BeatRoute Magazine BC Print Edition January 2018
BeatRoute Magazine is a monthly arts and entertainment paper with a predominant focus on music – local, independent or otherwise. The paper started in June 2004 and continues to provide a healthy dose of perversity while exercising rock ‘n’ roll ethics. Currently BeatRoute’s AB edition is distributed in Calgary, Edmonton (by S*A*R*G*E), Banff and Canmore. The BC edition is distributed in Vancouver, Victoria and Nanaimo. BeatRoute (AB) Mission PO 23045 Calgary, AB T2S 3A8 E. editor@beatroute.ca BeatRoute (BC) #202 – 2405 E Hastings Vancouver, BC V5K 1Y8 P. 778-888-1120
BeatRoute Magazine is a monthly arts and entertainment paper with a predominant focus on music – local, independent or otherwise. The paper started in June 2004 and continues to provide a healthy dose of perversity while exercising rock ‘n’ roll ethics.
Currently BeatRoute’s AB edition is distributed in Calgary, Edmonton (by S*A*R*G*E), Banff and Canmore. The BC edition is distributed in Vancouver, Victoria and Nanaimo. BeatRoute (AB) Mission PO 23045 Calgary, AB T2S 3A8 E. editor@beatroute.ca BeatRoute (BC) #202 – 2405 E Hastings Vancouver, BC V5K 1Y8 P. 778-888-1120
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THE EARTH THE PEOPLE THE MOVEMENT
TRIM SIZE: 10.25"W x 11.5" H, RIGHT HAND PAGE
<strong>January</strong>‘18<br />
PUBLISHER<br />
<strong>BeatRoute</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
LAYOUT<br />
& PRODUCTION MANAGER<br />
Naomi Zhang<br />
FRONT COVER PHOTO<br />
Dave Cutler<br />
FRONT COVER DESIGN<br />
Randy Gibson<br />
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS<br />
Bailey Barnson • Sarah Bauer • Jonny<br />
Bones • Seth Cudney • Quan Yin<br />
Divination • Mike Dunn• Kennedy Enns<br />
• Slone Fox • Colin Gallant • Jovana<br />
Golubovic • Michael Grondin • Greg<br />
Grose • Kathryn Helmore • Max Hill •<br />
Alex Hudson • Sarah Jamieson • Jeevin<br />
Johal • Karolina Kapusta • Charlotte<br />
Karp • Ana Krunic • Arielle Lessard •<br />
Sarah Mac • Paul Mcaleer • Brendan<br />
Morley • Andrew R. Mott • Zoei Nijjar<br />
• Adesuwa Okoyomon • Emma Sloan •<br />
Stepan Soroka • Vanessa Tam • Willem<br />
Thomas • Brayden Turenne • Alec<br />
Warkentin • Mat Wilkins • Jordan Yeager<br />
CONTRIBUTING<br />
PHOTOGRAPHERS &<br />
ILLUSTRATORS<br />
Robert Anderson • Nedda Asfari •<br />
Peter Battistoni • Bryce Hunnersen<br />
• Bill Crisafi • Elissa Crowe • Tj Dawe<br />
• Itai Erdal • Cody Fennell • Greg<br />
Gallinger • Maria Jose • Dahila Katz<br />
• Anita Lewis • Connor Mccracken •<br />
Nelson Mouellic • Darrole Palmer • Jaik<br />
Puppyteeth • Daniel Rampulla • Rachel<br />
Robinson • Shimon Karmel • Raymund<br />
Shum • Landon Speers • Jake Stark •<br />
Steven Taylor • Matthew Zinke<br />
Editor-In-Chief<br />
Glenn Alderson<br />
glenn@beatroute.ca<br />
City<br />
Yasmine Shemesh<br />
yasmine@beatroute.ca<br />
BPM<br />
Alan Ranta<br />
alan@beatroute.ca<br />
Comedy<br />
Graeme Wiggins<br />
graeme@beatroute.ca<br />
Managing Editor<br />
Jordan Yeager<br />
jordan@beatroute.ca<br />
Local Music<br />
James Olson<br />
james.olson@beatroute.ca<br />
The Skinny<br />
Johnny Papan<br />
johnny@beatroute.ca<br />
Film<br />
Hogan Short<br />
hogan@beatroute.ca<br />
04 HI, HOW ARE YOU? 20<br />
05<br />
06<br />
10<br />
12<br />
13<br />
- With Alexis Murphy & Kristy<br />
Lynn Clark of Long Live Cats<br />
And Dogs<br />
PULSE - CITY BRIEFS!<br />
CITY<br />
- Native Shoes<br />
- Thrive Studio<br />
- Brent Wadden<br />
PUSH -<br />
INTERNATIONAL<br />
PERFORMING ARTS<br />
FESTIVAL<br />
COMEDY<br />
- Steven Wright<br />
MUSIC<br />
- Steve Gunn<br />
- Arrington De Dionyso<br />
- Lights<br />
- BØRNS<br />
- John Maus<br />
22<br />
23<br />
29<br />
30<br />
BPM<br />
- Grandtheft<br />
- Noncomplian<br />
- Big Boi<br />
- Clubland<br />
THE SKINNY<br />
- Stone Sour<br />
- The Flesh Eaters<br />
FILM<br />
- Hostiles<br />
- Molly’s Game<br />
- This Month in Film<br />
ALBUM REVIEWS<br />
- Porches<br />
- BROCKHAMPTON<br />
- Eminem<br />
- The Fugitives<br />
- Jeezy<br />
- N.E.R.D<br />
- Tom Phillips<br />
- Ty Segall<br />
- Sellout<br />
- Cadence Weapon<br />
- The Wet Secrets<br />
HOROSCOPES<br />
ADVERTISING INQUIRIES<br />
Glenn Alderson<br />
glenn@beatroute.ca<br />
778-888-1120<br />
DISTRIBUTION<br />
Gold Distribution (Vancouver)<br />
Mark Goodwin Farfields (Victoria)<br />
Web<br />
Jashua Grafstein<br />
jash@beatroute.ca<br />
Social Media<br />
Mat Wilkins<br />
mat@beatroute.ca<br />
BEATROUTE MAGAZINE<br />
202-2405 Hastings St. E<br />
Vancouver <strong>BC</strong> Canada<br />
V5K 1Y8<br />
editor@beatroute.ca • beatroute.ca<br />
©BEATROUTE <strong>Magazine</strong> <strong>2018</strong>. All rights reserved.<br />
Reproduction of the contents is strictly prohibited.<br />
Lights - Page 15<br />
Photo by Matt Barnes<br />
<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong> 3
WITH ALEXIS MURPHY & KRISTY LYNN CLARK OF LONG LIVE CATS AND DOGS<br />
GLENN ALDERSON<br />
It doesn’t matter if you’re a cat or a dog person,<br />
Alexis Murphy and Kristy Lynn Clark have got all<br />
your pet supply needs covered at Long Live Cats<br />
& Dogs. Located in East Vancouver’s Hastings<br />
Sunrise neighbourhood, they’re filling a niche in<br />
the neighbourhood while injecting a bit of their<br />
own rock ‘n’ roll personalities in to it at the same<br />
time. Part of this unique branding extends to their<br />
registered non-profit, Neüterhead: Ace Of Spays.<br />
Think Motörhead but with less balls — Literally.<br />
The organization uses rock ‘n’ roll to raise funds to<br />
assist responsible pet rescue groups with the costs<br />
of spaying and neutering. Funds are raised through<br />
the sale of online merchandise and through<br />
bands who sell Neüterhead goods and apparel<br />
while on tour. Additional fundraising is done<br />
at one-off shows and the next event is a heavy<br />
metal spectacular on February 2 at the Rickshaw<br />
Theatre, featuring a bunch of one-off cover bands<br />
comprised of members from local favourites like<br />
3 Inches Of Blood, Sumac, Bison, No Sinner, Glad<br />
Rags, Baptists and a bunch more.<br />
Joining Murphy and Clark on the board of<br />
directors are Rheanna Diane (Fancypants Design<br />
Co.) plus Shane Clark and Justin Hagberg (3 Inches/<br />
Worse). To date, the collective has raised more<br />
than $13,500 for animal rescue organizations. Not<br />
since Bob Barker on the Price Is Right have any<br />
individuals taken such a loud stance on the issue<br />
of spaying and neutering. We wanted to catch up<br />
with the leading ladies behind such a noble cause<br />
to chat and also check out the bad ass satanic<br />
guinea pig display they’ve got set up in their shop<br />
so we stopped by the pet store mecca for a chat.<br />
The little piggies are also up for adoption so stop<br />
by and check them out if you’re in the market for a<br />
new furry friend.<br />
How did you two meet and get in to this<br />
business together?<br />
AM: We met in Physics class at VCC. In November<br />
2012 we were hanging out and Alexis needed<br />
cat litter. It was two buses to get up Commercial<br />
Drive for cat litter. We talked about how our<br />
neighbourhood needed a pet supply store and that<br />
was pretty much it. We found 2255 Hastings (now<br />
Black Rider Tattoo location) that day, two months<br />
later we opened up shop as Long Live Cats and<br />
Dogs.<br />
Can you tell us about your pets?<br />
KC: We’ve got two cats named Ritchie Catmore<br />
& Ronnie James Meow who live at the pet shop.<br />
I have two cats named Squeak and Toaster, and<br />
Kristy has two cats, Yoyo & Squishy.<br />
AM: We just wanted to give back to the<br />
community.<br />
What sort of success has Neüterhead celebrated<br />
in the past?<br />
KC: Past events have seen donations made to<br />
organizations like VOKRA, HugABull, Spirits<br />
Mission and Broken Promises.<br />
What have you got up your sleeves for this <strong>2018</strong><br />
charity event?<br />
AM: Great bands and raffle prizes!<br />
Can you tell us a bit about what makes you most<br />
excited about working in East Vancouver?<br />
KC: The community, for sure.<br />
What are some of the more challenging things<br />
you have to deal with as business owners in East<br />
Vancouver?<br />
AM: The property tax increase for rezoned<br />
neighbourhoods<br />
Favourite place to eat lunch/dinner in Hastings<br />
Sunrise?<br />
AM; Laksa King, Pho Don and OnLok.<br />
KC: That’s a hard one there are so many great spots.<br />
What do you think is East Vancouver’s best-kept<br />
secret? (K&A)<br />
KC: Hanoi has the best vegetarian pho<br />
Neüterhead’s next event is taking place on February<br />
2 at the Rickshaw Theatre. For more information<br />
about the event and the charity, visit www.<br />
neuterhead.com<br />
Can you tell us a bit about how Neüterhead<br />
came to be?<br />
Alexis Murphy & Kristy Lynn Clark want to remind you to spay and neuter your pets.<br />
4<br />
<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong>
CITY BRIEFS!<br />
Above the Hospital Humans Lift Expo SYML Takashi Murakami<br />
SYML<br />
<strong>January</strong> 12 at the Cultch<br />
SYML — the moniker of musician Brian<br />
Fennell — translates to “simple” in<br />
Welsh, but the work of the Seattle artist<br />
is anything but. With piano, strings,<br />
synth, and affecting vocals, SYML makes<br />
stirring soundscapes filled with delicate<br />
depth. His first headlining show in<br />
Vancouver this month comes on the<br />
heels of the rising success of his 2016<br />
debut EP, Hurt For Me.<br />
HOT BROWN HONEY<br />
<strong>January</strong> 9-27 at York Theatre<br />
As part of the Cultch’s Femme <strong>January</strong><br />
— a month-long dedication to and<br />
celebration of the female voice —<br />
this genre-bending production from<br />
Australia’s Brief Factory empowers<br />
while unapologetically and boldly<br />
confronting issues to do with cultural<br />
stereotypes, sexism, and politics.<br />
ABOVE THE HOSPITAL<br />
<strong>January</strong> 12-21 at Red Gate Revue<br />
Stage<br />
In what may well be very familiar<br />
a situation for many Vancouver<br />
millennial, a couple — a nursing<br />
student and an aspiring musician —<br />
who live together in a small, over-priced<br />
apartment spend a night reminiscing<br />
the past and contemplating the<br />
uncertainty of the future. Above the<br />
Hospital marks the debut original<br />
theatre production of Midtwenties<br />
Theatre Society’s Beau Han Bridge.<br />
BRENDAN LEE SATISH TANG<br />
<strong>January</strong> 11-March 10 at Burrard Arts<br />
Foundation<br />
In his new exhibition, meatspace,<br />
local artist and BAF’s Winter Resident<br />
Brendan Lee Satish Tang moves away<br />
from his usual ceramic medium practise<br />
and works instead with black foam core<br />
and hand-sawn strips of wood to create<br />
abstract sculpture installations that<br />
explore themes of motif and an in-flux<br />
state.<br />
LIFT CANNABIS EXPO<br />
<strong>January</strong> 13-14 at Vancouver<br />
Convention Centre<br />
Canada’s biggest cannabis tradeshow<br />
features about 200 exhibitors, cooking<br />
and growing demos, talks, a vapour<br />
lounge, and a career fair. If you’re<br />
looking for a chance to really learn<br />
more about this booming industry,<br />
don’t miss out.<br />
TAKASHI MURAKAMI<br />
<strong>January</strong> 31 at the SFU David<br />
Mowafaghiab Cinema<br />
The contemporary Japanese artist —<br />
well known for his collaborations with<br />
Pharrell, Kanye West, and fashion house<br />
Louis Vuitton — will be in lecture<br />
reflecting upon 30 years of work, as well<br />
as discussing the methods to his diverse<br />
practice and his new exhibition at the<br />
Vancouver Art Gallery, the Octopus<br />
Eats Its Own Leg, which runs from<br />
February 3 to May 6.<br />
INCITE<br />
<strong>January</strong> 24 at Vancouver Public<br />
Library<br />
Presented by the Vancouver Writers’<br />
Fest, the first event of Incite’s new<br />
season will feature readings and<br />
discussions from four criticallyacclaimed<br />
poets including Vancouver’s<br />
Cecily Nicholson who’s forthcoming<br />
collection, Wayside Sang, traces<br />
the histories of the black diaspora near<br />
the Windsor and Detroit borders.<br />
LEIF COCKS<br />
<strong>January</strong> 16 at Vancouver Public<br />
Library<br />
The founder and president of the<br />
Orangutan Project, a charity to help<br />
save the orange apes from extinction,<br />
will share the fascinating story of his<br />
life’s work, alongside some of the<br />
current challenges the species is facing<br />
and what can be done to contribute to<br />
conservation.<br />
HUMANS<br />
<strong>January</strong> 19 at the Imperial<br />
Everyone’s favourite local electronic<br />
duo are releasing their newest EP, The<br />
Feels, later this month on the 26th and<br />
are kicking off their supporting tour<br />
right here at home.<br />
DTES ARTIST RESOURCE FAIR<br />
<strong>January</strong> 20 at Carnegie Community<br />
Centre<br />
Calling all DTES artists! The first-ever<br />
Artist Resource Fair, held at Carnegie,<br />
will provide opportunities to connect<br />
with community resource providers<br />
about project funding, rehearsal and<br />
exhibition spaces, classes, workshops,<br />
and more.<br />
<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong> 5
RIO<br />
THEATRE<br />
1660 EAST BROADWAY<br />
JANUARY<br />
JAN<br />
7<br />
JAN<br />
8<br />
10<br />
JAN<br />
11<br />
JAN<br />
12<br />
JAN<br />
JAN<br />
13<br />
-<br />
14<br />
17<br />
JAN<br />
SETH MEYERS HOSTS<br />
THE 75TH ANNUAL GOLDEN GLOBES<br />
FREE & ON THE BIG SCREEN<br />
THE FLORIDA PROJECT<br />
DAVID BOWIE'S BIRTHDAY!<br />
THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH<br />
4K REMASTER<br />
THE GENTLEMEN HECKLERS PRESENTS<br />
FLATLINERS (1990)<br />
BACK-TO-BACK!<br />
RIDLEY SCOTT'S BLADE RUNNER &<br />
BLADE RUNNER 2049<br />
KITTY NIGHTS WEST PRESENTS<br />
DAVID BOWIE<br />
LIVE BAND BURLESQUE<br />
IT<br />
FRIDAY LATE NIGHT MOVIE<br />
AN EVENING WITH<br />
GREG SESTERO!<br />
(BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF THE DISASTER ARTIST)<br />
THE ROOM, BEST FRIENDS, & MORE<br />
DETAILS AT WWW.RIOTHEATRE.CA<br />
ALFRED HITCHCOCK DOUBLE BILL!<br />
78/52: HITCHCOCK'S<br />
SHOWER SCENE<br />
&<br />
PSYCHO<br />
CITY<br />
NATIVE SHOES<br />
MAINTAINING A SUSTAINABLE LEG UP WITH NEW STORE<br />
ADAM DEANE<br />
Native Shoes has been enlitening lives<br />
since 2009 with their simple message<br />
— “Keep it LITE.”<br />
A Vancouver brand through<br />
and through, <strong>BeatRoute</strong> had the<br />
opportunity to catch up with creative<br />
director Michael Belgue, who offered<br />
an eye into the legs that stand<br />
underneath the Native brand.<br />
“Native Shoes is a value-driven<br />
brand, meaning that everything<br />
we create both physically and<br />
metaphysically must reflect our<br />
mantra, ‘Keep it Lite.’ With all of<br />
our product, written language, and<br />
creative driven by this core value, the<br />
brand has really transcended beyond<br />
just footwear,” he says.<br />
THRIVE ART STUDIO<br />
COMMUNITY-FOCUSED COLLECTIVE CONTINUES TO FLOURISH IN NEW SPACE<br />
LUIZA BRENNER<br />
Photo by Ema Peter<br />
Native is wearing their “Keep It Lite” mantra on the soles of their feet.<br />
Belgue couldn’t be more right.<br />
Native’s roots have shot towards<br />
the sky from its humble beginnings<br />
right here in Vancouver. In fact, their<br />
first brick and mortar location just<br />
opened in Gastown. The store comes<br />
complete with sustainable seating<br />
made from recycled shoes and a<br />
deposit-slot for folks to drop their<br />
well-loved sneaks.<br />
“We knew that we wanted to open<br />
in Vancouver and were waiting for<br />
the right space to become available<br />
in Gastown,” Belgue says. “Native<br />
will always primarily be a footwear<br />
brand and we want to continue<br />
expanding our line and putting as<br />
many shoes on feet as possible. We<br />
also launched a new website and<br />
e-commerce platform earlier this year<br />
to meet a growing demand in the<br />
direct-to-consumer space, and we will<br />
continue improving upon our online<br />
experience.”<br />
Haven’t you always wanted to find<br />
a case for your feet you can feel good<br />
about wearing – like you’re adding<br />
to the health of our planet? How<br />
about one that breaches the lines<br />
between seasons, age, and climate?<br />
Whether you’re heading out for a<br />
coffee and a hike or picking up Cindy<br />
from daycare, Belgue says Native has<br />
something you’ll find fun, functional<br />
and most importantly – lite.<br />
“Native Shoes was always meant to<br />
be an inclusive brand for everyone, so<br />
we love to see both adults and kids<br />
alike enjoying our product. We are<br />
also Beast-Free. Respecting humans<br />
and animals equally has always been<br />
a crucial aspect of the brand, so if<br />
anything it has pushed us creatively to<br />
develop alternative materials and tech<br />
to leather and suedes.”<br />
