BeatRoute Magazine ON Edition - January 2020
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 Columbiam Alberta, and Ontario. 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 Columbiam Alberta, and Ontario. 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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JANUARY 2020 • FREE
THE
METEORIC
RISE OF
R
E
X
ORANGE
COUNTY
+ 10
CANADIAN
ARTISTS
TO WATCH
IN 2020
PLUS!
TORY LANEZ
AMBER LIU
ALEXISONFIRE
HOLY FUCK
AND MORE
COME PLAY WITH US!
DISCOVER THE ULTIMATE GATHERING PLACE TO LET
GO, BE PLAYFUL AND DISCOVER SOMETHING NEW.
Plan your visit at TheRecRoom.com
The Rec Room Toronto Roundhouse
255 Bremner Blvd., Toronto, ON
The Rec Room Mississauga Square One
Unit #1-705, 100 City Centre Drive, Mississauga, ON
PLUS!
TORY LANEZ
AMBER LIU
ALEXISONFIRE
HOLY FUCK
AND MORE
Contents
BEATROUTE
BEATROUTE
BEAT
ROUTE
BR
BRLIVE
BRYYZ
Music
4
6
23
25
28
The Guide
Calgary rapper Jae Sterling
has big plans for 2020 and
after his visionary album,
Trap Bby, we’re paying
attention.
Artist Features
Tory Lanez, Amber Liu,
Alexisonfire, Holy Fuck.
The Playlist
All the singles we can’t stop
listening to this month.
Album Reviews
Stormzy, of Montreal, Tinashe,
...And You Will Know
Us by the Trail Of Dead,
Kaytranada, Free Nationals,
Wolf Parade and more.
Live Reviews
DaBaby’s first show in
Toronto draws a high-profile
surprise guest.
THE
R EX
Cover Story
20
METEORIC
RISE OF
ORANGE
COUNTY
Rex Orange County
London-based bedroom
pop songwriter Alexander
O ‘Connor AKA Rex Orange
County minds the gap and
croons beyond his internet
beginnings with a toothy
grin.
JANUARY 2020 • FREE
LifeStyle
30
Travel
From 5-star food trucks to a
flaming hot local music scene,
Portland, Oregon is a city that
shows up.
+ 10
CANADIAN
ARTISTS
TO WATCH
IN 2020
32 Style
Rising star Lennon Stella
shares some tour fashion
tips and highlights
her skin care essentials.
33 That's Dope
Anders, FrancisGotHeat,
and Rich The Kid deliver the
first song ever composed
from sounds extracted from
a cannabis plant.
Tinashe is
in complete
control:
Album
reviews,
page 26.
Hockey Dad, Dec. 10, 2019 at The
Gateway, Calgary. Read our review of
this and more online at beatroute.ca
YYZ
35
37
38
DesignTO
The annual celebration of design
is back for its 10th year.
Afrobeats At The Drake
Director Gurinder Chadha brings
her silver screen smash hit to
centre stage. Plus Regent Park
Film Fest focuses on unity while
the Toronto Sound Fest keeps
experimenting.
Cheat Sheet
BeatRoute’s Essential List —
the must-see shows this month
in Toronto.
SEBASTIAN BUZZALINO
JANUARY 2020 BEATROUTE 3
UpFront
JANUARY
10
CANADIAN
ARTISTS
TO WATCH
IN 2020
BeatRoute spotlights
Jae Sterling and nine other
rising stars on the Canuck
music scene
See page 14
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
Contributors
Ben Boddez • Dora Boras
Catalina Briceno • Mike Dunn
Connor Garel
Fraser Hamilton • Natalie Harmsen
Chayne Japal • Jeevin Johal
Kate Killet • Brendan Lee
Christine Leonard • Dave MacIntyre
Maggie McPhee • Pat Mullen
Johnny Papan • Michael Rancic
Yasmine Shemesh
Graeme Wiggins • Jordan Yeager
Drew Yorke • Aurora Zboch
Contributing Photographers
Joshua Farias • Sam Gherke
Vanessa Heins • Lukas Holt
Zee Khan • Kate Killet
Adrian Morillo • Kay Nyberg
Darrole Palmer • Allison Seto
Maggie Stephenson
Bobby Tamez • Alex Waespi
Coordinator (Live Music)
Darrole Palmer
Advertising Inquiries
Glenn Alderson
glenn@beatroute.ca
778-888-1120
Distribution
BeatRoute is distributed in
Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary,
Edmonton, Winnipeg,
Saskatoon and Toronto
Contact Us
26 Duncan Street,
Suite 500,
Toronto ON,
M5V 2B9
e-mail:
editor@beatroute.ca
ALLISON SETO
@beatroutemedia
@beatroutemedia
beatroutemedia
beatroute.ca
UNIQUE
50LES
FOR
UNIQUE
50ULS
JOHNFLUEVOGTORONTOTRINITYST··QUEENSTW··
JOHNFLUEVOGOTTAWAWILLIAMST··
FLUEVOGCOM
Official VODKA and
VODKA Soda of the NHL ®
NHL and the NHL Shield are registered trademarks of the National Hockey League. © NHL 2019. All Rights Reserved.
MUSiC
A REUNITED
ALEXISONFIRE
REKINDLE
THE FLAME
By JOHNNY PAPAN
A
lexisonfire was at the height of their
career when they announced their
sudden breakup on Valentine’s Day
2011. At that point, the post-hardcore
quintet from St. Catherines,
Ontario had been together for 10
years. Forming in their teens, the band had
grown into adulthood together, spending their
formative years writing, recording, and touring
on the road. Then it all came to a halt.
“It was a necessary trip,” remembers
vocalist George Pettit over the phone from
Hamilton, Ontario. “It was terrifying at first.
We were all little kids when the band started, I
was, like, 19 years old.”
When they released their self-titled debut
in 2002, the band described their sound as
“two Catholic high school girls in mid-knifefight,”
an image that was also used for their
record’s cover. Their music is an eclectic
balance of haunting beauty and utter chaos.
Pettit’s agonizing screech complemented by
the melancholic and soulful voice of guitarist
and co-frontman, Dallas Green, gave the
band a unique edge at the time. The band
became a mainstream sensation after the
release of their second album, Watch Out!,
which was spearheaded by their explosively
ethereal breakout single “Accidents.”
“We got kind of institutionalized by playing
shows and just touring constantly,” Pettit
says. “Being in this band is how we identified
ourselves. So when you lose that, you lose
your identity. I think everybody struggled with
that.”
After disbanding, the group scattered into
different directions: Pettit started the band,
Dead Tired, a post-hardcore outfit that is
sonically dirtier than Alexisonfire in nature,
and exclusively features Pettit’s unmistakable
vocals. Bassist Chris Steele became a barber.
Jordan Hastings filled in on drums for Billy
Talent and joined the gritty, garage-rock outfit,
Say Yes. Guitarist Wade MacNeil became
the frontman of English hardcore punk band,
Gallows, and started the Black Lungs. Dallas
Green shifted focus onto his solo project, City
and Colour.
“I think there was probably a year where
we didn’t communicate too much. We all kind
of went our separate ways and found other
CONTINUED ON PG. 9 k
VANESSA HEINS
JANUARY 2020 BEATROUTE 7
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8 BEATROUTE JANUARY 2020
VANESSA HEINS
MUSiC ARTIST INTERVIEW
ALEXISONFIRE
k CONTINUED FROM PG. 7
passions away from Alexisonfire. Musically and
otherwise,” says Pettit.
In 2015, three years after completing their
farewell tour, Alexisonfire returned for a show
at Riot Fest in Toronto. The idea was sprung
by Dallas Green, who was originally going
to perform the festival with City and Colour.
Green reached out to the rest of Alexisonfire
via email to see if there was interest in making
a surprise appearance for City and Colour’s
encore, playing a few classic tunes. Pettit
admits he was hesitant at first, but after chatting
with the band, management, and others,
Alexisonfire announced they would play a full
set at the festival.
“I think after some time and convincing we
decided we didn’t need to hold the breakup so
preciously,” he says. “There was still desire out
there to see us play. When [the band] started
coming back again, I mean, it felt like I’d been
away from it so long that I wasn’t sure if I
could still do it, you know? When I was touring
heavily back in the day, I was just numb to performance,
it didn’t scare me. It was like muscle
memory. Now, I don’t do it every day. There is a
little bit of fear. The fear makes it easier to get
to the place of performance. Like there’s more
on the line now.”
Earlier this year, Alexisonfire wrote, recorded
and released new music for the first time in
nine years. “Familiar Drugs” is a raw, abrasive
offering, that Pettit explains as, “coming to a
point in your life when you recognize that you
need to make a change, and being given the
opportunity to make that change.” The second
new release, “Complicit” is an in-your-face
mosher about white privilege and trying to be
an ally while reconciling what it means to reap
its systemic benefits.
“I think we were outside the realm of good
taste by not recording and putting something
out,” Pettit explains. “I don’t think any of us
really want the band to become a nostalgia
act. And I recognize there’s a certain degree of
nostalgia with Alexisonfire. I think we all felt like
we could still contribute and still make good
music.”
Though Pettit denies the idea of Alexisonfire
releasing a fifth full-length record, he claims
that the band has some “secrets” hiding behind
closed doors. He admits that the process of
writing and recording has been revitalizing for
the group.
“Get us in the room and we become who
we’ve always been,” Pettit concludes. “It’s a
lot of wisecracking. It didn’t take much for
us to just kind of fall back into our old roles.
Regardless of what happened, nobody’s really
thinking about that. It felt very comfortable
when we first started hanging out again. That
really drove our creation and making music and
playing again —the sensation of being around
one another. These guys are, for lack of a
better term, like my brothers; they’re very much
family. I really do feel like the years that I spent
away from the band were very valuable. It’s a
good feeling to know that this thing that maybe
we thought was gone is back.” ,
H O
L Y
F U C K
THE NEW ALBUM AVAILABLE JANUARY 17, 2020
FEATURES ALEXIS TAYLOR (HOT CHIP),
NICHOLAS ALLBROOK (POND),
ANGUS ANDREW (LIARS)
JANUARY 2020 BEATROUTE 9
MUSiC ARTIST INTERVIEW
SUPER
TORY LANEZ
CRAZY
IS ABOUT
TO GO
By CHAYNE JAPAL
just about everything Tory
Lanez does.
At his shows, he
hurls himself into rowdy
crowds, climbs walls like
Spider-Man, and dangles
from whatever’s around,
whether or not it can support
his bodyweight. He’s
undaunted by fellow MCs,
works with the artists he wants to work
with (despite the public opinion around
them), and is quick to counter whoever he
feels disrespected by.
And of course, he’s been known to
10 BEATROUTE JANUARY 2020
JOSHUA “MIDJORDAN” FARIAST
here’s a fearlessness to
flip a classic hit every now and then, and
not just for two of his most successful
singles to date – 2015’s “Say It,” which
samples the rich three-part harmony from
Brownstone’s 1995 smash “If You Love
Me,” and 2016’s “LUV,” which borrows from
Tanto Metro and Devonte’s 1998 dancehall
crossover “Everyone Falls In Love”—but
particularly for his beloved Chixtape
series, which launched in 2011, a fan favourite
within his prolific catalogue.
