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Rich Aucoin + superfossilpower @ Petit Campus
Prior to his show, I had heard very little of, and knew even less about, Rich Aucoin. His visit to Montreal’s Petit Campus on Thursday, February 3rd provided an extraordinarily satisfying evening, to say the least. Rich Aucoin, a Halifax, Nova Scotia native, is no stranger to Montreal. He lit up the dark venue with glow sticks and a projection of feel-good messages; they addressed certain people in attendance, superfossilpower, Petit Campus and Montreal. It really made the audience feel welcome. He won me over right from the start by displaying “Mason Windels Is Like A Nice Wind” on the propped-up screen. He soon came out offering 3D glasses, which allow the audience to enjoy the homemade 3D film that he synced to his set.
In my experience, artists who set up to play among their crowd are a sure bet for an amazing show, and Rich Aucoin was no exception. He started his set with YouTube clips of goats screaming like men played by his companion Jimmy, and followed with a crowd-countdown and confetti shower while playing “More Than A One Night Stand”. The excitement created by his introduction did not let up as he moved into “At War With The Cynics (An Opening)” from his 2007 EP Personal Publication. He kept up this energetic pace throughout the night.
I had previously been introduced to Rich Aucoin by searching through the greatness of www.weirdcanada.com, that’s where I first heard my two favourite songs of the evening: “PUSH” and “Brian Wilson is A.L.I.V.E.” Between songs the audience was given a chance to catch their breath and cool down while he taught them the chorus chants for the next song. He also took the time to upload a series of viral videos, like “G.I. Joe PSA Spoofs” and “Double Rainbow”, which would lead into the song’s beat.
He displays a lot of dedication for both musical and visual art. At one point he asked the crowd whether anyone was familiar with The Dark Side of Oz (a synchronization of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and The Wizard of Oz) and proceeded to sync his music to a compilation film he made; it featured clips from classic films like How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Superman, It’s A Wonderful Life, and several more. On top of the visuals, his supply of props and endless amount of energy and excitement made for a creative and memorable show. He ended it with an unexpected, but well-deserved, encore cover of Daft Punk’s “Human After All."
I could go on forever about this night, so I will stop now. Luckily for Montreal, Thursday, February the 3rd was not Rich Aucoin’s last visit. He will be back in Montreal on Thursday, February 17th at Il Motore with the Pop Winds (Arbutus Records), which shouldn’t be missed. Do not worry about this review spoiling anything, he promises to deliver a new experience every time.
-Mason W hosts Midnight Love Affair every Sunday night from 11pm-12am
-Photo taken by Kang Min Lee
Art Matters, Ten Years in the Making
Concordia’s beloved Art Matters festival is kicking into gear for its 11th edition. This year, however, is special – it’s been ten years in the making.
On Thursday, February 10th, Art Matters unveiled its retrospective 10th anniversary publication at a stylish press cocktail on the second floor of the MB building. A few dozen art students – many of them curators of the upcoming shows – as well as a handful of press members nursed glasses of wine as they mingled and peered over the dapper booklets.
Assembled and designed by festival co-producer Stephanie Laoun, together with Sean Yendrys, a design “wizard” and art director for Art Matters, the turquoise booklets visually outline the evolution of the festival over a decade.
Over the years, Art Matters has been a showcase and platform for burgeoning talent in the university, providing student artists with professional experience and all-important exposure. At the same time, the entirely student-run, non-profit festival is a gift to our festival-loving city too. Over two weeks of innovative, multi-disciplinary art by more than 200 up-and-coming Montreal artists in local galleries throughout the city - and one “retrofit dumpster.” What’s there not to love?
This year features a not-to-miss opening party at Espace Reunion March 4th, plus exciting bands and DJ’s, musical “happenings”, and an event at Nuit Blanche called “Decadence”.
The student crew that has been toiling hard since the summer to bring us Art Matters was giddy over artists like Grimes, Pat Jordache, Roadsworth, and Andew W.K., among others, taking part.
