// Category Archive for: Canadian Content

Interview With: Toronto R&B Musician Jhyve, Part One

By Paul Casey

About a month ago, I had a conversation with a talented musician from Toronto. Jamaal Desmond Bowry goes by the name Jhyve and makes modern R&B. He also has a touch for Rap. His latest album, Supermegafutureshit, resulted from a collaboration with producer Soul. The album is an atmospheric thing and another sign of how the genre is regaining its standing with listeners and musicians. Get low, change the tone, push through a whole bunch of compatible influences.

I spoke with Jhyve for about an hour and our conversation covered many things that I feel are important, especially right now. While we discussed Jhyve’s history and how his music has developed, we also got to talk about how R&B has changed over the years and why it is that so many unfairly reduce its ability to address human problems.

Just because you have grown up to believe that one genre is THE STANDARD, it does not mean this is everyone’s experience. Just because Rolling Stone tells you that the only worthwhile R&B is that one Marvin Gaye record they heard at a party that one time, don’t assume this is all the genre has to offer. Not all sex songs are vacant. Some have a lot to say about the human problem. Sex is not all R&B has to be, either. Things are changing, and hopefully soon R&B can encompass all manner of concepts and ideas. What will remain is its fearlessness and passion.

I have tried to present the conversation as close as possible to how it happened. I have edited and cleaned it up to make for a more pleasant reading experience but the meaning and the order of chat are the same. Part Two will be posted on Wednesday, December 4.

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Music Review: Sebastien Grainger, Yours To Discover

By Less Lee Moore

Sebastien Grainger’s first album post-Death From Above 1979 included a band called The Mountains and established a distinctive musical style far removed from his work with Jesse F. Keeler (review). Five years later, Grainger has something new to offer—this time without The Mountains—and he’s expanded his palette considerably, while still retaining some of what made that first solo debut so compelling.

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Book Review: A Christmas Story: Behind The Scenes Of A Holiday Classic

By Chelsea Spear

A Christmas Story seems like one of those films that was always part of our cultural heritage. Every Christmas, TBS broadcasts it in a 24-hour loop, phrases like “you’ll shoot your eye out” have entered the lexicon, and tchotchkes like the infamous leg lamp sell in large quantities online. Because of the film’s ubiquity, viewers can take for granted what went into getting it made. Writer Caseen Gaines (with the assistance of Jean Shepherd scholar Eugene P. Bergman and actor Wil Wheaton) lifts the curtain on the making of this beloved feature with the book A Christmas Story: Behind the Scenes of a Holiday Classic.

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Assemblog: October 25, 2013

Here Comes The Devil

New this week on Popshifter: Lisa enthuses over the new horror anthology Comfort Foods from the Nashville Writers Group; Jeff suggests five Italian horror movies that you may not have known about and wraps himself up in Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours; Melissa argues that sitars and flutes are more influential than previously thought in her review of The Dawn of Psychedelia and is disappointed in the new Fratellis album, We Need Medicine.

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Concert Review: Le Trouble at The Garrison

By Alexandra West

Toronto, ON
October 15, 2013

There’s a lot to be said for a band that can play a back room like their headlining tour has just hit Madison Square Garden, but that exactly what the Montreal-based band Le Trouble did last night at The Garrison in Toronto. It was a quiet night; the only marking besides the sandwich board outside was the artfully scruffy group of smokers. Tucked away in an unmemorable room on Dundas Street, The Garrison offers shows to those in the know and Le Trouble did not hesitate to take the stage with unrelenting energy while the small crowd looked on.

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Music Review: Headstones, Love + Fury

By Melissa Bratcher

Canada’s Headstones are back after a long hiatus and their return is welcome. Their brand of straightforward, damn the torpedoes and hang-on-to-your-wigs-and-keys rock is refreshing in this age of . . . well, you know the state of popular music today.

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Goodbye D.O.A., Thanks For All The State Smashing!

