Greg Duncan

Greg was born, raised and still resides in the middle of nowhere, Winnipeg, Manitoba (look it up, it actually is the middle). He inherited his love of covers from his father, who used to sit him down and make him listen to old jazz standards and whistle the themes through the solos. In the real world he is a critical care nurse, but outside of work he's an amateur guitarist who has a strange obsession with old-time, fingerstyle guitar and pop music (go here for an example). He has a long history of expressing opinions about music, often having to later eat his own words.

Sep 212011
 

They Say It’s Your Birthday celebrates an artist’s special day with other people singing his or her songs. Let others do the work for a while. Happy birthday!

Music’s poet laureate, author and Zen Buddhist monk, Leonard Cohen, turns 77 years old today. A product of Montreal, Cohen began his writing career while attending McGill University in the ’50s, achieving some critical acclaim but little financial success. Frustrated, he moved to New York City in his thirties and became a musician, releasing his first album, Songs of Leonard Cohen, in 1967. Continue reading »

Sep 072011
 

With a national musical legend, Serge Gainsbourg, for a father and an accomplished actress, Jane Birkin, for a mother, Charlotte Gainsbourg could easily have folded under the weight of expectation. She didn’t. She played Bob Dylan’s love interest in Todd Haynes fantasy-biography I’m Not There and played a commanding role in Lars von Trier’s Antichrist. And she’s an accomplished musician to boot, with two successful albums under her belt. Continue reading »

Aug 172011
 

Twenty-two years ago, a group of what was then called “alternative rock bands” (remember that?) recorded and released The Bridge: A Tribute to Neil Young. The album featured artists like Sonic Youth, Nick Cave, Pixies and The Flaming Lips recording, you guessed it, Neil Young songs, with all of the proceeds going towards The Bridge School (a school for disabled children). Sure, this all seems like old hat now, but back in 1989, these bands were seriously underground and for many Neil Young fans who bought the album this was the first they ever heard of them. Continue reading »

Aug 152011
 

Possibly the perfect campfire singalong (you all know the chorus, don’t you?), The Band’s “The Weight” transitioned from classic to standard long ago. Covers abound, but few more powerful than soul-gospel legends The Staple Singers’ 1968 version. So powerful, in fact, that The Band enlisted the Singers to back them up when re-recording the track for the soundtrack to their seminal concert movie The Last Waltz. Continue reading »

Jul 272011
 

Montreal electrofunkmeisters Chromeo have gradually built a following over their seven-year existence, but have only really broken through in the past year following the release of their third album, Business Casual. The album features 40 minutes of slick, sleazy ’80s revival pop that has packed many a dance floor. This past Tuesday, they released a remix EP for “When The Night Falls,” a track that features none other that Beyoncé’s little sis, Solange. Continue reading »