The Friends
Aug 9th, 2009
This site was conceived of on the night of July 20th, 2009 in the industrial outskirts of Toronto, a place of recognizable decay and disparity- the urban wasteland that some call Steeltown, better known as Hamilton, Ontario. The site’s safe-keepers and creators, Andrea and Nada swapped grievances of a bleak summer forecast that included a 3000 km divide between the two that would find one in San Diego, and the other in Toronto with only leaf collecting and records to keep her occupied. The only way to salvage their budding brotherhood was to birth a music blog to keep the momentum going. Equipped with a lifetime’s worth of musical experiences and a staggering musical library, the two have gained a considerable amount of credibility within Toronto, and all across the great North Americas. Working most of their young careers near-oblivious to the others’ existence, climbing quite similar un-climbable social and professional ladders, polluting publications with press releases, reviews, articles all that other junk.
Eventually, the plasticity of the scene compelled them to seek out compassionate, intentional living through a non profit organization called Invisible Children. Both in their own time and their own rhythm did they subscribe to a manifesto of community and justice. Convicted and propelled by humanity, and a mutual appreciation for music: this project is a natural extension of emitting all sorts of goodness into the universe for all to share.
post script: Friends With Both Arms: Faces on Film track 1.
Introducing:
Andrea Dyer
Nada Alic
Note:
It seems as though music blogs today cover all the same artists, or at least the most well-known ones. They’ve often reminded us of advertisers that keep a watchful eye on their competitors. Boring! Either way, it always feels inaccessible. Most bands are so far ‘in’ their subculture that only music geeks would nod in approval. Everyone else feels uncool in comparison. It’s like a race to reach an invisible peak of coolness that is unreachable. As much as we do love newer artists, it seems rather unfair to hold them to an unreasonable standard, or ‘hype’ them up, butcher their songs with several hundred remixes, give them three tracks-worth of glory, then just as quickly- discard them. The day of the track is upon is, while the album is largely unacknowledged. We are here to celebrate music, however it finds us, however we find it. In no particular order. With no particular shelf-life. We like mixing personal stories in as well, because we really are your friends.
How to contact us:
nada.alic@gmail.com
andrea.dyer@hotmail.com
friendswithbotharms@gmail.com
* Mp3s are for sampling purposes only. Please support artists, go to their shows, buy their albums and tshirts, keep gas in their vans and food in their bellies. Thanks.
If you are an artist/manager and have any comments/concerns, please contact us.
hey! my names anthony and just wanted to express how much of an amazing job yall are doing with this blog. It covers such a variety of bands who are amazing and the reviews and stories yall write about are awesome. I like to read a lot of music blogs but seriously this is one of the best ive come across, and its all thanks to desiree watkins (who told me to check it out) and who i beleive is good friends with nada. anyways please keep this up and i look forward to reading more of it!