The core of his confidence lies in his
taste, which he defines as a constant
negotiation.
“What they want is what I want,” Lanez
explains, sitting in Toronto’s Adidas store
before a meet-and-greet, where a long
lineup of the fans he’s referring to extends
through the store and up Yonge Street.
“You have to listen to music from the fan’s
perspective, as a fan of your own self,” he
elaborates.
Between the telepathic bond he’s
created with his fanbase and the constant
clamoring on social media, Lanez knew
he had to revisit the series. “I had stopped
singing for the last three years—that’s why
I felt like that essence that the Chixtape
had was gone. But when you listen to Tory
Lanez, there’s always gonna be a variety
of music. I’ll always give you a variety of
lanes.”
The whole point of the Chixtape
project was for Lanez to put his rhymes
aside and make the sexiest R&B jams
he could, highlighting his impressive
singing vocals and flexible songwriting.
In 2014, 2 took a new direction,
introducing a storyline—told
through a series of lighthearted,
but drama-filled skits. “It was so
important to the whole aesthetic
of the Chixtape,” he explains.
The following year, he would
continue to make samples
of 90s and 00s R&B standards
his signature on
2015’s 3 and 2016’s 4.
The songs aren’t covers (nor are they
loops) of familiar songs that Lanez just
sings over. Instead, he uses the originals
as launching points for new compositions.
The classics are confidently
screwed, chopped, reversed, replayed,
interpolated, and filtered in every which
way as Lane juxtaposes his own and,
usually, Play Picasso’s grimy, almost
eerie, sounding production under his
angelic vocals on odes about relationships,
lust, love, and sex. In some cases,
the samples are barely recognizable, but
their role in deconstructing the series’
themes of nostalgia and adolescence is
always clear.
For its 5th and newest edition, Lanez
wanted to do something different with
the Chixtape: “Something we felt would
push the narrative and move the needle
on it.”
He found his answer when he played
T-Pain his flip of “I’m Sprung,” eventually
titled “Jerry Sprunger. T-Pain was so into
it, he laid a new verse on the remake just
for Lanez. That got the gears turning
and the ball rolling as Lanez recalls, “It
was the T-Pain feature that I used to run
to all the other places and tell people
like ‘Yo, I got T-Pain on this song, so you
should do this with me.’” The-Dream,
Mario, Trey Songz, Mya, and Ashanti –
whom Lanez asked to be the album’s
cover model – and several other artists
who dominated the 00s, are seamlessly
woven back into new incarnations of
their signature work on Chixtape 5.
It’s a tough ask, but Lanez downplays
the process of assembling such a potent
supporting cast for the project, admitting
the real challenge was working through
the legalities (“The clearing process
was the only hard part for me.”) The fact
that Tory Lanez has built up a reputation
“
WHAT THEY WANT IS
WHAT I WANT. YOU
HAVE TO LISTEN TO
MUSIC FROM THE
FAN’S PERSPECTIVE,
AS A FAN OF YOUR
OWN SELF.
”
—and a rolodex — that enables him to
execute a project on this scale is a feat
in itself, but, ultimately, Lanez and Play
Picasso didn’t let the whole “guest thing”
distract them from putting together an
incredible batch of songs from the most
daunting conspicuous source material
imaginable. And as cool as he’s trying to
be about it, Lanez is proud of his work,
plain and simple. “It’s so nostalgic. It’s so
much to give all in one sitting. It’s really
good.”
Chixtape 5 feels like a creative peak
for Tory Lanez: a mammoth of a concept,
only executable by a bold artist.
But for Lanez, it’s still part of the groundwork
for the legacy he’s aspiring to build
for himself. Looking back at a decade
worth of Chixtapes alongside numerous
other triumphs, Lanez is cognizant of is
trajectory. “I came in at 2011. This is the
decade I got famous in, and I stayed “relevant”
throughout the whole decade,” he
laughs as he says “relevant,” as if the
idea of it going any other way for him is
an absurdity.
“[The 2010s] definitely embodies
the foundation of things. When we get
down the line and we look back at
these first 10 years, we’re gonna be
like ‘Yo, that’s when everything was
just getting started.’ From 2020 and
upwards, it’s out of here.”
With a brief headlining tour—featuring
“special guests,” who will more
than likely be a few of the artists
featured on 5—on the horizon, his mentoring
of soon-to-be R&B diva Mariah
the Scientist, and more music on the
way (including teasing a 6th Chixtape),
Tory promises he’s not ready to rest on
his laurels. “I’m about to go super crazy.
Crazier than the world could ever expect
from me.” ,
MUSiC ARTIST INTERVIEW
A
M
B
R E
L I
U
After leaving f(x) and emerging as a solo artist from the S.M.
Entertainment K-Pop factory, Amber Liu is reborn By CONNOR GAREL
A
mber Liu
doesn’t want
to be perfect
anymore. It’s
not that she
believes she
already is, but
rather that her deepest instincts, forged amid
an aborted childhood, betray a profound
desire to be unerring. It’s an ascetic, monastic
kind of itch, the sort of crippling force majeure
that would make any surgeon or ballerina,
in spite of other compromising
qualities, excel at their jobs. Liu
AMBER LIU
wants to be impressive. She wants Thursday, Jan. 23
to be precise.
Vogue Theatre (Vancouver)
Such desires inevitably fail to Tix: $24.99, eventbrite.ca
cloak themselves. “My choreographer
yells at me a lot,” she tells me over
the phone, laughing, one long early morning
in November. “I’m always calculating myself
in the mirror. I’ll just stop the routine if I don’t
extend my arm at, like, an exact 45-degree
angle. It’s stupid.” In other words: anything
that isn’t perfect must be done again,
repeated until emptied of all that
might be construed as unpolished. The
enemy, forever lingering behind each
target, is mediocrity.
“It probably has to do with me starting
out so young,” she says. “I never
really got a chance to grow up, or to
explore who I was.”
Call it armchair psychology, or call it
a self-diagnosis, but in either case, the
assessment tracks. Liu was barely 15 when
she was enrolled into the years-long training
system that would spit her out, fully formed,
on the other side of f(x), the five-member
South Korean girl group that would become
one of the most internationally recognized
K-pop acts of all time. At 15, she was a nerdy,
inchoate teenager from California, nursing a
quiet interest in biology and chemistry. Then
she blinked, and she was someone very, very
different.
“Those teenage years are when you’re
really figuring yourself out, and I was already
thrown into a world where I’d be in front of
millions of people,” Liu explains. “And those
people were going to be judging me.”
This intense judgment is, ostensibly, what
the K-pop factory system anticipates. The
hope is that, through long days and rigorous
training, all flaws will be systematically eliminated,
and the artist will adopt a congenital
allergy to mistakes.
In September of this year, Liu officially
announced that she had not renewed her
contract with S.M. Entertainment and became
the first member of f(x) to begin a solo career.
She’d already released a couple of stray singles
after signing with Steel Wool Entertainment
in 2018, but transitioning into a full-time
solo artist marked a definite, promising
rebirth. It’s almost as though she’s returning to
the exact moment when she lost the chance
to explore who she was, just to correct it.
“I’m ready to have fun now,” she says. Liu
still remembers f(x) fondly, but she now realizes
that none of the money or fame it granted
satisfied her, never made her any happier. “I’m
going to escape rooms now. I’m geeking out
with my friends on anime. I’m playing video
games. Work can become just work, and I’m
trying to learn how to have fun with it.”
This isn’t hard to believe. It’s right there in
the music, which seems buoyed by the spirit
of someone who has not yet decided where
or how to set up camp. If you listen to Liu’s
latest three songs, for example — “Ready For
The Ride,” a smoldering slow jam; “Numb,” a
sparse piano ballad; and “Curiosity,”
a mellow, radio-friendly dance
tune — you’ll hear the ambient
noise of someone fiddling intently
with a pile of puzzle pieces,
as though trying every possible
combination to figure out which works best.
“I think that, after being in a certain type
of system for so long, human nature is to do
something different — hopefully,” Liu says.
“I know now that I don’t have to kill myself
over being perfect anymore. I don’t think I fit
the criteria of a K-pop idol as of now, but it’s
always going to be a part of me.”
That doesn’t mean she’s shedding all of
her K-pop inclinations. In her music videos,
Liu is still drawn to elaborate, precise
choreography. Her upcoming EP, X, will have
accompanying music videos for all six songs.
Liu is also preparing to embark on a major
2020 U.S. tour, one that will take her to 24
cities and become the longest North American
tour any K-pop artist has ever done.
I ask, already anticipating the answer,
whether this moment feels more like home
to her. “Yes,” she replies, eagerly, then
describes what seems like a return to the
locus of what governs her devotion to music:
how it connects people in varying degrees of
intimacy; how it illuminates inner truths, like
a hyperactive firefly in a dark cavern; how it
forces a position of honesty and vulnerability,
all off of “a bunch of sounds.”
“Everyone that I’m working now with has
really allowed me to be more vulnerable and
open up, and has taught me that it’s okay
to express my emotions,” Liu says. I mean
to ask what the alternative is, but then she
compares her manager to her dad, and before
I can chalk it up to a Freudian slip — like
when you accidentally call your third grade
homeroom teacher “Mom” — she starts to
say he isn’t unlike “a big brother, or maybe an
uncle,” then describes her team as an extension
of herself: a sort of intimate, surrogate
familial unit.
It’s this sense of closeness and grounding,
perhaps, that is helping Liu to come into her
own — to relinquish her desire for control
and to trust that her instincts will catch her.
It will be a long process, as all births are. “I
don’t want to be afraid anymore,” she says.
“Even with making mistakes.” Later, I make
note of how many times she has used the
word “mistake” over the last 40 minutes of
our conversation. I write it down: eight times.
“Perfect” comes up six. Nature, it would
seem, is the most difficult trap to elude. ,
26 DUNCAN ST, TORONTO
WWW.PARTEEPUTT.COM | @PARTEEPUTT
JANUARY 2020 BEATROUTE 13
10
CANADIAN
ARTISTS
TO WATCH
IN 2020
EDMONTON
1 Obroa-skai
obroa-skai.bandcamp.com/releases
Obroa-skai opened 2019 with their incredible self-titled record, which
took the harsh noise/screamo band on tour across Canada, and
in 2020 their destructive forces will show no signs of slowing with
two new split records in the works as well as plans for a full-length.
Named after an obscure planet in the Star Wars Extended Universe,
this hardworking trio stand out for their ability to incorporate caustic
noise into more conventional song structures, situating their place in
the ecosystem of extreme music as urgent, vital, and unpredictable.
CALGARY
A year can be an arbitrary unit
of time when it comes to music.
But once all the “best of” dust
has settled, starting a new year
provides a good opportunity to
look forward instead of behind,
and think about artists who
have promising futures ahead
of them. Here’s a list of artists
across the country we think will
be making waves in 2020.
