OMBIIGIZI Incites Change Through Embracing Musicianship as Cultural Responsibility on Debut "Sewn Back Together"

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OMBIIGIZI (from left to right: Daniel Monkman, Adam Sturgeon) by Rima Sater

For moccasin-gaze band OMBIIGIZI, musicianship is about more than self-expression, it’s about cultural responsibility. 

“If we’re going to be Indigenous artists, we also have a responsibility to share parts of ourselves that not a lot of musicians necessarily have to wear. Being able to experience that struggle together is what helps us to overcome its challenges,” shares Adam Sturgeon, one half of OMBIIGIZI.

Composed of Anishinaabe musicians Daniel Monkman (Zoon) and Adam Sturgeon (Status/Non-Status), Toronto/London band OMBIIGIZI formed in 2021 and shortly thereafter composed their Polaris-Prize-nominated debut Sewn Back Together–released this past February on Toronto label Arts & Crafts. 

Produced by Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene, Sewn Back Together drew both Sturgeon and Monkman out of their comfort zones to combine their complimentary styles into an expansive listening journey that is both meandering and thunderous. Awash with grungy, whammy guitar and pop-punk vocals, intertwined with crystalline moods and open hearts, Sewn Back Together manifests honouring the reclamation of heritage and a mutual commitment to healing. 

“The spirit in me is my family / The past and the future / Together it’s nearer / To our prophecy / This resurgency / I’m hearing you calling / So I make this offering”

- “Spirit In Me” (Sewn Back Together) 

Through its exploration of both individual and collective identity, Sewn Back Together reckons with the realities of generational trauma, guided by familial teachings and a connection between Monkman and Sturgeon that transcends their collaborative brilliance. 

In a fortunate opportunity to speak with the band before their set at FME, we discuss how they hold space for each other’s vulnerability in their craft. 

“We put ourselves together in a safe way, so that we can understand eachother,” says Sturgeon. “Touring can be difficult because we go from our studio–a really safe environment–to the road, where we encounter the struggles of the music industry. It’s the reality of what we do, but we always have each other to actively remind ourselves why we’re doing what we’re doing,” he adds. 

On the notion of touring insecurities, Monkman chimes in: “Venturing into unknown territory can be scary. Most people we meet are really kind, but you never know when the convoy freedom flags will fly up… [Being in Quebec], I get caught up in the French language stuff and it’s making me think more and more about how we’re all trying to exist on Turtle Island. Ultimately we have to come together…” 

In a way that almost seems like Sturgeon can read Monkman’s mind, he continues: “Differences between us are our strengths. The more that we collectively acknowledge ourselves, the more we can collectively see each other. Our traditional teachings remind us of that.” 

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OMBIIGIZI by Rima Sater

Through embodying a creative mindset that uplifts their shared backgrounds, OMBIIGIZI incite change for future generations. One important aspect of the duo’s shared path is nurturing artists’ sobriety within the music industry, something that often comes as an afterthought when introducing safer space practices. 

“Looking back, how do you feel you set an example for a younger version of yourselves?” 

“Sobriety has been a big inspiration and is a movement within our band,” nods Monkman. “Our families are so important to us and addiction has been a part of our histories.”

“It’s really tough in the music industry,” says Sturgeon. “It’s hard not to want to partake in…desirable things? I suppose. But we keep each other humble and stay grounded.” 

“We don’t have alcohol in our greenroom or on our rider. When I first talked to my dad about sobriety, he couldn’t understand. But now looking back. I’m glad to be in the present with other people who have continued to build a strong foundation for themselves,” concludes Monkman.

It’s through informing the present by looking at the past that OMBIIGIZI cultivates their motivation to inspire themselves and future generations. With a sound, energy and outlook that comes to life on stage, OMBIIGIZI and their aspirations to make change sets them apart from the status-quo. With their first release stirring thoughtful conversation in less than a year of rotation, they’ve set in motion a notable artistic trajectory to keep a pulse on.

Don’t miss OMBIIGIZI at POP Montreal on Saturday, October 1st at L’Entrepôt77 at 7:00pm.

OMBIIGIZI  

Instagram | Bandcamp | Twitter

Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter (she/her) is the co-founder and managing editor of Also Cool Mag. Aside from the mag, she is a music promoter & booker, and a radio host & DJ.

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NO WAVES Talk FME, Gatekeeping Hats in Chinatown and Getting into Metal

NO WAVES with Malaika Astorga for Also Cool

At the tail-end of our FME weekend, we were able to catch up with surf garage rock band NO WAVES from Montreal. We covered their show at Bar L'Escogriffe, where they had played alongside Jess X, Piss for Pumpkin, and TVOD earlier this year, and were excited to catch up.

By far the youngest band at the festival, we chatted about their gratitude for the opportunity, who they were looking forward to seeing, as well as their personal style influences.

Malaika Astorga for Also Cool: How are you all feeling about playing your first festival in rural Quebec with Animal Collective?

Sam for NO WAVES: It's really crazy; it's crazy as fuck. I never realized that getting to something like this was actually possible. I feel kind of freaked out.

Also Cool: In a good way?

Sam: Yeah, definitely.

Angel: I don't think it's fully sunk in that we're here, that we're doing this. I feel very excited and grateful to be super far away from home just to play music; I think it's so sick. It felt super silly seeing our name with all these huge artists. It gives me a lot of hope.

Cy: I'm on par with everyone else. It's not freaking out, but it's like, we're really out here, 8 hours away (from Montreal). Especially shows like the one we’re going to play at MTELUS. That is crazy; I can't wrap my head around it. It's a shock.

Sam from NO WAVES

Also Cool: What goes into the outfits you wear, and what's the difference between dressing for a Montreal show and dressing for rural Quebec? What influences your personal sense of style?

Sam: I just really like these shorts, but I was scared of wearing them because of how cold it is here.

Angel: I base my personality around Mick Jones from the Clash. I saw him when I was 16, and I thought it was cool how he was tidy, so I usually try to go for a clean-ish look. 

Sam: Angel's business casual every day. Cy is the one who's the most consistent with his style, though.

Cy: Honestly, I love doing this; I love dressing well. It makes me happy. 

Sam: Cy used to have a school uniform, so on a Friday, when we had a show, we would go straight from school to our show, and he would stay in his uniform.

Cy: Yeah, it started that way, but I realized that I also really liked it. I'm a big fan of uniforms, I'm not great in terms of creative outfits, so this was the most uniform thing I could put on. I can't do t-shirts, but that's me 

Also Cool: The people who go to your shows really dress up.

Angel: Yeah, it's so cool!

Sam: I don't really wear t-shirts anymore because it gets too hot when I'm drumming.

Also Cool: What is the story of your hat? Where did you find it? You wear it all the time.

Cy: He's gatekeeping it, guys.

Sam: I can't remember the store's name, but they're sold out. I even asked the lady at the store to order more for me, but they haven't yet.

Sam gatekeeping his hat

AC: Who are you excited to see at the festival?

Sam: I want to see Hubert Lenoir because that's, like, the homie.

Angel: I would say Hubert, as well as Choses Sauvages and La Sécurité.

Cy: I'm also excited about Hubert, but I think all the metal bands here are really cool too. Metal is cool; I wanna explore it more. I would definitely see Dying Fetus.

Angel: I've been getting into heavier groups like that, and even their soundcheck was amazing.

AC: Anything else you want to touch on?

Angel: I just want to highlight that the scene in Montreal has been flourishing, especially since last summer. I've been interested in this group called YouTube to MP3, who are more hyerpop, and I'm just really excited for what's to come.

Catch NO WAVES this weekend at MTELUS and Entrepot 77 on Friday and Saturday, and stay tuned for another full-length interview with the band coming very soon.

Malaika Astorga is the Co-Founder & Creative Director of Also Cool. She is a Mexican-Canadian visual artist, writer, and social media strategist currently based in Montreal.

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Charting Piss for Pumpkin's Ascent in the Montreal Punk Scene

Piss for Pumpkin. Photo courtesy of @charlie.yoko

In the span of less than a year, Piss for Pumpkin’s experimental punk sound has made the band of three a staple in the Montreal music scene. Their sound —which the band describes as loud and anxious — is tailor-made to whip a crowd into an almost violent frenzy. As pandemic restrictions have eased over the past year, Piss for Pumpkin and their shows have emerged as a much-needed outlet for the moshers stuck inside for far too long.

Indeed, as the one-year anniversary of their first show approaches, the lightning-fast popularity of Piss for Pumpkin’s sonic experience is reflected in the huge variety of venues the band has played. From the Van Horne skate park to Turbo Haüs to backyard venues in British Columbia, Piss for Pumpkin has become widely loved for their ear-shattering vocals, heavy bass, and homemade approach to punk. Lead singer Annie MacLeod and bass player Isaac Seglins sat down with Also Cool to discuss their journey as musicians and the release of their first single “Citronella” on July 12th. 

Kate Addison for Also Cool: Thanks so much for meeting with me. I've loved going to your shows over the past year, both in Montreal and BC. You guys have been an official band for a while now — how did you first start playing together? 

Isaac Seglins for Piss for Pumpkin: All three of us came together in university. Matt [Sagar] — the band’s drum player — and I knew each other and jammed in high school, and together we wanted something different [from the music we had played before]. We met [when we were still in school] but we weren’t a band for a long time because we had nowhere to practice. 

Annie MacLeod for Piss for Pumpkin: After some searching, Matt found a practice space we could use last August. [It’s] an old industrial building that is always soaking wet and disgusting, but at least we can be as loud as we like.

Also Cool: Annie, I know you were in first year at Concordia three years ago. Did you guys play together then or only start jamming a year ago?  

Annie: We became friends during our first year of university [in 2019] and we jammed together once at a Concordia studio. 

Isaac: It was too clean, nothing really happened. It was a weird, sterile room. 

Annie: [The experience] was kind of awkward, and I was really nervous. Nothing happened after that, I guess, until we were in third year. That's when things [with the band] started happening.

Isaac: Yeah, things really started happening as soon as we got that [industrial] space [in 2021]: we wrote half of our songs the first week, and then we had a show two weeks later [on August 27 2021 under the Van Horne overpass].

AC: That's crazy quick! How did you book that first show?

A:  Matt is really good at being social. He had been going to a bunch of shows, just talking to people and other bands. He met Jack from Last Waltzon who mentioned that they needed an opener. [And so] they gave us a shot.

Piss for Pumpkin in concert. Photo courtesy of @bailyaphotography

AC: Let’s talk about your band’s name, Piss for Pumpkin. Where does that come from? 

A: Okay, I love this question! As a kid, I had a guinea pig named Pumpkin, but I didn't know how to spell pumpkin. [I spelled it] “pum-kin” instead. [@Pissforpumkin] was my Instagram name for a long time, because I was thinking that ‘P is for pumpkin’ [and that the name] honoured my dead guinea pig who I cherished as a child. I thought it would be kind of funny to put another “s” and make it a little vulgar. [After] we wrote a bunch of songs and decided, “Okay, we're a band, we need a name,” Matt suggested my Instagram name. [The band] put the extra ‘P’ in there [to make Piss for Pumpkin]. 

Pumkin the guinea pig. Photo provided by Annie MacLeod

AC: Who would you say are your musical inspirations?
A: Well, all three of us definitely have so many influences that are all very different to our sound. [The music we make] is definitely an entanglement of all of those different elements. It's hard to pinpoint specific artists. All three of us definitely have so many influences that are all very different, but our sound is primarily influenced by living in Montreal and the environment where we are [making] music.

Piss for Pumpkin’s rehearsal space. Photo provided by Annie MacLeod

AC: How would you describe your music to someone who's never heard it before?

I: I would say energetic. Scared, but not scary.

A: A lot of the lyrics are about being really anxious and living in the city.

I: Another influence for Matt and I was our time spent being in bands that we kind of hated with multiple guitarists who were very loud. [Piss for Pumpkin] was an opportunity for Matt and I to be the loud ones. As a bass player, you [normally] don't get to be upfront too much, so, for me a big inspiration for the sound is how loud can the amps go now that I'm not competing with any guitar.  

AC: You’ve played several live shows in Montreal overy the past year, with a few in BC too. How has that impacted your music?
I: While we have recorded stuff coming up, I still consider the live shows to be the primary Pumpkin experience. It's interesting: you write a song in the dungeon, right? Then you practice it, and you think it's gonna be a certain way, and then you perform on stage and you realize “never mind, the song should be like this.” We find that when we’re performing the song, we’re kind of still writing it. Matt and I will shoot a look at each other and confirm with our eyes, and then the song will be rewritten in the moment.

Piss for Pumpkin in concert. Photo provided by Kate Addison

AC: With all the performances you’ve been doing, is there anything special that has stood out for you? 

A: The Vancouver show [with Dastard on July 25th] is definitely fresh in my mind. We were performing [in a backyard] near this strip of restaurants, and this really drunk lady showed up. She was just so enthusiastic. She was dancing and loving it, and she brought us pizzas and put them in the pit. Everyone was grabbing pizza and dancing, too. Outdoor shows [can be] really nerve-wracking because [neighbours] complain. For example, there was another lady at the Vancouver show who was standing outside the fence and giving the organizers a hard time. That was kind of scary, but we gave her some cake and she left.

AC: Maybe the cake lady was just feeling left out. 

This has been a really great discussion, thanks so much for your time. So, finally, before we end for today — what is the plan for Piss for Pumpkin going forward? 

A: We're releasing our first single [on] July 12th, which we're really excited about, [and] a music video as well.

Piss for Pumpkin. Courtesy of Ali Seglins

I: Last month we went to Annie’s grandparents’ [rural] property. We set up lights, and shot so much footage and so many photos of the band. We did a big visual art project.

A: We don't have a set date for the album [yet] because it's still being mixed. But hopefully [it will be out] this summer.

AC: How are you producing it? Are you doing it yourselves or are you outsourcing it? 

A: A few people are kind of working … poking away at it.

I: [The album] is very close. Friends [are making it]. It's a low-budget operation but we have some very knowledgeable friends. 

Listen to their first recorded single “CITRONELLA” here, and their newest release “CONDITIONER” below!

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Piss for Pumpkin

Instagram | Bandcamp | Youtube | Facebook

Kate Addison

Website I Instagram

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Between Frankness and Cheekiness is Eliza Niemi's "Staying Mellow Blows" (Vain Mina / Tin Angel Records)

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Eliza Niemi by Ben Mike

Alt-folk raconteur Eliza Niemi’s knack for sincerity and surrealism make her masterfully endearing. The Toronto-based multi-instrumentalist and singer first found her footing in so-called Canadian indie circles with her former band Mauno and since disbandment, has established a solo-venture defined by striking idiosyncrasy and collaborations. Now, Niemi finds herself with two EPs under her belt and operates an independent record label, Vain Mina, on the side.

Niemi’s deft and illustrious approach is refined on her to-be-released LP Staying Mellow Blows, out August 5th, 2022 on Vain Mina and Tin Angel Records. Between cello musings, folk experimentations and modular synth flirtations is Niemi’s most bountiful collaboration to date—a testament to her talent and creative kinship. Staying Mellow Blows features contributions from 19 confidantes within Niemi’s web and charts a back-and-forth intrinsic to community ties; transcending its pandemic-bound gestation period.

In our conversation with Niemi, we had the chance to discuss how Staying Mellow Blows evolved in passing through many hands, the way she is sustained by innovative relationships, and the experience of getting a tramp stamp of her album name.

Read the full interview below!

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Eliza Niemi by Ben Mike

Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter for Also Cool: You are a prolific world-builder when it comes to your collaborations. How has your creative process transformed from the solitary practice captured on your first EP, Vinegar, to that being realized on your to-be-released Staying Mellow Blows?

