BeatRoute Magazine [AB] print e-edition - [March 2018]

METAFLOOR
realizing the power of his sounds
Metafloor’s latest release Fish Fruit is his strongest yet.
It’s been two years since we last spoke with
Metafloor, a.k.a. Blaine Kingcott, a producer,
DJ, and promoter behind local crew Sub
Chakra. It also has been exactly two years ago
since we reviewed his then-new EP Stronger.
Metafloor has now returned with stand-out
EP, Fish Fruit, fresh out on Aufect Platinum,
the brand-new sister label to Vancouver’s
decade-strong Aufect Recordings.
“Stronger featured some tunes that I had
been sitting on for a while and just wanted to
get out,” says Kingcott. “This release is similar;
some new, some old but it’s more focused
and in line with the sound I’ve been trying to
hone in on the last couple years.”
Describing his music as “minimal, bass driven,
steppy halftime, footwork-jungle sounds,”
Fish Fruit demonstrates a progression from
his previous work. While he still excels in the
140 b.p.m. range heard on previous release
Stronger, Kingcott now exhibits a talent and
comfort with the increasingly popular genre
of half-step drum and bass. Herein, deep,
smooth, rolling basslines are often punctuated
by reggae and jungle vocal samples, and
driven forward by skittering percussion.
The track “Mo Power,” which appeared
alongside several other Metafloor originals in
Doctor Jeep’s Bass Coast promo mix, appears
on this EP. As do remixes from prolific French
producer Moresounds and London’s Fixate.
“The remixes are what really bring that
release together,” says Kingcott.
“Which is amazing because sometimes the
remixes on any release are what stands out. I
36 | MARCH 2018 • BEATROUTE
BY PAUL RODGERS
photo: Michael Benz
think it really works in this case because Moresounds
and Fixate are some of my absolute
tip-top favourite producers — very lucky to
have their support.”
Gaining support from artists that helped
inspire his own artistic progression is just one
of Kingcott’s accomplishments. He cites Bass
Coast (where he feels at home and hopes to
soon return) and the thriving of Sub Chakra
as his crowning achievements, as well as touring
to places like Vancouver and Portland.
Currently, Kingcott has a remix for Vancouver
d’n’b duo Levridge set to be released in
March and simply plans to keep experimenting
to see what will happen next.
“I want to do more of that and see if I can
come up something profound, something
that makes people feel versus get hype. I
like the idea of making music that can make
people cry because it’s so beautiful, it really
puts emphasis on how powerful music is,” he
explains.
“I feel like this is how I would be able to
write something that is ‘timeless,’ which I
believe is a great way to measure whether a
piece of music is quality work. Music is subjective,
but if you can push play on what was
made 10 years ago and it’s still great to listen
to, that’s something to truly be proud of.”
Metafloor performs alongside Dubconscious
and Bag-O-Beetz at Sub Chakra’s Dubfounded
residency at Habitat on March 8 [Calgary]
and opens for D Double E at HiFi on March
31[Calgary].
CARTEL MADRAS
uprooting a narrative while bringing sexy back
Formed in 2017, sisters Priya and Bhagya
Ramesh make up Calgary’s newest hiphop
group, Cartel Madras. Taking turns writing,
singing, and rapping, this Indo-Canadian
duo have a mission to shake things up.
“We’re always trying to uproot the current
narrative, in Canada, where coloured women,
we’re not that visible,” begins Priya.
“Then in hip-hop, there aren’t many women,
so we’re trying to uproot that narrative;
and then in India, we’re from South India,
that’s not really present either in the Indian
narrative, it’s always North India. So it always
feels like we’ve been disrupting whatever
space we’re in.”
They started releasing music as Cartel Madras
in the last year, but Priya notes that the
familial rap-project has always been bubbling
beneath the surface.
“Growing up we were always performers.
We were dancers, we were singers,” she says.
“The heart and soul of [Cartel Madras]
was born way before us, with women in our
family, generations ago, who were feminists in
the 20th century, asking all these questions.”
Carrying their feminists roots into their
music, Cartel Madras emphasizes the female
perspective in their songs.
“Anyone can listen to our music, but when
you’re a girl and you hear our music, you
know. You know exactly what we’re talking
about,” comments Priya.
“It is incredibly male dominated, and we
do really try in our lyrics to point that out.
We do write very explicitly from the perspective
of a woman.”
“Using hip-hop as a tool to give those
Creating party rap with perspective.
BY MORGAN CAIRNS
people a voice and agency is something we’ve
always seen as a good idea. A really cool way
to allow people to exist, to feel better, and to
help make change,” adds Bhagya.
Party rap with perspective, these slick
beats are punctuated with lightning-fast raps
and smooth-as-silk vocals. Riffing off real
life experiences, the duos lyrics veer towards
the anecdotal, such as the summertime jam,
“17th Ave.” With shoutouts to The Ship and
Anchor and Ricardo’s Hideaway, this retelling
of a rowdy night out turned one-night stand.
“We want people who aren’t in Calgary
to listen to us and talk about Calgary and be
like, “‘Shit, I want to go to there,’” says Bhagya.
“We want to make Calgary sexy.”
And if you can say one thing about Cartel
Madras, is that it’s damn sexy.
“If you listen to hip-hop by men, I think the
grand narrative of hip-hop is being badass,
getting chicks, and winning,” notes Priya.
“As women, we can also say all those
things. We can objectify men, and we should.
We constantly should, and that’s something
we’re really trying to do in our music.”
With a spot opening for Toronto pop-duo
Too Attached in March, and a mixtape with a
soon-to-be-announced release date, you can
bet Cartel Madras won’t be slowing down
anytime soon. “Hip-hop has kinda felt like
final frontier,” muses Priya. “Like, if we can
make it in hip-hop as coloured, ethnic, women
from Calgary, that would be incredible.”
Cartel Madras will play at Nite Owl on March
8 [Calgary] with Too Attached, presented by
Femme Wave.
JUCY