AGAINST LANGUAGE

WTF is wrong with Pixelmator?!

2011-12-11T11:22:00.001-08:00

If you go to Apple's app store right now, you'll see that Pixelmator won the app of the year award. That's interesting, because I have purchased this app and I can't seem to do anything useful with it.

Here's are just a couple of the weird bugs that render this app completely useless.

Here's an image I made.

Zoom's at about 50% here. Looks fine, but I want to zoom out a bit more. Let's see what happens then.

WTF?!

Okay. Never mind. I don't need to zoom out that much anyway. The drawing is just surrounded by white space. Which is why I want to crop it. Okay, let's try that. Should be simple enough.

There. I've framed my image perfectly with the cropping tool. Now, let's see how it looks when I crop it.

WTF?!

I'm playing key-bored in a new band!

2011-11-23T19:48:00.001-08:00

We are called Sacral Nerves. And we're playing out first show on December 3rd. Yay!

Useless machines

2011-11-03T19:29:00.000-07:00

Interaction Design Safari

2011-10-09T11:10:00.000-07:00

I was inspired by this post from Anjin Anhut to go on an Interaction Desgin Safari yesterday. Above are a few samples from the images that resulted from it. See the full set here.

Great Vowel Shift: EP review + upcoming show

2011-05-01T12:19:00.000-07:00

My EP, Tasteful Erotica, got a positive review on Argue Job:

His musical intuition is definitely the highlight of the ep. Basque knows how far to push the less palatable aspects without taking the well balanced pop concessions off the table.

Check it out.

Also, I'm going to play a short set at Cagibi next week, opening for Queening (from Brooklyn). Here's a Facebook event. And some details:

Thursday, May 5 at 10:00 pm

An evening of music at Le Cagibi (5490 St. Laurent, Montreal)

Featuring (in the order they will play) :

- Les Beyond (immanent immigrant) + Old Wyoming (formerly empty love)
http://lesbeyond.bandcamp.com/
http://oldwyoming.bandcamp.com/

- Queening (Brooklyn's Avant-Genius')
http://www.myspace.com/queeningisgreat

- The Great Vowel Shift (local boy wonder)
http://greatvowelshift.bandcamp.com/

Things in general and a new Great Vowel Shift EP

2011-03-29T18:05:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've updated this blog. This is due to the fact that it was set up as an outlet for all my promotional efforts, and lately I have not had much to promote. I'm not booking shows anymore and it's not really something I'm too concerned about at the moment.

However, I have been making music, and the fruit of those efforts is now available for your listening and purchasing pleasure at this wonderful website. This is a 20-minute EP called "Tasteful Erotica," by my solo recording project The Great Vowel Shift. Here's the cover art:

And here is the track list:

For the record, I think both of those images are remarkably ugly. It's kind of what I was going for.

The music, however, I'm quite proud of. The philosophy behind this release was to not obsess over it, to accept the mistakes, go for spontaneity over perfection, always follow my instincts and indulge in my worst "ticks" as a producer, like cutting all the low and high frequencies on everything and boosting the mids. Whenever possible, I used the first take, even if I was singing a little flat or whatever. I tried to work quickly and release the finished EP as soon as possible.

All of which possibly sounds like I was just being lazy and careless, but that's not what it was. It was about not squeezing all the life out of the original idea by spending too much time "perfecting" it, which I felt was what happened with my previous release.

Anyway, so that's done. It's out there for you to listen to. And if you absolutely love it, you can own it for only $4. It's downloadable in any format you want, including several lossless options and, of course MP3. There is no physical copy. It's a digital release only. I don't think I'll ever make another physical CD ever again. I don't see the point.

I was going to keep writing about other stuff, but on second thought, no, I better not. Enjoy the music.

