She's Got a Habit is Martin Rodriguez, Emma Frank and Andy Bauer

I remember sitting down with vocalist Emma Frank and producer Martin Rodriguez a few summers ago at a cafe by my old apartment to talk about a project they were working on. She’s Got a Habit is that project, a production rich, melancholy creep that features the haunting vocals of Emma as the center of attention. Now, this is clearly something that MTL has yet to produce: deep, subtle and soulful vocals backed with strong production and great songwriting. Comparisons to Little Dragon certainly can’t hurt this solid team, but I believe their unique sound can only grow into something much more powerful and engaging than it already is. Please check them out and let me know what you think. We’ll be watching them rise to the top…

The Montreal-based electro-acoustic sextet She’s Got a Habit started with a Craigslist posting. Scrolling through the classifieds one night, Emma Frank stumbled across an ad looking for “space funk vocalists” to collaborate on world domination. On the other end of that posting was Martin Rodriguez, a producer guitarist who had recently relocated to Montreal from New York City. After the initial emails and mutual excitement, Martin appeared at one of Emma’s shows and introduced himself. The two set up a session and immediately hit it off. In between recording what would become their first single, “Call it Love,” they began fleshing out ideas for a project that would blend the swagger of hip-hop with the raw, acoustic energy of jazz and indie rock. Incorporating the live drums and production styles of Andy Bauer, Martin’s longtime friend and production partner, the project quickly took shape. Now, with the release of their first EP, BlindfoldTest, the group’s distinctive sound is gaining a following propelling them to an upcoming tour across Canada and the U.S. this summer.

download the EP here – shesgotahabit.bandcamp.com

Christian Pronovost

AFTER PROVIDING FOR OVER 20 YEARS MONTREAL’S DJ COMMUNITY + MUSIC AFICIONADOS WITH SOME OF THE MOST MEMORABLE UNDERGROUND ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC – INBEAT RECORD STORE IS CLOSING ITS DOORS ON JULY 18TH. 2010

Born in 1987 with the intention of changing the sound of the city + promoting the dj culture as an artform , Inbeat revolutionized the established order by not only importing + selling music but by providing a place where people could exchange: ideas, tastes + opinions and create a community.

In 2010 there are still lots of really exciting “vinyl only” new releases every week but our city doesn’t have the market for it / our community doesn’t really care for it, therefore (…) let’s collect hard disks and usb keys.

Not surprising in these dark digital days but a sad reflection of our city club dj non-interest in music . don’t fooled yourself, only a fraction of the music produced is available on digital stores ! every week there is still dozens of “limited” & “vinyl only” releases that will never come out in digital format.

Our goal always has always remained the same : to offer a slection of some of the finest releases available everyweek + keeping in mind the ever growing genres + sub genres of underground music. We tested our market with many different styles + experienced with many trends: uk soul / rare grooves / jazz dance / reggae / drum& bass hardcore / hip hop / uk garage & dubstep but it’s for “house music” that the store received its worldwide recognition.

The Inbeat concept was simple: strict diet of the new sounds emmerging from chicago house with some of the mecanical sounds of detroit techno with the best of new york underground garage mixed heavy dose of european + british cutting edge sound all spiced up with special jazz latin african jamaican spices. that special recepe of the newly opened inbeat changed forever the sound of montreal from alternative and dance to a house nation !

Inbeat also promoted dj’s as artist = pushed them to developp their own sound their own status. Before inbeat most dj’s were relying on clubs to provide: Records , Headphones, Needles and Gear ! We always pushed for dj to buy their own recors, have their own headphones, promote themself as freelance dj. For many years Inbeat inc was a bank too ! Financing the clubs + the dj’s providing them with credit (lot of it !! lol) so they could get the newest music inbeat was also about the space , the meeting point . The Inbeat HQ providing a space + time for pro dj’s + bedroom dj’s to rub shoulders a vitial + crucial missing link in today’s routine…

That “digital” movement is a very North American driven phenomena… For the past 5 years most of the “original” record stores + distributor in the US and Canada have ceased their operation due the lack of business + interest in the format. Are dj’s lazy ? Surely but not more that the average human. We go for the easy, cheap way, it’s human nature! Which probably explains the success of soulseek, limewire, etc…

For every digital file sold there’s hundreds of the same file shared! It’s the new democratic world of music! Equal chances to all … sorry, but that is bullshit! Sorry but all the files + your 80GB hard drive + the best laptop won’t make you a dj. Well i guess we’re are entering to the end of the artform of dj’ing. Anyway new programs now provide dj’s with endless possibilities and hopefully some of them will push the limits of technologie as much as we did the simple us of two technics SL-1200 .

