Interviews

It’s not always difficult to know what to say. The problem is figuring out how to say it. For Fernie, an emerging Brazilian-Canadian artist who grew up on the West Island of Montreal, it’s certainly easier to express himself through his music. Through shimmering, enveloping R&B-soul sounds, Aurora opens the door to the intimate vulnerabilities of an artist for whom transparency is paramount. 

While many point to the project’s similarity to artists such as Frank Ocean and Daniel Caesar, Fernie points out that Aurora‘s goal is not to be musically inspired, but to perpetuate the habit of not being afraid to pour out one’s heart, to bare one’s soul in the service of art. Aurora is therefore much more than sweet guitar melodies and perfectly executed falsetto vocals, it also embodies total self-acceptance. 

Fernie quickly realized that people are used to wearing masks well beyond sanitary measures, that it is not always easy to feel accepted, especially when you are BIPOC or a member of the LGBTQIA+ community. While it is not easy for anyone to open their hearts, Fernie chooses to do so. For us, for him, for the music. And it’s a success all the way around. 

Aurora is his first album. It will be presented by Fernie on September 24 and 26 (the two shows are sold out, our apologies to latecomers) as part of the POP Montreal festival.  

That’s why PAN M 360 hastened to meet this sweet, sensitive and above all, talented human being.

PAN M 360: Your very first album will be available on September 24th! On this project, you talk about your own journey towards self-acceptance, the need to accept the past as it is, and most importantly, the discovery of a whole new version of yourself. What have you realized about yourself or your environment in the last few years? 

FERNIE : Definitely, what was on my mind the most was to be more careful with myself and my mental health. In the midst of the pandemic, I kind of pushed music away for a little bit to really work on myself because it’s what I needed the most. And also, I realized the importance of friends and family, and that it’s the people around you who really matter. It’s this network who kind of allows you to really accept who you are. The people who aren’t afraid to challenge or criticize you despite the friendship are the ones who encourage you to grow. And I think that’s something that I really held on through the pandemic and even now. 

PAN M 360 : Journalists often specify that you come from the West Island part of Montreal. How did living in that specific neighborhood impact your music?

FERNIE : I originally grew up in Lachine and I’m from adoptive parents. My mother is Brazilian, and my father is German. So we all lived in Lachine but since I went to a private German school, which was on the West Island, we all moved there. And as for the impact, I think it definitely did in the sense of what it meant. We often associate this part of the city with people who only care about appearances, so you feel pressured to be someone you’re not. So, I wanted to kind of break away from that to show more of the transparent and honest side of myself because I firmly believe that the world really needs those two values. And I think my album describes that through my self-reflections and I think that can open a dialogue.   

PAN M 360 : Aurora is your debut album, but it isn’t your first project. Actually, the first thing you put out was an EP back in 2015 that is called The Acoustic EP. Why did you go from an acoustic sound to a R&B kind of vibe ?

FERNIE: I was always encouraged to be versatile in my music genres. My first EP was much more about a kind of emo vibe, Aurora is more about a sensible soul sound. So, I think the changes in my sound come from my personal growth. I’m also part of a collective that really impacted my music, it’s basically where I understood I wanted to do more R&B music. So, I’m glad I got to experience those two vibes, because I think it offers two completely different perspectives and lyrics and overall experience so… I’m glad I did both of those. 

PAN M 360: And I think you said that you really were impacted by Frank Ocean and Daniel Caesar’s music. Why those two artists specifically? 

FERNIE: I wouldn’t say that I look up to them in a sense but I certainly appreciate what they do as artists. Both of them write transparent and personal stuff, especially Frank Ocean. If you listen to the lyrics, you realize he’s really open about his life and how he truly feels… and not only that but he’s not scared to voice his worries about the future and what needs to change. And I think that’s what captivated so many people around the world. And I think that’s amazing. So, I wouldn’t say I want to do what they do, I think I just share those ideas. 

PAN M 360 : You talked a little bit about it before but I quickly wanted to ask you this: you are part of a collective named Kids from the Underground. Can you talk a little more about what it is ? 

FERNIE : Basically, we are a collective of like-minded artists who share the same vision.  It’s more than just the music for us, we are a family. Everyone in the collective has a different story to tell and different music to share. Over the last three years, we really worked on our project and to reach new people as well. So, I’m kinda like a branch in a tree, you know ? We also come from the same area so it’s really easy to collaborate with one another. I guess destiny brought us together because it’s really working out for us. 

PAN M 360: “September” is a beautiful song on Aurora that presents the perspective of a love story shared between two people of the same sex, escaping the sometime isolating heteronormative narrative of love songs. Why is it important to your to bring a queer perspective to your music ? 

FERNIE : I think “September” isn’t just about the queer perspective, but also about the universal message it brings. In the song, I sing from a non-bineary stand-point to a cis man. But I beg people: when you listen to it, take it in as you please. It’s so limitless, it’s not just for a boy and a girl, or a boy and a boy… Inclusivity is a really big deal for me, so it’s not just about the queer perspective, but also for the BIPOC, everyone! 

PAN M 360 : I think it’s safe to say that Aurora is very open and personal. Was it hard to kind of expose all of your vulnerabilities on a music project ? 
FERNIE : At first it was, but at the end of the end I was like ‘what do I have to lose?’ Because I think that this album to me is not a cry for validation but more of a ‘let me make these songs and let the people around the world share the same kind of vibes I have’. I think that if you really want to touch the heart of someone, you have to give all of yourself. I find it hard to express myself through words sometimes, but music is always there to allow my truth to get out.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor (GY!BE) and Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, cult bands in which multi-instrumentalist Efrim Menuck plays a central role, have little to do with All Hands_Make Light, a new project being showcased this weekend at POP Montreal and coinciding with the official release of a first independent recording. 

The same goes for Montreal singer/songwriter Ariel Engle, better known under the alias Laforce for her solo projects, not to mention her regular participation in the Toronto collective Broken Social Scene.

This brand new duo comes from the Anglo-Montreal musical movement of the last two decades, but the aesthetics of each did not suggest a common creation. But the meeting did take place during the months of quarantine and so here is a new creature, a superb creature, perfectly distinct from its progenitors. 

All Hands_Make Light offers a game of contrasts where celestial airs and subterranean lava dialogue, where dark ambient is in harmony with ethereal wave, where electronic techniques and the human voice generate life.

Given the high quality of the sound results, PAN M 360 went to meet this excellent duo, reinforced on stage by Erika Angel (Thus Owls) and Jace Lacek (The Besnard Lakes).

PAN M 360: Don’t you think the adding up of the two of you makes a third character?

EFRIM MENUCK:  Yeah! I feel something like that. We balanced each other well. We are very different, our senses and aesthetics are different. At the same time, we know each other, we respect each other. I feel we both bring different things out of the other person. 

ARIEL ENGLE: I think we’ve managed to represent ourselves in the duo but yes, it’s very different from who we are artistically, each on our own. It’s like making a baby, different from its parents! 

PAN M 360:  How did it happen?

EFRIM MENUCK: I finished a rough tour, I remember I came home and I just felt deeply unsatisfied with what I was doing and then I started to think I should do a simple duo thing with someone singing. A collaboration. And  I was too shy to phone Ariel because I didn’t have a clear idea… the extent of my idea was only what I just said: collaboration with someone else singing. 

ARIEL ENGLE: I had run into Efrim on the street near Martha Wainwright’s Ursa club to hear Jennifer Castle. I’ve known Efrim for a long time and he put the idea of a project in my ear and we went to the concert. Then the lockdown started and I had this idea running around in my head. I wrote to Efrim to find out more about the idea. The ball started rolling, he sent me the music for “Lie Down in Roses Dear”, which is the first song, and then he sent me the lyrics and I sent him back the vocal melody. Really, it wasn’t complicated. 

EFRIM MENUCK: Yeah, very easy. When things didn’t work, we both agreed to change it. Yeah, that was quick and easy, you know. So we bumped into each other and we vaguely planned a phone call. Then COVID happened, we both had tours cancelled and we were  stuck at home… So why don’t we start now! And so all I know at that time about Ariel is that she has a beautiful voice, that she is a good improviser and can surf on top of anything. She has a deep musicality. Lot of people got hung up by perfect tone, perfect harmonies… not in her case. I know she wouldn’t be freaked out if the chord was distorted, turned upside down or a little detuned, she could find a way. So I just sent her some recordings that she could sing on top of it. And it sounded great. Yeah, it all happened very quickly. And after, it took a while to finish.

PAN M 360: Did you discuss your differences during the creative process?

ARIEL ENGLE: We didn’t talk about the aesthetic mixes. I thought the work was strong enough, quite marked, I just had to let myself go in there. I’ve always liked contexts in which I could be quite free. My music is a bit more pop, but I really like music that involves improvisation. Efrim and I share a lot of the same musical tastes, even though our respective projects don’t sound the same. 

