BolloksCraft
Xine
Vol. 4
BolloksCraft Xine
Vol. 4
May 2013
Editor Rónan McGrath
Contributors Andrewpedia Bender Kristina Bradshaw Marlaina Buch Ben Eastabrook
False Fiona Xiao Han Andrew Hood Jessie Kobylanski Woody Lincoln Frank Luca Sean Luciw Bruno Mazzotta Liam McGrath Rónan McGrath Luke Moriarty Melaina Todd Richard Tronson Vasyl Ko Brett Woolward
Cover Xiao Han
What Kind of Turntable?... pg 14 Scatter... pg 7 Behind Bars... pg 27 Sap Hippy... pg 16 Church... pg 6 Hostel... pg 6 Campsite… pg 21 Octo-robots... pg 32 Here is Not... pg 26 Whispering... pg 18 Udacha... pg 23 Firdge Iced Tea... pg 15 Stuff We Like... pg 29 Fresh & New... pg 30 Thugs... Inside FrontCover Ribs... pg 22 Crane... pg 26 Road... pg 16 Barn Owl... pg 25 Megaton Cabbage... pg 19 Haikus... pg 22 Why Dosigns... Inside Back Cover Oranges... pg 13 Artist Feature: Gary Mentanko... pg 8 Locil... pg 24 Fresh & New... pg 30 Fence Post... pg 29 Gnar Whal... pg 4 Screen Print... Back Cover Gnar Whal... pg 4 Back Alley Sallies... pg 20 Four... pg 28 New/Hot/Exciting... pg 31 Anecdotal Valune... pg 5
Layout Crew Bender Kristina Bradshaw Ben Eastabrook Andrew Hood Jessie Kobylanski Frank Luca Bruno Mazzotta Rónan McGrath Luke Moriarty Alex Moulton Robert Nasz RRTT Melaina Todd Richard Tronson
Designers Kobylanski / Luca
THANK YOU BCX Made Possible By: Anonymous Andrew Blackwell Mairi Budreau Bobby Case Ben Eastabrook Woody Lincoln Bruno Mazzatto Siobhan McGrath wiL Shulba Richard Tronson KPA Printers The Art We Are Fudge Yeah The Grind Hello Toast The Kamloops Art Gallery Movie Mart Red Beard Roasters The Smorgasboard Zack’s Coffee and Teas
BolloksCraft Xine Firstly, What is Bollokscraft? Bollokscraft is a lot of things: it’s a collective; a music label; an events co-ordination spot; a distribution point; some folks just hanging out; a hub for makers; and above all, a place for people to connect. We’re a developing community aimed at facilitating open and diverse projects. Bollokscraft is all about collaboration and community. Working in good faith with others to gain new perspectives; fill in gaps; learn new things; and just have a good time are tenets we strive to foster in our ventures. While working on ideas under the Bollokscraft umbrella we encourage thinking beyond inbuilt expectations; embracing new views; and practicing new creative methods. We want to tear down the walls between ‘artists’ and ‘audiences’ to nurture an inclusive doing/being community of folks who want to collectively produce and share works that are greater than the sum of their contributor’s particular skills. Participation at Bollokscraft is the process of celebrating the experimentally positive in all ways possible.
Bollokscraft produces, publishes, distributes, organizes events, and connects people and points.
How Does a Zine Fit Into This?
Our Xine combines the best elements of a classic zine with newspaperly publications. It contains the love for underground and the artistry and casual creative awesomeness of a zine, but has the consistency and approachability of a newsletter or traditional magazine.
Why Xine?
Our really cool X is a crossing and a meeting of different avenues and as such it stands for the freely associated convergence of the principles and values of many forms of publication. Our plans for the Xine don’t fit under the usual headings, but allow us to set our own course through that infinite fractal of print media, information and opinion. The Bollokscraft Xine contains a wide variety of article styles and content: from album reviews, to art info, to rad DIY projects, to blurbs on the awesome and inspiring, to comics and illustrations, to tear-out pages of art/photos/ origami and more. If you can
think it and make it 2D, we will always work to accommodate it. This Xine monster is maintained by some key people who inexplicably feel compelled to go above and beyond in putting in hard work during their free time (and sometimes even their not-sofree time). However, this Xine is nourished by a community of various kinds of people who submit their art, media, thoughts, insights and considerations for print. The Bollokscraft Xine is a tangible nexus to showcase ideas from the Kamloops doing/making community and beyond!
