JAPEMB6«#Wm/TWffJil6I#«B«lir$ !|IAKE MAGAZINE FROM 5JTR 101.J |/7SUPP0mpi VAHOOUVERS IHDEP€NOENT ^tflltrt^iUJBIf FOUfER 25 YEARS ^ W W IPPii fm * SAAm «?MUTANTES! OJTE^ YOtJ Sffl PARTY / OK VANCOUVER ftC/j DISCORDER'S 2010 FAVOUJIITES/, SIMON REDEKOP/ OB BUXTON/i FLASH PALACE tflSW ^^^^^^^^^« ^^^^^^■^^B tffcfl^ ^Bl^« If-Hftfl Atf*®1"* 1-L-il a***** MUSH* ^»^* it««^ ftuwim^ > . Ulr '-..... fftfltf* yfe pi i*«»*** SI^**0'"S*te*M"' 20% Off Nesw & 40% Off Used Xmaseve and Boxing Day HAM T07PM ^Friday December 24th a Sunday December 26th 11 AM to 7pm EDITOR Jordie Yow ART DIRECTOR Lindsey Hampton PRODUCTION MANAGER Debby Reis COPY EDITORS Sarah Berman, Steve Louie, Debby Reis AD MANAGER Maegan Thomas UNDER REVIEW EDITOR Sarah Berman RLA EDITOR Steve Louie WEB EDITOR Reilly Wood CALENDAR LISTINGS Debby Reis, Jordie Yow ACCOUNTS MANAGER Corey Ratch PROGRAM GUIDE Bryce Dunn, Debby Reis OFFICIAL TWEETERS Dorothy Neufeld, Debby Reis CiTR STATION MANAGER Brenda Grunau PUBLISHER Student Radio Society of UBC PROMOTIONS INTERN Dorothy Neufeld COVER Simon Redekop JANCEMBER WRITERS Andrea Bennett, Sarah Berman, Nathaniel Bryce, Katherine Boothroyd, Slavko Bucifal, Sarah Charrouf, Robert Fougere, Andy Hudson, Andrew Kai-Yin McKenzie, Tony Kess, Kamil Krawczyk, Miranda Martini, Kaitlin McNabb, Mark PaulHus, Will Pedley, Andy Resto, Alec J. Ross,Maegan Thomas, Christian Voveris, Sally White, Ming Wong, Alicia Wooding, Angela Yen, Jordie Yow PHOTOGRAPHERS & ILLUSTRATORS Merida Anderson, Curtis Collier, Tyler Crich, Anne Emberline, Robert Fougere, Michael Irvine, Steve Louie, Simon Redekop PROOFREADERS Sarah Berman, Chris-a-riffic (briefly), Simon Foreman, Steve Louie, Debby Reis, Maegan Thomas ©Discorder 2010 by the Student Radio Society of the University of British Columbia. All rights reserved. Circulation 8,500. Discorder is published almost monthly by CiTR, which can be heard at 101.9 FM, online at www.citr.ca, as well as through all major cable systems in the Lower Mainland, except Shaw hi White Rock. Call the CiTRDJ line at (604) 822-2487, CiTR's office at (604) 822-3017, email CiTR at CitrMgr@)ams.ubc.ca, or pick up a pen and write #233-6138 SUB Blvd., Vancouver, B.C., V6T1Z1, Canada. DISCORDER.CA IS HOME TO LOADS OF CONTENT WE CANT FIT INTO THE PRINT ISSUE OF THE MAGAZINE, LIKE EXTRA FEATURES, REAL LIVE ACTION AND UNDER REVIEW. CHECK DISCORDER.CA REGULARLY FOR NEW ARTICLES, PHOTOS AND ALL THINGS MUSIC RELATED! CONTRIBUTE. To submit words to Discorder, please contact: editor. discorder(a) gmail.com. To submit images, please contact: artdirector. discorder@> gmail.com. SUBSCRIBE. Send in a cheque for $20 to #233- 6138 SUB Blvd., Vancouver, B.C., V6T1Z1 with your address, and we will mail Discorder right to your doorstep. ADVERTISE. Ad space for upcoming issues can be booked by calling (778) 866-9952 ; or emailing promotions. | discorder@ gmail.com. Rates j available upon request. DISTRIBUTE. To distribute Discorder in your business, email distro. discorder(3) gmail.com. We are always looking for new friends. DONATE. We are part of CiTR, a registered nonprofit, we accept donations so we can provide you with the content you love. To donate visit www. citr.ca/donate. EDITOR'S NOTE TABLE OF CONTENTS //JANCEMBER 2010/11 Dear Discorder: It has been lovely making this magazine for you to read, but I am afraid that I must be leaving. I have learned a lot editing this magazine. It has always been challenging and (except financially) it has been very rewarding. I will miss everyone that I have worked with on the magazine and I wish you all the best—and look forward to seeing you about town. It is a happy moment though because that means Discorder will be getting a new editor who Will be taking the magazine in exciting new directions, and that editor could be you, or someone you know. Check out our ad for the position (below) for details or check www.discorder.ca for the link to the posting. You'll also notice that there's twice the normal magazine here! We are very excited to have collaborated with Vancouver Is Awesome to give them a chance to put out a physical • incarnation of their excellent website which is devoted to the positive aspects of Vancouver. If you're ever feeling gloomy about living in Vancouver, a quick visit to their website will pick you up and remind you what a great city we live in. Bob Kronbauer and Co. have put together a lovely looking issue that you can read by flipping over the magazine. When you're done, I suggest visiting their website, www.vancouverisawesome.ca, and bookmarking it. They are very organized and lovely people. We're going to be having a party with them on Jan. 7 at the Biltmore. You should come out and enjoy yourself. It's long enough after New Year's that your hangover will probably have worn off and your liver will be well rested. Also, as this is the final issue of the year, it has a lot of year end lists which, as a fan of music, you probably love to argue about. You can vote for your favourite bands, albums, shows etc. by participating in our Reader Poll. Check out page 23 for details. You can find our favourite local bands of the year on page 18 and our favourite albums of the year in Under Review on page YY. Try not to get too worked up about them, this is just one magazine's opinion. However, I would like to point out that other people and magazines who make similar lists are all wrong unless their list was identical to ours. Cheers, • Jordie Yow DISCORDER NEEDS A NEW EDITOR! j Discorder Magazine is a special project of CiTRioi.9 FM, the campus and community radio station atthe University ofBritish Columbia. Discorderis published 11 times ayear byUBC's StudentRadio Society and distributed for free throughout Vancouver. • As the creative director of a music and arts magazine, applicants require strong knowledge of current independent and local music, art and culture. As the head editor, applicants must be excellent writers with a good grasp of language, spelling and punctuation. Experience in alternative/independent media is preferred but not required. Knowledge of desktop publishing is an asset. • Other assets include Leadership and creative vision; organizational skills and the ability to multi-task, volunteer management; excellent communication skills; strong initiative; ability to stay calm under pressure Salary: $450 per issue (honourarium is under review) More detailed info is available on our website at www.discorder.ca and click on the link to "Discorder Editor Job Posting" on theleft. • To apply, send a resume and a cover letter to Brenda Grunau, CiTRStation Manager, at dtimgrQDarns.ubc.ca by Monday, Dec. 13 at 10:00 a.m.. We may interview in advance of the deadline. 08 / OS MUTANTES The controversial frontman of Brazil's most important psychedelic band. took an hour to chat with one of our reporters about how things are now and how they used to be. It's really quite interesting and he's an opinionatd guy. It's a good read. 11 / D.B. BUXTON You've probably seen this guy busking for drunks on Granville Street. Ever wondered what it's like and if perhaps he plays music off the street? This Q&Aisforyou. 12 / YOU SAY PARTY Man this band hand really gone through a lot. One of their members took some time from their European tour to talk to us for the first time since a big band upheaval including the death of drummer Devon Clifford and the addition of new members. 14 / FLASH PALACE The local intricate post-rockers described their own music as anever-era^g" laser beam unleashed inside the Taj Mahal. You should probably checkout this article just to make sure we're not lying about this. 16/OK VANCOUVER OK One of our reporters took some time to visit Jeff Johnson, a.k.a. OK Vancouver OK, and get into his head. Did you know he's planning a grandiose musical? Also, he makes lovely music, you should check it out. 18 / OUR 15 FAVOURITE BANDS OF 2010 Twenty-five Discorder contributors cast their votes and we came up with the 15 bands we think are the "hottest" of the year, by "hot? we mean both busy doing stuff this year and the bestest. Not like sexy or spicy or their physical body temperature. 07 / TEXTUALLY ACTIVE / MmkMM. 2 0 / CALENDAR / by cud* comer 26 /PROGRAM GUIDE 24 / ART PROJECT / SimouRedekop 39 / CHARTS./ CiTR's Top 100 Albums of the Year GO w D < 00 Mi \< a 29'/ UNDER REVIEW Animal Bodies / Babe Rainbow / Boogie Monster / Caving / Falkknds / the Good Ones / Kids & Explosions / Olenka & the Autumn Lovers / the Russian Futurists / Small Black / Tight Solid / Twin Crystals / Zola Jesus 35 / REAL LIVE ACTION Best Coast / Dean Wareham plays Galaxie 500 / the Morning Benders / Myelin Sheaths / the Soft Pack / She & Him / Teenage Fanclub GO > c4 VEGAN GLUTENTREE PIZZA AND OTHER 3TUFF * ♦ * $ o 1701 POWELL ST.MANLOUvSc WWWlAI0RINKPEttH.COM EVENT CALENDAR dl«l6iil»eWtt,8 ferttiminflW15 iMRILLfX JAN f 1 Pit PuIj > Sitka Books & Art Hello. We have books Iff lit 2025 West 4th Ave Vancouver, BC V6J1N3 . phone: 604-734-2025 fax: 604-734-2056 www.sitkabooksandart.com info@sitkabooksandart.com READ LOCAL Come and visit us. Okay? TEXTUALLY ACTIVE // GRANT LAWRENCE - ADVENTURES IN SOLITUDE PUBLISHER: HARBOUR PUBLISHING CO. BY MAEGAN THOMAS As accessible and wryly funny as his writing, Grant Lawrence visited the Vancouver Book Club (a Vancouver is Awesome initiative) and talked about his experiences living, writing and touring his first book, Adventures in Solitude. (Plus, there was free wine so that was great.) Adventures in Solitude is the account of how Grant Lawrence grew to love the wonders and dangers of a little place called Desolation Sound, and it is largely a tale of his own self discovery. The Sound is available only with a boat and an iron will; it is a glorious paradise in the summer and so dangerously stormy and secluded in the winter as to drive people batshit crazy (a.k.a. "going bush"). The collection of stories and ruminations in Adventures in Solitude are funny, poignant, informative, deeply personal, violent and strange—most often they are a combination of two, three or all of these. The characters, from Russell the yuppie lawyer turned warmhearted hermit stoner to bizarro-land Santa Claus Bernard the German to the morose Captain Vancouver to Lawrence and his family and friends, each go through captivating journeys that highlight Lawrence's talents as a storyteller. When he visited Vancouver is Awesome, Discorder was there and got to know a little bit about the inspiration and development of his Adventures. We discussed family relationships, the place of "truth" in writing, Canadian literature and the public lashing of Captain Vancouver after his return from his "discovery" of what Grant describes as "the bipolar central character" of the book. Having been a rock star, a radio host and now successful a author, it's a surprise to learn that his ultimate dream job is yet to be had—late night talk show host a la" Johnny Carson. Lawrence is a paragon of Canadian credibility for a multitude of reasons, one of which is his position as "host with the most" of the CBC Radio 3 Podcast. One of the features of this institution is the "90-second egg," where Grant puts rapid fire questions to his guests, leaving no room for thought or lies. I put a version of this tradition to Grant about Adventures in Solitude, as well as his adventures in music and radio. l&l^lvi Introduce yourself: Grant Lawrence, CBC radio host/musician/author. Hometown; West Vancouver, BC, Canada. Best band name from CBC3 podcast: The Apostle of Hustle Worst band name: AIDS Wolf Best tour moment so far: Book tour or rock tour? Book tour: Boyd Devercttitxp Stanley Cup Champion with the Detroit Red Wings, ; came to the book launch in Toronto! Rock tour: Flying in to Japan in 2000 and finding out our first show in Tokyo was sold-ouL Worst tour moment: Book tour: Doing the Vancouver Is Awesome book club discussion with a fully formed chocolate chip stuck to my lower lip, everyone thinking it was untreated, month-old herpes. [Authors note: We thought he had a cut! We were being polite! Grant's stories often center on injury or potential injury and he did in fact cut himself at the reading.] Rock tour: getting violent food poisoning in England, hallucinating that the Queen Mother was shitting on my chest, missing two gigs, eventually ending up in a Welsh hospital being treated by the female Bill Cosby of Wales. Tegan or Sara? Both are very funny/cool, but I'll say Tegan since I know her better. Last thing you stole: Geez... tough one, believe it or not Probably something from... Starbucks? Their cashiers confuse easily. More like not charging me by mistake rather than stealing. Is there a difference? [Author^rr&te: Yes.] What do you believe but cannot prove? That all the stories in Adventures in Solitude are true, sort of. If you could only bring one album to Desolation Sound what would it be? Billy Joel Glass Houses Favourite "Canadian Definition" [Author's note: The podcast also sometimes Jeatures a segment where a guest gives their jdvourit? term that is noted specifically as Canadian in the dictionary.] Crokinole! The greatest Canadian board game of all time! If you could have one superhero power what would it be? To be invisible. What's your worst fear? Fire. First band you saw live: ZZTop What is your best quality? Loyalty Worst quality? Temper Favourite smell: Baking chocolate chip cookies / gasoline. [Author's note: I purposefully did not clarify this response as it is very entertaifflng to imagine Grant really loving the smell ofthose items combined.] What's the most memorable record shop you've visited in Canada: Fred's Record Shop, St. John's Newfoundland. Who needs a slap about the face? Rob Ford, Mayor of Toronto. What is Canada? A massive small town. The Vancouver Bookclub was generously hosted by thejtm and jrteiyIff Sitka Books on West 4th Avenue. After you read the rest of our Jancember edition, check out an excerpt of Adventures in Solitude in the Vancouueris Awesome print edition by jlipping this ©hole thing over. ^ ; &YA80REW KAI-YIN MACKENZIE f|ii|sjRATION BY TYLER CRICH WITH TRANSCRIPTION ASSISTANCE FROM: ANDY HUDSON, KAITLIN MCNABB, SARALYN PURDIE, ANDY RESTO, SALLY WHITE, ALICIA WOODING / 7 / ergio Dias is-Ae leader of the genre defining Tropicalia band Os Mutantes (the Mutants). In 2009, Os Mutantes released their first album since the '70s, Haih... Or Amortecedor, and are currently on tour with Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti. Just before leaving on tour Sergio Dias took some time out of packing to chat with Discorder. This conversation was over an hour long, but we've distilled it down to the best bits. DISCORDER: To start, I'd like to ask you, especially for all the people that may not know a lot about Os Mutantes and the whole Tropicalia movement, just to give your own three minute history of eveiything up until now. SERGIO DIAS: Wow. [laughs] D: You might be able to have more than three minutes. SD: Yeah I can. During the '60s the world suffered a huge transformation, it happened, you know, in America, there was a big change in politics and in social movements and in arts and everything. It was a huge vortex of energy in the entire world—and»the world then was much much larger than it is today. You know today is a very small world. It's so easy to be anywhere and to get information. And the beautiful thing is that all these thing happened simultaneously in the '60s and at the same time that was happening, things like the Flower Power movement in America, or Beatle Mania in England ... I think the reason why it was so weird, I think it's because Brazil at the time received information in very truncated bits and pieces, kind of a kaleidoscope of everything. For instance for the Flower Power, we didn't get the Power, just the Flower, and there was no idea what was going on in Vietnam. We heard about it, but we didn't know how much involvement was in this. We had our own problems here, with the coup d'etat and the military government here, so we were basically reflecting what we were feeling and we didn't really have any concrete connection to any of those movements in Europe or America but' it was a very pretty thing to see because it was so instinctive and ... without any planning. And it's beautiful to look back and see how that tiling could happen, and in Brazil it was very, very strong very powerful. Television then was a nice place to be 'cause there was a lot of cultural and musical programs ... and all those tilings were followed by the entire country and so it was an amazing thing to see. So besides all the political problems we were going through with the military and the government and torture and the movement against it, and there was all this crazy movemehtwhich was the Tropicalismo [ed. another name/or Tropicalia] which was basically—I wouldn't call it anarchy because it was freedom of thought really. So it was funny 'cause they couldn't really label us [in the Tropicalismo movement] because we had elements of everything, a bit of American influence, English influence and there was the Communist party and all this messy like the witches brew, you know, of all these angry ingredients and I think the music and art that came at the time reflected this moment. It was so unique.... It was an amazing cascade of different styles and different modes that were coming and changing everything day by day and that was an a amazing thing 'cause you learn to assimilate the things very fast and you would respond to it very fast and I think that's basically what Tropicalismo did in Brazil. D: Yeah. Getting back to the musical thing... It'sftumy because, initially, well I'm not sure if you would consider yourself a political band or not? $D: I don't think we're a political band, you know, we're political beings. All the sayings... permeates our lives, permeates our spirits, and we ...ehewitand spititout, you know, and the way that, whatever comes, all the information is welcome. D: I want to ask about this quote from the liner notes off your second album Mutantes, by Nelson Mora: "He who lives in a consumer society has two alternatives: either participate or be devoured by it; there is no escape from these options." He's talking about your commercials for Shell Oil. Like, what do . you think about it? SD: We did a commercial for Shell, but we did it, and we put it on the album as a song ["Algo Mais"]. We didn't treat it as a thing made specially for this ' purpose. I wrote the song, and... we liked it as much as any other song, so we used it in the album as music. I mean, as a piece of composition, you know, it is in the album. I think we, on the other hand, we can devour it also and put it out in another form. 0; And, it's interesting, the way it goes with your name. I mean, it's almost like you're mutating. You're mutating that ad, in a way. SD: Yeah, because the thing is, if you're never exposed, for example, to the bad things, let's say, or if your immune system is not ever violated, you're too fragile. You cannot be that fragile. I think it's very important for us, as human beings or artists, to be exposed to whatever media that exists, and to be able to make art on any of these medias. That's the trick, that's the important tiling. For example, let's say, the guy—I don't remember his name—the guy who did all those posters in America, remember? In the Second World War? D: I don't know his name, but I know the ones you're talking about. SD: Yeah, he did a fantastic job. Or for example, even the French artist [Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec], who did the posters for the Moulin Rouge, beautiful art that he created. He was doing that, and he was making [money]. With this, he created an entire new perspective of art, and he was doing it basically for hire. ... And this is, to put it on the same level of any other great artist in France, which is fantastic. And, for example, this guy in the States—which I don't remember his name, I'm sorry—he was so important in the posters, you know, and was beautiful, the stuff that he did. And there is so many weird things in the, world for them. Like that girl [Leni Riefenstahl] that did Adolf Hitler's films. She invented a bunch of new ways of filmingJike moving cameras and all this stuff. When she did the commercial things for the Nazi movement, and even if it was that terrible, evil thing, if you looked at the art aspect, thellte is the development of art in there. So it is important to be exposed to good and evil. There is no white without black. You have to have a balance. And with yourself, I think you have to be able to live with all these things, to be able to recognize what is good for you and what is not good for you. D: It's interesting, like, this sort of yin-yang, light-dark thing, because to an extent your, you and Os Mutantes, you were enemies of the state, in a way. SD: But, the state was our enemy, before we decided to do anything. They were the enemy, you know, I mean we were considered the enemy, and they were attacking us.... So we started fighting back. That's the natural law of survival, you know, if you're attacked, you fight back. And in terms of art during that period, whenever the censorship, for example, came and said "Oh, you cannot use the word sword in your songs," we would never change thaword. We would mutilate the song and put a noise on top of it. Like, there is a place where it says "armadura e lanca" which is like, "armor and spear to ruffle," and that was not permitted. So we putra noise on top of it, like [makes sound of static or distortion].... And when we used to perform, we'd just sing with the right lyrics. So we record it and we show that it was censored, you know, that was our way of doing it. We didn't explode any bombs or anything like that, but just the way that we were, you know, I think that was enough to bother a bunch of people. D: Do you consider yourself a contrarian? A devil's advocate? SD: A what? I don't understand, sorry. D: Somebody who says something that's against the norm at any given time, not necessarily meaning what they say but somebody that's sort of shaking " up the system a little bit. stlNIl SD: I love that. I think it's very necessary. I think the worst