Calgary’s Women will join a collection of bands on the fringes of Canada’s music scene in the Wyrd Alberta tour.
Travelling fringe fest spotlights the subterranean
With the speed of the Internet on his side Edmonton’s Aaron Levin has transformed the underground music website weirdcanada.com into a message board a buzzing beehive of discussion and bona fide cross-country online community all in just 10 months. Attracting not only readers and message board members but also contributors from across Canada (including this article’s author) the site founder former music director for college radio station CJSR and mathematical mind behind Cantor Records sees his efforts to date as a smashing success.
“The one thing I noticed when I was working in radio was a burgeoning DIY scene across all genres in Canada going largely unnoticed by any sort of media outlet” says Levin. “I looked at big sites like Pitchfork and then smaller ones like Terminal Boredom and they were covering music in a similar vein but it was mostly American. So while it was around and I had an opportunity to do so I decided to capture this unmined area for new discoveries in boundary-pushing sounds. It’s become exactly what I wanted it to be: a focal point gravity well or vortex. Whatever you want to call it it’s definitely a concentration of activity and point of attraction for fringe music in Canada.”
Up next is Levin’s latest stab at bringing this music to a live stage following the first annual Wyrd Fest in November 2009. The big difference is that while his previous event took place only in Edmonton this month’s Wyrd Alberta will be travelling to Calgary and Lethbridge as well. In all three cities 14 bands from across the country will team with local acts for a three-day spectacle of the subterranean. Highlights include hometown heroes Women Vancouver voodoo punks Nü Sensae and synth-ravers Myths the psychedelic ragas of Montreal-Halifax mega band Omon Ra II the smeared stoner jams of Edmonton’s Krang and peppy post-punk from Lethbridge’s Fist City.
EXPOSING ALBERTA
Wyrd Alberta is a massive undertaking and Levin couldn’t make it happen without the support of previously established institutions. To wit the out-of-town shows will double as Sled Island’s pre-festival warm-up in Calgary complete with the full summer lineup announcement and then coincide with Mammoth Cave Fest in Lethbridge. Hoping to share homegrown talent with the rest of the Canadian cognoscenti Mammoth Cave mastermind Paul Lawton has handpicked 20 local Lethbridge acts to join his all-day all-ages event.
“Aaron has done a really good thing with the site because it’s creating bonds within a community that might not have existed previously” Lawton says. “There are things like Stilepost and other message boards but the scenes they centre on still remain fairly regional. Weird Canada is unique in the music it covers and the people who contribute to it because it’s truly trans-Canadian.”
“Similarly our aims for Wyrd Alberta are to help showcase and bring together bands from across the country” he continues. “It’s one step further towards my agenda of exposing southern Alberta musicians that were previously marginalized or ignored. We also wanted to bring in smaller bands that could blow your mind but have never been given an opportunity to tour before now. The scenes have been more or less separated because Alberta only gets the artists that can afford to come and that doesn’t necessarily reflect all the rad stuff happening out East.”
On an analogous tip Levin believes both his website and musical fringe fest have something unique to offer cherry-picking the underground and bringing its fruits to the table.
“Sled Island is like a delicious buffet” he says. “It’s massive and really well-priced so you can fill up your plate eat till you puke and just have a great time. Meanwhile Wyrd Alberta is a bit different. We’re trying to sell it on the basis of discovery and curation and what attract people aren’t always the headliners. What you might miss out on when you go to a buffet are the staples like broccoli that keep you healthy — those would be lesser known local bands — and that’s because you’re too busy trying to grab a crazy Fudd Ruckers burger. If you come to Wyrd Alberta we’ll give you a meal you’ve never had before: interesting strange and locally grown.”
