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Vancouver New Music’s annual festival returns this year with PROPULSION, a co-presentation with VIVO Media Arts Centre. For this year’s festival, we invited three local guest curators to each program an evening that centers emerging artists with visionary sonic and musical expressions. Exploring themes of futurism, the artists move forward towards developing and advancing their art forms and the contexts they work in: How do we build our future and propel ourselves as an artistic community and a general society to build something new?
Curators are composer, multi instrumentalist, sound and media artist, Anju Singh; artist, writer and curator, Kendra Place; and audio-visual artist, DJ and radio host, Reylinn. The festival will feature a mix of local and visiting artists: Hot Snack, Jane Harms and Donna Allen (Montreal), Markus Floats (Montreal), baptized.in.prison, El Ángel Exterminador, Wasauksing Sniper (Winnipeg), Fitnesss (LA), and DJ Zygote with dancers Josh Ongcol, Rae and ADAM.
Hot Snack is a modular synthesizer/vocal duo created by Sol Chiniquay and Ryan Clough-Carroll. Drawing from the repetitive phasing of Steve Reich and Suicide, Hot Snack embraces technical obstruction and lyrical prostration as a means of piloted improvisation.
After first performing alongside one another with their respective bands in 2022, Jane Harms and Donna Allen cemented their collaboration on a US tour in the fall of 2023, providing a mixture of improvised and scored accompaniment to one another's songs from New York to Nebraska.
By combining text and soundscape, Markus Floats attempts to offer a listening experience grounded in anarchist thought, meditation, poetry and electroacoustic exploration. Markus will be joined on stage by James Goddard.
The story of Atsi’tsaká (Sky Woman) begins in a world of perfect balance, Karonhiá (Sky World). Karonhiá "was the most peaceful and beautiful place in the universe. It looked very similar to the natural world we live in today. There were trees, plants, mountains, and valleys, and all sorts of animals, both four-legged and winged. In the middle of Sky World grew a great celestial tree. The sacred tree shone so brightly it lit up the entire Sky World" (Smith, 2015). One day, Atsi’tsaká finds herself at a portal between two worlds created by the uprooted sacred tree. The "underworld was covered with a thick blanket of clouds, an endless sea, and complete darkness" (Smith, 2015). Some say the world cried out with tears of loneliness for Atsi’tsaká to join it. It is said that she chose to accept its call and began a great descent into the oceanic dimension. In this process, she became the catalyst and carrier of all future life on Earth. Here, she remained not as a deity of hierarchical arrangement but within the essence of every life form.
Within her project baptized.in.prison, Toni-Leah C. Yake (European; Kanien’kehá:ka, Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, Turtle Clan) engages with Haudenosaunee creation mythology through sound as an element of ceremony. In her new fixed-media and improvised electronic work, Atsi’tsaká, Yake calls to the permeability of dimensional barriers and relationships with Kanien’kehá:ka archetypes. By exploring sound's liminal and portalistic qualities she participates in world-building and sonic ritual.
Reference: Smith, C. (2015, March 2). "Skywoman: A Story Before Time."
Sound mutations and explorations of popular sounds and genres from Mexico and Latin America taken to a realm where they surface as spectral visitations, are broken down by noise and taken to the extreme.
Wasauksing Sniper explores the distorted line between harsh noise and ambience. Channeling sounds of war and static with heavy industrial and field recordings manipulated from the Western Front. A constant hypotonic hum of artillery. Chaos and battle near it's end, but at what cost?
a DJ performance of Southeast Asian electronic music incorporated with dancers
FITNESSS emerges as a composite of wires and veins
coursing with the distilled rage and sorrow of a decimated Los Angeles
prosthetic electronics trigger angelic pulsations
flowing through nervous pathways to communicate
the primordial choreography of our Holy Ancestors
VIVO is located in the homelands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples in a warehouse space at 2625 Kaslo Street south of East Broadway at the end of E 10th. Transit line 9 stops at Kaslo Street on Broadway. From the bus stop, the path is paved, curbless, and on a slight decline. The closest skytrain station is Renfrew Station, which is three blocks south-east of VIVO and has an elevator. From there, the path is paved, curbless, and on a slight incline. There is parking available at VIVO, including wheelchair access parking. There is a bike rack at the entrance. The front entrance leads indoors to a set of 7 stairs to the lobby.