A local, sustainable, fashionable,<br />
ageless, cruelty-free brand that cares<br />
about humans and our planet as a<br />
whole?<br />
We’re in.<br />
Native Shoes is at 14 Water Street.<br />
18<br />
JAN<br />
20<br />
JAN<br />
21<br />
JAN<br />
25<br />
JAN<br />
31<br />
JAN<br />
1 FEB<br />
2 FEB<br />
STORY STORY LIE<br />
PILLOW TALK EDITION<br />
CARTOON CABARET<br />
BURLESQUE<br />
ONE TRILOGY MARATHON TO RULE THEM ALL...<br />
THE LORD OF THE RINGS<br />
ALL DAY. EXTENDED EDITIONS.<br />
BACK-TO-BACK.<br />
CRAZY 8S<br />
DGC-<strong>BC</strong> 19TH ANNIVERSARY<br />
SCREENING & FUNDRAISER<br />
THE CRITICAL HIT SHOW!<br />
#DNDLIVE IMPROVISED EPIC FANTASY<br />
PAUL ANTHONY'S<br />
TALENT TIME<br />
FIRST THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH!<br />
THE GEEKENDERS PRESENTS<br />
UH OH!<br />
A YTV BURLESQUE NIGHT<br />
FT. SCOTT YAPHE<br />
(AKA "WINK YAHOO")<br />
GROUNDHOG DAY<br />
FRIDAY LATE NIGHT MOVIE<br />
COMPLETE LISTINGS AT WWW.RIOTHEATRE.CA<br />
It was during a wine-filled dinner with friends, in<br />
the summer of 2015, that Thrive Art Studio was<br />
born. Rather than a premeditated idea or thoughtthrough<br />
plan, the endeavour came about almost<br />
like a (very fortuitous) accident. Thrive founder<br />
Jamie Smith used to gather monthly with a group<br />
of girlfriends to talk about the perks and hardships<br />
of being a female artist in this day and age. But, six<br />
months into it, the news spread.<br />
“I started getting these emails that said ‘What’s<br />
this group you run? Tell me about this! I’m looking<br />
for something!’ To me, it felt really simple. Of<br />
course, we bring people together and we talk, but<br />
I didn’t realize what we were doing — we were<br />
creating community,” Smith remembers.<br />
In a world where human connections are<br />
becoming more rare, this sense of community is<br />
essential.<br />
“One of the main things is that [being an artist]<br />
is really lonely,” Tara Galuska, Thrive member and<br />
co-founder, shares. “It is great if you have a family<br />
or friends who are supportive – you almost won<br />
the lottery! But, then, they will give you advice that<br />
usually just don’t apply in the art world.”<br />
Almost two and a half years later, the tribe<br />
grew significantly. Thrive is now a community of<br />
over 160 cis and trans women, and those who are<br />
non-binary, gender-fluid, and femme-identified<br />
are welcome, too. What started as informal chats<br />
became a structured business, with a range of<br />
Thrive upholds and informs on all the bases for equality in the arts community.<br />
different resources. Thrive Mastermind is the heart<br />
of it. Organized in groups of 10 and led by an OG<br />
member, members meet monthly (in person for<br />
Vancouver-based ladies, and online for international<br />
ones) and provide each other with support,<br />
accountability, and motivation. Thrive Talks is a<br />
series of 10-minute talks where members share their<br />
stories; Thrive Art School teaches all the things you<br />
should (but don’t) learn in art school. Lastly, there’s<br />
the Thrive Network, an online platform used to ask<br />
questions, share resources, and, more importantly,<br />
connect.<br />
“What I love about it is that it brings together,<br />
in real time, women that are trying to reach their<br />
goals, learning lessons, and sharing that knowledge,”<br />
says Smith.<br />
After struggling to find a new HQ, Thrive has<br />
officially found their home: a co-working space in<br />
downtown Vancouver. To celebrate this new phase,<br />
Thrive will throw a welcome bash on <strong>January</strong> 25. All<br />
are welcome — men included.<br />
Thrive Art Studio is located at 535 Thurlow St.<br />
6<br />
<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong>
Yoko Ono<br />
March 1 to March 31, <strong>2018</strong><br />
MEND PIECE, Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York City version, (1966/2015) | ceramic, glue, tape, scissors and twine | dimensions variable<br />
Rennie Museum | 51 East Pender St | Vancouver
BRENT WADDEN: TWO SCORES<br />
SPINNING HIGH ART WITH A GROUNDED STANCE<br />
DAYNA MAHANNAH<br />
CITY<br />
Photo by Trevor Good photo<br />
Brent Wadden is guided by the edge of a modern hand.<br />
“There is no going back into a weaving<br />
unless you unravel the whole thing,” says<br />
Brent Wadden. “So I usually just keep all<br />
the mistakes, as it’s a total pain in the ass<br />
to remove them.” With a resume of solo art<br />
exhibitions in galleries spanning from Paris,<br />
London, and Berlin to South Korea and New<br />
York, the charm of humility hasn’t been lost<br />
on the autodidactic weaver. This self-taught<br />
naïvety may just be the warp and woof of<br />
Wadden’s work.<br />
Trained in painting, the artist’s woven pieces<br />
still exude the spontaneity and abstraction<br />
that brushstrokes allow. Bold geometric shapes,<br />
lots of lines, and contrasting colours embrace<br />
imperfections and shrug off the anxious rigidity<br />
of strict patterns or faultless topography. But<br />
Wadden is matter-of-fact. “Don’t romanticize<br />
the medium or process,” he says.<br />
To present his deliberately described<br />
‘paintings,’ Wadden’s weavings are stretched<br />
over a canvas. “Just to clarify, there is no paint<br />
used.” Acrylic is often listed as a material in the<br />
pieces, but he points out it’s also a term used<br />
for synthetic yarns. A photo of a Brent Wadden<br />
tapestry on social media may give the viewer<br />
an impression of a painting, but seeing the real<br />
deal will expose the reality of the cozy canvas.<br />
People will “understand that I’m speaking the<br />
language of painting, as they are presented in<br />
this manner.”<br />
For his upcoming solo exhibition, Two<br />
Scores, at the Contemporary Art Gallery in<br />
Vancouver, Wadden is creating all new works<br />
to showcase. Using one of his three looms, the<br />
artist spins away while listening to podcasts,<br />
YouTube interviews, and avoiding responding<br />
to pressing emails. However, he credits weaving<br />
for teaching him organization and patience.<br />
“When most people see [the looms], the first<br />
thing they say is, ‘my grandmother or great<br />
aunt was a weaver,’” Vancouver-based Wadden<br />
says. “As if it’s an ancient technology (which it<br />
sort of is) that died with their loved ones years<br />
ago. Everything is moving so fast now!”<br />
Using thrifted fibres, Wadden begins by<br />
sorting them into piles “to see what materials<br />
might work together and how much I have of<br />
each one.” He uses a rudimentary drawing as a<br />
reference for colour placement, but the nature<br />
of the pre-used material creates a variety of<br />
lines and textures. “The quantity of each colour<br />
plays an important role in the final piece.”<br />
By intertwining a 27,000 year textile practice<br />
with the edge of a modern hand, Wadden<br />
engages his audience in a beautiful blend of<br />
the traditional and the avant-garde. “Weaving,<br />
as well as many other general craft practices,<br />
seem more common in Canada but have<br />
difficulty entering a certain kind of art world.”<br />
In Berlin, where the Nova Scotia-native lived for<br />
many years, he noticed that between painting<br />
and weaving, “no one really questioned the<br />
crossover.”<br />
Two Scores will be a multi-dimensional<br />
showcase of Wadden’s paintings, utilizing the<br />
floor and extensive wall space with works up to<br />
seven and a half metres in length. His piece,16<br />
Afghans, salutes the 16 deconstructed blankets<br />
with photos of each original afghan displayed<br />
with its conglomerate. Though Wadden’s<br />
chosen craft is exhaustive, perhaps it brings<br />
a sense of relief that the paintbrush never<br />
did. “Weaving is a time based medium, so<br />
you know when you are done,” he says. “With<br />
painting, there is always this feeling of not<br />
knowing exactly when to stop.”<br />
Brent Wadden’s solo exhibition, Two Scores,<br />
opens at the Contemporary Art Gallery in<br />
Vancouver <strong>January</strong> 12 and runs to March 25.<br />
<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong> 9
LOOKOUT<br />
By Lauren Donnelly<br />
Two people converse high above the streets of<br />
Vancouver, silhouetted against a panorama of the<br />
city. They look out at the same view, but they see<br />
different things: one is aware of what was, and<br />
one envisions potential that extends the limits of<br />
possibility.<br />
British artist Andy Field asks us to step outside<br />
of the now to reckon with our future in his<br />
interactive show Lookout. Participants consider<br />
the city’s future through a conversation with<br />
our beneficiaries: Vancouver’s children.<br />
“It’s a really simple piece,” says Field, “but it’s<br />
a delicate and complex experience. People find<br />
themselves quite moved by the opportunity<br />
to think of this place that they call home in a<br />
different way.”<br />
During the show, held at Vancouver<br />
Lookout, participants listen to recordings<br />
from students of an East Vancouver<br />
elementary school. Speaking as their<br />
imagined older selves, the children<br />
share their hopes and fears for the city.<br />
Participants then meet one-on-one with<br />
the children to converse about the future.<br />
Iterations of the production in<br />
cities from London to Cairo show<br />
commonalities among children, says<br />
Field.<br />
“What has surprised people is how<br />
in tune children are with the adult<br />
concerns with the city – property<br />
prices, the housing crisis, gentrification<br />
– children are acutely aware of these<br />
things and want to come up with<br />
solutions.”<br />
If other shows are any indication,<br />
participants will learn from the city’s<br />
youngest citizens.<br />
“Children have much sharper<br />
ideas around right and wrong,<br />
fairness and equality,” says Field.<br />
“And they’re quite bipartisan.”<br />
Sometimes profound and<br />
sometimes amusing, Field says<br />
the children’s urban visions<br />
are a mix of social realism and<br />
science fiction. It’s a refreshing<br />
experience for both participants<br />
and performers. “When you’re<br />
nine years old, a lot of people<br />
don’t listen carefully to what<br />
you say,” says Field. “By calling<br />
it a show, we invite adults to<br />
listen to these children with<br />
the seriousness with which<br />
they would normally listen to<br />
a theatre performance.”<br />
Lookout runs from <strong>January</strong><br />
20-21 at Vancouver Lookout<br />
as part of the PuSh Festival.<br />
ANDY FIELD INITIATES<br />
A CONVERSATION WITH<br />
VANCOUVER’S FUTURE<br />
As a professional writer, actor, and artistic collaborator, he’s instigated<br />
and starred in a number of shows all over the country. Now in his 35th<br />
year, McNeil is taking on the meaty role of King Arthur in his latest<br />
project, King Arthur’s Night.<br />
This particular stage adaptation was written by McNeil and his longtime<br />
friend and collaborator, Marcus Youssef, and includes a cast of<br />
more than 25 actors, singers, and musicians, some of whom have Down<br />
syndrome.<br />
“It’s a spectacle, and it’s quite remarkable – it’s unlike anything I’ve<br />
ever done,” says Youssef. “Sometimes we have to find new ways of doing<br />
things that work for all the cast and crew members so we can all feel<br />
successful, and the process of slowing down and paying attention is<br />
good for art-making, and good for human relationships in general.”<br />
McNeil researched the story heavily, and part of his fascination with<br />
King Arthur was the complexity and power of the character. Audiences<br />
have been surprised and moved by the depth of collaboration between<br />
people who have different lived experiences – there’s no mention of<br />
physical or cognitive difference at any point in the show.<br />
“After a talkback session at a show in Toronto, an acting teacher<br />
approached Niall and said, ‘I wish I could bring all my students to the<br />
show, because your performance is exactly what I’m trying to teach<br />
them all the time,’” says Youssef.<br />
“I think she was referring to the fact that all our actors from the Down<br />
Syndrome Research Foundation – Andrew Gordon, Tiffany King, and<br />
Matthew Tom-Wing – have extraordinary skills at being in the moment,<br />
which is something professional actors spend lifetimes trying to achieve.<br />
These four, including Niall, are just really, really good at it.”<br />
When asked about creating opportunities for creatives with Down<br />
syndrome, the pair recount a Facebook comment they received from<br />
PuSh<br />
Suicide. It’s a word people tend to shy away from – what is there to<br />
say about something at once so unexplainable and so human? It’s an<br />
abstract, daunting concept, but it’s something we’ve all thought about.<br />
In I’m Not Here, Doireann Coady explores the simplicity of life and death<br />
through music, dance, and recordings from her childhood, all in tribute<br />
to her brother Donal, who took his life in 2009.<br />
“No one cares that my brother is dead,” says Coady. “There are<br />
thousands of people who have lost people [to suicide], and no one<br />
wants to talk about it, because it embarrasses or scares them. That’s so<br />
disempowering for the people grieving – it erases that person. So while<br />
I’m doing the show, it’s about looking [death] in the eye. I’m going to<br />
have to say he’s dead and I’m going to have to watch people’s reactions.”<br />
Coady’s experience isolated her; it made her feel alone, despite that<br />
experience being lived by thousands of people every day. Donal’s death<br />
became a “congestion point” in her work, but she wasn’t avoiding it so<br />
much as biding her time “in terms of the cycles of grief and when was<br />
an appropriate time to tackle it in a way that wouldn’t be too damaging,<br />
too raw, or too exposing.” Perhaps that congestion would have cleared<br />
more quickly if others were as open to discussing suicide as she is.<br />
“For me, the main thing has been giving a voice to the silent<br />
experience of grief through suicide,” she says. “It’s something that is so<br />
muted within society. There’s very little expression around how utterly<br />
challenging it is. But there’s also been a profound joy in reconnecting<br />
with the material that my brother left behind.”<br />
The material she’s referencing lays the groundwork for I’m Not Here’s<br />
soundtrack. Donal was musical as well, and after his death, Coady’s<br />
family found recordings of his music – recordings he never even knew<br />
existed.<br />
“My dad buys these Dictaphones in charity shops, and he was testing<br />
one to see if it worked,” says Coady. “He pressed record and just left it in<br />
the mother of a young son: “As the opening number started with 20-<br />
plus actors and musicians onstage, I started to weep, because I know the<br />
possibilities for my son will just get bigger and bigger as he gets older.”<br />
“Comments like that are hard to forget,” says McNeil.<br />
King Arthur’s Night runs at the Frederic Wood Theatre from <strong>January</strong><br />
31-February 4 as part of the PuSh Festival.<br />
INTERNATIONAL<br />
PERFORMING ARTS<br />
FESTIVAL<br />
the house, and it was only after Donal died that my dad was like, ‘I think<br />
this is Donal singing.’ I also found these other tapes my dad made of us<br />
when we were kids. It was a happy accident.”<br />
“This kind of turns into a DJ set that he never got to play,” she<br />
concludes. And it’s not all depressing – “There’s been people<br />
spontaneously standing up and dancing in the middle of it. I think at<br />
a certain point, people want to dance with him and for him and for<br />
themselves. So it becomes quite an involved experience. It’s cathartic for<br />
everyone; it’s not just about Donal.”<br />
I’m Not Here runs <strong>January</strong> 24-28 at The Cultch as part of the PuSh Festival.<br />
Photo by Dorje de Burgh<br />
Photo by Tristan Casey<br />
By Charlotte Karp<br />
KING<br />
ARTHUR’S<br />
NIGHT<br />
AGE-OLD TALE GETS<br />
INCLUSIVE RETELLING<br />
I’M NOT<br />
HERE<br />
By Jordan Yeager<br />
PROVIDING A SAFE SPACE<br />
TO REFLECT ON AN OFTEN<br />
SILENCED GRIEF<br />
10<br />
<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong>
By Jordan Yeager<br />
MOB<br />
BOUNCE<br />
INNER VS. OUTER SPACE<br />
Held this year at the Fox Cabaret and<br />
the Anvil Centre, Club PuSh is a special<br />
showcase of experimental productions<br />
in a casual setting. Come, have a drink,<br />
and prepare to feel challenged, to have<br />
your mind expanded, and, as always, to<br />
be entertained.<br />
DAUGHTER<br />
February 1 at Fox Cabaret<br />
Hindsight is a powerful thing. So is<br />
forgiveness. As comedian Adam Lazarus<br />
reflects upon his life, he contemplates<br />
what kind of father he was to his daughter,<br />
presenting a story — part fact, part fiction<br />
— characterized by love, anger, regret, and<br />
