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Everything but the girl >> Doc was from Minnesota. Esthero was from outer space. Together they made music in Toronto... by CHRIS YURKIW
She was born and raised in small-town Ontario. Liked My Bloody Valentine and Curve but also loved Björk (who she sounds like). Fled to Toronto and became an open-mic folk nightie. Searched to get away from the MC. Of course, they had to meet. Of course, they were the original odd couple. And of course, it was love at first sight--or first night. Not that kind of love, silly--love of the music they made together. I mean really--they made music together! Just ask the music publisher who hooked them up. Ah, forget it. Ask the mononym man himself, Doc, to tell you about the girl whose own mononym covers both herself and their dynamic trip pop duo: Esthero. "She was cool," says Doc of their first encounter, "because she was just a completely different vibe than what I was used to. It was good for the creativity to be around somebody who was off into some completely different shit." Doc didn't realize it until he moved to Toronto four years ago (smitten with the place ever since he'd won a contest to attend the 'Dome games of the '92 World Series), but he'd been groping for "some completely different shit" for a good part of his 13-year career in music. "The whole diversity of culture just wasn't there in Minneapolis. It's a white or black thing. Up here, it's a black thing, but it's also a Jamaican thing and a Barbados thing. And it's a European thing, but it's also a London thing and a French thing. When you come up here you catch those vibes, and I think I really needed that at that point in my musical growth." Indeed, Doc had just about everything in Toronto's vibrant music scene--everything but the girl who could animate his work. And so after that common business associate introduced them, Doc tapped into the free spirit of a 19 year old with flaming hair, Esthero "blessed" his beats with her own ideas on songwriting and soaring voice, and now the pair is an "international priority" for Sony's Work label, which just released their debut album Breath From Another. Fitting title. And funky breaks. Think Björk from Niceland (Canada), think trip hop all funked up (with acid jazz), but don't think too much. As Doc is wont to say, some things aren't worth "intellectualizing." Like that story--did I ever tell ya?--of how a black man met a red-haired woman in... Esthero play Cabaret this Tuesday, May 26, 8:30pm
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He was born in Ontario but raised in Minneapolis. Liked hip hop and funk but also loved rock (just like that Prince of the city). Fled to Toronto and became a home-studio homie. Searched for an MC.