RBMA Destination Tokyo Tour Info Session & Showcase
LOOKOUT & Red Bull Music Academy Present:
Tuesday, March 8th
LE BELMONT, 4483 St. Laurent
It's application time! In support of this years Academy, alumni Ango (Montreal) and Lunice (Montreal), both from LuckyMe Records, will be co-heading the Red Bull Music Academy Canadian Tour Destination Tokyo (co-presented by Exclaim.ca), featuring PrisonGarde (Vancouver) and Nautiluss (Toronto). Preceding each show is an intimate look at the Academy and its application process through essions hosted by mymanhenri. Attendees will also have an exclusive opportunity to enter a remix contest, with submissions hosted on Exclaim.ca, and the winner taking home a $1K gift certificate to Moog Audio. No Academy day would be complete without a proper party, which starts at 10pm right after the workshop.
Prison Garde is the latest incarnation of electronic music monolith Vaughn Robert Squire. A man of many monikers and creative outlets, with a well celebrated history that spans multiple eras and genres of music (as Megasoid, Sixtoo,Villain Accelerate and S&N to name a few projects), Prison Garde spends his nights these days pumping out deep twerked warehouse music of all tempos.
Formerly of Thunderheist, Nautiluss has refocused and reloaded his plan of attack, providing dark, diabolical tracks somewhere between house, techno, and evil space disco. The perfect soundtrack for a flight over international waters.
Lunice is just THAT dude. So cool, so easy. But at night he’s a monster making bedroom dance videos to Footcrab and Sex Intelligent (remix stoopid). It was just over a year ago that Lunice started bumping his own beats at the Turbo Crunk nights. To think that he’s since released a debut EP on LuckyMe, played two European tours, and attended the Red Bull Music Academy in London, cheeeez, dude is doing those big things already.
ANGO
Joining Montreal's community of influential DJs and Producers, this R&B beat maker has just begun to do his part to help rebuild the landscape of alternative dance music in North America. Ango's music is uniquely melodic and hopeful, bringing boogie-era synth and drum sounds into context with contemporary R&B bangers, electro and bass music.
Tickets are $8 and will be available online and at the following locations:
MOOG Audio - 3828 St-Laurent
Off The Hook - 1021 Ste Catherine Ouest
Atom Heart - 364, Rue Sherbrooke Est
Interview: Bikini
Self-described as "Salinger on MDMA," Bikini's poppy sound, ethereal vocals and poetry-influenced lyrics evoke an affective quality that's heavy, but at the same time, irrefutably fun. However, while creating the EP RIPJDS, bandmates Nigel Diamond and Olivier Olivier weren't as collaborative as their music makes you believe (at least in the physical sense). Their musical process is somewhat seasonal, with Olivier writing poetry in the summer and using his writings to compose and record the melodies in the fall. Then, in the following spring, Diamond arranges and adds to the sequences and treatments, with no further imput from Oliver.
With cover art by New York City artist Nate Lowman, an album named after one of the most famous American authors of the 20th century, and a video, "ACheerlaeder," that borrows its visuals from Woody Allen's Celebrity, Bikini draws inspiration from the best that culture has to offer.
Check out LOOKOUT's recent interview with Bikini, a few days before they head to Montreal to open for Midnight Juggernauts at Le Belmont on November 27.
LOOKOUT: The "Salinger on MDMA" thing seems to have caught on, and not to mention the title of the EP, RIPJDS... What is it about Salinger that is so important to you and your music? Is the album a sort of tribute?
Bikini: It's not like we're trying to make the soundtrack to Franny and Zooey, it's just more of a thing that happened this year that tore us and a lot of our friends up. Now that he's gone, it's like there's not much to respect anymore, I guess that's a good thing and bad thing. I wouldn't say it's a tribute, but he has definitely influenced both Nigel and I to the point that I can't separate what's influence and what's originality.
In many ways, RIPJDS resists genre classifications. Michael Cranston from Impose Magazine felt the same way when describing "ACheerlaeder" earlier this year. On the blogosphere, Bikini has gotten a bunch of comparisons to the likes of Passion Pit and MGMT. As a musician, do genres, classifications and comparisons get frustrating?
