SLIM TWIG - Paper Bag Records

Transcription

SLIM TWIG
Contempt!
MEDIA KIT 2009
For more information, please contact Dara Kartz Go Kartz Management Inc
455 Spadina Ave #212
Toronto, ON M5S 2G8
e. [email protected]
p. 416-454-0911
Check out more on the band online at www.myspace.com/slimtwig
SLIM TWIG
Contempt!, released April 28/09 (Canada)/May 26/09 (US)
Vernacular Violence EP, released August 5/08 (Canada), January 27, 2009 (US)
Derelict Dialect EP, released April 1/08 (Canada), January 27, 2009 (US)
Slim Twig is a shape-shifting performer and song-sculptor based in Toronto. His artistic vision is born from a
twisted landscape of pop and experimental music and avant-garde film. Besides his great hair, this vision has
given many critics a lot to write about since being introduced last year with his two-part EP series, Derelict
Dialect and Vernacular Violence. Each EP presented a different side of Slim. Derelict Dialect represented the
artist‘s first experiments with a distinctive, ‗dissonant folk‘ sound that eventually led him to the grittier, ‗concrete
rockabilly‘ sessions that appear on Vernacular Violence. Both EPs inspired acclaim, with critics remarking on
Slim‘s ―soliloquist‘s flair‖ (Globe and Mail) and the ―mesmerizing‖ quality and ―enduring mythology‖ of songs
like Whiite Fantaseee (Pitchfork). The acclaim also included Toronto‘s NOW Magazine picking Slim Twig as
2008's Best Rock/Pop Artist of the Year.
Contempt! is the debut, full-length album from Slim Twig, a self-made exercise in resourcefulness where Slim
experimented with whatever he could get his hands on. It leans decidedly towards an innovative pop sound
that places sampling and found sound firmly at its core. The result, pairing the artist's ―switchblade-sharp
lyrics" (NOW Magazine) with a rawer, sample-based aesthetic, is unpredictable and highly original. Beyond
the attempt to move away from a conventional guitar and drum-based set up, the project is Slim‘s
reconciliation of his obsession with early 90s New York hip hop and the rockabilly-inflected persona that he
has already cultivated. Think of it as ‗Elvis lost in the 36 Chambers‘, fighting through lyrics that evoke dark,
fragmented images and depraved characters.
Slim Twig got his feet wet on the road as the headliner for last year‘s Pop Montreal Spring/Summer Tour
before taking his first trip across the border for after-party performance duties at last summer's Pitchfork
Festival in Chicago. Slim completed his first cross-country Canadian tour with Plants and Animals and Born
Ruffians in the Fall and will continue to pop up at gallery shows and late-night happenings before hitting the
road again in Canada and the US later this Spring.
Offstage, Slim has composed music for the award-winning short film, Letters From R, and can also be seen on
screen as Billy Zero opposite Ellen Page in Bruce McDonald's The Tracey Fragments. Slim recently wrapped
filming on his latest acting gig in French director, Kim Chapiron's film, Dog Pound.
“For even more compelling evidence of Slim's progress, look no further than the EP's mesmerizing 10-minute centerpiece,
'Whiite Fantaseee', in which Slim's growing confidence as a performer dovetails with his early interests in exploratory
composition, producing a future-shocked junkie-punk epic that plays out like Suicide's "Frankie Teardrop" re-cut with Lou
Reed's "Street Hassle" string section... Like all fine actors, Slim Twig's real talent is making his fantaseee feel so real.” –
Stuart Berman, Pitchfork Media
“A Toronto icon-in-the-making, Slim Twig is already well known in indie circles for his clutch of avant-rockabilly EPs. The
ever-mysterious pompadoured troubadour couples his stylishly crafted persona with his Suicide-drenched, art-damaged
country tunes.” – NOW Toronto, Best Pop/Rock Artist 2008
“Slim Twig exudes the kind of cool we worshipped in Extra Width-era Jon Spencer's rockabilly punk chic and Genesis P.
Orridge's extreme mixed-media weirdness, and that's hard to come by." – Cam Lindsay, Exclaim!
"The Slim Twig recipe mixes equal parts rockabilly punks the Cramps, the acoustic blues of Skip James and New York
new-wave synthesizer nihilists Suicide, a combination that makes for noir drama and high camp. But what makes this
emerging Toronto performer's self-described "dissonant folk" compelling is his compulsive soliloquist's flair, a direct but
static-filled line into a collective cinematic unconscious." – Carl Wilson, The Globe and Mail
SLIM TWIG 2008 TOUR DATES























February 23 Toronto, ON @ Whippersnapper Gallery w/ Spiral Beach
March 4 Toronto, ON @ The Boat w/ Bush League
March 7 Toronto, ON @ The Drake, CMW Showcase
April 26 Toronto, ON @ Lee's Palace w/ Miracle Fortress, Born Ruffians
June 7 Hamilton, ON @ Casbah
June 11 Quebec City, QC @ Le Cercle w/ Pop Montreal's Pop Off! Tour
June 12 Montreal, QC @ Jupiter Room w/ Pop Montreal's Pop Off! Tour
June 13 Ottawa, ON @ Zaphods w/ Pop Montreal's Pop Off! Tour
June 14 Toronto, ON @ Silver Dollar for NXNE w/ Pop Montreal's Pop Off! Tour
July 19 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle for Pitchfork Festival Afterparty
July 24 Toronto, ON @ Rancho Relaxo w/ Mixylodian and King Khan BBQ after party
August 22 Brantford, ON @ Ford Plant for Murder City Music Fest w/ D'Urbervilles,
Ohbijou, Ruby Coast
September 6 Toronto, ON @ The Music Gallery
September 18 Montreal, QC @ Blue Dog Motel
September 19 Guelph, ON @ Kazoo Festival w/ Brides
October 4 Winnipeg, MB @Pyramid Cabaret w/ Plants & Animals, Born Ruffians
October 6 Saskatoon, SK @ Amigo‘s Café w/ Plants & Animals, Born Ruffians
October 7 Edmonton, AB @ Starlite w/ Plants & Animals, Born Ruffians
October 8 Calgary, AB @ The Warehouse w/ Plants & Animals, Born Ruffians
October 10 Vancouver, BC @ Richard‘s on Richard w/ Plants & Animals, Born Ruffians
October 11 Victoria, BC @ Sugar Nightclub w/ Plants & Animals, Born Ruffians
November 15 Toronto, ON @ North York Central Library
December 29 Toronto, ON @ The Drake
SLIM TWIG 2009 TOUR DATES












January 22 Ottawa, ON @ Algonquin College w/ Born Ruffians
January 23 Kingston, ON @ Grad Club w/ Born Ruffians
January 30 Waterloo, ON @ Trepid House w/ Creeping Nobodies
January 31 Hamilton, ON @ Pepper Jack w/ Creeping Nobodies
February 13 Toronto, ON @ Wrongbar w/ Wavelength Anniversary Party
February 20 Peterborough, ON @ Montreal House w/ Creeping Nobodies
February 21 Montreal, QC @ Divan Orange w/ Creeping Nobodies
February 27 Guelph, ON @ Wally‘s w/ Creeping Nobodies
March 12 Toronto, ON @ Gladstone Hotel, EYE Magazine CMW Showcase
March 18-21 Austin, TX @ SXSW
April 1 Montreal, QC @ Divan Orange w/ Passion Pit
April 2 Ottawa, ON @ Zaphods w/ Passion Pit
Eye Weekly Feature
Canadian Music Week March 12, 2009
Photography by Kourosh Keshiri
Ballad of a thin man
Slim Twig may deal in artifice — taking acting gigs by day, building
records from samples by night — but his contempt for
conventional indie-rock is very real
BY STUART BERMAN March 11, 2009 21:03
Slim Twig
Appearing at EYE WEEKLY‘s CMW 3-Way Throwdown, sponsored by General Nutrition Centre
and Bounce Studios. Thu, March 12 at 12am, with Castlemusic (9pm), Angela Desveaux (10pm),
The Week That Was (11pm) and Rural Alberta Advantage (1am). Gladstone Hotel Ballroom,
1214 Queen W. $10 at the door, or with CMF wristband, available at
www.canadianmusicfest.com.
