With energized minimalism, Toronto drummer and synthesizer player Robert Diack reconstitutes fragments of other genres into this fourteen-track CD, using repetitive textures driven by his solid drum beats to create resourceful if somewhat claustrophobic pieces. With further expressions from bassist Brandon Davis, guitarist Patrick O’Reilly, and pianist Jacob Thompson, whose languid chording defines most ofContinue reading “Robert Diack. Small Bridges”
Genre Archives
New Age Doom Steps Forward
The day of my interview with the Vancouver experimental-metal duo New Age Doom began with the heart-sinking news that legendary dub artist Lee “Scratch” Perry had passed away. After making my way through the winding side streets of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, I arrived at the unmarked door of the duo’s studio. Inside, I was greetedContinue reading “New Age Doom Steps Forward”
Allen Ravenstine. The Tyranny of Fiction.
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.”
Absolutely Free. Aftertouch.
A centrepiece track of Absolutely Free’s Aftertouch is “Remaining Light,” a sly nod to the title of Talking Heads’ fourth LP, Remain in Light. But that’s a bit of a ruse, as neither the song nor the album pick up that 1980 masterwork’s seminal thread of jittering Afrobeat rhythms and motorik repetition. In reality, theContinue reading “Absolutely Free. Aftertouch.”
Insides. Soft Bonds.
Simon Reynolds’s well-known essay on post-rock was published in the U.K. magazine The Wire in May 1994. Though today the genre tag tends to connote a particular sound, in the context of Reynolds’s piece, post-rock was more of a tenuous label for a diverse bunch of curious bands abandoning rock convention. Brighton, U.K.’s Insides, whoContinue reading “Insides. Soft Bonds.”
Godspeed You! Black Emperor. G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!
Epic multi-part compositions, long crescendos, drones and field recordings, gloomy moods giving way to cathartic orchestral climaxes—yes, it’s another Godspeed You! Black Emperor album. There are now more post-reunion albums than pre-hiatus ones, and the recent output has taken on greater weight in the overall oeuvre. It may feel rote to those who are notContinue reading “Godspeed You! Black Emperor. G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!”
Curtis Running Rabbit-Lefthand Ignites the Rhythm of the People
Blackfoot Confederacy member Curtis Running Rabbit-Lefthand is the founder and executive artistic director of Indigenous Resilience in Music (IRIM), a collective that supports Indigenous musicians and youth in their learning, performing, recording, and collaborating. The group’s Indigenous-led workshops and events address topics ranging from spiritual values and language reclamation to the basic practicalities of howContinue reading “Curtis Running Rabbit-Lefthand Ignites the Rhythm of the People”
Neither Here Nor There: Musical Identity in the Global Flow
It is impossible to stand still nowadays in the face of worldwide security concerns. With climate change, wars, oppressive political climates, and alarming epidemics, the ability to move around physically has become a humanitarian necessity for many. The commodification and hyperrealism of the Internet produce spaces that everyone now negotiates with trepidation. The rise ofContinue reading “Neither Here Nor There: Musical Identity in the Global Flow”
Land of Kush. Sand Enigma.
Sand Enigma is a vision. Not in the sense of a future or even a past, but of a roiling, tempestuous, and contradictory present. Composer and bandleader Sam Shalabi has created a movie—and without trotting out the cinematic tropes, this release has a comprehensive narrative, one that has as much to do with Guillermo deContinue reading “Land of Kush. Sand Enigma.”
Strangewaves V: Mother Nature.
On the last day of Strangewaves V, we drove onto the festival’s site at the fairgrounds in Paris, Ontario, a little after 2 p.m, when Myriam Gendron—a singer and guitarist best known for her 2014 release Not So Deep As A Well, which sets Dorothy Parker poems to fragile folk melodies—was scheduled to perform. ImagineContinue reading “Strangewaves V: Mother Nature.”