lessons learned.<br />
Every grade-schooler dreams of starting a band. Most of the<br />
time, it doesn’t pan out. Such was not the case for Craig Frank<br />
Edes and Travis Hebert. The two met in Houston, <strong>BC</strong>, when they<br />
were in grades two and four respectively, and their chemistry<br />
was instantaneous. Both Travis and Craig grew up surrounded by<br />
musical families, and they picked up on instruments like guitar<br />
and drums quickly. Almost two decades later, the pair hasn’t<br />
slowed down. Now, they go by Mob Bounce and tour the country,<br />
performing at festivals and hosting youth outreach workshops.<br />
“You don’t realize how small the Native music community is<br />
until you’re a part of it,” says Hebert. “Growing up and listening to<br />
these artists, it always seemed so far away and unattainable. But<br />
now we’re in it.”<br />
For Mob Bounce, it’s a source of pride to represent a small<br />
community in the interior. The fact that they’ve achieved critical<br />
acclaim nationwide speaks to their talent, of course, but that’s not<br />
what they’re proudest of. Having reached audiences across the<br />
country allows them to inspire others to keep putting themselves<br />
out there against all odds. This selflessness underscores the entirety<br />
of Mob Bounce’s quintessence. They don’t create for themselves<br />
– they create to serve others. Several times throughout our<br />
conversation, they emphasize that no one picks up a hobby and is<br />
good at it right away. Usually, you’ll be pretty bad at it for a while.<br />
They were no exception.<br />
“When we were in elementary school, I had a Windows<br />
computer and would just loop sounds together,” says Edes. “Then<br />
we’d lay down vocals using karaoke microphones we found around<br />
the house. That was a long time before we called ourselves Mob<br />
Bounce.”<br />
Eventually, Edes moved to Vancouver to study at Capilano<br />
University, while Hebert stayed in the interior. They traded lyrics<br />
and song concepts over social media and soon decided this was<br />
something worth pursuing. Mob Bounce officially got its name<br />
in 2010, but despite operating under the same moniker, their<br />
message hadn’t yet been honed.<br />
“The difference is like night and day from where we started to<br />
where we are now,” says Hebert. “I think the main thing is that<br />
there wasn’t that intention to our songs yet.”<br />
“I was studying acting for stage and screen, so my lyrics were<br />
super specific, obscure references,” Edes continues, laughing. “If<br />
you were in my class and knew this one scene from a play we’d<br />
read, you’d understand a line I wrote. Now, we write with a lot<br />
more intent.”<br />
Intent is a concept they come back to frequently. A large degree<br />
of their intention lies within youth outreach. The duo spreads their<br />
message not only through lyricism, but also through workshops<br />
with youth varying in age from five- and six-year-olds to high<br />
school seniors. They cater their message to suit each group, but the<br />
underlying principles remain the same.<br />
“Often when we book a festival, we’ll do two three-hour-long<br />
workshops and two 45-minute performances,” explains Edes. “We<br />
teach them about lyrical structure – hip hop typically has 16 bars<br />
per verse, but that sounds daunting, so we talk about it like writing<br />
a stanza. And you can play with that structure, too, once you know<br />
it. An analogy I like to use is that Shakespeare was the OG and set<br />
this standard, and now we’re messing it up.”<br />
The name of Mob Bounce’s workshop, Hip Hop and the Sacred<br />
Space, is revealing. Often, kids who attend the workshop are facing<br />
discrimination and bullying in school. When you’re in school,<br />
the world you experience is a miniaturized one, but it seems allencompassing.<br />
Bullying can have dire consequences, as evidenced<br />
by increasing instances of suicide and substance abuse within<br />
Indigenous communities. Travis and Craig use their years of shared<br />
experience to foster safe spaces for youth to acknowledge what’s<br />
going on within themselves and then to comfortably put those<br />
feelings to paper and performance.<br />
“Each group of kids is super different,” Edes says. “Sometimes<br />
they’re shy and quiet and not ready to write a song about<br />
something they’re experiencing. There’s something called the<br />
raspberry theory. If you pick a raspberry too soon, before it’s ready,<br />
it won’t work out very well for you. But once they are ready, they’ll<br />
have the tools to talk about it. It’s about healing your inner space.<br />
Then other times they come with questions completely unrelated<br />
to music. One time I was wearing skinny jeans, and a kid asked<br />
me how I got into my pants. I’ll even answer questions like that.<br />
Because by the end of the workshop, he was ready to write.”<br />
Substance abuse and suicide are, ultimately, preventable<br />
epidemics. Above all, Hebert and Edes want to remind youth<br />
facing discrimination that bullies’ words don’t reflect on you. The<br />
concept of inner vs. outer space is something the duo focusses<br />
much of their energy on. In order to realize your full potential,<br />
your spirit – your inner space – requires love, tenderness, and<br />
understanding.<br />
“When something happens to you, it can either spill over into<br />
inner space or outer space,” explains Edes. “A lot of the time, it<br />
gets bottled up in inner space. Bullies have a poison within their<br />
inner space that makes them act a certain way – as long as you<br />
nurture yourself, as long as you’re true to yourself, that’s when your<br />
message is going to resonate with others.”<br />
Their workshops work both ways, feeding the souls not only of<br />
the children they teach, but also of Edes and Hebert themselves.<br />
Often, after getting through to a particularly introverted group,<br />
they’re inspired to sit, reflect, and write about them.<br />
“We’re excited for our next EP to come out in the new year,<br />
because I think a lot of the youth we’ve worked with will recognize<br />
themselves in the songs,” says Edes fondly. “They’ll know we’re<br />
talking to them.”<br />
Mob Bounce perform February 3 as part of PuSh Festival’s closing<br />
night, a showcase of various artists represented by RPM Records.<br />
Photo by Dave Cutler<br />
SPOKAOKE<br />
February 2 at Fox Cabaret<br />
This is karaoke unlike anything you’ve ever<br />
heard before. Forget “Bohemian Rhapsody”<br />
or “Sweet Caroline” — instead, Annie Dorsen<br />
has curated a lineup of over 90 “classic”<br />
speeches that includes Socrates, Mummer<br />
Gaddafi, and Ronald Reagan, all important figures<br />
noted for their contributions to both history and<br />
pop culture.<br />
TORREY PINES<br />
<strong>January</strong> 20 at Fox Cabaret<br />
With a live score and brilliant stopmotion<br />
animation, Transgender and<br />
Queer filmmaker Clyde Petersen vividly tells<br />
the story of his pre-teens — years characterized<br />
by a schizophrenic mother, dumpster diving,<br />
and a cross-country road trip, all set in early ‘90s<br />
America. Hilarious, harrowing, and heartwarming.<br />
DICKIE BEAU UNPLUGGED<br />
<strong>January</strong> 19-20 at Anvil Centre, Fox Cabaret<br />
Drag artist Dickie Beau is known for his miming<br />
techniques and use of found sound, but here,<br />
the English performer uses his own voice to discuss both<br />
his journey and his love for his craft.<br />
Daughter<br />
CLUB PUSH<br />
EXPAND YOUR MIND<br />
BY YASMINE SHEMESH<br />
Photo by Alejandro Santiago<br />
<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong> 11
COMEDY<br />
STEVEN WRIGHT<br />
ADOPTING THE ZEN MINDSET: THE ART OF A LONG COMEDY CAREER<br />
ALEX BIRON<br />
Photo by Jorge Rios<br />
Steven Wright makes his comedy work for him.<br />
Legend has it that, before he was about to<br />
record his first special, Steven Wright spilled<br />
pizza on his shirt. Instead of being thrown off by<br />
the last minute wardrobe problem, he simply<br />
borrowed a shirt from his opening comic. Then,<br />
instead of pacing nervously like most people<br />
would before such an important performance,<br />
he took a nap.<br />
This quirky, zen approach to comedy is what<br />
fans of Wright have grown to love over a career<br />
that has spanned 30 years. He’s worked with<br />
Quentin Tarantino as a voice actor and Louis<br />
C.K. as a writing consultant, and Rolling Stone<br />
included him in their list of greatest comedians.<br />
He also won an Oscar for his short film, The<br />
Appointments of Dennis Jennings.<br />
On <strong>January</strong> 19, Wright will visit Canada to<br />
perform at The Hard Rock Casino. He describes<br />
Canadian audiences as the best in the world.<br />
“Canada laughs a little bit more than any<br />
other country I’ve done comedy in,” he says. “I<br />
did two specials in Toronto for that reason.”<br />
Canada was the first place Wright ever<br />
performed outside the States.<br />
“I went to Toronto and performed at Yuk<br />
Yuks,” he remembers. “The owner, Mark Breslin,<br />
was very supportive of me.”<br />
Nowadays, though, Wright doesn’t have<br />
much time for smaller shows at comedy clubs<br />
and bars. This means that, unlike most comics,<br />
he never has a chance to work out new material<br />
at low-pressure gigs. The first time he tries a<br />
joke, it’s in a theatre full of hundreds of people.<br />
Another thing that makes him different is his<br />
approach to older material. While most comics<br />
write a brand new hour every year, Wright likes<br />
to mix old jokes with the new.<br />
“The show is like a painting that’s never<br />
finished,” he says. “I keep adding layers, and it’s<br />
never done. When the audience sees my act,<br />
they’ll hear jokes from years ago, but they’ll also<br />
hear some new stuff.”<br />
Wright’s style of comedy lends itself well to<br />
this system, since he rarely does topical jokes<br />
that are restricted by time.<br />
“When you do standup, it’s like you’re the<br />
teacher and the student at the same time. I<br />
make rules for myself. I never do jokes about<br />
current events or the president. I like to talk<br />
about everyday things like gravity, the speed of<br />
light, and lint.”<br />
One of Wright’s proudest accomplishments<br />
is a short black and white film he made in 1999.<br />
He wishes more people had seen it.<br />
“It’s called One Soldier,” he says, “and I think<br />
it’s the best thing I’ve ever made.”<br />
When it comes to standup, though, he has<br />
no regrets. He’s designed a style of comedy<br />
that works perfectly for him, and when asked if<br />
there’s anything he wishes he could do on stage,<br />
he says that “everyone’s brain is a fingerprint:<br />
they all work differently. I like how my mind<br />
works.”<br />
Catch Steven Wright live at the Hard Rock Casino<br />
on <strong>January</strong> 19.<br />
12<br />
<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong>
STEVE GUNN<br />
TRADING PRECISION FOR INSTINCT, PERFECTION FOR SIMPLICITY<br />
SAFIYA HOPFE<br />
ARRINGTON DE DIONYSO<br />
PERFECTING THE ART OF RESISTANCE WITH PURE SOUND<br />
EMILY JAYNE<br />
MUSIC<br />
Cocked and loaded, Steve Gunn is blazing a trail with his solo material.<br />
Arrington De Dionyso’s shows are more than a just<br />
a performance, they are magical acts of conjuring.<br />
Based in Olympia, Washington, De Dionyso<br />
is a prolific visual artist, musician, linguist and<br />
instrument inventor. From 1995 until 2008 he<br />
was the leader of beloved art-punk combo, Old<br />
Time Relijun (K Records). He recalls his times in<br />
Vancouver fondly, in 1995 being shown around<br />
by members of July Fourth Toilet. Years later, De<br />
Dionyso returned to perform at a now defunct<br />
venue called the Butchershop where he gave his<br />
first Voice Workshop for overtone singing and<br />
vocal improvisation. In 2009 he founded Malaikat<br />
Dan Singa, melding free associative Indonesian<br />
translations of William Blake with dancehall<br />
rhythms and postpunk angularity.<br />
“Performance is a commitment to embrace the<br />
ecstatic. Music is one means of navigating those<br />
seldom charted realms of conscious awareness,<br />
where your individual identity both expands<br />
and contracts in the service of the sound itself,”<br />
says De Dionyso. “My approach to music is very<br />
physical, whether it’s vocal or through saxophones<br />
or other wind instruments — it’s literally a form<br />
of holotropic breathing in the way I play — so it’s<br />
very easy for me to enter into trance space just<br />
through the athletic nature of how I’m pushing<br />
air through these wild tubes of sound. As much<br />
as I might try to disappear into the pure sound,<br />
I am also responsible for curating some kind of<br />
shared experience for my audience at the same<br />
time, and that I think is where the real artwork of a<br />
performance occurs. It’s not enough to me to just<br />
have some kind of singular peak experience if I am<br />
not able to offer some means of transportation<br />
for the person there at the show as well. So if the<br />
audience is already willing to go along for that ride,<br />
it’s certainly that much easier…”.<br />
He found himself the target of the alt-right,<br />
implicated in a bizarre and unfounded conspiracy<br />
called #pizzagate after painting a mural at Comet<br />
Ping Pong in Washington DC in 2010. Although<br />
only up for a year, it was picked up by online<br />
conspiracy theorists who took it as a “clue”<br />
pointing to a fictitious politically involved sex<br />
trafficking ring. Despite the online harassment,<br />
death threats and illogical onslaught, he is more<br />
determined than ever to keep creating art and<br />
music with a message promoting the joy of being<br />
human, mythology, dreams and the magical gift<br />
of being alive. So it’s perfectly fitting that his latest<br />
project, This Saxophone Kills Fascists, opens the<br />
gates and calls upon the heavy medicine of music<br />
with a nod to Albert Ayler’s The Healing Force Of<br />
The Universe (1969).<br />
“Because we need this medicine now more than<br />
ever before,” De Dionyso’s latest press release reads.<br />
“A Music of Resistance is found in the templates of<br />
Spiritual Free Jazz. Through the guttural delivery<br />
of ancient horns and stretched skins, a resounding<br />
echo cracks the foundations of the walls built to<br />
divide us.”<br />
De Dionyso will be joined by uniquely gifted<br />
Philadelphia percussionist Ben Bennett, who brings<br />
some amazing perspectives to his musical playing,<br />
informed by a wealth of experience in both poetry<br />
and meditation.<br />
Arrington De Dionyso performs <strong>January</strong> 12 at<br />
the China Cloud (524 Main St.) at 9 p.m. along<br />
with the Watermill Project and Ridley Bishop and<br />
Clarinets. $10 at the door.<br />
www.thissaxophonekillsfascists.bandcamp.com<br />
One-of-a-kind folk experimentalist Steve Gunn<br />
has worked with all kinds of talent — from Kurt<br />
Vile’s band, The Violators, to Michael Chapman<br />
himself — but as <strong>2018</strong> starts to present itself, it’s<br />
the perfection of his intricate solo sound taking<br />
centre stage.<br />
Not that he’s new to working solo, and not<br />
that he’s aiming for perfection. As a matter<br />
of fact, Gunn describes recent realizations as<br />
quite the opposite. “I’ve just been feeling more<br />
comfortable in my singing and my words and<br />
I realize, it’s really easy to kind of overthink<br />
things.” As a self-proclaimed “obsessive” with his<br />
work, Gunn is learning to embrace the value of<br />
simplicity, impulse, and what he calls “restraint.”<br />
For him, this means “thinking of songs differently”<br />
and refusing the old traps experienced guitar<br />
players might fall into. “I’ve played with musicians<br />
who are older and who have been around studios<br />
for a long time, and they tend to just kind of trust<br />
the process and not get to overly precious about<br />
it. You know, if you’re a singer and you play guitar,<br />
just go in there and sing the damn song. Don’t do<br />
fifty vocal takes and try to piece together a song,<br />
you know? And that kind of approach, you can<br />
really hear it in the music, and it was something I<br />
was really trying to do: let myself sing a song and<br />
<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong><br />
not have to comb over every word and try to fix<br />
everything. Because it’s not going to be perfect.”<br />
Another recent shift for Gunn has been a focus<br />
on songwriting itself: methodically, formulaically,<br />
and throughout history. Though his sources of<br />
inspiration vary — from Indian music to “avantgarde<br />
improvisors” and encompassing everything<br />
in between — his respect for the song, and what<br />
goes into its immaculate construction is both a<br />
point of intrigue and a means of rethinking his<br />
own work.<br />
“I think you can approach it in all different<br />
