Issue 69 Featuring Das Racist by ION Magazine

#69 FREE

CONTENTS Volume 8 Number 8 Issue 69 10 12 16 56 58 59 60

Editor’s Letter Learn from our mistakes and successes. ION The Street Check your head. Of The Month Movies, art shows, stores and website that recreates bible stories with Lego. Poster Art: Bast He’s anonymous so we didn’t bother asking him if he wanted to be in the magazine. ION the Web We read sports blogs. Got a problem with that? Horoscopes When Ernold Sane writes the horoscopes the outlook is bleak and probably a thinly veiled insult directed at someone you know. Comics

CULTURE 18 20 26

Andrea Wan Quick on the draw. Toby Marie Bannister Our talented friend and contributor shows off her photos from the south. Marc Schiller The founder of Wooster Collective talks graffiti and tries to shill a few books.

FASHION 30

All Dressed This month’s fashion editorial is shot by Alan Chan and styled by Charlotte Stokes.

MOVIES 40

Short Circuit A look at some of short filmmakers... filmmakers who make shorts... not tiny filmmakers... that’s a different article entirely.

MUSIC 44 50 52 54

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Das Racist We got our writer named Zia Hirji to interview them so they couldn’t call us racist. Jon Wurster We forgot to ask Wurster what he thought Wooster Collective and worcestershire sauce. The Concretes They’re Swedish musicians and have a new album so of course we want to talk to them. Album Reviews

WHERE TO FIND US WEB www.ionmagazine.ca FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/ionmagazine TWITTER @ionmagazine TUMBLR www.ionmagazine.tumblr.com ISSUU www.issuu.com/ionmagazine I

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ION MAGAZINE

Publisher/Fashion Director Vanessa Leigh vanessa@ionmagazine.ca Editor in Chief Creative Director Art Director Music Editor Fashion Editor Office Manager

Michael Mann editor@ionmagazine.ca Danny Fazio danny@ionmagazine.ca Tyler Quarles tyler@ionmagazine.ca Trevor Risk trevor@ionmagazine.ca Toyo Tsuchiya toyo@ionmagazine.ca Natasha Neale natasha@ionmagazine.ca

Copy Editors Editorial Interns

Steven Evans Zia Hirji, Sinead Keane, Alysa Lechner

Writers

Jenkin Au, Louise Burns, JJ Brewis, Chris Dart, Robyn Dugas, Zia Hirji, Shallom Johnson, Kellen Powell, Kyle Vinoly

Photographers and Artists Troy Alden, Toby Marie Bannister, Alan Chan, Tyson Fast, Ashley Gesner, Jenny Kanavaros, Edmond Keung, John Klukas, Grace Lee, Wendy Rorong, Charlotte Stokes, Nick Whitehouse, Jeremy Williams

ABOUT OUR COVER Das Racist SHOT EXCLUSIVELY FOR ION MAGAZINE On the cover of this issue are Victor Vazquez, Ashok Kondabolu (Dapwell) and Himanshu Suri (Heems) from Das Racist. People are having a tough time putting their finger on this Brooklyn-based rap trio. The New Yorker calls them art rap, The New York Times calls them joke rap and the internet is calling them a clever and self-aware take on hip hop. Regardless of what you want to label them, they’re injecting some good times into hip hop and their sound is simultaneously being embraced by Hot 97 and Pitchfork. Their breakout track “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell” is a sign of the times anthem that reached meme status last year. They followed that up this fall with “Who’s That? Brooown!,” a Tribe Called Quest-sampled burner who’s video is an 8-bit arcade game flashback (it was accompanied with a playable video game that will have you thinking of Frogger for days). With two free mixtapes under their belt—Shut Up, Dude and Sit Down, Man—a busy touring schedule and a slew of other projects they’re working on, you better keep your eyes on these dudes because they’re poised to paint the world brown. [www.dasracist.net]

ION is printed 10 times a year by the ION Publishing Group. No parts of ION Magazine may be reproduced in any form by any means without prior written consent from the publisher. ION welcomes submissions but accepts no responsibility for the return of unsolicited materials. All content © Copyright ION Magazine 2010 Hey PR people, publicists, brand managers and label friends, send us stuff. High-resolution jpegs are nifty and all, but they’re no substitute for the real thing. Clothing, liquor, PS3s, CDs, vinyl, Blu-rays, video games, and an iPad can be sent to the address below. #303, 505 Hamilton Street. Vancouver, BC, Canada. V6B 2R1 Office 604.696.9466 Fax: 604.696.9411 feedback@ionmagazine.ca www.ionmagazine.ca | @ionmagazine www.facebook.com/ionmagazine | www.issuu.com/ionmagazine Advertising enquiries can be directed to sales@ionmagazine.ca

Cover Photography: Jeremy Williams, Photographer’s Assistant: John Klukas, Styling: Nick Whitehouse, Hair and Makeup: Jenny Kanavaros, TRESemmé Hair Care/judyinc.com using Dermalogica skincare. Das Racist is wearing Victor: All clothing Victor’s own. Dapwell: Hat, Jacket and Shirt Dapwell’s own, Jeans by Levi’s. Heems: Shirt and Scarf Heems’ own, Jeans by Levi’s.

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neweracap.cOm/flagbearers

Osamu KOyama, jewelry designer

CONTRIBUTORS Illustrator [Troy Alden]

Photographer [Alan CHan]

Styling Assistant [Mitchell Kaufman]

WRITER [Kyle Vinoly]

Troy Alden did the illustration of Jon Wurster in this issue. After finally emancipating himself from his day job, Troy has found himself drawing for a living. While still fresh enough that he’s not had the opportunity to do any award winning illustrations, he still covets the fact that he gets to draw all day. Drop him a line if you like what you see. He would hate to have to go back to his wage slave day job.

Alan Chan shot this issue’s fashion editorial. Alan is a fashion and advertising photographer based in Vancouver and he has been shooting in the fashion industry since the summer of 2009. A self-taught photographer, he has drawn inspirations from the world’s top photographers with hopes that his work will help immortalize beauty for future generations. He also believes that, if given the opportunity, he could be racing in the Formula 1.

[www.troyalden.tumblr.com]

[www.alanchanstudio.com]

Mitchell is the assistant of our Fashion Editor. You may have seen his name credited in quite a few of our editorials. He is hands down the best right hand fashion gentleman anyone could ask for, from following our Creative Director and Fashion Editor to New York City to help out on our September editorials to teasing our Creative Director on set, to remembering every detail that slips our Fashion Editor’s mind! He has written for other Canadian fashion publications and is constantly being asked to be shot for street style blogs because of his impeccable dress code.

Kyle interviewed a couple Canadian short filmmakers for this issue. What to say about this guy? Our relationship can be strained. He’s pretty funny, slightly better than okay looking and can on occasion write some pretty decent stuff. That is the case here. Read his work. Love it. Tell your kids about it. Or he has sworn to me that “his sister’s” One Tree Hill box set will be the only sound I hear for what is sure to feel like eternity. This is hardly the worst thing he’s ever said and I would know. I’m his mouth.

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EDITOR’S LETTER

Michael Mann “Keyboard” by Tyler Quarles

Thank Christ the Republicans are running things in the States again. That was a rough couple of years, eh? I’m sure the economy will be fine now and we’re finally in the clear, eh? This is our final issue of 2010. Just as we learned that, despite saving capitalism, socialists cannot run a country, we too learned some stuff at the magazine this year.

in March and people are still reblogging those photos. Thanks Zooey fans!

static. You’ll then have to sheepishly ask his publicist if you can interview him again.

Run an interview with Bruce LaBruce about his gay zombie porno film. You wouldn’t believe how many people do Google searches for zombie porno. Apologies to all the creeps who accidentally clicked on our site.

You’re naive to assume that because the Arcade Fire are Canadian, you’ll be able to hook up an interview with them easily. Why didn’t anyone tell us they’re like the biggest band in the world now? We still think of them as a quaint Montreal band.

If you open a store during the Olympics where you host art and music events you will get wasted every single night. Thank you to everyone who came down.

Stick Diplo on the cover of your magazine. We think this guy might be going places. He may even be the spokesperson for BlackBerry some day. Mark my words!

Show up for your interview with Die Antwoord with a pair of boxer shorts with maple leafs on them. Ninja will wear them for the show and all subsequent shows on the Canadian tour.