Effortless songwriting

2010-12-24T07:31:00.000-08:00

ah ah ah ah ah

je suis là
devant toi
entre nous il y a
une table
avec de la bouffe dessus
je la regarde
avec mes dents
et j'ai envie de croquer dedans
ça a l'air succulent

ah ah ah ah ah

je suis là
devant toi
entre nous il y a
un piège
lequel d'entre nous va
se mettre les doigts dedans?
nous sommes pris
tous les deux
il n'y a plus rien à dire

encore

ah ah ah ah ah

The first half of this song came to me in the shower about two weeks ago. As soon as I got out, I ran to the tape recorder, still dripping wet, and recorded it, singing all the music parts as well, so as not to forget it. The recording of it is ritualistic more than it is an actual documentation. The act of recording the song means that I won't forget it. I haven't listened to the recording since, because I didn't need to - the song stayed in my head.

This morning, the second verse came to me. Again, completely unexpectedly. I was making coffee, and I just spontaneously started singing it. All the lyrics were there. So I wrote it down. And now it's done. All I have to do is record it properly.

I really like this song a lot and I have no idea where it came from. I didn't put any thought into the lyrics at all - they came almost automatically - but now that I look at them they mean something to me.

In the first verse, two people are sitting at a table, facing each other. There is food on the table, and it looks delicious, and they're looking at it, waiting to sink their teeth into it. Because of the music and the melody and the way the song is sung, there is definitely some kind of tension in the air, which could be interpreted as sexual, but not necessarily. But the focus is on the food, not the relationship between these two people.

The second verse starts the same way, but now instead of a table, what's between them is a trap. What kind of trap? I don't know. But they're both looking at it, wondering which of them is going to get their fingers stuck in it. But then it turns out that they're both trapped, they've been trapped all along, and they have nothing to say to each other. It's the situation itself that is a trap, not just whatever's on the table.

The simple "encore" at the end suggests that this situation is a recurring one.

s u r f a c e d i s p l a c e m e n t

2010-09-21T20:46:00.000-07:00

the finite state machine presents:
s u r f a c e d i s p l a c e m e n t
an evening of electronic music

Monkeyphone
Akumu
the Great Vowel Shift
James Schidlowsky's Ringen

Saturday, September 25th, 9 PM
le Cagibi, 5490 St-Laurent blvd.
4 dollars, PWYC

..................................................
Monkeyphone
..................................................

Monkeyphone is the collaborative project of seasoned, hyperkinetic drummer Tomas Matthews (Desert Owls), ambient/dance guru Bob Doell (Paul Keeley, Gyges), and IDM/Electroacoustic composer Shane Turner (Turner of Wheels, The Fold). Their live performance for amped electronics and drums freely combines their favorites of the electronic music canon. Echoes of dance, dub, krautrock, fusion, and industrial form into high energy beats that are layered with thick synthetic grooves, spiced with warm noise and soft pliable ambiance.

http://www.myspace.com/monkeyphonemusic

..................................................
Akumu
..................................................

Akumu is Toronto’s Deane Hughes, composer of dark electronic ambient music.

Formed as a solo project in 2000, Akumu [Japanese for “nightmare”] explores the eerie side of natural systems through long-form instrumental tracks constructed from drones, found sounds and micro-sonics that synthesize organic and electronic elements into haunting atmospherics and low frequency beats.

He has released three full-length albums, a DVD of videos, a split release with Andrew Duke plus various compilations and net tracks. He has scored music for television and film and has performed live across Ontario and Quebec including at Montréal’s Mutek Festival and Toronto’s X-Avant and Ambient Ping events.

He is currently producing new material for release later this year.

http://www.musicbyakumu.com/
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/akumu/id35764941

..................................................
The Great Vowel Shift
..................................................

Yan Basque is a Montreal-based musician, experimental sound artist, writer and visual artist. As The Great Vowel Shift, he explores the intersections between improvisation and noise, found material and structure, using lo-fi electronics and analog sounds. Yan releases song-based material under the name Racine, plays guitar with the punk band Drunk Dial, and has collaborated with artist Nicole Aline Legault on a book: Empty Bottles Carrying Talking Teeth. He spends too much time on the internet. He lives in Verdun with his cat Ingemar.

http://greatvowelshift.tumblr.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift

..................................................
James Schidlowsky's Ringen
..................................................

