Why Aussant’s Option Nationale Will Fail
January 27th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
I’m currently reading a book, Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy by Robert Michels. It’s first part deals with the paradox between the idea of democracy and the necessity for hierarchical organisation, then goes on to describe the psychological predispositions of human beings that permits the formation of a ruling class amongst political parties and entities. In his treatise of leadership, Michels talks lengthily of the necessity of a leader to be a great orator and communicator.
Jean-Marie Aussant is the provincial MP for Nicolet-Yamaska. He used to be part of the Parti Quebecois, but left a while ago in the gigantic gaggle-fuck of resignations that hit the party over Pauline Marois’ leadership. He has now start his own party, which according to what I understand seeks to consolidate the motivated separatists so that we can have ANOTHER referendum. The horrible video you saw up top is an official video for his new party.
Nearly 100 years after the initial publication of Political Parties, the requirement of being a good orator has largely transformed into having the capacity to communicate effectively over different media. On this point, Aussant has failed… the collection of poorly edited hand-held video clips that he presents to us as official material speaks for itself. Lens flare from dirty optics, totally unmastered audio along with cheesy poses and soundtrack all make the video so tragically bad it almost becomes funny.
I don’t believe that this guy knows what he’s undertaking… with funds and party adhesion a thousand time his, after 2 failed referendums and countless times in power over 40 years of existence, his former employer the Parti Quebecois has still not been able to get a referendum to pass. And this guy expects to win with THIS?
It’s no secret that nationalists are losing a lot of ground these days, so if Aussant REALLY wants to venture in this rocky terrain, he better come well equipped. As of right now, with a platform that reeks of PQ’s leftovers, no (good) promo material, and no big names rallied to his cause means that he’s not going to succeed in a political arena filled with experience players. Especially not with the elections coming up at such a short notice.
Something tells me the upcoming provincial elections are going to be VERY interesting.
On Language and Quebec’s Obsession on French
January 26th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
A couple of days ago, a friend of mine posted a video on Facebook relating to Chiac, a marvelous mash-up of english and old french that is spoken in New Brunswick and some parts of the surrounding provinces.
Obviously, the video is a parody. There is no such thing as Malroney’s secret plan for nation-wide convergence to chiac, and the Institut nationale du Chiac. Radio-Canada ISN’T pushing for more chiac; in fact, any french-speaking Canadian knows that our public broadcaster has a soft spot for sanitized, text-book french, mostly stripped of local linguistic particularities.
But despite the humurous tone, to me, Chiac maybe is the solution, or at least part of it. The solution to Quebec’s torments on it’s identity, the problem it has with setting forth what is it’s culture and defining it’s essence.
The debate on cultural identity obviously has a lot of things to do with language; it’s usually the primary characteristic that is noted when explaining the schism between Quebec and the ROC to outsiders. Essentially, it is a symbolic difference that, according to me,helps perpetuate the idea that Quebecers and Canadians are intrinsically different and irremediably incompatible. Most in favor of the protection of the french language carry the message that the French language is an important part of our heritage, and therefor must be protected by all means necessary. How does enforcing the perpetuation of a language given to use just under 400 years ago contribute to defining our collective identity?
What I see in this is nothing else than obstinate conservatism, refusal to accept change and the fluid nature of both collective and individual identity. I find it quite ironic that the proponents of french, delved so deep in this conservatism, are unable to understand the aspirations of their english counterparts. Likewise, these people are eager to perpetuate certain aspects of their heritage: the presence of symbols of the monarchy within our federal establishments is the first example that comes to mind. The difference between the two cases being that I haven’t seen any english people talking about the need for legislation to safeguard their heritage… it just perpetuates naturally, waning to more distant symbolism as time passes.
That said, I believe that the solution to Quebec’s torments on identity is fundamentally the acceptance of change, perpetuated by both our artistic elite and legislation like Bill 101. In this sense, chiac is a beautiful example of how cultural baggage combines with time to create something truely unique, something that truely defines one’s identity; while chiac can clearly be identified as the language of the people of the maritimes, the same thing can not be done with Quebec’s french. The struggle to keep alive certain aspects of our identity has ruined our opportunity to become something else.