Eliza Niemi: With Staying Mellow Blows, I wanted to preserve the solitude and intimacy of my older EPs in the core of the songs, but make the arrangements a joint effort with the other players on the album. I basically wrote a bunch of songs on cello, guitar and keys, and then sent them around to my friends all over North America to build on. Some were a bit more collaborative in earlier stages, like how "Walking Feels Slow" was co-written from the start with Will Statler, or "Sushi California" and "Trust Me" were co-produced by Mike Fong.

This record was my first time fully recording and producing my own vocals, cello, keys, and guitar. That part of the process was quite solitary. It created a cool dichotomy with the deeply collaborative process of all my friends writing and layering their own parts overtop. It was like I leaned even further into the intimacy and introspection of my previous releases—which were recorded by Louie Short in a small studio here in Toronto—and then turned that on its head by completely opening it up to other musicians' perspectives. I think in this way, my creative process has expanded both inwards and outwards. Making this record has been an exercise in understanding myself and in letting go—trusting the people around me.

Also Cool: Branching off of that: Did working with your friends bring about anything of the album that you hadn't initially expected? 

Eliza Niemi: Sending these vulnerable, raw songs to my far-away friends and having them interact with them so honestly was a beautiful way to feel close to them. It was an emotional process receiving everyone's stems over the pandemic. I put a lot of careful thought into whom I asked to play on which songs, but didn't give anyone specific direction. Each friend blew me away with their sensitive and brilliant playing and singing. The odd time when I would send two players the beds of a song simultaneously, they would send back parts that serendipitously worked perfectly with one another. It was pretty magical. Each player expanded their song(s) in ways that I never would have been able to. The album is almost like a web of emotional and musical conversations. 

AC: You and your hive are close-knit in more ways than one. Can you tell me about how these relationships contribute to your label Vain Mina? 

EN: I started Vain Mina as an imprint for my first solo release, mostly to seem more legit to press and industry people, while still being able to own all the rights to my music. "Vain Mina" is adapted from the Finnish vain minä which means "only me,” with a sort of childish inflection. I called it that somewhat ironically because I was setting out to do everything myself, but it ended up being birthed from the efforts of many members of my community.

Mark Grundy (Heaven For Real, Quaker Parents) had been involved in DIY labels back in Halifax, and had been self-releasing music for a decade. He helped me a ton at the beginning. I'd say we basically started the label together. Our second release was Quaker Parents' Our Drawing Club in 2019. Louie Short has been our resident engineer from the beginning and has worked on all of mine and others’ releases to-date.

We all play on each other's recordings as well. I guess we're a collective… Bolstering each other and aiding one another in self-releasing under the label name. We're trying to organically build something with like-minded people and facilitate transparency, artists owning the rights to their music and knowing exactly what's going on at all times. The evolution of the label has felt natural in this sense... We’ve continued to link up with people who share this vision and have gone from there. 

AC: Going back to Staying Mellow Blows: Your leading singles are accompanied by music videos with an uncanny undertone in commonality. What informs your visual and online identity? 

EN: In line with the collaborative nature of this album, I brought songs to friends who make visuals and gave them free reign to interpret them. I've had certain people I like to work with since Vinegar, and they made videos for this album too, like Ryan Al-Hage and Ali Vanderkruyk, as well as some new collaborators like Gart Darley and an exciting to-be-announced artist. 

In terms of my visual and online identity, I gravitate towards things that I find interesting and inspiring. I have an affinity for miniatures, puppets, figurines and outsider-art, which has been present in a lot of the visuals throughout my solo career. I think these things represent how I feel about my music and expressing myself in general. I find making art to always be a sort of clunky, funny, sad, and overall odd representation of the self. Weird little puppets, stained glass, and sculptures convey that well for me.

AC: Speaking of your music videos; can we talk about the extremely rock n’ roll moment of getting your album title tattooed on camera? What inspired this adventure? 

EN: Back in the winter, my friend June was driving me around NYC. At golden hour in Manhattan, we passed a sprinter van with a fun little decal on it. I said, "It looks like a tramp stamp," and we laughed. I then said, "I should get it," and he said "staying mellow blows”—in reference to the title of my unreleased album, which he'd heard every version of for the past two years. We laughed and then I got serious again and said, "That's a great idea!” Over the course of that trip, I conceptualized the music video. I wasn't sure if I was serious about it until it was actually happening. Honestly, I mostly did it to make June laugh and think I was cool, I think it worked. I don't regret anything. It also perfectly encapsulates the sentiment of “staying mellow” being dumb.

AC: In closing, what would you tell your younger self from this moment looking back on your musical career so far? 

EN: What a nice question. I would say: "Don't get the tattoo!" Just kidding! 

It's a hard question because I don't wish anything had gone differently… It’s all led me to where I am now, which is a good place, I think. But yeah, I guess I would tell my younger self to trust your gut, to not be afraid to change gears, and that everything is gonna work out, kinda.

Don’t miss Eliza Niemi on tour!

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Staying Mellow Blows

Out August 5, 2022 via Vain Mina / Tin Angel Records

1. MPF (Movies)

2. Sushi California

3. Tea On A Plate

4. Murphy’s

5. Trust Me

6. Walking Feels Slow

7. Don’t Think

8. Not Killing Bad Energy

9. Leave Me

10. Death I

11. Death II

12. Rolling

13. Staying Mellow Blows

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Eliza Niemi

Instagram | Bandcamp

Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter (she/her) is the co-founder and managing editor of Also Cool Mag. Aside from the mag, she is a music promoter & booker, and a radio host & DJ.

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Aura Moreno Affirms Life's Complexities with "A Love Story" (Part II)

Aura, photo courtesy of Ana Maria Hernandez

Today marks the Bandcamp release of A Love Story — the latest chapter in musician and creative Aura Moreno’s empire. The Providence-based artist is known for embracing her tastes and energies in all their forms, mixing them together with a charming and unapologetic confidence. With this latest mixtape, Aura leans into experimental textures, sensuous pop, and jolting effects to concoct an autobiographical roller-coaster ride.

After opening up to Also Cool about her formative experiences and creative stylings, Aura is ready to share more about what she believes and where she is headed. Continue on for the second-half of our heart-to-heart, where we explore the healing powers of expression and all the moves she is set to make.

Aura, photo courtesy of Ana Maria Hernandez

Rebecca Judd for Also Cool: In that vein, something that excites me with your music is how escapist it is, while also being contemplative and heartening. You describe your music as “crafted with the intention to dance, heal, and reflect” — many of your tracks convey that beautifully. Have you always incorporated affirmations into your music? 

Aura Moreno: Well, my music has always been honest and true to my experience, so I’ve incorporated affirmations previously, but unconsciously. With my album Understanding, it all was made purposefully, with intention. I needed to hear those songs and conduct that light energy.

Prior to creating that album, It had been brought to my attention that, back in the day when music came to be, people chanted to manifest a better life. To have a powerful frequency like that moving throughout the world, I began to think “Well, now that I know that, why would I just say any old rhymey thing on my songs?”  I’m using this talent to my advantage, to heal myself and to aid the healing of those who are listening! 

Also Cool: Absolutely. Your music has many powerful reflections on how individuals can treat themselves, but also how they can treat each other. I was just listening to “What I Want” [from Aura’s album Understanding], thinking about how I have friends who are going through difficulties. “Give them their flowers while they’re still here”  — that got me in my feels.

AC: How has music helped you to build yourself back up?

Aura: When I was introduced to 90s hip-hop, I was confused about life, feelings, and relationships. As I studied the music of artists like Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Common, Tupac, A Tribe Called Quest, Slum Village, etc., they painted beautiful images of love and life. I really felt it, but more importantly I understood. That was life-changing.

Within my own work, I was going through it heavily when I started writing Understanding. There was so much shifting in my life: I had lost my apartment, I had no mentors or guidance, and quite a few of my close friendships were falling away, one of them of over 10 years strong. In the midst of all of this, I had lost my identity… I felt alone, hopeless and was deeply unable to validate myself. Creating the album (along with some prayer) was a big step in the process of getting back to my purpose and values.

I appreciate music so much, because every song I’ve made has been a footnote to circle back to. When I listen, I remember certain lessons I’ve learned, feelings or situations I’ve overcome. I’m able to reset, even if it might take some patience and reiteration.

AC: It can be something where people put their own experiences into [their interpretations of] your music, but you orient yourself through it as well. It gives you context for your own future.

Aura: Literally. Once anything goes public, everyone is able to attach their own meaning to it. As long as it’s inspiring and encouraging, I’m happy. Personally, this is my journal that I don’t have to have physically.

Aura, photo courtesy of Ana Maria Hernandez

AC: I’ve loved watching your live performances! If you were to curate the Aura show of your dreams, what kind of atmosphere would you have, and which artists would share the stage? What would be your dream presentation of yourself?

Aura: Definitely green pastures. I love performing outdoors. If I could just perform in a beautiful field, where people are connecting with the Earth… shoes-off vibe, there’s weed, there’s ice cold fresh-squeezed lemonade, there’s bubbles, the sun is shining with a light breeze and it’s just a high vibration… I would want to connect with all the people who are there to have fun and share Love. and the sound system would be incredible of course! 

I would love to perform with some friends — Cassius Cruz, Project Gurl, Homeboyextra, Blue Mena. I’m also really into Babyxsosa right now, she’s incredible. I would love to have a show with her, Pete Rock, baby.com, Pierre Bourne, Hook, Princess Nokia, Rosalia, SZA. And Charli XCX as well!

AC: Absolutely! An Aura collaboration with some metal artists would be really special.

Aura: Yeah, I definitely want to make rock music and metal in the future. I don’t think that I’m a screamer yet, but it’s coming.

I wouldn’t doubt me doing any sort of music, you know? I love country as well, like Johnny Cash, and Leonard Cohen is also an influence. And Neil Young…

AC: Looking into the future, you’ve got a lot on the go. What are your next projects, and your intentions for the rest of the year?

Aura: I’m trying to take the business side of music more seriously. In all these years, I’ve prioritized the creation versus the earning, but I do need to take care of myself. My music is incredible, my heart is pure… I deserve so much. I have a whole résumé of music that I could have tried to monetize in different ways had I learned the game sooner, so I guess I’m trying to be a girl-boss with the music shit? *laughs* I’m also in my baddie era, so I’ve got a mixtape [“A Love Story”] coming soon with all those vibes!

I’m working to become more positive within myself and know that I am limitless — we all are! But I want to feel it and know it deep in my bones. I don’t want to doubt myself or worry anymore. I’m trying to pay attention to where I feel worried about life and rework those thoughts. I’m also trying to move to LA, and get my connections up and get my name out there. I’d like to create, release, and perform a lot more. It’s time to level up, period!

I moved back home June of 2021. After not being around for a while, I wanted to come home and re-centre. I’ve been going out more, talking to different people, and re-introducing myself  — despite growing up here, I don’t think I was ever really “in the community”. I had my friends and stuck to my friends. But I’ve been trying to find what’s happening around town, checking out different scenes. It’s been beautiful to see [Providence] flourishing in such a creative way. There’s so much potential here, I’m just trying to enjoy it while I'm around.

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A Love Story

Out June 6th, 2022 via all streaming services (Soundcloud version out June 1st, Bandcamp version out June 3rd)

1. OUF! (snippet)

2. A Love Story

3. flip phone freestyle

4. guesss nottt

5. Culo de Oro

6. Canvas

7. fuck off (demo)

8. Su Música Suena (demo)

Produced by Jay Almeida, Kris Fame, Black Surfer, eqobKING, Cassius Cruz, Nestro, MasterJo, playshado, Tompsy, and Aura

Mixed by CR3AMER

Additional lines on track 5 by Debra Brito

All music written by Aura, with additional writing by eqobKING (track 4) and Kufa Castro (track 6)

Cover image by Ana Maria Hernandez

NYC Also Coolers can check out Aura’s mixtape release party this Sunday, June 5th at Pianos NYC from 8 to 11 PM! Take a peep at the flyer below (made by Aura!) for more info.

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Aura

Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify

YouTube | Apple Music | Twitter | Soundcloud | TikTok

Rebecca Judd is the features editor of Also Cool Mag.

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Aura Moreno and the Makings of Her Love Story (Part I)

Aura, photo courtesy of Ana Maria Hernandez

From Providence to beyond, the artistic multiverse of Aura Moreno promises to rock your world. Boasting a catalogue that stretches visual and musical disciplines, the restless creative—better known simply as Aura—has cultivated an image that is both limitless in its references and grounded in its truths. Aura’s self-proclaimed “DIY empire” hosts stylistic impulses with a consistent respect; taking notes from Y2K, trip-hop, rap and metalcore, her multimedia creations aim to heal and provide a place for complexity.

Fresh off the release of her music video for “C U There”, Aura has doubled the pace and drops her latest independent mixtape A Love Story later this week. The tape is now available on Soundcloud, with its Bandcamp release tomorrow and full release on streaming services next week. She describes this newest venture as a “life-affirming musical collage”, a reflective and confident celebration that showcases sounds of pop and reggaetón.

In this first-half of our conversation with Aura, we peruse what led her up to this moment: the impacts of suburbia, the tools in her arsenal, and what it means to step into who you really are.

Aura, photo courtesy of Ana Maria Hernandez

Rebecca L. Judd for Also Cool Mag: Your creative portfolio is expansive, with an exemplary spread ranging from singing and songwriting to digital art and fashion design. How have you established this “DIY empire”, and what are its foundational pillars?

Aura Moreno: I think it all came together organically. I’ve been songwriting since I was a kid, but I never really established that I was songwriting — I was just “writing”, you know. I would also do things like tear up my dad’s old pants and sew them into bags. I’ve always been creative in that way, but how it’s all tied together now goes back to when I started making music. 

As a teenager, I produced for a few years before writing to and hopping on my beats. And then, I mean… I was broke, so I quickly realized “I have to take my own photos and videos and learn how to edit them.” I did that with my first music video. I directed it with an old friend, Ryan Cardoso, and we raised $400 to shoot it. With that budget, I hired an editor—Rasheed LaPointe—who taught me how to edit step-by-step on Adobe Premiere Pro. At the time, I thought you could only make a music video with money; it made things easier, of course, but that wasn’t actually true. I’m grateful we were able to raise that, but I learned afterwards that I could’ve been more nifty. 

Coming up in the scene, I held shows all the time, and the fliers weren’t up to par so I started designing them myself. Back then I was using BeFunky, which I found by googling “free online graphic editor” *laughs*. From there, I began designing my own merch using Microsoft Paint and free online tools.

I was even making nameplates and keychains, after my friend Lara taught me how to use a laser cutter. I was all over the place — and little by little, all of these things folded in together because I’m an independent artist. Luckily, we have this resource here in Providence called AS220, and they help emerging DIY artists. I went lots when I was younger, learning all of these different skills like screen-printing, vinyl and laser-cutting, etc.

Aura’s latest visual, the official music video for “C U There”.

Also Cool: So this lifestyle as an independent artist, for you, came down to self-sufficiency and necessity. From there, you’ve become your own creative director, and you now have both hands on your brand. Do you see that formative time of having to craft your own vision with such hard work as being definitive? 

Aura: Yeah! And you know, my music was already crazy unique, so having and wanting to be hands-on with everything else created this fresh new world. That’s what my “DIY empire” is — it’s this thing that grew because I had to make art for my music. Everything is super distinctive, because that’s who I am and have always been. The vibes will continue to develop, but what’s been really cool about the groundwork I’ve already laid is that my collaborators build off of it. For example, the Pushback 5 Remix video was my aesthetic as seen by the director Eugene Puglia.

