BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition - December 2019
BeatRoute Magazine is a music monthly and website that also covers: fashion, film, travel, liquor and cannabis all through the lens of a music fan. Distributed in British Columbia and Alberta, Ontario edition coming Thursday, October 4, 2019. BeatRoute’s Alberta edition is distributed in Calgary, Edmonton, Banff and Canmore. The BC edition is distributed in Vancouver, Victoria and Nanaimo. BeatRoute (AB) Mission PO 23045 Calgary, AB T2S 3A8 E. editor@beatroute.ca BeatRoute (BC) #202 – 2405 E Hastings Vancouver, BC V5K 1Y8 P. 778-888-1120
BeatRoute Magazine is a music monthly and website that also covers: fashion, film, travel, liquor and cannabis all through the lens of a music fan. Distributed in British Columbia and Alberta, Ontario edition coming Thursday, October 4, 2019. BeatRoute’s Alberta edition is distributed in Calgary, Edmonton, Banff and Canmore. The BC edition is distributed in Vancouver, Victoria and Nanaimo. BeatRoute (AB) Mission PO 23045 Calgary, AB T2S 3A8 E. editor@beatroute.ca BeatRoute (BC) #202 – 2405 E Hastings Vancouver, BC V5K 1Y8 P. 778-888-1120
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THE YEAR (AND DECADE) IN REVIEW
SPECIAL
ISSUE
DECEMBER 2019 • FREE
Top 10
Artists
of the
Decade
Best
Albums
of 2019
Artist Of
The Decade
Kendrick
Lamar
Featuring
Dave
Orville
Peck
Purple
Mountains
Tyler The
Creator
Fontaines D.C.
Idles
FKA twigs
Adele
Rihanna
Helado
Negro
Summer
Walker
Big
Freedia
Drake
Arcade
Fire
Contents
BEATROUTE
BEATROUTE
BEAT
ROUTE
BR
BRLIVE
BRYYZ
Music
4
18
19
20
22
Up Front
Electronic music mastermind
Felix Cartal shares his
Best of 2019 picks with us.
The Year Of Yeehaw!
The outlaws of country are
stealing the spotlight and
we couldn’t be more excited
to walk down that “Old
Town Road” with them.
EDM 4 EVR
From Grimes and Skrillex
to Diplo and TOKiMONSTA,
the last decade of electronic
music provided the beats
that bind.
The Playlist
All the singles we can’t stop
listening to this month.
Best of 2019
There’s no one sound to a
year but we highlight our
favourite albums from 2019
that gave us all the feels.
Cover Story
6
THE YEAR (AND DECADE) IN REVIEW
SPECIAL
ISSUE
Artist Of
The Decade
Kendrick
Lamar
Artists Of The Decade
Digging into the last 10 years
like it was yesterday. We
hit rewind and reminisce
with Kendrick Lamar, Drake,
Rihanna, Arcade Fire and
more.
DECEMBER 2019 • FREE
Top 10
Artists
of the
Decade
Best
Albums
of 2019
Featuring
Dave
Orville
Peck
Purple
Mountains
Tyler The
Creator
Fontaines D.C.
Idles
FKA Twigs
Adele
Rihanna
Helado
Negro
Summer
Walker
Big
Freedia
Drake
Arcade
Fire
26
31
Best of Vancouver
BeatRoute’s Top 10 favourite
releases from homegrown
artists making noise
in and out of our local music
circles.
Screen Time
28 Best Music Docs
It’s been a massive year for music
on screen. From Beyonce’s
Homecoming to Bob Dylan’s
Rolling Thunder Revue, we hit
rewind on some of the instant
classics.
LifeStyle
Fashion Icons
of the Decade
A lot can change in 10 years,
especially in fashion. We check
in with some of the top style
icons who have continually
turned our heads.
Janelle Monae
has been turning
heads in the
fashion world
with her uniform
style, page 31.
YVR
35
36
37
38
Modest Mouse,
Sunday, Nov. 24 at
Rogers Arena with the
Black Keys. Read our
review of this show
and more online at
beatroute.ca
YVR Agenda
Keithmas celebrates 10 years of
their foodbank fund-rager with
a stacked bill and a full bin of
non-perishables honouring Keith
Richards’ birthday.
Market Watch
Vancouver craft markets make
for easy one-stop shopping that
will make you feel like a holiday
hero.
Plus!
The Vancouver Symphony
Orchestra brings Home Alone
to life and Matthew Sweet’s 1991
album, Girlfriend, gets adapted
for the stage.
Cheat Sheet
BeatRoute brings you the
essential shows for December in
Vancouver.
SAM PHELPS
DECEMBER 2019 BEATROUTE 3
DECEMBER
SPECIAL
ISSUE
THE YEAR
& DECADE
IN REVIEW
BEATROUTE
Publisher
Julia Rambeau Smith
Editor in Chief
Glenn Alderson
Creative Director
Troy Beyer
Managing Editors
Josephine Cruz
Melissa Vincent
Contributing Editors
Sebastian Buzzalino
Dayna Mahannah
RENÉE RODENKIRCHEN
Felix Cartal’s
Very Big Year!
N
ew Westminster, BC is not the
birthplace of EDM. Yet the small
Vancouver suburb is where
Felix Cartal, international DJ and music
producer, cut his teeth in his youth. In
the past decade, Cartal signed with
Steve Aoki’s record label, Dim Mak,
released three albums, and toured the
world. He’s worked with top electronic
producers, including The Bloody Beetroots,
Benny Bennasi, and Diplo. His
first venture into music—playing bass
in the punk and hardcore scenes—
give context to his collaborations
with artists like Sebastien Grainger of
Death from Above, while his dexterity
in sound is reflected in releases with
rappers K. Flay and Danny Brown, or
pop stars like Selena Gomez and, most
recently, Lights.
What is your favourite album of 2019?
James Blake - Assume Form
What is the best show you saw?
Lights’ Acoustic Tour at the Vogue
Theatre
Favourite discovery of 2019?
Gringas, a cheesy variation of my
favourite al pastor taco discovered in
Tulum
What is your biggest accomplishment
of 2019?
My song with Lights, “Love Me,” going
platinum!
What is your goal for 2020?
Create a more engaging live show for
my own music and continue my search
for the best ramen in the world.
By DAYNA MAHANNAH
Follow us on
via @beatroutemedia to
see clips of
Felix Cartal
and other artists
we love weighing in
with their favourite
albums of 2019!
Contributors
Ben Boddez • Emily Corley
Jessica D’Angelo • Aiden D’oust
Lauren Donnelly • Mira El Hussain
Natalie Harmsen • Kathryn Helmore
Chayne Japal • Brendan Lee
Christine Leonard
Maggie McPhee • Max Mertens
Max Mohenu • Sofia Montebello
Isaac Nikolai Fox
Luke Ottonhof • Erin Pehlivan
Michael Rancic • James Rathbone
Yasmine Shemesh
Andrew Wedderburn
Graeme Wiggins • Drew Yorke
Veronica Zaretski • Aurora Zboch
Contributing Photographers
Tom Bagley • DC Berman
Elyse Bouvier • Sebastian Buzzalino
Patrick Chan • Charles Cousins
Mat Dunlop • Michael Fulton
Lukas Holt • Joe Magowan
Mert & Marcus • Lindsay Melbourne
Darrole Palmer • Sam Phelps
Heather Saitz • Mark Surridge
John Taylor Sweet • Tim Walker
Coordinator (Live Music)
Darrole Palmer
Advertising Inquiries
Glenn Alderson
glenn@beatroute.ca
778-888-1120
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Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary,
Edmonton, Winnipeg,
Saskatoon and Toronto
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Patrick C
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BEATROUTE
TOP
I
N THE LAST TEN YEARS WE’VE SEEN A RADICAL
TRANSFORMATION IN THE WAY WE CONSUME
MUSIC—YOUTUBE AND SPOTIFY TRANSFORMED
THE LANDSCAPE AND HAVE OFFICIALLY BECOME
A FACTOR IN CHART PLACEMENT. YOUNG MILLENNIAL
MEGA STARS, LIKE FRANK OCEAN AND ED SHEERAN,
BILLIE EILISH AND FKA TWIGS, MATERIALIZED FROM
INTERNET PHANTASMAGORIA TO FLESH-AND-BLOOD
WUNDERKINDS. VIRTUOSOS FROM THE AUGHTS
SPILLED OVER, PROVING CHAMPIONESQUE ENDUR-
ANCE. HERE, WE GIVE YOU A RUN-DOWN OF THIS
UNFORGETTABLE TIME IN MUSIC HISTORY WITH OUR
TOP 10 ARTISTS FROM THE LAST DECADE.
10
2010 – 2019
artists
of
the
decade
6 BEATROUTE DECEMBER 2019
1Nº
Kendrick
Lamar
ARTIST
OF THE
DECADE
D
uality has always been a
facet of the overarching
narrative of hip-hop. At its
core, the music is woven
together, with every
rapper contributing a different
part of the same anthology of
stories. Every release adds to a sort
of invisible balance that gives the
audience a temperature check on the
overall health of hip-hop at any given
time. Throughout the 2010s, Kendrick
Lamar single-handedly kept this gauge
balanced.
Without discrediting the host of
other incredible MCs that emerged
during the decade, Kendrick’s role in
moving the genre forward was bigger,
and bolder. Through a near-perfect
run of releases, his music built a new
environment for contemporary hip-hop
to live in, and recast the ambition of the
rappers attempting to play in his house.
As brilliant and as “conscious” as he is,
Kendrick Lamar, very early in his career,
understood the importance of amplifying
dynamics—morality alongside
pleasure, exasperation in tandem with
hope, pain as a catalyst for redemption—
to give us a front row seat into
his ever-changing emotions, ideas,
and feelings that led him to produce
the most consistently inspiring
work of the 2010s.
On December 31, 2009, the
artist formerly known as K-Dot
reintroduced himself as Kendrick
Lamar with a self-titled EP that ran
over an hour long—so, not an EP at
all—and offered a clear indication that
Kendrick, and his camp, might not be all
that interested in playing by the rules. To
follow up, he released a companion piece
to the full-length EP, Overly Dedicated. The
project ended up outshining its parent, garnering
Kendrick accolades on the blogs of the time
with personal songs about childhood, family, and
relationships like “Cut You Off (To Grow Closer)”
and “Average Joe” alongside a Lex Luger-esque,
Schoolboy Q-introducing knucklehead banger
“Michael Jordan” and a beautifully introspective
manifesto with “The Heart Pt. 2”.
It wasn’t just his versatility that stood out, but
also the distance between his subject matter and
how comfortably he was able to shift between
them. By the end of the year, he’d effectively
carved out a niche for himself, building up a following
of fans, peers, and critics alike, including his
Compton, California hometown hero, Dr. Dre.
While a bigger deal between Dre and Kendrick’s
label owner Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith was
brewing, he readied the pivotal Section.80. On “The
Spiteful Chant”, Kendrick says “Everybody heard
that I fuck with Dre and they want to tell me I made
it / Nigga, I ain’t made shit, if he gave me a handout,
I’ma take his wrist and break it.” As he was about
to venture off into super stardom, partly off the impending
Dre backing, it was a point for Kendrick to
establish that he has made it on his own merit. He
went extra hard on Section.80 to prove he could
make a classic before the big budgets and official
co-signs were involved. It will always be part of
Kendrick Lamar’s legacy that he laid a foundation
as a successful independent artist, before taking
off, and Section.80 exemplifies that.
A year later, it didn’t take much to unearth the
dichotomies in good kid, M.A.A.D. city. For the
hyped Kendrick Lamar—at that point, hip-hop’s
next chosen messiah—to speak so candidly about
navigating feelings of ostracisation in his own
neighbourhood, saw him immediately cash in on
that hype as audiences who might’ve initially come
for the bars were able to connect and relate to
Kendrick on a deeper level. For an artist as young
as Kendrick to be so vulnerable was a breath of
fresh air.
Kendrick lays out his options in “Money Trees”
picking between “Halle Berry or hallelujah,” using
references to sexual attraction and religion to symbolize
instant gratification and doing the right thing.
