The Record Of The Week Club is a weekly recording session featuring musicians from diverse musical backgrounds. Never knowing who their co-creators will be — an incognito and disparate group of musicians meet at MCM Studios in Winnipeg, Canada every Wednesday evening. Over the course of one evening they are charged with the task of getting to know each other, arranging, rehearsing and recording a piece under the guidance of Mike Petkau. The song is immediately mixed and uploaded and made available for download that same night.

Jazz drummers are being paired with punk guitarists and opera singers; classical violinists are being paired with taiko drummers and DJ's, folksingers are being paired with sound collage artists and trombonists. The combinations are endless. And to top it off, we've invited local filmmakers to document the process.

The point is simple, and twofold:

As musicians, we often find ourselves working with similar-minded artists. Rarely are we forced to work outside our comfort zone with musicians whose creative experience can be fundamentally different than our own. The opportunities presented by this creative challenge are exciting!

As music fans, we are in an increasingly unstable time for the music industry. Never has there been more separation between artist and audience, or more upheaval in the way we access music. The Record Of The Week Club aims to put listeners closer to the moment of creation than ever before.

The Record of the Week Club will run from late May to mid September. Check back every Thursday for a brand new track. We greatly appreciate the generous support of the Manitoba Arts Council in making this project a reality.

The first $100 in sales from each track will be donated to the West End Cultural Centre to support their efforts to rebuild the greatest music venue in Winnipeg.