Category: Blog

Blog

Anome – “Hoopjack” EP

“Hoopjack” is the latest EP from Moncton’s techno overlord, Anome. The EP opens with the aptly named “Warehouse,” a highlight that combines two of my favourite flavours – lush synths and pounding beats.
“Midnight Control” sounds like an ATM that got caught in a loop and became sentient, repeating its last set of keypresses as it stomps through the night streets on a relentless quest. The closer “Leak” has a minimal beat and subdued melody that makes me think of a giant robot spying on humans for decades from some hidden lair, probably under in the ocean.
How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard you before?
I’d say pure raw techno. Can be quite aggressive at times but always try to find a good groove.
What gear/software/techniques did you use in making this recording?
For my latest album, I used mostly my Elektron Rytm and Arturia SparkLE
What mood or mental state do you hope to evoke in the listener with this music?
Make people dance or work out at the gym (lol)
links: https://anome.bandcamp.com/releases
https://soundcloud.com/anome-one
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/anome/307126335
https://www.facebook.com/anomemusic/?ref=bookmarks
Blog

Party Sauce Radio – Mar. 7, 2018

Hello space cadets! Here’s the latest episode of Party Sauce, hosted by Veena, an artificial intelligence robot DJ orbiting the ruined planet Earth on a satellite in the year 2048.

DOWNLOAD LINK: https://partysauce.lol/mp3/PartySauce-2018Mar7.mp3

Tracklist::
Daniel Wang – “Let’s Go To Mars”
Russell Louder – “Another Day”
Coco Barracuda – “XVIII”
Elephant Skeletons – “Calm The Cloud”
TAAPE – “Goodbye Gravity”
Boy Harsher – “Last Days”
Joy Division – “Disorder”
Spoutnique – “My Blue Sky Turns Teal”
Caribou – “Your Love Will Set You Free”
Morgan Geist – “Palace Life”
Mew – “In A Better Place”

Blog

Party Sauce Radio – Feb. 28, 2018

Hi space cadets! Here’s the latest episode of Party Sauce Radio, hosted by Amélie, an orbiting artificial intelligence DJ from the year 2048.

DOWNLOAD LINK: https://partysauce.lol/mp3/PartySauce-2018Feb28.mp3

Tracklist::
Nightwave – “Sanctuary”
Paranerd – “Spatplat”
Allumette – “Petit Parasite”
Cengiz – “On, On, On,”
EVM128 – “Gamma Riddim”
Double Echo – “Autumn Months”
Prison – “Plague”
Kwake Bass – “Marble Ruin”
Robert Hood – “Transform”
Spoutnique – “My Blue Sky Turns Teal”
Jaguar Knight – “I Call Shotgun”
Shrimp Ring – “Babies On The Moon”
Wasko – “Tindu”

Blog

The Trick – “Inaugurate Me”

I’ve enjoyed everything The Trick has put out since the dawn of time. So glad he’s still at it and still making new music. The latest release from The Trick is called “Inaugurate Me” and it’s available on Bandcamp as a free download.

All the way from Fredericton, NB, here’s the scoop from Mr. Trick himself, Patrick Reinartz.

How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard you before?
I suppose it’s a 50/50 blend of indie rock and synth pop. I grew up with a pretty fierce dual interest in both guitars and synths. I think the electronics won a little bit in the end, but as an instrument, guitars bring a certain level of humanity and imperfection to the table that’s harder to replicate electronically — the feeling that things could go off the rails at any moment. I got my start with The Trick as a solo musician mostly playing all-ages punk shows, and although I was usually the odd-man-out in those situations, the energy of that scene sort of bled over into what I was doing at the time.

What gear/software/techniques did you use in making this recording?
“Inaugurate Me” is a 100% DIY project, so we tracked it in our rehearsal space: a dank basement in a century-old house. It started with a demo I recorded myself and then we gradually layered the rest of the band into it, using pretty traditional methods and setups. Once we had all the pieces, I finished it in Cakewalk Sonar and added the synth layers. There are some softsynths in there (the prepared piano at the beginning and the sequenced synthbass at the end), but the rest was mostly hardware. We have a lot of Korg stuff around — not really intentionally, but that’s largely what it was made with: a Korg Micro-X, a Korg Minilogue, a MicroKorg… There’s also a Novation MiniNova in there and I think a little bit from the Yamaha DX27 also survived.

What mood or mental state do you hope to evoke in the listener with this music?
This is a song I kicked around for several years before it finally took shape (I literally have 3-4 different demos around from different attempts to do something with it). It started as an instrumental demo going for a post-rock meets shoegaze vibe. The entire first half of the song came from that old demo and then there’s that abrupt moment where the tempo doubles and its turns into a synth jam. So I guess I couldn’t commit to that idea for an entire song before my pop sensibilities kicked in. My hope is that it results in something a little cinematic, taking you from Point A to Point B and never looking back.