No, people have to write something to describe it. We don't think about that much though. I feel like we're only good at one thing, one sound. I know that as time goes on and we're exposed to new resources, we'll change our sound, but we've been making this type of music since we were seventeen. It's hard to do anything else.
Were you friends first? Was it natural for you both to come together and make music?
We became friends once we both moved away to University. It was like we both grew up a lot and liked each other's grown-up self better than the adolescent ones. I remember the first song we really worked on was in Nigel's tiny room at 3772 St. Laurent. We made this song called "We Can Roll" and Nigel's roommate Justin played bass over our synth tracks - that was the first moment we realized we were going to do this.
On reading about Bikini's musical process, I was surprised to read that the finish record isn't sent back to Olivier. What are the benefits of making music that way?
I trust Nigel with my life.
What was it like to work with Nate Lowman? I read you were looking for something like his 2009 piece 'Beach Bums.' Was the final artwork everything you imagined?
Nate was amazing. I've always liked his work - he's kind of just basically the best there is right now in New York City. We were just happy he was into doing it, and the final painting he made was perfect. It was amazing to be able to have something that tied everything together for the record. Nate made these Xerox's of J.D. Salinger that we've used for the inside of the CD and posters. It's all kind of one thing, the work Nate did for us, so we've sort of used it all.
Free download of "ACheerlaeder" over on their website and download "American Mourning" at Pitchfork.
Read Less ↑DELOREAN, SMALL BLACK, LEMONADE, CLASS ACTRESS
DELOREAN – http://myspace.com/delorean
LEMONADE – http://myspace.com/bananasandecstasy
SMALL BLACK – http://myspace.com/smallblacksounds
CLASS ACTRESS – http://myspace.com/elizabethharper
+ DJ Sets from Seb Diamond + Guests
Friday, November 19
Le Belmont, 4483 St. Laurent, Montreal, QC
Doors: 22H-3H
DELOREAN http://myspace.com/delorean
Taking cues from Spain’s native Balearic beat, Madchester house, techno, R&B and indie rock, Delorean carves out a sunny sweet spot between the stage and the dance floor.
Delorean formed in 2000, in the Basque coastal town of Zarautz, as the outlet for a group of teenagers wrapped up in their local punk scene. Eventually, though, bassist/singer Ekhi Lopetegi, drummer Igor Escudeo, keyboardistUnai Lazcano, and guitarist Guillermo Astrain began exploring their mutual interest in electronic music. After moving to Barcelona in 2007, they focused on computer-based writing and production, and started their own eclectic club night, Desperrame, as an antidote to the relative darkness of the techno scene. Like-minded clubgoers expanded Delorean’s rich palette of influences, and their remixes for bands like the XX, Cold Cave, Franz Ferdinand, Lemonade, El Guincho, and Glasser provided the band with playgrounds for digital experimentation to hone their own sound. Last year’s lauded Ayrton Senna EP took them further away from their rock influences and toward the euphoric club-inspired sound that feels like their destiny all along.
LEMONADE
http://myspace.com/bananasandecstasy
Only two weeks into their existence, San Francisco-based psych-electronic trio Lemonade coalesced remarkably fast and performed their first show in 2005. The group- comprised of childhood friends Callan Clendenin (vocals), Alex Pasternak (percussion) and Ben Steidel on bass-did not have grand expectations for the project outside of exploring their shared vision of a place that they have never been: a fantasy landscape that is at once gritty and pristine, tropical and foreboding.
Inspired initially by their interest in drone music, dancehall, and Pasternak’s training in Arab and Latin music, they allowed spontaneity, improvisation and intuition to be their fulcrum, allowing them to experience the energy ofmusic-making without having to adapt to the expectations of a rock band. They have since incorporated influences from the spectrum of electronic music, taking cues from the burgeoning UK grime and dubstep scenes, as well as acid house, minimal techno, and the early ‘ardkore anthems of Suburban Bass and XL Recordings. While rooted in DIY/hardcore pathos, Lemonade has come to embrace elements of rave culture historically unpopular in the punk community.
