Zombie Walk Toronto 2012
BRAINS! BRAINS! BRAAAIIIIIIIINS! The Toronto Zombie Walk 2012 was a drizzly, misty affair with many sfx nerds bemoaning their melting spirit glue and corn syrup blood. But patches of dry gray with bits of sunshine came through later in the aft so the shambling dead congregating at Nathan Phillips Square needed not hide under its various horror-themed booths and city hall awnings.
Sapient Announces SLUMP – New Album Feb 2013
A little bit of a shameless plug here. No, I’m not working directly with the Sapient, the artist, but I was hired to write the press release for his new album, SLUMP, thanks to GoLightly Media. It’s actually a really tight sounding record, so eat it up kidz or you’re not getting any dessert.
If Feist and Ratatat had a son who ate John Lennon’s corpse to gain immortality, then you might be able to imagine a bit of the sounds coming off of Portland’s rising beat hustler and indie rapper, Sapient’s new album, Slump. Born out of frustration of the current sounds of hip hop, he likens the listening experience to “a more musical sibling to indie hip hop. You could think of it as a more functional little brother, who learned from his elder brother’s mistakes.” Not that he considers any of his past 11 solo albums that he’s been cranking out since 2004 as mistakes, but you know, it’s a long road to self-discovery.
The at-times ethereal, often lyrical sounds on Slump were born out of dysfunctional childhood memories and a musical upbringing. While his mom, a concert violinist, kept mostly to her classical music, his “always wanting to be a rock star” dad brought a steady influence of The Beatles, Paul Simon, and Crosby, Stills and Nash to Sape’s palette. Tracks like “Seeking New Skin” feature glittery arpeggiated beats contrasted with melodic guitar and piano pop choruses, evoking dark thoughts in the best of times. While “Shotgun In My Spaceship” is a whimsical piano-based love song written from the perspective of a young astronaut that touches upon government cover-ups and structures on the moon conspiracies.
Sapient had dabbled in multiple instruments for as far back as he can remember, but after being busted for graffiti charges at 18,he took to making his own beats to rap over with a drum machine, a guitar and an 8-track. The early training flourished into a distinctive sound of multi-textured arrangements structured with the sense of a songwriter. Sapient’s beats have re-defined the sound of Northwest hip hop and carried luminary voices from the likes of Aesop Rock, Slug (Atmosphere), Freestyle Fellowship and more.
As a vocalist and producer, Sapient has been a member of The Prime, a duo with Living Legends’ front man Luckyiam as well as Portland’s Debaser, a two-man off-shoot to their nine person collective, Sandpeople. He has also collaborated with other indie hip hop cats like Macklemore, The Grouch, Eyedea, and Pigeon John. Consistently touring, he has shared the stage with a number of his own influences including Wu-Tang Clan, Living Legends, Eyedea, Talib Kweli, Cage and Aesop Rock. As an independent artist, Sapient is hands on, mixing and mastering, designing his visual art and directing videos, developing his brand with an insatiable work ethic. Committed to care for his young family and cultivate his creative vision, Sapient is pushing boundaries and claiming his own space in our musical lexicon with Slump.
Slump drops on February 19th 2013 on Camobear Records and will be available on iTunes, Amazon and CD Baby. For more info, please contact Lily Golightly at Golightly Media
Forza Horizon comes to the streets of Toronto
Forza Horizon picks up, in a way, where Forza 4 left off, at least graphically speaking. While previous iterations of the series have been simulator focused, Horizon is actually an arcade-styled game with the high end car collector in mind. You’ll get to race against other players at the Horizon Music and Car Fest, making it a bit of a DJ Hero inspired combo.
XBox is SO excited about the launch in Canada that they produced this IRL video during the summer pitting a 2012 Aston Martin Vantage head to head with Mercedes SLS AMG in the streets of Toronto.
See below for shots of the official media launch last week at Airship 37.
Flying Lotus @ The Danforth Music Hall, Toronto, Oct 13
With the release of his new album, ‘Until The Quiet Comes’, Flying Lotus is reaching new highs in his spiritual vehicle, vimana, merkaba, or just plain old cosmic chariot, I guess you could say. Inundating our eardrums with a mix of his own tunes and his West coast beat junky peers, the show would not have been the same without the elaborate, yet ever so simple, stage light show consisting of translucent sheets with images being projected on the front as well as from the back, as you can see in the pics below. The overall vibe was similar to Amon Tobin’s ISAM experience, but the sheets added an extra spectral aspect to the performance that suited his music just so well.
I don’t have any audio recordings of the show but as a special treat to y’all, I’m re-posting the hour long talk he gave at the Red Bull Music Academy lecture that he gave in Toronto in 2009, also the last time I saw him spin.