It’s something Kendrick has had to balance as an
artist as well; delivering hit songs—leaning on current
trends to help attain radio play—or aiming for
CONTINUED ON PG. 9 k
SECTION.80 / 2011
GOOD KID, M.A.A.D CITY / 2012
TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY / 2015
DAMN / 2017
k
BEATROUTE
TOP 10 ARTISTS OF THE DECADE
IMAGE PRESS AGENCY / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
Most Popular Artist of the Decade
Drake
T
here’s
a stat floating around
the Internet right now that
neatly ties up Drake’s dominance
with a little owl-embroidered
bow. According
to someone who pays for
Nielsen chart data, Aubrey
Graham has maintained a
2Nº
position in the Billboard Top 10 during
476 of the decade’s 520 weeks. For
context, that’s over 80,000 hours worth
of OVO-approved music — which we
are pretty sure is the actual runtime of
Scorpion.
But how did the man who somehow
broke social media by lint-rolling his
pants at a Raps game, become the
biggest pop star in the world? Well for
one, you can credit the music itself. Drake
was rap’s first post-bling era superstar,
the first to blur the lines between rap and
R&B seamlessly, and that penchant for
genre smashing carries on to this day.
Championing new sounds has been a major
play to continuously remain relevant
and exciting to both new and old ears.
After the success of his first few projects,
Drake leveled up even further and
took cues from the diaspora he grew up
around in North York. With 2016’s Views
— arguably Drake at his most commercially
and culturally relevant — he championed
and collaborated with dancehall and
Afrobeat artists to bring the global sound
to North American audiences. Unsurprisingly,
the tunes that followed became
some of his biggest to-date.
Tracks like “One Dance” and “Controlla”
set him apart from American rappers and
pop stars regurgitating the same sonic
elements we’ve been accustomed to this
past decade. Drake allowed his once signature
sound to become more malleable,
incorporating and borrowing elements
from global genres. It’s this slight, but
noticeable, reinvention that kept us going
back for more.
Drake’s stranglehold on Internet culture
is another big key to his incredible
success. As far as global megastars go,
Aubrey was an early adopter of internet
culture. It’s been a skill that has set him
apart from his peers and one used continuously
throughout the decade to further
his dominance.
From his early days on MySpace, to
his current Twitter memedom, Drake
embraced and leveraged the internet to
become a lovable, larger than life media
darling, someone even your grandma can
get behind.
Back in 2015, in the midst of his
high-profile beef with Meek Mill, Drake’s
team took to social media and culled a
truck full of memes pointed against the
Philadelphia emcee. When he hit the OVO
Fest stage a few weeks after dropping his
club-banging diss track, “Back to Back,”
Drake augmented his performance of
the song by projecting those jokes on a
screen for all to see. It was like a show
set designed by Fuck Jerry and it was all
anyone was talking about for days.
It’s plays like these that catapult Drake
and his music to the top of the charts
every few months, and it’s why he’s been
able to muscle his way (shout out OVO
Jonny Roxx) to the top of the industry
mountain. His ability to stay top of mind
is unparalleled. He’s the biggest pop star
of the decade because there’s always
something Drake-related to talk about...
hell we’re doing that right now. ,
By AIDEN D’OUST
Kendrick
Lamar
k CONTINUED FROM PG. 7
individualism and originality in timeless albums.
When the 2014 Grammys chose to bestow
Macklemore with all of Kendrick Lamar’s awards
for good kid while also asking him to share the
stage with Imagine Dragons for his performance
at the ceremony—which, arguably, actually
wasn’t that bad—it seemed like Kendrick had
finally taken a loss. But there was triumph in this
defeat: It further galvanized hip-hop fans around
Kendrick Lamar.
In 2016, he went on to win six Grammys for
the critically-lauded To Pimp A Butterfly, a rich,
sprawling album that saw Kendrick’s sound move
deeper into jazz and funk while speaking about
the Black experience in America on a broader
level. The record’s rallying cry, “Alright,” became
immortalized as an unofficial anthem during
Black Lives Matter protests.
DAMN. saw Kendrick Lamar winning five more
Grammys in 2017, and a Pulitzer Prize in Music.
The album was Kendrick Lamar hitting on all
cylinders; covering themes of family, Blackness,
and destiny through tight, melodic, catchy bursts.
The absolute slapper “HUMBLE.”, featuring
production from Mike WiLL Made-It was still an
unapologetically “Kendrick” song, landed at #1
on the Hot 100. He put together a soundtrack for
Black Panther in 2018 and continues to turn in
jaw-dropping guest spots for everyone from Beyoncé
to Taylor Swift (his other #1, “Bad Blood”
in 2015)—not that he’ll ever do one that could
garner more response than his name-naming
verse on Big Sean’s “Control” in 2013—to keep
his catalog varied and relevant.
It matters to listify Kendrick’s decade in
chronological order because at the tailend of
2019, recognizing his accomplishments provides
an opportunity to remember his growth. It’s not
only that he comfortably straddles the line between
pop classics and backpack rap, or that he
effortlessly bounces from sage wisdom to brash
ignorance, it’s the fact that Lamar has structured
his career to reject sonic and thematic binaries
at every juncture. Alongside his undeniable talent,
it’s the secret to his accessibility, relatability, and
impact. And it’s one of the reasons why he was
so captivating during a decade that ultimately
became his. ,
By CHAYNE JAPAL
NOVEMBER 2019 BEATROUTE 9
BEATROUTE
TOP 10 ARTISTS OF THE DECADE
3Nº
Vanguard of the Decade
Rihanna
R
ihanna began the decade with the vibrant
and vivacious Loud (2010), her fifth album,
and one that’s filled with the bright, fierce
energy we’ve come to associate with its
creator. Loud was a departure from its predecessor,
Rated R, where Rihanna probed
darker themes and found release through
artistic self-expression.
Yet the start of this decade showed us
only a glimpse of Rihanna’s capacity to transcend
and transform through her own unique creative
vision. As we near the end of the 2010s, we’ve come to
know Rihanna as an ever-evolving, multi-hyphenated talent,
an icon as bright and distinct as her music, whose
artistic aptitudes and business savvy has allowed her to
build her legacy.
She’s an adept collaborator, an inimitable artist (think
of the broad emotional palette of 2016’s Anti), and a
tenacious businesswoman.
She’s collaborated with a wide-ranging group of
artists, from Jay Z and Shakira, to Paul McCartney and
Kevin Parker. On the same album, sometimes on the
same song, she can wrap together an even blend of
soulful, powerful and raunchy.
As the founder of beauty company Fenty Beauty,
lingerie line FENTY X SAVAGE, and a new fashion brand
that launched this spring under luxury fashion group
LVMH, Rihanna proved her creativity and persistent
work ethic know no bounds. She quickly soared to the
top as a fashion designer, beauty mogul and business
owner, while also redefining the landscape of beauty
and fashion: her range of foundations and concealers,
for example, is available in more skin tones than even
the most established beauty brands.
Nine Grammy Awards, 12 Billboard Music Awards and
even six Guinness World Records? Check. An artistic
and business drive that accumulated in more than 250
million records sold and a reported $600 million fortune
(Forbes named her the world’s wealthiest woman in
music in 2019)? Check. A Harvard Humanitarian of the
Year award? Check. Roles in top-billing films, like her
character Nine Ball in Ocean’s 8? Check. The woman
even has her own holiday — February 22 is known as
national “Rihanna Day” in Barbados.
For Rihanna, however, the portrait of a renaissance
woman, and a self-made one at that, the iconography
of a goddess, the larger-than-life picture of creative
success, co-exist peacefully with a more intimate self
(the shy, goofy, and funny Rihanna that she has shared
with us, graciously, over the past 10 years).
Throughout the past decade, the word trailblazer and
Rihanna have become synonymous. Most significantly,
Rihanna’s decade-long journey to create and reinvent
herself—the persona, the artist, the icon, the businesswoman—culminated
in a complex and self-realized
woman who redefines what it means to own power and
success, on her own terms. One-name celebrities and
cultural powerhouses are gradually etched in our collective
cultural consciousness through private and public
feats of reinvention and perseverance. No one proved
that more than Rihanna over the last decade. ,
By VERONICA ZARETSKI
Nº
4
Most Famous Underdog
BIG FREEDIA
I
n 1996, Freddie Ross was a gay teenager graduating high
school — the same year he first sang as a backup vocalist for
his friend Katey Red, the prolific gay rapper from New Orleans’
Third Ward. Back then, Ross could not know that, twenty years
later, Beyoncé would be calling in hopes that Ross would record
vocals for her new song.
It wasn’t long after that first performance with Katey Red
that Ross found footing centre stage in New Orleans’ thriving
bounce music scene. He became, on stage and in everyday life,
Big Freedia Queen Diva.
Undisputedly credited for launching an entire subgenre of underground,
region-specific hip-hop to the front of international pop music, Freedia
has, in the past decade, appeared in the media’s most revered outlets. Lil
Wayne referenced her on “Back To You.” Her raps are sampled in two of
Drake’s singles, “Nice For What” and “In My Feelings.” Lizzo is featured on
Freedia’s hit “Karaoke.” You’ll recognize Freedia’s deep voice hollering “I
came to slay, bitch” between refrains on Beyoncé’s “Formation,” as well as
singing alongside RuPaul, Charli XCX, and Kesha.
The challenges Freedia has faced throughout her career are a testament
to her incredible resilience and hard work. She was displaced after
Hurricane Katrina wiped out much of her neighbourhood in 2005. Relocating
to Houston, Texas, Freedia continued to perform, giving bounce music
exposure in a new state. Tragedy struck multiple times in a short span
of years: a boyfriend was lost to gun violence, her mother succumbed to
cancer, and her brother was killed in a shooting. Big Freedia herself has a
bullet lodged in her forearm from an unprovoked attack years ago.
Yet, what defines Freedia is her energy and her willingness to share it.
Through a successful docu-series that aired for six seasons, her autobiography,
and organizing and setting a Guinness World Record for Most
People Twerking Simultaneously (2013, 358 people between the ages of
eight and 80, New York City), Freedia expresses a homegrown sentiment:
positivity is catching.
In 10 years, the Queen Diva has infused mainstream music with the
sounds, and the moves, of New Orleans bounce. But it’s the tip of the
iceberg: the groundwork that Freddie Ross laid out in clubs around the
Melpomene Housing Projects all those years ago have truly paid off.
There’s only one question left: what’s next for Big Freedia? ,
By DAYNA MAHANNAH
DECEMBER 2019 BEATROUTE 11
BEATROUTE
TOP 10 ARTISTS OF THE DECADE
Arcade
Top Band of the Decade
Fire
I
n many ways, Arcade Fire could be
5Nº
considered the first mature Internet
band. They grew up together through
the early days of web 2.0 when they
debuted with Funeral in 2004 — and
the Internet was coming into its own
— positively blossomed alongside
social media during the first half of this
decade, and suffered their own share of
missteps as the bubble got too big around them in 2017 with
Everything Now.
Arguably their biggest shared moment came in 2010, when Arcade
Fire teamed up with Google for “We Used To Wait,” which cleverly
dovetailed listeners’ own personal histories with an interactive music
video, bringing their fan’s childhood homes and neighbourhoods to a
viral social media experience. It felt so fresh at the time, the promise
of the Internet come true: there was an optimism at the last turn of the
decade, that we could individually matter in a vast, infinite ocean of
consciousness, knowledge, advertising, communication, and sharing.
Arcade Fire is one of this decade’s most important bands not necessarily
because their songs are good (though some are undeniably
great), but because of how they’ve positioned themselves at the intersection
of indie rock and arena rock; at the intersection of nostalgia for
an extremely recent past and looking ahead to the near future; at the
intersection of music, technology and our place among it all.
As the 2010s come to a close, the world seems like it’s burning more
than ever. Among it all, Arcade Fire continue to stand as an optimist’s
band where love, community, art and pure technology can triumph. ,
By SEBASTIAN BUZZALINO
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DECEMBER 2019 BEATROUTE 13
BEATROUTE
TOP 10 ARTISTS OF THE DECADE
Queer Icon of the Decade
6Nº
FRANK
OCEAN
W
hen Frank Ocean’s heartfelt letter surfaced on Tumblr in 2012, the mainstream
media’s expectations for a Black queer revolution were heavily misguided.
The act of saying “I’m gay” for any black person is packed with nuance and an
inherent fear that looms within our history and cultural norms. Some of the hardest
lessons and personal milestones that come with Black queerness are achieved in a
state of deep reflection and solace, not in the limelight for everyone to critique.
Seven years on, Ocean’s queer awakening is still a beautiful act of self-care. His
journey has taught us that as we continue to navigate queerness in the real world,
we need to explore the ideas around the traditional “coming out” story and ask why
this is still the most coveted form of disclosure.