It‘s Friday the 13th at Wrongbar, and Slim Twig is all dressed up with nowhere to rock: jet-black
pompadour in full flight, a tight black suit that‘s practically painted onto his slender frame… and
an electric guitar that‘s on the fritz. As the technical delay starts to eat up precious minutes of his
set time at the Wavelength 450 festival, Slim tosses the six-string aside and tells the crowd, ―I‘m
pretty shit at guitar anyway.‖
It‘s a moment that perfectly captures the curious and contradictory nature of Slim Twig, a man
who believes in certain old-school rock ‘n‘ roll values like persona, showmanship and mystique,
but has little interest in the music‘s most commonly used instrument. For Slim, the guitar is not a
tool of liberation, but confinement — one that physically restricts his performance and, more
importantly, threatens to shackle him to 40 years of blues-rock cliché. It‘s no coincidence that
Slim‘s Wrongbar performance only really comes alive once the guitar is cast aside, allowing him
to slip into possessed-preacherman mode; his body convulsing along with his echo-drenched
shrieks while his three-piece backing band — keyboardist Siena DeCampo, cellist Tilman Lewis
and drummer/guitarist Jesse Laderoute — lay down the creepy funeral-parlour funk.
Though he‘s been granted the coveted midnight headliner slot on this night, Slim Twig is really
the odd man out. Compared to the other acts on the Wrongbar bill — excitable Cincinatti progpunk crew Child Bite, electro-dancehall duo Bonjay and good-time soul-rockers Steamboat —
Slim projects a far more antagonistic presence, with as many patrons sent scurrying to the back
bar as those drawn into his sinister spell.
And this polarizing quality suits him just fine. After all, rock ‘n‘ roll is losing its provocateurs — we
lost The Cramps‘ Lux Interior and The Stooges‘ Ron Asheton in the first two months of 2009, and
Chicago‘s Touch and Go Records were soon to follow — and Slim sometimes feels he‘s the only
one in town trying to hold onto the music‘s transgressive spirit.
Sure, he‘s met a few kindred souls in his brief career — caustic, confrontational avant-rock outfits
like Brides, Huckleberry Friends, The Creeping Nobodies and Actual Water, to name a few. But
unlike these comrades, Slim actually has designs on becoming a crossover artist, enlisting widely
distributed Toronto indie label Paper Bag Records to assist him with his strategy of disseminating
avant-garde ideas in pop-song packages. Equally dismayed by the cuddly, group-hug nature of
popular Canadian indie-rock and the insular ethos of the art-noise underground, it‘s no wonder
that Slim‘s upcoming debut full-length for Paper Bag is called Contempt!.
Slim Twig doesn’t do breakfast at the Drake or Aunties and Uncles or some other popular
west-end destination. He‘d much rather have a grilled cheese and milkshake at the Detroit
Eatery, a subway car–sized greasy spoon on the Danforth where the walls are covered in Detroit
Red Wings paraphernalia and where Slim is on a first-name basis with the coffee-slingers.
The east-side location is fitting, given Slim‘s anomalous standing in Toronto‘s west end–centric
indie scene. However, he admits his chosen neighbourhood is not so much a deliberate
distancing tactic as it is a function of enjoying free rent from his landlords, who, shall we say, are
old enough to be his parents.
This revelation marks one of the few moments in our interview where I‘m reminded that Slim is
just 20 years old (the other is when he says he was only, ―like, six‖ when Enter the Wu-Tang (36
Chambers) came out). It‘s not an uncommonly young age for an aspiring musician, but where
most artists of that vintage are still getting by on youthful vigour and leftover teen angst, it‘s rare
to meet a 20-year-old with such an informed, defined perspective on what he wants to accomplish
with his music.
Naturally, Slim‘s an art-school kid — he attended North York‘s Claude Watson School for the
Arts, first developing the Slim Twig persona at age 17 as a singer/songwriter antidote to his
concurrent blues-punk band Tropics. But he credits his advanced sense of aesthetic on a source
closer to home.
―I didn‘t really learn anything in high school about wanting to be an artist,‖ Slim says between
bites of his sandwich. ―It‘s a tall order for a high school to inspire that, while keeping you in line
and making you do work that you don‘t really care for.
―I already had the equivalent of what people might think art school provides because my parents
are artists, so I‘ve been fully immersed in the film world and going to art shows on a regular basis.
And not unlike me, my parents were never part of any scene of any sort, and I‘ve definitely felt
that way.‖
It‘s usually pretty easy to spot the parents at a rock show — they‘re the kindly, bemused-looking
grey-haired folks standing near the back with their fingers in their ears. But when Slim‘s parents
were pointed out to me at the Wavelength 450 show, they could practically pass for Wrongbar
regulars, with Slim‘s equally skinny, side-burned dad standing near the front of the stage,
documenting the performance on his camera-phone.
The parental influence on Slim was as much musical — complementing his childhood love of
metal and top 40 hip-hop with early exposure to Roxy Music and Tom Waits — as ideological,
showing him that there‘s little glamour in the oft-romanticized bohemian-artist existence.
―I want to be a career artist,‖ Slim says. ―And I want to reach a diverse audience. I do feel like an
anomaly in Toronto — on the avant-garde side, there doesn‘t seem to be any drive to break free
[of the local scene]. I think, maybe, a lot of those people have already broken free of their
suburban upbringing and are now making their statement [by turning to the avant-garde]. But my
parents have been making films under the radar for 20 years — the goal was always to be seen
and make enough money to work on your next project. Why wouldn‘t that be the goal?‖
To date, Slim has been fortunate enough to bankroll one form of artistry with another:
acting. It‘s tempting to see Slim‘s musical and filmic pursuits as products of the same personabuilding process. In his most notable screen role to date — as Ellen Page‘s punk-rock crush Billy
Zero in Bruce McDonald‘s The Tracey Fragments — he‘s basically playing a glammed-up, gonzo
version of his musical self, and stills from the film initially served as Slim‘s music press photo.
(That said, unlike his onscreen incarnation, the real-life Slim is far too gentlemanly to ever kick a
girl to the curb after a car-seat shag.)
But for Slim, the acting gigs are really just gigs. Better-paying than his former video store–clerk
post, sure, but not necessarily more exciting.
