HYPE LIGHTER

Music Videos

Drake’s music video “Headlines” (dir. Lamar Taylor) from his November 2011 release Take Care was without a doubt the most powerful work of any Toronto artist in the past year. Archetypical almost to a fault, the clip showcases the Young Money affiliated rapper smoking cigars in the CN Tower elevator (formally the world’s largest free standing structure) and flashing his own album title across the JumboTron (formerly the world’s largest television) at the Rogers Centre. Later on, a derelict office building on Sterling Rd. near my apartment even gets a fresh coat of Krylon from a member of Drizzy’s OVOXO crew. Sure, the braggadocio wears thin after awhile, but it’s certainly unprecedented for a Toronto based musician to have the platform to project the symbols of our city at such an enormous scale.

If only he’d worn a Blue Jays cap with the classic logo instead…

Fine Arts

The outstanding General Idea retrospective Haute Culture closed just weeks ago at the Art Gallery of Ontario after a multi-month run. But despite the fact that Adam already reviewed the show for Hype Lighter I still felt it merited mention within my own yearly summation. The first decent job I ever worked in Toronto was at Art Metropole, a conceptually focused artist run centre on King St. that was originally founded by GI’s AA Bronson, Felix Partz, and Jorge Zontal. Although my duties consisted mainly of mailing artist books and multiples, running for coffee, and occasionally getting to pick what CD to listen to in the office, it was my concurrent exposure to General Idea that gave me the courage to pursue my own artistic passions.

If you missed the show, the exhibition catalog is available here from the AGO’s online store.

Print Media

While much has been written of the rising popularity of indie music within the mainstream in recent years, I was still mindblown when the proto-conceptual rock opera David Comes To Life by Toronto’s Fucked Up was named album of the year in SPIN Magazine. Whether or not any of the band members themselves would admit it, being singled out by one of the biggest music rags in the world is a massive accomplishment and couldn’t have gone to a more deserving or boundary defying group. If 2011 were any indication, 2012 may be the year that everything becomes possible.

The music video “Queen Of Hearts” was directed by Scott Cudmore.

Zines & Comics

Yeah, I picked up a bunch of good zines this year, but the best of the bunch was a new monthly music-focused offerring simple called Offerings. Each issue is a finely crafted assortment of album reviews, interviews, comics, show listings, and features like “Tower of Advice” and “Doc’s Record Crate,” put together by a really great (and often hilarious) crack team of writers. They mostly cover the “underground” music-makers in town, like a hyper local version of Weird Canada . Speaking of the digital realm, 2011 saw local cartoonist Mike Winters make a mark with his Wonderdick comics, some of my favourite strips he’s ever done. A satirical composite of some of this city’s more vocal “urban enthusiasts,” Wonderdick walks around Parkdale photographing graffiti, attends fundraisers at the Gladstone, and cries at the sight of rust on an underpass. The comics perfectly mock those who need a good mocking. Oh, before I go, special shout-out to Ivy Lovell and her bi-monthly photo zines.

Roncy

When the three of us moved onto Roncesvalles Ave. back in September 2009, the street was already torn up, getting its streetcar tracks replaced, new water mains, and a redesigned sidewalk. It took over two years before all the work was done, with the final construction crew finishing up work sometime this past summer. It was a long, drawn out process that probably took longer than it needed to, but now that it’s all over, I’ve gotta say, I love this neighbourhood even more. The street is a joy to bike up and down, and the widened sidewalks leave plenty of room for fast walkers such as myself to navigate around all the strollers and rascals. I haven’t even mentioned all the new businesses that have sprung up over the last six months, mostly because I haven’t even had a chance to check most of then out! I look forward to blowing my Christmas bonus up and down the street over the next few weeks.

Bandcamp

Although I’ve been championing this site for years, Bandcamp warrants a mention on this list, if for no other reason than the amount of stuff I bought off of it. It’s my favourite site for streaming music, and I like the options it gives artists in naming the price they charge for the music. Plus, they’ve finally added a “recommendation” option for bands, which will hopefully make it easier to discover new music. It’s just missing that extra mode of discovery that MySpace did so well (the only thing it did well, in fact).

It’s been regrettably quiet around here the last few weeks, but don’t think we’ve packed it in for the year just yet. Before celebrating the holidays and ringing in the new year, Hype Lighter looks back on the past twelve months, beginning with this, my much mulled-over list of “Things I Enjoyed in 2011”.

