Flesh & Bone Vol. 21

FLESH & BONE

in the pursuit of artistic passion

vol 21

COMRADES - KATE DOMINA - MY IRON LUNG - KELSEY OSEID - GLENEAGLE

hover & click names for portfolios

INQUIRIES & SUBMISSIONS

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WEBSITE

fleshbonemagazine.com

FACEBOOK

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FLESH & BONE M A G A Z I N E

V O L . 2 0

F l e sh & B o n e M agazin e is a bi-m on th ly c re ativ e ar ts p u b l i c a t i o n p ro d u c e d by ar tists wh o are c on stan tly i n sp i re d b y o t h e r ar tists. O u r goal is to sh are an d i n t ro d u c e o t h e r p e ople wh o are in te re ste d in ar t or i n t h e p u rs u i t o f ar t to oth e r c re ativ e in div idu als.

E a c h i ssu e h i g h l igh ts ar tists of an y ar tistic m e diu m , wh o t h e y a re , wh at th e y do, an d th e ir v ie w poin ts on t h e c o n si s te n t l y growin g ar tistic m ov e m e n t.

T H E T E AM FOUNDER / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Brandynn L. Pope

COPY EDITOR

Donald Kimber

DESIGN & LAYOUT

Brandynn L. Pope

COVER PHOTO

Brandynn L. Pope

WRITING TEAM

Ashley Atlus Donald Kimber Brandynn L. Pope James Liam Ward

PHOTOGRAPHY TEAM

Ashley Atlus Brandynn L. Pope Brittney Tambeau

September & October LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Wow! What a jam-packed issue. Building everything for this issue over the last few months has filled me with so much joy. We have so many brilliant artists of different genres and mediums and being able to share so many of them at once is very exciting for me. I feel like while it is also a large issue it is also one of my more intimate volumes. I’ve worked close and personally with a lot of these artists at different times in my life and somehow it happened that they all came together under this particular umbrella.

What you may have also noticed is that we are starting to bring back artists from previous issues. Now we can see what those artists are up to since we first shared them! Returning to artists and seeing their progress is a really great thing and I think it’s important to show off the persistence of those brilliant people.

I’m very excited for everyone who is being shared in this issue and I honestly feel the progression in the content that we are giving out to you, the readers, every volume that is published.

There is only more room to grow!

BRANDYNN

BRANDYNN L. POPE FOUNDER / EDITOR

Consistently inspired by every one and every visual that passes by, Brandynn decided to create a magazine that shows off the little bits of beautiful inside of an often chaotic world. She has her Bachelors in Design & Photography and uses it to consistently push for more photographic work, often working with musicians and occupying every waking moment she can spare. Besides horror movies, Pokémon and wood burning, her job is her greatest interest, allowing it to finance her addiction for tea and coffee.

DONALD KIMBER

COPY EDITOR / WRITER

Finding his greatest passion in poetry, Donald is working towards his Masters in Literature. He is a beautiful and critical writer with experiences in the most desolate of locations as well as the busier of cities. When Donald isn’t writing or working towards his Masters he is busy playing video games or hanging out with his cats, enjoying the simple experiences of life.

JAMES LIAM WARD WRITER

James describes himself as a twenty-one year old nerd who obsesses over things such as Pokémon, and 1980s era horror movies. His primary obsession, though, is music. Listening to music, creating music, he loves it all, but ever since joining Flesh & Bone Magazine he has also found a new love for critiquing it. He respects all artists and genres, regardless of if his thoughts are critical and often not always the most “respectful” and tries to approach every project with an open mind. Typically, he will find himself gravitating towards the unique, the macabre, and the “totally whacked out” – while also still bumping the Beibs when no one else is around.

ASHLEY ATLUS PHOTOGRAPHER

Ashley is a storyteller who uses photography, video, text and code in order to bring her story to life. She has a deep passion for photography, specifically in live music where she waits for that perfect decisive moment in order to capture the mood of the event. It was at the Medill School of Journalism of Northwestern University where she received her Masters Degree in journalism and now finds herself photographing and writing for Flesh & Bone Magazine.

BRITTNEY TAMBEAU PHOTOGRAPHER

Fun loving and food loving, Brittney is an experienced photographer and graphic designer from the East Coast. She has found a way to mend together her love for music and adventure with her talents in photography. Now she is a part of the Flesh & Bone team documenting the moments of other artists and sharing the true experience of an event through her photographs.

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CONTENTS 08

Readers Submissions

10

Revisited: Andre Kan

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Albums In Review

James Liam Ward

GA L L E R I E S & R E VI E WS 14 X-Fest

Review & Photographs | Brandynn L. Pope

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Beartooth & Every Time I Die

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Straight Outta Hell Tour

Gallery | Ashley Atlus

Review & Gallery | Ashley Atlus

A R T I C LE S 22

Glenn Thomson

26

My Iron Lung

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Kate Domina

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Plaid Brixx

36

Kelsey Oseid

Interview | Brandynn L. Pope Interview | Brandynn L. Pope Interview | Brandynn L. Pope Interview | Brandynn L. Pope Interview | Brandynn L. Pope

42 Gleneagle

Interview & Photography | Brandynn L. Pope

46 Comrades

Interview | Brandynn L. Pope

EERIE AUTUMN

4

DARKFIELD Caspian

4

EIGHTEEN Joyce Manor

4

ESCAPE The Devil Wears Prada

4

WARDENCLYFFE S U R V I V E

4

DARK TONGUES PT II Comrades

4

NEW HALLOWEEN Touché Amoré

4

IRON MOON Chelsea Wolfe

4

8 (CIRCLE) Bon Iver

4

POSTCARD Balance and Composure

4

REALLY DOE Danny Brown (ft. Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, Earl Sweatshirt)

4

FOREVER HALLOWEEN The Maine

4

SQUARE HAMMER Ghost

4

ALL THE COLOURS OF THE DARK Marissa Nadler

4

THIS SONG IS DEDICATED TO NOBODY Boston Manor

4

THE MONSTER From Indian Lakes

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DEATHLESS Moving Mountains

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IN THIS WORLD (MURDER) Good Charlotte

4

GLORIA The Dear Hunter

Andre K an REVISITED

On June 5th, 2014, Flesh & Bone released its first volume. Now over two years later we are looking back to some of the artists that were once featured in our magazine and checking in to see where they are now. Like how this magazine has grown, so have these artists. Being the first person to be a part of this feature is the talented, Andre Kan, who was in our very first volume.

Since then the Canadian artist has expanded his art even further, bringing it to life three-dimensionally, collaborating with different artists, and using new pallets while maintaining that style that has always been closest to his heart.

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What were your main artistic priorities over the last two years?

My main priority over the last two years was to create as much new work as I could!

I’ve been obsessed with being able to adapt my body of work further than just conventional painting on canvas. I’ve been dipping my fingers in sculpture/installation work, and murals more too so it’s really interesting seeing the work translate within different mediums.

What different accomplishments and projects have you completed?

Over the past two years I’ve been absolutely blessed with being able to accomplish a few notable projects, including an installation with Clarks Shoes in their store in Toronto last october. I’ve also painted a few painted traffic boxes permanently situated outside the Toronto Eaton Center, The Maple Leaf Gardens, and Humber College.

I’m always working on a few commissioned murals and art exhibits.

I did an art collaboration with TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) and Grolsh Brewery last july, a beer label with Collective Arts Brewing (which was awesome), my first solo exhibition, “The View From Here” was last november at Gallery 50 which was also super fun, and this past February I was fortunate enough to been selected as one of ten UNTAPPED Emerging Artists at The Artist Project Contemporary Art Fair so I got a free booth!

