Perfect day for a new single by Black Walls! Recorded, mixed and produced at Polyphasic.

Here’s an article by Polyphasic’s Brandon Hocura on our friends at Weird Canada for March’s Offerings Zine. Thought it would be nice to get this puppy online.

                                                          BORN WEIRD

There shouldn’t be any surprise about the weirdness here. Canada has been like that from the get-go. From the mysterious disappearance of John Cabot at sea to our dyspeptic founding father, this geography always attracted strange Europeans. We can only imagine what early explorers made of the massive totemic carvings of the Haida people and the ominous red ochre villages of the Beothuks. One of my favourite Canadian LPs is the collection of recordings of traditional Inuit throat singing made by Paul Hodge and Marvin Green, full of humour and thick with pathos. Along with the ritual stomp, drum and chants of the many people that lived on these lands long before Europeans set foot here, these songs constitute the original music of Canada, and they are undeniably weird. Things have been weird here for a long time, well before 2009 when Weird Canada launched, at last celebrating and giving collective voice to the truly freaky and magical music that continues to unite this deviant diaspora.

Although Canada has never been lacking in strange and singular voices, one thing we have always had trouble with is confidently connecting all of our fascinating and divergent dots into a wholly splendid cultural image. When Aaron Levin was working as musical director of CJSR in Edmonton all sorts of enchanting packages of independently and lovingly produced vinyl, cassettes and CDs came across his desk from all corners of Canada. Already a veteran collector of vintage weirdness, he became bewitched by these emergent musical curios and began sharing them with his friends and other musical directors across the country. He soon found that not only were other people also delighted by these bewitching sounds, but radio programmers where able to use these to gladly fulfill and happily exceed Cancon requirements without blandly resorting to playing The Hip 20 times a day. Seeing the need for a centralized resource to promote these releases, Aaron reached out to his contacts across Canada and asked them if they would support and use it. They unanimously agreed. Weird Canada was born.

            From the beginning the need for a centralized forum was clear and the format quickly followed; a blog comprised of short and positive purple prose extolling the virtues of each release, with accompanying physical scan and sound files. The tone was exciting and the format easy to quickly digest in a perpetually distracting media landscape. It was an effective recipe and with the support of radio programmers Weird Canada did not fall on deaf ears. Canada was listening, and the weirdos had something to say. The audience quickly grew and within 8 months Jesse Locke (managing editor) & Marie Leblanc Flanagan (public relations strategist) climbed aboard the Good Ship Weird and have been helping to steer her course ever since.

Soon many bands began contacting Aaron thanking him for the exposure and also asking him for advice on booking shows and touring, a major obstacle most bands here face. This is partly due to the great distances between major cities, but also more importantly due to a fragmented and poorly organized music community to support touring bands. In order to strengthen a nation-wide culture and community for adventurous independent music, Aaron began booking Weird Canada shows in Edmonton helping touring bands connect with an appreciative audience in a city not known for its live music scene. Often taking place in unusual venues (bowling alleys, houses and galleries) the shows created a positive feedback loop in which people’s enjoyment of the event manifested in more virtual traffic on the site, and then in turn meant more physical traffic at the shows. Last year the series went national with Wyrd showcases in Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto, featuring a peerless cast of sonic pioneers such as Dirty Beaches, Wyrd Visions, Silver Dapple, Femminielli and Man Made Hill. This increased national activity is part of WC’s initiatives to strengthen ties between cities and communities across Canada.

In addition to being asked about live shows, the Weird Canada editors are often asked ‘how-to’ questions by musicians and artists looking to record, manufacture, release, distribute and promote their own music. In keeping with the ongoing development of the site and the Weird world at large, they are planning on starting a series of articles in which Canadian independent artists, promoters and labels share practical information about how they operate in hopes that it will help and inspire more and more people who want participate, but simply don’t know how. When speaking on the phone recently Aaron told me that what he really wants to see is a community of artists across Canada who are actively involved in dialogue and criticism. To get there he says “we need to create a strong enough community that people are able to take criticism. Right now, most art is created in a vacuum, and it’s praise or nothing. If people feel enough support then we can have a critical conversation about their work which can only result in better art.” Aaron also mentioned writing an open letter to the CBC after they launched their very poorly conceived CBC Music with it’s near-sighted top-down approach that neither profiles any of the talented musicians that Weird Canada champions or helps to effectively build a distinctly Canadian music community.

Last year Aaron, Jesse and Marie decided to move to Toronto in order centralize geographically and to take advantage of the community growth opportunities that living in Canada’s largest city has to offer. Aside from a noticeable increase in Toronto based activity on the site, their presence here has already had a positive effect on the local weirdo scene simply by their coverage and enthusiasm. On top of which, it has been a pleasure for those of us who have been able to meet them and put a face to the Weird.

by Brandon Hocura (published in Offerings, March 2012)

A bellissimo site to behold, the new Claudio tape on Los Discos Fantasmes is available now. Grip it fast before the Long Weekend is over. Recorded, mixed and produced for maximum dance-floor appeal at Polyphasic.

Fantastic review of this masterpiece of spontaneous composition recorded and mixed at Polyphasic last summer.

Polyphasic Studios is very proud to announce the newest member of our analog family; a 1974 Yamaha PM 1000. This legendary board is known for it’s warm vintage sound and is often said to have an analog transistor based sound similar to Neve boards. Our board has been recapped and modded with 16 Jensen 123-S transformer outputs by Mike Denecke. Legend has it that this board came from Jackson Browne’s home studio. One thing that we know for sure is that everything we run through this board sounds incredible!

Black Walls (Ken Reaume) recording guitar in Polyphasic Studios. His jaw-dropping finger-picking is truly something to check out, go see him live if you can.