Sexweather - Sexweather (Review)

March 23, 2020 by Blake Morneau in Reviews

Sexweather – Sexweather (Review)

The first time I saw Sexweather live my first thought was “This is one of the worst bands I've ever heard.” By the end of the set I was loudly declaring to anyone who would listen, “This is one of the best bands I've ever seen in my life!” The potent combination that informed that performance – passion, skill and excitement that boarders on recklessness – oozes from every nook and cranny of the power trio's eponymous, self-titled debut. I've listened to Sexweather fucking countless times since its release last summer and I still get the feeling that it might all just fall apart at any moment. That is a truly beautiful thing in music and something that is generally only found in a live setting. Sexweather is a record that manages to capture that elusive feeling – a rare album, indeed.

Is the production? That's a big part of it, because the production here is truly phenomenal. The sound has an very deep, familiar warmth, and it's a bit rough; but it doesn't sacrifice modernity or cleanliness to achieve its decidedly classic sound. Sexweather is just, end-to-end, a really, really good sounding record. Immaculate production aside, this is all about the powerhouse collection of 10 songs that make this record.

The idea that a mini tour through Americana would come from the Canadian west coast in 2019 is kind of a baffling one, but here we have it. The album is an ode to the many facets of American music. There's a straight ahead 70s acoustic campfire singalong, “Wendy.” There's the really fucking good, laid-back jazz rap of “Musician.” The down and dirty blues-rock of tracks like “Golden Ticket” and “Black Bayou,” the latter of which is an especially sticky, sweet sludge for your ears. The hard-driving “Takedown” is perfect speeding-down-the-highway-at-night-with-a-cigarette-in-your-mouth music, and what, may I ask, is more Americana than that? Don't usually use the word “bratty” these days when talking about any kind of guitar-based music but “Punanawa” (which I just spelled correctly on the first attempt, thank you) is one of the straight-up brattiest songs I've heard in a long time and it's fun as hell.

Putting your biggest song at the end of the album is a thing I've missed in a lot of albums I've heard and Sexweather does just that as they close things off with “Abracadabra.” The hook on this song is absolutely ridiculous. Legit will be stuck in your head for days after just the first listen. Each member takes lead vocals. It's a little musical journey that feels like three songs in one. It's a lean 6 minutes but feels like a muscular 3.5. If any other song ended this album I would genuinely complain and it would ruin the experience. But another song doesn't end it. Sexweather ends with “Abracadabra” and as such, I can say this is one of the most genuinely pleasing albums I've heard in a very long time. This is a goddamned good record and one you should listen to.

Pick it up at Bandcamp.

5 Questions with Rags #77 - Deuce Eclipse (Bang Data)

March 18, 2020 by Blake Morneau in 5 Questions With Rags

If you're plugged into the West Coast hip-hop scene, there's a good chance you've seen or heard the man known as Deuce Eclipse, whether you know it or not. See, about 16 years ago, I went to my first proper live hip-hop show, a couple of weeks after I turned legal drinking age up here in British Columbia. It was a Quannum Projects tour featuring Lyrics Born and friends. Among those friends was powerful Zion-I. At that time, Zion-I was three people and one of those people was singer/rapper/generally amazing human being, Deuce Eclipse. It wasn't until the summer of last year (2019) - when Garden City Grooves festival here in my hometown announced they were bringing Bay Area groove-monster BANG DATA as part of the years festivities – that I realized that not only had I encountered Deuce Eclipse's captivating talents more than a decade and half before, but he has been (and still is!) putting out ridiculously groovy, thoughtful, passionate music with the powerhouse that is Bang Data.