AC: Of course. And the more you get comfortable with those mediums, the more you keep in your back pocket. It’s special to know that you didn’t have to compromise to get where you are — you can do it without having to conform or sacrifice.

Aura: For sure. And the plan is to keep that originality and authenticity as I grow. I’ve always despised conformity! And all these mediums have leaked into one another. I truly breathe every facet of design — I would make myself jewelry all the time when I was younger, and I just released an earring line made of upcycled sterling silver. I’ve also just released my first 1 of 1 constructed top.

Getting back to what you said, as great as it was that I did all my own things that way, when I started collaborating with people, it was a little difficult. I was so used to just having myself. I’m still learning how to be a great collaborator now; so much of it is communication, but at first I’d always be thinking “I don’t know if you get me, I don’t know if you’re going to do it right…”

AC: Have there ever been any examples where it felt comfortable to surrender? Can you recall where you saw something unexpected come out of trusting the process?

Aura: Yes, but it wasn’t an experience I had right away. As I was getting into collaborations, I had to remind myself: “We’re here because I love their work, and I trust we can create something beautiful together… so let’s just see what happens.” I had to really loosen up.

Aura, photo courtesy of Ana Maria Hernandez

Also Cool: You grew up in Providence, RI, and previously identified this as your “basic bitch” phase. How did this coming-of-age impact your artistry? What is it that you still carry from this time in your life?

Aura: Growing up in Providence is interesting, because it’s such a small town. I feel like I’ve experienced a lot of different “eras” of this city — it’s much more creative than when I was younger, which is why I felt like I was a basic bitch. Those days, I only spent time partying and shopping because I didn’t want to stick out as an artist. There wasn’t a single day in school or by cousins, where I wasn’t told I was weird; having that trauma already, I didn’t want to further it. Now, I’m just comfortable and confident in my strangeness. What I still carry with me from those days is… I’m still very much a party girl! I don’t know if that’ll ever change. *laughs*

AC: I feel like that’s a universal experience for many creatives — it’s unfortunate to bear that trauma from our early years, because weirdness ultimately does become one’s strength. Going with who you are, it becomes powerful.

AC: You are super versatile in your influences. Growing up, what were you listening to? Which scenes did you explore?

Aura: I wish I could remember my first connection with music. There are so many timelines! Being Dominican, at every family party we’d have bachata, merengue, and reggaeton blasting. My parents both loved this local station, Lite Rock 105.1, which only played the greatest hits of the 80s and 90s — artists like Madonna, Fleetwood Mac, Sade, Tracy Chapman... 

My mom moved around a lot too, so for a while before Providence, I lived in a suburb called Johnston. There, we would listen to Myspace-esque tracks like “Fersure” and “Babycakes”, and I remember having 50 Cent’s “Ayo Technology” on repeat. I’d visit my family in Fort Lauderdale often, where I was introduced to house and EDM. After school, I’d throw on the Music Choice EDM channel and discover music for hours. I really liked rock and metal during high school too — bands like Asking Alexandria, A Skylit Drive, Kings of Leon… and of course, I got ready for school every morning to whatever was on MTV Jams and MTV Trés! I knew all the words to each Gucci Mane, Lil Wayne, Max B and Nicki Minaj song there was. And after my first time playing GTA San Andreas, whew… I studied early hip-hop for years! Slick Rick really taught me how to tell stories. I would just blast all this music in my headphones each day, from AM to PM, in and out of school. My friend reminded me recently that when we first started going to parties in high school, I would put my headphones on and not be at the party. 

AC: That’s hilarious — being in your own little world and thinking “I’m here for the vibe”.

Aura: Exactly. I brought it back this year, just for myself. When I’m out, I don’t always want to interact — sometimes I like being at the club, throwing my headphones on, and enjoying the energy of the environment while being in my own zone simultaneously.

AC: As you were forming your sound and your vision, you were also experimenting with presentation. Before leaning into your identity as Aura Moreno, you released music as Iris Creamer. I’m interested in exploring your shift from a stylized character to becoming authentically you — what does it mean for you to present yourself to the world?

Aura: Honestly, within my healing, it was very necessary. Iris Creamer was a very sexual era for me, and I feel like that’s because I couldn’t access any depth within myself apart from that. I began to notice that I was put in a box because of that, and thought to myself, “If I really adore making music, and this is what I want to do with my life, I have to move forward as myself.” I’m evolving as a human being, so if the music is going to do the same thing, then we need to be together in that way.

Check back in to read part 2 of our conversation with Aura Moreno!

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A Love Story

Out June 6th, 2022 via all streaming services (Soundcloud version out June 1st, Bandcamp version out June 3rd)

1. OUF! (snippet)

2. A Love Story

3. flip phone freestyle

4. guesss nottt

5. Culo de Oro

6. Canvas

7. fuck off (demo)

8. Su Música Suena (demo)

Produced by Jay Almeida, Kris Fame, Black Surfer, eqobKING, Cassius Cruz, Nestro, MasterJo, playshado, Tompsy, and Aura

Mixed by CR3AMER

Additional lines on track 5 by Debra Brito

All music written by Aura, with additional writing by eqobKING (track 4) and Kufa Castro (track 6)

Cover image by Ana Maria Hernandez

NYC Also Coolers can check out Aura’s mixtape release party this Sunday, June 5th at Pianos NYC from 8 to 11 PM! Take a peep at the flyer below (made by Aura!) for more info.

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Aura

Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify

YouTube | Apple Music | Twitter | Soundcloud | TikTok

Rebecca Judd is the features editor of Also Cool Mag.

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Take a Sip of Cola's Post-Punk Debut "Deep In View" (Fire Talk)

View fullsize

Cola’s Tim Darcy (left), Evan Cartwright (middle) and Ben Stidworthy (right) by Colin Medley

Amidst our post-truth media landscape ablaze with sensationalism, bound by the tirelessness of superficial consumer culture, arrives Deep In View, the debut LP from Canadian three-piece Cola, out this Friday via New York label Fire Talk Records.

Composed of long-time collaborators Tim Darcy and Ben Stidworthy —formally of beloved Montreal band Ought— and Evan Cartwright of U.S. Girls/The Weather Station, the locally-star studded post-punk outfit is void of artificiality, despite its name.

Rather, Deep In View relishes in poetic revelations in a era of lukewarm takes. With an observational tone akin to David Byrne’s commanding Talking Heads personas, coupled with direct, yet animated, guitar-bass-drum arrangements reminiscent of early works by The Strokes, Cola strikes political conversation on modern life with refreshing sincerity.

Chatting with Cola, lead singer and guitarist Tim Darcy attributes the band’s “triumphant honesty” as an outcome of working as a three piece.

“The writing process for this record was pretty nimble and we could workshop things readily,” explains Darcy. “Ben and I have been writing together for a long time, and though there were elements that we wanted to bring into this new project, there were major structural differences; like working with Evan who has such a singular touch, and writing songs separately during periods of on and off isolation,” he adds. “We wanted to keep the band a three piece and see what we could do melodically with sparse instrumentation.”

Since 2019, the trio draws inspiration from each other, whether through in-person sessions or building upon demos sent back and forth during the creation of Deep In View. Drummer Evan Cartwright says the nature of Cola’s experimentation is a welcomed change.

“There is a level of trust in this project that I don’t have in most creative situations. We all give each other so much agency to be able to redirect and change what we’re working on, which doesn’t happen in every band,” he shares.

“I don’t feel an impulse to control. I actually want [Tim and Evan] to change what I’ve written!” adds Stidworthy.

“Mechanically, it’s part of the definition of a band; a chemical reaction that happens when people bring their own idiosyncrasies to the table. What makes Cola Cola is everyone’s individual contributions resulting in this record,” elaborates Darcy.

View fullsize

Cola by Colin Medley

Sonically, Cola’s collaborative patterns aim to compose “worlds or moods that are difficult to pin down emotionally,” explains Stidworthy. Part of guiding audiences through an intentionally off-kilter listening experience is largely driven by Cola’s lyrics, which are often introspective, unfettered and sometimes irritable – yet always graceful.

“I did lean into a personal lens much more on this record than with Ought,” says Darcy. “I tapped into lyrical mindsets and characters as vehicles for my perspective as a writer.”  

Darcy’s arresting performance on Deep In View comes from adopting a more traditional “front-man” personality - quintessential to the band’s post-punk roots.

 “[The vocals] do have a more singer-songwriter, post-punk clunky-ness to them, (laughs). While the sound isn’t totally shocking, to us or people familiar with our past projects, listening to our songs feels different… Much more personal,” notes Darcy.

Rounding off our interview, Cola speaks of keenly of returning to touring and bringing their meditations to life.

“I’m excited to just get up and play our asses off!” beams Cartwright.

“We’re a guitar band and I think, we’ve made a good album of guitar songs. Hopefully people will experience joy and our songs will make someone feel something and experience a pivotal moment,” muses Stidworthy.

“Even when we played our first returning shows, they were amazing. It’s a lot to ask an audience to sit through a whole set of songs they’ve never heard before, but everyone who came out was great! So far we’ve been getting back into the flow and it’s like no time has passed. I hope that everyone gets to experience that very soon if they haven’t already,” adds Darcy.

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Deep In View

Out May 20, 2022 via Fire Talk Records

Pre-order here

1. Blank Curtain

2. So Excited

3. At Pace

4. Met Resistance

5. Degree

6. Water Table

7. Gossamer

8. Mint

9. Fulton Park

10. Landers

Written by Tim Darcy & Ben Stidworthy

Supercollider, Guitar (“Blank Curtain”) & Drums by Evan Cartwright

Guitar, Vocals and Lyrics by Tim Darcy

Bass, Guitar & Keys by Ben Stidworthy

Recorded by Valentin Ignat

Mixed by Gabe Wax

Mastered By Harris Newman

Artwork by Katrijn Oelbrandt

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Cola

Instagram | Bandcamp

Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter (she/her) is the co-founder and managing editor of Also Cool Mag. Aside from the mag, she is a music promoter & booker, radio host & DJ, and a musician.

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Interzone’s "Transcendental Cuisine" Marks an Exciting Comeback in the Electronic Scene

via Interzone

Translations of interviews in this article were done by its author.

The Transcending Experience of "Transcendental Cuisine"

After entering through a door located near the lively intersection of St. Laurent and St. Joseph, the participants descended a few short steps before arriving at the basement venue of La Sotterenea. They were greeted at the door for tickets in a small hallway lined with two doors that made up the space: the chill room on the right and the noise room on the left.

The April 29th show, titled "Transcendental Cuisine," was Interzone's first show back since the start of the pandemic – and it was remarkable. The show, which began at 8PM and finished at 3AM, featured six local artist sets ranging from live noise to techno and electro DJ sets. Throughout the night, you could go between listening to Kore, Wormhole of Doubt, Stan K, Nixtrove, Myfanwy, Neo Edo, and Matthew Raymond, and spending time in the chill room across the hallway where a bar, pool table, comfy sofas, warm light, and a merch table could be found.

The show hosted somewhere between 100-120 attendees, and both rooms were filled throughout the night. I spoke with several of the participants, organizers, and artists at the event to hear their thoughts on both the show itself and the broader collective. 

Playing for Interzone

I spoke with Jessy Myfanwy, who played her first-ever official DJ set at the Interzone show. As she explained, she had often played with her friends, but this was her first time having a curated set.

Jessy became involved in the electronic music scene in Vancouver at 18, attending underground disco and tropical house shows. She then oriented herself towards more experimental, "hard and weird" genres five years ago. 

When I asked Jessy if she had any specific musical intentions in her mixing. She explained that she liked to play "Very chaotic mixes that still have some sort of accessibility to the general population."

"I really like playing electro remixes of bangers and a lot of industrial music. [I'm] getting a bit more into techno now. I've always been really into industrial music and industrial kinds of techno. I want to experiment with genres like opera… I'm really into contemporary opera."

Jessy loved her experience playing her first show at Interzone. "They did such an excellent job organizing it," she explained. "I love when there's a mix of live sets and DJing.

[It was] my first time being to Sotterenea since before the pandemic, and I forgot how much I loved the space. Having a chill room is really important, outside of the music, because it gives space. You can be involved in different layers of participation which I really like." 

Along with the space's disposition, Jessy was happy with the turnout, which she described as a "mixed crowd" of participants coming from different scenes.

Who is Interzone – What is Interzone?

With no fixed origin, Interzone emerged out of inspirations tracing back to the European industrial scene and Tunisian upbringings. I got the chance to speak with Ghazi Bena, one of the co-creators of the collective, who described the collective – active since 2018 – as being a product of the kind of musical and artistic drives he and co-creator Habib Bardi experienced prior to their arrival in Montreal. 

Interzone also grew out of a desire to break out of the increasingly commodified rave and electronic music scene of Europe, explained Ghazi. The European electronic scene had, at that point, reached a kind of "saturation," a nearly "unreachability in which you could no longer do anything innocent and pure," he said. "It was like a structure already made, too deep-seated, too commodified."

Upon arriving in Montreal, Ghazi and Habib grew to appreciate the "kinds of territories which weren't devoured by the 'business' side we now see in the scene."

Fluid, in movement, spontaneous, explosive, absolute chaos – Interzone seeks to embody a space in which artistic expression may emerge without being submitted to the rigidity of capitalism. The very structure – or perhaps, lack thereof – of the collective illustrates its philosophical underpinnings. 

One of Interzone's significant motives is, as described by Ghazi, a kind of "effective urgency," an urgency to "organize, to create that kind of space, that space of existence." He wanted to clarify that this motive did not stem merely from the organizers. "The core of the artistic drive does not come from us; it comes from the artists' performances [who] are doing incredible things. It's the people who attend and who have a particular interest in music and performance in general…it is those who make art and music live."

The organizers were pleased with the event, agreeing that it was their most successful one. "The party was a great pleasure, [to get to] see this energy which emanates from the people and the artists…to see that people are still excited, still here." 

Ghazi noted the fun they had organizing and experiencing the event, which is crucial to what they seek to create. Although they maintain some level of artistic exigency, they seek to minimize the 'seriousness' of their collective. "There is some form of seriousness to have, but at the same time…[we aim to] not transform the serious aspect into something hermeneutic and opaque which does not accept difference.

We had so much fun…it is something which makes us live, not materially speaking…but in an existential sense."

Playing with Interzone

I also spoke with Willliam Humphrey, who describes himself as "a filmmaker and an editor" who likes "helping out wherever needed." 

William attended the event and has been involved with Interzone for several years. He described the fluid structure of Interzone: "There's this ability for everyone to take a small role or even just be present." For William, the event reinvigorated a sense of excitement regarding the artistic scene after two years of pandemic-ridden slumber.

With the impressive number of new collectives emerging into the scene, I asked William what he thought made Interzone unique. "I think what makes each one unique is their sensibility," he explained, "They're willing to take risks and incorporate local musicians with international musicians."

One example he cited was an event they organized in 2019 when they invited the England-based Giant Swan to play at a loft rave. William explained that the collective thought to themselves, "Giant Swan has never played in Montreal. Let's book them. Let's get them from the U.K. to Montreal and have them play a show with a ton of great local acts."

"It's not an easy one to do," he continued. "Financially, it's hell. But it's the exhibitions and events that they host that are so worth it."

William is equally excited for what's to come – parties, shows, and events all summer in the hot Montreal weather. As these things come back to life, I wanted to know what William would like to see change or happen in the electronic scene. "More windows [and] air circulation," he noted. "But I think more than anything, utilizing the outdoors as a space to hold events, whether it be on the mountain or in the bushes or maybe off the islands."