Free Music

Heralding what must be the imminent beginning of a golden new post-capitalist era of selfless generosity, 2011 saw several favourite and newly-favourite artists putting out mixtapes and free-to-download albums as good if not better than their for-sale material. Releases by Cadence Weapon, D-Sisive and Clams Casino got steady play on my iTunes, while the endless and consistently good Lil’ B mixtapes were a challenge just to keep up with. Special mention goes to Danny Brown, whose album XXX ranks among the years best, and Motëm, who followed up his incredible Forthcoming Mixtape with a shorter, but equally strong 118STHLMEP. With Christmastime upon us, let us follow the example of these fine individuals and remember the joy of giving, and that in this age of voracious consumerism the best presents are often the ones you download yourself.

50+ Punk Rockers

I don’t get out to as many concerts as I used to nowadays, but I’d be remiss to chalk that up my advancing age.  Hell, the guys in thirty-year-running Victoria B.C. punk trio Nomeansno are all pushing or over fifty, with silver-haired frontman/bassist Rob Wright being a spry fifty-seven! So, when I finally did get out of my slippers and went to the Nomeansno concert at The Garrison this October, I was properly blown away by the energy, proficiency and showmanship the band brought to the stage. Crushing guitars, vigorous drumming and courageous leg kicks punctuated their relentless set, which spanned the entirety of their thirty-year discography over the course of a full ninety (90!) sweaty, red-faced minutes. The best show of the year, I only wish I had some half-decent video to illustrate. Instead, enjoy this footage of the band, playing their most undeniable, most devastating song, circa 1990. For an idea of what the band is like live now, just imagine them rocking that hard but being fatter.

Video in Reverse

It’s not flashy or high-concept, but based on the metric of YouTube views alone, my Video of the Year award has to go to none other than Motëm and director Greg Santilly for their thoroughly watchable clip for “The Cows Are Never Coming Home”, shot this summer in and around the Dundas, Ontario Cactus Festival. There’s not much to it—Motëm jumps through a sprinkler backwards, Motëm shoots hoops backwards, Motëm strolls with at a leisurely pace through a crowd of backward-walking people—but the reversed footage paired with the bumbling Nintendo-esque melody creates such a complete and engrossingly weird world that you can’t help but be drawn in watching it. It entrances you, it delights you, and then, just when you thought it couldn’t get any more perfect, a Katy Perry impersonator shows up and walks alongside our hero. See that smile on her face? If you’re watching, you’re likely smiling too.

With Attack in Black no longer a going concern, the four members have been keeping busy with individual projects. Daniel Romano has put out two excellent country records, Spencer Burton released a record as Grey Kingston, Ian Romano has been engineering/producing as Tapes and Plates, and now Ian Kehoe has just dropped his first album as Marine Dreams. He played his first Toronto show last week at Parts & Labour, with a band consisting of Ross Miller (Hunters & Anglers) on bass and Ian Romano on drums. I had a chance to chat with Ian before the gig, where I asked him about Marine Dreams’ humble beginnings.

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Dominique Young Unique has been on the Hype House party playlist since I first saw her perform live at last year’s Iceland Airwaves. Her newest mixtape Stupid Pretty is stupid awesome and so is the brand new and aptly titled video for “Hype Girl”. As another faux red-headed diva named Rihanna once said, “where ya lighters at?”

Art lovers and geometry aficionados take note: this Thursday marks the opening of Geography of Anonymity, a new exhibition featuring cube works by CN Tower Liquidation (a group which includes friend of Hype Lighter Charlie Murray, as seen above), video by CNTL member Sebastian Butt, and photography by Anuta Skrypnychenko. The party goes down from 6:00-9:00pm this Thursday, in the upper gallery of KWT Contemporary. Colour me excited!

Geography of Anonymity runs from November 24 to January 7 at KWT Contemporary, 624 Richmond Street West., Toronto

Today marks the release of a really great compilation, one that I’ve been waiting for since June. You may remember when I attended the launch party for Have Not Been The Same: The CanRock Renaissance 1985-1995, where the authors announced they were working on an album of contemporary Canadian bands covering many of the bands featured in their book. It’s no secret that I’m a pretty big fan of Canadian music – you don’t win a Bucky Award for nothing. However, before reading this book, my “fandom” really just extended back to the early 2000′s (with the exception of the whole east-coast scene, and Neil Young). I wasn’t even born when most of the bands covered in this book were making music, and many of them never achieved the type of commercial success that would have made them household names. Needless to say, after reading the book and hearing this album, I’ve realized that the 80′s and 90′s produced some fantastic bands and some truly classic songs from all corners of this country I call home.

The album starts off with a song I was previously familiar with, The Burning Hell’s take on Men Without Hats’ “Pop Goes the World.” I remember hearing them cover this song years ago, so it’s nice they finally got a chance to record it. I definitely gained a new appreciation and respect for Men Without Hats after reading Have Not Been The Same – they’re far more than just the “Safety Dance.”