kind of ways. And people who construct effective<br />
songs, that’s been lately an inspiring thing to me<br />
even if it’s, you know, session musicians from the<br />
early ’60s who played with people for different<br />
labels and things. I’m just thinking a lot more<br />
about the production of music and how to make<br />
a record, you know?”<br />
Having spent the last couple of weeks towards<br />
the end of 2017 in the studio, Gunn is prepared<br />
to manifest these recent revelations and more, all<br />
in time for next fall when his fourteenth studio<br />
album will emerge into the world.<br />
Steve Gunn performs <strong>January</strong> 12 at St. James Hall<br />
(Vancouver).<br />
Arrington De Dionyso’s This Saxophone Kills Fascists is not preaching to the choir.<br />
Photo by Lena Shkoda<br />
13
LIGHTS<br />
EXPLORING THE DARKER SIDE OF POP WITH A POST-APOCALYPTIC TALE<br />
JOHNNY PAPAN<br />
MUSIC<br />
Photo by Matt Barnes<br />
Toronto’s own Lights shows her growing maturity as an artist with Skin and Earth.<br />
Skin and Earth is the fourth release to come from<br />
Canadian-born synthpop artist: Lights. The album is an<br />
exploration from her traditional upbeat pop-style to a<br />
matured, darker subject matter while still implementing<br />
nightclub grooves and atmospheric soundscapes.<br />
Accompanying the new record is a complementary comic<br />
series set in a post-apocalyptic world where its main<br />
character, Enaia, is set on an empowering journey to find<br />
strength in a climate of oppression.<br />
“The basic story is this young woman who sinks into<br />
a deep, dark place in her life. Within this darkness she<br />
meets a friend who becomes the good and evil on her<br />
shoulders,” explains Lights, who also wrote and illustrated<br />
the entire comic series. “En is forced to look within herself<br />
to find her own strength and hope within her darkness. I<br />
think this story is really important because I’ve dealt with<br />
depression in the past, I think a lot of people have, and it<br />
feels the same for all of us. I think people shouldn’t look at<br />
depression and think it’s because they’re weak or because<br />
they’re different from somebody else or because they think<br />
they’re just not smart enough to overcome it. It’s about<br />
how you find your own strength, how you find your own<br />
hope. Everybody has their own path and usually we have<br />
to go through darkness in order to get to the good stuff.”<br />
The story expressed in the album and comic serves as<br />
much more than just a simple tale. Lights states that Skin<br />
and Earth also aided her expedition into uncharted lyrical<br />
territory, singing about formally untouched subjects such<br />
as anger, frustration and sex.<br />
“I wanted to be able to write about these things but felt<br />
like I couldn’t because I didn’t have the conduit to say it. It<br />
was probably this weird self afflicted syndrome where you<br />
think you have to say what people want you to say. Lights<br />
has always been positive and uplifting and that’s always<br />
been the sort of music I’ve written. I think I got sort of<br />
stuck in that.”<br />
The upcoming tour is anticipated to be Lights’ biggest<br />
production, performing the best of her releases thus far,<br />
accompanied by visual imagery and storytelling linked to<br />
the new record. If the album and comic aren’t enough,<br />
Lights also wants to bring attention to her immersive<br />
Instagram account: @skinandearthworld where you can<br />
fully explore the Last City on Earth.<br />
Lights performs at the Vogue Theatre (Vancouver) on<br />
<strong>January</strong> 30 and 31.<br />
BØRNS<br />
STAGE MAGIC, ELECTRIC HEARTS AND SWEEPING FALSETTOS<br />
ADAM DEANE<br />
Some artists were born into greatness, others were<br />
born with innate talents they’d realize later on, and<br />
a very small select few — one— was just Borns.<br />
Garrett Borns to be precise. A special brand of<br />
magic must have moved through Grand Haven,<br />
Michigan in the early nineties to produce a voice<br />
like Borns, more commonly referred to and stylized<br />
as Børns. The young man has a style that is all his<br />
own to boot. Picture David Bowie meets Barrie<br />
Gibb meets Gucci. Add about 10 inches of hair, a<br />
killer-falsetto and more charm than that bracelet<br />
you used to wear and you start to get the idea.<br />
Garrett Borns’ electric heart inevitably grew<br />
too large for its Michigan roots and propelled him<br />
to become a superstar in his own right. With the<br />
initial release of his first studio album, Dopamine,<br />
the world soon realized just what he was capable<br />
of. Even Taylor Swift tweeted about him. That’s<br />
how you know you’ve made it. Though, this singer/<br />
songwriter’s imagination isn’t limited to music.<br />
Having caught up with Borns between meetings<br />
and yoga, his patient and laid-back demeanor<br />
rivaled his heart in size.<br />
“I really feel like music is just one piece of<br />
my artistic imagination. I try to write a lot of<br />
short stories,” he says. “I have a poetic stream<br />
of consciousness in my phone, which ends up<br />
being a mess of words that eventually turns into<br />
something. I want to get into more film scores,<br />
possibly even making film.”<br />
Borns’s career began at the ripe age of 10 as<br />
“Garrett the Great,” a stage musician working his<br />
<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong><br />
charm in local restaurants. Three years later he’d<br />
go on to win an $8,000 art school scholarship and<br />
a Gold Key Award for the “other” bits of his artistic<br />
imagination. When asked when and how he finds<br />
the time to produce all of this magic, his answer<br />
was early and often.<br />
“I’m a bit of a nocturnal animal at heart. There<br />
is so much that can affect you during the day,<br />
so many conversations to be had, your phone<br />
buzzing. Your conscious is shifted; it allows you to<br />
be a little more immersed in your art. Routine is a<br />
very healthy thing for creativity, and I constantly<br />
try to re-incent mine. I do a lot of yoga and try<br />
to move as much as possible, especially when I’m<br />
traveling in my capsule. Sometimes you just have<br />
to jump and shake to get the blood (and your<br />
thoughts) flowing.”<br />
After an incredibly successful and hectic<br />
tour-run with Dopamine, playing festivals like<br />
Coachella, Austin City Limits, and even the<br />
Tonight and Late Shows, Børns will release his<br />
second studio album via Interscope Records, Blue<br />
Madonna, on <strong>January</strong> 12. The two singles released<br />
ahead of the album, “Faded Heart” and “Sweet<br />
Dreams,” have already drawn massive success and<br />
graced the charts this year.<br />
With hits under his belt like “Electric Love,”<br />
“10,000 Emerald Pools” and “Past Lives,” he’s<br />
proved his voice to be unrivaled, intoxicating and<br />
often times his highs rocket him out of every genre<br />
society wields at him. Is he electro-pop, dreampop,<br />
electro-funk… even psychedelic at times?<br />
Who knows, who cares? His sound slithers through<br />
a multi-coloured river of euphoria, leaving rich,<br />
magical sparkles in its wake. Borns also the only<br />
Michigan-bred human to rock a mid-driff Gucciblouse.<br />
For that reason alone, you’ll want to catch<br />
Garrett the Great, better known as Børns, on his<br />
latest tour in support of Blue Madonna.<br />
Børns performs at the Vogue Theatre on <strong>January</strong> 20.<br />
Garrett Borns AKA Børns releases his latest offering Blue Madonna this month.<br />
Photo by Chuck Grant<br />
15
MUSIC<br />
JOHN MAUS<br />
MAKING MUSIC ABOUT THE WRONG APOCALYPSE<br />
GRAEME WIGGINS<br />
Often musicians let their music do the talking, making<br />
interviews short, occasionally insightful but rarely treading<br />
into philosophical implications of their art and how it’s<br />
talked about. John Maus, whose apocalyptic new album,<br />
Screen Memories, deals with fairly complex issues in a synthheavy<br />
pop vein, takes things even further in discussion.<br />
It probably helps that during the six-year hiatus between<br />
albums he took time off to finish his PhD in Political Science.<br />
Music writers often describe his music as outsider art<br />
with a cult following, which is something Maus is keenly<br />
aware of. When it arises in conversation, he notes, “I’m<br />
wondering now if you’ve found the one or two towards the<br />
end where I personally lamented this precise definition that<br />
you’re bringing up now.” There’s a sense in which he gets<br />
it, that there’s a sense in which his music is a little off the<br />
beaten path.<br />
“I guess in the sense that some of the things that I’m<br />
trying out are so outlandish that the only comparison that<br />
can be made is with some of these weird records at the<br />
bottom of the vinyl bin — weird born-again, or family in a<br />
trailer somewhere made. Other than that it’s just an easy<br />
way to box it up and put in on a shelf where it belongs,<br />
conveniently easy.”<br />
He thinks this classification in music criticism stems<br />
from a deeper issue in artistic evaluation; that judgments<br />
about music are often made without really attempting to<br />
bring anything new to the table. Putting things into genres<br />
is an easy out for a music writer. He explains, “I have three<br />
records out or whatever and each time I’m a different genre.<br />
The first time it was hypnagogic pop, and last time, I can’t<br />
remember, something like ’80s retro, and now I’m a retrofuturist.”<br />
To be fair Screen Memories does have an ’80s feeling. It’s<br />
synth heavy, it’s dark, and like a lot of eighties music, it does<br />
seem to ruminate on the ideas of apocalypse. One would<br />
have figured given its release this year that much of it must<br />
be inspired by the political situation in the U.S. right now,<br />
but the apocalyptic theme runs deeper than that. “Most<br />
of it was finished during the time a Trump presidency was<br />
still more or less a joke that the media was having. There<br />
was no conceivable way. I distinctly remember some press<br />
conference where Obama was somewhere and he was<br />
reassuring everybody that Americans were not that stupid<br />
that they would elect a reality star. The apocalyptic theme<br />
I had in mind was more the Silicon Valley ideology. The<br />
technocratic, techno-gnostic, ideology that holds sway<br />
more and more.”<br />
While Screen Memories might not have quite capitalized<br />
on the world’s apocalyptic turn, it is still a fitting record for<br />
the current zeitgeist.<br />
John Maus performs <strong>January</strong> 24 at the Biltmore Cabaret.<br />
Photo by Shawn Brack<br />
The latest from John Maus, Screen Memories, is fitting for the current zeitgeist.<br />
16<br />
<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong>
THE WOMBATS<br />
MATURING ORGANICALLY AROUND LIFE AND LOVE<br />
FRANKIE RYOTT<br />
FIRST AID KIT<br />
STRIKING A BALANCE BETWEEN ANGER AND ROMANCE<br />
SARAH BAUER<br />
MUSIC<br />
The Wombats proudly embrace a transformation on their new upcoming album.<br />
They say good things come in threes but the<br />
Liverpudlian lads from the Wombats are well on<br />
their way to breaking the rules with the impending<br />
release of their fourth album Beautiful People Will<br />
Ruin Your Life.<br />
Having first entered the musical world in<br />
the mid ‘00s, the Wombats quickly obtained<br />
stardom with their debut album, A Guide To<br />
Love, Loss & Desperation. It was on this album<br />
with titanic tracks like “Moving to New York” and<br />
“Let’s Dance to Joy Division” that the Wombats<br />
created a whole new thirst for alternative-pop and<br />
indie rock. With time and testing the Wombats<br />
continued to develop their sound and so too their<br />
fandom, delivering once more in 2011 with their<br />
triumphant album, This Modern Glitch. Following<br />
suit again in 2015, their third album, Glitterbug,<br />
catapulted the band back into the spotlight,<br />
gaining critical acclaim worldwide from a whole<br />
new era of fans, resulting in a debut spot in the Top<br />
5 on the UK Album chart and Billboard 100.<br />
Now as <strong>2018</strong> slowly blooms, Beautiful People<br />
Will Ruin Your Life sees the Wombats stripping<br />
back the bark of their sound with an aim to<br />
approach music more freely.<br />
“In this album we wanted to do something more<br />
organic and less synth driven which has moved<br />
us away from our previous albums,” explains<br />
frontman Matthew ‘Murph’ Murphy. “I think we<br />
are still growing and getting better, music isn’t<br />
something you ever figure out, it always keeps you<br />
on your toes, and as a writer I’ve just learnt to step<br />
away from it when I need to and be a bit more<br />
patient.”<br />
This patience has come with power as the<br />
Wombats have managed to piece together a<br />
compilation of tracks that not only redefine<br />
their playful nature, but also delicately delve<br />
into the depths of human connection. The key<br />
inspiration of which can be attributed to their<br />
Photo by Phil Smithies<br />
own experiences with the addictive twists of<br />
relationships, which have become the well-planted<br />
seeds that Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life has<br />
grown from.<br />
“I’m an empath, I always write about<br />
relationships whether they’re fucked up or not<br />
and I absorb other peoples problems and energies,<br />
it definitely encourages my creativity,” Murph<br />
explains.<br />
Since the albums announcement, fans have<br />
been teased with two tracks. The upbeat synth<br />
pop anthem “Lemon to a Knife Fight” and “Turn,”<br />
an electrifying euphoric love song that Murph<br />
describes as a “beautiful mistake.” Both tracks have<br />
amassed more than a million plays on Spotify, an<br />
indication of how the album will be received.<br />
“Songwriters have to adapt these days because<br />
everything is literally on a 4 inch by 2 inch screen<br />
and it is so easily accessible. It’s really great to<br />
release albums, more importantly to write songs<br />
and get them out there instantly and watch the<br />
reaction,” says Murph.<br />
For more than a decade the Wombats have<br />
continued to test the boundaries of alternativepop.<br />
Their journey has been one of transformation<br />
and Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life is just<br />
the introduction to their new organic sound and<br />
a clear display of the Wombats evolution into<br />
maturity. As the release date approaches, The<br />
Wombats are set to hit arenas all over the U.S. and<br />
Canada and later in the year will be embarking on<br />
a U.S. summer tour co-headlining with The Pixies<br />
and Weezer.<br />
The saying goes ‘good things come to those who<br />
wait’ and until February 9, Wombats fans must<br />
obey, patiently.<br />
The Wombats perform at the Imperial (Vancouver)<br />
on <strong>January</strong> 30.<br />
It’s dark outside in Stockholm when <strong>BeatRoute</strong><br />
reaches sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg,<br />
known together as First Aid Kit. Klara, the<br />
younger of the duo, has filled her apartment<br />
living room with lit candles, and describes<br />
the lighting as low and peaceful. It’s a pretty<br />
vision for two pretty-voiced women who have<br />
enchanted folk and indie pop enthusiasts for<br />
almost a decade with their honeyed, siblingbonded<br />
harmonies and nostalgic lyricism.<br />
But pretty has its limits, especially in a year<br />
like 2017, which Klara describes as “change…<br />
but not in a good way,” for the political and<br />
cultural climate of the world. Ruins, First Aid<br />
Kit’s fourth LP, addresses the aftermath of<br />
Klara’s broken engagement and the detritus of<br />
two wild and rebel hearts. With a single, jutting,<br />
screaming line on track nine (“The Hem of Her<br />
Dress”), the Söderbergs alert listeners to their<br />
own personal sea change: they aren’t afraid to<br />
get ugly.<br />
“It’s more interesting to play with our voices<br />
and create those contrasts,” says Johanna, who<br />
pairs Klara’s lead singing and guitar with vocals,<br />
keys, bass guitar and Autoharp.<br />
Ruins, produced by folk favourite Tucker<br />
Martine (My Morning Jacket, Neko Case), has<br />
emerged out of the dust storm of a protest<br />
song single released in March 2017 (also<br />
produced by Martine), called “You Are the<br />
Problem Here”. In it, the Söderbergs go against<br />
type, with grizzly guitars and furious, hollered<br />
lyrics, directly addressing a recently publicized<br />
rape case where the perpetrator slinked off<br />
with a light sentence.<br />
“We could have approached it as sweet<br />
and pretty,” says Johanna, letting her voice go<br />
cartoonishly cutesy, “but we just thought, no,<br />
we’re angry, and this is a punk rock song.”<br />
The Söderbergs go by what they want, in<br />
the format they decide, and are comfortable<br />