Paired up with the multi-talented Caipo, Eclipse formed Bang Data and the duo hasn't stopped creating since, carving out a special place in the west coast music scene. “I was working on a solo album and I was working with Amp Live, from Zion-I, at the time. We kind of hit a wall. I was trying to do more singing in more Spanish, so he took it upon himself to reach out to other people and put them in touch with me. That's how I met Caipo,” Eclipse says, speaking to me from home in the Bay. “At the beginning, Amp Live was actually part of Bang Data. He was still in Zion-I and it was taking off, so he had to be there more, so Bang Data ended up being me and Caipo. At the end, we're the ones who stuck it out, stayed in the studio and started creating. Caipo thought he was basically kind of done playing live, but I think the music inspired him in a way that he wanted to start playing again. We started recording and coming up with all kinds of different music, then we ended up staying together as a group.”
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1. When's the last time you did something for the first time?

I don't know why this is coming up, but when I water-skied, a long time ago. This was years and years ago, somewhere in California on a camping trip. My friend's dad had a boat with skies. I don't know why but the first time I snow-skied as well, I did it the first time. I don't know how I did it the first time but I did. I got up water skiing for the first time with no problem. I think it was for Boy Scouts. That's one of the first times I did something that stands out in my mind. But I've never done it since.

2. If you could spend the day with anyone, living or dead, who would it be and what would you do?

It would be my dad. I would spend the day with him and we would probably catch a Giants game, drink some beer and just talk.

Chali 2na & The House of Vibe, The Gaff - 09.02.19 - Capital Ballroom, Victoria, BC

February 11, 2019 by Blake Morneau in Reviews

Chali 2na & The House of Vibe, The Gaff – 09.02.19 – Capital Ballroom, Victoria, BC

Yo, Canada, can we just give Chali 2na honorary citizenship already? The hip-hop legend (Both with a spray can and on the mic) is basically family now here on the Canadian West Coast and Saturday night at Capital Ballroom in Victoria, Chali 2na and his incredible band, The House of Vibe, showed yet again why he's a mainstay in people listening diets...and judging from the reception he and the band received for 2+ hours, a mainstay in peoples' hearts.

The band, one of the tightest (But somehow ephemerally loose at the same time) bands around, The House of Vibe held things down with ease as they helped 2na run through a career-spanning set that touched on two-plus decades of Chali's world class hip-hop. Loose and relaxed, the band was smiling as much as the man himself (Which is A LOT) during the set as they flexed their considerably funky muscles from beginning to end. Every time I see these cats play (I've seen them more than a dozen times now), I always think at least once in the night, “Man, Anthony (Brewster) is fucking sick. I know he gets some spotlight every set, but I really wanna see him do an opening set or something one of these times.” And then, this past Saturday, as I'm thinking that very thought, the band launches into an extended medley with Anthony front and centre rocking “Get Up, Stand Up” and “Smoke Two Joints.” Note to the House of Vibe for next time: Loved that, more of that please. As great of a band as the House of Vibe is, Chali 2na is the guy that makes the motor move.

Just know Chali from Jurassic 5? Well, he's gonna play a few songs to cover you. Know him from his more recent work with The Funk Hunters and Westwood Recordings (Like his recently released beast of an EP Instrumentality)? He's got you covered. Know Chali from his (I'm calling it here) timeless hip-hop masterpiece, Fish Outta Water? He's got you covered there as well. In fact, no matter how many times I've seen the songs from F.O.W. I'm still amazed at how big they hit in the live setting. Whether it's the hard-hitting “Guns Up” or the tender, contemplative “Righteous Way,” or the downright grimy “So Crazy,” the songs on that landmark album are captivating. They are a part of my musical make-up now. I could honestly watch Chali and the House of Vibe just play that album once a year for the rest of my life and I'd be a happy human. Thankfully though, Chali is straight-up relentless in his output and is always creating new music and new art. The thoughtful and sublime “Blue Marble” from Instrumentality was a track that I originally glossed over, but in a live setting, whooooa boy, that struck deep. As 2na continues to add music to his repertoire, his sets just get longer, adding new stuff into the mix while not taking old staples out. It's a good choice because honestly, is there such a thing as too much Chali 2na? After more than two hours of grooving and smiling, I think a packed Capital Ballroom would answer that with a resounding “No. No, there is never too much 2na.” Another west-coast success for the immortal 2na fish.

