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The Globe & Mail Essential tracks: songs you need to hear
Dec. 7 - The Hottest Day - Selina Martin, from Disaster Fantasies link
No matter what your December soul may whisper at the sight of this infectious single’s title, Toronto song magician Selina Martin’s theme is not a warm beach but the scorching you can get from a bad relationship with an emotional trickster. The tune’s rollicking energy may be the salve that cools a wound that takes almost forever to heal.
PLUS: June 29 - The Spirit of Radio
"One of the 10 best albums of the year" - Ottawa Citizen
"one of the most intriguing songwriters in Toronto." - Vish Khanna, CBC Radio 3 track of the day
"'Throw Me In the Water,” “Breathe In” and “Always On My Mind” all candidates for song of the year." - Michael Barclay, Radio Free Canuckistan
"The Rush cover is killer good being quite minimalist, heartfelt, and beautifully adapted. ... a mere portal into a wonderful twelve song album of quality material from what will surely go down as one of this years must-hear indie releases." - Lithium Magazine
"Smartly arranged and lyrically vivid... definitely interesting." - Now Magazine
“Selina Martin kicks some serious ass.” – Mote Magazine
"Without question the most underrated Canadian album of the year." - The Record
Press for Life Drawing Without Instruction
**** “ [Life Drawing Without Instruction] is full of sneaky wisdom and good tunes that refuse to know where to draw the line.” – The Globe and Mail
“Martin’s singing is astounding.” – Toronto Star
**** “Martin revels in the unexpected on her tough, tender, and frequently astounding sophomore effort.” – Ottawa Xpress
“Any fan of Jane Siberry or the Rheostatics will instantly be captivated by Martin’s impressionistic approach but her songs stand on their own… Thrilling.” – Exclaim
**** “Life Drawing Without Instruction is a compelling collection, showcasing Martin’s musicianship, vocal talent and songwriting. From supple, lilting songs to swaggering anthems Martin shows off her musical range and versatility.” – Vue Magazine
“Martin blew in like a breath of
fresh air with a voice full of
beauty and angst and a wholly
unique writing sensibility.” – View Magazine
4/4 stars - Selina Martin has the voice of a thrift-shop angel and the eye of an eagle circling over it's prey" - The Globe & Mail
" Goodbye to all that, in this towering, funny song (Ordinary Love) by a fine Toronto songwriter. Martin's surgical wordplay is so sharp, and her delivery so disarmingly calm, that the object of her wrath might not even notice the pool of his own blood." - Globe & Mail
"(Selina) Martin's from T.O….has the most ginormous voice and oodles of stage presence and plays many many many instruments and writes clever, oft-biting, but always catchy songs about people's strength, be it more or less. And, yes; she leaves you as out of breath as that last sentence". - Terminal City, Vancouver
"When Selina Martin's new album arrived in my mailbox, and my CD player shortly thereafter, I knew right away she was the good stuff. I knew this would be more than just good. It would be great". - Times Colonist, Victoria
"Space Woman is so expressive, it plays like a contemporary socio-political cabaret. Both lyrically and musically, each song oozes with theatrics demonstrating how Martin's songwriting ability is closely intertwined with her skills as a performer. Martin's vocals… (are) stunning". - Ian Danzig, publisher, Exclaim! Magazine
"I could not stop thinking that Jane Siberry had wed Elvis Costello and Tom Waits performed the service". - Ric Denis, the Humm
Disaster Fantasies Reviews
Polaris 2011 predictions, day four: Radio Free Canuckistan -
Michael Barclay
The album: (partially poached from my September 2010 review) Disaster Fantasies displays Martin as an ambitious singer/songwriter with a knockout voice and the ability to corral her artier tendencies into a commanding power pop band; it’s an album that works on an entirely visceral level, with no shortage of catchy earworms and bold rock guitars. And yet there are tonnes of tiny tasty bits in every corner, whether it’s Rheostatics guitarist Martin Tielli noodling noisily underneath “I Know Dullness,” Laura Barrett’s kalimba on “News of Her Death,” or Martin herself playing wine glasses or tapping the loose end of a plugged-in patch cord as part of a rhythm track. Producer Chris Stringer (the D’Urbervilles, Timber Timbre) helps Martin paint vivid sonic portraits and brings the entire project into clear focus, amplifying the rock elements and leaving space for acoustic intimacy (“Throw Me in the Water”).
