Hot Docs: United States of Africa [Yanick Létourneau, 2012]

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Playing at Hot Docs Theatre this weekend, Yanick Létourneau’s United States of Africa is less a lesson in African hip hop and more of a lesson in activism in Africa. The primary story within the doc is that of Senegalese hip hop artist Didier Awadi. Set in roughly 2008, Awadi is preparing for his next album and hopes to use it as an educational tool for his fans. The album will highlight some of the more revolutionary aspects of Africa’s past, aspects he suspects is not being taught in the educational system.

The seventy minute doc follows Didier’s quest to gather information and resources for this album, and along the way educates the viewers on some of the plights of countries in Africa. We’ll meet other hip hop artists and you get a sense that there is some momentum building within the hip hop community in terms of wanting to do something about the current state of the continent.

As a documentary, the film does a good job highlighting some of the issues that Africa as a whole face today. As we follow Didier Awadi through a swath of impoverish African countries, we briefly learn about the leaders of the past who fought for Africa and subsequently paid for it with their lives. These stories make up the most compelling part of the film. Those who are fans of the artists involved might be disappointed as little footage is shown or discussed about the actual creative musical process behind the album. Actually, there is very little mention for the album at all aside from the concept behind it. It would have been nice for the director to include information about the aftermath of the album – how did it do, did it change anything, etc etc considering the whole concept of the film. However, this is one of those docs where the destination is not what counts, but the journey.

The remaining shows at Hot Docs are

Sunday July 29th at 8:45pm
Monday July 30th at 9:00pm

Song of the Day: Calvin Harris – We’ll Be Coming Back (featuring Example)

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Calvin Harris can do no wrong in my mind. The man churns out hits like nobody’s business. His latest single is called “We’ll Be Coming Back” and is the fourth single off his upcoming untitled third record which, for my money, is already awesome. It features UK rapper Example, who for my money, has the most unappealing rap name ever, but whatever, the track is good.

This track is pretty simple in concept – made for the dance floor, made for the summer, made for those moments where you just want to let loose. Sadly, I am typing this article from a confines of an office but whatever, one can always imagine.

Check it out.

Concert Review: Gomez, July 23rd, Mod Club

Posted on by Ricky in Concerts | 2 Comments

On the walk over to the Mod Club, I had told Paul I was skeptical of the crowd size for the Gomez show on Monday. I had estimated it would be about half full.

After all, this is a band that had ascended to the top well over a decade ago. Their Mercury Prize winning debut album Bring It On had put them at the top of music conversations everywhere at that time. I still remember reading that Zoe Ball (famous BBC1 personality back then) had been moved to tears upon hearing the track Rosalita. Nevermind whether or not that was the truth, but it was just a sampling of their place at that time.

Since that time, the media spotlight has dimmed for the Southport band. The fan’s appetite for the group has not.

The crowd at the Mod Club was not half full as I predicted, but packed and excited to seem Gomez. it appeared that the excitement helped energize the band who proceeded to play a nearly two hour show chock full of hits, jams and entertainment. Here are some highlights and thoughts:

Get Myself Arrested was definitely the top highlight for me. If you ever wondered what it was like to have the entire mod club sing out parts of the song in unison, this was your chance.

– Ian Ball slowly getting more inebriated as the show progressed. We figure he was the designated drinker of the evening. At one point he was sitting down by the keys just drinking.

– All out jumping during Whippin Picadilly. Who woulda thought?

– The crowd turning the soccer chant “Ole Ole Ole” into “Gomez Gomez Gomez” halfway through the set.

– Ben Ottwell’s voice is unbelievable and needs to be heard live. The man was born to sing.

Summing it all up, the show was great. Gomez are very good live – confident musicians, have a good bag of tricks and seem to thoroughly enjoy playing their tracks. It’s no wonder they had a live album released. The crowd was festive and one of the most appreciative crowds I’ve seen in awhile. I look forward to the next time they come through town and hopefully then they’ll play We Haven’t Turned Around.

Song of the Day: Sylver Tongue – Creatures

Posted on by Ricky in Song of the Day | 1 Comment

Every UK rock music fan who grew up in the 90s is probably a fanboy of Charlotte Hatherley, the barefoot playing guitarist of Ash. Since departing Ash, Hatherley has embarked on a semi successful solo career (Kim Wilde was kind of a hit) but most recently has been seen alongside Natasha Khan in the band Bat for Lashes.

This February, Hatherley dropped the guitar, added the synthesizer and adopted a new alter ego – Sylver Tongue. Creatures is one of the two released singles Hatherly has under this pseudonym. Musically, Sylver Tongue is a great departure from her previous efforts, which consisted of straight up guitar based rock tracks. Creatures is dark track layered with effects, drum machines and swirling synthesizers. You can probably draw comparisons to Fever Ray which is suitable since both were produced by the same producer.

It’s slightly hypnotic, check it out.