PUSH IT ISSUE 1:
PURSUIT GROOVES
PUSH IT This the first installation of a four part zine series. These independent publications are an attempt to help “fill the gaps” that are missing in the Canadian Music Centre’s archive. In my explorations of the archive, there seemed to be an absence of current experimental music, especially from artists whose work is rooted in diasporic cultural expressions. Further, the artists I have come across in the archive are predominantly white, cis, and male. While much of the work is interesting and inspiring in their own right, in a place like Canada, there has been a bounty of new experimental and forward thinking sonic works from Queer, BIPOC and Female artists that are largely unarchived. It is important that they be recognized in the Canadian music, electronic and experimental works canon. It is especially critical for current and future artists, as well as the public, to see these creators at work: to see Black, Brown, Asian, Queer and Female Folks using samplers, synthesizers, field recorders, turntables, and other hardware to compose meaningful and fascinating sound. Personally, seeing others who I can relate to, compose, create and play expressive sonic works, inspires me to do the same. I first met Pursuit Grooves in 2018 while I was participating in Canadian Music Centre’s EQ: Women In Electronic Music Program. She was a guest artist, sharing her creative processes and showing us her vintage Boss SP 505 samplers. She has three of this discontinued model which she used for production, touring and teaching. I was impressed with her patience for spending hours and hours fully listening through entire films on DVD, mining for samples to incorporate into her work. She liked martial arts, suspense and independent films that “let the action, scenery and characters speak”. In the late 90’s, she looked for hip-hop instrumentals on vinyl to sample drum sounds. “The films were more about finding and using every other type of sound to represent percussive and rhythmic elements.” Her music has a wealth of sonic textures, groove and emotion. She uses her synths and samplers as an extension of her being and is truly a beat master.
- april www.aliermo.com @2kulit2kuwit
on.cmccanada.org @cmcnational September 2021
Cover Image Courtesy of and Back Cover Art by Vanese Smith http://www.pursuitgrooves.com All Photos of Pursuit Grooves and Studio by a.Aliermo
Pursuit Grooves (Vanese Smith) Quietly but boldly, Vee is an outsider thinker. She is open and game for adventures in life and in her art. I caught up with her when she recently arrived back from her first Calgary Stampede and first extensive hike in the wilderness, which she says was tough but mostly amazing. When Vee talks, she emanates a glowing passion for experimenting in music and for sharing stories that she decisively feels need to be heard. She eagerly shows me images of pioneering Black Womyn from old copies of Ebony: a parachuter, a welder, a scientist, a speed skater, an equestrian. She emphasizes how incredible it is that this magazine celebrated achievements in Black excellence and her creative work needs to continue this thread. Her fervour is contagious and I am excited too.
“Based in Toronto, Canada, originally from the Washington, DC area, Pursuit Grooves (Vanese Smith) started producing music as a teenager to accompany the lyrics she was writing. She has been obsessed with sound ever since. She makes music that is sonically adventurous, oscillating between moments of jittery tension and silky release, producing chopped-up basslines, woozy cinematic melodies and improvisatory funk in order to create a beautiful balance of light and dark, fragility and toughness, seamlessly blending deep machine soul, dismantled hip-hop instrumentals and heavy hitting, genre-bending dub.” 2
In Conversation
1. What instruments do you use? Both past and present.
Artwork by Vanese Smith
I’ve always had a few hardware synths including a Juno 106, effects machines, a main hardware DAW (Logic) and laptop. Right now my base is an MPC Live; I also have a Microkorg which is a great small synth with amazing bass sounds and a Waldorf Blofeld synth. I played a bit of piano as a youth so I feel comfortable creating with keys and drum pads. I usually look for new sounds for every project, adding different textures to my library. I’m not huge on grabbing packaged sounds so I go through a variety of sources that are more fun and unique for me.
2. What guides your creative process? What is important to you when putting work out into the world? That it’s a fun challenge for me. I’m sure I have a sound that is “PG” but I try not to duplicate the previous album/project. Whether it’s thematic or style wise, I just like to challenge myself. But I usually build a new sound library to be inspired by, then the composition and titles.
3
3. Please tell us about your album Bess. When I discovered the story of Bessie Coleman, the first Black and Indigeneous woman to hold a professional pilot’s license in 1922, I knew I wanted to make an album about her. She was a stunt pilot during a time where you just didn’t see women at all in the field. She had no mentors who looked like her, yet she continued to push the doors to reach her goals. Even if that meant studying in France.
4
4. Please tell us about your track Aviatrix. Aviatrix was the name a number of articles referred to Bessie Coleman by. I created a track that felt like movement in the sky, a soundtrack of sorts. Cruising or gliding in the air. Recreating the feeling of independence and power of being a pilot. 5. Please tell us about your track Checkerboard Airdrome. I did a voiceover recreating one of Bessie Coleman’s promo flyers from 1922 for this track. I thought it’d be a fitting way to introduce her story, the album and the narrative interludes that were to follow. 6. Do you have any upcoming projects you can tell us about? What you are excited about them? I’m working on a group album with poet Britta.B for our new group Cowrie. It is my first project with a poet. I also have a big multi-media project called Ebony Pioneers, highlighting unsung Black Women trailblazers from the 60s and 70s in the works. Ebony Pioneers celebrates brave and talented women whose stories need to be reignited and shared. I like to use the past to encourage and inspire the future creators and innovators who may or may not have mentors or visible examples of what’s possible. Top: Aviatrix Below: Checkerboard Airdrome 5
7. Is there anything else you would like to share about your work? I am a pure creator who likes to work on things that inspire me. That can come out in so many ways / art forms. I have no idea what I will be inspired by next but I’m looking forward to it! My ultimate goal at this stage is really to share stories and educate / inspire others.