Tag: Music

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Music

Back to school with OUMF

Behind the scenes of OUMF’s music festival with Mikey Rishwain Bernard

One of Montreal’s biggest back-to-school festivals is back for another year. Think old school hip-hop bloc party with DJs, live bands and loud crowds—this is OUMF.

From Wednesday Sept. 7 to 10, OUMF will present free performances from local and international artists outdoors on Saint-Denis Street at Quartier des spectacles. The festival is celebrating its 6th year and the lineup is one to look forward to. Renowned DJs such as DJ Jazzy Jeff and Skratch Bastid will be taking the stage.

This year’s great lineup of artists would not be possible without festival and program director of ‘M pour Montreal’ Mikey Rishwain Bernard. ‘M Pour Montreal’ plans a multitude of music showcases at festivals around the world. They are in charge of the musical program for OUMF. Rishwain has been handling all the music aspects of the festival. “My specific mandate is music programming and I also go on stage to host and say jokes that some people laugh at and some don’t,” said Rishwain.

The festival will be focusing on hip-hop, everything from old school to new school. DJ Jazzy Jeff used to kick it with Will Smith in their duo group “DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince.” “He’s considered a catalyst to Will Smith,” said Rishwain. “He is a music pioneer to DJs. It’s good to see a guy still keeping it old school. It’s an honour to have him perform for us this year.” He added that there will also be indie bands and many female acts.

“I’m looking forward to Hein Cooper. He is a beautiful Australian man that looks like Justin Bieber and he has great songs. It’s great to bring that Australian vibe to the show,” Rishwain said. He said he’s also excited for the “Word Up Battles.” It’s a rap battle between two rappers, all in French. The rappers go on stage and compete live.“It could be edgy, but it’s very entertaining,” said Rishwain.

Another major highlight is Canadian DJ Skratch Bastid. He’s the first Canadian DJ to ever be nominated for a Juno Award and he will be performing at OUMF this coming Friday at 9 p.m.

The event is free and geared for all age groups. For Rishwain, OUMF signifies a boost before the school season. “A lot of young students from everywhere that are new to the city, they need their melting pot,” he said. “They seem to communicate through music and partying. This festival kicks off the school year.”

Interview with music programmer Mikey Rishwain Bernard. Photo by Bruno D. Capture.

Rishwain is well-known in the Montreal music scene. He plans a multitude of music festivals throughout North America and has brought many talented local artists closer to stardom. As festival and program director of ‘M pour Montreal’, his goal is to help artists develop outside of Canada.“We are here to put a system in place for artists to play for a lot of influential people in different countries,” he said, adding that he’s always been really big on bringing people together. “We are ‘M’ for middle guy, bringing musicians together to create success and showcase opportunities on an international scale.”

Mac DeMarco and Half Moon Run are great examples of artists that gained success through ‘M Pour Montreal.’ They first played in front of ‘M pour Montreal’ audiences. “We do music industry conferences by showcasing these bands and artists,” said Rishwain, adding that that was how these groups started their careers.  He said he remembers booking Grimes and Half Moon Run in England when no one knew who they were and now they can sell out a whole show by themselves.

Last year, he saw Mac DeMarco and Half Moon Run play all around Europe. Rishwain said their crowds were even bigger in Ireland and Germany than in Montreal. “Knowing that they played together at ‘M pour Montreal’ and seeing them play in Europe gave me goosebumps. It shows how fast things can evolve and it happened in a matter of years for these bands,” he said.

Milk & Bone is another example of local success for Rishwain. “It was an honour to be part of their early success. These girls were always practicing. I heard a song and took a chance before ever hearing them perform live,” he said. “My feeling was booking them right away and it became a dream come true on both ends,” said Rishwain.

“I enjoy putting a breath of my own spirit in what I do,” he said. What he loves most about his job is to represent artists from Montreal. “I help pimp lots of bands and artists.”

Make sure to come and party at the OUMF music festival and laugh at Mikey Rishwain’s jokes. For more information regarding the event, visit their website.

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Music

Conquer Divide kicks major ass

The all-female metal rock band conquers the divide between genders

Conquer Divide, an all-female metal rock band, is conquering rock radio stations across America. It’s only been a year since their first self-titled album was released and they have already landed number 13 on Billboard’s HeatSeeker charts and number 33 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock/Radio Charts.

The band consists of screamer and vocalist Janel Duarte, guitarist Kristen Waters, drummer Tamara Tadic, lead vocalist Kiarely Castillo, bassist Ashley Colby and guitarist Izzy Johnson. For Duarte, hearing her band’s name on the radio is surreal. “We’re getting up there and it’s a lot to do with our fans,” she said. “They are calling the radio stations requesting us. It’s such a lovely feeling.” Conquer Divide’s music is a mixture of metal rock and softer rock tunes. Duarte said the bands “Beartooth” and “Attack Attack!” were some of the band’s major musical influences.

The band wouldn’t have been formed if it weren’t for international networking across a multitude of social media platforms.“It originally started with Kristen [Waters] when she was 15. She had the vision of starting a female project. She wanted to prove that it’s possible,” said Duarte. “She looked for girls in the Michigan area, which is where she’s from, but had to broaden her search.” The search for Kristen’s band mates expanded throughout the U.S., Canada and into the UK.  Duarte mentions how band members Kiarely, Izzy and herself were discovered through YouTube. “They found me through my song covers that I had posted on my YouTube Channel,” Duarte said. “We all come from different states and Izzy is from the UK. Conquer Divide started with a lot of Facebook and YouTube so we have a lot of love for social media.”

