March 11th, 2010
From the Mithril Shields of Aaron Levin:
Living in Alberta, I associate Calgary with the strange angular pop moves found on Cold Crystal Shield. In fact, I’m starting to believe the Calgary sound is just a weird amalgamation of Montreal’s pop experiments, Halifax’s 90s obsession, and Yukon’s cold isolation. It’s all summarized brilliantly by Play Guitar with their combination of incredibly catchy guitar lines and anthemic vocal harmonies, the whole mess being driven down midnight highways and rural avenues. I say rural because I can definitely hear that 90s Halifax honky-tonk pop-rock and it’s awesome. Keep your cold, crystalized eyes out for the Play Guitar LP, coming soon!
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Play Guitar – Stay and Haunt
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Play Guitar – Different Job
File under: 90s // aaron levin // campaign for infinity // mtl // pop
Categoria!! New Canadiana :: cassette :: nova scotia :: quebec :: yukon | No Comments »
March 4th, 2010
From the Jabroka-filled pockets of Aaron Levin:
Beneath Alienation’s beautifully die-cut packaging (typical Patente faire) lays a harrowing journey into Quebec’s multi-format experimental scene. Alienation is the audible outlet by visual artist Simon Langevin. Simon’s autodidactic approach to the genre’s freedom gives 2010 a welcomed erraticism resulting in a strange mix between multi-format, avant-meanderings and static post-techno beat collages. Add an 11-minute minor-key ethereal floater and you’ve got yourself a veritable trip through Simon’s consciousness; corrugated tunnels lined with deep, dark textures appropriate for any hang-out setting not involving: smiles, fun, or not-goths. Killer psychedelic artwork to boot. +1 Patente.
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Alienation – Track 03
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Alienation – Track 06
File under: aaron levin // drone // experimental // noise // techno
Categoria!! New Canadiana :: compact disc :: quebec | No Comments »
March 1st, 2010
Since transplanting themselves from the sunshine state of Florida to the frosty French Canadian north, pizza-lovin’ brothers Andy and Edwin White have been recording and releasing tunes at an almost nonsensical pace. On top of sparking up psych burners and daffy rappin’ trip-outs with their best-known band, Tonstartssbandht, the bros maintain a plethora of side projects/aliases (High Rise II, NASA, Superbud, Bladestoner, etc.) while also running the boutique labels Does Are and Black Cheeks. For this Weird Canada exclusive, they’ve remixed our interview with wonky vocal FX, answers read by Jason Harvey™ and what sounds like a chopped and screwed version of their posi-vibes anthem “Andy Summers.”
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Weird Canada Exclusive :: Tonstartssbandht – Inferred Views
Jesse Locke
Texture Magazine / Weird Canada
texturemagazine.ca / weirdcanada.com
/////////////// TONSTARTSSBANDHT INFERRED VIEWS ///////////////
| J. |
= |
Jesse Locke (Texture Magazine // Weird Canada) |
T. |
= |
Andy and Edwin White (Tonstartssbandht) |
| J. |
:: |
What was life like growing up for you guys as brothers? Did you have any made-up games you would play, sibling rivalries or weird family inside jokes? |
| T. |
:: |
We were related, and then fed by older people. Andy knew all the secrets to life early because I let him drink from my brain after school everyday. I’m his ancient angel. We spent all of our time outside climbing ropes and making mud to prepare for the apocalypse. On a ranch, our grandpa makes great kielbasa and eggs. |
| J. |
:: |
When did you start making music together? Were there any other bro projects prior to Tonstartssbandht? |
—> READ MORE < ----
File under: does are // interview // jesse locke // tonstartssbandht
Categoria!! Interviews :: New Canadiana :: quebec | 4 Comments »
February 19th, 2010
From the synthetic moons of Aaron Levin:
Bernardino continues to peel wigs and sublimate minds with his vicarious cosmic voyage through swaths of electroacoustic winds and perilous Ace Tone waters. This time we are lead by a transplanted Odysseus, bravely steering Bernardino’s vast synthesizer vessel through mysterious wires and serene circuitry. La Montaña del Capricornio is a continuation from Las Enamoradas‘ granular synthesia, diving deep into the dilemmic waves of warm ambience and dark druid-age. Hobo Cult cleverly realized Bernardino’s brilliance as a double-sided cassette, focusing your energies on the immaculate details emanating through tape hiss and Dolby warmth, adding comfort to the brooding sounds beneath its alluring orphic cover. A++++++.
