VE Oe SR UP areay LL LTE SSCL LILLE! LIGA A Fens ain Se A PRS Ry dt ei oF Pt ane RS EESOS Ot DESPEDTOR. EW Felt By Julia Siedlanowska Tuesday night on Water Street in Ace A girl in her pyjamas ies to fall asleep in her bed while she contemplates calling her ex- boyfriend. A husband and wife prepare dinner together silently—the history of their past is revealed, and after dinner, they go to the next room to make love for the last time. We walk along the street to see nine seemingly unrelated stories. This is La Marea (The Tide). Text and direction by Mariano Pensotti, this outdoor, site- specific theatre performance comprising of nine scenes scattered throughout the street was put up for the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival in collaboration with Boca Del Lupo, SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts, Studio 58, and Theatre at UBC. There are many things that made me fall in love with La Marea, the first being how present I felt during the performances. The lack of separation between actors and the audience—we all breathed the same cold January air under the stars in the heart of Gastown. During one of the scenes (which could be viewed in no particular order), passersby, not realizing the spectacle that ensued, walked in front of the actors, in another, a panhandler solicited an audience member— you could not escape the realism. The stories were driven by the supertitles, which displayed the thoughts of the characters, and gave us insight into their past and future. The text both touched and surprised me. A woman puts up an ad in the paper saying she wants to be kissed under the stars. The man who responds to her has his doubts and feels slightly like a fool as he waits for her arrival. The inner dialogue was at the heart of realism, making me realise how universal thought processes are within humans. A man sees a girl and within the span of minutes imagines their whole life together, right up until he is in Thailand after she has abandoned him, still longing for her and missing her—all before they even speak. I was reminded of how much we worry in vain, how we can be disappointed without even having taken a risk, how funny worrying is, because life takes its own path in the end anyways. A man with a sad family history believes he is cursed, a few years later his daughter drowns in a fast flowing river, and later, his second wife leaves him for another man. I questioned fate, destiny, and whether or not luck exists. A couple has their first kiss, as they embrace, the screen in front of them says “The next day, the man will return to this very spot, just to relive what is happening right now.” I was then that I realized, just for a moment, how beautiful every fleeting moment can be. Jay Dodge, artistic producer of Boca Del Lupo says that “we need to enter into a broader international dialogue, and one way of doing this is through meaningful artistic exchange.” Collaborating with Argentinean writer and director Mariano Pensotti has certainly created the exchange of a meaningful and universal vision. By Willem Thomas 010 saw change come to hip-hop; vc positive change. Political and social commentary/frustration has been a common theme in independent rap this year, with the aforementioned frustration’s influence on various artist’s writing styles reaching heights (of influence) not seen since Bush Jr’s first term, or even since the days of Reagan; and whether that stems from Obama’s (arguable) failure to provide what most of North America hoped he would, or just from the general sense of stagnancy and economic instability that surrounds both American and Canadian politics and economics right now, or even from more local sources of inspiration, people started thinking for themselves in 2010. The abuse of both auto-tune and unnecessary pitch-correction is definitely on the downturn, and although its a beating a dead horse to point to auto- tune as being one of the main reasons mainstream rap has just been mediocre in the past two years, I’ll be glad to see the rampant misuse of silly touches like auto- tune go. With the explosion of hyped-up lo-fi, “basement recording” bands in the indie scene over the past year and a half due to the accessibility, low-cost, and simplicity of decent recording equipment nowadays, expect to see more and more rappers emerge seemingly out of nowhere and rise to prominence with little or no major label backing in 2011, and of course expect many overplayed novelty hits that you can’t seem to escape to surface as well from hip-hop, further diluting public opinion of rap in general. Either way, 2010 twas’ a fine year for rap, and I’ve painstakingly compiled what I believe to be the 12 best/most-important/ necessary-listening rap records of 2010. Lil’ Wayne will not be present. 12) Backhand Fam — “Backhand Fam Mix-tape” I honestly don’t know all that much about this duo except for the fact that the potential they possess is frightening. Chances are you haven’t heard this record but you probably should change that. Despite simple-production and a clear newness to rap in both MC’s, this mix-tape is a fun listen from front to back. I predict both a label-signing and much more attention falling on these two as 2011 unfolds. I hope so for their sake, for there is some amazing hip-hop in these two, they just need to harness it. 11) Soul Khan — “Soul Like Khan” The debut album of one of the best battle rappers alive (for real) has finally come. Although his strong suit is i, A 2010 hip-hop review (Part 1/3) still battles, he has made the transition to legit recording artist far smoother than most battlers usually do. A hilarious, opinionated Jewish white rapper, he doesn’t seem like the type to absolutely slaughter all competitors in a battle, but his wit and level of intelligence in his lines in matched by very few in the east- coast battle rap scene. If you are a fan of real rap battles but don’t really follow much outside of say, Scribble-jam, you need to get affiliated with both Grind- time and Soul Khan immediately. Soul Like Khan holds up well, with a very old-school New York feeling to it, with some decent guest-spots, but he still has a way to go to become known to a wide audience from his recordings. 10) Earl Sweatshirt - “Earl” He may have been 15/16 when he wrote and recorded this but this isn’t one for the kids. Part of the Odd Future group that’s set-up camp pretty much everywhere on the internet this year, Earl Sweatshirt is the younger brother of Tyler, the Creator. Overall, the album isn’t amazing, and most of the lyrical content is erratic and immature, but the fact that Earl is 16, already possesses this level of skill, and his affiliation with ' OF/his access to help and disarmingly good production gives him a spot on this list. The beats and instrumentation used on this album are some of the freshest and most creative I’ve heard this year. Listen to the track “Couch” and try to say that isn’t one of the best beats/the best productions you’ ve heard this year. The lyrics are harsh at times and bordering on the “horrorcore” genre, but don’t let that dissuade you from giving this a listen. Free Earl. 9) Shad - “TSOL” It doesn’t carry the same level of wordplay or exploration as 2007’s (and re- released in 2009) breakthrough “The Old Prince”, but it’s a decent album nonetheless. Also, gotta rep one of Canada’s best rap-exports. Standing for “True Sounds of Liberty”, it fits that moniker well, as Shad drops humour, personal experience, and political commentary with a cleverness matched by few. Unconventional and spirited, TSOL is an album all can appreciate (more so if you are Canadian). Part two next week.