enough in their musical identities to claim<br />
every aspect of it with outward joy.<br />
Take for example the referencing to<br />
postcards and phone calls on Ruins (there’s<br />
even a track called “Postcard”), as means of<br />
communication with a distant ex.<br />
“We were going to call it Snapchat,” jokes<br />
Klara, while Johanna explains their preference.<br />
Social media, texting and digital devices “just<br />
don’t fit,” with the evocative styling and sense<br />
of harking-back in their music. Jay-Z and his<br />
Motorola two-way pager on “I Just Wanna Love<br />
U (Give It 2 Me)” sounds completely outdated<br />
now, Klara reminds us.<br />
“Postcards remind us of our parents when<br />
they were young,” says Johanna. “We’re<br />
romantic.”<br />
Romance holds strong on Ruins, as a<br />
cohesive vein within a thoughtfully arranged<br />
ten-track collection marking the residual<br />
pains and revelations of a great love lost. The<br />
sonic bond between Klara and Johanna is<br />
unmistakable, like the McGarrigle sisters, but<br />
juicier and with a rollicking, Johnny Cash sense<br />
of genre and playfulness in where their voices<br />
take them. There is an optimism despite the<br />
heartbreak, torrential change, and the big fat<br />
unknown of the future.<br />
As said in a handful of the opening words on<br />
“It’s A Shame,” “No point on wasting sorrow /<br />
On things that won’t be here tomorrow”.<br />
First Aid Kit play in Vancouver on <strong>January</strong> 27 at<br />
the Vogue Theatre (Vancouver).<br />
Klara and Johanna Söderberg aren’t interested in faking nice anymore.<br />
<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong> 17
MUSIC<br />
BRUCE COCKBURN<br />
JUST A MOUTHPIECE A BONE TO PICK<br />
ANDREW BARDSLEY<br />
Photo by Daniel Keebler<br />
Bone On Bone is Bruce Cockburn with something to say.<br />
Canadian icon, Bruce Cockburn, returns from a<br />
three-year hiatus with Bone on Bone, a return to<br />
form for the legendary singer-songwriter. With<br />
an astonishing 33 albums under his belt, Bruce<br />
Cockburn has brought us a frantic, but timely<br />
album, his first since 2011. Cockburn has been a<br />
fixture in Canadian folk since the ‘70s, but it was<br />
Dancing in The Dragon’s Jaws (1979) and the<br />
song “Wondering Where the Lions Are” which<br />
propelled Cockburn to international renown.<br />
“What else am I gonna do? I’m still here and<br />
I still have something to say.” Cockburn tells<br />
<strong>BeatRoute</strong> from his Bay Area home, when asked<br />
what keeps him going, his 33rd album now on<br />
the shelves. “I have had the same lack of a game<br />
plan since day one.”<br />
Bone on Bone also marks Cockburn’s<br />
first album since the release of his memoir<br />
Rumours of Glory (2014). His rewarding lyrics<br />
and virtuousic guitar ability has defined his<br />
career, but following the release of his memoir,<br />
Cockburn initially didn’t think he was going to<br />
be able to return to music. “After that long I<br />
wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to remember<br />
how to write a song, or whether-or-not my life<br />
had changed enough that it wouldn’t be the<br />
thing to do anymore.”<br />
It was an invitation to contribute a song to a<br />
documentary on Canadian poet Al Purdy that<br />
brought Cockburn back to songwriting. “This<br />
was a gift from God I thought. I had this image<br />
of this homeless guy who was obsessed with Al<br />
Purdy’s poetry.”<br />
The song in question turned into “Sweet Al<br />
Purdy” and is also the inspiration behind “3 Al<br />
Purdy’s” on Bone on Bone. Cockburn did not<br />
grow up in a religious home but it was his time<br />
as an adolescent that helped form his faith,<br />
which has always been a critical juncture for<br />
him. A child of the Beat Generation, Cockburn<br />
grew up reading about Buddhism, the Occult<br />
and eventually Christianity.<br />
“It got to the point where I had to look in<br />
the mirror and say to myself, ‘You’re a Christian<br />
now.’ At that point in my life, I didn’t really know<br />
how to have a relationship with anybody let<br />
alone God. I had grown up not really good at<br />
relationships so I had a lot to learn about that.”<br />
A large part of Cockburn’s extended period<br />
away from music allowed him to invest himself<br />
in fatherhood for his young daughter Iona<br />
Cockburn, born in 2011. Although Cockburn<br />
tries to bring his daughter on tour as much as<br />
possible, she has started school and is unable to<br />
join him as much as he would like.<br />
“If you have a family that can travel with you<br />
that changes the picture drastically.” He attests.<br />
At the juncture of parenting and activism,<br />
Cockburn is hopeful for his daughter. “I trust<br />
that my young daughter will pick up the vibe,<br />
but the world she grows up in is going to be<br />
quite different from the one we are currently in I<br />
think, and not necessarily for the better.”<br />
Living in San Francisco under the looming<br />
thunderstorm of today’s political climate has<br />
allowed a new era of activists to interact with<br />
Cockburn’s music, finding such hits as “If I had<br />
a Rocket Launcher” off the 1987 album Waiting<br />
For A Miracle, still resonant with the politics of<br />
today. While Cockburn does not consider it his<br />
job, he is happy to speak truth to power with<br />
the power he has an artist.<br />
“I’ve never seen myself as much of an activist<br />
but as a mouthpiece for the people who are the<br />
real activists.”<br />
Bruce Cockburn performs <strong>January</strong> 27 at the<br />
Centre for the Arts (Vancouver).<br />
18<br />
<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong>
JP MAURICE<br />
USHERING IN THE FUTURE OF MOM ROCK<br />
ADESUWA OKOYOMON<br />
MUSIC<br />
“Every album is a learning experience. Recording a song is taking<br />
it to its final resting place. As soon as an album is done, I want to<br />
start working on the next one immediately,” says Vancouver singer/<br />
songwriter and producer JP Maurice. Maurice grew up playing<br />
the guitar, taking piano lessons, and singing in choirs and musical<br />
theatre. “As long as I have been able to talk, I have also been singing.<br />
My parents would listen to The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and The<br />
Everly Brothers, and I would sing along and try to pick out the<br />
harmonies.” His second album, Boys will be released on <strong>January</strong> 12<br />
and is a fitting follow-up to his first EP, Girls.<br />
Boys was birthed in 2014 when Maurice was living in Toronto,<br />
and recorded over the summer of 2016. He worked with producer<br />
and engineer Russell Broom at Blue Light Studios. For Maurice “The<br />
Boys and Girls concept is mostly about duality. There’s balance and<br />
counterbalance to everything in life. It’s important to see all sides<br />
and when the lines get blurred that’s okay too.” The songs off his<br />
first full-length album, The Arborist were “a reaction to what I was<br />
going through at the time. I was in my late 20s and it was a very<br />
dark time for me. I was singing about heartbreak, dissatisfaction,<br />
poor decision-making, and angst. I’d like to think that I’m more<br />
mature now.” On Boys, he sings about “looking at the world [and]<br />
finding my place in it.”<br />
Maurice, who describes his sound as pop noir or mom rock, has<br />
a gift for creating songs that transcend genres, moving seamlessly<br />
from pop to rock to alt-country, and back again. The newly released<br />
music video for his single “Go,” directed by Johnny Jansen, perfectly<br />
showcases his alt-country prowess and impressive vocals along with<br />
his niece doing cartwheels. It’s light-hearted, bubbly, and fun, and<br />
passes along a message that he hopes anyone who listens to his<br />
album receives: “Have fun, be nice, roll with the punches, don’t take<br />
yourself too seriously and love like no one has ever loved before.”<br />
Fresh off CTV’s new show, The Launch, he is already working on<br />
a new album and hoping to embark on tours across Canada and<br />
Europe soon. Maurice is poised for a very big year.<br />
JP Maurice plays his album release show at the Rickshaw Theatre on<br />
<strong>January</strong> 12.<br />
Photo by Jen van Houten<br />
JP Maurice grows up on his latest LP Boys.<br />
<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong> 19
BPM<br />
FEATURED CONCERTS<br />
VICTORIA, <strong>BC</strong><br />
GRANDTHEFT<br />
BUILDING THE BEAT WITH A KEEN EAR<br />
JAMIE GOYMAN<br />
THE ZOLAS<br />
PLUS ALEX LITTLE & THE SUSPICIOUS MINDS<br />
CAPITAL BALLROOM // SAT, JAN 13<br />
BAMBOO BASS PRE-PARTY<br />
WITH PIGEON HOLE, SAM KLASSIK, AND ALEX MEI<br />
CAPITAL BALLROOM // FRI, JAN 19<br />
Photo by Sean Berrigan<br />
Aaron Waisglass embraces melodies and chords.<br />
Toronto-based producer Grandtheft is a name<br />
that has gained massive ground in the electronic<br />
music swell. Born Aaron Waisglass, his debut EP,<br />
Quit This City, was released on Mad Decent in<br />
2016. Along with the polished remixes he’s been<br />
pushing since 2014, he has shown the fire he<br />
possesses.<br />
Pulling out of 2017 in true Grandtheft<br />
fashion, Waisglass laid out with the bass heavy,<br />
swooning “Square One,” featuring lyrical<br />
accompaniment from MAX. With a push from<br />
radio play of his “Easy Go” single, he is finding<br />
that sweet spot of milk and honey every artist<br />
hopes for.<br />
“I have been in a crazy studio zone, and<br />
writing fast. I used to be so slow, but I am really<br />
trying to write the music quickly and organically<br />
rather than overthinking everything,” Waisglass<br />
explains. “Once there is a musical framework, it’s<br />
about what sounds good and different. These<br />
days, I try to let the melodies and chords come<br />
through me. I kind of engineer/mix the records<br />
as I produce, so I guess my personality comes<br />
through in the music naturally.”<br />
Fueled by an unstoppable work ethic,<br />
Waisglass has a fervid need to create, exploring<br />
anywhere his keen ear for sound will take him.<br />
Having worked with the likes of Keys N Krates<br />
on “Keep it 100” and Diplo remixing Calvin<br />
Harris hits “Sweet Nothing” and “Summer,”<br />
Waisglass has displayed, time and time again,<br />
his ability to get the big rooms moving and<br />
keep fans attention in this saturated media<br />
environment.<br />
“There is something about creating, then<br />
listening to [a song] that didn’t exist before. I<br />
always try to make music that I want to hear,<br />
songs that I want to listen to, but don’t have,”<br />
Waisglass muses. “Sometimes, if I have a melody<br />
in my head, I’ll start there. Almost every time I<br />
have a session with a singer these days, I start<br />
fresh, writing a song from scratch and building<br />
the beat and lyrics on the spot.”<br />
When it comes to what’s on the up-and-up<br />
for Grandtheft, the trimmings are seemingly<br />
stacked to the nines. The chances for a fulllength<br />
album in <strong>2018</strong> are looking good. It’s in<br />
the works.<br />
“Tons of my best-ever music is ready to be<br />
released… I’m working with a lot of organic<br />
sounds again, and I’m always looking for<br />
different and more interesting sounds to work<br />
with. Field recordings and sound effects from<br />
real life have been finding their way into my<br />
beats lately.”<br />
Experience Grandtheft. You won’t regret it.<br />
Get sticky; get sweaty.<br />
Catch Grandtheft at Venue (Vancouver) on<br />
February 3.<br />
NONCOMPLIANT<br />
A SINGULAR VOICE IN TECHNO<br />
THEY KEEP DANCING<br />
VINCE VACCARO<br />
PLUS OCIE ELLIOTT<br />
CAPITAL BALLROOM // SAT, JAN 20<br />
HUMANS<br />
PLUS INKY<br />
CAPITAL BALLROOM // FRI, FEB 9<br />
FOR FULL CONCERT LISTINGS & TO PURCHASE<br />
TICKETS, PLEASE VISIT:<br />
WWW.ATOMIQUEPRODUCTIONS.COM<br />
FACEBOOK /ATOMIQUEPRODUCTIONS TWITTER @ATOMIQUEEVENTS<br />
Looking back on 2017’s world of dance music, the<br />
name Noncompliant (aka DJ Shiva) was hard to<br />
miss. In a decades-long career that arcs from rural<br />
Indiana raves to top tier European clubs, it might be<br />
hard to identify a tipping point. “I think I found a<br />
fresh musical focus with the Noncompliant project.<br />
Also, I finally just bought a ticket to Berlin, got one<br />
gig at a femme/queer collective called Room 4<br />
Resistance, and it was exactly the right place with<br />
exactly the right people. Other than that, I have no<br />
idea, really. Sometimes it’s just luck that you catch<br />
the right ear at the right time.”<br />
It’s more than just timing and luck that helped<br />
spread the Noncompliant moniker, the work is<br />
there too. The Midwest producer and DJ recently<br />
released music on notable labels like Argot, Valence<br />
Records and FLASH Recordings (the Techno<br />
platform of producer Florian Meindal). There was<br />
the raucous Boiler Room set at Detroit’s Movement<br />
music festival and a European tour ending with a<br />
closing set at Berlin’s Berghain nightclub, the holy<br />
grail for techno DJ’s. “That was a dream come true<br />
and real life was actually better than the dream<br />
version!”. And then came the accolades. To name<br />
a few, a spot on Mixmag top 20 breakthrough DJs<br />
of 2017 and a best mix of the year pick over at San<br />
Francisco’s Technoclam.com (“Celebrating the notdudes<br />
of House and Techno”).<br />
After more than 20 years as a DJ, Noncompliant<br />
is proof that refusing to conform can set you free.<br />
“Don’t be intimidated by jerks. You will run into<br />
them: naysayers, shit talkers, haters. You have no<br />
control over them, but you have control over you.<br />
Don’t let their bullshit drive you away from what<br />
you love. Never let them win.” Inspiring words<br />
from someone who started out in music on their<br />
own, without having others in the community<br />
to identify with. “Not in the earliest days. I was<br />
in a small town, no internet, pretty isolated.<br />
After I moved to Indianapolis I found more of a<br />
community, including a few friends who weren’t<br />
DJs but occasionally bought me records to support<br />
me when I couldn’t afford them. Later there was an<br />
email list called Sister DJs that was super supportive.<br />
I have since found various groups of women and<br />
queer folks online.”<br />
In <strong>2018</strong> the techno veteran shows no signs of<br />
slowing down. “Going back to Europe in March,<br />
playing Moogfest in May, I’ve got some fun tunes<br />
dropping on wax fairly soon.”<br />
Noncompliant plays Open Studios on <strong>January</strong> 27.<br />
Noncompliant warns don’t be intimidated by jerks.<br />
20<br />
<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong>
BIG BOI<br />
A FAMILY AFFAIR<br />
YASMINE SHEMESH<br />
CLUBLAND<br />
FRESH BEATS FOR A NEW YEAR<br />
ALAN RANTA<br />
BPM<br />
We did it! Somehow, we survived a year under the tiny thumb of President bully<br />
von Pussygrabber. Still, time is tight. Best tell that little voice in your head that<br />
says “stay home and finish binging Halt and Catch Fire” to STFU more often.<br />
Get out there and see something difference. Make your experiences now. The<br />
same opportunities may never present themselves again.<br />
Softest Hard<br />
Jan. 12 @ Celebrities<br />
This trap-loving, Los Angeles-based producer of Vietnamese heritage is rising<br />
so fast, she’ll give you a nosebleed. As Skrillex associate, repping the OWSLA<br />
imprint, her debut at Happy Ending Fridays will likely be the first of many, but<br />
you have the chance to say you were there first, before she really blew up. Don’t<br />
blow it.<br />
All across the Boomiverse and in to your headphones, Big Boi is louder than ever.<br />
It’s just a few days before Christmas and Big Boi, speaking<br />
over the telephone, is beaming audibly at the thought.<br />
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year, they say,” the<br />
seminal rapper, born Antwan André Patton, enthuses.<br />
Patton’s prolific career, of course, was launched off a<br />
Christmas record. “Player’s Ball,” the debut single from<br />
OutKast, the trailblazing Atlanta hip hop duo comprised of<br />
Patton and André “André 3000” Benjamin, was first released<br />
on A LaFace Family Christmas — a 1993 compilation from<br />
production team and Dirty South sound pioneers Organized<br />
Noize — before appearing on the group›s 1994 debut<br />
album, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. The funky gem<br />
climbed to the top of the Billboard Hot Rap Tracks charts and<br />
stamped OutKast, and their city, firmly on the musical map.<br />
This Christmas, though? The Pattons are spending time<br />
in Atlanta before heading off to Jamaica for the new year.<br />
Because family is, in fact, what it’s all about for Patton. His<br />
wife and three children are first and foremost the core of his<br />
heart, but those values of deep connectivity, respect, and love<br />
also extend to the root of his music. On his latest solo record,<br />