There’s a few I’m forgetting thats for sure, but the past two years has been quite an adventure.

How has your style developed over the last two years?

I think the newer stuff is a lot more focused.

A little more minimal, but there’s a stronger dialogue with urban development, and what exactly constitutes as this “architectural playscape”. I’ve been portraying for a few years now. It’s almost like taking a crop of one of my older ‘more abstract’ paintings, and doing an investigation on my past mark makings. Why I did it, what was I thinking at the time, and what new structural possibilities could come out.

Do you still find yourself inspired by 7/11 Coffee and Pizza? Is there any new element of inspiration for you?

Is there anything that you are now critical of looking back at some of your older work?

Definitely still 7/11 Coffee and Pizza but I’d say cartoons would be a new element of inspiration. I think because a lot of my work is so labour intensive, I end up going through a million records and a million tv shows.

Recently I’ve started putting on cartoon shows more for background noise. Visiting nostalgia you could say haha but little did I know cartoons like Hey Arnold, Bobs Burgers, Dilbert, even more current shows like Archer or Bojack Horseman have been inspiring my stuff in terms of colour palette, and subject matter.

Yes tons. I’m pretty critical with myself to be honest and a lot of the times I’m always wishing my pieces could be better. But however, for what my older work was, and done during the mindset I was in at the time, I’m pretty happy with how things turned out, and what it’s now grown too.

X - FEST W E B S I T E - FA C E B O O K

After the previous year of X Fest being cancelled there was a tension as the clouds passed over the city of Calgary.

People joked of the festival being shut down once again, having to convoy up to Edmonton for the sister festival, Sonic Boom. But while those clouds ominously crawled across the sky, they seemed to simply circle the grounds and not a drop of rain reached the stage of the festival. The weather already was setting them up for a success.

For anyone that had previously attended the festival, they were surprised by the new gate doors and the general set up of the stage and festival grounds. Everything felt organized and on purpose, where even if it had rained over the course of two days it would be able to go on without a problem. The most dedicated of fans were already lined up against the barricade, camping out their spot for the day and requesting water from the security guards.

As the first day went on there was a gradual build of more and more people making their way from their hammocks to their feet, solidifying a place for the final acts. By the time that the Arkells hit the stage there was a swarm of people excitedly shouting back lyrics or chiming in to the most “sing along” of songs. Being the most energetic band of the day the Arkells stood out as a perfect warm up for the last two acts, Vance Joy and the Lumineers. Going from a full band to a single man and his guitar the most eager of Vance Joy’s fans swooned at his performance, knowing each song be was going to play before he was even done describing its origins. Once he started strumming out his most famous of songs, “Riptide” the entire park chimed along. There was no movement once Vance Joy finished his set. Everyone was ready to listen to and participate with the Lumineers.

Their set up was simple and full of folky quirks. There was a

TWENTY ONE PILOTS

T O P L E F T T O B O T T O M R I G H T: A R K E L L S , J U LY T A L K , J A K E B U G G , B A N N E R S , V A N C E J O Y , L U M I N E E R S , Z E L L A D A Y , M O D E R N S P A C E

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HALSEY

stage hoping to get the best view for their favourite band.

Once they had finally started everyone erupted into screams, singing along to every single word that was uttered. Just as they are known for, the duo showed off their theatrics and entertained the crowd with their own antics rather than using large light and smoke shows.

Drummer, Josh Dunn, did his back flips and vocalist, The second day of X Fest there was a shift in the Tyler Joseph, jumped off of his piano as well as made types of people in the crowd. Where the first day felt his way to the crowd. They continuously played with relaxed, the second one there were a lot of children and the crowd, surfing right next to the barricade and rolling teenagers pushed up against the barricades, dedicating around on the hands of fans in a plastic ball. Known for themselves to it until the festivals conclusion. Fans of being a climber, Joseph climbed the top of the sound Twenty One Pilots were dressed in merchandise as well tent at the end of their emotionally driven track, “Car as face paint showing off their love for the band. Though Radio,” ripping off his ski mask and exposing himself to the second day was a lot colder the energy filled up the the crowd before finding himself back on stage for their park. A personal highlight was the strength in woman closing track, “Trees.” As a finale the duo climbed onto performers throughout the day. Specifically, The Naked the crowd together, each with their own bass drum, and and Famous and July Talk demanded attention putting hitting it along to the final beat of “Trees.” Smoke canons on stellar performances along with the musical show. The went off in final goodbyes as the track, and festival, came stage set up stacked up for Halsey with smoke canons, to a close. The crowd desperately called out for more but and large light screens. She revealed herself from the with the festival shutting down it was time for the band to top of the screen and walked her way down onto the allow the workers to tear down their set. main part of the stage. Once the chorus of her first track, As the crowd pulled away from the stage you could hear “Gasoline”, kicked in, four fire bursts went off from the them chirping to one another about how amazing the set front of the stage. The visuals of her show were brilliant, was, how they still desired to enjoy more of the festival. filling up the space and enabling her to walk around in Many of them going off on how Twenty One Pilots was a way that made everything seem busier. One thing the best way to end the weekend of X-Fest. Best of all, that took the crowd by surprise was her performance not a single drop of rain found its way to the grounds of the full track “Closer” which she featured on with the being just one more win to the success of the festival.

Chainsmokers. Even with this addition to her set list, Now everyone is wondering how next year will be able to Halsey still finished her set early, leaving nearly an hour top 2016. of time before the highly anticipated, Twenty One Pilots, would begin their set. More kids pulled in closer to the great feeling of community as the group started up. They showed off wholesome fun, inviting the crowd to share the moment with them and disregard their mobile devices for the rest of the show. The Lumineers took everyone through a comforting set all the way to the end of the night.

BEARTOOTH A S H L E Y AT L U S

OLD WOUNDS A S H L E Y AT L U S

SUICIDE SILENCE

S traight Out ta H e ll Tou r SUICIDE SILENCE

OCEANO

CARNIFEX

WHITE CHAPEL

WHITECHAPEL

Co-headlining with Suicide Silence on the Straight Outta Hell Tour, Whitechapel made fans jump, mosh and simply enjoy their incredible stage show. Instead of the usual flood of crowd surfers, the entire crowd moshed with a sense of comradery. Without ever having to command the crowd to make a circle pit or a wall of death like many frontmen do, the crowd automatically conformed to these classic metal show antics. Frontman, Phil Bozeman, occasionally energized the crowd saying things such as, “ I want my ears to hurt,” but the band’s stage presence already commanded the attention of the room. Even those standing way outside the depths of the pit were jumping and screaming along to every song. Whitechapel held down the crowd with undeniable charisma and a light show thoughtfully filled with strobe lights and bursts of color and a set list filled with songs from the archive as well as new favorites from their most recent release Mark of the Blade. ​

Glenn Thoms o n FA C E B O O K - I N S TA G R A M My name is Glenn Thomson, I am a geometric/visionary artist from Calgary, Alberta. I’ve been practicing my artwork for 2.5 years.

Do you have any formal artistic training?

Aside from high-school art class, I’m self taught. It’s a blessing though, as it’s helped me develop my own style and technique.

You have stated that your artwork is meant to be a balance of nature and the divinity within human consciousness. Is there any way for you to expand on these thoughts?

