What it Sounds Like
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The FM Hi Low Mixtape (2007)
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What It Sounds Like (2005)
Fraser's Next Show
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FM Hi Low " Up On the Hillside" July 1st.
Yes yes! the new FM Hi Low record "UP ON THE HILLSIDE" will be available in cd form and downloadable as of july 1st!
To celebrate this occasion The Fm Hi low live ensemble will be playing these selct dates, copies of the record will be available!
July 1st. FM HI Low @ Camp Wanakita , playing for Rez camp and Family camp.
July 3&4 . FM Hi Low @ The Open Sky Revival, 5th Wind Farm, Cold Springs, Ontario, 20$ (includes camping and food) sets friday night and saturday afternoon. for more info contact frasesample(at)gmail.com
July 5. FM HI Low @ The Grand Lodge Art Gallery , Mont Tremblant , Quebec. starts at 3pm .
July 6. FM HI Low @ Mont Tremblant Village Outdoor Stage, 5pm.
July 7. FM HI Low @ les Quai Des Brumes, Montreal.( corner st-denis Mont Royal) doors=8pm show=9pm, 12$ includes the new cd!
Yes the FM Hi Low live ensemble is gearing up for an epic summer tour across Ontario and Quebec and into the Martimes. For more tour dates check the calendar link below for more info AND GO VISIT www.myspace.com/frasermacdougall to stream some track from the new record.
Keep the Peace Train Rollin!!!!
View FM Hi low's EPK My Sonicbids Calendarlove, peace & happines,
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Listen:
Play/Pause,
Next
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Upcomming Shows
Shows in the Near Future
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FM Hi Low " Up On the Hillside" July 1st.
Yes yes! the new FM Hi Low record "UP ON THE HILLSIDE" will be available in cd form and downloadable as of july 1st!
To celebrate this occasion The Fm Hi low live ensemble will be playing these selct dates, copies of the record will be available!
July 1st. FM HI Low @ Camp Wanakita , playing for Rez camp and Family camp.
July 3&4 . FM Hi Low @ The Open Sky Revival, 5th Wind Farm, Cold Springs, Ontario, 20$ (includes camping and food) sets friday night and saturday afternoon. for more info contact frasesample(at)gmail.com
July 5. FM HI Low @ The Grand Lodge Art Gallery , Mont Tremblant , Quebec. starts at 3pm .
July 6. FM HI Low @ Mont Tremblant Village Outdoor Stage, 5pm.
July 7. FM HI Low @ les Quai Des Brumes, Montreal.( corner st-denis Mont Royal) doors=8pm show=9pm, 12$ includes the new cd!
Yes the FM Hi Low live ensemble is gearing up for an epic summer tour across Ontario and Quebec and into the Martimes. For more tour dates check the calendar link below for more info AND GO VISIT www.myspace.com/frasermacdougall to stream some track from the new record.
Keep the Peace Train Rollin!!!!
View FM Hi low's EPK My Sonicbids Calendarlove, peace & happines,
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FM Hi Low Discography
UP ON THE HILLSIDE:2009
FM Hi Low is a journey founded on the multi-instrumental compositions of Montreal musician Fraser MacDougall. His latest release, "Up On The Hillside" has been a year in the making and springs from a natural evolution of sound making and personal exploration. Combining elements of folk lyricism, reggae esthetic and hip-hop wordplay, Fraser soulfully sings about our cultural and natural environments. The journey of his music moves its listener through organic and digital textures, from the backwoods of acoustic guitar and mandolin to the dance floor with lush keyboards, gritty sub-bass and worldly percussion. MacDougall’s stories are both nostalgic and universal, rooted in a consciousness that illustrates humility and a generosity for the human spirit. He lights up the stage with songs that are accessible to any audience as he expresses a diverse set of views that are only possible from one who seeks out beyond their own backyard. Throughout this journey the Fm Hi Low sound has developed an emblematic vibe: “Movement music that soothes, grooves and inspires.”
Teamed up with acclaimed Producer/Engineer: Borza Ghomeshi (engineer for Emmy-Lou Harris, Lauren Hill, Afrodizz, Rufus Wainwright and more), MacDougall brought his original mixes from his home studio into Ghomeshi’s professional space on a hillside in St-Adele, Quebec. As a team, Ghomeshi and MacDougall mixed together the lo-fi pre-recorded Garageband compositions with fresh new hi-fi sound edits and overdubs. The two got along like old friends and weaved their way into producing a beautiful bright tapestry, featuring an eclectic mix of grooves, instrumentation, and harmony that can only be characterized as FM Hi Low. “Up On The Hillside” is an album to create an instant positive vibe. Projected release date April 2009. Check out www.myspace.com/frasermacdougall for live streaming
The FM Hi Low Mixtape:2007
Fraser layed down The Fm Hi Low Mixtape in the spring of 2007. Tracked in Montreal and Toronto it holds within it a collection of songs written on a solo acoustic tour across Canada. Intended as a demo and partially funded by Factor (the Foundation to assist canadian talent on recordings) the Fm Hi Low Mixtape features three studio recorded original tunes. Combined with songs recorded in Fraser's Montreal apartment studio and songs recorded with sound engineer/musician Jay Richards, up at the MacDougall family home In Mt-Tremblant, Quebec. For the record Fraser took on the role of singer/songwriter, co-producer, along with playing acoustic/ electric guitar, bass, drums, percussion, beatboxing, keyboards, synths, harmonica, piano, ukulele, and didge. The Mixtape has sold more that 700 copies to date and has been played on independant radio from Peterborough to Cortes Island. Check it out as it streams live from this site.
