The Trash Gentlemen List - Vol. 1

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Everyone has a line, a breaking point, that, when reached makes them rethink certain things. I continued to use Spotify for far longer than I should have, in addition to my regular support of the music I love. (I mean, really, we should all be augmenting our streaming services with buying records, concert tickets, merch, etc, whenever we can.) But a few months ago, former Spotify CEO (and current executive chair) Daniel Ek pledged €600 million of his vast, ill-gotten fortune to Helsing, a German firm specializing in AI military technology. This was my line. It was time to ditch Spotify for a different evil steaming overlord – Apple Music. I wanted to do something to “celebrate” this change. A new playlist series seemed like a good idea. Something to help me familiarize myself with a new platform, but also to combat the rise of insipid AI-created playlists. I'm (not actually) sorry, but an algorithm cannot make a mixtape with any kind of feeling or purpose. A good mix is something you sit down, think about, select carefully. I should know, I've been making tapes and playlists for my friends for almost three decades now. (Shout out Blake Shiny Tunes. IYKYK)

But just making a playlist didn't seem particularly fun or exciting, so I sat and I thought, long and hard. Who do I know that uses Apple Music that can help put something together? And it occurred to me, one of coolest dudes I know, and one of my most-trusted music allies uses Apple Music, the big homie Joshua Szirmay-Corrales. From the moment I met Josh in the middle of Rifflandia festival, discussing the great Reggie Watts, he has become one of my most trusted musical taste-havers. The man's ear is impeccable. In a world where everyone seemingly has something to recommend for my ears, Josh is one of the only people who gets their recommendations to the front of my queue. In recent years he's taken up as the main writing contributor with Rocktographers, our hometown Victoria's most-trusted source for live music coverage, and our local scene is absolutely better for it.

And now we're here, celebrating the very first Trash Gentlemen List. This recurring playlist will be a place to celebrate all the different bits of music that make us love it so much. This is a place for you, dear reader/listener, to come find something new, maybe reconnect with something old and most hopefully, to help you think about music in some of the ways you used to, before an algorithm started to take everything over. Each one of these lists is going to be built around a unifying theme or idea, not just a collection of dope songs (Though each list certainly will be that!). To get things started we're looking at some of our favourite Track 1s. We're opening the series with a series of openers. So sit back, relax and let's get into some fucking music.

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It's the second weekend of September, so you know what that means, kids?! RIFFLANDIA!

For seemingly as long as I can remember, (Quick caveat here: My memory is kinda fucked.), Rifflandia has been one of the most important weekends in Victoria. It is a marker of time; the summer is over. We get together to commune and blow off the last of that warm summer energy as we get ready for the new – and quite frankly, much better – seasons and return to Life™. It is a beginning and an end. A time to connect with all the homies who went off for separate adventures and a time to maybe make a new homie or two. For all the changes it's gone through over its nearly 20 years of existence, Rifflandia still sits there, at the beginning of September, fulfilling its ultimate destiny as a Great Connector. Beyond that lofty position, Rifflandia remains a place to go and just listen to some really fucking good music.

The musical net Rifflandia casts is wide, genre-wise; you're never going to like everything Rifflandia has to offer. But I don't think that's really the point. Rifflandia is a crossroads where fans of music - be they casual, general fans or hyper-niche fans - can get together and find some common ground to commune on. Like children being given new foods to help expand their palettes, it's good for all of us to be exposed to stuff outside of our bubbles. The pathways in our brains that allow us to genuinely enjoy new, different music will atrophy if not kept active. So even if there’s stuff I’m not personally interested in, I can guarantee there’s going to be something positive in my brain that is a direct result of standing in front of acts I’ve never heard before. But luckily for me (and for you, dear reader) there’s a lot of tremendous music on this years lineup that I already know and that is going to pull me out of the house. And here are some of the things, presented in no particular order, that will make me drag my lazy ass out of my house and down to the Matullia Lands in Rock Bay, Victoria to experience yet another Rifflandia.

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Hip-Hop Thursday #3 - Pigeon Hole - INVASION EP

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Okay, I know it's hip-hop Thursday and this would probably be considered more “bass music” or “dubstep” or something. I don't even know with the subgenres anymore. (I got into the electronic game too late and I don't care to figure it all out. I just want good music.) All I know is good hip-hop hits a certain place in my brain and Invasion hits that hard. This helps me indulge my love of hip-hop and satiate my thirst for bass.