So why does Berlin still have so many record stores? Why are Europeans still interested in the format? Regardless of the economical reality of vinyl versus digital, I still think that real dj’s + music lovers are first + foremost looking for fresh music not matter of the format … so what happened ?

Vinyl aficionados turned into Digital Download rats pretending that they are part of an elite club eligible to get all the advance + newly released music.

So here we are in an era of music consumption, where a laptop has replaced the skills and expertise of the vinyl giants mentioned. but did it really replace the skill and expertise of these individuals? I highly doubt it. The memory and experience of 20 years of selling music to the public, and the human interaction involved within the process of doing so will serve as the basis to evaluate the music of today, tomorrow, and the future. Now every single dj and music fan is forced to evaluate, find, and listen to thousands of releases individually. Furthermore, whats even sadder is the constantly reinforced idea that it all dosent matter anymore. We still need record stores, and we still love them. That is the truth. We simply still love vinyl. These are the dj’s favorite djs. the guys that actually made your favorite dj’s who they are ….

Christian Pronovost

Inbeat Staff (1987-2010)

I meant to write about New Zealand born illustrator and designer Toby Morris a long time ago, but ended up getting sidetracked by his work. On his blog, XTOTL Worldwide, he’s in the process of immortalizing characters from his own life in a project called “200 People I Used to Know.”I love this because its a simple concept that all of us can relate to, executed with humor and style. Each colorful character plucked from Toby’s life experience is accompanied by a short anecdote to explain why they’re included in the project in the first place, with some a more interesting than others. All in all, I think it continues to be a clever exercise in creative nostalgia.

Swimming champion, Tawa Intermediate classmate, 1993

I haven’t really had a proper one-on-one fist-fight for 17 years. That’s more than half my life ago.

The last one was with Jarrod Brown, local swimming star and all-round intense dude – I did the old playground basketball trick where you hold someone’s trackpants just as they shoot so they jump right out of them, and Jarrod didn’t like it one bit. No news spreads faster than a playground fight and soon the whole school was watching us slug it out. It was pretty even and the bell rang before we really finished it, but I remember feeling weirdly exhilarated and triumphant afterwards.

Once again, Montreal’s one true beat king cranks out yet another chapter to the outerworldly chronicles that many of you already know as Craqnuques. Kenlo has become widely known thanks a great deal to the Kenlo Craqnuques LPs, all of which have been available for free download since the dawn of mankind (dig a little in the archives and you’ll find more than one volume).But I gotta say, it’s great to see my boy getting some of the acclaim and respect he deserves, especially becasue he works so hard and is such a humble cat. Keep your eye on him, but cop this first!

KenLo Craqnuques – Brun – (2010)

kenlocraqnuques.bandcamp.com

Like a moth to a flame, she was drawn once again to Los Angeles. BBC Radio One’s Mary Anne Hobbs made the trip to one of her favorite cities on the planet to feed the Coachella multitudes with a DJ set of her usual challenging and inventive selections, only to be grounded by that pesky Icelandic volcano from a few weeks back. This extended stop-over resulted in some back-flip booking and a little bit of hustle that found her picking up a few extra gigs on top of everybody’s favorite music festival, namely a one night stop in Montreal this Saturday May 8th at The Blue Dog.

