Round Every Corner

Polaris picks

2010-06-25T17:06:00.001-07:00

So I'm on the Polaris Jury this year. I thought I'd post my picks for posterity.

My Long List votes:
#1 = Apollo Ghosts - Mt. Benson
#2 = Gigi - Maintenant
#3 = K-dot-O-dot - The life and times of lucha lonely
#4 = crystal castles - crystal castles (II)
#5 = Sean Nicholas Savage - Spread Your Wings Like A Butterfly

My Short List votes:
#1 = Apollo Ghosts - Mount Benson
#2 = Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (II)
#3 = Holy Fuck - Latin
#4 = You Say Party - XXXX
#5 = The Slew - 100%

Long Beach Led Zep

2010-02-06T18:18:00.000-08:00

I initially viewed Long Beach Led Zep, a video piece showing at the Vancouver Art Gallery, with good humour. "Stairway to Heaven" and a sunset at Long Beach! How ironically droll!
It reminded me most of a time when I and a friend were filling in for a CiTR radio show (This Side of Monday) and we conspired to play the legendary classic rock song because we thoughtthis would be hilarious. Why would this be hilarious? Because it is a—no it is the—classic rock song and we were playing it on an indie rock radio show. This Side of Monday is dedicated to showcasing independent artists who (often) can't find financial success through traditional means. "Stairway to Heaven" was as out of place on this show as Miley Cyrus would be at Music Waste.
To accomplish this prank with maximum humour we had arranged for a fictitious classic rock radio DJ named Classic Rick to call in to the show. He was attempting to get his own show because the music he liked was lamentably underplayed on campus radio stations, particularly CiTR. So he called in stated his case and asked to dedicate the song to his old lady. We only played about half of it and we played it at 45 RPM to save time. If you bother to listen through This Side of Monday's archives you can find it, but I warn you that it's likely a better story than it was in actuality. The point of this whole stunt though was that it was delicious, delicious irony and we loved it and we all patted each other on the back a lot for pulling this off and then the host of This Side of Monday told me I was never allowed to host her show again, which was also funny. (She later relented.)
This is the spirit that I thought Long Beach Led Zep would embody when I walked into the darkened room where it was being projected onto a wall. In theory it sounded pretty funny. It featured the artist Kevin Schmidt standing on Long Beach during a beautiful sunset. He walks on screen, hooks an electric guitar into an amp and revs up a generator to get some power. Then, with his back to the surf, he rips into a solo instrumental version of the Led Zeppelin classic.
This sounded like a deliberate attempt to fuck with the art establishment by juxtaposing the high class VAG space with "low" art in the form of plebeian rock and roll and imagery that reminds one mostly of inspirational posters with words like "Hope" and "Perseverance" on them. Look at how terribly out of place this looks! Let's all laugh at it!
As I watched though it seemed less likely that this was Schmidt's goal. There was nothing to indicate a snide sense of irony. As I watched it gradually dawned on me that this was not a laughing at the irony of it all, but seemed very sincere. Maybe he was trying to point out that sunsets over picturesque beaches are beautiful and that "Stairway to Heaven," for all the cliches that surround it, is actually a stupendous song. Classic rock and inspirational landscape imagery together thumbing their nose at an art community that would never give them the time of day.
I might tend to listen to something obscure like tUnE-yArDs in my spare time, but that doesn't mean that Led Zep is any worse just because other people also appreciate it. A sunset is still beautiful even if it's the sort of beauty that everyone can appreciate—even snobs like me.
Image lifted from Kevin Schmidt's website.

Edgy

2010-02-04T17:44:00.000-08:00

This is an excerpt from a press release I just received. I added the italics myself. Lolz.

Donnelly Pubs will be the coolest locales for catching all the Olympic action, thanks to their edgy atmosphere, flat-screen TVs and full-service food menus.

Image from the press release.

A very uplifting piece of spam

2009-07-18T13:34:00.001-07:00

This piece of spam snuck through my filter today. I thought I would share it. It's heartwarming, but simultaneously tragic.