Don’t ask Zooey Deschanel about looking like Katy Perry. Her people will nix that shit in a nanosecond. Yes, all the questions you ask Zooey Deschanel get vetted before you can ask them.

Send the Music Editor, the Art Director and myself to Newfoundland for the Junos and we’re gonna skip all the concerts and get drunk and eat toutons while watching hockey.

Icing is hilarious until the Music Editor gets you at 3am with a one-litre bottle of Smirnoff Ice.

Be sure to put any photos you have of Zooey Deschanel on Tumblr. We put them up there

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Never record a Skype conversation with Eugene Hütz using the Audacity recording program. Some computers don’t like that and will simply record

Proofread articles more thoroughly before putting them online. If not, you’ll end up getting into an online argument with Gavin McInnes. He takes grammar very seriously.

Ask Terry and Deaner from Fubar to judge a shotgunning competition… even if it’s the early in the afternoon. You’ll blow the minds of all your friends with the results. If you ask Salem for their clothing sizes, they’ll send you a barely decipherable and highly amusing list of what they will and won’t wear. Then they’ll just wear their own clothes for the shoot. Hold off crying when Das Racist hang up on you during a phone interview. They were just joking and will call you back. It was a fun year at ION and we’ll be back in 2011. See you then and thanks for being awesome.

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12 ION

Photography: Tyson Fast | Stylist: Toyo Tsuchiya | Hair and Makeup: Grace Lee for TRESemmĂŠ Hair Care/Plutino Group | Hair and Makeup Assistant: Wendy Rorong | Models: Kasia and Colin from Elmer Olsen Models

[1]3-Fatthin by Diesel [2] Trapper by New Era

[2] [1]

PUMA The prize this month comes courtesy of Puma. Puma has been at the forefront of athletic wear since forever. If you’re not the athletic type it’s okay, Puma has a collection of lifestyle clothing that’s both stylish and functional and we have some to give to you. To enter “like” us on Facebook as we’ll be doing the giveaway on there. To enter visit [www.facebook.com/ionmagazine]

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Photography: Tyson Fast | Stylist: Toyo Tsuchiya | Hair and Makeup: Grace Lee for TRESemmé Hair Care/Plutino Group | Hair and Makeup Assistant: Wendy Rorong | Model: Darryl from Elmer Olsen Models

ION THE PRIZE

OF THE MONTH [DVD] Antichrist [DVD] Cyrus [DVD] Exit Through The Gift Shop [DVD] Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

[2]

[1]

[3]

[4]

[1] DVD—Antichrist If you’re into very gruesome films with unsimulated sex scenes that are made made

[3] DVD—Exit Through The Gift Shop There was probably some amazing documentary made in 2010 about

by insane Danish filmmakers, then... you’ve probably already seen Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist. For the rest

whales being punched to death for sport that we didn’t see. So we’ll hold off proclaiming Exit Through The

of you, consider this your warning. If you see this film on a video store shelf and rent it, there’s a very good

Gift Shop the best documentary of the year, but it’s certainly the most entertaining one. Directed by Banksy,

chance it will scar you for life. Antichrist stars Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg as a married couple

he embarks on a mission to make the definitive movie about street art with help from a friend, filmmaker

and the two travel to the woods (never a good idea) after the death of their young child. At their cabin Dafoe,

and aspiring artist Thierry Guetta aka Mr. Brainwash. When that movie falls apart, Banksy takes the camera

a therapist, attempts to treat Gainsbourg who is suffering from crippling depression and likes to ponder the

and points it at Mr. Brainwash to document his bourgeoning art career. The end result is not only the defini-

age old question: “Are women inherently evil?” Did we mention there’s a talking fox that has the voice of

tive movie about street art but the definitive movie that takes the piss out of the art world as well.

Satan? When it rains it pours. But in Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist, after it stops pouring, chaos reigns. [4] DVD—Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Dave Foley says that when he is in America and drinking he becomes [2] Blu-ray—Cyrus Okay, film school time. There’s a newish genre called mumblecore (Ya, we know it’s a stupid

unbearably Canadian. On an SAT question about painfully Canadian movies, Fubar is to Foley’s “Girl Drink

name). Mumblecore movies are ultra low budget relationship films with a lot of talking and improvised scripts. Some

Drunk” character what Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World is to his character who can’t help but say everything in a

notable mumblecore films you should check out are Funny Ha Ha and The Puffy Chair. Well, Cyrus is the first studio

sarcastic fashion. The film has real Canadian Toonies, real Toronto live venues, and stars Brampton, Ontario’s

mumblecore film and it’s directed by Jay and Mark Duplass who made The Puffy Chair. There was allegedly no

Michael Cera. Cera already knew how to play the guitar but to train the other actors Chris Murphy from

scripted dialogue and it’s about the relationship between John (John C. Reilly) and Molly (Marisa Tomei). Everything

Sloan was brought in to tutor. The lead character is even named after a Plumtree song. If you’re not into

would be swell if it wasn’t for Molly’s son Cyrus (Jonah Hill) who isn’t too keen on the idea of his mom hooking up

Canadiana, then know that this movie is about indie rock, Nintendo games and chasing gorgeous brown-

with John. If you like talking head movies and can believe that a woman who looks like Marisa Tomeri would ever

eyed girls around, which is the best shit in the world. —Trevor Risk

date a man who looks like John C. Reilly, then you will enjoy this film.

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[Website] The Brick Testament [Store] Lomography Gallery Store [Show] Brian Donnelly’s Obedience & Savagery [Too Awesome For Print ] FUBAR 2 [5]

[6]

[7]

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[5] Website—The Brick Testament This site makes up for all those boring Sunday School classes that you spent

[7] Show—Brian Donnelly’s Obedience & Savagery One of our favourite artists has a show running in Toronto

picking your nose and kicking the kid’s chair in front of yours. The Reverend Brendan Powell Smith—not really

until November 28. Brian’s been featured in the magazine before and he even did a t-shirt for us (the

a member of the clergy at all—recreates stories from the Bible using nothing but pieces of Lego and a

original painting that appeared on the shirt is on display). Brian’s a rad dude and an exceptionally talented

cardboard backdrop. Whilst the stories mainly stick to the classic tales, the Reverend takes somewhat of a

artist with an immediately recognizable style. Definitely try to make it down there to see his work as it’s

poetic license with the pictures. Mary resembles a member of the Brady Bunch, the Holy Ghost looks like he

mindblowing in person. While you’re there, be sure to check out Winnie Truong’s intricate pencil crayon

stepped off the set of Scream and Joseph is rocking a serious Miami Vice mustache. The circumcision of

drawings of alien-like people with insane hair.

Baby Jesus and story of the Corinthians getting down and dirty as they adjust to married life will be enough

Show & Tell Gallery, 1161 Dundas St. West [www.briandonnelly.org]

to convert you back to spending Sunday mornings on your knees. In church obviously. —Sinead Keane [www.thebricktestament.com]

[8] Too Awesome for Print— Fubar 2 Mosey on over to the website and you’ll see some video

we shot during our interview with Fubar’s Terry and Deaner. Our interview topics included fashion, [6] Store—Lomography Gallery Store With the gangland-esque “don’t think, just shoot” motto, you could be

Facebook, Hollywood and Ronnie James Dio. They even shared their opinions on the magazine.

forgiven for thinking that the Lomographic Society has ties with the Mafia or Hell’s Angels. They don’t.

The verdict was it’s alright though there are too many leggings and “guys eating food in pictures is

Shooting from the hip in this case, refers to taking a picture without gazing through the viewfinder. With

gay.” To end the interview, they kindly judged a shotgunning competition between our editor-in-chief

lomography there are apparently no rules. Canada’s first Lomography Gallery Store is opening in Toronto

Michael and our writer Kellen. Michael won and it was such a bitter pill for Kellen to swallow he moved to

this month. Along with selling cameras, film and accessories the store will also host workshops, events and

Nashville. True story. Fubar 2 is out on DVD on December 28.

excursions. So get your ass down there, capiche? —SInead Keane

[www.ionmagazine.ca]

Lomography Gallery Store Toronto, 536 Queen Street West [www.lomography.com]

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CULTURE

ANDREA WAN

WANDERING IMAGINATION Words: Jenkin Au

Andrea Wan may seem introverted but the work of this Vancouverbased illustrator is nothing close to shy. Having worked with a slew of notable publications like Nylon and The Globe and Mail as well as participated in numerous gallery shows, Andrea is mustering up a portfolio desirable by any young and budding illustrator. Andrea got her start by enrolling in film studies at Emily Carr. “For some reason, I just chose film,” she explains. “I used to draw just here and there but they were just doodles. I never really practice drawing or anything like that.” However, soon after her graduation project, which featured some of these doodles, her friends urged her to pursue illustration. Andrea ended up landing in Denmark to study illustration and design at Designskolen Kolding.