Check out The Trick ~
thetrickmusic.bandcamp.com/
facebook.com/TrickyBizness/

Blog

Denmother – “Now It All Comes”

DenMother from Fredericton makes the best winter music. One year ago I spent the whole month of January in a shack in the woods using her bandcamp as a sonic duvet. Her brand-new release is entitled “Now It All Comes” and it’s the follow up to “Blood: A Memoir” which won Album Of The Year at the 2017 Party Sauce Awards.

DenMother’s sound seems to be getting more stripped down over the last few releases. These songs are soundscapes of synths and reverb washing over a landscape of raw emotion. And yet I find the vocals a little more up-front and less abstract than previous releases, placing all the feelings in plain view.

See DenMother live in Fredericton this month:
– Sat. Jan. 13 at Reads with Wangled Teb, Gold Punks
– Fri. Jan. 26 at The Capital Complex with Little You Little Me, Shrimp Ring


How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard you before? 
Um. Maybe music you can either fight, float or fuck to. You can’t say fuck on a blog though, right? But that’s how I feel about it. It’s like that passionate feeling in your gut that you just need to express, whether it’s anger or lust, but you’re too stoned to get off the floor so you are just screaming and crying. I don’t get stoned anymore though. Maybe I got off topic…

What gear/software/techniques did you use in making this recording?
Garageband and my laptop. And a notebook full of scattered memories and thoughts.

What mood or mental state do you hope to evoke in the listener with this music?
I don’t really hope to evoke anything specific, but I guess maybe pain. Not that I want people to be reminded of painful moments, but I wanted anyone listening to hear the pain that I was feeling. And remorse. And also gratitude. There are a lot years of shit in those 4 little tracks.

https://www.denmothermusic.com/
https://denmother.bandcamp.com/

Blog

Vince Kuzanagi – “Forbes”

Vince Kuzanagi has a new release! Vince was a DJ, promoter and producer in France but he lives in Moncton now and he is France’s gift to the New Brunswick techno scene. Along with spinning vinyl at local events Vince hosts a great show called “Le Catalyste.”

Vince’s new EP is called “Forbes” and it’s out now on Ibiza Boys.
Featuring remixes by Singular and Andrew Duke.

How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard you before?
electronic music called techno, with some hypnotic progressions or atmospheric soundscapes

What gear/software/techniques did you use in making this recording?
Ableton, recording and tweaking my kid playing on keyboard (for forbes main melodic riff), patience, time, youtube tutorials

What mood or mental state do you hope to evoke in the listener with this music?
Each track is a history, a trip, a journey into a specific atmosphere.. each sound, each break has its specific place in order to create this travel.. I’m not trying to do killer dancefloor tracks, but more tracks that could attract a listener’s attention after some unconscious listening..but why? because this is how I discover some beautiful tracks I did not pay attention to at first when just checking a few seconds of it.. mostly when I’m receiving loads of tunes for my radio show.. the only way to really select what I love or not, is to play the entire track into a mix, and then sometime the magic appears!

Learn more about Vince Kuzanagi:
http://artistecard.com/vincekuzanagi
https://soundcloud.com/kuzan66/

 

Blog / Events

Math Class – “Hot Milk”

Saint John’s Math Class heads out on the road for some Maritime action this month, starting tonight in Charlottetown at Baba’s. Most of these shows are with Elephant Skeletons, who won the 2017 Party Sauce Award for Best Live Electronic Act; so you know this will be a wild good time.

Watch Math Class bringing their energy to the Peppers Pub dancefloor in their latest video, “Hot Milk.”

https://www.facebook.com/mathclassSJ/
https://www.facebook.com/ElephantSkeletons/

Blog

Coco Barracuda – “XVIII”

Coco Barracuda recently wrote on Instagram: “my songs have a hard, fuck-you feel this past year.” This week she posted a brand-new track called “XVIII.” It’s very well-produced and the emotions are incredibly powerful. Coco Barracuda is making some of the best music on the East Coast right now.


[cw: allusion to sexual assault]

How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard you before?
Vocal-driven, spacious electronic. Lush with lots of reverb and ambience. Dark with crunchy, bass heavy beats. It’s tough to describe your own sound. I call it cathedral pop.

