The Faps, Ghost Twin, and Holy Drone Travellers
The Faps
New Daft Punk EP // Transistor 66
There’s an old adage “A picture is worth a thousand words”. Adding to that, The Faps latest release New Daft Punk EP is worth a hundred thousand words at least. For the sake of brevity I’ll try it in a few hundred. The Faps is Blair Colwell and Skyler Cafferata, a musical duo from Saskatoon that thrives in their complex variety and eccentricities, both on the microphone and on the stage.
New Daft Punk EP uses four songs to express the band's signature chaos through a sound reminiscent of punk rock, new wave, with a hint of experimental. The songs remain coherent but are unpredictable in nature which makes for a unique listening experience where you don’t know what The Faps will give you next, but yet it always satisfies. They found a formula many artists strive for, to find a consistent sound that allows room for innovation and creativity.
My favourite track of the EP is the final song, “Bonez”. It begins with a hardcore-surfer rock sound that evolves into a heavy metal breakdown which includes about five seconds of pure country music. (I’m not making this up. Listen to it. It’s there.) The song returns to the surfer rock before tearing itself apart to form an ending that embodies The Faps intense aesthetic.
The EP has two guest artists who help contribute to the musical mania - respectfulchild and Brodie Moniker. They provide violins, saxophones, voices, FX, and some of the chaos in “Bonez”. They form the back end of this quartet collaboration, aiding in the careful construction of this powerhouse of a record.
New Daft Punk EP is most of all a fun record to listen to. The Faps don’t slow the pace, rather going for an all gas no brakes approach, building off their musical segments to deliver a Dagwood sandwich of sound. The album will keep you entertained throughout its entire 14 minute runtime and leave you with a smile on your face, albeit a confused one.
- Brandon Kruze
Ghost Twin
Love Songs for End Times // Artoffact
Winnipeg husband-and-wife duo Ghost Twin (along with basically the rest of Artoffact Records’ roster) are proof that goth culture is as undying as the vampires and ghouls the aesthetic emulates. Karen and Jaimz Asmundson’s audiovisual live performances have earned them appearances across North America including festivals like Austin’s South by Southwest, Toronto’s Canadian Music Week, Pop Montréal and Calgary’s Terminus; while their 2017 debut album Plastic Heart gathered enough airplay to make both the Earshot charts along with praise from critics. This year they bring us their follow-up with Love Songs for End Times, a collection started pre-pandemic that became unexpectedly prescient.
A more appropriate name for the album may be Club Songs for End Times given the undeniable amount of influence EDM and Eurodance genres have throughout. The dance-friendly intent is especially apparent in the mostly instrumental second half of “Illuminati”. With constantly thumping drum beats and heavy use of the sorts of synth sounds you would find in witch house, industrial and the current sound of long-lived synth-pop acts like Depeche Mode, this is exactly the sort of thing I would expect goth and alternative clubs to pump through the speakers once they’re allowed to host events again.
Much like the aforementioned Depeche Mode, Ghost Twin take advantage of the fact that they have two vocalists with vastly different styles. While most of the songs are fronted by Karen’s ghostly and falsetto-laden mezzo-soprano, lending well to “Babes in the Woods” and the closer “Good Intentions”, Jaimz’s grainier and more assertive baritone have a chance to shine in the tracks “Death Note”, “Become Control” and “We Are the Damned”; all to their benefit as much of the music’s character already has a hint of aggression to it.
With the past year or so having such hardship, you’d be forgiven for being in the mood for the darker side of music. Luckily for you, Love Songs for End Times has enough darkness to go around without fully giving into despair.
- Ty Vanden Dool
Holy Drone Travellers
Soul Surfers: Benefit for Nepal // Saw-Whet Records
It took me less than a quarter of a listen through this impressive, 2 hour collection of free improvisational music from the wildly diverse Edmonton experimental psych collective to open my wallet and shell out some ducats for their noble charitable cause in support of financial relief for Nepalese families suffering the financial ravages of the Covid 19 pandemic (band member Bhuyash Neupane hails from Nepal). Besides their good natured efforts, this is just such a massive collection of mind-expanding excursions into the kind of sonic territory occupied by the likes of Secret Chiefs, Zakir Hussain and Sun Ra that it would make good financial sense regardless.
Although the term “free-jazz” typically conjures images of the frenetic aural assault associated with artists like Pharoah Sanders and Ornette Coleman, the music found on this sprawling collection is much more sedate, favouring deep, meditative grooves based in Hindustani classical music, layered with ambient drone electronics, hypnotic basslines and the kind of contemplative woodwind work that I associate with Marshall Allen of the Sun Ra Arkestra (penultimate outing and standout track “Rain Song” bears a more-than-passing resemblance to Allen’s meandering work on the ‘62 Arkestra track “Adventure Equation”).
With experimental music, I often find myself asking “what is the hypothesis?” It’s easy for the concept of “freedom” in music to be misinterpreted, typically resulting in the kind of over-indulgent free expression that comes out as all sound and fury, signifying nothing. I’m happy to report that that isn’t the case here; there’s ample food for thought to be found on the collection, and I’m particularly fond of the phrasing of clarinetist Ethan Bokma who brings in some great elements of mid-60’s style psych-informed jazz playing to compliment the trans-global influences of percussionist Bhuyash Neupane.
All told, it’s a heady effort perfect in nature for a lazy afternoon spent drifting at the whims of fancy, and with the policy of keeping the album on a pay-by-donation basis, a can’t-miss purchase considering the vast expanse of really interesting music contained within, all going to support a worthwhile cause.
- Shaun Lee