Though she pulls of power pop with aplomb—the “Misty Mountain Hop” vibe of “No Form,” the Cheap Trick nod on “The Hottest Day,” the direct influence of the Rheostatics on “I Know Dullness” (Martin has collaborated with that band often, and this album features engineering and mixing from Michael Philip Wojewoda)—it’s the ballads where she shines the strongest: “Throw Me In the Water,” “Breathe In” and “Always On My Mind” all candidates for song of the year.
Why it didn’t make the shortlist (or long list): An independent release with mostly local publicity, it likely didn’t have enough national traction to make an impact, despite the best efforts of Robert Everett-Green of the Globe and Mail, who wrote this article and several other laudatory pieces. Or maybe writers weren’t intrigued by an album with a song called “Rape During Wartime”?
Without question the most underrated Canadian album of the year.
- The Record
Selina Martin has always oozed charisma, but here the Toronto performer has a set of songs that matches her grand ambitions and her love of glam, prog, punk, folk, balladry—and Rush. Every song sounds like a smash hit, making this without question the most underrated Canadian album of the year. - Michael Barclay, The Record
http://www.therecord.com/whatson/article/306195--the-next-20-second-tier-of-2010-s-best
Selina Martin: A new album, and maybe one of the songs of the year
Globe & Mail Review | Globe & Mail article re: Rush
ROBERT EVERETT-GREEN
Selina Martin is doing two performances on Wednesday, one in the morning behind closed doors for a select group of medical people, and the other at night in a Toronto club before fans of her sneaky-beautiful songs.
The medical thing is a kind of one-person play, in which she takes the role of someone with a health condition so that the professionals can practise dealing with it. It may not be so far removed from what she does as a songwriter, when you consider that a song is often a record of some wound or surgery on the spirit, whether real or imagined.
But Martin’s medical plays (all scripted for her by the University of Toronto’s Standardized Patient Program) are something she occasionally does for a living, while her songs are what she does to live.
She’s definitely a lifetime resident in the tower of song, to borrow Leonard Cohen’s phrase: She’s been making and singing songs since she could clear her throat and hold a guitar. Disaster Fantasies, her latest solo record, is fun to hear, and has at least one number that really should be on the radio (Always on My Mind, a catchy tune with a real emotional tug), but the songs also feel like the heavy fruit of experience. Plenty of real-life drama, personal and imagined, has gone into this music.
“A lot of it came together during the elongated breakup of a 10-year relationship,” she said. “I didn’t write a record about that, in any way, but some stuff came out that was about it. Like Breathe In, which I wrote and only afterwards realized was about that whole scene.”
The lyrics of this song, the most beautiful on the whole album (and maybe one of the best Canadian songs of the year), spiral through a wilderness of images that feel intimate and alienated at once, before reaching a chorus that’s like an embrace of the air itself. “If you need a spine, I don’t use mine, it’s made of homemade wine, it’s see-through and it bends with time and pressure,” Martin sings in the verse, her strong clear voice hardening a little on that word “pressure.” Maybe it’s the same pressure that restricts that chorus to just two neighbouring notes, sung in a soaring voice while the chords underneath create the melody.
Another song, Rape During Wartime, wasn’t about a personal experience but a military-political phenomenon that has felt personal to her for a long time. And for a long time, she couldn’t write about it.
“It was just way too heavy,” she said. “Nobody wants to hear a song about that” – though of course, she did. She found the way to a solution through Life During Wartime, the Talking Heads’ dance song about brutality. She emulated that song’s two-chord harmonic design and borrowed one line from the lyrics (“this ain’t no party”), as she addressed the rape experience from the viewpoint of the man with the gun.
Another song, No Form, takes off from a sonnet by Leonard Cohen, in which he contemplates the blank page waiting for him to fill it up with meaning. “His thing was about talking to his non-existent sonnet, and mine is more turned in on myself,” she said.