As humans, we’re intrinsically beings of nature. The same forces that created the mountains, forests, and cosmos created each and all of us - I find that to be an empowering, yet humbling realization. With that in mind, creativity and consciousness are therefore an extension of the same natural creative forces. Artistic expression is universal expression. Without evoking any religious connotations, I believe there is a deep wisdom and divinity inherent in consciousness itself.

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When and how were you first introduced to sacred geometry? What most attracted you to it, and made you want to further explore using it?

I first learned about sacred geometry online in 2012.

The concept seemed abstract at first, but gradually its profoundness dawned on me. Sacred geometry just really aligned with my way of thinking.

The intuitive flawlessness of the patterns, their ubiquity in nature and it’s connection with music & harmonics - it’s a meditation in itself. The more you understand, the more is revealed. It makes sense to me that sacred geometry is the blueprint of reality.

How long does it typically take you to finish one of your drawings? How did you come to decide that you wanted to do it all handdrawn rather than using digital processing or using mirror techniques?

The small/medium mandala pieces usually take me 1-3 days, while the full-page scenes take anywhere from four days to a week. I use a compass, circle stencil, ruler and pen to create my work.

There’s a particular flow I’ve learned drawing these patterns by hand, and it’s helped me understand them on a deeper level. The possibilities just a pen and compass present are pretty extraordinary. Drawing by hand gives every line, dot and pen stroke intention, as well as a human element. Experimenting with digital processors has accelerated my artistic growth, but working traditionally provides me with the most ideal mind flow.

Do you think that your work will remain small and intimate or is there another medium that you want to explore?

The scale that I work on enables me to finish pieces relatively quickly, while still allowing clean intricacies.

The intimate nature of my work flow is definitely part of the creation experience. Although black pen on paper has become my preferred creative expression, I would really love to branch out into tattooing and translate my work onto skin.

What accomplishments has your artwork created for you that you are particularly proud of?

I’m constantly amazed at how creating this work has changed my life. It’s truly beautiful to see my work connect with the number of people that it has. The tremendous support from the visionary art community online has been a powerful motivation. I’m grateful to have connected with so many artists, creatives, and musicians that I really look up to. It’s special when those that inspire you are in turn inspired by you. I look to the future with bright eyes.

M y I ro n L u n g FA C E B O O K - W E B S I T E - I N S TA G R A M

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For a little over a year now you could find the band My Iron Lung on multiple tour posters as support for acts such as Hail The Sun, Comeback Kid, Hundredth, and Silverstein to name a few. On August 5th the band has released their newest album Learn To Leave while on their tour with Sianvar. While touring the new album we were able to catch up with vocalist and guitarist, Matthew Fitzpatrick, and discuss Learn To Leave as well as what will come next.

In 2011 Matthew Fitzpatrick helped start My Iron Lung.

Growing up in a small town outside of San Diego he became aware of the slower, somewhat uneventful, place and found that it forced him into becoming more of a creative individual. This background has surfaced inspiration from personal events as well as those of the people around him. When asked about the lyrical content Fitzpatrick stated that he believes his lyrics “have covered a range of topics such as divorce, alcoholism, addiction, depression, and personal growth.” He continues to state that he is “passionate about people being bold, strong people that aren’t afraid to be a leader and do things first before anyone else does. I’m passionate about individuals caring for themselves and positive things to focus on about themselves.”

Dark themes, such as these, have made an appearance on the bands album Learn To Leave. This record became the first one where they have a titled track. The song came first and as the group started looking over the album as a whole they came to the realization that it could umbrella over the rest of the tracks. Over all, the record took about a year to create with the writing process taking over approximately ten months of that time. Everything that they did over this time was done naturally, never pushing too far in any predetermined direction or genre to which Fitzpatrick comments, “We’re all just musicians that really appreciate art and the process of making it, we

all find inspiration in many different artistic outlets. Certain things like adding singing to select tracks were definitely a conscious choice but it came out of necessity.” Guitarist, Anays Torres features their vocals over certain tracks, doing something a little new and different for the band.

Working with Matt McClellan at Glow In The Dark Studios the group was able to explore and experiment a little bit more on each song that they created.

Beyond the music the band has a strong design presence. A lot of this has to do with Fitzpatrick’s roll in design as well as their ability to forfeit artistry to others. My Iron Lung itself has become an art project in itself beyond the music. One that Fitzpatrick comments that anyone can participate in continuing, “I think it all gives us a place to express ourselves and come up with new ideas that are exciting to us.” Even with music videos the band gives up creative control to the directors of the video. From there the video becomes an interpretation of whatever the director saw in it, regardless of if it is not what the members would have considered. This, Fitzpatrick states, is why he considers videos to be their own artistic creation outside of the song itself.

The band has no intention to stop, bringing themselves to tour the majority of the upcoming month, including their West Coast tour in June with Hail the Sun. They anticipate hitting up multiple countries that they previously have not been able to venture to with Learn to Leave. “We plan on touring off of the record for the majority of next year and maybe releasing a few more videos for songs off of Learn to Leave.” Though nothing is stuck in stone for the band they do desire to travel and tour through countries they previously had never been to, especially to share the new work that they are so proud of. Now it is just a matter of waiting to see what they will be announcing in the coming weeks and months. There is a lot to look out for with My Iron Lung.

Ka te Domin a F I G U R AT I V E P A I N T E R W E B S I T E - FA C E B O O K - I N S TA G R A M

Kate Domina is a Toronto based figurative painter. Using children and adolescents as her subjects, she incorporates classical representational oil painting techniques with whimsical and often ambiguous narratives. Her critical theory fixation (Lacan, Freud and Jung specifically) weaves it’s way into her work, evolving her portraits into studies of human frailty, and often, neurosis. Domina has training from the University of Toronto, Sheridan College and Ontario College of Art and Design.

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Though you are currently in Toronto is this where you were born and raised? Would you say that the city has directly affected your vision and what you create?

I grew up in Etobicoke, a very working class suburb just outside of Toronto, where practicing artists were unicorns- they didn’t exist. I fantasized about it growing up, but never rationalized it to be a realistic goal. When I moved to Toronto at age 19, I discovered that the art community I envisioned growing up, was not only a reality, it was thriving. I moved into an old furniture factory loft space with a brilliant artist who showed me how to live the dream, and I never looked back. If it wasn’t for the ingenuity of Toronto’s creative community, I would be sitting behind a desk from 9-5 always wondering what if.

You have a lot of background in artistic education. What made you decide to follow suit and choose this specific education?

What were some of the pros and cons in this form of education? Do you feel that there is an importance to be informed in art history before creating something?

I spent 7 years as a full time post secondary student, at 3 different universities/ colleges. My mind works in such a lateral sense that it wasn’t even a conscious choice to approach my schooling with a kind of anarchy when it comes to course loads and curriculums. I just spent that time taking diverse courses that provoked me, and would help shape my own perspective, and inevitably my own artistic “voice’ would organically form. Which it did.

Pursuing child development, critical theory, the art Dutch masters ect. have all shaped my artistic practice and, I hope, brought authenticity to what I create.

You asked about a con of my education path- the only academic acknowledgment I have after 7 years is the work I produce. But being able to paint my own world and study my passions every day is a pretty good substitute for a piece of paper. So, no, as long as we don’t look back at my student loan bills, no regrets lol.

What kind of materials do you find yourself using the most? What about them attracts you to using them?

I choose oil paint because it can stay wet on the canvas for weeks. Its more playful. I love the juiciness of working with thick wet paint and knowing that the following morning I can still manipulate every layer until Im happy with the result. Like everything in my life, the process is my happy place.