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Taking a good look at her personal work, which can consist of images of roofs without houses, chairs with flipped and curling legs, and black and blue rivers coming out of the mouth of a person with a bird instead of eyes. On top of this, there are human sweaters, boys with random rolls of toilet paper and a cat’s cradle of houses. Her work is like viewing a stream of consciousness; you think there’s no way that any of this could be planned, and indeed it isn’t. “I am inspired by my environment—it is like an emotional landscape,” says Andrea. “I spontaneously come up with an idea or an image and I just have to draw it out. I don’t really make a lot of sketches or pre-plans.” While she’s always happy to take on commercial jobs, Andrea says that she feels more restricted with them because she’s usually

given a theme or a few keywords and has to build an image around that, a method which sometimes curbs spontaneity. However when you’re working as a freelance illustrator, you can’t be too picky. At this point, Andrea still faces the same problems that a lot of young people in the creative field face: having to juggle a part-time job while pursuing her dream. “I really wish that I could do this fulltime and not have to worry about working part-time somewhere else that’s totally unrelated,” she shares. But looking ahead, with plans for more magazine work, commercial work and personal art projects, it’s unlikely she’ll have to work that part-time job much longer. [www.andreawan.com]

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el paso

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texas

This story is a preview to a photo journal of my travels. Riding the train across the south of America, looking out the window at the people, the landscape, the sun setting and rising, exposing a country that is saturated with desperation and endurance. [www.tobymarie.com]

SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN HERE AND THERE PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOBY BANNISTER

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sabino canyon

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arizona

new orleans

louisiana

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venice beach

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california

savannah

georgia

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CULTURE

MARC SCHILLER

TRESPASSERS WILL BE SHOT Words: Shallom Johnson

There are a lot of street art books on the market today but there’s never been one quite like Taschen’s Trespass: A History of Uncommissioned Urban Art. This 300-page publication links multiple genres of public intervention from the last 50 years with an amazing selection of visuals and extremely well-written essays from a number of perspectives. Marc Schiller played an integral part in the production of Trespass, along with his wife Sara and a knowledgeable team including editor Ethel Seno and critic/curator Carlo McCormick. Best known for the street art website Wooster Collective, Marc and Sara have been documenting and posting “acts of trespass” since 2000. In addition to Wooster, they also produce events, books and travel the world speaking at museums and festivals. ION Magazine had the pleasure of discussing the making of Trespass with Marc just before the book’s launch. Trespass is a pretty intense book, there’s a lot there. There is, and that was really the goal, that we approached the subject holistically and really put in context not only street art but graffiti and protest and performance. We wanted to look at where the common threads were and find the themes that run through multiple approaches to interventions in public places. The historical importance was a focus from the very beginning. The thrill of putting the book together was that we were able to approach it so that Philippe Petit, the performance artist

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who crossed the high wire across the twin towers could be in the same book with The London Police and other street artists who have gotten a lot of attention in the last couple of years. Just to give our readers a bit of context about who you are, can you talk a bit about the different roles that you play within the art world? We’ve been documenting and curating acts of trespass going back to 2000, and have been using technology and the Internet to share that. A lot of people know us through the Wooster Collective website, which over the years has showcased not just street art, but tens of thousands of examples of public intervention. For us, the website is only one small part of what we’re doing. We do a lot of events, from small personal salons to large, full-scale exhibitions. In 2006 here in New York we did the 11 Spring Project, which brought artists from all over the world to Manhattan to paint. We also do a lot of lectures, about five or six every year. We’ve spoken at festivals, museums—we’ve spoken at the Tate Modern, at the New Museum, at MOMA.... And then there are the books. This is our first book with Taschen, but we’ve published 15 of our own books over the years. Holistically, we’re always looking to explore new areas and to challenge ourselves. There’s no question that the Wooster site is only one component of a much larger plan. You were recently involved with the production of Exit Through the Gift Shop, can you tell us a bit about your role in the movie’s production?

Through the Wooster website we’ve had a long relationship with Banksy, and have exposed his work to people, especially in the early days. Whether it was the museums where he did interventions in New York years back, or the work he did at Disneyland, we are definitely appreciative of his work. And so with the movie, as with all Banksy projects, he reaches out to a group of people that he trusts. Sara and I participated in curating with him some of the footage of artists doing different actions, especially at the beginning of the film. We were thrilled when he invited us early on to see the rough cut of the film. We loved it and had some really strong thoughts about it. And when he decided that in the United States he would release the film himself, Sara and I played a role in helping that process. What was the response like from audiences? As I remember, a lot of people were questioning whether or not Mr. Brainwash was in actuality just another of Banksy’s creations… Well the film did very well, in the United States it was the indie hit of the summer. The response to the film has been fantastic. Thierry is definitely not a fictional character. I think the film is very smart and interesting in how it is put together, but Thierry is as real and as crazy as anybody—and the reality is that the film only represents a small portion of the craziness that exists in the street art world. With Thierry, as with everybody else, the stories that are not in the film are just as crazy and

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CULTURE interesting as the film itself. I think it’s a brilliantly edited and produced film that works on so many different levels, and it’s fascinating to see people—because the film is so well done—question the reality of it. But a lot of people know Thierry, and he’s about as real as you can get. How did you initially get involved in the street art community? We were always involved in art. I have a long background in collecting art, in having a passion for the creative process, and Sara as well. We grew up around art—but specifically with street art, we came to it probably the same way that a lot of people do, and that was by noticing it on the street. It wasn’t an intellectual decision; it was very much a visceral thing. To make a long story short, we moved in 2000 into a new apartment in the West Village of New York. And a few things happened at the same time: we got a dog, a Weimeraner puppy with a lot of energy that needed to be walked a lot. I went to Japan and got a digital camera, one of the first high-end digital cameras, and one day I was walking the dog and noticed that there was street art in my street. And it sounds kind of silly, but this is the middle of Lower Manhattan, and you don’t really tap into it. And also this is prior to anybody really writing about street art, it certainly wasn’t a focus in any traditional media outlets. So I started taking photographs of everything that I saw, which is definitely more widespread these days, with sites like Flickr where you can share a lot of that stuff—but Flickr wasn’t around back then. After a year I had taken so many photographs of street art that my hard drive was getting packed and I literally was ready to delete them off my drive. It was just a personal project; I wasn’t doing it for anybody else. Sara suggested that instead of deleting them, I upload them to the web. I found some very simple software and when I looked at the photographs all together as a website, it was really cool—a year of street art in my little neighbourhood. So I emailed like 20 friends with the link and kinda forgot about it. About two weeks later I went in and saw that over 20,000 people every day were viewing the site, everyone had shared the link around and it was getting tons of traffic. Around that time I’d started hearing about a new software called Blogger, and thought that maybe I would start playing around with that—and the Wooster site became one of the first blogs. Since that day we’ve just kept adding to it. We’ve made small adjustments to the site but there’s no advertising, we’re not trying to make money from it, it’s

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really been the same thing that it’s always been. So, long answer to your question but the beauty of it was we came to street art by discovering it, not by being told about it. Can you talk a bit about your role in the production of Trespass? So our team was terrific. I really must give Sara an immense amount of credit for this—as much as Sara and I do things together, we do split duties. Sara worked tirelessly on this project, with a woman named Ethel Seno, an editor who had previously done a book with Taschen.

