Music Reviews

by Haley Cullingham
Anyone feeling a void in their heart for deliciously complicated folk music will be happy come July 5th. East Vancouver's Language Arts brings their Canadian tour to Toronto to dazzle the city with their beautiful, summery sound. Language Arts songs jump from airy, delicate melodies with hippie lyrics, to darker efforts with Aesop Rock-type vocals, and at their best they combine both. Reminiscent of concrete streets, and staring out your apartment window at a blinking neon sign or a melting ocean sunset, rarely is something at once experimental, ground-breaking, and listenable in a very addictive way. It's not every musician who could find her name in the liner notes next to 'classical guitar and hip hop vocals,' but that is the beauty and mystery of Kristen Cudmore and Language Arts. About their sound, Kristen says, "We're like a family. We all bring different ideas to the table, which is exciting...[our sound] keeps re-defining itself and we're OK with that."

They've drawn crowds and sold-out shows at festivals, venues, and bars from coast-to-coast, ("You get to see so many different landscapes [touring Canada]...we are lucky to have all of this space!") but this is their first time doing it all in one go. Next Saturday, go eat some nachos and drink some beers, and be the first to see a band all of your friends will be talking about come August.

July 5th, 11 pm @ Rancho Relaxo

http://www.myspace.com/languageartsnet

By Jen Houston 

Okay, so I don’t really watch music television anymore. I admit that even at 24, I feel too old for the idle VJ chatter, shiny hair extensions, and tackily trendy outfits. But watching online, I can bypass the cultural assault and find my own gems. These particular videos I found quite weird and wonderful… you may want to skip all but the Moby one if you’re epileptic though! They’re all full of flashing colours! 

So turn off the lights and expect LSD flashbacks from these five videos: 

Uncalibrated

Bridges and Powerlines

Ghost Types

Consultant: Ben Salley

This NYC quartet calls its music "state-school nerd rock"... whatever that means. In any case, apparently the visual companion to state-school nerd rock is an awesome sock puppet video! B&P says it had already filmed most of a traditional video, when they decided to can the whole thing in favour of this 20-person cast extravaganza. Who doesn’t love sock puppets?

Heart Invaders

Eightcubed

Eightcubed

Creator: Dan Swan

While Eightcubed is Canadian, England’s Dan Swan created this busy video, which gloriously reeks of 80s space cheese.  The flashing neon cartoons made me dizzy; the LEGO space board made me nostalgic.

Okie Dokie

Dan Deacon

Spiderman of the Rings

Director: David Hughes

Beginning to end, this video is exercise for the eyes. It uses intricate cut-ups to show Dan doing his thing, mixed with strange scenes in other techniques. My favourite part is the lady’s petting hand, which brings the video to the peak of abnormality.

I'm Not Going To Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You

Black Kids

Partie Traumatic

Director: Chris Boyle

This video takes the ‘band-performs-in-an-empty-room’ cliché to surprisingly exciting places. Highlights include ballroom dancing, cheerleaders, 70s psychedelics, dance step charts, laser guns, band members’ auras, and cardboard cut-outs reminiscent of a high-school play. At some points it looks like someone beat up an iPod commercial…

Disco Lies

Moby

Last Night

Okay, so Moby is popular enough that your grandma showed you this video last month. This tongue-in-cheek video is about a giant rooster-pimp seeking revenge on a fried chicken colonel. Random shots of singer Shayna Steele as a Foxy Cleopatra-esque diva confuse me.

by Haley Cullingham
If Black Hat Brigade had their way, they would re-form with their heroes, David Bowie, Neil Young, and Gord Downey, as the greatest glam-rock country band Canada has ever seen. Over beers at Free Times Cafe, guitarist Bryan turns to bandmate Rob. "Would you play keyboards for Neil Young?"

"If he would let me, yes." Rob replies. "It would be more like grand piano."

Bryan turns to Justin, their bassist. "Who would you want to play with?"

