This past summer, Pip Skid and I participated in an artist residency put on by Synonym Art Consultation at The Tallest Poppy in Winnipeg. We spent a whole weekend in one of the booths at the diner making beats, writing lyrics and recording songs while dining customers stared at us in bewilderment. We had a few friends stop by to help us out, and the result is the Poppycock mixtape. The mixtape features guest artists Birdapres, Greg MacPherson, Charlie Fettah, Nestor Wynrush, Watg Steve of 3peat and Mic Holden. Currently the only place in the universe to hear it is at the Tallest Poppy. It is on constant loop, playing out of a jukebox that was crafted by Pip Skid himself (pictured below). If you happen to be in Winnipeg, head down and grab a spot close to the earphones!
Disintegration Records and The Windsor Hotel Presents:
Rob Crooks – Releasing new single
Figure Walking (Rob Gardiner + Greg MacPherson) – releasing new single
Johnny Phantom (members of Haunter)
DJ No Contact
All proceeds going to Bar None Prison Ride Share
Friday December 23
The Windsor Hotel
Tickets $10.00 advance/$12.00 at the door
There is a new Marathon of Dope compilation complete with all new and exclusive songs by some of the great artists I’m proud to be associated with, such as Pip Skid, Bazooka Joe, Nestor Wynrush, Birdapres, Zucchini Drive, Nomad, Mike Ladd and more. Download the whole thing here for free.
Listen to the brand new song I did exlcusively for the compilation:
“Marathon Of Dope is proud to present our second compilation. We have drawn from this community’s diverse pool of talent, and built a collection of new and unreleased tracks as a special thanks for all of your support. Please enjoy this free smorgasbord of M.O.D. exclusives. Whether you’re searching for an old favorite flavor, a glimpse of a secret side-project, a nostalgic melody, an intricately wound instrumental, or just something to dance to, this compilation has something just for you.”
We use the word transcendentality in order to distinguish it from forms of new-age or religious transcendentalism. Transcendentality is not about the pure authentic self transcending mere appearances. Nor is transcendentality about the eternal soul transcending the finite body, or the transcendental subject, untouched by the empirical world. Rather, transcendentality is meant to describe the open-ended structure of being. Transcendentality is the play between being and nothingness.
The form of being is time. To be is thought of as being present in the now. However, time does not simply consist of an ever-present now; time consists of the present, the past and the future. The present is not a being itself, but is a coordinate at the nexus of the past and the future. But by definition, the past and the future are not present, and in this sense, they do not have being; they are nothing. To be, then, is to be at the horizon between having-been and not-yet-arrived.
As beings, we are projected towards nothingness. At any now-moment we find ourselves stretched out into the past and towards the future, oriented by the former towards the latter. Put to the extreme, this is being in it’s being-towards-death. The ultimate nothingness of our future is our death. However, short of this ultimate end is the nothingness of our future as our radical freedom. We are projected into the non-being of the future, into the nothingness of pure possibility.
Our imagination plays a formative role in this projection into the future. Since the imagination is the faculty of representing that which does not exist, it projects concrete possibilities into the open space of the future. Our imagination produces images, or fantasies of what the future may hold. And yet, our fantasies are somewhat determined by the non-being of a deep and dark past. And if we become so committed to the fantasies that we project, to the point of blocking ourselves against the radical freedom of this futural nothingness, we limit the possibilities of letting the world reveal itself to us.
Transcendentality is a positive affirmation of our being-towards-death. It gives us a responsibility to not only let ourselves become greater than we are, but also to let the world and the beings we encounter therein to be free to determine themselves. This relation to our radical freedom can be terrifying, but it can also be life-affirming.
For the first time in history, I have teamed up with my long time friend Factor Chandelier for a song. We call it “Precious Stone.” Our hope is that the song gets in your bones and makes you wanna move your body, no matter how introverted you are, or how weird you may feel. That’s how we feel too, but we still love music that makes us dance.
You can purchase the song on Bandcamp or listen to the audio on Soundcloud.
I owe a big thanks to my friend Ryan Simmons, who shot and directed the video. Thanks Ryan!
I also have to thank Dany Reede, who made this amazing artwork for us to use as the cover to the single. Thanks Dany!