We recommended Carlo McCormick to write the text, as we had known Carlo for a while and he knows the subject very well. The core team was really Sara, myself, Ethel and Carlo, working on this book for three and a half years. We then reached out to a few people who we invited to contribute some thoughts on the concept of trespass. There are some wonderful essays by Tony Sera, a lawyer who approached it from one angle; Anne Pasternak who did the promotional video wrote a wonderful essay; Sara and I wrote an essay, and then I reached out to Banksy, explained the project, and he wrote a very wonderful introduction. And all of us worked in conjunction with the Taschen team, Benedict Taschen and his designers. What do you feel sets this book apart from previous publications in the genre? We wanted this to be a book that you’ll still have on your coffee table three years from now, and then have on your bookshelf for a really long time—and to do that you need it to be something that is substantial. We didn’t want this to be a book that you bought because street art was popular this year, and so we needed to make sure that this was not just

a book of interesting images. We also wanted to be true to our theme, so we rejected a lot of pictures of wonderful artwork because they were done with permission. We actually had to go back to artists again and again to really find that photograph that nobody knew existed. Some of these things, because they are ephemeral, that you don’t have a photograph of, or you took a photograph on a cheesy little camera. Another important point was that we didn’t want it to only be about one type of work. Sometimes street art books are about only stencils, or only certain types of murals. It’s nice to see the art, and understand the art, but for us it doesn’t explore the topic fully. One of the most interesting sections of the book for me was Public Memory: Private Secrets… Yeah, so these things are very personal, not just for the artist or the person who is making the piece, but for the person who is experiencing the piece. Something could be really big, but because the space that something was on is not bought, people can feel that something was done without permission, you can feel the energy of it. Maybe it was rushed, or raw, or the content is such that you know that it wasn’t an advertiser that put it up there. You don’t need a brand logo to know when something is put there with permission or without. So the space that the artist is working with is stolen space. For the artist, it’s not about the finished piece, it’s the experience of making the piece. The process of doing it is the thrill—the people that stop by, or the danger of not getting arrested. And it becomes a very personal and infectious experience for everyone involved. For the people that view the work, they know that it has the potential for a very short life; that it could be washed off tomorrow. Dan Witz, for example, he was putting up hoodies in the Lower East Side at a time when that neighbourhood was completely crack-infested. And for people who happened to look up and see the hoodie looking down at them—not everybody does, most people don’t—it’s a very personal experience, and it becomes a very private memory. For us, having Jenny Holtzer’s inflammatory essays in the book was very important because it was a personal thing. Armsrock, same way. These are people that he wants recognized, and it becomes a very personal thing. [www.woostercollective.com]

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ALL DRESSED Photography: Alan Chan | Styling: Charlotte Stokes at Nobasura Creative Direction: Vanessa Leigh

Photographerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s assistant: Edmond Keung | Makeup and Hair: Ashley Gesner at Lizbell Model: Lisa B at Lizbell Agency

T-shirt: Kid Dangerous Skirt: Yumi

Sweater: Markus Lupfer available at Gravity Pope Tailored Goods | Skirt: BCBGMAXAZRIA | Tights: American Apparel

Dress: Cameo | Bracelets: Blue Ruby

Dress: Motel

Necklace: Blue Ruby

T-shirt: Kid Dangerous | Pants: Mackage | Necklace and Bracelets: Blue Ruby | Shoes: Marc Jacobs at Gravity Pope

Top and Skirt: BCBGMAXAZRIA | Earrings: Blue Ruby

MOVIES

nother film festival season has come and gone and with it, all the celebrity-driven hype and screaming autograph seekers. Often overlooked in the melee are some of the truly excellent shorts films made by up-and-coming Canadian filmmakers. Here are some of the best from 2010.

ABOVE THE KNEE GREGORY ATKINS

Words: Kyle Vinoly

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Some people find inspiration in poetry. Canadian actor and director Gregory Atkins found it in women’s options for appropriate office attire. His latest short film Above the Knee tells the story of a beleaguered office worker named Jack who spices up his office routine by wearing a skirt on the job. What most would consider the equivalent of torpedoing their climb up the corporate ladder turns out to be the best decision Jack has ever made. He even starts a bit of a trend. The film’s dry humour will definitely induce a few chuckles, but Greg says he wasn’t trying to get the easy ‘Haha that guy’s wearing a skirt’ laughs. “Skirts for men have always popped up in the fashion world, usually with a more avant-garde or even humourous bent,” says

Greg. “I wanted to put a man in a skirt in a more serious environment.” His partner is a women’s wear designer whose main clientele are businesswomen and Greg says the range of options they have for outfits seems almost unfair. “When women buy a suit they can buy both a skirt and a pant to match the jacket, men don’t get this option.” The Toronto filmmaker says he wanted to explore the idea about an individual’s growth and change and how those changes affect not just the individual but the people around that person. He says he also wanted to examine who supports or challenges those changes. Greg has explored sexual identity, gender roles and challenging societal norms in his previous short films

Teenage Girl and Build as well. But he doesn’t want to come across as trying to make himself an ultimate authority on the matter. “I want the issues to be present but I don’t want to put a heavy-handed opinion upon them. I hope that each viewer will be able to add their own ideas into their experience,” he says. A lifelong Toronto resident Greg hasn’t had the opportunity to direct a feature yet, but says he would welcome the chance. In the meantime he’s wrapping up a few scripts for a feature and starting the money hunt to get them off the page and onto the screen. He says he also finds inspiration in dreams, past experiences and allowing his mind to wander. Not just women’s skirts.

HOW TO RID A LOVER... NADIA LITZ Words: Kyle Vinoly

The ancient mystery of how to get your partner to sit through a movie about communication may have been cracked by Canadian director Nadia Litz. The secret? A female lead more akin to Rambo than Carey Bradshaw. “I was interested in a female character that dealt with her own issues through action. Who actually didn’t have it in her make-up to ‘talk’ it out,” says Nadia. “All too often women in films deal with [emotions] by ‘talking’ it out. They don’t get to be all Clint Eastwood cool, with a grunt, a snarl and a pop of a pistol.” In her short film How to Rid a Lover of a Negative Emotion Caused by You, a couple, Sadie and Dennis, are having a hard time dealing with each other. They don’t want to break up so Sadie cracks out her chloroform and scalpel and gets to problem solving. She cuts the negative feelings she creates in Dennis by pulling metaphoric balls of goo out of his belly and keeping them in a jar under the bed. Dennis becomes much more loving and supportive afterwards, and Sadie hones her upholstery skills.

The concept was originally the brainchild of Nadia’s classmate at the Canadian Film Centre Ryan Cavan, who wrote the screenplay for the short. But in the original version Sadie and Dennis were lederhosen clad giants living in the woods. Nadia and Ryan worked together in developing a script better suited to the director’s strengths so that the woods became a stylish apartment in a city, the lederhosen vanished and neither of the characters could be forwards in the NBA. The film was Nadia’s first time sitting in the director’s chair and she says it was important that the short excited both genders in the audience. “It’s a fine balance and I’d say it is a highly conscious effort—to get girls and guys excited equally!” While How to Rid A Lover is Nadia’s first time calling the shots from behind the lens she has plenty of experience in front of it, starring in You are Here, Blindness and Monkey Warfare to name a few. She has also been busy in the world of academia.

The Torontonian studied theatre originally, has a degree in Film Theory from York University and was accepted into Norman Jewison’s Canadian Film Center as a Director-inResidence, where she made How to Rid A Lover. She likens the process to the TV show Survivor and pulled herself through by remembering that staying on the island meant shooting in 35mm. She followed How To Rid A Lover to TIFF, where she said she felt like Bob Fosse in All That Jazz “minus the drugs and dancing” and VIFF where “in between the intro and the Q&A, we took a Jacuzzi at the Sutton Place Hotel—like civilized filmmakers.” She says she’s happy that people have given her short a chance and she had a great time making it but she’s already looking forward to her next project. Ironically, after making a movie about communication, she didn’t want to talk about it.

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MOVIES

Sad Bear JOE LOBIANCO

Words: Robyn Dugas

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The Colbert Nation need not fear Sad Bear, a short film directed by Liz Van Allen Cairns and written by Joe LoBianco. The titular creature more closely resembles a 7-foot Ookpik and doesn’t want to maul you so much as it wants to take that mixtape—and all the subsequent bad memories—away in a little red wagon. Surrendering those mementoes doesn’t come naturally to one moustachioed young man, Steve, who is pursued by Sad Bear for a pair of Prada boots previously belonging to a deceased friend. Even though the other people featured in the film appear to surrender their sad objects relatively easily, Steve “was not different from everyone else, but as common as them. Everyone has gone through the same thing that we witness with Steve, but we only glean their actions as a finished whole. Sad Bear’s presence represented both the struggle to get to a point of closure as well as the closure itself,” Joe explains.

