Author: David Adelman

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Music

Roman Remains create ‘a hybrid of elements’ on their album Zeal

Discussing the band’s history, evolution and reconfiguration

Over the past decade, Leila Moss, Luke Ford, Toby Butler and Dan Higgins have grown together in a most unique way. Moss, the current lead singer of the U.K./Los Angeles-based band, Roman Remains, met Ford back in Cheltenham, U.K, where they formed a band called Solomon. They soon melted into a band called The Duke Spirit and rippled their way into the indie music scene of Europe and America.

The English rock band based in London, described as a cross between industrial electronic and indie, The Duke Spirit touched upon a vast musical spectrum, from rhythmic “atlantic soul” and Motown influences, to alternative rock bands such as The Jesus and Mary Chain and Spiritualized. Sticking together as a band for over a decade, Moss said the six-piece group began as a “word of mouth” band, gaining traction at the 2006 Coachella festival, moving on to play a number of high-profile support slots for Queens of the Stone Age and R.E.M. and appearing on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel Live!

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While The Duke Spirit took a break from touring, Ford took a one year leave to raise his newborn son. In the meantime, Moss and Butler put life into a new band persona they were developing, Roman Remains.

“It was about this time last year that we were living for a month in the Mile End recording an album with Damian Taylor, the Grammy-nominated music producer who has collaborated with superstar Bjork, UNKLE, The Prodigy, and the Arcade Fire,” said Moss. “He is simply a genius.”

This much anticipated new project is touring around the US and Canada in what is promised to be an alternative electro lovers’ dream tour. The band is currently touring on Gary Numan’s 2014 Splinter Tour, hitting major North American cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Toronto and our very own Montreal.

When asked how Moss and Butler came up with the name Romain Remains, Moss laughed.

“It’s kind of a joke Toby had written down. You see, musically we haven’t evolved that much and we have remained rather primal. Toby and I agreed that we must have moved from a prehistoric age to Roman,” laughed Moss.

Their album Zeal pushes the dynamics of The Duke Spring in a completely new indie direction. Just look at their flagship music video for the song “This Stone is Starting to Bleed.” The story follows a crystal blue-eyed shaman, that crosses the looks of a Tusken Raider from the Star Wars Universe and something out of an ‘80s horror film, performing a peculiar ritual as the members of Roman Remains watch from the shadows.

“We are growing organically and we have never really sat around the dinner table trying to define our music. The foundations are clearly electronica, it has the live show, the live drum…and it’s really a hybrid of elements we found interesting,” said Moss.

From a residency at LA’s Sayers Club, to tag-teaming with Big Black Delta and Gary Numan for SXSW, the duo has come a long way in a short amount of time. Moving at an incredible speed, Moss’ only words of inspiration are “bring it on, we want all of it. Bring it on American and European festivals, we love to see people ascend on a spiritual level with our music.”

Roman Remains will be performing at Cafe Campus on March 25, opening for Gary Numan. Tickets cost $25 in advance and $30 at the door.

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Arts

An evening with Gael García Bernal

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After the success of the Noam Chomsky event, the Concordia Student Union (CSU) had another trick up their sleeve — Mexican actor, director and producer, Gael García Bernal. Bernal’s career exploded after his debut in some of the most celebrated films in Mexico such as Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu’s Amores Perros and Alfonso Cuarón’s Y tu mama tambien.

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Bernal arrived for his first time in Montreal to present his latest documentary, Who is Dayani Cristal? at the 16th annual Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM). The film mixes documentary and fiction, in which Bernal retraces the steps of a Latin-American migrant found dead while traveling from Honduras to Arizona.

It was for this reason that the Concordia Student Union was asked to co-host the festival with RIDM to present Bernal as a guest-speaker.

“I was thrilled because the CSU really values the importance of documentary and art, especially when it’s used as a catalyst for social change,” said Caroline Bourbonniere, VP external and mobilization for the CSU.

Before delving into a discussion of social change through documentary, Bernal recounted his own personal journey.

“I was always working with my parents in their plays, but I think a key moment came when I was 14, 15, during [the] Zapatista uprising in Chiapas and [it] changed my perspective completely,” he said.

By 19 years of age, Bernal was a Mexican soap opera heartthrob, but he left Mexico to study acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. After running out of money in 3 weeks, Bernal had to take odd jobs in bars and restaurants.

“I thought I would never be an actor, I thought I’d act as a hobby … I wanted to see myself as a pediatrician.”

Yet it was while he was a student in London that Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu approached him for Amores Perros.

