Profiles

Alex Cameron

Alex Cameron is the guy you don’t know yet, but has been observing you. He’s that outcast dark horse singing in a dimly lit Karaoke bar with the “golden pipes”. The one who seems shrouded in light with his deep baritone voice and off-beat showmanship; a welcome relief from the drunk who has sung the same AC/DC song poorly for the third time. He’s the guy in the corner drinking his drinks and memorizing your stories, craftily turning them into songs with the writing skills he picked up working as an investigator’s assistant.

Music Profile | MSTRKRFT

The old saying goes that you should never meet your heroes, since there's no way they can live up to your expectations. Maxims can be complete and utter bullshit though, and MSTRKRFT will tell you why. Though the production duo of Jesse Keeler and Alex “Al-P” Puodziukas has been relatively quiet over the last five years, they've just returned with Operator, a noise-spiked cycle of cranked-metabolism house beats, vintage keyboard sounds, and guest vocals from a few artists that helped shaped the Toronto duo's perceptions of punk back in the day.

Music Profile | Jay Arner

As many bands out there would attest, going on tour is not the same as going on vacation. Between the all-night drives, waiting around a dingy club for soundcheck, grabbing a frozen convenience store burrito with your measly per diem, and the dizzying sense of deja vu as you take on this exact scenario the next day, it's hard to consider band trips very relaxing. Vancouver power pop prince Jay Arner knows this all too well.

Music Profile | Head Wound City

Bands come and go all the time, but their impact can sometime last with listeners for years. Take, for instance, Head Wound City, the recently reunited post-hardcore supergroup comprising members of the Blood Brothers, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and the Locust. When the quintet took their first kick at the can in the mid '00s, they quickly recorded an EP, played one show, and then got back to their regular duties. It wasn't supposed to be that big of a deal.

Music Profile | Greys

Outer Heaven really does feel celestial with the more dreamy, atmospheric, noise sound that punk band Greys have created in this latest album. Outer Heaven is multi-faceted and textured while keeping to the band's roots that are tied to a heart of punk and noise. The album tells many different stories — raging against our apathy — from current events, to their own relationships and life experiences.

Music Profile | Dinner

There's a certain feeling that you only get in dreams, where things are familiar but somehow off. You're in your apartment, but your closet isn't where it usually is, and your kitchen is a whole lot nicer. You're at work, but work is in the Swiss Alps for some reason. The interesting thing about this phenomenon is that, without fail, these unfamiliar and unsettling changes are somehow comfortable in the realm of dreams. It's historical revisionism.

HEIDEMANN | Mining Her Own Malaise

Like many, Monika Heidemann is chronicling her day-to-day through social media, though, arguably, not many are seeing the world through the same lens. Considering she's the keyboard player for veteran dance project the Juan Maclean, her Instagram posts are documenting concerts she's performed around the world. They also showcase time spent at sandwich shops in Santiago, Chile, or getting to try out custom synths in Antwerp. Considering the sine wave-twisting sounds she's bringing to the Juan Maclean and her own HEIDEMANN solo project, the latter is the rarer treat.

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