―The thing with filmmaking is it‘s so stilted,‖ he says. ―There‘s no flow to it, at least from the actor‘s
side of things — I‘ll go eat a granola bar, go sit in my trailer and read, and then it‘s like, ‗Oh, it‘s
time to perform very, very briefly,‘ and then stop. I have no illusions about the role of the actor; I
think actors place too much importance on their role. As someone who‘s a fan of auteurs in
cinema, you‘re not the auteur as the actor. With my music, I get to be the director, with each song
being a scene.‖
The restlessness Slim experiences on the movie set is answered by his formidably prolific
musical output: two EPs (last year‘s Derelict Dialect and Vernacular Violence) and the new fulllength Contempt! in roughly a year. If Slim the musician fancies himself a director, his signature
would be surrealist horror vignettes shot in single takes, producing songs ―conceived in the
moment of laying them down to tape.‖ And with each release, Slim has drifted further away from
traditional song construction, clouding the question of whether he‘s a rock star in the making or a
hermetic shut-in who lives in his own mind.
Where the askew blues of Derelict Dialect was built from a relatively conventional (if wobbly)
organ/piano/drums base, and Vernacular Violence leaned on Suicide-styled analog-synth drones,
Contempt! effectively does away with rock-based instrumentation altogether, piecing songs
together with layer upon layer of mutated (and thus unrecognizable) samples.
Slim aptly describes the album as ―Elvis locked in the [Wu-Tang Clan‘s] 36 Chambers,‖ a handy
catchphrase that not only speaks to the album‘s dichotomous inspirations, but also to the
individual songs‘ discrete relationship to one another. Unlike many rock albums, Contempt!
doesn‘t cohere into a conceptual framework, or build towards any kind of cathartic climax; rather,
each song exists in its own separate space — one where the walls slowly start closing in,
heightening the claustrophobic tension until you‘re gasping for air.
The opening track, ―Young Hussies,‖ effectively establishes Contempt!‘s art of deception: the
rolling floor-tom beat and Slim‘s convincing Nick Cave croon initially suggest a straightforward
stomper, but the song‘s central, circular melody is repeated to the point of queasiness, and
practically buried alive by a torrent of smashed-glass effects, spooky multi-tracked voices and
ear-piercing oscillations. In that sense, the songs‘ brief two/three-minute lengths come as both a
relief as well as an ominous harbinger that a similarly suffocating process will soon begin again.
―I never compose anything,‖ Slim says, ―and that kind of set-up forces you to be really concise, as
opposed to taking all this time to plan out bridges and choruses. Especially if the music is
bordering on experimental, I like to hold people‘s interest and [then] move on to the next thing.‖
Sampling, therefore, provides Slim with the purest distillation of his populist/antagonist dialectic,
given that it‘s a method originally devised by avant-garde artists, but later embraced by pop
hitmakers.
―I was interested in the connection between those two worlds,‖ he says. ―The whole process of
sampling is actually an idea that runs deep in the cutting edge of art for the last 40 or 50 years,
and that‘s something that‘s largely gone unnoticed in hip-hop: the same principle that the RZA
has based his practice on is one that — to be obvious — Andy Warhol used: recontextualization
and reappropriation.
―I was really excited by the idea of creating music with sounds that weren‘t originally yours — as if
they‘re puzzle pieces that don‘t fit, and then [you] crush them into songs that fit your own ideas. A
lot of hip-hop relies on hooks from past songs. But for me, I really like artists like the RZA and
Madlib that have their own aesthetic fully formed using other people‘s music. I can hear a Madlib
beat and within the first 10 seconds know it‘s him even though [all you hear is] an old horn
sample. That concept blows my mind.‖
The most intriguing sample on Contempt! appears at the end of the third track, ―Alley
Spying.‖ For its first 90 seconds, the song sputters along inconsequentially in a torrent of
deliberately jarring buzzer sounds. But like a movie whose best laughs are found in the outtake
reel that rolls with the credits, in its dying moments, ―Alley Spying‖ yields to a ripple of applause
that grows louder before cutting out abruptly.
At first, the gesture seems like an in-joke, a knowing admission that such a beat-up, broken-down
instrumental is hardly the stuff of opera-house ovations. But then the stream of applause
reappears and cuts out and reappears in repeated cycles — forming both a rhythm track that
echoes the preceding song‘s slumberous gait, and an oblique commentary on the artificial, stagy
nature of performer/audience interactions.
It‘s something Slim Twig is aware of every time he plays a show, where the subtleties and
intricacies of his recorded output are often compromised in the interest of putting on a proper rock
performance. When Slim jettisoned his guitar onstage at that Wrongbar show, it wasn‘t just a
snap reaction to a technical difficulty, but a symbolic step toward developing a new mode of live
performance.
―I really prefer not to play guitar. I want to be able to perform the songs more, because they‘re
coming from characters — people doing bad things and getting away with it morally. It‘s a thrill to
sing from that perspective.
―But it‘s difficult to translate textural music live without becoming a noise band, and I don‘t really
have an interest in that. I‘ve heard Beck say that each song has its own laws, like it‘s its own
country. Live, there‘s no time for each song to develop its own world — you want the set to be
dynamic, rather than worry about the intricacies of the song‘s laws.‖
Ironically, the artists Slim is most often compared to vocally — be it Nick Cave, Jon Spencer or
Elvis — are better known for their sweat-soaked, pit-stained, tossed-panties performances than
the nuances of their recorded output. But Slim‘s ultimate role model is a figure who exists far
outside the deep-voiced, ladies-man pantheon.
―I think my biggest hero is Brian Eno,‖ he says. ―He makes totally conceptual pop music, where
every song relies on an idea. My songs rely on ideas rather than melody or chorus — each song
is a mini–art installation. If you look at Eno‘s first four pop records, each song is an experiment,
and I really think that‘s lacking in music right now.‖
At 20, Slim Twig knows he‘s got a long way to go before amassing a discography as dense and
diverse as Brian Eno‘s. But for now, at least, he can lay claim to a growing body of work which
evinces an adventurous, unfettered spirit similar to that of the young Eno.
That, and better hair, of course.
Source: http://www.eyeweekly.com/music/cmw/article/54372
Best of Toronto // Music
Pop/rock artist
Slim Twig
A Toronto icon-in-the-making, Slim Twig is already well known in indie circles for his clutch of
avant-rockabilly EPs, his work as half of punk duo Tropics and a turn opposite Ellen Page in
Bruce McDonald‘s 2007 film The Tracey Fragments. The ever-mysterious pompadour troubadour
couples his stylishly crafted persona (Twig‘s real name is a closely guarded secret) with his
Suicide-drenched, art-damaged country tunes. Watch for samples – not guitars – to dominate his
hotly anticipated full-length, due out early next year on Paper Bag.
NOW | October 29-November 5, 2008 | VOL 28 NO 9
Source: http://www.nowtoronto.com/guides/readerspoll/2008/story.cfm?content=165753
Posted in music | pictures on February 26, 2009
Slim Twig & Josh Reichmann Oracle Band, but NOT Winter Gloves @ Pianos
(Paper Bag showcase) - pics
photos by Toby Tenenbaum
"It's not just a clever name. Slim Twig is also a comically accurate description of this
emerging rocker's appearance -- tall and gaunt, with a jet black pompadour, pencil-thin
moustache, starched-white button-down shirt and tight black pants, the avant-crooner
carries himself like Tim Burton's idea of a Nashville star. On stage, gnashing at a semihollow-body guitar and howling in reverb-drenched tones about snake-oil salesmen and
sweaty gunmetal, Slim Twig's persona is made flesh. Even his film debut last year
alongside Ellen Page in Bruce McDonald's visually compelling psychodrama The
Tracey Fragments bore the charcoal shading of his stage presence." [Eye Weekly]
Canada's Paper Bag Records showcase still happened at Pianos in NYC on Tuesday
night (2/24), but without the band we were most looking foward to. According to Toby,
"Winter Gloves who were headlining couldn't make it past homeland security at the
Canadian border and were forced to cancel. The bill was therefore pushed back and
Slim Twig took to the stage at 9.30." Josh Reichmann went on after that. More pictures
from the show below...