At the press cocktail, the theme for this year’s festival was summed up by Laoun: “as we look back, we also look forward.” In the spirit of looking back, festival founder Julie Fowler, dubbed “the mother” of Art Matters, made a special trip from B.C. to speak about the festival’s humble beginnings. As it turns out, Art Matters started off as a one-day fundraiser for the Fine Arts Reading Room which was, at the time, in quite the dilapidated state. Fowler laughed over what was then a more serious concern: a leaking ceiling and computers roughly a quarter century old.
Of course, Art Matters went on to do much more than fix the Reading Room’s sad ceiling. It united the vast array of disciplines under the Fine Arts umbrella and put the Concordia Fine Arts department, and most importantly, its students, on the map.
The 11th edition kicks off on March 1st with three vernissages, and runs till March 19th.
Check out artmattersfestival.com for festival information, artist statements, and dates.
Joel Balsam interviews ASFA Presidential candidate Alex Gordon
ASFA elections take place February 15-16-17.
Interview by Joel Balsam
Video by Katie Brioux
Two more contestations in ASFA elections
Two more contestations have been brought against ASFA executive candidates, one of which has resulted in sanctions.
Nick Cuillerier is ASFA’s chief electoral officer. At Thursday’s council meeting, he reported Tanya-Michelle Contente was banned from campaigning for three days for improper use of a mailing list. Contente is a candidate for VP internal.
Last Sunday, VP Finance candidate Pier-Luc Péloquin received the same sanction for a similar infraction. Under Annex A of ASFA’s electoral bylaws, these infractions are considered insider exploitation. A third contestation involving accusations of plagiarizing campaign points was dismissed.
Cuillerier noted that Annex A lacks rules regarding plagiarism. He said that is something he will review in his electoral report.
Breaking: President Mubarak of Egypt steps down
President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt has resigned. The announcement was made Friday by Vice-President Omar Suleiman. The news comes after 18 days of mass demonstrations in the country.
The armed forces council will be handling issues of state. It says it will fire Mubarak's Cabinet, suspend both houses of Parliament and rule with the head of the supreme constitutional court. According to a military source, Defense Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi will be the head of the ruling military council.
Opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei says he is hopeful Mubarak's resignation will start a new Egypt with democracy and social justice.
CJLO News Director Erica Fisher speaks with Martin Luther King III
Following his speech at Concordia University, CJLO news director Erica Fisher spoke to Martin Luther King III about the current situation in Egypt.
Click below to listen.
Mubarak stays on as Egyptian President
Tensions are as high as ever in Egypt. In a televised address yesterday evening, Mubarak defiantly refused to step down as president. He did make some concessions, saying he would transfer his power to his vice president Omar Suleiman.
But Egyptians were not happy, expecting the speech to be his last. Groups of the protesters broke away from Tahrir Square after his speech. Some headed to the presidential palace and others for the state television station, both heavily guarded by the Egyptian military.
People around the globe were shocked by his speech- convinced that Mubarak was stepping down. Even President Obama was surprised, clearly angry at Mubarak’s decision. He said that the Egyptian government must put forth a genuine path towards a real democracy.
Even Egyptian opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei commented on the news. He tweeted that Egypt will "explode" and that the army must save the country now. Many people believe that today might be a pivotal day in Egypt and many fear a bloodbath.
News director Erica Fisher spoke to Martin Luther King the third about this issue. He remains hopeful that the protest will remain non-violent. Click below to hear Mr. King's comments.
Audio by Erica Fisher
Martin Luther King III speaks at Concordia
Photo by Matthew Ahn
Valentine’s Day came early for the near packed house in Concordia’s lecture main hall Thursday night. Martin Luther King the 3rd treated the approximately 400 students on hand to a highly animated speech about using love as opposed to hate when dealing with conflict resolution. He was invited to speak as part of the CSU’s Black History Month celebrations. King is the son of the non-violent leader of the civil right movement. He drew a picture of our society today as it would look to his late father. King also noted that he advocates for a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Egypt. A government must listen to its people he says. King's speech was followed by a lengthy question and answer session with students and community members. Black History Month events will be taking place on campus until February 18th.
Click below to hear clips of Mr. King's speech.
