Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Died Young, Stayed Pretty


I made an appearance on Tracy Fuller's Arts Report show on CiTR 101.9FM where I discussed the movie Died Young, Stayed Pretty, which is a documentary about concert posters. The episode was podcast and you can find it here. I speak with Tracy in the last 10 minutes, however there is a whole episode of goodness so you can listen to the whole thing if you want.

Also of interest to you, dear reader, last weekend was Discorder Magazine's production weekend. If you want to grab a copy of it, it should be around Vancouver at fine purveyors of music, beverages and education. I am the editor and I assure you, it is full of goodness. Also this month especially it is full of history.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Dancing In Our Debt: Search Parties, Aaron Read, the Rub, Kellarissa & Rose Melbourg, Bible Belts

I went to Dancing In Our Debt at the Vancity near city hall last night. I won't get into too much detail as I suspect I will be reviewing it for Discorder next month. However to organize my thoughts for the review I will give you a brief note form rundown:
-better than the first one
-Rose Melberg and Kellarissa's duets were awesome, they did a cover from Nashville.
-speaking of cover's how about Bible Belts cover of "Superman" by the Crash Test Dummies. Also good.
-didn't hear Aaron Read at all because I didn't know he was playing. That bank is surprisingly soundproof.
-"There's no reason we can't do this stuff in Vancouver." —Harlan Shore from Search Parties

Kudos to VIVO and Signal & Noise for supporting the event.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Olio Festival


Music Waste is making it's choices for it's festival this year, but there are two new festivals in the works for this summer, that will be coming at things from very different angles. One of which I will tell you about today and another which I will save for later.

The first is the Olio Festival. Organized by a plethora of local promoters like Dani Vachon from Sealed With A Kiss, my!gay!husband! from Blast Ramp, Re-Up and Glory Days, Rachel Zottenberg of Grace Gallery and the Met and the comedy stylings of Cameron MacLeod and Conor Holler from Bronx Cheer and Sunday Service respectively. I'm actually doing all of the organizers a bit of a disservice by only mentioning a couple of the things they're involved in, all of them have had their hands in a lot of pies over the last few years and are responsible for a lot of great music, art and comedy events in the city.

The lineup isn't being announced until May, but I can give you a rundown of what the event will be like. In August from the 13th to the 16th the festival is going to move around town taking place in most major venues and a lot of smaller ones, too. Each day will take place in a different neighbourhood: Gastown, Main St., Downtown and on the final day everything will be at Second Beach in Stanley Park. As the fest moves to that neighbourhood there will be a bunch of events in that neighbourhood that will be within walking distance of each other.

They're modelling this fest after SXSW, which is a pretty good fest to model something on. There will be a mix of music, art and comedy. Can't wait for them to announce the lineup.

Image lifted from the Olio website.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

The Warhol Economy by Elizabeth Currid


I recently finished reading Elizabeth Currid's analysis of New York's cultural economy, The Warhol Economy: How Fashion, Art & Music Drive New York City. The book argues that creative industries drive the economy of New York as much as or more than conventionally recognized industries such as finance, real estate, etc.

Currid also points out that promoting social events, such as night life, is an effective way to promote the cultural economy. Though she plays up the networking aspect a lot, I think networking is helpful for most idea-based industries. A more important point is that night life is how cultural products get evaluated. Most people don't go to work and decide which band sounds good or whose painting you like, you go to a social event like a gallery opening or a concert and decide whether or not the artist has merit.

As the editor of a music magazine I can assert that I decide on what bands to cover by going out and seeing them, not sitting at my desk in my office. The workplace of most cultural employees is as much out at the events that promote the music, art, fashion, whatever as it is in offices. As such it is beneficial for the culture based economy for a city to encourage these sorts of events to happen.

Currid also points out that New York has such a successful cultural economy because it is such a dense grouping of creative types which encourages people in different mediums to cross-pollinate, expanding on the idea that artists do not create in a vacuum and arguing that the greatest come to their success through connections and collaborations with other people in the cultural world.

She backs up her arguments with a bundle of statistics and interviews with notable people such as Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Shepard Fairey, Aesop Rock and a tonne of other people. To be honest her ability use the statistics left a little to be desired as she seemed to misinterpret the very ones she used in her book from time to time, however, none of her misreadng of stats undercut her points much.

She gets into more detail and I'm not going to wax on about this too much, the book does have applications for thinking about Vancouver's creative scene though. If you're interested at this point you can either grab a copy of it, or if you know me and don't mind that I write in the margins of everything I read I'll loan it to you.

Book cover lifted from the Internetz. Thanks Google image search.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Search Parties, probably Golden Touch, Marcus Naslund @ the Showboat


Went down and caught most of this show before heading on. Search Parties were as good as when I'd last seen them. Epic with a dash of punk. Kids dig it, and I do mean kids. Standing above the show a girl asked me what school I went to and I told her I was graduated, but reflexively asked what school she went to expecting her to say UBC, Cap College, Emily Carr, etc. Only to get Such-in-such Secondary, Grade 10 as an answer. I felt old.

