JF Robitaille the critically acclaimed Montreal singer/songwriter has joined the Sparks Music roster and will release a brand new album in the spring of 2013.

Exclaim Magazine has called him “a Leonard Cohen for the new age, but with optimism, melody and a prettier voice”.

Over the last 5 years he has lived and performed in New York, London, Toronto and Montreal and has shared the stage with the likes of Jonathan Richman, Sean Lennon, Tegan and Sara, Julie Doiron, The Dears and St. Vincent. His very first EP was produced by Howard Bilerman [Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade] and Brian Paulson [Beck, Wilco] and was released in 2007 on Nona Hendryx’s label Rhythbank/Warner.
His second album “Calendar” [released in 2011] was once again embraced by the critics and scored major Canadian college radio play as well as charting on CBC Radio 3.

JF is currently demoing tracks for his new album and is also shooting a video in Toronto in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks and months.

“Nobody Gets It” is the first official single/video from the new Papermaps EP “Inferior Ghost”, which was released August 14, 2012. This video was directed and produced by Kerry Shaw and edited by Chris Minn.

Of the video, director Kerry Shaw says: “Nobody’s perfect. A notion we tend to forget when we look at our partner, our colleagues, our family, ourselves. We are creatures of expectation and with that comes the tendency to overlook just how amazing the people truly are around us. Papermaps have compiled a song that explores the anger in desiring perfection, the frustration of someone not living up to our idea of who we think they should be. Perfect. I contradict these lyrics with a montage of appreciation. Specifically, images of women. The female form, movement and overall imperfections and actions of women. All kinds of women. This is not an in-your-face, socio-political “oh, look at how women are being over-sexualized/distorted in media/over-beautified” kind of dialogue. Rather, this is a sort of study of the female face, body, hair, movement, etc. A slightly dark celebration”.

Enjoy !

It’s been 30 years since the release of Arias & Symphonies and this special 30th anniversary reissue edition celebrates the release of this important record from the new romantic/new wave ’80’s band Spoons.

This new and expanded 30th Anniversary Edition version (available today) contains new liner notes, rare photos and bonus live tracks.

You can purchase the iTunes “deluxe” edition which features an entire live concert recorded at the El Mocambo in 1982. This bonus live concert is only available from the iTunes store!

To celebrate this landmark re-issue, the band will be performing on November 30th, 2012 at Revival Bar in Toronto. Original keyboardist Rob Preuss will be returning to Toronto to join band-mates Gord Deppe and Sandy Horne for this special celebratory show!

Sparks Music and Ready Records are about to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of “Arias and Symphonies” with a special version of the album complete with new liner notes, rare photos and live tracks. The CD is set to be released via Sparks/Ready/Universal on November 13, 2012. The band’s CD release party is confirmed for Novembr 30 at Revival Bar in Toronto. Tickets are available HERE.

Spoons began with the coming of the 1980’s; a modest group of four suburban kids from Burlington, Ontario, who became the country’s new wave/techno-pop sweethearts. Gord Deppe, Sandy Horne, Rob Preuss and Derrick Ross would over the next two years be nominated for two Juno Awards, win group of the year at the 1982 U-Know Awards (now known as the Casby’s), have two top ten singles and be presented with a gold award for the sale of 50,000 copies of their sophomoric album ‘Arias and Symphonies’.

After signing to a small independent Toronto label called Ready Records, run by two recent college graduates (Andy Crosbie and Angus MacKay) their debut album entitled ‘Stick Figure Neighbourhood'(1981) was released. It was recorded at Grant Avenue Studios in Hamilton, Ontario with a then unknown engineer by the name of Daniel Lanois. The album attracted the attention of college radio, garnered rave press reviews and generated successful college chart activity.

Their follow-up was the widely acclaimed ‘Arias & Symphonies’. It was produced by John Punter who had been working with Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry and Japan and was an engineer at George Martin’s famous Air Studios in London. John came to know of the band while on a trip to Canada to do sound for Japan at their Ryerson Theatre shows. ‘Arias and Symphonies’ spawned the single “Nova Heart”. This prompted the band’s first music video, which led to major TV exposure (especially on Muchmusic which had just hit the airwaves that very same year). Commercial radio airplay followed and the band soon saw themselves opening for such acts as The Police, Culture Club and Simple Minds.

Fast forward to 2012, Sparks Music and Ready Records are about to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of “Arias and Symphonies” on November 13 and to celebrate that release with a release party at Revival Bar in Toronto on November 30.
Original keyboardist Rob Preuss will be returning to Toronto to join band-mates Gord Deppe and Sandy Horne for this special celebratory show!