned anything from Arts & Crafts family members, it’s that they go together like peanut better and jelly.
Also coming up soon is the Field Trip music festival. Prepare for a primo culmination of the cream of A&C’s music crop, including Feist, Bloc Party, Stars, Hayden, Jason Collett, Cold Specks, Timber Timbre, Zeus and a one-night only Broken Social Scene reunion. The June 8 Fort York show is the first time BSS will be together on stage since their Rio de Janeiro gig in November of 2011. Until the Field Trip festival, this free Broken Social Scene track might sate you — even if the festival’s food prospects have your tummy grumbling.
It’s no secret that music programs in classrooms in the province have fallen by the wayside, so it’s refreshing to know that programs such as MusiCounts — a charity that aims to ensure that Canadian children have access to musical education — are trying to change that. A&C has recruited local fashion designer Jeremy Laing to create a line inspired by (and made in collaboration with) the label’s artists. The unisex apparel will be available online and at The Bay starting May 6, and T-shirts will go for $75, 100 per cent of which is donated to MusiCounts. Stylish for an undeniably good cause? That’s what we call a win-win.
If you’ve ever wanted to catch a behind-the-scenes glimpse of a rock ‘n’ roll tour, Norman Wong is your lens. He’s been A&C’s go-to photographer over the past 10 years, following the label’s artists on tours and concerts. From May 23 to June 15, Wong will have an exhibit at the Contact Photography Festival. In a press release, Wong says, “This collection of photographs is a celebration of a group of people I truly love and admire. No one outside my circle of friends has seen these photographs, and it gives me great excitement to share it with the city I love, to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Arts & Crafts.”
Here’s to another decade of phenomenal tunes.