The name ‘Conquer Divide’ has a strong meaning, one that Duarte explained is different for each member. “I see Conquer Divide as conquering the division of how far apart we are, we all live in different parts of the world and we come and make beautiful music together,” she explained. “It also means conquering the division of genders. Essentially, how conquering the fact that we are girls and still kick ass.”

What she loves most about being in the band is when they all get to [jam] together and go to different cities that they’ve never been to. “It’s always a good time when we are out travelling and then the shows are just the highlight of the night,” Duarte said. She added that touring isn’t dreadful: “When we got stuck by the side of the road at the end of our ‘Slave’ tour, we were all giggling. We were in the middle of the desert.” The girls are very close-knit and they conquer all their band issues together. “We’re a really strong band,” she said. Duarte said that the whole experience is worth the sleepless and showerless nights.

Conquer Divide wants listeners to feel comforted through their music. They write their songs based on experiences that everyone goes through. “Everyone goes through a lot of stuff in life, so I have a few things that I want to get off my chest and that’s where my inspiration comes from,” said Duarte.

Janel Duarte, vocalist/screamer performing live. Photo by Lauren Klinge.

What she loves most about what she brings to the band is her sense of humour. “I make a lot of people laugh, I’m just a ball of energy,” she said. “I feel like I help bring the shows together with the hype, craziness and aggression.”

She has a lot to say about her beloved bandmates as well. “Next to me, [Izzy] has a lot of patience, she knows how to get things done—best sense of humour mixed with a pretty personality and sassy accent.” As for their drummer Tamara, Duarte said she’s on fire behind the drums. “She’s a quiet sweet girl and when you see her on drums, it’s like, what? She’s so down to earth. We are all two different people on and off stage but for her it’s definitely apparent.”

The “momma” of Conquer Divide is guitarist Kristen. “She knows our schedules, when we need to do interviews. Any questions we have, we ask her,” Duarte said, adding that Kristen is the blunt and honest friend of the group. “She’s the friend that will tell you you look fat in those jeans.”

Their bass player Ashley is a tall southern gal who loves country music. “Her personality is so bubbly and happy. She’s always the person trying to keep us positive. It’s really awesome to have her around,” Duarte said. Vocalist Kiarely is Duarte’s best friend, inside and outside of the band. “We can just sit in a room and laugh our asses off for hours. We are inseparable on tour,” said Duarte. “I love all my girls in my band.”

To all bands out there working hard on their music, this is Duarte’s advice: “Get on YouTube, Facebook, post comments, go crazy, network as much as you possibly can, because when you do have a project that’s about to blow their minds, you will have a great audience.”

The girls are currently saving up for a new van for future tours. As soon as they hit the road again they are looking forward to touring and performing in Canada.

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Music

Streaming for success and coping with the norm of free downloads

The consequences of low album sales are cutting deep on those who depend on them

In 1985, Billboard certified platinum albums to over 15 artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Phil Collins and Madonna. By the end of 2014, Taylor Swift’s 1989 was the only album to go platinum. It’s not that people aren’t listening to music, they’re just listening to it in another way.

Music streaming websites have been on the rise for over five years. In the first six months of 2014, music streaming increased by 42 per cent from 2013, according to Nielsen SoundScan, the entertainment industry’s leading music data information provider. Physical album sales dipped 14.3 per cent, and even digital sales went down 13 per cent.

Spotify, a Swedish music streaming company, has recently grown popular worldwide. With over 30 million songs accessible for free, even on mobile phones, Spotify has attracted more than 50 million listeners from over 55 countries. Although streaming sites have affected both physical and digital sales, it is argued that they are an alternative to illegal downloading and music piracy.

“The way I see it, record labels got really greedy in the CD era and started charging truly exorbitant amounts of money for each disc, which pushed younger listeners to piracy as sites like Napster rose in the 1990s,” Zack Greenburg, business and music writer for Forbes, said. “Music’s price was over inflated, but then crashed as a generation got used to downloading it for free.”

Napster, a file-sharing website where music was downloaded for free, caused album sales to plummet in the 1990s. Since then, physical record stores like HMV have resorted to selling other products such as clothing and accessories to keep the business going.

“It’s really hard. We’ve never been able to reverse the whole streaming and illegal downloading movement,” said Nadia Fortin, manager at HMV LaSalle. “People got the impression that music was free, never realizing that people work to put the product out and they never get paid. To increase sales, we have arranged with our suppliers to sell the records at a competitive price.” Though Napster became illegal, retailers like HMV now have to compete with sites like Spotify.

Free music keeps listeners happy, but the reality is different for artists. Brittany Kwasnik, an independent musician from Montreal, plans to remove her music from Spotify.

“You have higher chances of people listening to your music through Spotify, but even if you get 100 people to listen to your album, you hope that out of those people, some of them would go out and buy the album,” Kwasnik said. “The reality, most times, is that they’re not going to actually buy your album. They’ll continue to stream it, and eventually you’ll get left behind, making basically zero dollars.”

While the average amount artists make per stream may have increased with the growth in users on Spotify in 2014, the numbers are still deceiving. Spotify claims that artists receive between $0.006 and $0.0084 per stream. Ed Sheeran’s song “Thinking out Loud” was number three on Spotify’s top 50 songs streamed the week of Dec. 28, and was listened to over 2.85 million times. With the figures provided, he would hypothetically have made between $17,100 and $23,940 in that week alone.

These numbers, however, don’t take into account that the revenue is split between labels, producers, songwriters, artists and others. The artist could in turn only make a small fraction of that revenue.

Sometimes, exposure is more important than money for indie artists: “[We] currently support music streaming services like Spotify,” said Brendan Lucas, president and co-founder of 5on4 Records Inc. in Montreal. “During the infancy stages of an artist’s career we believe that having the music available on any platform possible will be a benefit for their exposure. Although not as financially rewarding as a direct iTunes sale, music streaming exposes the music to a much larger audience.”