You are very vocal about your vision of using children for the purpose of juxtaposition. Are there specific themes that you are most passionate about? What kind of ideas do you find are easier to get across using the imagery of youth?

I think when it comes to understanding the human condition, children are beacons. They are purer humans in the sense that they are driven by instinct and not yet as conditioned or uniform as us. The dichotomy of them being more vulnerable and “pure” mixed with the animalistic, darker nature of being a Machiavellian creature is what fascinates me. It is also a great way to connect with others; we were all strange little beings.

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Is there a specific message you like people to take away from your art work?

My message is always based on the power of authenticity.

To find the unconditioned child in you- what makes you different from everyone else and gives your life purpose- to find that and let your freak flag fly. I truly believe that is the answer to having a meaningful and fulfilling relationship with the world, and yourself.

You also use a lot of animals and floral arrangements in your work. What do you find is the importance behind these features? What other sorts of motifs do you enjoy adding in to your paintings?

I like personifying relationships between nature and humans.

Especially within our Y2K generation, we are straying far from what constitutes a balanced, happy life. Its easy to forget we are animals with simple organic needs.

Is there anything that you want to try out with your art work? What kind of projects are you hoping to work on now?

I am in the process of going to Spain to start large scale building sides of my art. I like the idea of imposing my giant 6 story children within different environments.

Plaid Brix x FA C E B O O K - W E B S I T E -

I N S TA G R A M

“ H i , I ’ m C h r i s D u g g a n , t h e s i n g e r, guitarist, writer and sometimes producer for the band. I’m from Columbus, Ohio and I love it here (during the snowless months). I write songs and produce tracks every day and I have been making music for almost twenty years. I like listening to classical music and film scores in my free time, which is odd (at least to me) because I am obsessed with making pop music.”

How long was the process to create this EP? It was a long and arduous two-year process that involved many growing pains and sending about 2 albums worth of songs to the graveyard. It all came together about a year ago though when I started going out to LA to write with established producers and songwriters. They taught me so much, and I think together we came up with an incredible EP that I am extremely proud of.

Have their been certain songs that you have been holding onto for a while now before the release?

The amount of songs I am holding onto right now is staggering! We whipped up 5 fresh for the EP in LA, but I am sitting on maybe 50+ completely written songs right now. It feels good, and I keep coming up with newer and better versions of them over time, so maybe it’s a good thing to let them keep percolating. I don’t want to say too much, but I think we will be tapping into my inventory of songs very soon!

Do you ever find yourself growing impatient with keeping songs in hiding until the day of a full release?

I find it to be extremely frustrating. It took almost a YEAR to release the new EP after the songs were written! We wanted to make sure we didn’t rush into releasing it so that we could really market it properly and proceed with caution!

There was a lot of planning and then there was more planning and then oh there was planning.

How do you deal with this frustration?

By working on videos and material to support the releases and by writing more songs. Also, you might find it interesting to know that I am extremely neurotic about demos getting out. I let like 3 people access the soundcloud where I keep my working demos and I make sure they can’t download anything. Someone recently asked me if they could have access to it and they looked at me like I was wearing a tin foil hat when I said I didn’t want anything getting out or leaking!

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Is there a particular track you were excited about and to finally share?

I am really proud of “Don’t Look Down” on the new EP – toplined it by myself (it helped that the producers cranked out a sick beat for me to write to!!!) and I think it’s a great tune.

This new EP is a lot more pop influences.

What made you guys decide to change it up and head in this direction?

I have always loved pop music, and it was a natural evolution for us as a band. I also don’t necessarily think the change is permanent – we intend to always mix it up as time goes by to keep fans and ourselves from getting complacent or bored. We may go back to a more rock song for a single or an album or whatever in the future! I like keeping our genre fluid.

What kind of discussion did you have that led up to this final decision?

None whatsoever. Music started becoming more and more poppy based on what I’ve been listening to over the past few years.

Are there any specific influences that inspired the different tracks to have this kind of edge to them?

I think we live in a post-1989 world—the T. Swift album-obviously we live in a post 1989AD world. That record was so heavy that I think it influenced the entire course of music after it, including ours. I am also in love with alt-pop artists like Grimes and Alt-J.

You have described this as a new “evolution” of sound. Why do you find that this word is most fitting?

Because it implies that we have grown in a positive way.

Grown as writers, performers, overall musicians, and as people.

Often fans have troubles seeing the change and the cycles that artists take in their career time. To them what do you try to explain?

We haven’t had anyone complain yet, but if we did have a fan who was upset about our change from rock to full on pop, I would tell them “I’m just trying to find my way in the world and this is where my path has taken me, so sorry!”

I understand why they might be disappointed if they love our old genre, but I feel really good about the changes we have made and hope they would understand that I am producing the best music that I can.

What do you find yourself writing about more often than anything else?

Females.

Are there certain themes you find yourself revolving around?

Love and relationships are such a pleasure for me to write about. I try not to make it too sappy though! I also like to write about “winning.” “Away We Go” falls into this category, so listen to that song and you will know what I mean!

Now that the EP is released what plans are set up for the Plaid Brixx?

We have more videos coming out soon! And in addition we have plans to release new music more quickly than we have been doing up to now. Thanks for the great interview questions!

Ke ls e y Ose id W E B S I T E - I N S TA G R A M -

TWITTER

Kelsey Oseid (also known as Kelzuki) is an illustrator from Minneapolis, Minnesota who works in traditional medias in order t o c r e a t e p l a y f u l , f o l k s y, a n d v i n t a g e inspired illustrations and objects. As seen in her artwork, she is fascinated by nature, animals, plants and flowers.

She wishes to bring together her love of children, adults and natural history with the nature and animals illustrations and publish them into informative books.

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Are you formally educated or are you self taught with all the materials that you used?

I have a degree in Visual Communications from Loyola University Chicago, which is kind of a mix of graphic design and fine art. I also have taken art classes ever since I was a little kid, and my dad taught me how to paint with watercolors when I was young. So I’ve had a lot of formal and informal education! I didn’t start experimenting with gouache, my medium of choice, until after I graduated college though.

How did your style come to develop in the way that it is today? How would you describe your style?

I’ve always loved folk art, but also natural history. I made a lot of folk-art-inspired work early in my time as an illustrator, and I think that helped me develop a kind of whimsical style, so now that I’m illustrating more science-based natural history subjects, I have a kind of combination of that whimsical look with some slightly more realistic rendering too. Although my work overall is still pretty stylized.

Do you feel like your illustrations are largely inspired by the topic of conservation? How much research behind the creatures you paint and including them into those specific collections?

I do as much research on the animals for my daily projects as I have time for. I absolutely love watching nature documentaries and reading about wildlife. The more I learn, the more I want to create! Wish there were more hours in a day!

In the past you have donated money from your work to WWF International. Is this still something that you do?

I was lucky to host a fundraiser on my social media to raise money for the WWF, inspired by the news that the Vaquita was about to go extinct. I hope to do more fundraising in the future, as I really believe in the importance of holistic species conservation.

Is there a collection of animals that you still want to illustrate or are working towards?

I’ll be continuing my daily animal project through the end of 2016. After that, I’ll absolutely keep illustrating animals and wildlife. I’d like to branch out into a different format, maybe exploring different biomes of the world, or extinct animals, or or or...

In addition to your prints you also have painted on handcrafted wooden spoons.

How did this collaboration between you and your husband come to be?

The vast majority of your work revolves around living creatures. What is it about the animals and insects that you are so attracted to?

I love science and nature. Learning about them is how I feel connected to the world around me. And nature holds no end of beautiful, mysterious, and complicated beings.