Hello,

How are you today? I hope you are fine.If so thank be to God almigthy.My name is Rose Timbor, 26 years from Sierra leone in West Africa. I am single girl looking for honest and nice person. Somebody who care and respect God whom i can partner with .I don't care about your colour or ethnicity.

I would like to know you more,most especially what you like and what you dislike.I'm sending you this beautiful mail, with a wish for much happiness. I am looking forward to hear from you.

Thanks and God bless.
Love from,
Rose,

No More Strangers: Kidnap Kids @ Funky Winkerbeans

2009-06-07T01:15:00.000-07:00

I caught Kidnap Kids tonight at Funky Winkerbeans as part of No More Strangers. There are now four kids, as opposed to two, which adds a rhythm section to the lineup. These guys play the fucking cutest music you will see ever. They are like kittens playing with puppies in musical form.

If you haven't seen them before Kidnap Kids are fronted by two young ladies who banter excitedly with each other in between songs, which has them singing and playing guitar, keys and a xylophone. The girls singing is both folky and punk, but they have a rhythm in their voices and play off each other in a rapid well-practiced style. They sing about pedophilia, ghosts and having bits of your insides on your outside, but they do it in such a cute way that you can't help but feel uplifted after seeing them.

I missed Bible Belts, which was just Chris-a-riffic. He is usually pretty awesome to see.

The image is the first thing that turned up in a Google image search and may not have anything to do with the band. It's the cover of a book by Todd Strasser.

Died Young, Stayed Pretty

2009-04-29T19:06:00.000-07:00

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.

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

2009-04-25T18:58:00.000-07:00

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.

Olio Festival

2009-04-20T12:01:00.000-07:00

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.

The Warhol Economy by Elizabeth Currid

2009-04-16T23:40:00.000-07:00

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.

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

2009-04-13T16:08:00.000-07:00

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.

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

2009-04-06T18:03:00.000-07:00

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.

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

2009-04-05T09:13:00.000-07:00

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.

RiP: A Remix Manifesto

2009-04-02T23:00:00.000-07:00

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.

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

2009-04-01T19:58:00.000-07:00

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.

No More Strangers: Hermetic and Haunted Beard at Funky Winker Beans

2009-03-31T11:32:00.000-07:00

Did you know Funky Winkerbeans is actually nice inside? I had no idea. It's got neat old art of ladies on the walls and big columns holding up the bar.

Anyhow I caught Hermetic and Haunted Beard at No More Strangers. I also found Eric Axen from Hermetic's wallet on the floor, which got me a shout out while the band was playing. This turned into a free beer bought for me at the band's request. So woo! I don't dislike Hermetic, but I never really get excited about their music. Their music is pleasant and I would never avoid it, but indie-rock with a baritone guitar isn't exciting to me. They're nice guys, good musicians and everyone else seems into them. Perhaps I am just old and cynical.

Opener's Haunted Beard had the opposite problems. I really love the crunchy heavily distorted sounds they make. These guys make really processed music with theremins, a chaos pad, some mics, keyboards and a lot of FX pedals. It sounds great in the way Black Moth Super Rainbow or Tobacco song sounds cool just for the noises they make. The music Haunted Beard played last night dragged on a bit long and ends up a bit too jammy/experimental for my tastes. If they could tighten up their sounds into something shorter and more refined it would be amazing. I spoke with Justin after their set and apparently they were suffering a lot of technical difficulties and spent most of their time on stage trying to get things to work properly. So fair enough that's a good reason for not nailing out some awesome songs. It'll be cool to watch these guys develop their sound and hopefully iron out the problems they faced on Saturday.

The night closed with DJing from the No More Strangers DJs, who are pretty fun DJs. There was dancing.

Photo of Ben Jacques from Haunted Beard by Tristan Orchard courtesy of winniecooper.net. (I even asked this time!)