Submissions
Submitting any work to the Bollokscraft Xine means that you understand and agree with the following: You have labeled the document with your name or pseudonym, email address and phone number, title, medium and any special notes (ex. preferred in colour, is time sensitive, contains valuable/delicate material etc.). Text should be sent in a word.doc. If images are to be included, please send them separately as jpeg, tiff, png
or bmp files that are labeled with the image title and your last name. Ideally images will be 300 dpi. If you’re unsure about any formatting specifications, please just contact us. We are more than happy to help!
cover printing costs. This is not mandatory, but a small donation goes a long way to getting not only exposure for yourself and our community, but in providing a nexus point for doers and makers alike!
Your work will probably see publication. If so, you will be notified by email or telephone.
For any further clarification, please see the mandate/ guidelines at bollokscraftrecords.com
If the editing party thinks changes are required, you will be contacted (if you’re not there) and asked to modify whatever needs work. If an agreement cannot be reached, we will withdraw from working with that piece, but in no way discourage you from submitting other works. If you submit something to us, say a short story, and in the mean time you have also submitted it to a major publishing firm and they decide to publish your piece with exclusivity, it is your responsibility to notify us so we can pull it. We want to keep this legal and easy, so please keep us posted. By contributing works, you will also be encouraged to contribute a very modest sum (around $2) to help
Submit Works To: bollokscraftxine@gmail.com or mail it to Bollokscraft Xine 406 Nicola Street Kamloops BC V2C 2P8 CANADA
Support Bollokscraft is a donation and volunteer powered organization and since we prefer our Xine to be ad-free we welcome any kind of support. Monetary donations are the most direct way you can help out in sustaining this publication as an art/idea sharing space. If you want to send funds directly to the BCX coffers through Paypal, visit bollokscraftrecords.com/ support/ If you provide your name and address with your donation, we will see to it that you recieve a proper BCX thank you! (more details on the website) At the moment, the printing cost of every edition of this Xine is covered using the personal savings of our most involved community members. Any donations will greatly reduce that out of pocket expense and ensure the persistence of this thing. If you are more inclined to support this project through volunteering, contact us via bollokscraftxine@gmail.com. We look forward to working with you!
3
5
Church - May 11th, 2010 Tonight I went for dinner at the church on 4th Ave. They were holding a free dinner for the seaonal works and I guess as students we are close enough. Our whole group went. There were a lot of people there and I don’t think the church was expecting them all. Unfortunately, not everyone got to have a full plate. Some people pretty much only got soup and a bun. I felt a bit guilty for having a full plate, as I’m neither a seasonal worker nor religious in anyway. After dinner we went out for a couple drinks then headed to bed.
Hostel - May 13th, 2010 The hostel is a kitch woodsman’s theme park. There are a billion and one signs dictating what you can do, where you can do it and at what time to do it at. I imagine it has been open for 20 or more years but it seems that it will always be a work in progress. Deiter says he built most of the place on his own. Tonight, Megan, Bo, Melaina, Cody, Stu, Dani and I will be sharing a cabin while everyone else shares another. I can’t even describe how much I’m looking forward to a bed.
Artist Feature: Wist Rec / Gary Mentanko I’ve been in contact with Gary Mentanko, co-founder and operator of Wist Rec since I first heard the wonderful Liminal Farm EP,’issued under his Depatterning moniker in 2010. Following our first email correspondence I have known Gary to be a humble and creative individual: generous in his willingness to collaborate, sharing of sounds and support for independent community growth. Not surprisingly, when I proposed the idea of arranging this interview for BCX, Gary agreed with all the enthusiasm of any local BCR/X community member. Read on for insights into Depatterning, Wist Rec and the operation of independent record labels in general!
Gary: I was born in Preeceville, Sk though I’ve lived for extensive periods in Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver, Edinburgh and now Dublin, Ireland. I worked in University radio in Calgary about a decade ago, involved with the production side of operations. Later I studied sound engineering once I moved to B.C. though I eventually found it be an unsatisfying sort of career choice. I’m now am enrolled in a full-time Horticulture program and it’s the best, most satisfying thing I’ve ever done. R: And what of Wist Rec? How does that fit in?
Depatterning - Liminal Farm EP
Rónan: Hey Gary. Let’s just start off with a personal introduction: where are you from/where are you now, what do you do, what is your artistic background, etc.?
G: We’re a small handmade label operating out of Dublin and Berlin founded by myself and designer Manfred Naescher. He’s originally from Liechtenstein and we met when he was studying in Vancouver years ago. Somehow we both moved to Europe around the same time. Thematically we’re interested in topography, urban encroachment, rural abandonment, and natural processes.