By MICHAEL RANCIC
14 BEATROUTE JANUARY 2020
2
Bruce Roach
potatoheadz.bandcamp.com/album/bruce-roach-gut-c-s
Bruce Roach’s Gut cassette was a surprising hit for Melbourne/
Berlin based label Potatoheadz Records last year, but an initial
listen makes it easy to understand why. For 40 minutes, Roach’s
austere techno is executed rawly and wholly entrancing. Stylistically
Roach incorporates elements of early techno and Electronic
Body Music (think Front 242 or early Skinny Puppy) into these
compositions, leaning toward the style’s darker, eerie textures.
Not much is known about the Edmonton-based artist, though
they also collaborated with Montreal-based DJ and producer
PULSUM last year on their The Fear You Give To Me release. Also,
their Soundcloud page, which dates back a few years, is adorned
with screencaps taken from the 1989 Canadian cult horror film
Things which also happens to star an actor named Bruce Roach.
It’s an obscure, but fitting, reference for this gloriously unpolished
project.
ALLISON SETO
TORONTO
VANCOUVER
3 Stripmall
stripmall.bandcamp.com
These self-described “prairie punks”
released the killer debut Surrounding
Area this past summer and have been
gigging hard ever since. Featuring
former members of Blü Shorts, Hag
Face, Shematmomas and WeKnew,
they live up to their noisy pedigree by
delivering bold, gothic country with a
sinister slant. Vocalist Geneva Haley’s
howl is truly fierce, meeting the fiery
intensity of the open-plains-evoking
fretwork, grimy basslines, and unrelenting
percussion of the band as
they contemplate the openness and
bleakness of rural life.
4
Jae Sterling
soundcloud.com/jaesterling
By now Jae Sterling should be
a name that’s familiar to most
Calgarians, whether it’s from his
recent tenure as one of the National
Music Centre’s Artists in Residence
in 2019, or as co-founder of the
Thot Police collective along with
Cartel Madras’s Contra and Eboshi.
On Sterling’s latest tape, Trap Bby,
which arrived in the summer, he declares
he has “Big Plans” and you’d
be remiss to not take him seriously
as someone who can see those
plans through. Trap Bby showcases
his staccato flow over lithe, idiosyncratic
beats that forgo the usual
gauzy, woozy textures of trap for a
sound that’s as clearly defined as
visions can get.
5
James Baley
imjamesbaley.bandcamp.com/album/roads
James Baley has proven himself as an indispensable collaborator and
performer. Whether it’s been backing the likes of Zaki Ibrahim or U.S. Girls
onstage, appearing on the latest LPs from artists as wide-ranging as the
psych-funk sextet Badge Epoque Ensemble, and the deep-house revivalist
AZARI, or his work in Toronto’s Kiki and ballroom scene, the message
is clear: follow Baley’s rich voice and talent wherever he goes. Baley has
released two EPs of his own in 2015 and 2017 respectively, and recently
took part in The Canadian Music Publishers Association Create Canada
song camp in Calgary, so hopefully there’s more where that came from
very soon.
6
Lavender Bruisers
lavenderbruisers.bandcamp.com/releases
Bruisers mastermind Kritty Uranowski is someone who rarely gets
the spotlight shone on her, even though many would agree that
she’s a pillar in Toronto’s music scene. From her previous work in
White Suede and Patti Cake, to managing and mentoring other
artists in ventures like Girls Rock Camp Toronto and Baby Pineapple
Studio, playing with Dorothea Paas and Queen of Swords, or
the recently launched Toronto-centric music podcast Come For
A Ride that she co-hosts with partner Jesse Locke, Uranowski
has her hands in many different projects. Her commanding voice
and knack for smart hooks lie at the centre of Lavender Bruisers’
appeal, and with a great amount of momentum behind her recently
rebooted band, there’s no time like the present to start paying
attention.
7 Biawanna
biawanna.bandcamp.com
After hearing the string of stellar singles that singer/songwriter,
multi-instrumentalist and producer Biawanna released in 2019, you’d
never guess that they were released in their first year as a recording
artist. Right out of the gate, songs like “Care” are written with the
sensibilities toward melody, rhythm and style of a seasoned pro,
while Biawanna’s sleek vocals can’t help but soothe even if they’re
concerned with love lost and personal conflict. With hundreds of
thousands of plays on Spotify already, many have already taken note
of this burgeoning artist’s talents, and it’s only a matter of time before
Biawanna’s name is ubiquitous.
8
DJ Venetta
soundcloud.com/djvenetta
As co-founder of Vancouver’s NuZi, a collective dedicated to providing a
platform for Black, Indigenous, queer and trans women in the city’s electronic
music scene, Venetta (aka Betty Mulat) understands exactly how
political the dancefloor can be. Speaking out against the lack of affordability
in Vancouver for artists and how that directly affects the city’s nightlife,
Venetta has become an outspoken champion for reclaiming the space in
electronic music originally carved out by marginalized people. Her mixes
and productions are just as biting and relevant, oscillating between acid,
funky, tech house and everything in between.
CONTINUED ON PG. 16 k
JANUARY 2020 BEATROUTE 15
MUSIC CITY WEDNESDAYS
OPEN MIC & KARAOKE, $1.50 TACO'S
10
CANADIAN
ARTISTS
TO WATCH
IN 2020
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9 Sussy
As a solo project for Suzie Raudaschl of Victoria indie pop faves
Bridal Party, Sussy is immediately a much more personal affair, something
reinforced by the stark electronic production of her songs, which fosters a
sense of intimacy and closeness with Raudaschl’s voice. The drum machine
driven backdrop of “Why Bother?” or synthy house of the more recent “1
Busy Gal” (produced by collaborator Madeline Collier) showcase just how
delicate but expressive those vocals can be, as well as the range of styles
and sounds she’s willing to play with here – making Sussy a difficult project
to pin down but all the more exciting for it.
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10 Loving
loving.bandcamp.com/
After finding their footing with their highly-acclaimed 2016 self-titled
EP, Loving are readying the release of their first full length, If I Am
Only My Thoughts, this month via Last Gang records. The band’s laid
back, lo-fi folk sticks to everything it touches, like honeyed melodies
that you can’t help but feel drawn to. The band, which features brothers
Lucas and Jesse Henderson and David Parry record their songs
to tape in Parry’s basement, a process which gives their material a
great deal of warmth and timeless feel.
16 BEATROUTE JANUARY 2020
Anyway Gang
T
he hardest thing
about being in
Anyway Gang is
wrangling. It goes
like this: I call Dave
Monks. No answer.
I call again. Leave a
message. Then I call Menno
Versteeg. When we get Monks,
the lines are fuzzy. Five calls
later we have a clear reception
and a little less time. But it’s
okay, because this isn’t about
publicity, anyway.
“One thing at a time—that’s
kinda been the mantra here,”
Versteeg says, hours before
playing the last Hollerado show
ever. Anyway Gang released
their self-titled debut album on
November 29. “We’re not doing
press just because that’s what
you’re supposed to do. We’re
doing press that we want to
do.”
This take-it-as-it-comes
attitude is an approach most
up-and-coming bands cannot
afford, but Anyway Gang has
paid their dues. Equally fronted
by Sam Roberts, Chris Murphy
of Sloan, Dave Monks of
Tokyo Police Club, and Menno
Versteeg of Hollerado, the
musical supergroup formed “on
a whim.”
Monks and Versteeg met
backstage in 2010 when
Tokyo Police Club opened for
The Flaming Lips in Toronto.
Versteeg met Roberts at a
concert, and when Versteeg
was in the eighth grade he got
a poster signed by Murphy,
oblivious to what the future
held for either of them.
“It’s pretty neat for Dave and
I especially,” Versteeg muses.
“We grew up listening to these
guys. Sam and Chris, like, they
barely know our band.” Monks
chimes in: “They are vaguely
aware that we make music.”
The road brought them
together, along with an email
Canada's latest indie-rock supergroup featuring members of Sloan, Tokyo Police Club, Hollerado and
Sam Roberts Band find a new perspective through jokes and junk food By DAYNA MAHANNAH
NOW WE
KNOW THAT YOU
CAN DO ANYTHING
AND IT’S GONNA BE
FINE AS LONG AS YOU
TRY YOUR HARDEST
AND HAVE A GOOD
TIME DOING IT.
Menno Versteeg
Having the
record be self-titled
just felt appropriate.
It was really an act of
discovering ones-self
and discovering the
powers within me.
thread and four back pockets-worth
of material that had
yet to find a home. Once they
managed to lock down a date
outside of their respective schedules,
it was “a pretty easy thing to
make happen.” Aside from being a
self-contained unit with a four-way
history of independent success,
pre-backed by a respected label
(Versteeg owns Royal Mountain
Records), the lighthearted, downto-earth
nature of Monks and Versteeg
make it simple to understand
how.
“The first day we sat around
the couches and a coffee table,”
says Monks, “and it was just like,
doing ukulele and guitar versions
of everybody’s songs.” Versteeg
jumps in, noting that between them,
they’ve been playing music for
decades: “Not to sound like this,
but we know what we’re doing. Any
idea that anyone has—it’s not gonna
be bad.” Without the pressure
of any one band member relying on
Anyway Gang to be their bread and
butter, the group has been free to
play purely for the love of it.
This manifested as a positive
creative culture within the group.
“That was a really cool part of the
process,” Versteeg expresses.
“Everyone was saying yes and
enabling each other.” That enthusiastic
alchemy crystallized into the
album’s most notable attribute.
“Everyone brought these songs
that were kind of outward looking,
like universal ideas,” Monks reveals.
“When we’re all working on our own
records, you dig into your personal
stuff. But this is the first band I’ve
been a part of where each song is
speaking more outwardly.”
Plus, it’s fun. The indie-rock
virtuosos have formed a nine-track
debut that is equal parts danceable
beats, catchy hooks, present lyrics,
and zippy production. The kind
of music to play amongst friends,
perhaps while sitting around eating
junk food and telling jokes, which
is exactly how Anyway Gang
recorded it.
“When you’re starting your
career, it’s so easy to be precious
about your stuff, and rightly so,”
Versteeg says. He’s got to go get
ready for his monumental last show
with Hollerado. And Monks just
claimed a spot on the guest list.
“But now we know that you can do
anything and it’s gonna be fine as
long as you try your hardest and
have a good time doing it.”
Anyway Gang is out everywhere via Royal
Mountain Records. They perform January
17 at The Horseshoe Tavern (Toronto). Tix:
Eventbrite
JANUARY 2020 BEATROUTE 17
Holy Fuck
I still want
everything to be
really difficult
because I feel like
that’s where some
of our best creativity
comes from.
Brian Borcherdt
Toronto-based electronic outfit Holy Fuck dance between techology,
nostalgia, and humanity on new album Deleter
By YASMINE SHEMESH
W
hen Holy Fuck’s Brian
Borcherdt is working
on music, he dances.
He prefers to be on his
feet, moving, rather than
sitting still in a chair. It
helps boost his creative
energy. Lately, he does
it every day—not just
in his basement studio,
but with his family. They
recently moved from
Toronto to a rural part
of Nova Scotia, the
province he grew up in.
When there’s not much
to do, they put on records and dance. His
14-month-old daughter especially loves it.