Bob Wiseman and Collapsing Opposites at Western Front

2009-03-30T19:20:00.000-07:00

On Friday I got into the Bob Wiseman Show at the Western Front by volunteering to work the merch table for CiTR. (woo free shows!)

Bob Wiseman, if you don't already know, is a musician/comedian/film maker from Winnipeg. He plays an accordion, piano and guitar and used to play with Blue Rodeo and the Hidden Cameras before going solo. I first caught him opening for Final Fantasy at the Norm Theatre and I've liked his music ever since. What is most impressive about Wiseman is the emotional range of his performance. Some musicians are really good at making funny music and some musicians are really good at making sad music, but few are good at being both. Wiseman is one of the few who can do both. He does a brilliant job of going back and forth between comedic moments (like a video he made featuring himself, Kids in the Hall actor Scott Thompson and some comedian I knew the face of but couldn't place deciding what Wiseman should do with a dead body) and tragic moments (like his duet with Leah Abramson who made a surprise appearance to sing "You Don't Love Me", so beautiful).

Though he's a musician, and a damn good songwriter, Wiseman is equally notable for his film making. Throughout the night he showed numerous videos that he had made which he played music overtop of or just watched. Though his videos are funny some of the most impressive were the ones where he integrated his performance with the video, such as one where Wiseman filmed himself performing four backup acapella tracks for himself to play along with.

If you haven't seen Wiseman yet, it is worth the effort.

Collapsing Opposites opened for Wiseman and it was the first time I'd ever seen them electric. (Past times I have seen them have been acoustic shows at the Shed and in bank machines) They played the same music, but it was nice to hear the electric versions of the songs.

I perhaps should have paid more attention to the show itself, but instead I spent a lot of my time chatting with the staff at the Front who were also working. Very nice people.

I stole that photo because it's the one the Western Front used to promote the show. I think it's one of Wiseman's press photos.

I Am Sorry For Your Loss

2009-03-25T22:34:00.000-07:00

Local post-punkers Adjective have recently put out a stellar EP. It's a retro affair harkening back to a time when bands like Wire were making the best music out there. This connection isn't surprising as Wire's bass player helped produce the album. I don't want to get too much into the Wire connection because Adjective do stand up strongly on their own and they're more than just a band that sounds like Wire.

The EP is full of urgency in Ryan Riot and Luna Tic's vocals, the driving no-time-for-solos guitars and the rapid drumbeats. You might feel a little agitated by this album's non-stop drive if your'e not in quite the right mood when you're listening to it. It's not designed to be very accessible with lyrics about integers and llamas. The lyrics never come off as silly, but merely as secondary to the music. They certainly exist, but it doesn't seem to matter particularly what the band is singing about.

The EP is more balanced than the bands live performance; they can never quite seem get it quite right in their live mixes. This EP is only six tracks and 17 minutes long, but it's a satisfying 17 minutes. If you haven't heard them yet I'd recommend checking out their myspace and listening to "Monstrous Little Boy".

I was going to plug their upcoming show at Honey, but looking at the interwebz it is apparently right now... so if you are reading this right after I posted it, head down and check them out. They're great!

Viision Quest at VIVO

2009-03-20T01:28:00.000-07:00

Last night I went down to Video In/Video Out (VIVO) to check out Viision Quest, and well... some of it was good. The evening was divided into three parts shown as a video screening. This night would have been a lot better as a gallery showing where the audience was not forced to sit through some video shorts which would have been a lot better mounted on a wall in the background.

