Breaking away

>> Canadian breakbeat label 2Wars and a Revolution flash the victory sign

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

In a mere year in the Canadian e-dance battlefield, T.O.-based label 2Wars and a Revolution have established themselves as the nation's number-1 source of tough, fun, funky breakbeats. It's not that long ago that Richard Poplak and Hamir Moscovici, now both "executive decision makers" for 2Wars, were thinking more finitely.

The label actually began as a film project--a short about millennial fever in the rave zone called No Tomorrow, shot on 35mm and in Surround Sound, for which Toronto DJ/producer the Incredible Melting Man graciously supplied the soundtrack.

"We thought it would be a great idea," recalls Poplak, "to spin a record label off of the film company and have this two-tiered entertainment company, starting small and building our way up."

They didn't start it all that small. Their first CD release was Video Computer System by the U.K.'s DJ Scissorkicks, a totally boss platter that proved an auspicious, high-profile debut for 2Wars. "The Melting Man was signed to Dust 2 Dust when we met him. Scissorkicks heard 'Funky Plaid Coat,' which was Melting Man's breakout hit in the U.K., and he loved that track. He asked Melting Man to do a remix for him, and they struck up a relationship. We thought, what a better way to start the label than to get someone who's an absolute musical luminary to come on board, jump-start the label and show everybody that we're serious."

After Scissorkicks and Melting Man's soundtrack, next up is Jelo. "Part of our mandate is to build new Canadian talent. We've had some amazing success--Jelo is proof positive of that. He's gonna be a superstar. He came to us with a record that we thought was unbelievable, and we said, 'Let's get on board with this guy, push him really hard,' and we had a huge hit with his Saturday Night EP. As much as Melting Man and Scissorkicks helped pushed us forward, we'd also broken a new guy."

Following their latest release, a one-year anniversary comp, 2Wars are hatching a plot called "the Project," in which their artists bust a live set of their fave tunes in their fave Canadian club (Jelo's jaunt to Halifax is the first one planned). Moreover, they're looking past breaks to a more diverse roster in the year to come. "We decided that the breaks scene was the most innovative at the time--and still is, we believe pretty strongly--so we'd start there and see where it takes us. Already we've ventured into tech house and vocal stuff. We'll go increasingly in that direction, but we wanted to cut our teeth on something we knew well."

Scissorkicks, Melting man, Jelo, T'cha and Bliss are at Cabaret on Friday, Sept. 28, 9pm, $10