We’re committed to releasing short format releases though sometimes with multiple discs. Although we only release EP’s, we try to emphasize larger concepts in all of our releases: the passing of time, the degradation of the environment as well as community. Some of my favourite records are short on time but big on ideas, like the soundtrack to the film “Kes” or the Michael Garrick’s Trio’s “Moonscape” which are both around 20 minutes long. Or even those Simon & Garfunkel records, I think they all come in under a half hour. R: When did this all get started? G: This was around 2009, after I’d read a very influential article in the Wire Magazine by David Keenan about how CDR and cassette culture should be taken seriously as an art form. I liked how there was a return
to DIY in music sort of like the early punk bands did. R: So, why ‘Wist Rec’? G: I have a real interest in the history of early Canada, particularly Saskatchewan. I can spend hours reading about the early rail lines, the immigrant migration and development of new communities. At some point while researching my own family’s genealogy I came across someone discussing their attempts to find where their ancestors moved to in Saskatchewan. The only information that they had was that their relatives had moved to somewhere called Wist, Saskatchewan however they were unable to find any such town to have existed. I liked the word and started my own investigations which so far hasn’t turned up anything. Where did it go? But the name stuck with me and I’ve sort of created my own Wist, SK in my head. Seemed like a good name. The Rec. part… not sure. It stands for records and recollections, I think. R: Were you active as a recording artists/musician for very long before Wist Rec or did both practices emerge simultaneously? G: The creation of Wist Rec was sort of a backwards accident.
I’d been privately recording a sort of “era tinted Canadiana” electronic music for a couple of years and my ideas of how I wanted to present this music were pretty well formed. However I was too shy to send it to any labels for consideration so I decided to just start producing copies myself under the name Depatterning. I had this fear that if I didn’t do anything with my recordings, it might stifle my creativity, not be able to move on to a different concept unless I’d considered a release complete. Design wise I needed help and my pal Manfred offered his services to help create a “fake label” so that I could send it to radio stations and sell online. Then after I’d released a second release I started to think that I could probably take the ideas I was having on theme and invite other people to get involved with this so called “fake label.” R: Besides Manfred, who were the earliest collaborators in Wist? G: The first person I had contacted was Kría Brekkan, formerly the vocalist with the Icelandic band Múm. I hadn’t heard anything from her in a while and I thought, “Well I’ll just write her and see what she’s doing.” I wanted to hear her voice more! Her response really gave me the confidence that I could gather likeminded
people for this project. Funnily, after nearly 20 releases, we still haven’t released anything together as yet but its still somewhere in the background. Craig Tattersall, formerly of Hood, the Remote Viewer, and a whack of other project was another person that I contacted. I’d been following his Cotton Goods label for a while and was really intrigued by his devote relationship with tape as a sound medium. R: Formatting of physical albums is clearly a major aspect of the Wist Rec label. What are your thoughts on the various physical media for music and the resurgence of LPs and cassettes? Do CD-Rs have much space in the current culture of music collecting? G: As long as people have these devices in their houses, I think there’s a place for all of the them: LPs, cassettes and CD-Rs. I like to believe that other people want to keep music physical like me. The only reason I stick with the CD-R is that I can produce them myself in a sort of timely fashion and its my preferred listening format for modern music. However, if I could lay my hands on a lathe cutter at a reasonable price, I’d switch in a second. More grain and surface noise on the recording? Sign me up! 9
Wist Rec / Gary Mentanko Continued ably with lots of right angles because I’m the one who has to assemble almost everything! Not complaining though, I find it relaxing to do the same thing over and over hundreds of time. I usually know how the next couple of releases are going to look but honestly it takes me months to decide. Its constantly in the back of my mind. More and more I want people to find little things in the records and have to physically pick them up and puzzle out how they relate with the project.
Depatterning - The Woodlander’s Index EP
R: There is quite a variety of different formats of Wist Rec releases (multi-cdr boxed albums, art-exhibition albums in an jackdaw envelope, Books, block of wood, etc.) – are the various musicians the driving forces behind these design concepts or does Wist Rec or specific you yourself have a more active creative role there? G: Manfred and I chat extensively about the packaging for the releases though I’m usually the one who comes up with the overall idea of its form. Prefer-
Really we only source projects from people which fit within our label themes. We like to work with the artists on the concept and welcome input from them but ultimately all the Wist releases have to fit with one another, creating a sort of echo between one another. The visual and sound artist Russell Burden, who we released the Folkestone Lighthouse with, does have to be credited in giving us the idea to use the old jackdaw education folders as a way to stuff a lot of ideas into one package. Its an expensive way to present a release but it guarantees that the listener reacts with each item in the set. R: How do you find marketing and distributing these hand-crafted, artisanal albums? Do you have much trouble
selling stock to record stores considering the unusual shapes and sizes of many Wist Rec releases? G: There are a great community of people who are more than interested in listening to this kind of music, great blogs and radio programs that spend considerable time regarding what we’ve been releasing. We don’t generally sell in shops, the Tower Records in Dublin being the exception because its just a bike ride away and it’s an excellent shop. I think they like the odd shapes because they stick out immediately and people are drawn to pick them up. We’re contacted by shops sometimes but we can’t really sell our releases much cheaper. I suppose that one might say, “Well, you’d reach more people,” but I think that if we’re only releasing 150 copies of something, all of those copies will probably end up in the right hands somehow. If someone is interested in the sort of blurred, quiet music, they’ll probably come across us online (or someone else, there’s loads of great stuff out there!). R: Speaking of ‘reach,’ do your editions sell out more locally in Europe or more abroad in North America? Where does Wist Rec sell best?