thing in the world is a place where it's always blue sky, there's no rain and nothing happened. No, I think you need some tornadoes around, or some earthquakes here and there so you can shake the ground. Otherwise you just fall asleep. I think it's very important to face things and to be able at least to joke about it. I mean, you don't need to be a radical poet that is doing protest songs. Sometimes if you make a good joke out of it, it's more effective. D: Speaking of the radical poets doing protest songs, what was your relationship, you and Os Mutantes, to people like Gilberto Gil and Tom Ze, contemporaries who may have been more political than others at the time. How did you get into that scene? SD: Well, we were kids. You have to realize that when I was playing with Gil, I was 16 years old. Even though I was coming from a family of politicians—my father was the right arm for one of the governors of Sao Paulo or whatever, and politics was in the house, but never as a huge topic. On the politics side, for the Mutantes, it was totally an anarchical thing because we were kids, and VOT ARE LIKE A SIMPLE ANTENNA REALLY THAT IS PICKING UP SOME KIND OF SPECIAL RADIO WAVE AND IT IS BASICALLY THE MUTANTES WAVE. I kids are anarchical. We are against, always, because basically that's nature. You know, you have to be against the status quo to be able to become a new generation. I think this is basically the longevity of your youth, for how long you are able to keep being like this.... But the great thing for me now was, for example, when we released the last album, Haih... Or Amortecedor. I was lucky enough to re-encounter Tom Ze, in 20071 think, when we first played in Brazil and he played at the same show. We finally could communicate in an intellectual level. At the [original] time [we met], you know, what would I say to the guy? I was just a kid playing guitar. I was even a virgin, I had never even kissed a girl probably. And now, you know, I think he became one of my best musical partners. And the job that we did in Haih... Or Amortecedor is something that I'm so damn proud of.... D: What's your relationship like with the contemporary music scene? Like right now, your tour with Ariel Pink, who's one of the more challenging major artists in the world right now, how did that come about? Did you seek them out? Did he seek you out? SD: No, I don't know them yet I know their music, but we're gonna meet now at the show. I don't know exactly how this marriage happened, but I think it was probably the sensible thing to do, to put Ariel Pink and Mutantes together, ' because probably we are the same with a different kind of perspective. I think it will be a fantastic experience for both bands beside the audience because we are going to be able to enjoy each other and this is what it's all about, you know, living side by side on stage. That's the great thing. I think it's going to be a great thing, and maybe something fresh will come out of that. D: Hm. Because it's really interesting the new Os Mutantes album, Haih... [laughs] SD:Haih... Or Amortecedor. D:Haih... Or Amortecedor. This has not been my strong suit, pronunciation, especially in foreign languages. [The album] surprised me that it's distinctively Os Mutantes, even though you are the only member left from the band back when you were like Os Mutantes all capital letters. It still sounds like, you sakLyou had that frame of reference when you were recording the album that that's what you were trying to do and it works. SD: Yeah, I think it's my job, in terms of putting this album together, was basically to filter.... When you are under the Mutantes umbrella, it is a total different kind of magic. For example, I would never write a song like "2000 e Agarrum," as a solo artist. It doesn't work. I don't know why. But for Os Mutantes, it makes total sense. And I'm able to do it And when I'm playing or doing a solo album or something like that, I would go to a total different direction and it's amazing to see this happening. You know you have no power at all over this thing. And see that you are like a simple antenna really that is picking up some kind of special radio wave and it is basically the Mutantes wave. And it is a fantastic thing because—you should see it happen—most of what you hear on the album is always first take and that is fantastic because it is so fresh. For example, Bia [Mendes] singing "Querida Querida," that was her first take and she never sang in that region before and I just told her do it, "Try this, try that" and she just did and she just did it in a way. And she was always saying "Oh let me try again, let me try again" and I said "No way," that's the take because I knew it was great. And the guitars are always first take and the singing. Most of the stuffis all first take. D: So no auto-tune huh? SD: No way! ) 10 OB BUXTON THE B IS FOR BUSKING (NOT REALLY) WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY ROBERT FOUGERE If you've walked down Granville Street on a Saturday night within the last year, there is a good chance that you've already met Daniel Benjamin Buxton. And chances are you weren'twalking when you passed him: you were probably shaking or shimmying. It's obvious to even the most obscenely drunk passerby that he didn't start playing yesterday. DB Buxton is an Edmonton institution, haying spent ovelT'i decade of shivery winters on the street earning his living and his stripes strumming his heart away. Edmonton's loss is Vancouver's gain as he has recently chased his dreams from Dirt City fo Rain City and his loyal fans are looking forward to seeing Canada's premier bluesman collecting his comeuppance. With new management and a new solo album on the horizon in the new year, Discorder photographer Robert Fougere caught up with DB Buxton for a quick sit down. DISCORDER: What's your motivation for playing on the street? DB BUXTON: I started doing it when I was really young and it really was just survival. I didn't do it because I thought it was particularly cool or fun. D: Why do you think more talented musicians don't busk? DBB: Because it's4*orrifying! It's awful. It's so painful. If you don't care about music it's easy to do. D: What do you think is the friendliest Canadian city for busking? DBB: I would say a place like Toronto or Montreal treat me the best, but that's because I've been doing it so long. I'm so good at doing it, but if I was bad, mm songs am written by %£ SPONDJNG HONESTLY TO WHAT'S 60- INS ON AROUND YOU Am TO RESPOND Honestly wu ham to b£ part of IWATSGOm ON AROUND YOU. ' .H I'm sure I'd do really terrible. Toronto is a place where if you're really good, people will appreciate it and they will step outside of their boundaries to show you they appreciate it. Vancouver, by contrast, is not like that. People are nicer. They're on average more arty, more cultured, but they're also more standoffish. When I'm busking here, I mean, I really have to work crowds hard because people will not exit their zones: they're shyer people. D: How much do you hate playing for drunks? DBB: When I was young, I didn't use to do any drugs or drink. In my early teens I was kind of wild, but in my later teens I was trying to be super serious about life and at that time it really did depress me and I really kind of hated mankind a lot. You see the worst of people all the time and it makes you bitter. As I got older Izcaliartd part of that was my fault I was elevating myself in my mind as being this genius who has no opportunity or is stuck in this shitty situation and I realized I was kind of on my own high horse and realized I had to stop hating on people and relax and understand that this is life. This is where I'm at If you're gonna be an artist, you have to be true to reality, with where you're at Good songs are written by responding honestly to what's ., going on around you and to respond honestly you have to be part of what's going on around you. 0/Yow've got your trademark guitar, your trademark haircut; how important is your stage persona to your music? DBB: In my early 20s I was completely obsessed. I was so sure that I was gonna be die next Prince or David Bowie or something like that. I was very conscious of these things. When I would do my posters, when I would do anything, it was about creating that image for myself: something that I thought really stood out What I didn't realize at the time was that I was just throwing that out into nowhere. There was no sense of context I just felt that if I act like that, if I present myself like I'm going to be a star, it would just happen. It'll line up. In Edmonton, that can't be true. I kind of retreated from that because I took that about as far as I could within that context D: I've read in your bio that you feel as though you're slowly stumbling towards success. What's your idea of success? DBB: I would define success for myself as finding my audience, you know, that exists out there in the world but currently doesn't know who I am. But they're out there, whoever they are. That's number one. Number two is being able to have the power to do things the way that I want to be able to do them. I wouldn't define it as having a bunch of money in my pockets or being famous. Although I'm not anti-those things! fc 11 ■W S4K fiflff H4j''fMUplB WAY SINCE 2003, AND IN WE LAST WU SAY PARTY HASmUPm THE^mSAtW" NtOtt THEIR NAME mbers haJMeft from mi local ed Uti* WM^JWi^^^i 3 n Ricftfmw THEATRE. BAND I iff w reMaced by musicians XLENCE AND HARD PEEUNSS. ON 1 DISCORDER: First off, how is Europe? YOU SAY PARTY: Coming back to Europe after three years absent has been amazing! The audiences have been strong in their response to us, as if no time has passed. They all know the songs from XXXX and that's been really rewarding. After the band fight at the end of 2007, we weren't sure when we were going to return and this tour has been incredibly healing after the loss of Devon. D: It looks like it just took a few years and now critics are raving about your albums. That buzz is spreading across Canadian campuses and you have gained international recognition. How different do you feel now, compared to when you were playing .music in Becky [Ninkovic]'s basement? YSP: The biggest change has been the lineup changes. Having Krista [Loewen] leave the band this past summer has also been hard. She was there in Becky's basement at the first practice. The desire to have fun and play music and entertain is still the same. The Smoking Spokes (our original bike gang) disbanded years ago and we've grown and adjusted through the lineup changes. Yet we've never picked anyone to be in our band that hasn't had a strong connection to Abbotsford in some way. So to have Al Boyle and Robert Andow in the band now, they understand the original spirit that the band has, they've known us even longer than the band itself. D: "Lonely's Lunch" is quite the epic music video, where did the idea for it come from? Also, why was it shot on location in India? YSP: After making so many music videos with the band itself performing in the video, we decided that we needed to do something differently. We approached Sean Wainsteim, who directed our "Monster" video in Prague back in 2007, with the idea to try something new. He was intrigued by the opportunity and the challenge and presented us a treatment for the video. Abbotsford has a strong Sikh community that is well integrated into the community at large, and so the suggestion of India didn't seem that foreign to us at all. We're very happy with the results and the response that the video has been receiving. D: Remixxxx is out and it's delicious. I enjoyed the Teen Daze and Los Campesinos remixes. How did you get in touch with the artists who did the remixes? Was it a joint effort? Or did the label handle it? YSP: I'm friends with both Teen Daze and Tom [Campesinos] from Los Campesinos. It was just a matter of writing them emails asking them if they were interested. It was great to get such awesome remixes from them. (A lot of the other remixers we knew.) The label suggested two other remixes for the album but ultimately we had total control of what songs made it and what songs didn't. For remix records, I feel the band takes on the role of curator as opposed to being the artist Usually the music media and fans criticize remix records, but I've always taken on the attitude that this is our chance to expose our fans to great artists they may not know. D: During 2008 you all took some time off from the band. Was this a joint decision? YSP: This was a decision of necessity. [In] 2007 we toured our selves into the ground. Not many people realize that You Say Party! We Say Die! toured for 16 straight weeks without coming home. At the end of week 14 we had a huge band fight in Berlin and it seemed [like] the end of the band. We managed (with the help of our tour manager Liv Lunde) to resolve the conflict between the two camps in the band and help us get back to a place where we were able to finish the remainjwo weeks of the tour. What people don't know is what's even further behind that. Becky's health was the worst it's ever been. Having lost nearly 30 pounds and touring on despite being sick and without a voice during the day, we pushed through sheer exhaustion. The rest of the band was crumbling and we weren't sure why were even a band at all. Getting home at the end of 2007 and re-evaluting our lives, both personally and together as a band, we realized that we had done ourselves a great disservice. We had to turn down another opportunity to return to Europe in January/February 2008, opening in arenas, and instead focus on healing and recovering. It was months before Becky and I could even return to work. But in March 2008, we took the opportunity to tour China and that was another major turning point D: These past six months have been a time of transition for your band and us at Discorder are truly sorry for your loss of drummer Devon Clifford. Why did you decide to continue on as a band, and how has Devon's death altered your outlook? YSP: Losing Devon has been a huge loss for this band. Many people in Vancouver knew Devon and what an amazing personality he was. He touched so many lives. He was a protector in this band and he watched over all of us. It was Derek [Adam], three weeks after Devon's passing who said we needed to carry on, to work harder than ever and carry Devon's spirit on. Becky and I were moved and felt we had to do the same as well. Every night at our shows on this European tour Becky has lit a flame and dedicated it to Devon. It's been incredibly emotional and incredibly healing. The response from the crowds has been nothing but positive and been instrumental in the process of grieving the loss of such an amazing drummer, friend and band mate. D: Your current roster has Al Boyle of Hard Feelings on drums and Robert Andow from Gang Violence on keys, how has Boyle's and Andow's musical style contributed to your sound? YSP: Al and Robert have got to be two of the very best musicians in Vancouver and we count ourselves very lucky to have them apart of our band. We've played shows opening for their previous bands (WPP, Cadeaux) and have known them both a very very long time. Devon was very close with both of them and it seemed only logical to have them join our band and help us carry on Devon's spirit D: Although touring is nothing new to you, does homesickness still affect you? YSP: Not me, my grandmother told me shortly after high school that I was plagued with Wanderlust and it's true. Prior to founding YSPIWSD! I was hitch-1 hiking Canada. Seeing Edmondon band the Wolfhote in Charlottetown, P.E.I., I realized that travelling was great, but playing a show every night and travelling was even better. So I came back to Abbotsford and started this band. D: What is next for You Say Party? YSP: We've demo'd six brand new songs this fall and we've got plans to write more over winter. We're planning a Canadian tour in the spring with Paperbag label mates Young Galaxy. Also, since I recently received my proper paperwork to return to the USA, for the first time in four years, You Say Party will be returning to touring regularly in the US! Very exciting! After that we plan to get back into the studio and record another record, fc W 1 WANT TO MAKE THIS SOUND LIKE IT'S BESIDE A HOT DOG STAN^r BY SARAH BERMAN PH0T0 BY MICHAEL IRVINE If a never-ending laser beam were unleashed inside the Taj Mahal, would it make a sound? . Though they have no scientific evidence to back it up, all four members of Flash Palace are willing to bet it would sound like an intricately woven post-rock jam with carefully hidden Josh Groban samples. At least that's the soundscape bassistEllis Sam described while discussing his band's debut EP Some Misinterpreted Sunsets. "There's probably a guy from Peru or Poland walking around and everyone has their shoes off," explained Sam, who also supplies electronic samples and "vocal drones" on the record* "And this laser is just constantly bouncing around." Bouncing light is an appropriate metaphor, as the band's creative process seems to involve a jumbled back-and-forth exchange between sounds and visuals. "We grew up with lots of TV and video games with lots of repeated imagery and sound," Sam said. With a scene from the 1989 computer game Sim City frozen on the television screen in front of us—in a house where three of the band members live—lasers and architectural imagery somehow begin to make sense. "We used to watch TV and put music on and try to sync it up," drummer Mac Lawrie explained. A common practice among stoners and bored teenagers everywhere, this pastime seems to inspire poignant loops and transitions on tracks like "sasa" and "double/day." "We actually did that last night with Carl Sagan and Super Mario," chimed in guitarist Samuel Dzierzawa. "He explains the fourth dimension," added Jon Scherk, another multi-instrumentalist and singer in the band. Members of Flash Palace consistently finish each others' sentences. And it's no wonder: the four 19- and 20-year-olds have been friends and making music together since the seventh grade. "These guys used to be in a band called the Butterfly Lovers," explained Sam, noting the group sounded like a math-rockier version of Tool. "They put out a thousand copies of their first EP, and gave everyone at high school a CD. It was pretty Sweet. I was a fan." Then Jon and I were in a pop band called Us Us Us," he continued. "And together we started this math rock band Called Trusty Backpack. It was pretty awkward. Funny. Like lots of loops and me yelling a lot." It wasn't until last year's Shindig battle of the bands that the name Flash Palace finally stuck. "I just kind of blurted it out" Sam recalled (the group was calling themselves Tigerhead at the time). "But I lisped it so it sounded like 'Flesh Palace.' So people were saying 'sweet job Flesh Palace.' It was weird." Flash Palace/Tigerheadiiidn't advance to the semi-finals on that fateful evening. (Much to the chagrin of Discorder writerikenda Grunau, who wrote that the foursome "rocked out like Tortoise." She subsequently declared them "the best set of the night") [ed. For those curious both Flash Palace and Jody Glenham tost this night to Lengthy List of Lovers.] Equally motivated by Enya, grapefruits and pre-show chicken burgers, Sam said Flash Palace creates entirely new soundscapes during each of their live performances. "We don't want to play the same set over and over," he said. "We're there to make one big piece of music that like, feels right to us," he said. "In our sets we don't try and stop our music—we just try and keep it continually going, which I think puts people off because they're like 'When do I clap?' you know, 'When do I yell 'Yeah! Sweeti'?'" "We work up to our shows," added Scherk. "We get as many new ideas into that show so it's interesting." The young band recently opened for Brasstronaut at the Rickshaw, and has even had a chance to play alongside Deakin, a former member of Animal Collective. But when asked if their shows have been well received, responses were decidedly modest. "Nobody booed," Lawrie said. Though the band's recorded work feels undeniably fresh, Flash Palace's musical influences are surprisingly vintage. "Marvin Gaye is one of my favourite musicians," Sam gushed. "He just gets in that really spiritual place in his music and you can't replicate that" And Sam makes a point of noting his love of Enya is by no means ironic. "My dad played me the Enigma CD and the Enya CD like every day," he explained. "I put it on the other day, and the amount of subtle techno beats and then long delayed vocals ... that kind of like new age sound kind of creeps in on everything I write." Apart from the "classics" (in quotations because Limp Bizkit was also mentioned in this category), Flash Palace are quick to praise similar bedroom composers. "Azeda Booth is probably one of our favourite bands, and they're probably one of the most underrated bands in Canada," Sam said. "They've just made their own sonic world." Flash Palace are on their way to achieving their own sonic world, having recently moved in to a shared house in East Van. After years of angry neighbours, the band finally has a wood-panelled basement jam space to call their own. "We've been here about a month," Scherk said. "We were working out of our parents' basements and always changing jam spaces. And so we thought having our own space would be the best thing to do." Beginning in 2011, the band plans to put shows on hold for a while to focus on recording a second album. "We're going to record all our new album here. And do like, all the proper technical tweaks at a bigger studio," Sam said. "We get in a room together and just keep on jamming out parts and like talk with our instruments a lot" &)*$■ "We're going to work really hard on it,",he added. "I'm always thinking like, where can I take the sound. Like, I want to make this sound like ifs beside a hot dog stand." "That's the golden chalice," Scherk agreed, fc 4 OK VANCOUVER OK BY WILL PEDLEY / ILLUSTRATION BY ANNE EMBERLINE MAKING SENSE THROUGH SONG TF YOU'RE HAVING A GOOD TIME, THEN HAVE A REALLY GOOD TIME AND JUST BE HAPPY THAT YOU ARE HAPPY RIGHT THEN, IN THE MOMENT, BECAUSE THAT'S ALL THERE IS. Since 2005 OK Vancouver OK, otherwise known as Jeff Johnson, has released four albums, each one with songs as consistently engaging, entertaining, surprising and moving as the last From the playful melodica driven collaboration with Chris-a-Riffic, "Love's So Great," to the simultaneously dramatic but pretty piano of "This Saint Jeffrey," to the delicate, shimmering acoustic guitar of "My Favourite Everytime," Johnson exhibits a kaleidoscopic depth of feeling and sound that shares similarities with, but is not limited to, the likes of Phil Elyerum, Bill Callahan or Tim Kinsella. While his recorded output showcases his ability to take the listener on an immersive sonic expedition, Johnson's five performances offer a very different experience. "I feel like I'm a receptor of energies. Every time I play I'm always conscious of what's going on around me, which has an effect on what I'm doing. I want to try to present something worth listening to, something real. A lot of the time I'm ad-libbing or experimenting with songs, changing songs in the moment because I feel like it," Johnson explained. As well as being a talented multi-instrumentalist, Johnson possesses a very powerful voice that conveys a tremendous weight of emotion. When he's singing at full volume and his vocal chords seem to be on the brink of collapse—the effect is both disarming and poignant. "For me [singing is] a way to vent and get these feelings out. Maybe I'll choose to play a song because I want to remember somebody or I want to remember a feeling. I want to do the best I can to perform these songs how I felt when I originally wrote them," Johnson said. OK Vancouver OK's latest album, I Feel Nice/Houses, will be released sometime between now and February. "It'll be at the right time," Johnson assured. Among the highlights of the album is "JeffTree," a song about reincarnation with a simple two chord acoustic strum and a heart-breakingly exquisite melody sung with a tender dexterity. Another understated arrangement is used to great effect on the hypnotic, reverb heavy "Life's A Beach," which epitomizes one of the defining characteristics of OK Vancouver OK—the convergence of tragic beauty and uncontained joy. In contrast, the clicks, booms and whirrs of "I Feel Nice" are jarring and harsh with Johnson making a cheap keyboard sound huge and enveloping. The result is like being underwater—unnerving yet liberating. , .