“She understands it,” Borcherdt says, over
the phone. “No one taught her. It’s just inherent
to the human experience, I guess. We
hear music and immediately we start moving.”
Maybe that’s one of the things we continue to
retain, he contemplates. “Maybe that is where
a lot of our freedom comes from. I think there
is some form of protest in that. In a way we’re
saying, ‘I’m not working right now.’”
Being physically engaged has always been
important to the Toronto-based band’s inner
mechanisms, and the theme of intentional
disconnection surfaces often on the group’s
newest album, Deleter, which rejects the concept
of swallowing the technology we come
into contact with whole. Instead—through idiosyncratic
sonics that combine euphoric 90s
electronica with loose, rhythmic beats and,
by design, encourage freeing movement—it
advocates for a different outcome, where we
can still retain autonomy over who we are,
and the art we want to consume.
In the past, Holy Fuck have resisted
working with vocalists, but this time around,
the songs just felt right, as did the musical
landscape.
It seems like a better time now to do
this kind of thing, Borcherdt explains. “Give
people interesting one-offs that sound a little
different and take bigger risks. It’s something
I look forward to doing more, actually.”
Deleter features a handful of carefully
selected collaborations, including post-punk
musician Angus Andrews on the standout
sort of-title track “Deleters,” an infectious,
buzzy stomp; Pond frontman Nicholas
Allbrook on the ebullient “Free Gloss,” and
Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor on “Luxe.” For “Luxe,”
which tinges classic house textures
with a folksy warble, Taylor contributed his
vocals through a 1940s-era Voice-o-Graph,
a coin-operated phonograph booth that
scratches audio onto vinyl.
It’s estimated there are only two left in existence:
one in Liverpool and the other at Jack
White’s Third Man studio in Nashville, where
Taylor recorded. Along with a warm vintage
quality, the equipment brings a fascinating
conceptual addition to Deleter that leverages
history to reflect the advances it represented
in the 40s, and remind us how similarly
uncharted the territory feels now.
“I don’t want to get caught up in that
‘thing,’ where I’m just mad at the way things
are changing—an old man who doesn’t like
what the kids are into or something like that,”
Borcherdt adds. “I think part of what makes
things exciting is that things will change. It
doesn’t mean we have to jump headfirst into
them. I think it just takes a little precaution.”
In fact, the Toronto-based electronic
music group is known for how they eschew
genre tradition by using live instrumentation
and non-instruments instead of laptops and
software. When they were starting out, the
approach was, in part, a reaction to how their
contemporaries were exploring a kind of limitless
technology in their music. For Borcherdt,
infiniteness is hard to wrap his head around.
“I like limitations,” he laughs. “That’s part of
what draws me to music: trying my best to do
something. I didn’t study music or anything,
but I’ve always loved it. Music has always
been my number one passion, but I’m coming
at it somewhat as a luddite. I like to pick up a
guitar or whatever to try to pour as much of
myself as I can into it, to try to make it good
as it could be.”
Borcherdt’s enthusiasm informs a question
of where that passion-to-challenge relationship
goes as technology changes and
if there’s a way to subvert the medium, so it
maintains a struggle. “I still want to struggle
when I get onstage,” Borcherdt continues. “I
still want to struggle in the studio. I still want
everything to be really difficult because I feel
like that’s where some of our best creativity
comes from.”
It persists as a fundamental consideration
for Holy Fuck, especially today where nearly
all of our day-to-day interactions happen
within a digitized realm. Responding to that as
a musician is difficult. With all the music in the
world at our fingertips, who’s really listening?
“We’re actually probably reaching more
people in one sense, so that’s kind of exciting,”
Borcherdt says. When it comes to the
time and sacrifice it takes to create an album,
though, it can feel disproportionate. “It leaves
you wondering how many people are making
a strong connection.”
Borcherdt grew up during a time where
finding common ideals among his peers was
challenging, especially in an area without
much exposure to what he was looking for. “It
created this thirst for inspiration, but it also
created an appreciation for those things that
I did find along the way,” he says. “Whether it
meant picking up albums and spending that
hard-earned money on them at the record
store, getting home and not even really liking
it. You know, that disappointment,” he laughs.
“And we’ve maybe forgotten what that feels
like, disappointment. But there’s also that elation
and sense of ownership, that something
can really represent to you. I think about that
so often because [now] we have everything.”
With expansive technological landscapes
come the perplexity that we don’t exactly
know who is controlling algorithms or how
our data is actually being used. Borcherdt
worries if the ambiguous vastness of it all
is more dangerous than we realize, and we
might not fully understand how vulnerable we
are. “I think that our best protection of that is
just being aware of it,” he continues. “I enjoy
having the option of unplugging and I enjoy
having the option of deleting.” ,
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JANUARY 2020 BEATROUTE 19
RE
LONDON-BASED, SINGER-
SONGWRITER ALEXANDER
O′CONNOR AKA
REX ORANGE COUNTY
IS A SOULFUL
ARTIST FOR THE
INTERNET
AGE
XORANGE COUNTY
By
JORDAN
YEAGER
20 BEATROUTE JANUARY 2020
R
ex Orange County
doesn’t mind putting
himself under
the magnifying
glass. E arly on,
he realized he
wasn’t the band
type, finding it
creatively nourishing to do it all himself. From
writing deeply insular lyrics, to producing synthy,
sunshine-soaked melodies to accompany them,
it’s been the prerogative of the multi-instrumentalist
to be the sole narrator of his own story.
While the reflective, insular nature of his work
has worked in his favour—he boasts more than
8.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify and 1.1
million followers on Instagram—his artistry is an
argument for the benefits of thriving in solitude.
The only person Rex follows back on Instagram
is his girlfriend of four years, Thea.
Rex Orange County hails a long way from his
sunny west coast namesake. Born Alexander
O’Connor in the Surrey village of Grayshott,
England, the singer-songwriter spent his formative
years in the suburbs, dreaming of escaping
the school system and taking control of his life.
At 16, O’Connor moved to London to attend
The BRIT School, a highly selective performing
arts institution notable for renowned alumni
like Adele, Amy Winehouse, FKA Twigs, and
Leona Lewis.
“I was dying to go, so I worked a little
harder,” he says over the phone from
the UK. Though notoriously difficult
to get into for anyone outside of
London, O’Connor managed to
secure his spot at the school by
committing himself to mastering
the drums, his instrument of choice
since his elementary school choir
days. He turned out to be one of only
four drummers in the class of 2016, which
enabled him to work with a wide range of peers
and genres – after all, everyone needs percussion.
The variety exposed him to possibilities
he hadn’t considered for his own music before,
like taking up guitar, honing his singing skills and
learning music production software.
“Everything I do to this day is thanks to [The
BRIT school]. My friends there were doing all
these different things, and I had nothing other
than drums. I was like, ‘I should probably do
something other than this.’” Of the school’s
impressive roster, he was inspired by the level of
ambition the school normalized. “I just think people
are driven there,” he muses. “If I’m honest, I
think they had a good run with a few people in
the beginning, and that inspired others to go. I’m
not going to lie, I think ultimately it’s the people
who went there that made it for themselves, not
necessarily the school itself.”
“I only have good things to say about my time
there,” he continues. Some highlights? “Simon
Cowell came in one time. He was giving a speech
about music, but it didn’t last very long. I think he
had somewhere else to be. And Ne-Yo came in!
Do you know Ne-Yo? Of course you do; I just had
to make sure.”
In 2015, before he had even graduated,
O’Connor released his debut album, bcos u will
never b free, an entirely self-produced, quintessential
bedroom pop album. Tyler, the Creator
found the mixtape on SoundCloud and, impressed,
reached out to compliment O’Connor’s
style. Then he flew him out to L.A. in late 2016
to collaborate on Flower Boy which resulted in
O’Connor featuring on “Foreword,” and earning a
writing credit for “Boredom,” with a writing credit
for the former.
“I thought it was somebody else,” O’Connor
remembers about receiving that first email from
Tyler. “He had an email address that sounded like
it would be him, but I thought it wasn’t. I was like,
‘Why on earth would he reach out to me right
now, at this point in my life?’”
At the time, O’Connor had not completed
Apricot Princess, his ultra-personal sophomore
effort, but his work on Flower Boy had been revelatory.
Wanting a similarly well-rounded portfolio
of his own material, he continued working. Hard.
And ended up releasing 2017’s Apricot Princess
before Flower Boy had even come out. That’s
one of the benefits of operating solo: you maintain
total control not only of production, but also
of when your work is released.
“On Apricot Princess, I produced pretty much
all of it myself, other than a couple helping
hands,” explains O’Connor. “The mixing was
done by Ben Baptie,” who went on to play a
heavy hand in not only the mixing but also the
production, composition and lyrics for 2019’s
Pony.“This time around, [on Pony], Ben and I
actually got deeper. [He’s on] pretty much all the
songs from the ground up. There were a couple
other musicians as well, but no feature artists
listed or anything like that.”
His introverted method of making music
makes sense, considering the personal nature
of each of his projects – he revels in getting to
the core of universal experiences, which often
feel lonely and isolating from the inside. Whereas
Apricot Princess was an upbeat, rose-tinted ode
to Thea, the subsequent two years of O’Connor’s
life took him to parts of his soul that were
previously unknown. On Pony, O’Connor delves
even deeper into his own psyche through themes
of love, longing, and growing distant from old
friends.
On the first lines of the opening track, “10/10,”
he muses, “I had a think about my oldest friends
/ Now I no longer hang with them.” The rest
of the album takes its listeners on a journey
through the poignant ups and downs of this
period in O’Connor’s life – a sort of in-between
phase, when he’s achieved what he’s always
wanted and it came with some downsides he
didn’t expect. When O’Connor turns inward, he
wears his vulnerability on his sleeve. His lyrics
are delivered with a confident cognizance of who
he is, and what he stands for, and that self-assurance
seems to stem from the ability to admit
when he’s unsure.
“I still wanted to be the only one telling the
story, and not relying on anyone else to make the
song better. It’s a blessing and a curse: you’re the
one that makes all the decisions, so you’re happy
with it, but at the same time that’s a burden to
take on.”
CONTINUED ON PG. 22 k
ALEX WAESPI
JANUARY 2020 BEATROUTE 21
RE
XORANGE COUNTY
k CONTINUED FROM PG. 21
“There’s so much that’s
happened to me that I
hadn’t expected before,”
he continues. “I’ve had a
difficult time. The years
from 18 to 21 are quite
important for everyone, I
imagine, and for me, there
was a lot of negativity that
I didn’t see coming. When
REX ORANGE
COUNTY
Monday, Jan. 20
PNE Forum (Vancouver)
Wednesday, Jan. 29
to Jan. 31
Danforth Music Hall
(Toronto)
Tix: $36.59 - $46.59
I was making Apricot Princess and bcos u will
never b free, [my relationship] was all I had to
talk about and all I really wanted to talk about.”
As O’Connor’s position in the world has
shifted, so have his ambitions as a songwriter.
“This time around, there’s a lot I wanted to
discuss rather than love so much,” he continues.