Photo by Eva Miette Giard

Interzone, the Scene, and What's to Come

As pandemic restrictions diminish and the Montreal artistic and electronic music scene comes back buzzing, there is a new horizon of possibilities to create new kinds of spaces, movements, and collectives. Interzone is coming back strong: alongside this past show, the collective officially launched their label in March, and with it released three tapes by Habib, Stan K, and a live set of Lier Lier. 

"Other than the shows that allow these brilliant people to express themselves on stage, this label has been the crystallization aspect of those expressions."

For Ghazi, it is essential for the collective to not project too much into the future. By seeking to create new existential territories of artistic expression, he explained, the spontaneity which comes with not over-projecting is vital to maintain. 

That being said, there are projects in the works, and Interzone will have more events and artistic productions for those who missed the last event. They are looking to sustain the same energy from the last event. "It is an energy that should not end."

Ghazi expressed some worry about the increased competition and business model absorbed by the Montreal techno scene. The kinds of artistic spaces or sites of expression Interzone seeks to create, strive to exist "outside of the entire system of capitalist value in which we live," explained Ghazi. "Many movements around go against this vision of art and artistic expression. They are more in a business kind of mood…they put their intentions in there."

"We are just striving to do things as…innocent as possible, without wanting to walk on the feet of others, [or] on other collectives who are doing excellent work, [with] many people who are truly brilliant and do incredible work."

 "It is in the most uncontrollable chaos and the least tangibility possible, there are things which leave their frame, which leave our conceptions, our system of values, our ways to see things, and this is what drives us, that is the drive we are looking for."

Soline Van de Moortele is a Philosophy student at Concordia/insatiable feminist, raver, and writer. 

Instagram | Wordpress

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Enter Panther Modern: NFTs, Community-Building & Half-Life (Sextile / HEAT)

LA2022 cover by Panther Modern

Picture yourself in a dark room, lasers filtering through the smoke machines. The bass cuts through the noise of the crowd and you see a group of people you think you know dancing across the room. Your body is filled with warm static, and the sensory dream of dancing with strangers takes over.

This is the world of Panther Modern, the electronic project of Brady Keehn, an NFT-savvy artist from LA. You know we love community-oriented musicians who make us feel like we’re in a dark room dancing the night away, so we reached out. 

We spoke with Brady about the elusive world of NFTs, his creative career and how he’s been building virtual communities since the 90s. 

Press photo via Panther Modern by Nedda Afsari

Brady is a singer-songwriter in the band Sextile and Panther Modern, his solo project. He explains it as, “experimental in the way that [the project] tests the algorithms of Facebook and Instagram by creating virtual avatars to see how far I can push them. I make dance music, and in the same way, it’s an experiment to see what people will dance to.”

After touring and performing on a stage extensively with Sextile, Brady became frustrated with the power dynamics that exist between audiences and performers, which is partially what led to the creation of his online avatars, JA and JB. Wanting to break that barrier, Brady now only brings a sampler with him to live shows and immerses himself within the crowd so that everyone can sing and dance with him. “It’s way more fun than being on a stage by myself. It freaks me out, it makes me feel like a monkey on a stage saying, ‘Look at me dance!’ I don’t like that vibe, I’d rather be with everyone else.”

Artwork by Panther Modern

These avatars allow Brady to access alternate identities in the virtual world. JB, for example, doesn’t sing, but he might make techno music; while JA does sing and acts more like Brady. Both are trained with all of his movements using MOCAP (motion-capture) technology. According to Brady, it’s all an experiment, while trying to disrupt the status quo. (He’s also been doing some very cool MOCAP work with Reggie Watts -- check it out here.)

To consciously push the algorithm is refreshing, especially when we can easily feel so helpless; trying to appease the robot overlords so that our followers are actually able to see the content they signed up for.

On that note, Brady expands, “The more we appease the robot, the more eyes we get, all to hopefully sell vinyl or a t-shirt. It’s exhausting and unsustainable.” And so the question remains: How can I be myself on the Internet in a way that will work for the algorithm, and won’t burn me out?

Los Angeles 2020 Artwork by Panther Modern

Going back to Brady’s roots, he has always been searching for different ways to expand his reality and to find community via the World Wide Web. Growing up in the suburban farmlands of Virginia, Brady got his first taste of escapism via online chat rooms, and through a video game called Half-Life. Already a fan of sci-fi, Brady started designing his own levels and avatars in the game, gaining interest in 3D animation and world-building. However, Brady’s futuristic escapism was cut short when he was sent to military school, and then Catholic school, and worst of all… art school. (Just kidding, but not really) 

Despite these suffocating environments, Brady looked for alternative ways of being every step of the way. It was difficult for him to accept his reality, which he says made him a big futurist, and developed his appreciation of other people who question systems of value, commerce, and power. 

And so began our conversation around NFTs. We established that the world of crypto is dominated by tech bros and financial experts, who aren’t always willing to share their knowledge with anyone outside their Bitcoin and Ethereum-fuelled worlds. The hoarding of resources and information allows a select few to control this emerging digital space, a practice which Brady is adamantly working against. 

He believes that with any new tech sphere, it’s important for artists and marginalized peoples to get in early to be able to shape their future. Brady has been sharing resources on his Twitter, giving talks with other NFT-savvy artists, as well as his process of creating and minting his own NFTs. 

Drawing from his personal experience with labels, contracts, and their meager trickle-down of funding models, Brady knows firsthand that Spotify cheques are not paying anyone’s rent. This is why he decided to release his music independently with Panther Modern, selling each track individually as an NFT. 

While he’s only recently been selling his songs as NFTs, it’s already proven to be a more viable source of income, rather than waiting for Spotify streams to roll in. Along with his collaborator Cameron Michel, the two have been able to use their income from NFTs to lease a large warehouse space that will act as a home for upcoming Panther Modern, Sextile, and other projects, including an NFT dance-centric company called HEAT. 

When I ask Brady what exactly could be an NFT, he explains that any original work can be an NFT and that you don’t need to be a huge artist to start making them. 

“It doesn't even have to just be digital. For example, say you make a painting. Take a picture of that painting, and then turn that into an NFT. Then, when that NFT is purchased, you could send the painting to the buyer.” 

The NFT market is still largely experimental, and Brady has been working with HEAT to turn dance moves and other unique sets of motion data into NFTs with the help of his MOCAP technology. This could be one way that viral dance moves (on TikTok for example) could be attributed to the original creator, and could secure income for them when those dance moves are replicated by huge artists in their music videos. The examples that come to mind, of course, are the countless Black artists who created viral dances on TikTok, only to rarely receive the credit they deserve. The technology would also allow these dances to be licensed to major video games and uploaded to your avatar there, all while still paying the original creator.

Another NFT avenue could be video game music. According to Brady, video game companies often don’t want to pay for music licenses because it’s too expensive, so they end up making their music in-house, leaving musicians completely out of that market. So, how do musicians get in? One idea he had was to mint loops to video game companies. They would then be able to use the loop (a drum beat, for example) to create their own music, and then mint that music. That way, everyone’s getting paid, and everyone samples each other. 

Then comes the potentiality of buying digital land with Ethereum. Brady actually has his own digital venue that people can explore, and when you click on his merch or NFTs, it takes you directly to his Bandcamp or NFT platform to buy that work. Big brands like Nike have begun to create their own metaverses, while other artists like Skawennati have used the ability to buy digital land in games like Second Life to reclaim stolen land and tell Indigenous histories through that platform. 

Brady got into making NFTs shortly after he started making video flyers for his shows on Instagram. Understanding that the algorithm pushes short video content, Brady took his knowledge of 3D rendering and ran with it, teaching himself everything off of YouTube tutorials. He now uses tools such as OctaneRender, Blender, Marvelous Designer, Substance Painter, After Effects, and his MOCAP suit to bring his creations to life. 

If you’re looking for an entry point to the world of NFTs, he suggested checking out Zora, Rarible, and Foundation. Brady explained that a majority of the crypto-convos happen on Twitter and Discord. He also wanted to emphasize that although the space can be intimidating, the best way to get into NFTs is to start making them yourself, especially if you’re not seeing the representation that you want to see in those spaces. While tech bros unfortunately dominate the news cycle surrounding NFTs, it doesn’t mean that communities that prioritize artists and marginalized groups don’t exist.  

“Start following the people who are creating NFTs, educate yourself, get involved in the communities. Zora requires an invite via an artist (like Clubhouse), so it's not like OpenSea, which is like a whenever, wherever, Walmart of NFTs. It’s not curated at all, which makes it hard to find good work. Marketplaces like Zora and Foundation incentivize members via invites, which then builds the community around the platform. It also reduces the cash grab schemes from investors.” 

And so, in a strange digital cycle, Brady has once again returned to the online community-gathering and world building he thought he had left behind for military school in the 90s. 

If you’re not in the NFT world, you can support Panther Modern by buying one of his very limited-run vinyl, t-shirts, or posters. He has also just released LA2022, a remix EP of his 2019 release Los Angeles 2020, which is available on all streaming platforms.

Panther Modern

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Malaika Astorga is the Co-Founder & Creative Director of Also Cool. She is a Mexican-Canadian visual artist, writer, and social media strategist currently based in Montreal.

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Convulse, Groove and Exercise Your Demons with Gus Englehorn’s "Dungeon Master" (Secret City Records)

Gus Englehorn. Photo courtesy of Ariane Moisan

What’s the secret to fashioning tunes that veer from traditional genres? Watch cult classics with your guitar in hand. Having reified reveries from the eclectic fusion of Britpop and film, Gus Englehorn’s Dungeon Master gives organized existence to Dadaism’s deliberate irrationality.  

The album is the second to come from post-art rocker Englehorn and Estée Preda—the project’s drummer and Englehorn’s life partner. Its first single, "The Gate", was released late last year, within which a first-person narration of Hitchcock’s Rebecca is brought to life. The tune’s mélange of gasps inaugurates an eye into the surrealist content that exists throughout the remainder of the album. 

Disguised in what could be a nursery rhyme, the duo’s latest single “Run Rabbit Run” brims with playful alliterations and arcane matters. After a cacophonous fury of first-person narratives, the track slows down, allowing Englehorn’s vibrato to take center stage. The track’s accompanying video parades an endearing compilation of the twosome’s home videos—have a watch and take a ride with them down to Texas!

Expect bright strumming patterns resemblant of Blur’s Britpop years, vocal theatricality, and manic, oblique lyrics in the album’s surplus of nine tracks. Disguised in the most avant-garde of metaphors, a constellation of themes are canvassed in Dungeon Master: the lunacy of songwriting, a fictitious night spent on the Sunset Strip, and parasitism. 

For fans of Oasis, Daniel Johnston, Beck, David Lynch, and a counter to traditional artistic values, Englehorn’s sophomore Dungeon Master is for your ears. Gyrate, shuffle your feet and get lost in an idiosyncratic farrago of eccentricities as freakish as a demon themself.

CJ Sommerfeld for Also Cool Mag: First off, thanks for your time today with Also Cool and congrats on the new album! I'm interested in this transition from a professional snowboarding career to that of music – had you been making music or songwriting during your snowboarding years? What forces were responsible for this change in careers?

Gus Englehorn: Thanks for having me! I had been writing songs for years and years, pretty much the whole time I was snowboarding. I really thought it out when I was very young. I imagined a day when I would be too old to snowboard professionally, and I thought to myself that that would be a very sad day. But I also thought that if I could learn how to write songs, I could do that thereafter until the day I died. So I took songwriting very seriously the whole time I was snowboarding, and I spent all my free time trying to master the craft.

Also Cool: A few of the tracks on Dungeon Master, notably “The Gate” and “Exercise your Demons”, were inspired by different cult classics. Is film the main space where you draw songwriting inspiration from?

Gus Englehorn: Film certainly is a huge inspiration to me. I often sit with a guitar and watch movies; I’ll pause to play some guitar, and watch a little more, and then pause, and then play a little more. I guess it’s the storytelling that intrigues me,  and the way that great movies can suck you into their universe and give you a new perspective to write from. 

AC: The strumming patterns, instrumental motifs and simple vocals heard throughout Dungeon Master reminisce those revered in the alt-rock subgenre, Britpop. Which artists and albums did you draw artistic merit from when putting together Dungeon Master? 

GE: I love Britpop, and people don’t usually see that influence in the songs. But I love Blur AND Oasis! Especially Oasis. Some other big influences for the album were Roy Orbison, The Germs, The Pixies, Daniel Johnston, Beck, The Meat Puppets, Nirvana, Ennio Morricone, The Butthole Surfers and the song structures on Sgt Pepper’s.

AC: “Ups and Downs” puts forth a narration of the human condition. Can you tell us more about how this one came about, specifically what ‘evidence’ signifies in the verse: “Evidence is on the ground / evidence is all around / evidence is on the dot / evidence--it’s all we got”?

GE: I wanted the music to recreate the experience of writing songs: the burnouts along with the productive periods of mania right before you burn out, and the intoxicating triumphs and soul-crushing defeats. You’ll think a song is done and then the next day you will throw it away and start all over again. It’s an emotional rollercoaster, to say the least. The evidence is just all the little objects that go along with songwriting that are usually strewn about the place when I find myself writing – picks, empty tea cups, crumpled-up T-shirts, journals, books, cables.  These exist as the evidence that you’ve been working, but if you aren't getting anything done, then that's all there is…jJust the evidence. That’s one thing that is the hardest about writing songs, is that you aren’t guaranteed to get anywhere even if you work everyday for a year straight. But when something comes together, there’s nothing quite like it! 

AC: I would love to hear more about “Sunset Strip”. Is this tune a portrayal of a tripping and falling event you experienced, or is this West Hollywood mention a metaphor?

GE: To be perfectly honest, most of the songs are just plucked out of my imagination and don’t have a whole lot to do with myself – or anything else from reality, for that matter. This is one of those songs that I just dreamed up out of nowhere, seemingly. It tells the story of somebody's terrible night spent on the Sunset Strip: being kicked out of parties, bloody noses, falling downstairs, social anxiety, and almost being hit by a bus. I had never even been to the Sunset Strip when I wrote it.

AC: A reverbed and roomy guitar breaks into heavy percussions in the track that wraps up Dungeon Master –  “The Flea”. The tune’s dramatic qualities provide a fitting outro to the album. I can’t help but interpret this one as a quarantine track, which makes me wonder if it is directed towards society; most notably in the line “I’ve been your flea for years”. Who is the ‘you’ in this tune’s direct address?

GE: While it was written during quarantine like the rest of the album, “The Flea” tells the tale of a parasitic romantic relationship. I wrote it about all the years Estée (my wife who plays drums in the band) supported me while I was transitioning from snowboarding into learning how to write songs, so I’m the flea. Stylistically, we were inspired by Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman” and “In Heaven” from Eraserhead by Peter Ivers and David Lynch. There is something that keeps me mashing up early rock and roll riffs with subversive little stories time and time again! Lots of fun to be had doing that, for some reason. 

AC: Thanks for your words and time, Gus! Aside from your upcoming album drop, do you have any other creative endeavours coming our way?

GE: I remain entirely obsessed with songwriting for the moment, and I’m hoping I can finish a third album before too long.

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Dungeon Master

Releases April 29th, 2022 via Secret City Records

1. The Gate

2. Ups and Downs

3. Exercise Your Demons

4. Sunset Strip

5. Oh Well Unwell

6. Tarantula

7. Lips

8. Run Rabbit Run

9. Terrible Horse

10. The Flea

Produced by Gus Englehorn and Estée Preda

All songs written and composed by Gus Englehorn

Recorded and mixed by Alex Ouzilleau

Mastering by Marc Thériault at Le Lab Mastering

All tracks recorded at Le Magnétophone in Québec City, QC in 2020

Published by Secret City Publishing

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Gus Englehorn

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CJ Sommerfeld (she/her) is a Vancouver-based freelance writer with a particular interest in the convergence of language, art and society. When she is not writing, you can find her experimenting with harmonic minor progressions on her keyboard.