$-0^ His last album, I Get So Drunk About Songs About Love, was released in 2007. So how does he feel about the long gap between releases? "It feels bad but it had to be that way," Johnson explained. "The circumstances of my life had led me to travelling and exploring and living in Europe with no money for months in the middle of winter, which led me to realise 'Oh shit! How am I going to get home? I've got to set myself up a tour and make some money,' and I did. And the most incredible things happened along that journey." Considering the remarkable quality of the music, it is odd that OK Vancouver OK is still relatively unknown and indeed, unsigned. It isn't something that Johnson has ever pursued, and although he hasn't formally been approached by a record label, reps have shown interest at his performances, asking him to send them demos. "If I had a weird feeling ' about it then I wouldn't even bother," Johnson said. "I don't want to record for a label, I like to do it myself," he elaborated. "It's a really hard one for me because on one hand I'd like to be able to perform in front of more people, but on the other hand I'm scared of that because along with all the good, there's going to be just as much bad. I have to be ready for that to happen. Maybe I don't want that I'm happy right now. If I had a huge stage and thousands of people, what would I 1 even do with that? How am I supposed to source how I feel and the energy of the room?" In addition to the release of his new album, Johnson is also planning a musical. "I got really excited about that but I've learned that there are so many more things that I need to do before I can make it as great as I want it to be," he said. "It might take me 20 years, but it is something worth doing. [The musical] is inspired by a friend of mine [Patrick Geraghty of Role Mach.]... It's gonna be big. It's going to have a huge volcano in it and it's gonna be really pretty. There are no words, no singing, just music and I have in my mind that there will be over a hundred people in the cast" It would be easy to be sceptical that such an elaborate and somewhat bewildering plan could ever be made a reality. However, when it comes from the vivid imagination that fuels OK Vancouver OK, it might just be possible. It might just be absolutely awesome. "There's an idea that you have, that I have, to live" goes a line in the song "Life's A Beach." When asked, Johnson elaborated on his lyrics, "I feel like everyone knows what I'm talking about in some kind of way and sometimes it's so difficult for me to explain in words. But it's this idea to feel like a child or to feel free and to feel like you're being loved. I hope that everyone has felt that—to live and to feel really alive, to not have to go home because work tomorrow says so. If you're having a good time, then have a really good time and just be happy that you are happy right then, in the moment, because that's all there is." Like many songwriters before him, Johnson is simply attempting to make sense of the world, share his ideologies and articulate his thoughts through song. On paper, itisn't immediately clear what he means but, when heard in the context of OK Vancouver OK, somehow it all makes sense. k 17 ' that better everyday magazine fiwt CiTR WIS[flu ADVERTISE WITH BISC0RBtfi;WI1.tIffi*T YOU REAL NICE AND GIVE YOU pAMN GOOD Dl$L m 6ET A DISCOUNT, WEB ADS ON OUR SITE ARE ALSO AVAILABLE. CONTACT OUR AD MANAGER AT: PR0MOTI0N$.DISCORDER@GJMAILCaM "fVi 4fH If* mm& ON A UNICORN 8YMINTERNET PRtSENTS THE CD RELEASE DP JANUARY THIRTEENTH REOCEOARHUSICCOH MYSPWE.COM/REDCEDARMUSIG RDER'S FAVOURITE 15 LOCAL BANDS OF 2010 AS ALL GOOD MUSIC JOURNALISTS KNOW, THE END OF THE YEAR MEANS THAT ITS TIME TO MAKE A LIST OF WHAT WAS IMPORTANT THAT HAPPENED IN MUSIC THIS YEAR. SO ABOUT 25 OF US AT DISCORDER GOT OUR HEADS TOGETHER AND HAMMERED OUT WHAT WE THOUGHT THE HOTTEST LOCAL BANDS OF THE YEAR WERE. AFTER ALL THE VOTES WERE CAST AND THE LISTS WERE MADE, THIS IS WHAT WE CAME UP WITH. YOU MAY DISAGREE. THAT IS OK, LISTS ARELIKETHAT. (YOU CAN HAVE YOUR OWN SAY ABOUT WHAT MUSIC WAS IMPORTANT BY TAKING DISCORDER'S 2010 READER POLL. SEE PAGE 23 FOR DETAILS!) AfTOTo Guom i. Adrian Teacher, Amanda Panda and Jay Oliver's band have been ontiie tip of everyone in Vancouver's tongue all year. Their stellar 2010 album, Mount Benson, contained a combo of heartwarming songs that balance a punk d.i.y. attitude with beautiful pop songwriting and masterful rock showmanship. They are master performers and the only complaint I've ever heard about one of their shows is that it was too short. MASSr*oM»r 2. Unfamiliar Records' genre-spanning band, Brasstronaut, put Mt. Chimaera out this year, and it rightly garnered a lot of praise in the Canadian music press. The band's genre is hard to pin down, but there's no denying their talent shines through. FlffEMJiT 3. Before their album Public Domain was even officially named, their fans were fervently swapping around demos of the songs that would become this album. You could see that this band hit a nerve when they'd play to an audience who knew the words so well that lead singer Megan McDonald would just hand her mic to someone in the audience and sip her chardonnay while whoever was holding the mic allowed as many people as possible to sing along. AU*£0Ur YIMLOTAff 4." The irhmensely talented songwriter Mac DeMarco's band is one of the best in town. The songs he writes and performs, seemingly effortlessly, are little lo-fi gems and well worth the listen. They are excellent and can't get enough credit. electronica, reggae, pop and dub, and consistently gets their audiences moving. KlfllAM 5. It's good to know that people in Vancouver still like to dance and Humans proves it with every show and recording they release. Their music draws on The songstress has garnered praise across Canada. You should pick up her album. HACK HMMAlN Mf**wS 6. Probably the most established band on this list, their place here is to show thatyou don't need to be new to be one of the most talked about and interesting bands in Vancouver. Check out their latest, Wilderness Heart, if you don't believe us. n. The proud Vancouverite band has been making TV appearances and dropping excellent singles this year. They are a big influence at home and the next generation has even started playing covers of their music. BABE ftjfcijvtov* %\$%N B.C. 7. Cam Reed, a.k.a. Babe Rainbow, seems to open for every band since he released his EP Shaved. The dark dubby album that brought him international acclaim has also drawn attention to Reed's musical abilities, which have often been overshadowed by his ability to organize music festivals, like Music Waste. 12. If you like metal than you already know why Bison B.C. is on this list They are the best metal band Vancouver has to offer and their music gets all our metal writers' ears to perk up. Their latest album Dark Ages came out this year and was definitely one of the best releases. LADYHAWK AH** . Grimey dirt rockers Ladyhawk, a staple of Vancouver's live scene, haven't put out a new album since 2008, nevertheless, the fact that so many of our contributors voted for them indicates thatyou don't need an album to be talked about and recognized as one of the best bands of the year, you just need a stupendous live show. ftfWMA/VGAJ* 9. We think Dan Mangan's importance can be summed up by what Nathaniel Bryce said when he put him on his list. "Come on, he's sold out the Vogue four times this year and pretty much everywhere else as well." How many local bands can sell out the Vogue four times in one year? We can't think of any others. 13. If there's one flaw with Vancouver's noise scene, it's that it's hard to listen to the music outside of live performances, but Ahna has made an excellent effort to fix that by putting out their debut self-titled album, an intense dark and crushing release. AAT-«ft 14. When will these guys release something for people to put into their music playing machines? The duo makes excellent dance/punk/noise music and plays lots of shows. If you haven't seen them then you have not yet acknowledged that your father probably wanted to fuck Isabella Rossellini. SlAtAWN* fANSHAW 10. Finally, after five years of playing in the city, Olivia Fetherstonhaugh (more commonly known as Fanshaw) released Dark Eyes on Mint Records. 15. We wish these guys would move to Vancouver so we could all see them play more often, but the Victoria natives play here enough to build a following for their bluesy garage rock. One of the funnest bands this side of the Rockies. 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ART PROJECT // SIMON REDEKOP SIMON REDEKOP IS A MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST WHO LIVES AND WORKS IN VANCOUVER. HIS WORK INCORPORATES PAINTING, SCULPTURE, VIDEO EFFECTS AND PERFORMANCE. HE HAS EXHIBITED HIS PAINTINGS INTERNATIONALLY AS A COLLECTIVE ARTIST OVER THE PAST TEN YEARS. REDEKOP HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN NUMEROUS COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS, MOST RECENTLY "TEH" WITH PATRICK CRUZ AT BLIM. HE IS CURRENTLY WORKING ON A SOUND AND VIDEO INSTALLATION WITH DUSTIN COLE AND FINISHING A NEW GROUP OF PAINTINGS FOR UPCOMING SHOWS WHICH WILLBE ANNOUNCED SOON. WHEN NOT CREATING ART, REDEKOP ENJOYS SOCCER, GOING TO THE STEAM ROOM AND DRINKING COFFEE. CHECK OUT MORE WORK AT WWW.SIMONREDEKOP.COM AND WWW.Y0UTUBE.COM/VITAMINDI0N. //CiTR 101.9 FM PROGRAM GUIDE DISCORDER SUGGESTS LISTENING TO CiTR ONLINE AT WWW.CiTR.CA EVERY DAY. SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY 7 CiTRGhostMix ' CSTR Ghost Mbr Pacific Pitkin' (Roots) CfTR Ghost Mix CiTRGhostMix > CiTRGhostMix fNtitof SunjSse > \', (Ictectc) CiTRGhostMix The Saturday Edge - !3U>0tS) 1 - Breakfast With The Browns (Eclectic) Souadte of Africa (World) # Suburban Jungle (Eclectic) End ofthe World News (Talk) Synchronicity (Talk) a Third Time's The Charm (Rock) ., 19 Shookshookta(TaJk) Pop Drones - (Eclectic^ * 1 Sttf&tAndHotfTazz) - Ska-T's Scenic Drive (Ska) 11 KolNode di (World) Stranded (Eclectic) Morning After Show (Eclectic) Anoize (Noise) 1&m AJt Radio (Talk) Duncan's Donuts (E&Nsetic) Generation Atuntulation (Punk} 1 The Rockers Show (Reggae) Parts Unknown (Pop) Laugh Tracks (Talk) The Green Majority (Talk) We All Fall Down (Eclectic) Barnburner (Eclectic) • Power Chord (Metal) 2 Qm 'Em the Boot (World) DenK>mcy Now (Talk) Ink Studs (Talk) Radio 2ero (Dance) 3 Blood On The Saddle ^Root») - tafiUbl Mantis Cabinet (Eclectic) Wings (Talk) | Prof (Talk) Rumbletone Radio A Go Go (Rode) Japanese Musicquest (World) Code Bine (Roots) Radio Freethinker mm French Connection f Nardwuar Presents - (Nardwuar} 4 The 1^ (Eclectic} to The Cage With Bards 5 Chips (Pop) Fill In News ioi (Talk) Thunderbird Eye (Talk) Arts Report (Talk) Native Solidarity News (Talk), News 101 (Talk) The Leo Ramirez Show (World) S Career Past Track {Talk Flex Your Head (Hardcore) Reel to Real (Talk) CiTR Sports Live -NashaVoltia (World) Sor« Throats, Clapping Hands (Eclectic) ExplodingHead (Eclectic) squantch (Eel) Shameless (Eclectic) Queer FM (Talk) f TSh^AWm j Techno "" . (World) jftofwssisio Exquisite Corpse fl@|£$$timental) ' Notes from the $8 IMe, On Xnntpstreet (Dance) PolkOasis (Roots) Underground (Electrosfc/Hip-hop) q Mondo Trasho 9 (Eclectic) Crimes And Treasons (Hip-hop) Synaptic Sandwich < g)ance/Electronic/ . Eclectic),' *' «• T*anSeeaiW j *•*■»•« Sexy In Van City (Talk) Radio Hell (Lira) Shake A Tail Feather (Soul/R&B) The Vampires Ball (Industrial^ CITR Ghost Mix (Dancer 11 CabaRadio (Talk) Hans ^o^M_wn\r Hour (Hans Kloss) FunkMyLife (Soul/Dance) ' CfTR-GhostMix 12am TlirWdowaPM - (Dance/Electronic) CiTRGhostMix IpplTcntacles •.". Ipfectic) 1 fl 3 4 . 5 CiTRGhostMix i ■•• • CiTRGhostMix 7 8 9 II 11 1 3 5 I 7 S 9 19 11 12am 1 2 3 4 5 26 SUNDAY SHOOKSHOOKTA fTalk) io-nam A program targeted to Ethiopian people that " encourages education and personal development. KOLNODEDI (World) nam-i2pm Beautiful arresting beats and voices emanating from all continents, corners and voids. Always rhythmic, always captivating. Always crossing borders. THE ROCKERS SHOW (Reggae) i2:3pm Reggae inna all styles and fashion. BLOOD ON THE SADDLE (Roots) 3-5pm Alternatina Sundays Real cowshit-caught-in-yer- boots country. CHIPS WITH EVERYTHING (Pop) 5-6pm Alternating Sundays British pop music from all decades. International pop (Japanese, French, Swedish, British, US, etc.), '6os soundtracks and lounge. QUEER FM fTalk) 6-8pm Dedicated to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transexual communities ofVancouver. Lots of human interest features, background on current issues and great music. queerfmradio(p)gmail.com RHYTHMSINDIA (World) 8-gpm Alternatina Sundays Featuring a wide range of music from India, including popular music from the 1930s to the present; Ghazals and Bhajans, Qawwalis, pop and regional language numbers. TECHNO PROGRESSIVO (Dance) 8-9pm Alternatina Sundays A mix of the latest house music, tech-house, prog-house and techno. MONDOTRASHO (Eclectic) 9-iopm The one and the only Mondo Trasho with Maxwell Maxwell—don't miss it! TRANCENDANCE (Dance) iopm-nam Join us in practicing the ancient art of rising above common* ideas as your host DJ Smiley Mike lays down the latest trance cuts. trancendance@) hotmail.com THROWDOWN FM (Dance / Electronic) 12-iam Hosts Downtown Stacee Brown and Jen Slator are proud to announce that playlists for each and every show will be 100 per cent Vancouver, BC based underground music of the sub- bass generation. This means you'll never hear a track that's not from our west coast province of BC We call ourselves collecthreJy: The Local Union 604. Throw- downFM@gmail.com MONDAY BREAKFAST WITH THE BROWNS (Eclectic) 8-nam Your favourite Brownsters, James and Peter, offer a savoury blend of the familiar and exotic in a blend of aural delights. breakfastwiththebrowns@> hotmail.com STRANDED (Eclectic) uam-i2pm Join your host Matthew for a weekly mix of exciting sounds, past and present, from his Australian homeland. And journey with him as he features fresh tunes and explores the alternative musical heritage of Canada. ALTERNATIVE RADIO (Talk) 12-ipm Hosted by David Barsamian. PARTS UNKNOWN (Pop) i-3pm An indie pop show since 1999, it's like a marshmal- lowsandwich: soft and sweet and best enjoyed when poked with a stick and held close to a fire. MANTIS CABINET (Eclectic) 3"4pm THE RIB (Eclectic) 4-5pm Explore the avant-garde world of music with host Robyn Jacob on the Rib. From new electronic and experimental music to improvised jazz and new classical! So weird it will blow your mind! NEWS 101 (Talk) 5-6pm Vancouver's only live, volunteer-produced, student and community newscast. Every week, we take a look back at the week's local, national and international news, as seen from a fully independent media perspective. CAREER FAST TRACK fTalk) 6-6:3opm Join host and author Philippe Desrochers as he teaches you how ^dramatically increase your income doing work you love. SORE THROATS, CLAPPING HANDS (Eclectic) 6:30-7:3opm Sore Throats Clapping Hands relies on simple melodies and poignant lyricism to drive our passions. We embrace music that takes little production and, for that reason, is extremely accessible to play, share, create and enjoy—BtM$H$f; that can be produced with little more than dapping hands and sore throats. EXPLODING HEAD MOVIES (Eclectic) 7:30-9pm THE JAZZ SHOW (Jazz) 9pm-i2am Vancouver's longest running prime-time jazz program. Hosted by Gavin Walker. Features at npm. Dec. 6: Celebrating Jazz legend Dave Brubeck's 91st birthday with Jazz At Oberlin. Dec. 13: Tenor saxophonist Teddy Edwards and his octet: BackToAualon. Dec. 20: The Christmas Show: Dexter Gordon, the MJQ, Chet Baker, the Hip Story of Scrooge plus the legendary Miles Davis Christmas Eye session with Thelonious Monk and Milt Jackson et al. Dec. 27: Trumpet great Kenny Dorham: Trompeta Toccata. Jan. 3: Alto saxophone legend John Jenkins' birthday:John Jenkins and Kenny Burrell. Jan. 10: Drum great Max Roach's birthday: Max Roach +4 with Sonny Rollins and Kenny Dorham. Jan. 17: It's pianist Cedar Walton's birthday. Cedar Walton Live at Boomers with Clifford Jordan. Jan. 24: Legendary drummer Lennie McBrowne's birthday: Lennie McBroume & the Four Souls-Eastern Lights. Jan. 31: Bassist/composer/ firebrand Charles Mingus: Cumbia and Jazz Fusion. TUESDAY PACIFIC PICKIN' (Roots) 6-8am Bluegrass, old-time music, and its derivatives with Arthur and the lovely Andrea Berman. pacificpickin@yahoo.com SOUNDS OF AFRICA (World) 8-9:3oam Showcasing music, current affairs & news from across the African continent and the diaspora, you will learn all about beat and rhythm and it will certainly kick- start your day. . THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM (Rock) 9:30-ii:3oam Open your ears and prepare for a shock! A harmless ' note may make you a fan! Deadlier than the most dangerous criminals! borninsixtynine(5) hotmail.com MORNING AFTER SHOW (Eclectic) n:3oam-ipm An eclectic mix of Canadian indie with rock, experimental, world, reggae, punk and ska from Canada, Latin America and Europe. The Morning After Show has local bands playing live on the Morning After Sessions. Hosted by Oswaldo Perez Cabrera. LAUGH TRACKS fTalk) i-2pm Laugh Tracks is a show about comedy. Kliph Nesteroff from the 'zine, Generation Exploitation, hosts. generationexp!oit(cDyahoo. com, musicalbooKcD yahoo.ca GIVE'EM THE BOOT (World) 2-3pm Sample the various flavours of Italian folk music from north to south, traditional to modern on this bilingual Italian/English show. Un programma bilingue che esplora il mondo della musica etnica italiana. WINGS (Talk) 3-3:30pm Alternating Tuesdays PROF TALK fTalk) 3-3:3opm Alternating Tuesdays Bringing UBC's professors on air to talk about current/ past events at the local and international level. Aiming to provide a space for faculty and doctoral level students to engage in dialogue and share their current research, and to provide a space for interdisciplinary thinking. Interviews with professors from a variety of disciplines. http://ubcproftalk. wordpress.com proftalk@gmail.com RADIO FREETHINKER (Talk) 3:30-4:3opm Promoting skepticism, critical thinking and science, we examine popular extraordinary claims and subject them to critical analysis. The *eai world is a beautiful and fascinating place and we want people to see it through the lens of reality as opposed to superstition. IN THE CAGE WITH BARDS 03alJ#4:3O-5pm Join Carlin Bardsley as he welcomes the top names in Canadian Mixed Martial Arts to put up their dukes and discuss the fastest growing sport in the world. Recaps, interviews, tunes and more... it's the most fun you can have without being punched in die face! THUNDERBIRD EYE (Talk) 5-6pm Your weekly roundup of UBC Thunderbird sports action from on campus and off with your host Wilson Wong. FLEX YOUR HEAD (Hardcore) 6-8pm Punk rock and hardcore since 1989. Bands and guests from around the world. 