January Shows and Other Happenings!

Hi everyone!

A lot of people have been asking me lately what's going on, where I'm living, if I'm playing in town soon, etc., so I figured I'd take this opportunity to share all the latest news for anyone who's curious!

The Latest Developments
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For those who are confused about my whereabouts, yes, I am in Calgary right now, and will be for the next month. A few of you fine folks and friends are aware that I have recently departed from my longtime position as bassist for the Greg Cockerill Band. While we will all certainly miss one another (and indeed, already do!) it's certainly not so much an ending as it is a beginning of something new; I anticipate great things on the horizon, a few of which I'll share with you now!

Roughlands VIA Rail Olympic Tour
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I'll start with this one, since it's such exciting news! I just received confirmation that one of the newest projects I am involved in, a folk/roots trio called Roughlands, will be touring out to Vancouver in early February to perform in the city streets for the Winter Olympics! What's more (and one of the most exciting parts of this project) is that we will be traveling from town to town courtesy of VIA Rail, and performing live music on the train during the trip! So, if you are traveling to or from Vancouver with VIA, you might just see or hear us! Also, if you are in Vancouver during the Olympics, keep your eyes peeled for a ragtag team of musicians serenading you with old-time country and folk tunes in the streets, and come say hello!

Upcoming duo album with Ben Plotnick!
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Many of you may be familiar with the outstanding Calgarian jazz/celtic/bluegrass/classical fiddle player Ben Plotnick. Being longtime friends and like-minded musicians, Ben and I have been hoping for a chance to collaborate together for a long time, and I'm pleased to announce that the time has finally arrived! We just finished recording an 8-song album with the wonderful Spencer Cheyne at Crossover Studios, and I can't wait to show you the results; we're planning on holding an album fundraiser show at the ironwood before I have to leave for Vancouver, so stay tuned for news on that!

Bankai Vs. Canada Tour
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Alright, this is one of the most exciting new developments of all - after the Olympics, I will be connecting in Vancouver with Australian Electro-Glitch-Nerdcore star Bankai, and touring eastward across Canada throwing mad dance parties all the way! The Bankai/Beautiful Unicorn combo promises to bring the party like never before, so stay tuned for an official tour announcement with dates, etc. One of the coolest things about this tour is the unique grassroots approach we are taking with it. In addition to Bankai's crowdsourced tour funding getting him from Melbourne to Vancouver, the tour is particularly special in that we are playing not only in bars in clubs, but at a variety of house parties across this fair land as well. We have some dates open still, so if you would be keen on having us come visit you in your town (Canadian towns only, for now ;) ), please email me at brendanmcguigan@shaw.ca

Right on!

Nileguide!
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Another exciting development in my professional life as of late; I've landed my first professional writing gig! A couple months ago I was hired as a Local Expert for the Calgary/Canadian Rockies sections of a new startup web company called Nileguide. It is essentially an online travel guide and trip planner, that combines advanced web filtering software with unique input from local experts such as myself! The whole team behind the company is extremely fun, as well as amazing good at what they do, and I'm very excited and proud to be a part of it. Check it out!



That's all I got for now, kids! Drop me a line sometime to let me know what's up, and don't forget to follow @bmcguig on twitter for the latest news etc.

Cheers!

Badass Synthosaurus

NYE '09 Mix

Mp3 Download

Johan Agebjorn & Sally Shapiro - Spacer Woman From Mars
Miike Snow - Cult Logic
Mew - Small Ambulance
Mew - Special
Passion Pit - The Reeling (Calvin Harris Remix)
Tennishero - Alone
Empire of the Sun - Walking On a Dream
Lo-Fi-Fnk - City (Teenagers Remix)
Station X - Endless
Foreigner - Cold As Ice (Bastille Remix)
New Young Pony Club - Get Lucky (The Twelves Remix)
Empire of the Sun - We Are the People
CSS - Move
Spoons - Smiling in Winter
Electric Youth - Faces
La Roux - In for the Kill (Lifelike Remix)
Lo-Fi-Fnk - Adore
80Kidz - Getting You Off (Feat. Hey Champ)
Frankmusik - Confusion Girl (Russ Chimes Remix)
Tommy Sparks - Miracle (Grum Remix)
Futurecop! - Tonight's Hero
Phoenix - Lisztomania (Classixx Remix)
Classixx - I'll Get You (Feat. Jeppe)
M.I.A. - Bucky Done Gun (JAHBIL remix)
Diamond Cut - Teardrops (Treasure Fingers Filter Disco Edit)
Treasure Fingers - Cross the Dancefloor (Chromeo Remix)
The Raveonettes - Last Dance

