Tag: new music canada

Shoot it. Throw it online. Wait and see how people react. Online publishing platforms like Youtube and Facebook are putting success into the hands of talented and motivated individuals. I got to watch the process as KAPRI, singer-turned-art-director, danced and sang for the making of her new music video, “Jake Sully,” which she also co-directed.

I sat down and spoke with KAPRI about the video and life as a performing artist in general. Apparently she’s been busy, to nobody’s surprise. As an independent artist, she’s taken on a lot and has been going strong for a year and a half.

“It’s been a short time. A very short space of time. I’m really pushing things,” she said. “The way the world is with social media, you have to move fast. Our audience has a very short attention span and is a wider audience. There are so many of us trying to do the same thing now, so you’ve got to keep moving. Have to keep moving!” she explained, smiling and snapping her fingers for emphasis.

“Now you’re really on your own,” she continued. “Put out your Youtube videos, let’s gauge how many hits you get and then we’ll sign you. Obviously it’s not that easy, but that’s what they’re looking for now . . . And that is such a benefit for a lot of people who don’t have the financial means to do it. You can get a camera, create covers and do it yourself.”

Though she’s about as independent as it comes, KAPRI has intentions, or at least hopes, that her determination will score her a chance to experience the benefits of working with a more traditional label.

“I’m working on my online presence because I’m not the biggest fan of Twitter and Facebook and fan pages and everything . . . I would love to work with [a label] and a team and we start something from the ground up and we build,” she said.

While everyone in every profession would love a bigger budget, KAPRI seems quite adept at inspiring others and creating original works with very limited resources. The designer clothing and much of the team’s time were volunteered in the making of the video, and the project was entirely self-funded.

There is one exception to the one-woman-production: her producer.

“Dan Vallen. He’s working as my producer,” said KAPRI. “I write and come up with the melodies; I’ll hum them and he is the one person who knows how to translate my crazy thoughts into music. He is amazing, so talented and I am so happy that I found him. Really it is the two of us. We are a team.”

It was a day of choreographed dancing, wardrobe changes, racks and racks and racks of clothing and even a little bondage. The entire video took place on a 12-by-14-foot infinity wall. Two massive lights blaring towards the ceiling highlighted the action. KAPRI herself was split between performing in front of camera and the organization that surrounded it. She spoke with her co-director between takes, getting one scene finished and another established. As busy a day as it was, the mood was relaxed; everyone was running but there was plenty of time found for laughter.

“The dynamic of everyone on set that day was just so strong,” she said. “It was like everyone wanted to be there. I wanted to open the doors at this beautiful studio and just invite everyone to see what’s going on. I could feel it, literally magic was happening.”

 

The video is slated for release this April and you can find more about KAPRI on her website at www.kaprimusic.com.

 

 

Not many Canadian bands have had this type of exposure before even having released a debut EP. Light Company has toured throughout Peterborough, Toronto and Oshawa and have recently booked six new shows, including one in Montreal.

The alternative/post-rock band of four from Peterborough, Ont. was founded in September 2010 by vocalist/guitarist Michael

Langiewicz, who has always been excited about the prospect of playing in a legitimate band with his brother Adam, as opposed to jamming in their basement.

“When I began Light Company, I didn’t have a clear idea of where I wanted the project to go, but I knew I wanted to dabble in the genre of post-rock,” said Michael, a Concordia communications student.

The name Light Company was inspired from the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers, which follows an American platoon called “Easy Company” through their European campaign.

“The unity of Easy Company was truly inspiring for me and I really wanted to build a band off of the same brotherhood a company of soldiers have,” admitted Michael.

After having picked up their third member, bassist/vocalist Lukas Wojcicki, through a mutual friend, the trio began writing songs in November 2010. However, things slowly began to fall apart after Wojcicki moved to Toronto and Michael to Montreal.

After a year-long hiatus, the band decided to give it another go, and in December 2011, they recruited guitarist and vocalist Shayne Ernst.

“It was the greatest thing that could’ve happened,” said Michael. “For the first time, I was able to put a lot more time and energy into writing interesting vocal melodies and our sound began evolving in a very positive way.”

With musical inspirations stemming from Explosions in the Sky, Sigur Ros, M83 and We Were Promised Jetpacks—to name a few—Light Company creates original music that is emotionally driven.

“Our ideas are born from the emotions we feel in that certain moment when the song’s being written,” said percussionist Adam.

However, that wasn’t the case for the band’s first single “Each to a Grain” which, strangely enough, was inspired by ants.

