So, my band is releasing our debut EP this weekend...

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I've been told I don't talk about my band enough on ILX, so I thought I'd share this with you:

I play keyboard in a six-piece band called Canasta. We're kind of orchestral pop-oriented (we use piano and violin in addition to the guitar, bass, drums, keyb) -- but have been compared to Belle & Sebastian, Yo La Tengo, Aimee Mann, The Sea and Cake, and Echo & the Bunnymen, among others. It's a very collaborative effort, and all of us listen to different stuff, so it comes out pretty interesting, I think.

Anyhoo, this Saturday, we're releasing our debut EP, entitled Find the Time. For those of you in Chicago, we're having a record-release show at Subterranean (2011 W. North Ave.) that night at 9:30 pm; we'll be headlining. (Owen and the Like Young are opening.)

If anyone else would like a copy of the record, ordering information is here. (Basically, you can either send me a check for $7 or use PayPal.)

If you'd like to hear us, that same page has mp3 excerpts. A full song of ours (RealAudio file) was also played on Chicago Public Radio's 848 program recently.

I hope this doesn't sound too promotional, but I'm excited and thought some of you would be interested.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 4 December 2003 16:23 (twenty-two years ago)

sell out!

just kidding congrats jaymc!!

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 4 December 2003 16:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey, jaymc, I'll check out the song as soon as I get home. Congrats!

(Have you tried calling Nick yet? He's cold and lonely!)

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Thursday, 4 December 2003 16:28 (twenty-two years ago)

I haven't called Nick yet ... I was waiting until after lunch, maybe, in case he was still asleep!

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 4 December 2003 16:29 (twenty-two years ago)

(Thanks, Amateurist!)

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 4 December 2003 16:29 (twenty-two years ago)

best of luck with the EP, jaymc! If I was in Chicago, I'd come along to your gig.

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 4 December 2003 16:32 (twenty-two years ago)

That song on Real Audio was very nice. A bit too indie for my tastes, I'm sorry to say, so it's really not my cup of tea, in all honesty, but I still found it to be quite beautiful.

― Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey man, thanks for checking it out :)

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:12 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm also curious who we sound like, since I'm too close to it to be objective and we've gotten such disparate comparisons so far.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I totally get the Belle and Sebastian thing, though it's a lazy comparison to make for a band writing thoughtful, well-arranged songs using strings, trumpets etc - there is something in the singer's annunciation that is also reminiscent of Stuart Murdoch. I would like to be able to say more, but I don't know how to express it properly.

I like it though. Good luck.

― ailsa (ailsa), Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:23 (twenty-two years ago)

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:24 (twenty-two years ago)

gee, its pretty nice!

― phil-two (phil-two), Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:43 (twenty-two years ago)

good luck jaymc!

― raphael diligent (Cozen), Thursday, 4 December 2003 20:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I can't actually listen to the songs here but in any case hurrah! Good work J and best of luck.

― nabiscothingy, Thursday, 4 December 2003 22:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I will listen to some songs as soon as I can. Hooray for jaymc!

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 4 December 2003 22:23 (twenty-two years ago)

(NB: is the EP self-released or through anyone? I've always imagined you guys as Loose Thread compatible.) (Also people I expect to see this reviewed in the Voice by year's end.)

― nabiscothingy, Thursday, 4 December 2003 22:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Congrats, Jaymc! May you become disgustingly famous and wealthy...

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Thursday, 4 December 2003 22:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Haha, thanks, Nabisco. I expect it to finish just under Ned Raggett Reads the Almanac in the ILX poll. :)

The EP is self-released, with the intention of shopping it around to labels -- not so much to re-release it as to try to pick up a deal for a full-length. I'll have to check out Loose Thread; I'm not familiar with them.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 4 December 2003 22:31 (twenty-two years ago)

(Thanks to everyone else who commented, too. Sorry!)

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 4 December 2003 22:31 (twenty-two years ago)

chicago is still just swarming with indie pop isnt it?

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 4 December 2003 22:33 (twenty-two years ago)

";-)"

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 4 December 2003 22:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Congratufuckinlations John! Very cool.

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 4 December 2003 22:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah. I mean, I know you're joking, Fiddo, but part of me still wants to protest, "But that's not all I listen to!" I think it's a good direction for our band, though, considering our collective interests and talents.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 4 December 2003 22:41 (twenty-two years ago)

(And thanks, Oops!)

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 4 December 2003 22:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I really like the chorus on that first mp3 track!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 4 December 2003 22:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Yo. If anyone in Chicago is reading this, the show is tonight! I'm off to sound-check in an hour...

― jaymc (jaymc), Saturday, 6 December 2003 23:03 (twenty-two years ago)

I expect it to finish just under Ned Raggett Reads the Almanac in the ILX poll. :)

Hey, that works. ;-) Go forth and rock!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 6 December 2003 23:04 (twenty-two years ago)

How did you get to be the headlining band if you only have one EP?

― Aja (aja), Saturday, 6 December 2003 23:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Um, it's a small club. And our singer works there, so we know the booking guy. But we also earned it!

― jaymc (jaymc), Saturday, 6 December 2003 23:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Ok.

― Aja (aja), Saturday, 6 December 2003 23:13 (twenty-two years ago)

(I mean, at each of our last five shows or whatever, we've consistently brought WAY more audience members than any of the other bands. It's starting to look silly when there's like 100 people in the room for the opening band and then 20 for the headliner.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Saturday, 6 December 2003 23:13 (twenty-two years ago)

That's a bit sad. For the headlining band of course.

― Aja (aja), Saturday, 6 December 2003 23:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Agreed.

― jaymc (jaymc), Saturday, 6 December 2003 23:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Obviously, none of the bands that play at this club are super-famous.

― jaymc (jaymc), Saturday, 6 December 2003 23:21 (twenty-two years ago)

survival of the fittest out there, baby.

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 6 December 2003 23:21 (twenty-two years ago)

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