A wheelchair ramp is located at the west side of the main entrance. The ramp has two runs: the first run is 20 feet long, and the second run is 26 feet. The ramp is 60 inches wide. The slope is 1:12. The ramp itself is concrete and has handrails on both sides. There is an outward swinging door (34 inch width) at the top of the ramp leading to a vestibule. A second outward swinging door (33 inch width) opens into the exhibition space. Buzzers and intercoms are located at both doors to notify staff during regular office hours or events to unlock the doors. Once unlocked, visitors can use automatic operators to open the doors.
There are two all-gender washrooms. One has a stall and is not wheelchair accessible. The other is a single room with a urinal and is wheelchair accessible: the door is 33 inches wide and inward swinging, without automation. The toilet has 11 inch clearance on the left side and a handrail.
To reach the bathrooms from the studio, exit through the double doors and proceed straight through the lobby and down the hall . Turn left, and the two bathrooms will be on your right side. The closest one has a stall and is not wheelchair accessible. The far bathroom is accessible.
Jane Harms' interest in propulsive songwriting is interpreted via her obsessive orchestral guitar-synthesizer and sample-sequenced arrangements. Her project Trifectahas a song forthcoming on a compilation with Montreal’s Celluloid Lunch label, and her solo performances have been hosted by Video Pool in Winnipeg/Treaty One, Slut Island Festival in Tio’tia:ke/Montréal, and UNIT/PITT on xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səl̓ílwətaɬ land (Vancouver). Together with Donna Allen, they arrive somewhere between alter-futurist chamber folk and celestial Big Music, actualizing their mutual interest in Olivia Records, the Canterbury sound and music as a marker on a road to utopia.
Donna Allen's four-finger guitar and melodic proficiency are expanded by her training in post-Cagean art music and experimentation. Her New York-based band Chronophage has released four LPs ranging from punky post-punk to prefab post-contemporary rock, and she has released four solo recordings in the last year alone. Together with Jane Harms, they arrive somewhere between alter-futurist chamber folk and celestial Big Music, actualizing their mutual interest in Olivia Records, the Canterbury sound and music as a marker on a road to utopia.
Markus Lake is a Montréal/Tiotia’ke based musician and composer. Lake’s albums, live shows and soundtrack work explore themes of attention, obscurity, visibility and repetition through the use of a constantly expanding palette of digital instruments and samples. He released his Juno-nominated fourth LP, “Fourth Album,” on Constellation Records in October 2023. He is a graduate of the electroacoustics program at Concordia University and has played bass in the Montréal bands Elle Barbara’s Black Space, Egyptian Cotton Arkestra, and Silver Dapple.
Photo by Stacy Lee
baptized.in.prison (Toni-Leah C. Yake) (European; Kanyen'kehà:ka, Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, Turtle Clan) is a composer-performer residing on xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səlilwətaɬ territories.
Her work extends to explore the land, memories, world-building and embodied response. Informed by dream interpretation and Kanyen'kehà:ka epistemology Yake submerges into liminality through performances illuminated by archival recordings, synthesis, and noise.
Toni-Leah's practices are often influenced by kanyen’keha (Mohawk language) research, the interplay between conscious and unconscious realms, symbolism, relationships with unseen dimensions, and connections to archaic memories.
"El Ángel Exterminador” was born in 2021 as a response to the lack of bookings of Latinx artists in so-called “Vancouver". Expect haunting cumbias, crunchy perreo and sleazy tracks that might prevent you from leaving the room.
The primary artist behind this project, Max Ammo (they/them), is a non-binary latinx multidisciplinary artist from Mexico City who currently lives and works on the unceded and traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. They work primarily on illustration, animation and graphic design but in recent years have taken on producing music and DJing under the alias “Goo” and most recently under the moniker “El Ángel Exterminador”. In 2023 they opened Slime Studio, their freelance audiovisual studio, as well as online & pop up shop.
Stemming from their ethos to showcase Latinx talent in their geographical context, they have started two projects that expand this ethos: Cadena & Hechizo.
Cadena’s mission is to map, document and highlight the DJ’S/Producers/Crews playing and showcasing underground & independent Latinx dance music across “Canada”. Cadena currently consists of Elias Musiak (Jaijiu) & Max Ammo (El Ángel Exterminador). Hechizo - an esoteric party series in "Vancouver" dedicated to strengthening the sonic dialogues between Latinx underground electronic music with the broader “global south”.