With the steady increase of users that listen to music online, the industry is quickly following through with the streaming model. In December 2014, Billboard announced that streams will count towards the rankings on the Billboard 200, and 1,500 song streams from any streaming service will count as an album sale. Streaming is here to stay, and artists can only hope that streaming revenue will soon equate that of a standard album sale.

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Concordia Student Union Music

The CSU Orientation: a night of total elation.

Photo by Mia Pearson.

Bands like Miracle Fortress, Suuns, and A Tribe Called Red served-up some great music that had show-goers dancing.

The CSU has always featured a variety of artists for their orientation concerts, but never has there been this much diversity in music genres. Friday’s show kicked off with shoegaze/dreampop band, Miracle Fortress, followed by the electronic  art-rock outfit Suuns, and finally the First Nations electronic dance act, A Tribe Called Red, who have been nominated for the Polaris music prize. The only thing these groups had in common were the pre-recorded backing tracks each band used on stage to fill the room with ambient noises, synth layering, or electronic drum samples.

Photo by Mia Pearson.

Miracle Fortress opened the show, and right off the bat, fans of their music would have noticed that the band that started as a four-piece now only had two musicians on stage: Graham Van Pelt on guitar, keys, and vocals, and Jessie Stein on drums. Their set started off with some exciting new material, but then suddenly the fire alarm went off which interrupted the band mid-song. The mics and the monitors had been cut off, leaving Graham Van Pelt in a state of confusion (almost resembling Ian Brown’s reaction during the Stone Roses’ first televised performance that ended in a power-outage in 1989—check that out!) The crowd was immediately evacuated from the venue. Students crowded the streets in front of The Corona theatre for a good 20 minutes before being let back in—apparently someone had been smoking backstage which triggered a fire alarm. Miracle Fortress ended up powering through their high energy set to people who did not seem too familiar with the group’s material. However, the crowd did not hesitate to grab their partners and start shaking about up close to the stage. This provided the band with some positive reinforcement and a boost of morale after being off map for couple of years since their last record, Was I a Wave?, in 2011.

Coming out from the woodworks, the mysterious Montreal based Krautrock band, Suuns, appeared on stage. They played a hypnotic, loud, and ambient set. It is talented bands like Suuns that somehow make Corona theatre one of the most revered and greatest live sounding venues in Montreal. Despite the various percussive and electronic instruments pouring out of the PAs, the band still sounded crystal clear and well-mixed on stage. On a more personal note, I was surprised by how far they could control their sound and volume. Their music was mixed so well that one could clearly discern between each channel of distorted noise, and the repetitive Jacki Liebezeit-style drumming. There is no doubt that they found their sound through groups like Kraftwerk, Can, Public Image Ltd., Swans and other progressive, industrial, or post-punk groups.

Finally, the aboriginal electronic dance act, A Tribe Called Red, came on stage with a lot of their newer dubstep and hip hop-influenced material. With an audiovisual set-up behind the three DJs, and a first-nations dancer who would occasionally appear on stage, A Tribe Called Red provided an exciting experience for eager show-goers. The group’s aboriginal music roots blended in nicely with contemporary hip-hop samples and dubstep. However, the group didn’t dive deep enough into their aboriginal-sounding material that night, and focused heavily on pleasing the crowd with more generic dance music.

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Arts

Our staff shares their best summer moments

Photo courtesy of rlonpine on flickr.

A stroll in the gardens
by Laura Marchand

Photo courtesy of rlonpine on flickr.

This summer, I was one of the thousands who went to see the natural sculptures in the Botanical Gardens. Originally, my friend and I had planned to visit La Ronde, but it was closed for the day. On a whim, we headed north to the Botanical Gardens. It was still early in the day: the sky was clear, the air was cool, and we had the gardens to ourselves. After strolling through the Chinese and Japanese Gardens, we sat down under the cherry blossom trees to enjoy a shared bento lunch I had made (my first attempt).

We ended up staying for hours, strolling around and looking at the sculptures. The artistry it takes to carve and build something is impressive enough; making it out of nature is simply incredible. At the time, many of them were not complete – but watching them grow, step by step, was its own joy.

Flamme Eternelle
by Sara Baron-Goodman

While I was studying abroad in Paris this past semester, I had the opportunity to totally saturate myself in art–from the great classics (oh hey Mona Lisa) to some very interesting new wave exhibits. I’m usually not much of a contemporary art fan, but there was one exhibit at Paris’ Palais de Tokyo that left quite an impression.

The Palais de Tokyo is not quite a museum, but rather a sort of modern and contemporary art house / gallery space / nightclub (in the basement) that’s known to showcase some pretty avant-garde and thought provoking exhibits. The one in particular that I’m referring to was entitled “Flamme Eternelle”, by Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn.

The gallery space was completely transformed into a sprawling junkyard: tires piled high became makeshift walls, an interactive Styrofoam sculpture station blew bits of white fluff everywhere, banners and paper with witty, cynical slogans littered the floor. In the center was the “flamme eternelle,” a sort of fire pit surrounded by plastic lawn chairs that invited guests to come and sit and ponder a while. The whole exhibit was completely interactive, and all the arts and crafts encouraged passers-through to leave their mark. Other corners of the junkyard maze revealed poetry readings by philosophers and writers, dilapidated TV-screens showing postmodern films, and at one end, a café-bar where you could buy snacks at very reasonable prices (by Parisian standards at least).