Without pause, Justin responds. "Wu Tang Clan."

"And Adam," Bryan finishes, gesturing to the corner, where their lead guitarist is destroying a basket of hot wings, "Adam would want to play with Cyndi Lauper." Laughter all around.

It would be quite the show. However. For the time being, Black Hat Brigade are busy, playing shows and recording EPs as one of the most exciting independent rock n roll outfits in the city. The band's identity is truly a collaboration of the varied personalities within, and influences without. "Rob stole our name from a Kurt Vonnegut book." Bryan says. Playing in NXNE this year, the band, which formed a year and a half ago, have been playing shows in and around the GTA, with a sound that is at once familiar and unique. "We all switch instruments a lot," Bryan says, speaking to the sprawling collaborative quality in their songs. "That's my favourite part," he continues, "the...eclecticness of the creation." Rob laughs. The guys had their first show at The Horseshoe, and it's still one of their favourite venues, along with The Boat ("A great spot. The stage is the perfect size.") and Rancho Relaxo, where they've had some memorable performances.

"There's this one sound guy at Rancho Relaxo, everyone just calls him Spock." says Bryan, "I don't know if that's his real name, but I hope it is. He sound-checked everything with a flute. And so the next time we went to play, we asked him if he wanted to come up and play on one of our songs. We have this one instrumental song, so we told him 'you can play whatever you want', and he came up, and it was the best. That was a really cool night. " When they're not playing you'll find them drinking cheap PBR at Baby Huey's, where Justin works, or at Sweaty Betty's, around the corner from their downtown jam space. The boys obviously have a love for the city. "We've had a great experience, people have been very helpful. We've had a couple of great promoters get behind us and help us out," says Bryan of the Toronto music community, but also mentioning Canadian blogs like Hero Hill, and festivals like Canadian Music Week and NXNE. "So far we've been on pretty solid bills. We've had a great Toronto experience." Some other Toronto bands that get the guys excited about the scene are Oh No Forest Fires, who played their EP release party, and Golden Hands Before God, "I like that [in music today] people can just make whatever song they want. Go listen to Frog Eyes. That there is the most ridiculous, yelping, seven minute song you've ever heard and it's incredible." Bryan says. "I think what I dig most," says Rob, "is that there are some really good bands out there who are getting some really good recognition and pretty much none of it involves any air play on any major radio stations." Their enthusiasm for music in the city, and music in general, is contagious, and so is the genuine excitement about their own creative efforts. This is clearly a band that loves making music, and is going to keep going about that in their own unique way.

Black Hat Brigade plays Rancho Relaxo on July 11, and plays in Ottawa with The Handsome Furs in August 

myspace.com/blackhatbrigade

by Haley Cullingham

Sweaty. Sweaty, sweaty, sweaty.  My NXNE weekend is a steamy blur of neon, booze and music, and that's just how it should be. Stumbling from bar to bar and band to band attempting not to lose your wristband and your dignity. (Wristband: still have it. Dignity: Questionable). After Friday night's apocalyptic thunderstorm, I was whisked away in a taxi to Wrongbar, and hit in the face by a grinning vision in cotton behind the turntables. James Pants is my uncontested new favourite thing. His set ranged from the classic to the undefinable, and was through and through a dance party of champions. The Spokane DJ's grand finale serenade was almost enough to make me buy a poncho and pack my bags for the Pacific Northwest. Following the mighty Pants was Peanut Butter Wolf, founder of Stone's Throw and DJ extraordinaire. Most of the crowd had been waiting all night drenched in sweat and tequila to see him, and the reaction was amazing. Party! Now stumble home, fall in bed, wake up the next day, and repeat. 