The concept for the short originated with Taran Chadha, Joe’s best friend and fellow Simon Fraser University film graduate, who was familiar with the work of a Brooklynbased artist who would dress up as a bear and help people dispose of objects associated with grief and pain. Joe, who was also the film’s cinematographer, turned the concept into a script directed by fellow SFU alum Van Allen Cairns, which was pitched to Vancouver’s Crazy 8s Film Festival in January. Sad Bear’s unorthodox design originated with some grand ideas: “When we first pitched the script, Taran had drawn some really cool Miyazaki-type concepts for the creature. The general idea was to make it an imposing creature with a flat, expressionless face that would appear both sympathetic and disconcerting.” However, the limited shooting schedule and a shortage of fake fur at Dressew resulted in the development of a furry, almost faceless

creature that appears imposing and tender in equal measure. Sad Bear’s actual incarnation ended up a happy accident for the filmmakers, as it added “a nice balance of humour to the mid-section of the film, which was scripted as more of a straight-out stalking scene.” Despite the 8-day shooting schedule, Joe credits the successful production to “the tightness of our group. Liz and Taran and I have known each other for years and share some sort of group consciousness when it comes to vision.” The crew first submitted the film to the Toronto International Film Festival, where it was then picked up for Short Cuts Canada. Since its TIFF premiere, the short has been submitted to a variety of international festivals, where Sad Bear’s public service will surely be welcomed by audiences still hanging on to that mixtape.

The Camera and Christopher Merk BRANDON CRONENBERG

Words: Robyn Dugas

The Camera and Christopher Merk is a short film written and directed by Brandon Cronenberg (yes, son of David) that screened at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival’s Short Cuts Canada program. The film explores voyeurism and performance through the point of view of the everyman title character, Christopher, who moves into an apartment where tenants and their guests are knowingly filmed all day, every day, and anyone entering is required to sign a release. Every suite number corresponds to a television channel where Christopher and his neighbours can watch each other read, eat, sleep, and be generally unnerving, with the only break from filming coming from a neighbourhood power outage. When Christopher begins to sense a discrepancy between himself and the image his neighbours can see on channel 36, an unorthodox image consultant steps in to help Christopher make himself a little more telegenic to the rest of the building.

Brandon, who developed the film from his own short story, says that he was “interested in that moment when we can’t recognize ourselves in a photograph or video, and the realization that there’s a disconnect between our internal identities and who we are in the world.” After his makeover, Christopher appears more comfortable in front of the camera than he was acting, as it were, as himself. “I was interested in performance as something inescapable—how we are constantly creating characters as part of our interactions with each other, and also for ourselves so we can function from coherent identities. There isn’t a ‘true’ self... We’re always acting,” says Brandon. With the explosion of now-ubiquitous social media platforms, situations like those of The Camera and Christopher Merk are more on-the-nose social commentary than Orwellian speculation. When asked why the consensual voyeurism of the

film still feels unsettling to viewers, Brandon says that the film pushes “things slightly beyond what we’re accustomed to but it’s not that far from what we as a society are already comfortable with.” The discomfort is not just in imagining a future of reality television apartments, but in the realization that, in an era of Big Brother and its offshoots, the future is very much now. With emerging technologies like geolocation enabling us to track every step of a person’s life, Brandon foresees that individual vanity will be the only limiting factor to the societal appetite for voyeurism. “People want control over how they are perceived, and that control requires an off-stage area somewhere for them to do all those things they want edited out of their public personas.” But if Christopher’s shift from reluctant participant to semi-glamourous actor is any indication, our collective desire to watch and be watched has already eclipsed the need to separate that public persona from the private one.

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DAS RACIST

Victor: All clothing Victor’s own. Dapwell: Hat, Jacket and Shirt Dapwell’s own, Jeans by Levi’s. Heems: Shirt and Scarf Heems’ own, Jeans by Levi’s.

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RACE RIOT Words: Zia Hirji Photography: Jeremy Williams

Who does Das Racist consist of? Is one of you Memphis Bleek to the other’s Jay-Z? Heems: It’s more like—who are some rap trios? Dapwell: Cypress Hill. Heems: But we are all B-Real. Victor: We are all Sen Dogg. Heems: DJ Muggs was Cypress Hill? I want to be him. Well Heems is DJ Muggs, Victor is Sen Dogg and Dap is B-Real. That’s pretty ill. If I was in a rap trio, we would be Onyx but we would all be Sticky Fingaz.

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Heems: Can you change it so we said that? I want to be Fredro Starr and have a mildly successful acting career and be on Moesha and in Sunset Park. How did you guys meet? Heems: We met in college and high school. I met Dap at Dalton High School, in New York and I met Victor at Bard, which is in Annandale-on-Hudson in upstate New York. Victor: We were in the same poetry collective. Heems: I thought it was pottery class. Victor: It was a pottery class but I think we bonded most at the poetry collective. From left to right: Victor, Dapwell, Heems

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MUSIC What were you guys doing before you formed Das Racist? Dapwell: I dropped out of college and spent a couple years in New York moving from apartment to apartment, then moving back to my parents’ house kind of aimlessly. Sometimes I’d get an odd job that I would get fired from. Victor: I’d say the Kanye West story but I worked at a farm and I tutored children. Heems: I was a human resources consultant in the financial service industry. I was a headhunter. Under what circumstances did you guys decide to form Das Racist? Heems: I don’t know. We were bored and talented. Victor: You smoke weed?! What’s your favourite weed?! Where does the name come from? Heems: There was a short-lived TV show called Wonder Showzen that had short cartoons in it and one of them was called That’s Racist. Dapwell: T-H-A-T-S Racist and everyone misspells it. Heems: I think people kind of attribute the phonetic thing onto us unnecessarily. It’s pretty offensive that they would do that. It’s clearly spelled “That’s Racist” on everything we put out. Shouldn’t you guys hire a PR firm to take care of that? Heems: I don’t know shit about Puerto Ricans! What would prevent us from hiring a DR firm? Or a Honduran firm? Where do you guys fit into the rap world? Victor: Right up the butt. Being rappers, what did the streets teach you guys? Heems: They taught me not to make garbage rap music, not to be British, not to be white, not to make videos about ecstasy that nobody cares about,

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not to glorify sniffing cocaine and making bad songs about it. But what did the streets teach you guys? Heems: Mike Skinner, right? What is it like to be coming up in the music game in 2010? Heems: It’s cool because cars can fly now, right? Finally right? Finally. Opposed to coming up in 2009 when everything was different. A lot of individuals… I’m sorry. I just ate some chipotle peppers. It’s really burning the shit out of my face. When you guys made the song “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell”

did you guys do it with getting a licensing deal in mind? Heems: We wanted a licensing deal, and there are a whole batch of other songs we didn’t put out for other corporate entities that we were hoping to get licensed. They are only sitting on our hard drives. Victor: The original “Who’s that? Brooown!” chorus goes (sings) “Quiznos, Quiznos Quiznos, getting together, getting some pizza in the mail, UPS, what can brown do for you? Getting pizza in the mail, UPS Quiznos.” Heems: So that was the second track on the EP. You guys should have left it like that. Heems: Have you ever played “Who’s that? Brooown!” backwards? You should hear the song we did for Bloomberg. What’s it like to see a song you guys did blow up on the internet? Heems: I hope that future employers don’t find it. What’s your favourite collaboration you’ve done so far? Heems: Rapping with Despot on “Rooftop” for the second mixtape was fun. That’s like a dude we kick it with a lot. Basically the people we see every day that are in and out the studio. Victor: We just did a song with Homeboy Sandman that was really fun. Heems: For me doing a song with El-P was a crazy thing. By the time we made it, we kicked it a bunch of times too. So he grew from just a dude who I really respected into a dude who I just kicked it with. So making a track with him was really comfortable. At the same time it was like, “oh shit, that’s El-P recording right there.” He was a dude I idolized when I was in high school so doing a track with him was really crazy. Which gig has been your favourite so far? Heems: Hawaii was fun because we got to go to Hawaii, but there weren’t a lot of people at that show. Madonna at the Macy’s Parade—

Dapwell: Vintage Vest - Stylist’s Own, Denim Shirt - Levi’s

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we played a private show for Madonna on the sideline at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. So Madonna’s down with Das Racist? Heems: Yeah, she likes it. What’s the worst gig you guys have done? Heems: Maybe Hawaii or the Madonna joint. What made you guys decide to give out your music for free? Victor: I don’t know, we had a lot of samples and we didn’t want to figure out splits for everything. We just wanted to get it out there. We thought maybe it would help to have a release out before we did an album. Heems: It’s kind of how rap music works right now if you want to reach an audience. I mean, it’s not very difficult for us to make songs, I don’t think we are worried about not being able to do more. It’s a good thing to do while you’re trying to figure out a deal. Heems: Or stop. Or put out a different kind of record that’s not rap. How do you guys plan to monetize? Heems: Live shows and when we get on top of our shit, merchandise and military arms. What are your guy’s groupies like? Victor: They are weird. Some of them are pretty. If you guys could have rap beef with anyone who would it be?