It’s a great source of content.

What made you decide to put them in their contact sheets as an illustrative collection?

When I started learning about taxonomic groups, it just made sense. It’s fun to see collections of things all in one place! Plus, I wanted to be able to offer prints for sale of the project I was doing, but since I was creating a new piece every day, prints of the individual pieces would have been unwieldy! So the contact sheet style just seemed like a nice way to collect the whole thing into a clean, reproducible format that still felt authentic to the project.

My husband Nick does a style of woodworking called “green woodworking,” where he uses only unseasoned wood to carve things like spoons and bowls and chair legs. He uses hand-tools exclusively, too. He’s always making something in our living room, and I’m always making something in our living room- it just made sense that we would collaborate on a little project eventually!

How did you find painting on this medium differed from a flat illustrative platform?

I have to use a different type of gouache than I use on paper, which is a little more technically difficult for me.

So I wind up using flatter shapes and less detail, which makes the final product look a little folksier, kind of like the work I was making a couple of years ago. I like it!

Is there a medium that you would want to try to work on in the future?

I really love gouache, and I plan on sticking to that for the time being.

How would you like to see your work being used in the future? Is there a certain outlet that you would want it to be used with?

My dream is to illustrate a children’s animal encyclopedia!

WANT A PRINT? YOU CAN PURCHASE THEM HERE.

Gleneagle FA C E B O O K - I N S TA G R A M -

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You guys have recently released your new EP, I’ve Got Love In My Heart. How long has this EP been in the works for? Did you find that there was a basic theme revolving around the EP? J A C K S O N : From start to finish the EP took us about 9 months to be recorded, mixed and mastered. That’s typically a long time to work on an EP but a majority of the work was done at a number of different studios in the greater Vancouver area, as well as studios in Toronto and Montreal, so there was really no way for us to get it done in one straight shot. We also really didn’t want to rush anything, as we didn’t have the clearest vision of how the recordings would take shape. We basically entered the studio with a batch of mostly finished songs and went from there with our producer, Ryan Worsley. Would we do another album like that? No, I really don’t think so. That

said, we definitely all learned a lot as songwriters, and as players, and I don’t regret it at all. Theme-wise, this EP is really quite personal, and it centres around what I can only really describe as “post high-school sadness.” That sounds corny and emo as hell, I know, but that’s the best way I can put it. We’re young guys and that’s where we are in life. There’s a lot of uncertainty in the songs, and questions like, “what the heck am I doing with myself and my life?” Or “what if I just packed up and left without telling anyone? Would anyone even care?” There’s also a lot of sadness within this group of songs, and not a lot of resolution, but I think that the words and theme are contrasted nicely by the music itself. A lot of it is high energy and upbeat, and there’s a lot of Americana and punk influence. I wouldn’t call it a “punk” or “Americana” record though. It’s easier just to call it rock and roll and leave it at that. It’s whatever you want it to be, really.

Organizing yourselves in and around Kamloops would you say that this location has a lot to do with the inspiration revolving around the band?

JG: Yeah, absolutely. As I mentioned, a lot of the songs are quite personal and are about our experiences growing up in Kamloops, things we’ve seen and done, things I’ve felt, a lot of that maybe wouldn’t have necessarily happened growing up in other cities. Taking the bus all over the place, being drunk at strangers houses, hopping between train cars to get to an abandoned building turned party spot, driving to Vancouver and Victoria from Kamloops just to get away for a bit. Nearly drowning in the river. Skipping school and writing songs in my parents basement instead. The list goes on, all stuff we experienced, mostly in our high school years and the years immediately following, and all in Kamloops. We’re a city of about 100,000 here, which is an interesting size, really. We’re not huge but there’s still a lot going on, and absolutely beautiful scenery surrounding the town. That said, Kamloops doesn’t have a huge music scene, so that in a way has helped us to get out of the city and tour around as much as possible.

OSKAR: I think there’s a soulful small town rock and roll vibe that Gleneagle has. We never want to sound pretentious with how we present the band and our music, and I think a lot of that comes from being from a place like Kamloops. Also, for the record, I had no idea Jackson nearly drowned in a river.

How has the scene in the area helped (if it has at all)?

OW: While the local scene is rather small, and only has a handful of live music venues, Kamloops showgoers are incredibly supportive. We’re always blown away by the support we get at our hometown shows. I shouldn’t be too hard on Kamloops really, it’s definitely growing; there’s a craft beer festival every year now that we headlined the opening night of, and it was probably the best show of our tour.

What do you find you are writing about more often than not? Do you think that there is a general motif behind what you do as a band in Gleneagle? Is there something you specifically want to express in the different tracks that you are writing?

JG: As much as I would like to be a Springsteen-esque “story-telling song writer” that’s not really how it works for me. I write about what I know, about the things I see, and about how I feel. It’s therapeutic- almost like keeping a journal, a deeply personal narrative, if you will. I think Oskar is the same way, too, for the most part. It’s been a hard go these last few years and I think that really shows in the songwriting, as these aren’t happy songs by any means, but I think they’re exactly what they need to be right now.

At the same time, though, I think there is definitely some hope in the songs. There’s a lot of “this is bad, but we’re somehow going to get through this, I think.”

What is it about this particular style of music that you are drawn to when it comes to performing? Would you say that you are most influenced by similar musical projects or is there a wide diversity for all of you when it comes to music?

JG: I’d like to think the best way to describe what we do is rock and roll, and that’s music that needs to be heard in a live setting. The live energy and the passion, and even the fuck ups, that’s what makes rock and roll beautiful. I don’t want to stand on stage behind a laptop or synthesizer and sing through a vocal effects processor and be confined to what we can do on stage. I want to yell into an almost clipping mic and slam on my guitar until it goes out of tune. I want to bump into my brothers on stage laugh at each other and play even harder and be reminded of why we started playing in the first place. I want to feel the music, and I think that is the best way to do so, for me at least. I have absolutely nothing against heavily produced and effect-driven live music, some of the best live acts I’ve seen, and some of my absolute favourite bands do exactly that. It’s just not us.

You have a very elegant and simplistic look to the design that goes into your online presence. Is design and artistic presence something that you all consciously value?

OW: Thank you for appreciating the elegance of simplicity!

Jackson and I talk a lot about art that we like and the kind of styles we believe Gleneagle align with. I think “rawness” is a strong characteristic of the band in many ways, and we want our visual artistic presence to convey that in some way as well. I think we make a conscious effort to keep our visuals congruent with our music, which helps avoid ever appearing contrived. That almost sounds contradictory, but it’s a very natural process.

How did the logo for the band come to be?

OW: Jackson designed the logo; it’s meant to represent the twin mountains in Kamloops, Mt. Peter and Mt. Paul.

It’s got a few other ~secret~ meanings as well.

With the release of the EP you soon followed suit and announced a tour across Canada. How has this tour gone for you?

When it comes to touring or playing shows versus online presence, how do you feel the two balance out or which do you tend to lay more focus on?

OW: Tour has been a really awesome learning experience.

It was our first time in Ontario and Quebec, and we really got a feel for how much is going on out there, culturally.

We got to play with some really cool bands, and meet some awesome people. I think we all really enjoy touring, and easily grow accustomed to life on the road.

We’ve definitely focused more on playing shows and planning tours than extensive online promotion. However, in this day and age it’s impossible to ignore the importance of a strong internet presence, so we try to stay active as much as possible.

Now that you are finishing up this tour what is the next thing you are hoping towards?