the critically acclaimed Boomiverse, Patton worked again<br />
with his longtime collaborators Organized Noize.<br />
“I think it’s the history, the professionalism, and the<br />
curiosity of making new things, you know? That’s what kind<br />
of brings us together,” Patton explains. “We’re like coal miners<br />
or gold miners or diamond miners, always looking for a<br />
sound, looking for a word, looking for something new to add<br />
to the music. It’s all about discovery.”<br />
On Boomiverse (its concept inspired by the Big Bang<br />
Theory, the beginning of the universe), Patton is as innovative<br />
as ever. “All Night,” for example, is a jaunty piano rag that<br />
feels almost reminiscent of Idlewild, OutKast’s nod to 1930s<br />
Georgia juke joints, and has Patton taking his usual smooth,<br />
lickety-split delivery and rising it up into a cheerful croon.<br />
“It was a chance to show off something different and flex<br />
my vocal ability,” he says. The futuristic sax of “Freakanomics,”<br />
the infectious, bass-heavy bounce “Chocolate,” and an<br />
eclectic assortment of cameos ranging from Adam Levine<br />
(“Mic Jack”) to virtual Japanese pop singer Hatsune Miku<br />
(“Kill Jill,” which also features Jeezy and Killer Mike) — the<br />
latter, a brilliant album highlight — display the kind of<br />
forward-thinking artistic vision that continues to cement<br />
Patton’s place as one of the best in the game. Then, “In the<br />
South,” with fellow Atlanta rapper Gucci Mane and the late<br />
Pimp C, is classic Big Boi — all slick swagger. Patton first<br />
traded bars with Gucci on Sir Luscious Left Foot’s “Shine<br />
Blockas.”<br />
“Gucci Mane, man, he’s one of my favourites,” Patton adds.<br />
“We have an amazing chemistry. This is the third record we’ve<br />
done together. We did “Shine Blockas” for me, then I did a<br />
song with him and Juelz Santana called “She Got A Friend,”<br />
and he came back and did “In The South.” It’s an Aquarius<br />
energy, I think, man. We get together and we jam.”<br />
When it comes to chemistry, there’s an undeniably special<br />
spark between Patton and Killer Mike. The two go way back,<br />
from days in the Dungeon, to Patton signing Mike to his<br />
Purple Ribbon label and joining forces in the supergroup<br />
Purple Ribbon All Stars, to numerous collaborations over the<br />
years. Patton calls Mike his brother.<br />
“We’re family to this day,” he asserts, “so, it’s always an<br />
out-of-this-world connection when we get in the studio,<br />
‘cause we feed off each other’s energy, you know? He’s on<br />
Boomiverse maybe three or four times, like, he would come<br />
into town when I would be working on the record and<br />
be like, ‘Bro, let me get on this! Let me get on this!’ and he<br />
actually brought me the “Kill Jill” record, with the [promise]<br />
that he had to be on it if I took it.”<br />
In another recent team-up, Killer Mike and his Run the<br />
Jewels partner, El-P, requested Patton do a spot on their track<br />
“Chase Me” for the film Baby Driver.<br />
“I flew to Atlanta and I just jumped on it,” Patton says,<br />
adding that he jotted some lines down on the flight over, but<br />
most of it just flowed out of his head from really digging the<br />
Danger Mouse-produced beat. “And Killer Mike came later<br />
on that night after my verse was done and was like, ‘Bruh. It’s<br />
outta here.’ We had to turn it in, I only had 24 hours to do it.”<br />
“Chase Me” has been nominated for Best Rap Song at the<br />
<strong>2018</strong> Grammy Awards. And, even at this point in his career,<br />
with so many awards, including multiple Grammys, on his<br />
mantle, Patton says it still feels admirable to be recognized<br />
by his peers. After all, it’s about that connection.<br />
That reciprocated love and respect. Family.<br />
“When you’re making music, especially after 20 years, and<br />
still getting Grammy nominations, and people still love the<br />
music, and are still coming to shows, and still loving you, man<br />
— I mean, that’s motivation to go back in and make more,<br />
you know what I mean? We ain’t gonna never stop.”<br />
Big Boi performs at the Commodore Ballroom on <strong>January</strong> 9.<br />
Matoma<br />
Jan. 18 @ The Commodore Ballroom<br />
Norwegian tropical-house producer Tom Lagergren, famously known as<br />
Matoma, has such a keen ear for pop melodies, honed through years playing<br />
classical piano in his youth, that he can’t seem to keep his often-collaborative<br />
singles off the Billboard dance/electronic charts. For the One In A Million Tour,<br />
he’s pushing his latest single, a collaboration with Miley’s younger sister, Noah<br />
Cyrus, and if that track doesn’t make you drunkenly slur “hakuna matata,” lord<br />
only knows what will.<br />
K.Flay<br />
Jan. 21 @ The Commodore Ballroom<br />
Once you hear the voice of electro indie-pop/alternative hip-hop songwriter<br />
Kristine “K.Flay” Flaherty, and the keen observations she has about life these<br />
days, it won’t ever leave you. She’s been on a slow burn for the last decade or so,<br />
starting off making reactionary hip-hop on her laptop, signing a later-regretted<br />
contract with RCA, ultimately coming out of that with a fan base dedicated<br />
enough to fund her debut record, before ultimately leading us to Every Where Is<br />
Some Where, her sophomore effort that basically blew 2017 up.<br />
Beautiful Swimmers<br />
Jan. 27 @ Celebrities<br />
The extensive personal archives of DC-based duo Andrew Field-Pickering (a.k.a.<br />
Maxmillion Dunbar) and Ari Goldman (a.k.a. Manhunter) have been expanded<br />
through years of working in record stores. Though deep house truly runs<br />
deepest in their souls, they can and will tap all veins of sound in their eclectic,<br />
horizon-broadening sets, from disco and UK garage to jungle and post-punk.<br />
Joyner Lucas & Dizzy Wright<br />
Feb. 03 @ Fortune<br />
This will be a truly intense night of hip-hop. Joyner Lucas does not pull punches,<br />
evident from his gut-punching viral video for “I’m Not Racist” and his welldeserved<br />
Lil Pump diss track, while Dizzy Wright used 2017 to drop two<br />
thoughtfully blunted full-length sequels, The Golden Age 2 and State of Mind 2.<br />
Show up, and get woke.<br />
K.Flay<br />
Photo by Kenneth Capello<br />
<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong> 21
STONE SOUR<br />
HARD-ROCK GROUP FINDS THE PERFECTION IN IMPERFECTION WITH HYDROGRAD<br />
JOHNNY PAPAN<br />
Photo by Travis Shinn<br />
Stone Sour shine a sweet light on old school ideas.<br />
THE FLESH EATERS<br />
RAZOR-SHARP PUNK PIONEER CHRIS D. HASN’T LOST HIS EDGE<br />
KARINA ESPINOSA<br />
Stone Sour is a five-piece hard-rock group from Des Moines,<br />
Iowa originated by guitarist Josh Rand and vocalist Corey Taylor,<br />
who also famously fronts the eight-piece nu-metal juggernaut:<br />
Slipknot. In 2002 Stone Sour released their well received<br />
self-titled debut album and 15 years later, the group has now<br />
dropped their sixth record: Hydrograd, which re-explores musical<br />
techniques from their past.<br />
“We recorded this album live as a band, with four of us in the<br />
big live room and Corey in the vocal booth,” explains Rand. “We<br />
wanted this album to breathe. We really pride ourselves in being<br />
a live band and wanted that to translate on this record. We didn’t<br />
want it to be over polished to perfection because sometimes the<br />
imperfection is what makes it perfection.”<br />
Despite the raw take on the album, at least to modern stances,<br />
the album is still a tightly-knit rock-record with catchy tracks fit<br />
for radio airwaves. Their approach is respectable, as the constant<br />
need for to-the-grid perfection in today’s musical society is<br />
beginning to cause a singularity in sound across most artists.<br />
Rand confirms that recording Hydrograd the way they did was<br />
about capturing emotion, not science.<br />
“All of the classic records that everybody loves and are featured<br />
in top 10 countdowns and stuff didn’t have the technology that<br />
we do now. They went in there as a band and recorded it live. It<br />
was about getting a vibe and making you feel something instead<br />
of making it perfect. Music doesn’t have to be perfect, I think for<br />
what we do that sucks the life and the energy out of it.”<br />
With frontman Corey Taylor leapfrogging between Stone Sour<br />
and Slipknot every few years, Rand finds himself exploring his<br />
craft during the band’s off-season. He has earned a professional<br />
certificate in guitar from Berklee College of Music and is also<br />
getting his Masters, which he claims gives him opportunity to<br />
learn new tricks and come up with fresh songwriting ideas.<br />
“I was self taught and learned by playing metal. To be able to<br />
dab into jazz and into blues and even classic rock, I knew it would<br />
help in my songwriting. It’s about growth and not repeating the<br />
same thing.” Rand continues: “I don’t wanna be a band where<br />
every album is predictable on what it’s gonna be. With us, right<br />
out of the gate we had [slow] songs like “Bother” and [heavy<br />
tracks like] “Get Inside,” we were all over the map. It allows us<br />
musical freedom to be able to do whatever we want, which I’m<br />
thankful for. I love metal as much as anybody, but I’m glad we<br />
get to be us and we’re not forced to not be able to go out and<br />
explore.”<br />
Rand promises this upcoming tour is going to be the biggest<br />
production of Stone Sour’s career and encapsulates the best<br />
of their old and new. “We’re playing songs that people have<br />
requested for us to play for a very long time. It’s just as exciting<br />
playing some of the old songs as it is the new songs because we<br />
haven’t played them for 15 years. It’s pretty awesome.”<br />
Stone Sour plays the Abbotsford Centre (Abbotsford) on <strong>January</strong><br />
27, Encana Events Centre (Dawson Creek) on <strong>January</strong> 29.<br />
The Flesh Eaters occupy a fascinating<br />
space in the history of LA punk. They’re<br />
not so much a band as they are a<br />
revolving group of musicians helmed<br />
by Chris Desjardins, the lead singer<br />
who penned the majority of the<br />
band’s repertoire. Poet, musician, film<br />
expert and all-around Renaissance<br />
man, Desjardins, also known as Chris<br />
D., was integral to the vitality of LA’s<br />
nascent punk culture. He is considered<br />
as one of the most poetic lyricists to<br />
emerge from this scene, and perhaps<br />
in American punk in general. In<br />
early <strong>2018</strong>, more than 40 years after<br />
forming, the Flesh Eaters will reunite<br />
to mesmerize crowds once again with<br />
their trailblazing sound.<br />
The band has gone through a series<br />
of lineup changes throughout its<br />
history, but for this upcoming West<br />
Coast tour, Desjardins is backed by<br />
fellow LA punk heavyweights John Doe<br />
and D.J. Bonebrake of X, Dave Alvin and<br />
Bill Bateman of The Blasters and Steve<br />
Berlin of Los Lobos. It’s the same crop of<br />
people responsible for the Flesh Eaters’<br />
most celebrated album, A Minute to<br />
Pray, A Second to Die (1981). But while<br />
it’s common for bands on reunion<br />
tours to play from one, seminal record,<br />
Desjardins doesn’t feel pressured to pay<br />
any kind of fan service.<br />
“For the most part, [fans of the Flesh<br />
Eaters] are already pretty familiar with<br />
all of our work. The problem is we just<br />
have five days to rehearse before our<br />
first show. So as much as I’d like to play<br />
from our latter records, we can only relearn<br />
so much material,” he sighs.<br />
Desjardin’s frustration is<br />
understandable. After the release of<br />
A Minute to Pray, the Flesh Eaters<br />
went on to produce a slew of equally<br />
compelling work. This includes Forever<br />
Came Today (1982) and Miss Muerte<br />
(2004), two criminally underrated<br />
albums that hold their own against the<br />
band’s 1981 release. What’s great about<br />
the Flesh Eaters is that they resist a<br />
one-dimensional interpretation of punk<br />
rock. Pulling from influences as diverse<br />
as African roots music, ‘70s garage rock,<br />
free jazz and blues, the band transcends<br />
the limits of genre classification.<br />
“I think that kind of experimentation<br />
was what set us apart in punk,”<br />
Desjardins concludes. With the band’s<br />
later work, it’s clear that Desjardins<br />
refined and even mastered his<br />
songwriting abilities.<br />
The significance of A Minute to<br />
Pray is undeniable. The album was<br />
released in 1981, just as Reagan was<br />
elected into office and ushered in a dark<br />
decade. Although Desjardin’s lyrics are<br />
not overtly political, they have a morbid<br />
undercurrent, evoking the most sinister<br />
strains of gothic literature and 1960s<br />
horror films. Amplified by the front<br />
man’s snarl and tormented cries, the<br />
Flesh Eaters’ music projects a grotesque<br />
vision of the world that many choose<br />
not to confront.<br />
“It’s a vision of the kind of evil and<br />
madness that exists in humanity. That<br />
darkness, it’s always been there. We<br />
weren’t thinking in specific political<br />
terms [when making A Minute to<br />
Pray,] but I’ve always been trying to<br />
understand people who are evil and<br />
how they can justify their senseless<br />
actions.”<br />
These kinds of sentiments resonate<br />
now more than ever and Desjardins<br />
recognizes the importance of his work<br />
in such troubling times.<br />
“I do think we are stuck spiritually.<br />
I don’t mean that in a religious sense<br />
because everything is political and we<br />
are all so motivated by fear. That’s why<br />
I have to be an artist. I can’t work a 9 to<br />
5 in an office and wear a suit and tie—<br />
although right now with these hipster<br />
trends, a suit and tie sounds like a more<br />
preferable outfit choice,” he chuckles. “I<br />
believe some of the greatest art emerges<br />
from darkness. Art is the channel<br />
through which we can strive towards<br />
enlightenment, and that’s something<br />
we really need today.”<br />
The Flesh Eaters will be in Vancouver for<br />
a rare, not-to-be-missed performance on<br />
<strong>January</strong> 25 at the Rickshaw Theatre.<br />
LA punks the Flesh Eaters reunite to mesmerize crowds again.<br />
22<br />
<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong>
HOSTILES<br />
DISPOSING ROMANTIC NOTIONS OF HEROISM FOR REALISM<br />
PAT MULLEN<br />
“Sometimes I envy the finality of<br />
death. The certainty. And I have to<br />
drive those thoughts away when I<br />
am weak,” says Rosalie (Rosamund<br />
Pike) in Hostiles. “We’ll never get<br />
used to the Lord’s rough ways.”<br />
Rosalie opens up to Captain<br />
Joseph Blocker (Christian Bale)<br />
towards the end of Hostiles, a<br />
visionary and meditative western<br />
from director Scott Cooper (Crazy<br />
Heart). The pair pauses following<br />
a journey plagued by violence,<br />
bloodshed, and death. Rosalie’s<br />
reflection on America’s violent<br />
ways anticipates the blood-soaked<br />
finale of Hostiles that features a<br />
body count so high it’s rivalled<br />
only by Hamlet. Her speech<br />
crucially asks the audience to<br />
consider the perceived heroics in<br />
the action to come.<br />
These thoughts on the finality<br />
of death challenge the classic<br />
image of heroic cowboys riding off<br />
into the sunset after battle. The<br />
Hollywood genre tied to colonial<br />
mythmaking has a sorry history<br />
when it comes to representing<br />
relationships between Indigenous<br />
MOLLY’S GAME<br />
POKER DRAMA PLAYS WITH A FULL DECK<br />
PAT MULLEN<br />
Rounders meets Miss Sloane<br />
in the ridiculously entertaining<br />
poker drama Molly’s Game. Jessica<br />
Chastain doubles down as poker<br />
princess Molly Bloom in this hotly<br />
anticipated directorial debut from<br />
writer Aaron Sorkin (The Social<br />
Network, Steve Jobs). Chastain<br />
follows up her stellar performance<br />
as high-powered lobbyist Liz<br />
Sloane with a similar and equally<br />
electrifying turn as Bloom, a<br />
smart and fast-talking hustler in<br />
this high stakes true story of an<br />
entrepreneur who built and lost<br />
an underground poker empire for<br />
the stars.<br />
Molly’s Game energetically<br />
chronicles Bloom’s journey from<br />
world-class athlete (the film<br />
opens with her crashing hard on<br />
the moguls and seeing dreams<br />
of Olympic gold fold) to pit boss<br />
as Chastain narrates Molly’s<br />
fast-talking, smooth-operating<br />
story in witty voiceover. The film<br />
centres on Bloom’s 2014 arrest<br />
Christian Bale plays Captain Joseph Blocker in this contemplative albeit imperfect western.<br />
persons and settlers. Stories of<br />
rugged white heroes defending the<br />
lands from bloodthirsty “savages,”<br />
who rarely get any speaking<br />
lines, built the Dream Factory of<br />
Hollywood by recycling westerns.<br />
Hostiles does away with<br />
romantic notions of heroism with<br />