When it comes to defining who he is as an individual, even after all his acclaimed success, the answer does not come easy.

“Even at this age, I don’t know who I am. It’s more direct for me to say who I am going to be, rather than who I am because who I am is [not] static, I’m losing it at every second,” Bernal said.

Shining a light on how fortunate Canadians are to get government funding for creating films, Bernal expressed how important the notion of not having to return that money allows artists to expand on their own identity.

“Our films will be more transcendent when they are completely free,” explained Bernal.

That’s why the actor is the co-chair of Ambulante, the travelling documentary film festival, whose worldwide mission is to promote and fundraise Mexican documentaries.

“We need to talk about our reality and building our identity for ourselves. So this documentary film festival started to become this big thing in open air.”

Bernal also has a connection to Concordia, taking on the role of Mazier Bahari, in the upcoming film Rosewater, directed by John Stewart. Maziar Bahari is the Canadian journalist and Concordia Alumni who was arrested in 2009 by the Iranian government and accused of being an American spy.

Find out more about Who is Dayani Cristal? at http://whoisdayanicristal.com

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Music

KIN fables: ‘a musical, visual journey into fable’

McKinnon brothers combine mediums in their latest audio-visual project KIN. Photo Seb McKinnon.

A mysterious knight in shining armour blasts a ram-horn, calling the short fantasy film KIN into action. A young boy with distinct yellow galoshes runs in slow motion out of a ghastly mansion, while a knight chases him through an enchanted forest. A child-princess, pale as the moon, approaches a stream, a diamond necklace is revealed lying stagnant in the flowing waters. The knight and the boy in the yellow galoshes collapse simultaneously. The boy regains his footing and is welcomed by a tribe of dancing spirits that resemble the puppet-villain ‘Jigsaw’ from the Saw film series, only curious and inviting-looking and not so creepy. Pause.

McKinnon brothers combine mediums in their latest audio-visual project KIN. Photo Seb McKinnon

While most successful films begin with words on paper, the McKinnon Brother’s KIN, which took home the award for Best Cinematography at the Montreal Fantasia Film Festival and the Cyprus International Film Festival, began with a few tracks on Logic Pro composed by Seb McKinnon, a graphic designer with no background in music.

After graduating from Dawson College in illustration, Seb was designing illustrations for the card game Magic: The Gathering and was hired by Ubisoft as a game designer. Turning all his medieval fantasies into elaborately designed reality, Seb was living an illustrator’s dream, until he discovered Logic Pro and the art of song-making; that’s when everything changed.

“As a concept artist, I design knights or any creature that has something to do with fantasy. I remember while I was at Ubisoft, about two years ago, I really wanted to do something on my own. That’s when the ideas for KIN really came to me,” said Seb.

Akroan Horse, Debt to the Deathless, Drown in Filth, Vaporkin, were just a few of the countless creatures and mythical warriors he gave life to. Fueling the hordes of Magic card collectors with riveting visuals no longer thrilled Seb the same way because the world he was creating was beyond the realm known to fantasy-lovers. His new concept, KIN, was born through the mélange of beats and with the partnership of his filmmaking brother, Benjamin McKinnon.

“Most fantasy short films or feature films that you see have soundtracks concentrated on the orchestral, the choirs, the epic drum beats, but we wanted to bring a modern element to KIN, so that’s why we introduced the trance beat,” said Benjamin, who still cannot believe the process of how this all begun.

“While I started making the music, Ben and I began constructing a storyboard and that’s how this story started to tumble,” said Seb.

As more and more faces were created for KIN, Seb went back to the drawing board and began drawing a graphic novel about the story, which inspired some of the shots of the film. But it is really through the music where the story began.

“I went by the musical name of Clann for this project. We stumbled upon vocalist Charlotte Oleena by chance and that made the KIN EP into what it was,” he said.

In the realm of KIN, it is not just the mythology of the characters and world, but the music that sets the tone.

The McKinnon brothers are gaining attention in the Montreal cultural milieu for this project, which is unlike any film ever created before in the genre of fantasy. It’s a musical, visual journey into fable, narrated through its visually mystifying and intensely emotional narrative guided by trance-like electronic music.

Divided into three short films, Salvage, Her & The River, and Requiem, the McKinnon brothers have completely self-funded this project and are now raising money on kickstarter to see this multimedia project to its completion.

“You watch Braveheart and there are certain moments in the film where all the sounds disappear and you are left with the soundtracks that are almost on the verge of being a music video,” said Seb.