It also allowed her to conduct the first ever Volcano Refugee Party, where she showcased live sets from Daedelus, Ras G, Take, Teebs, Tokimonsta and Flying Lotus all in one radio show. Hobbs’ show Experimental on Radio One regularly champions the heroes of dubstep, future-blap and all the deliciously bass-laden abstract electronic music forms that dodge classification. She’s down with Flying Lotus and his Brainfeeder army, and has blessed L.A.’s future music epicenter, Low End Theory, with a dark and dirty helping of music. It was a pleasure to talk to her as she chilled at her favorite Los Angeles motel.

INC: First of all, I think its great that you’re stopping in Montreal. That was a nice little surprise I found out about on the weekend.

MAH: I’m very very lucky to be coming to Montreal this time because the promoters at the Blue Dog were some of the people who came through with extra gigs when we found out the volcano had gone off. There were a number of British artists who were stranded in America, and luckily a couple of people were able to offer me shows in San Francisco, Los Angeles and one in Montreal. Its really nice to able to put a little extra work in, considering I showed up at the Coachella Festival thinking that i would be here for a day and a half. All i brought with me was a pair of socks, so I’ve literally had to buy everything I need out here, but it’s been brilliant that people have come through for me and I’m really pleased.

INC: So have you been able to figure out what the hell is in the water down in Los Angeles? I mean what is going on down there that there is such an explosion of music right now?

MAH: Yeah, it’s just a really exciting city to be in right now, and I don’t think there’s anywhere quite like it on earth. It’s a really interesting thing that’s very hard to quantify and pinpoint exactly what’s going on, but I think its the sum of several different parts. There is without question a huge number of incredibly gifted producers, DJs, musicians and artists working down in L.A. right now, but I also feel that there is a genuine sense of real community and real family. Camps like Brainfeeder and Low End Theory are providing incredibly important homes and platforms for younger artists who are coming through, who would ordinarily struggle very hard to get the kind of attention they’re getting as a consequence of becoming involved with these families. The love and the nurturing and the care is genuine, and the passion that these communities feel for each other is enormously important. You know what though, many people have literally had one experience at Low End Theory and decided to move to L.A…

INC: Samiyam made the move from Ann Arbour.

MAH: Yes, and he’s affiliated with Flying Lotus and Brainfeeder now. He was living out there by Detroit and he played once at Low End Theory and was touched by the magic and said ‘right, I’m selling everything I own and I’m moving to L.A.’ But I mean, its a common reaction. King Cannibal, who’s one of the British artists that I’ve supported quite heavily on the show, was out here last week to play Low End Theory and he posted the exact same thing on Twitter. One night there is enough to make you want to move to this city, and it’s true. It’s a really exciting time in L.A. right now and the sort of native momentum that’s been built out here is just amazing, really brilliant.

INC: How would you say the scenes that support these artists in the UK and the U.S. differ from each other?

MAH: To a certain extent they don’t differ. The scenes that are very successful in the UK, for example the Glasgow scene, which is really gathering some momentum right now with crews like Lucky Me and Numbers, and the Bristol scene with so many crews and labels running high, have all realized that if you work together as a family and bring lots of creative energy together as a team it’s much more effective than working in isolation. I think there’s a great sense of symbiotic spirit between what’s happening in L.A. and specifically with what’s happening in Bristol and Glasgow at the moment. They’re really, really exciting cities right now.

INC: Who would you consider one of the most underrated or slept-on artists making music right now?

MAH: God that’s hard to say. I guess I rate things in a different way than most people. A rating to me is simply a play on my show, and that is my testimony to show my love and support for them. I think there are people who have yet to make a really profound impression, but I think their time will come. If they’re good enough their time will come, and certainly there are many younger artists that I keep an eye on, and if I’m trolling on one of my missions through Soundcloud or Myspace to find young artists, I have a whole wall covered in website addresses and post-it notes of artists just to watch because I don’t think they’re quite ready yet. It might take another 6 months, but they have something that’s interesting about them that’s really fascinating that will make me want to return to see what they’ve done. I often look at things as right for my program, or right for my DJ set or it’s not basically, and it’s as simple as that. There’s no point in jumping the gun and playing an artist too quickly, because it won’t do them any favors. It has to stand up on my show amongst some of the finest electronic music in the world that week. At the point when someone deserves to be rated they will be, and a play on my show is a show of my 100% belief in that artist.