As I said, I hadn’t heard the original versions of many of these songs, so the 19 tracks here function as a bit of a roadmap to the era covered in the book. For example, on this compilation, Matt and Jill Barber do a beautiful version of Hardship Posts’ ”Your Sunshine.” Now, I know Hardship Post, I own a few of their records, but I wasn’t familiar with that song in particular. Thankfully, I was able to track it down online (surprisingly, many of the original versions are available through digital retailers). Of course, there are some songs here that I already knew – our friends Forest City Lovers put their spin on one of my favourite Sloan songs “The Lines You Amend.”

Like many tribute albums, several artists here completely reinvent the source material. Slick electro-pop duo Light Fires may seem like an unlikely choice to cover the ramshackle rock of Eric’s Trip, but their cover of “Happens All the Time” works really well and definitely stands out. On the flip side, you’ve got some matches that just had to happen, like Cuff the Duke covering The Inbreds’ “North Window.” Not only do both bands have origins in (my hometown) Oshawa, but I’ve always thought Cuff’s singer Wayne Petti sounded an awful lot like The Inbreds’ Mike O’Neill.

I could go on and on about this comp, Have Not co-author Michael Barclay did a great job rounding up talent – you’ve got Snailhouse, Bry Webb, The Hidden Cameras, Great Lake Swimmers, our pal Andrew Vincent, and many more. Before I go, I’ll quickly mention two more highlights. A new group, Owl Mountain Radar (made up of Jim Bryson and Chris Page) recorded an absolutely essential version of The Nils’ “Daylight,” and I have to hand it to Kevin Drew for ending the album perfectly with his lovely take on Bob Wiseman’s “We Got Time.”

These are great songs, all of them, no matter who is singing them, and you should all buy this album.

Have Not Been The Same Vol. 1: Too Cool to Live, Too Smart To Die is available for $8.88 on Zunior.com. It comes with a 24-page booklet featuring writing from each of the artists and Michael Barclay. All proceeds go to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

At once satisfying both my need for insightful music criticism and clever wordplay, Brandan Kearny and Gregg Turkington (a.k.a. Neil Hamburger)’s Warm Voices Rearranged is, in my expert opinion, one of the best blogs on the Internet today. Continuing from the duo’s 2002 Drag City book of the same name, Warm Voices features incisive, often scathing reviews of rock and pop albums conjured from the revelatory, quasi-mystical tradition of anagrammatization (to reliably amusing effect). With annotated reviews of albums both classic and contemporary, and artists both obscure and ubiquitous, you’ll learn as you laugh and laugh as you learn, until inevitably becoming indignant when you see how they’ve gleefully shit on one of your favourite records. Even Canadian talent isn’t spared, as a recent review illustrates: “Maestro Fresh-Wes – Naaah, Dis Kid Can’t Be from Canada?!! A wack MC sans fans? A foe! Detain him at shared border!” I know it’s hard to believe a Canadian rap album could be less than amazing, but anagrams don’t lie. Now if only they’d review the Diamond Rings record…

Klymaxx was an electronic pop band based in Los Angeles during the early to mid 1980s. Lead vocalist Bernadette Cooper formed the band after auditioning several musicians for what she envisioned as an ensemble comprised entirely of women. They were the first band to record with then unknown production team Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and released the video for “Meeting In The Ladies Room” as the lead single from their 1984 album of the same name.

I just bought the album on vinyl while shopping around here in Montreal during breaks in my current recording sessions and am happy to announce I’ve deemed Side B deep cut “Video Kid” the defacto anthem for Hype Lighter’s own Colin Medley. Send him a tweet @vid_kid if you want to get in touch with a real cool dude.

UPDATE:  After actually watching the video through to the credits, I just discovered it was directed by none other than Gerald V. Casale of the electro-punk five piece DEVO. Casale has also worked with The Cars, Rush, and Foo Fighters in addition to his continuing role as director for DEVO.

Loyal followers of Hype Lighter know that our mission—dare I say, our duty—as Toronto’s most esteemed record label/arts blog/living arrangement is twofold: One; to sporadically release 7-inches and other miscellanea by talented, original artists and two; to keep the Internet-browsing public abreast of the latest goings-on of music-making eccentric and Hamilton, Ontario institution Motëm. Well, fresh off the success of The Forthcoming Mixtape, the ever-prolific Motëm is gearing up for another release (update: you can now download 118STHLMEP from his blog), and we’re glad to share with you this gorgeous, avian new video for “Dependance Day,” a relaxing, bongo-laced track extolling the age-old beauty of genuine, unconditional friendship. The three of us agree; this is quintessential Motëm, and deserving of your time. Just trust us on this one and give it a watch—have we ever led you astray before?