SMALL BLACK
http://myspace.com/smallblacksounds
Formed at the tail-end of 2008 as a bedroom recording project, Small Black first made waves with their eponymous debut EP. Recorded in the attic of singer Josh Kolenik's uncle's remote Long Island beach-house/surfboard workshop, it served as an ideal introduction to the group with its pulsing patchwork synths and addictive, stay-gold hooks that seemed to unfurl themselves gradually over repeated listens. Slightly more immediate and polished than its predecessor, Small Black's new album New Chain remains a continuation of this contrasting ethos – a delirious smudging of the lines between melancholy and nostalgia, tension and celebration, unabashed pop music and experimentation.
CLASS ACTRESS
http://myspace.com/elizabethharper
Class Actress is: Guilty Pleasure. NSA dance music. Casual Encounters. Stalker Pop. «Depeche Mode meets early Madonna and Five Star as played on KTU Radio in the leather backseat of a cab». Class Actress is not: Acting Class.
TICKETS $15+SV
DOOR: $18
PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=MJSNB3PLWLV86
Wantickets: http://www.wantickets.com/affiliates/EventDetail.aspx?id=882&e_id=131268
MOOG AUDIO 3828 Saint-Laurent 514.284.7434
ATOM HEART 364-B Sherbrooke E 514.843.8484
OFF THE HOOK 1021a Sainte-Catherine O 514.499.1021
CHEAP THRILLS 2044 Metcalfe 514.844.8988
KAPOK 1069 Laurier O 514.507.0769
18+
ALOE BLACC ‘I NEED A DOLLAR’ TOUR
Tuesday, November 16 at 8:30pm
Le Belmont - 4483 St. Laurent
ALOE BLACC (Stones Throw Records)
LIVE with his FULL BAND as part of the 'I NEED A DOLLAR' Tour.
http://myspace.com/aloeblaccmusic
http://stonesthrow.com/aloeblacc
with
Grand Scheme
http://myspace.com/theegrandscheme
Maya Jupiter
http://myspace.com/mayajupiter
Effusion A Capella
http://effusion.ca/
+ Dance Party after the show w/ DJs
Scott C (The Goods) http://goodsradio.blogspot.com/
& Rilly Guilty (Lookout) http://soundcloud.com/rilly-guilty
Read More ↓
TICKETS
IN STORE
Cheap Thrills (2044 Metcalfe)
Off The Hook (1021-A St. Catherine W.)
Atom Heart (364-B Sherbrooke E.)
Phonopolis (5403-A Parc)
Moog Audio (3828 St. Laurent)
A first-generation American offspring of Panamanian parents, Aloe Blacc is an Orange County, CA native with international flair, having made fans all over the globe. The press has certainly taken notice with everyone from People Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The Fader, The Guardian, Complex and Okayplayer – to name just a hand-full – weighing in with positive things to say.
The names Gil Scott-Heron, Gnarls Barkley, Andy Bey, Marvin Gaye, Bill Withers and Curtis Mayfield have all been bandied about as comparisons, but who Aloe is is a true modern original, telling today’s stories with an eye toward positive social change.
Good Things marks a musical maturation for Aloe, as well as an emphasis of the political over the personal, akin to the Marvin Gaye classic What’s Going On. On Good Things, Aloe reports on our current condition – from joblessness, homelessness to the general lack of compassion. Things lighten up on the airy “You Make Me Smile” and “Miss Fortune” but the overall tone of the album is one of underlying tension, most artfully and musically portrayed on the lead single, “I Need a Dollar,” which is the theme of HBO's new hit series "How to Make it in America."
“The best thing about How To Make It In America is the terrific song in the opening credits (Aloe Blacc ‘I Need A Dollar’). It has the sort of itchy desperation that should have driven the whole show.”
-PEOPLE
“’How to Make It in America,’ step one: Get a fantastic theme song from Aloe Blacc. It sounded like the type of thing you might discover deep in someone’s collection of old soul records on vinyl - maybe an obscure Bill Withers B-side we weren’t familiar with?”
- ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
“The wonderful, low-key OC soulster Aloe Blacc, a Stones Throw mainstay who has just found a new audience thanks to HBO’s How to Make it in America. Watch as he starts off all Motown and halfway through veers towards Curtis Mayfield territory, always respectful of the black pop roots but never stifled by them”
- LA WEEKLY
“Treads the line between the raw contemporary beats of Gnarls Barkley and the original soul boy grit of vocalist Andy Bey. Emotive class.”