Goo is an experimental thriller-electronic project, with a focus on drone, noise and latin american spectral influences. Their sound ranges from sleazy, swampy beats accompanied by haunting lyrics in Spanish to lush & soothing melodies with entrancing percussion. Goo is also a medium for exploring sound, gender and writing.
Photo by Chieh Huang
Wasauksing Sniper is a moniker of noise artist B.P., and an homage to Francis Pegahmagabow, the most highly decorated Indigenous soldier in Canadian military history and the most effective sniper of the First World War. Layers of ambient and harsh textures echo the flow of battle and the incessant rumble of artillery.
Bret Parenteau is a sound/noise artist based in Winnipeg. Under the initials B.P., Parenteau has been making his formula of noise, field recording, & tape manipulation. Most recently Bret has been working on film scores for short & feature length films.
DJ Zygote aka Simon Grefiel (he/him) is an artist whose work engages with ancient and pre-colonial histories and practices from Southeast Asia and around the Pacific. Working with sculpture, found objects, drawings, and plant life, his explorations of language, dreams, spirits, familial stories, and speculative narratives proposes new ways of experiencing the supernatural realm, and the material universe.
Grefiel is currently exploring "Budots," an electronic music genre and dance style originating from Davao City, Philippines and heavily influence by the indigenous Sama-Bajau. He DJs as a way to explore electronic music in Southeast Asia and the Global South. He is also producing music with collaborator Reylinn McGrath under the moniker "Gulod Tanawin."
Grefiel was born and raised in Tacloban City, Philippines, and currently lives on the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx ̱ wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. His work has been exhibited and screened at Vancouver Art Gallery, Gallery Gachet, WAAP, and Libby Leshgold Gallery in Vancouver and Gallery TPW in Toronto, ON.
Josh is a Dubai born, Queer, Filipinx artist that is currently a settler on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples. Josh emerged in dance through the streetdance community when he battled in the first Vancouver street dance festival 2011. From there he steeped himself in street dance culture as a means for empowerment and self realization. These styles included Locking, Popping, House, Hip hop, Krump, Vogue, and Whacking from local and international teachers: Jerry Chien, Koffi Noumedor, Nubian NeNe, Leah McFly, Natasha Gorie, Rina Palerina, Anna Martynova, and Sekou Heru, Raoul Wilke, Kozi Eze, Latasha Barnes, and Ejoe Wilson. While he was involved in the streetdance community he continued to explore contemporary dance from Tiffany Tegarthen, David Raymond, 605 collective, Su-Feh Lee, Kevin Fraser, Peter Bingham, Justine Chambers, Delia Brett and Deanna Peters through the pre-professional dance training program Modus Operandi and informal ways of exchanging in the local and international dance community.
Rae is a “Vancouver” based DJ and performer. Working against what society expects of her as a queer Asian woman, she represents the guilt free pursuit of self acceptance and pleasure. Rae’s goal when on stage is to fully release herself to the music and leave feeling lighter, in hopes that those around her feel inclined to do the same.
Mada Phiri photo by Tom Hsu
Kendra Place is an artist, writer, and curator. For the past two decades she has worked with various art centres and collectives, most recently Gallery Gachet and VIVO Media Arts Centre on the stolen and sacred lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səl̓ílwətaɬ people. She is interested in accidental art, oneiric architectures, psychic knots, and thinking about pharmakon.
Anju Singh is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, noise/sound artist and video/media artist exposing and interrogating texture using methods of deconstruction and reanimation to repurpose and contextualize materials in new compositional environments and to bring contrasting themes and dynamics into shared spaces.
Anju has presented and performed work across Canada, in Europe, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, and the United States.
Anju has curated and directed the Vancouver Noise Festival for 9 editions, curated Fake Jazz Wednesdays, and she has participated in a co-curating committee for the MAC Media Arts Committee Sound Art program since 2011.
Photo by Dani Osborne
Reylinn is a Vancouver based audio/visual artist, DJ, and radio host. They are a founding member of the experimental audio/visual collective Acceleration Radio, and are involved in several collaborative projects - Gulod Tanawin, in motion, and ARCH NEMESIS. Their DJ mixes draw from a wide range of unforgiving and experimental sounds, equal parts braindance and dancefloor driven.