The truth is, unlike what kids are still being told in schools across the province, you can’t kill a culture just by exposing it to others and allowing it to integrate certain aspects. The beautiful thing about cultural heritage is that it lives on no matter what… culture doesn’t die, it transforms. It is my opinion that if anything is going to kill off french and the Quebecois culture, it’s an implosion, a result of the amassed frustration of years of being forced into the state-defined mold; cultural change comparable in scale only with the Revolution Tranquille. If Quiet Revolution brought on a flurry of nationalist tendencies and a providence state which still plagues us, what will a second cultural revolution bring with it? Far-right neo-nationalists? Far-left revolutionaries? I see our habit of cultural protectionism not only as something that is unwanted, but also potentially dangerous.
Pourquoi la loi 48 n’est pas la solution
December 19th, 2011 § 3 Comments
La semaine derniere, M. Paul Arcand, ministre de l’environment du gouvernement libéral, a déposé pour une première lecture en chambre le projet de loi 48, Loi concernant l’inspection environnementale des véhicules automobiles. Baptisé projet de loi sur les “minounes” par les médias, le projet de loi est encore flou, voir carrément vide de modalités précises, comme l’est souvent un projet de loi a la première lecture. Ce qui se discute est un programme en deux, peut-etre trois phases: un inspection obligatoire à la revente d’un véhicule de plus de 8 ans dans un premier temps, et puis plus tard une inspection annuelle requise pour immatriculer tout véhicule plus vieux que 8 ans. À partir de là, les dispositions futures sont plutôt floues… appliquer les mêmes dispositions aux véhicules agés de 6 ans et plus, et potentiellement une inspection mécanique complète sont des hypothèses qui ont étés avancées par les médias.
Au premier coup d’oeil, ce projet de loi est une disposition tout à fait sensée qui permettera de réduire les emissions du parc automobile Quebecois. Cepedant, en regardant le programme similaire qu’on en place les Ontariens depuis maintenant plusieurs années, et en considérant tout les cotés de la medaille, on se rend bien compte que cette loi est vouée a l’échec.
Regardons d’abord l’example Ontarien. Depuis 1999, le program Drive Clean impose au propriétaires de tous les véhicules personnels non-commerciaux agées de 7 ans ou plus des inspections bi-annuelles qui sont obligatoires pour l’obtention de l’immatriculation. Le test en lui-même est une courte inspection visuelle, suivi d’un test sur dynamometre accompagné d’un “sniff test”, une analyse des émissions polluantes du véhicule. Si le véhicule semble conforme et satisfait au normes d’émanation des divers polluants selon les spécifications originales du véhicule plus une marge d’usure, l’inspection est réussi. Grosso modo, le cas Ontarien est un example dans ce qui se fait a travers l’Amérique du Nord; plusieurs états américains ont un système similaire en place.
Ce type d’inspection présente plusieurs problèmes. Le premier, le plus apparent, est qu’il ratisse trop large pour retirer trop peu de véhicules pollueurs de la route; selon George Iny, de l’Association pour la protection des automobilistes, 6000$ en inspection sont requis pour retirer un seul véhicule fautif de la route (7:40). Ceci pénalise ainsi plusieurs automobilistes, la grande majorité, qui sont en règle et qui n’auront jamais à faire face à un échec. Les plus touchés seront nécessairement les moins nantis, qui aurait sans doutte bien envi de consacrer cet argent dépenser en inspection et en réparations à l’achat d’un voiture plus récente, et donc plus propre sur le plan environmental. Personne n’a envi de rouler en minoune.