“Goosebumps moments, connecting with those moments when you are watching a film and you feel the chills, that’s what we strive to create,” said Benjamin, finishing Seb’s thought.

 

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Arts

Iron chains, golden tassels, and a lot of playing with fire

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Press

Only one outcome can arrive when you combine circus performers with sensual burlesque dancers. Trouble. The type of sexy, eclectic, mouth-watering, nail-biting kind of trouble that Cirquantique, a Montreal-based performance company, seems to have mastered.

The playful protagonist, Catoo, is just your ordinary chimney-sweeper. But when she falls from the chimney into a lovely state of suspended reality, Horologium’s magic begins and right from the start takes you down a rabbit hole of erotic sensations and hedonist explorations. Especially when two hunks of men, dressed as a god of mischief and the god Pan,respectively, carry off Catoo, followed by a train of wood nymphs.

Just one of the things you’ll see at Cirquantique

A mysterious woman walks on the stage, covered in a thin silken dark cape. Gold-encrusted jewels crown her forehead like a tiara as she strides majestically down the stage. After several short teases this priestess-clad performer reveals what’s under her robe: bare skin imprisoned behind iron chains. Seconds later, her deadlocked facial expression transforms into one of freedom as she lifts the chains. Only the golden tassels covering her nipples remain.

“My act deals with loss and grieving, basically the message being you can break away physically from something but breaking away mentally is an entirely different thing,” Sucre à la Crème, the first performer of the night to break the ice by going nude on stage, told The Concordian.

Keeping the fires in the audience burning, the multi-talented Esmeralda Nadeau-Jasso raised the heat in the room by a few degrees by emerging in a dark, ghoulish robe and skeleton mask, touching, tempting and teasing the frightened Catoo, who stares at the audience with a look of unease and discomfort. Then the dance with death really begins as Nadeau-Jasso, the fire breathing, hula hooping, burlesque dancer/producer of Horologium is revealed.

“I’m a fire-breather, and I always try to incorporate that into my acts,” said Nadeau-Jasso.

Pulling out a torch, Nadeau-Jasso slowly and seductively begins to blow off pieces of her clothes with fire, all the way down into her bra and panties. Forest nymphs and other creatures of the night find their way onto the stage, only to light a skipping rope on fire. Taking a leap of faith, Nadeau-Jasso bobs up and down through the fire; her bra and tassels have burned away and, throughout, Nadeau-Jasso conveys facial expressions full of liberation and self-accomplishment, as if triumphant over fire.

“Horologium plays on the notion of bringing out the characters of our subconscious. It’s a mind-opening sexual dream that explores the realms that each of us thrive to understand and experience,” she said, also admitting it’s not as easy as it looks to undress and jump through a rope of fire.

Nadeau-Jasso told the Concordian that she enjoyed watching the process of how Cirquantique grew.

“Originally, we were two people who wanted to integrate circus performers. Now our vision is to work with a lot of local musicians and to combine all forms of visual/audial art into the most entertaining show ever.”

Entertaining was an understatement. Playing live music was Montreal band Little Suns, who created an original score for the theatrical cabaret. Combining circus, burlesque, dance and music, Cirquantique has taken entertainment to a new level in Montreal.

 

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Arts

Escaping paradise, and the pilgrimage back home

Rebellious Lilith’s journey home with her guardian proves to be one of intrigue. Press photo.

Maintaining her fascination of the fantastical, director Elza Kephart furthered her journey into the world of mythology and mystery by exploring the original story of creation with the story of Lilith. Go in the Wilderness is about Adam’s first wife, who rebelled against the Creator and Adam in search of self.

Rebellious Lilith’s journey home with her guardian proves to be one of intrigue. Press photo.

“Something awesome struck me about the legend of the first woman escaping paradise and waking up on shores of the red sea of an unknown world,” Kephart said.

The film begins with a naked Lilith experiencing the basic pangs of human existence: hunger, loneliness and fear. Not to mention, the earthly “curse” of female menstruation. When a Guardian approaches from the stars above, he expresses his urgent need to bring Lilith back to Eden, where she will live forever and be unfazed by the problems of the world; the only problem is, she does not remember the journey back.

In their voyage back to Eden, the audience is aroused by the basic forms of curiosity and human emotion. However, Lilith does not want to return to Eden, a golden cage that has no sun.