Slim Twig...
Source: http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2009/02/slim_twig_josh.html
PITCHFORKMEDIA
Slim Twig:
Derelict Dialect / Vernacular Violence
[Paper Bag; 2008]
Rating: 6.8 / 7.6
If the name and face of Slim Twig seem familiar to you-- assuming you're not a regular
concert-goer in downtown Toronto-- it's probably because you recently took a chance on
a rental of The Tracey Fragments, a bizarro 2007 psycho-drama from director Bruce
McDonald in which Slim stars opposite a pre-Juno Ellen Page (but with background
music provided by Broken Social Scene instead of the Moldy Peaches). I bring this up
not to score quick Google hits from curious Ellen Page fans (though thanks for sticking
for around if this is how you wound up here), but to suggest that knowledge of Slim's
acting career goes some way to help understand the music he creates. Not all of it, mind
you; as one half of Toronto garage-punk duo Tropics, Slim simply lets loose with a feral
take on the Birthday Party's blitzkrieg blues. But the two releases that bear his own
name-- the Derelict Dialect and Vernacular Violence EPs-- are more revelatory looks
inside the actor's studio, capturing both the desire to cultivate a persona and extract an
enduring mythology from it.
So fascinated is Slim with documenting the process of his own becoming that his first
widely available release, Derelict Dialect (issued this past spring on Paper Bag
Records), is essentially an odds-and-sods collection doubling as creation myth. The
seven-song mini-album collects early experiments that would assume a more steely
shape on the new Vernacular Violence EP, whose songs were recorded after the
Derelict Dialect material, but several of which were actually first released beforehand last
fall in a limited local run under the title of Whiite Fantaseee. Having approached Derelict
Dialect after spending several months with the Whiite Fantaseee/ Vernacular Violence
material, what's immediately striking is that, for recordings made months apart, the two
relate very little to one another-- and that, depending on your perspective, Slim has
either evolved or stripped his music down to its pure essence.
Derelict Dialect does introduce elements that would become more pronounced on
Vernacular Violence: Slim's fondness for self-reflexive characterization (see: "The
Austere Gentleman", an off-kilter ode to old-school virtues) and an overdriven analogkeyboard fuzz that immediately aligns him with an oft-invoked reference point, Suicide.
But rather fasten him to that band's synth-punkabilly tradition and ascetic cool (that
would come later), Derelict Dialect documents the messy process of, as Slim likes to call
it, "songsculpting"-- where you're not sure what exactly you're creating until you take a
step back from it. And even then you're not quite sure what you're looking at: "The
Replica & the Martyr"-- Derelict Dialect's most intriguing and confounding track-- finds
Slim leaning on his keys and harmonizing with himself in ominous monotone over a
marital drum beat, only to switch up the game plan a minute in, leaving the original
melody to defend itself against a ringing, repeated piano chord and a flurry of arrhythmic
ticks.
Derelict Dialect's wobbly foundations-- a collapsing pawn shop of wheezing synths, beatup acoustic guitars, and hiccupping drums-- are manifest in Slim's elastic voice, which
assumes the devilish tenor of Liars' Angus Andrews ("The Replica & the Martyr",
"Birthing & Birthing"), Dylan-esque nasally ascensions ("Trembeltongue") and even
motor-mouthed hip-hopped spiel ("The Austere Gentleman"). But despite its occasional
bouts of scatterbrained inscrutability, there is a certain logic at play here: the carnivalistic
quality of that pervasive keyboard sound serving as an apt reflection of the songs'
funhouse-mirror shapes.
Perhaps by design, "Trembletounge" closes out Derelict Dialect with two minutes of
eerie, haunted-house organ drones-- a retroactive setting of the scene for Vernacular
Violence's zombie a-go-go. While ostensibly more minimal in presentation than Derelict
Dialect-- with that album's sea-sick rhythms replaced by precise drum-machine motions-Vernacular Violence immediately feels more fleshed out: Slim sashays into the loungelizard lechery of "Brothl Hunting!" and the sleazy samba of "Tormen" with a newly
perfected Nick Cave bellow that lends him a more creepy charisma, and a more
coherent set of lyrical signifiers (shark skin suits, snake-oil salesmen) to better
complement the grease in his pompadour. (Though curiously, the one new track that
distinguishes Vernacular Violence from its previous Whiite Fantaseee edition, "Street
Proposition", is a morose beatbox-troubadour warble that's more in line with Derelict
Dialect's hermetic aesthetic.)
True to his self-referential persona, Slim explicitly outlines his transformation in "Gate
Hearing!" which refashions the austere gentleman of old as "that elegant smoker with
the hair so slick and styled that there ain't another man for at least 10 miles, baby." But
for even more compelling evidence of Slim's progress, look no further than the EP's
mesmerizing 10-minute centerpiece, "Whiite Fantaseee", in which Slim's growing
confidence as a performer dovetails with his early interests in exploratory composition,
producing a future-shocked junkie-punk epic that plays out like Suicide's "Frankie
Teardrop" re-cut with Lou Reed's "Street Hassle" string section. Atop a tick-tock beat
that doesn't waver for the song's entire duration, Slim lets his voice echo through a
desolate cityscape for two minutes before his repeated incantation of the song's title
summons an overwhelming swirl of cellos and layer upon layer of intensifying synth
drones; when Slim returns at the five-minute mark to shout out the song title again
overtop this sinister symphony, his reverb-drenched voice trembles with the dread of
someone who can't believe what he's wrought-- even the drum machine sounds a little
spooked-- before the song slowly dissolves into a gothic funeral march. Never mind his
multi-instrumental facility; like all fine actors, Slim Twig's real talent is making his
fantassee feel so real.
- Stuart Berman, August 1, 2008
Source: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/137679-slim-twig-derelictdialect-vernacular-violence
STAGES: ARTISTS IN REAL LIFE
Slim Twig: A long and winding road to success
COLIN MCCONNELL/TORONTO STAR
Slim Twig is sure he loves being on stage, and critics sure are showing him lots of love. But he‘s
not sure how to make ends meet in the free-wheeling world of online music. ―It‘s inevitable,‖ he
says. ―There‘s going to be a lot of touring.‖
Launching a music career in the Internet Age means more live performances, and lots of
touring
Jan 03, 2009 04:30 AM
BRUCE DEMARA - ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER
Slim Twig is among the hot new arrivals in Toronto's burgeoning independent music scene.
At 20 years of age, rail-thin (hence the moniker) and still living at home with his parents, rockabilly
artist Twig has already released two critically acclaimed EPs, with an album on the way through
independent label Paper Bag Records.
But Twig is a bit troubled – or as troubled as someone in his enviable position can be – about the
future of the music industry. It's no secret that the free-flowing digital era has changed the way
people consume music. "The model for the industry for so long has been, if you have enough
money, you can put that money into promotion and to getting it played on the radio and people
will buy it, no matter what it is," he says. "The reality (today) is that anyone in the world can hear
my music for free online. That's what everyone's doing, that's just the system that's evolved.