Wisers That’s Spiced UP! Halloween launch event
Established in 1857, Wiser’s is one of Canada’s oldest whiskeys but the Spiced Up blend is one of the newest kids on the block. I attended a Halloween-themed launch event earlier this week where we got to try the brew out in a number of different scenarios – neat, simple bar mixes, hot toddies over an outdoor campfire with smores and extravagant cocktails like the Headless Horseman (see below for recipe!) In fact, many of the suggested recipes are quite feasible in the most lacking of home-bars, given a bottle of Angostura bitters or other, are on hand.
And now a word from our sponsors, errr flavour experts! “Offering French vanilla with traces of raisins and English toffee on the nose, rich amber colour, a full body, and a flavour profile boasting sweet caramelized toffee and dried fruit rounded off with pleasant vanilla, Wiser’s Spiced provides Canadians with a new way to enjoy its expertly crafted whisky. Wiser’s Spiced is available in the LCBO for $27.95.”
Other highlights of the event were a costume guessing contest based on famous literary characters. Some of the get-ups were tricky like cryptic crosswords — a girl in spandex and a 80s side-pony tail was 1984. Death of a Salesman and the Portrait of Dorian Gray were a little more straightforwards, see below for all the pics!
The Headless Horseman” (created by Mixologist Gavin MacMillan)
Ingredients:
1.5 oz Wisers Spiced Canadian Whisky
2 oz Pumpkin Cider*
0.5 oz Egg White
Method: Shake ingredients over ice and strain into a chilled coupe with cinnamon sugar rim.
*Note: For this cocktail you may substitute Apple Cider for Pumpkin Cider, if you cannot purchase pumpkin cider or do not wish to make your own.
During Halloween season, Pumpkin Cider can be purchased at Toronto-based Chasers Fresh Juices at their store or through their website (http://www.chasersjuice.com/).
But you can also make Pumpkin Cider at home in a few easy steps, by following this recipe:
Ingredients:
1 can pumpkin purée
2 litres fresh apple cider (not apple juice)
4 lemons, juiced
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Method:
Mix all ingredients in a blender, then heat in a saucepan on a low simmer, stirring often. Chill before serving.
Spiced Apple and Ginger
1 oz Wiser’s Spiced Canadian Whisky
3 oz apple juice
3 oz ginger ale
Build all ingredients in a highball filled with ice and garnish with a wedge of lime.
Vanilla Old Fashioned
2 oz Wiser’s Spiced Canadian Whisky
1 tsp sugar
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 tsp water
Add sugar to the bottom of a rocks glass and add Angostura bitters and water, stirring to dissolve sugar completely. Add Wiser’s Spiced Canadian Whisky, fill glass with ice, and stir. Garnish with an orange zest.
Canadian Coffee
1 oz Wiser’s Spiced Canadian Whisky
½ oz Kahlúa
2 oz espresso
Shake with ice and strain into a rocks glass filled with ice.
Spiced Sour
2 oz Wiser’s Spiced Canadian Whisky
1 oz fresh lemon juice
½ oz sugar syrup
Shake with ice and strain into a rocks glass filled with ice.
Vanilla Iced Tea
1 oz Wiser’s Spiced Canadian Whisky
4 oz chilled orange pekoe tea
1 tsp sugar
Build in a highball filled with ice and garnish with a lemon wheel.
Hot Toddy
1 ½ oz Wiser’s Spiced Canadian Whisky
1 tsp sugar
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 lemon wheel
Top with hot water
Add all ingredients to a specialty coffee mug.
WHAT ZODIAC NEEDS: EX-WEEKND PRODUCER GETS SIGNED AND ACCESS TO FANCY STUDIO
Photo: Sean Berrigan
Posted on Oct 9th 2012 3:00PM by Jesse Ship
A lot has happened to Jeremy Rose a.k.a. Zodiac in the past couple of years. Barely 23, he was (arguably) robbed of some of his most valuable credits for his work with The Weeknd (snapped up by Drake) but on the other hand, he’s just been recruited by multi-Grammy winning super-producer Paul Epworth (Adele, Bloc Party, Foster the People,Lana Del Rey) to write music for his fledgling label Wolf Tone Records.
We joined Rose on the phone just before he set off to England to work in his private studio on a new album. It looks like this astrologically-minded dreamer will finally get his reward.
“When I first heard that Paul was interested in me, I was like… ‘Oh nooooo, what am I going to do now??'” he tells Spinner. “I’m not used to good things happening. I’m always kind of scared of screwing up, but I’m in a far more positive mood now.”
There’s no doubt that his past experience laying out the groundwork for Abel Tesfaye of The Weeknd somewhat marred his experience with the music industry, but he’s hoping to move on as quickly as possible, and will be stepping up his instrumentation in a much bigger way thanks to the Epworth’s studio.