Alright, I'd be remiss in writing this little review without mentioning the groovy stylings of one of the smoothers operators in the DJ game, The Gaff. Getting things started on a rare snowy night in Victoria is never an easy thing and I was one of only a handful of people there when Gaff took his place behind the decks, but he did the thing and gave zero fucks how many people were there, going in straight away with the goods. At one point my brother asked me, “So, Gaff is a scratch guy right?” A moment later Gaff was scratching up a storm, as he does, and my brother was in. That's a win on a dude notoriously iffy on the whole DJ thing. And apparently, his main turntable (The left, because he's a lefty) stopped reading Serato 10 minutes into his set so he had to dig into his apparently vast improvisation skills to make that shit go- The mark of a true master. By the time he finished his set the room was packed and sweaty, all lubed up and ready for Chali & The House of Vibe to do their thing. Good snap.

5 Questions with Rags #71 - Frase

November 06, 2018 by Blake Morneau in 5 Questions With Rags

Like a lot of people, I fell in love with Frase the moment I heard him start singing. His voice is illegally-smooth and soulful – captivating. And he writes groovy, chill songs full of heart, full of feeling. I always smile seeing his name on a festival lineup, knowing no matter what is going on, I'm going to get an hour of Frase calming my soul. This past summer, I caught his incredible set at Bass Coast and realized that as he's played more and become a favourite of these big west coast bass crowds, that same bass has found its way into his live sets. But where a lot of artists who experiment in heavy bass can have their identities swallowed up, Frase has found a way to blend the pensive grooves of his music with the higher energy that heavy bass injects into everything.

“I think it was osmosis. The bass kind of just worked its way in. I recognized that when you're putting on a show at nighttime in a club, people wanna dance. They want to feel the bass. I find a lot of really heavy bass music doesn't have a lot of soul in it – I'm not saying everything, but there is a compromise right? The more bass, the less soul there is usually. It's been kind of a challenge to me to make something that will work in that club environment but is still something that I'd want to listen to, something that people could put on a chill,” says Frase, talking to me on a break from touring, at home in Ymir, BC. “As a solo artist, I needed the tracks to make the show hyper. There wasn't much myself or Emily could do to make our performance more exaggerated, it was the music that had to step up and be more hype. Her being my partner and a dancer has also had a big influence on me wanting to make more dance music. I'll be working on a beat for hours and it's pretty chill, I'll play it for her and she'll be like, 'Meh.' But if I make a house song or something that's more danceable and only spent 20 minutes on, she'll say, 'Yeah, that's amazing.'”

As his profile and his sound have both expanded, Frase's audiences have become increasingly diverse, playing a variety of venues and festivals around the west coast and Canada. This past summer included a life-changing stop at Koksilah, here on Vancouver Island in the Cowichan Valley. “Koksilah was one of my highlights, just in terms of my ethics and my values. I definitely want to give them a shout out. It's a mix of music and a lot of workshops about reconciliation and Indigenous rights. It's a more workshop-based festival than a party festival. There's so many conflicts in the world right now and it's really nice to have a festival like that that's really about progression, bringing these issues to the forefront and talking about them and working them out instead of blaming other people for what's happening. 'Koksilah' means 'thank you' in Cowichan language. The location of the festival was a former residential school and a few of the elders mentioned they can't go inside. There's a lot of trauma but that's what this whole festival is about – reconciliation and reclaiming these spaces and helping people work through this trauma and create allies to focus on the problems we're facing now – deforestation and pipeline drilling. The Indigenous are really on the pulse of that. Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Mob Bounce played, the lineup was definitely leaning towards Indigenous artists and artists of colour and as a white man I was really honoured to be invited and ask to perform in those kind of spaces. It was really powerful. I got the logo they used for the festival tattooed on my arms.”

The world is a groovier place with Frase creating music in it – in more ways than one. After a few years of grooving to his music and catching his shows, we're honoured to finally welcome this righteous bean as a guest on the 5 Questions.

If you're in Victoria this Friday (Nov. 9), make sure to go catch Frase at Capital Ballroom with the homies Illvis Freshly, Bousada and Sidewaysounds. Seriously. Do it.

