A huge congratulations to Gordon for his well deserved win! Watch his acceptance speech below.

With two dozen collaborative LP releases under his belt, Grdina’s debut solo LP China Cloud was recorded over several intimate improvisational solo performances at Vancouver’s legendary underground art space of the same name. The album features a variety of electric and acoustic interpretations of both guitar and oud, as well as exploratory improv with obscure percussion and tape loops.

Walrus sound like one complete organism on this record. No one part is taking away from anything else, and they all move well together. Being so locked in the entire time makes Family Hangover that much more hypnotic. Tracks such as “Later Days,” “In Timely Fashion” and “Regular Face” suck you in almost instantly, with unstoppable grooves.

On top of everything, everyone sounds good on this record, like the smooth-as-silk bass intro on “Glam” and the many beautiful guitar solos on album ender “What Goes On…” Walrus are creating some of the most potent rock music in Canada today, and Family Hangover demonstrates that fact amply. (9/10)

Read the full review via EXCLAIM!

Pre-order Family Hangover via OUR STORE.

Thanks to The Walleye for a great review of Family Hangover, available this Friday! Pre-orders HERE.

Thanks to the good folks at Indie88 for including Walrus in their rundown of best new music! Good company with Arcade Fire, Lorde, Portugal. The Man, Radiohead, The War On Drugs, Liam Gallagher, Broken Social Scene, Phoenix, and more

SEE THE WHOLE LIST HERE

Until June 9, release date for their debut LP “Family Hangover”, you can stream it all via CBCMUSIC. Just helpin’ ya with your listens, ya know?

Via Consequence of Sound:

Long, languid stretches of spacey meanderings eventually wind themselves up into tight knots that beg to be undone, to be free again. Walrus, led by singer Justin Murphy, pile on that pressure and tension, knowing full well the later exhale will be worth the wait. And it is — after minutes of intense revving up, Walrus bring about a magnificent explosion of noise and heat.

Listen to “GLAM” below:

Via Stereogum:

Chugging along with unrelenting guitar grooves and a smattering of psychedelia, Walrus barrel in with their new song, “In Timely Fashion,” off their soon-to-be-released debut LP, Family Hangover. The Halifax-based band never let the momentum fade as they cruise through four minutes of thumping, synthing wonder. “In Timely Fashion” is totally electric and mixes the best influences of the genre with the band’s own studio experimentation. This is an exciting indicator of what more we can expect from the band’s full-length in June. Check out the track and band’s tour dates below.

Listen to “In Timely Fashion” below:

Madic Records is thrilled to present 5 must-see emerging acts at Canadian Music Week 2017. The evening was curated and will be hosted by Dan Mangan, who has written a little bit about each project below.

Madic Records Showcase @ CMW
Friday, April 21st
The Monarch Tavern, Toronto
$10 or CMW Festival Wristband

8pm // Gordon Grdina
9pm // Bleu
10pm // 36?
11pm // Walrus
12am // Peregrine Falls

8pm // GORDON GRDINA

“Gord is a motherfucker. He doesn’t play the guitar like anybody else I’ve ever seen. The instrument becomes an extension of his frantic mind, embracing both the chaos and the deep kindness he exudes as an individual. Gord’s playing isn’t referential to anything. It’s not nostalgic. It doesn’t remind you of how the guitar is so cool when it’s played well. It just reminds you that life is infinitely absurd but the pros outweigh the cons. Madic will have the privilege of sharing some of his solo work with the world soon.”

gordongrdinamusic.com
Twitter: @gordongrdina
Instagram: @ggrdina

9PM // BLEU

“Bleu is a young band from St. John’s lead by Marcus McLaughlin. He emailed me a few months back and I found myself coming back and listening to what he sent many times. He writes great, understated songs and I can’t wait to see how they play out live. His Bandcamp doesn’t have a bio so, to be honest, I don’t know much about him. Is he an asshole? Probably not, but the suspense is tantalising.”

whoisbleu.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @whoisbleu

10PM // 36?