JG: We’re thinking some random singles, and then hopefully a full length album. After that– more tours. I want to tour Europe, and America is always a good idea too.

That should keep us busy for quite a while. Then I’m not entirely sure. Fatherhood? Old age? Rock and roll will likely be the only constant, and I think we’re all alright with that.

C o mr ad e s

W E B S I T E - FA C E B O O K - I N S TA G R A M Comrades is a three piece post-hardcore band from Colorado Springs, Colorado. The trio, made up of guitar player Joe McElroy, Bassist/Vocalist Laura McElroy, & Drummer/Vocalist Ben Trussell, has spent six years touring the DIY circuit as a post-rock instrumental band from the east coast. Now, after putting out two albums, one ep, and one split, the band relocated to Colorado Springs and signed to Facedown Records, and have released a brand new record, Lone / Grey on October 7th.

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You guys have decided to spend most of the year touring. How did you come to decide that this was going to be something you would end up doing two thirds of the year?

A: We were offered a lot of awesome opportunities to tour this year, and a lot of our increased touring had to do with us finally all being in the same place. For most of our time together, we lived 10 hours apart. We all moved to Colorado in the spring, and we all decided that we were going to take this time and tour as much as possible.

The first single you released from Lone / Grey was “Dark Tongues pt. ii” and it was associated with the music video. What did you feel was important to convey in the music video?

A: The song is basically about growing up and realizing that not everything we were trained to believe when we were young is true. Everyone alive has probably been told things in their formative years that were manipulative and fear-based, but some of these poisonous mindsets can be hard to shake, even as adults, because they were introduced to us when we were so young. This song is about being aware of those lies, facing them, and then moving on from them What kind of time management do you into what we believe to be true. Our goal was to create put in place for yourselves to still be able to create art as well as show case / visuals that convey that battle between light and dark, while not being too specific to a storyline. We had a distribute it? couple of filmmakers that we were considering for our A: We try and have breaks between tours with enough video, but ended up picking our friend Josh Jardim. He time to enjoy what we’re pursuing. We finished has a really unique style that we were drawn to, and is recording our new record earlier this year, so we’ve insanely talented. The video was extremely fun to shoot been working almost non-stop with all the various and release, because its trippy 90’s style is not a vibe facets of that. We’re really excited about it coming out in that most folks associate with Comrades, so it gave us October, but it definitely made us realize the necessity a new flavor that people are not used to, but seem to of pacing ourselves and clearing our heads. be stoked about.

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When it comes to visuals is there a specific Previously a lot of your music focused on design that you want to have? the instrumental over vocals. On this record though the intricate music is still there you A: The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Chronicles also have a lot more lyrical content written of Narnia trilogy are two book series that we all really over it than before. What made you decide appreciate. I think stories about the battle between to do this with your work? good and evil in fantastical and magical settings have really inspired our lives, and the art that is associated with these stories has too. So, basically, we all seem to agree on our love for things like wolves, and elves, and maps, etc… Our art design usually flows from our mutual love of this stuff. The story of the new album artwork is cool. Ben had the idea of a lone wolf turning around from a wolfpack under a starry night sky. Then Laura had the idea of adding an art nouveau style and border to the picture. One of our songs was called Lone Grey, and Joe suggested that we name the album that, since it went with the picture. So the final product of the front cover was really a group effort that we are all really stoked about. We are all fans of Dave Quiggle, the artist who created the cover, so it was a dream to work with him, and he just killed it.

A: Over the years we tried to maintain that we would write music that could stand alone and see where words fit, if any. Our last record allowed us to revisit the ideas of lyrics while still giving the music room to speak on its own. I think where we are with the new material feels like a natural progression.

Are there any particular themes that you are accustomed to sharing with the world?

A: We try to write from a point of honesty, and with Lone / Grey we painstakingly reviewed our lyrics, making sure that we said what we meant. We recognize that in almost everyone’s life there is a lot of darkness, and we try to remind ourselves and those who listen to our songs reason to hope despite it. That sounds vague, but we have found hope and truth and I think it’s important for people to keep seeking those things.

Your set up for live performances has a very specific set up with your pedal boards facing one another and the light bulbs Would you say that there is a specific strung on the drum kit and mic-stand. Is there a specific reason that you choose to mission behind the band? have things set up this way?

A: When we started we all wanted to be a positive part A: When we started playing together, our music benefitted from all of us being able to focus on each other, so we gravitated toward one another. It feels natural to face the people that you are trying to sync with, more like a conversation. When we incorporated lights, I think we wanted to create an ambiance that differentiated the listeners experience from other bands at shows. Nothing fancy, and it’s not necessarily ground breaking, but it was befitting for our sound. We started using it in 2010 and it just stuck.

How did you come to decide on using this sort of light as well as using red lighting when possible?

A: We wanted something that was space efficient with quick assembly, so lamps were a logical solution. We discussed color for a while, and we tried to pick ones that we felt were versatile and reflected the music.

of the music community, sharing our hearts and music as honestly as possible, and I think we maintain that stance.

What sort of take-away do you want from this experience in comparison to those who were interested in just the energetic music?

A: When people leave our shows, we want them to feel that they are part of something bigger than themselves.

Music is beautiful in so many ways, and one of those ways is that it’s a conveyance. The longer I play music, the more I realize that it’s the sharing of the soul. I hope people walk away with the awareness of their own souls, and that truth is attainable.

Albums In Review the expressed opinions of James Liam Ward

7.0

ANTHONY GREEN

Pixie Queen

Run For Cover 09.09.16

Anthony Green is a prolific singer/songwriter and the frontman of popular post-hardcore acts Saosin and Circa Survive. I didn’t really know what to expect from Pixie Queen, considering I have never heard Green’s solo work and I haven’t enjoyed the latest outputs from his bands either, but this record surprised me. Pixie Queen is a relaxing batch of acoustic driven ballads with sparse pianos and percussion throughout, leaving plenty of room in the mix for Anthony to show off his dexterity as a vocalist.

6.6

BALANCE & COMPOSURE

Light We Made

VAGRANT 07.10.16

Light We Made is the third LP from Pennsylvanian alternative rock band Balance and Composure. I really enjoyed the group’s sophomore record The Things We Think We’re Missing, which saw the band experimenting with their typical alt-rock sound all while enshrouded in a reverbed, shoegazey haze.

Based off of what was present on the opener “Midnight Zone”, a song full of faint samples, electronic drums and falsetto vocals, I thought we would be getting a completely new side of Balance and Composure. I also found the I always thought Green was a good rock singer with album cover to actually be quite frightening if you consider regards to his range and tone, but on Pixie Queen I find the face’s eyes open, so I speculated on a darker sound for myself finally connecting with his melodies. The man the band as well. However beyond this track, most of Light definitely knows how to write a catchy chorus and the We Made is business as usual for the band – hypnotic, first half of this album has plenty of highlights for me. “A melodic guitar riffs, driving grooves and Jon Simmons’ Reason To Stay” is a catchy upbeat track with a lovely melancholic refrain, while the spacey instrumental on “I’m reserved, crooning voice. I think all of these elements come together best on the first couple of tracks. The melancholic Not Holding You Back” ends quite beautifully with the chord progressions and tantalizing vocal melodies on addition of some subtle strings in the background.