27 LIFE ON JUMPSTREET (Dance) 8-9pm CRIMES & TREASONS (Hip-hop) 9-npm crimesandtreasons@ gmail.com CABARADIO (Talk) npm-i2:3oam For the world of Cabaret. Tune in for interviews, skits, musical guests and more. It's Radio with sass! WEDNESDAY SUBURBAN JUNGLE (Eclectic) 8-ioam Live from the Jungle Room, join radio host Jack Velvet for an eclectic mix of music, sound bites, information and inanity. Not to be missed! dj@jackvelvet.net POP DRONES (Eclectic) io-n:3oam ANOIZE (Noise) n:3oam-ipm An hour and a half of avant- rock, noize, plunderphonic, psychedelic and outsider aspects of audio. An experience for those wno want to be educated and EARitated. lukemeat@hotmail.com THE GREEN MAJORITY (Talk) i-2pm Canada's only environmental news hour, syndicated by CIUT 89.5 FM Toronto or wuM.greenmajority.ca. DEMOCRACY NOW (Talk) 2-3pm RUMBLETONE RADIO A GO GO (Rock) 3-5pm Primitive, fuzzed-out garage mayhem! ARTS REPORT (Talk) 5-6pm REEL TO REAL (Talk) 6-6:3opm Movie reviews and criticism. SAMSQUANTCH'S HIDEAWAY (Eclectic) 6:30-8pm Alternating Wednesdays • All-Canadian music with a focus on indie-rock/pop. anitabinder@hotmail.com SHAMELESS (Eclectic) 6:30-8pm Alternating Wednesdays Dedicated to giving local music acts a crack at some airplay. When not playing the PR shtick, you can hear some faves you never knew you liked. FOLK OASIS (Roots) 8-iopm Two hours of eclectic folk/ roots music, with a big emphasis on our local scene. C'mon in! A kumbaya-free zone since 1997. folkoasis@gmail. com SEXY IN VAN CITY (Talk) io-npm Your weekly dose of education and entertainment in the realm of relationships and sexuality. sexyinvancity.com/category/ sexy-in-vancity-radio HANS KLOSS' MISERY HOUR (Hans Kloss) npm-iam Pretty much the best thing on radio. THURSDAY END OF THE WORLD NEWS (Talk) 8-ioam SWEET AND HOT (Jazz) ioam-i2pm Sweet dance music and hot jazz from the 1920s, '30s and '40s. DUNCAN'S DONUTS (Eclectic) 12-ipm Sweet treats from the pop underground. Hosted by Duncan, sponsored by donuts. duncansdonuts. woidpress.com WE ALL FALL DOWN (Eclectic) i-2pm Punk rock, indie pop and whatever else I deem worthy. Hosted by a closet nerd, www.weallfalldowncitr. blogspotca INK STUDS (Talk) 2-3pm Underground and indie comix. Each week, we interview a different creator to get their unique perspective on comix and discuss their upcoming works. JAPANESE MUSICQUEST (World) 3-3:30pm Syndicated from CJLY Kootenay Co-op Radio in Nelson, B.C. FRENCH CONNECTION (World) 3:30-5pm French language and music. NATIVE SOLIDARITY NEWS (Talk) 5-6pm A national radio service and part of an international network of information and action in support of indigenous peoples' survival and dignity. ARE YOU AWARE (Eclectic) 6-7:3opm Celebrating the message behind the music: Profiling music and musicians that take the route of positive action over apathy. EXQUISITE CORPSE (Experimental) 7:30-9pm Experimental, radio-art, sound collage, field recordings, etc. Recommended for the insane. artcorpse@yahoo.com LIVE FROM THUNDERBIRD RADIO HELL (Live Music) 9-npm Featuring live band(s) every week performing in the CiTR Lounge. Most are from Vancouver, but sometimes bands from across the country and around the world. FUNK MY LIFE (Soul/Dance) npm-i2am Grooving out tunes with a bit of soul and a lot of funk, from the birth of rhythm and blues to the golden age of motown, to contemporary dance remixes of classic soul hits. We explore Brazilian funk, Japanese breakbeat anthems, the British motown remix scene, Canadian soul and disco that your parents probably made out to and the classics of American soul. Soul in the City's Oker hosts with guests to bring that extra bounce to your step. AURAL TENTACLES (Eclectic) i2-6am It could be global, trance, spoken word, rock, the unusual and the weird, or it could be something different. Hosted by Dj Pierre. auraltentacles@hotmail.com FRIDAY FRIDAY SUNRISE (Eclectic) 7:30-9am An eclectic mix of indie rock, hip-hop and reggae to bring you up with the sun. SYNCHRONICITY (Talk) 9-ioam Join host Marie B and discuss spirituality, health and feeling good. Tune in and tap into good vibrations that help you remember why you're here: to have fun! This is not your average spirituality show. SKA-T'S SCENIC DRIVE (Ska) ioam-i2pm Canada's longest running Ska radio program. djska_t@hotmail.com CITR LISTENER HOUR (Eclectic) 12-ipm Tune in each week as you, the CiTR fan, gets to program an hour of adventure for the whole world to hear! For more info, contact program coordinator Bryce Dunn at citrprogramming@ club.ams.ubc.ca. BARNBURNER (Eclectic) i-2pm The greasier side of rock 'n' roll, rhythm 'n' blues, and country... Crack a beer, order some BBQ and get your boogie on. RADIO ZERO (Dance) 2-3:30pm An international mix of super-fresh weekend party jams from New Wave to foreign electro, baile, Bollywood and whatever else. www.radiozero.com NARDWUAR (Nardumar) 3:30-5pm Join Nardwuar the Human Serviette for Clam Chowder flavoured entertainment. Doot doola doot doo...doot doo! nardwuar@nardwuar.com NEWS 101 (Talk) 5-6pm See Monday for description. CITR SPORTS LIVE (Talk) 6-io:3opm SHAKE A TAIL FEATHER (Soul/R&B) io:30-i2am The finest in classic soul and rhythm & blues from the late '50s to the early '70s, including lesser known artists, regional hits and lost soul gems. THE VAMPIRE'S BALL (Industrial) i2-4am Dark, sinister music to soothe and/or move the Dragon's soul. Industrial, goth and a touch of metal too. Blog: thevampiresball. blogspotcom. thevampiresball@gmail.com SATURDAY THE SATURDAY EDGE (Roots) 8am-i2pm A personal guide to world and roots music—with African, Latin and European music in the first half, followed by Celtic, blues, songwriters, Cajun and whatever else fits! steveedge3@mac.c0m GENERATION ANNIHILATION (Punk) 12-ipm A fine mix of streetpunk and old-school hardcore backed by band interviews, guest speakers and social commentary. crashnburnradio@yahoo.ca generationannihilation.com POWER CHORD (Metal) i-3pm Vancouver's longest running metal show. If you're into music that's on the heavier/darker side of the spectrum, then you'll like it. Sonic assault provided by Geoff the Metal Pimp. CODE BLUE (Roots) 3"5pm From backwoods delta low-down slide to urban . harp honks, blues and blues roots with your hosts Jim, Andy and Paul. codeblue@buddy-system.org THE LEO RAMIREZ SHOW (World) 5-6pm The best of mix of Latin American music. leoramirez@canada.com NASHAVOLNA (World) 6-7pm News, arts, entertainment and music for the Russian community, local and abroad, nashavolna.ca NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND (Electronic/Hip-hop/More) 7-9pm Start your Saturday night off right with our weekly showcase of the local underground DJ and electronic music scene, notesundergroundradio. blogspotcom notesundergroundradio@ gmail.com SYNAPTIC SANDWICH (Dance/Electronic/Eclectic) 9-npm If you like everything from electro/techno/trance/8-bit music/retro '80s this is the show for you! www. synap ticsandwich .net 28 UNDER REVIE __ ^4«m4c# i^|||:|^l^^^^^| DISCORDER'S FAVOURITE ALBUMS OF 2010 1. CARIBOU-SWIM 2. FINE MIST-PUBLIC DOMAIN 3. ARIEL PINK'S HAUNTED GRAFFITI - BEFORE TODAY 4. SLEIGH BELLS-TREATS 5. HUMANS-AVEC MES MECS 6. APOLLO GHOSTS - MOUNT BENSON 7. DIAMOND RINGS - SPECIAL AFFECTIONS 8. JAPANDROIDS - NO SINGLES 9. LCD SOUNDSYSTEM - THIS IS HAPPENING 10. BABE RAINBOW-SHAVED EP 11. BLACK MOUNTAIN - WILDERNESS HEART 12. CROCODILES-SLEEP FOREVER 13. NO AGE - EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN 14.SHAD-TS0L 15. FANSHAW-DARK EYES 16. TORO Y MOI - LEAVE EVERYWHERE 17. BRASSTRONAUT - MT. CHIMAERA 18. BEACH HOUSE-TEEN DREAM 19. HANNAH GEORGAS - THIS IS GOOD 20. BISON B.C.-DARK AGES ANIMAL BODIES ANIMAL BODIES (Needs More RAM) Animal Bodies' debut of their self-titled album is shrouded in mystery. Aside from the fact that they are from Vancouver and their release is courtesy of the record label operated out of the Zoo Zhop, there is no mention anywhere about how many members are in the band, whose voice is twisting about, or the significance of the rambiings. The mystique is part of the'experience as the listener is greeted with electronic chaos and a sense of blind fury introducing the band's ghostly, New Wave, post-punk sotmd.-- - There are three common threads gluing the album together: the synths are programmed in such a black sea of fuzz that even the darkness might jump; each song introduces a two or three chord pattern that stays consistent throughout the track but builds with turbulent electronic blips; and there is never an attempt at chorus. After all, this is not a. pop affair. "Thoughts and Consequences," sets the tone with a fast and furious blur of analog beats, rapid guitar abuse, an almost middle eastern vibe provided by a roaming and slightly off-kilter synth sound, and heavily reverbed vocals echoing in the background—call it sonic bedlam with a beat. "Jungle Cathedral" slows things a bit with a smoother pulse. The mood is provided by a somewhat catchy guitar riff that's played like a bass over top a softer electro-beat and cerebral synths in the backdrop. Whoever is singing tends to use her voice almost like a guitar—constandy bending the pitch from low to high in order to hit the intended note. This characteristic becomes entrenched in the first four songs and forms the basis of the sound. The brief interlude from the fury and darkness quickly returns with "Sequence 99" and "Tomb Table Testimony." Both are very similar in composition to the first track, complete with the bended howls, sinister synths and racing beats. The album ends with two tracks of complete dark ambient textures layered, intertwined and void of any rhythm elements—it is a fitting end to an intense listening experience. —Slafcko Bucifal BABE RAINBOW LET ME BUY U, ANNE DRANK VOL 1 & 2 (Independent) I like Babe Rainbow. And rap music. A lot. Maybe I like rap music more than you—not that this is a competition. I was genuinely excited when I was assigned to review an album that combines Vancouver-produced dark, atmospheric electronic music and some of my favourite semi-obscure rap tracks. Disappointingly, the nonsensically titled Let Me Buy U, Anne Drank Volumes 1 & 2 is not a well-matched marriage of these musical styles. I can understand that this is a pet proj ect and a chance to pay homage to, and put a personal spin on a favourite genre; Babe Rainbow has frequently cited rap as one of his musical influences in previous interviews. But the end product of 29\ 3r v these mixes doesn't sound like an artist paying respect to a favourite genre. This mixtape sounds like a producer forcing the music sampled to conform to his particular aesthetic, Often with unappealing results. Basically, the tracks of several groups and rappers are all slowed to meet Babe Rainbow's sluggish beat-per- minute ratio. These altered vocals leave a variety of rappers all sounding like the same dude. And that dude has a deep voice. And he raps reallll slowww. Particularly disappointing is the remix of "National Anthem" by Freddie Gibbs, while the remixes of "Hell on Earth" by Mobb Deep and "Bloodbath" by the Dayton Family fare better, sounding more menacing than their original incarnations. Still, these two successes are exceptions to the rest of the monotonous mixtape. While not an all-out failure, if you're a fan of rap, and a fan of Babe Rainbow, it's probably best to listen to them independently. —Tony Kess 4&^&f BOOGIE MONSTER ZECHIMECHI (Needs More RAM) Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages! You've read legends of the Big Foot, you've seen pictures of the Loch Ness monster, but have you ever heard the carnal howl of the Boogie Monster? Come this way one and all, step inside Zechimechi and succumb to the infamous beast with its furry coat and gnashing teeth. Watch as the Boogie Monster takes a pile of instruments and throws them into a blender, gleefully switching the speeds from pulse, to grind, to crush—somehow blending everything into a thick melody. Hold on as the Boogie Monster flies through n tracks like a Kansas whirlwind, sucking up everyone in its path and taking them to a beyond place (and they said tornados don't happen in Vancouver). Go ahead and try not to get lost in the infectious cacophony of Zechimechi, a mirrored maze ofbuzzing guitars, looping melodies and blasting beats. It is the soundtrack to a chaotic circus where Dr. JMnkenstein is the ring master and Willy Wonka is the organ grinder. Dance monkeys dance! The Boogie Monster is big and scary and loud and hilarious. The Boogie Monster is the life of the party! (Whew, 200 words about Boogie Monster without an obvious reference to lightning Bolt!—err—oops). —MarkPaulHus I CAVING 3 | U.S. CAVES I (Ache) The ethereal World of glitch and crunk is a haven of music unexplored by many. Andy Dixon, the man behind Caving, delivers the goods on all fronts of his newest mixtape, U.S. Caves. Taking modern hits and obliterating them beyond radio play, U.S. Caves recreates some of the most prominent pop songs of the past few years into something much more sij|&ter. This bass-heavy exploration brings the goods—and much more—to satisfy the most adventurous of souls. Popular musicians have been taken by Caving and brought forth in a new light; mixes from the past have been flipped over and rearranged into something new and bone-crushingly fresh. Artists, such as Fergie and Drake, have been remixed and dropped with that heavy club bass. "London Bridge" is no longer a mediocre pop song; it's a club jam full of deep synths, modulated beats and heavily gated vocals. Britney Spears and her single "Gimme More" is no longer suitable for Top 40 radio; it's been rearranged in such a dark way that it bears more resemblance to a hard hit of dubstep than anything it was before. The production is clever and striking; Caving knows how to amp up the sound of a track and make it pulse through the listener's mind. No more treble highs and subtle lows, these tracks are full of deep frequencies and pounding beats. Though unique in sound, the overall album is relatively eerie; some of the beats formed here are so experimental they come across strange. The final track, a mix of Ciara's "1, 2, Step," takes the pop singer's vocals and tunes them down more than a few steps. The result is a dub beat that has Ciara's creeping vocals haunting the listener, pitch- shifted in an unreal way. Even pop artist Lil Wayne has been remodelled by Dixon's unique imagination; "Lollipop" is just as dance ready as it was before, but now modified to suit the taste of a much sawier listening audience. This isn't a run of the mill collection of poorly remixed tunes— it's an actual exploration into the world of sound. Caving has taken it upon himself to take some of the most overplayed music and actually make it fresh and interesting again—and thafs talent. —Kamil Krawayk FALKLANDS THINK ABOUT IT I (Clamour) Simple, yet extremely compelling, Falklands' debut LP, Think About It, is a definite throwback to the heydays of good ol' rock 'n' roll. Powered by overdriven guitars, thriving bass rhythms, exhilarating drums and strong vocals, these ten tracks evoke a sense of style and class—despite the homely set up of it all. Falklands deliver a retrospective sound that is sorely missed in the music world. The songs found on Think About It evoke a sense of youth, bridging the gap between the generation that grew up listening to Thin Lizzy and the Replacements, allowing newcomers to the genre to gain a common appreciation for all that is pleasant to the ears. Produced by Jesse Gander (behind acts such as the the Iranzmitors, Japandroids), Think About It delivers on most fronts. The musicianship is top-notch, but rather elementary; the guitar work is clever and entertaining, but not very technical. Solos are sparse amidst the reminiscently crunchy riffs. No one aspect of the music is overpowering. Gander has done an excellent job at making sure the music flows together and really sings. The album lacks some diversity, but it holds up well in the end by changing the tone of each song. From "Saint Vinny," a hard, balls-to-the-wall rocker, to the slower and more ballad-like "Hell Is Up," this album delivers enough variety to stay interesting throughout There are some clever licks to be found on each track, and "Yellow Rose" has the most fond guitar playing (and 30 guitar solos) found on the release, but alas, it's the drumming that steals the show: precise, strong and a contributing force to the Falklands' sonic landscapes. Lyrically, the band does a fair job conveying meaning; the songs are not mindless messes of poetry, but rather crafted pieces of thought "Earthquake," for example, is a very pop-driven track, and thankfully, not void of meaning. Simple lines, like "Should I sacrifice / another healthy laugh for your excessive taste" may seem trivial, but hold well in context— nothing too deep or too obscure, but just right to get across a point and have a good time all at once. The Falklands deliver something that is scarce in bands today: fun. They're young, adventitious, and definitely talented, a small jewel from the cold borders of Canada. Full of energy, it's no surprise that this quartet can bring the best of both power-pop and classic rock into a tempting package that just evokes the thrill of good ol' rock 'n' roll in the hearts of both young and old. Capturing the moment, these boys sure know how to steal the show. . —Kamil Krawczyk THE GOOD ONES KIGALI Y' IZAHABU (Dead Oceans) Beauty can shine brightly even in the most forgotten dusty corners of the earth, offering little glimmers of pure hope and love that beat strongly with the pulse of life. It was out from the shadows that producer Ian Brennan spotted two figures approaching, carrying a weathered four-stringed guitar between them and the glow of something special. Part way through a two-week quest in Rwanda in search of interesting music that moved him, Brennan knew at first glance that he had found what he was after. That night two of the three musicians known as the Good Ones played him a haunting pretty song called "Sara," promising to return the next evening with their third member for a "proper" recording session. This session, 12 songs done in one take over the course of an evening, is Kigali T Izahabu, a stunning album that acts almost as a field recording or snapshot of a life most have never seen nor heard. Sung in their native Kinyarwanda street tongue, these songs rely on feeling and inflection. Played simply with beat up guitars, the tapping of a foot and some wonderful harmonies, the Good Ones' sparse joyous acoustic love songs of faith and friendship tap into a deep well of goodness and offer a glimpse into the resiliency and strength of spirit. These hopeful street songs act as a call to gather and to stand strong in the face of it all. Indeed, the humble folk songs, played out on a porch in some dusty messed up part of the earth, are a rare gem worth digging for. —Nathaniel Bryce KIDS & EXPLOSIONS SHIT COMPUTER (independent) Skit Computer is the debut album of mashup artist Kids & Explosions. Comparisons to Girl Talk, poster child of the mashup genre, are inevitable, but Kids & Explosions offers a more soulful, less frenetic sound while still delivering on insanely catchy hooks. The self-described "boy who makes songs by stealing others and making them worse" is actually Toronto's Josh Raskin, director of the Oscar nominated short, I Met the Walrus. He throws everyone from Notorious B.I.G. to Elliott Smith together, chopping them up until they lose all context and take on an entirely new form. Set to the sweet, gentle background oflron & Wine, "Swear Words" offers an extremely gratifying release of any pent-up Tourette's urges you may have, before finishing with a Cyndi Lauper sucker punch. "Babies Are the Future" mixes David Bowie with a healthy dose of a children's choir in one of the album's best dance tracks. Where he really proves himself though is on tracks like "Slow Song" which weaves together Feist and Tupac, creating a satisfyingly melancholy rainy day song. Shit Computer is just a lot of fun and it grows on you with each listen. With a perfect mix of booty jams and introspective heartache, it's likely to stay in your party repertoire for weeks to come. %!