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to all the volunteers! Anyone who did sound, worked the doors, pitched in, organized, alleviated stress, contributed, attended, enjoyed, etc etc etc. We love you. We appreciate you. And we couldn't have done it without you. This was huge and we pulled it off together due to a lot of people's hard work and cooperation!

We might keep posting here so check back for the afterglow. I feel like this year really had an expanded spontaneous atmosphere (parking lot shows! VLT room shows!) and also just a better cross section of the community and a lot more to offer. The zine fair was taken new level thanks to Anchor Archive stepping up to the plate! Hard Light's program was so much more diverse and expansive. I am pleased with everything and everybody. You did a great job.

Thanks!

MEDIA BLITZ - OBEY BEGINS TODAY!

DON'T DIS OBEY by Steven Cooke (*click the digg this button please)


Tyvek Feature in The Coast by Laura Kennis
Blasted History of Noise Live Sound Art Installation by Sue Carter Flinn
Cosmic Bubblgum Art Opening by Sue Carter Flinn

Okay. It's been fun blogging up a storm these past few weeks but I am leaving for tour now. I think the framework is in place for a wonderful & exciting weekend with a lot of fun to be had. Everyone rep a cool-dude-attitude.. THE OBEY CONVENTION NO.3 BEGINS TODAY!

AWESOME OBEY POSTER BY WALTER SCOTT

RSVP!

Poster by the eternally talented Walter Scott of the band DEAD WIFE. Check out his blog!

INTERVIEW WITH COSMIC BUBBLEGUM

Here are some full, unedited answers to questions asked by Sue at The Coast regarding my art show this Thursday at Lost & Found. I'm totally psyched to see ECT and Friendly Dimension perform at the opening. Be there! 7pm!

WHAT IS COSMIC BUBBLEGUM?

Cosmic Bubblegum is the name I used for graphic design and commissioned artwork from 2006 until 2009. 'For Your Pleasure,' the show at Lost & Found will be the first and only retrospective of that work. I am retiring from doing all hired art and design to focus on making music with a pop group called COSMETICS and a solo recording project called CERAMIC BLACK PANTHER. I'm also starting a business customizing vintage denim jackets with look-specialist Aja Robb - street gang style, totally tough. It's time to focus on those things.

I REALLY LOVE YOUR AESTHETIC. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE IT?

Cosmic, handmade, glamourous, tough, pop. (thanks sue!)

THERE'S DEFINITELY A VINTAGE APPEAL. DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF A NOSTALGIC PERSON?

Not at all.  Maybe some people think that because I do a lot of the work by hand, and downplay more obviously digital elements. I like the idosyncricities and imperfections that happen when you do things that way - even when you try to make them perfect, they're always a little off - it's more interesting to me.

I usually hate nostalgia. I like living right now and would prefer to romanticize the future as opposed to the past. One of the most boring, conservative  ideas is that something was better in the past, and that we need to recapture or recreate it - that's why so much rock'n'roll is boring now. 

I like borrowing from lots of  different eras and aesthetics, but I try to combine them into something personal, that looks like it isn't from any specific time. I want the things I create to seem like they come from no particular era or historical genre - but from outerspace, or a dream.

ARE YOU ALWAYS COLLECTING IMAGES FOR FUTURE USE? WHAT ARE YOU DRAWN TO?

Not anymore, since I am not doing this sort of work anymore. One of the reasons it isn't as interesting to me anymore is that I don't want to rely so much on found images - I want to create my own now. The supply of unused, cool images is drastically dwindling anyway... everyone has seen them already. It's like all the good obscure records - everyone knows about them now (that's not a bad thing).

Things I am drawn to include: disco record sleeves, Roxy Music, 70's fashion store Biba, mirror, metallics, black-on-black, my girlfriend, art deco, punk cut + paste, UK psychedelia, white fur, fake jewels, black silk stockings, eyes, lips, nice hair, heart-shaped sunglasses, dazzling patterns, interesting personalities, exciting music...

IT APPEARS LIKE YOU HAVE DEVELOPED YOUR OWN SET OF ICONOGRAPHY, E.G. CERTAIN PATTERNS, CIRCLES, FONTS. DID THOSE DEVELOP OVER TIME? DO YOU PICK UP NEW ONES AND ABANDON OLD ONES?