“Afterparty” really complement the up-tempo rhythm on the drums and make for one of the most exciting cuts on A lot of the song structures on Pixie Queen are relatively the record. “Spinning” is another great track that, Falsetto simple, but it never feels like Anthony is beating you aside, could have fit quite nicely on The Things We Think over the head with a single chorus or melody. I wouldn’t We’re Missing, which is probably why I enjoy it so much. normally find tracks like “Cellar” or “I’m Sorry For As the record progresses to its middle, I think the quality Everything I’ve Ever Done” to be very interesting based of the songs starts to dip. “For A Walk” has a repetitive on their simple, rather generic chord progressions, fuzzy bass line and an equally redundant strumming but Anthony’s great melodies and harmonies keep me guitar pattern – it gets old pretty fast. The instrumental on engaged throughout. I’m also happy that some of the “Postcard” isn’t bad, but I find the vocal performance here instrumentation matches Anthony’s usual theatrical and to also be very repetitive and a little bit annoying… Not quirky vocal style; while I enjoyed the sonic change of exactly single material in my opinion. Past this halfway point pace he took with Pixie Queen, it was nice to hear more I think the record picks up again with “Call It Losing Touch”, mysterious tracks like “Dawn on the Canal” because it a song that has pleasant, catchy riffs and an equally ample resembled more of what I originally expected from this vocal performance. “Fame” and “Loam” are also good record.

Balance and Composure songs, but the latter doesn’t end Overall I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this album; the album on an incredibly interesting note – just some electronic drums that sort of ride the album out.

Pixie Queen didn’t blow my mind or anything, but I don’t think that is what Anthony and his collaborators were going for. As depicted on the cover, this album is natural This is a solid record, but after three years of studio silence and organic – it isn’t trying to impress you with expensive I was expecting some more risks from the band. A lot of the songs on Light We Made just sound like watered down production or fluffy songwriting, it is just a solid, honest tracks from their previous release, and as a result I don’t collection of good songs. find much of this album to be very refreshing.

BEST TRACK: “A Reason To Stay” WORST TRACK: “Will It Be”

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BEST TRACK: “Afterparty” WORST TRACK: “For A Walk”

8.6

BON IVER

22, A Million

JAGJAGUWAR 30.09.16

It has been half a decade since Bon Iver released their self-titled sophomore record, and in that time the bands mastermind Justin Vernon has created an album that is a drastic stylistic shift from Bon Iver’s previous works. 22, A Million is rampant with electronics, sampling, and strange effects that always make me think my headphones are breaking – this was a change that was as unexpected to me as it was welcome. This album is a little over half an hour, but is so densely packed with layers of digital instrumentation, obscure sampling and warped vocal harmonies that it took multiple listens for me to even get a grip of what was really going on. I believe 22, A Million’s cover to be representative of the album’s sonic landscape - tons of small, unique ideas coming together to form a bizarre, abstract piece of art that I find absolutely captivating.

I wasn’t going to endorse the completely ridiculous song titles on this thing, but 22, A Million has so many highlights that it is difficult not to mention a lot of these tracks by name. I love the distorted driving grooves on “10 d E A T h b R E a s T ⚄ ⚄”, and the acapella track “715 - CRΣΣKS” with its layers of beautifully alien vocal harmonies. The lead single from this album “33 “GOD”” begins with beautiful solo piano chords layered with cryptic samples; this track is what made me realize that we were going to be getting a completely transformed Bon Iver. The song “29 #Strafford APTS” is probably the closest the band is sounding to their previous material, but it also reminds me ever so slightly of bands like Pink Floyd. I love the ascending vocal melody on this chorus and the simple yet stunning fingerpicked acoustic guitar. “8 (circle)” is perhaps my favourite song on 22, A Million; Justin’s vocal performance is incredibly powerful and the slow build of the instrumentation into a blossoming but reserved climax is something I think any human can enjoy. The album’s penultimate track “____45_____” is another intriguing piece of music, with its layers of wild, synthetic horns followed by a banjo of all things! Somehow Justin is able to collide the worlds of folk and electronic so elegantly that it doesn’t seem forced or awkward. 22, A Million bids farewell on the tender ballad “00000 Million”, a sombre finish to this beautiful mindfuck of an album.

I haven’t even begun to dissect the lyrics, as I can only imagine they are as cryptic and bizarre as every other aspect of this record. That being said I love this album, there are so many unique, memorable and beautiful moments that it will probably be one of my favourites of the year. Some may find 22, A Million to be a pretentious, robotic jumbled mess of ideas, which is absolutely fair…

But I think listening to this album as a whole jumbled mess of ideas gives it a much needed human touch.

BEST TRACK: “8 (circle)” WORST TRACK: “21 M♢♢N WATER”

5.9 A DAY TO REMEMBER Bad Vibrations

EPITAPH / ADTR 02.09.16

A Day To Remember is the self-proclaimed heaviest pop punk band ever and have been at it for more than a decade now. In that time the band has delivered their personalized blend of pop punk and metalcore that I can only ever enjoy in small doses. While Bad Vibrations is nowhere near as dreadful as I was anticipating, I still find the band’s songwriting and melodies to be both generic and dated.

The title track kicks this whole thing off delivering some good riffs and breakdowns, but a chorus that tries too hard to be epic - especially with the cheesy-ass choral vocals in the background. This track is followed by the lead single “Paranoia”, which has a decent refrain but Jeremy’s adlib right before the breakdown is plain ridiculous! It sounds like something he dropped as a joke and the band just decided to keep it in to try and be funny. A Day To Remember goes full pop punk on “Naivety”, another generic anthem about growing up, while “Exposed” has some tru nu-metal vibes especially on the dad-rock chorus. I just find that pairing these syrupy sweet pop punk tunes with lame attempts at being hardcore doesn’t really translate into an album with a solid identity.

Even if the verses and breakdowns are good, it is still difficult to salvage a song with a bad chorus because A Day To Remember has a habit of always having three...

I don’t think these choruses are catchy enough to justify repeating them more than once, but unfortunately the band insists on beating the listener over the head with every refrain. Occasionally the guitar work is exciting; like the criminally short tapping riff on “Reassemble”, or the simple yet effective guitar solo on “Same About You”. But then a song like “We Got This” pops up with its terrible lyrics attempting to appeal to the “outcast” demographic and a bland instrumental that sounds like a Simple Plan D-side. The closing ballad is nothing special either even with all of its additional synthetic strings and super epic woah-ohs.

I know it seems like all I did was complain about this album, but its actually not that bad considering the band ran out of ideas like five years ago. Bad Vibrations is far from the worst thing I’ve heard this year, and if you’ve loved or even liked anything A Day To Remember has put out I think you can find some enjoyment out of this record.

BEST TRACK: “Reassemble” WORST TRACK: “We Got This”

8.4 FRANK OCEAN Blonde

BOYS DON’T CRY / DEF JAM RECORDINGS 20.08.16

Blonde is the highly anticipated sophomore album from West Coast singer/songwriter Frank Ocean. The media had been on the edge of its seat for this release and everyone was eager to see what direction Frank would take with this new record. Fortunately, it’s a good direction; Blonde is an incredibly personal, minimalistic but gorgeous album that not only showcases Frank Ocean’s dexterity as a vocalist, but his maturity as a songwriter.

This album is far from perfect however, and I have my issues with both the very beginning and ending of Blonde.

The opener features a skeletal modern beat and pitch shifted vocals from Frank, both of which meander for far too long, while “Futura Free” is also unnecessarily long and feels more like an interlude than a song. Other than those few gripes, I think Frank Ocean consistently delivers great tracks throughout this album. Songs such as “Ivy” or “Self Control”, the latter of which blossoms beautifully as the track progresses, prove that Frank and his collaborators can write a fantastic song with just guitar and vocals. “Solo” is another track like this but features an erratic organ; I find the lyrics on this cut about being alone, willfully or not, to be very clever even though Frank’s vocal run gets a tad obnoxious.

