Natural environments mold ecosystems and identities. Myths, histories, and the knowledge of local populations move to their natural rhythms. Today’s exploitation of resources poses dangers to life as we know it. Mining, quarrying, deforestation, and fossil fuel extraction threaten vulnerable environments and Indigenous communities living in their ancestral lands. Rising global temperatures accelerate glacier melting.Continue reading “Susie Ibarra’s Sky Islands and Forest Rhythms”
Article Type Archives
Kalun Leung’s warped trombone
One afternoon last August, I watched performer-composer Kalun Leung wave his wrist as a shriek of clarinet notes wailed through the high-ceilinged main room at Perte de Signal, a small multimedia studio in Montreal’s Mile End neighbourhood where he’s an artist-in-residence this year. With another swoop of his hand, a cluster of trombone notes explodedContinue reading “Kalun Leung’s warped trombone”
The Art of Troubleshooting
Writer and musician Julia Eckhardt has noted that we tend to use the word “quality” as a way of making vague value judgments about music, without ever having to justify them. “Speaking about quality in music seems to be simply a way to divide music into the categories of ‘good’ and ‘bad,’ without ever askingContinue reading “The Art of Troubleshooting”
Koala Karnival is Deeper than the Dancefloor
Montreal is known for its exciting nightlife, teeming with live music, outdoor festivals, and sweaty dance clubs. Lately, a different kind of outing has emerged on the local scene. Instead of dancing, you sit. Instead of talking, you listen. No beat or booze, just bliss. “In my community, a lot of us meet on theContinue reading “Koala Karnival is Deeper than the Dancefloor”
Music as a Teaching Lodge: Marek Tyler’s ASKO
On “nôkosiw,” the opening track of nêhiyaw (Cree) drummer Marek Tyler’s 2024 solo debut ASKO, his mother’s voice tells the listener, “As an artist you’re not the creator.” With ASKO, also the name of his solo project, he is shifting from the indie rock of nêhiyawak—his previous amiskwaciy-wâskahikan (Edmonton)-based band with guitarist Kris Harper andContinue reading “Music as a Teaching Lodge: Marek Tyler’s ASKO”
Michiyo Yagi, Sarah Pagé, and Hiroko Nagai are freeing the koto from tradition
My imagination never lingered on dragons, the stuff of legends and good fortunes, until I came across Japanese koto instruments being sold at an online auction site. Thirteen tetron strings laid taut on six-foot paulownia wood bodies, requiring adjustable bridges to tune them and three finger picks to make sounds. The dragon symbolism was notContinue reading “Michiyo Yagi, Sarah Pagé, and Hiroko Nagai are freeing the koto from tradition”
Lola de la Mata’s Tinnitus Tracks
One evening in 2019, U.K.-based conceptual sound artist Lola de la Mata was out for dinner in London, sipping sake as chatter filled the low-lit room. Without warning, feedback from a nearby speaker blasted her left ear. Someone had plugged an electric keyboard into the restaurant’s soundboard without checking that its master fader was atContinue reading “Lola de la Mata’s Tinnitus Tracks”
Yoo Doo Right drives instrumental post-rock beyond the horizon
Yoo Doo Right’s Justin Cober is drawn to nature’s violent tendencies. The grainy black-and-white photo on the cover of the Montreal experimental rock group’s third and most recent album, From the Heights of Our Pastureland, shows a monstrous, perfectly formed tornado funnel bearing down on a streetscape of cowering power lines and low-rise buildings. TakenContinue reading “Yoo Doo Right drives instrumental post-rock beyond the horizon”
Rémy Bélanger de Beauport’s Everyday Performance Art
Artist and cellist Rémy Bélanger de Beauport’s roots run deep in Quebec City, where he grew up and now stands tall as a lightning rod and activator for the improvised music scene. His influence and contributions permeate the music scene through the multiple projects he wrangles. He is one of the commissioners of the MusiqueContinue reading “Rémy Bélanger de Beauport’s Everyday Performance Art”
Kathryn Patricia Cobbler’s Palette of Sound
For violist and composer Kathryn Patricia Cobbler, making music is about being in conversation with herself, her collaborators, her instrument, and the classical and new works she performs. While mindful of the modern viola’s historical origins and its role as an instrument in Baroque music, she uses electronic technologies and extended techniques to explore andContinue reading “Kathryn Patricia Cobbler’s Palette of Sound”
Maylee Todd and the Possibilities of Strange
Maylee Todd does not shy away from spectacle. During a video conversation last September, the singer-songwriter, producer, and multimedia artist tells me about the setup for an upcoming show in Los Angeles, where she is currently based. “I have this big inflatable mouth,” she says, laughing. “It’s seven feet by seven feet and, as itContinue reading “Maylee Todd and the Possibilities of Strange”
Joshua Van Tassel’s New Spaces for Sonic Dreaming
In the late summer, pulling into Joshua Van Tassel’s home, which is situated just off a scenic stretch of the highway along Nova Scotia’s South Shore, feels more than a little dreamy. When it’s sunny, the yard is lit up green; white sheets might be hanging off a laundry line blowing in the wind, whileContinue reading “Joshua Van Tassel’s New Spaces for Sonic Dreaming”