In an effort to accomplish being the drunkest kids at NXNE on Saturday night, my trusty compatriot and I bathed in vodka and hit the streets. And these were some crowded streets. Battling our way through Taste of Little Italy to get to Spadina, we saw Paper Lions at the El Mocambo. When a band comes all the way from Charlottetown to play a show, expectations run high. And when a band brings several kilowatts of energy for every kilometre travelled to reach the venue, so does the temperature. As the city got dark, we wandered down to Queen St., where the sidewalks were full of anxious concert-goers and an open NOW, NXNE schedule displayed, rested on top of every newspaper box. The line outside the Horseshoe stretched around the corner, many a be-wristbanded hipster (the cool kids wear them on their upper arms, natch.) fighting with the bouncer for entry. But he was a wall of stone beneath his afro, and we lasted about 5 minutes in line before deciding to go on an adventure. The nature of NXNE is such that you can close your eyes and point at the schedule, and chances are you're within walking distance of the band your finger lands on. This scientific method of journalism landed us at the Black Bull, where I had reached a point of intoxication worthy of asking Kyle to physically restrain me if for some reason I thought it was necessary to perform a jig (likely) during The Prelude's set. Afterwards, on our stroll back down Queen St., we saw that the Horseshoe line had grown into a monster of epic proportions. "It's because of Hey Rosetta and Matt Mays," said one festival-goer, a pretty brown-haired girl in shorts. "I hope we get in, though. We came all the way from Newfoundland." There should be priority given to those travelling from an independent land mass.  

The culmination of our evening was to be Pat Mahoney at Wrongbar, and by the time we got there the only accurate way to describe the glassed-in entryway was sauna. The bouncer working the inner door must have the softest skin in the city. The crowd at Wrongbar was bedraggled, decidely beautiful, and still dancing. My favourite thing about North by Northeast is the extension of the bar hours. There is something very magical about dancing until the wee hours without worrying about the lights coming on, and stumbling home at sunrise. During NXNE the city is truly your playground, and though the bands and the attendees ranged from all over the world, the energy in the air was very characteristically Toronto: supporting new bands, drinking 'til dawn, and getting oh so sweaty.  

myspace.com/jamespants
myspace.com/pbwolf
myspace.com/paperlions
myspace.com/theprelude1
myspace.com/lcdsoundsystem

by Haley Cullingham
Every summer, as soon as it gets too hot to feel your face, NXNE invades the city.  Hundreds of shows play over one steamy weekend, and standing-room-only becomes a state of being for every music venue, dive bar, and dance floor in Toronto. Overwhelmed? Don't be. She Does The City has created a how-to guide to this year's fest, telling you where to be and when to catch the cool, the new, the re-vamped and the wierd. Every night has it's guaranteed hits (Ted Leo &  The Pharmacists, Sloan @ Mod Club on Thursday, Evan Dando @ Horseshoe on Friday, My Morning Jacket @ Kool Haus on Monday), and SDTC has rounded up a few of our lesser-known and unmissable favourites.  But remember, the whole point of NXNE is discovering the next band you're going to fall in love with, so don't hesitate. Grab a wristband (Only $29!) and amble into the first bar you see-with North by Northeast, you never know what you might find there.  

THURSDAY'S TOP FIVE 

1. Great Lake Swimmers @ PEARSON AIRPORT STAGE A, 5 pm

Canadian folk doesn't get any better than the loveliness of Great Lake Swimmers
myspace.com/greatlakeswimmers

Sounds like: Iron & Wine

You'll be standing beside: Jake, that hot camp counsellor you were too nervous to talk to when you were 9, and his gorgeous, make-up-free girlfriend 

2.The Coast @ THE HORSESHOE, 9pm

When (awesome) local indie band The Coast says dance, you dance, dig?

myspace.com/thecoastmusic

Sounds Like: The Ghost is Dancing

You'll be standing beside: OCAD scenesters in shirtdresses with messy hair 

3. Let's Go to War @ WRONGBAR, 11pm

The kind of music that makes you feel drunk no matter how much vodka you've had. PARTY!
myspace.com/letsgotowarmusic

Sounds Like: If Justice and Lil Wayne had a love child

You'll be standing beside: Gorgeous asian boys in white t-shirts and skintight neon jeans 

4. Small Sins @ HORSESHOE, 11pm

If all independent music sounded like Small Sins, the world would be a better place
myspace.com/smallsins

Sounds Like: Modest Mouse

You'll be standing beside: Shy boys shoulder-shuffling in American Apparel hoodies 

5. Black Hat Brigade @ NEUTRAL, 11 pm

Good old-fashioned indie rock and roll
myspace.com/blackhatbrigade

Sounds Like: Yo La Tengo

You'll be standing beside: Two kids you knew in high school wearing plaid and making out.  