By Tim Murr

Hardcore architects and Canada’s Clash, D.O.A., are on their farewell tour! They hit the road on August 29 and have now reached the East Coast (tour dates below)

D.O.A., along with Black Flag and the Dead Kennedys, created hardcore punk in the late ’70s/early ’80s. Always outspoken leftist agitators, D.O.A. have spent their career standing up for various political causes and performing benefit concerts.

Sudden Death Records will be releasing a definitive double live album, Welcome To Chinatown, which includes songs from the band’s entire history.

Hats off to Joe and the boys; it’s been a great run!

You can keep updated by checking the band’s website.

NORTH AMERICA:
September 17: West Chester, PA; The Note
September 18: Washington, DC; Black Cat
September 19: Pittsburgh, PA; 31st Street Pub
September 20: Louisville, KY; Phoenix Hill Tavern
September 21: Columbus, OH; Rumba Cafe
September 22: Indianapolis, IN; The Melody Inn

EUROPE:
October 9: Hamburg, Germany; Hafenklang
October 10: Kiel, Germany; Schaubude
October 11: Eindhoven, Netherlands; The Rambler
October 12: London, UK; Boston Arms
October 13: Leeds, UKvBrundell Social Club w/ Chelsea
October 14: Glasgow, Scotland; Audio
October 15: Nottingham, UK; The Dog House
October 16: Paris, France; TBA
October 17: Lyon, France; Warm Audio
October 18: Milano, Italy; Lo-Fi
October 19: Bologna, Italy; Freakout Club
October 20: Luzern, Switzerland; Sedel
October 21: Nuremberg, Germany; TBA
October 22: Dresden, Germany; TBA
October 23: Wroclaw, Poland; Alibi
October 24: Warsaw, Poland TBA
October 25: Gdansk, Poland; B-90
October 26: Tampere, Finland; TBA
October 28: Wormerveer, Netherlands; De Groote Weiver

FanExpo Canada 2013: 100,000 Fans Can’t Be Wrong

By Less Lee Moore

Another year of FanExpo Canada has come and gone. As usual, the four-day event was jam-packed with people and panels, photo ops and paraphernalia. With so many things happening and so many attendees, there are bound to be a multiplicity of experiences. Here are mine.

Day One: Thursday, August 22

The doors opened at 2:00 p.m. and as usual, there was already a line-up. I don’t like to brag, but I enjoy being able to go through the Media entrance and not wait in the lines outside. Although, never fear, non-media folks: I still have to wait in a line to get onto the exhibition floor like the rest of you. (I do think it would be nice if media got to go in about an hour before the show opens, just to prepare for photos and video shoots.)

This year, due to the addition of the Sports segment and the expected increase in attendance, FanExpo took up multiple floors in both the South and North buildings. This meant a bit more walking across the bridge between buildings, but it also made for less cramped conditions (at least on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday; I didn’t attend Saturday).

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FanExpo Canada 2013: Top Ten Picks

By Less Lee Moore

The Cybertronic Spree
Photo © Paul Hillier Photography

FanExpo Canada 2013 runs from Thursday, August 22 through Sunday, August 25 this year. The annual four-day event is crammed with stuff to do and see across multiple fandoms, like anime, comics, gaming, horror, science fiction, and now, sports. It can be a little overwhelming to plan out your days.

My favorite part of FanExpo is always Rue Morgue’s Festival of Fear, but with so much to choose from, there’s always a bit of crossover. I’ve come up with my Top Ten Picks of this year’s FanExpo, which I think will satisfy all of your fandom-related urges.

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Movie Review: Nightmare Factory

By Less Lee Moore

There’s a fantastic quote from the mother of special effects wizard Greg Nicotero in Nightmare Factory, a new documentary from filmmaker Donna Davies. When she was pregnant with her son, Mrs. Nicotero says, she read a lot of “blood-curdling” novels, all the ones she could find. “It was fun and exciting to be scared,” she adds. This is why horror junkies are horror junkies. The obsession with the craft of special effects is what’s explored in Nightmare Factory, but it’s clear that the fear factor is the spark that ignites the flame.

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