I gathered up a few musician friends to record some of my tunes on February 14, 2004. What was a one album project turned into a crazy 20 year musical ride. Wow!

We’re celebrating with a new tune: Hold On, Let Go

Available for download on our BandCamp

Enjoy the very danceable rhythm — a line dance shuffle, perhaps.
And, the chorus is just asking for you to singalong. Go for it!

One of the most valuable skills in life is knowing when to take chances and stay in the fray and knowing when the smart move is to walk away.

That hint of free will feels good in this crazy game of life.

Meanwhile, it’s not time for me to “let go” just yet.
I have quite a few tunes in the hopper. 😉

View on YouTube.

We’re booking some nice shows in August. So stay tuned.
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May you all have as much love as you need, as much peace as possible and plenty of joy throughout the new year and beyond.

The Mad Maggies turn 20 this year. Look out for new tunes and shows.

Here’s my next “Mags’ Jazz” piece — storytelling and music inspired by Ken Nordine’s “Word Jazz” style.

In “Out of Proportion“, a shopping mishap leads a woman to discover that clothes don’t make the woman…or the man.

And naturally, there is accordion.

Enjoy the video on our YouTube channel.

Please hit the like button and subscribe to our channel. That’s a super easy way to support us.

Music & Lyrics by M. Martin
Musicians:
Maggie “Mags” Martin: composer, vocals, accordion, & synths
Gary “GDub” Wium: bass

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I’ve been creating some pieces loosely inspired by Ken Nordine’s Word Jazz – narration over background music.

Nordine is one of my early, big influences. He told tales and made commentary on the world with a fabulous, mellifluous voice over the sounds of cool jazz by the Fred Katz group.

I listened to the albums over and over and over when I was a kid.

First up is “Actual Factual”, a laid-back groove in which I have something to say about disinformation. Of course, there is accordion.

Enjoy the video on our YouTube channel. Please hit the like button and subscribe to our channel. That’s a super easy way to support us.

Listen to the audio file on our BandCamp.

Dead Air is a rock/pop tune with vintage dub stylings. The lyrics describe that feeling when you finally leave for good.

Try singing along. It is very satisfying.

The fab noir-inspired illustrations are by multi-talented artist Wendy Pires (Instagram: @_wkpires)

Watch the new video on our YouTube channel.

For a high quality audio file, go to our BandCamp.

Mixed and mastered by Wally Sound at the Wally Sound, Oakland, California.

Featuring:
Johny Blood: tuba
Ian Luke: drums
Maggie “Mags” Martin: accordionist, vocals, composer, bass & synths
Mark Nemoyten: trumpet
Gary “GDub” Wium: guitar

Before I veered into the world of squeezeboxes and the musical ensemble project of the Mad Maggies, I was busy creating soundscapes and songs for theatre and dance performances.

Recently two collectors of electronica from the 80s and 90s contacted me having found “Limines” on our Bandcamp. Did I have more cassettes? Did I have more music? Would I consider a re-release?

This got me thinking about my early material. What almost forgotten, almost lost, musical gems were waiting to be heard again? I went looking and uncovered several works tucked away on tape cassettes, hi-speed tape cassettes, digital sequences and archived folders.

After a bit of dusting off – volume levels, stereo balance, a pinch of tape pitch correction, I uploaded a set of tracks and compiled them as an album on our Bandcamp called “Lost & Found”.

If you enjoy moody, cinematic, quirky, fascinating sonic experiences, you will certainly find listening worthwhile. Of course, I’d love to hear what you think.


For electronic music nerds, I used an array of synths including ESQ-1, DX7, Juno 106, SQ-80.

I played most of these tracks in real time into the sequencing software, or in the case of the SQ-80, onto the onboard sequencer. The feel is natural, even, at times, imprecise.

I wrote some of the tunes for particular commissions, others just because, well, I just can’t help writing music.

“However Improbable” is a confection of ska, border polka, country, dance and brass band. The tune, written by yours madly, is a perfect example of the Mad Maggies “Hard to Describe, Easy to Love” style.

When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

-– Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, stated by Sherlock Holmes

Watch the video However Improbable on our YouTube channel.

The video features fantastic, detailed illustrations by Montreal artist Daniel Fiorito.

For a high quality audio file, go to our BandCamp.

Will Shirley ever notice Sam?

Will they fall in love?

To find out, watch the video now.

The video features whimsical sketches by artist Mason Fernandez.

If you’re like me and have some word nerd in you, you will enjoy the homonyms, internal rhymes and expressions.

And with the handy onscreen lyrics, you can sing along.

For a high quality audio file, listen on the Mad Maggies BandCamp.

Mixed and Mastered by Wally Sound at the Wally Sound, Oakland, California

After so much warm, humid here in Montréal, it is hard to believe that the streets were covered in snow just a few months ago.

Enjoy a very snowy, wintry trip through the streets of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Montreal, Quebec while listening to The Mad Maggies’ release Groove d’Hiver* (Winter Groove), a dub-infused instrumental.

Watch and like on YouTube.

Listen to a high quality audio file on our BandCamp. 

 

The Streets of Montreal. I had big fun filming the hood during snow storms. Each shot had to have snow falling.

The streets I wandered looking for video shots for Groove d’Hiver are specifically the streets of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve (Ho-Ma) and Viauville, two neighbourhoods on the eastern side of the island of MontrĂ©al which border the St. Lawrence River.

Before the Europeans came, Iroquois inhabited the area. By the early 1800s, it was a rural village, then a working class slum, then a busy manufacturing district. By the 1980s, the manufacturing sector had shrank and the economic decline hit the area hard. There is some rebound now because of the affordability of the real estate.

All this history makes the area’s urban landscape a hodgepodge of blight and gentrification. There’s Beaux Arts architecture from its glory days, remnants of factories, blocks of condos, empty storefronts and plenty of graffiti. Alleyways thread through the backs of most streets, some rough and ignored, some family friendly and “greened”. Copper-clad church steeples are everywhere.

I haven’t been letting a pesky pandemic stop me from writing and producing music. 🙂

We — the Mad Maggies — have been recording tracks remotely and sending them to Wally Sound in Oakland, CA for mixing.

In December ’21, we released “Within the Wyrd“, a cool groove with shades of first wave ska.

Enjoy the danceable, retro feel. Kick off your shoes, turn up the volume and shake what you got.

Mixed and Mastered by Wally Sound at the Wally Sound, Oakland, California
 
Johny Blood: tuba
Ray Fernandez: saxophone
Ian Luke: drums
Maggie “Mags” Martin: accordionist, composer/arranger
Mark Nemoyten: trumpet
Tim Sarter: bass
Ned Stone: trombone
Gary “GDub” Wium: guitar

Why Wyrd?
In Norse mythology, under the huge tree of life, Yggdrasil, there is a well. This well is called the Well of Wyrd (Well of UrĂ°r). Three Norns tend to Yggdrasil every day by bringing water from the well to the tree to keep it green and healthy.

These beings of time, UrĂ°r (what was), VerĂ°andi (what is) and Skuld (what will be) are said to spin our destinies.

I think of the “Wyrd” as the twists and turns of our lives, a weaving of experiences — some ordinary, some extraordinary. We’re all in this tapestry of life together.

Music from everywhere flows around and through us. It flows from the past to the future. In Within the Wyrd, the sounds flow from the Caribbean to the Northern realms to the west coast of California.

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