Cots, Wolf Castle, and Ava Wild & Merky Waters
Cots
Disturbing Body // Boiled Records
Make a nice dinner with the Gaby, sweating in the kitchen, salad and sausages. Actually clear off the table this time - sunglasses, bike lock, yerba mate cup, sandalwood incense, two covid masks, fruit fly infested cantaloupe rind, Dewalt drill charger, vibrato pedal, keys, receipts - onto the couch. Sensing pomp and circumstance in her shirtless man, Gaby approaches with amorous intention, but stops halfway to pull a ring of onion off of her sock.
“I’m gonna put on an album,” I declare, with the valour of someone who hasn’t worked in roughly two months. “Nice,” she coos proudly, “One of yours?” “No!” I scoff, perhaps too abruptly, and stride toward my Macbook. (She must know...) Lo and behold, clicking the spacebar to ‘wake’ my screen, my own songs are staring me down in iTunes. I force a cough and ‘x’ it out. “No, I’m playing one of the records that I need to review for Cups N Cakes. I’m reviewing two records,” I tell her.
“Hm?” She asks.
“I’m reviewing a couple of records for Cups N Cakes,” I repeat.
“Nice,” she says, as I pull the first of the two albums, by a band (or artist?) called Cots. I prepare myself for some layered abstract art pop. “Jeff kind of likes intellectual music,” I tell her, walking back to the table. We pull the chairs out from the table, glass of water and ice in portable coffee mug, and lay out the sausages onto the plates. Sunlight streams in from the window. Our kitten, Eric, is sprawled out under the table, a paw outstretched across a shadow line, flecks of debris in his unruly fur from a recent moment of passion.
Oh, finally, a reprieve, a little calm amidst the grinding inferno of this hellish heat.
The opening strums of an acoustic guitar and piano are warm and melancholic, and soothing.
“Searching for reasons that you stay away.”
“Why do so many female singers sing this way?” I ask, sitting down. “Seuching,” she says. “Like that Billie Eilish thing. They don’t say ‘r’s’ anymore. ‘Eu’s’ instead.
“it’s because it’s so much harder to sing that way,” Gaby replies. She sits up straight and demonstrates, using her hands on her diaphragm as she trumpets out a note in key with the song.
I’m not sure she understood what I meant, but this happens occasionally, as English is her second language. “Are you, like, Persian?” I asked her the first time I met her. “Argentinian,” she replied.
The song is beginning to move into an interesting territory. A nice Miles Davis style horn. Hushed and sparse.
“Disteubing body.” There it is again.
Then some 80’s Joni Mitchell Jaco Pistorius bass line, causes Gaby’s brow to furrow approvingly. “Mmm”, she says, “I’m down for this.” Her senses piqued, her trust gained, appreciation cascades forth.
“She’s making current music in the style of Tom Jobim,” she says. “And she plays Bossa Nova so well, I wonder if she’s Brazilian, honestly. She’s like a Chenoa. She sounds like she really studied voice. And Bossa Nova isn’t that hard to play, but to really play it, you have to spend some time with it to understand the nuances. People bastardize Bossa Nova in Canada, because they don’t take the time with it.”
Gaby gets up from the table, leaves the room and returns to the table with her nylon stringed guitar. She sits down and strums a chord, in that Bossa Nova rhythm.
“What chord is that?” I ask. “D seven,” she replies.
“Sounds like Conrad’s music,’ I say. Conrad goes by Blue Bloods, and makes jazz infused pop records that we really like.
Gaby’s eyes widen at the association, mouth widening into a smile.
“Bluebird.”
“Sounds like Tallie’s music,” I say.
“I know!” she responds gaily.
“Lime flower, take your time...” drums come in...
“Mmm, I love how the drums come in,” Gaby says, and starts rocking, hand on knee. “Sounds like ‘Wake Up Alone’ by Amy.”
“Lindsey would love this!” she exclaims.
I am really enjoying the vinegary salad dressing I’ve made. The trick is, I’ve realized, to put salt into it. It really brings out the vinegar. I dip my fork into the jar mechanically.
“Dream dream dream dream.”
“So pretty!”
“Do do do do.”
“So gorgeous!”
“Like, every inflection, straight, no vibrato, but hella control. It’s so hard to sing like that... Jazz musicians making not lame jazz music.”
“For sure,” I respond, lips pruning with the acid.
One time I got punched in the face by a guy at a party for calling him a jazz nerd.
“Ba-ba.”
“Very pretty. Very Astrid.”
“Resting my chin on an open book.”
“Do you know what I love?” Gaby continues. “Here, how she delivers her phrasing...” Gaby rewinds the track... ’til we look...’til we look.’ That’s the work of the jazz vocalist, learning how to deliver like a horn player. Her phrasing’s incredible, as a jazz singer.”
I bring the jar of salad dressing right to my lips, sipping it like wine. “Mm-hm,” I say.
“Sight of me.”
“What an accomplished singer,” Gaby says, getting up from her chair. “I want to know who she is.”
“Cots,” I say, and push myself from the table, pulling a bit of lint out of my navel.
She heads to her computer in the next room, continuing on with a thought... ”the breath control needs to be impeccable and classy to pull it off right.”
She sings a note off of Sun Spotted Apple. “See, I’ve lost my breath already. What’s the name of this person again?”
“COTS,” I say. She types away on her computer.
“She’s a honey!” she exclaims excitedly. “She’s Brazilian, or she can speak Portuguese really well. Such restraint, such evenness of tone! She looks like the music she’s singing. She has that Astrid Gilberto, Audrey Hepburn kind of thing. The sound is cured that way.”
“Curated,” I say.
Eric runs across the room carrying a covid mask in his mouth.