I recently sat down with the homie and Winnipeg hip-hop lover Bruce Lord to record an episode of his podcast Pluganomics. We had a couple beers at the Sherb and talked about rap, Winnipeg hip-hop history, the DIY attitude, punk music and authenticity. And some other stuff too. Then we got kicked out by the bouncer. It was rad. Check it out here.
I was walking home down Westminster, past Deno’s Pawn Shop, grocery bag hanging from my right hand, when I heard the swishing sound of someone in snow-pants rapidly gaining on me from behind. I try to exercise as much street ethics as I can, and so, I edged over to the left side of the sidewalk, allowing room on my right side for someone to pass. However, just as a woman in head-to-toe snow gear drew even with me, a black car came speeding down the lane by the Sherb and screeched to a stop right in front of us. Both the woman and I were a bit startled and stood wide-eyed, looking quizzically at the driver through tinted windows. My fellow pedestrian was visibly more distraught than I was, however, and almost immediately shot out like a rabbit, attempting to go around the front of the car. But as she did that, the car pulled forward into traffic, blocking her way again. Exasperated, she threw up her thinsulate gloves, fingers spread out, and cut to her left in front of me, apologizing in a panicked tone: “Everything is just happening at once.” I watched her for a moment, as she cut diagonally across the Sherb parking lot, wondering what exactly she meant.
This Sunday, I’ll be opening up for Greg MacPherson at the Good Will in Winnipeg. Greg, along with co-owner Cam Loeppky, run Disintegration Records, the label that I am currently recording my new album for. All the songs I’ll be performing at this show will be from this upcoming album.
The album is a continuation of the path I was on with my album Hearts, from 2012. I got sidetracked by putting out a couple rap albums since then, but these new songs are a return to the post-punk/rap hybrid thing I was working on back then. I like these songs, and I’m finally at a point where I feel comfortable performing them. Playing keyboards and triggering samples, all while switching between singing and rapping has been a new challenge for me. But I’m starting to get the hang of it. And this might be the first show I’ve played where that is apparent.
I’m considering calling the album Out of Nothing. It comes from the Latin phrase “nihil fit ex nihilo,” which translates to “nothing comes from nothing,” or “nothing comes out of nothing.” I considered calling the album Ex Nihilo, but that sounds too pretentious. I’ve also considered The Nothing From Which Nothing Comes. But I dunno. I’ll figure it out. It all stems from non-essentialist theories of identity; that our essence is nothingness. A lot of the songs are about that, so it seems appropriate.
Anyways. The show is an early one this Sunday, so come down by 730pm if you want to hear my new songs. I’ll be on not much after that. Then Greg goes on, and then Ted Turner, my partner from Loose Fit will be playing records to close out the night. Cool?
On Saturdays, Dj No Contact and I play records at Bar Italia in Winnipeg. As anyone who knows what Bar I is must be wondering: yes, it was a little strange at first. In fact, it’s a little strange every week. You see, Bar I does have a bit of a reputation. All the salacious rumours aside, it is more or less a Top 40 bar in the body of a lounge. So, when Dj No Contact and I started playing records there, we weren’t sure what to think. We were playing songs by DAF, Cabaret Voltaire, Tuxedo Moon… (or at least, I was) to a crowd of people dressed for Rhianna and Fetty Wap.
However, Bar I is a much different place in the summer than it is in the fall and winter. In the summer Bar I turns from a chill lounge where you can hang out with your friends and talk about literature and film while having some nachos and beer to a mini-nightclub carnival. It has great location, and one of the best patios in the city, so when it gets warm people want to be there. And most of those people have never heard of New Order. So, we spent the summer trying to please people by playing Madonna and the occasional MIA song, while slyly mixing in the post-punk stuff where we could. And we survived. And now that it’s fall again, we get to be a little more experimental with what we play. I’m going to put my Pere Ubu records back in the crates where they belong!
So, if you find yourself ever wanting to go out on a Saturday for a drink, but are not sure where to go, come to Bar I. The focus is on post-punk, but we like to dip into the stuff that inspired it (funk, disco, Krautrock) as well as the stuff it inspired (hip-hop, electro, indie). So come on down and make a request. We do play vinyl, but maybe we’ll surprise you with what we have.