That's exactly the dilemma (and) it's a big one," Twig adds, acknowledging he's among the
millions of listeners who regularly surf the net in search of interesting new sounds.
The irony for Twig – who earned about $10,000 this year – and other budding performers is that
making a living from music may involve heading back to the roots of the industry: performing live
and touring regularly. "It's inevitable. There's going to be a lot of touring. You can't download a
concert really. People will still fork over the money to go see a (live) act," he says.
His instincts are correct, according to veteran music writer Larry LeBlanc, who says dramatic
changes in the industry – major labels cutting their rosters, independent labels lacking the funds
to promote artists – mean live performance is integral to a young musician's ability to earn a
decent wage.
"If I can give any advice to a young artist or band, it is play, play, play. Get in front of people.
We're back to the way it was in the 1940s and the early 1960s," LeBlanc says.
Twig's band's first big tour took them across the country last fall in a Ford Taurus station wagon
crammed with gear. "It was a tight squeeze. It was a crazy experience driving through the B.C.
mountains at 1 in the morning. It was kind of nerve-racking at times," Twig says.
The musician has come a long way, confidence-wise, since he started performing in middleschool bands, learning to play guitar, piano and organ – all self-taught – at 14.
"I definitely get really nervous before, but when I'm onstage, it feels really natural. It's a great skill
being able to get up in front of people. I feel comfortable doing that," he says.
But not every gig is a great one. Twig recalls a night in Ottawa when he played before a crowd of
three.
Touring is also problematic for a young man who tries to steer clear of the lifestyle that has taken
down many a music star. "I try to avoid smoking and drugs. I drink beer; that's about my only
vice," he says.
"The lifestyle is very conducive to abusing your body. Even if you're trying to live healthily touring,
it's really hard not to become sick. You're staying up really late, you're getting up early to get to
the next place," he adds.
Twig is fortunate to get occasional acting work – he belongs to the Alliance of Canadian Cinema,
Television and Radio Artists – and has a role as a "juvie" inmate in a youth detention centre in
Dog Pound, shot last month in Moncton, N.B.
A previous role in the film Repossession Mambo allowed Twig to live "very frugally" for three
months, so he didn't have to take on the kind of part-time jobs that many of his contemporaries
have to keep a roof over their heads.
But acting is only a temporary means of making money, with a career in music as the long-term
goal. "I want to have my music listened to by people and make a living from doing it and not have
a day job," Twig says. "If you want to make a living as a musician, you have to play – always – to
pay your rent. I see a lot of that in my future, which is a good thing and a bad thing.
"I'm still very young and even if it doesn't happen for five more years, I think that that would be a
pretty average experience for a musician."
Source: http://www.thestar.com/Entertainment/article/560395
NARRATIVES
Monday, October 27, 2008
Hottest Canadian Bands (just below the radar), 2008
Matthew from i (heart) music asked me to put together a list of the 10 hottest Canadian
bands of 2008. My thoughts, along with those of other Canadian music bloggers,
journalists, and promoters, will enable him to compile some kind of definitive list. After a
year of going out to a lot of indie shows in Toronto, keeping track of all the lesser known
(and sometimes known) bands based in, around, or passing through Canada's largest
city, and bringing you some of their music through my podcast---over 80 bands or solo
artists featured in the past 5 months---I'm ready to have a say. So, yes, just call me one
of those people.
The following bands have all had really good years. While their members may not be
able to call music a full-time career, they've all carved out a spot for themselves in the
crowded (indie) music scene in this country. Festival spots, sold-out shows, critically
acclaimed and/or chart-topping albums, (campus/CBC3) radio play, and general visibility
in the music press and Toronto's bursting-at-the-seams music community are all part of
the the hotness equation. Not yet "big time" musical acts, they are on their way to getting
there. Some have made forays into the US and elsewhere, while others haven't. A few
are signed; the others wait. But all these bands were just below the mainstream in 2008,
and are now poised to become well known. (Oh, and yeah, this is a pretty Torontocentric list. Well, what can I say? I'm a pretty Toronto-centric woman.) If you haven't
heard these bands, take note and have a listen. Go see a show if you're able. Chances
are you'll enjoy yourself.
10. Slim Twig (band and man).
Ah, Slim Twig. Now signed to Paper Bag, Slim Twig, the band and the man, have had a
good year. The band released the EPs "Derelict Dialect" and "Vernacular Violence" in
2008, and have recently come back from a Canadian tour. Slim's other project, Tropics,
a duo with drummer Simone, had a busy year too, and in late November will open for the
Constantines for a few Ontario shows. Although I suspect both bands are a bit too weird
for the mainstream---despite my first encounter with Slim Twig being as an opener for
Born Ruffians---they are perfect indie fare. Tropics are perhaps the more accessible of
the two, though Slim Twig (the band) had a lot of buzz about it during NxNE, and didn't
disappoint come show time. This here's a young man with a whole lot of talent who will
no doubt dabble in a whole lot of genres for the next several decades. See him in the
2007 Canadian film The Tracey Fragments, too.
Source: http://historyjen.blogspot.com/2008/10/hottest-canadian-bands-just-belowradar.html
Slim Twig - Derelict Dialect EP
Near the middle of ―Trembletongue,‖ we actually get to hear what Captain Beefheart‘s
squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag sounds like. It‘s a desperate, repeating thump
over a leering funhouse organ while our cities own Slim Twig moans, frantically
recounting a tale of horror (―breathless and helpless, my rapture did end all this‖). When
he‘s singing, you can hear him twitch; when he‘s not, you can imagine what‘s making
him. You can draw a crooked line from Beefheart through no wave to these tangles of
arachnoids guitar and serpentine vocals, but on only his second EP (last year‘s drummachine-driven Whiite Fantaseee was recorded after this full-band disc, but released
first) Twig‘s already cultivated an original persona: he quivers erratically on ―Birthing and
Birthing‖ and redefines the gentlemanly stereotype with filthy come-ons on ―Austere
Gentleman.‖ Your mileage will vary, but followers of the gnarled quicksilver sound that
leaks into the atmosphere every decade or so will want to shake this man‘s bony hand.
Source: http://www.eyeweekly.com/music/indie/event/44159
Tour Blog
Oct 20, 2008
Twig comes home
Musician Slim Twig returns from his Canadian tour
Slim Twig's final blog entry from his epic cross-Canada adventure/tour.
OK, it's over. I'm home and writing from the dining room table. Pretty awesome to be
back, I had a great first night in town. I've got a few tidbits left over to share so I'm going
to write them down.
* Overall the shows were quite good. It felt pretty great to have the band really tighten up
over the course of six shows. I can't wait to play Toronto again and really conquer shit.
We didn't get a chance to hang with Plants & Animals, but both them and Born Ruffians
were great touring companions. Born Ruffians were super good to us, and I am a total
convert of what they do. Thanks bros.
* The day after the Victoria show Ross and I dropped Siena & Jesse off at the airport.
Those guys had justified prior commitments, but I couldn't help feeling a pang of jealousy
as Ross and I walked back out to the Ol' Taurus. I guess I shouldn't have as the ride
back proved to be a great trip, and seeing the mountains again was totally worth it.
* We stopped at truck stop for snacks. In the beef jerky section (yes these places have
SECTIONS for their beef jerky), we found a type of jerky called chicken nuggets. Feeling
the outside of the bag these things felt like crunchy little pebbles. I don't even want to
know how these things sit in your stomach.