INC: I notice that dubstep is has quickly become the word that rolls off most people’s lips these days, but I’m always surprised at the wide berth you give to far-reaching sounds on your show. Are you listening for sonics, or are you looking for a certain spirit?

MAH: In spite of the fact that’s its an electronic music show, I’m not concerned with genre in any formal sense at all. I’m listening for a similar kind of spirit to what the late John Peel was looking for, something that really is very unique and elemental. You can find parallells across all different types of sounds, and that incredible energy that will move you. You want a piece of music that’s going to touch the very heart of your soul, or something that’s going to stop you in your tracks and make you say ‘oh my god!’ Really, that’s what I’m looking for, that really raw, primal energy. For me the most exciting music comes at the genesis point of sound, something really fresh and really young and doing something that’s very new. That’s the prize I guess.

INC: I can remember almost 10 years back being really thrilled about deciphering seemingly secret connections between J Dilla, Dimlite and IG Culture, which really opened me up to a whole other world of material. Where would you say left-field sounds started for you?

MAH: It’s been a very long journey for me. The actual dawn of all of this for me began at The Hacienda club in Manchester. Famously, I was always a real punk and a metal-head and big fan of the Sex Pistols growing up, but round about 1989 there was a huge explosion in the north of England in Manchester that I’m sure you’re well aware of, pioneered by the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays. Those bands were the first bands that took me into a nightclub of any kind. I wasn’t interested in nightclub culture at all before that point and only ever went to live gigs, but it was there that I experienced acid house music for the very first time, and it absolutely changed my life completely. I think the Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses for many people in the UK, was that bridge from conventional bands and gigs into the world of electronic music in it’s primary form in the UK. This is from a time when you had to be in the club if you wanted to hear and experience what was happening there, pre-internet. People find it really difficult to understand how different it was before the internet, and how you had to be present if you wanted to embrace any kind of underground music, but there’s something wonderful about that time. In these times, club culture brings together people who live almost exclusively behind a computer screen into a shared space, to interact with human beings and move on a dance-floor, as opposed to banging away on a laptop for 12 hours a day.

INC: Having said that, finding new music with regards to the internet has become a much easier task, but how many of your own personal discoveries come from trolling the web vs. say a personal reference from an artist you respect and support?

MAH: Ordinarily when I’m not on tour, and I’m at my home studio, I’d spend a minimum 10 hours a day looking for new music, and that involves many different things. Obviously, like you say, things will often come your way as a recommendation from someone that you love and trust and that’s always very exciting. I’ve got 3 different inboxes that will load up with a minimum of 100 tunes a day. I’ve got physical P.O. boxes and the Radio 1 address that people send vinyl and CDs to from far flung locations, and I like to go on adventures myself spending hours looking through Soundcloud and Myspace pages and discovering new things. That’s where a lot of the incredible stuff will show up eventually, but it’s a real mission. Still, I would say 98% of the music I get will never be played on my show, and it’s that magic 2% that you’re looking for that will really make the grade. You could research one show for the rest of time if you really wanted to, there’s enough music out there to do it, and sometimes it’s agonizing because you never feel like you’ve done enough because there’s this vast ocean of sound and you feel like this tiny little stone skimming across the surface of all of this music. Kode 9 did a cover story on The Wire recently where he talked about being possessed by this music, and I feel like I agree, and am possessed to try and make the best electronic music show on earth every week and nothing less will do. It does possess me, it really does, and sometimes drives me to the brink of madness. It’s also quite an exciting place to live.

Blue Dog Motel
3958 St. Laurent
Saturday, May 8th
10PM – 3AM
$5 before 11PM
$8 after

www.myspace.com/maryannehobbs

twitter.com/MARYANNEHOBBS

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006wqb7

There’s been a lot of talk about this Banksy movie making it to a theatrical release, and finally people are going to get their chance to see a story about one of the most notorious street art players in this whole wide world. Framed as a movie about the guy making a movie about Banksy, the fun only starts there as the absurd and insane ensues.