PAN M 360: The extremes are very beautiful in this music, heavenly and dark at the same time. Do you feel that way?

EFRIM MENUCK: Yeah, yeah! I agree. There’s something about Ariel’s voice that is very… I don’t know what adjective to use, it’s a beautiful voice but also there’s an earthiness in it that’s not just the song of an angel, you know what I mean? There’s an earthiness to it that is beautiful.

ARIEL ENGLE: Sometimes I felt overwhelmed by the sounds and sometimes there was this great delicacy. I love that contrast! In fact, I don’t know exactly how to describe this work, the roughness of which is not linked to any tradition. There’s something old and new about it. I like the opportunities where I can make music that can surprise me. And when I listen to music, I have to feel the truth of it, without knowing exactly what defines that truth. That’s what this project allows me to do. 

PAN M 360: Efrim, what did you ask Ariel to do?

EFRIM MENUCK: Sometimes it takes a crazy amount of bars for a melody to resolve itself. And from the start we were talking about stuff like that, and because I was playing synthesizers too, I was interested in tones that sounded electronic but that did sound like reeds, strings, bringing that out of the instrument itself, raspy breath sound. So we have this rough conceptual idea, a sort of electronic breathing machine, and then using old melodies, and old ideas about what popular music is, which is a kind of folk music. 

ARIEL ENGLE: All along the creation I was singing, I was finding the vocal melodies and Efrim was doing most of the music. Somewhat by accident, we recorded the songs in the order that we present them in the final recording.

PAN M 360: What was the gear?

EFRIM MENUCK: There was a modular synthesizer, which is very fussy, very hard to play live. Using a Moog keyboard with a few filters, the timbres are changing, it’s still the same idea, it’s still breathy but it’s different obviously because the equipment is different. But it’s cool. 

PAN M 360:  Surprisingly, or maybe not, there is no guitar in this music. 

EFRIM MENUCK: Yeah, it’s cool to be in a nice space, different from a guitar-oriented space. The guitar is a stupid instrument. I love it but its a stupid instrument. It’s hard to keep in tune, it hurts to play it, it’s a tense physical engagement, even though I love playing it. But it’s also nice to play with other instruments that are not fighting with you all the time. So it’s nice to play long, fast melodies and not feel like your body is gonna break doing that. 

PAN M 360: As for the lyrics, who wrote them?

ARIEL ENGLE: The lyrics are mine except for the first song, “Lie Down in Roses Dear”, and “To Raise a Child”, where we sing our respective lyrics. 

PAN M 360: Did you work hard after the first takes?

EFRIM MENUCK: There hasn’t been much editing. Everything I gave her was already full of stuff. So instead of editing, we were removing things, you know? There are some things that took some time to figure out but most of it hung together well, even the first few attempts, which was great and surprising. After that it was a process of  refinement, I’m still more used to like you record stuff and then you realise it doesn’t work, and then you have to figure out you gotta make this part work you know. You strip everything down, then you rebuild it back up again. In this case, there was none of that, that was very nice!

ARIEL ENGLE: We had only completed the work at Hotel 2 Tango. We did everything together without adding new musicians. 

PAN M 360: Why then add some musicians live?

EFRIM MENUCK: Because  there are too many tracks for voices and instruments to play in a live context. So Erika Angel and Jace Lasek will join us playing keyboards and singing.

PAN M 360: Do you plan to continue?

EFRIM MENUCK: Yeah, we’ll keep doing this as long as it makes sense. We really enjoyed playing together, even though it wasn’t the best circumstances. It’s a very different process, not being in the same room. So I’m excited to see what happens in the future, sitting down and working on stuff together.

ARIEL ENGLE: It could go on for a long time… Efrim is very busy and I have my project Laforce, which I’m finishing the second album. I’m also a member of Broken Social Scene–I’m married to one of the musicians in the band, Andrew Whiteman, who is also known in the band Apostle of Hustle. So that’s to be seen. But it went very well, we did this project with no expectations, no pressure, just fun. It would be great to continue, we still have things to explore together, other than by exchanging files. It would be very cool to see what we could do together. 

All Hands_ Make Light is performing at Pop Montreal on Saturday 25, 3PM, L’Entrepôt 77 on Bernard-Est

Fanny is the unique story of sisters June and Jean Millington, born in Manila to a Filipina mother and an American military father, who ended up in California where they embraced their passion for music, forming small bands with girlfriends and eventually founding Fanny in 1969. The first all-female rock band to release a full-length album on a major label, Fanny was also the first such band to compete musically with their male peers, proving that girls could rock as well as, if not better than, boys—a major influence on bands such as the Runaways, the Bangles and many others. 

Between 1970 and 1974, Fanny released five albums before dropping off the radar, just after scoring their biggest hit, “Butter Boy”, a song about David Bowie that peaked at #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 rock chart in 1975. As the Thin White Duke, with whom Jean Millington had a brief affair before marrying his guitarist Earl Slick, put it, “They were extraordinary: they wrote everything, they played like motherfuckers, they were just colossal and wonderful, and nobody’s ever mentioned them. They’re as important as anybody else who’s ever been, ever. It just wasn’t their time.”

But in recent years, it seems that their time has finally come, a rehabilitation and recognition due in large part to all those old concert clips circulating on YouTube, and the digital accessibility of their material, not so easy to find on wax.

The documentary The Right to Rock, which tells the story of the band’s unfinished dream, will be presented at the 20th edition of Pop Montreal. Montreal director Bobbi Jo Hart’s film should help to further build the band’s reputation, and shed light on their little-known journey. “Revivify Fanny. And my work is done,” added Bowie…

As a complement to the screening, the guitarist and co-founder of Fanny, June Millington, will be on hand to present the film, and then join incandescent rockers  NOBRO on stage to play some of the key songs of the mythical Californian band, recently reunited under the name Fanny Walked The Earth but unfortunately hindered by the health problems of the Millington sisters.  

Recovering well from a battle with cancer, guitarist June Millington recently gave PAN M 360 an interview in which she talks about Fanny’s journey and her involvement with young women musicians through the Institute for the Musical Arts, which she co-founded with her partner in 1986.

PAN M 360: Fanny recently returned to the fold, releasing the album Fanny Walked The Earth in 2018. Following this reunion, to which all former members were invited, there was a notable absence of keyboardist and vocalist Nickey Barclay, who was an important musician in the band at the time. 

June Millington: She doesn’t want to be in public. I never really knew her real well, I must say. She doesn’t want to be involved in anything we do so, that’s it. You know, when we played at the Outfest in L.A. a few weeks ago, I didn’t miss her at all. The core part of the music really stands, whether or not Nickey plays. We proved that to my satisfaction. We proved it in LA, just feeling the music as it is. And I really like that. It’s just as powerful, because the songs are really good. The way we play them, there is a certain attack, a certain power. 

PAN M 360: Actually, the core of the band was originally Brie Howard [also known as Brie Brandt, Brie Darling and Brie Berry, and also a Filipina-American), Jean and you. Then Brie left and was replaced on the drums by Alice De Buhr. Then Nickey Barclay was added on keyboards and vocals for the release of your first album, Fanny, in 1970. So Nickey wasn’t around when you started.

June Millington: Jean and I started our first band when we were in high school in late ’64, called The Svelts, and both Alice and Brie were in it at different times. Essentially, we learned how to play and we learned how to manage our own equipment before we got to L.A. I always tell people that if you want to understand Fanny, you have to understand The Svelts. The Svelts had it all essentially, no matter who was in it. The Svelts had the core of how we attacked the music. We were really fierce, but we developped that before we got to L.A. and played the Troubadour where we were spotted by producer Richard Perry’s secretary. That’s why we got signed with Richard Perry; you could feel that fierceness, you could feel it getting ready to explode in another way. Then Richard taught us how to record and write songs, and he taught us well. You could hear everything on our records, all our parts. Before that we didn’t know how to record and that’s why there aren’t any real good recordings of The Svelts. Before we got to L.A., our sound was very contained, we were learning the music, we were playing at dances. We weren’t trying to blow people’s minds because it wasn’t the right time for that. But after a while, here I was, jamming with Lowell George and Skunk Baxter and all these masters of sound. We would all play together and develop what is now known as classic rock. Of course others were developing that sound as well, but we were all part of a big piece. By the time 1970 came and we released our own music, a little bit of people opened up to what we were doing, little bit by little bit.

PAN M 360: You mentioned the word fierceness… Would you say that part of that strength comes from the fact that you and your sister, being Filipina-American, had to fight to fit in and be respected when you came to live in the U.S. and had to deal with racism? Perhaps your sexual orientation also gave you that willingness to fight for acceptance at that time?

