The first release from Feeding Tube’s Unknown Province reissue series of Canadian cult classics, which is being curated by liner-notes author Alex Moskos, is a time capsule from a true freak scene. Recorded in 1968 by pioneering sound-and-concrete poet Bill Bissett after arriving in Vancouver from Halifax, the album finds his sundry gang of poets,Continue reading “Bill Bissett & Th Mandan Massacre. Awake In Th Red Desert.”
Genre Archives
HAVN Records: Fronting Art Music in ‘The Hammer’
First came the band, then the space, then the label. The band is Haolin Munk, a jazz and hip-hop quartet formed in the early 2010s by drummer Aaron Hutchinson, tenor saxophonist Connor Bennett, alto saxophonist Chris Ferguson, and bassist Josh Wiener. The space is HAVN—Hamilton Audio Visual Node—a gallery and performance space just off JamesContinue reading “HAVN Records: Fronting Art Music in ‘The Hammer’”
Bob Bell. Necropolis.
Since its release in 1978, Bob Bell’s Necropolis has grown in stature to become one of Canada’s most highly sought after private-press LPs. The glassy-eyed Vancouver longhair gazing out from the album’s cover photo—strikingly shot from an ant’s eye view pointing up at his denim crotch—doesn’t welcome listeners into his musical world as much asContinue reading “Bob Bell. Necropolis.”
Alanis Obomsawin. Bush Lady.
Alanis Obomsawin is known more for filmmaking than music, and indeed she is a prolific and much-lauded director who has made more than fifty films, many of them documentaries for the National Film Board about the indigenous experience in North America. She’s also a visual artist and a social activist. But Obomsawin, born into theContinue reading “Alanis Obomsawin. Bush Lady.”
Sam Shalabi and the Evolution of a Global Aesthetic
Sam Shalabi’s insightful musical take on the world can provoke both discomfort and laughter. On his numerous solo albums, he meshes guitar, oud, and field recordings into an electroacoustic collage. He leads a wide variety of small and midsize groups that encompass a who’s who of Montreal improvisers, as well as musicians of international renown,Continue reading “Sam Shalabi and the Evolution of a Global Aesthetic”
Hans-Joachim Roedelius floats against the current
On an unseasonably warm night in October, Toronto’s Monarch Tavern was packed to the rafters for a living legend. German electronic and ambient music pioneer Hans-Joachim Roedelius—best known as a cofounder of 1970s experimental groups Cluster and Harmonia, renowned for their celebrated collaborations with Brian Eno—sat behind the bar’s piano with a pair of glowingContinue reading “Hans-Joachim Roedelius floats against the current”
Saxophonist Karen Ng Sets The Scene
THINK OF ANY STYLE OF MODERN saxophone playing, and chances are Toronto’s Karen Ng has done it, and done it beautifully. Her tone can be eerily high and pure, rich and fluid, deep and mellow, alluringly tender or startlingly abrasive. Her fingers fly in a dazzling, exuberant run, then slow down to effect a gentleContinue reading “Saxophonist Karen Ng Sets The Scene”
Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Luciferian Towers.
At this point, the GY!BE formula probably needs no introduction. Godspeed You! Black Emperor has been making long-form, crescendo-driven, enigmatically titled, outspokenly political, communally produced, instrumental post-rock for over twenty years, with no major stylistic shifts. GY!BE tends to work within a well-delineated affective and thematic range: loud, soft, dark, light. If it’s not quiteContinue reading “Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Luciferian Towers.”
Craig Aalders’ el8dEra 3m
Ice cracking and melting; a forest by the coast; a dream; breath lingering in the cold air—these are some of the images that come to mind when listening to Vancouver composer Craig Aalders’ el8dEra 3m, the first-prize-winning composition in Musicworks’ 2016 annual Electronic Music Composition contest. An absorbing, ethereal work of shimmering organic tones andContinue reading “Craig Aalders’ el8dEra 3m”
All-Set! Editions: Essentially Not Jazz
Dapper Toronto imprint All-Set! Editions may be a newcomer to the subterranean ecosystem of experimental music distribution, but it already has a clearer sense of self than other more established labels. It’s spearheaded by a trio of composer-players, multi-instrumentalist Mike Smith, bassist Pete Johnston and pianist Ali Berkok. Its identity can’t easily be articulated inContinue reading “All-Set! Editions: Essentially Not Jazz”