James Schidlowsky used to make music.

From No Type:

"James Schidlowsky is a sound artist, performer and improviser. His music ranges from ambient to free jazz, but is primarily abstract. He investigates the intrinsic sounds of the guitar using various objects, the sounds of radiowaves, interferences and treated field recordings. He has released several solo CD-Rs, online albums and has collaborated regularly with Olivier Borzeix, Alexandre St-Onge, Jacques Gravel, Nathalie Dion, Magali Babin and A_dontigny."

Ringen has been described as an orchestra of elves and faeries playing strings and horns and an elven church organ. Beautiful, shimmering, effervescent.

http://www3.bell.net/james.schid/
http://www.notype.com/drones/bio.e/schidlowsky_ja/

2010-06-22T00:22:00.000-07:00

It's my birthday on Friday (JUNE 25), so I asked Crosss to play a free show for me at CAgibi.

IT'S AN EARLY SHOW.

They will play sometime between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m.

After that, some DJs are going to play some records or something and the people who love me can hang out with me 'cause it's my birthday.

But those who don't know me or don't love me can come to the show also. It's for everybody. And they can even hang out after if they feel like it. I'm not gonna kick anybody out.

AND IT'S FREE.

But it's early. And then a party afterward.

Get it !?!?!?

Don't bring gifts.

If you have any questions, you can ask them here.

Oh yeah, you can listen to the band here: http://www.myspace.com/crossses

That's me on the poster. I think I was 10 years old or something. My hair was blonder then.

La Nuit blanche au Cagibi

2010-02-20T08:54:00.000-08:00

Artists from Montreal and beyond come together at Cagibi for an eclectic night full of surprises. On the program: experimental music, video projections, slide shows, interactive installations, and weird performance art.

*

$$ GRATUIT / FREE $$

*

SALLE ARRIÈRE / BACK ROOM

21h00 à minuit: music + projections

Great Vowel Shift (Montreal)
http://greatvowelshift.tumblr.com
+ projection: Matthew Reading

Metis Yeti (Montreal)
http://www.metisyeti.co.cc/
+ projection: Vincent Charlebois

intermission by Emily Kai Bock + Julia Thomas

Nuthre (Victoria)
http://sites.google.com/site/nuthre/
+ projection: Sarah Tracy

Holzkopf (Saskatoon)
http://sites.google.com/site/holzkopf666/
+ projection: Freida Abtan

*

midnight – Rick Trembles (Montreal)
The author of Motion Picture Purgatory weekly comic strip/movie reviews is giving a slideshow presentation.
http://www.snubdom.com/

00h40 – Alien Lentil: A ÷ L² = PP (outer space)
Alien Lentil returns from the distant future once again. This time with a new interactive, life changing performance piece. Unleashing the superbrightwhitelight power of obscure zero dimensional psychedelic psychic formulae, Alien Lentil will make one of YOUR wishes come true.

01h00 – Insane Gown Posse (Montreal)
This queer supergroup features Miss Swamp Pussy and collaborators. This will be their first performance and I'm willing to bet it's going to be memorable.

01h45 – Fingerdog + Four Minutes to Midnight (Montreal)
Experimental drones + spoken word.
http://www.myspace.com/fingerdog
http://lokidesign.net/2356/

02h15 – Stacey Ho (Toronto)
Using party favours and dollar store finds, Stacey Ho facilitates the breathing of visitors to the Caigibi. This is a continuation of a series of exercises based on body movements, voluntary, involuntary, involuntary ------> voluntary, individual -----> intermingled, breathing, blinking, pulse, gesture, action, sound.
http://staceyho.com/

02h45 – Alien Lentil
(encore)

03h05 – Gutstrings + Parlour Treats (Montreal)
http://www.myspace.com/gguuttssttrriinnggss

03h35 – Fingerdog + Four Minutes to Midnight
(encore)

04h05 – Total Gaze (Montreal)
Total mystery.