June Millington: I became aware of my sexual orientation a little bit later, at around 20 years old, I would say. Before that I was way too young and shy to do anything with another woman. That strength, I developed it later, after The Svelts. But I think you can say that this strength that Jean and I have is perhaps unique to all Filipinos; they have an incredible sense of music and they are very talented. But most of all, I think that this strength we had in us, Jean and me, we felt it, it was very strong. We decided to form a band because her boyfriend was playing in a surf band. I let you imagine how far back we go. So we met two other girls who played guitar and we started a band. We must have been 15 or 16 years old. We got gigs but the boys wouldn’t let us play on their instruments, so we managed to get our own gear. Then we had to get shows. The Vietnam war wasn’t so bad for us because it allowed us to play at several Army bases. We played for the soldiers, it was pretty amazing. And then the teen clubs came along. We played a lot of shows there, around 1967. And then shows in junior high schools, high schools, clubs. That’s what made us strong, that was our training, the hard way. And you know what else gives me some of that energy? The smell of Fender tube amps. When I smell that, I get excited, I know it’s gonna happen and it’s going to be loud. I think Jean and I were born to do this. 

PAN M 360: You’ve said that after your concerts, girls often came to you to ask you how to form a band. What did you tell them?

June Millington: First, to be very disciplined. If it doesn’t work out one night, if you mess up in a show, you have to have the strength to get back up and keep going. It takes guts and the strength to persevere. You can have a lot of talent but no courage. You have to know how to pick yourself up and keep going and keep learning. You have to rehearse a lot and do a lot of shows. You have to do that. It takes a lot of time and effort. It takes dedication. 

PAN M 360: You are very involved with the women’s music movement, you have produced many albums for female musicians, with your partner you operate the Institute for the Musical Arts, a rock camp for young girls and teenagers… In short, you have long been at the forefront of women’s struggles in the music world. Would you say that the situation has evolved a lot for women in the rock and pop genres?

June Millington: Women are much more visible than they used to be, that’s for sure. They are free to create whatever they want, in many different styles. It’s not unusual for a group of women to get visibility. It’s not unusual for a women’s band to be visible. But a women’s band having a string of successes as big as those of men’s bands like the Stones, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and so many others, that still hasn’t happened as far as I know, and that’s what I’m waiting for. I’m not talking about solo singers like all those R&B divas or pop stars, I’m talking about groups. There have been bands, but they’ve had limited success, there’s been no real consistency, nothing like the giants of rock. Who will make it? I don’t know… 

Film POP and Rock Camp present Fanny: The Right To Rock With a performance by NOBRO and Fanny L’Entrepôt 77  $12 in advance only

(photo principale: Michael Putland)

Code Quartet brings together four key figures of Montreal jazz, as evidenced by the beautiful album Genealogy, released on the Justin Time label last spring. Four performers, improvisers and composers ready to pool their long experience, their great expertise and their insatiable passion for contemporary jazz in its most subtle forms.

Adrian Vedady, double bass, Jim Doxas, drums, Lex French, trumpet and Christine Jensen, saxophones. As a courtesy, Christine Jensen was interviewed by PAN M 360 on the day of their concert at the Montreal International Jazz Festival.

PAN M 360 :Among all your projects, what is the purpose of this quartet ?

Christine Jensen : This quartet allows me, as well as the other three members to play in the most intimate, liberated setting of 4 musicians with no piano or guitar. We are all about linear expression. 

PAN M 360 :Can you tell our readers the circumstances of its foundation ? 

Christine Jensen : This group came together through simpatico meeting of minds between the four of us. I met trumpeter Lex French in 2018, while he was working on his doctorate at McGill. I was teaching composition and performance at the same time.  I was really impressed with his playing, full of expression and very versatile with his jazz language. I am very picky about trumpet players for some reason (haha) . We started playing sessions with Jim Doxas and Adrian Vedady, and knew we had a strong, personal sound with this group. The front line of Lex and myself could hold some power with the heavy hitting rhythm section of this team.  Next thing, Lex brought us to New Zealand for the Wellington Jazz Festival, where he is from. We had such a great time with everything music that we knew we had to continue and headed into the recording studio. We recorded a few days before the lockdown, thinking we would really get things moving forward. During the pandemic, it was easy to get together as we were all in close proximity being in Montreal. It really was a positive event for me whenever we could get together and workshop ideas during that time. In fact it was quite healing, and made me think that music will move forward so strong because of this. 

PAN M 360 : Is it for you guys a side-project or something on which you want to build for the next future?

Christine Jensen : We are very invested artistically in building on what we have started as a chord-less quartet, performing locally in 2019. Since then, every time we perform together we can’t wait to do more.  It’s like a music drug, which is a good thing! It really makes performing easy, because of such equal energy being fed to each other in the most organic setting of acoustic quartet.  We have all really committed to continuing on with exploring many corners, including building new repertoire and uncovering standard repertoire that works well with this formation. 

PAN M 360 : Is there any leader in this band ? 

Christine Jensen : No. We all tend to take on various roles in all of the many corners, including artistic direction, business, and recording. Each component is huge in terms of tasks, so it is really great when each of us take a bit on. I think that because we are so committed to this, we have been able to build a team behind us, including Heidi Fleming FAM group jumping on board with management and booking,  and Justin-Time Records with this recording and one that we have coming up. We also all work on booking the band at various levels. 

PAN M 360 :  Who is composing what ?

Christine Jensen : The four of us equally bring in music, and we are all into the challenge of presenting music that is very vertical linear, and not heavily harmonized or full of harmony. We all try to bring in new music whenever we get the chance. We all work together on orchestrating the sounds we are going for, so there is a lot of workshop, which is SO fun! 

PAN M 360 :  What do you explore musically with those gentlemen ?  Can you describe briefly the jazz styles involved ?

Christine Jensen : We work with anything really. We have even performed commissions by other composers for our group. We had a premiere of New Zealand composer Jasmine Lowell-Smith when we went to that festival. 

PAN M 360 :  How do you see the role and qualities of each member of this ensemble ?

Christine Jensen : That is the coolest part. We are all responsible for bringing in ideas equally, yet our instruments definitely define our roles in the performance. Strong time and great sound really are the key in this band really hitting hard. Lex and I weave the melodies, Adrian is in charge of laying down the bass, and Jimmy definitely gets to drive the ensemble with his expression as a drummer. We are all able to interchange with soloing and accompanying, as well as outlining any harmonic ideas vertically. 

PAN M 360 : Should we receive  this music as a “classic” form because it swings and the chord progressions are rooted in modern jazz idiom, from post-bop to ornettish style of the early 60’s (Genealogy theme) ?

Christine Jensen : I always think it is up to the listener. We are not completely free jazz and we are not completely original post-bop, but we can do all of that and everything in between. I think that is what gives the listener that feeling of something new, yet there is a classic jazz sound to it. 

PAN M 360 : Above its apparent classicism, what are for you the original aspects of this quartet’s personality ?

Christine Jensen : I think the personality finds us at a certain point. We all equally bring our own game to the table and it somehow all merges together. I think the music can take so many dramatic turns because of our personalities. I know I always get surprised by the spontaneity that can occur on so many levels with our dialogue. 

PAN M 360 : Are we going to hear new material (not recorded yet) at the FIJM concert on Saturday ?

Christine Jensen :  Yes. I am adding a piece from my pandemic entitled TwentyTwenty Blues. 

PAN M 360 :What will be the next steps for Code Quartet ?

Christine Jensen :We are performing at some Maison de la Culture’s in the fall, with more booked for next year. We have had really fun times working out our music at our favourite Montreal jazz clubs as well, including Upstairs and Diese Onze. More to come there in the future. We also have a showcase  that has been postponed two years at JazzAhead in Bremen Germany in April. Hopefully we will get more of our sounds in Europe with this opportunity. Also, heading out on Canadian Jazz festival circuit once it gets up and running next summer. 

PAN M 360 : Why CODE quartet ?

Christine Jensen : We worked on many names. When it came down to it, it really does feel like the four of us have a secret language, only because we are all equally enamoured with the same sounds of the masters who have influenced us as a whole in the linear language of jazz. They include Sonny Rollins, Bird and Diz, Lee Konitz, Ornette Coleman, Dave Douglas and Joe Lovano,  Carla Bley and Steve Swallow, Billy Higgins, Charlie Haden….the list goes on, but I think those are some of our mutual ‘racines’ in this small group setting. We also have similar stances on the world in terms of politics and environment. For this reason I am certain that our music will continue to express those thoughts more deeply as we go forward in expanding our dialogue as a group. 

Code Quartet performs at the Parterre symphonique 5h15 PM, Saturday September 18

Mashups, the bootleg jams blending two or more often incongruous tracks by name artists, were born in in 1994 when Evolution Control Committee dropped Public Enemy’s rhymes over Herb Alpert’s corny horns. Ten years later, Danger Mouse made his mark with a milestone of the mashup movement, blending the Beatles and Jay-Z for The Grey Album (though for fucking around with the Fab Four, you can’t beat the productions of Tom Caruana).