Exit Through the Gift Shop, the first film by renowned graffiti artist Banksy, became the hottest ticket at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival where it made its world debut. Banksy is a graffiti artist with a global reputation whose work can be seen on walls from post—hurricane New Orleans to the separation barrier on the Palestinian West Bank. Fiercely guarding his anonymity to avoid prosecution, Banksy has so far resisted all attempts to be captured on film. Exit Through the Gift Shop tells the incredible true story of how an eccentric French shop keeper turned documentary maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner with spectacular results. The film contains exclusive footage of Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Invader and many of the worlds most infamous graffiti artists at work, on walls and in interview. As Banksy describes it, Its basically the story of how one man set out to film the un—filmable. And failed.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Here’s yet another worthwhile grab that might just get you through the afternoon. To my knowledge, Black Dante hasn’t been given this kind of dub and care to date, and while most versions found here aren’t quite as strong as the originals, its still a well produced project. You can grab the entire album right here.

Homemade antennas, hidden in plain sight on the tops of apartment complexes and abandoned buildings, broadcast pirate radio throughout London. But while the antennas themselves are conspicuous, the makeshift studios they link up to are hidden behind soundproof walls and security gates.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

The video traces the history of pirate radio in the U.K. from its beginnings, when rock and roll was broadcasted from sea forts abandoned after World War II. Today, the DJs have moved inland, though their aim of broadcasting music marginalised by mainstream radio remains the same. As one modern pirate says, “you’re just putting up an aerial and playing some music, at the end of the day.” The music, of course, is the mission. But the aerials are pretty damn cool too. (via)

The Incubator Experiment is an exercise in my own daily musical output. Each day I’ll make the time to create something new, and upload the results to my blog for anyone to listen and comment on. I’ll keep the tunes to between 2-3 minutes, accompanied by one photo. Although I do make music regularly, making my daily workout available to anyone who cares to listen is definitely something of a challenge. Enjoy and please comment if you love or hate.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

The Incubator Experiment is an exercise in my own daily musical output. Each day I’ll make the time to create something new, and upload the results to my blog for anyone to listen and comment on. I’ll keep the tunes to between 2-3 minutes, accompanied by one photo. Although I do make music regularly, making my daily workout available to anyone who cares to listen is definitely something of a challenge. Enjoy and please comment if you love or hate. #001 #002 #003

Vodpod videos no longer available.

The Incubator Experiment is an exercise in my own daily musical output. Each day I’ll make the time to create something new, and upload the results to my blog for anyone to listen and comment on. I’ll keep the tunes to between 2-3 minutes, accompanied by one photo. Although I do make music regularly, making my daily workout available to anyone who cares to listen is definitely something of a challenge. Enjoy and please comment if you love or hate. #001 #002

Vodpod videos no longer available.

The Incubator Experiment is an exercise in my own daily musical output. Each day I’ll make the time to create something new, and upload the results to my blog for anyone to listen and comment on. I’ll keep the tunes to between 2-3 minutes, accompanied by one photo. Although I do make music regularly, making my daily workout available to anyone who cares to listen is definitely something of a challenge. Enjoy and please comment if you love or hate. #001

Vodpod videos no longer available.

The Incubator Experiment is an exercise in my own daily musical output. Each day I’ll make the time to create something new, and upload the results to my blog for anyone to listen and comment on. I’ll keep the tunes to between 2-3 minutes, accompanied by one photo. Although I do make music regularly, making my daily workout available to anyone who cares to listen is definitely something of a challenge. Enjoy and please comment if you love or hate.

The Incubator – re:us.mp3 (free download)

HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE

with

NOMADIC MASSIVE

DJs: Scott C (the GOODS) / Paulo Superfly Goncalves (ParisDJs)

Friday March 19, 2010 – 9pm

le National, 1220 rue Ste. Catherine Est

Tickets $20 in advance available at:

InBeat (3814 St-Laurent), Off the Hook (1021 Ste-Catherine Ouest),

Triple AAA Records (6895A Ave Victoria / NDG),

le National (1220 Ste Catherine Est), Admission.com

Blending the better parts of jazz, hip hop, reggae, rock, and soul, the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble weave walls of massive, bouncy harmonies into a completely new sound they call ‘Now Music’. Even after performing alongside some of the biggest names in jazz and hip hop – including The Roots, Talib Kweli, Tony Allen, Maceo Parker, and Erykah Badu – HBE manage to remain independent and fierce, true to the South Chicago streets that raised them.