Frank teased about unrequited love on his debut album, Channel Orange, without giving that love a
face. His approach allowed him to freely explore artistry without the toxic pressures of Black masculinity.
The announcement of his first love with a man was an act of power and liberation in the wake
of the album’s success. Le1f and Mykki Blanco were beginning to cement their legacy, while fighting
the painfully reductive label of “gay rapper.” It’s a blessing and a curse to be recognized solely based
on your identity, especially as a Black person.
Knowing the soft, elusive nature of Ocean’s music made it no shock to me that after his Tumblr
post he retreated back to his other first love and kept his secrets in his songs. Moving in silence is
transcendent and deeply inspiring when looking at Ocean’s accomplishments. Blonde arrived as we
watched Ocean become more comfortable in his skin. He sings “Here’s to the gay bar you took me
to” on “Good Guy”—a nod to those mementos in life that shape your queerness.
The label doesn’t add value to the struggle; the visibility doesn’t validate the journey. Black queerness
is entering a new era where folks get to steer their own ships without labels and without fear.
We’re learning that self-love is the best medicine, and that our glow-up doesn’t need to be fodder for
an inclusivity contest. Ocean’s model for queer awakening has been a great tool to reference. I feel
lucky to live in a time where I can learn what version of “out and proud” works for me.
To quote a recent meme, when we talk about “coming out” in the next 20 years, I’ll look to Frank
Ocean’s journey and I’m gonna tell the kids THIS was the Black queer revolution. ,
By MAX MOHENU
7Nº
Biggest First-Week Sales
Adele
T
he music industry underwent huge changes this decade.
Pop artists repackaged themselves to suit marketing
campaigns in hopes that it would keep album sales from
tanking further. And then there was Adele and her her
own, bold strategy: she let the music speak for itself.
Her 2008 debut album, 19, earned her two Grammy Awards and, in 2011,
Adele secured her legendary status when her sophomore LP, 21, became a
runaway hit.
An album of heartsick ballads like “Someone Like You,” and breakup songs
like “Rolling in the Deep,” 21 won Adele numerous awards including six Grammys
and made Billboard chart history as the first solo female artist to have
three singles simultaneously in the Top 10.
The accolades are staggering, even more so when you consider that her
albums’ numbers correspond with her age at the time she recorded them.
Three years after the release of 21, at 24-years-old, Adele Adkins became
the mononymous Adele, and one of the world’s highest-paid celebrities under
30.
There’s a timelessness to Adele. In many ways, she is a throwback to another
era, from her stripped down live performances, to her vintage-inspired
style. Her singing voice is sometimes bluegrassy, sometimes soulful, but
always powerful.
By 2014, she had added Oscar winner to her resume for her Bond film
anthem, “Skyfall.” But, in 2015, four years after 21’s release, she worried the
world might have moved on in her absence.
On its first day, 25 sold over a million copies in the U.S. By the end of its
first week it had broken sales records worldwide. 25 cleaned up at the Grammys
and Brit Awards and broke chart records, surpassing Madonna. Most
notably, in the age of streaming, people were buying CDs and LPs.
In a time of difference and disconnect, Adele’s contributions to music this
decade are undeniable: she brought feelings back into the equation. ,
By LAUREN DONNELLY
14 BEATROUTE DECEMBER 2019
MERT & MARCUS
The Decade's Most Influential Artist
8
Nº
KANYE WEST
O
ver the course of the
2010s, Kanye West’s
rise and fall from grace
embodies much of the
collective highs and lows,
anxieties and fears, and
fixations and obsessions
in a way few individuals
ever have.
For Kanye, the 2010s
started at a low point. His 808s and
Heartbreaks album had divided his
fanbase during the autotune wars.
Beyond the burgeoning trap scene
in Atlanta, the state of rap was at an
all-time low point as the ascendant
stars of tomorrow had yet to fully
rise. In the fall of that year, after
a string of excitement building
G.O.O.D. Fridays, he released My
Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,
an album of maximalist sentiment,
packed with features, samples,
overt emotions, and dense soundscapes.
The next year Kanye followed this
success with the Jay-Z collaboration,
Watch the Throne. Recorded
in the suites of some of the world’s
most expensive hotels, while
there are certainly some poignant
ruminations on what it means to be
black in America, Watch the Throne
serves mostly as a canticle for the
successful merger of hip-hop and
the mythology of capitalism.
In 2012, he continued his reign
with Cruel Summer, a G.O.O.D.
music album. Like most label
compilations it was a mixed bag,
but notable for its inclusion of Travis
Scott as a regular collaborator and
future family member. That same
year, Kanye started dating Kim
Kardashian, creating a nucleolus
of public attention for the rest of
the decade. Around this time he
also became a mainstay of Twitter,
which, in all seriousness, he was
very good at, especially when
tweeting about water bottles.
During this time, Kanye signaled
a transition towards fashion. His
infamous leather jogging pants
line aside, he spoke continually
about the industry gatekeeping he
and his partner Virgil Abloh faced,
turning his discontent to outright
hostility on the aggressive, industrial
inspired Yeezus.
In 2015, Kanye launched his
fashion line, Yeezy, climbing to the
top of the streetwear pile. With
Kanye however, this merchandise
transcended his fanbase.
Suddenly the chain was complete.
The ever-rising importance of
celebrity had reached a new level:
Kanye could tweet when he felt
like it, or disappear; and the Yeezys
created their own global mania of
have and have nots. Kanye and
Kim essentially became brands
personified.
The next year, Kanye released
The Life of Pablo, coinciding with his
second Yeezy collection’s fashion
show. Pablo became notable as one
of the first releases to get edited
after it was released, like a piece
of software, with different mixes,
verses, and even songs. It features
Kanye at his best with touch points
from his whole career.
That fall he started the Life of
Pablo Tour, which fairly quickly
derailed itself with particularly long
onstage rants and cancellations,
resulting in Kanye’s hospitalization
for exhaustion-related psychosis in
November 2016. Shortly after this,
he appeared at Trump Tower, meeting
with the new president-elect.
After this, he mostly disappeared
from public life for the next year.
After re-emerging in the spring
of 2018, donning a MAGA hat and
making an appearance on TMZ
that confirmed many Kanye fans’
worst fears, as he made strange
and ill-advised comments about
the role of slavery in contemporary
black mentality, he released several
albums from his Wyoming Sessions
to mixed reviews.
While his Kids See Ghosts collab
with Kid Cudi was mostly praised,
Ye, was largely panned. Kanye had
quite quickly gone from the most
beloved of rap’s stars to a target of
the woke generation’s ire.
Kanye has always been a
provocateur, though seemingly he
had picked the wrong side at this
point. In some ways, it seemed just
another casualty of the Trump presidency,
and its taint upon western
culture.
This fall, Kanye started a new
project, Sunday Sermons, where he
performed classic songs with a gospel
choir. Seemingly the vitriol had
inspired him to find God through
music, producing sometimes truly
beautiful renditions of his classic
songs. It wasn’t long until Kanye officially
found Jesus, released a middlingly
gospel record, and moved to
Wyoming, as if completing the latest
step of rockstar passage.
While many are skeptical and
see this as his latest scam, it’s in
some ways easy to identify with his
motivations. The last decade has
been amongst the most plugged
in, noisiest, and politically volatile.
Kanye is not alone in feeling a bit
spiritually bankrupt. Yet, despite his
many recent missteps, his intuition
is correct. Maybe what we all need
is some time in nature, and to let the
music save us. ,
By JAMES RATHBONE
DECEMBER 2019 BEATROUTE 15
camila cabello
12/06/2019
Romance
16 BEATROUTE DECEMBER 2019
BEATROUTE
TOP 10 ARTISTS OF THE DECADE
The Decade's Tour Slayer
ED SHEERAN
9Nº
At some point in the late 20th century,
there was a shift in concert culture
as shows across the board became
less about performing songs and
more about producing spectacles.
Multi-million dollar budgets, pyrotechnics,
hydraulics, special effects, LEDs,
flying cars and whatever else you can
imagine are just a regular part of artists’
stage shows these days—which is
MARK SURRIDGE
exactly why the top touring act of the
decade might surprise you.
Ed Sheeran incorporated none of the above
into his Divide tour, but still managed to gross an
insane $740 million USD across the tour’s twoyear
run. And while two years is undoubtedly a
long time to be on tour, Ed managed to rake in the
big bucks while charging a modest $89 average
ticket price, far less than many other artists. For
comparison, Jay Z and Beyoncé’s On The Run tour
tickets clocked in at $150 a pop on average.
There’s a few other factors to Sheeran’s profitability,
including his dependability. Out of the 260
dates, he only canceled a handful—four of which
were when he broke his arm during a biking accident,
making the central part of his stage show
(playing the guitar) impossible.
To top it all off, Sheeran’s commitment to his
fans throughout the Divide run was palpable. His
team were diligent about canceling tickets purchased
by bots in an attempt to curb scalping or
resale, and for a number of shows they purposely
didn’t sell front row tickets—which would have
fetched a higher price—in order to surprise fans
who purchased nosebleed seats with a nice upgrade.
,
By JOSEPHINE CRUZ
Nº
10
Putting Punk Back
in the Conversation
IDLESP
erhaps the most obvious reason for Idles’ importance
in the current punk rock landscape can be
found in the title of their most recent album, Joy As
An Act of Resistance (2018).
The highly touted album is a 12-track monster
that fuses the moody dissonance of post-punk
with the fury and energy of hardcore, and enough
hooks to satisfy a full festival field. They’ve got all
the classic punk fixings: gruff, aggressive vocals,
jagged guitars and high octane drums. But underneath the surface there’s an ethos of
compassion that undercuts well-worn punk and post-punk tropes.
In the last few years, there’s been a resurgence of the post punk genre, with bands
like Savages, Shame, and Tropical Fuck Storm bringing the genre back to the surface.
Moody, angular and dark, post-punk isn’t known for it’s joyfulness. Idles play with that:
they use the aggression of punk rock as a Trojan horse of sorts to smuggle in a sense
of caring to the listener.
Their debut, Brutalism, was a little closer to traditional post-punk, a humongous
sounding record that was pure, raw fury. Underneath it all, though, there was a seed
that made Idles so distinctive: honesty. With Joy As An Act of Resistance, they’ve taken
that initial sound and refined it, added hooks and filled out the emotional spectrum, creating
a space for themselves that’s at once filled with the punk rock spirit of resistance
and a positivity and sense of caring that leaves them all on their own. It’s this ethic of
caring that has resulted in a fervent, devoted international fanbase.
Joy… is filled with moments of traditional punk rock and masculinity, but they turn it
on its head each time. From raw confessionals like “Samaritan,” where frontman Joe
Talbot screams, “I’m a real boy and I cry/I love myself and I want to try,” which comes
from his experiences surrounding the stillbirth of his child; or the violent compassion
“Colossus,” where he rages, “I put homophobes in coffins,” Idles take tired expectations
and make them fresh again.
In multiple interviews, Talbot has stated that he doesn’t think of Idles as a punk band
despite their sound. It’s not hard to see where he’s coming from, given the way the
band plays with subverting the essential tropes of their touch point genres, but, in some
sense, that subversion is what makes them that much more punk. ,
By GRAEME WIGGINS
DECEMBER 2019 BEATROUTE 17
LINDSAY MELBOURNE
BEATROUTE
2019:THE YEAR IN REVIEW
THE YEAR OF YEEHAW!
LIL NAS X - SHUTTERSTOCK
Fcowboy, to questions of who and
what country looks and sounds like,
the country music scene experienced
one of the most intense
identity crises of 2019.
The genre catalysed this year
with the release of Lil Nas X’s “Old
Town Road.” The song blew up
when he posted it on TikTok in December
of 2018. In March of 2019,
rom the moment I was
exposed to country music in
the halls of my high school,
all I could see was people
whose lives were so greatly
different from my own that
only amplified the isolation
I felt as a queer, immigrant
woman. I, like many others,
felt the genre was distant
enough from my life that
listening to country music
made me feel like a bit of an
alien.
Luckily, 2019 is the year that
mainstream country music progressed
beyond the same handful
of stories. It’s the year that country
music was reclaimed by the outlaws
— the ones who are marginalized,
isolated and excluded
by the very industry they are now
dominating. From the origins of the
the song was re-released under
Columbia Records and it broke on
Lil Nas X
the Billboard Hot 100, topping at
19 in the Hot Country Songs chart
only to be disqualified because it
just wasn’t “country enough,” later
re-entering the charts and becoming
the longest-running number-one
single in Billboard’s history
after 17 consecutive weeks. He
later became the first openly gay
Kacey Musgraves
Black male artist to ever
win a Country Music
Award, even though in
many ways the award
was a snub.