In 2011, Tennessee-born turntable trickster Amerigo Gazaway delivered a mashup album with staying power, parallel-parking the sounds of Nigerian Afrobeat godfather Fela Kuti and Golden Age rap icons De La Soul, the Native Tongues label’s “hippies of hip-hop”. The combination was potent, and Gazaway’s deft fusion and obvious affection for the source materials landed Fela Soul on numerous high-profile year-end best-of lists.

A decade later, it’s 2021, the year De La Soul finally regained ownership of their music. Also worthy of celebration is the tenth anniversary of Fela Soul, and Gazaway is marking the occasion with a free giveaway of a deluxe edition of the album, with some sweet bonus tracks tacked on. PAN M 360 checked in with Gazaway to look back at Fela Soul, and look forward to upcoming productions.

PAN M 360: What makes Fela Soul so memorable, from what we could call the golden era of mashups, is that unlike most of the rest, there’s no irony to it. It’s not ‘so wrong it’s right’, as much as I love that… It’s just 100% ‘this feels right’. Do you feel the same way about it?

Amerigo Gazaway: I would have to agree. I always try to ask myself the question “does this feel right?” while working on these projects, and Fela Soul was no exception. It was the first conceptual collaboration that I ever produced and for that reason it holds a very special place in my heart. I wanted to create something that sounded good sonically, first and foremost, but also provide further meaning and context for those familiar with the artists or willing to dive deeper into their catalogs.




PAN M 360: The words and music of De La Soul and Fela Kuti both carry a big charge of positive energy, De La in a more lighthearted way, Fela more militantly, agitating for positive change. Were you conscious of that dynamic while making Fela Soul?

Amerigo Gazaway: I was. That was actually one of the main reasons I chose to pair the two artists together. However, I do think my style has evolved over the years and I have become much more particular about which songs and artists to combine ,and why. For instance, on the original Fela Soul project I didn’t incorporate as much of Fela Kuti’s voice and political messages as I probably would have if I had created the album today. Which is why on the new Fela Soul track “More Than U Know”, you can hear Fela singing lyrics which directly correspond to what De La Soul is talking about in the chorus and verses. It’s those little nuances and connections that really bring these projects to life and make it feel as though the artists I’m combining are actually in conversation with one another. 




PAN M 360: Which of the jams of Fela Soul are you most pleased with today, and why?

Amerigo Gazaway: “Breakadawn” is still one of my favourites, mainly because it utilizes Fela’s infamous “Water No Get Enemy” sample, but also because of the fact that it was the first seed that led to the creation of the whole Fela Soul project.




PAN M 360: Fela Soul is just the tip of the iceberg, as far as your productions go. Care to suggest another classic from your catalogue that newcomers might also appreciate?

Amerigo Gazaway: Yasiin Gaye is another Soul Mates project that I created back in 2014. It combines the music of soul singer Marvin Gaye with the lyrics of rapper/actor Yasiin Bey, formerly known as Mos Def. It’s another one of those projects that just felt “right” from the start, from the music to the lyrics to the overlapping themes. This two-part album is considered a classic among many of my fans, and also marks a pivotal turning point in my career and artistic growth. But there are others as well – A Common Wonder, The Miseducation of Eunice Waymon, The Trill Is Gone, The B.I.G. Payback and more.

PAN M 360: What are you working on right now? What’s next in the pipeline?

Amerigo Gazaway: I’m currently working on a handful of projects with various MCs and artists, such as Napoleon Da Legend (Berlin) and Petty (Nashville). In addition to that, I’m working on my next instrumental hip-hop project as well as several top-secret Soul Mates collaborations. Last but not least, I’ve recently started composing soundtracks for film, TV and video games, which is something I’ve always been passionate about.

Trained as a saxophonist and composer, Montrealer Jason Sharp has followed the curve of contemporary expression to arrive at a focal point where the rays the Western classical tradition, modern and contemporary jazz, and soaring electronics converge. All of this baggage is brought together in his recently released solo project The Turning Centre Of A Still World, his third album on the Constellation label.

Specializing in bass and baritone saxophones, Sharp invites us on a new episode of his creative life, a journey spread out in eight stations. At the confluence of the genres that have forged his compositional identity, Jason Sharp brings together the aesthetics of today and offers this inspired project.

Sharp deserves to be known by music lovers, which is precisely why PAN M 360 shares this first conversation with the musician.

PAN M 360: We’ve heard you playing in different contexts, not only “serious” music but also creative pop like Elisapie’s songs. So we want to know more about you, beyond this new album. Where are you from and what led you to Montreal ?

Jason Sharp: I was born in Edmonton, but I moved around. After my first music studies in Alberta, I went to school in Toronto, then I continued in Amsterdam in jazz composition. I have been based in Montreal since 13 years. 

PAN M 360: You have a jazz background, but also an electronic background mixed with contemporary. So you switched progressively from jazz to live electronics, didn’t you?

Jason Sharp: Very much so. It all adds up to my background, that’s for sure. Hopefully my recent record explores all those experiences. From the very beginning, I started to study the classical saxophone. After high school, I started improvisation in the jazz context, and then years later I went to the University of Toronto to study jazz performance. Through that cycle I started composing, drawing a little more to my classical and contemporary music background in orchestration, and then into more a compositional focus, where the improvisation is also used with the instruments that I play. It led me towards live electronics in Amsterdam, and after coming out of that school experience, I left my own devices to discover my own sound, and I feel it’s just been a progression utilizing those different backgrounds of the music I’ve been making. So when I write for ensembles and film scores, I use all of them.

PAN M 360:  How is the saxophone embedded in your compositional approach?

Jason Sharp: I play mainly baritone and bass saxophones. I started off  with the alto sax, then I played in a saxophone quartet and I was lucky to play my own baritone sax at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. I found a voice playing baritone, and I was also playing tenor and baritone at University of Toronto. And then I ended up with the bass sax, which qualities are close to the baritone sax. 

PAN M 360: The focus in your new music is not complex melodic patterns,  but more textural and harmonic. What justifies that aesthetic?

Jason Sharp: Leaving the jazz lineage, I have been less interested in crafting melodic lines over harmonic progressions, and more interested in textures, timbres, evocative moods created out of the horns in more diverse orchestrations. I believe the baritone and bass saxophones are uniquely adapted for that, it can function in a bass role, also harmonically relevant in overtones. Its textures and timbres are rich, those horns fit very well in that language. 

PAN M 360: What is your electronic gear?

Jason Sharp: Baritone and bass saxes are used 50/50. There are several microphones for the saxophones, I’m also playing bass pedal, and Moog Synthesizer for bass and the harmonic foundation. For most of the orchestration above and beyond, I built a modular synth around that setup, and then a harp monitor to provide a link for the synthesizer, So all the rhythmic elements are being clocked while I play. I’ve built a modular synth setup around that concept. Then I’ve got another sensor for my breath, to control the white noise and more textural elements of the synthesizer. All the orchestrations are handled between me playing the bass pedal while I’m playing sax or modular synth responding to my breath or harp monitor. 

PAN M 360: Is there a danger of being compared to your colleague Colin Stetson, because he also plays baritone and bass saxes and uses electronic devices?

Jason Sharp: (laughs) Beyond Colin Stetson comparisons, it’s good being introduced to more diverse sounds on the saxophone in particular. If my music ends up being a gateway to discover people like Evan Parker, John Butcher, Ned Rothenberg, Anthony Braxton and others that could use the saxophones with extended techniques, that’s great. It’s always interesting for people to find gateways and discover new music, also in the electronic field. What is unique about my new record is that the saxophone is at the forefront. It’s considered to be an instrument within an orchestration and it’s not in that specific case. So if I can help people discover other saxophone players with contemporary ideas, that’s also great, and all part of the evolution of the instrument.

PAN M 360: Are you also involved in projects that could implicate a different approach than the one leading your solo projects? 

Jason Sharp: Yes, for a concert performed live in Winnipeg this September, I wrote some music for two drummers, pedal steel guitar, two vocalists and saxophone. This project is called FYEAR. The writing is more harmonically and melodically driven, it’s written for an orchestration that’s not so electronic, a little more rooted in the jazz idiom. 

PAN M 360: Are you going to perform your new solo album project soon? 

Jason Sharp: Yeah! There are also films for each track done by Guillaume Vallée. The whole album in a visual form is also released by Constellation. There will be a short movie accompanying each piece.  So the next step is a live concert  at Phi Center, I will be solo while the filmmaker will be projecting the images. I will provide the same triggers to the film maker. It’s gonna be a live audiovisual performance of the film, that brings the audience to the heart of the project. Then you will be able to witness the physicality of the performance and this ability to improvise with myself.