“But songs like ‘Pluto Projector,’ ‘Everyway,’ and
‘It Gets Better’ celebrate the positive side, and
having that relationship. We’ve made space to
talk about me being on the other side of the
world and missing her – which is still a massive
part of my life – but there are all these other
things I wanted to address. They were more
pressing in my mind.”
When asked what exactly he went through,
O’Connor deflects, brushing it off as “hard to
explain right now.” But he’s never been one
to dwell on the negatives, anyway – listen to
Pony and you’ll hear that acceptance is more
his speed. The result is an album drenched in
emotion that evokes images of dancing in a
flower-strewn field, alone except for the chirping
birds. It’s the morning after a life-changing
party, and now you’re reflecting on the night by
yourself, glad it happened because you learned
something about yourself.
“The whole album is actually about getting
through that period of time and looking back at
the end of the tunnel and being like, ‘That was
very, very tough, but look at me now.’ I can talk
about it and put it into a song, and it’s just a
song. Things are better now.” That sentiment
is actually how the album closes out – its final
track, “It’s Not the Same Anymore,” ends with
the line “It’s not the same anymore / It’s better.”
On top of the universal anxieties of growing
up, O’Connor has the additional pressure of
doing so on an international stage. Pony is his
first major-label release, and the only album he’s
recorded with the knowledge that, yes, people
will definitely be listening.
“I spent a lot of time feeling scared in the last
The whole
album is actually
about getting through
that period of time and
looking back at the end
of the tunnel and being
like, ‘That was very,
very tough, but look
at me now.’
few months, just being nervous, because
it’s a different feeling having more people
listening,” he says. “It was harder for sure. I
spent quite a bit more time looking at each
of the things involved, whether it be lyrics
or production, just me and Ben in a room for
hours going over things more intensely than
I did before. Saying the right thing, and not
saying things, just to say them is very important
to me. Right now, though, I’m excited.”
In fact, O’Connor says making Pony is the
accomplishment he’s proudest of to date. He
took his time with it, painstakingly contemplating
each decision until he was absolutely sure it was
the best it could be. Although his rise to fame
seems sudden, the foundation has been laid for
years, and O’Connor urges other artists to be
mindful and deliberate with their work, too.
“If you go up very quickly, you come down
very quickly,” he advises. “So try to take your
time and make considerate decisions and don’t
let other people run your career.” ,
ALEX WAESPI
22 BEATROUTE JANUARY 2020
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Lil Uzi Vert
Futsal Shuffle
2020
We have to give
credit to Lil Uzi
for featuring
Vancouver’s own
Nardwuar on a
surefire hit song,
closing the track
with a sample
from one of his
many encounters
with the plaidclad
interview
king. Predictably
unorthodox, with
skittering techno
synths reminiscent
of old soccer
videos set to
rave music.
The Weeknd
Blinding Lights
Perfect for his
new shades-toting
80s pimp
and/or Scarface
drug kingpin
look, The
Weeknd teams
up once again
with pop savant
Max Martin for
an electrifying
and upbeat
synthpop track
that never loses
the mysterious,
dark and twisted
essence that
makes him so
unique. Abel rolls
through Vegas
and struggles
with romance
once again.
Kaytranada
(Ft. Kali Uchis)
10%
Kali Uchis wants
her money.
Kaytranada’s
funk-inspired hiphop
production
has the ability
to make anyone
sound like their
absolute coolest
selves, but Uchis’
permanently
aloof and confident
delivery
never needed
much of a lift
in that department
anyway.
Sometimes all
you need is a
pounding house
groove and a
great bassline.
Grimes
My Name
Is Dark
Grimes, in her
perfect, completely
bonkers
way, described
this track on
Twitter as “a very
not pg13 ethereal
Shadow of the
Colossus demon
nu-metal song
about insomnia.”
“Imminent annihilation
sounds so
dope,” she sings
in her jarringly
cutesy voice, just
one of the many
thoughts that
crosses her mind
when she lies
awake at night.
Stormzy
(Ft. Headie One)
Audacity
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.
Tame Impala
Posthumous
Forgiveness
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.
Khruangbin
(Ft. Leon Bridges)
Texas Sun
The uncategorizable
Texas trio
team up with one
of the smoothest
vocalists in the
game for the title
track of an upcoming
EP about
all things Lone
Star State. With
cover art depicting
an open road,
Khruangbin step
into folksy country
and Americana
territory as
Bridges sweetly
sings about driving
through every
Texas locale with
the girl of his
dreams.
Teyana
Taylor
We Got Love
Conceptualized
during Kanye
West’s 2018 Wyoming
Sessions,
the track finally
materializes minus
the original
verse from Mr.
West but still
brimming with
his personality in
the production
featuring heavy
percussion, orchestral
strings
and a gospel
choir. Taylor is
a star in and of
herself, rap-singing
and flexing
about the love in
her life instead
of her material
possessions.
Okay Kaya
Asexual
Wellbeing
Norwegian
bedroom-pop
artist Okay Kaya
uses some of
the year’s most
vivid, allusive
and bluntly
humorous lyrics
to construct a
pulsating and
self-deprecating
anthem about
being there for
a lover, vegan
peanut butter
chocolate ice
cream in hand,
even if the sexual
side of the
relationship isn’t
as fun as it could
be. The many instrumental
quirks
are strangely
infectious.
La Roux
Gullible Fool
The second single
from the first
La Roux album in
six years, this is
a full seven minutes
of the retro-pop
mastery
that we’ve come
to know from
Elly Jackson. An
uptempo piano
ballad that grows
into a deliciously
rhythmic synthfunk
jam session,
Jackson pounds
the keys and
criticizes herself
for getting too
optimistic about
the future of a
relationship once
again.
JANUARY 2020 BEATROUTE 23
Reviews
ALBUM
STORMZY
Heavy is the Head
#Merky
Last summer, Stormzy headlined
Glastonbury wearing a
Union Jack-emblazoned stab
vest made for him by Banksy.
The artwork for his sophomore
album, Heavy is the
Head, depicts the English
rapper looking down at the
vest while wearing a text
crown reading “h.i.t.h.,” a
not so subtle metaphor for
his ascent to the top of the
British grime scene.
Stormzy continues the
blistering form he’s been on
since his 2015 single, “Shut
Up.” The ruthless, aggressive
delivery on “Wiley
Flow,” to well-placed
features from H.E.R. on
“One Second” and Headie
One on “Audacity,” to
heart-on-sleeve tracks
like “Rachael’s Little
Brother” and “Lessons”
all serve as highlights.
Heavy is the Head
shows Stormzy sounding
as confident and assured
as ever.
Best Track: Wiley Flow
Dave MacIntyre
JANUARY 2020 BEATROUTE 25
MUSiC ALBUM REVIEWS
...AND YOU WILL KNOW
US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD
X: The Godless Void and
Other Stories
Dine Alone
Back in motion after a six-year lull,
Austin’s …And You Will Know Us
by the Trail of Dead celebrates lead
singer Conrad Keely’s return from
living in Cambodia by releasing a
10th full-length LP.
Bursting with creativity and
emotion, the versatile post-hardcore
outfit’s painterly riffs and spirited
harmonies generate grand impressionistic
landscapes on “All Who
Wander” and “Something Like This.”
Further in, the dauntless title
track, “Who Haunts the Haunter,”
and “Through the Sunlit Door ‘’
slice through thorny heart brambles
with laser-synth precision.
The electronically-enhanced
“Gravity” delivers a crashing
crescendo blow, before dropping
a thought bomb on your cognitive
ground zero.
Best Track: Don’t Look Down
Christine Leonard
TINASHE
Songs For You
Tinashe Music Inc.
ANTI-FLAG
20/20 Vision
Spinefarm Records
KAYTRANADA
BUBBA
RCA
WOLF PARADE
Thin Mind
Royal Mountain Records
“All these songs are for you baby.
You know who you are,” Tinashe
whispers on the six-second
“You.”
It’s a message to the loyal fans
who have waited patiently for
Tinashe Jorgensen Kachingwe
to finally reclaim her own sound.
After years of label interference
and a solid album in 2018 where
struggles over her sound were
apparent, R&B songwriter Tinashe
is finally back, completely
independent with an album full of
songs – for you.
Right from the start, Tinashe
makes it clear she has no ill will
towards her past troubles on
opening track, “Feelings.” “You’re
still stuck in the past,” she teases.
“I don’t get mad, I get bags.”
It’s a little bittersweet but
exhilarating how free she finally
sounds here, letting her voice
explore different octaves over
late night R&B beats and low-fi
disco tracks.
Songs For You cements
Tinashe’s staying power, proving
just how good an artist can be
when they’re in complete control
of their own sound.
“Would you fight for what you
want?” she asks on “So Much
Better.”
Tinashe clearly knows what
she wants, and she finally got it.
Best Track: Stormy Weather
Fraser Hamilton
With 20 years of pumping out
aggressive anarcho-punk anthems
under their studded belts, Pittsburgh’s
Anti-Flag stand head-andshoulders
above the mosh pit of
their hardcore peers.
Driving home the quartet’s
current politi-punk sentiments, the
crashing opener, “Hate Conquers
All,” takes direct aim at Trump’s
administration with defiant vitriol.
Clear and concise cuts like
“It Went Off Like a Bomb,” “The
Disease,” and “A Nation Sleeps”
pour gasoline on America’s cultural
dumpster fire.
Meanwhile, the sidelong approach
of “Don’t Let the Bastards
Get You Down,” “Christian Nationalist,”
and “Un-American” sympathize
with the battle fatigue that comes
with being woke as AF.
Best Track: Hate Conquers All
Christine Leonard
It’s been two and a half years since
Kaytranada’s Polaris and Juno-winning
debut album, 99.9%, and he
clearly took the time carefully
crafting his follow up, BUBBA.
Kaytranada made his name on
the back of a signature sound that
took Soundcloud by storm—one
marked by soupy basslines and
swinging drums. BUBBA bears
witness to Kaytra’s growth from
bedroom producer to bonafide
pioneer, one who has left a deep
mark on pop music as we look to a
new decade.
Kali Uchis, Pharrell, Tinashe,
Charlotte Day Wilson, SiR, and others
lend their talents without ever
taking away too much attention
from the star of this show, which is
Kaytranada’s lush productions and
thoughtful artistry.
Best Track: What You Need
Josephine Cruz
Set in front of the now-common
backdrop of the late-technological
ennui era, Wolf Parade’s fifth
studio album attempts to reconcile
our quasi-cyborg condition with
the beating hearts that remain
inside us still. Lead single, the
frenetic “Forrest Green,” tries to
make sense of the band’s natural
surroundings on Vancouver Island,
where the album was recorded.
The idyllic and spiritual island functions
as a metonym for the larger
condition of life according to Wolf
Parade, a sort of paradise lost to
big consumption and bigger money.
With heavy use of vintage
synths and some of the band’s
most urgent performances on
record, Thin Mind features a Wolf
Parade ready for a resistance that
starts within.
Best Track: Forrest Green
Sebastian Buzzalino
26 BEATROUTE JANUARY 2020
FREE NATIONALS
Free Nationals
OBE, LLC / EMPIRE
Hip-hop of the grooviest order
is presented to you here by Free
Nationals. Anderson .Paak’s choice
touring band step into the light on
their self-titled debut.
