er ra neers Das Racist says ‘Relax’ Debut shows vision minus ego... mostly By Liam Britten hile the lyrics of Das Racist display race consciousness, the trippy beats within might be affecting one’s race subconsciousness. After spending years as liberal arts school brats, their first album, Relax, dropped on Tuesday, and the result is anything if not conventional. Providing commentary on everything from Hispanic heritage to commerce to Michael Jackson, the group uses pop culture and racial references with a heavy dose of irony, but always with a purpose in mind. It’s as if Dead Prez found a sense of humour but kept the vigour. Artists have always been told to “keep politics off the dance floor,” and Das Racist is no exception. The beats are almost certainly too dense and colliding to find traction at clubs or on the radio. They seem to favour a sonic collage appeal on most of their tracks, especially on the ones where their lyrical skills come out to play. That said, they can take a break from the impenetrable to bounce or bang, on tracks like “Booty in the Air” and “Shut Up, Man” respectively. But they don’t seem to care. The track “Happy Rappy” attacks the notion that rap has to be vapid to be popular. All told, Relax is a very solid debut album. While it may sometimes swing too far into the territory of thinking feller’s rap, it’s a bold statement of vision. The “just right” blend of humour, irony, message, and swing makes this album a unique treat. Noteworthy company Douglas hosts an afternoon with local composer John Oliver By Angela Espinoza, Arts Editor As The Other Press has highlighted over the past few weeks, Douglas has many arts events in store for the fall semester. One such event will be an assortment of musical shindigs known as the Fall 2011 Concert Series. This year’s Concert Series will host, amongst other performances, An Evening of Jazz, with all proceeds going to future Douglas music events, and the Student Composition Concert, both of which will be free admission. However, both events, along with the rest of the Concert Series, lean — further into November and December. So in the meantime, we’ ve been offered an affair known as Composer Tuesday. On September 13, a Tuesday of all things, a lecture was held in the Laura C. Muir theatre by Vancouver composer John Oliver (1959). A graduate of McGill University, John’s professional career has been going since the mid-80s, with some of his works including Alternate Visions: A Virtual Opera (2007) and a piece commissioned for the 2010 Winter Olympics. John spoke to an audience comprised largely of students hailing from the Music Program. Subjects discussed included how John began his career, and how he eventually ventured into “art music,” a genre heavy on experimental and, for lack of a better term, avant-garde elements. A word of advice to the sea of aspiring musicians was-to stay “passionate about what you do,” and by maintaining your integrity and composer, “work [will seek] you out.” Stay tuned for future coverage of events regarding the Concert Series, and arts events happening throughout the 2011 school year! John Oliver Bind What do we say to death? An interview with the delightful team behind Grim and Fischer By Angela Espinoza, Arts Editor las, another Fringe Festival has A= and gone. Some laughs were shared, some tears were shed, but at the end of it all, we spoke to Wonderheads. Wonderheads is a Canadian-American duo, comprised of Kate Braidwood and Andrew Phoenix, who shook up this year’s Fringe with their debut piece, Grim and Fischer. Prior to the festival’s start, I got the chance to speak with this talented team about their unique concept of literally fighting off death, all the while in full-face mask. What is Grim and Fischer? Kate Braidwood: Grim and Fischer is a play in full-face mask. It’s about a feisty, little old lady named Mrs. Fischer, and [how] Death comes calling for her. She’s not ready to go, so Death — who is an actual character in the play — and [her] battle it out. What initially inspired Grim and Fischer? Andrew Phoenix: [Grim and Fischer] came from a lot of different ideas. The full- face mask style was an interest of ours to do in a more cartoon-like, comic style, but [as] a live performance. Then the thematic tones of death and old age came from some personal experiences along those lines. It actually comes from a deeper place, but we were interested in dealing with it ina comedic way. ; What went into designing the masks? KB: I made [them]; the masks themselves are made out of papier-maché, but I first sculpted them in clay, made a mold — it’s a whole sort of long process. They each take about 40-60 hours each. In the end, they’re just paper and glue. What separates Grim and Fischer from other types of physical theatre? KB: Well, people are pretty intrigued by it because [they] don’t see a lot of full-face mask, especially in North America, so that definitely makes it unique. Probably the comment we get the most about the show is that even though [the masks are] these static things, they seem to shift expression in the show. That’s what people are most often taken by: the magic of the mask, how it can change. AP: And physical theatre’s a pretty broad world. Clown fits into physical theatre, a lot of dance theatre fits into physical theatre, and then even half-mask — like commedia dell’arte — where they speak is also physical theatre. So this is similar to all of those in some ways; it’s like dance because we choreograph things, it’s like clown because of the comedy we do, it’s like commedia because of the mask style. [There’s] even a little bit of mime because we don’t speak; it’s a nice mix of all kinds of physical theatre, which is why we like it. How would you describe the characters of Mrs. Fischer and Grim? KB: Well, Mrs. Fischer is spunky — I would say she has a fire — and she’s a trickster. She’s very sweet and endearing, but she also has a dark side she likes; she has a spark. AP: And Grim — Mortimer Grim as he’s known — is a taskmaster, very particular. He has a very tight schedule to keep as you can imagine, lots of people to go and gather up. [Grim’s] a little bit OCD, which is the character trait of his that makes it funny when he comes to take Mrs. Fischer. It doesn’t go as planned, so it’s that sort of comedic set up, but on a greater scale because he’s there to take her life. KB: She interrupts his plans and he doesn’t like it. AP: Yeah, he gets flustered and has to figure out how to be himself without his schedule. What can we expect to see from Wonderheads in the future? KB: Well we’re sure hoping to come back to the Fringe next year, and we have more whimsical mask shows planned. AP: We’re hoping to do things that are even more surreal and otherworldly. Death [in Grim and Fischer] is otherworldly, but the rest of the play is in a more of a realistic setting, so we’re very interested in playing with where these types of masks can go that is even more fantastical, so I’d say look for that in the future for sure.