Allen Ravenstine is best known as the synth player of Cleveland proto-punk band Pere Ubu, yet his experimental work predates their 1975 debut single. When Pere Ubu pressed pause after its first two decades, Ravenstine stepped away from music to earn a pilot’s licence and focus on writing novels. In 2012, the filmmakers of theContinue reading “Allen Ravenstine. The Tyranny of Fiction.”
Genre Archives
What’s Inside Musicworks 129?
BUY THE WINTER 2017 PRINT ISSUE OR THE PRINT+CD ISSUE FROM OUR NEW SHOP! Take a peek at what’s between the covers and the tracklist on the CD: ON THE COVER: Geronimo Inutiq The music and media art of Geronimo Inutiq recently attracted attention from the New York Times, which described his piece in the 2017 Musée d’ArtContinue reading “What’s Inside Musicworks 129?”
Michael Red’s Low Indigo
Michael Red has been an in-demand DJ and producer since the 1990s, when he was a key instigator of Vancouver’s jungle and drum-and-bass scenes. He presented hugely popular underground events featuring beats you couldn’t hear elsewhere. He became a regular on Western Canada’s electronic-music festival scene, and still spends summers away from his Vancouver homeContinue reading “Michael Red’s Low Indigo”
Lido Pimienta curates a sonic community
Colombia-born, Toronto-based Lido Pimienta has been called “the consummate collaborator”—and with good reason. Although she writes, sings, produces, and plays many instruments—and is certainly talented and strong-willed enough to make recordings on her own—Pimienta’s aesthetic absolutely requires the participation of others. “I would die!” she says of the notion of creating music on her own.Continue reading “Lido Pimienta curates a sonic community”
Healing Power Records Hits Toronto With a Sonic Balm
The last place you’d expect to hear a comprehensive showcase of a modern experimental music community is on a dance mix. But with Heart of Toronto, a 2013 CD and download compilation, the Toronto-based label Healing Power has done just that. A compelling snapshot of North America’s fourth-largest city’s dizzyingly interconnected underground music scenes, HeartContinue reading “Healing Power Records Hits Toronto With a Sonic Balm”
Jerusalem In My Heart. Mo7it Al-Mo7it.
Radwan Moumneh is one of the key players in the Montreal scene that orbits Constellation, Alien8, and other local labels. As cofounder-producer at the celebrated Hotel2Tango studio and a collaborator with Land Of Kush, Cursed, and Eric Chenaux, among others, he’s helped shape a sizable amount of music behind the scenes. Jerusalem In My HeartContinue reading “Jerusalem In My Heart. Mo7it Al-Mo7it.”
SlowPitch’s “Emoralis”
On a rainy April evening in Toronto, in the darkened hush of historic St. Anne’s Anglican Church, the first frame of the 2013 Images Festival appear—a live black-and-white projection of the deft hands of turntable artist SlowPitch. As the frames progress, you can literally hear and see a needle drop. Then comes a hard tectonicContinue reading “SlowPitch’s “Emoralis””
Summer 2013
Various Artists. REWORK_ (Philip Glass Remixed).
And how, you may well ask, do the epochal Beck and the magisterial Glass bond and re-bond? With lots of echo, I’m here to report. Echo and backwards-boinging. And the chanting of an avant-garde choir. Because “avant-garde” is “now,” for now, this choir sings high-low, high-low for a while; a male voice arises chanting aboutContinue reading “Various Artists. REWORK_ (Philip Glass Remixed).”
Tim Hecker and Daniel Lopatin. Instrumental Tourist.
Don’t be fooled by the geeky irony of some of its technogically oriented song titles, such as “Whole Earth Tascam” and “GRM Blue I.” Instrumental Tourist is among some of the most deliberate and best work by Tim Hecker and Daniel Lopatin. Moving away from both Lopatin’s (a.k.a. Oneohtrix Point Never) analog bubble baths andContinue reading “Tim Hecker and Daniel Lopatin. Instrumental Tourist.”