In everything I make, I really try to have it be a reflection of my inner world and personality, as opposed to any particular aesthetic genre or design trend. I've never tried to have a professional career doing this sort of work, for me it is a tool to construct my own reality - to build a world around myself that's exciting... the dreamworld I want to live in. 

Because of that, the work has defiantly have gone through different aesthetic phases. When I'm into something I just ride that train while it lasts, because something new always comes along.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN VANCOUVER?

I'm from Halifax, and I went to school at NSCAD. After that I lived in Montreal. I've been in Vancouver since late-2006. I want to live in Portland next.

GIANGANTIC NEW TYVEK INTERVIEW FROM CHLOE LUM

Montreal's Chloe Lum (Aids Wolf/Seripop) just posted a huge interview with Tyvek for the blog we write for: theeouternet. It's a good read. When you are finished with the new Tyvek interview look through the achieves, the blog has tons of contributors and interviews with Sightings, Six Finger Satellite, Nu Sensae, Graffiti Island and lots of record reviews and more more.

Also the band I posted about previously from Truro, Nova Scotia PIG have just posted new tracks from their next tape. Amazing leap forward. They will probably become your new favorite local band. Two new tracks 'I cut my honey' and 'Kim Deal's Demo Cassette' were posted yesterday. Take a listen to both they are quite different from each other.

Shirts & Bags

That good man Christian Simmons made us some cool shirts and bags...

interview with Françoise Provencher

Françoise Provencher has a Masters of Science in experimental condensed matter physics, and is currently studying digital music at Université de Montréal. Her short film, sous le microscope, is a animation made from magnified images of crystals using microscopy techniques. Sous le microscope will be screening as a part of Hard Light, a video event at the Khyber Centre for the Arts. You can find out more about the film here.

Explain the process for making this video.

I was looking at the growth of crystals with a microscope to understand their structure. I took a few photographs of the crystallization process to show my colleagues and they were stunned by the beauty of these images -- and so was I. So I returned to the microscope and took thousands of photographs that I assembled frame by frame to make this film. During this process, I met Albérick who offered to help me out with the soundtrack. So one evening we went to my lab with Pier-Emmanuel and we recorded various lab sounds, and another day P-E and I recorded the piano parts and the glockenspiel. I gave the film to Albérick and instructions about some musical cues, and he did all the magic.

What are we looking at under the microscope?

These are organic crystals, which means they are made from carbon based molecules. In this case, it's a perylene tetracarboxdiimide derivative. This stuff can self-assemble in various shapes and sizes -- spheres, feathers, needles...


What can art learn from science and vice versa?

I don't know if art can learn something from science, but artists can definitely learn from scientists and vice versa. Both disciplines strive to express something about the world (be it in the form of music or equations), and it needs a great deal of creativity and exploration to do so. Artists and scientists have a lot in common and should talk together more often.

What led you to study first science then music?

As a teenager I did both, but I had to decide between my two passions when I entered college. I figured that it would be easier to study science while doing music on the side than vice versa. During my physics studies in university, I took a few classes from the electroacoustic music curriculum "on the side", and I liked it so much I decided to take a break from science to work on music full time. Soon enough, I will be back in physics to pursue a PhD, and I plan to continue to go back and forth between science and music, and combine the two when I can.

Tell me a bit about the audio of sous le microscope, and about the people who made it.

The audio is a mixture of instrumental sounds (piano and toy glockenspiel), lab sounds and data sonification. Pier-Emmanuel Tremblay, a good friend of mine who is an astrophysicist by day and a pianist by night, did the recordings and played the piano. I'm very fond of his work; he recently released his first album "Pas assez (pour deux)" on walnut+locust, a label run by Albérick, aka .cut. Albérick is a post-rock and electronic musician, very active both in Montreal and France. His two main musical projects are The Montreal Nintendo Orkestar and .cut, hence the ".cut and friends".

Define:
natural : not man-made
art : expression
beauty : what strikes the human mind

What inspires you?

Nature, in it's widest definition (atoms, galaxies, trees, birds, etc...).

What are you working on now? Any upcoming projects?

I just finished an electroacoustic work entitle "Heiwa", which is about peace. Also, I plan to make a sequel to sous le microscope, but using different imaging techniques.