Cruising through low-key funk at
a delicious pace—slow-mo, sped
up—Kelsey Gonzalez, Ron Avant,
Callum Connor and José Rios lasso
in their signature mix of cosmically
velvet instrumentals.
Featuring sublime artists like
Daniel Caesar, .Paak, Kali Uchis
and the late Mac Miller, the album
sways to beats about lovin’ and
chillin’, with the Nat’s own Connor
waxing poetic on two tracks. The
Free Nationals have true swagger
and street cred all their own.
Best Track: Oslo
Dayna Mahannah
BEACH SLANG
Deadbeat Bang of
Heartbreak City
Bridge 9 Records
OF MONTREAL
UR FUN
Polyvinyl
A psychotropic electro-pop
extravaganza, of Montreal, return
with their 16th album, UR FUN.
It’s a mature and otherworldly
blend of time periods, ranging
from 90s-inspired indie summer
jams to whole sections that feel
transported straight from the 80s
pop scene.
Raring guitars, funked out
basslines, and endearing choruses
densely populate the 10-track
effort that’s all about living life in
love.
The band has long been known
for their wacky avante-garde
vibe, and with yet another release
chocked full of lines like, “I can’t
go to work today cuz I’ve forgotten
how to human,” ringleader
Kevin Barnes absolutely does not
disappoint.
Best Track: St. Sebastien
Brendan Lee
Beach Slang have always been
about channeling the power of
rock and roll to bring hope to the
bleakest of places.
With their latest offering, they’ve
double downed on the rock and
toned down the hopeful notes, offering
a bleaker and more nihilistic
take on the world. It’s a bombastic
album that builds on their Replacements
influences (bassist Tommy
Stinson even has a guest appearance)
with cock rock swagger.
If you thought frontman James
Alex’s Quiet Slang project would
take the band down a notch
volume-wise, this album proves
otherwise. Lead single “Bang Rang
Rang” is a high octane glam-punk
rush of adrenalin that takes their
familiar sound and sleazes it up in
all the right ways.
Deadbeat Bang of Heartbreak
City rings through with a beefier
and crunchier sound, boasting
enough hooks and monster riffs to
keep you riding high.
Graeme Wiggins
HARRY STYLES
Fine Line
Columbia
Harry Styles has finally found his
own sound on his psychedelic
sophomore album, Fine Line.
The former One Direction
member shed his image with his
sweeping self-titled solo debut,
but fell into a trap of imitating his
favourite rock legends instead of
creating something personal. This
time around, Styles easily dances
past the sophomore slump in
sparkling fashion, and isn’t afraid
to banish everyone’s expectations.
The record, which was recorded
under the influence of hallucinogenic
mushrooms, begins as
a party with the glittering funky
standout, “Watermelon Sugar,”
and the dark disco-inflected
“Adore You.” It quickly fades from
its euphoric kickoff, and halfway
through descends into a comedown
where the joy evaporates
and is replaced with sentimental
piano-driven and folksy ballads.
Styles toys with the ukulele,
flirts with some synths, and plays
around with jazzy horns. The
result is an array of songs that
delve into heartache and explore
the many layers that result from
finding love and losing it.
Fine Line is experimental but
playful, not straying far from the
territory of his idols, David Bowie
and Stevie Nicks, whose influences
peek through.
Now, Styles is fully in control,
letting loose and having fun.
His heart is open, and beautiful
melodies and soulful lyricism are
pouring out.
Best Track: Lights Up
Natalie Harmsen
JANUARY 2020 BEATROUTE 27
Live
MUSiC
MAGGIE STEPHENSON/RAPSEASON
Toronto
DABABY
Dec. 10, 2019
Rebel
A few hours before DaBaby’s Toronto
performance, he jokingly reached out
to the city’s most famous citizen via
social media after getting stuck at the
border.
“Somebody call Drake & tell em
they done had Baby hemmed up at
Customs for 3 hours,” the rapper
wrote on Instagram. It was a foreshadowing
of things to come, as the 6
God himself joined DaBaby on stage
at Rebel a few hours later to perform
hits like “Money in the Grave,” as well
as congratulate the Carolina rapper
for “killin’ this shit”—undoubtedly referring
to the incredible breakout year
that DaBaby has had since releasing
his debut album, Baby on Baby, in
March.
While a Drake cameo is about as
good as it gets, the show was exciting
even outside of that. Backed by stage
props that bordered on the comedic
(including inflatable babies, naturally),
DaBaby ran through his string of
recent hits, including the viral dance
sensation “BOP” and his breakout hit,
“Suge.”
Josephine Cruz
28 BEATROUTE JANUARY 2020
Toronto
FRIGS
December 14, 2019
The Velvet Underground
After hitting the road for most of
the year with cool country sensation
Orville Peck, making waves as
the charismatic masked crooner’s
backing band, Frigs made their
return to Toronto. Taking the stage
as headliners, the Polaris Music Prize
2018 Long List post-punks showed
everyone why they’re a notable act in
their own right.
The always bad-ass Bria Salmena
was more magnetic than ever, never
a shy front person, howling “THIS IS
SHIT AND I AM NOTHING” (Track “II”)
with the passionate crowd exuding
along as Salmena teetered along the
edge of the stage like a tightrope.
Kris Bowering’s drumming was
boisterous and bold, while Lucas Savatti
(bass) and Duncan Hay Jennings
(guitar) sonically weaved their dirty
and weird psychedelic web between
Salmena’s punk sermons.
Playing favs off their debut
LP, Basic Behaviour, along with some
intriguing new bits and bites, Frigs
were full of vim and vigor, and the
crowd was happy to soak it up.
Here’s hoping Orville Peck doesn’t
keep Frigs too busy to release some
new music in the new year.
Kate Killet
JANUARY 2020 BEATROUTE 29
KATE KILLET
TRAVEL
PORTLAND,
OREGON
THE PACIFIC
NORTHWEST
MUSIC TOWN
THAT SHOWS UP
By YASMINE SHEMESH
SHUTTERSTOCK SLEATER KINNEY/KAY NYBERG
“I
t’s important to show up for the
people you love,” Carrie Brownstein
proclaims to the audience at the
Crystal Ballroom on the final night of
Sleater-Kinney’s two-part homecoming
gig in Portland, Oregon.
Specifically, the guitarist was referring to fighting
against social injustices. Activism has always been
at the heart of the band’s ethos. But one couldn’t
help relating Brownstein’s sentiment to Sleater-Kinney
themselves: the riot grrrls have had a bit of
a tough go lately, with the departure of longtime
drummer Janet Weiss. Here, though—in their hometown,
in a packed house filled with fans that made
the venue’s famous floating dance floor levitate—
everyone showed up.
Portland is nestled in the banks of the Columbia
and Willamette Rivers and framed by thick forest
and the snow-dipped Mount Hood. The lush Pacific
Northwest surroundings come second only to the
creativity that blooms in the Rose City. Filled with
artists, designers, culinary visionaries, and musicians,
it’s a cultural mecca.
While Portland has always been known as an
eclectic music town (the Kingsmen, Esperanza
Spalding, and the Dandy Warhols all call it home)
plenty of locals will tell you that, right now, the
scene is more diverse, inclusive, and vibrant than it’s
ever been.
Queer, Indigenous artists like Black Belt Eagle
Scout are getting more visibility and making glorious
noise. Hip-hop, which has a complicated history in
Portland, is thriving thanks to monthly showcases,
rising stars (Karma Rivera, Maarquii), and stalwarts
such as Cool Nutz who continue to promote the
culture in the city. There’s Sávila, a Mexican American
band that plays with cumbia and salsa rhythms.
Their guitarist, Fabi Reyna, is the founder of She
Shreds, a female-focused guitar magazine.
It’s no secret Portland has seen an influx of
growth in recent years. But the population boom
has contributed to an exciting time for the music
scene. It’s helped it evolve. Lifelong residents and
newcomers alike are engaged. They’re inspired.
And, together, they create a powerful force that reverberates
beautifully into other corners of the city.
DESTINATIONS
KEX Portland
100 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd
Housed in the century-old Vivian
Apartments on Northeast MLK, this
boutique hotel has a design-forward
aesthetic, with a variety of
accommodations from shared
rooms to private suites.
The concept for KEX was born in
Iceland, where their flagship is already
a hip landing place. And, like
in Reykjavík, local art and culture is
at the forefront of the experience
in Portland.
The lobby bar, where you can
enjoy Nordic-meets-Pacific Northwest
cuisine, is a modular space,
doubling as an intimate venue for
live music nearly every night. Some
Rose City history glows in the
outdoor courtyard: the Music Box
Sleater-Kinney
marquee from the now-demolished
landmark Fox Theatre.
Downstairs has a multi-use gallery,
too, outfitted like an old boxing gym
with a vintage punching bag. In fact,
the entire hotel is filled with antiques
sourced from Europe and Oregon’s
surrounding areas—the wood floor
in the lobby was salvaged from an
abandoned train depot across the
Columbia River. It adds to KEX’s
warm, lived-in vibe that makes travelers
feel right at home.
Portland Art Museum
1219 SW Park Ave
Founded in 1892, the PAM is the
oldest art museum on the West
Coast. It boasts an expansive and
impressive permanent collection, as
well as exciting travelling exhibitions.
On until January 20 is Hank Willis
Thomas’ All Things Being Equal….
30 BEATROUTE JANUARY 2020
KEX Portland
Portland Art Museum
The first career retrospective of
the Brooklyn-based artist features
over 90 works, including conceptual
photography, videos, and
sculpture, that survey and critique
American ideals from sports to civil
rights from the Black gaze. One of
the most affecting pieces is “14,719
(2018),” a large-scale installation
the PAM commissioned from
Thomas. It resembles an American
flag, with the number in the title relating
to how many white stars are
stitched into the navy fabric—and
each star representing someone
who died from gun violence in the
U.S. in 2018.
EAT/DRINK
Jojo
3582 SE Powell Blvd
If you ask around for the best
friend chicken, locals will point you
towards this food truck. Whether
Doug Fir Lounge
Deadstock Coffee
you order a classic southern fried
chicken sandwich, a boneless
thigh with spicy Thai fried Brussels
sprouts on the side, or one of
their many rotating specials, you
can’t go wrong. The offerings are
juicy, flavourful, and messy. Bring
napkins and an appetite.
The Solo Club
2110 NW Raleigh St
This eatery and cocktail lounge
serve up Mediterranean-inspired
plates and excellent brunch on
the weekend (the shakshuka
is top notch). Their drink menu
prominently features Amari, bitters,
and vermouth in both classic
and creative concoctions. Plus,
with kitschy details including original
barstools and light fixtures
from its historic sister-restaurant,
Besaw’s, you’ll want to linger longer
just to marvel at the décor.
Jojo
The Solo Club
Deadstock Coffee
408 NW Couch St
Sneaker-themed and judgement-free,
this coffee shop is at
once a creative hub and the place
to get a damn good brew. They
roast their own beans and have
all sorts of fun stuff on the menu,
including the LeBronald Palmer
(sweet tea, coffee, and lemonade)
that’s named for a rare edition
of the LeBron 9 Nike shoe. Plus,
you haven’t seen latte art until
you’ve seen a kick in your caffè
crema.
