Signings of the times

>> Locals let loose with new
labels at Pop Montreal

GOLD STANDARD: A-Trak

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

The annual Pop Montreal festival is imminent, promising a tidal wave of cool and unusual acts from all across the map. The second half of the festival’s name isn’t being ignored, though, with loads of locals on board, some of whom have neat news to share on the label front.

Turntable prodigy A-Trak, tag-teaming with Ed Bangers crewman DJ Mehdi, headlines a night showcasing artists connected to Fool’s Gold, the label he’s started with Brooklyn beat-buster-outer Nick Catchdubs to hype hot sounds from under the radar.

“Nick was always someone that I liked to bounce ideas off of,” say A-Trak. “He always had really good feedback. I knew that with my connections and his connections, and just the nature of the relationships we have with a lot of people, we’d be able to establish something. It just made sense.”

It likewise makes sense that the label’s line-up straddles current trends in electro and indie hip hop, two genres that were once, at the beginning of the ’80s, tangled up together. Hence A-Trak’s Dirty South Dance remix album, on shelves now, sits pretty next to, say, France’s Kavinsky, seen here recently opening for Daft Punk.

“We’re about to release six 12-inches before the end of the year. The Kid Sister ‘Control’ single’s a big deal for us—it’s the first time we’re making a video for one of our releases, Kanye’s on it, we’ll be pushing it to radio.”

NUMBER ONE WITH A BULLET: Ramachandra Borcar

Hard decisions

Meanwhile, Montreal’s Ramachandra Borcar, aka DJ Ram, has cooked up an offshoot to his own Semprini label called Signed by Force. Anyone surprised by Borcar’s decision to start a label specializing in punk, metal and hard rock should remember that in the early ’90s, he used to drum for Hazy Azure, whose loopy, ludicrous spin on funky metal was pretty much unique.

“I was listening to the Hazy Azure stuff,” recalls Borcar, “and thinking it stood the test of time, this should be released—the way music is now, with so many niche labels, there’s a market for this kind of crazy thing. But it wouldn’t really fit on Semprini, it would be out of place.”

The Hazy Azure plan is still a little, well, hazy, but in the meantime, Signed by Force charges out of the gate with albums by Starvin Hungry, Trigger Effect and Bionic, the latter featuring the Mirror’s own Jonathan Cummins, who gave Borcar an A&R assist as Signed by Force took shape.

The mandate of metal, punk and hard rock leaves ample room for Borcar. “Nowadays, those styles have 80 million subgenres. There are bands that are kinda metal but also kinda indie, or kind of experimental, a bit like godspeed! but too heavy. Between Bionic, Starvin and Trigger, there’s indie rock, stoner rock, metal, punk, a bit of everything. With the next releases I have for 2008, it spreads it even wider.”

Stills not stilled

For the Stills, the phrase “new label” has a different meaning. They’ve left Vice Records for Toronto-based Arts & Crafts. “Vice are in a transitional period right now,” says singer/guitarist Dave Hamelin, “and we felt we needed to transition as well. We were thinking of moving back to Canada anyway, so we were either going to start our own label or sign to Arts & Crafts. They wanted to do it, so we thought it was best to go with them. We’ve known them for quite some time, we trust them and they have a good label going on, with some interesting artists. Music’s priority one for them.”

As it is for the Stills, who are hard at work on their third album. “It’s a lot different from our last album, so we’re really excited that we’ll have three completely different records out. This one is darker and more percussive. The rhythms are more jungly, they sound like a pack of elephants. A lot of fast stuff too, like punk beats. The first song on the record is called ‘Rooibos,’ and it really has an African rockabilly thing going on. It’s actually really interesting—I haven’t heard anything else like it.”