The disc has one cover tune: Rush’s The Spirit of Radio, which Martin will perform this weekend during a Juno anniversary show at Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern devoted to Juno-winning music from the 1970s.
“I was never a huge Rush fan, but when I was a preteen growing up in Kanata [a suburb of Ottawa], I remember having some kind of epiphany while they were playing that song at the roller disco, with the lights flashing and the music really loud. And later, I’d be in these campfire sing-along situations, and someone would say, “Selina, why don’t you sing something?” I just hated that, and it was always uncomfortable, so the way to kill the campfire sing-along was to do The Spirit of Radio, because nobody could play along!”
For her show tonight, Martin has “the best-ever version” of her five-piece band, which will take the stage after a set by the BidiniBand, run by her frequent colleague and ex-Rheostatic Dave Bidini, whose musical play Five Hole: Tales of Hockey Erotica toured the country a couple of times with Martin at the microphone. She can’t say much about another stage project in the works with Vancouver actor Lisa Ryder-Cohen, though there’s no doubt it will be far removed from the strict formalism of her performances as a Standardized Patient, from which she has gained one valuable experience.
“It teaches you stamina,” she said. “You have to be focused and present for a really long time.” Sort of like when you’re creating a new song, pulling it together from the tumbling chaos of life and imagination.
The Record - By Michael Barclay
A cover version can either be a cheap attempt to get attention or reveal plenty about an artist’s intent. In the case of Toronto’s Selina Martin, her acoustic interpretation of The Spirit of Radio by Rush manages to be both. One the one hand, it’s an easy gimmick to get CBC Radio play, by tackling a hard-rock CanCon classic and giving it a coffeehouse-friendly makeover. On the other, because it’s actually one of the weaker tracks on her stellar third album, it speaks volumes about Martin’s own artistry and what she shares with the intent of Neil Peart’s lyrics: the belief in the “freedom of music” free from “glittering prizes and endless compromises.”
Disaster Fantasies displays Martin as an ambitious singer/songwriter with a knockout voice and the ability to corral her artier tendencies into a commanding power pop band; it’s an album that works on an entirely visceral level, with no shortage of catchy earworms and bold rock guitars. And yet there are tonnes of tiny tasty bits in every corner, whether it’s Rheostatics guitarist Martin Tielli noodling noisily underneath I Know Dullness, Laura Barrett’s kalimba on News of Her Death, or Martin herself playing wine glasses or tapping the loose end of a plugged-in patch cord as part of a rhythm track. Producer Chris Stringer (the D’Urbervilles, Timber Timbre) helps Martin paint vivid sonic portraits and brings the entire project into clear focus, amplifying the rock elements and leaving space for acoustic intimacy (Throw Me in the Water).
Martin has been on the periphery of CanRock royalty for years now, contributing to other projects (Rheostatics, Bob Wiseman) and having her praises sung by others (Gord Downie) — Disaster Fantasies deserves a place with the best work by any of those artists.
Exclaim Magazine By Eric Hill
The flurry of pop punches that introduces Miss Martin's third album jellies up the knees, so when the suggestion to "Breathe In" comes around on track five, that's basically all you can do. Her "Can rock" guitar attack is backed by a fine storytelling ear for detail and savvy avoidance of the traffic merge that strands other female artists in the carpool lane. Time spent working with Dave Bidini and Martin Tielli on the Five Hole Band's Tales of Hockey Erotica transfers over in the form of brave studio experimentation. Vocal layering, singing saws and wine glasses, plus guest kalimba by Laura Barrett, take many tracks into a nice twilight zone of sound. The little wink to the Talking Heads on "Rape During Wartime" is a masterful dissimulation of the political into the party, another of her skill sets. And for pure Canadiana, what could be cooler than a fragile, jazzy take on "Spirit of the Radio"? Insert boho finger-snapping sounds here. (Independent)
Lithium Magazine By Mike Bax
While I do think it’s somewhat shitty to say my eyes were ‘opened’ to Disaster Fantasies because of a cover version – it’s the truth. I had ripped this album onto my computer, and placed the files into a folder I keep on my computer filled with ‘review’ music (a literal wasteland of music that comes through my mailbox looking for some kind of verbiage to be put against it). Selina’s cover of ‘The Spirit Of Radio’ came up on said play-list, and the hair on the back of my neck immediately shot up.