COSMETICS @ MUSIC WASTE

Promo pic for the MUSIC WASTE festival in Vancouver. Canadian weirdo fests have to have each other's backs. Looks like fun. Check it out.

Don't forget to RSVP to the show.

NEW 'GRAND TRINE' TRACK POSTED

We just put up a new track recorded for the upcoming split with Holy Cobras on Bruised Tongue.

GRAND TRINE 'MONOCHROMATIC YOUTH': posted here.

Plus we just found out the sold out 1st release 'Free All Psychic Centers' will soon be reissued digitally by Alien8 Recordings (home of Acid Mothers Temple, Merzbow, The Unicorns, Les Georges Leningrad etc).

We're pretty excited to visit Halifax. I can't wait to see some old friends & hang out. Thanks. See you soon!

Audio Visual Improvisation with Amanda Dawn Christie
Saturday May 23, 12PM-2PM @ North Street Church
Learn to improvise with visuals as well as with sounds! Work with 16mm film projectors, loops, prisms, and mirrors as an act of visual improvisation.
Intro to Electronics with Adam Kelly
Sunday May 24, 1pm @ Roberts Street Social Centre
Learn some basic electronics skills, including noise-making and circuit-bending.

Sound Recording with David Parker
Sunday May 24, 3pm @ Roberts Street Social Centre
Play around with a digital recorder and learn some tips for sound recording that can be used in a variety of ways, from creating artistic field recordings of sounds and spoken word, to doing interviews and creating radio content.

Improvisational Music with Garth Hardy
Monday May 25, 7pm @ Roberts Street Social Centre
Bring your instrument(s) of choice to a discussion about the state of improvised music, types of improv strategies for success, and doomed performances. Then workshop a score for a silent film to be performed.Friday May 29.

also check out the Crowd Control Sound & Art Fair
Sunday May 24, 1-5pm @ North Street Church
Tables selling records, zines, comics, screenprints, crafty things, and lots more …. Plus bands and performances!

COSMETICS - TUFF TRAX - PREVIEW MP3s

COSMETICS are always busy working on demos. We have a couple of releases planned for 2OO9 on the mysterious (even to us!) TUFF TRAX imprint.

Here are a couple of the recent versions of songs we're working on:

COSMETICS - HONEY HONEY (may 2OO9 demo > rough mixx)

MP3: http://www.sendspace.com/file/5u4oiy

COSMETICS - THE CRIES (may 2OO9 demo > rough mixx)

MP3: http://www.sendspace.com/file/xgnttr

XO

NIC + AJA

My Scores...

As I will be performing as a part of the zine fair, I thought I should include some information about myself. So, I have uploaded a couple pictures of my scores for you to peruse. I'll try and get some videos up in the next week as well.. stay tuned....
www.myspace.com/zacharyfairbrother

Truro's PIG will release a NEW tape at Obey No. 3

I got an email from the Truro band PIG last week asking me to design something for their new Cassette 'Elbow Witch' which they will be releasing at the METZ (Toronto, ON) show at North St Church May 23rd. This is what I came up with. Check out the band RIYL: Scratch Acid, Sonic Youth.

Read an interview with the band: JunnnkTank Webzine (PEI)

Watch them rip up a house party:

NEW ECT 7inch

Here is a picture of the new ECT split 7" with Reclusive Mute (Gary Flanagan). You can catch ECT (ex-Gilbert Switzer) w/ The Friendly Dimension (also ex-Gilbert Switzer) for FREE at the 'FOR YOUR PLEASURE' art opening at Lost and Found on May 21st. Take the money you would have spent on admission and pick up this new release and some art prints. And then tuck in early because it's going to be a long weekend.

interview with Leslie Supnet!

Leslie Supnet has been all over the place. This year she's screened at Toronto's Images Festival and her work was published in Walrus magazine. Come see Leslie's short video, The Animated Heavy Metal Parking Lot, at Hard Light on Saturday May 23rd! You can check out more of her work at www.sundaestories.com.



How did you find Heavy Metal Parking Lot? What drew you to it?

My partner Clint introduced me to it. He's quite the cinephile, so we watch a lot film and video together.

