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And more!

‘Cabalcor' book and album explore tar els ae life

» Sun Belt creates genre-defying project to deliver new music

 
  

Cheryl Minns
& Arts Editor
M arts
@theotherpress.ca

Wie Sun Belt, an
interdisciplinary arts
group, set out to make their
debut album, they ended up
with more than a collection of
catchy tracks. The result was an
instrumental and lyric digital
album, Cabalcor, accompanied
by a mixed-genre book,
Cabalcor: An Extracted History.
The book documents the
history of a fictitious tar sands
company town named Cabalcor,
following its discovery as a
grassy place with shallow ponds
to its dissolve into an abandoned
desert wasteland. The album
includes instrumental pieces
that set the scene for the town
setting and lyrics about the
town’s history and its residents.
Sun Belt member Rick
Maddocks, a creative writing
instructor at Douglas College,
chatted with the Other Press
about the project and its
evolution from a collection of
songs into a multi-genre artifact.
“The book was inspired by
the music, both lyric songs and
instrumentals. All of the songs,

: from ‘So Far the Stars’ to ‘Red

: Bird, shared a certain quality: a
: sense of place, a dusty, surreal

: kind of landscape,” he wrote.

To capture the music’s

: desert feeling, Sun Belt travelled
: to WaveLab Studio in Tucson,

: Arizona, to record the album

: tracks. The studio provided

: a “distinctive, dusty, and

: spacious sound” that added to

: the project’s personality. The

: trip was made possible thanks

: to supporters of the project’s

: Indigogo campaign.

“Four of us—Stephen Lyons,

: Paul Rigby, Jon Wood, and

: myself—lived in the studio fora
: week. Every morning we'd wake
: up, open a big, red, metal door,

: and step into this wonderful

: studio. We'd take the odd break,
: just long enough for the air-

: conditioning to whirr away fora
: while, then get back to the world
: of the songs until it was dark,”
Maddocks wrote.

Once the album was

: recorded, the band decided the
: music should be presented ina
: unique format. This led to the

: idea of including the album as

: part of an illustrated book full
of fictional radio excerpts, diary
: entries, facts, song lyrics, and
more,

“Our initial idea was to

: release the album within an
: almanac that was full of dubious :
: desert-related facts and figures.
: We knew the book would

: include strange diagrams, plus

: [had hundreds of photographs
: of desert ghost towns from

: research trips over the last three
: years,” Maddocks wrote.

: “Early in my writing process, :
: I realized I was following the

: vision of a history book more

: than an almanac, one that was
: based entirely on invented :
: primary sources. Stephen picked :
: up on the historical vision,

: writing several strange chapters
: of his own, and we began to

: develop this portrait of a long-

: forgotten town, as if the book

: was written in some undefined
: future. Carrie Walker served as
: our primary illustrator and scout :
: for anonymous or public domain :
: images,” he wrote.

The book is a compilation

of Sun Belt members’ various

: artistic works, including

: Maddocks’ and Lyons’ writing,
: Maddocks’ photographs,

: Walker's illustrations, and

: Dave Wilson's diagrams and

: Cabalcor map. Wilson also

: designed the book’s final page,
: an advertisement spread that

: includes a code to obtain a free
: digital copy of the Cabalcor

Seen something worth sharing?
Contact: Cheryl Minns, Arts Editor
Marts@theotherpress.ca

www.theotherpress.ca

|
i | -

 

Image from Cabalcor: An Extracted History Cover]

: album.

There are also artworks by

: Sun Belt members Jon Wood

: and Sandra Carvalho Gonzalez,
: who is the only artist to have

: her real name credited next

: to her artwork “Tar Plants.”

: Other artists’ works are

: attributed to made-up names

in order to maintain the book’s

: fictitious history, while being
: appropriately credited on the
: credits page.

Maddocks’ artist parents,
Phil and Frances, also supplied

: some of the book’s artwork
: under the names Felipe
: Downing and Frances Williams.

Cabalcor: An Extracted

: History is a mixed collection of
: genres that is connected to the
: Cabalcor album. Because of this,

Maddocks feels there are many

: interpret the book and music.

“You could begin at the

: beginning with the origin myth
: and follow the text ina linear

: fashion. You could treat the text
: asa ‘tar-sands coffee table book’
: and flip it open to whatever

: page, checking out a bit at a :
: time. You could tackle individual :
: chapters in random order,” he :
wrote.

“As for the music, you

: could listen to selections

: from the album that relate to

: specific book chapters as you

: go. You could play the album as

: background music while you

: read. Or you could, of course,

: just listen to the album by itself?”
: he wrote.

The album and book

: debuted during a PuSh Festival
: performance on February 1,

: featuring several Sun Belt

: members who performed

: music from the album, readers
: who read from Cabalcor: An

: Extracted History during the

: performance, and a historian

: emcee,

“Our first stage adaptation

of Cabalcor presented the vision
: asa surreal historical lecture

: with slides, readings, and music.
: This is one way to explore the

: many layers of the work, and we
ways readers can experience and_:
: Maddocks wrote. “There's also

: an abridged, 10-minute version

: we performed with guests

: at a Real Vancouver Writers

: event, plus a music-oriented

: performance that experimented
with audience participation.”

plan on developing it further,’

Cabalcor: An Extracted
History, published by Anvil

: Press, and Cabalcor, released
: by OffSeason Records, are

: both available at

: SunBelt.bandcamp.com

 

Chairman of the Board: Pew pew!

» ‘VOLT: Robot Battle Arena’ game review

Ed Appleby
illustrator
Miillustrator
@theotherpress.ca

A Ithough the robot-fighting

ame genre has been
around since the heyday
of Robot Wars in the early
20008, Now you can savour
the destruction of all your
engineering and programming
work in the comfort of your own
home.

 

VOLT: Robot Battle Arena

is an arena fighting game for

: two to four players designed

: by Emerson Matsuuchi and

; published by Nazca Games in

: 2014. In the game, you control

: a fighting robot. In each round,
: all of the players program their

: robots’ actions, and then the

: sequence is run with robots

: colliding with and shooting each
: other. Players score points by

: ending the round ona control

: node or destroying other robots.

: The first player to reach five
: points wins.

VOLT is fast. The

: programming mechanics are

: very easy to pick up and the

: actions resolve very quickly.

: Turn sequence plays a large role
: in the strategy of the game,

: with shorter moves and weaker

: attacks resolving first. Most of

: the gameplay mechanics are in

: the turn resolution sequence, so
: it’s obvious who moves first.

The board layout is very

: simple, composed of a nine-by-
: nine grid with control nodes,
; pits, and repair centres.

The game plays well with

two players, but is designed for

: three to four players. There are

; some weaponry advancements

; and game mechanics that can

: be added to flavour the game for
; more advanced players. :
: I find the simplicity of VOLT :
: refreshing. Its short game length
: lends itself to tournament or
round-robin play, unlike other

: action programming games that
: can run over two hours due to

: more complex boards, hazards,

: and longer programming

: sequences.

I would recommend VOLT

: to any playing group, especially
: those with a few engineers or

: other tech savvy people. Some
: people aren't comfortable

with the blind programming

mechanics, but may still
: find joy in the game’s well-
: choreographed chaos.