&§£ —Sally White 0LENKA& THE AUTUMN LOVERS ANB NOW WE SING (Oh! Records) On their sophomore album, And Now We Sing, Olenka & the Autumn Lovers deliver exactly what they promise. With no indie-rock pretension or clutter, the London, Ontario six-piece leaps immediately into an irresistible collection of Eastern European- inflected folk tunes that capture the redemptive flashes of brilliance in even the most dismal corners. It's rare to come across an album with so few missteps. As a PhD student in English, Krakus might be expected to have a wordy, dense narrative style. As it turns out, her education mostly manifests itself in simple and evocative writing that knows where to embellish. and where to leave well enough alone. Meanwhile, her rhythmic, syncopated vocal technique functions like an all-purpose instrument, imitating a xylophone and a violin in almost the same breath. Combining this with the heavy string section and tasteful use of trumpet, the band's overall sound is reminiscent of both My Brightest Diamond and the Decemberists but is derivative of neither. With the whole album clocking at just over 40 minutes, And Now We Sing k barely long enough to fill up an entire commute. In that time, it whirls you down alleyways and through . churchyards, through country romps and Balkan stomps at a fierce pace that only occasionally slows up for a folk dance. Opener and standout track "Odessa" is exemplary of the amount of content Krakus can pack into no time at all: In just under two minutes, the titular character watches each of her family members collapse under the weight of their problems. It is hectic and bleak, but the crunchy guitars and relentlessly catchy melody make it go down so easy that by the time it's over you'll barely remember where you are or what you were doing. —Miranda Martini THE RUSSIAN FUTURISTS THE WEIGHTS ON THE WHEELS (Upper Class) The Russian Futurists (a.k.a Matthew Adam Heart) are back with album number four, The Weight's in the Wheels. The Ontario native is probably best know for his punchy pop tracks. Remember that super catchy song "Paul Simon?" That's him. "Hoeing Weeds Sowing Seeds" is the first track and single off the album. Dancy-dance sounds that swing from one speaker to another, it is a very clear indication of what you are in for with this album. The Weight's on the Wheels consists of enthusiastic, upbeat, track after track. "One Night, One Kiss" is a cute little duet featuring guest vocalist Rum Minnikin and some very well integrated castanet action. "zoo Shopping Days 'till Christmas" gets the award for best use of a drum machine on the album and the beat-tastik "Plates" is continued on page 34 11 Mow long have you been in your band,., struggling, working and getting no where? How many songs have you written and you're still waiting for a break? If you're ready to stop struggling and wasting valuable time, then check out the Tom Lee Music, Next Level Learning Centre. www.NextLevelLearningCentre.com 929 Granville Street, 5th Floor Vancouver, BC V6Z ] L3 Phone: 604.688.8929 ext. 304 www.NextLevelLearningCentre.com RESTRICTED ENTERTAINMENT PROUDLY SUPPORTING ALTERNATIVE CULTURE i MUSIC NIGHTLIFE XMAS EDITION! HIGHLY ENCOURAGED IHcraO vs. ALTERNATIV1 ys. ROCK vs. WreiYJIlP HOP|«^WAVE TRASHY FASHION HOUSE PARTY/% c)AN CTUAR X JTK li »J& in i d EIAOC ROCK INDUSTRIAL EBM MS NEWWAVE ELECTRO ALTERNATIVE im OSS PANDEMONIUM COmASOMA NEW^fHR'S : Club 23 West Kiss 2010 goodbye at the wildest party in the city THIS EVENT WILL SELL OUT I so get tickets early \ fs at Club 23 West . w. Jd Designs # Priapc i Jean Queen • Dare To We ine at # Sincityf etishnight.c SATURDAY 22 JANUARY SIN CITY ATR-BO^TO NIGHT U| CLUB 23 WCS^Ij gPCBW^HgyiCT MORE INFORMATION AT CET1IESIRIiniD.COM continuedfrom page 31 another killer. There are so many influences here it is pointless to list them. The Weight's on the Wheels has a familiar vibe, yet it is still an original offering. A polished, warm album that holds the listeners attention from start to finish. Best listen to the album with headphones to get everything that ingoing on here. A really cool album for those of you who like your pop music sanguine and drum machines loud. —Katherine Boothroyd SMALL BLACK NEW CHAIN (Jagjaguwar) When Casio first introduced their line of keyboards and samplers in the early '80s, they were intended mostly as a toy—especially when compared to their professional studio counterparts. Thirty years later, one room urban recording studios have sprung up like flowers in bloom and those old lo-fi micros synths have become somewhat of a staple piece of hardware. Clearly, it's not what you use but how you use it Brooklyn's Small Black successfully converts the lo-fi fuzz to create a contagious, dreamy, heavily textured pop sound enveloped by a fog of ambient chill. Somewhere in amongst the tumble of noise and reverb, danceable moments and catchy melodies keep New Chain moving forward while the '80s electronic stew demonstrates respect for its vintage underpinnings. At times, the musical layers of sound and noise make it difficult to discern Josh Kolenik's lyrics thereby making it nearly impossible to sing along using the correct words, but it hardly matters as the seamless integration between the '80s dance rhythms and melting synth patterns will encourage a sing-out- loud response and have you using nonsensical words to fill in the blanks. While this action may appear a little odd during those uninhibited moments in public, anyone sharing the experience will understand that ; there are just too many catchy bits and memorable tunes to resist the urge. Small Black's first full length is a complete and satisfying spin. While never derailing from their mushy nebulous of sound, each track has a distinct feel accomplished by a general refrain from repeating elements or motifs. It is not clear whether Small Black search for that perfect sound, or if die perfect sounds just happens fortuitously as a result of tinkering with their gear, but it is evident that the careful arrangement of layers upon layers and bits upon bits form a pleasing listening experience from start to finish. —Slavko Bucifal TIGHT SOLID I WH.RIT0FF j (Independent) Walk it Off, the first release from Vancouver trio Tight Solid, sounds like something that came out of the Pacific Northwest in the late '80s or early '90s. This is grunge in its purest form; we're talking pre- "Teen Sfiir* entry-level grunge. The only thing that would make Walk it Of/more authentic \ is if it was released on cassette with a photocopied come, ormaybe vinyl, but only if it was pressed one copy at a time in someone's basement Burn- side (Treacherous Machete), Shmoo Ritchee (the Organ) and Ryan Walter Wagner (the WPP) have compiled nine tracks of raw and honest rock and roll full driven by punk ethos. The opening track "Ode to the Devil" is a dark journey guided by trashy riffs and a driving rhythm that push you off a cliff into a sludgy bridge. "She's So In Control" finds itself somewhere between the Stooges and Danzig era Misfits. Things wind down a bit for the short and sweet love ballad "A Great Love," but quickly crank back up for the hardcore blast "The '70s in Quebec". Walk it Off is a genuine collection of rock and roll songs that are both tight and solid and reminiscent of the last true movement in popular music. —Mork Paulhus TWIN CRYSTALS CHILD LIFE (Self-Released) Jesse Taylor, Jordan Alexander and Jeremiah Haywood, who comprise the local band Twin Crystals, have recently recorded and self-released their twentieth(ish) album Child Life. This album can be had on cassette or as a digital download. The noise inspired punk band has recorded pro- lifically, and this is the latest taste to their always-evolving sound. * Though they've released 20 albums now, many are splits and a few more are recorded from live shows. Some of their older recordings have a spacey dance to them, feel, something like guitar-keyboardist Taylor's other band Channels 3x4, but Child Life is definitely more reminiscent of old LA. punk. Think Wipers meets a toned- down Ex Models (they're recent it's true) with lo-fi male vocals. Anxious and scattered, but altogether fluid, Twin Crystals hits so many levels. There's grunginess to the guitar and keyboard and nostalgia to the vocals that nearly recede into the background while Alexander furiously sweats over the drums. Their recordings are true to their live sound, and are just as good. Child Life is a rad addition to the Twin Crystals discography, and Twin Crystals is a prominent part of the Vancouver punk scene that you really should hear, if you haven't already. —Sarah Charrouf so powerful, and it compliments the overall fuzzy backdrop. This brighter- than-before EP kicks off with "Poor Animal," a celebratory dance for the free spirits, a la Florence & the Machine's style and vocals. "Tower," - reverts back to a bit more of her previous gothic flavour. In the middle is "Sea Talk," and as the name implies, it has reverb waves sweeping with her ethereal voice draping over top, like the ocean with aqua sinews twisting or like aurora borealis lazily stretching across the sky in viscous liquid while she sings the simple lyrics, "I don't ever want stay away from you." The closer, "Lightsick," which boasts real piano (none of that synth), rides on spiritually until it fades. Valusia is a wholly mystical and majestic effort, and perhaps, a small tasting sample of the meaty LP ahead. —Ming Wong ZOLA JESUS J VALUSIA I (Sacred Bones) Zola Jesus has been busy. Within 2009 to present she has released two LPs and four EPs and this fall she has had three back- to-back tours supporting Fever Ray and the xx with plenty of headlining tours throughout And now, the 21 year old, bom Nika Roza Danilove ofWisconsin, can add Valusia, a four song EP, to her achievements. Her background training in opera helped develop her voice to be RASTABOYZ.COM IS A WEBSITE FOR THE REGGAE DANCEHALL COMMUNITY. OUR GOAL IS TO BRING ARTISTS, FANS AND INDUSTRY REPRESENTATIVES TOGETHER IN A SEAMLESS ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORK. PLEASE VISIT OUR HOMEPAGE AND JOIN OUR MAILING LIST FOR A CHANCE TO WIN 1 OUT OF 100 T-SHIRTS OR TO WIN 1 OUT OF 300 HARD COPIES OF . "REESE BADDA'S" LATEST RELEASE "WELCOME TO D! FUTURE". THE WINNERS WILL BE CONTACTED FOR MAILING DETAILS. SPONSORED BY DREADANDALIVE.COM TEENAGE FANCLUB / THE SHILOHS October 16" j the Biltmore Teenage Fanclub, along with XTC and a bunch of other '8os/'90s British bands, form a special part of the soundtrack of my childhood. My brother and I both played on travelling hockey teams and my father would tell us that it was time to develop some cultural pride before slipping a tape into the deck and air-guitaring to "What You Do To Me." So when I heard they were headed to Vancouver, I was so down for the show. In fact, I may have spent the weeks preceding the show sharing most of their 1991 album Bandiua^onesqu* with everyone. On repeat. Vancouver-based band the Shilohs opened the show with an appropriately Brit-pop and surf-rock feel—a definite Big Star influence, with dashes of Buddy Holly. The vocals sometimes sounded a bit like Davy Jones of the Monkees (I checked with my friend, who came with me, and she agreed. So odd but true). The Shilohs, who just released their first self-titled EP, rocked a mix of up-tempo and slower, more sentimental songs. Their set was tight and presented a classic West Coast melange approach to standard pop rock. Teenage Fanclub hit the stage next. "They look like dads," my friend Erika said. Again, true. Norman Blake (vocals, guitar), Raymond McGinley (vocals, lead guitar), Gerard Love (vocals, bass) and Francis MacDonald (drums), who've been together in one form or another since 1989, look like dads. They also have hot accents (Erika verified this.) The crowd at the Biltmore was also a little older than I'm used to, but then, my own dad was at the TFC show in Toronto earlier this year (I had him send me their setlist for comparison's sake). The Fannies (don't judge me) played a good mix of old and new songs—a whole bunch from 2010's Shadows, alongside tracks from Bandumflonesque, Grand Prix and Songs fiom Northern Britain. TFC's newer songs are simultaneously familiar and innovative; "Baby Lee" (from 2010's Shadows), for example, is a catchy, melodic song melding a glockenspiel with TFC's tried and true approach to vocals and rhythm. "When " <LStiU Have Thee" (also from Shadows) is a solid love song with some on-point awesome lyrics: "The Rolling Stones wrote a song for me / It's a minor song in a major key... It's a modern hymn for the you and me." My favourite songs of the evening were from what the band warmly referredteas their "back catalogue"—"Sparky's Dream" and the night's closer, "Everything Flows." "The Concept" (from Bandwa^onesque), the last song of the set before the encore, had the entire crowd singing along. As the show ended and the Biltmore cleared out into its lovely triangular parking lot I felta wave of hockey nostalgia and headed home early enough to be in bed by midnight —Andrea Bennett $MwM I THE MORNING BENDERS/TWWI SISTER/CULTS October 20 / Venue, _"j I guess you can't expect a huge crowd on a Wednesday night But I still feel bad for those who missed the Morning Benders show. They should have skipped studying for midterms like me. After a short, catchy set from a young group called Cults (not to be confused with the Cult), Long Island's Twin Sister hit the stage. They instantly won me over with their cool, relaxing demeanor and their spacey disco sound. There's a subtle mystery to lead singer Andrea Estella's breathy vocals and stage presence and I thoroughly enjoyed the cute conversation attempts guitarist Eric Cardona had with the crowd. Estella and Cardona had a great dynamic and really knew how to trade off and let each other have their moment A good example is with me airy tune, "Lady Daydream." The twangy, echoey guitar hit so perfectly just as Estella pulled back her vocals. Twin Sister ended on a high with a groovy cover of La Boinda's "I Wanna Be Your Lover," followed by, "All Around and Away We Go." Even on these dance induced songs, there's always this layer of futuristic/dreamy ambience that make their music that much more appealing. Next time Twin Sister is in town, you can bet they'll be headlining their own show. The Morning Benders' sophomore album, Big Echo, proved they are a band in the midst of transition. They have moved away from the conventional 35 W--'' $*3§ j mkm k f ■ v«f Km) ' ifl >j-v VI g§P " * KURT VILE & THE SOFT PACK BY STEVE LOUIE California, indie-pop sound, and it was interesting seeing them balance their old sound with the new. Songs like "Pleasure Sighs" evoked images of the coast and ocean waves, but without the generic, happy, "fun in the sun" vibe. It glided flawlessly into the atmospheric tune "Stitches," and everything just felt ethereal and hypnotic. Mid way through the set, the band didn't bother with a smooth transition into their upbeat indie-pop songs like "All Day Day Light" or "Boarded Doors." Front man Christopher Chu basically just said; "So now we're going play some songs that you can dance to. You guys look like you want to dance." Whether it was the atmospheric tunes or the straightforward pop songs, the Morning Benders played with such precision and neatness. The guitar licks, harmonies and even their intense "freak outs" sounded clean and crisp. As expected, the band closed with "Excuses." It was one big sing-along and Chu looked confident leading the crowd of fans. The "dum da dum" vocals were looped and eerily, they echoed in the background as the band played louder. The song ended with a mesmerizing instrumental outro: all four members crouched down to the effects panel and started manipulating the sounds until gradually, each layer was removed and all that was left was the vocals. It sounds cool, but I didn't get to appreciate any of it! I failed to mention orte thing. Throughout the entire show, this drunken moron kept yelling things out. And so while the band was doing this really neat experiment, this idiotic drunk guy started singing irritatingly loud. He killed the moment, and everyone wanted to punch him in the face. Luckily, the Morning Benders did come back on stage for an encore. They played their latest song, "Virgins," with no rude interruptions. Within a year, the Morning Benders have played in Vancouver three times. But, even if you caught the last shows, don't expect anything redundant. It's exciting seeing them evolve and test out new things, so you don't want to overlook their live shows...even if there is a stupid drunk fan yelling every five seconds. —Angela Yen fsiilfc^ October 24 / the Orpheum Things you will hear at a She & Him concert: "I love you Zooey!", "Zooey, you're beautiful!" and the occasional, "Woo, M. Ward." On their final stop of their North American tour, She & Him played to a sea of adoring Vancouver fans. They included girls dressed just like Zooey Deschanel and guys hoping to date her. '^iP Sisters, Lily and Abigail Chapin, were the openers and they played a set of simple folk-pop songs. The Chapin Sisters are also the backup singers for She & Him, so you can get a sense of how easily they can harmonize and complement each other's vocals. They seemed very serious and intense until they played their acoustic cover of Britney Spears' "Toxic." It's probably more gimmicky than anything else, but still entertaining. Deschanel joined them on stage for the last two songs and that was probably the most exciting part. She & Him, plus the backing band, wasted no time getting into the bubbly tune, "I Was Made For You." Immediately, enthusiastic foot tapping ensued. Rather early in the set, She & Him played "Thieves." It's a personal favourite and I was surprised that they treated it more like a filler. Deschanel's distinct voice, which sounds so wonderful on the studio version of the song, hadn't quite warmed up yet. Ward, however, had no problem delving into his decorative guitar solos. I'll admit, I was probably one of the few people who was more stoked to see the "Him" portion of She & Him. But, anyone can tell you that Ward is a seasoned musician and he is mesmerizing to watch as he plays his guitar with such ease and style. It was on the heartfelt ballad "Take It Back" where Deschanel's voice really wooed me. Her voice had definitely warmed up by then. She had that beautiful and nostalgic tone, where you get hints of legends like Ella Fitzgerald or Patsy Cline. The highlight ofthe show was when it was simply Deschanel and Ward on stage. They treated the crowd to a couple of covers which included their sensual rendition of "You Really Got a Hold On Me." Ward got to show off his deep, velvety voice, which people sometimes forget is distinguished in its own right. That vocal exchange during the callback was the best chemistry Deschanel and Ward had the entire night. The backing band then returned, and for "In the Sun," the audience was invited to dance and sing along. Everyone was itching to jump up and down. So, as it usually goes at the Orpheum, the audience quickly flooded to the front ofthe stage. The show definitely took a turn and became an upbeat dance fest. During the encore, all the songs were covers and they ended with "I Put A Spell On You." Deschanel belted it out and pushed her voice as far is it could go. The stripped-down, bolt-busting cover forced the cheering crowd to do one thing: continue with the "I love you Zooey!" and "You're amazing!" comments. One girl in particular, who was just blown away by the strength of Deschanel's voice, exclaimed, "Wow! That was FAN-tastic!" It was indeed. —Angela Yen October 29 /-the Cobalt ,;,...„".;•: Only a little over half an hour late, Sonny & the Sunsets took to the stage at the Cobalt on this night to open for Best Coast. The concert had preempted the usual Friday night crowd, but no one seemed to be complaining, least of all No More Strangers' usual DJ Tristan Orchard, who kept people entertained between sets. 36 MAYELIN SHEATHS BY STEVE LOUIE Sonny & the Sunsets looked and sounded like veteran musicians, used to the world of live performance and a bit world weary, but excellent musicians every one of them. The four of them didn't provide any surprises, but they are very good at playing sunny pop music that would be well received by those in the mood for the Beach Boys or New Pornographers. Many great bands have offnights and this, unfortunately, was one of those for the vocals of Bethany Cosentino, lead singer of Best Coast. Her voice, which on record manages to simultaneously convey both a sappy longing and cool disdain, is usually the standout part of any Best Coast song, but this night it didn't live up to the standard set by the recordings. Checking out a sampling of reviews of previous performances did not indicate that Cosentino's underwhelming vocals were a regular problem, so hopefully this night will just go down as a night forgotten amidst a tour full of much more successful evenings. Luckily Cosentino didn't let us down in her ability as a musician, so despite her voice sounding weak on some tracks, she effortlessly played her mint green guitar. Backing her were band members Bobb Bruno (on guitar) and Ali Koehler (the band's third drummer). They did not disappoint, playing excellent music that kept the music sounding as fresh and exciting as anything on the record. The band ripped through their excellent repertoire of hazy surflgarage pop playing some ofthe audience's favourite songs such as "Crazy For You," "Summer Mood," "Boyfriend" and the closer "Each and Every Day." The crowd, happy to be at the sold-out show, enjoyed themselves, singing and dancing along when the mood struck them. Though the audience didn't howl enough to encourage an encore, no fans were driven from the show early. Was it a disappointment that this excellent band hadn't lived up to our perhaps unreasonable expectations? Yes,.but that didn't change the fact that Best Coast is one ofthe few bands touring right now that provides an original and excellently executed take on modern music and well worth seeing if the opportunity arises. [Update: though unofficial I've heard rumours that Cosentino was sick this, night and that would explain the problems with her vocals at this concert.] —Jordie Yow | November 5 / the Biltmore [ Ubiquity breeds annoyance. In the early 2000s bands like the Soft Pack were bloody everywhere. Floppy of hair and tight of jeans, bands like the Strokes, BRMC and the White Stripes were massive, and as with the emergence of any successful subgenre or movement (see grunge in the '90s), hundreds of other bands suddenly seemed to materialise out of nothing overnight. While "The New Rock Revolution" (as it was dubbed by NME) has never really gone away, its all prevailing reach has at least retreated a bit, which means that instead of dismissing the Soft Pack as also-rans in an already overpopulated genre, we can appreciate them on face value and realize that they have a lot to offer and enjoy, as they proved with their headlining slot at the Biltmore. A few hours earlier, support act Kurt Vile performed an acoustic in-store set across town at Zulu Records. Getting off to a very tentative start, he fumbled through a very unsure "He's Alright." If he was busking on Granville, you may very well have juslt walked past That is until he played "Blackberry Song." A sweetly beautiful song, its graceful simplicity translated brilliantly in the confines ofthe surroundings, better in fact than it does on his latest album, Childish Prodigy. Even if there were only flashes of greatness, one might realistically suspect that Vile was a little nervous, because after all, who doesn't feel the oppressive judgemental gaze ofthe Zulu staff? Later on at the.Biltmore and with his band the Violators backing him, Vile seemed much more at ease. His vocal phrasing and delivery occasionally came across like a more stoned and less fervent Bob Dylan as on "Inside Looking Out" Vile seemed relaxed to the point where his laid-back style almost became boring and was saved only by the comparative enthusiasm of his bandmates. A propulsive rendition of "Freak Train" kept the momentum moving and as if to seek redemption from anyone who witnessed the underwhelming version of "He's Alright" earlier on—he played it again this time with much more conviction and set the record straight Opening with a wry and intentionally awkward cover ofthe Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up," the Soft Pack swiftly switched gears into a raucous "Right and Wrong." One ofthe refreshing things about the band is their nondescript appearance. It shouldn't matter how a band dresses but it does play a part in how they're appreciated and the fact that they're not in the requisite uniform of their genre makes them seem aH the more sincere and