Boys Noize ft Snoop Dogg – Got It
What? Snoop Dogg and Alex Ridha aka Boys Noize?? I had a sneaky suspicion that the BNR label woudl be up to more celebrity endorsement-style collaborations after they dropped that “Burst” track with Peaches. I actually asked them if there would be more to come to which I got no response. I was a bit skeptical as to if anyone actually read the feedback forms anyways…. oh well, this is great news, love this track!
Oh, and here’s the Peaches vid…. just cuz :)
Wolfgang Gartner @ Kool Haus
I’ve been meaning to interview Wolfgang Gartner for a while, so I went to see what he was made of this past Thanksgiving at the Guv/Kool Haus Complex. I’m pretty skeptical of this new wave of EDM djs as rock stars but I was actually incredibly impressed with not just his track selection, but more so the way he blended samples of more obscure 90s rave classics, like the hard desert trance sirens, with say, some now anthemic Deadmau5 bars…. or Deadmau5 with dub reggae . This guy’s got street cred, and a killer, no holds barred attitude to go with it if you follow him on Twitter.
While Wolfgang’s set delivered everything and more, I felt bad for people who had shelled out $50+ dollars, since all the scheduled headliners (Wolfgang Gartner, Adventure Club, Above + Beyond) were playing at the same time but in different rooms, that granted, all catered to their specific core fan base, but what’s a music lover to do when faced with a 3-way musical bang? Another issue I had was that aside from Wolfgang Gartner’s two openers in the Kool Haus who are on tour with him, the other rooms both used the same djs as openers AND closers. Yeah, this probably saves the club a bunch of money but it’s taking Toronto’s musical calibre down a notch. We have so much talent, why not make use of them? #supportTOdjs
Palladium Baggy Lites Review
The first thing you’ll notice when you pick them up is that they are incredibly light weight, weighing in at just a few pounds. If you are concerned about heavy plodding-encouraging footwear, then these are a good boot for you. The bottom sole is made of a squishy foam/rubber which seems a bit flimsy at first but have held up over the past few months without much wear or deterioration or loss of treads. My only concern is that the body its self is not sturdy enough to make much use of the thick grooves. You’re not really going to want to take these on a serious hiking trip, they are more for aesthetics or urban exploration.
The body is made of a cotton blend rip stop canvas-style fabric, with a striped lining as you can see on the inner sock lining. The striping, which you can fold up or keep exposed by button-down ankle cuff snaps is innovative for accessorizing and adding accents to your regular wardrobe. Not only that, but the striped material is made of Drilex an engineered fabric wicks sweat and moisture away. To me, this implies that Palladium is encouraging people to go barefoot in their boots, so that’s just what I did, with comfortable results. I actually rocked the sockless style on an eight-hour flight from Europe which was a hell of a lot more comfortable than those crappy pseudo-socks and slippers you’ll get on some flights.
The product description touts a two piece sockliner with a “hugging heel cup and thick die cut EVA create a comfortable stepping ground.” I’m not really sure what that means but my step has always been in fairly good form with these guys, although maybe a bit loose at times due to the light ripstop body. Again, I stress, do not take these on a serious hike, especially if you have ankle or arch problems.
Another thing, lets face it, guys like brands, logos and typography, even more so if they are done subtly and follow an aesthetic form – the Baggy Lites have a few. There’s one sewn onto both the inner and outer tongue, so that it is showing regardless if it’s folded up or not. Another smaller Palladium logo sewn into the grommet on the eye hole, printed on a contrasting fabric. There’s also a thick rubberized Chuck Taylor-style logo on the inner ankle lining that will get hidden if you lace them up all the way. Not much lost there, and all in all very subtle.
I feel like the boots were made with the tactile person involved, from the squishy soles to the soft pillowy Drilex lining and textured ripstop body, there’s a sensory zoo going on with them. With price (~$75) and lightness in mind, along with over all classic french minimalist design, I’d easily recommend Palladium’s Baggy Lites as an off season boot for all your styling pleasures. You can find them and a wide variety of killer styles and cuts at www.palladiumboots.com/
Mario Lopez for Coffee Creamer Prez on National Coffee Day
How low can the bar go? According to the last South Park episode where Cartman squares off with Honey Boo Boo in a pasghetti death match, it’s pretty murky, but I think we might be setting new levels here.
The US elections conscious marketing whizzzz’s at Baileys Non-Alcoholic Coffee Creamer have dreamt up a new celebrity-endorsed campaign featuring former C-listers turned E!-listers, Mario Lopez, Nick Lachey and Bill and Giuliana Rancic. Mario here is representing Caramel flavour because…. of his burnt-olive mediterranean complexion maybe? The pay off is that the celeb that gets the most votes will be giving $25,000 to the charity of their choice, and one lucky winner gets a trip to LA.