The feeling of the space was very post-apocalyptic, and seemed to be a critique on all the crap that we leave behind and waste, and how “trash” really can be turned into art if you look at it a different way.

One’s “best concert of my life”
by Elsbeth Cossar

What could be better than seeing your favorite band in concert? The thrill of knowing all of their songs, getting the chills when they point to you in a crowd of people… This summer, after my best friend and I heard that our favorite band, The Vocal Few, was doing a living room tour across Canada, we sent them an email desperately hoping that we could be chosen as a venue. Guess what, they said yes. Immediately we cleaned out the barn and turned it into the ideal indie music concert hall simultaneously selling tickets, and advertising to our friends. Finally the day came and the band pulled into the driveway. We casually ate burgers with the band members and their kids, you know, no big deal. Then, we sat in the front row and experienced all the thrills and chills you can imagine bantering with the band between songs. What an experience it was to feel the fan girl come pouring out of me in whoops and laughter. I’ve been to concerts that packed the Metropolis and overwhelmed Echo Beach, but being right in the middle of that rough barn, cheers bouncing off the rafters, and face to face with my favourite voice; was certainly the best concert of my life.

Being Fringe
by Laurent Pitre

For me, this summer was the summer of the Fringe! As a theatre student, I live for risk-taking, new, gritty, innovative and revolutionary theatre experiences. When and where can one person in our beautiful bilingual city get that? Every year in June, at the Montreal Saint-Ambroise Fringe Festival. With my new play, This is not a play, I hit the ground running, engaged audiences of all walks of life, met a myriad of amazing artists, and was lucky enough to be a part of this awesome performance arts festival.

As one of the most exotic festivals of the summer, Fringe is an excellent platform for arts students to acquire professional experience and experiment, develop and create new works. Furthermore, it is a great opportunity to see some groundbreaking performances and be part of a wonderfully eclectic community. What should you do next summer? Go and be as Fringe as possible!

A sentimental journey through Final Fantasy
by Jocelyn Beaudet

Photo by Jocelyn Beaudet

At this year’s Otakuthon, the organizers brought in conductor Arnie Roth to perform “A New World: intimate music from Final Fantasy,” in front of a live audience. Roth’s previous performance of the previous “Distant World,” was a full-featured orchestral presentation, visiting fan favorites composed by Nobuo Uematsu. For “A New World”, Roth instead chose to strip down the sound to its basics, to the style of chamber music. While the smaller selection of players may seem like it would be detrimental to the roaring complexity of Uematsu’s originals, the concert turned out to be anything but. Each section had its moments, and the finale even had Roth himself play rather than conduct.

No era was spared, from the 25-year-old originals all the way to a modern rendition of “King Mog,” from Final Fantasy XIV, Roth conducted tear-jerking nostalgia in a way that no CD could ever convey. On top of it all, a solo piano rendition of Final Fantasy XI’s “Gustaberg,” provided haunting memories of the countless hours spent mingling with other players in its endless deserts to this editor. A New World will be touring the world in the coming months, coming once more to Canada in December, and if you’re a fan of Chamber music or Final Fantasy, this is a performance that you don’t want to miss! You can find out more information at http://www.ffdistantworlds.com/about

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Music

Dan Boeckner Starts Fresh with Operators

Dan Boeckner's fresh start into indie rock has a decidedly electro-twist to it. Photo by Kelly Castro

The pioneer of indie rock has teamed up with some talented musicians to release an electro-pop album.

“Don’t be a dick,” Dan Boeckner was told by his father before embarking on his first tour. This advice has cemented itself in Boeckner’s mind throughout his musical career. Propelled by luck, hard work, and pure talent, the songwriter has made a life of  producing innovative music with bands like Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs, Divine Fits, and now with his latest electro-pop band, Operators.

Operators began as a quasi-secret band – their debut EP, entitled EP1, wasn’t released directly to the internet. Boeckner explains how this technique “avoids [the album] being shuffled into the colossal library data pile of the internet – at least at the beginning.”

So Operators’ music was exclusive to those who attended live shows instead of having their audience’s first listen stream out from a pair of headphones. He explains that he has “always assumed that seeing something in a live setting is the one thing that music has left. It’s real. You can’t download it, you can’t trade it with somebody, you can’t stream thirty seconds of it and get distracted. You go to the show and you experience, hopefully, some emotional communion with the band. You walk away from that feeling good.”

Dan Boeckner’s fresh start into indie rock has a decidedly electro-twist to it. Photo by Kelly Castro

 Now having finally uploaded to the virtual music world, EP1’s poppy songs have got music lovers dancing. Operators marries Boeckner’s songwriting prowess obtained from years of writing songs, as well as his familiarity of synths and electronics. In other words, the music is tight. It draws from the catchy choruses of Divine Fits and the upbeat electro-pop of Handsome Furs, then delivers darkness and intensity, while also being infectiously danceable. The first track on the album, called “Truth”, is pure dance-pop and extremely rhythmic: the result of combining electronic beats with live drums. There’s an addictive liveliness to the music that’s better understood with a description of the band’s recording process.

When Montreal’s ruthless winter rolled around, Boeckner, synth specialist Devojka, and Divine Fits drummer Sam Brown saddled down in Montreal’s Hotel2Tango to record EP1. The songwriter cites urgency as being integral to a good recording.

“When you first write a song, and you rehearse it enough that you can make it all the way through without making a mistake, but you’re kind of hanging on by the skin of your teeth – that’s the best time to record something,” he says. “There’s this unquantifiable energy behind it that translates into recorded material.”