* When we stopped at yet another Husky's for dinner the waitress informed us that the
special for that day was turkey dinner. "Oh my God," I realized,‖ it‘s fucking
Thanksgiving." I laughed over my burger and fries (with celebratory gravy) in the empty
cafeteria.
* We stayed at Ross folks place once again on our way back, and I was somehow able
to conjure a game of Rock Band. There were four of us so we had a full band and it was
pretty fun. I have to say it was a great feeling realizing how amazing I am as a bass
player. I was rocking that shit on expert and knocking it out of the fucking park. Normally
when I play with Tom as Screeching Oldie, we're more concerned with the advancement
of our Rock Band career and less with just having a good time on stage. This was more
of a jam session, so I really got to just chill out and play some older material and get a
feel for it. Still can't wait to jump back in the saddle with my band mate though....
* Also worth noting that it is hilarious to watch a guy who has never heard Deep Purple's
Highway Star try and be the singer on that track. Dude did pretty well though.
* Yesterday I had A & W for breakfast, and McDonald's (our first of the trip) for lunch.
Ross had Harvey's for dinner as well but I couldn't stomach it... I will be fasting now for
at least a week, and laying off the Root Beer for another two...
* Edan's Beauty & the Beat have got to be one of my favorite records ever. It's also
worth mentioning that by the end of the trip Marilyn Manson was dethroned by the
Country Teasers for stereo dominance. Replacing fake juvenile nihilism for the true
uninhibited brand felt like a good idea at the time.
* Ross and I stopped for Laser Tag twice on the way back. Once in Calgary (pretty
awesome), and once in Thunder Bay (a mixture of depressing, fun and hilarious). In
Calgary we played with maybe 15 people (I came in forth - ahead of Ross). In Thunder
Bay we played at some place called R.O.N.S Virtual World. I'm not sure if R.O.N. is a
dude, or like... a robot but his 'virtual world' is lacking in virtue. We signed up to play a
game of tag and the 16 year old working the stand told us to come in whenever we were
ready... "So like... we're the only ones playing?" I asked. The answer was yes. Playing
two-man laser tag in a decrepit Thunder Bay "virtual world" with mid 90's R'n'B techno
pop blaring (this was a great touch), is a surreal experience to say the least.
* For our second round the dude asked what kind of music we wanted to listen to. I won't
lie, I had a moment where I toyed with being a huge douche bag and saying something
like No Wave, or Musique Concrète, or Post-hardcore but I refrained. Ross aptly felt out
the vibe of this joint and just said metal. Dude then tried to engage me in a conversation
about Lamb Of God. "Cool," was about all I could muster.
* Also want to mention I came in first both times we played laser tag. Sorry Ross, jus'
saying man.
* Returning the car to Rent-A-Wreck I felt sweet relief when the transaction went
through. The look on the woman's face as she clocked in the kilometers was pretty
priceless. Yeah we drove that shit....
The rest of the drive back was pretty anecdote-less. Ross and I just bro-ed down in the
car listening to tunes and eating fast food. It was pretty fun. Once again thank you Ross,
you're the man. Glad to be home, holler at me people.
Source: http://www.nowtoronto.com/guides/slimtwig/2008/story.cfm?content=165460
Tour Blog
Slim Twig drinks instant Chai
On the road with Slim Twig
Oct 14, 2008
Slim's tour blog continues.
I'm writing this entry from a motel in Victoria BC, where tonight we will play our last show
of the tour.
* The motel is called The Scotsman, but appears to be run by a Japanese family. The
man phones me from the front desk to let me know I've left the car lights on...
* In Calgary, Siena bought one of those guitar straps that has a round of ammunition on
it's back... She's dropped 100 bones on it. I'm not lying.
* We played The Warehouse in Calgary. It was a decent set with an entirely
unnecessary laser show.
* Someone showed up with a Slim Twig shirt that I hadn't sold that night. This was a
surprise. An even bigger surprise: after the show some dude told me he has purchased
all my releases, and that we are his favorite band... I'm simply not used to this kind of
shit in Toronto, except from my mom (*which I always appreciate, and by the way mom, I
really need a haircut!).
* During the show, I broke a string and 'Ol Gillie had to pass me my back up guitar.
Without telling me he had put Siena's strap on the axe... I fucking rocked the house with
a guitar strap emblazoned with bullets. Never though I'd do that.
* After the Calgary show we stopped in at the Strathmore Hotel in the titular town. We
were feeling a little rowdy after having imbibed a few beers (or at least I was, having
stuck by the merch. table all night)... We probably shouldn't have stopped, but we did
and I promptly smashed a beer bottle in the parking lot (not a good idea (and just for the
record the bottle came from the lot, not the car)). Anyways, it took about 3:46 for us to be
called "homos." The proprietor was a drunken cowgirl telling everyone to "drink up and
get the fffuck outta here," from the karaoke stage. It is a wonder we did not have our
asses handed to us, thanks be to 'Ol Gillie.
* Leaving the Prairies for the mountains of BC is kind of a shock. All we had seen hours
before had been flat fields and an epic skyline. Now we were swallowed by mountains,
and having to crane our heads. Canada is crazy.
* I saw a license plate that said 'BC - the best place on earth.' While this seems not a
mild exaggeration, it is pretty fucking beautiful. I really enjoyed the ride.
* Elfin Saddle's 'Gigantic Mother / Wounded Child' is the perfect album for Mountain
driving.
* We stopped at a weird saloon type joint before hitting the hay in Salmon Arm. I ordered
a quesadilla, which tasted of armpit, and ended up being the worst meal of the trip. I also
ordered a chai tea. Shortly after we heard the cook ask, "How the heck do you make a
chai tea?" It came in a Nestlé‘s package...
* Vertically barreling down the face of a mountain at 140 km you start to question the
integrity of that rent-a-wreck, that when first rented had trouble starting...
* On the road, considering our sense of humor and the caliber of the jokes we've been
making, we're pretty much Blink-182. Does this happen to all bands?
* Jesse didn't bring toothpaste, but he was sure to pack Aveeno Moisturizer. Just saying.
* BC smells like pot everywhere. I think my travel buddy‘s are happy about this.
* I had a really good time in Vancouver. It has definitely been my favorite city of the tour.
We had some of the best sushi of our lives before the show, and then played a fun set. I
had among the most rock star moments of the tour when I accidentally kicked over one
of the stage monitors into the crowd. I was completely mortified (though hid it well), and
was thankful that no one was hurt, and that there wasn't a $3,000 bill for us at the end of
the night... Three women picked up the monitor and hoisted it back on stage. Thanks
ladies.
* Also another woman bought me my first fan-bought drink of the tour. Thanks lady.
* Looking forward to the last show. I'm going try and write one more of these things
before I head back home. I'm really starting to miss Toronto, and my beautiful people
who live there.
Lastly, all the wonderful photos on my tour blog have been taken by Ross Gillard.
Tour Blog
Slim Twig and the larger than large pancake
Slim Twig roams the prairies
Oct 9, 2008 at 12:19 AM
Slim Twig is on the road and blogging it.
We just returned to Ross' parents house from jumping on haystacks, and rip-roaring
through beautiful rural Alberta. Ross is in his element, it's pretty awesome to hear him
ripping out Alberta-isms and running around with a Smith & Wesson t-shirt.
I'll try and skip the boring show talk, and move along with more nuggets from the code of
the road:
* I think it's worth mentioning that the last two shows have been really fucking great.