1.Do you remember the first album you bought with your own money?

It was Fine Young Cannibals. I was 6. I remember I got a walkman – it was on tape – and I remember walking around to it non stop. I listen to that album now and it's still pretty sweet! The production and the vocals and the dance-y soulfulness it has...it's super cheesy, don't get me wrong, but I understand why my influences have gone the way they have. When I was a little kid all I listened to was dance music. Dance Mix '94 and '95, all of those, pretty mainstream poppy kind of dance music.

5 Questions with Rags #70 - J.F. Killah

September 14, 2018 by Blake Morneau in 5 Questions With Rags

5 Questions with Rags #70 - J.F. Killah

Talk to anyone in the know around Vancouver bass and inevitably SHAHdjs are going to come up. (Also, these days it's hard to talk about said Vancouver bass without eventually also getting Levrige at some point – of which J.F. Killah comprises half.) The collective is straight-up legendary at this point, with the various members all building their own reputations outside of the home base. I don't think I've had any other name from SHAHdjs thrown at me as consistently as J.F. Killah. I wanted to chat with the Vancouver legend before she rocked Bass Hive at the Copper Owl here in Victoria last December, but I didn't. Don't really know why. But no matter, because she's back to the city this weekend (Sat., Sept. 15) to rock some ears at Rifflandia (Four of the biggest music days of the year in Victoria) in the intimate brick embrace Lucky Bar. Drum 'n' bass often doesn't jump on my radar, but thankfully, after much prodding from a few choice friends, I listened, open heart and open mind, and BAM! I enjoyed it! Much tasty, grimy hip-hop vibes in amongst the drum ‘n’ bass wilds. Thankfully, in the midst of a move and prepping for all of her serious bass-dealings, she found some time to entertain my silly questions and give y'all a little reading material.

Legit, the only photo I took for the entire

1. Do you remember the first album you bought with your own money?

I was part of that Columbia House club where you could get a bunch of cassette tapes for like a dollar if you committed to buying a certain number more later on. Amongst them were Snow - Informer, MC Hammer - Too Legit to Quit, and I think some Janet Jackson and En Vogue... To be honest, I can't remember them all. I do remember the first time I heard the song "Informer" by Snow at a pool party at a local swimming pool when I was about 10 years old. From that point I really wanted to know what the song was and was stoked when I finally found out.

2. What's your best memory of a teacher growing up?

I had this one teacher, Miss Gonzalez who taught music and played the clarinet. She had a bathtub in her classroom and if it was your lucky day you got to sit in there with a friend instead of at your desk. That same teacher gave a test that said to please make sure you read through the entire test before beginning the questions. I of course didn't want to waste time so immediately began answering the questions. Everyone was panicking because of how long it was taking and time was running out. When the time was up and no one had finished she told us to turn to the last page. Sure enough, the last page said if you actually read through to this page you do not have to answer any of the questions! Definitely a good lesson on the importance of following directions and in such a sly way haha.

3. If you could spend the day with anyone living or dead, who would it be and what would you do?

Shopping spree with Andre 3000. Haha but really I'd hang out with my partner Andrew, working on tunes.

4. When is the last time you did something for the first time?

Just started renting a studio space for the first time a couple weeks ago. Looking forward to being as loud as we want!

5. If you had one wish for the west coast bass scene over the next year, what would it be?

To continue on the path it's been heading. I think we've got a really good thing going! There are so many talented artists all just feeding off of one another. Many are making it to a world class level which is really inspiring.

6. Your Guest Question is from the homie DJ All Good... Can you give me one good, clean joke that you could tell to around a grandma?

How do you make a kleenex dance?

Put a little boogey in it!

This was a very fun set with a bunch of different styles of sounds I played at the Backstage Lounge in Vancouver on November 24th, 2017. Thank you so much to the @Lazysyruporchestra for having me, I don't often get the chance to play sets like this and it was a pleasure <3 Photo by JoffreyPhoto.com