Despite his ongoing
success, Lil Nas X still
faces scrutiny in terms of
whether or not his music really
qualifies as country. In 2019, why
are we so intent on limiting country
music’s potential?
Kacey Musgraves has proven
that country doesn’t need to be
so stuck in its ways. Her lyrics
challenge a pervasive attitude of
indifference at best and bigotry at
worst: in “Follow Your Arrow,” for
example, she voices her support
Orville Peck
for the LGBTQ+ community
and encourages her
fans to be empowered
and autonomous, which
is something commercial
country radio hasn’t
always championed.
And in the year that Lil Nas
X forced open new narratives
for who can be a cowboy, Orville
Peck has made waves as an openly
gay country music star. Shrouded
in mystery, sensuality, and pride,
Peck has created a space where
his Johnny Cash-esque vocals
dissect his male suitors and his live
shows are accompanied by drag
performers.
It’s not just country artists who
identify with and challenge the lone
cowboy archetype — even pop
superstars, like Mitski and Solange,
have embraced cowboy tropes and
have started using it to tell their
own stories of lives that have been
otherwise overlooked.
If the end of this decade has
proven anything, it’s that music is
adaptable. It’s flexible, it evolves
and it is dynamic beyond our
wildest dreams. It’s easy to think of
country as a thing of the past, an
outdated set of attitudes, but with
artists like Lil Nas X and Orville
Peck demanding the spotlight, I
have high hopes for its future.
By MIRA EL HUSSAIN
KACEY MUSGRAVES - DPA PICTURE ALLIANCE / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
18 BEATROUTE DECEMBER 2019
BEATROUTE
THE
BEAT
POETS
I
n the summer of 2012,
Skrillex organized
the Full Flex Express
tour, a cross-Canada,
multi-city performance
expedition. Inspired
by a similar 1970 train
tour featuring rock
heavyweights Janis Jopin, the
Grateful Dead, and The Band—
the stacked lineup included
Diplo, Grimes, Pretty Lights, and
OWSLA signees TOKiMONSTA
and Hundred Waters.
Grimes’ 2012 album Visions
had transformed the Canadian
avant-pop auteur into critical
darling, but she was still a year
and a half away from signing a
management deal with JAY-Z’s
Roc Nation. Diplo and Skrillex
had yet to form EDM Voltron,
Jack Ü, or create one of the decade’s
defining anthems, “Where
Are Ü Now,” with some help from
Justin Bieber.
Though this music-centric
train tour was more successful
than its predecessor, they
shared an ethos of creating
an intimate experience for the
audience.
2010-2019:THE DECADE IN REVIEW
A DECADE OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC PROVIDES
THE BEATS THAT BINDS By MAX MERTENS
For the first half of the 2010s,
brash, rib cage-rattling songs
ruled the Top 40 airwaves,
creating a multi-billion dollar
global industry. A generation of
North American producers put
down their guitars in favour of
watching YouTube tutorials and
downloading Ableton production
software to offer up their own
aggressive interpretations of
what was popular in Europe.
Corporate organizers,
promoters, and brands quickly
capitalized on EDM’s popularity
amongst young audiences, much
to the horror of mainstream media,
law enforcement, and parents.
From Las Vegas’ Electric
Daisy Carnival to Miami’s Ultra
to Toronto’s VELD, the festival
market exploded. The scene’s
biggest stars were predominantly
white, straight males, many of
whom concealed their identities
with masks and elaborate stage
setups.
Despite criticism ranging
from these performers’ artistic
legitimacy and the on-site safety
at these multi-day events, the
disruption of EDM’s reign didn’t
Skrillex and Diplo
arrive until halfway through the
decade.
Concurrent to these happenings,
a diverse, boundary-pushing
underground electronic
scene was thriving
worldwide. In Chicago,
led by the late DJ
Rashad and Teklife
crew, the frenetic,
dancer-driven genre
known as Footwork
rose to prominence
and many of those
artists would release
albums on pioneering
UK electronic label,
Hyperdub.
In Glasgow,
taste-making
labels Numbers
and LuckyMe
put out the
earliest releases
from international
artists who would
become household
names
and work with
the decade’s
biggest rappers
and pop
stars, including Bauuer, Jamie
xx, Hudson Mohawke, Rustie,
and SOPHIE. Closer to home,
a whole crop of producers including
A-Trak, Jacques Greene,
Kaytranada, Lunice, and Tim
Hecker showed there was more
to Montréal music than big band
indie rock.
NON Worldwide, started
by Chino Amobi, Nkisi, and
Angel-Ho, sought to highlight
black diasporic artists worldwide
and bring attention to
“visible and invisible structures
that create binaries in society,
and in turn distribute power.”
Although its founders are based
in New York City, collective and
DJ booking agency Discwoman
represents many international
female, female-indentifying and
genderqueer acts, and continues
to challenge sexism and racism
in the music industry.
The original Full Flex Express
tour artists are still putting out
records, though many have
moved away from the sounds
that first brought them commercial
success: Hundred Waters
launched the “anti-music festival”
FORM Arcosanti, with performances
from artists like Chance
The Rapper and Solange;
after surviving multiple brain
surgeries, Los Angeles-based
producer TOKiMONSTA returned
in 2017 with her album
Lune Rouge; Skrillex picked up
his 13th Grammy nomination for
his 2019 collaboration “Midnight
Hour” with Boys Noize and Ty
Dolla $ign. Diplo headlined
this year’s Stagecoach
(Coachella’s country
sister festival) where
he brought out rap
star de jour, Lil Nas X.
The most interesting
trajectory belongs
to Grimes, who began
2019 making headlines
for her relationship
with Elon Musk
and ended it by
announcing that
her heavily-anticipated
fifth album,
Miss Anthropocene,
would be
out in February
2020.
The future
of EDM is
unknown, but
holds hope of
attracting artists
with a mind to
bring our fractured
world together. ,
TOKiMONSTA
MICHAEL FULTON
DECEMBER 2019 BEATROUTE 19
The Playlist
BEATROUTE
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BR
BRLIVE
BRYYZ
10 SONGS IN
HEAVY ROTATION
AT THE BR OFFICES
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FOR MORE HOT
TRACKS ON
OUR ROTATING
PLAYLIST
+ VIDEOS,
ARTIST
INTERVIEWS
AND MORE!
Billie Eilish
Everything I
Wanted
The breakout
star finally addresses
her rise
to fame in song,
unable to decide
if all her success
is a dream or a
nightmare. Her
brother Finneas
has mastered
the layering of
her whispery
vocals, and
the harmonies
here are pretty
stunning - the
track is adorably
dedicated to him
as the person
who is always
there for her.
Lil Baby
Woah
Ever the marketing
mastermind,
Lil Baby is clearly
aiming at the
TikTok crowd
with this one. It’s
just begging for a
viral dance challenge.
Previewing
his upcoming
sophomore project,
Baby speeds
up his flow over
a trap-piano
instrumental
before delivering
a melodic chorus
taunting the
haters.
Beck
Dark Places
“Dark Places” is
what happens
when you put
Beck and Pharrell
Williams in a
room together.
Beck’s usual
folk-pop stylings
are enhanced
with some of
Williams’ weirder
quirks, futuristic
synths echoing
around in the
background.
The lyrics are
sparse and
relaxing - this is
one to zone out
and contemplate
existence to.
Tennis
Runner
Frontwoman
Alaina Moore
called this track
“The most
challenging
song we’ve ever
written,” her
perfectionist tendencies
longing
for the best possible
vocal line
to complement
the intoxicating
guitar riff it’s
built around.
The band keeps
up their 70s
throwback pop
style, dropping
some Biblical
references over
an undeniable
groove.
DVSN
No Cryin
(Ft. Future)
This is surprisingly
the first
collaboration
between the
smooth-voiced
alt-R&B duo and
the king of styrofoam
cups and
Auto-crooned
raps. Main
vocalist Daniel
Daley sounds
eerily like Drake,
right down to
the emotionally
distant flexes, as
he trades verses
with Future over
a slow-jam beat
from producer
Nineteen85.
21 Savage
Immortal
A track that originally
debuted
in the Mortal
Kombat 11 trailer,
the ever-menacing
Savage slices
up his opponents
like Liu Kang in
the full version.
Dropping quite a
few references
to the gaming
franchise
amongst his
usual deadpan
humour and
quotables, this
is over four minutes
of straight
bars.
Ralph
Looking For You
Fresh off a spot
opening for the
Canadian Queen
of Pop herself,
Carly Rae
Jepsen, the Toronto
disco-pop
revivalist has
dropped a new
EP. This standout
track plays out
like a PG-13 version
of a classic
Jepsen narrative,
the lonely Ralph
as an outside
observer longing
for a whirlwind
romance.
Miguel
Funeral
Opening with
some cascading
harmonies to
remind everyone
he’s still
one of the best
technical singers
out there, Miguel
switches up his
style to a pounding
electro-bass
groove and a
half-rapped delivery.
The song
barely cracks
two minutes in
length, but it certainly
leaves an
impression with
some downright
debaucherous
lyrics.
Khalid
Up All Night
Khalid recently
tweeted out a
text message exchange
with his
mom where she
said this track
made her want
to do the running
man. Enhancing
his laid-back
pop-R&B chords
with some
uncharacteristically
bouncy
percussion, Khalid
reminisces on
his high-speed
lifestyle while
staring out the
window of a
plane taking him
to his next gig.
Dua Lipa
Don’t Start Now
Linking up with
the same team
that created the
global smash
hit “New Rules,”
Lipa kicks off
another album
cycle with this
funk-pop banger
offering some
dismissive and
confident jabs at
exes who keep
crawling back
after the fact.
She references
“I Will Survive”
in the lyrics, and
this one has the
same energy.
.
20 BEATROUTE DECEMBER 2019
Festive
Festive fun for adults only!
dults only!
DECEMBER 2019 BEATROUTE 21
TOP 10
ALBUMS
OF 2019
N O 1 DAVE
Psychodrama
Neighbour
T
he first time South London
artist Dave toured
Canada, he passed
through Toronto with his
counterpart AJ Tracey,
both of whom were just
starting to break out of the South
London music scene.
This fall, coming off the back of
his Mercury Prize-winning debut
album Psychodrama, playing to a
sold-out audience at the Phoenix
Concert Theatre in Toronto,
he balanced older high-energy
tracks with his more introspective
staples. Moving effortlessly
from piano ballads like “Black”
and “Hangman” to an acapella
cover of his J Hus collaboration,
“Disaster,” without a beat, he had
no trouble engaging the crowd
with his passionately-delivered
confessional lyrics.
With hits under his belt, Dave
could have easily reached for
chart dominance on his debut,
but instead he turned inwards.
Psychodrama is insular, brooding,
and deeply introspective; it demands
to be listened to through
headphones, all in one go. Dave
weaves vivid stories about
growing up in the South London
ward of Streatham, navigating
family life after his brother’s life
sentence, and tells vivid cautionary
tales inspired by his family
members, former classmates and
his formative years.
Psychodrama opens with
the stripped-down “Psycho,”
where Dave sets up the therapy
concept that runs throughout
the album and bares his
emotional scars, quiet bravado
and neighbourhood pride. The
instrumental is a slow burn that
never stops evolving. “Psycho”
begins with twinkling piano keys
and spacey, Enya like-vocals that
get chopped to bits mid-track
as Dave talks about “wanting to
take a pretty woman for a test
drive,” before the top end
falls out entirely, leaving only
a raw sub-bass and a piano
as he opens up about the
“manic depression” he struggles
with when the cameras
are off.
The sonic and emotional
tones Dave establishes in
the opener are consistent
throughout much
of the rest of the album.
“Streatham” begins with
eerie, reversed vocals, which
get washed out as Dave
paints a vivid picture of his
South London neighbourhood,
where “[he] used to roll ‘round
all stupid, Mitcham Lane, that’s
Streatham and Tooting.”
On “Screwface Capital,”
Dave breaks down how London
eats its own alive, and how his
“location changes quicker than
gears on a brand new
Porsche Cayman.”
His therapist’s
recorded voice
flits in and out throughout the album,
affirming Dave’s reflections
and the lessons he’s absorbed
from those around him.