Bale’s excellent turn as Joseph, a<br />
racist leader of the cavalry who<br />
receives an ironic assignment for a<br />
man who proudly slaughtered the<br />
Indigenous persons of the land.<br />
His mission is to oversee the safe<br />
return of terminally ill Chief Yellow<br />
Hawk (Wes Studi) back home<br />
so that he can die peacefully in<br />
for operating an illegal poker<br />
operation, along with trumped-up<br />
racketeering charges alleging ties<br />
to the Russian mob, and lets her<br />
explain how and why a woman<br />
who could have done anything<br />
decided to run poker games<br />
on the sly. The approach makes<br />
Bloom sympathetic regardless<br />
of what one thinks of her career<br />
choices.<br />
Bloom’s lawyer, Charlie Jaffey<br />
(a reliable Idris Elba), hesitates<br />
to defend a client with such<br />
notoriety, but Molly refuses to<br />
cut a deal, name the names of her<br />
A-list clients or, more significantly,<br />
sell two million dollars’ worth of<br />
debts her clients accumulated over<br />
the years. Simply put, she doesn’t<br />
want easy money off trading<br />
names to bookies will break legs<br />
to collect.<br />
Sorkin assembles a fine<br />
ensemble of stars as Molly’s clients,<br />
especially Michael Cera who is a<br />
hoot as a skeezeball Hollywood<br />
card shark. Chastain speaks fluent<br />
Sorkinese after the Aaron Sorkin-y<br />
Cheyenne territory.<br />
The journey opens Joseph’s<br />
eyes to the root of violence on the<br />
frontier. As the company suffers<br />
considerable casualties, he learns<br />
to see Chief Yellow Hawk as his<br />
ally rather than his adversary. The<br />
true hostiles are the white men<br />
like himself who bred so much<br />
violence into the land.<br />
Hostiles gives its Indigenous<br />
characters speaking roles with<br />
dialogue in Cheyenne and English,<br />
while including folklore and rituals<br />
as part of the greater heritage<br />
wiped out by colonial genocide,<br />
although one wishes the film<br />
Miss Sloane and really has a handle<br />
on the rat-a-tat energy of the<br />
writer’s whip-smart screenplay.<br />
Molly Bloom is Liz Sloane with<br />
a better wardrobe and a more<br />
plausible legal outcome, but it’s<br />
a bit too bad that Sorkin didn’t<br />
the script hand off to a seasoned<br />
director like Miss Sloane’s John<br />
Madden, since his hand behind<br />
gave them the same depth and<br />
complexity as Joseph and Rosalie.<br />
Hostiles takes two steps<br />
forward, one step back when it<br />
comes to representing Indigenous<br />
characters in westerns. The<br />
film struggles in its finale that<br />
inadvertently writes a white<br />
saviour narrative alongside a<br />
powerful admission of America’s<br />
history of violence. This brutal<br />
genre flick isn’t going to sit easily<br />
with some audiences, but offers<br />
a contemplative, if imperfect,<br />
Hollywood acknowledgment of<br />
the mass bloodshed of Indigenous<br />
persons on the frontier.<br />
the camera isn’t quite a steady as<br />
his hands with the screenplay. A<br />
perfectly good two-pair to a full<br />
house, say. Even if Sorkin’s visual<br />
style leaves something to be<br />
desired, Molly’s Game sees him in<br />
his element writing some of the<br />
best dialogue you’ll hear this year<br />
with performances to match it.<br />
Jessica Chastain is the perfect poker kingpin in Molly’s Game.<br />
THIS MONTH<br />
IN FILM<br />
HOGAN SHORT<br />
<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong> 23<br />
FILM<br />
Falling after Christmas but before the Academy awards,<br />
<strong>January</strong> is notoriously the worst month of the entire<br />
year for film. So instead of recommending some terrible<br />
films, here is a list of a few interesting showings at<br />
Vancouver theatres.<br />
RIO<br />
Jan 6, 21 - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy<br />
This is the most rewarding trilogy to marathon, and<br />
here is your chance to do it on the big screen!<br />
Jan 3, 11 - Blade Runner: Final Cut and Blade Runner<br />
2049<br />
A revered classic of Sci Fi Noir, followed by its unlikely<br />
and exceptional sequel.<br />
Jan 17, 22 - 78/52: Hitchcock Shower Scene<br />
The 78 and 52 in the title stand for the shots and cuts<br />
in the iconic shower scene in Psycho, in this film that<br />
delves into the genius of Hitchcock’s craft.<br />
CINEMATHEQUE<br />
Jan 12-21 - Canada’s Top 10 Film Festival<br />
“The best of 2017 in Canadian features, shorts, and<br />
student shorts.”<br />
Plain and simple, these are the best films that Canada<br />
has produced this past year. You can catch the<br />
hauntingly sad Never Steady, Never Still by Vancouver<br />
director Kathleen Hepburn. Luk’Luk’l, from local<br />
director Wayne Wapeemukwa, was a favourite at VIFF<br />
this year. And Allure is a psychological thriller starring<br />
the fantastic Evan Rachel Wood. This festival allows you<br />
to see the best Canadian student films, shorts, features,<br />
or documentaries our talented country has to offer.<br />
VANCITY THEATRE<br />
Jan 5-11 - Italian Film Festival<br />
Attending any film festival is a unique chance to see a<br />
curated set of films, and the Italian Film Festival is no<br />
exception, offering a great opportunity to see new and<br />
classic Italian cinema. At this festival, you can see on the<br />
big screen the legendary Fellini’s La Strada, the first film<br />
to win best foreign film at the Oscars. If you have seen<br />
the best film of 2017, Call Me by Your Name, directed<br />
by Luca Guadagnino, now you can watch one of his<br />
first films, I Am Love (featuring Tilda Swinton). With<br />
a documentary about Italy’s most prominent exorcist<br />
(Deliver Us) and a biopic about Andrea Bocelli (The<br />
Music of Silence), there will be something here for you<br />
– the hardest part is picking something.<br />
Psycho
1<br />
Happy Hour<br />
$<br />
3 Beer til 3pm<br />
$<br />
5 Beer til 5pm<br />
2<br />
Happy Hour<br />
$<br />
3 Beer til 3pm<br />
$<br />
5 Beer til 5pm<br />
3<br />
Happy Hour<br />
$<br />
3 Beer til 3pm<br />
$<br />
5 Beer til 5pm<br />
4<br />
Mr. Boom Bap<br />
presents<br />
Boogie Nights<br />
5<br />
Live Acts and<br />
The Live Agency<br />
present<br />
Ladies of Country<br />
6<br />
Blues Brunch 1-4<br />
Saturday Sessions<br />
4:30-7:30<br />
Daniel James<br />
9-late<br />
7<br />
Happy Hour<br />
$<br />
3 Beer til 3pm<br />
$<br />
5 Beer til 5pm<br />
8<br />
The Take Back<br />
DJs Khingz,<br />
Mic Flont<br />
& guests<br />
9<br />
Happy Hour<br />
$<br />
3 Beer til 3pm<br />
$<br />
5 Beer til 5pm<br />
10<br />
Happy Hour<br />
$<br />
3 Beer til 3pm<br />
$<br />
5 Beer til 5pm<br />
11<br />
Mr. Boom Bap<br />
presents<br />
Boogie Nights<br />
12<br />
Live Acts and<br />
The Live Agency<br />
present<br />
Shaun Rawlins<br />
EP release<br />
13<br />
Blues Brunch 1-4<br />
Saturday Sessions<br />
4:30-7:30<br />
Best in Vancouver<br />
Finals 9-late<br />
14<br />
Happy Hour<br />
$<br />
3 Beer til 3pm<br />
$<br />
5 Beer til 5pm<br />
15<br />
The Take Back<br />
DJs Khingz,<br />
Mic Flont<br />
& guests<br />
16<br />
Happy Hour<br />
$<br />
3 Beer til 3pm<br />
$<br />
5 Beer til 5pm<br />
17<br />
Happy Hour<br />
$<br />
3 Beer til 3pm<br />
$<br />
5 Beer til 5pm<br />
18<br />
Mr. Boom Bap<br />
presents<br />
Boogie Nights<br />
19<br />
Live Acts and<br />
The Live Agency<br />
present<br />
Sammi Morelli<br />
20<br />
Blues Brunch 1-4<br />
Saturday Sessions<br />
4:30-7:30<br />
Blue Lake City<br />
9-late<br />
21<br />
Happy Hour<br />
$<br />
3 Beer til 3pm<br />
$<br />
5 Beer til 5pm<br />
22<br />
The Take Back<br />
DJs Khingz,<br />
Mic Flont<br />
& guests<br />
23<br />
Happy Hour<br />
$<br />
3 Beer til 3pm<br />
$<br />
5 Beer til 5pm<br />
24<br />
Happy Hour<br />
$<br />
3 Beer til 3pm<br />
$<br />
5 Beer til 5pm<br />
25<br />
Mr. Boom Bap<br />
presents<br />
Boogie Nights<br />
26<br />
Toddcast Podcast<br />
presents<br />
The Vidos<br />
w/ Touch The Sun<br />
& Redwoods<br />
27<br />
Blues Brunch 1-4<br />
Saturday Sessions<br />
4:30-7:30<br />
Air Stranger<br />
9-late<br />
28<br />
Happy Hour<br />
$<br />
3 Beer til 3pm<br />
$<br />
5 Beer til 5pm<br />
29<br />
The Take Back<br />
DJs Khingz,<br />
Mic Flont<br />
& guests<br />
30 31<br />
Happy Hour<br />
$<br />
3 Beer til 3pm<br />
$<br />
5 Beer til 5pm<br />
Happy Hour<br />
$<br />
3 Beer til 3pm<br />
$<br />
5 Beer til 5pm
MUSIC REVIEWS<br />
Porches<br />
The House<br />
Domino<br />
Aaron Maine’s best songs as Porches are about<br />
being alone. His 2016 sophomore album, Pool,<br />
was a nuanced examination of loneliness filtered<br />
through some of the catchiest pop music in recent<br />
memory. The House, his third album, deals with<br />
many of the same themes, but where Pool felt<br />
like an introspective bedroom record, The House<br />
expands outwards into anthemic synth pop that<br />
exudes emotional catharsis.<br />
In many ways, The House could be a slog of an<br />
album, but it’s a rare record that feels both personal<br />
and populist. As Maine sings about self-isolation<br />
and retreats within, he manages to never exclude<br />
the listener from these moments.<br />
On the album’s second single “Find Me,” Maine<br />
embraces the healing powers of solitude: “Think<br />
I’ll go / Somewhere else / Where I can sink / Into<br />
myself / Just watch me go / Just watch me go,” he<br />
sings overtop clanging cymbals and a ‘90s bass<br />
organ that syncopates with the song’s 4/4 kick<br />
drum. It’s not often that dancefloor-ready songs<br />
start off a verse with “Touch my neck and walk me<br />
home / And I’ll be fine once I’m alone,” but here, it<br />
works perfectly.<br />
On “Anymore,” Maine returns to the wobbling<br />
auto-tuned vocals that felt so out of place on Pool,<br />
but now they sound like a tasteful artistic decision.<br />
In several places on The House, Maine covers his<br />
impressive singing voice with robotic auto-tune<br />
that sounds like Cher’s “Believe” for the hipster set.<br />
It’s a stylistic choice that won’t win everyone over,<br />
but it works to disembody Maine’s voice in ways<br />
that are often quite intriguing.<br />
Late album highlight “Goodbye” finds Maine<br />
sinking away again, but this time it’s from an ending<br />
relationship: “I feel it move, I feel it ache / It’s sad<br />
to see how much you changed / I’ll slip into a cold<br />
lake / now I just feel it slip away.” He doesn’t wallow<br />
long, though, as the song bursts into major key<br />
chord stabs and thumping drums before its three<br />
minutes is up.<br />
Maine began working on The House right after<br />
completing Pool, and the records tend to feel like<br />
they were made with the same sonic palate. “W<br />
Longing” feels the most like a leftover from Pool,<br />
but it’s a welcome addition to The House, where its<br />
instantaneous melody and pleading chorus (“Tell<br />
me what you want to hear / I want you to hear it<br />
/ Tell me what you want to feel / you know I want<br />
you near it”) make it one of the strongest songs in<br />
the Porches catalog.<br />
In The House, Maine makes chintzy euro house<br />
sound like high art. It’s as though Alice DJ packed<br />
her bags and moved to Bushwick. There’s no one<br />
making music quite like this right now, and it’s hard<br />
to imagine anyone doing it any better if they tried.<br />
Yet The House isn’t without its flaws. It is a record<br />
that can feel maddeningly sparse at times. Rarely do<br />
songs cross the three-minute mark, and, while every<br />
song that does is fantastic, it makes the one- and<br />
two-minute tracks feel like interludes that aren’t<br />
needed. Admittedly, it’s a minor gripe, but it’s hard<br />
not to think how much more affecting this record<br />
would be with a little more flow.<br />
Still, even with its minor flaws, The House is a<br />
must-listen record that is as affecting as synth-based<br />
music gets.<br />
• Jamie McNamara<br />
• Illustration by James Mackenzie<br />
<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong> 25
BROCKHAMPTON - SATURATION III Eminem - Revival Jeezy - Pressure N.E.R.D - NO_ONE EVER REALLY DIES<br />
BROCKHAMPTON<br />
SATURATION III<br />
Question Everything, Inc. / Empire<br />
Despite releasing three albums in 2017,<br />
BROCKHAMPTON has yet to oversaturate the<br />
rap market, speaking to the versatility and talent<br />
of each member in the boy band. Rap is the new<br />
rock, but BROCKHAMPTON is the only boy band<br />
to release nearly three hours of original music and<br />
rise to internet stardom over the course of a year.<br />
SATURATION III is arguably the best of the trilogy<br />
in terms of consistency and production quality,<br />
offering some of the group’s smoothest R&B tracks<br />
yet while delivering a healthy amount of bangers<br />
at the same time.<br />
Album opener “BOOGIE” is the musical<br />
equivalent of a shot of adrenaline, further<br />
establishing the collective’s fascination with<br />
“breaking necks like a chiropractor” and<br />
reminiscent of SATURATION’s “HEAT,” one of the<br />
finest, most aggressive offerings from the group.<br />
“SISTER/NATION” is another cannonball of a track<br />
that never loses its velocity thanks to its industrial<br />
and electronic influences, sounding like a playful<br />
take on Yeezus.<br />
With 14 members, BROCKHAMPTON has<br />
perfected the art of balancing everyone’s talents<br />
across the album. With each record, there are<br />
fewer tracks in which one artist steals the show,<br />
which is more than Odd Future or even Wu-Tang<br />
could say.<br />
SATURATION III marks the end of a yearlong<br />
era, providing new artists a framework for success,<br />
but the flooded release schedule wasn’t the only<br />
thing driving BROCKHAMPTON’s hype. The group<br />
redefined how rap collectives and boy bands<br />
should operate, utilizing the strengths of each<br />
member while pushing the boundaries of hip-hop<br />
in the process. No one is selfishly seeking solo<br />
stardom, solidifying BROCKHAMPTON as a team<br />
effort bound to improve in <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
• Paul McAleer<br />
Eminem<br />
Revival<br />
Aftermath Records<br />
Revival is an exhausting experience. Each insightful<br />
message is overshadowed by lackluster and stark<br />
production that overstays its welcome. Eminem<br />
hasn’t lost his lyrical ability, but not even the<br />
best rappers have the skill to make every bar<br />
count on 17 tracks that average five minutes long<br />
each. Every clever line is challenged by verbal<br />
regurgitation that knows no limits: “That butt<br />
won’t ever give up / That’s why you stick out no<br />
matter what,” Eminem raps on “Remind Me,” later<br />
adding, “Your booty is heavy duty like diarrhea.”<br />
On “Untouchable,” two songs before the fannyfocused<br />
“Remind Me,” Eminem raps about racism<br />
and white guilt in America over a circus-like and<br />
delirious guitar backdrop before the beat switches.<br />
The message is sound, but the confusing choice on<br />
the production side and the ridiculousness of later<br />
tracks hurts the chances of Revival being taken<br />
seriously.<br />
Guitar-backed rap doesn’t usually fit the desired<br />
tone of Revival, but “Castle” is an example of<br />
Eminem’s songwriting rising to the challenge of<br />
making the album interesting. While Revival often<br />
relies on unoriginal, but important ideas, “Castle”<br />
is a looking-glass into Marshall Mathers, the<br />
human as opposed to the rapper. The track takes<br />
listeners through his relationship with his daughter<br />
and the anxiety that came with it, opening with<br />
the months leading up to when she was born until<br />
he struggled with his drug addictions.<br />
The personable moments continue with<br />
“Arose,” leaving listeners craving more vulnerability<br />
throughout other tracks on the album. Ultimately,<br />
Revival fails at being truly impactful and lacks<br />
replayability. The components of success are<br />
unevenly littered across the project, but Eminem<br />
didn’t bother to rearrange them or throw the<br />
useless ones away in the process.<br />
• Paul McAleer<br />
Jeezy<br />
Pressure<br />
Def Jam<br />
On “Ignorant Shit,” JAY-Z once joked about critics<br />
who attributed his success to the sound of his<br />
voice alone, but obviously the Brooklyn legend<br />
is lyrically gifted. While Jeezy doesn’t have the<br />
same level of talent, he offers one of the most<br />
unique and unmistakable voices in the rap<br />
game. Jeezy’s eighth studio album, Pressure, finds<br />
him as consistent as he’s ever been, because his<br />
memorable hooks and verses match the tenacity<br />
of his voice.<br />
There’s no song that lives up to the message<br />
and presentation of Hov’s “The Story of O.J.,” yet<br />
Pressure doesn’t aspire to be more than rap music<br />
you can bob your head to. Regardless, the subtle<br />
political statements are extremely effective and<br />
catchy, overshadowing Eminem’s painstakingly<br />
political Revival; on “American Dream” Jeezy raps,<br />