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Bernardino Femminielli – La Montaña del Capricornio – Side A
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Bernardino Femminielli – La Montaña del Capricornio – Side B
File under: ambient // electronic // experimental // hobo cult // new age // synth
Categoria!! New Canadiana :: cassette :: quebec | 1 Comment »
February 17th, 2010
From the perilous necklace of Aaron Levin:
I want to live Precious Necklace. I want tight sweaters. VIP access to the clurb. Double martinis. False love. Teen soundtracks blasting. I want the whole world in a song and I want to dance; pulsing drum machines, echoey vocals and exaggerated pop-harmonies. Let the music take you back in time. Nintendo, cocaine, plastic people, and radio hits. Sex in bathrooms and parental neglect. Stereotypes. We’ve lost our youth. We can take it back. The Silly Kissers, in a futuristic act of heroism, are our only hope. Their fourth and most realized effort to-date showcases their perfected 80s-pop ventriloquism. Precious Necklace is a re-imagining that only nostalgia can deliver; glossing over the weaknesses of an era we will never truly understand and manipulating the pearls of its bounty to deliver every genre’s saving grace: synthetic pop perfection. Precious Necklace, released as a limited-edition 10″ on Montreal’s Arbutus Records, is a 10/10 major-scale heart-melt. The world has never needed so much. They will deliver. GRIP. IT. NOW.
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Silly Kissers – You Could Even Like Me
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Silly Kissers – Treat Me Like You Do
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Silly Kissers – Precious Necklace
File under: 80s // arbutus records // pop // synth
Categoria!! 10" :: New Canadiana :: quebec | 3 Comments »
February 3rd, 2010
|
Interview with: Francesco de Gallo & Jane L. Kasowicz
From: Velvet Chrome // Hobo Cult // et al.
(conducted by: Gabriel Jasmin)
Montreal, QC
::web/sounds:: |
It is my pleasure to offer Francophone content for the first time on Weird Canada. This is a huge step forward and one I’m very excited about. Below are two audio interviews conducted by Grabriel Jasmin (G) as part of CHOQ’s Les Artisans du Bruit program focused on capturing some of the fringe musics crafted within Quebec at the moment. We will hear from Jane L. Kasowicz (J) and Francesco de Gallo (F) of Velvet Chrome, a group who poignantly encapsulates Montreal’s bleak psych-dementia, followed by an interview with Francesco concerning his record label Hobo Cult (a Weird Canada favorite) and various solo projects. Gabriel has generously transcribed the interviews into English so those not-so-fluent in French can read along. Enjoy!!
Aaron Levin
Weird Canada / Cantor Records
www.weirdcanada.com / www.cantorrecords.com
/////////////// VELVET CHROME TRANSCRIPTION ///////////////
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| G. |
= |
Gabriel Jasmin (CHOQ) |
F. |
= |
Francesdo de Gallo (Velvet Chrome) |
J. |
= |
Jane L. Kasowicz (Velvet Chrome) |
| G. |
:: |
How would you describe your music? |
| F. |
:: |
We like improvising in different genres, somewhere in between cosmic-tribal and… |
| J. |
:: |
Italo… |
| F. |
:: |
Not italo-disco, we have an actual italian song that’s like a psychedelic horror soundtrack. We also play garage rock. |
| J. |
:: |
Something like garage-psych-noise. |
| G. |
:: |
You used the word improvisation in there. Does Velvet Chrome rely on improvisation a lot? |
| F. |
:: |
Mmm yeah… Sometimes we try to write songs with a fixed idea and work around that, but our songs often come from jamming out. |
| J. |
:: |
It’s mostly improvised jams that we record. When they’re good we’ll re-work them into songs. Though we don’t always play them that way in our live shows. |
| G. |
:: |
I’ve noticed you guys exchange instruments during live shows. Is there a reason for that? |
F. |
:: |
We both like exploring with a wide variety of sounds |
| G. |
:: |
Does the sound vary depending who plays the instrument? |
| J. |
:: |
Yeah for sure. Everyone has a personal style. When Francesco plays guitar it’s always with a no-wave attitude while I’m more garage myself. |
| F. |
:: |
I’ve started playing drums and when I’m behind the kit I play very square 4/4 beats, but Jane plays in a much more deconstructed, jazzy way. It gives a very different background. |
| G. |
:: |
Your releases have always been very limited editions of 20 or 30 copies, and the packaging was unique for each of them. As a band, do you have a close relationship with visual arts? |
| F. |
:: |
Yes. Well, at the start I was making small runs because I was a bit unsure if our material was worth releasing. But they sold out so I made a limited second run. For the new album called Readymades, which is an artistic concept, I wanted to make unique covers so that every one would get a personal relationship with the album. |
| G. |
:: |
What are your projects for 2010? |
| J. |
:: |
I’ll be starting my solo project JLK, which stands for Jane L. Kasowicz. As Velvet Chrome, we’ll be releasing a … split? |
| F. |
:: |
