2012 Juno Winners: Feist, Dan Mangan, Sheepdogs are Multiple Winners

 

Feist continued to win awards as well as critical acclaim, taking home three honors at this weekend's 2012 Juno Awards. Other musicians to take home multiple awards were singer-songwriter Dan Mangan and rock band The Sheepdogs, both winning two Junos. (You can see a Junos backstage interview with Feist here.)

The Junos are Canada's equivalent of the Grammys, and are put on by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Feist won the awards for Artist, Adult Alternative Album (for "Metals"), and Music DVD of the year.  This year's Juno Awards were held in Ottawa Saturday and Sunday nights; some awards were handed out the first night at a gala dinner, with a televised awards ceremony (hosted by William Shatner) distributing the rest on Sunday. (You'll find the complete list of Juno Award winners here.)

In some of the other major categories:

• The Arkells won for Best Group
• Dan Mangan received New Artist and Alternative Album honors (for "Oh Fortune")
• The Sheepdogs took honors for New Group and Rock Album for "Learn & Burn"
• The Wailin' Jennys won the Roots and Traditional album for "Bright Morning Stars"
• Malajube took home the Francophone Album award for "La Caverne"
• Hedley's "Storms" won for Pop Album
• Terri Clark snagged the honor for Country Album for "Roots and Wings"

A number of categories featured nominees with little in common except that they're Canadian; in the Artist of the Year competition Feist beat out rapper Drake, standards crooner Michael Bublé, rock band City and Colour, and house/electronic music producer Deadmau5. And although there were plenty of strong Canadian albums released, especially in rock, the Album of the Year competition featured nominees Avril Lavigne, Drake, Justin Bieber, Nickelback, and Michael Bublé. (Even stranger, the winner was Bublé, for his album of Christmas songs.)

Stream the New Feist Album "Metals"

 

Just a brief post here to note that you can now stream Feist's new album, "Metals," free online. A couple of weeks ago I posted its first single, "How Come You Never Go There," and now the entire album is up for streaming. Just enter your e-mail address in the space above, then click a link in the confirmation e-mail that you'll get to open the player.

In a typically quirky, Feistian touch, the page with the album stream also features a handwritten note/illustration from the artist, describing the recording of the album (complete with simple drawings of mountains, the ocean, and the house they recorded in.) You can also download the note (I'm not sure why anyone would want to, but it's there anyway.) 

"Metals" will be released in the U.S. and Canada on Oct. 4th (Oct. 3rd in Europe and the U.K.).

You buy Feist's "Metals" at Amazon.comfor $10.00 for the CD or $9.49 for the MP3 download. (Amazon sometimes offers steep temporary discounts on some new releases, so you might want to watch for this.)

Hear "How Come You Never Go There," the First Single from Feist's New Album

It's been quite a while, but Feist has released the first single from her forthcoming album, "Metals" (which drops on Oct. 4th). She put out the song, "How Come You Never Go There," on her YouTube page a couple of days ago; I came across it on NPR Music.

This is Feist's first album since her breakthrough "The Reminder," which was way back in 2007. According to her record label, Canada's Arts and Crafts, "Recorded between Toronto and Big Sur, California and co-produced by longtime collaborators Chilly Gonzales and Mocky, as well as newcomer Valgeir Sigurðsson (Bjork, Bonnie "Prince" Billy), Metals marks Feist's celebratory return to the world stage."

Although this is the first full-length song from "Metals," Feist has been releasing a series of teasers (there are to be 12 in all) with snippets from various songs. (It appears a new one is to be released Monday, Aug. 15th, according to her website.) See the track listing for the new album at the end of this post.

Two of the "vignettes," as they're being called, are below. The snippet called "#1" has a techno sound, with drumming playing over time-lapse photography. In "#3," Arts and Crafts says, we see "Feist, Gonzales, Mocky, and Sigurðsson at work on the album," with a string section. (See the Feist YouTube page or her website for more video snippets and information.)








The "Tour Dates" section of her website is empty, but the site does show the track listing for the album (which is available for pre-order through Amazon.com):

"Metals" – Track listing:
1. The Bad In Each Other
2. Graveyard
3. Caught A Long Wind
4. How Come You Never Go There
5. A Commotion
6. Bittersweet Melodies
7. Anti Pioneer
8. Undiscovered First
9. Cicadas And Gulls
10. Woe Be
11. Comfort Me
12. Get It Wrong Get It Right

Feist has always experimented with different sounds and genres on each album, so I can only imagine what surprises she's got cooked up with four years to work on a new release. I'm looking forward to it.