by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Those with an ear for progressive club tunes outta Canada will recognize the name Rise Ashen, be it alone or in tandem with his Ottawa homie Trevor Walker. Key players in the Canadian nu-jazz scene, their superior fusion of dub, house and worldbeat has earned international notice. For his new solo joint Earth Dragon, Ashen passed up Compost and Six Degrees to release it on his and Walker's own Fossil Fuel label. The album is named after a form in the xing-yi style of kung fu - "a solid, grounded movement" that he sees as a metaphor for Mother Earth, who's running out of patience.

Mirror: Earth Dragon's first track "Change Your Ways" seems to capture the spirit behind the album's title.

Rise Ashen: I believe that artists have the responsibility of reminding the world of the awe and beauty in life. The state of the world saddens me greatly and that song is a sort of cry out to people to examine how they are living and what they are lending importance to. It's so easy to feel disconnected from our CNN-glazed world and to let ourselves get bogged down by fatalism. We can make a difference, though, in everyday life, through our purchasing decisions and by being outspoken about our beliefs.

M: Is it true that you start building your tracks from a tabla beat?

RA: I have been working like that for a while now. Nothing equals the tabla, in my mind, for expressing intricate and subtle rhythmic ideas. It's almost like four people playing together. So yes, I usually start out by laying down a tabla beat and then build the rest up from there. It lets me use the computer as it works best, as an amazing tape recorder rather than as a sound generation tool.

M: Tell me a bit about the BAW project you, Trevor Walker and Blissom have cooking.

RA: We are calling it electro-punk-jazz. It's definitely nu-jazz and it's definitely fresh. Think Charles Mingus meets Lonnie Liston Smith meets Primus meets Bugz in the Attic. We are starting to find ways to manage the tide of ideas that comes from three producers together in one studio!

At Therapy at Jello Bar tonight, Thursday, April 3, 10pm

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