I find there is an inherent duality to this album; from Frank’s two voices (regular and pitch shifted), to the dual spelling of the album title “Blond(e)”. The lyrics clearly tie into this concept as well, having the anti drug interlude “Be Yourself” preceding the aforementioned “Solo” in which Frank references his use of both acid and pot. “Solo (Reprise)” rehashes the themes brought up on the parent track through the mind of Andre 3000, who delivers a mind-blowingly fast and vivid verse. It’s important to note that most of the songs I’ve mentioned already lack any sort of drums; the few instruments that are already present drive the grooves of these tracks so well that percussion isn’t even necessary.

My absolute favorite cut on this record is the multi-faceted track “Nights”. Past the halfway mark, this track descends into a dissonant guitar riff and then smoothly transitions into a modern, nocturnal beat with a watery 808 and trap flavoured percussion. I think the reason this song is popular amongst fans and myself is because it is so unlike Frank to appear on an instrumental this trendy, but he executes it flawlessly.

The rest of Blonde remains very low-key but impactful – Both Frank Ocean and James Blake’s performances on White Ferrari are gorgeous and the strings that pop up towards the end of Siegfried sound stunning.

Overall I must say Blonde lives up to the hype, even though I’m not very impressed by the beginning and ending of this album and I always skip the spoken interludes. As opposed to many other artists of this caliber, Frank Ocean didn’t find it necessary to put together an album with glamorous production and a star-studded feature list. Instead, he has delivered a subtle, personal and soulful set of tracks that will definitely hold me over until his next project.

BEST TRACK: “Nights” WORST TRACK: “Futura Free”

8.2

JOYCE MANOR

Cody

EPITAPH 07.10.16

Joyce Manor is a California emo band that popped onto my radar following their release of 2014’s Never Hungover Again. Some songs on this record like “Falling In Love Again” had ended up being some of my favorite pop-punk/emo tunes of the year, so naturally I was looking forward to seeing what the band could bring to the table on their new album, Cody.

Cody is no significant change of pace for Joyce Manor; throughout this album you will find melodic guitars, emotive vocals, fantastic harmonies and the occasional funny lyric. All of these elements are present in the opening cut “Fake I.D.”, which has a catchy lead melody and a few brief mentions of our lord and savior Yeezus.

One thing I appreciate about Joyce Manor is their unconventional approach to songwriting - “Eighteen” is a great example of this, with only one killer chorus and some truly awesome pause steeze. “Angel in the Snow” has an incredibly melodic and bittersweet chord progression, as well as the chorus in the steady “Make Me Dumb”, which contrasts its moments of bliss with more aggressive sounding verses. Cody takes a slight detour on the sullen acoustic track “Do You Really Not Want to Get Better?” followed by the progressively building “Last You Heard of Me”. This was a weird cut for me because I don’t think the band should have built the intensity of the track so much and so well, just to bring it back down to basically zero and then abruptly end it. “Stairs” is by far the longest song on the record that comes together with great chorus harmonies and an almost shoegazey bridge – something I would love to see the band dabble with more in the future.

This record, like all Joyce Manor records, is criminally short. Ending off with “This Song is a Mess but So Am I”, which contrary to the name is actually well put together and a solid farewell tune. If you haven’t been a Joyce Manor fan in the past, I doubt this will be the record to win you over… But if you enjoy emotive, charming and melancholic rock music then Cody will not disappoint.

BEST TRACK: “Eighteen” WORST TRACK: “Over Before It Begins”

8.1 TOUCHE AMORE Stage Four

EPITAPH 16.09.16

Stage Four is the latest LP from Californian posthardcore outfit Touché Amoré. The album’s namesake not only derives from the fact that this is the band’s fourth record, but also after the final stage of Cancer; Stage Four is a lyrical concept album revolving around the death of lead singer Jeremy Bolm’s mother in 2014.

This record isn’t much different from the band’s previous work sonically, bringing incredibly melodic and explosive performances throughout. I feel that on Stage Four Touché Amoré really worked hard to bring unique and

well-crafted instrumentals on almost every track. The bass is clear without being overpowering, the drums are punchy and the slinky lead guitar melodies are consistently stuck in my head. Jeremy experiments with a few different vocal styles throughout the album, some of which go over quite well and others not so much. The almost deadpan delivery on songs like “Rapture” as well as the shouted singing on “Palm Dreams” go over great, but tracks like “Skyscrapers” just come off as boring and the female vocals barely add anything to the mix. I also don’t like the delivery on a lot of “Benediction” because the instrumental simply does not call for clean vocals – I think the track would sound just as good or even better with a more aggressive delivery.

With that being said there is so much to love about this album both musically and lyrically, my personal favorite being “Displacement”. Set to some incredibly energetic drum work, Jeremy describes recently surviving a car crash and believing that it was his watchful mother who saved him in that instance. Throughout Stage Four Jeremy’s lyrics are both beautiful and moving, making the album an incredibly emotional and impactful experience.

Backed by some of the band’s best instrumentals yet, I think this record is Touché Amoré’s most mature, cohesive and powerful record to date.

energetic cut we will ever hear from the band, and boy does it bang! I love the way the track just switches gears into an ambient guitar piece before gradually building up and exploding back into the awesome main riff and chorus. I know it seems like I only praise Yellowcard’s energetic songs, but the closer “Fields & Fences” is a straight ballad and I think it is beautiful! So I swear I’m not biased. The slinky lead melody on this song is lovely and pairs nicely with the almost country inspired instrumentation. The vocal harmonies on this song are great too and the track builds nicely into a climax, which then gives way for a stunning violin piece to close out Yellowcard’s last song ever.

As much as I would have loved this to be an EP with all of the boring ballads cut out, I still think this is a good record, and a nice farewell for the band. I’m not exactly heartbroken to see them go, I have more than enough Yellowcard to get me through my lifetime, but its always a little sad to see something you grew up with coming to an end.

BEST TRACK: “Savior’s Robes” WORST TRACK: “Leave A Light On”

BEST TRACK: “Displacement” WORST TRACK: “Skyscraper”

7.1 YELLOWCARD Yellowcard

HOPELESS 30.09.16

Yellowcard is a Florida rock band that has been active for almost twenty years. I have had the pleasure of seeing them live, covering their music in my own shitty pop punk band, and genuinely enjoying quite a few of their albums – so its bittersweet to know that this is the band’s final record.

Even on the opening cut there is a sense of finality to this album; “Rest In Peace” builds in momentum with acoustic guitars and drumrolls until it explodes into a lovely violin melody. “What Appears” has a killer groove and surprisingly awesome breakdown – I always loved the heat that Yellowcard brings at the beginning of their records. The urgent chords and fantastic energy on “Got Yours” makes for one of the most intense moments on the album and possibly my favorite track. Yellowcard brings down the energy but keeps the catchiness on the next track “A Place We Set Afire”, although the main guitar riff seems a little ripped off of an old Handguns song.

Once we approach the halfway mark on this album, I start to get bored. From the chord progression to the lyrics, “Leave A Light On” does absolutely nothing for me. “The Hurt Is Gone” is far too uneventful to justify trudging through its six and a half minute runtime – the band literally keeps the same mid tempo groove for the entire track. The album gets a little better with some more interesting ballads towards the back end, but its still nothing I am dying to return to. Finally the record really picks up with the song “Savior’s Robes”; the last

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FLESH & BONE in the pursuit of artistic passion

FIN