G: Oooh, probably 60% from Europe and 30% from the US and 10% spread around the world. I think its because we drink a lot of tea on this side of the Atlantic. Tea seems to suit this music. Ah, which makes sense as well because we sell a lot in Japan too. In Canada, barely a dent!
are in the processes of working with large sections of the Cotton Goods and Kranky roster. Mostly, its just a matter of looking through my record collection and contacting people who I like, wondering what their doing these days.
Could you discuss your relationship to these themes of education, rural existentialism, nature, broadcasting, books, etc.? Would you say to the observation that there is a familiar ‘Canadian-ness’ about Depatterning?
R: How has the Wist Rec community grown over the last few years? How have you most often come into contact with other artists and musicians?
We do get a lot of demos and I listen to all of them. Lots of good, crazy stuff comes in but I’m always behind so there’s a long back log of projects in the pipeline and I can’t take anything else on.
G: Hah! We’re kind of plunderers of other labels! If you look closely, we’ve worked with or
R: Your personal work as Depatterning has some very distinct thematic overtones.
G: I find it difficult to describe my relationship with Canada and how it relates to the sound I make. Briefly I’ll say this: growing up in the 80’s and 90’s without cable (gasp!) I was exposed to a lot of hokey television, specifically on the CBC. So it was all programs like the Friendly Giant, the Beachcombers, the Nature of
11
Wist Rec / Gary Mentanko Continued Things, the Littlest Hobo (on the CTV). Playing in between those, acting as commercials for nature and art, there were constantly the Who’s Who Hinterland ads and the National Film Board shorts. We had this constant, though perhaps naïve, reminder about who we were and what type of land we lived in. I saw the Log Driver’s Waltz hundreds of times. That film where two faces mirrored all the diversity of Canada until it turns into a maple leaf? At one minute? Thousands! They even used to show it twice in a row sometimes. I had the Norman McLaren shorts wiring my little brain in amazing ways. For decades we were being exposed to both nationalistic pride and art at the same time and one day in the 90’s they ALL DISAPPEARED FROM THE AIRWAVES! AND I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT I WAS MISSING UNTIL IT WAS GONE! R: To wrap up, are there any other communities, blogs, labels that you would identify as being particularly important to the development of Wist Rec? Whether by inspiration, sup-
port, promotion or integration/ etc., what are the external things that keep Wist Rec going? G: My gratitude to Craig Tattersall and his Cotton Goods cannot be expressed enough. His releases filled me with such curiosity when I saw them online, so little information that you really didn’t know what you were buying when you pressed “Buy”. All of them such amazing pieces of work. I really think that these should be preserved in some grand British sound archive. He’s sort of like the Harry Smith of Modern Britain. Attached to this, the radio program “Its Just Music Baby” from the UK, which focuses on the catalogue of Cotton Goods, Moteer, and the satellite of labels revolving around them has been most nice in letting us into their world. Oh, a couple of more. These are a couple of sites that go really deep in analysing music, A Closer Listen and Hawái, from Chile. The second is only written in Spanish but Google translator gives you a pretty
good idea. Both cover excellent music… and us! Ah…and not to be a sappy…but this tight Bollockscraft community that you all have going on in Kamloops has been really good in giving us its time. DIY lives on! R: No problem, Gary. It’s good to make positive contact! My final question is: what do the next 365 days appear to hold for Wist Rec? G: Cramping hands and funny dreams about using my printer! Here’s a few anyway: -4 CD boxset from offthesky and radere -A new series of biographical releases with artwork done in water colours. -Jackdaw set with Being and the Humble Bee looking at the old underwater cable systems -A last look at the this Book Report Series before I put it to bed.
Gary Mentanko corresponded with us via email from his home in Dublin, Ireland.