04h35 – Stacey Ho
(encore)

(ends around 5h00)

*****

SALLE À L'AVANT / FRONT ROOM

Interactive Booths:

*22h-23h, 00h-01h, 02h-03h (presentation & recording sessions)
The Society for Preservation of Anachronistic Gesture

*22h-02h Jessika Fancy- Fine Art Nail Painting
*22h-02h Oliver Fugler- Tarot Readings for the Unconvinced

Projections:

*10h- 05h Sarah Pupo- installlation/animation
*00h30-03h Jasa Baka, Julia Thomas & Sarah Tracy- living window display/mind's eye laboratory
*When he feels like it h Jean Claude Van Damme- clips cuts

All Night Installations:

*Liz Ramsden- hibernation cave art installation
*Jessica Reina Rainville- plant art engulfing washroom installation
*Roving Party Machine- free sugar high all night'r self serve slush

& DJs

(open all night)

Expozine

2009-11-08T18:15:00.000-08:00

Expozine is coming up...

Saturday, November 14 and Sunday, November 15, 2009, from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. at 5035 St-Dominique (Église Saint-Enfant Jésus, between St-Joseph and Laurier, near Laurier Métro). Free admission.

I've been working on a couple of zines.

One is called Possible Worlds. Limited edition of 15, 4"x4", 48 pages, 3$.

The other one is called Shadows at the Mall. Edition of 20 (though I may print more if I sell out), 4 1/2" x 6", 24 pages, 5$.

I also have a few copies of last year's collaboration with Nicole Aline Legault, Empty Bottles Carrying Talking Teeth. These ones will go for a reduced price of 6$.

A few updates

2009-09-08T20:59:00.000-07:00

1. My band, Denial Tone, is currently working on some new material. We plan to start playing shows again in November. Meanwhile, we have a tape for sale. Write to denial.tone at gmail dot com if you want copies.

2. I now have a monthly DJ night at Le Cagibi. It's on the second Wednesday of the month and will feature DJ Youth Contemporary (me) and an assortment of rotating guests. The first one is tomorrow, Wednesday, September 9. I haven't figured out a name for the series yet.

3. Still have plans brewing for my two solo projects, Racine and The Great Vowel Shift, but haven't had much time to focus on them lately. Hopefully that will change soon.

It's been a busy and amazing summer so far. More to come...

Organic Noise in the park...

2009-06-09T11:17:00.001-07:00

I'm going to be playing a very short piece called "Concerto for voice, glockenspiel and 17 double-A batteries (in two movements)" at this mini-festival in a park, this weekend.

I'm not on the poster, because I was a late addition to the line-up, but I'll be performing as The Great Vowel Shift.

Denial Tone - first show at Friendship Cove

2009-05-31T18:14:00.000-07:00

My new punk band, Denial Tone, is playing its first show this coming Saturday.

Play Guitar (Tape Release!)
http://www.myspace.com/playguitarplayguitar

York Redoubt (Halifax)
http://www.myspace.com/yorkredoubt

Futensil
http://www.myspace.com/futensil

Denial Tone (ex-Be Bad/ex-Gilbert Switzer)
http://www.myspace.com/denialtone

Saturday June 6
9PM/$5
Friendship Cove (215A Murray St)

(facebook event)

Poster by Nicole Aline Legault.
http://www.myspace.com/lookidrewyou

Racine: A Perfect Hand (free download)

2009-05-31T18:07:00.000-07:00

Last August I released an album called "A Perfect Hand." It's been almost a year and I've decided to now give it away as a free download. The archive includes high-quality MP3s and all the original artwork. Enjoy.

DOWNLOAD.

NOTE: This download link goes dead once in a while. If you try downloading this and it fails, please leave a comment and I'll update the link. Thanks.