Suffice to say – the Rush cover is killer good being quite minimalist, heartfelt, and beautifully adapted. And it’s a mere portal into a wonderful twelve song album of quality material from what will surely go down as one of this years must-hear indie releases. Martin keeps some pretty choice company… having contributed to Rheostatics, Bob Wiseman, Justin Rutledge and N.Q. Arbuckle material in the past.
Don’t be duped by Selina’s lovely voice – much of her material is quite dark, and the mixture of her sugary vocals over top of some of the darker material on Disaster Fantasies makes for some of the more magical moments on the album.
‘I Know Dullness’, ‘Rape During Wartime’ and ‘Public Safety Management’ are must-hear songs on Disaster Fantasies. Lyrically sharp, and lovingly sung, they beg to be played again immediately after you first sample them.
Disaster Fantasies carries no label markings whatsoever, and appears to be completely done on the indie. Make sure you sniff this one out – it’s sure to appeal to fans of the Rheostatics and Aimee Mann.
Now Magazine By Carla Gillis
High-spirited Selina Martin isn’t afraid to take chances. The Toronto singer/songwriter’s third album kicks off with several jolts of catchy, high-powered rock, gives way to a bare-bones jazz-ballad-inflected cover of Rush’s The Spirit Of Radio (gutsy!) and then bounces between loud and soft till the end.
With vocal stylings like a precocious Sheryl Crow, especially on No Form, Martin proves she’s a capable pop-rocker with a playful approach to songwriting, while her interspersed ballads add gravity and welcome breathing space. The standout Rape During Wartime is smartly arranged and lyrically vivid, while the closer, Watershed, gets surprisingly psychedelic. Disaster Fantasies isn’t exactly a cohesive listen, but it’s definitely interesting.
Top track: Rape During Wartime
Vue Weekly by Jim Dean
There is something to be said for being reckless. Selina Martin's new album Disaster Fantasies takes no prisoners and no heed of traditional musical genres. While essentially pop music, if you throw on any random track you could hear a punk thrasher, a sweet acoustic ballad or a hard rocker. Such a potpourri is a dicey proposition, but Martin's vitality and exuberance give the album a degree of honesty that holds it all together. The best track, "I Know Dullness," could easily be an anthem for the album's eccentricity, as Martin unabashedly sings, "I know dullness / Don't let him paint a little more grey."
"One of the 10 best albums of the year". - Ottawa Citizen - Peter Simpson
The Big Beat 10 best Records of 2011:
#6. Disaster Fantasies, by Selina Martin (independent/Outside):
If Feist totally rocked out, it might sound like Disaster Fantasies. Toronto's Selina Martin throws out lyrical, riff-driven tracks like The Hottest Day and Public Safety Management. They skid to a stop for Breathe In, a beautiful song that should be on every radio in every car every night. Then there's the wonderfully restrained cover of Rush's Spirit of Radio.
Track of the Day - "Public Safety Management" - CBC Radio3 - Vish Khanna
I was cleaning out my home office over the weekend and filtering through about a thousand cd's that I'd been meaning to listen to but didn't for whatever reason. I was both excited and dismayed to discover Selina Martin's latest record, Disaster Fantasies, among the mountains of plastic in my house. Excited because I've long regarded Selina as one of the most intriguing songwriters in Toronto and I always look forward to hearing her newest stuff. I was dismayed because this album slipped through the cracks. I need an intern. In any case, all is well now because this excellent record is back on my radar and I get to share the first song from it with you now. It's called "Public Safety Management" and if it has a bit of a manic Rheostatics tone to it, it could be because that's Martin Tielli playing guitar on it.
press past...
