From Destroyer to Drip Audio - Strange and Beautiful Sounds Emanating from the Fertile Crescent of Vancouver’s Creative and Indie Music Scenes
(by Rainbow Robert)
When I first heard that Dan
Bejar had a band called Destroyer, I couldn’t wait to hear the music, mostly
because with a name like Destroyer I expected the tunes to be ultra heavy, and
I happen to have a serious penchant for heavy music. It turned out that the music
is far more chilled out than I would have guessed, but it was really easy to
find other reasons to be excited about the band. Poignant well-crafted lyrics
and deep introspective soundscapes revealing a strong sense of place, make this
group an intriguing musical journey well worth checking out.
By the time Destroyer
released the album Kaputt, I had finally clued in to the fact the band had
completely blown up. Pitchfork had proclaimed the album one of the best of the
year, and far more importantly JP Carter had joined the band!
Destroyer - Savage Night at the Opera
Trumpet player and composer
JP Carter is the leader of some of BC’s most interesting and diverse groups
including Inhabitants, Aeroplane Trio and Carsick. JP also plays and tours with
other totally happening BC groups such as Tony Wilson 5tet, Fond of Tigers and Dan
Mangan.
Inhabitants, one of JP’s most
long standing projects, released their first album in 2005. This stellar group
is made of up a number of the key members of the Vancouver creative community
such as drummer Skye Brooks, bassist Pete Schmitt, and guitarist David Sikula.
Inhabitants have surpassed my musical expectations at every turn, their most
recent album A Vacant Lot was
released on the Drip Audio label in 2010 gaining a nomination from Western
Canadian Music Awards.
Inhabitants - Let Youth Be Served
JP’s other groups, Aeroplane
Trio and Carsick are both equally amazing, albeit in completely different ways.
You can check out tunes from all three of these groups on the web site for one
of Vancouver’s most intriguing labels Drip Audio, run by violinist Jesse Zubot.
The Drip Audio web site is a brilliant access point for discovering the depth
and beauty of Vancouver’s burgeoning creative music scene.
Drip
Audio was founded in the
spring of 2005 by Vancouver violin luminary and producer Jesse Zubot. The original
idea for this record label was to release albums that did not cater to any
specific musical genre and are unique artistic creations. Drip Audio has released 31 albums to
date, the root of the recordings stem from Vancouver's creative music scene,
although there are musicians from Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, London (UK), New
York and Los Angeles involved as well. The catalog for Drip Audio represents a
relatively comprehensive offering of some of Vancouver’s most astounding genre
defying groups.
All of this to say that the
number of amazing creative music and indie buzz bands coming out of Vancouver these
days is staggering. It is clear that this stems from the fact that the level of
artistry that exists amongst artists in BC is exceptional.
Perhaps the blurring of the
lines between indie and creative music in our town is the most exciting thing. The
blurring of the lines requires us to focus on the music more closely in order
to truly uncover it’s many disparate and rich forms of brilliance.
The perfect illustration - read this NY Times review by Ben Ratliff (June 19th) of Destroyer’s Brooklyn Masonic Temple gig. The last paragraph is all about JP Carter’s powerful contribution to the music. Probably the first time Destroyer and Bill Dixon have been mentioned in the same review.
Check out Destroyer at the
Vogue Theatre on June 29th, sharing the bill with JP Carter’s
Inhabitants. Check out everything on Drip Audio. Be prepared to be alarmed by
the many forms of wildly unique, off kilter musical brilliance that Vancouver
has to offer.
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