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Mitch Davis Ditches Hibernation on Sunny Debut LP "The Haunt" (Arbutus Records)

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Mitch Davis by Richmond Lam

A trip around the sun has passed since we last touched base with Montreal multi-instrumentalist and do-it-yourself aficionado Mitch Davis.  In the meantime, Davis has tied a bow on his debut LP The Haunt and returned to the stage, in both in Montreal and at Austin, Texas’ SXSW music festival. Out April 29th, 2022 via Arbutus Records, The Haunt manifests a spectrum of mediations in both sound and spirit.

Realizing some compositions that predate Davis’ relocation to Montreal, The Haunt celebrates Davis stepping into his own with an entirely solo production: writing all the songs and playing all the instruments on the album, as well as recording much of the work on self-built equipment in his home studio. The result is a soulful and playful blend of jazz, funk and beaming pop; adorned with rhodes, clavinet, synth and drum machines. An album-long ode to themes of isolation and loneliness, as well as looking for love in the dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic.The Haunt achieves both breeziness and brevity for a class-act spring listening experience.

Speaking with Davis leading up to his album release, I asked him how the final product came to be, knowing that The Haunt has been years in the making. We started first by chatting about how Davis knows when a song is complete.

“It’s a feeling that comes over me once I’ve obsessed over a song. Eventually, I won’t have anything else to add or take away. When I don’t know what to do next [in production], I try to keep at it. I have a lot of friends who will move on to another song in the meantime, but more often I’m obsessively working on one song for like, a month straight, and never putting it down; never stopping, listening to it day and night. Once it starts to lose its novelty and sound like mush, I’ll take a break for usually one day or so.”

“Do you have any rituals that you do to get back on track when this happens?” I wonder.

“Hmm, I don’t know about rituals,” smiles Davis. “But, once I get sick of a song and I’ve heard it too many times, to the point where it sounds like nothing, I’ll adjust the pitch, up or down. It triggers something in part of my brain —hearing my song in a different key— and that helps me to look at it fresh again.”

With self-reliance being at the core of The Haunt, I wanted to know where Davis finds inspiration when working alone. Unsurprisingly, he is moved by other jacks of all trades.

“I’m inspired by people who, like me, play all the instruments, record themselves, things like that,” he brims. “Though I try to not have influences be a conscious thing and act on creativity in the moment, there are important, multifaceted soloists throughout music history that influence me, like Stevie Wonder, Todd Rudgren and Sly Stone.”

On the note of his debut being entirely self-directed, Davis then told me about the narrative structure of The Haunt.

“It’s funny, years ago I was trying to get myself to create an album and nothing was working. I imagined having a set of literal hats, or characters in my mind, to embody and portray the thoughts and ideas I was trying to put into music. Nowadays, I don’t have to do that as much and I’m able to just be me. That said, I do feel inspired by holding and interacting with different instruments. Even if there are just drums down on a track, or some scratch guitar. Or, I’ll play bass for 12 hours until I get it just perfect… and then I’m done being the ‘bass player’ forever, and can move on to being someone else.”

“Do you have a particular relationship with any of your instruments?”

“I have the closest relationship with the piano, one of my first instruments. I never used to be much of a bass player, but now I feel really connected to it. I do feel the most inspired by piano because it’s where I can most easily express chords and experiment.”

With the unveiling of The Haunt, Davis looks forward to sharing his music in a live context. To conclude our conversation, he told me about rediscovering the energy of playing with a band and the direction he plans on taking with the project.

“Playing with a band opens up the door to a lot of improvisation and extending my songs in a natural way, which is something I can’t do alone. There are really nice surprises that come with a live setting because everyone brings their own tastes to it. I’m looking forward to bringing these experiences into my writing process. I only just started caring about recording… Normally, when I’m writing , half of the inspiration will come from going to shows and connecting with people, like the other bands I play with, like Marci and Sorry Girls. [The Haunt] is a weird record because it was spent in isolation, but I’m grateful that it kept me busy and got me through the tough, curfew-ridden Montreal winter.”  

The Haunt is out on April 29th via Arbutus Records and can be pre-ordered on their website.

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Poster by Amery Sandford

Montreal: Don’t miss Mitch Davis’ album-release show at Brasserie Beaubien on April 29th at 9PM with local supporters Night Lunch and Alicia Clara. Pre-sale tickets are available here.

Mitch Davis

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Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter (she/her) is the co-founder and managing editor of Also Cool Mag. Aside from the mag, she is a music promoter & booker, and a radio host & DJ.

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Crystal Eyes Release Soaring Indie Track "Don't Turn Around" (Bobo Integral Records)

Crystal Eyes. Photo courtesy of the band

Perfect for the pastel wistfulness of spring’s earliest days, Calgary-based psych-rockers Crystal Eyes offer you one simple message – “Don’t Turn Around”. This single marks the second to be released from the band’s upcoming album The Sweetness Restored, out on April 22 via Bobo Integral Records.

Gravelly and nostalgic, “Don’t Turn Around” soars with intensity, toying with notions of surrender overtop of a textural indie haze. The track warmly complements the guiding narrative of leading single “Wishes”, guaranteeing a sense of longing for what’s to come.

In the days following “Don’t Turn Around”’s release, vocalist and guitarist Erin Jenkins sat down with Also Cool to deconstruct her plethora of personal touches to the creative process, along with the stacked lineup of Canadian musicians who helped to craft its sonic depth.

Rebecca Judd for Also Cool Mag: This single packs a heavy thematic punch, and the upcoming record promises to as well – described as a "feel-good self-help record for the age of existential dread". Tell us more about the darker themes to "Don't Turn Around", and which external forces inspired this direction from Crystal Eyes.

Erin Jenkins of Crystal Eyes: My songwriting mostly comes from a subconscious place – so I guess this is inspired by whatever anxieties are secretly lurking down there *laughs*. I don't really set out to write songs about anything specific; I try to stay open to the possibility of what the song could be, and then analyze what it means later.

The songs on this record are equally inspired by external influences – the people I'm playing with, music I'm listening to, or music I've loved, aesthetics I'm trying to interpret as a melody or a rhythm. It's a very collaborative process that everyone contributes to. When I listen to “Don't Turn Around”, I think it's definitely about memories, the weight of years added up, how we measure our worth by what we build and the years by what they take. There is pain in caring too much, but there is beauty too.

Also Cool: "Don't Turn Around" marches forward with grungy vocals and a steady beat, harkening back to the indie rock grit of the 2000s. Which artists and projects influenced the makings of this single?

Crystal Eyes: To be honest, I wasn't necessarily thinking about early 2000s music when we were working on this, but I totally hear it now that it's been pointed out. It makes a lot of sense because I love music from that era – I grew up on it!

For “Don't Turn Around”, I was mostly thinking about stuff like Echo and the Bunnymen, The Chameleons and New Order – post-punk rock that is super pop, but still really organic-feeling.

Crystal Eyes. Photo courtesy of Walter E. Neuman

AC: Contrasting the depths of this track is the music video, featuring breezy vintage footage of parasailors on a beach. How did you put this video together? Was there any intentionality in choosing this footage to complement the sound?

CE: This is some old family footage I discovered one Christmas. I love home movies. I thought the footage really reflected the music, it just felt right. There's kind of a vulnerability in the video and a sense of it being a memory that seemed to work.

I took a stab at a first edit of the video, and then Joleen (Crystal Eyes’ synth player) came in and really sharpened it up and tightened the narrative because we really didn't have much footage to work with!

AC: This record marks your latest release since "Radical Softness" in 2019. How has the band evolved since then, and what more is to be expected from The Sweetness Restored?

CE: I'd say the band has evolved a lot since then, because I've collaborated with so many different people over the years. The recording process for The Sweetness Restored was really amazing. We went to Montreal and recorded at Breakglass Studios – this was shortly before the pandemic.

My friend Andrew Woods produced and engineered the record, and his spirit and vision brought everything together. There was just such an air of creativity and generosity – and silliness. Andrew got the idea to add a string quartet (we were thinking big), so he brought in Eve Parker Finley and Zou Zou Robidoux to add string arrangements to a number of the songs.

Basia Bulat was also a big part of the process, lending her wisdom – especially for the vocals. She sat in the studio while I was recording vocals and would run in between takes to shout suggestions – “try it like this!”. Monty Munroe played bass and just killed it, and is, like, the hardest working person ever. We also got to use some amazing instruments like a Therevox and a Hammond C3 with Leslie Speakers.

Past Crystal Eyes member Kenny Murdoch played drums, and current members Jordan Tettensor played lead guitar and Joleen Toner on synth. There's even a choir on one track (Hermitess and her Witch Choir on “No Heaven”). Mark Lawson mixed the record. We threw him probably 1,000 tracks to work with, and he was somehow able to wrangle it into a cohesive, really beautiful sound.

The album covers a lot of ground - genres, moods, etc., but I think it flows really well together. It's definitely something where I hope people can listen to the album as a whole.

AC: Thanks for your time – we're super excited for The Sweetness Restored to be released in all its glory! Aside from dropping this record, what else is in store for Crystal Eyes for the rest of the year?

CE: We have a couple upcoming festival shows at Big Winter Classic in Calgary and Winterruption in Edmonton. We're looking forward to playing a lot more shows and getting back to touring.

We're also writing a lot of new songs, and I anticipate we'll be starting plans to record more again soon. It's been a weird time to be a band, I'm just trying to be patient with myself and everyone else and do the things we want to do, not things we feel like we have to do. No need to force the universe.

Stream “Don’t Turn Around” below!

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Crystal Eyes

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Rebecca Judd is the features editor of Also Cool Mag.

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Morning Silk Talks NYC's Indie Pop Scene, "Skin," and Starting Their Own Studio

Lately, we've been spending our free time daydreaming about summer and curating soundtracks for our forthcoming main character moments. NYC-based alt indie-pop group Morning Silk fit the bill perfectly, with soft vocals and upbeat synthy instrumentals. 

Morning Silk's sound evokes the 2017-era indie pop/rock scene à la Clairo, Rex Orange County, & Her's. We chatted with the band about their experience with the scene in NYC, musical inspiration, and how they went from architecture school to indie pop.

Malaika for Also Cool: Hi! Nice to e-meet you. I'm curious what led you to music while in school for architecture. Do you think anything you learned in school affected your taste in music and aesthetics?

Frank Corr for Morning Silk: Hi! I never had much recording equipment growing up, but I was listening to a lot of bands that used DIY recording methods. Those bands helped me finish school, but then I thought, why can't I do what they did? So I began collecting some small recording gear with internship money I made. 

I was around a lot of painters, and used to be in painting myself. We were always tightly intertwined with listening to new music or just going to gallery shows/events where there was already some sort of music scene. A lot of punk bands played in Providence, so we were drawn to the idea of playing live and performing before we even had anything recorded.

Also Cool: What has your experience been like with the music scene in NYC? It seems like things have started to (slowly) open up again, and I'm interested to hear what you're looking forward to. 

Morning Silk: We are pretty new to the New York scene. I feel like I didn't really connect with a lot of music here or musicians until recently. Matt was saying that there are so many sub-scenes going on that you discover through playing shows here and whatnot. I recently started producing for a few artists, and now I finally feel like I've found my place in the city. We are finishing up our first record, so we are so hyped to play it for people! We just started playing shows with our friends and some of the artists I produce for, so we have created a little place for ourselves.

AC: How did you start your own studio? What was that process like, and what inspired it?

MS: Rob, Matt, and I would use this place called "The Tap Room" in Providence to rehearse/write and record. It wasn't really a studio at all, so we would have to lug Rob's drums from our apartment and set them up and break them down every single rehearsal. It was really exhausting, so we always dreamed of a place where we could leave things set up so we could record whatever we had on our minds right away. 

I started collecting some higher-end gear with a friend who was already in New York and just stored it with them. We would go to New York on weekends and record at a little practice space in Dan Bro. As Matt was saying, we eventually got tired of that, and Rob had found a new space. It was like a living room with a kitchen, but we could see a control room where the sink was, so we decided to try to make this the dream studio. 

We didn't have a lot of experience recording, but I was trained as an Architect, and Rob was an excellent builder, so we figured we would just figure it out as we go. Eventually, we partnered up with an audio engineer and made the space what it is today! It's very special, and we are so lucky we can record in our own self-funded/built space.  

AC: You've quoted MGMT as musical inspiration, but I'm curious if there are any local artists or friends who have helped inspire/influence your music as well.

MS: Matt was saying ever since we all started recording music, we mainly just listen to each other's demos now. Hearing what Rob and Matt are making is one of the most surprising and interesting things to hear. 

Same thing with our friends doing other things, like I am always inspired by whatever Sur Back is doing production-wise or what Richie Quake or Middle Part are working on. We are always working on each other's music now too. I guess that is a really nice way to learn/inspire each other. If I'm working a lot with a particular artist, it might bleed a little bit into the songwriting. For instance, my friend Michael is really into French House, so I might pick up a few jumping bass lines from that style here and there. 

Also, our friends Anna and Kristos are always putting us onto new things happening. In the end, I always run my ideas by Caroline (Sur Back) just to make sure I'm not making something completely insane or silly, haha. I am probably leaving out a lot of other people, but those are just some artists and producers, to name a few that we have been around as of lately.

AC: What can we look forward to from Morning Silk in 2022?

MS: I've been doing a lot of production for other people lately, so I am really looking forward to finishing and releasing our self-titled debut album. I've already started writing and recording the next album, so we plan to put out more than a few projects this year! Working on other people's projects has taught me to move faster and be more open to collaboration. We hope to make an EP this year between the two records I started recording, which will be a whole different vibe.  

Watch “Skin” by Morning Silk below

Morning Silk

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Malaika Astorga is the Co-Founder & Creative Director of Also Cool. She is a Mexican-Canadian visual artist, writer, and social media strategist currently based in Montreal.

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Carl Schilde Channels Lost California Sound on EUROPOP (Fun In The Church)

Carl Schilde. Photo courtesy of Colin Medley

For each of us, life seems to lead to experiences unexpected; it can shift us from one location or another, however much that may or may not be “part of the plan”. EUROPOP, the debut solo project from Toronto-based, Berlin-born Carl Schilde, is a subversion of the cumulative expectation of “making it” as we’ve been conditioned to think. Rather than focusing on the prospect and ruminating on what could’ve been, its tone seems to bask in the fantasy poolside in the Laurel Canyon heat, already at terms with what is.

The album was recorded following a relocation to Los Angeles, California, which eventually culminated in what Schilde describes as a “disappointing experience”. It’s also a love letter to the lost records and projects of the 70s, such as overlooked post-Pet Sounds projects by The Beach Boys and the sounds of country and folk demos.

“I had a bit of a music burnout and moved to Toronto to be with my wife. I took a year to work at a brewery and not focus on music, just to have that distance,” says Schilde. “I was feeling out of time and out of place myself, so I projected that into the music by sounding like some demo from ’78 that never got heard.”

Carl Schilde. Photo courtesy of Colin Medley

EUROPOP’s mood is dream-like, woozy and thick with atmosphere, featuring deep baritone vocals by Schilde recorded in their Toronto basement. In tone and sound, the record could be compared to contemporary artists such as the late Leonard Cohen, or sonically similar to Timber Timbre’s 2014 release Hot Dreams, which was also reminiscent of heyday 60s/70s Hollywood and the spaghetti Western soundtracks of the time by Italian composers. 