“I saw this band play a few years back at The Dakota. It was the weirdest mishmash of ideas I’d seen on a stage in a long time. There was no united front, no veil of ‘cool band’, no posturing. It felt like everyone on stage was there by accident but played the same songs entirely by chance. The drummer may have been wearing board shorts, but it wasn’t an ironic or unironic statement. Somehow, it all made sense against the frantic hyperactive musical leaps between funk/rock/pop/performance art. It was fresh and exciting. It was youthful, it was high energy, and it was honest.”

whatis36.com
Facebook: @whatis36
Twitter: @whatis36
Instagram: @whatis36

11PM // WALRUS

“I’m so excited about Walrus’ debut LP, out June 9. It’s Madic’s first release in a while, and I’ve been listening to it non-stop. Reminiscent of Tame Impala, but garagier. Remnants of The Beatles in their LSD era, but thrashier. Hypnotic and patient songs, but laden with hooks and melodies and hidden structure. In this day and age, it’s refreshing to see four people on a stage just playing rock music (well) without any laptops nearby. Their live show is no-fail. It ought to be, they played like 200 gigs last year.”

walrustheband.com
Facebook: @WaWalrus
Twitter: @walrustheband
Instagram: @walrustheband

12AM // PEREGRINE FALLS

“I can’t imagine how many times aspiring musicians have seen Gord and/or Kenton play music and then felt inspired to either spend the next several thousand hours practising or just quit altogether. As musicians, their dedication to their craft is a cut above. They are inspiring and creative individuals. Peregrine Falls is free-punk. “Ornette Coleman to Dead Kennedys”. This is a visceral experience. The recordings are really great, but nothing is the same as seeing this band live. What they do is unlike any other guitar/drums duo out there. It’s akin to an aural exorcism. Get in and get right up to the stage – you’ll want to watch the physicality of the music closely. You might need to smoke a cigarette and confide your secrets to a stranger afterwards.”

peregrinefalls.com
Facebook: @peregrinefalls
Twitter: @peregrinefalls
Instagram: @peregrinefalls

Halifax‘s Walrus will release their debut LP, Family Hangover, on June 9th via Madic Records. Described as a band that “could be thrown on a bill between Love and Sabbath,” their first full-length release features a soulful, fuzzed-out mix of swirling vocals, wailing guitar riffs, and Spacemen 3-style drone, all with a laid-back, ’60s-infused vibe.

The band offered a first taste of the album with the jangly lead single “Regular Face,” and today they share a Bob Ross-inspired video for the track (appropriately titled ‘The Joy of Painting with Walrus.’) You can watch the video where it premiered with CLRVYNT or via YouTube.  Stream or download “Regular Face” here.  Pre-order the album here.

Walrus has a handful of Canadian and US dates coming up this spring, including performances at CMW and Field Trip Festival and a string of dates with Preoccupations. See below for all upcoming shows (more TBA.) 

WALRUS ON TOUR:
** w/ Preoccupations
% w/ Broken Social Scene, Feist
$ w/ Sebadoh

4/6: Quebec City, QC @ Nuits Psych Festival
4/20: Toronto, ON Horseshoe (CMW)$
4/21: Toronto, ON @ Monarch Tavern (CMW)
4/22: London, ON @ Sad Taquito
4/24: Hadley, MA @ Tubecats
4/25: Philadelphia, PA @ TBD
4/26: New York, NY @ TBD
4/27: Buffalo, NY @ Curly’s
4/28: Ottawa, ON @ Zaphods**
4/30: Quebec City, QC @ Le Cercle**
5/2: Fredericton, NB @ Capitol**
6/3: Toronto, ON @ Fort York (Field Trip Festival)%

WALRUS // FAMILY HANGOVER 1. Later Days 2. In A Timely Fashion 3. Family Hangover 4. So Far Gone 5. Step Outside 6. Regular Face 7. Free Again 8. Tell Me 9. Glam 10. What Goes On…

WALRUS have announced new single “Regular Face” as well as a slew of tour dates, including some support dates with Calgary’s Preoccupations, Nuits Psych Fest in Quebec, Field Trip Festival and Canadian Music Week in Toronto.

