Universal music the next step in stylistic evolution?
As more bands cross stylistic boundaries, genres become murkier

 

 

» | When walking
through the
aisles of HMV,
or browsing

| through

| the pages
Ta) Soot arOneS:
something recently struck my attention
that had never before been apparent to me.
The lines that define styles of music are
beginning to get foggy, to say the least.
What nowadays set the boundaries on what
is rock, pop, hip hop, rap, country, and
indie.

For my day job, I work as a chef ina
restaurant, and in a kitchen, the boom box is
always going with different tunes depending
on whose CD wallet is there that night. One
night, a fellow chef introduced me to a band
that confused, intrigued and fascinated me
at the same time.

The band is called Estratosphere, and
they are a group of musicians who more or
less believe in music without boundaries.
Put it this way, their influences range from
big band jazz, to gypsy rock and even death
metal. Hip hop beats mix with crooning
vocals and distorted violins harmonize well
with trumpets and clarinets. It’s weird, but
they attempt to cover every style possible
and do it surprisingly well.

It’s almost as if the drummer decides,
“Hmm, what would this sound like with
blast beats under this melody?” and then a

   
 

reiber

 

raging saxophone solo rips on top of that.
It truly is something to experience, and my
first time listening to it, I went so far as to
take bets with other kitchen workers as to
which style of music they would shift to
next.

I was then surprised to hear that they
did a big band jazz arrangement followed
by a ‘SOs doo-wop tune that sounded like
it could be all the rage down at the soda
shop. 7/8 and 3/8 time signatures mix in
an Indian flavoured tune with heavy metal
shots before-their arrangement play with
early “90s 8-bit video game midi (that’s
right, Liam).

So what would anyone file this as?

I worked at a CD shop, and anything that
was too different went under either jazz or
world music. Anything that was popular but
not specific went under rock and pop, and
anything harder went under punk and metal.
Humans as a whole tend to stick to what
they like and very infrequently branch out
(hey, even I play favourites sometimes).

I was intrigued by seeing what type of
people would hover around which section in
the store, and rarely would they cross over
and buy anything that wasn’t in some way
related to one type of genre. What if there
only was one type of genre though? The
lines that bind music continue to be crossed
by all types of groups.

Estratosphere is only an extreme
example of crossing genres, a while back

 

I mentioned in an article the trio Project
who play classical instruments and classical
music but do it like rock stars with hip hop
beats. Hell, even Nickelback made a name
for themselves for more or less being the
Foo Fighters of country music (there ya go,
Chad, that’s the closest thing you’re getting
to a compliment from me).

So where is music supposed to go

 

from here? The last century of the last
millennium progressed music farther than
the 700 years before it had, but since the
1990s we seem to be stuck in an endless
progression of recycled music in the “it’s
already been done” stage. In the end,
universal music may turn out alright, but
who knows about even 50 years from now?

 

How about that Venue?

With bars and clubs closing in Vancouver, what will replace them?

By Jay Schreiber, Arts Editor

Street; Most of the trendy shops had

closed, and the night crowd was slightly
more inebriated thanks to the many local
watering holes along the strip. I was out
with my droogs to viddy what we could do
with the evening, and explore the core of
Vancouver nightlife.

Along the way, I bounced by the
recently closed Plaza Club, and heard the
regular boom tisk boom tisk coming at
me from all angles. After three months of
renovations the club had re-opened simply
known as the ‘Venue’. The Plaza had some
good shows and was a good temporary live-
in spot for the Fox crowd before the radio
station took over the Roxy.

Anyone who has been inside the
recently deceased and quickly forgotten
Plaza club will know that putting the bar
center floor kind of went out of style around
the same time cheesy pick up lines and A
Night at the Roxbury did. Having not had
the motivation to, I didn’t enter the Venue
but instead continued my journey down
Granville.

While walking, I couldn’t help but
hysterically burst out in laughter at prissy,
clean-cut women who tripped over the rocks
and pebbles in their three-inch heels. Since
Granville has been undergoing renovations,
the roads and sidewalks’ nostalgic look
from 1905 is really quite refreshing.
Welcome to Downtown Vancouver, home of
the 2010 Olympics, where you too can walk

I: was a typical evening in on Granville

   

on gravel and dodge scaffolding.

Along the way, I pondered about the
strip’s other venues, and all I saw were
bars and clubs that had taken over most of
the older, run down, and deceased concert
stages. Within the last month, Richards on
Richards had a date with a wrecking ball
that ended in the destruction of memories
and shows past. While its location was
absurd (two blocks off Granville right under
all the condos) and did kind of put a black
eye in the middle of a beautiful face, Dicks
on Dicks was one of the best bars this city
has ever seen.

From punk rock to dance music, it was
versatile, well built, had a great layout, and
comparing it to venues of today, the saying
holds true that they just don’t make ‘em

ee

go, but it’s something that we'll just have
to remember, like a CBGB of Vancouver, if
you will.

My night ended up at the Commodore
Ballroom, one of the most famous and well-
liked venues in our fair city. Being well
built and offering a large capacity yet with
a surprisingly intimate feel, there is simply
no better place to see a concert in this entire
province.

After The Reverend Horton Heat
hit the stage and rockabillied his way into
my ears, my droogs and I had a drunken
stumble around the downtown area, and
ended up at the 7-Eleven on Seymour.
Above the 7-Eleven is another piece of
Vancouver history, a series of hallways and

off-level floors with a stage at one end. I’m
talking about none other than The Railway
Club, the oldest venue in Vancouver.

In the 1990s when Radiohead were
up and coming they had a concert at the
railway that ended in an outright bar brawl
sparked by none other than lead singer
Thom Yorke. Save the rainforest and beat
the crap out of some drunk Canadians—my
how Radiohead appear to suck now...

My saunter towards the night bus
brought me around the corner from where
the Railway is, and next to a hollowed out
cavern that was once A&B Sound. Since
the company had to remove itself from
Vancouver thanks to iTunes, the former
home of recorded music downtown just sits
there empty and unused.

The Richards on Richards owner has
considered renting the space and moving
the nostalgic club to this location. The place
is big enough, and has quite a few back
room and entire other levels to make use of.
Knock out a few walls, install a bar, lounge
and coat check and you have an entirely
new rock spot. Conveniently, the night bus
stop is right outside, it’s next to a 7-Eleven
and it’s right around the corner from The
Railway Club in case you don’t like what’s
playing. What the hell are they waiting for?

I caught the bus and stumbled home:
wondering what the downtown venue
situation will be like in 10 years from now.
I guess we’ll just have to see; let’s just hope
that no more of our historic venues get shut
down between now and then.

ee ee ee <. “*