I have a lot of respect for creators who can make something out of nothing. You can have no budget, and lo-fi equipment, but the film itself can transcend the means of its production if the content is good enough. One example of that is Jeff Krulik and John Heyn's Heavy Metal Parking lot circa 1986. A great slice of life documentary.

What is your process for animation?

I did stop motion with paper cut outs, and shot it frame by frame with a digital SLR camera. The JPGs were then edited together.

What do you like about video as a medium?

What makes video interesting is its real-time aspect, and the errors you come across during the process.

Do you see a distinction between handmade and digital or commercial processes?

Yes. In terms of animation, most of the large commercial animation studios outsource the actual animating to smaller studios in Asia and India, as a "cost-effective" means of production. The slow, introspective, and rewarding artistic process of animation becomes meaningless.

Handmade, DIY processes, whether digital or analogue are much more meaningful and interesting modes of expression.

Why are you interested in working with the past?

I like to collect old things, especially old junk, vintage scrapbooks and other paper ephemera. So working with nostalgia has come naturally with the materials I am using.

How does nostalgia work? Why do certain things resound and stick with people?

I think a lot of kids in our generation are dissatisfied with the way the world is, both politically and culturally. One way to deal with that is through nostalgia - looking back at an idealized past. But nostalgia is only a temporary fix. Which is good, it forces us to become cultural producers of some kind.

Define:
happiness - Google Image Search.
art - Bruce Bickford!

What inspires you?

Awkward moments. Tragedy.

What are you up to? What's coming up next?

I'm working on a 16mm animated film. Animation is fairly new to me, and I've mostly worked digitally, so I'm excited to some analogue work. Back to the basics.

Film ((MUSIC)) Improvisation Workshop by Amanda Dawn Christie – May 24nd, North St. Church

Workshop participants will learn how to work with film projectors in non-traditional and improvisational methods for live performance. The first section of the workshop will involve familiarity with common modifications done to projectors (including the addition of potentiometers for speed control, rheostats for lamp intensity control, switches for fans [to burn film at will], and foot switches for power. Next, the participants will have a chance to experiment with optical manipulation of light through the use of prisms, mirrors, anamorphic lenses, optical difractors, among other devices. At first the participants will only work with white light from the projector, in order to get a sense for what each device does, and in order to get a feel for keeping the most simple possible image (a white square of light) interesting and active for as long as possible. Next the participants will begin to work with film loops and with each other. They will learn to identify and change film loops quickly in the dark. The last two hours of the session will be spent in improvisation jams, in which participants will improvise together with music for 20 minutes at a time and then stop to discuss what did and didn’t work, before moving on to the next jam session. An emphasis will be put on learning to listen with one’s eyes and on being sensitive to what else is going on in the space both visually and aurally. The workshop will culminate in a public performance with live musicians. www.amandadawnchristie.ca
(((Musicians and Film People register @ zacharyfairbrother@gmail.com with ‘workshop’ in title. Limited to 6 People!)))

TYVEK - ONE OF THIS YEAR'S HEADLINERS

MAY 23rd
Tyvek (Detroit)
Black Feelings (Montreal)
Grand Trine (Montreal)
Stolen Minks
The Ether
BHN Part 2
Khyber Ballroom 19+
10:30PM-2AM | $9 Door

Obviously rock and roll bands from the Motor City have a certain pedigree to live up to (see: Stooges, MC5, ? & The Mysterians, Alice Cooper, Frijid Pink). The current crop of Detroit bands: Tyvek, Frustrations, Fontana, Human Eye certainly do. People are getting pretty excited about the whole X!Records scene - and with good reason. I would say Tyvek are definitely leading the pack. I had a chance to see them twice in two days at last year's Pop Montreal festival with Vivian Girls. I don't think any other garage rock band I've seen live last year made me want to lose my shit that much. They have a new album coming out on Siltbreeze which is pretty exciting. Most people are holding out for the Vinyl because this is the year 2009 and compact discs are for dads.