I'll start with the best of the evening which was the closers with a live video DJing performance by Haunted Beard (Ben Jacques) and Jessica Parsons of DNGROUS ADDRESS. (edit: I learned that Jessica was doing all the VJing and Ben was making noises) They were joined by Justin of Arbour Lake Sghool Collective and GR8-2000 (Tom Whalen) whose roles I'm a little uncertain of, but Tom definitely had a keytar. This was easily the best part of the evening. The live performance they put together was heavy on repeated abstract images in which you could occasionally make out children riding unicorns from an old cartoon, a cat running around and a CGI man walking. Their video was accompanied by jammy electro noise music which was pleasant in the style of Black Moth Super Rainbow though not as catchy. Haunted Beard's usual stuff I would describe as grotesque art rejected from a children's picture book/cartoon. DNGROUS ADDRESS work is usually a well-crafted found art video montage that usually is accompanied by DJs. I like both their individual projects though I didn't feel like they added up to the sum of their parts last night, still worth checking out if you're into that sort of thing.

I honestly wish I had not showed up on time even though it was free. When I see video shorts (or anything really) I hope to see things that will make me say, "I wish I'd thought of doing that" and/or "I wish I knew how to do that." What made up this first third of the evening brought neither of those thoughts to mind. The best of this portion of the evening I would have liked to have seen in a gallery setting so I could sip my drink, glance at the piece, say what I liked about it and then move on.

The second portion of the evening had some redeeming qualities. Young Forever Parts 1 and 2 were funny if a little heavy on the absurdism (It did however contain Alphaville's "Forever Young" for which I awarded it bonus points). It closed with an incredibly detailed stop-motion hand-crafted cityscape which was pretty cool, if not necessarily exciting. I believe it was called Wurld (Abridged) should you ever get the chance to see it.

Viision Quest logo lifted from the VIVO website.

House Party at the Biltmore

2009-03-19T17:50:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday I made a point of popping into the new hip-hop night at the Biltmore. The DJs are madeup of veterans of Vancouver's music scene Justin Gradin from the ER and Sex Negatives (formerly of Mutators), music journalist Mike LaPointe a.k.a. DJ Noremix, Andy Dixon of Secret Mommy and Ache Records, Lil' Baby Peace Sign perhaps better known as half of Nu Sensae and Ian Wyatt of Blastramp. These local hip-hop heads/music nerds spun "the best old school/'90s/'00s rap jams". If you were into hip-hop in high school they were likely playing what you listened to then.

All the DJs and most—if not all—of the people dancing to primarily black music were not black. I don't really know what to say about the racial dynamics of the night, I just thought I should point out that I noticed them. It was a lot of fun to dance to Wu Tang, OutKast, etc. though.

The next one is going to be happening April 21. I will be there.

I lifted that drawing from their Facebook group. I think it's an Andy Dixon drawing, but I'm just guessing.

Julie Doiron Live from the CiTR Lounge

2009-03-17T19:20:00.000-07:00

If you were lucky enough to have been tipped off by someone at CiTR you may have had the chance to sneak into the lounge to see Julie Doiron play a special live set for CiTR's live band radio program Thunderbird Radio Hell. Odds are you were not one of the people who caught it as only about 15 people were there. However, whether you did or not it was podcast for your listening pleasure here. Ms. Doiron was joined by her touring buddy and longtime collaborator Fred Squire who drummed and added banter. Speaking of banter Doiron is one hell of a talker. If you want to know when she last went to the dentist (14 years ago), what she's been dreaming about lately (her brother being mean to her after all her teeth fall out) or the state of her taxes (she's a little behind) you can find out all those things and lots more. She's funny, self-deprecating and charming so it's not an unpleasant listen though I do admit I would have enjoyed more music in the music:banter ratio.

The music she did play was special though as it was the first time she'd played some of the songs from her new album I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day live. Her album isn't due out in Canada until the 24th of this month, but as it's out in the States you can download it if you are impatient.

I didn't catch all the songs she played in the set, but "Tailor Song", "Heavy Snow", "Woke Myself Up", "Borrowed Minivans" and "Dirty Feet" all made appearances. In addition to the Doiron-based material they also played a rather nice Ewan MacColl cover and one of Fred Squire's songs, which I don't know the name of, but wish I did. It contained the lyrics "because I do not have a telephone with which to call" which I thought I would be able to google, but google has failed me.

Photo by Ben Lai