BeatRoute Magazine [AB] print e-edition - [November 2017]

JUCY
Alberta Electronic Music Conference
the second sonic boom reaches far and wide
Alberta Electronic Music Conference (AEMCON) was born from the collective consciousness of
Calgary’s Isis Graham, Edmonton’s Andrew Williams and Lethbridge’s Matt Carter with the intent of
celebrating the existing electronic music scene and encouraging its further professionalization and
growth. After their inaugural year in Edmonton in 2016, the conference triumphantly strides into Calgary with
a diverse schedule of day and night time events bolstered by a lengthy list of respected keynote speakers, panelists
and performances by local and international artists. Full of fresh ideas and full of fun, AEMCOM promises
to be exciting, informative and highly beneficial for the electronic music community.
When AEMCOM was launched, Graham, a 20-year veteran of the Calgary rave scene, said she hoped the
conference would elicit more professional help from lawyers, publishers and booking agents that was lacking
on a regional scale. She notes there’s a few holes in the programming that they want to fill this time around,
especially questions around how artists can attain funding, make money and create a sustainable career. “What
we learned last year is that people were definitely hungry to learn,” says Graham.
In addition to ramping up the size and broadening the spectrum of the conference with its base operations
now at the National Music Centre, there’s a distinct move away from localized programming to a more international
reach. Graham explains that they began utilizing their networks from places like LA, Toronto and Europe to
gather new resources and bring in a wider base of information and knowledge for participants to draw from. She
hopes attendees are inspired and compelled by what they see, hear and experience to create their own initiatives
even stronger.
“There’s a lot of people in Calgary that have been in this industry for a long time. They have a vast network
and maybe it’s a blindspot for them that they can be using these tools to create successful business platforms
to help themselves or help other artists.”
She adds, “I think as some of the other artists in Calgary mature they might see those spaces that need to
be filled and hopefully develop businesses that will sustain Alberta’s industry in the future. That’s kind of my
hope. I hope they don’t all move away, because that’s what happens and we want to create an environment in
Alberta where people want to stay here and work here and support other people that are here.”
Asked by a number of people why she’s doing all this, Graham says she had a revelation while attending
Amsterdam Dance Event, one of the world’s largest and most innovative gatherings for electronic music fans
and artists, where AEMCON is akin to a thesis of all the things she has done or experienced in her 20-year
career.
“I think that as we continue to grow all together we’ll look back at these small steps that we took initially and
feel really proud of what we’ve accomplished... It feels really good to be able to bring all the things that I’ve learned
and the people that we have on the panels, the collective knowledge here is immense.”
AEMCOM takes place from Nov. 16-19.
Go to albertaelectronicmusic.com for complete details.
Isis Graham working to keep Alberta a furtile electronic zone.
by Paul Rodgers
DJ Dine & Dash
goodbye digital, hello lo-fi
In high school, Liam Mackenzie, aka DJ Dine & Dash,
first began to DJ playing fashion shows that took place
in shopping malls. He wasn’t thrilled about the kind
of generic trash he was required to spin, but the pay
was decent, better in fact than some of the gigs he
has now. His residency as a “mall DJ” came to a quick
end after he twisted up his body up one too many
times on slopes free-style skiing. While in the midst of
recovering from yet another dislocated shoulder, he
was listening to wide selection of music off the internet
when something caught his ear ensuring he’d never set
up a set of decks outside a Gap store again.
“In Europe, not so much here, there’s a genre called
lo-fi house that I started to get into,” says Mackenzie.
“DJ Seinfeld, just like the TV show, is really blowing up
right now and I wanted to do something like that.”
Mackenzie describes lo-fi house as having a gritty
sound that employs electro-mechanical tape machines
and other pieces of old school analogue equipment to
produce richer, organic tonal qualities that leave in a
lot audio noise, hiss and dirt.
“Oh yeah, it’s a lot dirtier. It’s a definite shift away
from clean digital production using laptops in the studio.
Instead, analogue gear with synthesizers and tape
machines is a lot grittier. There’s a lot of fuzz, it’s very
garagey. Often called melodic house because it has the
same melody as rock melodies.”
by B. Simm
Growing up Mackenzie says The Cure and The
Clash were his guilty pleasures along side favourites like
Gorrilizas. He mostly plays vinyl and has no complaints
about lugging around 50 lb. creates filled with records
to do a radio show at CJSW or play the Commonwealth
where he has a regular night.
Another European discovery was Redeye Records
out of the UK who specialize in electronic underground
dance music. They spurred on his interest in
production along with making his own recordings.
“When I was recovering from my skiing injuries I
needed something to do, so I got into production
and the first EP I made was more or less techno,
minimalistic, techno from the ‘90s with a lot of
bleeps and bloops.”
Mackenzie also learned guitar and drums when
he was a kid, and played in a band alongside DJing.
For this new EP, Safe, he pulls in different instruments
and samples creating four tracks that range from lush,
melodic and atmospheric; to sparse, experimental and
nervous; to full out burning soul with blazing horns
and rhythm.
What’s attracts him to lo-fi house? “It’s the character
in the song, the person, it’s the mistakes.”
DJ Dine & Dash recently released Safe and can be found
on Facebook and soundcloud and bandcamp.
38 | NOVEMBER 2017 • BEATROUTE JUCY