Apr 6: Quebec City – Nuits Psych Festival
Apr 20: Toronto – Horseshoe / CMW
Apr 21: Toronto – Monarch Tavern / CMW / Madic Records Showcase
Apr 22: London – Sad Taquito
Apr 24: Hadley, MA – Tubecats
Apr 25: Boston – TBD
Apr 26: Brooklyn – TBD
Apr 27: Buffalo, NY – Curly’s
Apr 28: Ottawa – Zaphods**
Apr 30: Quebec City – Le Cercle**
May 2: Fredericton – Capitol**
June 3: Toronto – Field Trip Festival / Toronto – Fort York

** w/ Preoccupations

LISTEN/STREAM to “Regular Face” below!

BUY OR STREAM “GOODBYE SOMETHING” VIA // iTunes // Streaming // A&C // Bandcamp

HALIFAX PSYCH ROCKERS WALRUS SIGN TO MADIC RECORDS. NEW EP, GOODBYE SOMETHING, SET FOR RELEASE APRIL 29.

WALRUS ON TOUR NOW WITH WINTERSLEEP. FULL SPRING TOUR DATES BELOW

PRE-ORDER GOODBYE SOMETHING HERE AND RECEIVE INSTANT DOWNLOAD FOR “WEARING IT”

Halifax’s Walrus channel their inner psychedelia with songs that range from trance to surf. Exclaim! writes that “the band somehow mix gentle, Brian Wilson vocal melodies and orchestrations with out-of-the-blue punk thrash parts that keep listeners guessing. The high, winsome vocals and chiming 12-string Rickenbacker certainly conjured late ’60s cloudy folk-pop, but the rest of the band infused the songs with sharp edges.” Their music will adhere to all levels of inebriation or consciousness. Walrus takes you swiftly into a dream you’ll find yourself never wanting to wake up from.

Today, The band is pleased to announce that they have signed with Dan Mangan’s Madic Records to release their latest EP, Goodbye Something, due April 29 on cassette and digital download. Get a look at the inner-psyche of Walrus with new video for lead single “Wearing It”. Pre-orders of Goodbye Something will receive an instant download of the single.

WATCH AND SHARE VIDEO FOR “WEARING IT” HERE

Recorded with Charles Austin and Franc Lopes at Echo Chamber in Halifax, “the song is about being trapped or caught up in the cycle of doing the same things all the time…but also being content with that, and then also feeling that it’s wearing thin, too,” says the band.

Currently on tour with Wintersleep, Walrus will continue on across Canada on a run of dates throughout April and May. Full tour dates can be found below with more stops to be added soon. True DIYers, throughout the last two years Walrus has played over 200 shows in clubs, dive bars, garages, and houses in the U.S. and Canada with the likes of July Talk, Will Butler, Tokyo Police Club, Buck 65, and Zeus.

GOODBYE SOMETHING EP TRACKLIST

01 Wearing It
02 Fur Skin Coat
03 Feels
04 Close My Eyes

TOUR DATES

Mar 31 – Winnipeg, MB – Park Theatre*
Apr 11 – Edmonton, AB – The Buckingham
Apr 22 – Saint John, NB – Pepper’s Pub
Apr 23 – Fredericton, NB – Flourish Festival
May 5 – Hamilton, ON – Baltimore House
May 5-7 – Toronto, ON – CMW
May 9 – Gatineau, QC – Le Minotaure
May 10 – Montreal, QC – Le Divan Orange
May 11 – Quebec City, QC – Sous-sol du Cercle
May 13 – Trois-Rivieres, QC – Ti-Petac
May 14 – Sherbrooke, QC – La Petite Boite Noire
May 21 – St Andrews, NB – PaddleFest
Jul 8-10 – Halifax, NS – Gridlock Festival
* with Wintersleep

MORE DATES TBA

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