Tag: Underground

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Music Quickspins

QUICKSPINS: Wiki – OOFIE

Wiki - Oofie

On OOFIE, the eccentric New York MC is growing up and growing weary of his place in hip hop’s landscape

When we last heard from Wiki, it was on his 2017 studio debut No Mountains in Manhattan. A beautiful love letter to his hometown, filled with bouncy beats and playful punchlines. Though it’s only been two years, it feels like a lifetime. He has grown up and grown more fearful of failure and being replaced.

On OOFIE, Wiki is expressing feelings of fear and doubt that we’ve never heard so openly in his music before. It’s an honest depiction of a teenage hip hop prodigy hitting his mid-20s, afraid that he might have also hit his ceiling. A sentiment that’s present throughout the album, though it’s almost paradoxical as he’s sharper than ever.

The fun qualities in his voice and delivery are still present, but are refined, making his words seem punchier and more purposeful. His flows range from simple and effective to dense and multi-syllabic, and on top of these structural improvements, his writing has gotten much more personal and emotionally striking.

He is joined on a few songs by a fantastic crop of features, including Princess Nokia and Lansky Jones. While they all do a great job, they do momentarily take away from how personal the project feels. It’s like watching a movie scene where the protagonist is delivering an emotional speech, and a supporting cast member interrupts him with an extended, unrelated monologue.

Wiki’s music is aging gracefully, improving on his most lovable qualities and using them to deliver more mature content. Shedding his label as the wild, whimsical young wordsmith from Manhattan, he has grown into being a young elder statesman and a pillar in New York’s independent hip hop scene.

8.5/10

Trial Track: “Downfall”

Star Bar: 

“Who is he? Is that what they’ll say in the eulogy?

Will they say between you and me

He was an idol when he was in the right mood

When he wasn’t fucked up, when he wasn’t tight, woo” (Wiki on “Downfall”)

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Student Life

Exploring underground vintage pop-up shops

Shopping at the Good Vibes Vintage Pop-Up Shop. Photo by Sandra Hercegova

Founding member of Psychic City offers a wide range of vintage clothing at affordable prices

In the basement of a building in the Plateau Mont Royal, down a staircase lined with handwritten signs and graffiti on the walls, once a month you’ll find the vintage pop-up shop Good Vibes.

The home for this underground fashion haven is Psychic City, a multidisciplinary arts venue that hosts music, fashion, comedy and film events. One of the venue’s founding members, Paulina Pietruczuk, previously studied fashion design

 

“Fashion has always been a passion of mine, especially thrifting, recycling clothing and being green,” she said. When her friend suggested she arrange a vintage pop-up shop, Pietruczuk went for it. The most recent shop was open on Sept. 21 from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Psychic City will also be playing host to screenings of Hocus Pocus for Halloween and concerts, to name a few of its upcoming events.

The rented space has a cozy, ambient vibe. It’s lit by yellow and colourful fairy lights that nicely complemented the art on the walls. According to Pietruczuk, the space has been home to artistic events for many years. Before becoming an arts venue, the space was used primarily as a practice space for many local bands. However, its purpose recently shifted to emphasize providing a safe place for artists to be creative, whether it’s playing music, sculpting or painting.

Vintage jeans for only $3 a pair. Photo by Sandra Hercegova

On the day that Good Vibes opened its doors, clothing racks filled with different styles, fabrics and textures lined the room. Garments ranged from furry and oversized to tight and silky. Old, wooden chairs surrounded the clothing racks with a black leather couch placed right in the middle. Vintage denim pieces were neatly laid out on a table. A few recognizable brands, like Adidas, Beyonce’s Ivy Park and even a Toronto Raptors jersey, could be spotted in perfect condition, on sale.

One shopper, Hannah Clifford, changed into the pink culotte pants she found at the pop-up as soon as she bought them. She said she has been invested in thrifting for the past eight years because it’s cheaper than shopping at mainstream retailers. She added that she always finds quality second-hand clothing at these types of shops. “The special thing about thrifting personal collections that are on sale is that you get to see a memoir of [the seller’s] mood and their style,” Clifford said.