The album kicks off with “Top 40”, the lead single from the album. Croons from a steel lap guitar wax and wane against a constellation of synthesizer notes in the background mix. Schilde’s lyrics seem to speak to an unnamed friend, ruminating on success and its ethereal nature:“We heard your record did well in Germany / And what’s worked there must surely work here / Let’s see if it melts in the California heat / Like a candy in a wrapper / or an apple out of reach” .

‘“It’s definitely about disappointment and dealing with that in an ironic way,” says Schilde. “It’s an elevated version of myself and it makes fun of that ego, of wanting to be successful.”

During our interview, Schilde and I discussed his curiosity for “pop music trickery”, referencing the later releases by Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys, as well as Italian soft rock records. The album’s second track, curiously titled “John Stamos”, is a deep-cut Beach Boys reference, as the Full House actor is actually a current touring member of the reformed Beach Boys.  “I’m a big Beach Boys and 70s music fan. Their sound fascinates me; [it’s] rooted in 50s doo-wop harmonies.”

EUROPOP is Schilde’s first time singing lead on a project and producing their own vocals. They remark the greatest challenge they had during the recording process was adapting their production style to fit their own vocal range. 

“The process of recording was very intertwined with the writing. You find your zone where a limited voice [range] does work and try to capture spontaneous moments. Everything I have [in my home studio] is set up for spontaneous workflow.”

Carl Schilde. Photo courtesy of Colin Medley

Schilde is the primary producer of the record, with some assistance from bandmates on backing instruments, and supporting vocals from Schilde’s partner that harmonize with his own. 

“Roadworn'' is a great example of Schilde’s ability to layer sounds and stack textures: phased filtered guitar tones harmonize through a cloud of static and feedback. See also “Landline” parts one and two; the latter is an instrumental highlight of the album, featuring well-stacked vocals like one long exhalation that relieves the weight from your shoulders. 

“Even two-part harmonies, like Simon and Garfunkel, there’s definitely a magic there,” says Schilde, “I think it can change meaning to the lyrics if there’s another harmony.”

The album does eventually reach cruising altitude in the latter half by the track “Phase”, which brings some welcome grand piano chords and more aggressive drums into the mix before eventually dissipating before the ephemeral ballad track, “The Master Tape”.

Schilde is well aware of the irony of the album’s title, considering the project grew from an experience in and was produced in North America. “It's definitely an ironic title. People talk about how ‘Europop is euro-trash’ … as if to say it's not real music. The record doesn’t sound like a Eurodance record [from the 70s].

Schilde also remarked how audiences and communities perceive musically differently in Europe compared to North Americans. “There’s a different sensibility,” says Schilde. “Living in North America now, I realized the only kind of music I can make is Europop, in a way. 

“I’ll always be myself […] even if it doesn’t sound like that.”

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EUROPOP

Released on February 4th, 2022 via Fun In The Church

1. Top 40

2. John Stamos

3. Roadworn

4. Soft Dads

5. Landline Pt. I

6. Landline Pt. II

7. Phase

8. The Master Tape

9. Blue Rinse

10. Credits

All tracks written, arranged and produced by Carl Schilde

Vocals, guitars, pianos, synthesizers, bass, percussion & drum machines by Carl Schilde

Additional vocals by Laura Gladwell

Drums by James Yates

Recorded and mixed by Carl Schilde at home in Toronto, Canada

Drums recorded by James Yates at Majetone HQ in Newhaven, UK

Mastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters in Los Angeles, USA

Vinyl cut by Sidney Claire Meyer at Emil Berliner Studios in Berlin, Germany

Artwork design by Sebastian Schäfer

Illustrations by Judith Holzer

Super 8 footage by Carl Schilde

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Carl Schilde

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Gabriel Lunn is a writer, multimedia journalist, and pop music enthusiast based out of Victoria, BC. When he isn’t trying to decipher the human condition, he can usually be found going for long runs or collecting vinyl records he really doesn’t need.

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In The Pines Invites You to Manoeuvre Young Love and Pandemic Melancholy with "Impossible Daze" (Soul Step Records)

Michael Shular, Charlie Horn, Pat Zopff and Alex Dungan of In The Pines. Photo courtesy of the band

The raw feels of In The Pines’ Impossible Daze will transport you to the Golden Age of Radio, when live bands were broadcasted over the air. Don’t expect the sterile, radio-ready music that replaced many of those old gems; instead, anticipate a constellation of lyrical authenticity, plaintive progressions and intermittent phonographic imperfections. 

With this album, ITP veers from the psych-y Laurel Canyon feels heard on Slow Blink to explore a trad-folk sound further consistent with the narrative around the band’s name. While having turned the reverb down a notch, their new 11-track album remains true to the band’s familiar bare-boned and blurred ambient sound. Tape cassette, lo-fi qualities and innocent nostalgia are the names of the game for this quartet, hauling its listeners through what could very well be an Americana music history class. 

On Impossible Daze, ITP invites you to manoeuvre love alongside the four of ‘em. The album opens with “Bird Song”, a tune about moving on from an unfathomable reality. Maintaining the same direct-address-POV, “Indifferent” enters head strong. A bluesy guitar riff leads the way, reminding the listener that ITP had begun as a blues band. “Avoid Myself” is for pensive days, as is the track that follows, “In My Dreams”. This one haunts me, beginning with vocals reminiscent of Elliott Smith – but don’t be fooled, this soft tenor whisper soon gets washed away with an intricate cacophony of dream folk guitar progressions and an oppositional outro. 

Egg shakers will welcome “Well I’ll Be” to the stage, followed by a tune which showcases the band’s first lap steel guitar appearance, “Brother”. A melancholic “I Don’t Mind” follows, and a starry organ melody seamlessly closes the door to this one. The grainiest track of the bunch, “Jeez Louise”, sports hazy acoustics and atmospheric vocals, while the lyrically spacious and sonically calming “Runnin’ 2 U” wraps up the record. This one reads poetically and leaves the listener pensive: “Can you tell grey from yellow? / Do you hear my hello / My hello / My hello / What will you do when no one comes for you?” 

If you're looking for a myriad of what-you-see-is-what-you-get lyrics melted into a complexity of dreamy Americana textures, this album is for you.

In The Pines. Photo courtesy of the band

CJ Sommerfeld for Also Cool Mag: Congrats on the new album, and thanks for your time today.

Before we chat about Impossible Daze, I have to know – does the band’s name relate to the classic folk tune of the same name? If so, what was it about this song that made the troupe name your band after it?

Michael Shular for In The Pines: Thanks for having us! We get this question all the time, and yes, there is a relation to the Lead Belly tune. There is, however, nothing about that song that made us name the band after it, other than the fact that it's a classic blues tune, and we wanted to be a blues band at the time.

Also Cool: Do you have a preference: Lead Belly’s version or Nirvana’s?

Michael Shular: Lead Belly for sure.

AC: A notable transition from 60s psychedelia to Americana is heard between your earlier albums and Impossible Daze. What forces were responsible for this leap?

MS: I think really it comes down to a combination of wanting to do something new and the influence of what we all were listening to or inspired by at the time. We had just finished this sort of progressive psychedelic record that took entirely too long, and we kind of entered a weird stand-still where we were like, “what do we do now?” From there, we went on our way and started writing as we usually do, and a couple of really cool tunes hit the table. We liked where it was going, so we rolled with it.

AC: Rolling with it definitely worked! Were there any prominent Americana / folk albums from which the band drew inspiration when putting together Impossible Daze?

MS: I wanna say John Prine’s self-titled record? I mean, it’s just so good – I remember listening to “Pretty Good” over and over and over again. He's the man. Around the time we were writing the record, we were also listening to a lot of Neil Young, Michael Hurley, Dr. Dog, & Rose City Band.

AC: This is the first In The Pines album in which we don’t hear sax – was this concurrent with the band’s change in sound, or were there other reasons for this instrumental change?

MS: There were other reasons, mostly just wanting to move on and write stuff we never have before.  

AC: The sax seems to have been replaced by lap steel guitar in one of your tracks. Was this for the sake of remaining true to the Americana direction in which the band was headed? Or did the idea to create a folkier album occur after having first incorporated lap steel guitar?

MS: Our guitarist Charlie Horn had the idea for the part in “Brother” for a while; we just didn't know anyone who could play! We ended up meeting this guy Jeff Jackson through our engineer on the record; he came to the studio, laid down the part in a couple of takes and up and left *laughs*. It was very fast, but when we heard it on the track it was like a loose end on the record had just been tied.

AC: I love the theme of manoeuvring love heard throughout Impossible Daze. Was this lyrical content taken from the band member’s specific experiences, or was it used simply for its relatable qualities? It’s a component we frequently hear in folk music.

MS: *laughs* I think we all were kind of going through it at the time, you know? We were in lockdown, and everyone—including us—was going through it physically and mentally. All the songs and all of the lyrics you hear on the record are very true, very real feelings, from each one of us.

Manoeuvring the vast landscape that is love and heartbreak definitely has relatable qualities, and it’s because whoever it was that was writing that song at that specific moment in time, they were going through it too! And you can feel that kind of thing when you listen to it. You know it when you do, because it hits that soft spot somewhere in you, because you’ve been there before too. Real human experience and taking it as it is and not what we think of it to be, letting it all go like a leaf in the autumn breeze. That's what most of these songs are about.

AC: Lastly, how is everyone feeling with the folksy route the band has taken? Do you think it’ll remain in future albums, or do you think In the Pines will revert to their earlier psychedelic sounds?

We all enjoy playing these songs and writing songs in that sort of style, it’s a large part of what we all are inspired by. So, yes, I do think there will always be hints of folk and Americana-sounding stuff on future records, but it’ll always be something new.

I say it’s a large part of our inspiration, but it is really only a fraction. I see no boundaries when it comes to writing music in this group. No idea gets turned down, and everything is given an equal amount of consideration. I can guarantee you that our next record will sound like nothing we’ve done before.  It’s very important I believe, as an artist or any creative person, to go outside of your comfort zone. Comfort is like the killer of creativity! And you are responsible for developing your craft. I don’t want to be bound by any genre, because what’s the fun in that? 

Thanks again CJ for having me for this interview, it was a blast!

AC: Thank you again for your time! It would be rad if ITP made their way to the Pacific Northwest in the near future…

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Impossible Daze

Released January 28th, 2022 via Soul Step Records

1. Bird Song

2. Indifferent

3. Sweet Darlin

4. Avoid Myself

5. In My Dreams

6. Well I'll Be

7. Brother

8. I Don't Mind

9. Sylvan Island

10. Jeez Louise

11. Runnin 2 U

Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Patrick Stolley with the assistance of Ion Harris at Future Apple Tree Studio in Rock Island, IL. All music written and performed by In The Pines.

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In The Pines

Website | Instagram | Bandcamp

YouTube | Facebook | Spotify | Apple Music

CJ Sommerfeld (she/her) is a Vancouver-based freelance writer with a particular interest in the convergence of language, art and society. When she is not writing, you can find her experimenting with harmonic minor progressions on her keyboard.

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Helsinki's Treemer Serves Up Growling Post-Punk with "Paper Cuts / Eyewitness" (Soft Monsters)

Sam Shingler, Joakim Schonert, Marko Haikonen, Mia Keurulainen, and Tommi Lehtonen of Treemer. Photo courtesy of the band

Forged across ever-evolving decades and soundscapes, the work of Helsinki-based indie quintet Treemer has come to a snarling head. Their latest double A-side, “Paper Cuts / Eyewitness”, is now out via Soft Monster. Punctuated by sinister guitars and boisterous percussion, these expressive garage-rock tracks showcase two perspectives of conflict: that of the wounded, rising from abuse with something to say, and that of the ordinary human uncovering darkness within themself.

Following the release of “Paper Cuts / Eyewitness”, we caught up with Treemer’s Mia Keurulainen to peel back the histories that have constructed this latest project: the band’s plethora of sonic references, their creative methods and approaches, and the lasting friendships that have facilitated their vulnerability.

Rebecca L. Judd for Also Cool Mag: Hello there Treemer, thank you for speaking with Also Cool! I'm curious to know more about the formation of the group, and how it's evolved since Chickenpotpie and The Pansies. Tell us more about your origin story, and the ebbs and flows along the way.

Mia Keurulainen for Treemer: Thank you, Also Cool! It all began in the early 1990s with four small-town-guys (Marko, Tommi, Sam and Joakim). They found mutual interest in mostly Brit-based pop and rock music, digging such bands as The Cure, Ride, Slowdive and early U2. They put up a band of their own and called it Chickenpotpie (a word picked up from a Thrasher Magazine comic strip, BUT also a dish served at Twin Peaks’ Double R Diner – this TV series has had a major impact on our identities and on our music, by the way.)

Chickenpotpie fell apart, but the music didn’t stop there. I joined in and brought along my own influences. These were a bit different from what the guys thought of as acceptable, such as Depeche Mode and The The. Soon after, The Pansies (featuring me, Sam, Tommi and Marko) was formed. Quite accidentally, we happened to hit the Britpop wave as it rolled over the continents, with bands like Blur and Suede on the front cover. We got a record deal, made four albums and between 1995–2000 toured Finland, Northern Europe and even Japan.

To nearly make it – I think that was what really wore The Pansies off. On the other hand, band members started to marry and have children. It was only natural to let that phase go, in mutual understanding. And still, the music continued to flow. Sam, Joakim and Tommi started Montevideo and, in my interpretation, moved from an indie sound to take on a more Coldplay-kind of approach. I made a solo album under the artist name Mia Darling in 2007, paying homage to my early female singer-songwriter idols such as Suzanne Vega, Juliana Hatfield and Polly Jean Harvey.

In 2019, Marko came out of the closet with some new songs he’d been working on. It was an honour, and the timing was perfect for me to start composing vocal melodies and lyrics to his songs. It didn’t take us long to ask our dear old friends to join us, and so Treemer was born. What took us long, however, was to come up with a name for the band that suited everyone (laughs). The first song Treemer released was “The Great Void”, followed by the Meeting EP. So far, we’ve released a total of 12 songs.

Also Cool: Your music pulls from many directions, with these songs lying somewhere on the fringes of shoegaze and hard rock. Which musical influences have inspired the band, particularly on this release? Did your time apart have any impact on the formation of Treemer's present sound?

Treemer: Yeah, the roots grow deep. From Bowie, Beatles, Neil Young and Pink Floyd to this day.

It’s funny that you mentioned hard rock. It seems that in Finland, every other kid goes through that heavy metal / hard rock period in early puberty. I, for example, was a huge Def Leppard fan at 13. Then there was the hip-hop phase: Salt’n’Pepa, Public Enemy and Run-DMC. At the same time, the likes of Midnight Oil, Sinéad O’Connor and Tracy Chapman also awoke me to socially significant matters through their music. Tommi, Joakim and Sam even had a hip-hop trio at some point… what was is called, Groovy Sound Crew?

As a child, most of us took classical music lessons. I played the piano for 6 years, so surely the music of, for example, Sibelius, Satie and Khachaturian play at least an unconscious role in my personal take on making music.

The 1990s was a melting pot of sound and genres, and we welcomed them all! It seems to me, one wasn’t perhaps as dedicated to a certain musical style as young people today are? Or maybe this is just me getting old. There was grunge, obviously. Then there was shoegaze, trip-hop, Britpop, dub, electro, R&B…echoes from the 60s psychedelia and soul could be heard in the sounds of, say, Primal Scream, The Charlatans and Stereolab. The USA hit back with the cool of Beck and Sonic Youth, the inwards-turned art school pop of R.E.M. and Radiohead, and the NY garage-pop of The Strokes. Meanwhile in Scandinavia, an Icelandic woman called Björk was doing her own thing, Denmark gave us a progressive gem called MEW, Sweden had a new sweetheart with The Cardigans and drama in the form of Kent, and Norway an endless list of talented, folk-ish (and dare I say nerdy!) singer-songwriters coming up.