- DJ MAGAZINE
“The breakout star of HBO’s “How to Make It in America” is likely to be Aloe Blacc. The younger rapper-singer-songwriter is responsible for the criminally infectious “I Need a Dollar,” which is gonna propel Blacc to a Talib Kweli/Mos Def level”
- HIT FIX
Back 2 School Traxxx
Welcome back young scholars, connoisseurs, club rats, delinquents, hoodlums, miscreants, and ne'er-do-wells to the city of sin. Summer vacation is winding down, but the hottest and sweatiest time of the year is just starting. Before you get all nostalgic and misty for summer loving on us, LOOKOUT has got a lot coming up this year to satisfy your carnal urges for late nights, loud music, and all that jazz. To ease your segue into the coming months of juggling school, work, and raucous we graciously present a Back 2 School mix of some of the most excellent tunage we've heard this summer.
"Nordic Laurel", Baths
Coming out of Los Angeles, Will Wiesenfeld, aka Baths, composes lush beatscapes littered with boom bap drums, organic samples, and high pitched vocals to create something in between pop and glitch hop. He dropped one of my favorite albums of the summer, the album Cerulean.
Baths - Nordic Laurel by Hypetrak
"Bombay", El Guincho
Spanish musician Pablo Díaz-Reixa, who goes by the moniker El Guincho, crafts a steel drum driven, bass drum bangin', rump shakin' jam that fits somewhere in between funk, tropicalia, and dance music. See him in MTL on September 29 at the Belmont.
El Guincho - Bombay by Ragged Words
"Real Love", Delorean
The talented Spaniards tactfully meld house synths with pop sensibilities. If you caught Delorean in Montreal, you got to see that they truly love their art. If you missed them, then you can catch them November 19 at the Belmont.
Delorean- Real Love by matadorrecs
"Photojournalist", Small Black
Small Black, formerly Washed Out's backing band on tour, will be playing the November 19 show with Delorean at the Belmont. The drums that drop in the chorus cripple me.
Small Black- "Photojournalist" by Marco Collins
"Baby (El-P Death Mix)", Justin Bieber
"Sometimes we do have to cry over Justin Bieber"- Jimmy Kimmel. El-P mixes Paul McCartney/Wings' "Live and Let Die" with Bieber to give us an excuse to listen to the Canadian boy wonder.
Justin Bieber - Baby (El-P Death Remix) by Crossfire Music
"Wet Hair (Japandroids Cover)", Teen Daze
Coming out of Vancouver, Teen Daze have been churning out many a blogworthy hit this summer. They've been producing remixes for bands like Yeasayer, Local Natives, and Young Liars, as well as creating their own songs.
Teen Daze - Wet Hair (Japandroids Cover) by Hypetrak
"Precious Necklace (Cherry Chapstick RMX)", Silly Kissers
Cherry Chapstick produce a disco-house remix of Silly Kissers' "Precious Necklace" to keep heads bobbing. Don't miss Montreal's own Silly Kissers playing the Arbutus Records Showcase on October 1 at Rialto Theater.
Silly Kissers - Precious Necklace (Cherry Chapstick RMX) by Silly Kissers
"Don't Turn The Lights On (Aeroplane Remix)", Chromeo
Montreal's foremost purveyors of dance music, Chromeo, have got another album coming out, called Business Casual. If "Night By Night" and "Don't Turn the Lights On" are any indication, this album is sure to be a highlight of the year. Aeroplane give the first single the remix treatment, adding more of a extra disco feel.
Chromeo - Don't Turn The Lights On (Aeroplane Remix) by Chromeo
"Tomboy", Panda Bear
Animal Collective's Noah Lennox, AKA Panda Bear, will be dropping his album Tomboy on Paw Tracks in September. Be sure to check out the tripped out visual album, ODDSAC, by Danny Perez and Animal Collective. After hearing this track, I'm confident this album will not disappoint.
