The stage of the dark lit and carpeted basement of the Waldorf Hotel was first occupied by the Vancouver bred three-piece new wave/post-punk band Girlfriends & Boyfriends. Their sound is an arm cannon away from a Mega Man boss battle scene circa 1987. Fueled by the most delicious aspects of ‘80s glam rock, the band produced bass-heavy sounds bow-tied in glossy ribbons of synth and hair-volumizing guitar solos that screamed from Pete Panovic’s Flying V. The set was short but impressive, a must-see amongst the Vancouver music scene.
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Jeremy Jay
with Nucular Aminals, and Girlfriends & Boyfriends. January 28 @ The Waldorf.
by Dylan Beatch
On The Air
The Bassment
Interview by Chirag Mahajan
Rhett Ohlsen | photo by Chirag Mahajan
For some of us, there is no better time than the end of the week to turn up our untouched subwoofers and let loose a raging river of bass. Tune in to CiTR on a Friday night and you’ll enter The Bassment, where Rhett Ohlsen lays down a playlist filled with the latest in local bass beats that give this radio river some mad flow.
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Panther & the Supafly
Nkazi (Independent)
by Tristan Koster
If you’re a regular on the Vancouver live music circuit you may recognize a few faces in Panther & the Supafly, Panther (real name Josh Matumona) has been playing guitar locally for years, and the Supafly is built up of several talented musicians who have also been plying their trade all over town. A hard working group for sure, and it shows in this surprisingly solid, if sometimes lackluster, debut EP Nkazi.
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Textually Active
Chris Walter: Writing As Healing
by Mike Donaldson
Chris Walter | photo by Daniel Thomas Williams
If punk is not dead, then it lives on through the likes of Vancouver writer Chris Walter.
A former drug addict and seventeen-year resident of East Vancouver, Walter’s embedded punk spirit maintains its discourse with anger and revolt through his self-created publishing company, Gofuckyerself Press. Over the past eleven years he has published over twenty titles, including more than a dozen fictional narratives such as Up and Down on the Downtown Eastside (2011), Punch the Boss (2009) and East Van (2004). He has also written and published a three-part autobiography, several collections of short stories, and Argh Fuck Kill (2010), the biography of Canadian punk rock legends Dayglo Abortions. A similar biography on SNFU is due to hit shelves this summer.
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The Overeducated Grumbler
The Grumbler Gets Classy At The Arctic Air Premiere
by Terris Schneider
illustration by Erik Olson
Peeling myself out of my overpriced sweatpants, I put on some human people clothes on a Tuesday night to go to the CBC premiere of Arctic Air at The Vogue Theatre. What was I expecting? Not much. I would have much rather watched Kevin O’Leary (a.k.a. Canada’s Donald Trump) and his new, ridiculous-yet-I-can’t-take-my-eyes-off-it-because-O’Leary-is-a-total-sociopath program Redemption Inc. Instead, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go with my friends and mock this new CBC shitstorm about “a maverick airline and the unconventional family who runs it.” I expect it to last a total of three episodes tops. From Arctic Air’s trailer, it looked like the show would be riddled with terrible clichés and cheesy dialogue—and the pilot did not disappoint.
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Sean Nicholas Savage
Flamingo (Arbutus)
by Nathan Pike
Composing and recording music for most of his young life, gathering a rather diverse songbook, Montreal resident Sean Nicholas Savage averages about three albums a year. Flamingo is his latest and continues in the flow of simple songs that sometimes borrow from the Motown handbook of smooth romance, hippie freak-folk and ‘80s disco beats, but with a more eccentric bent.
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The Passenger
\_| (Independent)
by Slavko Bucifal
Not to be confused with the English hardcore act, Vancouver’s version of the Passenger subscribes to a chill electronic vibe that, for a brief moment, delivers Eno-esque sounds; the key word is brief. The album, awkwardly named \_| (not sure how you even begin to say that), rotates between electro-spasms and ambient unconsciousness resulting in a sort-of restlessness throughout the ten-song affair.
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Grimes
"It’s kinda psychedelic..."
by Sarah Berman
Photo: Michelle Ford | Hair/Makeup: Jenna Kuchera
Styling: Mila Franovic | Clothes: F as in Frank
It wasn’t so long ago that Claire Boucher — a.k.a. Grimes — released a miniscule run of 30 cassettes for her breezy electro-goth debut Geidi Primes. Just over a year ago, the Vancouver-born, but then Montreal-based artist played to a modest crowd at the Astoria with the help of local jack-of-most-trades, Cameron Reed.
“Cam set up my first show in Vancouver, which was really nice of him,” Boucher recalls of the de facto show promoter, who also crafts glitchy atmospherics under the banner Babe Rainbow. On the line from her parents’ place in town, Boucher reflects on how far she’s come. “I think it was last Christmas—sometime back in the day before I was a real musician, or something.”
Since then, the “realness” of Boucher’s career has undeniably rocketed skyward. Read More »