What kind of Turntable Should I use? I was browsing through the electronics/media section of a certain store the other day and couldn’t help but notice the massive vinyl selection that it had. Not only were they all new pressings of both contemporary and classic pop/rock albums, but included were audiophile quality labels like MFSL. This was pleasing to see, of course, until I noticed that rest beside what were some of the highest quality records were some of the worst turntables on the market. In fact, it seemed that the only players they had were cheap USB turntables with heavy phono cartridges. Do not use these for your vinyl collection. Despite the seemingly modern function of digitizing your vinyl, the weakest link of these turntables is the 1950s technology their playback employs, and therefore that the output will be accordingly limited. Furthermore, these lack any kind of control to the to turntable arm, which cause rapid wear that can be noticed on
records that have only been played once. Trust me! I was suckered in to buying one of these machines years ago, and really regret it when I hear once-pristine records that I had invested good money in sounding like garbage. Unless immaculate vinyl quality isn’t good enough for you and you want your records to sound just like old beaters from the 1960s, then you deserve better than to waste your money and materials on these horrid machines. Now, when it comes to choosing a turntable, there really are myriad factors to consider, and even many audiophiles will disagree on what gives the best output. Since I am concerned with preserving the media itself, I will narrow it down to two main adjustments that every good turntable must have: anti – skating and an adjustment to the weight on the tone arm. You’ll know if the turntable has these because the anti – skating is usually
a knob that is marked with those words, and the tone arm is usually a bulky adjustable bulb at the end of the record player’s arm that can be adjusted in grams. It is vital that the turntable have these. The tone arm weight controls how much pressure the needle puts into the groove. Too much will accelerate wear, and therefore the weight should be set somewhere between 0.5 g and 1.0g. The anti – skating adjustment is useful in that it avoids causing excess friction that is created as the tone arm moves towards the center by providing a contra force so it does not “skate” across an LP and damage the grooves. This description is by no means complete, and reiterating what I have already said, there are dozens of factors to consider for a good turntable. However, I do believe that the presence of these two devices alone will be a good enough indicator of the quality of your record player.
Iced Tea - Firdge Style thefirdge.wordpress.com once it starts to warm up outside, iced tea becomes a standard in my fridge. being someone who doesn’t like my drinks very sweet, I prefer this to any canned/bottled/store-made brew I’ve tasted. it’s super simple and refreshing… you know, as you lay on the cold kitchen floor after walking home in the blistering heat with bags of groceries and cats tripping you up upon arrival… right? for about 3L you need: 1 lemon and 1 lime (or two lemons) 3/4 C brown sugar (HAS to be brown, brown or nothing) 2-3 orange pekoe tea bags (2 of the bold stuff, 3 of the regular strength) 3-ish L water . get your kettle on . in a big metal or glass bowl, zest the citrus with a microplane so it’s fine, not long and stringy . then cut the fruit in half and squeeze all the juice into the bowl. don’t worry about the pulp or seeds because you’re going to strain it later . add the tea bags and sugar . pour the boiled water over the mix and stir . let this steep and hang out until it’s a bit warmer than room temperature . get a pitcher and a fine strainer or if you’re feeling anal, a coffee filter, and strain the tea into your vessel. refrigerate until cold feel free to experiment with different citrus blends, like grapefruit or mandarin, or adding peach or pear juice. also, if you like your tea sweet, you may want to use a full cup of sugar. annnnd, if your favourite jug doesn’t fit 3L, you can always fill it and put the remainder in an ice cube tray so you can keep your iced tea extra cold without watering it down. 15
Whispers . Screen print on rice paper . 2013 When I hear a story, I will repeat it lots times in my mind. Each time I add details into the content of the story. Bubbles, representing my paranoia as the allegory part, are floating in front of my face and blocking my eyes. When those showy bubbles float up, the halftone image of my face becomes more distinct with bigger dots. The halftone dots represent my senses, which are growing bigger and tend to follow the bubbles. Soon, within all my paranoia, I drown.