Alexis Baro’s Cuban fusion
“You wanna play jazz?” asked Miguel Patterson, the director of Cuba’s National Radio and Television Orchestra (Orquesta de la Radio y Television de Cuba), who had overheard lead trumpeter Alexis Baro’s improvised flourishes during rehearsal—an environment where solos must be played as written. “Get four guys,” Patterson said to Baro. “You have a gig onContinue reading “Alexis Baro’s Cuban fusion”
Kaïa Kater and the Creative Power of Letting Go
Kaïa Kater is a gifted storyteller. Drawn to history, the Montreal-based musician and composer strings together tales that marry the elusive past with an ever-shifting present. From a young age, Kater, who studied cello and piano as a child, found refuge in songwriting. “I didn’t understand that it could be an artistic practice, beyond spendingContinue reading “Kaïa Kater and the Creative Power of Letting Go”
The Off-Grid Adventures of The Burning Hell
It’s impossible to pigeonhole the music of The Burning Hell. Their songs span multiple genres, and the lyrics can be apocalyptic, political, and funny. The band’s off-the-grid DIY ethos is guided by the core of singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalists Mathias Kom and Ariel Sharratt (a third member, producer and musician Jake Nicoll, is currently on parental leave). TheyContinue reading “The Off-Grid Adventures of The Burning Hell”
Rita Ueda’s Intercultural Music
Birdsong filled the air at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall on the evening of March 28, 2024. It wasn’t works of Beethoven, Respighi, or Messiaen—all of whom found muses in European birds—and it wasn’t particularly tuneful birds being invoked, either. “The vast majority of Canadian birds are not songbirds,” Rita Ueda, the composer of Birds Calling…Continue reading “Rita Ueda’s Intercultural Music “
José Maceda decolonizes the mind
The original DIY ethos of making a mixtape—hovering by the radio and hitting “record” on the cassette recorder when the music starts—imparts personal identity on a physical object: It’s an act of curating one’s nostalgia. During my teenage rebellion years in Southeast Asia, I turned to classical music, tuning my radio with calculated precision. MyContinue reading “José Maceda decolonizes the mind”
Allison Burik Explores Ancient Ideas in Experimental Spaces
On their new album, Realm, Montreal-based composer and improviser Allison Burik uses guitar, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, and voice to create an imaginary ecosphere inspired by Nordic mythology—otherworldly soundscapes that would not feel out of place in a Game of Thrones episode. From the squalling ostinato and spine-chilling throat-singing that give wings to “Be theContinue reading “Allison Burik Explores Ancient Ideas in Experimental Spaces”
Bilal Nasser Centres Community
“I haven’t learned a notated piece of music by a composer in five years. I don’t want to be a cover artist!” Palestinian-Canadian guitarist Bilal Nasser says with a laugh, speaking via Zoom from the University of Windsor’s Liberation Zone (a space organized by the school’s Palestinian Solidarity Group) in May. Nasser, who began studyingContinue reading “Bilal Nasser Centres Community”
Brendan Grey and the Evolving Ethos of Super Duty Tough Work
Being a rapper in Winnipeg is kind of like being anything else in Winnipeg—except a hockey player. You are underestimated, overlooked, and fighting to be seen by the outside world. Winnipeg has been discredited, made fun of, and skipped over in the conversations around the history of Canadian hip-hop, but its contributions can’t be discounted.Continue reading “Brendan Grey and the Evolving Ethos of Super Duty Tough Work “
Evan Parker’s Evolutionary Collective Music
Contemporary music has been blessed by transformational figures such as Pauline Oliveros, Éliane Radigue, and Anthony Braxton, philosopher–composers who further the musical lineages of Olivier Messiaen and John Cage, among others. British saxophonist and free improvisor Evan Parker, who recently turned eighty, is surely among them. In 1968, Parker, then in his mid-twenties, appeared onContinue reading “Evan Parker’s Evolutionary Collective Music”
Claiming Space
I am holding a maroon passport in my hand. Inside, its pages spell out the national anthem, one line at a time, in elegant cursive on every double-fold spread. On the cover is the coat of arms, which includes images of an eagle and a lion sitting side by side, three equidistant stars, a sunContinue reading “Claiming Space”
Yes No Wave’s Communal Energy is Reaching Global Stages
Ican Harem and Kasimyn of Gabber Modus Operandi were perched onstage at the far end of the concert hall. Kasimyn stood behind a DJ setup; Harem crouched, a microphone in one hand and a handheld laser glove in the other. The sound that the Bali-based club duo has become known for—a high-BPM blend of grindcore,Continue reading “Yes No Wave’s Communal Energy is Reaching Global Stages”
Nicole Rampersaud Takes a Solo
Saudade is an untranslatable Portuguese word that may refer to nostalgia or melancholy, but also touches on the elusive feeling of joy that comes with recall and self-discovery. It’s also the apt title of trumpet player Nicole Rampersaud’s debut solo album, on which the songs never overstay their welcome. Some pieces feel like they areContinue reading “Nicole Rampersaud Takes a Solo”