This weekend a good friend from university stopped by Paris for a night. Big flashbacks from life in Halifax, Nova Scotia, as we talked about old college people and places.

Some musical memories: that bluegrass band, The Hurtin’ Unit, practicing in my basement. (They now live on, at least in part, in Zurich, Switzerland.) Watching Buck 65 rap in ice cream parlours (that doubled as an NFB film screening room) before he got big. Sneaking onto a parked train to beatbox with Choclair’s entourage (while dressed as a ninja). Letting Becky gently rock my soul (before splitting a bottle of Jack or, even better, some Carlo Rossi). Seeing Adam discreetly hold it down on his double bass (at the now defunct Hell, right beside my favourite local brewery). Feeling (and witnessing) the hurt of Tyler’s lady love through his music (as we crack jokes about his high profile in the Buddhist Mafia).

Hence today’s musical pairing:

Tyler Messick is an old friend from college who should soon be releasing a new album with the Museum Pieces. Today’s track comes off his first album, Grain Sales of 1840, featuring the aforementioned Becky and Adam.

Muntu Valdo is a French-Cameroonian singer/songwriter who’d fit right in on stage with a bunch of these Halifax throwbacks.

Muntu Valdo – Leta
Tyler Messick – Little Love Too