Jason Sharp performs his solo project, with the images of Guillaume Vallée, at Phi Centre, November 20.

Naya Ali has become a major figure in Quebec and Canadian hip-hop, and is releasing her second album with the firm intention of reaching the next level: international influence. Backed by star beatmaker Adrian X (Drake, The Weeknd), who joins loyal collaborators Kevin Figs and Chase.Wav, the Ethiopian-born Montreal rapper releases Godspeed: Elevated, eight bright tracks charting the journey of transcendence. 

This path has been forged since childhood, through early desires to assert herself on the rap planet, a cautious retreat to university studies and a reaffirmation of her creative identity. Her first album, Godspeed: Baptism (Prelude), confirmed his talent, and with the second chapter, an ascension that was slow and sure is now accelerating.

At the suggestion of PAN M 360, Naya Ali agrees to describe the eight tracks of this new opus on the Coyote Records label.

Naya Ali: “Air Ali” is the intro. It’s about the feeling I have of having one foot in the door and one foot out the back. That feeling leads to remembering where I came from, how I grow, what I gain and lose along the way. When you grow, not everyone can come with you.

PAN M 360: A paradoxical feeling?

Naya Ali: Yes, when you try to rise you have to change your mindset, you have to lighten up to take flight. The people you come in contact with then will not all do it like you do, everyone is not at the same stage of their development in life. So there is what I was used to and there is the new world, the newness, the possibilities that are opening up for me. 

PAN M 360: Who’s the main beatmaker for this track?

Naya Ali: Kevin Figs, who I work with on a regular basis, and who did a few tracks on my first album. He’s from Montreal, works a lot in Los Angeles and Montreal, and has a very Atlanta sound but is also able to create other worlds. We have a great dynamic together.

PAN M 360: Let’s move on to “Stop Playin”.

Naya Ali: I did this piece in Toronto with Adrian X. It’s a middle finger, but very joyful. It suggests this: you may not like me, but respect me. It’s also the affirmation of the neglected one who comes in with all this energy.

PAN M 360: Well… is the underdog you think you are still a successful late bloomer? 

Naya Ali: I have a clear vision of who I am. Sometimes I’m misunderstood by some people, they don’t always know where they stand with who I am. Anyway, that’s part of the process and it legitimizes the energy of this track. Musically, it’s a high-BPM song and it’s a straightforward rap. I can be melodic as well, some tracks have to be sung, but it’s also important for me to keep the rap up front.

PAN M 360: By the way, you clearly impose yourself among the female MCs in Montreal?

Naya Ali: Only women?

PAN M 360: Uh, sorry. Yes, we should no longer associate a rapper’s talent with their gender.

Naya Ali: I’m with you!

PAN M 360: One of these days, these considerations will be completely gone. Until then, we can talk about the song “Str8 Up”, ha ha!

Naya Ali: “Str8 Up” is the last track I did for this album. It has an energy that needed to emerge. I had this image in mind when I created this track: a door opens and you walk through a valley with snakes in it. To get to the next door, you have to cross this valley and its snakes. So you have to make peace with the idea that there will always be snakes, that is, you have to keep your focus on what really matters in order to rise above the obstacles, doubts and hard work. Its sounds are a bit drill-y, bouncy, but are sometimes more intimate and melodic.  

PAN M 360: “Another One” is clean, minimalist and powerful. Big bass, little embellishments in the arrangements, and the voice in front.

Naya Ali: I was inspired by J Cole for this track, because his flow is clean and powerful. There is no superfluous ad lib in his rap.

PAN M 360: You are also like that, direct, without detours.

Naya Ali: That’s right, so the theme of “Another One” suggests that music is a bigger medium than me. Music to me is a movement, a paradigm shift, a way to speak and energize the world. “Another One” is pure rap, very culturally charged. We used some Ethio-jazz style piano tracks. The production is by Adrian X, Chase.Wav and myself. The mix is by Mixed by Gee and John Brown.

PAN M 360: Here we are at the stop for “102 Bus It”

Naya Ali: The number 102 is my neighbourhood bus that I used to ride as a child and teenager. We also inserted samples of Ethiopian spiritual music, because this track is about my origins and the culture passed on by my parents. So I’m talking about my DNA, about Montreal where I grew up, about summers spent in Virginia with my father who lives there, and that’s why we still use Ethiopian music samples like the lyre. 

PAN M 360: “Toronto’s Gold” is next. What’s that about 

Naya Ali: The first weekend I met producer Adrian X at his office, there were several shootings in Toronto. Violence is not what defines this city. For the past few years, however, there has been an unhealthy vibe, a poison that has taken hold in the minds of these armed, clannish, territorial kids. This insanity is taking root in the mentality of the young boys, but also of the girls who think it’s cool to keep such company. This culture of violence is no longer simply a question of economic poverty, it has become a way to show off one’s power. So these kids with guns are eliminating their chances of getting rich in Toronto by choosing this culture of violence. And it’s happening here now too, this song could very well be called “Montreal’s Gold”. So what can we do? Change this mindset by offering young people opportunities in art, sports, science, etc.  The beat of “Toronto’s Gold” is heavy, the atmosphere is dark, the tone is direct and pure. For the music, Adrian X produced this track, we completed it in Montreal with Chase.Wav and John Brown.

PAN M 360: “King”… Who is King?

Naya Ali: It’s a universal feeling: that of loss and grief. For me, it’s a personal ordeal I went through when my dog Simba died last year. The text was written while he was sick, and I wanted to prolong his life forever through this song. On this album, by the way, this is the song where I open up the most. The music is by Adrian X, we went with a Frank Ocean vibe.

PAN M 360: The last track is called “Light Switch (outro)”

Naya Ali: The album starts out punchy and assertive, and ends with emotion and an openness on my part. There is a lot of emotion in me, I’m starting to open up. No, I’ve never been afraid to open up, but I do reveal things in myself at the right time. Opening up, however, does not mean talking about my personal life. I prefer to keep my private life private and keep it a mystery… while remaining open and accessible.

The Witness is the latest addition to the discography of Montreal’s internationally acclaimed Suuns – six albums and one EP, all of high quality, including a collaborative album with Jerusalem in my Heart. 

The new album explores new avenues: the inclusion of acoustic, wind, and string instruments, and superb jazz-like arrangements punctuating the hybridization between avant-rock, electronic and experimental aesthetics that Suuns has been accustomed to since 2010.

The Witness poetically addresses various angles of our globalized voyeurism, planetary facts and gestures simultaneously observed daily by millions of humans.

Reached in Paris where he lives now with his partner, Ben Shemie played the game of track-by-track for this new album.

The Witness is released on Joyful Noise Recordings and Secret City Records, an excellent opus of which Shemie is the frontman and main composer. Suuns will perform the material on September 25, during Pop Montreal.

PAN M 360: There are obvious changes happening in the new Suuns music. There are differences from the previous records, mainly in the arrangements. There are even acoustic moments with reeds and brass, and also melodic hooks. What are, for you, the main changes?

Ben Shemie: It wasn’t conscious, we didn’t know we’re gonna go in a different direction. But it happens. It is an oversimplification of something new we wanted to do. And there is also more focus done in the lyrics, we’ve never been a lyric-driven band before. This time, the songwriting is more lyrical and definitely more melodic than the stuff we’ve been done in the past. Also I think it’s more ambitious, arrangement-wise. It’s kind of nice for all of us to not do the same kind of thing again, and push ahead. And be more ambitious.

PAN M 360: Let’s take the first song, “Third Stream”.

Ben Shemie: It is like a late-era Talk Talk kind of sound, closer to improvisation and contemporary music. I like to imagine a band as a general model of trajectory by which it can evolve, something more introspective and not pop music anymore. So because there is more contemporary music background in our world, we thought it would be cool to put some into the songs. For the writing of this record, I didn’t try to make it electronic as much, but I just tried to make something very beautiful and something  broader, with saxophones and flutes – played by Eric Hove, who will come on tour with us – with bigger arrangements. 

I was still trying to keep the guitar, which is always some kind of a challenge nowadays. Yeah, this kind of a big sweeping, really focusing on the lyrics without trying to beat it over your head, it is now more rock ’n’ roll in a way, kind of more traditional. There is this Talk Talk sound in the arrangements, but also this solo Paul McCartney vibe. So when that “Third Stream” song came out originally, there was no specific intention, that was a demo and we built it up,  yeah, I think it is really fun to play it. 

PAN M 360: Is the production aspect the result of a collective work?

Ben Shemie: Mostly the band is producing the songs that I write. Obviously a lot happens in the studio, it changes. For example, we played with the saxophone to get this kind of vibe, see what works and what doesn’t, translating this into arrangements, and training ourselves with those arrangements. This is what happens organically. At the very end we have the mix that changes the sound quite a bit, in terms of what becomes a priority in what you’re hearing. That is mostly done by John Congleton, our mixing engineer.