FRIDAY's TOP FIVE 

1. Love Kills @ GLADSTONE, 9 pm

Doing good things with guitars
myspace.com/lovekillsmusic

Sounds like: Exclaim! compared them to Jesus and Mary Chain, and we're not arguing

You'll be standing beside:  Anyone who's ever gotten drunk in Trinity-Bellwoods 

2. Julie Doiron @ HORSESHOE, 11pm

Simple, haunting and wonderful folk, plus she's ADORABLE
myspace.com/juliedoiron

Sounds like: Neko Case

You'll be standing beside: Tall girls in vintage dresses drinking red wine  

3.Oholics @ SILVER DOLLAR ROOM, 12 am

In keeping with NXNE's international focus this year, some Swedish electro-rock goodness.
myspace.com/oholics

Sounds like: If The Who and Jack White had a jam session in the IKEA cafeteria

You'll be standing beside: Dude, is that Sharin Foo?  

4. Justin Rutledge @ REVERB, 1 am

Exactly what folk should be. Go slow dance.
myspace.com/justinrutledge

Sounds like: Ryan Adams

You'll be standing beside: Your friend's cool dad, squelching tears 

5. OPOPO @ SUPERMARKET, 1 am

Guaranteed to be the best dance party all night.
myspace.com/opopotunes

Sounds like: Crystal Castles

You'll be standing beside: Sweaty, sweaty dancing hipsters 

SATURDAY's TOP FIVE 

1. The Paper Lions @ EL MOCAMBO DOWNSTAIRS, 8 pm

Indie from P.E.I. that sounds like walking down a sidewalk holding hands with Jason Schwartzman. Stick around for the whole Musebox Showcase (The Two Koreas, We Are Wolves, The High Dials, and more)
myspace.com/paperlionsmusic

Sounds like: Shout Out Louds

You'll be standing beside: Boys in waistcoasts, girls in slouchy leather boots 

2. Dance Yourself to Death@ HOLY JOE'S, 9pm

They were in a movie produced by Elton John!
myspace.com/danceyourselftodeath

Sounds like: Rilo Kiley

You'll be standing beside: Awesome asymmetrical haircuts 

3. Rebekah Higgs @ HORSESHOE, 9pm

Excellent Halifax singer-songrwriter. Crazy-catchy.
myspace.com/rebekahhiggs

Sounds like: Sarah Harmer v. The Shins

You'll be standing beside: English majors in scarves and big silver earrings 

4. Spiral Beach @ HORSESHOE, 10 pm

Pure fun in the way that's illegal in George Bush's America.
myspace.com/spiralbeach

Sounds like: Los Campesinos

You'll be standing beside: Girls in minidresses and their skinny gay best friends 

5. Entire Cities @ CADILLAC LOUNGE, 1am

Fantastic rootsy country
myspace.com/entirecities

Sounds like: Wilco

You'll be standing beside: Your new boyfriend

Everyone’s Favourite Magazine Takes a Roadtrip

by Haley Cullingham

Nylon is taking their NYC cool on the road to cities and towns across North America. The line-up features the indie-rock goodness of She Wants Revenge, The Virgins, Be Your Own Pet, and Switches. Meet the talent :  

Justin Warfield and Adam Bravin of She Wants Revenge have been making music for over two decades, and their individual resumes carry collaborations with everyone from Dr. Dre to The Chemical Brothers. (No big deal, though.) Dark, dance-influenced, and never boring, this Californian band begs Interpol comparisons and escapes definition.  

