Praises, The Halluci Nation, and Golden Cinema
Praises
EP4 // Hand Drawn Dracula
Toronto-based musician, Jesse Crow, delivers the newest release from their project Praises, EP4, the fourth entry in an EP series that began back in 2014. Praises incorporates a talented cast of performers to aid in the EP’s sound, which takes influence from a variety of artists such as Patti Smith and Annie Lennox. Blending shoegaze, jazz, and avant-gardism, EP4 takes an experimental electronic approach – utilizing soft synths, sampled screams, and an arsenal of techniques well beyond my own understanding.
The first track, “Apples For My Love”, dwells in “the quieter moments of love” and encapsulates the change in direction from the first three EP’s while still maintaining a recognizable and consistent tone. Rather than the faster, industrial electronica that was prevalent in Praises’ previous releases, EP4 slows down and leaves plenty room for introspective lyrics, a passionate grip on emotion, and a generally more relaxed sound.
This isn’t to say that this release doesn’t have its fair share of chaos. As for the last three songs of EP4, they begin with slow synthesizers and wispy vocals but soon fold open to reveal a chaotic underbelly that consumes them to a finale, blending in each layer occasionally enough as to not lose structure, but to still form an unpredictable and inquisitive listening experience.
Praises entire EP series – and this one in particular – are a great little collection of songs that evoke enjoyers of all electronic genres, from lo-fi and industrial to abstract ambience. EP4 takes a little bit of it all to create lustry sounds, thought provoking music, and a precursor series to an enigmatic album that may be released by the end of the year. If you enjoy this series then I'll save a seat for you on the hype train as we wait to see what comes next.
- Brandon Kruze
The Halluci Nation
One More Saturday Night // Radicalized Records
Despite being with Cups N Cakes for over half a year now, I still find myself much in the dark with the Canadian music scene. I’m not too familiar with national artists, and although I try to expand my knowledge - most of the time the albums I cover are my first time listening to the artist. However, this is a group, I’ve most certainly heard of before, and I’m sure you have too.
The Halluci Nation, formerly known as A Tribe Called Red, is an EDM group which blends elements of electronic dance with First Nations music in a sound the group describes as “powwow-step”, designed to appeal to urban First Nations in the club scene. Their former name was homage to A Tribe Called Quest, an American hip hop group that specialized in songs that addressed the oppression of African Americans. Likewise, A Tribe Called Red takes a similar approach, albeit moving focus to the struggles of First Nations.
Their newest release, One More Saturday Night, is a full length album that perfectly encapsulates their previously mentioned sound, a modern take on the powwow by a mix of drum beats and vocal chants. The album contains excellent performances from many featured artists, such as Antoine, Chippewa Travellers, and Lillian Allen, amongst others. Each song in the album uses its catchy delivery to help expand the ears of its listeners, such as the eighth track “Takarita”, which features the Maori rapping of Rob Ruha, or their bass filled remix of Keith Secola’s “NDN Kars”.
Created as a love letter to the Electric Pow Wows in Ottawa’s Babylon nightclub in 2007, paying homage to the parties that aided The Halluci Nation is discovering and mastering their signature style, the album’s title deriving from the Babylon nightclub scenes abrupt disbandment, with The Halluci Nation recapturing those magical memories in One More Saturday Night. I’ve been listening to these guys since I was a teenager and it was quite the experience to cover their work. If you like hip-hop, badass EDM, and social commentary, you’ll appreciate this album for everything it offers and you’ll find yourself spending a day shuffling through The Halluci Nations discography.
- Brandon Kruze
Golden Cinema
Reels (2016 – 2021) // Self Released
On the south coast of Prince Edward Island in the city of Charlottetown resides the indie-rock band Golden Cinema, who has established their soft-rock inspired, mellow flavour of indie through their debut EP. On July 15, Golden Cinema releases their debut album, Reels (2016-2021), a collection of songs the band had made over the last five years. Sandwiched in the album are the tracks “Peachy Keen”, “Colour Me In”, and “Nostalgia”, the three songs that made up their previously mentioned EP.
Reels expands upon the sound founded in their previous release - they take a catchy verse and chorus, but rather than resorting to a simple rinse-and-repeat method, they unravel their songs over their runtime, mixing up the style and building up to a crescendo that closes almost all of their tracks. A couple good examples are in the tracks “Nostalgia”, and the final track “I Know Where I’m Going”.
This doesn’t mean all the songs sound the same; quite the contrary. Each track in Reels has its own flavour and personality and though it all accumulates to a consistent sounding album, each song has nuance, displaying Golden Cinema’s knack for versatility in musical storytelling. A good example of contrasting songs is the slower paced, lush “Peachy Keen”, compared to the 80’s styled summer rock track “Lost at the Movies”.
Despite the song's differences, one thing that holds them together is the jamming basslines of front person Andy Macdonald. Golden Cinema’s sound is built around these basslines to form nine great indie-rock tracks. Accompanying the album is a music video for the opening track “Dead Ringer”, which features DJ Douggpound and Tim Heidecker of Adult Swim fame. Overall, Reels is a great mid-summer album to compliment a beautiful day, and the warmth that the season provides.
- Brandon Kruze