Treemer’s latest release, “Paper Cuts / Eyewitness” does definitely recline on the garage-rock end of our influence scale. Pixies, Hüsker Dü and even Pavement come to mind. I personally am a fan of Mac DeMarco and, somehow, some of the more recent Treemer material makes me feel connected to his music. A good kind of couldn’t-care-less-attitude is present.

AC: On one-half of your double A-side is "Paper Cuts", a distorted post-punk rebellion against abuse and mistreatment. Can you unpack the inner workings of this evocative single?

Treemer: Evocative – that’s nice, thank you! When I first heard Marko’s demo (in early 2020) I immediately thought it very different from the earlier Treemer stuff. It had speed and rage. At that moment, I was personally going through a rough patch in life, so the lyrics turned out to be more straight-forward and personal than usual.

The song took many forms (fast/slow, minimal/profuse, rough/polished) before finding its final shape during the recording sessions last summer. I love the crazy instrumental in-between part, very punk-art-garage-what-have-you-pop. It was just improvised on the spot, and for the first time ever I got to play my mini-saxophone on the record!

AC: "Eyewitness" takes a more aggressive stance, cautioning an ill-fated spectator against consequences. Coupled with this sinister song is an intriguing video that you produced, where viewers observe the witness' frightened journey and—ironically—assume a similar role. From your perspective, what is the story being told here? Who is this eyewitness, and what is their fate?

Treemer: Marko’s Eyewitness demo on the other hand sounded just, I don’t know, secretive somehow. The word “eyewitness” started to ring in my head, and I was thinking of old Hitchcock movies and other classical thriller scenes where someone (usually a child) is peeking through a key hole and seeing something terrible… Judicial terms such as “prosecutor” and “witness” came to mind, and I started to build up a story around those words without a distinct plot or design. It was more about the atmosphere. Joakim’s bass lines play a significant role here – a growling synth-bass line of the A-part turns into a progressive passage come along the verse.

The idea for the music video came to me in a dream. Originally, in the dream, there was an androgynous skateboarder in brightly-coloured hair and clothes rolling around the streets of what looked like Venice Beach in LA. They were being chased by us Treemer members, lurking behind corners wearing black sunglasses. Visually and stylistically, the dream reminded me of the Smashing Pumpkins’ “1979” music video or Larry Clark’s Kids.

Instead of sunny LA, the music video shooting took place in Helsinki on a windy, rainy August day. I asked my friend, the young and talented dancer Kaisla, to star in the video and I’m happy she agreed. Together, we immediately understood that the “eyewitness” is escaping nothing but something in themself. To witness something unattractive or gloomy in ourselves is hardly light or fun, so it can easily become a fight-or-flight situation. The video has a happy ending though, as the eyewitness makes peace.

AC: Despite the dark connotations to "Paper Cuts / Eyewitness", they were recorded over a session you folks describe as "summer camp", complete with camaraderie and laughter. I'm interested in the sense of liberation that you found in writing these particular songs during this breezy experience. What does it mean for you all to use your music as a form of empowerment?

Treemer: At least one of us is usually tired or on a bad mood when we arrive at the rehearsal room, but I don’t think anyone has ever left it feeling that way!

Empowerment, freedom to do whatever, self-expression – definitely vital elements to keep the Treemer machine going. And I point out that it is the doing and being there together, in the moment, that matters. Whatever happens next—recordings, releases, gigs—is a bonus. This is not to say that we weren’t disappointed or frustrated when, for example, our gigs in Finland and Germany got cancelled in 2020 due to COVID. For me, Treemer represents a creative and safe environment to test and work on my own artistic ideas whilst being inspired and wowed by those of the others.

Also Cool: Thanks again for your time, Mia! Let's end this on a high: what are your biggest dreams for 2022? What's next up for the band?

Treemer: Thank you! Hopefully we get to play some gigs! There are still 4 songs “under construction” from those last summer recording sessions. So there will be at least an EP at some point. Maybe even a vinyl version, who knows. We are also working on some completely new material. The main thing is to stay healthy and have fun though.

My personal dream is to play a gig at an open-air summer festival somewhere (probably not happening in 2022 though). I can picture it – it’s late in the evening, bright lights split the sky, there’s love and confetti in the air.

Stream “Paper Cuts / Eyewitness” below!

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Treemer

Website | Instagram | Facebook

Spotify | Apple Music | Twitter | YouTube

Rebecca Judd is the features editor of Also Cool Mag.

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It Took Reno Cruz A Lot of Retrospection to Make "Falling In Love Is Not That Hard"

Reno Cruz. Photo courtesy of Sam Fuehring

In Reno Cruz’s debut album, Falling In Love Is Not That Hard, he draws on an essential truth that we have likely all grasped at some point during the pandemic: isolation and togetherness are not mutually exclusive, and it is easy to feel alone while in the presence of loved ones.

But unlike most, the Chicago-based folk artist didn’t learn about the fusion of these conflicting feelings in the midst of COVID-19. His upcoming project consists of countless years of retrospection, taking listeners back to the time when he first moved to Chicago in 2017.

“I ended up here in a kind of roundabout way,” Cruz tells me over Zoom. “I was acting in a film that was shooting in Wisconsin, but then staying in Chicago on my off-days.” Originally from Los Angeles, Cruz initially came to the Midwest for acting school in his late teenage years. “I was like a little nerdy 19 year-old coming into Chicago on the weekends, and trying to find any cool culture that I could,” he says.

Although Cruz felt happy with the energy that he put into the film, he had a quick change of heart and decided to brace the music industry head-on. “I suddenly realized that this was not what I cared about,” Cruz says. “I really wanted to be a songwriter, but I wasn’t writing songs. The experience of moving to Chicago—and the many things that I discovered about myself between 2017 and 2019—were what really shaped the record.”

Reno Cruz. Photo courtesy of Jacob King

Cruz wants to make it clear that while Falling In Love Is Not That Hard focuses on relationships, “...it’s really about anxiety, and the narrative that we tell ourselves in relationship to other people.” He tells me that the man pouring out his soul in many of the songs off of Falling In Love Is Not That Hard is not the same Reno Cruz that I’m interviewing through video chat, but instead represents a different version of himself. “It’s the version of me that I was in January of 2019. Fucking heartbroken, lying on the floor and thinking, ‘Oh God, what is this!?’” He mentions how contradictory his emotions were at this moment of his life; although he was depressed from trying to recover from a breakup, he was also excited to be living in a new city, taking on the music industry and making cool and talented friends with each passing day.

Cruz shares with me that the word he came across which helped him to conceptualize these feelings was ‘ambivalence’ – meaning two strong opposing emotions being felt at the same time. “That’s not my experience with any particular relationship, that’s my experience of life,” he says. 

“Life is not simple; relationships are not simple. We live in an extremely complex, ever-changing world that brings up all kinds of feelings all the time. When it comes to feeling isolation and togetherness at the same time … You can feel that way in a romantic relationship, you can feel that way when you’re out at the bar with your friends, and you can feel intensely connected to people when you’re all alone in your bedroom.”

Before leaving his home in California to pursue acting and songwriting, Cruz had already worked many odd jobs. This includes stints as a jewelry salesman, banjo boy, and even a cheesemonger (which he still does to this day). “I’ve had a weird life, and I’ve certainly sought that out,” Cruz informs me. “But when you seek something out enough, it also finds its way to you. Mostly I’ve just been saying ‘yes’ to whatever I have been offered … I’ve said yes to a lot of weird shit, and it’s definitely enriched my life.” 

Because Cruz has had to operate in a lot of different contexts, he feels conviction in his ability to relate and empathize with a broad array of humans across the world. “I’ve been in acting, but I would also consider many of my experiences in customer service as acting, as well. It’s an emotional labour, if you have to speak to someone who is being rude and unreasonable to you. And it’s a skill that I don’t believe people who haven’t worked in that field often think about.” 

Reflecting on these experiences, Cruz explains how this kind of emotional labour has impacted his life as a songwriter as well. “In the song ‘Everybody,’ I sing about how ‘everybody wants to be my baby,’ and ‘everybody needs a piece of me.’ In many ways, it’s about me feeling like I’m doing customer service in my regular life.”

Reno Cruz. Photo courtesy of Sam Fuehring

For musicians looking to release their debut works into the world, Reno Cruz offers two pieces of advice based on his own experiences: be honest with yourself, and take your time. “Moving towards music wasn’t my plan … it was just, like, ‘I need to do this,’” Cruz reflects. “But it took a long time, because I was too locked up emotionally to become a songwriter. I learned how to play guitar, and I played music with other people for years and years and years before I got to a place where I was writing songs that I felt I could actually play in front of other people … you don’t have to be honest to write a song, but you have to be honest to write a good song.”

Cruz also emphasizes that “... [i]f you haven’t lived any life, then you can’t write a song,” and I am forced to think about all his odd jobs, heartbreaks, and the adventures that came to him upon moving from place-to-place. He believes in random bursts of creativity, but he also believes in the power of sitting down to refine his musical creations.

According to Cruz, these two methods live in symbiosis – you simply cannot have one without the other. “Sometimes it comes out all at once, and you’re literally looking at where you are, and what’s going on, and trying to get it as clearly and concisely onto the paper as you can. But sometimes you need to take a long time and just let it sit. We tend to romanticize that burst of creativity, but sometimes that’s not the best way to say it. You have to go back and be honest with yourself, edit, and show people how it’s working. It’s a balance of that super potent in-the-moment feeling, and later on, that healthy detachment from that emotion in order to make it as clear as possible.”

Listeners who enjoy Falling In Love Is Not That Hard can expect more Reno Cruz projects in the future, although they might be somewhat different from his debut release. He is currently finishing off an EP which serves as a follow-up to Falling In Love Is Not That Hard. This upcoming project explores some of the same themes, but with an expanded musical palette; more complex harmonies, additional instrumentation, and even a rap feature.

“I don’t know if I’m a folk artist, even though I love acoustic guitar and folk has had a huge impact on my life. But I had to make Falling In Love Is Not That Hard because of who I was at a certain time in my life. I’m really excited to put it out and move past it, because even though I love this record, I know that there is more to the story.”

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Falling In Love Is Not That Hard

Released January 21st, 2022

1. F.I.L.I.N.T.H.

2. Wild Geese

3. Love Is A Wave

4. Around U

5. Everybody Wants

6. Your Love

7. The Problem

8. Heart Is A Window

9. Barnacles!

10. I'd Do It All Again

11. Love Is A Wave (Demo)

All tracks produced by Reno Cruz

Track 9 co-produced by Hunter Davidson

Mixed and mastered by Brok Mende at Friends of Friends Recording

Vocals on Tracks 1, 4, 5, 9, and 10 by Hannah Maverick-Cruz

Vocals on Tracks 6 and 10 by Danielle Strautmanis

Vocals on Tracks 9 and 10 by Wyatt Waddell

Vocals on Track 9 by Ariella Granados & Izzy Ortiz

Drums on Tracks 1, 7 and 10 by Sam Subar

Bass clarinet on Track 1 by Jacob Slocum

Bass on Tracks 4, 6, 7 and ambience on Track 2 by Jake Hawrlyak

Violin on Track 5 by Noelle Viard

Tenor saxophone on Track 7 by Eric Novak

Tenor saxophone, clarinet, flute on Track 6 by Kenneth Leftridge

Drums on Track 6 by David Blair Jr.

Trombone and trumpet on Track 6 by Chris Misch

Flutes on Track 10 by José Guadalupe Flores

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Reno Cruz

Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify

YouTube | Apple Music | Twitter | Website

Spencer Nafekh is a tireless reader, writer, editor, and advocate for the written word. With an undergraduate degree in Concordia's English and Creative Writing program imminent, he plans to pursue a Master's specialization in journalism so that he can fully realize his career path. When Spencer is not working away, he is probably listening to experimental music while lost in the world of a science fiction novel.

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"Carved Into Stone" and The Enchanting Artistry of Isaac Symonds (Crystal Math)

Isaac Symonds and Loryn Taggart. Photo courtesy of Samuel Woywitka

For multi-instrumentalist Isaac Symonds, the past year has brought ample opportunities to redefine his creative vision and create his very own orchestral paradise. “Since my departure from Half Moon Run in early 2020,” he says, “I’ve spent most of my time honing in on songwriting, producing and recording.”

Symonds is not lying; on October 14th, the psychedelic, cinematic music video of “Carved Into Stone” (in collaboration with Loryn Taggart) was released on YouTube. The video features musicians from acts such as Barr Brothers, the Franklin Electric and Teke Teke––among others––doing what they know and love best during a recording session at Montreal’s Mixart Studios. Viewers are immersed in Loryn Taggart’s heartfelt voice as it coats the 50s-inspired instrumentation like warm honey, and Symonds diligently orchestrates a variety of instruments.

I was delighted to catch up with Symonds over Zoom, where he guided me through the world of "Carved Into Stone" and left some breadcrumbs of the magic he’s preparing.

Cover image for “Carved Into Stone” by Isaac Symonds & Loryn Taggart. Photo courtesy of Samuel Woywitka

Symonds explains that after he and Taggart wrote “Carved Into Stone,” they decided that it only felt right to fully fund the orchestral arrangement themselves. “It costs some money hiring all the musicians, but we just felt that we needed to do justice to this song.” 

He elaborates by saying that upon finishing the lyric writing, he and Taggart tried executing a multitude of versions of the song. “It’s kinda like covering yourself,” Symonds explains. “You have this song, and you want to stay true to the lyrics and the song form. In my eyes, it’s the hardest part… and the most important.”

After finally landing on the orchestral version and seeing their project take form, Symonds reflects on the experience, saying that it has renewed his belief in studio magic. “Once I realized that kind of sound was possible, it really opened up my mind for other possibilities in the future… It makes me think to myself, ‘holy shit, I’m capable of doing that!’ It’s crazy.” The fact that this was Symonds’ first musical creation with barely any effects involved, aside from a bit of reverb on a select few instruments, makes the experience all-the-more remarkable to him. “It’s unbelievable how everything glued together so easily,” he says.

When asked about the meaning behind the lyrics in “Carved Into Stone,” Symonds notes how Taggart brought up the word “sondering” in a brainstorming session. “I really liked the sound and the vibe of that word, but I didn’t know what it meant at the time.” After finding out that ‘sondering’ is a term used to describe feeling one has when they realize that the lives of those around them are equally as vivid as their own, Symonds and Taggart agreed that this should serve as the basis of their song. “We wanted to combine a classic love song with this idea of sondering,” Symonds explains. “When we were songwriting we were imagining the idea of being on a metro, or a bus, and catching eyes with a beautiful person and having a slip[ping] moment of connection. It’s about really wanting to say hello, when all of the sudden the doors close, and you’re left wondering about all the things that could have happened.”

As he looks towards the future, the conversation veers in the direction of Symonds’ upcoming project, which he is very excited to talk about. “I’m not sure whether it’s going to be an album or an EP, but I’ve booked all the same musicians [that appear in ‘Carved Into Stone’] and I’ve basically written all the songs and lyrics.” 

