DOOMSQUAD • OQ • X Harlow • Body Work (EP Release)
Sat 02/29/20
9:30PM
18+
music
$10 ADV // $12 DOS
Show Lineup
Doomsquad
(Toronto)
Genre: Experimental
Even this far into the 21 st century, the recent social media furor surrounding US congresswoman and free-style dancer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez illustrated that the spectacle of someone dancing without compunction can still ruffle the right (and alt-right) feathers. In which case, all hail the third album from Toronto’s ardent, art-dance sibling trio DOOMSQUAD. Due for release on Bella Union and Royal Mountain Records on May 10 2019, Let Yourself Be Seen is the most assertive, ambitious, groove-sodden declaration of intent yet from Trevor, Jaclyn and Allie Blumas: the sound of dancefloor believers and thinkers firing on all personal and political fronts, at a time when we need it most.
Even if DOOMSQUAD never lacked the courage of their convictions, Let Yourself Be Seen ups the stakes. On 2016’s Total Time, the trio issued invitations to free your mind, body and spirit over dirty bass-lines and hypnotic disco jams. And yet, their reliance on unspoken sibling intuition left them fearing that much of its “message and meaning” had gone unheard. Thus, the trio took a more forthright approach for their third album, aiming to “crystallize what DOOMSQUAD is and what it means to us. What we always knew but put at the forefront of this record is that DOOMSQUAD is a project of protest, catharsis and emotional and spiritual reconnection through music and, especially, through dance-music culture. It’s about activating the body on the most fundamental level, into states of change, release and reunion.”
Richly steeped in the influences of acid house, West African disco, spiritual jazz, NYC no-wave and new-age ambient music, Let Yourself Be Seen hums with a sense of vigorous, invigorating purpose. After the overture of ‘Spandrel’, ‘General Hum’ sends out a buoyant new-wave rallying cry for maximized engagement just when the world seems intent on stifling it. “Is there a place for spirit anymore?” it asks. Kicking in with a percussive bustle that all but defies you to try and stand still, ‘Aimless’ answers in the affirmative.
Elsewhere on the album, DOOMSQUAD’s own dynamic thematic engagement alights on subjects ranging from formative influences to modern societal struggles and eco-crises. ‘Let It Go’ grapples with the challenges of social change at 140BPM, climaxing with a scalding guitar solo to match the heat of its questioning thrust. The mellifluous ‘Emma’ reflects on early-20th-century anarchist and activist Emma Goldman; ‘Dorian’s Closet’, meanwhile, honours New York drag queen Dorian Corey. “Let Yourself Be Seen was fuelled by the inspiration of outsider artists and thinkers before us,” say the band. “Through these songs, we get to glorify some of our heroes.”
DOOMSQUAD’S intent to carry their heroes’ “messages of empowerment, release and spiritual self-determination” to new audiences peaks on the title-track, where the album’s disparate parts build to a disco inferno with a call to “Let yourself be seen!” ‘The Last Two Palm Trees in LA’ offers an empathetic take on a similar theme, based on the acceptance of ageing, before ‘Weather Patterns’ steers a reflection on unity in the face of global crisis to a buffeting crescendo with a thrilling urgency.
The result is an album for fraught political times, charged by the impetus to bring“music back to the body”. Close-to-home influences on that score include Tanya Tagaq and Peaches, both of whom DOOMSQUAD have toured with; further afield, Peter Gabriel, Diamanda Galás, Genesis P-Orridge and Underworld numbered among inspirations. Meanwhile, as the trio’s creative process took them from a lakeside cabin to a studio in Toronto, they benefited from the input of kindred spirits such as Ejji Smith, whose virtuoso guitar-shredding propels ‘Let It Go’. Israeli jazz composer Itamar Erez adds watery synths to ‘Emma’, while a key studio collaborator was producer/artist Sandro Perri, whose credits include Barzin.