That unquantifiable energy is perhaps what has fans following Boeckner from band to band. The musician also identifies luck and hard work as primal movers of his success. Growing up in a small town in B.C., the young musician boarded a Greyhound bus to Montreal, his mind in a psychic fog, after living through the personal tragedy of the death of his mother. Boeckner built connections with rising bands in the ’00s, including Isaac Brock from Modest Mouse.

Wolf Parade blossomed in the Montreal music scene with the opening of concert venues like La Sala Rossa and Casa del Popolo, where Wolf Parade was given a shot at playing without any audition. The songwriter describes how essential the opening of these venues was to the development of the Montreal music scene.

“If it wasn’t for those people setting up those venues, there’d definitely be no Arcade Fire or Wolf Parade,” Boeckner says. “By proxy, I don’t think there’d be bands like Grimes, Doldrums, and Magical Clouds. [These venues] really sowed the seeds, [making Montreal] a great place to be young, play music, and get reasonably compensated for it.” He describes Montreal as a city that’s “beating creativity” through new bands putting out great music and holding up the legacy established by bands a decade ago.

Operators is the result of this fruitful Montreal music scene, and Boeckner lived here for twelve years before moving to California. Their music is more cheerful than anything Boeckner’s done with other bands, which is the product of a creative period in the songwriter’s life. The band is free to create without any constraints and “can set up a bunch of old synthesizers and track machines and just wail away live,” Boeckner says.

The musician has taken his father’s advice to heart – he’s definitely not a dick. More than that, the combination of luck, hard work, and pure talent, continue to pay off.

“I’m walking around in Los Angeles right now, it’s a beautiful day, and I’m going out for dinner with my friends here… I never would have imagined that I’d be walking down this street in L.A doing an interview about songs that I wrote.”

Operators are playing at Metropolis on Sept. 2nd.

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Music

Concordia: what are your winter anthems?

Photo by Keith Race

Here we are, mid-January, and the weather has been unbearably cold for the last couple of weeks. It has been too cold to spend a substantial amount of time outside, so students have been spending as much time as they can avoiding leaving their homes. Netflix marathons, anyone?

Photo by Keith Race

The Concordian asked students what kind of music they are listening to this time of year: their go-to songs for the snowy, cold days, or even songs that remind them of sitting by the fire, curled up with some hot chocolate.

Most students did not have a straight answer right away, or answered with “Christmas music,” despite it being January. We suggested to these students that they go through their iPods and look at what they have been playing lately. Many of the songs were acoustic, slow, low-key, and quite somber to a certain degree. Arian Zarrinkoub summed up her choice of “River” by Joni Mitchell as “very wintery and very sad.”

Sadness seemed to be an emotion most students associated with the colder months. One student said he has been listening to Women’s Public Strain album.

“There’s a snowstorm on the album cover, and the album is overall very dark and bleak,” he said. “There is not a happy song on this album.”

The theme of cold and sadness is also on Alison Papazois’ playlist, who chose “Mr. Winter” by The Maine.

“Well first, the title reminds me of winter and in the song it talks about this guy Mr. Winter who leaves the girl for three months,” said Papazois. “He was cold and bitter enough to leave her, just as the winter season is cold and bitter.”

Other students said they listen to acoustic songs by artists like The Lumineers and Ed Sheeran.

Natalie Coffen also chose a song that goes the acoustic route, “The Crane Wife 1&2” by The Decemberists.

“The beginning is exactly how I feel when I’m walking down my street in the winter,” said Coffen. “The song has a really warm feeling despite the lyrics being about the cold.”

Another popular answer was “Sweater Weather” by The Neighbourhood.

“It has a warm feeling when you listen to it and it literally makes me want to curl up in a sweater,” said Laura Canter.

Marco Saveriano said that he has been loving the Frozen soundtrack lately, particularly the song, “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?”

“Does the Hockey Night In Canada theme song count?” asked Justin Share. “It reminds me of playing the sport, both indoors at an arena, or outside in the cold at an outdoor rink.”

Some students chose songs that were linked to specific winter memories. Alex Bissonnette chose “Les Étoiles Filantes” by Les Cowboys Fringants.

“I always listened to them when I was a kid with my parents by the fire.”

“”Montreal” by Raine Maida or “Albatross” by Big Wreck,” said Andrew Bernstein. “I used to listen to “Albatross” when I would drive home in the dead of winter, so it reminds me of the cold.”

A wide variety of songs were chosen by students, but most were slower, darker, gloomier songs than the loud party songs of summer and the upbeat, spirited songs of Christmas. These songs sum up our post-holiday feelings of bracing the cold, while we are counting down the days until spring break.

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Music

What your iPod playlist says about you

Flickr photo by Sucello Leiloles

What do your musical preferences say about what type of person you are? The Concordian conducted an experiment where writers asked strangers if they could check out their iPods to see if they could deduce their personalities based on their playlists.

If Lauriane’s iPod says anything about her, it’s that she’s a person who loves variety. She clearly can’t be easily defined, but I’m going to try. First, you’ll find the staples of most young women’s iPods: Ed Sheeran, One Direction, Carly Rae Jepsen – you get the idea. You may be under the impression that she’s your typical teeny bopper, but she’s full of surprises.

The mix of classical music and show tunes, such as Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” and “Defying Gravity” from the popular Broadway musical Wicked, make me think Lauriane’s a prim and proper sort of person. Maybe she’s that studious girl sitting in your class frantically taking notes, or the timid one in the corner.

However, the numerous dance hits on her playlist, like “Sexy B*tch” by David Guetta and Akon, prove that Lauriane isn’t the quiet girl she comes off as. I bet she loves to let loose at the club, while belting out a Lady Gaga song and moving her hips Britney Spears-style. The fact that she also has some songs by En Vogue, Nelly and Daddy Yankee make me think that she’s not afraid to get down and dirty when given the opportunity.