When Elza Kephart’s first feature film, Graveyard Alive (2003) rattled over 20 countries and won the Kodak Vision Award for Best Cinematography at the 2004 Slamdance Festival, the Canadian filmmaker thought her road was set in stone. Now, 10 years later, with the release of her second feature-film, Go in the Wilderness, Kephart laughed at the unexpected turns her career has taken.

Since her horror-comedy, about a shy nurse who becomes a flesh eating sex kitten after being bit by a zombie, exploded, Kephart didn’t expect to continue to work on various Hollywood sets including The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005), The Last Kiss (2006), The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) and The Smurfs 2 (2013). Instead, she wished to pursue her dream of creating fantastical films.

“I think when we go to film school, you learn the craft and the tricks of the trade, but no one prepares you for the psychological roller coaster that you experience by yourself,” reminisced Kephart. “I made one successful film and I thought that it would be no problem for me to get more funding for future projects from Canadian organizations like SODEC, but I was [mistaken].”

Having been fortunate enough to grow up with supportive parents who encouraged her to pursue a career as an artist, Kephart learned from a young age to be proactive.

“It’s important to find your own voice and do what you truly want to do, because unless you believe in reincarnation, you only have one life.”

This way of thinking is what inspired Kephart to take matters into her own hands after production funding for Go in the Wilderness didn’t pan out.

“Some people say never spend money on your own film, but if no one is giving you money and you want to make a film, you have to make that investment.”

With the financial help of family and friends, Kephart was able to turn her dream into a reality, even if it took longer than expected.

About the film, Kephart said: “The twist is that Eden is like being in a casino with no ticking clocks. That’s why the film is called Go in the Wilderness, because of the contrast of sunrise and sunset of our world against the timeless world of so called Paradise,” said Kephart, whose film will walk the audience on a fine line between the boundaries of this world and the mystical, phantom world of long ago.

Go in the Wilderness premieres as part of Festival du Nouveau Cinéma Oct. 19 at Pavillon Judith-Jasmin Annexe at 1:00 p.m.

 

 

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Arts

A throwback to jazz’s golden-age

Ain’t Misbehavin’ runs at the Segal Centre from Sept. 29 to Oct. 20. Press photo.

What do Ain’t Misbehavin, Othello, The Seagull, Glengarry Glen Ross, Top Girls and The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz have in common? Aside from being the 2013-14 theatre line-up for the Segal Centre, they all revolve around the deadly themes of power and passion.

Ain’t Misbehavin’ runs at the Segal Centre from Sept. 29 to Oct. 20. Press photo.

The broadway production, Ain’t Misbehavin’, was conceived in 1988 by the veteran radio broadcaster Murray Horwitz, as a musical revue paying tribute to black musicians of the 1920s and ‘30s Harlem Renaissance, especially the zing and swing of Fats Waller’s musical genius.

The Harlem Renaissance was an era of burgeoning creativity and cultural awareness, where hundreds of years of oppression and persecution were expressed through the new sassy and sizzling beats of swing at infamous nightclubs such as The Cotton Club and The Savoy Ballroom. Waller was one of the pioneers of influential jazz music at that time and composed Ain’t Misbehavin in 1929, a song that would not only etch the beginnings of his fame but also the framework for an era long gone.

Now the Segal Centre, in conjunction with Copa de Oro Productions, is bringing Montrealers back to a more bumpin’ time with Ain’t Misbehavin’ The Fats Waller Musical Show, directed by the award-winning Roger Peace. Although this play marks Peace’s 107th production as a writer, director and choreographer, what continues to stick out for him is that there is no plot-driven story.

“It’s a musical review, so we look at each song as its own little story and we build around that,” said Peace. “He [Waller] was a big star in those days in Harlem…where Harlem was Harlem for its speakeasies and the drugs in the dark nightclub corners.” Peace hinted that this aspect will be reflected in the musical as well.

“This joint is jumpin’/It’s really jumpin’/Come in cats an’ check your hats/I mean this joint is jumpin’,” sings the five-cast ensemble dressed to the nines in zoot suits and shimmering dresses. In particular, cast member Aiza Ntibarikure really is jumpin’ high. A 2011 graduate from Dawson College’s professional theatre program, Ntibarikure hasn’t had a moment to settle down yet.

“I never thought I’d be working so hard so early upon graduating! But I consider myself lucky because I’m putting myself out there and following my bliss,” she said.

“Check your weapons at the door/be sure to pay your quarter/Burn your leather on the floor/grab anybody’s daughter,” solos the up-and-coming Jonathan Emile, wearing an impeccable fedora and matching white suit. For Emile, a local hip-hop artist who has collaborated with hip-hop superstars such as KRS1 and Kendrick Lamar, this will be his first professional performance.