Deuxiemement, la démarche du ministre ne semble aucunement tenir compte du cout en carbon que représente la fabrication d’une automobile. Une étude suggère que certain véhicules aurait une empreinte environnementale à la fabrication aussi sinon plus élevée que ce qu’elle générera en gazes polluants a rouler. Une question se pose alors: est-il vraiment plus raisonnable de changer son véhicule plus fréquemment pour un modèle plus éconénergetique? Entre Gaston qui a le pieds lourd qui change son gros Cadillac loué aux 3 ans et Mme Bergeron qui conduit sa petite Tercel entre l’église et l’épicerie du coins depuis 1995, qui a participé le plus aux changements climatiques? Et pourtant, on sait très bien qui payera dans l’éventualité de la mise en vigeure de la loi 48.
Troisièmement, les plus grand pollueurs ne sont pas pour autant éliminés, du fait qu’il est pratiquement impossible de pleinement inspecté tout les systemes anti-pollution du véhicule sans dépenser une fortune. Les véhicules a grande cylindrée, peut importe leur émanations de gazes a effets de serre, ont automatiquement un passe-droit: ils on été conçus pour consommer plus de carburant, et sont évalués comme tel. De plus, la tricherie a prouvé être beaucoup trop facile et largement répendu dans le program Ontarien. N’importe quel amateur de voitures avec un peu de volonté et de savoir-faire peut actuellement passer avec aise le e-test Ontarien avec AUCUN équipement antipollution sinon qu’un catalyseur (dans certains cas, même sans celui-ci!). Dans les véhicules plus modernes, on peut facilement retrouver 4 systèmes anti-pollution ou plus, qui sont plus souvent qu’autrement invisibles pendant une inspection rapide en dessous du capot… pensé qu’un mécanicien payé a l’heure et cherchant a rentabilisé une inspection a taux fixe prendra le temps de vérifier la présence de tout ces systèmes si le “Check engine” n’est pas allumer, c’est surestimé le zêle des mécaniciens.
Autre problème: le projet de loi pue le lobbyisme. Dans le cadre d’un dossier monté par Argent, la chaine affaire de Canoe, les représentants de l’industrie ne cachent pas avoir mit des pressions considérables sur le gouvernement pour la mise en place d’une telle mesure; La Corporation des concessionnaires d’automobiles du Québec et l’Association des recycleurs de pièces d’autos et de camions se sont clairement positionnés. En tant que lobbyistes, l’environnement n’est pas leur priorité: ils savent très bien que ce projet de loi sera un occasion en or, tant pour les détaillants que les garage indépendants. Le ministre lui-même a dit vouloir crée une “étanchilité entre la personne qui inspecte et les gens qui vont faire les réparations” (6:00), ce qui pourrait permettre a l’organisme mandaté pour les inspections de mettre le couteau à la gorge du consommateur quand vient le temps d’un inspection.
Concrètement, que seront les résultats de l’application de ce projet de loi? Les moins nantis se verront privés de leur moyen de transport. Les amateurs d’automobile qui ont un minimum de genie contourneront sans problème l’inspection. Mme Bergeron, qui se fait deja arnaqué chaque fois qu’elle se rend au garage avec son Tercel pour faire changer son huile aura une chance de plus de se faire avoir par un bandit en chienne bleue. Pendant ce temps, le gouvernement dépensera de votre argent pour faire appliquer se programme a grand frais, et en plus de refiler une facture au consommateur. C’est une triple sur-taxe qui a mon sens est totalement inutile et injustifié, qui affectera les propriétaires de plus de 1.6 millions d’automobiles.
D’autre mesure moins regressistes s’offre a nous si nous voulons véritablement contribuer a réduire les émmanations du parc automobile Quebecois. Les prix du gaz ont déja encourager les ventes de véhicules de moins grande cylindrées et donc généralement moins polluants: la monté en puissance de la popularité du petit moteur turbo-compressés en est une preuve tangible. Dans cette optique, pourquoi ne pas abaissé la taille des moteurs élligibles à une surtaxe à l’immatriculation à 3 litres (plutôt que 4), et stratifié de manière plus aggressive la tarification pour punir les vraies pollueurs, peu importe l’âge de leur véhicules? Pourquoi ne pas adopter les habitudes des européens, et d’encourager l’achat de véhicules au diesel, un carburant généralement beaucoup plus éfficace?