With a little bit of classic rock thrown into the mix, Lauriane is obviously not only someone who likes to let loose, but who loves a good party and a great song to rock out to.

-Marco Saveriano

Flickr photo by Sucello Leiloles

One must never judge a book by its cover…but they never said anything about an iPod. I took Concordia student Briana Musto’s iPod and here are a few notable songs that jumped out at me:

“Yesterday” – The Beatles

“Dancing In The Dark” – Bruce Springsteen

“I’m God” – Clams Casino

“Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own” – U2

“Miss You” – Ed Sheeran

“Tennis Court” – Lorde

“The Scientist”- Coldplay

“November Rain” – Guns ’N’ Roses

“Leave Out All The Rest” – Linkin Park

“Take A Walk” – Passion Pit

“Wipe Your Eyes” – Maroon 5

“Video Games” – Lana Del Rey

I can picture Briana being the type of person who enjoys tea, (Earl Grey? Mint? Maharaja Oolong Chai?) in the morning to go with her Coldplay, U2 and Ed Sheeran songs. Something that keeps her calm and relaxed. There’s also a lot of music in her playlists with acoustic instrumentation. Briana seems to take pride in her Italian heritage. She stays true to her roots with her inclusion of Italian music from artists like Tiziano Ferro, Zucchero and Il Volo.

Finally, I will admit, I was thrown off at the song, “I’m God” by Clams Casino: she doesn’t have a God complex…but I could be wrong. After listening to the song, I can deduce that it’s great, and so I guess we can say she’s humble.

-Julian McKenzie

 

Categories
Music

Songza: the future of listening to music?

Flickr photo by Matt Hurst

In 1948 the world was introduced to the long play (LP), more commonly referred to as the vinyl record. Prior to vinyl records, recorded music was not easily accessible for the general public’s consumption. As technological advances progressed, buying and owning music recordings became increasingly easier; songs and albums could be bought and sold worldwide. The compact disc was then introduced leading to a boom in music sales, which climbed steadily for subsequent years.

Songza and 8tracks boast thousands of premade playlists. Flickr photo by Matt Hurst

Sean Parker introduced the idea of file sharing with Napster in 1999 which made music even more accessible than ever before. While you would think this wider accessibility would be positive, record companies and many artists reacted negatively to the notion that people could own recordings of their work without having to pay for it. Napster would eventually be shut down but its impact is still felt today in the numerous file-sharing services scattered across the Internet.

It is arguable that with the handy invention of smartphone music playlist applications like Songza or 8tracks, the necessity to compile our own mixtapes or playlists has disappeared. Songza allows for the easy discovery of new music with thousands of pre-made musical selections and compilations to suit our individual moods or activities.

These apps have so many different options for music and are constantly updating their repertoire; this is required with outrageous amounts of new music being created.

Despite all of the positive aspects of these apps, they are not perfect – you have a limit to the amount of songs you can skip – which depending on your playlist could mean a lot of forced listening to less preferred artists, and it requires the use of data, which doesn’t make it fully accessible to everybody. Will Songza and 8tracks become the future of how we listen to music, or will it become just another music app that we used to know?

Categories
Student Life

Podcasts affecting the airwaves of radio

Graphic by Jenny Kwan

When MTV first played “Video Killed the Radio Star” in the early ‘80s, no one knew how watching music videos would change the way we listen to music.

Fast forward to 2004 when former MTV VJ Adam Curry figured out a way to download online audio broadcasts to his music player for his listening pleasure. No one knew his personal project would change the way we listen to the radio.

In a wired age, “radio” shows can now be downloaded from the Internet. These shows are called podcasts. These little portable nuggets of audio are a blend of two words – the Apple iPod music player and the term “broadcasting.” A podcast’s length may be longer than your average MP3 track but shorter than your downloadable audiobook.

You can find a podcast for almost any subject matter, any length, in any language. They can be repeats from a live television or radio broadcast, a documentary, a verbal show, even a music program. Unlike in broadcast, the episodes can be sporadic, and can vary on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

Graphic by Jenny Kwan

Podcasts have been an essential ingredient in enriching our online experience of consuming and creating original content—from watching videos, to reading blogs and interacting with other people through social media. According to Paul Aflalo, there is a lot of great local material just waiting to be discovered.

Aflalo is one of the co-founders of No More Radio (NMR), a Montreal-based podcast network. The network began its operations in 2011 after finding out that its former show on CJLO, called “Edge of the City,” was gaining more online followers than its radio audience.

As a substantial growth in audience listenership developed, more original shows were added, ranging on various subject matters: arts, city life, local music and storytelling.

In a phone interview with Aflalo, he explained that the transition from being in radio to being online was not too difficult.

“The difference is that we miss CJLO, it was nice to have a studio set-up for us…but we also wanted to grow beyond that,” he said.

Since podcasts are not broadcasted live—they are recorded, edited and distributed on various platforms—he explains that there is more opportunity to fix any rough patches in the production process.

 Another advantage to producing them is the creative freedom to air unique programs.

“We don’t have commercial breaks, nor advertisers where we have to appeal to them every single time. We work based on the content and creativity that drives us,” he said.

It’s a win-win situation for a listener who can be really picky about what they want to listen to.

He explains that, “It’s just not about how technology is changing, but it’s about how you can create better things.”

As the popularity of podcasts continues to grow, the question remains on whether it’s here to stay.

“So [where will we be] in ten years from now? I have no idea. In five years from now, I have no idea,” he said.

Five podcasts you should check out

Podcasts may be mistakenly known as shows that you can simply download and sync to your iPod or iPhone. However, getting them on your mobile device or computer has now become as easy as ever.