Panda Bear - Tomboy by newtigerhearts
"Spanish Sahara (Mount Kimbie Remix)", Foals
Mount Kimbie, hailing from London, remix this track off of Foals' most recent LP Total Life Forever. The duo add a nice slightly tribal feel to the song to make a relaxing track. Catch Mount Kimbie October 2 at the Belmont.
Foals - Spanish Sahara (Mount Kimbie Remix) by fabric
"ACheerleader", Bikini
Last, but certainly not least, the duo behind Bikini, Nigel Diamond and Olivier Bonnard, are on our watch list; not just because its Bikini season, but because the dudes know how to make some seriously catchy music. Bikini - ACheerlaeder by KeeganDotCom
P.S. If you have not yet picked up your copy of Arcade Fire's The Suburbs, do that. Now.
Read Less ↑Mount Kimbie + Babe Rainbow + Guilty & Lexis
Presented by Lookout, MusicIsMySanctuary.com and Scion
Part of POP MONTREAL 2010
Samedi 2 Octobre / Saturday October 2nd
@ Belmont (4483 St-Laurent)
---
Live performances by:
MOUNT KIMBIE (Hot Flush, UK)
Dom & Kai are making some of the most interesting music at the moment, with 2 brilliant EP's, a slew of massive remixes, and a full length that was extremely well received by critics and electronic music lovers.
We are very excited to have them performing live for there first appearance ever in Montreal.
Mount Kimbie on MySpace - http://tinyurl.com/7ghudl
Mount Kimbie mix for RBMA Radio - http://tinyurl.com/2bxkt79Read More ↓
BABE RAINBOW (Warp Records, CA)
Babe Rainbow needs to be seen live to be understood. His releases are only part of what he has to offer.
Check out his interactive website for a listen of his latest release -http://baberainbow.com/
and make sure to download this mix of chopped and screwed goodness by the man himself Screwed by Babe Rainbow on Discobelle -http://tinyurl.com/233uusq
Dj sets by:
- RILLY GUILTY (cargocollective.com/guilty - soundcloud.com/rilly-guilty)
- LEXIS (musicismysanctuary.com)
Tickets onsale now / Billets en vente maintenant:
Online: http://popmontreal.com/en/pop/events/mount-kimbie-babe-rainbow
In Store at:
Atom Heart, 364 Rue Sherbrooke Est.
Moog Audio, 3828 St-Laurent.
Phonopolis, 5403A ave du Parc.
Off the Hook, 1021a Ste Catherine Ouest.
14$ door / 10$ pre-sale
Read Less ↑Delorean + Glasser LIVE
DELOREAN
http://myspace.com/deloreandanz
Barcelona's Delorean mine a territory between dance music and independent pop, producing a sound that is distinctly theirs. This is the record it took Delorean 10 years to evolve into, a fusion of dance music (including their native Spanish Balearic house) and contemporary pop music. The dance-club rhythms and airy melodies they've toyed with in the past are fused and textured, making for a deeply obsessive, hypnotic album that retains the easy appeal of great pop music. Looking at 30+ years of club music history with fresh eyes, Delorean have made an album that is dense and soulful. Our first listen to Subiza was exhilarating, every subsequent listen is a revelation.
w.
GLASSER
http://www.myspace.com/glasssser
TICKETS:
10.63$ +tx +sv
Online: http://tinyurl.com/23bmcw2
In Stores:
MOOG AUDIO 3828 Saint-Laurent 514.284.7434
ATOM HEART 364-B Sherbrooke E 514.843.8484
OFF THE HOOK 1021a Sainte-Catherine O 514.499.1021
DOOR: 15$
Q&A with YACHT
YACHT is everything you’d want in a band: they make you think, they make you laugh, and they definitely make you dance. LOOKOUT chatted with Claire L. Evans and Jonah Bechtolt of YACHT, before they embarked on their 2010 North American “Mystery Moods Tour” along with the addition to YACHT, The Straight Gaze.
LOOKOUT: See Mystery Lights is the first YACHT album after the induction of Claire. How have you both built on the old conception of YACHT as a solo act? Or is this reincarnation completely different from previous forms of YACHT?
Jona: Well, I think there's a similar spirit to the band. The core message and core goals are the same, but now they are shared with Claire.