Le projet de loi 48 est à mon sens un example parfait de comment les lobbies et l’industrie peuvent se servir de sujets intouchables pour influencer la législation en leur avantage. L’environnement étant devenu un intouchable au Quebec au même niveau que l’identité et la culture, il faudra être doublement vigilant quand l’on verra des lobbies annoncer en grande pompe leur appui à un projet de loi en prétendant défendre de beaux ideaux. On ne sait jamais quand on tombera sur un complot communist!
Vers une grêve générale? Non merci!
November 10th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Aujourd’hui, des autobus pleins d’étudiants ont convergé vers Montréal pour manifester dans le cadre de ce que les organismes responsables ont appelé “la manifestation nationale contre les frais de scolarité”. Directement ou non, sachez que vous avez participé à cette manifestation, car l’AGE a voté avec une MAJORITÉ ÉCRASANTE la participation à cette manifestions, avec 90% de OUI par les 250 membres présents, soit un peu moins de 5% de la population étudiante totale (1). Nous avons même débloqué du budget pour payer des autobus et des petites collations pour nos braves manifestants; tout cela a même les cotisations qu’on vous impose à chaque session sur vos frais d’inscription!
Les médias n’ont pas manqué de couvrir l’évènement, et la phrase la plus rapportée est sans doute la menace qu’a fait Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, porte-parole de l’Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (ASSÉ) à l’endroit du gouvernement Charest:
C’est le dernier avertissement à ce gouvernement avant qu’on passe à la prochaine étape dans les moyens de pression. S’il ne recule pas sur sa hausse des frais de scolarité après la mobilisation exceptionnelle d’aujourd’hui, on va se diriger vers une grève générale illimitée à l’hiver.
Juste un petit rappel en passant: une “grève générale illimitée”, ça veut dire une levée de cours permanent pour tout la session, autrement dit une session, ou deux, ou trois… de perdues. Donc, ce que Gabriel propose en le nom des 40 000 étudiants qu’il représente, c’est que tout le monde cesse d’étudier le temps d’une session, jusqu’à ce que les demandes des assemblés étudiantes soient satisfaites. Peut-être que Gabriel, étant étudiant à temps partiel (2) (moins que 4 cours par session) à l’université dans un programme de penseurs, ne trouve peut-être pas ce sacrifice trop important, mais permettez-moi de douter que ses membres sont prêts a le suivre dans sa noble démarche.
Heureusement que l’AGECTR n’est pas affiliée à l’ASSÉ, non? C’est mal connaitre les milieux syndicaux: solidarité l’oblige, fort est a parié que la FEUQ, dont tous les étudiants du CÉGEP sont membre via l’AGECTR, sera contrainte à considérer cette grève générale elle aussi. Si le même vote non représentatif s’opère, c’est un congé pour tous!
L’année passée, j’ai écrit plusieurs articles concernant la représentativité quasi nulle des associations étudiantes de la véritable base étudiante; comment la poignée de soit-disent représentants s’empare de manière illégitime de nos voix et se permettent d’émettre des opinions pour nous. J’ai été heureux de constater que mes allégations ont fait quelques vagues au sein de la clique de l’AGE… mais comme la population étudiante se contrefout (avec raison) de la Gifle et des affaires de “vie étudiante” en faveur d’une dévotion sérieuse à leurs études, à leurs loisirs et au travail, la situation en est restée là. La clique a continué à gérer son agenda, laissant une grande majorité des étudiants dans l’indifférence la plus totale.
Maintenant que la d’une grève générale mets en danger le parcours scolaire de plusieurs d’entre nous cependant, il faut que ça change. Prenez les moyens nécessaires, frappez où ça fait mal: la loi 32 sur accréditation des associations étudiantes dites qu’un règlement doit être prévu à l’effet que les cotisations soit remboursables ou non (Chapitre 5, article 52): retirez les! Ne laissez pas votre argent servir des intérêts qui vous ne représentent pas. Si la grogne se généralise, sur demande de 25% des étudiants, la présence de l’association peut être contestée; cette situation serait bien embarrassante pour la minorité des activistes qui disent parler en notre nom.