Synthosaurus Holiday Science Silly Mix '09

Mp3 Download (128kbps)


Tracklist:

1. Matthew McGuigan - Vidjagame
2. Beautiful Unicorn - Distance
3. Beautiful Unicorn - Valencia
4. Synthosaurus - Alien Rocket Skateboard Cat
5. Synthosaurus - Poco Madre
6. Beautiful Unicorn - Robot Bambi Finds His Mother
7. Beautiful Unicorn - FutureDance
8. Beautiful Unicorn - Spin Dash

Siyahamba - Audrey Gunther Tribute

MP3 DOWNLOAD

A massive THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to the recording project - I've had a great deal of feedback from various folks saying how much they appreciated what we did. I think it was a great way to Honour Mrs. Gunther, so kudos to all for your efforts! Shout outs are given to you below!

Musician Credits
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Laurie Callao - Soprano voice

Jessie Soong - Alto voice

Richard Lee-Ying - Tenor voice

Matthew McGuigan: Bass voice/flutes/clarinet

Erin Macleod: Soprano voice/double bass

Jillian Beacon: Alto

Heather Gamber: Tenor voice/bassoon

Audrey Gunther Tribute Recording

Alright everybody, as you may be aware, the 3rd anniversary of Mrs. Gunther's tragic passing is next weekend (Oct 17). I know there's more than a few people out there who miss her every bit as much as I do, and if you're one of those people, I think you'll probably agree that we might as well try to do what we can to commemorate her amazing life and the impact she had on all of us.

Since I'm living away from Calgary, I'm not going to be able to attend any memorial gatherings in town, which I'm very sad about. Nonetheless, I was throwing ideas around with one James Billingsley a little while ago, and we came up with what I thought was a pretty nifty tribute idea.

What we want to do is produce a recording of the tune "Siyahamba" that we always used to sing in choir, with as many ex-Gunther students as we can get singing on it. I've prepared a compressed folder download with the full 4-voice arrangement, as well as the 4 isolated vocal parts, played on piano. What we need YOU to do is this:

1. Download the recording template folder

2. Using Garageband or whatever audio recording method is convenient for you, record yourself singing your vocal part along with the template download (wear headphones so the keyboard track doesn't get picked up by your microphone!). Singing along with the template will allow us all to be in unison tempo and pitch, even though we're all doing this in different places. If you need a little bit of help, here's a few links:

"siyahamba" sung by an actual choir (in case you forget how the words go and stuff!)
"siyahamba" printed lyrics

3. send me the recording of JUST YOUR VOICE (by email, or zshare, mediafire, whatever) so that I can compile all the different voices and mix together a master recording of everyone singing together. Please email me at brendanmcguigan@shaw.ca

And that's it! What I would really like to do (pipe dream maybe?) is release the master recording next weekend as a charity download mp3, with all proceeds going towards starting a fund for an Audrey Gunther Memorial Scholarship Fund. HOWEVER, in order to do that we need to make the recording first! So, if you have the equipment and technical know-how to record yourself, or if you know someone else who does, please consider taking the time to add your voice to what I hope will be a lovely tribute to a very meaningful teacher who meant the world to a whole lot of us. If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to email me at brendanmcguigan@shaw.ca

Oh, and please don't worry about trying to make a note-perfect, high-quality recording. I don't want anybody losing any sleep over this. It is not a big deal if your recording has a tiny difference in rhythm from the template, or if it's a little hissy, or quiet, or whatever. Just send me whatever you can throw together, and I'll handle the rest. I think the most important thing is to have as many different people on this recording as we can, so don't let trying to make a professional-sound recording stand in the way of you getting your track to me. That being said, if you can send the recording in .wav format, that would be ideal.

Thanks guys and gals, and hope to hear from you soon!

Oh, and happy Thanksgiving! Everyone chill with your families and take 'er easy now

-Brendan