SHOP
Wildfang
404 SW 10th Ave
A go-to for Tegan and Sara and
Janelle Monáe, this boutique
specializes in gender neutral styles.
Think everyday essentials that look
beyond typical ideas of women’s
fashion. Their Wild Feminist Collection,
which includes everything
from fleece and t-shirts to tux
blazers, is one of their signatures.
Mississippi Records
5202 N Albina Ave
This little place has been a collector
go-to for more than 15 years
for its selection of rare blues, soul,
and jazz vinyl that also comes at
an extremely reasonable price. A
quick peek around the shop and
you’ll spot hard-to-find titles from
John Coltrane, Nina Simone, and
Blind Willie Mitchell. Mississippi
also operates as a label, specializing
mostly in re-issues. It all firmly
abides by its “Love Over Gold” motto,
which emphasizes founder Eric
Isaacson’s vision that decisions
here are made in the name of love,
not money.
Music Millennium
3158 E Burnside St
Opened in 1969, this Portland
institution just celebrated its 50th
anniversary. And, as the city’s oldest
record shop, it’s as much of a
destination as it is the place to find
quite literally any vinyl, cassette, or
CD imaginable. From Angel Olsen
and Orville Peck to the Buzzcocks
and David Bowie, bins of $2 wax,
as well as a thorough selection
of rare 45s, Music Millennium has
it all—even their own merch. Set
aside an hour or two just to explore
this awesome space.
Powell’s Books
1005 W Burnside St
No trip to Portland is complete
without a pilgrimage to Powell’s.
Known as the largest new and
used independent bookstore in the
world, it first opened in a former
car dealership on Northwest Burnside
in 1971, a flagship location that,
following a big expansion in 1999,
sprawls an entire city
block. Now, Powell’s
boasts five different
locations across PDX,
with an inventory
upwards of two million
volumes.
She Shreds
Founded by Fabi
Reyna to provide a
visible and inclusive
platform for female,
non-binary, LGBTQ+
and BIPOC guitarists and bassists,
She Shreds is redefining how
players from underrepresented
communities are presented in the
greater guitar industry. Features
from what it’s like being pregnant
on tour to women instrumentalists
in tropical music are just a glimpse
into the topics this magazine dives
into. “Reimagining, reinventing,
and redefining language, imagery,
design, and music journalism all
play a part in how She Shreds aims
to push culture forward,” Reyna
tells BeatRoute. Pick up an issue at
Powell’s.
NIGHTLIFE
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St
Dressed up like a log cabin in homage
to its location’s roots (Burnside
was once a logging road) this
iconic venue plays host to some
of the best indie and up-and-comers
in the city. The performance
space is intimate, with a sunken
floor and open concept, so there’s
not a bad seat in the house. The
upstairs restaurant is open all day
from 7am until late and features an
exceptional science-based cocktail
menu. Don’t leave without trying a
Nitro Old Fashioned from the north
end of the bar.
The Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave
With a huge pentagon overlooking
the dance floor, a room with a coffin
in it, and an eight-foot-tall statue
of Cthulhu, the octopus-man-dragon
creature dreamed up by writer
H.P. Lovecraft, this horror-themed
bar lives up to its namesake. It’s
also well-known for its industrial,
goth, punk, and dark electro dance
nights.
Jack London Revue
529 SW 4th Ave
Tucked away in the basement of
the Rialto Poolroom, the Jack London
Revue has a speakeasy feel to
it with, as they put it, “the modern
bells and whistles of a cutting-edge
21st century club.” The place to
see live jazz and an important
facilitator in making
space for it in the city,
the venue also hosts
a number of fantastic
weekly nights including
Neo Soul Sundays with
Rich Hunter, a figure
of Portland’s hip-hop
community.
Aztec Willie’s
1501 NE Broadway St
Taqueria by day, salsa
club by night. Voted as
the best spot for Latin dancing in
Portland, Aztec Willie’s includes a
variety of styles from bachata to
timba. You don’t have to be a pro to
join the fun. In fact, there’s usually
a dance lesson before the floor
opens up into a giant party. ,
KEX/MIKAEL LUNDBLAD
JANUARY 2020 BEATROUTE 31
Style
5
SKIN CARE
TOUR TIPS
WITH
LENNON
STELLA
By DORA BORAS
1
2
3
4
L
ennon Stella has
come a long way
since she, along with
her sister Maisy, first
charmed audiences
as children, performing
pop hits on YouTube.
Poised for the spotlight,
she graduated to the role of
Maddie Conrad on the show
Nashville until 2018. Today,
Stella has embarked on her
own projects, including her
well-known radio hit “La Di
Da,” a collaboration with pop
favourites The Chainsmokers,
and her latest single, “Kissing
Other People.”
With an ever-growing fanbase
and a promising first fulllength
album in progress, Stella
is a rising star, spending the
bulk of her time on tour, sharing
her music with the world.
BeatRoute sat down with
Stella at the Annex Hotel to
ask her to share her tour fashion
and skin care tips that she
lives by on the road.
Taking inspiration from
the late 60s and early 70s,
Stella gets her style inspiration
from rock royalty of the past,
naming Janis Joplin and Stevie
Nicks as her go-to muses both
in fashion and music. With
Pinterest as her guide, the pop
starlet uses the inspiration
board website to search for
new cues and insights on her
personal vision. “When I was
a little younger, I loved the Almost
Famous sixties vibe. Now
I feel like seventies - collars
and buttons – I’m very drawn
to,” she says.
Simple and sweet, Stella’s
go-to makeup products are a
mix of beauty lover’s classics
and new renegades.
5
1. “Lip liner is big for me!”
Cork by Mac & Coconut by
Kylie Cosmetics
2. BECCA Blush
“I love BECCA Blush!” I like it
to be dewy with lashes.”
3. The world needs to know
about: Sanitas Brightening
Peel Pads. “They’re literally
life changing and everybody
in the world needs them.”
4. Tried and true: Neutrogena
makeup wipes
5. Lights Out: Kiehl’s night
time oil with moisturizer
32 BEATROUTE JANUARY 2020
That’s Dope THIS
MONTH IN CANNABIS NEWS AND VIEWS
W
hether you
prefer Black
Sabbath’s
“Sweet Leaf” or Young Thug’s
“Stoner,” there are plenty of
songs to choose from if you’re
looking for a song about weed.
But how about a song made
from weed? The pool of songs
to choose from is whittled down
from thousands to just one.
Producer FrancisGotHeat, R&B
singer Anders and chart-topping
rapper Rich The Kid recently
came together to create the
first-ever commercially available
song composed from sounds
extracted from a cannabis plant.
The result is their track “Sticky
Situation,” and while it’s undeniable
that the result is a hot beat
with a catchy hook and lyrics, we
still wanted to understand how
the whole thing worked exactly,
so we decided to go straight to
the source.
“We initially had our team record
bio rhythmic vibrations from
our new proprietary cannabis
strain [the aptly-named “Sticky
Situation”] we are currently developing
at the Merry Jane Labs
420 DECIBELS
Anders, FrancisGotHeat, and Rich The Kid deliver the first song ever composed from
sounds extracted from a cannabis plant By JOSEPHINE CRUZ
in Los Angeles,
Kai Henry, Chief Strategy Officer
of MERRY JANE explains of the
innovative process: “Then we converted
these vibrations into MIDI
data, so we can export through
music programs and actually hear
the plants through different instruments.”
It was then that FrancisGotHeat
involved to work his magic with the
MIDI samples, and take them from
recordings of vibrations into a full
track. “I incorporated the plant in
the beat in several ways, the biggest
being the main melody,” says
Francis. “I took the MIDI signal of
Anders FrancisGotHeat Rich The Kid
the plant and routed it to a plug-in
which gave it a bell-like sound. I
also used the raw sounds of the
plant as just some background percussive
elements or ear candy.”
Once the production was finalized,
it just needed some vocals
which come courtesy of Rich The
Kid and Anders, whom Francis has
collaborated with in the past. “Me
and Francis are always working
on some cool shit together,” says
Anders, “but when he told me he
was going to put a weed plant in
the booth and make a beat with it,
I didn’t even understand what he
saying. But I was down!”
The track was released in
conjunction with the one year anniversary
of legalization in Canada,
and it seems fans are enjoying the
vibes thus far: the song has racked
up over 500,000 streams on Spotify
alone.
While Anders and FrancisGotHeat
may have never thought
they’d be making a song with
(not just about) weed, the experience
of making “Sticky Situation”
served as a reminder about the
endless possibilities technology
has provided us with today when
it comes to creating.
“I made this whole beat based
off of plant signals,” Francis says.
“It could be anything next.” ,
JANUARY 2020 BEATROUTE 33
YYZ
01.20
DESIGNTO FESTIVAL
CELEBRATES ALL
THINGS BEAUTIFUL
By AURORA ZBOCH
T
oronto’s premier festival for all that is
beautiful, DesignTO celebrates the artfulness
of design with a series of events
across the city. From Jan. 17 to 26, more
than 100 galleries, screenings, workshops and parties
will allow visitors to experience a unique visual
medium across each of DesignTO’s broad range
of exhibits. Festivalgoers can view everyday things
reimagined—from furniture, sculptures, jewellery,
home and landscape architecture all the way to
urban planning and digital spaces.
One of the many notable exhibits is “Foliage
Fantasy” by Apoorva Varma, which uses opalescent
textiles to create a dreamy, other-worldly
environment that will be viewable throughout the
festival. Or, for two days only, visit the REMOTE
Gallery & Programming Space to help out your
“digital friend” Moira overcome imposter syndrome
in the interactive exhibit “You’re So Lucky!” Or
if you are interested in sustainability and social
models, “Design for Health, Wellness, Aging and
Inclusion” will reshaps household items to address
medical and special needs with dignity and decor.
On the educational tip, featured workshops
include “re:LOCATION,” presented by OCADU and
Regent Park Sewing Studio, which tasks industrial
design students to complete made-to-order goods. It
is a community-based approach to learning the craft
and skill of working with handmade materials, while
conversing on ideas surrounding locality and identity.
Music fans can also forward to DJ sets by
Sigourney Beaver and DJ Joe Blow at the Berkeley
Church launch event, or if you’re really feeling like a
party then DesignTO is throwing their 10th birthday
party on Jan. 25 at the Garrison.
DesignTO Festival // Jan. 17-26 // designto.org
TORONTO’S ESSENTIAL JANUARY HAPPENINGSk
Future Retrospectives, Urban Bath by Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart
01.20YYZAGENDA
YYZAgenda
AFROQUEERISM LAUNCH
Afroqueerism is a new open mic-style event series
created to provide a platform for Black Queer Art
in the city.
Beginning with the premiere of a short experimental
film of the same name by Marisa Rosa
Grant and Xeynamay Gezahegn, the evening will
take place inside 120 Diner and feature 10 performance
slots on a first-come, first-served basis.
Canadian comedian Daphney Jo will be the host
of the evening and will also be simultaneously
doing a live painting to “explore her artistic side”
for your comedic relief.