authentic. In a live setting, the songs from their recent eponymous album have much more energy and edge, "Parasites" being particularly effective. The highlight ofthe night had to be the perfect pop ofthe very Buzzcocks- esque "More or Less," which exhibited the core strength ofthe band—the ability to adeptly combine their garage rock and post-punk influences into songwriting that easily stands up against all that has come before them. —Will Pedley i November 12 / The Zoo Zhop Walking in through the narrow hallway ofthe Zoo Zhop on a rainy Friday night, I was ready for just about anything. The recently established record store's modest back room—furnished with nothing but a single fluorescent light, a fan and an oddly placed sheet—was already full of raw and uncontained energy as I stepped in. Vancouver's home-brewed punks, TimeCopz, were already in full swing, blaring out their frantic set to a surprisingly diverse crowd of a variety ages and backgrounds. Making the most of their basic trio set-up, the band filled the place with charged rifts and shout-out choruses, although the backup vocals were often better heard than the almost inaudible lead vocalist. After a strenuous sound check the Shrapnelles, an imposing all-girl outfit from Alberta took to the stage. With tastefully reverbed Gretsch guitar licks and haunting four-piece harmonies, the girls played a tight set that was received with a visible increase in the level of chaos among the tightly packed audience, eventually resulting in quite a few discarded beer cans flying at the band. After getting whacked twice in a row, the Shrapnelles' front-woman, Greasy, reacted with a storming outburst of unfeigned ire in her vocals, which almost immediately set the crowd back under control. The band proved to be in control of their act leaving none indifferent to their "pussy power" as they so aptly coined it, Headliners Myelin Sheaths promptly took over wasting no unnecessary time 37 on set up. By this point the crowd unraveled into full motion, whether it was all the booze finally getting its money's worth, or the Alberta raw garage-punk- quartet's overwhelming drive, or a good combination both, the atmosphere was irresistible and it was becoming nearly impossible to stand back idly. As the band unleashed its hook-laden set with catchy numbers like "Half-Wit" and "What's Yer Diagnosis," the mosh pit was borderline dangerously wild with crowd surfing and back-flips galore. The flagship piece "Mental Twist" proved to be a blast, overall making for a great, energetic set On the down side, the sound suffered from a very rudimentary set-up, occasionally drowning out guitar solos and making lyrics unintelligible for the majority ofthe time. However, this proved to be no barrier for the unstoppable breed of garage-punk that sounded this night. Powerful choruses and foot- stomping beats, compensated for a lack of crispness, and the completely down-to-earth feel ofthe Zoo Zhop proved to be a fitting setting for this type of madness, creating a very personal experience. The venue itself has some great potential, which it could realize with some investment into the sound system as well as a possible addition of a bar on-site. —Christian Voueris DEAN WAREHAM PLAYS GALAXIE 500 / THE SHILOHS November 15 / the Biltmore A blast from the past? To a certain extent, but there was something missing. Sitting around waiting for a show that started half an hour later than expected never helps an impression, but there seemed to be a certain air of confusion, a lack of preparation, or excitement in the crowd. It began when the curtains opened on local opening act the Shilohs, who were greeted with a good ten feet of empty floor space, forcing the frontman to crack a joke about a VIP section. They rolled through their set of indie-pop, encouraged by meager applause from a seemingly less than enthusiastic audience. They even attempted to increase the feeling of nostalgia with a cover ofthe Feelies; the subsequent disappointment foreshadowed the main event to come. The curtains now opened on Dean Wareham, and again there was a slight pause before scattered whistles and cheers were heard. As he, his wife and two other band members began to glide through the classics, I couldn't avoid a particular feeling of strain; I'm making an effort to convince myself that this is Galaxie 500, a band whom I assumed I would never be able to see. It's been 20 years, isn't this supposed to be special? But it wasn't, and surrounding Wareham was the constant reminder that it just wasn't quite the real thing. There certainly were highlights and plenty of positives. The sound was good; the guitars were mellow, simplistic yet beautiful; the progression of two or three basic chords which magically distinguished Galaxie 500—unique somehow in its simplicity—was certainly there, it all sounded fine. Even Wareham's voice still sounded great, the high-pitched whines and prolonged drawls contrasted sharply with the low, nearly incomprehensible, grumble heard in a few offbeat comments in between songs ("It's a windy night in Vancouver." "This is a song about trees turning into mud and mud turning back into trees.") "Snowstorm" took on a new life in the live setting; its beauty seemed accentuated outside the context ofthe original album. These were all good things, and the set list certainly covered the most crucial tracks, but "Flowers" was just "Flowers," "Blue Thunder" was just "Blue Thunder" and "Tugboat" was just "Tugboat" The expected atmosphere of revival, nostalgia and novelty was lacking for me. This realization of the artificiality and strain ofthe show was solidified after a lackluster return to the stage for the encore, concluding the show with their cover of Joy Division/New Order's "Ceremony." I wish the connection with Ian Curtis, or the feeling of being within Galaxie 500's heyday had been imparted to me, but I left primarily in a state of disappointment hy virtue of not being a part of Dean Wareham's golden years. —Andy Resto Thousands of Local Bands, Musicians & Businesses supporting Live Music, Vancouver *****?? COMMUNITY DRIVEN CONCERT LISTINGS I WOULD LIKE: AN ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION TO DISCORDER MAGAZINE ($20 FOR CANADIANS, $25 FOR U.S. SUBSCRIBERS) $_ TO SUPPORT DISCORDER MAGAZINE WITH ft DONATION OF $_ TOTAL: $_ DISCORDER IS VANCOUVER'S LONGEST RUNNING INDEPENDENT MUSIC MAGAZINE. SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR VANCOUVER'S INDEPENDENT MUSIC COMMUNITY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW WRITERS, EDITORS AND ARTISTS. SIGN UP TO HAVE DISCORDER DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR! FILL OUT THIS FORM AND MAIL IN CASH OR A CHEQUE TO 233-6138 SUB BLVD., VANCOUVER B.C., V6T 1Z1, C/0 BRENDA GRUNAU, PUBLISHER, DISCORDER MAGAZINE 38 // CiTR 10 1.9 FM CH ARTS strictlythe dopest hitz °f 201° # ARTIST ALBUM LABEL # ARTIST ALBUM LABEL 1 Apollo Ghosts *+ Mount Benson Indie 51 Fond of Tigers** Continent & Western Drip Audio 2 Women* Public Strain Flemish Eye 52 Eamon McGrath** Peace Maker White Whale 3 The Pack A.D*+ We Kill Computers Mint 53 The Black Keys Brothers Nonesuch / 4 Caribou" Swim Merge 54 Old Man Luedecke* My Hands... Love Songs Black Hen 5 Mark Sultan*. $ Vice 55 Overnight Lows City of Rotten EyesLabel Goner 6 Fanshaw** Dark Eyes Mint 56 Dungen SkitlAllt Mexican Summer 7 Ahna** s/t Broadway to Boundary 57 Grinderman 2 Epitaph 8 Defektors** The Bottom of the City Nominal 58 LosSaicos Demolicionl... Recordings Munster 9 Shane Turner Overdrive*+ s/t Indie 59 Brasstronaut** Mt Chimaera Unfamilliar 10 .Black Mountain* Wilderness Heart Jagjagwuar 60 Faux Amis** s/t Indie 11 Nil Sensae** TV Death & the Devil Nominal 61 Wawes King of the Beach Fat Possum 12 Rodney Decroo*+ Queen Mary Trash Northern Elecrtic 62 The Mohawk Lodge** Crimes White Whale 13 Petroleum By-Product** Superficial Artificial Mona Mona 63 The Sadies* Darker Circles Yep Roc 14 Swans My Father WuT Guide Me... Young God 64 Woods At Echo Lake Woodsist 15 Moon Duo Escape Woodist 65 Loscil* Endless Halls Kranky 16 Fan Death** A Coin For the Well EP Last Gang 66 Sonny & the Sunsets Tomorrow is Alright Soft Abuse 17 FineMist*+ Public Domain Indie 67 Sun Wizard** Maybe They Were Right Indie 18 The Orpheans*+ Ellison's Tomb Single/ Turn Out the Lights Neptoon 68 The Besnard Lakes* Are the Roaring Night Jagjagwuar 19 Modern Creatures /Twin Crystals** Split EP Nan in the Coffin 69 Kidnap Kids** You Would... Ratboy Grave Indie * 20 White Lung*+ It's the Evil Deranged 70 Make Love* s/t Indie 21 The Molestics*+ A Farewell to Hokum Indie 71 Jay Arner** Bird of Prey Indie 22 New Pornographers*+ Together Last Gang 72 Easy Star All Stars Dubber Side ofthe Moon Easy Star 23 Arcade Fire* The Suburbs Merge 73 ShiYi*+ s/t HolyDrakness 24 The Salteens*+ Grey Eyes Boompa 74 The Vaselines Sex With an X Sub Pop 25 SexChurch*+ 6 Songs by Sex Church Convulsive 75 The Green Hour Band** Coming of Clockwise Scratch 26 B.A. Johnston* Thank You for Being a Friend Just Friends 76 Tokyo Police Club* Champ Dine Alone 27 Tamelmpala Innerspeaker Modular 77 SSRIs** Effeminate... Windchimes Indie 28 Joey Only Outlaw Band* Transgression Trail HA4TLD 78 Various Artists Next S&p...Soweto... 1969-1976 Strut 29 The Laundronauts** The Laundronauts Come Clean Spincycle 79 The Telepathic Butterflies* Wow & Flutter Rainbow Quartz 30 Frog Eyes* Paul's Tomb: A Triumph Dead Oceans 80 The Tallest Man On Earth WMHunt Dead Oceans 31 Various Artists Flipper Psychout Vampi Soul 81 Charlotte Gainsbourg IRM Because 32 The Summerlad* Blue Skinned Happy Apple 82 Love Is All Two Thousand... Injuries Polyvinyl 33 Devils Hotrod* Dirty Rocks For Broken Hearts Stumble 83 Willowz Everyone DimMak 34 Various Artists** Hockey Dad Records Compilation Hockey Dad 84 Sean Nicholas Savage* Spread Free Like a Butterfly Arbutus '^f/*^' 35 Various Artists Deep Wireless 7: Radio Art Compilation New... In Sound Art 85 Various Artists Daptone Gold Daptone 36 No Bunny First Blood Goner 86 Lake Doucet & the White Falcon" Steel City Trawler Six Shooter ' 37 Humans** s/t Blood 8r Water 87 SunAraw Off Duty/Boat Trip Woodsist 38 Happy Birthday s/t Sub Pop 88 Library Voices* Denim on Denim Young Soul 39 The Nymphets* Slow Song Indie 89 The Radio Dept. Clinging to a Scheme Labrador 40 Crocodiles Sleep Forever Fat Possum 90 Spoon Transference Merge 41 The Shilohs** s/t Indie 91 The Black Angels Phosphene Dream Blue Horizon 42 Gigi** Maintenant Tomlab 92 Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti Before Today 4AD 43 Hot Panda* How Come J5w Dead? Mint 93 Drive By Truckers The Big To-Do. ATO 44 Gorillaz Plustk Beach EMI 94 Hard Drugs** s/t Stay Gold 45 Dum Dum Girls .1 Will Be Sub Pop 95 Deer Tick The Black Dirt Sessions Partisan 46 Fucked Up Couple Tracks Matador 96 Eddy Current Suppression Ring Rush To Relax Goner 47 Neil Young* Le Noise , Reprise 97 Best Coast Crazy PorYou Mexican Summer 48 Ty Segal Melted Goner 98 If Then Do* M70 Indie 49 Jonsi . Go t&rt&Jk XL 99 Hellsongs* Hymns in the Key of 666 Aporia 50 The Dreadnoughts* Polka's Not Dead Stomp 100 Trentemoller Into The Great Wide Yonder In My Room CiTR's charts reflect what's been played on the air by CiTR's lovely DJs last month. Records with asterisks (*) are Canadian. Those with a plus (+) are local. Most of these excellent albums can be found at fine independent music stores across Vancouver. If you can't find them, give CiTR's music coordinator a shout at (604) 812-8733. His name is Luke Meat. If you ask nicely he'll tell you how to find them. Check out other great campus/community radio charts at www. earshot-online.com. 1f€| '^SKM^P^--'" E^lgRecdrd^^efiftltiy^TopJl 0 $e!easeS^£2QlQ R^yhSgjB £*«■ Kfif TttW8(p«s»3fF' RtSfcffi* WI ifllln ^feMfoiify, oH»« OW -s/l tin sensae -172§Jg HHRISTMAS EXTENDED HOURS DEC 16th-23«i OPEN LATE-9PM DEC 24th OPEN UNTIL 6PM [ DEC 2P CLOSED i DEC 26th 9AM-6PM ^ BSffilfiSk ~W}$il I Endless Fails ^£W|f^urs Tomb: A Triumph IP™- Transference Grinderman - Grinderman 2 Neil Young -Lelpa The National-High Vfoiet iCDSoundsystem-ThislsHappening^OA^^ ^Eno-SnlMirCraftonaMilkSea >0^G/4 ■**««** Apollo Ghosts-Mount Benson I"* Fa" - Yo,?* 'Wifl Be The Shilohs-s/t '•'e/s-.e,. 'nBraiUv 'WllR* Zulu Records 1972-1976 W 4th Ave Vancouver, BC tel 604.738.3232 www.zulurecords.com STORE HOURS Mon to Wed 10:30- -7:00 Thurs and Fri 10:30- -9:00 Sat 9:30- -6:30 Sun 12:00- -6:00 A i Li Wmm^makmm^a^mmmm 11th Hour Orchestra Agent Muldah Basketball Bevvy Swift Calamalka Daega Sound Dewey Decibel DJ Cure Eradik Holistic Johnny Dubs Kadiri / Cascade + Guests LadyVishus Librarian Mandai Max Ulis Mista Chatman Myles Away Nils NOG Selecta Brown Self Evident Michael Red Sweet Anomaly Taal Mala Tank Girl Tar ran That African The Funk Hunters Tusk XI &0BB** 5 rooms, more than 30 DJs and live bands, media art installations,, performance, hors d'ouevres, silent auction. Celebrate light and welcome in the new year at this major benefit event in aid of W2. Our new community media arts space opens this winter in the Woodward's heritage building! Tickets available at Beatstreet, Puff x3, Zulu, Peoples Co-op Books, The Fall, W2 and online at w2lights.eventbrite.com j^ iw/iw\v^ -J^ ^ ||f| @ IjH^jgB MMtyt liflMS! BASS*** W2 STORYEUM Community Media Arts VANCOUVER IS AWESOMEXOM PUBLISHER VANCOUVER IS AWESOME INC EDITOR IN CHIEF Bob Kronbauer MANAGING VISUAL EDITOR Christine McAvoy DESIGN Tyler Quarles, Calen Knauf EDITORS Lizzy Karp, Michael Tedesco, Kim Werker, Graham Clark, Oano Pendygrasse CONTRIBUTORS Ken Lum, Jessica Delorme, Charles Demers, Grant Lawrence, Karen Pinchin, Lana Gay, Jeannette Ordas Cover Image: Bob Kronbauer All Images Christine McAvoy unless otherwise credited HEAD OFFICE: 115 East Pender Vancouver, BC V6A 1T6 contact@vancouverisawesome.com UEflER FROM THE EDITOR Vancouver Is Awesome Inc is a community based non-profit organization dedicated to spreading a positive message about the city of Vancouver and the arts and culture within it. Founded, edited and maintained by folks who live here and who truly love this city of ours, we produce events but the bulk of what we do happens through our online presence where we deliver light-hearted fun all day every day. With a mantra of "no bad news" we only report on positive happenings and leave the "real" news to traditional media and other web sites. We've got ears to Vancouver's streets and are happy to serve as it's cheerleaders, always delivering a celebratory message. We're not saying that you shouldn't pay attention to the local news and the actual issues that affect your city, in fact the world would be an even more dangerous place if you did. We're just saying that every once in awhile we all need to step back and celebrate, and that sometimes it takes creating a place where we can be conscious of that for it to actually happen. If I may quote my friend and the author of the book Vancouver Special, Charles Demers, what we've created is an "oasis". It's a place CONTENTS UNPLUGGED MAP CHARLIE DEMERS: THE PRESCRIPTION ERRORS VANCOUVER EATS GRANT LAWRENCE: ADVENTURES IN SOLITUDE DOGTOWN& VAN CITY KITTY FUCKN AWESOME THE PROOF: JESSICA DELORME DIYVR THE PROOF: KEN LUM GRAHAM CLARK: MONSTROUS LAUGHS GREGOR ROBERTSON VANCOUVER BOOK CLUB LAST YEAR IN MUSIC VANCOUVER THEN AND NOW PG. 4 PG. 6 PG. 8 PG. 12 PG. 13 PG 14 PG. 16 PG. 14 PG. 19 PG. 20 PG. 22 PG. 24 PG. 28 that you can visit after you've caught up on everything that sucks about the city you live in and are just looking for a reason to smile and clap and find out about people doing great things. More importantly it's a place where you can find out how to join those people doing those great things, either in spirit or in person. We're a resource as well as a connector and if this is your first introduction to what we do then welcome to the world ofV.I.A.1 When Discorder approached us and asked if we wanted lo share this Jancember issue with them we were at first stunned, then honoured, then excited, then overwhelmed and now finally we are overjoyed that it all came together and that you're reading these words. This is Vancouver Is Awesome's first incarnation in print and as the founder and executive director I must say that I sincerely hope you enjoy what you find in the following pages. We really put our hearts into it. - Bob Kronbauer /&-■ a ON THE WATER Jericho Sailing Centre Located between Spanish Banks and Kits Beach, Jericho Sailing Centre offers lessons and rentals of sail boats, windsurfing boards, kayaks and stand-up paddleboards. m HIKING Pacific Spirit Regional Park Located just South East of UBC, Pacific Spirit Regional Park offers Vancouverites a wonderful dog-friendly wooded escape from the city. VANCOUVER BS AWESOME.COM UfJPLtJGGEB D UNPLUG pS^^N^OUTOOOR DESTtH CARtOf V1A?;S UNPLUGGED fiI MICHAEL TEDESCO. .. HIKING Baden Powell Grouse Mountain to Mosquito Creek Looking for a moderately difficult hike that is easy to get in and out of then this section of the 40 km Baden Powel trail is perfect. Myrtle Park Skills Facility (Cove Cliff) I Myrtle Park offers you a sanctioned place to test ; out your mountain biking skills in North Vancouver j complete with jumps, bumps and teeter totters. WW MOUNTAIN BIKING Deep Cove Don't own a kayak? No sweat, deep cove is the place to rent j and launch kayaks and canoes in beautiful Indian Arm. MOUNTAIN BIKING Burnaby Mountain Air Bike Skills Facility (N. face of Bwnaby Mountain off Barnett Hwy opposite j Barnet Marine Park) A step up from Myrtle Park, the Burnaby Mountain Skills Facility is a state.of the art mountain biking gauntlet designed with test your medal. VANCOUVER IS Enjoy this excerpt from Vancouver author Charles Demers' second book, The Prescription Errors, recommended by the Vancouver Book Club and available now from Arsenal Pulp Press. CHARLIE DEMERS THE PRESCRIPTION ERRORS I didn't normally charge Sara for babysitting her son, Robeson, a little white boy raised by lesbians and named for one of the great Renaissance men of the twentieth century, Paul Robeson, the actor! the athlete! the operatic singer! And most importantly, the Communist! The great timbre of that man's voice shook the world and was an enormous contrast to the shy and trembling eight year old who sat on my couch, scared frozen by the film we'd just watched, one whose title I was trying to convince him not to share with his mothers when they picked him up. Seeing as Sara and Nicole were paying me to look after the boy tonight (a goodwill donation inspired by the special brand of pity reserved for poor relations), I figured it would be pretty shitty if they found out that I had traumatized sweet Robeson with an age- inappropriate movie selection. The irony was - with his head pushed back against the couch, eyes dropped and blank like that - he looked more like the kid from The Shining than any of the characters from the Kubrick that we had watched. "Remember, Robeson, it's just a movie," I called out from the bathroom in my tiny East Vancouver basement suite. Hunched over the sink, I took my head pills with a sip of water from the tap. There's no diminutive for "Robeson," which is tough, because I needed one. Sara and Nicole arrived at half-past ten, and I kissed each on both cheeks (Nicole's puffed and reddened from crying) as Robeson sat, still shaking, on the couch. "Hello," sighed Sara, her long auburn hair pulled back into a ponytail that reached nearly to her tailbone, and seemed even longer when next to Nicole's hjgh bun, pulled tight to highlight wooden earrings. My cousin and I share a taste for the Rubenesque: Sara's small, pointed breasts and straight hips stood in remarkable and appealing contrast to Nicole's breathtakingly full-hipped, heavy-breasted and slope-shouldered form in a crumpled, papery purple dress. "Hi," I said. "How did the meeting go?" "We'll see," said Nicole. "Not so well." Sara was more visibly angry than her partner, her face animated with fury as she made her way into the kitchen, rummaging in the cupboards for a clean glass while the tap ran to cold. She settled on a mug. "It was fucking bullshit, Daniel. The meeting starts, and like always, there's one parent there who's the ringleader, yeah? And he's just the most sickening, perfect caricature of these ignorant, suburban alpha - He's just going on and on about 'gay recruitment,' and he's just absolutely over the edge... And then the meeting proceeds and we find out that he's the local pastor, and that more than half the kids, the white ones anyways, are his on Sundays anyhow! And so it's like, we can fight until we're blue in the face to make sure that the book stays in the library, but he's got every weekend to make sure it never takes root." "Jesus," I said, helpless. "Did they ban the book?" "They decide later," explained Nicole. "Tonight wasn't meant for that. It won't be for months, maybe next year even." Nicole had written and illustrated a children's book called Turtledoves, a story about Shelley and Slowey, two girl • turtles ("gurtles") who spend their time asking questions of their fellow pond animals about their homes, and end by sharing a shell between the two of them. While the book had faced no serious op position here in the city, some of the Parents' Councils in the more religious, rural areas and suburbs were opposed to allowing stories dealing with "same-sex issues" - Turtles! Sharing a shell! (Keep in mind I haven't left anything out about anal beads, okay?) - into the elementary schools. Nicole and Sara had been out tonight at a parents' meeting in Surrey, where, apparently, one of the local pastors - whose children attended the public elementary school after the private religious facility that he had administered had run into tax problems - was trying to make political hay by leading a higji-profile campaign against the book's presence. For months now, these kinds of fights had been taking the wind out of Nicole's sails in particular, siphoning hours of sleep into waking anxiety. Having been crying, likely since leaving Surrey, she now reached into her purse for eye drops, a mnemonic visual cue that elicited an excited whimper from Robeson on the couch, and signaled to me that my shortcomings as a babysitter might soon be readily