Music

Toronto's Hoover Party lifts off

by Jesse Locke

No Rest for the Obsessed is a column spotlighting some of the most exciting new music AUX’s Associate Editor Jesse Locke finds each week. It began in 2010 for Calgary’s dearly departed alt-weekly FFWD, and takes its name from a Lightning Bolt song.

Hoover Party – Another bankrupt Hapsburg legacy

The latest genre-agnostic transmission from Toronto’s Hoover Party is, in his words, “lovingly and dysfunctionally working the noise music – lounge music continuum.” That’s as fine a description as I can muster for the mind-massaging works of the gentle-spoken digital druid Jonathan Adjemian, who has previously tickled the ivories in a straighter fashion for Jennifer Castle, $100, and Jon-Rae & The River. There’s truly not much out there that warrants comparison, though if you enjoy the various synthetic strategies of Event Cloak or Laurie Spiegel, it’s somewhere on that continuum too.

Hag Face – “The Count I”

Calgary’s Hag Face spark up the cauldrons once again with another bubbling, troubling banger from their R.I.P. LP on Psychic Handshake. We’ve got the debut of this spooked black and white clip featuring some kind of supernatural seance and the electrocution by lightning of their label boss. It’s a co-direction job by the aforementioned Graeme Langdon and his partner Emily Pelstring, who is previously responsible for vivid videos from U.S. Girls, Slim Twig, AIDS Wolf, and more.

Echo Beach – “Droni Mitchell”

Montreal’s Julie Matson (a.k.a. Echo Beach) continues her CanCon dream logic deconstruction with this re-imagining of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides, Now.” Softly chopped vocal samples flow in and out of a weightless backdrop before you’re given any indication seven minutes have passed. This piece was inspired by the Droni Mitchell DJ crew hitting the decks somewhere in Montreal soon.

TBWNIS – Masters of the Molehill

I’m late to the party on this platter from Ottawa’s TBWNIS (The Band Whose Name Is A Symbol) issued back in October, but like any release from the scorched six-piece, time goes out the window. Their ninth (!) LP is proudly listed as vinyl only, but you can stream/download above and ramp up to instrumental psych jammers with knowing titles like “Underworld Traveler” and the Canned heater “You Doo Wrong.” Fans of fellow Canadian freakers Shooting Guns and Hawkeyes (whose earlier split LP is also worth a heavy nod) should be all over this.

Various Artists – Hot Heros 2

Mint Records’ second annual bodega-art inspired holiday compilation has also been out for a hot minute, but these 14 songs from label artists and friends are enough to chew on for a while. Energy Slime pump up the dream, Monomyth tumble dry in Syd Barrett fashion, and Faith Healer get remixed by Renny Wilson in a style far too reminiscent of Fatboy Slim and Moby to be taken at face value. Of course, Renny’s own highway ramblin’ contribution “Comin’ Home (Again)” is by far the most ridiculous cut, inching him ever closer to the territory of Heidecker & Wood. Ring in the season with this wicked comp while continuing to send your well wishes to Nardwuar.