Psychodrama’s emotional
centerpiece is the eleven-minute
“Leslie,” on which Dave uses the
sweeping orchestral backtrack
to tell a cautionary tale about
a pregnant woman’s attempts
to escape her abusive, violent
relationship. Revelatory as ever,
Dave later mentions on the outro
– “Drama” – that the story in
“Leslie” is based on the real-life
experiences of his close family
members.
Although Dave’s reached popstar
status in the U.K., he’s not
tempering his voice to be more
palatable to the island state’s
masses. Take the lead single
“Black,” for example, which
features the lyrics: “The blacker
the berry the sweeter the juice/ A
kid dies, the blacker the killer, the
sweeter the news.” Dave uses
the slow-moving piano ballad to
speak about universal traumas
inflicted on black youth across
the diaspora, while celebrating
the unyielding solidarity and
community forged by those
shared experiences.
Isaac Nikolai Fox
JOE MAGOWAN
N O 2 PURPLE
MOUNTAINS
Purple Mountains
Drag City
“The end of all wanting / is all I’ve
been wanting,” David Berman sings
in the chorus of “That’s Just the
Way I Feel,” the opening cut on
Purple Mountains.
It’s a gut-wrenching, perfectly
constructed line, delivered halftime
for emphasis; one of hundreds
of perfectly-constructed lines
across the 10 gorgeous, heartbreaking
songs on this album.
Even if you’d never heard of
David Berman and came to Purple
Mountains devoid of context, the
ache and struggle in his songwriting
are unmissable. You don’t
need a long relationship with
the artist to fall for the charm
of these bitterly funny tunes,
smartly balanced by the bouncy,
energetic lo-fi rock that his
band — comprised of members
from Brooklyn folk rock outfit,
Woods — is cooking out behind
the singer.
But people aren’t coming
to Purple Mountains devoid of
context. And the real ache and
struggle, the real-life outcome,
undercuts the set in a painful
way that you can’t get away from.
Berman died by suicide in August
of 2019, just a few months after
this album came out.
“Honk if you’re lonely tonight
/ if you need a friend to get
through the night,” Berman sang
on American Water in 1998. For a
lot of people he was that friend—
someone with an unmatched gift
to articulate complex internal
pain in great songs, someone
who was there when you needed
to hear that you weren’t feeling
these things alone.
Purple Mountains is his last
honk: an incredible addition to a
one-of-a-kind songbook, but one
that will always be haunted by the
wanting—and the end—in that
opening cut chorus.
Andrew Wedderburn
DC BERMAN
N O 3 TYLER
THE CREATOR
IGOR
Columbia
In case you have been living under
a rock, it is Tyler, the Creator’s
world and we are just living in it.
The Los Angeles rapper’s dynamic,
genre-breaking fifth studio album
IGOR was one of the most highly
regarded projects of the year and
once again raised the bar for what
is possible for a solo artist. Entirely
written and produced by himself,
the 12-track project is a carefully
crafted yet revealing exploration
of his identity, queerness and
unnamed romantic love interest -
but things take a turn for the worse
when the guy’s ex-girlfriend gets
involved. Donning a blond wig and
dark glasses, Tyler once again
invents a new alter-ego (this time
heavily influenced by the Gothic lab
assistant archetype of “Igor”) and
takes the listener on an immersive
trip through the perfect mess of
rap, funk and R&B that inhabits
his mind. Narrated by American
comedian Jerrod Carmichael and
backed by a slew of contributors
like Kanye West, Playboi Carti, Solange,
Pharrell and more, IGOR is
simply put Tyler’s most impressive
work to date and it is a pleasure to
witness his artistry. Drew Yorke
DARROLE PALMER
N O 4 FONTAINES DC
Dogrel
Partisan Records
N O 5 HELADO NEGRO
This Is How You Smile
RVNG Intl.
N O 6 FKA TWIGS
MAGDALENE
Young Turkss
N O 7 SUMMER WALKER
Over It
LVRN/Interscope
N O 8 BIG THIEF
Two Hands
4AD
When BeatRoute caught up with
Dublin, Ireland’s Fontaines D.C. in
September they were adamant
about their quest to become one of
the biggest bands in the world.
While they may not have
achieved U2 or Rolling Stones status
yet, their debut album, Dogrel,
packs equal bark and bite, connecting
their socio political views
to the rest of the world through a
tightly wound collection of post
punk poetry.
The album was nominated for
the 2019 Mercury Prize, the UK’s
most coveted music award, and
pushed the band into working even
harder towards their goal of greatness,
spending most of the year on
the road. At one point, they even
had to cancel a significant string of
tour dates due to exhaustion.
Fontaines possess a unique
shuffle and swagger to their
delivery and when frontman
Grian Chatten cycles through his
rolodex of influences that include
Ian Curtis, Gang of Four and Wire
crossed with their post punk
contemporaries like Girl Band and
Shame, there’s something special
that happens and you can actually
feel a beating heart at the core of
each track.
From the the anthemic “Boys In
The Better Land,” to the sensitive
and hypnotic “Television Screens,”
and the barroom ballad closer,
“Dublin City Sky,” the young quintet
have created a powerful bridge
from their discontent in Dublin to
music fans all over and they’ve got
everyone dancing in the process.
Glenn Alderson
Roberto Carlos Lange pulls from
his boundlessly creative arsenal
and presents us with This Is How
You Smile, a mingle of lo-fi audio experimentals,
swervy electro-synth,
and the hypnotics of his own sweet
voice, signed off under the moniker
Helado Negro.
There are harsh truths in Lange’s
sixth album; born to Ecuadorian
parents and living in the socio-political
turmoil of present-day America,
the stories he weaves through Smile
bear witness to the everyday tragedies
and psychological anguish
around immigration and displacement.
But this musical masterpiece—and
that it is—utilizes hope
as an axis from which to gently, daringly
subvert such matters. Visibility.
Identity. Self-love. Kindness.
The sensorial journey begins with
the tender “Please Won’t Please;”
Lange’s sleepy voice ruminates
on brown skin, bittersweet. He
cocoons you in warm guitar strums
and reminds you that it’s okay.
Lange’s love of experimenting with
sound—he records constantly with
his iPhone and infuses his music
with everyday sounds—comes to
life in collages such as the closing
track “My Name Is for My Friends,”
which incorporates recordings of an
Abolish ICE march and kids playing
in his friend’s living room.
Smile is bilingual, like Lange. The
ambling “País Nublado,” features
both English and Spanish, with
dreamy backup vocals providing
relief to fears of a politically “cloudy
country.” The melodic, recursive
“Running” urges slowing down for
its simple beauty.
An ambient, spectral quality reverberates
throughout Smile. It is a
lifeboat in a stormy sea, a synth-induced
meditation for, as Lange
croons in “Seen My Aura,” “sitting
with the sky.” Dayna Mahannah
Her first full length album since LP1
(2014) and the first release of any
kind since the incredible M3LL155X
EP (2015), FKA twigs’ MAGDA-
LENE was a long-awaited release
that bears the weight of our society
in these uncertain times.
By placing herself in direct lineage
with a complex Biblical figure,
twigs demonstrates the pressure,
erasure and demonization of
women throughout history. And
although a somewhat typical figure
for an avant-garde artist, the long
misrepresented Magdalene acts as
a vessel to speak on current truths:
the difficulty of keeping ourselves
afloat amid society’s seething
pressures.
Continuing on the experimental
R&B wave she first charted in 2014,
MAGDALENE is a perfectly crafted
story arc. Opening with “Thousand
Eyes,” twigs’ vocals cascade like a
holy choir of archangels; “Sad Day”
builds omnisciently, mimicking the
rise and fall of a battle. The album
peaks with “Fallen Alien” and slowly
crumbles into a quiet demise, with
“Daybed” acting as the comedown.
The final track “Cellophane” leaves
listeners hanging in the balance
with haunting vocals and sharp
vulnerability.
MAGDALENE is FKA twigs at her
best, delivering a cinematic narrative
of love, loneliness, pain, illness,
and recovery, with an underlying
sense of hope.
Jessica D’Angelo
Playful yet introspective, the
opening lyrics of “Over It” sets the
tone for the debut album of the
same name that has taken Atlanta
native Summer Walker from exotic
dancing and cleaning houses to the
top of the Billboard charts in less
than two years.
While Over It has all the accolades
to prove just how great of an
album it is—including the biggest
debut album for an R&B female
artist in over 10 years, and the
largest-ever streaming week for a
female R&B artist—this is an album
that represents one of the rare
moments that the mainstream and
“the culture” are in agreeance at
the exact same time.
While the “fell in love with a
stripper” trope in rap and R&B is
nothing new, Walker is perhaps the
first artist to give the other side
of the story. Aided by productions
from lauded trap producer and
current boyfriend, London on Da
Track, Over It is a masterful sonic
mix of 90s R&B nostalgia with
Southern strip club vibes—the perfect
canvas for Walker’s laments on
love, heartbreak and womanhood.
And in case you were wondering,
the two met at a strip club Walker
was working at over four years ago,
naturally.
Summer Walker has hinted that
she might retire from music soon
as a result of her social anxiety
and painful shyness, but here’s to
hoping that she’s not Over It and
this is just the beginning.
Josephine Cruz
Big Thief stole the spotlight in
2019 by releasing two albums that,
rooted by the band’s philosophical
inquiries, branch off into distinct
sonic realms.
Where U.F.O.F. (Unidentified
Flying Object Friend) leans on lush
production and eerie samples to
invoke the cosmos, Two Hands
relies on few takes and minimal
overdubs to strip their sound to its
barest bones. The two projects,
nicknamed “The Celestial Twin”
and “The Earth Twin” span the
reaches of outer space and upturn
every rock on Earth to wonder
about human connectedness and
consciousness in complicated
times.
Two Hands is more than its music.
“Most of what we are as a band
isn’t music, it’s our relationships
and our friendships,” guitarist and
lead singer Adrianne Lenker told
BeatRoute. “The music is an expression
of that—so the music only
becomes what it does because of
our relationships with each other.”
The album embodies the
quartet’s ethos of raw vulnerability
and radical coexistence. Lenker’s
vocals quiver with intimacy and
the live takes prioritize passion
over perfection. On emotional
centrepiece “Not,” Lenker has said
they played as if their hair was
on fire. Invoking the desert clime
of the El Paso studio where they
recorded, the whole album feels
burnt to a crisp.
Big Thief masterfully conflate the
personal with the political without
ever pandering or pontificating.
Lenker’s lyrics blur the internal and
external, peppering her stories with
enough personal details as to invite
listeners into a sense of shared
experience. It’s an album to be lost
and found in.
Maggie McPhee
theatre
dance multimedia music
N O 9 SUNN O))
Life Metal
Southern Lord
Sunn O))) have always been a band
that’s existed in multitudes. For
nearly two decades, the prolific experimental
metal band from Seattle
have depended on the magnitude of
a single tone, of a single note, to do
the heavy-lifting of scaffolding the
thematic complexity of a track.
The songs on the band’s eighth
studio album, Life Metal, unfold
glacially, where the apex of rising
action arrives at the speed of a
slow-moving hurricane, unreachable,
but vividly identifiable in the distance.
It’s this devotion to embodying an unwavering
and immovable foundation
that’s made their work ripe for collaboration,
and on Life Metal they’ve
enlisted the help of an all-star cast
of collaborators like Silkworm’s Tim
Midyett and T.O.S. Nieuwenhuizen.
On album opener, “Between
Sleipnir’s Breaths” Icelandic composer
and cellist Hildur Guðnadóttir,
provides vocals— tight, breathy, and
firm—that unfurl prehistoric Aztec
poems. Elsewhere, miscorophic
and unmistakable chimes appear
fleetingly in the opening notes of
“Troubled Air,” before rose-toned
organs float to the top of an immaculate
drone.
It’s evidence of their ability to
balance seismic power with a
remarkable ear for levity. In moments
like this, moments where they wrap
a dense environment in a sliver of
delicacy, they display a different articulation
of force; this time through
unaltered vulnerability, rather than
the magnitude of noise.
They’ve cited Alice Coltrane as
influence, which offers an easy
throughline to decipher why bearing
witness to Life Metal feels almost
doctrinal in nature; something akin to
an opaque pilgrimage that examines
space, speed, and time as a powerful
discursive tool.
Melissa Vincent
N O 10 BILLIE EILISH
When We All Fall Asleep,
Where Do We Go?
Darkroom/Interscope
When Billie Eilish debuted, we were
met with a blonde, blue-eyed teen
songstress who looked like an angel
in gangster clothing. Since then, her
sound has gotten darker and more
defined, and both the critics and the
masses can’t seem to get enough.