Je comprends les enjeux de la lutte pour les frais de scolarité, bien que je ne sois pas d’accord avec les arguments en faveur d’un gel continuel, encore moins d’une gratuité totale. L’accessibilité à tous, c’est bien beau; privé une majorité qui veut mener à terme leurs projets d’études postsecondaires par contre, ça ne passe pas, particulièrement quand cette privation se fait selon une ligne directrice partisane qui pue le corporatisme syndical. Une grève générale, ce n’est ni un mal nécessaire, ni un noble sacrifice: c’est un handicap que l’on ne doit pas se faire imposer.
(1) Calculé de manière approximative selon les chiffres publiés dans La Gifle et ceux disponibles sur le site du CÉGEP de Trois-Rivières. Chiffres plus précis à venir.
(2) http://bit.ly/vpB8Cl
Piknic Electronik: Dorobo, Appleblim, Addison Groove & Scuba aka SCB
August 22nd, 2011 § Leave a Comment
I’ve been talking about going to the Picnik for many years, but last Sunday I walked the walk: I attended August 14th 2011′s edition of the Piknic, which feature artists primarily from the UK: Dorobo (Canada), Appleblim, Addison Groove, and Hotflush head-honcho Scuba aka SCB.
The journey on bike was long and perilous; after being slowed down by the Gay Pride parade and put off track by the distant bass hits coming from the neighbouring “Fete des enfants“, I arrived at the Ste Helene Island for the show. The site is surprisingly intimate: while the area reserved for the Picnik can probably hold 1000+ people the area nearest to the stage, which forms a pit and is bordered with lawn furniture, is probably smaller than some of the bigger indoor venues.
First off was Dorobo: a local electro-fiend who I had never had heard about. I arrived late because of all my misadventures, but the last 15 minutes of his set was mostly deep house.
Second off was Appleblim, hailing from Bristol. Previously co-owner of Skull Disco and currently running Applepips, this guy was also a regular DJ at the legendary FWD>>. I was expecting nothing less than all-out dubstep from him, but I felt that the harsh transition between the previous set and an attempt at spinning some 2-step material made the set much more dance-y. Mixing was flawless and massive tunes were dropped. At the one hour mark, the area in front of the stage was filling up, and the crowd was very much into it.
Third up, Addison Groove. Originally scheduled for later that Night, AG took Scuba’s spot for an undisclosed reason. He rocked the ones and two with his distinctive style, however I felt that he too watered down his set a bit for his Quebecois audience. I request his remix of Jimmy Mack for the end of the set, but sadly I didn’t get it. Montreal isn’t nearly “rave-y” enough, according to him… What I did get thought is info about upcoming releases on Tectonic as AG, and Blackbox as Headhunter. Props to AG to have talked and shaken hands with his fans… Try doing that with YOUR favourite artist!
Last but not least, Scuba hit the decks. Or rather SCB in this case, as his set too was more on the dance side of things. Awesome none the less though… By the time the sun had set, the place was completely crowded and people were straight up juking out. I unfortunately had to leave before the end of his set, which probably lasted past 9PM as was planned. Big tunes were dropped, including Scuba’s own “Feel It“.
There was only one disappointment: the fact that damn near nobody even knew who were the artists and what they were playing. At some point, Joy Orbison’s “Source Delight” (“Ellipsis”?) was cued in, and I was the only one howling with my gun-fingers in the air at the MASSIVE, unreleased tune. I was ashamed of being part of such an uninitiated and non-reactive crowd. To add insult to injury, I heard one of the Piknicers commenting on how he had “heard better dubstep” during AG’s set… Yeah, whatever.
Overall though, the event was awesome. Fresh air, sunshine, cold beer and an excellent line-up of artists you definitely don’t get to hear live very often… everything was set for success. Thanks to the Piknic for putting Sundays back on the map!
