Category Archives: features

Grimes

"It’s kinda psychedelic..."

by Sarah Berman

Photo: Michelle Ford | Hair/Makeup: Jenna Kuchera<br />Styling: Mila Franovic | Clothes: F as in Frank

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 »

Discorder asks Tim Fernandes

by Hanna Fazio

Tim Fernandes | photo by Josefa Cameron

Are you that DJ? It turns out 23-year-old UBC student Tim Fernandes (a.k.a. Autonomy) is, as proved when he took the title in last November’s Are You That DJ Competition. The event occurs annually during CiTR’s Fundrive and gives up-and-coming UBC students a platform to show off their skills at the Pit Pub in the SUB.
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"I’m being a little more hidden than I have been in the past..."

Interview by Zachary Stockill

illustration by Sarah Reid

“We’re all sleeping next to an impostor,” Ida Nilsen sings on “Distant Cousin,” a standout track from Great Aunt Ida’s new album, Nuclearize Me. She does so with a matter-of-factness and quiet confidence that runs through much of the outing, betraying the artistic and perhaps the personal growth the singer-songwriter has experienced in the five years since her last effort, 2006’s How They Fly. On that disc, Nilsen’s voice and words occasionally sounded wide-eyed and uncertain. Nuclearize Me, in contrast, is the sound of an artist looking in the rearview mirror and admiring those twists and turns in the road fading from view with equal parts sobriety, and anticipation of the twists and turns still to come.
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"Once a piece of music is heard by another… it is no longer mine..."

by Nathan Moes

photos by Daniel Thomas Williams

In my last visit to the rural community of Agassiz, the annual fall fair was in full swing: a tractor pull and traveling amusement rides drew thousands, while I doubled up a toonie betting on the lawnmower races.The town is quieter when I meet with Simon Bridgefoot, the young man making music under the name of the Parish of Little Clifton, at his home, a beautiful heritage house painted yellow, trimmed with dark green and maroon.

He guides me on a Cribs-like tour of the space, ending in its basement where spare rooms filled with musical instruments hint at his prodigious production. Portia is the first full-length album to emerge from the basement.
Read More »

by Pyra Draculea

Left Spine Down have been slogging it out the last few years, building their fan base in both the industrial and punk worlds via their 2008 debut LP Fighting For Voltage, some remixes, and tours with the likes of SNFU, the Revolting Cocks and the Jim Rose Circus.

Next up is this month’s West Coast jaunt with ohGr (a.k.a. Skinny Puppy’s Nivek Ogre), which will find the local cyberpunks promoting their recently released sophomore album, Caution. Discorder caught up with frontman Kaine Delay and guitarist Matt Girvan over e-mail to chat about the trip, and they can’t wait to share the stage with one of their idols.
Read More »

"Crickets! You don’t hear crickets in Vancouver."

by Fraser Dobbs

Dixie's Death Pool | photo by Victoria Johnson

Lee Hutzulak is probably looking at ghosts and spectres over my shoulder while we’re drinking coffee at Kranky Cafe on a crisp autumn morning. I can’t shake the feeling during my interview with him that this artistic clairvoyant is working on a more inspired and ethereal level of existence than myself, and nowhere is this more evident than on The Man With Flowering Hands, his latest release under the Dixie’s Death Pool moniker. Bound with an acoustic guitar but bursting with colorful samples, recordings, and instrumental contributions from a long list of Vancouver musicians, sitting down to discuss the downright weird and mystifying recording with Hutzulak and his brother Todd—who added guitar, bass, trumpet, and clarinet, among other instruments, to the collection—was like peeking at the inner workings of a complicated timepiece.
Read More »

“It’s about being economic within the chaos and moving forward.”

by Jennesia Pedri

World Club | photo by Daniel Thomas Williams

When I arrive early to meet World Club at an East Vancouver pub, I casually take a seat at the bar and place a drink order. “Comin’ in to work?” the man drinking next to me asks, mistaking me for an employee. “Kind of,” I say scanning the faces in the room, “I’m here to interview World Club.” A waitress with a burgundy coloured bob sets a pint down in front of me. “Who’s in the club?” he persists. I’m not exactly sure, so I say nothing and wait.