In the follow-up to 2017’s Don’t
Smile At Me EP, Eilish shows off the
range in her voice and musical influences
with her first album When We
All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?—a
somber pop effort with ballads, bass,
trap and electronic beats.
During the week of August 24,
2019 the single “bad guy” hit the
#1 spot on the charts, ending the
19-week streak of Lil Nas X’s “Old
Town Road.” This also made Eilish
the first artist born in the 2000s
to top the Billboard Hot 100. Other
standout tracks include “when the
party’s over,” “bury a friend,” and “my
strange addiction.”
In a rarity for pop music in 2019,
all of Eilish’s songs are written and
produced by herself and her brother
Finneas O’Connell. The pair have
since transcended their Soundcloud
roots to incorporate acoustic
elements into their music: ominous
vocal processing, field recordings,
synths, whispers and close breathiness
trigger an almost sensory
(ASMR) experience. Eilish is toughtalking
but soft sung, delivering
nightmarish lyrics floating on dreamy
harmonies.
Early in her career, Eilish has
realized a balance between critical
and commercial success, a dream
for any artist. Enough has been said
about her youthful edge but she truly
channels the digital zeitgeist with
this album. As she takes us deeper
into the shadowy expanse of her
mind, her star will surely only burn
brighter.
Aurora Zboch
GOVERNMENT
PARTNERS
JAN 21 — FEB 9, 2020
PUSHFESTIVAL.CA
MEDIA
PARTNERS
DECEMBER 2019 BEATROUTE 25
TOP 10
VANCOUVERALBUMS
OF 2019
By GLENN ALDERSON,
EMILY CORLEY, KATHRYN
HELMORE BRENDAN LEE and
DAYNA MAHANNAH
N O 1 N0V3L
NOVEL
Flemish Eye
N0V3L have made international
waves with their debut, topping
this year’s list in a psycho-postpunk
fashion statement.
The album is just shy of 20
minutes but grows on the mind
like a well-dressed fungus, so
effortlessly re-listenable that
the shorter run-length is hardly
noticeable.
The six-piece art collective
capture a post-punk sound reminiscent
of 70s and 80s counterculture,
when socially conscious
bands recognized dancing was an
equally effective form of catharsis.
N0V3L takes advantage of nontraditional
time signatures and
guitar tuning that feels slightly off
key to send listeners into a calculated
dance spiral. Pitchy guitar
riffs drive each of the eight tracks
from front to back, intertwining
the sturdy basslines with cymbal-heavy
drumming. At times, in
songs like “Are They,” the guitars
take on a dreamy, shoestring-like
quality and at the heart of it all is
the Clash-like cries that are unrelenting
in a lyrical message oozing
vibes of non-conformity.
The experience reaches a climax
with the finale, a song called
“Division,” that starts with a Blade
Runner-esque warble of synths
and grows with a vivacious rhythm
that peaks in a forlorn horn section,
ending abruptly, like a slipped
misstep off a sheer cliff edge.
It’s easy to get lost in NOVEL,
imagining yourself on a dim-lit
dance floor with a swell of nodding
heads and swaying bodies all
in sync to the same hypnotic beat.
N0V3L have delivered a layered
album that teleports the listener to
another time, somewhere far from
Follow @beatroutemedia
to see N0V3L and others
weigh in with their
favourite albums of 2019!
the grips of 2019, leaving them
there to explore the depths of
their magwnificent new world. (BL)
N O 2 LOUISE BURNS
Portraits
Light Organ
Louise Burns has been building a
reputation as an unstoppable force
in the singer-songwriter sphere since
she first came spiraling back into the
spotlight with her 2010 debut, Mellow
Drama. The narrative she’s chosen for
Portraits is that the rising chanteuse
is returning to her pop roots. After
all, she did cut her teeth in the music
industry as a member of pop group
Lillix, signed and endorsed by none
other than Madonna. However, Portraits
is not vapid pop music looking
to fulfill the next “Call Me Maybe”
fix. There’s truth, vulnerability and a
strong sense of maturity hanging on
the wall with this release, each track
of Portrait looking back at us with an
informed nuance of calculated new
wave precision. (GA)
N O 5 DEAD SOFT
Big Blue
Arts & Crafts
Both grunge-heavy lament and indie-punk
sentiment find genuine space
in Big Blue, Dead Soft’s second album.
Hazy instrumentals and frontman
Nathaniel Epp’s mollifying-to-inflamed
vocals prove the dynamic underground
paragons have outgrown the living room
rock scene. The polarity of frustrations
around the high cost of city living and
bliss in their new home on secluded
Gabriola Island inspire Blue, notably on
the melodic pop-punk “I Believe You”
and the shoegazey saunter-to-run of
“Step Out.” Bassist/backup vocalist
Keeley Rochon’s voice is a deviation and
delight on “The Static.” Big Blue’s big
sound and mushrooming dynamism is
worth making space for. (DM)
N O 7 KRISTIN WITKO
Zone of Exclusion
Kingfisher Bluez
While filled with hooks and undeniably
danceable, listeners dare not
underestimate the grit and swagger
at the core of Kristen Witko’s Zone of
Exclusion. The high-energy album from
Abbotsford performance artist features
boppy percussion and delightful guitar
riffs while tackling themes such as
loneliness, exclusion and identity. Witko’s
sharp lyricism is a punch to the gut
while her arrangements swing from fun,
funky and catchy disco rhythm to wild
and unabated chaos. An unpredictable
boomerang of emotion underpins an
album that effortlessly talks about love,
identity and isolation without sacrificing
old school rhythm. Best Track: I’d
Rather It Be With You (KH)
N O 9 SWIM TEAM
V
Independent
V is the quietly remarkable avant-garde
trio Swim Team’s third official release.
The self-recorded album is poised on
an exquisite knife edge between dark
wave and no wave. The vocals oscillate
between punk (see opener “Brick”) and
aching tenderness on artfully interspersed
tracks “Garden” and “Rabbit.”
The record follows this undulation of
spiky urgency (“Mango”) infused with
soft, eerie pop, ending in tightly wound
dissonance - an incongruence best consumed
in conjunction with trippy visuals
at the band’s website.
Swim Team has gone quiet on the
live front since summer, but V deserves
way more attention than it received upon
release. (EC)
N O 3 SNOTTY NOSE
REZ KIDS
Trapline
SNRK Music / Fontana North
Trapline is the latest assault of hip-hop
bangers from the Haisla rap duo out
of Kitimat that’s equal parts celebration
and commentary on a rapidly
disappearing culture deserving of the
spotlight. Darren “Young D” Metz and
Quinton “Yung Trybez” Nyce can spit
with the best and the long list of beats
will make even the most casual rap fan
howl like a junkyard dog. SNRK have
a contagious momentum and forceful
sound that ignites a little light in the
depths of the soul. Trapline is much
more than just a rap album, something
closer to a mainstream brand of poetry
that demands recognition but begs,
“don’t get caught in the trap.” (BL)
N O 4 K!MMORTAL
X Marks the Swirl
COAX Records
2018’s In Another Life found Sandro
Perri experimenting with form, stretching
ideas out in ways that always felt
in service of the song. In his hands,
those songs were ripe for exploration,
and he made each journey compelling.
The music on Soft Landing feels just
as patient, curious and playful. The
endlessly unspooling “Time (You Got
Me)” opens the record with its dreamy,
contemplative melody, its lyrics sweetly
suggesting a sort of surrender. The
songs that follow, brought to life with
an all-star cast of players, don’t beg for
your attention so much as they invite
listeners to be enveloped and carried
away along with them. (MR)
N O 6 STRANGE BREED
Permanence.
Independent
Rising swiftly from the musical outskirts
of Vancouver and headfirst into
the maelstrom of the current political
climate, Strange Breed is a cathartic hit
of head-banging, feminist garage rock.
The four-piece band’s debut studio
album forges into issues evocative of
the 90s riot grrrl movement (brutally,
as relevant as ever)—the patriarchy
and gender inequality being at the
forefront. Gritty punk ballads dedicated
to female empowerment and consent
breakaway to all-out rock and roll
exaltations of sexuality. Permanence.
contains the rebel spirit of The Runaways
and legitimizes the simple joy of
jumping on your bed, screaming along
to the lyrics. (DM)
N O 8 APOLLO GHOSTS
Living Memory
Independent
In October, Apollo Ghosts transcended
their indie-rock roots and climbed the
ambient stairway to ethereal heights
with Living Memory.
A slow and meditative album, it is a
eulogy to frontman Adrian Teacher’s
father, a victim of alzheimers disease.
Undulating instrumentals and meditative
humming are hypnotizing, taking the
listener on a sorrowful yet cathartic trip.
Seeing parallels between the death
of his father and the systematic death of
BC’s cedar forests, the album is also a
meditation on climate change. While it’s
gloomy, it’s not all doom: 100 per cent of
proceeds are going towards Canadian
Parks and Wilderness Society and the
UNIST’OT’TEN Legal Fund. (KH)
N O 10 DEVOURS
Iconoclast
Artoffact
An Iconoclast is someone who attacks
another’s cherished beliefs or institutions,
and Devours’ Jeff Cancade
has been made to feel that way at
times throughout his life. But the pain
of living in such a marginalized way
has culminated in a deeply thoughtful
collection of songs.
The album is a ten-song testimony
towards the darkness that creeps in
the heart but at the same time is a
blast to pick up your sneakers and
vibe to. There’s a digitized madness
that bubbles in each electro-pop
track, and the album is a must listen
for anyone who broods yet yearns to
feel alive.(BL)
TOP10
MUSIC DOCS OF 2019
We are hitting rewind on the past 12 months to reflect on the highs of 2019
and this past year was a massive year for music on screen. Remember back
in January when that Leonard Cohen doc hit you like a mack truck right
in the feels? Or that sweaty summer night when you happened upon the
Beyonce epic that had you humming “Lemonade” for a whole damn week?
From documentaries shining a light on the past, transporting us directly
into the lives of some of the greatest artists of our lifetime, to soaring
biopics that transcended our expectations, 2019 was firing on all cylinders
for music fans.
This list sums up all those good times with the top ten best music-related
documentaries of 2019.
By BRENDAN LEE
N O 1
ROLLING THUNDER
REVUE
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
and Bob Dylan are a
match made on some
long, dusty road
that certainly leads
nowhere near heaven.
In this acid trip
down memory lane,
the wacky 1975-76
cross-America tour
is resuscitated at a
time when the world
could use a little dose
of Dylan’s peace and
love.
N O 2 MARIANNE
AND LEONARD
Directed by Nick Broomfield
Be sure to stuff your
pockets full of tissues
because if this doesn’t
activate those tear
ducts, nothing will. It’s
a longing look back
at the life of Leonard
Cohen and his lifelong
muse, Marianne Ihlen,
a relationship that
started on the magical
island of Hydra in the
60s.
28 BEATROUTE DECEMBER 2019
N O 3
TRAVIS SCOTT –
LOOK MOM I CAN FLY
Directed by White Trash Tyler
This is undoubtedly the most
‘2019’ film on the list, and
it just might be the purest
specimen representing today’s
face-tat trap movement. It’s
a behind-closed-doors look
at Scott’s last two years, and
his rise from a little boy that
misses Astroworld to a diamond-toothed
demigod.
N O 4
LEAVING NEVERLAND
Directed by Dan Reed
Leaving Neverland extends beyond
the bounds of music. While the
black cloud that’s followed the
‘King of Pop’ for years has been
common knowledge, in this HBO
documentary we get the bare
bones perspective from the victims
— now men — behind that black
cloud. Take a deep breath, watch
both parts, and make up your own
mind once the dust has settled.
N O 5
ANIMA - THOM YORKE
SHORT Directed by PTA
Music videos are more relevant
today than ever, but this
collaboration results in an other-wordly
15-minute long visual
art piece that tells the story of
a sleep deprived passenger
and his solemn search for connection
through the uniquely
feverish cinematic language of
Thom Yorke.
N O 6
COUNTRY MUSIC
Directed by Ken Burns
If all that comes to mind when
you hear the words ‘country music’
is Taylor Swift and an urge to
light something on fire, then this
docuseries is probably perfect for
you. In the 8-part series, legend
Ken Burns gives us all a lasting
lesson on why the genre is so
much more than what they play
on the radio.
N O 7
ECHO IN THE CANYON
Directed by Andrew Slater
It’s Dylan again, but this time,
Dylan Junior. Jakob Dylan revives
what was a meteoric flash
in the music world, when some
of the most influential musicians
— from the Mamas and
the Papas to the Byrds and the
Beachboys — were creating all
amongst one another in the Los
Angeles’ Laurel Canyon area.