The Bellroy Slim Sleeve, or How I Freed my Pockets
August 21st, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Back in the days of my brief visit at CMR Saint-Jean, one of my extraordinary instructors taught us a piece war-time wisedom that I still remember: wearing the same combat uniform for 30 straight days is hell, but lugging around too much fresh gear is probably worst. Since then, I have tried to apply this lesson in minimalist packing into my daily life. Previously, my packing/carrying habits would function on a cycle of progressive accumulation followed by a frenzy of furious stripping of anything remotely less useful. The ample wallet that I carried allow me to pack as much stuff as I wanted without getting disorganized, until I eventually grew tired of my fat wallet and cleaned it out to make it slimmer. However, no matter how much stuff you take out, you can’t make a big wallet smaller than the size it was built to; after a solid 6 months of minimal wallet habits, that’s when I felt a need for change.
I had been eyeing Bellroy‘s stuff for a little while now, as for the past year or so I’ve been an occasional lurker on their sister site Carryology, which covers all things carry from wallets to luggage. Seeing a company run a blog featuring mostly competitor’s products really inspired me. The folks at Bellroy are obviously passionate about what they do, and this passion definitely transpires through their products. We’ve all been disappointed at one point or another by internet purchases that turn out to be duds; buying from passionate craftsmen eliminates the possibility of disappointment because you KNOW you’re going to get a kick-ass product.
My criteria for my new wallet were pretty simple: it had to fit at least 4 cards, ideally more, it had to be small, and it didn’t necessarily need much place for bills. Because I’m broke most of the time, I generally don’t strut around with much cash, and most of my purchases are made with plastic. Being that I am not very fond of zippered wallets, I chose the Slim Sleeve. Choosing the color was the hard part: I’m a black leather kind of man, but the blue stitching on the black leather seemed kind of out of my usual “shades of gray” color palette, and the tan version also looked very good. In then end, I went with the black version, and 4 business days later, my new wallet was at my doorstep.
The wallet showed up in a surprisingly small USPS envelope, which contained a slim, protective and thoughtfully designed cardboard sleeve. This use of intelligent packaging shows how serious these guys are about respecting their environmental goals. My slim sleeve was unaffected by shipping, and nearly all the packaging that was used to get it from Bellroy to my doorstep could be recycled.
My first contact with my new Slim Sleeve a very pleasant experience. Leather goods in general are very satisfying things to hold and manipulate, so coupled with the “new item” hype, this wallet definitely had me stoked. My particular copy was nearly perfect: the smooth, fine-grained leather was evenly tanned and free of any major defects or flaw. Of course, there were the odd imperfections that give real leather it’s character, but otherwise the wallet was a blank canvas for the abuse that I will be putting it through in the years to come. The lining was also in perfect condition, and the sewing was top notch, with every seam tight and laser-straight.The embossed Bellroy logo, which turned out much smaller than I had imagined it, is a nice subtle touch that beautifully completes the clean look of the product. A similar embossed owl logo can be found on the inside of the wallet. Put shortly, the Slim Sleeve looks and feels like a quality product design to stand through years of use. It also smells good (vegetable tanning maybe?), but I don’t expect that to last.
With regards to usability, the Slim Sleeve isn’t a traditional wallet in any kind of way. The design is totally different from the classic note section + card slots, being comprised of two main card slots, a cash/card section and an additional card section with a pull tab. This design is what permits having such a slim wallet: the wallet doesn’t control your organization with individual cards slots, note sections, and other features that boil down to useless additional leather, YOU choose where your stuff belongs.
If you’re used to regular bi-folds or tri-folds, there will be some things to get used to. The first one of them is cleaning up your everyday carry. I had a pretty minimal wallet already at the time of purchase, but I took advantage of my switch to a new wallet to do further stripping: the odd business card, receipts and my social security card were removed. It takes a bit of discipline to empty out a wallet, but even more so to keep it clean; this means that if you’re a pack rat or a messy person in general, this wallet might not be for you.