http://www.myspace.com/shewantsrevenge

Is there anything cooler than opening for Sonic Youth? How about opening for Sonic Youth before you officially have a band name? Or playing one of your first gigs at Bungalow 8, in front of a crowd of New York’s finest, drunkest socialites? That’s The Virgins’ pedigree, a New Wave-y New York band with talent exceeded only by their collective hipster dreaminess. NYC! NYC!  

http://www.myspace.com/thevirginsnyc 

With her baby-Karen O voice and fab spastic dance moves, Be Your Own Pet’s front-woman, Jemima Pearl, throws more energy behind her individual performance than most bandmembers manage to come up with between them. Pearl’s band-mates meet the challenge and deliver equally amazing performances, and the resulting show is sure to incite a dance-riot (is there anything better?)  

http://www.myspace.com/beyourownpetmusic

More 60’s-inspired than their American tour-mates, the UK’s Switches can’t escape British Invasion references, and they definitely live up to them.  

http://www.myspace.com/weareswitches

Get your bod-ay to the Phoenix June 4th for the Nylon Summer Music Tour.  

http://www.nylonmag.com/summertour

by Haley Cullingham
The future is blonde, and her best friend wears aviators. Prepare to be obsessed with the Ting Tings (if you aren’t already). Catchy songs that sound as good after 3 tequila shots as they do when you’re mopping your kitchen in short shorts, an inescapable iPod commercial, and a band membership that looks like your too-cool-for-school older brother and his awesome girlfriend, the one who taught you how to put on eyeliner and bought you a six-pack before you turned 19, the Ting Tings are taking over the universe.  AND they’re British. Hotness.

Katie White, who sings and plays guitar, is a picture-perfect rock heroine. She looks like Debbie Harry and she dresses better than anyone you know. Bleach-blond and stick skinny, glaring out from heavy-lidded hangover eyes, she is the definition of all things British and fantastic. Drummer Jules de Martino has a leather-jackety, James Dean coolness, and the combination of the two is electric. Their new CD, We Started Nothing, doesn’t come out until June 3rd, but the Ting Tings are already everywhere. The entire album is as catchy as “Shut Up and Let Me Go,” that song in the iPod commercial that’s been stuck in your head since last Thursday. The Ting Tings more than live up to the hype they’re creating. They play Toronto June 16th @ Mod Club. Buy your tickets now, I guarantee it will sell out. 

http://www.Myspace.com/thetingtings

by Haley Cullingham

Pain breeds poetry and adversity begets art for F. Scott & The Ashbury Band. A passion project of the eponymous band leader, the EP, Movin’ On, was recorded in five Los Angeles days and nights. The growth and recording of the EP coincided with Scott’s father’s battle with terminal cancer, and the singer/songwriter never strayed from his dad’s final wishes for him: go solo, and never look back. The album reflects that forward motion. Featuring six stripped down but still complex tracks, there’s a depth behind those omnipresent ray-bans, and that depth is belied by the poetry of the lyrics and the roaming, folk-inspired instrumentals. The classic, troubadour tone is coloured by unexpected touches: random sitars, choral bells, the more you listen, the more layers are revealed.

This is an EP for hot Toronto summers: cold beer at 3 in the morning when your air conditioner breaks, hung-over drives home from the cottage, sleeping and drinking with people you might never see again or you might see every day for the rest of your life.
F. Scott’s effort sounds exactly like you’re going to feel for most of July and August, hot, nostalgic, and kind of drunk (in a good way). Dedicated to his Dad, this is an EP about remembering, moving forward, and being happy you’re still here. But most of all, this is an EP about getting out, breaking free, hitting the road to think, and taking the things you love with you. The music is all about motion, but rooted in a strong sense of home.