PAN M 360: “Witness Protection” is the next song, tell us about it.

Ben Shemie: This song sounds more what you would associate with our band, a kind of minimal, dancy song. There is a lot of focus on the lyrics and the melody, and I guess that song encapsulates the themes of the record. That is to say, look, that’s something that we have in common: we see a lot of the same things, now there’s an almost pornographic way of looking at the world. Today we all have this common denominator of experiencing a lot of the same things virtually but… There is also this desensitization to what we see and what we get used to witnessing all these things. The protagonist of the song says that he needs to be protected, he needs to be taken care of. And to a certain extent we all have this kind of oversaturated world.

This song is one of the first songs I wrote. Out of that the other songs were born, not because of that, but that song helps set the foundation of the album. It’s our first release, it may be the most accessible song of the record. It’s weird, of course, all our music is weird for indie music fans, for the kind of scene that we’re in. I don’t personally think that this is weird, but for the mainstream indie movement, it is weird. We have always been in between the indie scene and avant-garde scene, that’s where we always found ourselves. So that song is like our whole career: it starts off cool and just when you think you’re gonna get the payoff, it turns into something else.  

PAN M 360: The third song is “C-Thru”. What can you say about it?

Ben Shemie: “C-Thru” is a kind of a banger. Originally it was a solo piece for myself. My solo music is more condensed songs, but it doesn’t have guitar and drums, so I needed that band to make it kind of big, more massive and also to be able to fuck with my voice. I think it is a good song. And in the old-fashioned setting, the third song of an album is where you get your energy going.

PAN M 360: The fourth piece is entitled “Time Bender”.

Ben Shemie: This is the most minimal song, and I thought it wasn’t gonna make it onto this record. I thought it was too minimal, we had a hard time to find out how the groove would be. But it came out very nicely, kind of soulful, a bit more funky than I was expecting. Yeah, again, the arrangement is kind of weird. 

PAN M 360: And “Clarity”?

Ben Shemie: This is the soulful song of the record. This sounds a little bit like “Third Stream”, I mean a song with a bigger sound, much more melodic than what we did previously. There is also a lot of work in the lyrics. At the moment of composing, we don’t think about the influences, but some people told us it sounds like a Robert Wyatt song and… when I listen to this music, I say wow, it’s true! The chord progression is indeed in the same style of writing. Wyatt’s music is more political than ours, it carries more like a message, but I get that comparison and take it as a compliment. Robert Wyatt is a great artist, some kind of deep. 

PAN M 360: “The Fix” is another very ambitious song. Can you explain the creative process for it?

Ben Shemie: This is an old song, its first demo was recorded almost seven years ago. I was really excited about it,  and we were doing the Hold /Still album in Dallas at that time. We recorded that song, and then the crystal idea of the demo wasn’t there. So you can bring it to the band and you can lose the magic that the demo had. A demo is a singular vision of a song. When you produce as a band, it becomes a group effort, and electronic music is somewhat of an individual adventure. We recorded it a couple of times and I thought it wasn’t as cool as the demo, kind of diluted. It just sucked! We were about to say forget this song, we tried enough, and we finally recorded it again, thinking maybe if it’s cool we would make it as a bonus track. It’s more like a rhythmic idea and then makes sense being repeated so often. It’s very much like the identity of the band. It’s more like a groove and a piece than a song.So I loved this weird reinterpretation, and John Congleton really did a great job mixing it. To be honest I love the new version and I still think the demo is better (laughs), but the demo is too scrappy.

PAN M 360: There is a sad song next, and there are some guitars involved.

Ben Shemie: “Go to my Head” is the first sad song I wrote. I don’t know what it means exactly, but it’s in the same spirit as “Third Steam” and “Clarity”, very ambitious in its instrumentation, classical guitar, piano, horns, a funny intro like Fleetwood Mac in their song “Albatross”. Nowadays, I find it more and more difficult to integrate the guitar in a so-called rock ’n’ roll band. I’m a guitar player myself, I don’t want to play like Jimmy Page, we were able to walk that line between electric guitar music and electronic music but… The more the years go by, the more difficult I find it to integrate the guitar. It’s not as relevant an instrument as it used to be, but I still love it, I still love the sound, I still think guitar music by rock or punk bands is one of my favourite genres of music. But it’s not necessarily the kind of music I play. Joe plays guitar in the band and his guitar often sounds like a synthesizer. It’s far from a normal guitar. 

In this song, at the beginning, one of my greatest joys in Suuns is to play guitar with Joe. So I wrote an intro and an outro where we play guitar in harmony with each other. A pure, classic electric guitar sound. In an almost strange way, it sounds like new again. It seems like nobody plays like that anymore! So that’s a good way to set the stage for the main part of this song, which is more of a linear composition at first but much more ambitious in its scope.  

PAN M 360: And we come to the last song of The Witness.

Ben Shemie: As the title suggests, “Trilogy” is a song in three sections. Actually, the more I think about it retrospectively, other songs of this album are done in three parts. I don’t really know why that is, but it seems to be that way unconsciously. This specific song is much focused on the lyrics and the voice being very upfront in the mix. The loudest vocal mix ever being done on our songs. And again, it’s very much our style: the beat comes in after almost four minutes and it goes out again. So there is a lot of restraint in this song. I think it’s a beautiful track. 

PAN M 360: Doesn’t The Witness, such a refined and thoughtful album, owe its depth in part to the confinement imposed by the pandemic?  

Ben Shemie: I’m glad this album is finally out, we pushed it further during the pandemic because we couldn’t tour. It would have been weird then to put a record out knowing we couldn’t play it. Instead, we had time to think about it, which we had never really done before. Spin, spin, spin, produce a record, spin, spin. It was the first time we could think about it. In a way, I’m strangely happy about it.

Prolific Montreal bassist Mishka Stein was stuck in quarantine after being forced to cut the last few shows of his Europe tour with chamber-pop artist, Patrick Watson, due to COVID-19, and began writing new, skeletal pieces of music. 

He sent some new sonic ideas to local renowned producer Sam Woywitka—who has worked with Stein’s other band TEKE::TEKE, as well as Half Moon Run and DJ Khalil (Dr. Dre, Anderson .Paak, Kendrick Lamar)—and together they formed FHANG, a ferocious and experimental project featuring complex, intricate rhythms, lush neo-psych melodies, and mind-altering sonic textures and layers. 

No song on the self-titled debut album is alike. The opening track “Stanza Fresca” is a soothing synth number, while “Vaudevillain” and “Many Moons (feat TiRon & Ayomari)” throw in the welcomed addition of hip hop. Then there’s the brain-bending “King Blame,” which sounds like old school “Lust For Life” Iggy Pop mixed in a macabre German discotheque. 

Both members of FHANG were able to share their experience with PAN M 360 about  crafting the diverse sounds on the self-titled debut, their self-directed music videos, Woywitka’s new label, Hidden Ship, and learning to play their songs live before their Festival de musique émergente show later this week.

PAN M 360: You’ve been categorized by some reviewers as psych-rock and while there are elements of that in your music, there are many more elements to the FHANG sound. A bit of hip hop, new wave, indie, post-punk…

Sam Woywitka: I agree. We’re getting added to, like, electro charts or whatever, like “new electro band FHANG, or like new Krautrock band, FHANG, new darkwave band, FHANG.” There are many different things we’re being called.

Mishka Stein: We’re just trying to take over Spotify (laughs).

PAN M 360: Did you two know what kind of sounds you wanted for FHANG, initially?

Mishka Stein: I feel like I would just credit Sam for the sound because I was just working on Ableton, trying to write the music, but knowing that Sam would be the one who would change my shitty synth pad that I picked. You know, just make it sound way better and do a lot of treatment. A lot of a lot of my projects were just very kind of skeletal; the performance, but not so much the production.

PAN M 360: So Sam you crafted the overall sound of the songs in the studio?

Sam Woywitka: Yeah, I feel like I’m a puzzle-maker sometimes, putting pieces together. When I feel like I have a melody or a cool riff or something to go off of, I can kind of paste a journey together through that. Just having having that at my fingertips, I guess.

PAN M 360: You guys also made some music videos, like the one for “King Blame.” I think the description of the video is “someone’s lonely drug trip.” It’s kind of like watching a David Lynch film, with the rabbit head and everything. 

Sam Woywitka: Thanks. He’s definitely an influence, for sure. That song kind of started out with me on a guitar and a drum loop, singing the vocal hook “I am the King of Blame,” and it sounded really angsty teenage me, you know?

PAN M 360: So is the video and idea of the song based on personal experience? 