Megaton Cabbage
How to get and myself and Elslande a burger was just drinking since you email me Marilyn’s. This is a project. Yeah, you just in giant’s Anneford Noels 900 and Rachel Summers six certain amount of time for you to exile Noel, he was doing. Was my project and Sarah, guess he doesn’t want to assassinate you. I hope you know it is our company, but this... but you’re making Latinate essays and also telefilms and he couldn’t remember the last two. Thexa, well, whatever. You cancel them up. This is Chris. This is in my last years as a director. Arron’s climbing out of the low-budget field, doing more expensive phone; but when I started my own man, Yugoslav listings Bellelake, teaching the very coolest idea in Kennesaw. Doesn’t game that eating naked girls? Think esteemed. The drive. He really didn’t want it... They want to go to theaters, antiparkinson, call Alphano. Better say it wasn’t about taking action. I think it’s the start. Was this megaton cabbage? Yelvington still weird, green flashing Lyonsville crosses always go to film school, where Okaloosa landscape was... just love it! It is Judland, New York, New Orleans, saying asphalt composition of the whole system, so screwdrivers unprotect! Just don’t think that I am on Avenue. New phone works. Hello, investor? About it is really a very important legacy (always wanted one that was great). You have a long little bit of business as well, oiled down my math very much too. I’m at Lulu and 80 Atlantic Energy, or two, and a nasty environment. That’s cool. Jess and Salersid Nanbru? Chance’s this is the work of the passages, in order Lasolona rest to whatever isolate the newspapers! And I hope he knows it. Is not all not? Just be Spruceton, but the date bigger, almost of mine, got for me for what they’re giving. Epitomize automatic treatment, 60 don’t. I don’t want to reinvent yourself a business associate with food. It was Bacillus radio Edisto, so what’s the Misty? Should Zelynne?
19
The Back Alley Sallies & Johnson Sandwich at The Grind If you happen to indulge in the green stuff you might not remember 4/20/13. I do. This year was a memorable one: 4/20 at the Grind saw the return (and debut) of local folkies Sounds Like Smiles, as The Back Alley Sallies. And what a debut it was! The concert opened with local darlings, The Johnson Sandwich playing to a packed house, with nowhere to dance but outside on the street. The sister act of Caitlyn and Mallory Johnson wowed the crowd with an eclectic variety of covers and originals. Of note was an amazing cover of No Doubt’s, ‘Sunday Morning’ from their third album, Tragic Kingdom. The energetic Sandwich served to whet the appetite for the highly anticipated debut of The Back Alley Sallies. Led by Chris Hum and Airic Schwalb, and also featuring the musical talents of Jamie Abate(pulling double duty that night in Johnson Sandwich and Back Alley Sallies), Kate Lochhead, and Zack Currie, The Back Alley
Sallies are a dynamic live band with a fast paced sound rooted in Folk and Country. Their 4/20 performance had Chris Hum killing it on stand up bass, and vocal harmonies on covers of the Grateful Dead and City and Colour - they did a great cover of the Dead’s, ‘Friend of the Devil’. Their show incorporated quite a few original tunes, as well. This, of course, led to more dancing in the street. I was wondering what those twirling shapes were in the window… My favourite part was the beautiful acappella cover of The Wailin Jenny’s , ‘The Parting Glass’. Chris and Kate’s harmonizing sent a chill down my soul. Everyone in the room stood stock still for the duration. What a wonderful song to end on. ‘Good night and Joy be with you all,’ indeed! Be on the lookout for more shows by the Back Alley Sallies. They are not to be missed! - host of THIS MICROPHONE SMELLS! On 92.5 the X.
Campsite - May 16th, 2010 Dani picked out the campsite. We had to look for the largest one we could because the tent was a lot bigger than expected. Unfortunately the best one for us was one at the top of a short hike. It really wasn’t that bad, but aster yesterday’s hiking extravaganza it is a small piece of torture. Everytime I walk on to the site the scenery makes it worth it. It is incredibly closed and rustic. There is this bench right by our tent that is barely standing. I’m sure the only reason it is still standing is the tree leans against it for support.
21
put on your cloud shoes prepare the asteroid quake the begun has end
bare branches’ shadows dripping up into the sky they tickle the clouds
Udacha While browsing the through the hundreds of releases that surface each month through various distributors, label pages or blogs, I came upon a painting. The painting was of a tree, a dark but warm forest, a beach ball and a rope swing. Among the countless instances of label art that feature majority text and some slick branding, the simplicity of this image stood out. The sublime, blue and green detail is the label art for PJOTR’s release on Udacha, simply called Udacha 4. Udacha is a dance music label based somewhere in Russia (not Moscow), that practices a diverse exploration of house music. With their first release being put out in March of last year, the label followed up with two more each in 2012 and 2013 with two further releases in the works. My initial engagement with the PJOTR release was incredible; my love for the artwork instilled good vibes for the listen. By the time it was over I had to have more, so I began researching each of the releases and following suit. While each of the records can be clearly defined as house, each brings something different to the table. A5, producer of Udacha 1, opens the door with a growing acid line that rolls over a diverse arrangement
of percussion, most notably the echoed claps that come in around the three-minute mark. This first production from Udacha is loaded with acid synth exploration, which is admittedly nothing new, but good creative house nonetheless. The second release comes from producer Dices. A musician who has no other music to their name, Dices, injects an incredible funk
sensibility into the tracks in this record. The kick drum maintains its house credibility, although Dices is unafraid to layover a spindly, free-flowing organ solo on a couple of the tracks. The sampling is more diverse on this release with sounds coming from movies as well as other music releases, the A2 being a standout with tropical birds chiming in at the intro of the track.