F. Scott has been keeping good company recently, opening for Black Rebel Motorcyle Club and playing shows with Californian indie band Venus Infers. He plays frequently in Toronto, but is off to Hollywood next.
http://www.myspace.com/fscottandtheashburyband

by Jen McNeely

“Just another one champion sound
Yeah Estelle, about to get down
Who the hottest in the world right now?
Just touch down from London town.”
American Boy, Estelle – lyrics sung by Kanye West 

Estelle’s new album is a champion sound and if she’s not the hottest in the world right now, she will be soon. 

On a road trip last weekend, I must have listened to Estelle’s new album, SHINE on repeat for about four hours. Soul, hip hop, dance hall – rock, it’s all blended together masterfully and songs American Boy, featuring Kanye West, and Wait A Minute are surely set to be the songs you kick it on the dance floor to this summer.  

There are artists that I meet and interview who have a lot of promise to be big – but there are very few who you know will sky rocket to fame; get ready because Estelle is about to take on the world.  

HA – so fuck you UK. Why do I say that? After years of trying to land a record deal in London, Estelle made the move to NYC and was quickly embraced by the American music industry. In fact, this is quite a taboo subject right now as it is causing media fury (and the British rag mags are the best at this) that the UK music industry doesn’t know how to handle or promote black hip-hop / R&B female artists. With blonde Welsh whitey Duffy battling it out with Estelle for the top of UK charts; quite the buzz is stirring on racial issues within the music industry, warranted or not.  

My instantaneous love for Estelle’s album SHINE, made me somewhat intimidated to meet her, but after a few minutes settling into her hotel suite, I became very comfortable and felt like I was chatting with a good friend. Certainly, someone I would have a lot of fun with tearing up the town on a Saturday night bender.  

I begin our meeting with an outburst of:

“How the f*ck did you do it? How does one blend so many sounds into, not just an album but a song!? Did you set out to incorporate soul, hip hop, and dance hall, or did it come through the creative process??” 

She lets out a laugh. 

“It just happened. I listen to so many different styles, it was impossible to not incorporate all at once. I wanted to do something as different as possible. I listen to hip hop and R&B, and soul and gospel, rock – if I hear something rock in a song, then I’ll take the vocals all the way up.” 

She comments that upon hearing her twists and turns of a beat or melody, famed producer John Legend would exclaim: 

“‘I don’t know what you hear, but this shit don’t sound like no one else’s’, and that’s why John liked me off the bat.” 

She admits to being influenced by all genres but it was Ella Fitzgerald that got her hooked. 

“I was thirteen, listening to her music on the bus. I used to sit at the back of the bus taking the longest route home, just to listen to her. She grabbed me.” 

Like Ella Fitzgerald, Estelle’s music tells a very visual story. It’s cinematic and full of personality. 

“I see the music before I sing it, I visualize colours, the background, the video, and everything comes in colour. If I haven’t seen a certain colour, then I’ve missed a note, so I go back and try to fit that colour in. I imagine myself talking the story, doing the video. It’s a very visual process.” 

She moved to NYC last May, so how does it compare to London? 

“Everything is turbo speed, 24 hour turbo speed! It’s like London on crack. London on speed, London on drugs. I never sleep! I have to switch my phone off in order to just be alone, to breathe. It’s a 24 hour culture consistently, and fast. It’s conducive to the music industry, so it so works.” 

Then I dig a bit into the current sensitive subject of UK versus the US, and how she felt the need to leave in order to get heard:

“The American music industry embraces my music more than the London industry. The fans at home get it but the industry was like, ‘…we’ve never heard that before!’ In America they’ve had Mary J Blige, Ella, Brandy & Monica – tons of R&B super stories. I moved there because they wanted to sign me. I tried to get signed at home, I couldn’t. No one wanted to do it, now every one wants to do it!” 

No shit. Oops! 

Although she’s doing well, signed with Warner and with a killer Producer, she admits it was a bit tough breaking in: 

“At first in NYC, music people were like ‘oh who’s that British girl, is she going to be using that gimmick all day, talking like that?’” 