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Heems: Tupac, Biggie, Joe Budden, Lil B, Madonna, Kanye, Bill O’Reilly, probably the rapper Jin, Murda Mook, Beanie Sigel, Thom Yorke, Snoop Dogg, Bon Jovi, Freaky Tah, Axl Rose. Who was the Hip Hop Violinist? Miri Ben-Ari. Victor: Probably Facebook. Heems: I would battle Facebook, The Social Network, Mark Zuckerberg, Nine Inch Nails and Trent Reznor. So we would probably beef with Mark Zuckerberg, Hip Hop Violinist Miss Miri Ben-Ari, and the rapper Jin. Those three more than anyone really. Dapwell: Saul Williams. Heems: We are going to recreate the battle between Saul Williams and Sherman Alexie. Victor: We were going to tell that to The New Yorker an hour ago but we saved that for you. Two dudes in your group are Indian, are you guys looking to start a brown power movement? Like being the Indian Public Enemy? Heems: I don’t think so, that’s too ambitious. I studied South Asian studies, so I am interested. It comes up in our music. Where do you guys see the future of rap going? Heems: It’s really moving toward the independent stuff, like the smaller independent stuff. There are no more indie rap labels; there was Definitive Jux and Stones Throw doesn’t really do rap now. It’s not about being signed to a major label—you have to do your own thing. I think now is a much better time to be independent more than ever before, that’s not to say that we wouldn’t explore the option of doing something with a major. At this time we put our music on the internet, because that’s how you get the most attention and the most people to download your music. We are not too stressed about making it. If you are signed to a major they do a 360 and they take your touring and your merch money and you’re making what? A hundred grand up front? I’m not sure how the future of rap is different from the future of music. Victor: There’s this hyper-emotional, hyper-personal trend in rap music, kind of like we are. Because everything is personal, however superficial, and it seems like we are tackling bigger issues. Kid Cudi is making songs about having nightmares. Who gives a fuck about Kid Cudi? What does the future hold for Das Racist?

Heems: We are going on tour right now to China and Western Europe. We are going to come back and work on more songs. We are doing Minority Fest 2. We did the first Minority Fest in September 2009. Minority Fest is a one-night-only show that had a panel representing comedy, music and visual arts that happened at Glasslands in Brooklyn. It was just different people who were minorities talking about being creative. The whole minority thing was tongue in cheek. We are going to have another one where we invite different bands, it was mostly composed, last year, of comedians and academics talking about what it’s like to do what they do while being a minority. We are going to do the second one next year in February 2011. We have a radio show that we are working on; we are trying to base it on Stretch and Bobbito, which was an old rap show in New York. We are also working on this weird sketch/talk show called Chillin’ Island. So all sorts of different media. There is also some interest by a network for a TV show with me and my brother. Me and my brother have a talk show that we do and there is some interest in having a sketch show for this network. Victor: We have a gallery opening we are working on in 2011 in Brooklyn. Heems has done a lot of painting and canvas work so that’s going to come out in 2011. We haven’t thought of a name for it but we have the space. So you guys are multi-faceted? Victor: You can’t just be a rapper or you’d be dead in the gutter. Who are your top five rappers? Heems: I think top five dead or alive for me would be: Joe Budden, Madonna, Gary Oldman, any Chinese person that you might meet, Korea as a country—only physically geographically, not the people in Korea, but the land mass— and a single flame rising from the nostril of a snake. Victor: In no particular order, for me it’s got to be: Pablo Honey—the album by Radiohead—a volcano, the shark from the cartoons—Jabberjaw the Hanna-Barbera shark—and probably MF Doom. [www.dasracist.net]

Heems: Shirt Heemsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; own, Jacket by Lindsey Thornburg Cloaks

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MUSIC JON WURSTER

BEST OF THE WURST

Words: Trevor Risk

Illustration: Troy Alden

Twenty years ago the Kids In The Hall started a movement where comedy acts could gain a devoted following that at the time was reserved for bands. The Toronto quintet did so by hiring Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet as their house band; by combining their respective cult followings they both were a force never before seen. You can still find that influence every time you see David Cross in an indie rock video or hear MIA in the trailer for Pineapple Express. One man, Jon Wurster, is putting his money on both red and black. His list of accomplishments seems endless: Drummer for the legendary Superchunk, writer for the absurdist Tim and Eric Awesome Show, member of the darling Mountain Goats, and the man behind beloved character Philly Boy Roy. Sit in a record store and talk with him about the music of the Dead Milkmen and the hilarity of Bob Odenkirk and things may get a little Foolish. What makes The Best Show the BEST show? Tom Sharpling is the host and the founder and I’ll call in as characters whenever I can. I’m on the road all the time so it’s usually from a parking lot of a club somewhere. It’s on WFMU in Jersey City, New Jersey, and it’s the biggest free-form station in the States. It’s listener supported so we can kind of do whatever we want. He started playing a lot of music but eventually over the years it has grown into this thing where it’s mainly him talking and taking calls. There’s a whole legion of regular callers from all over the world and I’ll call in whenever I can as a character. Anything goes, which is very rare nowadays. Is Philly Boy Roy based on an amalgam of people or on one awesome Bobby Clarke fan? It’s a bunch of people I grew up with. But yeah that era of Bobby Clarke and the Flyers and Dave Shultz and those guys, that’s definitely ground zero for the inspiration.

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Tom Green says he hates Rush because that’s what the guys who used to beat him up when he was a kid in Ottawa used to listen to. Is Philly Boy Roy based on the guys who were your pals or were they your nemeses? They weren’t people I had any close relationship with. They’d be people that I worked with when I got out of high school in a factory. I worked in a toothpaste factory and a record pressing plant. So there were these guys who would come up from Philadelphia and this job was in a town called Doylestown, which is kind of near the Jersey/Philly border. So these guys would come up from the city and they were from this area called Fishtown, which is hardcore white trash. Take me through how the hell one writes for Tim and Eric Awesome Show. Well Tom and I co-wrote four or five episodes for their first show which was called Tom Goes To The Mayor. One night Tom played me some episodes and we both loved it. He was an early champion of that and a real early champion of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. I guess we got our CDs to Tim and Eric and they’re actually Philly guys. They liked the stuff and asked us to come out to California for a weekend to come up with some ideas. I wrote about 25-30 two line ideas and they picked only one. It was this one where Bob Odenkirk plays a magician who will make your magic trick snazzier and it’s called “Trick Your Trick.” Superchunk has a new album and it’s not shitty like the new OMD album. How did you pull that off? I didn’t think there was any pressure at all from my end. It was probably the easiest record of ours that I’ve ever been involved in. We never really stopped playing. We always had songs we were working on but it got to the point where it was like if we’re gonna keep doing it, let’s make an actual record. I don’t think any of those songs I had ever actually played at a

drumset until the two days before we actually recorded them… which made it super fresh. Your first idea is your best idea and you go with that. Yourself and Tom Sharpling recently hosted the 21st anniversary Matador records party in Las Vegas with a very deep lineup of Matador bands. What’s Vegas like when it’s being over run by Belle & Sebastian fans? I’d never been there before in my life! And I actually sat next to [Belle & Sebastian] on the flight there. I kind of kept to myself a lot that weekend so I didn’t get the full experience… but by choice. It was all in this one hotel and everywhere you took a step there was indie rock. There were indie rock people but there were also “normal” people too who were there to gamble. Normal Vegas people? Yeah, normal Vegas people. I wonder if there were any conflicts. Probably not but that would be an interesting stat, to find out if there were any older indie guys versus older gambling dudes. You and Mojo Nixon have a jumping off point if you meet. What is it? Dead Milkmen? Name checked in a Dead Milkmen song. That’s true! Yeah! How old were you when they name checked you in a song? I was older than you think. Their record came out in 1988, I think, so I was probably 22. Is it a line about you delivering papers? I think it’s “that Jonny Wurster kid who delivers papers in the neighbourhood. People say he’s on crack.” I was thrilled and mortified when I heard it the first time. I had no idea it was coming. I bought the record when it came out and had no idea I was on it. [@jonwurster]