Udacha 3 comes attached to the name Bipolardepth. Finally a name we can relate the label and the music to: Russia’s Zhenya Globus and Pasha Bip. This is the first release on the label that tries to convince you it isn’t a house record. The B1 is defined by a solid block of 6 minute ambient electronics that eventually peak at an acid line that spurs on the eventual tribal hi-hats. Titled “Vessel,” the sounds on this track bring up thoughts of a ritualized anthem to the discovery of new stars. The initial release that caught my eye is still the one that I enjoy the most, have listened to more than the others and still I understand the least. It’s both accessible and indirect. There is a suitable fusion of jazz, funk and house on this record. I have trouble placing it in time as well as the sounds range from hymnal voices to harsh blips and swinging bass. I’m confused by this record, and I love it. Between the art and music produced by Udacha, it has quickly become a favorite label of mine, and one I will be constantly looking for new output from. If you like abstract dance music, I highly recommend you check it out!
23
Locil - City Hospital http://wistrec.com/city-hospital-jackdaw-edition/ http://loscil.bandcamp.com/ Like a great deal of ambient/tone pulse music, Loscil’s City Hospital opens like a door onto lonely dreamscapes. Something about this music (perhaps the tonal lean toward water-motion sounds) stirs up a memory in me of my first experience playing Robyn and Rand Miller’s Myst – the alien solitude, the wordless otherworldly wonder, a sense of hidden objects/inert mechanisms. Each of these swells of estrangement and introspection repeatedly wash over the listener for the duration of the 18 minute long composition that is City Hospital. Loscil’s balancing act between reverbing piano, humming drone and shifting tape hiss plays out in a melancholic manner reminiscent of Dustin O’Halloran’s compositions (A Winged Victory for the Sullen). Understated passages of tone, noise and rhythm sway back and forth like a hulking craft by some abandoned quay – simultaneously in motion and in stillness. Throughout the track ponderous ambience phases and regresses, eventually giving way to a mid-track exposition of a unifying pulse of percussion which emerges from the background like familiar stones from under the ebb tide. This is one seriously excellent slice of ethereal sound. Pick up Loscil’s City Hospital from Wistrec.com today – it comes on 3” CD-R, packaged alongside a series of beautiful prints in a jackdaw folder.
Barn Owl - V
Barn Owl was one of my first forays into deeply experimental music. When I say experimental, I don’t necessarily mean the “how is this music?”-type of genre; I’m specifically speaking about the way the musician(s) experiment with and manipulate their instruments. The duo of Evan Caminiti and Jon Porras have consistently been releasing standout recordings in the past few years, whether as a duo in Barn Owl or independent of one another under their given names. V is the latest album released by Barn Owl, their first proper album since 2011’s standout Lost In the Glare LP and companion Shadowland EP. V, as it is appropriately titled, is Barn Owl at perhaps their darkest and most fully imagined. The experimentation of added electronics and synths not prominent in their dub and guitar driven previous recordings, as well as growing textures and added layers serve to bring a new element to their already impressive catalogue. While V, in it’s entirety, is a masterful album and a wonderful addition to 2013’s constantly growing list of top contender’s for that always looming Record-of-the-Year title. However, the standout track for me is ‘Against the Night.’ Pre-orders from Thrill Jockey for this record came with a bonus disc of live and unreleased material titled The Factory Session/Live at Berkeley Art Museum. I opted for the LP+CD version and I was not at all let down. Head over to www.thrilljockey.com and listen.
25
here is not all is found, over keyboards and screens, only hope for salvation is a friend from the other side, and over top the mountains it could be flying to the nearest ocean, but who needs to break down and cry when your only friend is a piece of equipment designed to ease the eye surely we all don’t fade away just move away slowly. slowly.