A couple years ago, a little while after the release of their still-regularly-played-by-almost-everyone-I-know album Chimp Blood, I was watching Pigeon Hole smash up a stage while standing next to local hip-hop guru and Keeper of the Knowledge, Degree One. We were both head-nodding like crazy when he turned to me and said, “Man, I love these guys. Every time I see them they bring something new. Always new ideas.” I agreed and I continue to agree. Since then, seemingly without ever taking a break, Pigeon Hole has been relentless in driving forward, establishing themselves as a force in bass. That was a few years ago and the duo continues on that incredible arc with their latest anvil-heavy offering, Invasion EP. The homies go 3-for-3 here, each track devastatingly heavy but fantastically smooth in their devastation. Picking a favourite here seems arbitrary, but let's go with the title track, “INVASION.” I won't argue if you pick something different because you would also be right.

If you were going to hunt dinosaurs or some other large and terrifying creature, you couldn't find a more appropriate soundtrack than Invasion. Maybe you don't even wanna hunt the monsters. Maybe you just want to tame them to ride them or you're looking to toughen up with a simple fight against a majestic beast (Seriously, this shit makes me wanna suplex a lion). Like, you were in that TUROK game (Remember TUROK?) and you and your crew went out to have some battles then you all came back and celebrated with a forest rave. This is really fucking good party music that would be perfect for a deep forest rave. In fact, you should get familiar because you're probably going to hear the tracks from Invasion at every deep forest rave you do in fact attend this summer. Deep, dark hip-hop bass on that mega future shit that gets your head bobbing and your hips winding. [Sleeveless Records]

Thick with West Coast flavor and head-nodding basslines, Pigeon Hole delivers a monster mini EP that beautifully reflects the duo's hiphop roots and production prowess. PIGEON HOLE ++ www.soundcloud.com/pigeon_hole ++ ++ www.facebook.com/Pigeonholemusic ++ ++ www.twitter.com/PIGEON_HOLE ++ ++ www.instagram.com/pigeon_hole ++

5 Questions with Rags #60 - 2018 Kickoff Spectacular with Jim Vanderhorst (Rebel Cause Films)

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A funny thing happened at Tall Tree this year. I was asked by no less than three separate people if I knew Jim from Rebel Cause Films. (The mighty Everyman was effusive in his praise of the good Mr. Vanderhorst.) Apparently, because I like bass music and live in Victoria, I MUST be know and work with Jim. I didn't know who he was, but I was familiar with some of his work – as is pretty much anyone on the west coast who digs bass music and/or attends festivals and parties fuelled by such music. His work capturing the diverse beauty of musical audiences is, frankly, unparalleled. Turns out he's one hell of an interesting cat as well. I figured someone so entrenched in this community that I think I'm becoming a viable part of (?), a guy who has so much experience and so many stories, would be the perfect homie to kick off 2018. So, in an effort to blast off another year of 5 Questions with Rags in style, I dug up a large portion of the guest questions that got asked over the last year and let this incredibly interesting human being tear through them like some kind of fascinating buzzsaw.

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1. Colin from Pigeon Hole – What's the most vegetable and why?

Potatoes because to take the amount of time needed to describe everything you can do with potatoes would feel like like the shrimp montage from Forrest Gump. There are just so many things you can with potatoes...scalloped potatoes, mashed potatoes, french fries, baked potatoes... Potatoes are so goddamned versatile that when there were no potatoes, Ireland collapsed and turned into a joke for hundreds of years.

2. Jennay Badger...What's your go-to album for a good cry/emotional cleaning out?

I would say my go-to is probably Underdogs by Matthew Good Band.

3. Mike Love...What will you do now, to make the world a little better?

I really want to help spread the message that fear doesn't help anyone. I want to figure out ways to help people move beyond listening to fear. I want to make narrative feature films and I want them to share the basic theme of overcoming fear. Fear of useless, of lack of value. Fear is what we needed to save us from jungle cats when we were primitive stone-age animals. Now fear only drives us to bad decisions.

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#festivalseason - An in-depth musical review by a Groove Rider at Shambhala.

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There is no experience like Shambhala. The mountain setting, the Life-giving river, the PK Sound, the hoards of beautiful people, the ridiculous stage designs, the colours, the art...all of it combines for one of the most unique experiences any of us are likely to find on this planet. But all of this pivots on the music. The best Djs, spanning nearly every genre of dance music you can imagine, provide the soundtrack for all the ridiculousness and that soundtrack is the thing is thing that keeps me coming back year in and year out. There are many places to read about the people and the culture of Shambhala, albums of photos by people far more qualified than me documenting the bliss (Check the Shambhala FB page for a cornucopia of said photo albums). So with that, here is my overly long, in-depth look at the way I spent my musical time on the Farm this year.

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