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The Concretes

SADNESS YOU CAN DANCE TO Words: Kellen Powell

Photography: Olle Kirchmeier

The Concretes are not above telling you what their favourite animals or pizza toppings are in an interview. This is an important fact about The Concretes, because it’s that same sense of playfulness that been with them their 15year existence as a band. For interested parties it’s dogs, alpacas, whales and jalapenos (guess which is which). Surviving multiple member change ups and a controversial decision to keep it up after the loss of lead female vocalist Victoria Bergsman, The Concretes are now releasing their latest effort WYWH. “Everything changes, everything stays the same. There’s always a sadness to our songs but this is sadness you can dance to,” says Lisa Milberg, drummer and vocalist for the latest incarnation of the band. “It looked for a long time like we wouldn’t ever get our thing back. The hardest part in making the album was the making itself, but I love the fact that it came out so coherent. It really feels to me like the songs sit side-by-side with ease. I like that. Especially now when albums [as opposed to singles] can really do with some support.” Adding, “I think this is our wisest album yet. It’s like an old owl in a tree on a moonlit night. A flirty owl though, with a young mind, good strong legs and a real nice patterned coat.” Although well-known by indie fans, The Concretes’ experience with commercial success has been moderate. Sometimes worn as a badge of artistic merit by musicians, The Concretes’ point of view on this matter is refreshingly reasonable. “I’d love to write commercial songs. Or at least to know I could if I wanted to. I find it very hard. I have promised to write [band member Dante Kinnunen] an R&B song about sex. Wish me luck! As for commercial appeal versus artistic success: I really feel you should try and aim for both. If a song is both a commercial and artistic success surely that should be applauded.”

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That The Concretes have survived 15 years as a medium-sized indie act is no small feat. When asked what the consistent factors have been throughout the years they frankly state, “A sense of humour that’s dry, repetitive, a little bit childish and rather bleak. Oh, and the music of course. We got to know each other musically at such a young age that at this point we almost don’t have to talk to each other at all. We just say it in a major C.” Being Swedish has probably helped in getting this far too. The Swedish government allocates a substantial amount of arts funding for musicians. “It’s great. It means it’s easier with everything from finding a rehearsal space when you start out to getting scholarships when you’re a little more established. They also help fund trips and tours and record releases and stuff. They’ve made a huge difference for us so we’re very grateful.” With a brand new album ready to go, and over a decade’s worth of experience The Concretes are cautiously optimistic about their future. “If we knew what the future held we’d be even richer than we are. We’re gonna try and stick around. It feels like when we’ve made it this far we might as well stick to it, right? My intention is to always be in The Concretes and it’s worked for half my life so I have a good feeling about it,” says Lisa. With any luck they will be. The positive attitude of The Concretes comes across in their music, even if the music is a little on the sad side. Even when singing about heartbreak or abandonment, it is clear that The Concretes are having fun making music, and that’s probably why they’re still around. [www.myspace.com/theconcretes]

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MUSIC REVIEWS 1

The 1900s [Return Of The Century] And The Relatives [Green Machinery] Röyksopp [Senior] Weezer [Death To False Metal]

[1] The 1900s Return Of The Century Parasol On their newest release, Chicago keen twee outfit The 1900s let their hair down as much as they can for being a wannabe Belle & Sebastian clap-happy mess. But that doesn’t mean quiet chaos has nothing to offer: the songs drip like an over-emotive sunbleached greeting card, with male/ female harmonies sweet enough for the Lawrence Welk set. Staying too close to home and playing their cards safe though, The 1900s may have you picture a chirpy, cheery summer day while listening to their songs, but they do little more than that. In between “doodoos”, there’s not much left here to remember once it finishes, and that leaves little to say on said greeting card. Amidst wimpy drum licks, and a vocal register that never touches on the lower end, the songs blend into one big happy picnic, with no teeth to bite into anything. But hey, if their intention is a dozen songs whose goals are to mimic one another on repeat and leave no impression, their aim is true. —JJ Brewis [2] And The Relatives Green Machinery YK/Theory 8 My refrigerator has no rotten food. It’s all good to go in my mouth and I like it that way, neat and safe. My iTunes has rancid food though, three Tupperware containers full. If I were to clean it out I’d need to rip out my olfactory glands with a dollar store spoon (of which I have three that I keep very clean and polished). Nashville’s And The Relatives

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have no expiration date. They’re the honey of my hard drive. They’ll never go off and I’ll still devour them if they’re around when I’m so old that all I’ll listen to is free jazz. You’ve heard it so many times that it’s almost a cliché; pop songs have to be complex yet simple, interesting and catchy. And The Relatives have enough experience and intelligence to make it happen and they’re showcasing it on their follow up to two successful EPs. Combining their smart-guy lyrics, varied guitar tones and hooks that leave you dreaming of humid Tennessee porch parties, Green Machinery is exactly the record they should have made and did. Go back for seconds and enjoy with bourbon. —Trevor Risk [3] Röyksopp Senior EMI For their fourth studio album Senior, Norwegian mellow-electro duo Röyksopp head in a markedly darker and less-accessible direction. Unlike their last album, Junior, which was big on dancefloor friendly anthems and high profile guest vocalists, Senior is entirely instrumental, and sometimes downright melancholy. What’s impressive about Senior is how well Röyksopp manage to get their point across without using lyrics. “Foresaken Cowboy” has a brokenhearted, acoustic guitar meandering across a synthesized drum beat. The keyboard riff on “The Alcoholic” lurches and shuffles along like its namesake. “Coming Home” has almost no beat, and verges on just being an atmospheric soundscape. It’s not all slow

and heavy. Tracks like “The Drug” and “Tricky Two” verge on being club-friendly, but overall, Senior is an uncharacteristically dark album for Röyksopp. Fans who are interested in hearing the band stretch themselves will dig it, but folks who are looking for stompers like Junior’s “This Must Be It” and “The Girl and the Robot” will be sorely disappointed. —Chris Dart [4] Weezer Death To False Metal Geffen Is it just me, or have Weezer built a career on nostalgia? It’s as though every record they put out we old time fans pay attention to it, if only because they made The Blue Album and Pinkerton—the records that encapsulated my generation’s first-world-problem-plagued youth. Here we have an album created from basic tracks of never-before-heard songs from Rivers and co., released shortly after Hurley (best album cover ever) and the Pinkerton reissue. The question is, was this really necessary? There are a few okay tunes on this, like the opener “Turning Up the Radio” which has an almost Supergrass good time vibe about it, and the rather unexpected Toni Braxton cover “Unbreak My Heart,” which is kind of charming but kind of forgettable. Of course there is a healthy dose of goofy lyrics and rebellious teen sentiment, as heard in “Odd Couple,” “I got a PC you got a Mac,” and the entirety of “I’m a Robot.” Meh. Save yourself the money. Crank an old Weezer colour classic. —Louise Burns