Sam Woywitka: Well, back when I was doing a lot of drugs, I felt like nobody fucking liked me. I just felt blame all the time. And if you’ve ever looked at yourself in the mirror when you’re hallucinating on drugs, you can’t even recognize yourself, and that shit is terrifying. So the video was really going to be just skateboarding and getting fucked up, but the day we shot it, I walked into this costume store and saw the crazy bunny mask. We wanted some skateboard shots when the sun was rising and I asked my buddy Issac to put on the bunny mask while skateboarding, and it just became the thing. 

PAN M 360: It’s funny how it was just spontaneous and it became the crux of the video. 

Sam Woywitka: For sure. What did Mishka say? Oh yeah, ‘Sometimes the monkey or your back is a rabbit.’ 

PAN M 360: You recently started the label Hidden Ship. Did you create it to release FHANG?

Sam Woywitka: That was definitely an inspiration behind actually getting it done and sinking my teeth into it. And now, I’m pretty excited about what the future holds. I have so many like talented friends and like artists that should just be better represented on a smaller label that cares more about their music. 

PAN M 360: Right. So it’s not going to be independently for FHANG releases? Do you already have artists in mind for the label?

Sam Woywitka: I want to have these jam session writing sessions where maybe we’re making songs just for the sake of making really dope tunes with some crazy musicians, and then having a place to put that out, rather than it needing to be in a like some sort of artist’s discography. Maybe we can just do some cool productions and collaborations in the studio and eventually there could be a Hidden Ship record or something. I used to work in L.A. with DJ Khalil and that’s what his studio was like. People always jamming and him steering the ship, and then sampling a part for the next beat for Jay Z or Kanye West or something. 

PAN M 360: Were there any artists you mutually drew inspiration from for this album?

Mishka Stein: I think the pandemic was our biggest inspiration for it. For me, it’s really infused with all the feelings we lived. The fucking Trump stuff and COVID and all this garbage. The first few months were just really primal. Primal reactions. 

PAN M 360: Is that where the name FHANG comes from? 

Mishka Stein: Yeah I think so. FHANG being the jaws of the wolf and it’s really just a survival thing—which is how we all felt in those first few months. 

PAN M 360: So how do these songs translate to a live setting? Being a duo, I assume playing live is a lot of multi-tasking for both of you?

Mishka Stein: Like crazy. Sam’s doing all the modular synths, singing, and playing drums. I’ve got a synth in front of me, bass pedals for the lower notes, and I’m rocking a double neck guitar/bass. So yeah, it’s going to take a bit for it to feel comfortable. 

Sam Woywitka: Yeah we’re constantly jumping between different instruments. There’s a lot of octopussing going on.

From Kaifeng, in the Chinese province of Henan, Yu Su moved to Vancouver in 2013 to attend university. Already a seasoned pianist before coming to Canada, she became an artist in her own right. Within a few years, the choice to become a music professional was the right one: in addition to being a sought-after DJ on the international circuit, Yu Su has proven to be a superior composer. What’s more, her talents as a musician extend far beyond the realm of electronic references, and she now engages with all the instruments within her reach.

Drawing from a vast repertoire, including what she likes to describe as fourth-world music, Yu Su’s still young work is already formidable. This undeniable talent first earned her tours in Europe and Asia as a DJ. As for the Canadian recognition, it came slowly but surely.

Her referential universe is vast, from downtempo to contemporary through Chinese classical music, her curiosity leading her to explore several top-shelf repertoires, to absorb the best elements and throw them at electro enthusiasts, which naturally led her from Djing to composition and beatmaking. The extent of her work is just beginning to be realized.

This year, Yu Su was selected for the Polaris Prize long list for her album Yellow River Blue, thus expanding her circle of Canadian friends… although she has performed many times from coast to coast and has been accepted into the prestigious Ninja Tune label’s repertoire. True to its mandate of discovery and high quality, MUTEK has invited her in the past. This time, Yu Su is coming to defy expectations: she will perform with a group of instrumentalists that she recently formed. 

PAN M 360: We perceive many influences in your music. Can you summarize your musical journey since you’ve gone professional?

Yu Su: First, the integration of Eastern traditional or classical music is not an intention to represent my Chineseness, not a conscious basis in my music. It is more like a game for me, it’s cool to be playful and make electronic music. Where I am from does matter, that makes my music sound like this, it’s in my blood, it comes from the environment I grew up inin  China and what happened after. I also love music of the ’80s and ’90s downtempo and ambient stuff, there is so much to learn and enjoy about this music of the Fourth World, synthesised sounds, percussion, Japanese, polyrhythmic influences from Africa or India on the Western composers, really cool people like Steve Reich, Laurie Anderson, Terry Riley, Jon Hassell, etc. So  in that time, experimental music was evolving so much, using some aspects of other cultures. Now integration of music from everywhere is more playful. Also the whole approach of electronic music and other new music is about creating the other world. I really like that. I don’t care about cultural appropriation considerations in dogmatic terms, my music is my way of criticizing it. What you can find in my music is just me, just trying being playful. Everything we experience can have an impact on the creative process. 

PAN M 360: Over time, things became more sophisticated in your music.

Yu Su: Yeah but I’m still learning, I feel that I’m still not very good at the technical aspect of my work, machines, music instruments, everything’s still new. You know, I decided to do it very seriously four or five years ago, so I am still learning. If you listen to my music since my professional beginnings, you can hear how I am getting better, in particular with using machines.

PAN M 360: What is your gear?

Yu Su: I often use computers, also Wavestation and Hydrasynth keyboards, and I’m actually learning bass guitar. Because now I have a band and the performance I’m preparing for MUTEK is my band. It will be the psych-rock side of me. I will have players on guitar, bass and drums, I will be on keyboard and singing. There will be a bit of my electronic world, because I use plugins from a computer. So half of the stuff is a re-interpretation of some sounds, melodies and changes from my last album that was composed with a computer. 

PAN M 360: Would you stay on that path after this first instrumental experience?

Yu Su: Yeah, I think so because you know, I’m actually discovering this world of psych-rock  and music and other forms of pop-rock. I dove into this music pretty recently. You know, I only started to listen to Pink Floyd last year. I also listen to Moon Duo. I listen to a lot of Paul McCartney solo stuff, My Bloody Valentine. I listen to krautrock like Can. So this rock world is really new to me and I’m so interested. You know, I don’t want only to exist in the electronic world, I don’t really care about being really good in one music field. I just wanna be able to make any music I love, and this is why I wanna experience the band. What form or what genre doesn’t matter. On the other hand, I really work hard with the band to have the best live set I could offer. For this one MUTEK show, we’ve been rehearsing for two months. I want a really good band! I want a band that’s really tight, not just a band.

PAN M 360: What were the side effects of the Polaris long list on your career?

Yu Su: Before the Polaris, I wasn’t performing often in Canada.I was working with European or UK labels, I was touring expansively over there as a DJ, also Asia. So in Canada, I felt I wasn’t in the circle. When I was included in the Polaris long list, I was shocked because my music wasn’t well known in Canada. But I am happy that Polaris is including weirder stuff like mine (laughs). Also, I wasn’t a permanent resident until 2020. I had to leave the country every 6 months, I didn’t have a strong legal status, so I didn’t have resources here, no government support. Now it’s different. I think I will live permanently in Canada for a long time.

Porto Porto ! suggests a powerful version of eclecticism in 2021: electronic, electric, digital, analog, acoustic, improvised, written, programmed, composed suites, improvised suites, ambient, techno, ethereal wave, space jazz, groove, house, kuduro, and so on.

The digital creativity to which Porto Porto! subscribes foresees all the associations, all the amalgams, a great diversity of references. The four artists based in Montreal, with distinct origins, pave the way. Samito from Mozambique, on Fender Rhodes, programming, voice.  Alex Tibbitts from California, on harp, machines, voice. Quan from Vietnam on modular synthesizers. James Benjamin aka Boogieman, from Montreal, keyboards, synths, and programming. 

In the short time since forming, Porto Porto! have already recorded a lot, both audio and audiovisual, and has performed little in front of an audience. This justifies this conversation about this ambitious concert with guests, performed at M-Telus in its world premiere on Saturday, August 28 as part of MUTEK’s Nocturne series.

Porto Porto ! n’exclut rien, vise le grand tout

PAN M 360: We have an idea of what Porto Porto ! is premised on, and we want to know more about it. Can you tell us the genesis of this project?

James Benjamin: This is a fairly recent project. With the pandemic, it started last year. Samito and I had a collaboration, we played MUTEK in 2020, and then I got the duo and the new elements together at Breakglass Studios, which I’ve been a co-owner of for the past 12 years and has helped me a lot in my own music career. We started making music together on the fly, seeing where it was going. As the sessions went on, pieces emerged, we did a lot of recordings, we touched many musical ecosystems. And we became good friends. This change is natural, we’re ready for the next step. 