Yeah possibly a split with Hamborghinni, who are two members of Aids Wolf. In february we’ll also be playing Aids Wolf and brooklyn-based Mouthus at Casa Del Popolo. |
| J. |
:: |
We might be doing an album soon… |
| F. |
:: |
Yeah, we really should. We have tons of unreleased jams, now we have to sort through them to find the best ones. We also have lots of unrecorded pieces that we’d like to finish. |
/////////////// FRANCESCO DE GALLO // HOBO CULT TRANSCRIPTION ///////////////
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| G. |
= |
Gabriel Jasmin (CHOQ) |
| F. |
= |
Francesdo de Gallo (Hobo Cult // et al.) |
| G. |
:: |
Francesco de Gallo, you have so many ongoing projects I had to make list to remember them. You play music in : Velvet Chrome, Wasted Widow, Pradada, Hobo Cubes, Cobra Kiss! and your most recent project Magic Beach. Furthermore, you manage your own label Hobo Cult Records and release DJ mixes under the name Hippies Before Priests. Am I forgetting any? |
| F. |
:: |
I don’t know, there’s so much going on. Lots of untitled collaborations are to be released in 2010 on either cassette, CD-R or free download. |
| G. |
:: |
First off, how many hours of sleep do you manage to get? |
| F. |
:: |
Let’s say between 6 and 8. Eight hours is the best. |
| G. |
:: |
Being involved in so many different projects, how do you keep them independent from one another, so they don’t sound all the same? |
| F. |
:: |
I don’t know, there’s no clear borders. For my solo work, when i’m working on a loop or a song, the outcome will not be the same whether there are vocals, instruments I used and the way I used them. That usually defines the project. When collaborating with others the result will be different each time. |
| G. |
:: |
When playing with others do you write the songs on the spot ? Or do you approach other musicians with definite song ideas? |
| F. |
:: |
No, never. I don’t like… I stay away from fascism with Hobo Cult. It’s a big family with people I love. When they create things I enjoy, I like to put them out as an album, even if I had nothing to do with writing nor playing the music. It’s really friendly. I record my collaborations, even one-time jams with buddies, and even though we’ll never play a single live show, I might release it to cassette. |
| G. |
:: |
Indeed, except for Velvet Chrome, you have a big recorded output but you play very few live shows. is it because you prefer recorded music to live music or is for practical reasons? |
| F. |
:: |
Well actually, a lot of recorded material was taken from live shows. With Wasted Widow, we’ve only played two shows, the first one I have on DVD, but then the band has added a bassist for it’s second show and we recorded that to tape. With Magic Beach, we’ve taken lots of material from our last show in late December. A lot of these will be released in 2010. |
| G. |
:: |
Your label Hobo Cult is the home to all your projects and those of your friends. How did it start out? |
| F. |
:: |
It’s been a year and a half since i’ve started it. I first wanted to release a Pradada album, which was my main solo project at the time, but I had so much recordings that I couldn’t decide what to put on it. Rather, I made compilations that divided the songs by year and posted them for free on the blog. Then I put them on cassette and gave them out. When I was ready to release something new, I knew I wanted to do it myself. It was just a matter of getting my songs heard by the most people. Whenever I release music I like to try and make it accessible, which is why i’ll post free downloads once the tapes or the CDs have sold out. |
| G. |
:: |
Are you planning to have releases on vinyl? |
| F. |
:: |
Yeah, we are planning something with Magic Beach. It’s a recent project with Philippe Lambert, who also plays in Goa, Monstre and Monkey King. We will be releasing a split tape with Ass, from San Diego, then maybe another tape or CDr and hopefully a 7″ or 12″ in spring, followed by short week-long tour in the United States. |
File under: choq // francesco de gallo // hobo cult // interview // psych // velvet chrome
Categoria!! Interviews :: New Canadiana :: quebec | 5 Comments »
January 26th, 2010
From the wish-I-had-a-tough-guy-leather-jacket stylings of Aaron Levin:
Monochromatic Youth, the vanguard of Grand Trine’s Bruised Tongue debut, captured their synthetic sans-wave pedigree at the cusp of their existence, posing the question: where now? Defying all expectations, Grand Trine returned with a barrage of brilliant psychedelic biker-punk transplanted from their phantasmagoric Montreal freak-clinic. Some wastoid time-warp seizure has them sounding like Marty McFly opening for the MC5; face-melting genre-collages, bursting celluloid solos, and decimating saxophone freak-outs; all of it wrapped in layers of frayed leather, busted zippers, and skitched sunglasses. Translation: Sunglasses is not for the faint of heart, mind, spirit, or stomach. All orifices will succumb to their unwholesome mutant hard-rock and I suggest you send all litigations directly to Divorce Records c/o Weird Canada legal services (but make sure to grip the 12″ vinyl (limited to 600 copies) as evidence of their crime). Now, if you don’t mind, I have a large mess near my stereo system to attend to.