Behind Bars Behind Bars is an exhibition related to the British Columbia Penitentiary Collection exhibit, opening May 16th, 2013, in the basement of the Old Courthouse Cultural Centre. The project has been a work in progress for many decades and has been made possible by Mr. Anthony Martin (ex correctional officer at BC Penitentiary New Westminster, BC 1958-1980). Upon the closure of the federal prison in 1980, Martin took it upon himself to save and store away thousands of archival items including numerous prisoner artworks seen in this show. Prisons are not often thought of as a place where art gets produced. Those of us who have never visited or been admitted to a prison might not understand what actually goes on there. Getting prison tattoos, exercising in a yard monitored by guards in towers and other typical “prison activities” taught to us by movies are only part of a much larger story. Arnica’s Main Gallery space features artworks created by prisoners during their time in the British Columbia Penitentiary. This portion of the exhibition hopes to bring to light the lesser known aspects of life in a penitentiary, such as the production of creative works, while still being an interesting and engaging display. Arnica’s Vault space features contemporary art and literature on the topic of the BC Penitentiary. This portion includes digital photographs, sculpture, and literature, in response to the Anthony Martin BC Penitentiary Collection. With these works the artists and writers attempt to use creative mediums to better understand or familiarize with the archive in some way. Each artist and writer has been involved with establishing this project and has used their experiences with the archived materials as inspiration for these creative works. 27
Stuff We Like M & D Influence When I was a sprout, I lived on Vancouver Island with my mom. My dad was back home in Ontario, concerned about me (as a five year-old) not getting proper musical schooling. By that I mean he would send me mixtapes with Neil Young, The Waterboys, The Byrds, Steppenwolf, etc. to ensure my developing ears were being pointed in the right direction. My mom was no music-slug or anything; she always made sure to have some Van Morrison or The Lovin’ Spoonful or Wings blasting in the morning to start the day off right. What I like is that I was lucky to have two parents who love music, and despite
being separate from one of them most of the time, I was still taking in their tunes and appreciation for sounds. What I like is music, and liking music – yep, I like liking. I learned how to listen and how to observe and make sense of why music is compelling and evocative of so many things. That all started with my parents, Mairi and Jake, and has gone all over the place with many people sharing their favourites and me sharing mine. I like Paul Simon (thanks Mom) and I like Canned Heat (thanks Dad). I like how important all of those things are (thanks guys).
29
BolloksCraft Records
Fresh and New
Lex Plexus // Lasagna Lozenges Mr. Scared // Hallow-fied the EP BCR C001 : split cassette This sweet split is Bollokscraft Record’s first cassette release: 60 minutes of slippery sound collage and ambient awesome. These are a limited edition of 50 hand-numbered tapes complete with a download code! Side A features Kamloops’ own, Lex Plexus (aka Sean Luciw), and is followed by Mr. Scared (W. Lincoln), long-time Bollokscrafter. Lasagna Lozenges is a cornucopia of situational lashes of warped cityscape found-sounds and deep-brainfried melody-noodlings fleetingly articulated in that distinctive Sean Luciw manner. In many ways, the delta-side of this split is as impressionist as it is exuberant and playfully experimental. Hallow-fied the EP, however, configures isolation, introspection and the uncomfortable visceral/surreal grey area at curious angles to one another – intermittent synthesizer flooding, moody noise compositions and vocal manipulations are bookended by raw extended improvisation on a half-broken piano and a small hypnagogic piece for acoustic guitar. Hallow-fied is certainly well described as ‘darkly ruminative.’ You can find LP LL MS HTEP (not just an earful to hear, but a mouthful to say) at the Kamloops Art Gallery Store. Or you can buy direct from Bollokscraft Records at one of our various events or from our online store at Bollokscraftrecords.com. Last but not least, you can also find these audio-hot-cakes on discogs.com and bandcamp! Support local, support art, support weird and wonderful! Buy a tape and get groovy – algorithm groovy.
BolloksCraft Records
New / Hot / Exciting Vasyl Ko 4 x 4 EP
Here is the front cover for my 4x4 album. It is 4 tracks x 4 EP It will be released when the xine 004 hits the streets (May 13th). Need to do some materin’ . Will be available for download at vasylko.ca Once in a Blue Moon (2010): A1/ Bettybluemoon Studio A2/ Blacky Fly By A3/ Kikino Myster A4/ Heimablue
Clearwater, Irish Columbia (2008): B1/ You Were Saying? B2/ Ammysia B3/ Green Ivy Curtains B4/ Sxa Ormbjument
Loggers (2007)): C1/ Chapter A: In The Morning C2/ Chapter B: Chop and Fell C3/ Chapter C: No More Trees C4/ Chapter D: On The Way Home
Crane Lake (2006): D1/ Maple Cottage D2/ Softly Spoken Luck D3 / Crane Lake D4 / coldLke 31
Metal Octo - May 21st, 2010 Afterwards, I went back to camp and began planning how I was going to construct my Octorusi. I didn’t do too much. I just planned the length of their tentacles and which washers were going to work for their eyes. I went to bed shortly after that.