PAN M 360: After listening to the first recordings, we could suggest that Porto Porto ! offers ambient electronic, sort of chillwave combined with different rhythms and also an influx of spacy electric jazz in the stream of the Miles Davis sessions between 1968 and 1972. How would you describe it yourself?

James Benjamin: This description is accurate, but our music also goes stylistically somewhere else. This Porto Porto music has become a real melting pot.

PAN M 360: Porto Porto! isn’t only about ethereal music, there are composition aspects. Can you talk about it?

James Benjamin: Of course, there is an experimental aspect to our music, but we are also all interested in composition. Samito and I have been working together for a few years, we also think about hooks and song structures. Samito is also a natural producer. And I like to see myself as that too. So all these influences are tangible, our next show will provide the creative framework for the upcoming album. 

PAN M 360: Let’s take a look at the instrumentation.

James Benjamin: Okay. The instrumentation is based on modular synthesizers built by Quan – this guy has a very interesting mind, he designs his own instruments from scratch and he has his own company for modular synths, so we both play modular synths and we learn a lot from each other. Samito also plays keyboards, mostly the Fender Rhodes. Alex Tibbitts plays what she calls a bionic harp, an analog instrument that can also generate sound effects beyond the harp’s natural sound. She is also connected with some software and computers. So with these excellent trained musicians, we thought that it would be really cool to record long sessions, even suites.

PAN M 360: The upcoming show is another step, there will be more. 

James Benjamin: For this show, we are adding bass. In the studio, we teamed up with Milo Johnson (Busty and the Bass), a fantastic bass player and composer, and recorded a few sessions. The addition of a great jazz bass player allowed us to explore other sounds with our keyboards. For the MUTEK show, however, Milo will be replaced by another bass player, as he’s currently in British Columbia and cannot travel across the country. There will also be two string players who will accompany certain parts of the music. So this will be the first time we will be presenting a whole bunch of songs and movements, different feelings, moods, vocal lines, hooks and also experimental stuff. 

PAN M 360: Are there conceptual leaders in the group?

James Benjamin: It’s always evolving but this music comes from the four core members. When we started playing together, we tried to exercise that each person would be able to lead and listen carefully to each other. So things get pushed in different directions and also things get pulled into the center. It’s a team project, everybody waves in, they all say what they want to say, it’s all about consensus, we’re all making music together.

PAN M 360: So there is important evolution since the Boogieman and Samito experience.

James Benjamin: Indeed, it’s quite different but it is also an expansion of this duo, now it’s becoming an universe. There are a couple of tracks that are ready to release, an album will follow. The show at MUTEK will give you an idea of this sonic universe and the album, it will go to different places but there will be threads that connect it all. 

PAN M 360: So the next step will be an album and… even more?

James Benjamin: Ambitious is a good word to describe Porto Porto. In my mind we could eventually have an orchestra around it. Our thing is not just experimental improvisation, these are trained players who read charts and chords,  who really know about what they’re doing. One step at the time but… we intend to add orchestral works around this. 

“Asterisms” refers to the random figures that constitute a group of neighbouring stars in the celestial sphere. An asterism has no precise shape, nor any real use. The simple fact of existing and shining in the sky is enough to justify this designation. Canadian indigenous artist  Matthew Cardinal’s first solo project evokes this perfectly. 

You may have heard of Cardinal in the Edmonton-based indie-rock trio Nêhiyawak. A debut album, Nipiy, caught the attention of music fans in 2020, when the band was nominated for a Juno award in the Indigenous Music Album of the Year category. When the group disbanded, Cardinal decided to continue his career… in a completely different light: electronic music.

Cardinal remains very humble when talking about his music, emphasizing that this album was created without any real preconceptions. Like a diary, each piece reveals a small part of himself, without really revealing anything intimate. Enigmatic, full of secrets, Asterisms proves to be an immersive and enveloping listen on all levels. By closing our eyes, we can glimpse the lights, shapes and sounds of the space. While Cardinal didn’t really follow a plan, or get inspired by anything specific, the rendering is clear, interesting, and most importantly, authentic. The artist can pride himself on exploring a unique sound and thus offering a work with a very intimate finish. 

This Friday, August 27, Matthew Cardinal takes the stage at MUTEK. And he won’t be alone; visual and media artist Stephanie Kuse will present her projections during the concert, adding colour, texture and form to the music. The concert will take place at the 5th floor of Place-des-Arts in Montreal, 9:30 pm. In the meantime, PAN M 360 met with Matthew Cardinal to discuss the project.

PAN M 360: I read in an article that the songs on Asterisms were not all produced at the same time. Some of them were created two years ago, and some of them were created seven years ago! What took you so long? 

Matthew Cardinal: I wanted to make an album for quite a long time, but I was pretty busy with many other projects. So, most of the songs on the album were created… maybe two or three years prior to now? But yeah, the first track on the album, I created seven years ago…  She’s much older than the rest of them. And I just thought… it should go on there!

PAN M 360: Asterisms came out in October 2020, so just a few months prior to the arrival of the pandemic. Was is difficult to create and to produce during that weird period of time? 

Matthew Cardinal: It was strange, of course. When the album came out, I couldn’t really tour it or play shows for it, so I ended up doing some streams here and there, but you know, it’s not quite the same. I was lucky to be hired for various commissions and other things. But playing live was just impossible at the time. And it was kind of funny, I wanted the album to come out in February of 2020 and then everything happened… I think the label asked if I still wanted to release it and I was like, may as well, you know? 

PAN M 360: You originally were a member of the indie-rock band named Nêhiyawak. Now, you create electronic music for yourself first. What are the pros and cons of working alone? 

Matthew Cardinal: I’ve been playing solo for quite a long time, but there’s pros and cons for sure. I mean, playing alone can be… you don’t have to schedule band practices, you don’t have to ask others about decisions, so it’s easier in some ways. If anything goes wrong, it all falls on me! But I miss playing in the band, for sure. It’s fun to interact with your bandmates and you don’t feel lonely, so…

PAN M 360: What response, what emotion do you want to get from the people who listen to Asterisms? 

Matthew Cardinal: I would just love if people were to listen to it and feel… whatever they wanna feel. I think it’s up to the listeners. I want them to… take what they can from it. My album is really music made without any intention in some ways. They are pieces that felt good and… I just recorded them. Yeah, so… I just don’t want to tell people how to feel. 

PAN M 360: So there’s no storytelling intention in this project? No story to follow? 

Matthew Cardinal: Not quite, yeah. It’s a bit of a non-linear audio journal, if you will. They all are pieces that I made at various points of my life, so Asterisms is a record… of my life, in some ways? It’s a journal of sounds. 

PAN M 360:  You were nominated for the 2020 Juno Awards for Indigenous album of the year, and for the 2020 Polaris Music Prize long list. What did those nominations mean for you? Do you feel included in the electronic music scene? 

Matthew Cardinal: For one, it’s always nice to be nominated for awards. A lot of my friends were also nominated for the Polaris, so that was nice. And as for my inclusion… in some ways, yes? I feel like… (sigh)… I feel like I’m included in a couple different circles. I’m playing these experimental music festivals during summer, like I’m playing MUTEK and I did an ambient music festival in Victoria, in Winnipeg as well… So that’s cool, but I don’t know if I’m really in the electronic world, in a sense? But I’ve played shows for indie-rock fans, people that are into new music, like experimental stuff but it’s an interesting mix, to say the least. 

PAN M 360 : Are you satisfied with your media coverage ? 

Matthew Cardinal:  I talk to journalists every so often. I mean, it’s not a lot, but I’ll never complain about it. I’ll take what I can, for sure, but I’m not mad or anything that I don’t have interviews every single day. 

PAN M 360: For the people like me who don’t quite know the vocabulary or the instruments needed in the process of creating electronic music, can you guide us a little bit in what you used for the production of Asterisms? 

Matthew Cardinal: I used a lot of different things. Some of them are just guitars, some of them are with analog synthesizers, and a lot of pieces are based around the Moog for the lead sounds and the bass sounds… And then a lot of it is modular synthesizers… Basically, I work with customized synthesizers, and I created my own instruments to really get what I want from them. It grants me a lot of freedom.   

PAN M 360: You’ll be performing live at the MUTEK festival in Montreal. While you’ll be performing Asterisms, Stephanie Kuse, a visual artist, will be presenting her projections to illustrate your music. How did you meet her, and what pushed you to collaborate with her? 

Matthew Cardinal: Well, I met her through her partner, since I’m good friends with them. And she was already doing projections for other people, and I really liked what she was doing. And I wanted to do a show with projection, with visual art, for a while now. I think that kind of art can add to a performance. I like how it can be more… immersive, in a way. She was inspired by my own photography and she added her own flavour to it. Audio and visual together – it just makes sense. 

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