As if that wasn’t enough, DJ Ace Dillinger will
also be in the building providing sounds and
vibes. Show up early to secure your performance
slot.
Saturday, Jan. 18 // 120 Diner // $10 at the door
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY:
THE IMAX EXPERIENCE
(70MM) AT CINESPHERE
2020—it really sounds like the future doesn’t it? And what better way to move into
a new decade than to take a look back at one of the most iconic sci-fi movies of all
time. At the hallowed Ontario Place Cinesphere, you can do exactly that thanks
to a limited screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey. For three nights only, you can
watch Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi symphony on 70mm film just as audiences first saw
it presented, with the bonus IMAX Experience.
This special 70mm version is considered an “unrestoration” because the
footage was reprinted from the original film and preserves the look from 1968—a
process that was overseen by Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan. The threehour
spectacle will include an intermission, just as the original did in theatres.
2001 is the ultimate cinematic throwback for all to see how Kurbrick’s vision of the
future still lives 50 years on, especially since the film’s antagonist, disembodied computer
voice HAL 9000 is eerily relevant in today’s era of Alexa, Siri and other voice assistants.
These special screenings promise to be an immersive trip expanding space and time, so buckle in,
and hold on tight.
2001: A Space Odyssey: The IMAX Experience in 70MM at Cinesphere // Jan. 31 - Feb. 2 // ontarioplace.com
Unity Charity Hip Hop
Party Fundraiser
If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to do
your part to support arts programs for underserved
Canadian youth, then Unity Charity’s Hip
Hop Party is the perfect way to start your 2020.
The annual fundraiser party is back and this
year Unity Charity is aiming to raise $250,000
for their forward-thinking organization that
enhances the lives of youth across the country
through hip-hop.
That quarter-million dollars will fuel weekly
hip-hop programming for more than 700 youth
in communities across Canada with a focus on
mental health and well-being.
The evening will feature a range of performances
from several local hip-hop artists as attendees
“party with a purpose” and listen to the
stories of resilience that inspired the foundation
of Unity Charity.
Thursday, Jan. 23 // $49+ // Tix: eventbrite.ca
36 BEATROUTE JANUARY 2020
THE BENTWAY WINTER SESSION
If you’re feeling the post-holidays blues, then getting outside to do a physical activity is always
a good bet. And it’s even better when that activity is free, which is exactly what you’ll find at The
Bentway Skate Trail.
The 220m figure-eight skating rink is now in its third season, and is open seven days a week
and completely free of charge. Make sure you stop by the winter village this month and grab a hot
chocolate (or something stronger) to keep warm while enjoying this reclaimed bit of urban space
underneath the Gardiner Expressway.
Don’t know how to skate? No problem. The Bentway also offers free skating lessons for both kids
and adults. Skates and helmets are available on-site.
Jan. 6 to Feb. 17 // thebentway.ca
COZYDQ-DEQUIERA ATHERTON
EBRU YILDIZ
AFROBEATS AT
THE DRAKE: Hot
Coco and Kuruza
If you’re not hip to Afrobeats, consider yourself (extremely)
late to the party—a very fun party at that,
one characterized by irresistible melodies, driving
drum beats and an undeniable je ne sais quoi that
just makes you want to dance.
The catchall term “afrobeats” refers to the
contemporary music coming out of Africa and the
diaspora over the last decade, and if you’re looking
for somewhere in Toronto to experience all the
varieties, look no further than The Drake Hotel and
its two resident parties—Kuruza and Hot Coco.
The parties both happen monthly, which means
you have two chances per month to get your fill of
Afropop, Afroswing, Jùjú, Naija, Amapiano, Kuduro
and any of the other dynamic varieties of Afrobeats,
played alongside hip-hop, dancehall and R&B in a
setting that’s as welcoming for experienced fans as
it is new ones.
So mark your calendars, grab your dancing
shoes, and get ready to sweat.
Kuruza, Jan. 3 // Hot Coco, Jan. 10 // thedrake.ca
ROM Speaks January
The Royal Ontario Museum expands on its
exhibits with an exciting series of lectures
for the upcoming 2020 season, a highlight
of which is a rare public talk and performance
with avant-garde American artist
Laurie Anderson.
On Jan. 16, Anderson will provide an
intimate look at her work through her
own words while offering commentary
on contemporary culture. The lecture will
complement Anderson’s new virtual reality
experience, “To the Moon,” an immersive
art and virtual reality installation co-created
with new-media artist Hsin-Chien Huang,
running Jan. 11 to 25.
Other notable lectures include “Our
Deadliest Predator: A Human History of the
Mosquito,” on Jan. 14, which coincides with
the “Bloodsuckers: Legends to Leeches”
special exhibition. Later in the month, you
can also learn about the rich history of
paleontology in Eastern Canada as John H.
Calder presents research and new discoveries
from scientists on Jan. 28.
Royal Ontario Museum // Jan. 14, 16 and 28
// rom.on.ca
JANUARY 2020 BEATROUTE 37
01.20YYZMUSIC
The Cheat Sheet BR PICKS THE 5 ESSENTIAL LIVE MUSIC SHOWS
HIPHOPR&B
ROCK
HEAVY
POP
ALT
1
MATTHEW DOC DUNN
Thurs. Jan 16. At The Baby G
Ascendent, luminsicent alt-country,
reminiscent of your favourite era of
My Morning Jacket. Stay late for DJ
Meg Ryan (U.S. Girls) on the ones
and twos.
2 ISKWE
Fri., Jan 17. at The Mod Club
Finding an even blend between
electro-pop and trip-hop, the Juno
and Polaris Prize nominee defies
convention and is a force of nature of
her own construction.
HÉLÈNE BARBIER
Thurs., Jan. 23. At The Boat
3
The Montreal-based vocalist crafts
a world of nebulous, effortful,
precision-indebted art rock that’s
intimately composed and rigorously
executed.
4 POSSUM
Sat., Feb. 1 at The Horseshoe Tavern
Angular and propulsive krautrock
that names ground control as 70s
proto-punk, and docks at both the
door of garage rock and the outer
rings of the psychedelic multiverse.
5
CALEXICO & IRON AND WINE
Sun., Feb 2 at Danforth Music Hall
The honey-voiced folk innovator
joins forces with beloved Tucson,
Arizona desert rock duo to
stretches outlaw Americana over
sprawling, sun-baked folk.
1
BURNER AND WLMRT
Sat., Jan. 4 at Monarch Tavern
Locals night featuring the city’s
finest hypendated bands: high-achiving
noise rock, and effortful, death
metal-worshipping hardcore.
2 CARTRIDGE
Sat., Jan. 25 at Houndstooth
Boston punks with an advanced
degree in guttural, teeth-pulling
hardcore. Don’t be late — each
song on their last EP clocked in at
under 50 seconds.
3
SHADOW OF INTENT
Fri, Jan.31 at Hard Luck Bar
Does anyone ever really grow out
of deathcore? Splash in a bit of
Eastern European black metal and
you have your answer.
4
RED DEATH
Tues, Jan. 28 at See-Scape
D.C. punks, same as it ever was: a
wandering eye for speed metal,
and some of the wickedest,
big-bellied riffs around.
5
HIDE AND CLOUD RAT
Fri., Feb. 7 at The Garrison
Fri., Feb. 7 at The Garrison
Fierce and merciless, the ever-impressive
Michigan grindcore outfit
and the Chicago-based electronic
duo excavate the feral depths of
everything we attempt to resist with
elegance.
1
JON BRYANT
Wed, Jan. 29 at The Drake Underground
If you’re into Bon Iver or City and
Colour, you’ll want to get familiar
with this Halifax-bred dream-pop
singer.
2
BEN LEE
Wed, Jan. 22 at The Drake Underground
The prolific Aussie has released an
album every few years since 1995,
so you know his show is going to
be stacked with material that spans
his impressive career
3
MEGAN & LIZ
Sat, Jan. 18 at Velvet Underground
Pioneers of the YouTube age, these
fraternal twins built their career
alongside a thriving social media
community to the tune of 250+
million views.
4
JP SAXE
Tue, Jan. 28 at The Drake Underground
Los-Angeles-based singer/songwriter
brings his yearning brand of
soulful R&B back to his hometown
of Toronto for one night.
5 METRONOMY
Sat, Feb. At The Danforth Music Hall
Silky, sexy and cheeky as hell, the
English electronic group are on the
edge of their 20th anniversary and
the perfect guides to navigating
This Modern Age ®.
1 GZA
Mon, Jan. 27 at The Phoenix
The Genius of the Wu-Tang Clan
will perform Liquid Swords in its
entirety to coincide with the classic
album’s 25th anniversary.
2 ATMOSPHERE
Fri, Jan. 17 at The Danforth
For over 20 years, Ant and Slug
have been representing the Midwest
hip-hop scene through their
label Rhymesayers and their own
prolific musical output.
3
AN ORCHESTRAL RENDI-
TION OF DR. DRE: 2001
Sat, Jan. 25 at The Opera House
Though we all know Dr. Dre’s
classic album like the back of our
hand, now is your chance to hear
it in a whole new light thanks to
Concept Eventz and Alternative
Symphony.
4
IT’S OK* FEAT. THEO
CROKER
Sat, Jan. 18 at Betty Oliphant Theatre
Theo Croker is neither R&B, nor
hip-hop, but we had to slide him
in here somewhere. He’s jazz to
the core, and creates music that is
both “timeless and of the moment”
(in his words).
5
TEDDY SWIMS
Thurs, Jan. 30 at Rivoli
The “Swims” in his name is actually
an acronym that stands for
“someone who isn’t me sometimes,”
a reference to Teddy’s goal
of integrating different parts of
himself into his music.
DANCE
1
ELECTRIC CIRCUS
Fri, Jan. 17 at The Drake Lounge
DJs illo and Techtwelve will be
bringing back the vibes of the
iconic live-to-air dance party for
one night only. Expect the best in
old and new club music.
2 SKREAM
Sat, Jan. 12 at CODA
One of the UK’s best-loved selectors
brings his open to close magic
back to Toronto for a night of disco,
house, techno, dubstep and everything
in between.
3
NINA KRAVIZ
Fri, Jan. 24 at The Concert Hall
Recently named as one of the top
10 DJs in the world for 2019 by
DJ Mag, the Siberian star touches
down in Toronto after postponing
her November date.
4 MATRIXXMAN
Sat, Jan. 25 at 211 Geary
One of the pillars of the US techno
scene, Matrixxman has releases
on such labels as Dekmantel and
Ghostly.
5
JANE FITZ
Fri, Jan. 31 at 188 Pearl
A unique opportunity to catch an
all-night set from this DJ’s DJ who
has crafted a 25-year-and-counting
career with her expertly curated
selections spanning acid, psychedelic
techno, trance and beyond.
38 BEATROUTE JANUARY 2020
01.17.20
trailofdead.com
1/20 — WINNIPEG, MB
BELL MTS PLACE
1/22 — EDMONTON, AB
ROGERS PLACE
1/23 — CALGARY, AB
SCOTIABANK SADDLEDOME
1/25 — VANCOUVER, BC
PACIFIC COLISEUM
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