Tag: LO FI

ALBUM REVIEW: “THE BLUEST STAR” BY FREE CAKE FOR EVERY CREATURE

On August 3rd, free cake for every creature (PA) put out a new full length soft-pop album called the bluest star. What started as a solo project for song-writer Katie Bennett, free cake has expanded to include long-term band members, Francis Lyons and Heeyoon Won, as well as a rotating cast of musicians and friends.

the bluest star was recorded over the latter half of 2017 in the apartment that Katie and Francis share; maintaining free cakes’s lo-fi bedroom-pop roots while also showing growth through collaboration and experimentation.

Composed with a heart wide-open, each song offers insight into Katie’s lived experiences and her feelings about them. She whispers about the simple and mundane, “eating clementines on the subway / put the peels on my blue jeans” (be home soon) and shares her existential musings, “walked for hours aimlessly / washed in the nothing, happily / the world went on without me / and I let it, happily” (sunday afternoon).

Every track has something special to offer: the drum machine in shake it out, the pedal steel guitar that keeps coming back, the whisper of Katie’s voice in goodbye, unsilently – listen closely to the bluest star; you won’t want to miss anything.

Favourite track: sideline skyline

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Photo by Francis Lyons

STAFF CONTRIBUTION: Nikki A Basset

NYBC PRESENTS: LO SIENTO AT GREEN BEAN CAFE

On April 25th, not your boys club presented Lo Siento (NFLD) with scrambled meggz (NFLD) at the Green Bean Café in Windsor, ON. On the afternoon of the 25th, Lo Siento—Pepa, Andrea, and Meg (of scrambled meggz and filling in for Allison on drums)—pulled up to my house in their (hilarious) royal blue Dodge Charger. We had some time before they needed to load into the venue, so I took them across the river to Detroit to see the installations at the Heidelberg Art Project and the Detroit Industrial Gallery.

After our visit to Detroit, Lo Siento loaded into the Green Bean Café for their early show. Green Bean Café is a safe, accessible, dry, and inclusive space with a large capacity, great food, and a welcoming atmosphere. It was the perfect venue for the first not your boys club show. Before, between, and after sets, I played my favourite records (women and trans musicians only!).

Once a handful of people were there, scrambled meggz started her set. Meg has a way of making a show feel intimate and personal as if she’s playing in her living room to her closest friends. My favourite track that Meg played for us was “2 little lazy eyes (a song for pepa)” which was realeased on the two-track album xoxo only a few days before Lo Siento went on tour. When Meg didn’t have a trumpet for the solo, she compromised and sang it for us.

Lo Siento did not disappoint. Pepa sings in spanish, but regardless of language, she gets her (feminist) message across. Two specific songs, “Historia en el Placard” and “No Es No”, really resonated with me.

“Historia en el Placard” is a song that Pepa wrote about her experience of moving to Canada and learning of the injustices that Indigenous people face. She told us she wrote it specifically about the residential school systems and forced assimilation, and with the recent failures of justice for Colton Boushie and Tina Fontaine, this live performance hit me hard.

Second, “No Es No” (translates to “No Means No”) is a song about rape culture, victim-blaming, and informed consent. The song begins with a lyric that translates to “tired of feeling afraid”; a relatable lyric for any vulnerable person who is told that they are responsible for having resistance strategies when “no” is not enough.

Lo Siento delivered a set that was unapologetically sincere.  Their performance was a window into their unwavering friendship; while laughing at their mistakes and refusing to take themselves too seriously, they also communicated love for one another all throughout their set. It is unmistakable how much fun they have playing music together.

STAFF CONTRIBUTION: Nikki A. Basset