The second habit is bill-folding. Aussies have it easy with the Slim Sleeve: they can fold their baby-sized notes in half and just slip it right in to the pocket built to that effect. Us Canadians, with our (relatively) big notes, have to be a bit more strategic and fold the notes in three to make them fit, as folding in two will obstruct the fold of the wallet. For obvious reasons, this makes carrying large amounts of cash sort of cumbersome. This doesn’t really affect me because I only carry solid currency during my nights out for fast payment, but the old-timers of this world who like carrying around 3 month’s worth of pay might find this troublesome. Who still pays cash anyways? By the end of next year we’ll all be using bitcoins anyways, right? For the time being, I have found that carrying 6 bills folded in three is perfectly feasable without bulking up the wallet, and I’d expect up to 10 notes to fit without a problem. The only real inconvenience that I find with folding is that it can sometimes be a very awkward thing to do in public, specially when deal with several notes.
Unfortunately, I didn’t test out how bill-folding works with American notes, or any other currency for that matter. The most square-like euro notes like pounds might be a tight fit, but according to my calculations will fit with a single fold. Be sure to check out how you’ll have to fold before purchasing.
Bottom line: if you’re in the market for a slim wallet, I’d have no reservations at recommending the Bellroy Slim Sleeve. It’s a quality product from people who know what they’re doing, and it’s does it’s job in style while remaining perfectly functional.
SBTRKT Lives Up to the Hype
July 10th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
SBTRKT has been stirring things up lately. With many pre-release plays from big DJ’s including Boilerroom regulars, hype was very well built up for the release of the anonymous producer’s eponymous debut LP on Young Turks. I usually don’t believe in hype. Aggressive marketing ploys and abusive use of the hype-machine that is the internet are too often deceptive; Skepta’s latest is probably the best example that I can give of this off the top of my head. So obviously, when I obtained SBTRKT’s release, I didn’t expected the whole album to be of Wildfire calibre. I was very, very wrong.
With it’s all-synth sonority, borked drum machine beat and deep, sensible vocals, Heatwave sets the pace for the rest of the album: this is going to be one of those undescribable new-electro / bass / post-dubstep albums. I reluctantly attached the “Bass / Electronic” genre label to this album, and it stayed there even after the first complete listen, because I cannot for the love of me put something more descriptive. A wide range of influences are omnipresent: Wildfire‘s wobbly bass shows off an aesthetic reminiscent of earlier dubstep, but then the another track, Pharoahs, pops a house-y, almost funk-esque beat and bassline out of the blue to throws you off. Every track gets a generous serving of heart-searingly emotional vocals, which further adds to the confusion.
I’m not going to review the entire song by song; I’m lightyears away from being a music critic and I’d rather leave that kind of job to people who have the vocabulary and musical knowledge to do a good job of it. What I will do, however, is clumsily try to give you my overall impression of the album. All in all, SBTRKT’s debut is amazingly fresh through the wide range of genres that it manages to cram in a single, continuous album that conserves a distinctive feel. Furthermore, the vocal elements present throughout gives it a character that straight-up electronic dance floor destroyers lack, no matter how good. Electronic music has failed numerous times at integrating voice as a tool for conveying emotion (recent proof), however this album is clearly an exception with Sampha & Little Dragon laying down lyrics with a fragile, smooth tone that isn’t corny or cheesy in any way.
There truly is something for everybody in this album. If you can’t enjoy the instrumental aspect of at least one track on this release, then chances are you hate electronic music altogether, and if the lyrics were able to touch the most hardcore bro-step lovers amongst my friends, then chances are you’ll be touched too. Please, please, don’t make this a morning commute type of listening. This album warrants taking 45 minutes out of your day to find a comfortable seat and some HiFi for a proper listening session: you’re in for quite a ride. The last time I’ve felt so much emotion in synthetic beats was with Zero T’s “Cheap Shots”, more particularly on Walk Away, and for this reason, I have to say that this release is right up there in my top 5 favourite albums of all time.
B&W Zeppelin Air: A typical B&W product… Outstanding!