The Globe and Mail
(4/4)
Selina Martin has the voice of a thrift-shop angel and the eye of an eagle circling over its prey. She's too decent to lie, and too cruel to look away as you react to what she has to say about your shabby subterfuges, which may also be hers. Her new album is full of sneaky wisdom and good tunes that refuse to know where to draw the line. Her arrangements (made and performed with friends from the Rheostatics end of the indie scene) have a way of billowing into grand or parodic tributes to whatever folly she happens to be discussing. Her band is her Greek chorus, commenting on the action with a leer or a tear. Ideally, these songs would be performed in the seedy, comfortable cabaret whose existence they imply. But that cabaret may not exist, so you'd better just buy the record. - Robert Everett-Green
Vue Magazine - Edmonton
(4/4)
It¹s been seven long years since Selina Martin and the Vertical Brothers released their saucy melodic debut disc Space Woman but the wait was worth it. Life Drawing Without Instruction is a compelling collection, showcasing Martin¹s musicianship, vocal talent and songwriting. Collaborating with Martin Tielli, fellow Rheostatic musician and producer Michael Philip Wojewoda and former Rheos drummer Dave Clark, this disc rings with promise. From supple, lilting Jane Siberry-esque songs like "Saskatchewan" and "Ordinary Love" to swaggering anthems like "Lost Man," "Next Big Thing," and "Talk to Me," (the latter includes some excellent whistling and a full chorus of lads doing the wa-ooohs), Martin shows off her musical range and versatility. Friends and co-horts fill the sound to brimming with strings, horns, accordions and slide guitar to which Martin adds her own guitar prowess and the odd musical saw and tray of wine glasses. The unmistakable rich and layered Rheostatics¹ sound underpins this disc, making each track different from the last. Clark¹s accomplished drumming delights the backbone but never overpowers. The disc concludes with a haunting beauty called "The Train Ride," and then ends with a brief studio clip of Martin: "That¹s all I got." Well, it¹s a lot.
‹ Lisa Gregoire
Ottawa Xpress
(4/4)
"Ordinary love is not for me," muses the alternately sweet- and sharp-tongued Selina Martin right out of the gates. A moment later, she calmly takes a breath, sharpens her claws, and strikes quick, summarily slicing and dicing some feckless chump whose "fairy tale" antics are driven by the "politics from in your pants." Fortunately, "ordinary" music is not for her either. A former U of T drama grad, Martin revels in the unexpected on her tough, tender and frequently astounding sophomore effort Life Drawing Without Instruction-unflinching Brechtian pop theatrics for heartsick spirits and fiery, fed-up souls alike. Piecing together shards of placid folk, paint-peeling punk, and skittish cabaret, Martin writes strident songs to make the guilty flinch, the forlorn swoon, and the defiant swell with courage.
-Steve Baylin
Echo Weekly
A LIFE LESS ORDINARY
By Vish Khanna
It’s been six years since Toronto’s Selina Martin released Space Woman, a much–loved first record that earned her piles of acclaim and a cult following that included many like–minded artists. A musician’s musician, Martin blew in like a breath of fresh air with a voice full of beauty and angst and a wholly unique writing sensibility that tweaks the love song form with brushes of dark humour and spite. While critics and fans sang the praises of Martin and Space Woman, her coming out party crashed early, stalling her creative output just as it began to flow. “I dissolved my first band after our first tour together and, even six years later, I don’t really know why,” she muses. “I felt like I didn’t know where to go from there. I wasn’t writing much at that time and it took a lot out of me to organize the tour myself. I know everybody does it but it makes it tougher to fully focus on the show, which should be the most important part of it. But whatever — here I am doing it again.” Martin’s made an amazing comeback with her latest album Life Drawing Without Instruction. After a couple of years of laying low, Martin felt inspired to write again, slowly composing great songs like “Ordinary Love,” “Don’t Bring Me Down,” and “Saskatchewan” among others, finally collecting them together. The subsequent record is an astounding collection of diverse, lively folk–rock songs that are tricky to pin down. Martin coos and hollers, kisses and spits, and hugs and kicks depending on the song at hand, while an eclectic musical stew brews behind her. There’s a fun, life–affirming sense of play on the record, which belies the process of actually putting the damn thing together. “I guess this record started becoming an idea when I met my bassist Leo (Valvassori) doing a play, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, at the Bathurst Street Theatre,” Martin recalls. “He was in the band and I was an actress/musician and then I met his really good friend Annelise (Noronha) who’s an engineer. They both said, ‘We gotta record your music Selina,’ and now they’re both in my band. It took two years to make the record because of finances and schedules and it came together very piecemeal for the most part. It was nice to have that time but it was also frustrating — like being in labour for four years.” The end result is a record that Martin feels is truer to herself than its predecessor, even if it is less personal. She now views Space Woman as the sound of a young songwriter finding herself, exorcizing personal demons, and focussing more on ‘I, me, mine.’ The new record, however, is a broader, less self–involved effort though always informed by Martin’s unique perspective on
life. It reveals her complete gifts as a songwriter, someone who utilizes her voice and her mind in multi–faceted ways to create something distinctive and thoughtful.