PROUD FLESH

2009-05-22T08:34:00.000-07:00

Yo
tHIs is cool:

PROUD FLESH is an experimental western film by Jenny Graf (member of Metalux, member of Harrius, maker of music for plants, etc) and Chiara Giovando (member of Harrius, Animental I, collaborations with Nautical Almanac, Daniel Higgs, and so forth).

+ north american premier of LOST, animation by Nate Young and Alivia Zivich (AA records).

both screened on June 5 at labsynthese, supported by performances by:

HARRIUS (Giovando/Graf. Ehse Records, Baltimore).
AKISAKILA AND SHOEBOMBER (Starsky and Hutch of Ottawa vs Nim. Pasalymany, Panospria...)
AGOR
+ DJ Youth Contemporary

doors at 8:30..... --> ***MOVIES START AT 9:15 SHARP**...<----
6 bucks

trailor:

research:

http://jennygrafsheppard.com
http://labsynthese.com
http://www.ehserecords.com
http://www.myspace.com/aryanahole
http://www.myspace.com/shoebombermusic
http://www.myspace.com/akisakila
http://www.notype.com/drones/cat.e/pan_035
http://www.notype.com/drones/cat.e/pan_036

Shut the fuck up!

2009-04-04T08:54:00.001-07:00

2009-03-15T08:24:00.000-07:00

AGNST LNGGE PRODUCTIONS PRESENT

A two-day electro-acoustic/experimental music mini-festival

Friday March 20 @ Lab Synthèse (435 Beaubien Ouest, Loft 200)

with

You Have Two Seconds (Montreal)
A collaboration between Nicolas Dion (AKA Darcin, also from Intercom) and John Brennan (AKA Static Kitten).
http://www.myspace.com/darcinmusic
http://www.myspace.com/statickitten0

Magneticring (Vancouver)
Joshua Stevenson is in Montreal to perform a couple of shows in Sam Shalabi's Land of Kush. Magneticring is his solo project and he's just released a LP. Drone and early electronic-based music, featuring vintage synths from the 1960's.
http://www.castexotic.com
http://www.myspace.com/magnetiicring

Marko Timlin (Helsinki)
Marko Timlin is a sound artist, composer, musician and inventor of virtual and analogue instruments. Breaking boundaries of composition and improvisation, Timlin's approach focuses on intuitive interaction with new electronic media. The creation of his music in his concerts happens in real-time and, therefore, is as surprising for him as it is for the audience. He allows the audience to witness a dialog between man and machine. For his performance at Lab Synthèse, Timlin will be using flashlights and solar panels to create sounds!
http://www.timlin.de

(Additional guests at the Lab Synthèse show may be announced later...)

and

Saturday March 21 @ Le Cagibi (5490 St-Laurent)

with

Louis Dufort (Montreal)
Dufort's music ranges from a cathartic form of expressionism mostly found in his early works to organicism focusing on the inner structure of sound matter in his latest works. I'm not sure exactly what he has in store for us this time, but he never disappoints so this is sure to be amazing.
http://louisdufort.com
http://www.myspace.com/louisdufort

Marko Timlin (Helsinki)
Marko Timlin will play a second set of completely different material at Le Cagibi, this time focusing more on a meditative, deep-listening experience.

Ensemble Pamplemousse (New York City)
Featuring flute, violin, cello, keyboards, drums and electronics, this ensemble of classically trained virtuosos will cram onto the small stage at Cagibi to deliver the final clincher in this two-day series. They promise to deliver "formerly unfathomable sound landscapes"! Who could resist such a promise?
http://ensemblepamplemousse.org

Both shows start at 9 p.m.
Both are $5.
At the Lab Synthèse show you will have the option to buy a two-day pass for $8 if you want to see both shows.