Search Parties are young, so it should not be surprising that they attract a young crowd. Lead singer Harlan Shore said he might be taking off for the summer and possibly next year so catch this band while you still can they're worth the effort.

The room they were playing in was narrow and it was a little hard to see the band though they sounded fine even if the acoustics of the event were an amp bouncing off cement. Openers were in short supply, B-Lines cancelled after the threat of rain almost stopped the night from happening, which is unfortunate I still haven't seen that band. Didn't see Dead Ghosts around though they may have played after Search Parties. Openers ended up being the surprise act Marcus Naslund (the band not the hockey player) and a band that was Marcus Naslund with a different drummer. I'm pretty sure this was Golden Touch, but don't quote me. These two bands sounded pretty similar, unsurprising given the similarities in their lineup. Both very fun in a pop-punky way, they could play their instruments well and everyone was into it, which was more than enough.

Photo of Search Parties courtesy of Gerald Deo.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Women, Nü Sensae, Kidnapping, etc. @ W.I.S.E. Hall


Oh what a good show. Calgary's Women came back through town to play out in Strathcona, and they were rad. Bridging the gap between sunny psychedelia and fuzzy noise sounds the band played a rushed set only to be called back on stage for an encore after they tried to end on time so the venue could close. (awful nice of the organizers to let them play an extra song though it would have been better if they'd just had more time to play ie. less openers). Women put out a great album last year and their live performance does not disappoint. They balance their performance well with pleasant sounding guitar riffs and little hooks that throw you off balance but still manage to rattle around in your skull. If you missed them, you missed out.

Nü Sensae was a good opener. This duo smacks people in the face with their sound, but they do it so well it's a positive experience. Andrea Lukic's voice is well suited for the ominous screaming and barking she uses to punctuate their songs. Andrea's vocals blast out overtop of her fuzzy bass playing and Daniel Pitout's heavy frenetic drumming. They were wearing that stuff football players wear under their eyes to prevent glare, with the lights that always shine directly onto a stage I'm more surprised that more musicians haven't thought of doing this than that Nü Sensae decided to. (I'm going to insert a shameless plug now. Nü Sensae are playing May 6 for Discorder at the Astoria)

Kidnapping was... ok. The lead singer's voice ruined it for me. Why is it so often the vocals that makes or breaks something? [/rhetoricals] I'm told it was Sean Orr singing, which if that is the case I like it when he sings in front of Taxes, but not this. If they had a different singer or no singer I think I would have enjoyed this. If you click their myspace link above you can hear what they sound like sans vocals.

Some other bands played before this, but I did not see them.

Photo of Women courtesy of Steve Louie.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Nihilist Party, Fine Mist, London Drugs and gr8-2000 @ Little Mountain Studios


So this show at Little Mountain Studios last night was sparsely attended, probably because there were three other good shows going on last night. Still for those who made it the event was well received.

gr8-2000 (a.k.a. Tom Whalen) organized the event with Nihilist Party (a.k.a that guy named Scott with dreads whose at lots of shows). He plays high-energy electro music, heavy on synth noises with a solid beat, on his laptop while singing with his distorted vocals running through an FX pedal. The energy of his music doesn't just come from the noisy, while simultaneously dancey stuff, Tom composes, but also from his performance. Despite the fact that there were only about 15 people there early enough to see him Tom he gave it. Unfortunately his back was to the audience the whole time, which is always a bit annoying. On a side note I'm pleased to announce that gr8-2000 will be playing with Nü Sensae and Petroleum By-Products at the Astoria on May 6 for Discorder. Tell your friends!

London Drugs (who I can't find a link for) played second and I was very pleasantly surprised. They were described to me as "dueling Gameboys," which is an accurate description. When I was told this though I expected them to sound really gimmicky heavy on the retro Gameboy noises, but this was not the case. You couldn't even tell that this pair of young guys were making their music on a pair of Nintendo Gameboy DSs until someone brought out a table for them so they could play facing the audience. I had discussed the theory of the DS as an instrument between friends at length and seeing someone actually take a Gameboy and make fun dance music on it was really cool.

Fine Mist came on and despite Megan McDonald's complaint of suffering from a cold they were in fine form. Pretty '80s synth pop, it doesn't really sound very modern, but it does sound good. By this time the majority of people had showed up and the room felt full enough for people to start dancing. I've seen Megan and Jay Arner play on numerous occasions, and I'm glad to see they've got a bit of a following going. They played some new stuff, which sounded quite good and spiced up the list of now familiar songs like "I Can't Stand It," "In the Moonlight" and the one about meeting in the middle.