“I was sitting under a tree, reading a book and got distracted observing a colony of ants,” recalled Michael, who wrote the song in high school. “I know they may be super lame, but the complexity of their work caught my attention and I thought it could be a cool thing to write about.”

Light Company is broken down by instrument and can be categorized into a multitude of genres including ambient, rock, metal, post-rock and more recently, elements of pop.

“With all these elements combined, we strive to make post-rock more accessible to a larger crowd by creating a new soundscape for the listener by including evolving styles of music,” explained Adam.

One of the biggest challenges plaguing the band, however, is the fact that three band members are living across Ontario, while one is located in Montreal.

“We’re essentially in a long distance relationship,” said Wojcicki. “It’s a bit hard to keep momentum moving forward living in four separate cities, but I think it’s a challenge that is slowly dissipating.”

When it comes to songwriting, Adam says the band tends to write the inner workings of their songs individually and then send their ideas to each other in audio files. After everyone has a rough idea of where they want the song to go, the group gets together to jam it out.

When you’re a band that’s trying to break out onto the scene, getting people to listen to your music isn’t always easy.

“Constant badgering of our family and friends to listen to our tunes is how we started, but luckily enough, we’ve collected a base of fans already willing to advertise our songs to their friends as well,” said Adam.

Despite the challenges, the band members are looking forward.

“I think I speak for everyone when I say we want to make this band the rest of our lives,” said Michael. “We’ve got our sights set on success. We want to be able to play festival circuits, headline our own tours and play tent stages. I can’t stress how much we want to do this.”

“If we could inspire anyone to follow their dream in music, I think we’re on the right path,” said Adam.

With their debut EP The Boy Who Sat On Ocean Floors still in the works, Light Company is hoping it will be made available online in both digital and hard copies by late February or March.

Light Company will be performing at Casa del Popolo/Sala Rossa (4873 St. Laurent Blvd.) as part of the Peace by P.E.A.C.E Montreal annual Benefit Show on Jan. 18 at 9 p.m. Tickets cost $10.

 

With a stellar debut album on the legendary Sub Pop label, highly positive reviews on blogs across the web and praise from notable peers like Arcade Fire, Toronto’s METZ are taking the Canadian scene by storm.

“We always followed [Sub Pop’s] catalogue, they’ve always put out good stuff. It was easy to see them as a dream-type label,” said Hayden Menzies, the band’s drummer and a Concordia graduate.

The label, known for launching groundbreaking bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, Low and Wolf Parade, was impressed by the band’s offerings and did not alter the trio’s work in the studio whatsoever.

“Because the record was already finished, it was being mastered and [Sub Pop] had no influence on re-recording it or re-writing it,” said Menzies. “They were 100 per cent behind us no matter what we did.”

METZ initially comes across as noise punk, but offers something unfamiliar in the structure of their sound that is somewhat fresh and associated with heavier music. The screeches, howls and screams of Alex Edkins’ voice and guitar are drenched over Chris Slorach’s awkward bass tone, complete with Menzies’ loud and furious drumming. The band’s punk rock songs would shatter the strongest of eardrums and bring forth something special in Canada’s revamped vibrant punk scene.

Though Menzies says the record contains “themes of pressure, paranoia and feeling suffocated a bit by what’s going around,” there isn’t a primary concept that defines the album as a whole.

“There’s no real underlying theme or anything. We write really natural; the three of us get together and write songs,” said Menzies. “The general idea was to write enough songs to fill the time an LP would require.”

METZ has amassed a huge following in very little time, and despite their short existence, they have become hugely popular on the West Coast. With an 8.5 rating courtesy of the always-entertaining Pitchfork, their debut album dazzles in the most ferocious way possible.

Menzies acknowledges taking it as it comes but puts the band’s happiness first.

“We had no grandiose plans for all of this, the three of us wanted to write music and asked ourselves ‘Are we happy with this? Are we happy enough to leave the practice space and play these songs live?’ That’s the only concern we ever have,” said Menzies. “The other stuff is great, it’s humbling, we feel really proud, but we kind of just roll with it. We kind of just work hard and rise to the occasion. We try to make sure we’re still having fun and doing it for the right reasons.”

Canada’s punk rock scene could be larger than ever right now, with emerging bands such as White Lung, Solids, and Young Mother. Toronto’s Fucked Up already have a Polaris Prize-winning album under their belt. Menzies shares the same sentiments as most musical pundits do about our overly talented country.

“Canada has a ton of greats bands coming out now, it always has,” said Menzies. “Now there’s more notice of stuff going on. Things go in a cyclical nature and it’s natural that it’s going to come back to a resurgence. I think Canada is in a great state, whether it’s in [punk] or not.”