(side note, but leave it to the Americans to associate a foreign accent as a ‘gimmick’) 

But Estelle stood her ground: 

“I was like – ‘LOOK, I’m not going to change my accent…just let me do my shit’, and then they realized that ‘Oh, she has a mouth on her too’ so they left me alone.” 

She hasn’t had it easy, but kept pushing and just being herself, looking for opportunities and chasing her dreams, and this is her best advice to fellow young women looking to get into the biz: 

“Figure out who you are, don’t be what the industry tells you to be. If you are sexy and that’s your whole shit – be that, if you are hardcore and that’s your whole shit – be that. Don’t fall into a stereotype and become a gimmick, be the person you are going to be 100%. It becomes easier to work with, you have to do a million interviews and if you run in there and try to be a gimmick of what the industry wants you to be, you are going to be bored. If you are all smiling and perfect all the time, then half way through an interview the cracks will start to show, and that’s when they’ll be, ‘SHE’S ACTUALLY CRAZY.’ Once you get negative press, you have to work triple time to repair. Fuck it – just be who you are, its way easier.” 

Riled, but in a good way, her response to my next random question was firm and serious. 

How would you define your style? 

“ESTELLE.” 

I don’t roll my eyes but smirk because she is her own style through and through – and I’m digging it. 

Oh – but she does mention: 

“I hate flowers on clothes, you have no idea. I can’t do flowers or prints. I HATE FLOWERS.” 

Estelle isn’t a pretty flower but a bold force to be reckoned with who is sincere, funny, tenacious, and confident; a strong role model and a talented artist who is not just a one hit parade but a powerhouse who will be around for a long time. 

by Jen McNeely
Zaki Ibrahim brings an introspective deepness to her music that hits the souls of audiences in a very personal and emotional way.

Although born in Vancouver, Zaki’s childhood was divided between Vancouver Island’s Nanaimo and Cape Town South Africa. There was a constant push and pull to be with family in Africa and moving back for work in British Columbia. Thus Zaki was never in one place for very long, and experienced the ignorance and differences on both sides of the world; no doubt a diversified way to grow up – and this experience comes through in her music as a very eccentric sound.

No longer dividing her time between distinctly opposite environments, she has now settled down in Parkdale, Toronto but certainly her music transcends borders.

I had the opportunity to chat with Zaki about her growing success and her new album Eclectica (episodes in purple), released May 13th.

What do you love most about your profession right now?

“I love working with my friends and having fun together – being as creative as I want to. We are resourceful together and I’m proud that we can make something out of nothing.”

It’s not just something, but riveting music that incorporates the tribal and timeless beats of Africa with insightful rhythms and beautiful harmonies. A powerful yet pretty voice from a clearly spiritual and uplifting person; that is Zaki. Her songs have a very earthly undertaking sound about them, and when you listen to them it’s just as easy to visualize the lush forests and waters of Nanaimo, as it is the plains of Africa or the crowded downtown streets of Toronto.

Curious to understand the incorporation of so many sounds in one album, and even one song, I ask Zaki who her strongest influences are.

“Everything around you is an influence; I credit my mom for a lot. Musically, my last performance with Erykah Badu was incredible but I also have been influenced by Roberta Flack, Edith Piaf – artists who have a lot of soul and feeling in their music.”

Although influenced by some legendary female artists, Zaki grew up listening to all types; underground / hip hop / house and singled out Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springstein, Shabba Ranks and Anita Baker. Quite the mixed group!

In an industry where it’s often difficult to distinguish the fabricated from the genuine – Zaki certainly shines through as a strong real musician.

“I am myself and I do what I feel like doing”

An easy but poignant lesson for all.

Eclectica (episodes in purple) is in stores now. There’s a lot of hype around Zaki, and it’s no doubt that her career is on the cusp of something really big. Put on Eclectica and you will be removed from every day life and taken to a place of calm, beauty and emotional stability…or at least I was.