Saskatoon in particular was surprisingly awesome. We played a confident set to a
packed house, and sold some shit (gas money!). We hadn't really seen any young
people walking on the streets of the city, but the house was full of them by the time we
played. Sometimes a city can surprise you.
* Edmonton was also great; The Starlite is a really nice venue. Ross has been joining us
on stage for our finale of 'Whiite Fantaseee' and we definitely played among the most
demented versions of that song last night. It felt good.
* Sun O)))'s Black One sounds completely out of place blaring from the Taurus as we
cruise through the flat and sunny prairies...
* We stopped at another Husky's for breakfast. I had the most absurd serving of
pancakes I've ever encountered (the menu referred to them as 'larger than large'), and
promptly felt like shit. Siena totally dined and dashed, and Ross 'accidently' stole a pack
of Wine Gums from the gas station. Lord save me, I am traveling with criminals. I fear for
my life now when my sweet head hits the pillow...
* My best bud Tom is visiting the other side of the country. I had a very disjointed
Facebook conversation with him the other morning... Funny how we both chose this
month to hit the extreme ends of the country. BTW, I am a mere student of his epic
bloggery. Do yourself a favor and peep this: tomdhenry.blogspot.com
* After our Edmonton show someone asked me if I was Slim Twig. 'I is him,' I replied. 'Oh
right, the hillbilly musician,' he said. I immediately began to regret my poor choice of
grammar.
* Sometimes my travel companions disappear and then return shortly with dilated pupils.
What the fuck is going on? Am I missing something here?
* I peed publicly twice in Edmonton. I was in Edmonton for 6 hours.
* On the ride home from the show last night we ate some Oreo Cakesters (which have
basically just sat in the car taking up space), and listened to Ross' recording of the set.
The stars looked pretty incredible out the sunroof.
* Today we visited Namaka, Ross' real hometown (I should really refer to it as a home
village) it was awesome. It looks exactly like the set of some badass western. Since we
crossed the Alberta border we've taken to calling Ross 'Ol' Gillie.' (His last name is
Gillard).
* We stopped at a Wal-Mart, Siena and I bought matching hoodies. Mine is blue, and is
certainly the most colorful item of clothing I own... I don't imagine it will make it to the
stage.
* Today I met a bald Albertan with a tattoo of the word 'hair' on the back of his head. I
can't make this shit up.
Looking forward to driving through the mountains, and seeing what else Ol' Gillie can
show us of his home province before we leave it.
Vancouver watch out.
Tour Blog
Slim Twig plays homemade instruments, eats quesadilla chips
On the road with Toronto musician Slim Twig
Oct 7, 2008
Slim Twig's second post from his cross-country tour.
I'm writing from the basement of a giant white stone house in Saskatoon. As I've spent
approximately 36 hours in a car to get to this point. I don't really have any huge impressions of
Manitoba or Saskatchewan other than that they both appear quite flat... Sorry for being so dull,
hopefully these snacks won't be:
* Our show in Winnipeg felt pretty typical of a first-date-on-the-tour type show. We got squeezed
out of a sound check, and then faced opening band belligerence from our sound guy. Despite that
we played a decent, if slightly nervous show. The free pepperoni sticks were a nice touch, though
the slot machines in the venue were a little too reminiscent of our night in Thunder Bay...
* I really miss playing in my other band Screeching Oldie. Yeah, granted we're not a real band but
a Rock Band but fuck we're on the cusp of world domination... I wish in this instance life
paralleled (not really art... but uh,) game (?) even a fraction more than it currently does but the
reality is that tomorrow I climb into our Rent-A-Wreck Ford Taurus to drive 6 more hours.
* Out of some paternal, or maybe Albertan impulse Ross has started adding 'poo' to the ends of
our first names. They sound something like this: Slimmy-Poo, Siena-Poo, Jesse-Poo. I guess that
makes us a shitty little family... (Couldn't resist, but really, it is pretty endearing).
* After being jammed into a small station wagon for several hours the most effective way to relax
is by watching one of those extreme sports shows in your Super 8 Motel. We found this show
counting down the most painful X-treme sports accident clips of that week. It‘s pretty fucking
hilarious. A guy tried to do some crazy snow-jump and ended up flipping his Snowmobile. The
commentator: "Two words, Vegetative State." Classic.
* Marilyn Manson's Antichrist Superstar is still at the top of the heap. Considering covering
Irresponsible Hate Anthem [video] by tours' end... In keeping with this theme, we've been
jamming out to other metal bands like Metallica and Tool, but nothing is quite hitting the spot in
the same way. We need to get some more Manson.
* I'm pretty jealous of Jesse's and (to a lesser extent) Siena's ability to fall asleep in the car. "Fuck
those guys," I find myself thinking... I consider sticking things up their noses, like those awesome
quesadilla chips we got. This morning I threw a sock at Jesse's sleeping face (it was his sock).
* You try not making a joke driving past the Welcome to Regina sign. Don't judge me.
* Before we arrived at our destination in Saskatoon our hosts (the extremely generous Klassen's)
warned us that if we showed up before 9 pm we might interrupt a silent Quaker meeting. We
showed up later, but I kind of wish we had seen what that might've looked like. Instead we had a
nice jam with the family's home-made instruments (these seriously rule, check the photo above).
We play tonight in Saskatoon and then Edmonton next. Having fun, but starting to look forward to
the epic drive home.
Tour Blog
Slim Twig's first Husky breakfast
Slim Twig takes in Northern Ontario
Oct 6, 2008
Toronto musician Slim Twig's first post from the road...
I've decided to try and write a tour blog without resorting to obvious road observations
about which fast food joint is better, or funny stories about the insane things my
drummer will eat (he had two servings of gravy today). I've also decided to try a
fragmented approach, giving each anecdote only a few sentences. Hope this thing flies.
* If you rent from Rent-A-Wreck don't be surprised if your car doesn't start the morning of
your tour... Do be surprised when said wreck has a six-CD changer however...
* Marilyn Manson's Antichrist Superstar is a fucking exceptional driving record. All four of
us dig it mightily, particularly Cryptorchid that track with the mellotron / vocoder ending. 'I
am totalitarian; I've got abortions in my eyes' ...ferrr surrre. Siena is totally into this
record but said she didn't like Nine Inch Nails The Downward Spiral. Needless to say we
had to convert her.
* The Downward Spiral is also an exceptional driving record. We are so feeling this 90's
industrial shock metal...
* We stopped in (band mate) Jesse's hometown of Sudbury for a cold one with his pops,
and then off to his aunt's to be saddled with among other things: an 80 pack of tootsie
pops, a 12 pack of giant Costco muffins, a bag of triangle shaped buns, a bag of
croissants, a brick of marble cheese, and two bricks of ham cold cuts. Jesse promptly
left the ham out overnight (I hope his Mom doesn't stumble on this blog, because then I'll
be in trouble for snitching).
* My mom packs exceptional tour kits. Full of cool shit. Lot's of candy (plus those Tootsie
pops - CANDY HEAVEN). That Etcha-Sketch will come in handy, particularly as we don't
have a map or anything...
* The ride between Sault St. Marie and Thunder Bay is pretty fucking striking. Ontario is
kind of beautiful, and I didn't even know.
* I had my first Husky breakfast. Apparently this is inevitable traveling on the TransCanada. Ross says sometimes truckers will shit into a pickle jar while on the road, too
umm... busy to stop, and then just leave it in the bathroom of these places. Having been
to a Husky's, I will concede that this is entirely plausible. Also worth mentioning that if
you are a young male with tight pants and a boldly dipping V-neck, you will probably
receive death glares while you spoon your $1.99 bowl of canned peaches. Or at least
have Sex Pistols lyrics sung scornfully behind your back (?).