Reporting by Joel Balsam
Twin Tigers + Sandman Viper Command @ Le Divan Orange
Coming in off a freezing rue St-Laurent around 11pm, we entered Le Divan Orange, a warm venue laid with old wooden floors and a high room. As soon as we came in, we noticed the place was pretty empty. Well... it was more than pretty empty; in fact, there were about 15 people there in total, 8 of which were members of the bands playing. Claiming the space under the beautiful, graffiti-esque mural painted on the wall to our immediate right, we sat and waited as the opening band jumped on stage for the usual pre-show preparatory strumming and plucking.
The opener, a Burlington, Ontario band by the name of Sandman Viper Command, is comprised of four best friends: Dan Reardon, Aaron Harvey, Matt Meyer and frontman Rob Janson. They came out with an album called Everybody See This in 2009 that was relatively well received. With driven guitars and amazing production value, the album as a whole is filled with fantastic tracks and is perhaps one of the top ten albums I have heard this year. All in all, it’s totally worth the ten dollars. Obviously, others have thought the same; Sandman Viper Command has played with Holy F*ck, The Rural Alberta Advantage, and the Arkells, among others.
As the soundcheck wound down, there was a 60 second silence as straps slid over heads and drummers got into place. Then, a wall of sound filled the long, narrow venue like a physical thing. The sound balance was perfect; the vocals were clearly heard above the hazy but defined pop melodies. The guitars had awesome interwoven melodies, keeping the music interesting but consistent with a certain ‘sound’ that is easily equated with Sandman Viper Command. With their slinky, driven dance beat, these guys are perfectly situated in either a basement party or a packed venue.
The vocals, though, were the stars. Frontman Rob Janson, who also plays guitar, serenaded the crowd with scratchy, endearing vocals that had most people in the crowd of (now) 11 dancing and bobbing along. The other guitarist and the bassist harmonized to produce a roughed-out sounding harmony that was both dirty and beautiful.
The stage was stripped down, bare, and perfect for the set, with only a red backlight and a blue light shining from the side to illuminate the stage. It did its job without distracting from the intimate show. The entire set was only about 40 minutes long, but with back-to-back songs it was forty minutes well spent. Need-to-hear tracks are “Oh Yeah, It’s Fusion,” “Strawberry Quick” and “The Metal I’ve Spent.”
Twin Tigers, who are from the American city of Athens, Georgia, are a band I had heard plenty about and was excited to see. Their album Gray Waves, released in 2010, has received a lot of buzz in North America from the lovers of the Indie/Shoe Gaze scene. With a trippy sound that is very reminiscent of Sonic Youth, it is a pretty great album. They’re a four piece band with mixed male and female vocals, consisting of members Matthew Rain, Aimee Morris (who met at the Grit restaurant owned by R.E.M. member Michael Stipe), Doug Crump and Forrest Hall.
When they took the stage, the first thing that I noticed wasn’t the sound, but the strobe light catching me full on in the face. Repeatedly. Although it was a neat idea, it severely distracted from what was actually going on on stage. I ended up getting driven way to the back in an attempt to avoid either being blinded or seizing.
The show itself was a little lackluster after Sandman Viper Command. Although it did live up to its shoe gaze expectation in a way, I had a lot of trouble deciphering what song was what due to the lyrics being buried deep under the psychedelic haze of the instrumentals. There were a couple songs that stood out. “Red Fox Run” is a fantastic song, be it performed live or listened to on a CD. It has the same psychedelic dreamy quality of their other stuff, but amplified. Another great song was “Island,” with its exciting vocals and fantastic guitar.
The set was really short, only about 40 minutes. Surprisingly, as the set ended and I looked around, there were no more people there for this set than for Sandman Viper Command. This was both surprising and too bad, since Twin Tigers are not an unknown band and they had really only just started their Canadian tour days before. Although the show was a little mediocre, it would be unfair to write them off just yet. They were a tight unit who sounded very close to having a great live show, if only the sound was tinkered with a little and the strobe lights were used for accent rather than legitimate light source.
February 10th 2011
Read by Joel Balsam
Produced by Melissa Mulligan
Articles by Erica Fisher and Jessica MacDonald
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