N O 8
AMAZING GRACE
Directed by Sydney Pollack and
finally realized by Producer Alan Elliott
In 1972, Aretha Franklin recorded
a live album in a small Baptist
Church, but due to both technical
and legal reasons, the documentary
is only now being released.
Franklin had a voice that registered
on a religious level, so put
on your Sunday best and prepare
for a soul-rockin’ performance
like never before because this
sermon is one you need to hear.
N O 9
DAVID CROSBY:
REMEMBER MY NAME
Directed by A.J. Eaton
He’s a crusty old bugger that’s
lost nearly all his friends on
the journey of life, but he feels
there’s still a chapter or two
yet to be told. David Crosby,
from Crosby Stills and Nash
(amongst others), reflects in
this poignant reminiscence on
life, love, regret, and what’s left
when each day really might be
the last.
N O 10 HOMECOMING
Directed by Beyoncé
and Ed Burke
No music-related list would be
complete without some form of
reference to the Queen herself,
and this one comes as an allout
nod to what’s being called
one of the best concert docs,
not just this year, but of all-time.
It’s a celebration of black culture
and the countless painstaking
hours it took to prepare for
Beyonce’s performance as the
first ever black woman to headline
Coachella. There’s an enigmatic
presence that surrounds her,
and the documentary serves to
peel back the curtain ever so
slightly through the intersection
of brilliantly filmed and edited
concert footage with candid
backstage and preparatory snippets
painting hints of personality
that come in the form of voice
memos and voiceovers, only
adding to Bey’s allure. Where the
film truly thrives is the ways in
which it transcends the present
moment, reflecting not only on
the colossal accomplishment
of the performance itself, but
speaking to its place in history.
Quotes from great black thinkers
and creatives are interspersed
throughout the film, with no one
line better summing the piece
up than actress Danai Gurira’s
thoughts on what it means to be
the guiding light for a world of
so many faithful dreamers: “The
youth need to see greatness
reflected in our eyes. Go forth,
l et them know it’s real.”
FRIDAY LATE NIGHT MOVIES!
19+
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BAR SERVICE
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DECEMBER 2019 BEATROUTE 29
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6
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DECEMBER 8
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BEATROUTE
2010-2019:THE DECADE IN REVIEW
5
I DRESS HOW I
FEEL. I JUST GO
OFF EMOTION.
I CAN'T PREPARE
MY OUTFIT A
DAY BEFORE.
EVERYTHING I
WEAR IS
SPONTANEOUS.”
FA
SH
ION
ICONS
OF THE DECADE
Another decade bites the dust. It may
not be the longest stretch of time, but in
10 years, a lot can change, especially in
fashion. From the birth of skinny jeans and
athleisure, to the now-popular 90s redux
featuring slinky dresses and chunky shoes,
the 2010s rejected a single, era-defining
fashion trend.
What we do know is that some of our
most beloved musical artists have been
shining in the sartorial spotlight, from Lady
Gaga, Yeezy, and Solange to Rihanna and
Beyonce with their scroll-stopping Instagram
uploads. Here’s a look at a few more
of the decade’s most in-vogue musicians.
By ERIN PEHLIVAN
N o 1 A$AP Rocky
Since the launch of his hit song “Fashion Killa” in 2013,
which name-dropped too many high fashion brands
to list here (but shout out for rhyming Oliver Peoples
with Ann Demeulemeester), A$AP Rocky’s style has
only continued to flourish with confidence.
His pioneering outfits and fresh silhouettes
change faster than you can say all the Comme Des
Garçons diffusion labels in one go, evolving overtime
from sleek streetwear by Rick Owens and
Calvin Klein to a more European vibe featuring
pieces by Dior and Balenciaga.
Hip-hop culture has always looked up to
luxury fashion, but A$AP flawlessly flexes his
personal style for a new generation of fans
who are just as enamoured by the music as
the designer swag.
A$AP falls perfectly into that category as
an influencer who collabed with JW Anderson in
2016, and has been the face of Dior Homme, and even
turned “Babushka Boi” into a fashion moment, all while
sticking to his Harlem roots, showing up in vibrant
colours, clashing prints, and Vans sneakers whenever
he wants to.
With his effortless ability to grace numerous bestdressed
lists, we’ll continue to see A$AP Rocky make
himself at home in the next decade at shows at Milan
Fashion Week and beyond.
SHUTTERSTOCK
DECEMBER 2019 BEATROUTE 31
BEATROUTE
2010-2019:THE DECADE IN REVIEW
5
FA
SH
ION
ICONS
OF THE DECADE
SHUTTERSTOCK
N o 2
Janelle
Monae
Ever since the launch of her
futuristic album Metropolis in
2007, Janelle Monae has been
turning heads with her androgynous
style.
Playing off her love of uniforms
inspired by her family’s
working class background, she
splashed onto the scene with
her iconic monochrome tux,
her pompadour hairstyle, and a
bold red lip.
Since then, she’s taken
black and white suiting to a
new level, adding sharp pops
of colour, glitter, ruffles, and
minimalist prints to her look
whenever it suits her mood. It
wasn’t until the video for “PYNK”
(featuring Grimes) in 2018 when
we realized that Monae is having
more fun with fashion than the
rest of us. Wearing a pair of
fluttering vagina trousers imitating
female genitalia, the video was a
much-needed sex-positive celebration
of pussy power.
Her Met Gala dress in 2019 further
exemplified her avant-garde streak: she
wore a half-black-and-white, half-hot
pink full skirt, with a large eye covering
one of her breasts, as she donned a
toppling collection of hats on her head.
Teeming with abrupt, sensational
asymmetry, she’s been spotted at Paris
Fashion Week repping Valentino, Thom
Browne, Giambattista Valli, and more,
and has made her name as a queer
style icon that honours a future that’s
fluid.
32 BEATROUTE DECEMBER 2019
DARROLE PALMER
N o 3 Bradford Cox
Picking up where David Byrne left off in the oversized
suit category, Bradford Cox of art-garage band
Deerhunter might just be the indie fashion icon of our
times.
In the past, indie style was synonymous with
thrifting retro wares, but in the 2010s, things have
changed: Cox is shamelessly fusing indie rock with
luxury fashion to create a covetable look, and we’re
definitely okay with it.
This year, the Atlanta-born singer-songwriter
walked the Gucci Cruise 2020 runway show in Rome
wearing a forest green wool pea coat, oversized
yellow-tinted sunglasses, and an ornately fringed
golden necklace. He wasn’t the only musician at the
Capitoline Museums that night; both A$AP Rocky
and Elton John were notable audience members, and
the after party at the Palazzo Brancaccio featured a
set performed by Harry Styles and Stevie Nicks.
Often spotted in an earth-tone uniform comprising
Ralph Lauren painter’s pants and a linen shirt from
Kyoto, Japan, he’s not the only indie rocker in the
scene with a connection to fashion: St. Vincent has
modeled for Marc Jacobs, Ariel Pink has his own
fashion line, and Father John Misty has been profiled
in GQ.
N o 4
Harry
Styles
The headlines have confirmed it: Harry
Styles is the future of fashion.
The former One Direction frontman
capped off 2019 on a high note with his
appearance on Saturday Night Live in
November, where he performed “Lights
Out” in a deep-cut black glittery jumpsuit,
and later, “Watermelon Sugar” in
a two-piece suit that channelled the
flesh of the tropical fruit itself.
Earlier in the year, he showed up at
the Met Gala wearing a sheer black
tulle jumpsuit and a single dangling
pearl earring. (He made headlines
then, too.) Electric, charismatic, and
lovable, the UK style export has
grown to become a beloved pop
icon that’s been years in the making,
even before striking a modelling
deal with Gucci in 2018.
\Making appearances in floral
prints, pussybow blouses, and
flares inspired by Elton John,
David Bowie, and Elvis, he’s stated
in interviews that fashion is an
essential part of his performance.
Not only is he comfortable in
gender-fluid styles, but he’s not
afraid to mix high-end designers
like Saint Laurent with emerging
independents, like Harris Reed
of Central Saint Martins, for a
curated look.
The 25-year-old brings joy,
light, and eccentricity all at
once into the public eye — he
isn’t afraid to embrace his
dramatic, feminine side, and
he looks damn good doing it.
N o 5
Grimes
With a style that’s hard to pin
down in the very best way,
Montreal electro-pop musician
Grimes (Claire Boucher) has
made a name for herself in
fashion, appearing at haute
couture shows by Chanel, and
collaborating with the industry’s
top tastemakers like Hedi
Slimane, Ricardo Tisci, and
Alexander Wang.
Mercurial and courageously
future-forward, Grimes has
been blurring the line between punk
alt-fantasy and cyber goth raver with
a questionable dose of Harajuku, even
prior to her big launch of Visions in 2012,
when she became one to watch in the
mainstream.
In 2018, she appeared at the Met Gala with
Elon Musk, who supposedly designed her
outfit featuring a white-marbled corset, a
feathered skirt with a long black train,
and knee-length goth-black stompers.
Forever shape-shifting and endlessly
unconventional, she’s ending the
decade on an impressive note
as the new face of adidas by
Stella McCartney’s autumn/
winter 2019 collection.
It’s not an unlikely combination,
since McCartney
prioritizes eco-conscious
design, and Grimes is
outspoken about the
climate crisis, naming
her fifth album Miss_
Anthropocene due
to launch in 2020.
TIM WALKER
IMAGE PRESS AGENCY / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
DECEMBER 2019 BEATROUTE 33
Cindy Sherman, Untitled #92, 1981 (detail), chromogenic print, Courtesy of the Artist and Metro Pictures, New York
THROUGH
MAR 8, 2020
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2019-11-05 11:17 AM
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34 BEATROUTE DECEMBER 2019
12.19
YVR
KEITHMAS:
The Ultimate Foodbank
Fundrager, Celebrates
Its 10th Anniversary
Shambhala
By YASMINE SHEMESH
By 2010, John Hewer and James Hayden had been putting
on weekly shows in Vancouver for a couple of years
already. To thank the bands that played with them, the
concert promoters decided to throw a Christmas party.
The holiday season, of course, happens to also fall near
another annual milestone: Keith Richards’ birthday, on
December 18. That, plus adding a charitable component
to donate 100% of proceeds to the Greater Vancouver
Food Bank — it was kind of perfect. So, they started
looking into bands to play the gig.
“A bunch of them got excited about it, so we got
excited.” Hewer says. “And that’s how it started. There
was no grand plan, put it that way. We had such a good
time doing it and it just felt good doing it. We immediately
started thinking about year two right after.”
That Keithmas raised about $800. Now celebrating
its 10th anniversary, it’s brought in over $65,000 for
the Food Bank. Hewer estimates the numbers will climb
towards 15 to 20 thousand this year. The event has
become a seriously anticipated tradition, with 10 local
bands performing Rolling Stones cuts that span all nooks
and sonic crannies of their near-six decadelong catalog.
This year features Frankiie and Bison, as well as the
Keithberries playing Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run,”
which Richards released as his debut solo single.
And, just like Keef himself, Keithmas continues to
carry on. The event is expanding to Calgary this month,
with bands like Napalmpom and the Rambling Ambassadors,
and benefitting the Calgary Food Bank. The Jack
Daniels will be flowing. As for what constitutes Keithmas’
longevity, Hewer credits both its charitable heart and its
resemblance a giant house party.
“The vibe in the room, from the first year we did, has
always been different from any kind of concert I’ve ever
been to,” he adds. “I think that maybe because it’s also
around Christmas, people are in a different frame of
mind. But everybody walks away feeling good. That’s the
main thing.”
December 14 / Rickshaw Theatre
VANCOUVER’S ESSENTIAL DECEMBER HAPPENINGSk
DECEMBER 2019 BEATROUTE 35
12.19YVRAGENDA
5 LOCAL
CRAFT
FAIRS
TO HIT
THIS
DECEMBER
Whether you’re tackling your
holiday gift list or just want
to treat yourself to a little
special something, you’ll find
everything you need and
more at these markets. And,
with each packed with local
vendors, shopping means
supporting your friendly
neighbourhood makers.
1. The Eastside Flea
December 1, 7, 8, 14, 15 / Eastside Studios
/ Tix: At Door
Happening throughout the year and
featuring some of Vancouver’s coolest
crafters, the ESF is always a good
bet. Alongside handmade items like
ceramics, you’ll find perfectly picked
vintage, plants, loose teas, and more.