“It’s just amazing to push the limits of my creativity and musical ability. Stepping into the theatre world just opens up the dimensions of what I can do,” says Emile, who’s proud to give back to his jazz roots by paying tribute to Waller. “Part of why I’m stepping into this is for my own personal growth…and plus this joint really is jumpin’.”

“I know for certain/The one I love/I through with flirtin’/It’s just you I’m thinking of/Ain’t misbehaving/ I’m saving my love for you.”

This song always invokes a strong feeling of nostalgia in Peace, who advocates that anyone interested in jazz will share in this feeling as well.

“I hope the audience will get into it because Montreal has always been big on jazz, and unfortunately you can’t hear these songs on the radio anymore. The history is in the music, and the music is right here at the Segal Centre.”

Ain’t Misbehavin’ runs at the Segal Centre from Sept. 29 to Oct. 20.

 

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Arts

Start your day with Breakfast Television

Breakfast Television David Adelman
Aside from the modern studio and its new gadgets, the team officially became complete with the addition of three Concordia alumni: Catherine Verdon-Diamond, Laura Casella and Elias Makos. Photo by David Adelman.

David Adelman
Contributor
It is no secret that the Montreal anglophone job market for television newscasters is quite limited and the competition to fill these positions is extremely demanding. However, some Concordia journalism graduates have found a home on City Montreal’s newest local morning show, Breakfast Television.
City’s Breakfast Television has had successful precedents in other Canadian cities, dominating morning television with its fast-paced, interactive segments. That’s why Rogers Media designed an exciting new studio inside its downtown Montreal headquarters built with state-of-the-art technology to broadcast new media. This will include an immense video wall that features nine flat-screen monitors and a 65-inch interactive touch-screen monitor that will give the audience a unique perspective to what’s happening worldwide through the lens of social media. To top it off, the live reporters on the team will be out in the field using a new broadcast technology called Dejero which relies on newer cellular systems and is more efficient when compared to older methods of transmission.
Aside from the modern studio and its new gadgets, the team officially became complete with the addition of three Concordia alumni: Catherine Verdon-Diamond, Laura Casella and Elias Makos. For the show’s executive producer and local content manager, Bob Babinski, this feels like “old home week”. A journalism professor at Concordia University for over 25 years, Babinski has worn many hats in the world of television, both on-camera and behind the scenes, which has led him to Breakfast Television alongside students he taught almost a decade ago.
“It just goes to show you how significant the Concordia journalism program has been in the city over the years, that any newsroom in the city is dotted with Concordia graduates. I’d like to think that it’s a tip of the cap to the success of the program,” said Babinski.
Montreal can be a tricky market because there are not always many opportunities in broadcasting, but for Makos, Breakfast Television’s new media producer and commentator, landing this position couldn’t have come at a better time. “You don’t get to work with this caliber of high-energy individuals all together very much in a career,” said Makos, who is more psyched about the team he’s working with than all the new gadgets he’ll get to play with. “My focus has always been around technology and everything new media, but one of the reasons why I am more excited to be here is this versatile team and fast-paced show… that will be unlike anything the Anglophone market in this city has seen,” said Makos, who can’t wait to operate the 65-inch monitor.

“For a long time I wanted to be on television, but I didn’t know how to go about it,” said Verdon-Diamond, who had originally planned on being an algebra teacher. Though she studied mathematics in university, she somehow found herself years later working behind-the-scenes at the CBC. “Then, all of a sudden this opportunity came up, my boss at the CBC suggested I try out reporting. I was doing weather for the 11 p.m. news and now I will be heading to work at 4 a.m. to prepare for this show,” laughs Verdon-Diamond, who will be Breakfast Television’s traffic and weather specialist.
For news reporter Casella, breaking into television has always been her dream. She started off in radio, but is delighted to have changed mediums. “I finally have visuals to work with!” She believes that for students who want to be broadcast journalists, learning to be confident enough in your ability takes a lot of time. She explains, “I laid out my path for myself, it was not easy and you have to strive for it, just because there are not as many jobs in this field as there are others.” When asked about Montreal’s media industry, Casella said, “I wouldn’t say the anglophone market is a struggle, but it’s something you really have to work hard for and chase …You know what? Just go for it, don’t be afraid to go for it … don’t give up.”
The morning show premiered Monday Aug. 26 and will continue to air from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. daily and is available to local service providers.

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