- JD Ormond
Wolf Castle
Da Vinci’s Inquest // Forward Music Group
Full disclosure: I’m a Wolf Castle fan. So much so that in applying to write for this network, I mentioned him as one of my favourite artists. His fourth EP, Da Vinci’s Inquest has only proven that support to be correctly placed.
This record is about shedding selves to find others within. It’s about befores and afters in the way many things are when you’re stuck in the liminal space between adolescence and adulthood, with your mind in one and/or the other.
BEFORE
Da Vinci: multidisciplinary polymath and posterboy of the Italian Renaissance. Brilliant. Martyr of reinvention. Work full of religious references with no definitive affiliation.
Roman Catholicism*: the World’s 2nd largest religious denomination. “Largest non-government provider of education and health care” (Wikipedia), perpetrator of endless historic and contemporary horrors.
Colonialism*: One of them ^. A system that pioneered before and after by weighing calculable gain against immeasurable loss.
The connections between the 3.
*ongoing.
AFTER
Dismissal of fame: a new perspective on prior releases.
Setting: Pabineau First Nation, Mi’kma’ki, and the internet.
Brotherhood: featuring Shift from tha 902, Raphael de la Rez, Flacko Finesse, and Talon the Rez Kid Wonder.
The connections between the 3.
That’s why this record excels.
It doesn’t gloss, or shuffle, or overindulge. Every track carries the tension of deciphering what “then” means: when then was, and whether then is now in the name of self-discovery. This trajectory is perfectly exemplified by both the tracks -- “Get Lit”, whose opening score shifts from cinematic strings to 90s video game beats in the last few moments -- and lyrics: “my medicine pouch got sweet grass and my tax card.”
The music has a glorious sense of time that acknowledges its complexity in a way that’s wholly unique. Even the genres of the individual songs are considered in a way that reflects it; “Summertime Crush” was born in the wrong decade in a way that’s just so right.
When is growing outgrowing? When is re-evaluation a revolution?
Da Vinci’s Inquest is the quintessential 21st century coming of age story. No one could ask for a better capstone to the artist’s three previous EPs. Written, recorded and produced primarily by himself, they earned two ECMA nominations for Indigenous Artist of the Year and one for Prix NB Recording of the Year, as well as a recent gig in my hometown at Sappyfest.
Not to mention that it’s catchy as hell in it’s own right. “Top Dog” plays out: “That’s what we’re talking about 2021 we’re gonna change the world 2022, on and on we go…”, and this record makes me believe it.
In the meantime, though, let Wolf Castle change yours.
- Chloe Lundrigan
P.S. Da Vinci’s Inquest was a CBC show about a “Vancouver cop turned coroner [who] searches for truth and justice with the help of his friends”? It just keeps going.
Ava Wild & Merky Waters
Existing // Self Released
The link-up of eclectic singer-songwriter Ava Wild and veteran hip-hop producer Merky Waters has brought into existence one of the most exciting, genre-swerving, free-flowing albums of 2021. Existing was crafted while the two artists worked in isolation from their own studio spaces. Merky Waters (Eekwol, Def3, Info Red) would send Wild a variety of tracks and as Wild connected with a beat, she would improvise lead vocals, harmonies, and other inspired sounds from the comfortability of her own space. The intricate beats crafted by Merky Waters provided space for Wild to showcase her versatile voice and poetic lyrics. Wild’s method of recording vocals gave Merky Waters an abundance of gems to examine and masterfully mix, and the songs would grow organically as the two continued to bounce ideas off one another.
Existing begins with the title track where Wild confidently dances around a dynamic beat using her uniquely phrased jazz-drenched vocals. The track is highlighted by catchy Latin inspired acoustic guitar and ends with Wild scat singing in the background while pondering: “You ain’t dead but how are you living… Are you living or are you just existing?”. The album’s second track “Magpie” opens with warm piano and the familiar sounds of crackling vinyl as Wild riffs over a subtle play on “My Favourite Things”. Reflecting on the use of money to distract and fill voids, she compares herself to the notorious bird: “Spending my money in an attempt to feel better… like a Magpie I’m attracted to things that shine”. Each track is unique in its sound and direction, and can bring up thoughts of influences that may have inspired this collaboration. With its alternative hip-hop vibe, Existing is at times reminiscent of the stylings of Bjork, Nelly Furtado, Amy Winehouse, The Fugees and Fiona Apple, but also brings to mind Canadian songwriters like Feist.
The electronic and explosive sounds of “BOOM x3” are smartly placed after the more traditional and controlled “Magpie”. The lyrics are self-admittedly “braggadocious” on this album, notably on “BOOM X3” where Wild assertively stands in her power: “Don’t play with my minutes and expect my top game… like fuel to the fire lighting up this joint, my energy electrifying, don’t dim its light”. Wild isn’t taking any disrespect from anyone, and the intensity matched by Merky Waters demonstrates that he stands as firmly as Wild does in this self-assuredness. “BOOM X3” is especially rewarding on headphones - the panning is hypnotizing and the punchy rhythmic beat hits hard. “Lady” is another album highlight. Wild tosses around potent lyrics like: “I ain’t on standby for when you cry, no you better treat me better if you want to keep me around” and flaunts her impressive “mouth-trumpeting”.... Yes, the dramatic trumpet sounds in this song are coming from Wild’s own mouth (see the tutorial on Wild’s instagram). Later during the album on the alluring “Damn”, listeners are encouraged to own their inherent beauty and recognize that “they could be the most beautiful thing that this room didn’t even know it was missing”.
The first collaboration album between Merky Waters and Ava Wild demonstrates that both artists are pushing themselves even further into fearless expression and the abundance of creative inspiration exhibited on Existing is a joy to experience.
- Greg Torwalt