What It Sounds Like
A multi instrumentalist, funktified, jazz schooled, folkie with a love for reggae, dub and electronic sound manipulation.People often forget that musicians write music as a form of expression. We forget that with every note or every lyric, people have something to say. Artists themselves often forget that music is a way of voicing one’s own opinions. Fraser MacDougall is that overarching reminder that a song is a conversation, a dialogue of values and perspective between the writer and the reader, the composer and audience. His music is heartfelt and historical in that it draws from both his external life experiences and his internal reflections. In the summer of 2005, he recorded What It Sounds Like with a friend, an 8-track D.A.T. recorder and one intention; to introduce the world to the mind of Fraser MacDougall, the album is what that sounds like.
He plays all of the instruments on the album but in a live setting, he settles into the acoustic and electric guitars and his soft-textured, yet powerful voice. Fraser is often joined on stage by a range of musicians, but continues to perform solo as well, and recently performed with a Montreal-based improv comedy troupe providing soundscapes for their show. It is this honest versatility that adds to his musical expression, and as he travels deeper within himself he also evolves with everything that comes his way. Fraser has sited musical influences from the worlds of jazz, folk, reggae/dub, hip-hop, rock, funk and electronic music, and is continually shaped by the artists he shares the stage with. Such artists include the Kalmunity collective, Throwback, Bullfrog, Joel Plaskett, Mathew Barber and In Us Aso, as well as an entire network of musicians in Australia and New Zealand.
Fraser uses his lyrics to tell the stories of his world travels, to express his politics and to communicate environmental awareness. Before leaving university Fraser founded, actualized, and performed in an annual eco-festival called Rock for the River. Many of his songs are self-reflexive about music itself, and the industry in which he often feels trapped. At the same time, Fraser is committed to using the positive medium of music to bring about changes in the world he lives in. His former band, The Stairway Movement, received a grant from the Quebec government that allowed them to musically educate kids in elementary school. .
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The summer of 2005 provided Fraser with the opportunity to form, actualize and instruct a garage band camp for teens, within a sector of Montreal’s Camp Artemusik. The camp was the perfect outlet and summer job to live and play in the plateau region of Montreal, where he now resides.
His sound is somewhat hard to place as he draws from so many different wells of inspiration, but his sense of rhythm is perhaps the most powerful element to appear in his compositions. He no doubt, has an ear for groove and can turn the simplest progression or melody into the funkiest vamp. Fraser’s guitar work blends jazz and folk into a unique hybrid which audiences can comfortably dance to and genuinely marvel at. But like improvisation, Fraser’s art is full of surprises and rooted in exploration and evolution. Like Dylan, Fraser is a bard. Like Davis, he stretches himself in every possible direction. Like Difranco, his political views cannot be separated from the music that encases them. And just like everyone from whom Fraser has learned, he can teach and must be given attention. Kind words courtesy of Jeremy Young (www.weburninggirrafes.com)
What It Sounds Like = In the first few days of June 2005 a solo album was recorded with aid from long time neighbor and sound engineer Drew Vergil, in the empty dining room of the recently sold MacDougall home. The material is a combination of new songs old original songs adapted to the recording process of a single musician layering: Vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, bass, piano, percussion, drum set, and harmonica. The result is an album titled “What it Sounds Like”, inspired by the organic process the neighbors developed in capturing the true sound of the instruments and vocals during live takes on a rented Tascam 8-track recorder. For which the lead guitar, drum, harmonica and backing vocal takes were improvised and all rhythm guitar and lead vocals takes were tracked from beginning to end. The album is an independant project that is assembled and distributed and sold by Fraser at concerts and through this site.
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FM Hi Low Discography
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FM Hi Low On The Road
Movement Music That Soothes, Grooves and Inspires
Equipped with a unique sense of rhythm, a dynamic soulful singing voice, multi instrumental talents and a great live energy Fraser MacDougall has been steadily building a grass roots following since 2000. Performing at concert venues, cafes, festivals, summer camps, elementary and high schools, yoga studio's, art gallery's, farmer's market's, outdoor education centers, organic farms and backpacker hostels. With a mission to promote positive change, MacDougall has performed at a myriad of environmental and other activist events. Feature performances include: headlining for the 2008 Kootenay Flow Fest (dedicated to the conservation of Canadian waterways), and benifits for the Sea Shepard Society, The David Suzuki foundation, The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, Kawartha World Issues and Dans la Rue. MacDougall's music has taken him all over Canada and on various International stages in USA, Australia, and New Zealand. Fm Hi Low has shared the stage with such diverse artists as the likes of the Wassabi Collective, the Wooden Sky, Ladies of the Canyon, Kreesha Turner, The Slip, the Kalmunity Collective, Peter Elkas, Lucisous Beats, the Ory No'man Too and many others.
With spring and summer of 2009 approaching, MacDougall has assembled a live group with three other exceptional musicians to cary the Fm Hi Low torch. They are road-ready and eager to light up any stage. Their goal is to combine the charismatic recorded compositions with the full-fledged energy of a live performance.
What Audiences Say about Fm Hi Low:
"It is rare to find a single player who can inspire a room to its feet, armed with just a guitar, voice and his trademark stomping style. His songs are funky, infectious and meaningful, just like his person. " Toko-Pa Turner, Director, Kootenay Flow Fest.
"...his sense of rhythm is perhaps the most powerful element to appear in his compositions. Creating something you can comfortably dance to and genuinely marvel at." - www.weburninggiraffes.com
" His music’s got reggae beat, with electronic layers and a sweet pop croon." - Risa Dickens, www.Indyish.com
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FM Hi Low On The Road
Movement Music That Soothes, Grooves and Inspires
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For love, live shows, and kind words: live@frasermacdougall.com