Vegan food trucks and cute dogs are
on-site.
2. Make It Vancouver
December 11-15 / PNE Forum /
Tix: showpass.com
With 250 vendors selling handcraft
everything from organic soaps and
jewelry to pet accessories, you’ll be
hard pressed not to find a gift for
every person you know.
3. Holiday Market
& Slice Swap
December 7-15 / Slice of Life Gallery /
Tix: By Donation
Hit the Main Gallery for pottery, plants,
and screen prints. A clothing and art
supply swap, which can also be a
thrifty way to do your holiday shopping,
will be set up in the Solarium.
4. Subculture Market
December 14-15 / Pat’s Pub and
Brewhouse / Tix: Free
Think drinking horns, pins, comic
books, and boots all for under fifty
bucks. Stick around on the Saturday
for live performances from bands like
Digression and the Heavy End.
5. Weirdos Holiday
Market
December 14-15 / Holy Trinity Ukrainian
Orthodox Cathedral / Tix: At Door
Shop for deconstructed plastic dolls
and mystical altar pieces, get your
cards read, and pig out at the Rumpus
Room’s hog dog buffet.
Hall
ALL AGES/BEV Service for 19+
36 BEATROUTE DECEMBER 2019
TEACH ME A SONG
S
itting in her Muscogee Creek
language class, Elisa Harkins had
a thought: how could she carry
on this transfer of knowledge?
Something meant to be absorbed
slowly, especially in today’s fast-paced world?
In her first solo exhibition, Teach Me a Song, the
Native American artist engages in continuation
and preservation through special garments that
she created from a series of exchanges that
require time and attention: learning a song.
Harkins had three collaborators: Louis Gray,
an Osage elder who shared the American Indian
Movement anthem, “The AIM Song.” Mateo
Galindo, a Mexican American artist who taught
Harkins “Sunpit,” his own sci-fi guitar composition.
And Don Tiger, one of the last fluent speakers
of Muscogee Creek and Harkins’ language
teacher. His “No. 1 Sofke Sipper” features rattles
from turtle shell shakers.
After recording the songs, Harkins fashioned
an accompanying shoulder cover. “There’s a
lot of questioning and worrying about how to
do it correctly,” she reflects, on her process.
Harkins focused on examining certain elements
and contexts of each song. For “Sunpit,” she
contemplated what a shawl might resemble in a
dystopian future: a rayon puffy vest, with “Creator”
stitched onto a patch. For “The AIM Song,”
Harkins looked at early era photographs of the
movement. Noticing that many men and women
draped their shoulders with an upside-down
American flag — a sign of distress — she
emulated that and added fringe. Her turquoise
shawl for “No. 1 Sofke Sipper” came from her
own naming ceremony and includes Seminole
patchwork.
“The biggest thing that I’ve learned is you
have to give everyone time and space — [it was]
really important to this project,” Harkins says,
adding that she plans to continue the exchanges
through the future — and, indeed, their
transfer of knowledge.
Until February 15, 2020 / Western Front /
Tix: front.bc.ca
PLAYING
WITH FIRE
What comes to mind when you think
of clay? Arguably, we usually think of
domestic wares: mugs, plates, tiles.
But Playing with Fire, a new group
exhibition at the Museum of Anthropology,
expands on typical ideas
of functionality through compelling
works that use clay to comment on
the state of our world. The show
includes installations from 11 local
artists, each of which address things
such as racism, censorship, identity,
and social injustice. Ying-Yueh Chuang,
for example, creates patterns
in her work that convey hybridity
— a nod to both her Taiwanese and
Canadian cultures. Ian Johnston, on
the other hand, covers the walls of
a 25-foot-long room with repetitive
motifs to illustrate consumption of
manufactured goods.
Until March 29, 2020 / Museum of
Anthropology / Tix: At Door
STAY HOME
ALONE WITH
THE VSO
Home Alone’s twinkling theme song,
“Somewhere in My Memory,” is as
iconic as holiday classics like “Linus
and Lucy.” In fact, John Williams’ entire
original score to the 1990 film is magical
and an essential accompaniment
to Kevin McCallister’s slapstick battle
against the Wet Bandits — it was even
nominated for an Academy Award.
And no wonder: Williams, the genius
behind the music for E.T., Star Wars,
and Indiana Jones, is one of the most
brilliant composers of all time. This
December, the Vancouver Symphony
Orchestra brings his beloved seasonal
soundtrack to life, live alongside a
screening of the movie.
December 18, 20 / Orpheum Theatre /
Tix: vancouversymphony.ca
I’d Sure Love
To Call You My
Girlfriend
Matthew Sweet released Girlfriend in
1991, on the heels of his divorce. With its
infectious title track and pop ballads like
“Evangeline,” it became one of the most
essential breakup albums of the decade.
It only makes perfect sense that it’d be
adapted into a musical score. Taking the
same name as Sweet’s album, the story
follows the relationship between Will, a
social outcast, and Mike, a popular football
player, as they spend the summer after
graduation together. Will is openly gay,
but Mike is still coming to terms with his
sexuality. Sweet’s songs are not used in
the traditional musical sense, but rather
played on cassette tapes or the radio, and
add context to larger themes of first love,
acceptance, and what life means outside
the restraints of a Midwest high school. Already
a hit in the U.S., Girlfriend makes its
Canadian debut this month with Fighting
Chance Productions.
December 10-21 / THE NEXT /
Tix: fightingchanceproductions.ca
RIO
THEATRE
1660 EAST BROADWAY
DEC
7
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9
11
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14
DEC
15
DEC
16
DEC
17
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19
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31
DEC
JAN
1
NOV
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FLEABAG
MARTIN SCORSESE'S
THE IRISHMAN
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THE LIGHTHOUSE
DOCUMENTARY
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COMPLETE LISTINGS AT WWW.RIOTHEATRE.CA
DECEMBER 2019 BEATROUTE 37
12.19YVRMUSIC
The Cheat Sheet BR PICKS THE 5 ESSENTIAL LIVE VANCOUVER MUSIC SHOWS
HIPHOPR&B
ROCK
PUNK
METAL
INDIE
1
HOCKEY DAD
Sun, Dec. 8 at Biltmore Cabaret
The atmospheric garage-rock
sounds of Hockey Dad are ice cold.
Take a slap-shot on listening to this
duo for a pleasant pucking surprise.
2
VANCOUVER SLEEP CLINIC
Mon, Dec. 9 at Biltmore Cabare
Known for their otherworldly, downtempo
ambiance, Vancouver Sleep
Clinic will certainly have you dreaming
at this soon to be sold-out show.
3
ANGEL OLSEN
Tues. Dec. 10 at the Orpheum
This singer-songwriter from North
Carolina will submerge you in melodrama
with her downtrodden vocals
and indie-rock meets art-pop style.
4
CATFISH AND
THE BOTTLEMEN
Wed, Dec. 11 at Vogue Theatre
Tying together elements of punk,
grunge, and indie rock, this eclectic
group hits harder than their band
name would suggest.
5
MODERN DAZE
Sat, Dec. 21 at Roxy
Get washed in twilight-euphoria
as this band’s hazy mix of funky,
synth-infused chill-rock brings you
down to earth.
1
RAYGUN COWBOYS
Sat, Dec. 7 at Pat’s Pub
Get yer smokes, yer gin, and yer
spurs-spinnin’, as this group of
old-western punks are comin’ in
saddles blazin’ for a good time.
2 GOON
Mon, Dec. 09 at KW Studios
Vibrant and reckless, this group
mixes elements of grunge and
shoegaze to create a disruptively
artful experience.
3
THE TARLEKS
Fri, Dec. 13 at LanaLous
These old-school rebels want to
wish you a pop-punk Christmas
by playing a selection of distorted
Christmas Carols mixed with original
classics.
4
THE DREADNOUGHTS AND
CHAD HATES GEORGE
Sat, Dec. 14 at Astoria
A uniting of folk-punks and crustpunks,
this show will have you
dancing amidst a wild crowd of
various fashions and aromas. This
is bound to be a wild one.
5
A VERY PUNK
ROCK XMAS
Sat, Dec. 21 at The Heatley
Featuring acoustic sets by members
of Rong, the Corps, and Russian Tim
and the Pavel Bures, this is a unique
chance to see some of Vancouver’s
top punk rockers in an intimate,
stripped down, Yule-tide setting.
1 EXPAIN
Sat, Dec. 7 at Rickshaw Theatre
Vancouver’s very own melodic
death metal outfit aims to decimate
the Rickshaw with their machine
gun riffs and lightning speed leads.
2 HELLYEAH
Sun, Dec. 8 at Imperial
Their first tour since the unfortunate
passing of their drummer,
heavy metal legend Vinnie Paul,
this Pantera-Mudvayne supergroup
aims to pay a heavy tribute to their
fallen brother.
GROSS MISCONDUCT
Fri, Dec. 13 at Astoria
3
This BC-based group of death
metallers live up to their name by
unleashing disgustingly heavy riffs.
4 STATIC X
Sun, Dec. 15 at Rickshaw
In honour of the “evil disco” pioneer,
Wayne Static, the original members
of this industrial metal outfit pay
homage to one of the genres most
influential figures 5 years after his
passing.
5 BATUSHKA
Tues, Dec. 17 at Rickshaw
Whether you’re a headbanger or
a yogi, this meditative doom metal
band is fit for both a mosh pit and
vinyasa.
1
RYAN CARAVEO
Thurs, Dec. 12 at Fortune Sound Club
Two worlds collide when this young
Seattle artist introduces downtempo
hip hop to vibrant dream
pop. His vibe will induce you with
emotional ecstasy.
2
LEE FIELDS AND THE
EXPRESSIONS
Fri, Dec. 13 at Rio Theatre
A modern take on 70s soul-funk,
this soul-brother will douse you
with a hearty serving of sexysmooth
R&B.
3
WINTER BREAKOUT 2019
Fri, Dec. 13 at Pacific Coliseum
Headlined by hip-hop titan Schoolboy
Q, Winter Breakout is making
a valiant effort on becoming a
staple festival for the genre on the
west coast.
4
CARTEL MADRAS
Thurs, Dec. 19 at Fortune Sound Club
This Sub Pop signed hip-hop duo
is no force to be reckoned with.
Featuring sisters Contra and Eboshi,
these Calgarian prodigies are
here to traffic nothing but dope
rhymes and bumpin’ beats.
5
LIL KEED
Fri, Dec. 20 at Venue
This Young Thug lo-fi protege
has already landed a spot on the
Billboard charts. He is looking to
mumble rap his way to the top.
EDM
1
MAGIC SWORD
Fri, Dec. 13 at Venue
Dance music meets metal meets
Lord of the Rings, this ominous
group will use their 6-string magic
swords to turn Venue into a fantasy-world
dance club.
2
SHIBA SAN
Sat, Dec. 14 at M.I.A.
This house-music mastermind from
France will cast a spell on you with
his hypnotic beats.
3
FUNK THE HALLS
Fri, Dec. 20 at Commodore Ballroom
Vancouver’s Funk Hunters look to
vibe their audience with some dank
homegrown, holiday grooves.
4
THE LIBRARIAN
Thurs, Dec. 26 at Fortune Sound Club
Bringing her deep, Shambhala
vibes into an intimate setting, the
Librarians atmospheric bass beats
will have you saying anything but
“shh.”
5
CONTACT FESTIVAL
Fri, Dec. 27 at BC Place
Western Canada’s largest winter
EDM festival, this year’s Contact
landed some major headlines
including Tiesto, Major Lazer, Kaskade,
and Rezz.
38 BEATROUTE DECEMBER 2019
DINE ALONE RECORDS
2019 WRAPPED
CITY AND COLOUR
A Pill for Loneliness
LITTLE SCREAM
Speed Queen
BLACK MOUNTAIN
Destroyer
FIDLAR
Almost Free
THE DREW THOMSON FOUNDATION
The Drew Thomson Foundation
WINTERSLEEP
In The Land Of
CHASTITY
Home Made Satan
THE GET UP KIDS
Problems
DAVE MONKS
On a Wave
THE DANDY WARHOLS
Why You So Crazy
SAY ANYTHING
Oliver Appropriate
PKEW PKEW PKEW
Optimal Lifestyles
Use code WRAPPED for 15% off all 2019 releases
at dinealonestore.com
DINEALONERECORDS.COM
Listen to our complete
2019 Wrapped
playlist on Spotify