apparent. "What's wrong, Jelly Bean?" asked Sara. "Oh, it's nothing," I answered for him. "He's just a little scared from the movie we watched tonight." "Aw, don't be scared, Jelly Bean," said Sara as she smiled and bent to kiss the boy on his forehead. "Do you want a little glass of milk?" Robeson again emitted a muted shriek, this one more panicked than the last. Sensing that something was very wrong, Sara turned to me and asked, suspiciously: "What movie did you show him?" "It was nothing, I - " I was stammering, ashamed. Darting my eyes from side Q4 VANCOUVER IS to side evasively, I was distracted by my reflection in the hideous, gold-veined mirror near to the entrance of the kitchen and I was thrown, foggy-headed, into reluctant honesty. "A Clockwork Orange." "What?" Sara screamed. Her eyes peeled open in an anger that shook her long ponytail as she shot herself erect. "You showed him A Clockwork Orange, Daniel?" asked Nicole. "What in Christ's nqme is the matter with you?" "I had forgotten - I'm sorry. I was in and out of the room, I don't know. He liked the cover, and he really wanted to see it, and I'd forgot - I forgot just how - fuck - I didn't remember how bad it was." "Daniel!" screamed Sara, driving the stake further into my heart, "Singin' in the Rain is one of Robeson's favourite movies! He loves that song! What is wrong with you? He's eight years old! Don't you remember how shook up you were at his age by Lord of the Flies?" In fact, I had been ten. Back then, around the time that my mother died, my friend Vito's father had shown us a contemporary film adaptation of Golding's opus at a sleepover. Vito was my best childhood friend, my next-door neighbour (surely 'best friend' and 'next-door neighbour' are synonyms until age eleven at least?) and we were each half-and-half kids who identified only with our stronger-flavoured ethnic roots. Regardless of the equal parts Irish and Scottish running through our veins, we were Italian and Quebecois, respectively, wearing our Romantic fathers' surnames (not to mention Vito's al dente Christian name) as proof-positive. Our houses had been built by the same people, in the sixties, and so the layouts were identical: Visiting Vito was, therefore, like experiencing an Italian translation of my own home - the same dimensions, only filled with couches and vases that had seemed hyper-modern for a month and a half, and were after that nothing more than gaudy throwbacks, evidence of someone's semi-fascist Mediterranean vision of a future that, thank God, had never happened. They had a kitchen with the window in the same place, but the room smelled of onions instead of nothing. Vito would retrieve porno movies from the deeply engraved, ornate, and monstrous cabinet in his father's room (whose counterpart, at our place, housed my Anglo grandmother's Hummel figurines), and play them while I shuddered at the sight of enormous, throbbing, veiny cocks that looked nothing like the tiny pink protrusion in my pants, the one dwarfed even by my own modestly sized, hairless balls. Pussy Pumpers, though, was only the second most traumatizing film that I was ever subjected to in the midst of the Little Italy next door. Vito and I had gotten into a fight downstairs in his family's basement one afternoon over a play-car that we had imagined, made out of his heavy red couch, with a drum skin from his father's set for the steering wheel and a drumstick for the gearshift. In order to explain to us the necessity of orderliness and democracy in decision-making, his father rented Lord of the'Flies and made us watch it. I had been terrified by the picture, mostly because I was at that time the hated, youngest, fattest member of a frustrated suburban baseball team whose roster fit Golding's cast of characters with Aft f ^ j^^^^^^ an eerily accurate parallel. I remember it washing over me the way my grade eleven English teacher defined an Oceanic Experience - a sudden burst of meta- consciousness wherein I, the dugout, and the chalk lines leading from base to base became one, and understanding set in with a cloud of terror calmer (yet deeper- set) than the breathy panic of normal pre- teen fear. Kenny, our coach's son, was an easy Ralph, and the sociopathic Brody, our tallest, best-looking, and most violent player, was Jack. I was Piggy. And I remember, all of ten years old, realizing that if the Burnaby Metro Mosquito Division baseball squad, in our white, green, and yellow uniforms, were ever stranded on some tiny tropical island, I would be dead within days, a shattered conch and bloated corpse the only evidence that I had ever, even existed. My fear of Brody's truly violent and malicious potential was confirmed, two or three years later, when he and a group of other boys stomped our neighbour across the street with such brutal abandon that the black-and-white newspaper pictures of Peter, their, victim, could only be described as cartoonish when they appeared the next week. A few nights before the beating, Peter had come across a group of teenagers (like neighbour for best friend, 'teenager' was shorthand for 'violent thug' on my block, and not wholly without reason) vandalizing a construction site just down from our place. A few days later, when picking up his kids after class, he recognized one of the young men, smoking a cigarette outside the school. Middle-aged men castrated by Saturday morning soccer do stupid things. They are aware that, having accomplished little by way of athletics or art or politics in their time on earth, their final chance at glory or notoriety is to be the freakish, accidental hero of one of the emergencies of quotidian life. Peter chose to pounce on his destiny (read: this kid with the cigarette), thereby inviting the boy's friends - standing in the wings and led by Brody - to stomp him within an inch of his life with the shoes that their parents had bought them. His face collapsed in on itself. Giant purple-brown circles obscured his tiny, red eyes. Stitches railroaded his cheeks and forehead. His jaw remained wired shut for weeks. Some time later, Brody's horde threw a bottle through his living room window, just to let him know that they knew where he lived. I sighed in relief that our team had never played any road games, but was unable to so much as look at the cover of Golding's book all through high school. Retrospectively, it had become clear that at least part of the terror had been the result of my as-yet undiagnosed mental illness. The OCD that I would only later be given pills and counselling for, at this early time, had the island boys' savagery running on a constant loop in my mind's eye for months, maybe more than a year, and so I had long since considered the Lord of the Flies trauma to be a product of something altogether more particular than simple childhood sensitivity. And yet here, now, was poor Robeson, wetting his mother's shoulder with mucous and tears, and talking about "that man shaking in the wheelchair." It wasn't toojate for somebody to drop a rock on my head. □ 5 VANCOUVER IS VANCOUVER EATS ■.ij.ii)jij.ij.iJi)ji.iiLjjjjy^.ijJ.).i.aj.iJ.iJ.iiyu.iiJJJ,iJ.iujJ..m).y.TaRi GROUSE GRIND \ k INGREDIENTS: 4 medium grouse breasts (two birds, can substitute pheasant or small chicken breasts) 2 cups grouse stock (or chicken, or vegetable) 1 cup wild rice 6 strips thickly sliced bacon 2 shallots, diced 1 cup sliced mushrooms (preferably chanterelle, but can use button or porcini) Vt. cup dried cranberries Vi cup celery, diced 1 tbsp thyme + dill Vi tsp salt + pepper V2 cup dry bread cubes (or toasted bread, no crusts) 1. In a medium pot, bring rice and 4 cups water to a boil over high heat. Stir, reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Simmer for 30 minutes, then take off heat and let sit for 30 minutes until excess water is absorbed. 2. Meanwhile... cut2 strips bacon into 16-inch lardons and fry over medium heat until crisp. Drain bacon on paper towel. 3. Saute shallots in remaining bacon fat over medium heat for one minute. Add mushrooms, celery, cranberries, thyme, salt and pepper and cook until tender. Add crispy bacon and dill and stir to combine. 4. Combine cooked wild rice with half of vegetable mixture (mushrooms, celery, bacon, etc.) and pour into a greased 9-inch casserole pan. 5. To make the stuffing, combine bread cubes with the other half of the vegetable mixture in a medium bowl. 6. Whisk egg into one cup of stock and pour over stuffing. 7. On a cutting board, lay 2 strips of bacon and put one grouse breast on top. Mound ¥2 cup of stuffing on top, cover with second breast and wrap with bacon. Secure bacon with toothpicks. Repeat with remaining bacon, breasts and stuffing. 8. Nestle wrapped breasts on rice and vegetable mixture, pour remaining stock over top and cover with aluminium foil. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour and uncover for last 15 minutes to crisp bacon. 9. To serve, cut breasts in half (between the bacon!) and serve on a mound of rice mixture. Drizzle with balsamic or red wine vinegar and garnish with a sprig of dill. Pairs with winter ale, merlot and impressing friends. * recipe makes four servings, can be easily halved or doubled - Karen Pinchin tvia|| I Vl/IA I Watch the making of this recipe at *■•*■■ http://vimeo.com/17148645 Q6 VANCOUVER IS AWESOMEXOM RAINCITY RISOTTO INGREDIENTS: 2 tbsp Olive Oil 2 tbsp Butter 2 cloves of Garlic, chopped 1 Red Pepper, diced 1 cup sliced Mushrooms 1 cup Corn 1 Onion, chopped 1 Zucchini, diced 1 tsp Rosemary 1 tsp Hot Pepper Flakes 4 V2 - 5 cups Vegetable (or Chicken) Stock 1 cup of Parmesan Cheese *fresh, not powder 1 Lemon (used to get 1 tbsp Zest and 2 tbsp Juice) 1 I/2 cups Arborio Rice In a large frying pan heat half of the olive oil and butter (medium heat). Add onions, garlic, mushrooms, and cook for 5 mins or so. Add zucchini, red pepper, corn, rosemary, salt & pepper, hot pepper flakes. Cook and stir until most liquid has evaporated. Set aside. In a large pot, add the rest of the olive oil and butter. Heat lemon rind and rice on high for 1 min. Grab a pal to help you stir! Stir in 1/2 cup of stock until it is absorbed. Keep doing this until all of the stock is used and rice is tender (approx 20mins). Stir in cheese, lemon juice and veggie mix well and serve. High five your pal who helped you stir! - Lana Gay t ItvtaH TlflA K3 Watch the making of this recipe at 1 VIM liil http://vimeo.com/! 7150019 □ 7 Enjoy this excerpt from CBC personality Grant Lawrence's first book, Adventures In Solitude, recommended by the Vancouver Book Club and available now from Harbour Publishing. TAKE ME TO THE RIOT ■.I.TOJDJUI.IU.IiUll.llimilll.U.liJJ.IIJl Every summer my parents would invite me back to the cabin and every summer I would refuse to go. "Too busy, touring, recording ..." I would state with self-importance. It hurt them. I was rudely rejecting what they had hoped would become a Lawrence family legacy, something I would embrace and cherish. Dad eventually stopped bringing up Desolation Sound altogether, but Mom would always try. "But you loved it up there so much," she would say. "So what?" I'd snap back. "I'm way too busy and it's too far away. I can't go back there, okay? It sucks." The truth was I was an egotistical, irresponsible, morally corrupt, immature and insensitive teenager who thought the world revolved around me. I wanted nothing to do with my dorky family, let alone our cabin. I Wanted to finally be cool, like Lou Reed in the Velvet Underground or Scott McCaughey in the Young Fresh Fellows. I wanted to trade in my Coke-bottle science- teacher glasses, the massive lenses of which covered over half of my face, and replace them with John Lennon granny glasses and Bob Dylan Ray-Ban shades. I wanted to write songs, record albums, tour with my band and see the world. When I wasn't doing that, I wanted to get drunk and party with my friends in the city. Of course, I still lived at home, and I was broke. Since my parents were up in Desolation Sound so much in the warmer months, when I wasn't touring I was somehow entrusted with our family home in West Vancouver. Many times unbeknownst to my parents it became the de facto, parentless, party house. One summer, when the band had an unusual amount of time off, the parties were frequent and growing in size by the week. My parents were blissfully unaware and I was confident that I could clean up any mess so they wouldn't notice a thing. I'm not really sure what happened that one □ < particular hot August night, but what started out as a small summer bash turned into one of those massive, out-of-control house parties that people read about in the paper every once in a while. Teens streamed in from all over the city . . . word somehow travelled so fast that groups of kids in the ' hundredswere charging down our driveway, a scene that resembled a cross between Braveheart and Degrassi Junior High. Soon our house, yard and street were jam-packed with partying teens. It was officially an out-of-control house party. The police showed up in force, found me and said they needed my permission to clear the house. If I didn't give them that permission, I would be staring at a fine in the thousands. It was probably a bluff, but I was scared, so I gave them the green light. The police blitzkrieged the property, chasing screaming, drunken teenagers throughout my childhood home, over the couches, down the stairs, through the halls and out into the yard. Several groups of teens resisted, fighting back against the cops. A complete meleeensued. Police dogs were unleashed and billy clubs were swung. A small group of my closest friends watched in horror from our upstairs window as a bourgeois battle royale raged between the cops and the West Vancouver teen-elite. In the chaos, a cute Smugglers groupie flung herself up against me, begging me to keep her "safe from the cops." And so, like Nero fiddling while Rome burned, I made out with her in the laundry room as the teen riot ensued outside. Eventually, after about an hour of mayhem, calm came back to a beer-can littered Bellevue Avenue. My neighbours slowly emerged from their homes like villagers who had survived a Viking raid. They were livid. Wreckage and debris was strewn up and down the block. Amazingly, the only damage sustained to the Lawrence family home was a solitary broken window, and my family wouldn't be back for two weeks . . . I could clean up the street and fix the window. By the time my parents were back, most of the neighbours would have forgotten about it or be on summer vacation themselves. I was soaked in sweat, fresh from an awkward teenage make-out session, and freaked right out, but in the clear. Unfortunately, those cops had really cracked some heads. Several kids had been whacked with billy clubs and some were even attacked and bitten by a police dog. The media got hold of the story like a German shepherd on a teenage butt cheek and wouldn't let go. Meanwhile, a couple of days later amid the secluded serenity.of Desolation Sound, my parents and sister decided to take a day trip into Lund. They stopped by the Lund General Store where Mom bought a few Jiffy-markered-up groceries. Heather grabbed the latest Archie Digest and Dad picked up a daily Province newspaper. He glanced at the cover, and then folded the paper under his arm. Twenty feet from the general store Dad stopped in his tracks, his face contorted into a grimace. "What's wrong?" Mom asked. Slowly, Dad unfolded the newspaper and stared incredulously at the front cover of the provincial paper : emblazoned across the top of the page in bold, black letters was the headline : BELLEVUE BASH CRASHED. Beneath it was a full-colour picture of a teenaged girl showing a police dog's teeth marks in her bruised and bloody thigh. Filling out the picture behind her was the beach in front of our West Vancouver family home. "Jesus effing Christ!" They were on the next ferry home, cutting short their vatation by two weeks. I was in more trouble than I had ever been in my life, my parents screaming at me that I wouldn't have a choice but to go with them the next time they went to the cabin. I screamed back in stupidity that I would never go back, that I hated the place and that I had a music career to uphold. My still-bookish, nerdy and-innocent little sister Heather was caught in the middle, flinching as the various doors of our house slammed loudly all around her. The coincidence of an unfortunate newspaper headline and a g visit to Lund gave my parents reason to cut short their vacation that summer. Qio Classifieds 986-6222 Office, Editorial 985-2131 Display Advertising 980-0511 Distribution 986-1337 Bellevue bash crashed □ i HAPPY TAILS Name: Luca Breed: (Chocolate) Labrador retriever Hood: The Drive Favourite Snack: Meat ends from Santa Barbara Other Info: Born in Delta, Luca enjoys chasing squirrels, sneaking onto the couch and long hikes in Squamish. Dislikes stairs, guitars and dog jocks. You might not know it yet, but he loves you. Name: Blue Breed/Colouring: Himilayan Hood: Cambie Village Habits: keeping feet warm, constantly wanting to go outside, sounding like a pigeon and being cross-eyed Hangouts: The couch mostly □ 12 flickn awesome We went through all of the 8,421 user-generated images from our Flickr Pool and deliberated on an all time favourite. Chris Morisawa took the cake with this image. VANCOUVER WAS AWESOME! ■ J:IJ.I!IJiJ.lJl^i.|)llJIIII.^J:l.l.l.l^l.lJ[UIIII,|.ll.l^»L.i.l.«J.III^J.U.IIJ.IIII)l.>'I^IIJ:[M VANCOUVER IS JESSICA PELORME it Jessica Delorme is a throbbing-heart-painter-wild-pony-eyed- Show, a Gallery Assistant at LES Gallery and leads expressive heartstring-plucker. She is as ethereal and grounded as art workshops at Gallery Gachet. the stories she conjures, and as clever. Aside from making - Josee Gordon-Davis Vancouver awesome, she is Curatorial Director of the Cheaper 1) The view from my bed. 2) The Woods. Listening to records with friends. 3) My favorite Vancouver photographer, Kyle Scully's extensive camera collection. 4) Brainstorming wall at my studio. 5) Rauschenberg inspired studio shot. 6) Some of my recent paintings. 7) View from my studio window. 8) Patti Smith on the front cover of Modern Painters. My favorite magazine, with my favorite icon. What neighborhood do you live in? I currently live in Mt. Pleasant. I love the people and the pace. What do you do and where? I am a visual artist. I mostly paint. When I am not-in the studio I work as the Curatorial Director for the Cheaper Show, and as the Gallery Assistant at the LES Gallery. I also just began a workshop at Gallery Gachet teaching the merit of keeping a visual journal. What are you working on? In my studio I have been exploring the relationship between identity and space. I have always been fascinated by how our social and physical environments influence our development of self. In this vain, my new series develops vessels-ie baskets, clothing, bathtubs, homes, etc. into abstract spaces. Through these images, I aim to translate how we compartmentalize our identities as a reaction to different surroundings. Where can we find your work? jessicadelorme.com Ql4 The future called. It asked you to talk green. This year, people from all over the city gave us their ideas on how to make Vancouver the greenest city in the world by 2020. Now we've built a draft action plan and we want to know what you think. Are we on target? What should be our highest priority? talkgreentous.ca 0Zmor VANCOUVER TALK VANCOUVER VANCOUVER GREEN CAPITAL PAPERDOLLS DiYVR is a weekly VancouverlsAwesome.clK feature about all things crafts and do-it-yourself. We're psyched to have this opportunity to get real, if you will, in tangible print form. So go grab some crayons or markers and scissors, colour these guys in, cut them out, and have endless dress-up fun. Fire up your imagination, it's time to play. - Kim Werker CI 16 VANCOUVER IS C/Paper dc 'Paper dolls by Jeannette Ordas, who sells her work atwww.thebeautifulproject.etsy.com and writes a food blog at: www.everybodylikessandwiches.com ^ Ql7 KEN LUM MJJJ!ll5Ul.llJ!HIIJ^5I.IUM:l!t.lJJ:i^JL'JA^!IJ»!l[>JJ:lUi-W BrT" Ken Lum is an internationally recognized artist who speculates on and imagines others' lived realities. For over 25 years and to great acclaim, he has been making and exhibiting art for both galleries and the public realm. Think of the iconic Monument for East Vancouver (2010) which looms over Clark Drive at East 6th. Lum is a prolific writer, art critic, and curator as well as an excellent teacher. If the city of Vancouver has been central to his development, the strength of his work has propelled him elsewhere. He has exhibited, lectured and taught in cities throughout the world including Berlin, Cologne, Kassel, Hangzhou, Istanbul, Munich, New York, Paris, San Francisco, and Shanghai. Many of his texts on art have been published in prestigious journals and books, and he is co-founder and founding editor of Yishu Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art. - Kitty Scott [$&4 1) Half the walls of my place have art sitting on the floor 2) View from a taxi window or another trip to the airport 3) No shit. Words to live by. 4) I was born in the year of the Monkey. 5) Jaime Hayon lamp with Rodney Graham art or more stuff that sits on other stuff that was meant for another use. 6) My assistant says "Hey, let me take a picture of you" with a work from 1993. 7) The weather is always on view in my loft. Sometimes I just lie on a tatami mat and stare up at the skylight. I can be incredibly happy just doing that. 8) Our dog Waling, saved from the Chilliwack Animal Rescue Society. What neighbourhood do you live in? At the intersection between Fairview, Mount Pleasant, City Hall- Cambie and the Olympic Village. What do you do and where? I am an artist. Where is wherever my work takes me. Where can we find your work? In Vancouver, you can find my work sometimes inside at the Vancouver Art Gallery but always outside on the parapet of the building. Also, at the intersection of 6th and Great Northern Way. And, on an outside facing wall of the City of Vancouver's National Works yard in Strathcona. □ AWESQME.COM MONSTROUS LAUGHS £5)g iH^ifiii'iUfiiin-ifn-ii'iinaaaaa My friend Sean Proudlove is a man of many ideas. One day he came up with an idea for a pub crawl. He said a group of comedians should get together and drink at every establishment that used to host a comedy night. It didn't take long for both of us to figure out that this would take forever and result in everyone dying of alcohol consumption. In a round about way, I'm saying there have been a lot of places that have played host to a comedy night. Ii|tl!