Since online streaming has become the norm, you can find them easily on the web on sites such as TuneIn Radio or Podomatic. If you’re more of a road warrior, you can download a free smartphone app such as Podkicker (Android), the stock Podcasts app (iPhone) or specialty apps such as Mixcloud and Soundcloud to check out a catalog of shows to listen to. The best part is that it is absolutely free!

And while you’re searching, here’s some interesting picks that you should check out.

 

1) Welcome to Night Vale. Commonplace Books (Comedy/Music)

Site: http://bit.ly/NightVale

With new episodes twice a month in 30-minute segments, WTNV talks about oddities and strange sightings of the fictional dark desert town of Night Vale, through the voice of community radio host Cecil Baldwin. It’s part-storytelling, part-commentary, part-music. The series has acquired a huge fan following over this past summer because of its creepily unique charm. Don’t dare listen to it while you’re out late at night. Just saying.

 

2) Snap Judgment. NPR (Spoken Word/Music)

 Site: http://bit.ly/SnapJudgment

With new hour-long shows released on a weekly basis plus hundreds of episodes under its belt, Snap Judgment reinvents storytelling in a very creative way by blending together music, creativity and authenticity, while having fun at it. Host Glynn Washington weaves together and navigates you around several real-life stories focusing on a central theme.

 

3) 99% Invisible. Public Radio Exchange (Storytelling/Design)

Site: http://bit.ly/99percentinvi

This podcast talks about design in all of its aspects and how it affects our lives in ways we don’t even realize. On an almost weekly basis, host Roman Mars presents each story with his soothing voice and welcoming approach to design that encourages you to engage, learn and interact with it. The best part is that each episode is not overwhelming to listen to—with shows that range from five to 20 minutes each.

 

4) Daybreak Montreal Podcast. CBC Radio (News/Information)

Site: http://bit.ly/DaybreakMTL

Released on a daily basis all-year round, this podcast is an extension of CBC Montreal’s morning radio program Daybreak, hosted by Mike Finnerty. Just imagine yourself lounging at the coffee shop with the hosts talking about what happened in the day’s news, or how each columnists’ segment went on air; while listening to stories and interviews that aired on the live show. It’s a great listen if you’re travelling far away and need your local fix.

 

5) Wait, wait…Don’t Tell Me! NPR (News/Game/Comedy)

Site: http://bit.ly/WAITWAIT

This show is a successful cross-section of news, comedy and gaming done well. It’s also perhaps one of the few successful news quiz programs on radio today. “Wait Wait!” is hosted by Peter Sagal, and legendary Public radio newscaster Carl Kasell. Together they test three comedians on their familiarity with the week’s news. It’s a great panacea whether you need to catch up on news you’ve missed, or when you need a good laugh after hearing of all the bad news.

 

Categories
Music

Random Recipe cook up a unique musical infusion

Montreal-based quartet Random Recipe launch their new album Kill The Hook on Oct.8. Photo Jerome Nadeau

For Random Recipe, the ‘90s represented a time where the love of vinyls and the appreciation for physically and culturally diverse music reigned supreme in Quebec. It was also a period where the standards and qualifications to be considered a Quebecois artist were not as important as the spirit of the music itself. Musicians have always felt a certain attraction to the city of Montreal, a city that prides itself on being a colourful tapestry woven together by innumerable cultural heritages. As of late, questions of cultural identity have caused tension, and in some cases, full-blown outrage not only in minority communities, but in the artistic community as well. For Random Recipe, the matter—literally—hits close to home.

Montreal-based quartet Random Recipe launch their new album Kill The Hook on Oct.8. Photo Jerome Nadeau

“For most people I know 2012 was shit, you know, it was horrible,” said Frannie Holder, one of the vocalists and guitarists for the Montreal band, “The Mayans had predicted the end of the world but it was actually an end of a cycle.”

After doing close to 200 shows to promote their first album, the band was unsure of the direction in which they were headed.

“We just kind of wondered if we would do another album or not just because we’re so, so, so different. [We] have different personalities, characters and ambitions and influences and writing this album was so difficult and there was a big ball of tension in the air and in society in general,”said Holder.

In order to proceed as a group, Random Recipe allowed themselves a brief period of personal, and social reflection before heading to the studio to produce their latest work Kill The Hook, out Oct. 8. “It’s more grounded and focused and just more bold […] we knew what we were doing this time around compared to last time,” said Holder.

With a sound that is nearly impossible to classify, Random Recipe drew inspiration from almost every genre under the sun. Influences for the album ranged from The Flaming Lips to Santigold, to create a unique sound.

“It’s a mix of everything that we like at the moment. Definitely a little bit of hip-hop, a lot of pop with indie in it, indie sound, a lot of references to the ‘90s from the grunge aspect of it to the boy band aspect of it,” she said. “I’d like to say it’s like CocoRosie meets the Beastie Boys or Santigold and I don’t know, SBTRKT [pronounced Subtract].”

A self-proclaimed fan of Swedish ‘90s band Ace of Base, Holder claims that the band “was a huge influence throughout this album.”

All four members of the band have such distinct styles and personalities that it was difficult for them to reach collective decisions at times. Despite any artistic differences, the band agree on the fact that their style will never be stagnant allowing their sound to be an amalgamation of multiple genres.

Being based out of Montreal since the band’s inception back in 2007, the city has had an enormous influence on Random Recipe. “Montreal is just such an interesting city,” said Holder.

After indulging her wanderlust by venturing off to South America and Asia, travelling “really puts into perspective where Montreal fits in the whole world in a way,” she said.