They are also on this awesome comp which was just released. Here is the review that will be included in the next issue of Vice:



While the city of Detroit is busy reprising its role in RoboCop, all the gawky white kids from the suburbs have evidently teamed up with all the cool black kids to hang out in the rubble and start a bunch of bands that sound like Government Issue and Suburban Lawns and sometimes even, like, a really fuzzy AM-radio version of GISM. Judging by the photos on the back of this comp, marauders have already made off with all the scenefolk’s women, but that’s fine with me—nothing wrong with a bunch of guys getting together and reveling in their unabashed guyhood in a city with 50 percent literacy. Shit, I haven’t been this excited about a place turning into hell on Earth since I invaded Baghdad.

THE US ARMY


Here is another video of Euro-Tyvek (Euro lineup has keys)from last week:


The second headliner at the show at the Khyber Ballroom will be Montreal's Black Feelings. Who are dropping tracks they recorded with one of the dude's from Godspeed ! You Black Emperor left and right on 7inches, tapes, cdrs etc. They just got back from a tour in the United States. Their singer/drummer is flying home from tree planting (note: they are lovable enviro-heroes too!) just to do this week long tour and play Halifax. The band features ex- members of Les Angles Morts and the Arcade Fire(seriously). The sound is sort of post-apocalyptic-tribal-prog-pop if that makes any sense. Actually that makes it sound terrible but make no mistake Black Feelings are great.

Grand Trine I can't really talk about without it being a huge conflict of interest. But it's ex-Be Bad. When that band broke up we all went our separate ways and started new projects. So this is mine and I'm into it.

Opening the show we have great locals bands. No. 1 is the Stolen Minks who honestly I haven't seen in several years but I know at some point they became huge road-warriors touring constantly through the U.S and Canada and playing with the like of The Black Lips. I can remember their first shows oh so many years ago but I am excited to see them as seasoned veterans. I have tons of respect for any band from Halifax that gets in the van and puts the pedal to the metal.


(Photo by Paul Rodeo - I didn't ask for permission but I'm sure it's cool)

And then starting out the night is a Halifax band I am very anxious to check out. The Ether started a few months after I moved away, but I am told they are contenders for the Gilbert Switzer crown. I know they are putting out a release on Brett Wagg's Campaign For Infinity label soon, and they show how modern they are by offering their previous releases for free download on their myspace. They keep the No(w)-wave flame flickering for Halifax along with Electro Chiac Therapie after the collapse of Crazywave in '07.

Okay on top of all that everyone's favorite NSCAD nutty professor will be DJing with another installment of "BLASTED HISTORY OF NOISE". Craig Lenord released a LATHE CUT OF early demos of the L.A synth-punk legends THE (FUCKING) SCREAMERS a few years ago. Are you kidding me? This guy is so cool! He once converted his apartment into a movie theatre and held projection screenings of Blank Generation and the Dead Boys live in Toronto. There is a lot to talk about with Obey and with all the excitement of some of the other stuff I don't think we have had time to properly explain how awesome this gentleman and his DJing series will be. He will provide the official soundtrack of the festival.

Get excited. Get advance passes ($30 works out to less than $1 per band!). Tell your friends. Book time off work. This weekend is gigantic. R.S.V.P to this event on FACEBOOK.

Crowd Control Sound and Art Fair!

The Obey Convention presents ... a special celebration of DIY culture!
Sunday May 24th at the North Street Church, check out local and traveling record labels, zine makers, screen printers, and other talented folks. The fair is absolutely free to the public, and will include workshops, live music, and an audio/video zine listening booth.
The list so far includes Divorce Records, Birch Control, Anchor Archive Zine Library, Snapped in Half Records, White Elephant Buttons, Britney Spears: Black Metal Idol zine, wanderlust, CKDU-FM, Sublime Creatures, Retirement Records, Yo Rodeo, Hello Daylight and more!
Expect to see records, comics, zines, buttons, t-shirts, drawings, tapes, art pieces, screenprints, mix tapes, notebooks, screenprinted and sewn things, unique and crafty miscellany and lots more!
Tables are $15 and very limited. To book a table, please email crowdcontrolsoundandart@gmail.com.

The Ether - No Fun Sexy

The Ether are definitely one of Halifax's most exciting bands. Their highly energetic stage show is passionately confrontational and should not be missed! On their own they are some of the best people I have ever met and they even put out a record free for you to download, check it out!

No Fun Sexy

Omon Ra Performing Leonard Cohen's "The Old Revolution" + New Music Video