Music

Toronto's Hooded Fang live on the edge

by Jesse Locke

No Rest for the Obsessed is a column spotlighting some of the most exciting new music AUX 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.

Hooded Fang – Venus on Edge

Earlier this week, April Aliermo of Hooded Fang lamented online that “everyone wants to talk to me about racism but noone wants to talk to me about my lyrics or sikk bass playing.” This is surely a reference to the vital work she has done tackling issues of racism in the Canadian music industry, so consider this an attempt to shine the light back on her band’s excellent new album.

With a stylishly surreal cover from in-demand comic artist Michael DeForge, Hooded Fang’s long-awaited Venus on Edge is out tomorrow (May 13th) on their own Daps Records. You can stream the whole shebang above, with 10 songs of heart-racing post-punk pop, walking a tightly wound wire between catchy melodies and the steely claustrophobia you might have seen coming from singer Dan Lee’s solo project Lee Paradise. Aliermo’s nimble bass lines locked in with drummer D. Alex Meeks really are sikk too.

If you’re in Toronto, catch Hooded Fang’s record release show on Friday, June 3rd at the Horseshoe with HSY and Germaphobes.

Carmen – “Quota”

After splitting her time between Halifax and Montreal, electronic artist Catherine Colas (formerly known as French Pretzel) will appear at the upcoming OBEY Convention festival as her alter-ego Carmen.

We’ve got the first taste of her upcoming EP with a premiere of the video for “Quota”. This wavvy rave was filmed and edited by Alex van Helvoort on a combination of VHS and mini during a late night at The Khyber. It features hardstyle dancing cameos from local luminaries such as Cheryl Hann (Picnicface/Wayne World), Cole Wood, and Colas herself. Hit play and get freaky deaky.

Jazz Cartier – “Red Alert / 100 Roses” (360° Virtual Reality Video)

360° VR music videos offer a glimpse at a possible future, and if you thought Un Blonde’s panoramic performance clip from Pop Montreal was cool, just wait until you see what Jazz Cartier has done.

With help from Mad Ruk (the production company behind Future and The Weeknd’s stark clip for “Low Life”), the Toronto rapper stacks two tracks from his album Hotel Paranoia into an innovative double feature. Watch it on an updated Firefox or Chrome browser, the YouTube app on your mobile device, or a VR headset if you happen to have one kicking around, and you can scroll in all directions. Follow Jazz Cartier into a subterranean scene of urban exploration, vehicles speeding down dirt roads, and a Gravediggaz-style conclusion.

Waitress – Delay Our Time

Saskatoon’s Waitress (previously known as the VU-nodding Foggy Notions) scout the location of their prairie home as a shimmering soundworld on Delay Our Time. The debut album from the rechristened duo of Janice Weber and Kalon Beaudry sets a variety of cinematic moods from the shoegaze haze of the title track, to the buzzing ’70s strut of “Theme From Waitress” to the Eno, Moebius, and Roedelius moves of “Sideways World.” The “Engram” remix from likeminded Montreal duo The Backhomes pushes the album into dreamily propulsive territory as it continues to stretch out the clock.