As for the future, DOOMSQUAD will soon take Let Yourself Be Seen to the live stage, an environment in which their convictions blaze with exhilarating life. “The dancefloor is our temple – the idea of the dancefloor as a utopian/protest space is the exact belief we carry with us. As much as we love making records, we love performing. The music we make is meant to be heard on a large sound-system. As performers, we are fuelled by the need to be in a live atmosphere.” And if that need inspires others to voice their shared beliefs, such is DOOMSQUAD’s hope. “People change, ideas grow,” the band say. “And entropy is all around us. The fear that lies in the hearts of the elite patriarchy will soon die off, and the rest of us will be working together to repair what’s broken. And that is worth every bit of positive energy.” An album that honours its forebears by reaching towards a future worth fighting for, worth dancing for, Let Yourself Be Seen has positive energy in bright, sparking, forward-thinking abundance.
OQ
(Milwaukee, WI)
Genre: Indie Rock
OQ began when drummer and beatmaker, Cole Quamme, played a show in support of Janka Nabay and the Bubu Gang as the drummer in Milwaukee-based band, The Fatty Acids. Quamme started making beats influenced by Nabay’s definitive afrobeat and noted the direct rhythmic parallels to traditional American folk and bluegrass. After seeing multi-instrumentalist and producer, Liam O’Brien, play with midwest freak-folk collective, Holy Sheboygan!, Quamme recruited O’Brien, who developed the interlocking rhythms into songs based on Celtic melodies. By the time they’d gotten around to producing their first EP, Paradice 1, the project had taken on surprising new forms.
Paradice 1 exemplifies this evolution. Melodic ruminations on humanity dance over sustained grooves and complex polyrhythms. It’s a sound that hearkens a distant past and in the same stroke, heralds in the coming of a not-so-distant future. Streaming soon exclusively on the PEOPLE platform
X Harlow
(Brooklyn, NYC)
Genre: Experimental
X Harlow is the electronic pop project of Justin Schmidt (Blu Anxxiety). Based in Brooklyn, Schmidt began their music career in their hometown of Milwaukee’s punk scene playing in Cougar Den and Youth Crush. Parking Lot is an exploration of isolation and memory and how they interact when we spend extended time alone. The video is shot entirely in Milwaukee in different locations that were places often visited during Schmidt’s childhood (Milwaukee’s Lakefront, The Domes, Leon’s, Miller Park). Returning as an adult during the pandemic leaves a somber, ghostlike quality to revisiting those places while still trying to recall the playfulness of the original experience as a kid.
X Harlow’s sophomore album Anchorite combines their use of dark, brooding post-punk with an exploration of Gregorian chant, ambient and hip hop. “Anchorite” gets its title from the medieval figures of the same name: those who withdraw from society, trap themselves in place and pray for those around them in isolation. Written during the darkest months of New York’s coronavirus epidemic, the album is an emotional meditation on mourning family and an indictment of the state’s incompetence in public health. The album spans through nine intimate tracks that decidedly depart in intensity from X Harlow’s April release “Feuerwerk,” centering more on a mix of post-punk and hip hop, employing complex vocal harmonies, Gregorian chants, and technical beat making. Influences from projects like Burial are clear on tracks like Glide and Von Bingen’s Prayer, both conveying an introspective, mystic ambience with the kind of deep rhythms found in UK dub. On songs like “Pyre” and “Eyes Out” X Harlow sings of the deep anxiety from grief and isolation during lockdown. The album is interlaced with short interludes of dark ambience; opening with the suffocating chords of “Alfred Dies” and ending with the calming choirs of “Elysium.” X Harlow’s lyrical content always tackles political topics but the execution of contemporary pop and engaging rhythm shows a refinement of their work here. Almost every song has its own hook; some are haunting while others are simply catchy dystopian anthems. “Anchorite” moves away from the aggressiveness of “Feuerwerk” and creates a direct lineage of the more bewitching and cerebral tracks that can be found on “Ceiling System,” the first X Harlow release. The rhythms are driving, the music haunting, and the lyrics thoughtful and challenging.