Claire: There’s no distinction of before me and after me, we had this shared experience (The Marfa Lights) and it changed our perspectives. It’s something that we share as a common source of inspiration.
Jona: We came together through this paranormal phenomenon of Marfa Mystery Lights. There’s no explanation for the paranormal phenomenon of the Marfa Lights, and teams of scientists have been trying to figure it out. After we saw it together, we felt we need to continue our journey together in everything we do together.
I find the very existence of something like a "modern mystery" very odd and kind of disturbing and unnerving to curious people like myself who think there should be an explanation for everything. Were the lights the first or main reason why you both decided moved to Marfa, Texas?
Claire: Yes, it was the reason we moved there. We hadn’t been looking for it, it just came to us in a random way. Jona saw it while he was driving on a tour.
Jona: I had no idea what it was going to be. I thought it was going to be an explained natural beauty but it really changed me and ended up being really supernatural and unexplainable.
Claire: We decided we had to live amongst them and figure them out.
Montreal, much like your hometown of Portland, Oregon, has long and depressing winters, but a thriving artistic population. How did Portland influence your creativity and the making of your music?
Claire: It’s always interesting to make music and art in a place where you don’t have access to the tools other people have. We were lucky to have a cool music scene but it wasn’t always there. A lot of musical trends in the Northwest is born out of a DIY period.
Jona: Yeah, we didn’t have the means to make anything, but I don't mean in a political sense.
Claire: It’s interesting to make music with limitations and to have no big record label, no awesome venues, no professional studios.
The band is very stylized with the black and white represention. What’s the intention behind the black and white dualities? Are these dualities completely distinct from each other?
Claire: We’ve always been interested in duality. We both have had a renewed interest in the ritual history of the world. We like to study religion, the secret societies of the world and any codified set of beliefs. There are huge commonalities between different threads of ideological history, whether it be Inter-Babylonian, Syrian or contemporary Western religion. We are all motivated by the same impulses. We want an understanding of things that are beyond human understanding. The light and the dark are two different paths, there’s no fundamental evil or fundamental good. There’s no right or wrong path, we all live in this interconnected universe. We’re all just a bunch of monkeys trying to transcend our situation.
For more Q&A with YACHT, don't miss the March 4th issue of The McGill Daily.
Listen:
See A Penny (Pick It Up) - YACHT
Read Less ↑Q&A: Keys N’ Krates
LOOKOUT was blessed with the chance to pick the collective brains of Jr. Flo, Matisse, and Tune, better known as live-remixers Keys N' Krates, on their frantic live shows and plans for upcoming releases. Read More ↓
Music is transforming and adapting at a breakneck pace. How do you manage to keep up/focus with the constant evolution of music technology pushing music to new places?
Flo: We are always looking for old and new toys to progress our sound, but I wouldn't say we chase technology for the sake of chasing technology.
You guys have been in the studio with DJ Grandtheft recording your new LP. What can we expect from the upcoming album?
Matisse: Well, it's really not an album we're working on, but rather a series of releases. There will be a bunch of singles and eventually and EP, but we're not strong believers in the album format right now.
The development of an online Mixtape culture seems to be a catalyst in eliminating the need for a major record label’s budget. You guys released your Re-Mixing 101 Mixtape a couple months ago; What kind of reaction and response did the drop get? any plans for additional mixtapes dropping before or after the new LP is released?
Tune: The response from the mixtape was awsome and I believe that was because it sort of gave people a chance to take home what they see us do live on stage. A lot of critics, media, tastemakers had really great stuff to say about it and we were happy with the amount of downloads it got. We definitely plan to keep doing those live off the floor mixes to supplement our studio produced music.
Playing with a live band leaves room for more human interaction than just having a DJ playing whole songs from a laptop or turntables. What are some of the difficulties you encounter in the process of navigating the fine line between a sample based approach and a live band feel? When you play a live show, do you leave room for improvisation?
Flo: I think we are flirting between going for that big sound, that makes people perplexed that we're pulling that it off live, and keeping a live feel to our stuff. It's definitely a delicate dance. We balance using a lot of electronic with live drums, synth sounds with organic sounds, and more live grooves with more programmed sounding grooves (which we still do live). We're trying to get the best of both worlds.
Read Less ↑