Clothes weren’t the only items available either. Spread out over one table was an array of handcrafted jewellry by Montreal-based Rufina Ip. Everything from bracelets to chokers to necklaces could be found in a variety of colours, ranging from pinks and oranges to black and blues.

A burgundy velvet quilted bomber jacket with embroidery styled by Alexa Rhynd. Photo by Sandra Hercegova

Anyone is welcome to sell their clothing at Good Vibes, according to Pietruczuk. This is why Montrealer Alexa Rhynd was able add some of her clothing to the collection just a few days before the shop opened. She said the clothing she brought were items she was ready to let go of and pass on to a new owner.

Rhynd also included a few pieces she had spiced up herself, such as a burgundy velvet quilted bomber jacket. The garment’s deep red is now complemented by a wall embroidery piece sewn on the back which features a beautiful design bordered with gold. She was also selling a pair of painted jeans. “This is the very beginning,” Rhynd said about her attempts at enhancing clothing. “I don’t know what I’m doing yet, but I’ve already changed a lot.”

Thrifting and buying second-hand clothing can be a great way to recycle your wardrobe and be more green, Pietruczuk added. “Why not do it while enjoying music in a creative space,” she said.

For more information about Psychic City and a list of its upcoming events, visit the venue’s Facebook page.

Categories
Music

POP Montreal turns 15

Interview with co-founder and creative director of POP Montreal, Dan Seligman

An underground music event that brings together over 400 local and international musicians and hosts four days worth of events and performances all across town—is this too good to be true? In Montreal, it isn’t, because it’s happening. The annual music festival POP Montreal is back and celebrating its 15-year anniversary between Sept. 21 to 25.

Dan Seligman, POP Montreal’s co-founder and creative director, is responsible for the festival’s musical programming. He launched the festival as a McGill graduate back in 2002, along with co-founders Noelle Sorbara and Peter Rowan.“I was pretty young—just graduated from McGill, majoring in comparative religion. A friend of mine approached me with the idea of getting involved in creating a musical festival,” said Seligman. At the time, he was doing some work in music, managing his brother’s band, Stars. “For the first edition of POP Montreal, it took us six months to make it happen,” Seligman said. “We made contacts, sponsorships and we invited a few international bands.”

The event was a success and the trio decided to make it an annual festival. “Every next edition has been a continuation,” said Seligman. “It’s a lot of fun and it’s always challenging to manage a festival.” As they grew and developed their brand, the trio realized that Montreal has a huge music scene with lots of opportunities in the industry.

Bringing in countless music legends every year, POP Montreal’s 2016 lineup is no exception. John Cale, the founder of the rock-and-roll group Velvet Underground, will be flying in to perform as a headliner at the Rialto Theatre. He will also host an “artist talk” at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.“I’m really looking forward to John Cale—he’s a musical legend,” said Seligman. “This is an exclusive show. He isn’t doing any other shows in North America. He’s flying to Montreal specifically for us.”

POP Montreal will also be hosting a series of late-night shows at the Rialto Theatre. The band 69 Boyz will be playing their 90s top hit “Tootsee Roll” and young hip-hop artist Princess Vitarah will also be performing. Besides showing performances in the main theatre hall, there will be special shows on the rooftop. The first floor area is their club house lounge, where different chefs will be there every night. It’s free and open to the public. “It’s a hangout area in between shows,” said Seligman.

Come celebrate POP Montreal’s 15-year anniversary. Graphic by Florence Yee

POP Montreal brings together a variety of music, art and people from all over the world to participate in the festival. “We have industry people coming from all over the world to check out local acts—local emerging artists can help develop their career and territories across the world,” said Seligman. Every year, local artists are invited to submit samples of their music to POP Montreal for a chance to perform at the festival. They can submit their music through POP Montreal’s website. “Certain artists, such as the headliners, we solicit and ask them to perform and some of the up-and-coming artists go through our submission process, where you can apply to perform at the festival,” said Seligman. Over 1,000 artists submitted their music this year, but only 100 made the cut. “We listen to all the music we receive with our committee. We invite journalists [and] artists to come and listen to it all. We work with the programming team to select artists and put it all together,” said Seligman. As the festival’s creative director, Seligman is constantly meeting new artists. “People are always sending me new music,” he said. “I really enjoy programming and bringing different artists together.”