“I think Montreal is just one of the most interesting, and flamboyant and effervescent cities in the world for its art and its attitude, its music scene, its restaurants, whatever, at the same time we’re just so stuck in this stupid identity discourse and we’re lost in it.”

For the past year, Montreal and Quebec as a province have been struggling with what it means to be a Quebecois. And for Holder, a Quebecois musician, feels that instead of wasting time and money trying to get rid of individual identity and culture, Holder believes we should be investing it in the education of cultural and religious tolerance and acceptance.

Since the band does not have strictly French lyrics in their songs, they are not technically eligible to receive specific government grants and funding for their art.

“It’s not Anglos versus Francos, that’s just so, so, so sad,” said Holder.

Despite recent attempts by the government to improve funding for the arts in Canada, many limitations still exist.

“It’s beautiful that they want to focus on arts, that they want to put arts ahead, they want to put culture ahead. That’s how you feel a culture, through its music, its arts, its literature, its how you feel what the province or a nation is,” said Holder.

Instead of just throwing money at the arts, the government should be finding ways to put long term plans into action.

“I’m a true believer of long time change; you can’t do anything short term.”

Having toured countless countries with the band, Holder has noticed just how universal music really can be. A performance in Iceland sticks out in the Montrealer’s mind: “You literally felt like you were on another planet,” she said. “It’s just a very intriguing and beautiful culture.”

Being a Louisiana native, Holder enjoys going back down to the U.S. to perform. Recently, Random Recipe played the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas and were completely blown away by the city. For Holder, the festival and the city were like another world of cultural and musical freedom within the more traditional, conservative Texas state lines.

Whenever she feels it will be time to hang up her guitar, Holder would love to take all of her musical knowledge and impart it on younger generations by being a high school teacher. “I really want to teach in high school one day when I’m sick of touring and being an asshole on stage,” she laughs.

Technology has allowed consumers to get their latest musical fix instantaneously with the Internet.

“Everyone has such small attention spans,” said Holder. Because of this, “music doesn’t get to live as long as it should because we are so distracted.”

With this in mind, Random Recipe will be offering their latest release Kill The Hook on vinyl as well as through electronic purchasing.

“There’s depth in it […] you’re closer to the feeling that the band really wanted to give, and you spent so much time trying to choose what sound and what EQ and what distortion and what reverb, then it just gets lost in your speakers of your stupid iMac and it has no bass and no this and no that,” she said.

Vinyl records “are an art object for a lot of people,” said Holder. “Music, for a lot of people is entertainment, it’s a distraction.” The physicality of listening to music is disappearing because of the Internet, according to Holder. Now, with the resurgence in vinyl popularity, people are starting to appreciate it again for the act, and not making it just a background sound. For Holder, “the action and the ritual of taking out a vinyl and putting it on the turn table and sitting down,” should be the action or event all on its own.

“Try to go back to when you were teens or you were kids and you loved an album. And whatever the album is, try to listen to whatever you’re listening to these days and try listening to that, in that way, with that love.”

Random Recipe will be performing Oct. 8 at Cabaret la Tulipe.

Categories
Music

Osheaga 2013 raised the bar sky high

Press Photo Susan Moss

Montreal, summer, and music: three words that sound perfect together. Of the numerous music festivals that took place during the summer season, there is one in particular that caught our attention, maybe because music lovers wait an entire year for this weekend of musical and artistic enchantment. We’re talking of course about the Osheaga Music & Arts Festival.
The festival, which took place from Aug. 2 to Aug. 4 on the beautiful site of Parc Jean-Drapeau, celebrated its eighth anniversary this year. Every year, Osheaga attracts more and more international spectators and welcomes them with open arms. Flags from all over the globe were displayed proudly across the terrain, showing Montreal’s pride in its diversity.

Press Photo Susan Moss

There were high expectations for this year’s edition and it is safe to say that they were met. First, the lineup pleased music lovers of every genre. Second, the schedule was more than satisfying. Of course, it can never be perfect, but with more than 30 artists per day and five stages, festival goers had the possibility to experience most of the performers even if they were playing simultaneously.
Despite the great lineup, many music lovers were unable to attend all three days of the summer bonanza and were therefore forced to choose between which sets they would rather see. But with amazing artists performing each day, Osheaga attendees witnessed Capital Cities kick off the festival with energy, they sunbathed with Daughter, Ben Howard and Alt-J, clapped their hands with The Head & The Heart, heard Ellie Goulding’s adorable british accent, sang out loud with Vampire Weekend and Phoenix, dreamed with Beach House, travelled back in time with The Cure and danced with A Tribe Called Red.

Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig on stage at Osheaga 2013. Press photo.

Many concerns about the traffic flow onsite were brought up – apparently there had been some problems last year – but it seemed like everything had been fixed so that all daily 40,000 concert goers could enjoy their experience. Also, the various types of food installations were pleasing to both the vegetarian as much as the carnivore and the sweet tooth.
Osheaga not only had a strong musical scene, it also celebrated the arts in general. Thus, in the peaceful surroundings near La Scène Verte and La Scène des Arbres, people could devote themselves to various artistic activities such as graffiti, chalk drawing or body painting.
A tent was erected for an exposition called Musique sur papier, which consisted of 50 or so concert posters made by different graphic designers. The festival’s decorators should also be properly credited for their work. The decorations completely enthralled the festival goers and propelled them even further into a place of wonder and delight. There were small bulbs, big luminous balloons, origami-styled lamps, naïve and colourful writing made out of wool and ropes.
Although it’s been said over and over again, there is no denying the fact that the Osheaga Arts & Music Festival is nothing short of spectacular. Even though the previous years were astounding, it seemed like this year’s edition allowed the festival to reach a whole new level of musical excellence.

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