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Grand Trine – I Am a Magnet
File under: biker punk // divorce records // punk // punk punk // synth punk // weird punk
Categoria!! 12" :: New Canadiana :: quebec | 1 Comment »
January 22nd, 2010
From the compiled danglings of Jesse Locke:
The Comp of Hope starts off with a serious wallop: the 1-2-3 whirligig of Vancouver’s Damages, Nova Scotia’s Minivan Halen (snagging the prize for Best New Band Name) and Toronto’s Place Hands, three groups with distinct yet equally imposing approaches to the post- / proto- / avant- / eff-it-let’s-just-get-rowdy hardcore continuum. Bart Records founder Kevin Stebner seems to favour the tuff gnarl stuff, with seven of the comp’s 10 acts setting their phasers to beatdown. From the spazzy attack of Abbotsford’s GSTS! to the rastafried “turbo jamz” of Edmonton’s Slates, Missisauga’s Whiskey Priest and unfuckwithable label faves Gift Eaters closing it off, this cassette could provide the perfect aggro soundtrack for any hesher’s backyard mini-ramp sesh. The softer side of weird Canadiana is also represented with the Strokes-meet-a-blown-out-Casio addictiveness of Swwords (the former project of this very site’s founder), Montreal’s math-pop dangereux duo Special Noise and a live jam from the inimitable dd/mm/yyyy. Another top-notch tape release from Bart, with awesome foldout liner art (front & back) from Calgary’s Heather Kai Smith.
[Levin's Note: This has the most links of any review on Weird Canada. Which means you get to virtually travel across Canada, all thanks to Bart Records. Benjoy!]
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Special Noise – Fitness
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Minivan Halen – Epic
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SLATES – blooloend
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swwords – The Hit
File under: bart records // compilation // experimental // hardcore // math-pop // pop // punk // rock
Categoria!! New Canadiana :: alberta :: british columbia :: cassette :: manitoba :: nova scotia :: ontario :: quebec :: saskatchewan | 1 Comment »
January 20th, 2010
From the Kimono-draped androgyny of Aaron Levin:
Geidi Primes is a landmark album of modern Canadian fringe, an assemblage of space-station pop memorabilia teleported from a time-static nether-zone beyond the scope of our earthly understanding. I’ve been waiting months for this, posting anxious pleas to Grimes after hearing the sinuous, harrowing bass-line on Rosa. With the curiously packaged cassette in my fiending grip, the orbiting swaths of synthetic warmth and echoing drum-machines have caused exciting astral projections outside my usual mental musicalia. Geidi Primes takes off from Rosa’s minimal bass-lines and launches straight into a strange hybrid of Björk, The Cure, Micachu, and other avant seamstresses, leaving a footprint in every decade and thankfully landing in ours. Chord progressions and samples are pulled from any source imaginable and the aggregation results in a Kate Bushian trail of decadence. It seems pointless and restrictive attempting to describe its brilliance, so I’ll stop with this: Geidi Primes is a flagship of hyperbolic dimensions. Get on board.
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Grimes – Rosa
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Grimes – Venus In Fleurs
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Grimes – Zoal, Face Dancer
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Grimes – Sardaukar Levenbrech
File under: arbutus // electronic // kate bush // pop // space // strange // the future // weird
Categoria!! New Canadiana :: cassette :: quebec | 7 Comments »
January 19th, 2010
From every fleeting moment of Aaron Levin:
Montreal has effortlessly cultivated an ensemble of pop creators ready to fill any niche, pocket, or corner. Thus, it comes as no surprised that Devon Welsh was nurtured in the same wasteland of Montreal that produced Sean Nicholas Savage, The Pop Winds, Matt Perri, and other spectacular curators I’m forgetting. Juxtaposing his backdrop of distorted, reverberated murmurings with pop-savvy guitar leads and harmonies, Welsh delivers a surprisingly pastoral post-burn-out too-soon-for-whiskey-but-too-late-for-breakfast introduction to the universe. Too full for the abrasive lo-fi popular amongst Da Youth™ and too earnest for the Steely Dans of the world, Welcome exists in the ether between things; invitations to catchy exploration.
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Devon Welsh – Girlfriend
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Devon Welsh – Fun House Mirror
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Devon Welsh – As Far As I’m Aware
File under: lo-fi // pop
Categoria!! New Canadiana :: compact disc :: quebec | 3 Comments »