Closing the night out was Nihilist Party. I hadn't seen him play before, but he has a similiar style to gr8-2000. He plays beats off an iPod, while singing... really weird lyrics. He only played a couple songs so the event could end on time. I didn't really form a complete opinion of his stuff in that short time, but I'd see it again. Dude has a rad jacket decorated with googly eyes.

Afterwords I went to the upstairs of the Biltmore for karaoke and was surprised to find the place busy. I bring this up because some musicians from the other shows had all met up here and the guy from Vincat was an awesome karaoke performer. I will try to see them play not karaoke in the future.

None of my photographer friends came out last night so I'm using an old image. This is an old picture of Fine Mist playing at La Casa Del Artista. They were wearing the exact same clothing last night. Courtesy of Steve Louie.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

RiP: A Remix Manifesto


Last night I watched Rip: A Remix Manifesto, a documentary about copyright law, Girl Talk and copyfighters, put out by the NFB. You can to if you want, in the spirit of the freedom of information and culture, director Brett Gaylor and the NFB (seriously kudos to the NFB for supporting this film) put the website up in a series of chapters for you to watch.

I'm going to say this flat out in the interests of full disclosure that before I had seen this movie I was already pretty convinced of the majority of the copyright reform this movie suggests and encourages. In almost every situation free access to ideas, culture and information regardless of who created it is good for society. This movie only reinforced my feelings; with me at least, it was preaching to the converted.

That out of the way this movie did succinctly put all the arguments in favour of copyright reform into one movie. From the hypocrisy of some of the most rigid defenders of copyright, such as Disney who rose to prominence by retelling stories in the public domain and then going to court every time Mickey Mouse was about to become free. To the lives saved by Brazil's refusal to recognize the copyright on HIV drugs and proceeded to rip off the pharmaceutical process to make their own cheap drugs to help treat HIV victims. The movie is centered around the idea that those who hold the rights to creations of the past (and profit from them) are locked in a battle against those who want to build upon the ideas of the past.

The movie was a who's who of those who can be identified as the heroes and leaders of the copyfight/copyleft movement. In addition to Girl Talk, Negativland, Air Pirates, William S. Burroughs, Lawrence Lessig, Cory Doctorow, Napster and Gilberto Gil all made appearances as did the regular cast of copyright villains such as Metallica, the RIAA, the MPAA, Disney, Warner/Chappel and the Governator.

The movie is black-and-white in it's copyright-vs-copyleft take on the discussion. It's more complex than this movie presents and to be honest the rights and opinions of emerging artists who aren't into the idea of remix get glossed over. It's entertaining though with the kind of killer soundtrack and images that can only be achieved by completely ignoring getting clearance from the rights holders. If you're even remotely interested in copyright law/illegal downloading/mashup culture you should watch it. Unless you're interested in video editing though I'd skip the blurb Gaylor provides at the end of each chapter urging you to visit his Open Source Cinema project. It drags on.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Skinny Monday: No Gold, Azeda Booth and Search Parties at the Biltmore


I love No Gold. I have a problem when I'm seeing them, though. I always get drunk and forget to take notes even though I know I'm planning on writing about it.

Anyhow No Gold headlined at Skinny Mondays at the Biltmore. The three-piece is always rad live. I've never seen them and not enjoyed myself even though their sound is a little loose. I'm told one of their bigger influences is Fela Kuti and it shows in the polyrhythmic jammy stuff they put out on the bass, guitar and drums set-up they have. Their music is a sunny day. I'd love to see them outside on a warm night at some point which I think would be the perfect venue for them. I spoke to Liam Butler (bass/vocals) after the set and they apparently have a 7" and an album in the works for release before the end of the summer.

Azeda Booth from Calgary played second. I was disappointed and annoyed. They reminded me of Why? musically, but without the talented frontman Yoni Wolf. So bad Why?. They had an IDM/trip-pop sound with a vocalist whose high voice and stage presence grated on my nerves.

What I was very pleasantly surprised by was Search Parties who I've seen a couple times before, but this night they were playing entirely new material and it was all great. The group seems bigger (both in members and musically) every time I see them, I think they've reached six members not counting the young ladies they had painting in front of their stage as part of the performance. Harlan Shore, the young front man for the band, seems constantly busy (he organizes Dancing in our Debt and the band seems to play constant shows). He was displaying a punk vocal style that hadn't showcased as well in previous more acoustic appearances. The kid can sing, but he can also scream with the best of them. Their new music was well-written with a feeling of epic grandiosity that reminded me of the stars of post-rock or U2. That sounds pretentious, but I don't mean their music sounded pretentious, just that it sounded... important. (I sound pretentious writing phrases like that.)

Search Parties are keeping busy playing shows on April 11, 17, 24 and May 2. Check their Myspace for details. No Gold are playing on April 16 and May 2. (details)

Photo of Harlan Shore from Search Parties courtesy of and by Steve Louie.