They have created their own way both in music and in business, turning down major label offers to self-release four albums that have collectively sold over 500,000 copies and counting. Still, the credits keep rolling in: Hypnotic guests on two tracks from the new Gorillaz album Plastic Beach – one track featuring Snoop Dogg and the second Mos Def – scheduled for release on March 9, 2010.

Hypnotic’s eight brass musicians (4 trumpets, 2 trombones, euphonium and sousaphone) are blood brothers who carry the musical legacy of their father, living legend Phil Cohran (Sun Ra Arkestra, Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians). Touring worldwide, from Fela Kuti’s Shrine in Lagos, Nigeria, to London’s Hyde Park opening for Blur, the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble is currently the act not to miss. Get ready to embark on a full-body soul journey to the future of music. Don’t sleep.

www.hypnoticbrass.net / www.myspace.com/hypnoticbusiness

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www.stonesthrow.com

Jamie Lidell’s fourth full-length album ‘Compass’ will be released on May 17th 2010 (May 18th in the US). The album was recorded in Los Angeles, New York and Canada, and it includes collaborations with Beck, Feist, Gonzales, Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear and Pat Sansone of Wilco.

Sessions began at Beck’s Hudson Studios in Los Angeles, where he gathered Jamie together with Wilco, Leslie Feist and veteran drummer James Gadson (who’s played with Bill Withers, Quincy Jones among many others) for Beck’s Record Club project (where a group of musicians cover an album in a day). Inspired by the chemistry of those jams, they shifted to the legendary Ocean Way Studios. There, they were joined by producer/keyboardist Brian Lebarton, singer Nikka Costa, and Justin Stanley. All would have an important impact on the album. Pat Sansone from Wilco and Chilly Gonzales (who’s played on both Multiply and Jim) were present as “musical meta-spirits”, recording their parts remotely and delivering them via the internet. As Jamie says of this formidable line-up of brilliant collaborators – “You don’t fuck with them.” Back in New York he began to make sense of this “great big mess on the hard drive”. Then it was up to Feist’s ranch the Niagara Escarpment, Canada with Chris Taylor, member of Grizzly Bear. “I wrote every song in a month,” Jamie says, “It’s been an emotional couple of years, so I tapped into what I wanted to say and started writing. There was a lot to draw on.”

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jamielidell.com

BEYOND IPANEMA is a mash-up of thoughts and ideas about the repeating cycle of discovery of Brazilian music in the world. Through interviews with David Byrne, Devendra Banhart, M.I.A., Os Mutantes, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Tom Zé, Seu Jorge, Thievery Corporation, Bebel Gilberto, CSS, Creed Taylor and many others, BEYOND IPANEMA surveys the Brazilian music experience outside of Brazil. Artists, producers, DJs and critics analyze how the crosspollination of music styles, as well as sampling and globalization; have helped Brazil to secure a unique position in global culture.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

During the film’s production, the crew witnessed the sale of the most expensive Brazilian record ever. An extremely rare 45″ copy of a 1966 recording by the band O’Seis, an early formation of the legendary group Os Mutantes, was tracked by the producers at the New York store Tropicália in Furs. Owner Joel Oliveira was able to obtain the record from a Brazilian collector, in exchange for 200 rare albums. The film then shows the sale of the two-song record for $5,000 to an American-based Os Mutantes fan.

The story of the 70’s psychedelic band from São Paulo is one of the highlights of BEYOND IPANEMA: when production started, they had been retired for almost 30 years and had received international attention and praise from names like Kurt Cobain, David Byrne and Devendra Banhart. The film’s crew witnessed their 2006 American tour, which culminated with a show for 30,000 people in Chicago’s Pitchfork Music Festival.

www.beyondipanema.com