Another Canadian, eh! Illustrator Michael Wandelmaier (Toronto).

VIEW THE FULL POST —►

Let’s see how many Canadians I can post in a row (I forgot to mention Jessica Fortner is from Toronto). Below are paintings by Marcel Dzama, who is originally from Winnipeg and now lives in New York.

My first exposure to Dzama’s work was the album art for Beck’s Guero (love that album – Farewell Ride anyone?) and I immediately found something about his imagery really unsettling – it was like seeing a Goya painting for the first time.

VIEW THE FULL POST —►

Jessica Fortner builds sculptures and photographs them to create her illustrations. She offers a nice peek into her process here.

VIEW THE FULL POST —►

Great animation from 1978 gives you an idea what we look like here in Canada. I think  the face at the 28-second mark is pretty close to my face, just imagine a smaller nose, gold fronts, and an eye patch.

My friend Andre posted this video and it made me want to go back and find all the other great films  that the Nation Film Board has produced over the years.

VIEW THE FULL POST —►

Been seeing the new Cadence Weapon video for Real Estate on tv lately. Love it. My friend Dean and I saw him open up for Jurassic 5 (their last show ever in Vancouver) and I remember the crowd kinda being caught off guard because his sound was so different. Well, that was then and this is… well actually… I think most people still aren’t ready for his sound. Maybe because its as much house as it is hip hop.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtLoi0PG-Zw[/youtube]

His lyrics are witty and he produces all his own beats, but he’s definitely not gonna be everyone’s cup of tea. His debut album Breaking Kayfabe and followup Afterparty Babies are two of the most refreshing hiphop records in recent memory. Do yourself a favour and start listening to him now so by the time his third album comes out you’ll be ready.

Are there any fans of Canadian hip hop out there? I dug up a little treat for you. If you don’t already know, allow me to introduce Red1, Misfit (and Dj Kemo) aka Rascalz. They released an album in 1997 called Cash Crop that every hip hop fan (at least in Vancouver) should have played to death – but a few years before that they released another album, Really Livin. This album is what I like about hip hop.

I was listening to a mix of hip hop songs from 1993 by Dj Ayres and I realised not many people talk about or are familiar with what was coming out of Canada around this time. Rascalz had a very distinct sound (thanks to Kemo) right out the gate and it’s a shame that no one else really ran with it or the pacific northwest could have had a really specific sound identified with it. Nowadays we have some really great hip hop acts like K-os and K’naan to be excited about, but these guys paved the way. VIEW THE FULL POST —►