June 13th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
My lust for B&W products dates back to a while. Back when I was a kid, this friend’s father, all-around enjoyer of fine things, built a home cinema setup decked out with a full set of Bowers and Wilkins speakers. The gear nerd in my was fascinated by the equipment in this room, and my friend and I spent countless hours locked up in the sound-tight room indulging in the pristine audio that this remarkable setup delivered to our ears. As a matter of fact, that setup is probably what got me into loving fine audio products in the first place… once you’ve had sound this good, you generally don’t every want to go back to something inferior. The Bowers and Wilkins Zeppelin is the perfect continuation of what the brand means to me in regard to sound quality, while being modern in both design and function.
Intel X-25M (Gen 2): The Single Best Upgrade for your PC
June 8th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Let’s face it, storage is probably the computer component with the least sex-appeal. When building a computer, consumers usually put the latest multi-core processors, monster video cards and screaming fast memory at the top of the list, while the hard-drive is considered last. As long as it holds my data, right?
In my previous review for the D-Link DNS-323, I’ve put the blame on the computer industry for not making consumers aware of just how much storage devices are important parts of any computer. This is true with regards to data security, but also with regards to performance. In fact, a faster storage device is probably the best upgrade available for consumers today. To me, the Intel X25-M is one of the best examples of how if it is marketed properly, the SSD with revamp the computer storage market and enhance many people’s computing experience.
Read the entire review on Epinions. More SSD-related content hopefully coming soon, including side by side comparison of Intel’s older and newer generation SSDs.
Defining Post-Dubstep: New Horizons in Electronic Music
May 20th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
For the past two years, I’ve been consuming a lot of dubstep: classic stuff from a couple of years ago, but also a healthy dose of Montreal-produced Brostep as promoted by the likes of the JLD crew. While there is definitely a gap between early Benga and Dave Dialect’s latest bangers, labeling the genre in my iTunes library was never really that hard: “Dubstep”. But lately, for the past six months more or less, I’ve been really confused about the organisation of my library. New stuff keeps coming in by the truckload via sources like the Boiler Room, GenXGlow, Wastechester, Resident Advisor, XLR8R and a couple others, and the issue is that I haven’t got a clue what genre the stuff I’m finding belongs to.
Martin Clark has a post up on Pitchfork that describes the situation much better than I could ever do so. This new trend in electronic music didn’t start just now… offshoots of dubstep with formal names seem to be appearing every month, with an aesthetic that touches on my existing styles but never seems to settle on one. The ease of distribution that brings the internet catalyzes this production of bastard offspring to a dizzying rate. All the better for music lovers like myself, as long as your enjoy wading throw the giant cesspool that is the ‘net in search of rare gems.
Some say that dubstep has gone full circle and gone back to it’s roots with a fresh new twist through… I’ll say that electronic music in it’s whole is re-consolidating. In a not so distant past, drum & bass heads were considered eccentric scene folk who wanted nothing to do with dance music, and these days veterans like Photek are releasing “bass” EPs on labels with have nothing to do with breakbeats. After years of evolving withing their respective boundaries, scenes seems to be finally mixing up, and influences from loads of genres are crossing over in a perfect clusterfuck of everything electronic. These traces of influence appear everywhere, from more direct references to more sublte nods across scenes. A record (and by records I mean wax) I bought just the other days is a good example: staple of post-dubstep Breach and leader of the new “juke” (jukestep?) movement Addison Groove have put out remixes of 15+ year old D’n'B anthems… Kind of unexpected. In the more subtle stuff, sampling in Joy Orbison’s Ellipsis of an interview with Source Direct also shows how far-reaching this influence can be.
A counter-current in electronic music is bound to happen, and as the specifics of musical aesthetics are defined for each new genre we’ll probably get to eliminate the hopefully temporary “bass” designation which I have come to hate so much. What’s the future, what will be the new dubstep? Garage? Future Garage? Brostep? Drumstep? Clubfunk? Clubstep? Moombahton? It’s too early to call the shots, but it’s definitely an interesting time to be an electronic music enthusiast.