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ION THE WEB KISSINGSUZYKOLBER.UPROXX.COM If you say the words “Kissing Suzy Kolber” to a sports fan they will inevitably laugh out loud. Up until four years ago it was due to an incident where “Broadway” Joe Namath, drunker than Kerry Collins at a penny PBR night, was being interviewed by veteran sideline reporter Suzy Kolber. Shrugging off the interview topic, Joe proclaimed his interest in planting a sloppy kiss on her and leaned in to test the cold, dried-up waters. These days the pants wetting laughter all stems from the perennial Weblog Award winner of the same name. Picture an Anchormanesque dream team of smartasses who write copy for fictionalized versions of popular personalities. Any diehard fan of the National Football League will tell you that they spend more time reading the entries of Big Daddy Drew, Unsilent Majority, Captain Caveman, Christmas Ape, Monday Morning Punter, and flubby than they do any other “traditional” sports media. Please recount the creation myth of Kissing Suzy Kolber. Captain Caveman: It was the summer of 2006. We all knew each other only through our aliases in the Deadspin comments section. I had started a personal blog in June that quickly ran its course, and when I asked, “What should I do next?” Drew suggested we start an NFL humour site. Rumour has it that it has something to do with sportswriter Peter King’s daughter. Is there any truth to that? Christmas Ape: She had nothing to do with the creation of the site, but there was an incident in the site’s infancy in which we made a mock threat to Peter King that unless he quit mentioning his family in his column that we would post pictures of his daughter. Even though the pictures weren’t racy and I believe were obtained from her Facebook account, it became a bit of a scandal in the blogosphere and brought us some early attention. Peter King; what’s his deal? Captain Caveman: King’s a nice guy. Even though he lives in Boston now, he’s still a suburban dad with simple tastes. His strengths are his long list of contacts and his friendliness. His weaknesses—and I’ll abbreviate this list—are his analytical skills and lack of self-awareness. Drew does a good job of bringing that to light. Who amongst you began their career as a “traditional” member of the sports media? Captain Caveman: Only Christmas Ape, who once worked at the Washington Post under the name “Michael Tunison.” When Uproxx purchased KSK, Ape revealed his identity and was unceremoniously let go from the dying medium. You can still read his report about a lost dog in southern Maryland online, though. Why is the medium dying? Christmas Ape: The actual reasons are numerous and all are not entirely agreed upon, but we would like to think it’s because many important figures in the print industry are off-putting and self-important. In reality, it’s more because the industry still hasn’t found a way to sufficiently monetize content online after giving it away for free for so long. What qualities are necessary for an NFL player to be satirized in your blog? Captain Caveman: There are no criteria other than what makes us laugh. But players and coaches who come off as morons or assholes seem to do well. You’re all fans of different teams. Is there one personality in the league that you all agree is an asshole? Christmas Ape: We’re not all such blind homers that each of us cannot acknowledge the inherent douchey char-

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acter of one member of their favourite team. Christmas Ape likes the Steelers and will admit Ben Roethlisberger is a scuzzy, dumb asshole, if not a rapist. Drew will be more than happy to admit [Vikings’ coach] Brad Childress is not only surpassingly inept, but also a dick. And Unsilent has no problem dogging [Redksins’ nose tackle] Albert Haynesworth. Beyond that, we’re all in agreement that Jay Cutler, Todd Haley, Terrell Owens, Philip Rivers, Joey Porter, Josh McDaniels, James Harrison, Ray Lewis and, of course, Brett Favre are huge assholes. Tell me about Philip Rivers’ nickname “Marmalard” and how it came to be. Captain Caveman: It’s a reference to a character in Animal House. That’s a movie from 1978 starring John Belushi. Think of it like Strange Brew, except American and funnier and way, way, way more famous. Listen, if you’re going to compare it to a Canadian movie, shouldn’t it be our most profitable one of all time, Porky’s? Christmas Ape: Very well. Then it’s like Porky’s, except American and funnier and way, way (only two this time) more famous. Has Suzy Kolber, Joe Namath, or any other personalities of note recognized or read Kissing Suzy Kolber? Captain Caveman: I got my picture snapped with Namath a couple years back. Kolber has stated in interviews that she knows about the blog, but she’s under the mistaken impression that she’s the subject matter. We occasionally hear rumors that the blog gets read in the NFL offices or by people who work for Team X or Team Y, but it’s not something we put a lot of stock in. How satisfying (measured in satisfaction units of course) was it that your nickname for Adrian Peterson “Purple Jesus” caught on instead of Merril Hoge’s “The Cashier”? Captain Caveman: 1.2 Jaggers. Jaggers, of course, being the English standard unit of satisfaction, as opposed to metric satimetres. Do the writers at 30 Rock actually use you as inspiration in the writers’ room? Captain Caveman: We got a very nice email from a writer on the show saying that they enjoyed our work. But “inspiration?” I assure you that’s far too generous of a word. [www.kissingsuzykolber.uproxx.com]

HOROSCOPES THIS MONTH: Ernold Sane Ernold Sane is a Vancouver-based DJ who has a lot of pent up anger from having to hear your stupid drunken requests every night. [www.myspace.com/ernoldsane]

SAGITTARIUS: You’re a jewel in denial. Your drunken ramblings are a never ending story and your sex life is full of flatliners because you’ve smoked too much dark crystal. Your breath is a lethal weapon and all your ideas are dumb and dumber. The story of your life will go straight to DVD. Your New Year’s Resolution: home alone. CAPRICORN: Christmas with your fam will be as much fun as a trip in the Bahamas with the Travoltas. As you trade dollar store gifts, it will come to light that your uncle has been having sexual relations with Sammy, the golden retriever. You feel disgusted at first, but come to terms with the fact that Sammy is a lot closer to your uncle and Tiffany the cat is still up for grabs. Your New Year’s resolution: have your cats spayed and neutered. AQUARIUS: You deserve to wipe out on your fixed-gear bicycle. We know you only got it for show because we always see it attached to the front of a bus. Take a ride down a steep hill; the world needs less dickheads. Your New Year’s resolution: bus pass. PISCES: You’re emotionally retarded and won’t be making anyone even slightly horny until the end of 2012. But the good news is the next

two years are all about you! Let that beard grow! Keep wearing fake black horn rimmed eyeglasses with your smelly tea cozy hat. Your New Year’s resolution: take a bath, get some clothes that fit and shave your dirty mustache. ARIES: You’ve reached the stage of friending homeless people you just gave loose change to, and staying up late doing photoshoots with your two roomates and tagging each other so people can see how pathetic your empty life is. My advice would be to go on Chatroulette.com and take note of how people DO NOT want to see your face, even for a second. Your New Year’s resolution: log off. TAURUS: Your dreams of employment are looking bleak. You have as much to offer to the world as Nicki Minaj. Phone sex operator is where you’re heading so get that voice nice and sexy. Your New Year’s resolution: stop deep throating hot dogs outside Japa Dog GEMINI: From the past couple of years of partying publicly, people are starting to notice that you’ve really nailed the Down syndrome look. Your puffy cheeks and whiskey jowls are sealing the deal for a pathetic, dull, lonely future and the only friendships you’ll have will be purely based around late nights on coke. You also need to know that telling

people you’re into Deadmau5 is as cool as a gang bang with hillbilly, trash beggars. Your New Year’s resolution: find someone to like you. CANCER: It looks like you auto-tuned your image. You’re a washed up sea shell unworthy of anyone’s bathroom collection. If you put it to your ear, you can hear the sound of failure, kind of like listening to Kanye West. He got his face smashed in from a car wreck and his mum died in lipo surgery, what’s your excuse? Your New Year’s resolution: read a book. Beauty fades, stupidity stays. LEO: We’re all enjoying watching you on Twitter because you type like you’re from the hood. Next time you send your thoughts online, be REAL. Take a picture of your bowel movement, because no one wants to hear you say you’re “killing it” with people who are “destroying” clubs. And we don’t need orders from you telling us “Lez do this.” We won’t, we don’t and we never will so fuck off and take pictures of your shit. Your New Year’s resolution: don’t forget to wipe. VIRGO: The phrase ‘HO HO HO’ never rang truer. Too bad Halloween’s over because now everyone knows you have herpes of the face, god only knows what it’s doing down there.

At least you can cover your face sores with a Santa beard. Spread the Christmas cheer because herpes don’t jingle. Apparently urine is the herpes remedy! Your New Year’s resolution: piss on your face. LIBRA: Nice Affliction t-shirt brah! Looks like poverty has got you in a submission hold. Hosting all those UFC date rape parties has really got you tapped out. Your clothes are the equivalent to a tricked out Hummer. You’re always talking about kicking ass but you’re too weak to fight because instead of food, you spent all your welfare on your sick tribal sleeve tatty. Your New Years resolution: submit. SCORPIO: Your blood test results are in and you test positive for deadbeat self-obsessed fuckhead. The only thing bigger than your ego is your ass, and your ass stinks as much as your attitude. If your ambitions were as big as your gut you would be Bill Gates. Your life is a placebo: it has no effect. Your New Year’s resolution: suicide.

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COMICS

DINOSAUR COMICS BY RYAN NORTH

ION

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