Boredom Is Counter-revolutionary

2009-03-04T12:22:00.000-08:00

BOREDOM IS COUNTER REVOLUTIONARY:
Launch of Four Minutes to Midnight Issue 10
with the bands Shortpants Romance, The American Devices,
Little Scream and The Great Vowel Shift + more…
Saturday, March 7th @ Lab.Synthese

Four Minutes to Midnight is proud to announce the publication of its tenth issue, featuring the work of over 30 visual artists, poets and writers. We invite you to join us for the launch event, "Boredom is Counter Revolutionary", Saturday, March 7th @ Lab.Synthese (435 Beaubien Ouest, loft 200) with the bands Shortpants Romance, The American Devices, Little Scream and The Great Vowel Shift. Things get kicked off at 8pm, with a $5 cover charge, or $13 with a copy of issue 10. The event is BYOB.

"Almost every heartfelt page of 23:56 revolves around issues of textuality, of words and pictures, of sense and shape, of palpable meaning-making."
- dbqp: visualizing poetics, December 2005

“….and Fugue 10… man O man as exquisite as broken glass in the yard at Pelican Bay… TOO FUCKING MUCH!!!”
- FA Nettelbeck, Sewing Memory, December 2008

Four Minutes to Midnight won the Best English-Language Zine award at the inaugural Expozine Awards is 2005, and has since independently published an issue a year, showcasing a wide range of local and international artists in an experimental, collaborative format. Based in the firm belief that the personal is political, the zine explores the possibility for small stories, bad poetry, vast dreams and private pains as a means of advancing social change. Supported by like-minded and expectation-challenging bands, this launch promises to be a special evening with featured artwork on the walls, surprise performances and an atmosphere of collective art-making.

FMTM issue 10 features writing and artwork by:
Hoda and Dima Adra, Caroline Aquin, Ilinca Balaban, Emily Kai Bock, Simon Carrasco, Marilyn de Castro, Kyla Chevrier, Grant Collins, Ian Finch, Jesse Ferguson, Jason Gillingham, Sacha Guney, Alexandra Hall, Erica Ruth Kelly, JP King, Dita Kubin, Kevin Ledo, Tony de Marco, Billy Mavreas, Maria Mavrig, Joshua Mensch, Debbie Millman, F.A. Nettelbeck, Omen, Catherine Rizzetto, Christopher David Ryan, Valerie Sanguin, Hilary Schaenfield, Clare Sheldon-Williams, Louis Sobol, Vincent Tinguely, Visualingual (Maya Drozdz & Michael Stout), Caroline Weaver, and Colin White.

Review of Issue 10 (by design critic Kenneth Fitzgerald): www.ephemeralstates.com/2009/02/four-minutes-to-midnight/

A show in February

2009-01-24T07:48:00.000-08:00

AGNST LNGGE PRESENTS:

Metis Yeti
Monkey King
Kram Ran (from Winnipeg)
The Great Vowel Shift + Gmackrr

February 18, 2009
Doors 8 p.m.
Show 9 p.m.

$5

The Great Vowel Shift is my new solo project. I don't have any music samples online yet, but will post when I have them. For this show, I'm collaborating with the amazing Gmackrr.

Post-holiday celebration

2008-12-27T10:42:00.001-08:00

After the holidays, you may wish to join us at Cagibi on Friday, January 2, for an evening of pleasant music eccentricities from DJ Diet Perrier and DJ Youth Contemporary. It's free. For all.

Empty Bottles Carrying Talking Teeth (at Expozine)

2008-11-22T08:07:00.000-08:00

A book. Images by Nicole Aline Legault. Text by Yan Basque Thériault. Reflections on the failure of language as means of expression/communication and struggle for (artistic) creation. Ends on a positive note. Beautiful drawings by Nicole were made in complete darkness staring at the unseen page. 50 copies printed at home and sewn together by our lovely hands. Will be for sale (for a yet undetermined but surely affordable price) at

Expozine 2008

Saturday/Sunday
November 29/30
12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
at 5035 St-Dominique
Montreal
free admission

Against language (for beauty)

2008-11-22T08:01:00.000-08:00

Since the demise of previous revolutionary collective group/coalition/enterprise, this here new identity-machine set to replace as default branding option for all artistic and/or world-domination ambitions and creative endeavours. Information will be posted.