Your Canadian Travel Summer Playlist
/With vaccines flying into arms across the country, the heat rising to alarming rates (we’ll talk about that massive issue another time), and people itching to enjoy a bit of life after a year and a half locked inside, summer is fully upon us.
However, I’m a firm believer that life is made infinitely better with a good soundtrack.
As such, while you enjoy your long-earned pandemic summer, here are a few suggestions for key moments, brought to you by a handful of exceptionally talented Canadian musicians.
Road Trip!
The Blue Stones – Hidden Gems
While I’ve never been much of a driver, life can be made infinitely better behind the wheel with the right album. I recently had the good fortune to get to test out the 2021 Kia Sorento X-Line and took a drive up to Algonquin Park for a few days in the woods. As I hit the road early on a Monday morning, I was blessed with minimal traffic, a smooth-as-silk suspension, and an incredible sound system. I threw on Hidden Gems from Windsor’s own The Blue Stones and nodded my head to the beat in smooth satisfaction. This album was the perfect start to a road trip, and I really felt the Sorento and I digging into the road by the time we hit track 7, LA Afterlife.
Click here to check out the album!
Pitching a Tent
The Noble Rogues – Automata
Maybe I’m weird, but I actually really enjoy setting up camp when I first arrive: gathering wood, building a fire, pitching a tent. Though this may be exceptionally narcissistic and self-indulgent, I’ve often been known to throw on my own band’s music when out in the woods. If you’d like to camp the way I do, I recommend playing The Noble Rogues’ latest EP, Automata. Each of the four tracks will have you snapping together poles and pounding in stakes with ease, though I’m personally partial to Sleep When You’re Dead.
At the Cottage
Espanola - Espanola
If you’re looking for something to break up the Kim Mitchell monotony at the cottage, why not give a spin to Aaron Goldstein’s love note to rock n roll, Espanola. The self-titled album is a beautiful fusion of rock, psychedelic, blues, and bluegrass. Hailing originally from, you guessed it, Espanola, ON, Goldstein now runs a studio out of Toronto where he continues to record superb Canadian tunes, such as one of my personal favourites, That Old Feeling.
Click here to check out the album!
Park Beers
The OBGMs – The Ends
With bars being closed off and on for over a year, many of us opted to catch up with friends over beers in a safer, sunnier, and slightly illegal setting: the park. Armed with a makeshift cooler of tallboys and a Bluetooth speaker, I typically opted for harder rock and punk, such as the phenomenal 2020 release by Toronto’s The OBGMs: The Ends. I love this album for its raw energy, catchy riffs, and infectious beats; no better emblemized than by Fight Song.
On the Beach
Kaytranada - Bubba
If the sun held out through the weekend and things got really nice, I and many other like me, sought relaxation and rays on one of the many beaches dotting along the shores of lake Ontario. These chill days of relaxing waterside required equally chill tunes from Montreal’s own Kaytranada. His latest LP Bubba can get hips moving, turning any sandy surfside into a instant beach club. Simply turn the volume up and throw on Go DJ.
Click here to check out the album!
On the Water
Tor – Oasis Sky
If you’re like Modern Mississauga Editor, Jay Kana, and managed to snag yourself some sort of sea-worthy vessel (even if it is just a kayak), the pandemic has been a great time to get out on the water. I even had a socially-distanced kayak date once! To help you smoothly cruise through the rippling waves, I recommend playing some tunes by Vancouver’s Tor. His 2021 release, Oasis Sky, is a beautifully meditative electronic album that one can lose themselves into while thinking ‘left, right, left, right… don’t flip the thing’. I recommend starting with Foxglove.
Click here to check out the album!
Romantic Picnic
Daniel Caesar – CASE STUDY 01
As the sun slowly fades behind the tree-line and day gives way to dusk, us romantic types like to pull out the checkered blanket and unpack a romantic picnic for two. Be sure to also pack the right tunes to set the mood, such as Scarborough’s own Daniel Caesar. His latest full-length effort CASE STUDY 01, is an R&B masterpiece. If your date isn’t sufficiently woo’d, you probably bought the wrong cheese, or forgot to play Restore the Feeling.
Yard Work
Wide Mouth Mason – I Wanna Go With You
Summer also means that there will be no end of projects around the house and yard work to be done. Personally, I like to pair getting dirt under my fingers with something a bit bluesy, and even after 3 decades of listening, Saskatoon’s Wide Mouth Mason always does the trick. Their latest album, I Wanna Go With You, shows the band in a more stripped down format, featuring more blues standards and lap guitar. Just listen to Bodies in Motion.
Click here to check out the album!
Around the Campfire
Tim Baker – Forever Overhead
Whether you’re plunking away some tunes on a guitar or listening to a speaker around the fire, I’ve always been partial to the music of Hey Rosetta! frontman Tim Baker. In his first solo album after years with HR!, baker assembles an incredible session of poetic, relatable songs that provide the perfect backdrop to staring into the flames. Though the chord fingerings may be tricky to learn on this one, I’ve always loved the opening track, Dance.
Click here to check out the album!
Long Weekend
The Tragically Hip - Saskadelphia
In this country, long weekends can really only mean one thing to me: The Tragically Hip. While Gord is gone and missed, the band has recently been going through rarities and unreleased songs from past sessions. Earlier this year, a collection of B-sides from the Road Apples sessions were released under the oh-so-Canadian moniker Saskadelphia. So now, instead of listening to Fully Completely on repeat for 3 days, you can try pressing play on fantastic lost gems such as Ouch.