“First my president is black / Now my president is<br />
wack / I ain’t never going broke / What’s American<br />
in that?”<br />
With13 tracks amounting to 44 minutes,<br />
Pressure is a refreshingly lean and enjoyable listen,<br />
showing signs of constraint in a rap game flooded<br />
with filler tracks. Jeezy holds his own on the five<br />
songs without any features, but the best tracks<br />
are the ones where he’s feeding off the energy of<br />
his guest stars by the likes of Kodak Black, J. Cole<br />
and Kendrick Lamar. With the star-studded roster<br />
on Pressure, it’s surprising that there aren’t any<br />
radio- and club-ready bangers on the album, but<br />
Jeezy still offers one of the smoothest and most<br />
enjoyable rides of the year.<br />
• Paul McAleer<br />
N.E.R.D<br />
NO_ONE EVER REALLY DIES<br />
Columbia Records<br />
N.E.R.D spends the majority of their latest album,<br />
NO_ONE EVER REALLY DIES, relying on big<br />
name features to pick up the slack for otherwise<br />
lackluster tunes. With Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar,<br />
Future, Wale, Gucci Mane, M.I.A., Andre 3000, and<br />
yes, even Ed Sheeran, the rest of the album seems<br />
fragmented and rushed.<br />
“Lemon,” the album’s first single, is an upbeat,<br />
dancefloor-worthy track, almost fully due to<br />
Rihanna’s strong rap verse. “Don’t Don’t Do It!,” in<br />
a similar scenario, has Kendrick Lamar’s part acting<br />
as the saving grace. While some tracks can stand<br />
their ground, particularly in the first half of the<br />
26<br />
<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong>
CUTTING-EDGE PERFORMANCE — ALIVE WITH THE EXPERIMENTAL SPIRIT<br />
UNPLUGGED<br />
DICKIE BEAU (ENGLAND)<br />
SUPPORTED BY<br />
Drag artist extraordinaire Dickie Beau has refined the art of lip-synch playback<br />
performances with flawless miming and use of found sound. Here he<br />
drops the mask, and the true Dickie enlightens on Greek culture, democracy<br />
and more, laying bare his artistic journey and technique.<br />
JAN 19 9PM JAN 20 8PM<br />
THE FOX CABARET<br />
THE ANVIL CENTRE<br />
TORREY PINES<br />
CLYDE PETERSEN (USA)<br />
Trans filmmaker and musician Clyde Petersen presents a stop-motion animated<br />
adventure into his misgendered pre-teen years spent in Southern<br />
California. Playing to live score performed by Petersen and his band, this is<br />
a movie memoir as innovative and idiosyncratic as they come.<br />
JAN 20 9PM<br />
THE FOX CABARET<br />
JOSEPH KECKLER (USA)<br />
The artistically ambidextrous Joseph Keckler is a star of New York’s performing<br />
arts scene with awards, commissions and book deals. Harnessing<br />
his three-octave range, Keckler moves from opera to pop without missing<br />
a beat. A self-deprecating and charming showcase of the lowbrow and<br />
highbrow.<br />
JAN 26 8PM JAN 27 9PM<br />
THE ANVIL CENTRE<br />
THE FOX CABARET<br />
HINKYPUNK<br />
FAKEKNOT (CANADA)<br />
Vancouver’s Ralph Escamillan reveals a dance spectacular that has him<br />
decked out in “sequin skin”—a walking, breathing and shiny signifier. Inspired<br />
by drag, ballroom and vogue subcultures of expression through artifice,<br />
he offers a beguiling and sexy study on the gaze, the body and the self.<br />
JAN 26 9PM<br />
THE FOX CABARET<br />
DAUGHTER<br />
QUIPTAKE & PANDEMIC THEATRE (CANADA)<br />
A harrowing yet hilarious exploration of “toxic masculinity.” Toronto comedian<br />
Adam Lazarus, a recent new dad, comes to grips with what it means<br />
to become the father of a daughter, and with smart, incisive and remorseful<br />
self-reflection, asks, “What are you willing to forgive?”<br />
FEB 1 10:30PM<br />
THE FOX CABARET<br />
SPOKAOKE<br />
ANNIE DORSEN (USA)<br />
A night of karaoke like no other. Participants won’t find any Queen or Taylor<br />
Swift here. In their place are some of the great artists who have gone down<br />
in history for their words. More than 90 classic speeches by the greats of<br />
our time, from Socrates to Sarah Palin, await to be recited.<br />
FEB 2 9PM<br />
THE FOX CABARET<br />
CRIS DERKSEN TRIO<br />
CRIS DERKSEN (CANADA)<br />
Cellist and composer Cris Derksen has been called to collaborate with<br />
icons from Kanye West to Naomi Klein. Armed with loop pedal, drum machine,<br />
and cello, the JUNO Award-nominee pulls audiences into the propulsive,<br />
hypnotizing pounding of powwow music, head-nodding rhythms of a<br />
hip-hop, metronome thumps of a techno mix, and more in a thrilling night.<br />
FEB 2 8PM FEB 3 9PM<br />
THE ANVIL CENTRE<br />
THE FOX CABARET<br />
RPM RECORDS:<br />
LIVE IN VANCOUVER<br />
VARIOUS ARTISTS (CANADA)<br />
Celebrate the closing night of the <strong>2018</strong> PuSh Festival, with a lineup of Indigenous<br />
musicians from across Turtle Island: hip hop from Vancouver duo<br />
Mob Bounce backed by DJ Kookum, and electronic beats and soundscapes<br />
from Ziibiwan. This is a dynamite evening of powerful, diverse music to<br />
move the feet and soul. Surely one of the city’s musical events of the year.<br />
FEB 3 10:30PM<br />
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The Fugitives - The Promise Of Strangers<br />
Tom Phillips - Plastic Machine<br />
Ty Segall - Freedom’s Goblin<br />
album, other collaborations sound out of place.<br />
Future, on single “1000,” doesn’t seem to mesh well<br />
with the rest of the track. The fast-moving beat<br />
leading into Future’s signature overly auto-tuned<br />
verses seems like a clash of styles. Overall, the<br />
album seems to be rushed along, with much of<br />
the production sounding recycled. Did “Lightning<br />
Magic Fire Prayer” really have to be nearly eight<br />
minutes long?<br />
Perhaps the point was to sound jarring. Pharrell<br />
Williams, one half of the duo, whose name is on<br />
every track as a producer, seemed to want to create<br />
an album of protest. Unfortunately, at the end of<br />
2017, when listeners have already heard protest<br />
songs and albums alike, it seems like the kind of<br />
thing that shouldn’t feel rushed.<br />
• Amber McLinden<br />
The Fugitives<br />
The Promise Of Strangers<br />
Borealis Records / Westpark Records<br />
Vancouver pop-folk group The Fugitives return<br />
after four years with their latest offering, The<br />
Promise of Strangers. The album finds the band<br />
making a noticeable rise in production quality from<br />
their earlier work.<br />
The Promise Of Strangers is a series of<br />
dedications to people both known and unknown<br />
to the band, and in some cases fictional. It’s an<br />
album that brims with rich harmonies, both vocal<br />
and instrumental.<br />
Beginning with a low-key vibe on the cut “I Have<br />
No Words (For Leonard Cohen)”, the band takes<br />
their time to build the song, when the chorus<br />
drops in with a subtle organ and banjo higher in<br />
the mix. By the second chorus, the classic Cohen<br />
gospel background vocals come to the fore, and<br />
the section is an indication of what’s to come<br />
throughout the record: harmonies that hinge on<br />
smart chord changes and composition. “See This<br />
Winter Out (For Amy)” is closer to The Fugitives’<br />
earlier work, the kind of kick-drum-with-banjo<br />
vibe popularized by Mumford & Sons, (which can<br />
either be a good thing or a tired cliché, depending<br />
who you ask). Indeed, the “whoa” hook abounds<br />
throughout the record, at this point well overtired<br />
for this era.<br />
“Northern Lights (For Steel Audrey)” kicks<br />
off with a nice acoustic/banjo/organ intro and<br />
a change in pace vocally, while the evocation of<br />
the celestial occurrence feels a little too easy, a<br />
kind of chocolate chip cookie that’s palatable for<br />
anyone to chew on. “London In The Sixties (For<br />
Dr. McMorran)” is a standout, with its clever beat,<br />
rousing horns, and the line, “The English are the<br />
kings of dressing down the blues,” finally drops in a<br />
bit of sarcasm on what is ultimately a very earnest<br />
record.<br />
While the production on The Promise Of<br />
Strangers is beautifully executed and The Fugitives’<br />
willingness to take a leap sonically is a step up<br />
from their previous work, the album feels a little<br />
too choreographed. It’s the kind of easily digested<br />
folk-pop that fits for the wholesome folks on a<br />
festival afternoon, which honestly feels like the<br />
whole point. A little grit and grime could do these<br />
escapees a world of good.<br />
• Mike Dunn<br />
Tom Phillips<br />
Plastic Machine<br />
Independent<br />
Every time I review a country record that remains<br />
true to the style’s roots and is honest and heartfelt,<br />
I’m tempted to write a lengthy diatribe on the<br />
state of the art form. Unfortunately, that’s not only<br />
self-indulgent, it’s also a disservice to someone like<br />
Tom Phillips, who’s spent his entire career making<br />
straight up country music and has never felt the<br />
need to subvert his work to the whims of the<br />
McCheeseburger factory of corporate country.<br />
Phillips’ latest, Plastic Machine, is his first with his<br />
new band, The DT’s, and his second with producer<br />
Lorrie Matheson. The opener, “Distance,” sets the<br />
tone for the honesty of the record, with Phillips<br />
writing liberating and heavy lines about his past<br />
as a hard drinker, backed by a clean mix featuring<br />
Matheson laying down some Exile-era Jimmy Miller<br />
piano out front. “Deeper Blue” kicks off in classic<br />
prairie country rock style, a buck-forty sunshine<br />
straightaway, with Geoff Brock’s guitar drenched<br />
in Leslie tone before dropping into slinky Keith<br />
Richards riffs. Deicha Carter’s lead vocal on the cut<br />
is a real find – there’s a lot of Susan Tedeschi in her<br />
tone and she doesn’t hold back anything, while<br />
sisters Shaye and Sydney Zadravec are on point<br />
with their harmonies throughout, adding just the<br />
right doo-wops and oohs to fill out the vocals. “Dry<br />
As A Desert Bone” unflinchingly lays bare Phillips’<br />
past with liquor. The title cut finds Phillips pensively<br />
regarding the trappings of modern life, invoking an<br />
image of screen-addled citizens walking down the<br />
street in full distraction. “Death of Love” has been<br />
years in the making, Phillips having commented<br />
in the past that he could never get the vibe right<br />
on a record. Here, it gets a Tex-Mex feel with Tim<br />
Leacock and Ian Grant swinging a cool hesitation<br />
groove in the rhythm section while Matheson’s<br />
addition of organ is a nice compliment, as is the<br />
Tijuana Brass feel in the horns.<br />
Country music has always been run through<br />
with threads of self-abuse and reflection – it’s what<br />
makes it one of the best hangover styles there is.<br />
The danger in that is that artists feel like they have<br />
to maintain those myths and illusions for the sake<br />
of authenticity. Modern country is selling self-abuse<br />
by the ounce, with little post-party reflection. Tom<br />
Phillips’ Plastic Machine isn’t preachy in its selfreflection,<br />
it’s just honest, and it’s some of Phillips’<br />
best work.<br />
• Mike Dunn<br />
Ty Segall<br />
Freedom’s Goblin<br />
Drag City<br />
It’s remarkable that through 10 albums in 10 years,<br />
Ty Segall has never had an outright clunker. Sure,<br />
there are some duds contained in each album,<br />
but never has a whole album been a write-off for<br />
the garage rock legend. Unfortunately, that also<br />
means that it’s hard to call any of Segall’s albums a<br />
masterpiece.<br />
That trend continues with Freedom’s Goblin, Ty<br />
Segall’s 10th studio album that acts as the purest<br />
distillation of Ty Segall on record yet, for better and<br />
worse.<br />
On Freedom’s Goblin, Ty Segall has arrived at the<br />
destination his albums have been heading towards<br />
for the last five years. It’s a 19-track hodgepodge<br />
of just about every kind of guitar music you can<br />
throw fuzz on top of. There are cinematic ballads,<br />
roiling disco stomps, twangy country rock tunes,<br />
and everything in between.<br />
It doesn’t make a lot of sense as a cohesive<br />
album, but it’s quintessential Segall. Throw<br />
everything at the wall and see what sticks. Luckily,<br />
a lot of these songs plaster themselves to the wall,<br />
but when they don’t it’s increasingly evident.<br />
The clear highlight here is Segall’s cover of Hot<br />
Chocolate’s disco classic “Every 1’s a Winner.” Segall<br />
trades the slow-motion clavinet chug of the original<br />
for a murky bassline and sleazy funk rock. It’s an<br />
interesting direction for Segall, and it would be<br />
great to hear him explore it further. Unfortunately,<br />
the other 18 tracks included here don’t really move<br />
outside of his wheelhouse and after 10 albums, it’s<br />
hard not to feel a little disappointed with that.<br />
• Jamie McNamara<br />
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<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong> 29
NEW MOON RISING<br />
YOUR MONTHLY HOROSCOPE<br />
QUAN YIN DIVINATION<br />
Month of the Water Ox<br />
As the full rush of water slows to a<br />
trickle, this month aligns with the<br />
reasonable, reliable and hard-working<br />
Ox, giving many a relief from the<br />
romantic tensions of the last few weeks,<br />
and inviting in a more conservative and<br />
conscientious time. The Ox favours<br />
structure, discipline, hard work, and,<br />
occasionally, a dabbling of bohemian<br />
joys, but generally stands as a strong<br />
pillar of society and proud to be of high<br />
moral and ethical standing. Assuredly,<br />
this would not be the time to do<br />
anything that might offend the status<br />
quo.<br />
This month also has a strange wisdom<br />
as the trickle of water, although gentle,<br />
has persistence in getting its way and<br />
carving a path where there was no<br />
one before. Flexibility, adaptability,<br />
neutrality, and patience guide us with<br />
clarity through the dense fog and dewy<br />
mists represented by yin water.<br />
Rabbit (Pisces): Take a reprieve from<br />
work activities now as you’ll feel the<br />
need to let down, stay home, and work<br />
on small projects that you’ve been<br />
putting off. Ready yourself for a more<br />
fortuitous year ahead.<br />
Dragon (Aries): You can’t do it all,<br />
but you like to try. Set your priorities<br />
with work, family and friendships.<br />
Step up to be your most reliable and<br />
dependable self, but don’t forget to take<br />
care of your own needs first.<br />
Snake (Taurus): A chance for a long<br />
awaited strategic move forward is hand.<br />
How can you execute your plan so you<br />
move into the New Year with more free<br />
time and less hassle?<br />
Horse (Gemini): Heal, refresh, renew.<br />
A good time to clear the air with<br />
someone you love about your feelings,<br />
or take time to sort out in your own<br />
way what you need to forgive, forbear,<br />
or simply forget.<br />
Sheep (Cancer): Open your heart<br />
and mind to the perspectives of others<br />
to get the positive attention and<br />
recognition you want and deserve. A<br />
boost in your self-esteem is the happy<br />
result.<br />
Monkey (Leo): Laughter is the best<br />
medicine and people will enjoy<br />
connecting with your clever wisdom<br />
and natural rhetoric, so when you have<br />
the chance to stay or to go — be sure<br />
you say it with a smirk.<br />
Rooster (Virgo): When the going gets<br />
tough, the tough get going. Productive<br />
energy is available to you now and<br />
making a head start will put you in the<br />
lead for <strong>2018</strong>. You can do it!<br />
Dog (Libra): Pay respect to your<br />
superiors by going out of your way to<br />
be kind or generous and you will make<br />
friends, rather than enemies. Watch<br />
your step and check your ego.<br />
Pig (Scorpio): Soften to any situation<br />
that triggers deeply held emotions. It’s<br />
good to feel all the feels, and sharing<br />
with others will draw your true friends<br />
into devoted service. Compassionate<br />
understanding requires communication<br />
from the heart.<br />
Rat (Sagittarius): Focus on selfdevelopment<br />
and growth to bring a<br />
positive start to the year and get back<br />
on track with your highest goals. You<br />
can make progress this month on a new<br />
project or start a new career if you have<br />
the right attitude.<br />
Ox (Capricorn): Beware of your<br />
temper as those around you may be<br />
ultra-sensitive. It’s better to back away<br />
from any situation that tempts you into<br />
anger — especially any situation where<br />
you just can’t win.<br />
Tiger (Aquarius): Your secret is out<br />
and so why not just be honest about<br />
your perspective and feelings. Others<br />
will draw a line or stand by your side,<br />
divided on the issue. Take a side and<br />
make it clear what you think is right.<br />
Susan Horning is a Feng Shui Consultant<br />
and Bazi Astrologist living and working<br />
in East Vancouver. Find out more about<br />
her at QuanYin.ca.<br />
30<br />
<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong>