Rising In the West Vancouver Hip-hop’s Renaissance

Published Dec 20, 2007

"Vancouver is not part of Canada.” So wrote British Columbia novelist Douglas Coupland in City Of Glass, a turn-of-the-millennium photograph...

The Search for Middleground New Producers Heal the Backpack/Benz Divide

Published Jan 01, 2006

When he took office in 1997, British Prime Minister Tony Blair prophesised the dawn of "third way" politics, placing himself in the middle o...

Sliding Down The Surface Electro-clash: Your 15 Minutes Are Up

Published Jan 01, 2006

Ed Upton is pissed off. You'd expect the producer, best known for his work as the electro-popping DMX Krew, to be delighted at this year's d...

Dizzee Rascal Demands Respect

Published Jan 01, 2006

Dial up Dizzee Rascal when his phone's turned off and you'll be greeted by the first few bars of Clipse's "Hot Damn," in which Pharrell Will...

Four Tet / Boom Bip Sonar, Vancouver BC - June 3, 2003

Published Jan 01, 2006

The recorded output of England's Kieran Hebden (aka Four Tet) and America's Bryan Hollon (aka Boom Bip) has always seemed a bit too polite....

The World Comes Around to Basement Jaxx

Published Jan 01, 2006

Felix Buxton may not be a vengeful sort, but he sure likes having the last laugh. Earlier this year, British house producers Justin Harris a...

The Unbearable Whiteness Of Being Indie

Published Jan 01, 2006

It's all there in black and white. In early October, the American record industry reached a milestone: for the first time in its history, ev...

Smoking Out the Locals Tobacco Funded Shows Outspend Home Grown Efforts

Published Jan 01, 2006

Tobacco kills — so say doctors, and so say a growing number of artists, concert promoters and club owners across Canada. What most concerns...

Put Your Back In It Brazil Brings the Baile Funk

Published Jan 01, 2006

After years spent sermonising about the ill effects of globalization, progressive media outlets must begin to unearth those stories that tes...

Adam F vs. DJ Craze Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver BC - March 6, 2003

Published Jan 01, 2006

Billed as Vancouver's biggest drum & bass event of the year, this gig was brought low by that scourge of all multi-turntable performances: t...

Morcheeba Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver BC - February 4, 2003

Published Jan 01, 2006

With their smoky bass grooves, echo chamber accents and wink-wink moniker, Britain's Morcheeba has traditionally been lumped in with Bristol...

Reggaeton Exchange Program Island Sounds Outfox Colonials

Published Jan 01, 2006

You could call it cultural opportunism or you could call it a cynical marketing manoeuvre — and you'd be right on both counts — but when the...

The Sweet and Lowdown of PJ Harvey

Published Jan 01, 2006

Demonic. Perverse. Toxic. Morose. Brooding. Violent. If the press is to be believed, Polly Jean Harvey is all of the above, a latter-day wit...

Into the Mystic Avant-folk Shapes A New Future

Published Jan 01, 2006

When Harry Smith released his epochal Anthology Of American Folk Music in 1952, the box bore an engraving of a single-stringed instrument be...

Michael Mayer Works Alone

Published Jan 01, 2006

When last we spoke, Michael Mayer was looking forward to the construction of new recording studios in the basement of his Kompakt headquarte...

He Ain't Pretty, He's Kid 606

Published Jan 01, 2006

For as long as he can remember, Miguel Depedro (aka Kid 606) has been an outcast. The technoist's mistrust of musical scenes reaches back to...

Del The Funky Homosapien Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver BC - January 19

Published Jan 01, 2006

Best known to pop fans as the MC behind the Gorillaz and Deltron 3030 albums, the Bay Area's Del the Funky Homosapien took to the Commodore'...

Schaffel Beat Resuscitates Techno

Published Jan 01, 2006

Whatever happened to paradise? For a brief time in the mid-‘90s, it seemed as if rave culture had usurped the music industry's top-down busi...

How To Do Your Taxes Income Tax Blues

Published Jan 01, 2006

As duties go, filing your tax return probably ranks somewhere just north of getting a root canal on the list of things you most look forward...

Building A Mystery The Folk Noir of Daniel Lanois

Published Jun 01, 2005

I'm parked in my parents' driveway, the windows rolled down, listening. It's almost 11 o'clock on a Saturday night, and I'd rather not go in...