| There is seemingly no criteria for where someone will decide to start putting on a show. From punk bars to sports bars (both share a commonality that the last thing in the world they give a shit about is comedy) all you need is a microphone and a willing bunch of comics. It isn't until you are delivering jokes in a karaoke bar or trying to convey your unique world view to a hotel lounge full of racists that you begin to see the value in someone making a comedy night work. It's not an easy undertaking, but I am proud to say most of the comics I respect have taken on hosting a comedy night at one point or another. Another hole in the pub crawl idea was that a lot of the rooms ~in town stopped being rooms only because the venue changed hands and the attitude towards a comedy night changed with it. A few of my favorite rooms of all time have fallen at the hands of business men who looked around this coastal city and said to themselves, "You know what the denizens of this town seem to be short of? A sushi restaurant!" In fact one such room was turned into a sushi restaurant next door to a sushi restaurant (which was next door to another rarity, a Starbucks). If a comedy night survives at all, it is an achievement in and of itself. I have an abiding affection for anyone who • attempts it, no matter how doomed the venture may be. It also brings me a sense of peace to know that when one falls another will pop up. I also know that during the course of the rising and setting of the sun on these venues there will always be elders in the scene telling the newer comics, "It was the best when this or that room was around." This is always true and always false. It's true because usually that particular room holds a place in your heart because it reflects that beginning time in your pursuit when everything is exciting and energy filled. It is false, because the newer comics are having that experience right now whenever they perform. The room is just a reflection. That's not to say there haven't been some memorable and sustaining one-night comedy-rooms. Probably the most mourned comedy establishment is the Urban Well. For years, every week, a pre-Corner Gas Brent Butt would host crowds packed to the rafters (the place was always in trouble for breaking fire codes). It would also play host to Urban Improv, a still sustaining improv troupe (at a place called Rowan's Roof). Last I checked the old Urban Well is now a place where the only thing packed is a plethora of sushi rolls Patrick Maliha has run a room since I've known him. He was previously at the now boarded up Balthazar's and continues to this day at a place called Darby's every Tuesday. Years ago Dylan Rhymer and Aubrey Tennant started a comedy night at a place called El Cocal, called "The Laugh Gallery". I would inherit this show and fun it out of El Cocal and a place called Rime, until it changed it's name to Lime (I couldn't make that up if I wanted to) which was...you guessed it, a sushi restaurant. The Laugh Gallery still exists along with it's mascot: a golden Cookie Monster cookie jar barely held together wtth duct tape that holds tickets for prize draws. It happens a few times a year and will ride again at St. Mary's Ukrainian Hall on New Years Eve. There are still comedy nights happening every night of the week in every corner of the city. A website called comedy- couch.com created by Raegan Birch can tell you where to go. If you like comedy, make your way out to one of these shows and maybe one day you'll be able to finish up a sushi dinner and say, "You know what? One night I saw a great comedy show here." You can buy tickets for the Laugh Gallery New Years Eve Show at Neptoon Records. Q19 WKOUVHtJl AWESOMEXOM VANCOUVERS MOST AWESOME: GREGOR ROBERTSON Words: Bob Kronbauer Photos: Christine McAvoy Over the past couple of years Vancouver Is Awesome has managed to secure interviews with high profile celebrities and artists such as Michael J Fox, Cqrly Pope, Douglas Coupland, Will Sasso, Ry0n Reynolds and a slew of others. We get them to talk about their favourite things about our city in a series entitled Vancouver's Most Awesome and not only do they resonate with us locals but they also attract eyeballs from around the internet to take a peek at the great stuff that's happening here. Through a variety of methods which include connecting with agents, friends of friends, and even reaching out to them directly on Twitter, it's always a combination of a few different methods that lead to us locking down an interview with people in the public eye who connect with, or are actually from, our city. And when it comes to the public eyes perhaps no one is more visible in Vancouver than our current mayor,.Gregor Robertson. While he's not the typical brand of celebrity we've interviewed, he not only has a high local Q rating but is also one of the busiest dudes in town. He was almost as hard to pin down as Marty McFly but we managed to capture a few minutes of his time on the day before our print deadline in order to bring you his thoughts on some of his favourite things (and one not-so-favourite thing) about this city. This is the Vancouver's Most Awesome: Gregor Robertson interview. Q20 What makes Vancouver awesome? Awesome people in an awesome setting. Definitely, thecapiba* is unbeatable. Has Nardwuar ever interviewed you? The Human Serviette? No. We've met briefly but he's never interviewed me, I haven't had a chance to really connect with him. Would you let him interview you? Yeah, sure! Which mayor do you think has done the best job in the history of Vancouver? Art Phillips in the mid 70's, I think he was a great mayor and. really transformational in the city. He put an end to the freeway push, they built the viaducts but that was it. He became Why didn't Barack Obama make It up? I don't know, there was talk about him coming. Joe Bfden was here though, he and his 48 car motorcade, Literally? Yeah, it was the biggest one. What's your favourite TV show that's been filmed here? I liked Da Vinci's Inquest. Chris Haddock's work is great. Who was your favourite Beachcomber? [Laughs] I liked Relic, he was a classic! y^> > What does Vancouver need mare off Affordable homes. What does Vancouver n^d !•§§ of? Traffic, 111 mayor right in the middle of that and stopped that. Obviously the community going nuts over it was the reason it got turned around but he did a lot of really progressive things and i think he was way ahead of his time. Who's your favourite Vancouver Canuck of all time? Bobby Schmautz. Schmautzy! My recollection from when I was a kid is that he was scrappy and he scored lots of goals. The Canucks sucked in the early years but he was one of the stars that stood out and made people happy. He was a hilarious guy, a real character. What was your favourite event that you attended during the Games? Just being in the streets. All the other stuff was great but the street party action was legendary. That was the most amazing thing. Did you get a lot of high fives after the men's gold medal hockey game? Yeeh, it was serious high five time. I imagine you also shook a lot of hands during the Games. Any standouts? The athletes were fantastic to meet, you know during the actual games either before or after their events. And I had fun with Maelle Ricker. We did a thing together at the Live site where we honoured the Canadian snowboard team in front of crmassiye crowd before Damian Marley played, and that was really fun. What are you gonna do when you're done with politics? Catch up on my sleep. If I gave you 100 dollars right now what would you spend it on? I'd take mysweetheart to a live music show. What was the last show you went and saw? Dan Mangan at the Vogue a couple weeks ago, the second night that he played. It was a great show. He's on fire, ifs so great to see locals hit the big time. Q21 VANCOUVER IS flwInBSOMtCOM VANCOUVER BOOK CLUB AND THE 100 MILE LIBRARY wmm-HwiifVM ffS0N%S BRITISH iCOLUMBIA PIoSrW'-.. , ? V 'mm Sure you've heard the importance about eating locally and supporting small business in your neighborhood but what about reading locally? Vancouver is not only the backdrop to some of the finest stories but home to some to some incred ible bookstores, writers and publishers. The Vancouver Book Club has created the 100 Mile Library to celebrate the art of reading local. Here are a few of our latest favourites to get you started... □ 22 VANCOUVER IS For armchair architects,- A Guidebook to Contemporary Architecture by Chris McDonald _^ For lovers of comedy, the darker variety - The Presctif&ion Errors by Charles Demers For history buffs - The Mon Game by Lee Henderson For the nostalgic type - City of Love and Revolution: Vancouver in the Sixties by Lawrence Aronsen For pop culture and poetry addicts - [sic] by Nikki Reim^j\% -^ For fans of character driven, fast-paced fiction - The Three Fates of Henrik Nordmark by Christopher Meades w For museum and ^Si^^if^uJars- Visions of British ColumbicfwjffScott Steedman and Bruce Grenville. For those who want a glimpse at the future - Darwin's Bastards edited by Zsuzsi Gartner For locavores - Harvested Here: Delicious Thinking about Local Food edited by David Beers For photography lovers - A Room in the City by 0abor<3«aKStzonyi For a trip to the archives - Vancouver Then and Now by Francis Mansbridge -> For chefs, amateur or well-seasoned - V7/'s at Home by Meeru Dhalwala arid Vikram Vij This season's Vancouver Book Club pick is The Devil You a casual yet provocative discussion about the book with the Know by Jenn Farrell. Head on over to your nearest library or author, some of Vancouver's most attractive book lovers and independent bookstore and grab a copy. Join us for our third a few surprises. For more information and to say hello write Vancouver Book C[ub meeting this January where we'll have books@vancouverisawesome.com. Q23 VANCOUVER IS LAST YEAR IN MUSIC UM>aJ^tUikafciiliLTHMliMili^l #*'?# W^ 41ST AND HOME: Best Music Moment in Vancouver in 2010: (Thorn): Probably Sufjan's choreographed robot dance during that 25 minute outotune song? (Garth): Totally. *high five exchange* (George): Yeah. That was... a iing. Describe Your Perfect Sunday: (Garth): Rambo marathon. (Thorn): Followed by Conan, or Commando. (George): Maybe just watching the opening montage of Commando over and over again. Or..rwo Rambo marathons. ADALINE lost Music Moment in Vancouver in 2010: The Cultural Olympiad Music Festival during the Olympics. We were all getting to play for thousands of people and alongside some of the best artists in the world. The energy was pretty great. AIDAN KNIGHT Best Musk Moment in Vancouver in 2010: Call me an egomaniac, but my best musical moment was hearing 'Jasper' being played by an incredible group of kids from St, James Music Academy on September 16th 2010.1 was invited over for a community dinner in the Lower East Side by my friend Jocelyn Price. We arrived worrying about our gear and left full of food, happy kids and (this will sound cheesy) unforgettable memories. Thafs the first lime I've heard someone I don't know play my song for me (let alone an incredible choir of singers), ifs weird and comforting all at the same time, like gnocchi. (Garth): Conan! What is best in life? , dbtu): *in Austrian acent* He crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women" (George): That sounds like my perfect Sunday. Favourite Show In Vancouver (Your Own): (George): Maybe our CD release? Not for our performance, but that lineup was insane. (In Medias Res, Aidan Knight, We are the City, 41st and Home) (Thorn): Yeah.J still don't get how we pulled that off. Describe Your Perfect Sunday: Sunday brunch, mimosas, good company, long afternoon nap, campfire en the beach, music. Favourite Vancouver Writing Spot: Roof of the parking lot on Granville at Cordova Describe Your Perfect Sunday: Eating a bowl, hearing my friend Ben play a new song, and then drinking a bitter beer with my friends on a tugboat before sunset. Sounds like a music video. But that actually happened! Most Inspiring Moment in Vancouver: Seeing my Mends in We Are The City play at The Commodore ballroom last year. Zach and I ended up jumping up and down and hugging in the air like Sailor Moon. I don't think we've ever cheered more for 2nd place, ever. I love those dudes. □ 24 BEND SINISTER Best Musk Moment in Vancouver in 2010: Well this might be biased but i loved having Tariq, Dan Werb, Jody Glenham and Jordan Daniels all play sets at show at my apartment with myself as well. It was a amazing night of performances and a party in the true Vancouver DIY fashion! Describe Your Perfect Sunday: I guess i'd get up and go for brunch somewhere with good caesars and home made sausages then come home and noodle on the piano for a while, meet up with some friends and go to BRASSTRONAUT Best Musk Moment in Vancouver in 2010: This one comes from Edo: When Jens Lekman signed my forehead. Describe Your Perfect Sunday: Brunch at the Whip, head to 3rd beach, have a round of frorf, go to splitz burger for dinner, have a beer(s) at the narrows, head to a show at the Biltmore/China Cloud/ Hannah Georgas Best Musk Moment in Vancouver in 2010: One of my favourite musical moments in Vancouver was watching Julian Casablancas play at The ' Commodore. I am a huge fan of Phrazes For The Young and I adore The Strokes. It was pretty special to see him in real life. I also have a little crush. Describe Your Perfect Sunday: A perfect Sunday would involve a nice little sleep in, a sunny day, a QE pitch and putt with a 6 pack, then go for oysters at rodneys for happy hour between 5-6 with my lady then come home play a game of SETTLERS Of CATAN with the neighbours and fancy snacks and then settle down to a sweet movie on our projector! Best Pre-Gig Meal in Vancouver: A HOT DOG from outside BILTMORE Best Post-Gig Meal in Vancouver: This Asian seafood late-night place at 27th and Main which serves beer §3 Little Mountain/Media Club/ Railway/Orpheum/Commodore/ Malkin Bowl/etc and top it off by checking out the Rat show at the Kea before falling asleep to the sound of Vancouver rain on my window. Favourite Vancouver Beach: 3rd beach.'buff said. late breakfast at Seb's and several episodes of Eastbound and Down. Favourite Past time in Vancouver: One of my favourites things to do in Vancouver is going tot coffee. I love the setting in Our Town. I also love to swim and run. lout Lake is really beautiful spot and I try to get out there as much as I can. □ 25 VANCOUVER IS JASPER SLOAN-YIP Best Music Moment in Vancouver in 2010: Seeing Wilco at David Lam Park during the Olympics. I waited in the rain for 3 hours. Describe Your Perfect Sunday: Up at 9, omelette with sausages and coffee, quick shower, bike to all the music shops in Vancouver and handle merchandise, stop for chicken noodle soup and a pood JILL BARBER Best Music Moment in Vancouver in 2010: My favourite musical moment of the year was attending "Atlantic House", a showcase of Atlantic Canadian artists held at the Arts Club Theatre on Granville Island during the Olympic. Having moved to Vancouver from Halifax a couple of years ago, it was incredible to have all of my musical friends in my new home city. To celebrate, my husband Grant Lawrence and I threw an Olympic-sized cocktail shakeup with SAID THE WHALE Best Musk Moment in Vancouver in 2010: The final show of our Malahat Revue tour with Jeremy Fisher, Hannah Georgas and Aidan Knight. We played stage 5 at the Vancouver Folk Fest, and the crowd was wild. Incredible turn out. We had all just biked 300 kilometres around the Gulf Islands - our muscles were sore and our skin was sunburnt, but our spirits were high. In the middle of our seethe sun was replaced by stage lights, and the moon was rising. It was the perfect ending to sandwich, drink a beer and read classic novel, go h6me, write a hit single, visit my parents and eat dinner with them, watch a good movie, night cap or two, fall into deep, peaceful sleep. Favourite Vancouver Neighbourhood/Street: Kitsilano a cross-Canada mix of musicians... everyone from Two Hour' Traffic to Said The Whale, David Myles to Dan Mangan, Rose Cousins to Hannah Georgas. It was a delightful musical cocktail! Describe Your Perfect Sunday: Coffee, paper, CBC Radio and my husband, all within arms' reach. Favourite Vancouver Festival: Vancouver Writers and Readers Festival the most incredible tour we've ever been on. Describe Your Perfect Sunday: 11 am wake up. Breakyat De Dutch Wooden Shoe Cafe' on Cambie Street. Write an entire song. Revel in glory of productivity. Canucks game at 4pm. Canucks win. Thai food for dinner. Local microbrew to wash it down. Planet Earth in HD. Bedtime. Favourite Vancouver Mode of Transportation: □ 26 VANCOUVER IS TREELINES jHi 091 ** "-%fj Er^H JS*** 7* *»»««»( ""^V^gl^S .7 ' <&l bbvl Best Music Moment in Vancouver in 2010: When we found out we won CBC Radio 3's Song of the Summer contest. Describe Your Perfect Sunday: Wake up, eat breakfast, go get coffee and work on band stuff at turks, come home, play guitar, plan dinner, go get ingredients and some beer (preferably Phillips Blue WE ARE THE CITY/ THEZOLAS/ HENRY & THE NIGHTCRAWIERS* (*Zach, Henry, Cayne & Andy wrote this in a van mid-tour) Best Musk Moment m Vancouver in 201 (h WATC: [Cayne] Listening to Brian Eno in a dark room in Mt. Pleasant. Wait, no thafs too pretentious. Henry and The Nightcrawlers: Finally releasing my first alburn. Ifs every teenage boy's dream. The Zolas: For me it was when "The Suburbs" came out. I listened to that and hiked around the city. I bet half the people reading the did something nearly identical. Describe Your Perfect Sunday: The Zolas: Morning: A healthy breakfast wfltj friends at someone else's house. Afternoon: Write a new song I'm excited about. Quick dip at the local Y. Evening: The Sunday Service improv show. If you haven't been, look it up and bring a date. WATC: [Cayne] Sunday for me is no different than any other day of the week. I really believe that every day should be filled with the most produc- Buck), make dinner, eat/drink with friends, watch a movie, more beer with friends, play more guitar, read, sleep. Favourite Vancouver Band/ Artist: Steph Macpherson because she's the kindest human on the planet. rive things possible. To me that means spending as much time with the awesomest people I can. Some prime examples of these people would be: my best friend Andy and my family. Also if I could squeeze in some time at the local Y, thafs excellent. Henry: I inline skate down to the batting cage. Sometimes if I'm not feeling like batting, I aquacize down at the local Y. Sometimes I meet Andy and we spot each other at the bench Favourite Venue it Vancouver Henry: Billy Bishop Legion Hall. WATC: The Orpheum The Zolas: The Commodore. Favourite Show m Vancouver (Someone else's): The Zolas: Arcade Fire at The Pacific Coliseum. I dug the album so much they probably could have played like shit and I would have still loved it. I'm going with my mom to Leonard Cohen on Dec. 2nd, I should mention, so I smell a potential contender. Henry: Brasstronaut at St. James Hall. WATC: Tegan and Sarah at the Orpheum. Tight, solid show. Every song was a hit. CHECK OUT OUR LAST YEAR IN MUSIC PLAYLiST OVER AT http://radio3.cbc.cq/#/p!ay/Vancouver!sAwesome/playlis}/VIA-MAGAZINE-SPEC!AL-EDITION-PLAYLIST 1327 VANCOUVER THEN & NOW *qgr in \\\\\\\ma.^.^mmmmmmmmmmmm^mmmm^Ki 0we?ome The book Vancouver 7/jen one/ Now, published by Thunder Bay Press, is 144 pages of comparative photographs of our city quite literally then and now. Drawing on historical photographs from the City Of Vancouver Archives, the Vancouver Public Library and the North Vancouver Museum, photographer Karl Mondon used these images as reference before going out and shooting the same locations pres- llll^i ent day. Showing how much our city has changed over vast periods of time, these presented here are a couple of our favourites. They remind us of the constant change that our city continues to go through year after year, for better or for worse. We look forward to the release of Vancouver Then and Then and Now in 2059. Q28 VANCOUVER IS □ 29 I IS T E N *s 7i CD A ■Mj ■ LISTEN TO THE JASON ELLI RADIO FACTION SIRIUS2S hiaTUCflCilflllftl5flll <5 SUTHERtUUKAeUN X nJHMk- OOM WEST;4TH-S NORTH VAN RDS SKATE SUPPLY ' '.' ■•NBS56N van '".: ■ . . •-*„„.. -«*». . REDDRAG0NAPPAREL.COM
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Discorder CITR-FM (Radio station : Vancouver, B.C.) 2010-12-01
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Title | Discorder |
Creator |
CITR-FM (Radio station : Vancouver, B.C.) |
Publisher | Vancouver : Student Radio Society of the University of British Columbia |
Date Issued | 2010-12-01 |
Description | The following description has been provided by Discorder: "Check out our 15 favourite bands of 2010! Also featuring articles on OS Mutantes, D.B. Buxton, You Say Party, Flash Palace, Ok Vancouver Ok, and more!" |
Extent | 40 pages |
Subject |
Rock music--Periodicals |
Genre |
Periodicals |
Type |
Text |
FileFormat | application/pdf |
Language | English |
Identifier | ML3533.8 D472 ML3533_8_D472_2010_12 |
Collection |
Discorder |
Source | Original Format: Student Radio Society of University of British Columbia |
Date Available | 2015-03-11 |
Provider | Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library |
Rights | Images provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy, or otherwise use these recordings must be obtained from CiTR-FM: http://www.citr.ca |
CatalogueRecord | http://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=1190017 |
AIPUUID | 3b558ac8-bb94-48ed-9841-b464409e55e4 |
DOI | 10.14288/1.0050108 |
AggregatedSourceRepository | CONTENTdm |
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