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For the third consecutive year, Constanza Pacher’s Typography II classes have designed concepts for real projects from Bent River Records. This year, each class had the opportunity to design the vinyl album packaging for Allan Gilliland’s Dreaming: The Prague Sessions, and Mike Rud’s Salome’s Dance: The Mike Rud Trio Invites Peter Bernstein.

With such a wide variety of concepts to choose from, it wasn’t easy for Mike and Allan to make their decisions! After much deliberation, we are very excited to announce which students will receive the honorariums and have their designs sent to press:

Allan Gilliland – Dreaming: The Prague Sessions
Winner: Ashlin Kellough
Honourable Mentions: Lisa Cox, Kayla Agustin

Mike Rud – Salome’s Dance: The Mike Rud Trio Invites Peter Bernstein
Winner: Alan Ngo
Honourable Mentions: Nick Zylstra, MyHanh Nguyen

Congratulations to Alan and Ashlin, and to all the design students who participated! And a huge thank-you to Dr. Craig Monk, whose generous support of the record label makes this project possible! Stay tuned for more information about these exciting new releases! You can read more about the project in this article from The Griff: https://www.macewan.ca/wcm/MacEwanNews/NEWS_DESIGN_BRR_ALBUM_20

Gareth Gilliland is a third year guitar performance major and has just returned from a semester abroad in Helsinki, Finland. He feels very lucky to have the opportunity to be on the Bent River Records team as an intern for this
semester. Learning about music from different perspectives is important to him so he learns how to be a well rounded musician and collaborator. He’s performed extensively with funk and folk bands, jazz ensembles and as a solo guitarist. Before coming to MacEwan, Gareth studied culinary arts and has worked for some of Edmonton’s best chefs. Recently, he recorded with folk/roots band Jemma and The Good Thing at Bent River Records and is excited for what 2020 holds.

Paolo Belmar is currently taking his third year at MacEwan University in the Music Program with a Major in Composition. He has worked with the video-game development club at MacEwan scoring music for their games, he work as a music teacher outside of MacEwan, plays in two bands (Cabrakaan and Hellnite) and is currently working on a new instrumental music project. Since a few years ago he has been interested in recording studios and music production. In Fall of 2019, he started taking recording classes at MacEwan as elective courses outside of his major and that is how his interest for the label came about.

“I discovered how beautiful the process of creating a record can be, working with a team that is committed to do their best for the project. I am so excited for this opportunity to work with Bent River Records as a part of a creative team and supporting artists in the music industry.”

—Paolo

Have you come down with a case of the winter blues? Luckily for you, two of our Bent River artists have got the perfect cure for that. Let the sweet sounds of The Jivin’ Belles bring you some holiday cheer before the new year! 

Kate Blechinger, Mallory Chipman, and Emily Guthrie will be performing twice this month to bring audiences a little taste of sweet 1940s nostalgia. Catch their Glow Edmonton shows at the Edmonton Expo centre on December 23rd at 6:30 pm, or December 28th at 4 pm. These jivin’ ladies sing your favourite swing era bops and may just throw in some vintage-style renditions of your favourite modern pop bangers as well! Don’t miss The Jivin’ Belles this holiday season.

https://www.thejivinbelles.com/shows

That is a wrap on recording the EP with the winner of our 2019 Bent River Records Recording Competition presented by ATB Financial! Last Thursday, November 28th and Friday, November 29th we had both our winner, Nisto and renowned producer, Russell Broom at MacEwan University. We also invited MacEwan Music students in the Recording Program to join us down in Studio A at Allard Hall. There, they learned a thing or two from Russell. Students had the opportunity to run the board, set up mics and best of all, ask Russell any question that they would like. Having the chance to sit in on a session with a producer of this calibre will be a once in a lifetime opportunity for these students. There was also free pizza at lunch but we hope that they were more excited about the experience!

           Nisto’s emotionally rich performance on both vocals and guitar set the mood for both sessions. His chill demeanour and collaborative mindset made for a purely creative space. Together, both Nisto and Russell’s vision for the tracks evolved into what we will hear on the recording! We can’t wait! Stay tuned for release dates and shows coming to you in the New Year!

This week is a big one for creativity at Bent River Records. Recording begins tomorrow for Nisto’s EP with Russell Broom (woohoo!), which means sessions of pre-production, planning, practicing and the recording itself. The studio will be a flurry of activity as we set out to record our talented competition winner and document these next few incredible days.

Of course, we can’t forget to mention that MacEwan design students are currently working on their concepts for Mike Rud and Allan Gilliland’s new projects. Exciting stuff! The students will be pitching their ideas soon and we’re eagerly waiting to see which of their ideas will grace the covers of these new musical works. All the designs will be on public display in Allard Hall soon, so check in soon to find out when you can take a tour of the design students’ great ideas!