“Sometimes I try to write deliberately about a certain thing,” she says. “Like for the past two years I’ve been trying to write a song about rape during wartime that’s based on “Life During Wartime” by the Talking Heads but it’s a tough one and I haven’t figured it out yet. I like writing heavy songs with contrasting music and I think I’m most successful when it comes out of the blue, when a line or chorus comes and, if you’re lucky, you have access to a guitar or pen to record it. Gradually the song tells you what it’s about; it’s the stuff pot–boiling in the back of your brain taking up time and space and eventually it comes out.” Along its way, Martin’s music has perked some pretty discerning ears. Her new record includes cameos by fans and friends like N.Q. Arbuckle, St. Dirt Elementary School, members of the Weakerthans and Wayne Omaha, ex–Rheostatic Dave Clark and current Rheostatics Martin Tielli (who also painted the cover art), and Michael Phillip Wojewoda (who co–produced the record). Martin recounts these folks with only a touch of awe, viewing them as an extended circle of friends whose origin is a bit foggy. “How did I meet Martin? I don’t know,” she says, answering
her own rhetorical question. “And I think I met Michael Phillip through Martin? I don’t remember how we met actually. Oh wait — we went camping! He was there! I was looking through a telescope and he told me he’d heard my demos and wanted to produce my record and I said, ‘Okay,’ but then Annelise wanted to as well and I let them both do it. So, there was a little bit of fighting that happened but I liked it because it gave me two different opinions and then I could be the tie–breaker.”
Martin’s final say has resulted in more amazing music from a real artist, someone who flies in the face of much of the bullshit, novelty indie–rock that gets lauded these days. “I basically just want to keep myself entertained,” she laughs. “If I find myself repeating myself than I’m not interested in it and I quash it or take it in a different direction until something good happens. I’m not anti–pop but I don’t want to sound like somebody else out there and if I don’t, then I’m happy.”
Post City Magazines
While Life Drawing Without Instruction is only her second album – and the first in more than five years – Selina Martin is very much involved in the Toronto music scene, having worked with stalwarts such as Bob Wiseman and the Rheostatics. The presence of the latter band is particularly marked on the new album – ex-Rheos drummer Dave Clark is in her band. Current drummer and producer Michael Phillip Wojewoda (who also did the Barenaked Ladies’ Gordon) lends his playing and production, and there is stellar album art as well as instrumental contribution from the Rheos’ innovative guitarist Martin Tielli. She sings with a soaring staccato vocal delivery akin to Tielli’s – especially on "Edward Can’t Win." Her music can be described as "folk" or "roots," but those categories hardly begin to do justice to the wide range of music here. Martin’s album is full of lush and eclectic instrumentation (dobros! saws! wineglasses!) and a range of styles held together by her expressive voice and songwriting. From the cut-time country of "20 Miles" to the oompah waltz of "For Love," Martin pushes the musical envelope without ever going to far. On songs such as "Don’t Bring Me Down" and "Saskatchewan" (no relation to the Rheostatics song), her gentle lyricism comes to the fore. It’s been six years since her first album, Space Woman, but hopefully it won’t be another six until she hits the studio again.
- David Fleischer