The multi-instrumentalist has now booked a chalet Airbnb just an hour north of Montreal, and is looking forward to having no distractions. “I live on Saint-Denis in Montreal, and the ongoing sound of traffic is very unforgiving.” In terms of the process, Symonds aims to bring his musical ensemble to his Airbnb retreat, flesh out the skeleton of his music, and then conjure some more studio magic back in Montreal’s Mixart Studios. This, according to Symonds, will be a process which revolves around trimming and perfecting more than anything else. “I probably have twenty songs right now, but only seven of them will push through… or maybe more, or maybe less. I’ve been writing this for two years, so I need to think to myself, ‘is this gonna live on my hard drive, or is this gonna live on Spotify?’ I’m giving it my best to one day let it live out in the open, but music is like a fruit, and I wouldn’t want to release anything that isn’t ripe.”

Reflecting on his career up until this point, Symonds has two useful pieces of advice to give to musicians who want to take their personal practices further: to experiment with many instruments, and to hold back from publishing music until you’ve perfected it. “Being a multi-instrumentalist is always an asset,” Symonds emphasizes. “If your band can ‘switch roles,’ it’s always interesting, both for the listener and for your own experience as well.”

Speaking to his second point, Symonds urges musicians to “...just focus on the song. Maybe people will say I’m wrong, but I don’t think you should promote stuff on social media unless it’s your best material… Write tunes that you’re proud of and know are good, and then move onto promoting it.” Too often, Symonds says, musical artists try to ‘luck out’ and generate a huge buzz by marketing their personalities online rather than their actual content. But people enjoy listening to good music, Symonds says, and talented artists can always rely on letting the music speak for itself. “If you let the music do the work, everything else will become easier.”

I left my conversation with Symonds feeling inspired and revitalized; even through our respective computer screens, his sense of excitement and creativity was palpable. After creating the beautiful arrangement of “Carved Into Stone,” he seems to think that anything is possible, and quite frankly, I believe him. I’m really looking forward to the new music he and Taggart put out, both together and as solo artists. Regardless of whether their future projects manifest as albums or EPs, these musicians are destined to continue the spark behind this latest magical release.

Stream “Carved Into Stone”, the enchanting instrumental version, and the psychedelic remix “Searching in Sonder” below!

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Isaac Symonds

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Spencer Nafekh is a tireless reader, writer, editor, and advocate for the written word. With an undergraduate degree in Concordia's English and Creative Writing program imminent, he plans to pursue a Master's specialization in journalism so that he can fully realize his career path. When Spencer is not working away, he is probably listening to experimental music while lost in the world of a science fiction novel.

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Dayton Swim Club’s Debut "Hangman" Invites You to Rage With Them (Perpetual Doom)

Nick Flessa and Dominique Matelson of Dayton Swim Club. Photo courtesy of Mario Luna

A rager takes place in some unspecified, sprawling Southwestern desert. Visualize Wim Wender’s Paris, Texas’ opening scene, except noir. Dayton Swim Club are playing for the party-goers when a mob of zombies overwhelm the space. These zombies look familiar; they are not corporeal revenants, but instead a tyrannized social cult. 

Fresh from American indie label Perpetual Doom, Dayton Swim Club’s debut Hangman offers a soundscape for pensive days. Its seven hypnotic tracks will rouse thoughts about sinister social norms as the sequel of a tormented history. Nick Flessa’s droned lead vocals are reminiscent of a late-70s shoegaze mood; together with Dominique Matelson’s ethereal voice and Mario Luna’s fuzzy, reverb-soaked guitar riffs, Dayton Swim Club’s concoction of space and distorted atmosphere(s) are magnified.

Melodic, lo-fi guitar riffs hint towards 60s psychedelia, setting the stage in “Pillow Talk.” As these riffs darken into an ambient sparseness, a collection of Me Too realities and other familiar authoritative perversions are confronted. Flessa and Matelson spiral between direct address, first, second and third person POV, alluding to the twisted yet very real nature of the track’s themes. “Night Breed” is a “Pillow Talk” season 2 of sorts: here, the sun sets and the mood dampens. Backing vocals evocative of female screams haunt an arid town where street lamps flicker. A rhythmically dark guitar persists, reminding us that here, days are as sunless as the nights.  

An eerie mélange of strings pierces the hovering gloomy clouds in "Landers”. The remote, Californian desert community that the track was named after renders a multifarious conceit for issues related to individualism and destruction. The track’s motif “Be your own man / Be your own hang / Be your own hang, man”  is chanted by Flessa and, paralleled with Matelson’s operatic vocals, induces an artful abstraction of social terrors. Dayton Swim Club have wrapped resentments of the ruinous Manifest Destiny and other deteriorating effects of political ideologies in shoegazed, Western-noir packaging.   

We caught up with Flessa just after the release of “Landers” to chat about the (pandemic-induced) means of recording and mixing the album, tonal and lyrical inspirations, and the bar featured in the “Landers” video.

Dayton Swim Club. Photo courtesy of the band

CJ Sommerfeld for Also Cool Mag: Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with Also Cool today, and cheers on the new album!  What forces were responsible for Nick Flessa Band’s conceptual and sonic transition into Dayton Swim Club? 

Nick Flessa for Dayton Swim Club: Thank you! I guess the main force behind the transition is my collaboration with guitarist Mario Luna, who took over composition and production duties. Mario has a strong and focused vision for the project. He’s also responsible for a lot of our visual presentation – flyers, band photos, etc. So far in Dayton Swim Club I’ve mostly been a lyricist and frontman, as well as the de facto manager.  

Nick Flessa Band hit a stride in 2019 with a lineup including Dominique Matelson, Jessica Perelman and Kirsten Bladh. At the beginning we were playing songs from my previous solo releases. Once this band became a regular unit, and we started writing new material together, it began evolving into its current form. Without having released anything, we played three shows as Dayton Swim Club in late 2019/early 2020 shortly before the shutdown. 

Also Cool: Dayton Swim Club is a collaborative ensemble between numerous L.A.-based musicians. Were you acquainted with these artists prior to creating music together, or did you get together for this project? 

Nick Flessa: We mostly knew each other in some capacity. It’s funny because Mario and I went to CalArts at the exact same time but didn’t cross paths until later, through music. Then we kept running into each other at Kaldi Coffee in Atwater Village and became friends. A few years later I also met Dominique at Kaldi, where she was working at the time. Greg Marino, who plays sax on the record, works there too. Mario, Jessica and I have all played in another project called Fragile Gang. Kirsten is an old friend from Cincinnati, where I’m from originally. J.D. Carrera (pedal steel on “Predatory Drift”) and I have collaborated a bunch and were roommates for a long time, and Pauline Lay (strings on DSC) is another art/music friend. 

Most of the players we’ve worked with are people I've been familiar with already – knowing so many excellent musicians is a huge perk of living in Los Angeles. The current iteration of the band includes our friends Daniel and Scarlett (on bass and synth, respectively), whom I met for the first time at a practice a few months ago. Mario brought them in and they’ve been doing great work – our live show feels stronger and more cohesive than ever.  

AC: Hangman was written during the pandemic – what was it about that time that encouraged the creation of this project? 

NF: Like many, I needed a project to hold me together during that time. At first it was a challenge to try to coordinate everything remotely, but Mario and I developed a workflow where he would send me song ideas and I would write lyrics in response, then record vocals and send them to him for mixing – Postal Service style. We found ways for our other collaborators to contribute parts remotely, and developed some pre-pandemic demos into full-fledged songs. 

Working on the record helped create structure to combat the general isolation of that period. The stakes of life itself felt raised, and since I had the freedom to focus solely on writing lyrics, I tried to take the day-to-day as a prompt to explore my thoughts and feelings about the past few years as we collectively bore the bizarre brunt of American history – a nightmare from which I'm still trying to awaken. I took a break from drinking, sharpened the focus of my reading and writing, and went on long walks. Making this record was part of surviving and processing that time and the years that led up to it, fueled by some distant hope that we’d eventually be able to finish, share and perform the project.  

AC: The locations where [the video for your track] “Landers” was filmed —Landers and Palm Springs—reflect the death cult that the United States has become. Can you tell me a little more regarding what it is about these communities that represents both a history and present state of self-destruction? Can you elaborate on the track’s lyrical motif “Be your own man, be your own hang-man"? 

NF: I spent much of 2020 in Palm Springs at my partner Chloe’s dad’s house, right next to a public golf course. It was a huge luxury to be in a relaxed environment with a swimming pool and plenty of space to walk around. It felt like I was hiding out on a permanent vacation during the apocalypse. I walked around the golf course frequently, and thought a lot about how many resources went into maintaining it. 

Those thoughts led to more thoughts about Western expansion, “Manifest destiny”, and the US as a colonial superpower; how the pandemic laid bare so many structural failures, but how control is always prioritized here. American individualism came full circle in 2020, a sort of ouroboros where the self-made head eats the tail of its own self-destruction — the anti-mask movement and nationally sanctioned super-spreader events being examples. “Be your own man, be your own hang-man” refers to this, and also to the isolation of having to be one’s own “hang” during the pandemic.  

Landers is a remote community in the high desert near Joshua Tree. It’s beautiful, isolated, and the site of a lot of extraterrestrial and UFO sightings. We performed there one night in 2019 a few days after the death of the late, great David Berman. It was a heavy and heady trip. Jessica’s drum kit got run over by a drunk driver in the parking lot of the venue. There had just been a rainstorm, which caused our ill-equipped cars to get stuck in the sandy dirt roads on the way in and out. The night had an enchanted and cursed quality to it. This experience was also a tonal and lyrical inspiration for the song. The venue we played at was called Landers Brew, it’s also featured in the video. Just a few weeks after we filmed there, it was bought by a developer and shut down. I learned this via Instagram when I announced the video premiere.

AC: The remainder of the album carries strong socio-political concerns. Much has changed between when you wrote this album to now. In what ways do you think your next album will reflect this social change? 

NF: One concrete change is that we’ve all been able to gather together and perform live shows, now that there’s a vaccine. That’s been very new and exciting, but also a big moment of adaptation.  As a group we are hoping to have the opportunity to record in a studio together. We are gunning to make a very deliberate record that is conceptually thought through with an arc from start to finish. There's a sense in which Hangman is a cut-up record in terms of its structure, and I think that’s a strength, but I also think a more focused follow-up is in order.  

As much as the 2020 election was a pivotal moment, things aren’t great here. There’s a point, politically, where you can never go home again. As much as the attempt at a sanitized return to the Obama era has been a reprieve for some, I think there is much worse to come unless the Left can consolidate in a meaningful way.  

Our music speaks to a popular resentment. It’s valid to feel resentment at the way things work in the US, and that feeling is potent; ideally this is a power that can be harnessed to fight injustice rather than enforce it. While there are plenty of things to be optimistic about, even the most seemingly progressive of our elected politicians are doing more to appease Republicans than represent their own constituents. Corrupt city councilmen abuse the unhoused with impunity. Military budgets continue to inflate. The charade can’t be kept up forever, though. People are savvy. We can all see it happening in real time. Climate change, too, promises big catastrophes soon. This will continue to change the world we live in, and by necessity my writing will reflect that change.  

AC: Thank you again for your time, I’m loving this album and am looking forward to your future projects. What can we expect to see next from Dayton Swim Club? 

NF: Thank you so much! We have a few new things coming up, including a video by our brilliant friend Will Wiesenfeld (Baths) for our track “Predatory Drift”. We’re also doing a TV theme song cover for Perpetual Doom’s Stay Tuned compilation.  

Several DSC members have solo projects with upcoming shows and releases. Mario, Scarlett and Daniel are all playing in Daniel’s project Dearly Departure at Substance Festival in November. Dominique has a solo record she’s been working on concurrently with this one, coming soon. I'm working on a cover of a song by our friend and labelmate Austin Leonard Jones, also coming soon.  

We’re DJing labelmate Grady Strange’s residency at the Echo on November 1st, ahead of a short hiatus before one final 2021 show in December. Once we wrap these, then it’s back to the drawing board. 

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HANGMAN

Released September 17th, 2021 via Perpetual Doom

1. Darker Moves

2. Pillow Talk

3. Night Breed

4. Landers

5. Predatory Drift

6. Rage All Night

7. DSC

Produced and mixed by Mario Luna

Contributors include Jessica Perelman, Kirsten Bladh, Pauline Lay, Greg Marino, and J.D. Carrera

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Dayton Swim Club

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CJ Sommerfeld (she/her) is a Vancouver-based freelance writer with a particular interest in the convergence of language, art and society. When she is not writing, you can find her experimenting with harmonic minor progressions on her keyboard.

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Toronto R&B Duo TRP.P To Share New Track at M for Montreal

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TRP.P (pronounced "trippy") is an R&B/hip-hop duo hailing from Toronto, comprised of Truss (producer, singer-songwriter) and Phoenix (singer-songwriter). The pair met in 2015 and have been “collaborating in music and life” ever since, all while enchanting audiences with their soulful, old-school sound. Truss and Phoenix made waves with their 2019 debut 2TRP.P, where they tackled injustice and oppression in their lyrics, while also celebrating queer love and empowering their communities. This effort remains intact with TRP.P’s latest offering “Never Leavin,’” out tomorrow (November 19th, 2021) and to-be-performed at the Hot Tramp Showcase at M for Montreal.

Leading up to their set at L’Esco with Janette King, Maryze and Witch Prophet, we had the chance to connect with the duo on what inspired “Never Leavin’” and how it fosters grounds for growing as collaborators.

Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter for Also Cool: To start, can you tell me about the origin story of your new single “Never Leavin’”?  

TRP.P: We originally wrote this song while composing music for a TV show. Although it didn't work out for the show, it worked out perfectly for our album and complimented the new direction we want to take with our music. Once we started to record and perform the song, the message resonated with us more and more. It really is an anthem for communities that have faced displacement, especially during this pandemic. Through that same sense of community, we have met so many amazing people, including the roller-skating community right here in Toronto. You might even see them in the upcoming music video for the song!

Also Cool: Has "Never Leavin'" brought about any realizations for TRP.P? Whether it be learning something new about how you work together, your individual artistry or something you'd like to foster as a group in the future? 

Truss: That's actually a really good question. For me, it made me realize just how broad our spectrum of sound truly is. Although we both grew up influenced by R&B, gospel and hip-hop, there's an underlying influence of pop and house-inspired music in the song.

Phoenix: For me, it made me realize just how impermanent everything is and how fleeting time and existence is. The song is called "Never Leavin,'" but yet by the time the song is released, three new business will close down, one condo will be built, and a million dispensaries will pop up. It’s almost like the most defiant title we could choose in a time like this. In terms of working together, there isn’t a better team than us! We love and dislike everything we do at the same time. Our goals are always two halves of a whole when we are creating. 

Phoenix (left) and Truss (right) of TRP.P, photo courtesy of the artists

 AC: What does the next chapter hold for TRP.P? 

TRP.P: Album number two! It’s a summertime release and we are really looking forward to this one. We didn’t get to tour our first album due to the pandemic. We want to actually go on tour, see the world and play stages in places we could only dream of. Every show we play, we gain new fans and listeners. We are really excited to keep doing that, as safely and as soon as possible.

AC: What can we expect from your performance at the Hot Tramp showcase at M for Montreal? 

TRP.P: We just want to have a good time! We are honoured to be playing with Janette King, Witch Prophet and Maryze. Being only our second show since the easing of live music regulations, it may be a little awkward… But the awkwardness will pass and will be followed by some smooth R&B vibes, with a hint of bars! Everyone will leave saying it was a good show. And we can't wait to prove it to you!

Photo courtesy of the artists

Catch TRP.P at the Hot Tramp Showcase at M for Montreal on November 19th, 2021.

TRP.P

Website | Instagram | Spotify

Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter (she/her) is the co-founder and managing editor of Also Cool Mag. Aside from the mag, she is a music promoter & booker, and a radio host & DJ.

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