A while later, in walks a striking blonde accompanied by who I’m guessing are her three fellow bandmates. The blonde introduces herself as Janine Prevost, shakes my hand and invites me to take a seat at a glass table top framing an old map of the Georgia Strait. In a few minutes we’re joined by Tyler Dunn, Josh Harskamp, and Randy Szmek, who set their drinks down and take off their heavy coats. Together the four make up the uniquely experimental soundscape that is World Club.
Read More »

"It's scary and challenging to abandon comfortable old formats, but that's always been the nature of what I do."

by Grace McRae-Okine

Pat Jordache | photo by Dan Rocque

Pat Jordache- Radio

If there is an upper echelon of the Canadian indie elite, Pat Jordache are among the royal few. The Montreal rockers will be opening for tUnE-yArDs Friday November 18th 2011 at the Biltmore Cabaret, and bandleader Jordache squeezed in a quick e-mail interview with Discorder Magazine about life on tour, what to tune into on the radio, and what defines the sounds of Vancouver’s scene.
Read More »

"I’m of the old Beatles adage, “Let It Be” when it comes to facial hair."

by Shane Scott-Travis

illustration by Tyler Crich

Driving down bumpy, country rock-washed back roads, forward leaning but willing to wind up on a Whiskeytown detour to fill up their tank, is Victoria’s Hawk and Steel. The outfit’s roots rock sound, particularly on laid back tracks like “Carol” or “No Country Blues,” is full of heartache. Between their folk-flavoured four-song EP, Drawing, a recent split seven-inch with the Wicks, and fresh from a spate of shows, including a high-profile gig at Rifflandia, it’s a wonder lead vocalist/guitarist Peter Gardner has any shakes to spare. But when speakling to Discorder, he’s personable and impassioned to dish out about his urgent and autumnal alt-country outfit. Read More »

"Compared to a city, Mara, B.C. was like living in a vacuum for a year."

by Jacey Gibb

photo by Lindsey Hampton

Siskiyou certainly couldn’t have had more humble of a beginning. Last year’s self-titled debut emerged from simple collaborations between singer-songwriter Colin Huebert and guitarist Erik Arnesen, who also worked alongside each other in Ontario folk rock outfit Great Lake Swimmers. Following Huebert’s departure from Great Lake Swimmers in 2008, he moved to the West Coast and recorded Siskiyou at an assortment of informal locations around Vancouver. But with its membership having doubled since last year—drummer Shaun Watt and bassist Peter Carruthers now fill out the roster—and their sophomore album, Keep Away the Dead, now available to the masses, Siskiyou is ready to break more hearts than ever before. Read More »

that magazine from CiTR 101.9fm

February 2012

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Category Archives: features

Grimes

"It’s kinda psychedelic..."

by Sarah Berman

Are You That DJ?

Discorder asks Tim Fernandes

by Hanna Fazio

Great Aunt Ida

"I’m being a little more hidden than I have been in the past..."

Interview by Zachary Stockill

The Parish of Little Clifton

"Once a piece of music is heard by another… it is no longer mine..."

by Nathan Moes

Left Spine Down

by Pyra Draculea

Dixie’s Death Pool

"Crickets! You don’t hear crickets in Vancouver."

by Fraser Dobbs

World Club

“It’s about being economic within the chaos and moving forward.”

by Jennesia Pedri

Pat Jordache

"It's scary and challenging to abandon comfortable old formats, but that's always been the nature of what I do."

by Grace McRae-Okine

Hawk and Steel

"I’m of the old Beatles adage, “Let It Be” when it comes to facial hair."

by Shane Scott-Travis

Siskiyou

"Compared to a city, Mara, B.C. was like living in a vacuum for a year."

by Jacey Gibb

Twitter: DiscorderMag