What gear/software/techniques did you use in making this recording?
I have a Fender Strat through a small USB interface into my MacBook. I use an M-Audio KeyRig 49 that I found for $8! Then I have this USB microphone taped to a canoe paddle and jammed into a step ladder for a makeshift mic stand.
XVIII is the first song I’ve released using Logic Pro X and Native Instruments Komplete rather than GarageBand (with Logic & Mainstage jam packs).
I’m not really proficient at physical instruments and don’t know music theory or anything. I’ve always made do and learned just enough to be able to put an idea or a feeling out there. I’m probably under selling myself, though, because I’ve definitely accumulated a lot of technical knowledge over the years.

What mood or mental state do you hope to evoke in the listener with this music?
Most of my songs center on trying to dig out and articulate my secret insecurities, fears and traumas, particularly as a woman. It seems so selfish sometimes, but I think there’s healing in sharing our experiences. In XVIII in particular, I was exploring personal trauma, toxic masculinity and vulnerability as a gift.

Find Coco Barracuda online:
https://www.facebook.com/cocobarracudahalifax/
http://www.soundcloud.com/cocobarracuda
http://www.instagram.com/cocobarracuda
http://cocobarracuda.tumblr.com

Blog

Allumette – “8 Hours”

I saw Allumette perform in a stifling hot attic in Moncton, NB and she put on a very entertaining show. Her set combined elements of synth jams, vocals in English and French, spoken word, and even some performance art, as she busied herself watering plants and reading a book to them during her set. This song “8 Hours” is super catchy and it stayed in my head for a long time after the show.


How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard you before?
Well, it’s pop music, but that could mean anything. It’s electronic, often repetitive, very simple, pretty happy, pretty eery. I played music my whole life but was never able to write a song I liked until I got into Coldwave a few years ago and started my first solo project. Allumette isn’t nearly as dark and heavy as Most Ghost was but it kept a solid goth bone structure, only with more off beat claps and marimbas and woodwinds. It’s warm and sterile and funny and unsettling.

What gear/software/techniques did you use in making this recording?
I use GarageBand. I’m always a little bit embarrassed to say it but it’s just convenient for me because I lose focus very easily. I’ll just write a little loop and walk away from it and leave it on for an hour while I do other things around the house and then more bits start to show up. I have a whole stack of short loops on my laptop that never went anywhere. Once in a while I’ll get really into one of them and it turns into songs before I know it. Writing music is a lot like drawing for me. I have a xaphoon I used on some other tracks, and sometimes I’ll throw in some recorder, but the sax in this one is all software. I have a big soft spot for wind instruments in dark/cold/new wave, I just find it real sexy and mysterious.

What mood or mental state do you hope to evoke in the listener with this music?
I guess I’m trying to convey a sense of joyful distress. It’s soothing nightmare music. This song is about an imaginary friendship with Alp, a demon that sits on your chest while you sleep to feed off of milk or blood from the nipple, science likes to call it sleep paralysis. But hey this is starting to sound pretty serious, hmm. So what I should say is that I hope you’ll find it really catchy and fun, but that it’ll make you uncomfortable as well.

Find Allumette online:
https://mostghost.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/most.guest.best.host/
https://www.instagram.com/tr_mp_tt_s/

 

 

Blog

Sages

Sages from Orangeville, Ontario describes her music as “emo dream pop.” She just put out this video for “Heartache Is,” directed by Sara May, which features a bunch of trippy slow-motion rituals taking place deep in the mystic forest.

Sages has been busy… in the time it took me to receive her interview answers and create this blog post, she shared a whole other brand new video. This comes via Sidewalk Hustle. It features guest voice by Fresh Flesh and some sweet trippy 3D animated orbiting blobs and textures courtesy of Bile Sister from Toronto. This track is a slice of technology-induced paranoia featuring an 808 beat overlaid with spooky synths and digital distortions.

How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard you before?
I would say my sound is innocent, introspective and whimsical. Its soft and gritty all at the same time. I like to over reverb my vocals and some of the synths to create a drone-like effect, I find chaotic noise and muddled sounds comforting.

What gear/software/techniques did you use in making this recording?
This song is one of nine from my upcoming album called ‘How To Fill It’. I was inspired by an event where a friend and myself locked ourselves in an apartment for 3 days and just wrote and recorded off the cuff without much editing and I loved the results. It was very raw and real and that what I wanted to make for this album. I only used the intro version of Ableton, a MiniKorg Xl and my voice. I didn’t want to use VSTs and MIDI, I really wanted less control of the outcome. One technique I used a lot was an airpusher effect on the background vocals making them rhythmic and glitchy.

What mood or mental state do you hope to evoke in the listener with this music?
I would say that my intention is to create an ethereal dimension, where the listener can empathize or relate to my introspective thoughts, maybe a sense of curiosity and amusement as well.

Sages links:
https://sagessound.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/sagessound/
https://soundcloud.com/sagessound

Jaguar Knight – new ep

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