POP Montreal also launched a new monthly video series called “POP Shots” which aims to give visibility to local artists. “It’s an initiative we did this past year,” said Seligman. “It was cool to work with local artists.” Espace POP, which is a space built for artists to perform throughout the year, is where these artists perform while our team films them and post the videos online. “It’s a showcase of local artists all year round. We’re always doing stuff throughout the year,” said Seligman.

POP Montreal “adds a nice flavour to the city,” Seligman said. “I think it’s a special event. I hope that people love it, support [it] and buy tickets and have a good time.” A word of advice from Seligman to all bands interested in trying out for the festival next year: “Try to make really good music that stands out and that isn’t boring. Keep practicing, keep playing shows and keep doing your music if you love it.”

For more information about tickets and the lineup, visit the festival’s website: www.popmontreal.com.

Categories
Music

Get a grip with experimentation

Death Grips bring abrasive and industrial sounds to your ear drums

Every genre has its visionaries—people who sculpt and define their own artistic compositions in order to form a unique mold. Since the growth of the digital world, many of these sounds have dissipated. No matter what kind of mainstream music we listen to, their sounds can all seem eerily familiar.

Death Grips is not mainstream nor do they have the world talking, but they definitely turn heads. Despite decades of music-making designed to create perfect and overproduced songs, Death Grips reverts back to the cavemen days where humans were creating new sounds in the most primitive ways—such as throwing rocks on walls.  Although this time, the rock and wall sound is complimented with glitchy keyboards and drums.

The group is comprised of three men. Stefan Burnett, otherwise known as MC Ride, is the band’s rapper, Andy Morin is on production and the drummer is Zach Hill, former Hella and Wavves drummer. Together, they form one of the oddest trios in rap.

Their 2011 mixtape ExMilitary is what gave them their spotlight. The tape made waves in the underground music world and wound up in the hands of some of the most prominent critics in America. Music publications like Pitchfork gave the album a 7.5/10, while music critic and YouTuber Anthony Fantano gave the record an eight.

ExMilitary had this effect because of its ambition and mixture of sounds. The group combined noise, rock, metal, hip-hop and electronic music. Meanwhile, MC Ride’s manic vocal delivery and violent lyrics add an extra layer to the overwhelmingly abrasive nature of the music. Despite their aggressive nature, their songs were also catchy. Songs like “I Want It I Need It” get stuck in your head so easily that it’s hard to comprehend how music so harsh can be so appealing. Not to mention, their low-budget music video for the song “Guillotine” became a viral sensation in the online music scene.

In 2012, Death Grips kept up the pace with their first album titled The Money Store. The album was released through Epic Records, and was regarded as much catchier than ExMilitary. Their musical vibe remained industrial and dark, yet MC Ride wrote hooks that were more accessible to the average music fan. Songs like “I’ve Seen Footage,” “The Fever,” “Hacker” and “Get Got” are some of their best songs. Even if their instrumentals are an absolute barrage of sound that leave you feeling as if walls are closing in on you, their hooks remain incredible—they have you bopping your head and singing along.

Since The Money Store, the trio has released six projects including their latest record, Bottomless Pit. In each album, Death Grips played with their sound and pushed experimentation to new heights. On one album, the group pushed the boundaries of instrumentals by building each song around Björk vocal samples and integrated it with glitchy synths and sporadic drums.

Throughout the years, they have remained true to themselves in respect to their distinctive approach towards sound and their unpredictability from one album to the next. The way they structure songs and evolve with each album keeps the fans on their toes. Death Grips is the champion of sound experimentation; their musicality is their playground.

Bottomless Pit is a prime example. The group has been going in a darker and more abrasive direction for a few years and fans expected a gloomy record. To the delight of fans and music critics, the group came out with their catchiest record since The Money Store while staying true to their ear-crushing, soul-drenching sounds. Their uncommon somber sounds are supposed to make your skin crawl and make you feel uncomfortable. Experimenting with various industrial instrumental techniques that other hip-hop groups don’t use is what has given them the spotlight. As Anthony Fantano said in his review of Bottomless Pit, “Death Grips have mastered the art of abrasive ear candy.”

Check out their website where they showcase all their music videos at www.thirdworlds.net

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