Black Dresses, Backburner, and Basement Revolver
Black Dresses
Forget Your Own Face // Self Released
Devi McCallion and Ada Rook have come to attract a lot of attention for their work together as well as their own independent projects. And with the development Black Dresses, both artists have set boundaries with the general public and audiences at large, as both of them have cultivated a certain discreteness around their work and personhood. Since the release of Peaceful as Hell (2020), there was an understanding that Black Dresses had wrapped up the project. However, the Toronto noise-pop duo has continued to release unexpected releases from the single “World Peace (ft. ESPer99),” the widely-acclaimed album Forever In Your Heart (2021), and now the sudden Forget Your Own Face which was released on February 14th, 2022.
Forget Your Own Face is an EP that takes the polish from later Black Dresses into elaborating some of the musical basis laid out in Peaceful as Hell and Forever In Your Heart. By and large, the EP ranges from MIDI takes on industrial metal to gentle soundscapes, which only conveys how articulate Black Dresses are in their musical expression and composition. Right off the start, it begins with “u_u2”—immediately dropping distorted bases, MIDI guitars chugging away, and glitchy sounds adorning the sound for a track which goes off into the theme of dealing with the baggage of one’s own self and how disjointed that can get. “Let’s Be” follows this up with a track featuring chugging MIDI pianos and bass. This song gets at what is unique about Black Dresses, as there is this evident metal composition to the track which ends up sounding unique by being recontextualized through MIDI. From the trotting beginning to the quiet interlude and bass drop leading to an atmospheric close, “Let’s Be” is fantastic. Then “earth worm” features a varying composition that moves between disjointed rhythms to disco beats and jazz in the context of an industrial synth noise pop song.
“NO NORMAL” starts off sounding like the intro to a videogame clearing the path for some bratty vocals and some dynamic beats. The more this song gets going, the more metal it sounds compositionally—I would call it a form of MIDI pop Slipknot-esque sound, especially in light of some of the bass drums that remind me of “Psychosocial.” At this point in the record, we get one of the slower and dreamier tracks with “Doomspiral.” The track largely sounds like walking into a crystalline cave in a game like Final Fantasy, even the main arpeggios in the track remind me of that video game series. But with that palate cleanser we are brought to one of my favourite tracks in the EP. “MONEY MAKES YOU STUPID” is spastic as all hell, with some of the hardest hitting instrumentals and lyrics, with lyrics edging on the sound on Maximum the Hormone and verses with a flow akin to Backxwash’s latest records. Then “GAY UGLY AND HARD TO UNDERSTAND” emphatically tells Ru Paul brand gays off to highlight trying to live a trans and gay life, as living outside these representational standards without that runway glamour is not on trend—the point is ultimately a peaceful life, but even that seems like a distant fiction. And lastly, the EP closes with “nightwish.” This is easily one of the moments to breathe and take the whole album in from a reflective distance, yearning love and affection, working with what may be dismissed as just scraps. But ultimately, Devi and Rook close the album on the note of just trying to have fun.
As a follow up to Forever In Your Heart, Forget Your Own Face takes Black Dresses appropriation of metal and hardcore through MIDI to a whole new level. There were moments in Forever In Your Heart where I wished more songs captivated the intensity of the opening track; and I was able to experience that in Forget Your Own Face. Above all, Forget Your Own Face is an experiment in electronic intensity that should be a delight to listen for Black Dresses fans and intrigued bystanders alike. Forget Your Own Face is an excellent reminder of why Devi and Rook do this in their efforts to have fun and be expressive, and one can hope that this keeps the door open for future Black Dresses releases.
- Simone A. Medina Polo
Backburner
Continuum // Handsolo Records
Next for review on the Cups N Cakes Network is the Canadian Underground Hip Hop supergroup, Backburner. The crew’s new record Continuum marks the third in their squad-based series which began with their critically-acclaimed Heatwave in 2011 and then Eclipse in 2015. The hotly anticipated new album is another collection of prodigious posse cuts—primarily punchlines, braggadocio battle raps and witty wordplay, often based by Backburner around a concept or theme. On "Spice Rack," they provide a taste of international flavour. They burn it down again with "More Fire," get nostalgic with an ode to cassettes on "Press Eject," and continue their booze binge on "Juiced Crew." The songs "The MacKay Bridge Is Over (feat. Aquakultre, Sean One & Tachichi)" & "Get The Machete" stuck out to this reviewer as having great energy and vibe. On Continuum, expect plenty of pop, nerd and Canadian references. The production is head-nodding boom bap with unique sample selections and memorable quotes. Adding to the throwback pleasures are precise scratches of appropriately selected vocals from classic songs most hip hop heads would recognize. Join Backburner on the next step in their Continuum.
Frequent collaborators Fresh Kils and Uncle Fester Halifax, NS, got together to form Backburner around the turn of the millennium. Over the years, Backburner has grown to include 20+ MCs, DJs and producers across Canada, and even one in Japan. They're a who's who of the most prolific independent hip hop artists in the country. Named for their habit of starting new projects before finishing the current ones, with projects often left to simmer on the back burner, they have managed to compile an extensive catalogue of releases as both solo artists and in small groups that often overlap. And when they can, the whole collective comes together like a giant-size Voltron to create albums as Backburner, resulting in a mixtape, a compilation, and now three crew albums.
Backburner brings new truth to the idea that music is a team sport and brings talent together from Canada and Japan. Backburner consists of Ambition * Beatmason * Chokeules * Dexter Doolittle * Frank Deluxe * Fresh Kils * Ghettosocks * Ginzuintriplicate * Jay Bizzy * Jesse Dangerously * Johnny Hardcore * Manalive * More Or Les * Mister E * Peter Project * Psybo * Savilion * Thesis Sahib * Timbuktu * Uncle Fester * Wordburglar
- Earl D
Basement Revolver
Embody // Sonic Unyon
With live music becoming rendered virtually nonexistent in 2020 and early 2021, artists responded to the unexpected events of the COVID-19 pandemic in various ways. Some focused on saving money and took on more shifts for more regular jobs. Some booked shows anyway whether out of financial desperation, low risk assessment or pure selfishness. And some took the sudden free time to write and record new material with an introspective and bleak character that only such a situation could conjure up. Hamilton’s Basement Revolver is a prime example of this last category with their recently released sophomore album Embody.
This album is easy for me to enjoy on a personal level as nearly all dream pop and shoegaze is made of the sort of airy atmosphere and emotional weight that make me instantly like what I’m listening to. This latter element is especially cemented by the deeply personal lyrics that ring out quite clearly despite the heavy amount of reverb washing Chrisy Hurn’s vocals away into the soundscape, covering topics like being uncomfortable in your own body (opening single “Skin”), being unable to control your own anger (“Blackhole”) and other struggles with mental health (“Circles”). Like all good sad bands, even their love ballad “Dissolve” has a melancholic air to it despite the lyrics not being explicitly dour.
Despite the subject matter of the lyrics and the washy production, the music still finds opportunities to pick up the energy. “Be Okay” and the single “Transatlantic” are similar to the more upbeat work of shoegaze trailblazers M83, with the latter song bearing a striking resemblance to their “Reunion”; whereas “Tunnel Vision” leans into grunge territory with heavily distorted guitars and feedback effects.
Then there are other songs that include more unconventional elements for the genre. “Slow” includes an appearance of slide guitar, a feature that is made even more prominent in the closing track “Long Way” to the extent that it almost sounds like a slow country ballad (the good kind).
All in all, if you like dream pop you’ll love this album. You might even be tempted to get a copy for your night drives.
- Ty Vanden Dool