* Liars' They Were Wrong So We Drowned sounds particularly awesome being blasted
while driving back to the motel from the Thunder Bay casino to fetch a second piece of
ID...
* Guh. Casino's are so calculating, and bleak. Also I only have $13.75 for food tomorrow
instead of a crisp $20. Fuck.
* According to the proprietor if our Thunder Bay Relax Motel, in T-Bay they have a much
more sophisticated door locking system then us Torontonians could possibly hope to
comprehend... (elitist!) Also I'm told to keep an eye out for all that money he's sent to
Toronto "Sure," I say, then laugh nervously (I have no idea what the fuck he's talking
about).
* When you live life on the road bacon is inevitable. Just something I've noticed. Not
complaining, just saying. Na'mean?
* I hope my next trip is to somewhere like Brussels. Just a thought. This driving is going
get intense.
Our first show was in Winnipeg. I hope we make it for sound check on time...
(Lastly, I just want to thank Ross Gillard publicly and in advance for driving us all the way
out to Victoria, and then driving back. I'll
get my G2 soon, I swear.)
September 17, 2008
Reviews Slim Twig Vernacular Violence
myspace :: buy from Zunior
Slim Twig is not going to warm the hearts of many listeners. He‘s a raw and unpredictable,
sample from a unique set of influences, and the job of introducing electro-billy into the
mainstream is not one I‘d really want to entertain. That being said – unlike one reviewer who I
usually see eye to eye with – I found myself enjoying his Vernacular Violence EP and the new
take on some of his classic material.
Much in the same way a certain breed gravitates to Ed Wood or George A. Romero flicks, Slim is
not writing songs that are easily embraceable by the masses, but that doesn‘t mean they aren‘t
good. Slim has always been conscious of his own style, focusing on the pomp of his hair and the
darkness he'd prefer to dwell in on almost every song.
While that continues here (which makes sense as 4 of the 5 tracks were - in some form - on his
debut EP), those thinking this is the same old Slim are in for a shock. The EP, which is essentially
4 quick thoughts and one long drawn out, swirling nightmare (Whiite Fantaseee) will reshape the
way people will look at Mr. Slim Twig – especially those who had heard White Fantaseee in it's
original form.
From the opening moments of the opener, Brothl Hunting, and the mention of snake oil salesman
and harlots, Twig‘s style is solidified in that B movie, cult cool. The songs play like an actual
performance, almost as if Slim hits start on his drum machine and decides to freestyle the sounds
that fill the rest of the space. The yelping vocals he adds to the twisted notes that fuel Tormen
brings just enough energy and intensity to the track to help you feel the pulse of his characters.
But without question, the most interesting song on the record is the full-fledged vision Slim
reveals on Whiite Fantaseee. Over the course of the ten-minute song the persistent keep time
drum machine beat and muted guitar strums unsuccessfully try to create order amongst the
chaos and terror. The ghostly strings, droning white noise of the synths and the frantic vocals
slowly spiral into disarray, leaving you hanging on each and every word when the panic filled
vocals return.
He reveals another wrinkle when a poppy, staccato delivery on the album closer (Gate Keeper) is
nicely paired with another simple drum machine beat. The track, at the start, is almost accessible
until the sonic blasts and strings that are thrown into the song push you to edge of your comfort
limits. And like any art that challenges you to look inside, people are either going to love it or hate
it. Personally, I‘m on board and can‘t wait to see what twisted sounds and textures he adds next.
Source: http://www.herohill.com/2008/09/reviews-slim-twig-vernacular-violence.htm
Call & Response: Slim Twig
Posted by Gary
September 4, 2008
Paper Bag Records has had a solid year - You Say Party! We Say Die! and Woodhands went all
the way to Beijing for crying out loud! Well, rockabilly punk Slim Twig might be the next big export
for Paper Bag. He's got a lot going for him: an artistic urban upbringing in a house full of
filmmakers, a main role opposite Ellen Page in Bruce McDonald's film The Tracy Fragments, and
two solid EP releases (Derelict Dialect and Vernacular Violence).
Paper Bag has decided to release both EPs as a single LP and Slim Twig will celebrate this with
a big show at The Music Gallery Saturday night. I spoke with Slim about his upbringing, his
aspirations, and his fascination with fire and brimstone.
BlogTO: Why are you called Slim Twig?
Slim Twig: I guess it has to do with my physique. I'm trying to create incentive to maintain my
current svelte demeanor. Can't get too portly with a name like that.
Where did you grow up? What did you like best about growing up there?
I take way too much pride in being an original Torontonian. Born & raised 100% with little
excursion. I was raised in the sewer of a battered old slum. I enjoyed the view mostly.
If you had to pick one Toronto Street that would best describe you and/or your music,
which street would you choose and why?
Train tracks & rooftops are better, and more fitting...broken bottles and the like.
How did you hook up with Paper Bag Records?
Paper Bag tread lightly so as not to disturb my natural habitat. Once they came close, I pretended
I didn't see them but at the last second jumped around in a whirlwind and ensnared them. But
really, I just brought in some music to their office.
Now that you're signed, what are your aspirations?
Pretty much the exact same as before I signed. I want to be in the business of idea formation and
execution. I want to be a creative force of nature forever, and hopefully avoid sucking. I want to
retain a good sense of humor and optimism, and make a living from challenging work.
We've been getting lucky with the nice weather lately. How have you been enjoying the
sunshine? How did you feel about all the rain this summer?
I try to avoid the sun for the most part. I suppose at my cottage, if you really must know. Just
don't tell anyone.
I saw a blog post you wrote on your Myspace page about the new Portishead record. I love
it as well. Your music also has a certain eeriness and sadness about it. When did you first
start writing songs like this?
I've been writing music and lyrics together for a half-decade now, and have yet written a jovial
jingle. I guess I'm too fascinated by the mysterious, and the grisly, the fire and brimstone. All that
jazz.
Who (or what) else inspires you?
I try to take in as much music/film/literature as I can to keep ideas flowing, so I'm always inspired
by something. My filmmaker parents, and David Lynch are a couple big ones.
When are you planning on releasing your debut full-length? Have you already started
working on it?
The album is all recorded & will arrive sometime next year.
What can people expect to see/hear/feel at your show Saturday night?
See: Three blokes with stringed instruments, one lady with an orange organ. Amazing projections
courtesy of the ever-talented Exploding Motorcar Collective.Hear: A dust devilling' miasmatic
madhouse of opaque pop with pretty crooning.Feel: Exhilarated hopefully. Loose with their
change perhaps. Hopefully none too confused.
Source: http://www.blogto.com/music/2008/09/call_response_slim_twig/
Features
A ghost is born
They don‘t call him Slim Twig for nothing, but his frenetic, rockabilly-inspired
performances aren‘t what you‘d call fragile
BY CHRIS BILTON September 03, 2008
Slim Twig & The Mercy Mercenaries
It‘s not just a clever name. Slim Twig is also a comically accurate description of this
emerging rocker‘s appearance — tall and gaunt, with a jet black pompadour, pencil-thin
moustache, starched-white button-down shirt and tight black pants, the avant-crooner
carries himself like Tim Burton‘s idea of a Nashville star. On stage, gnashing at a semihollow-body guitar and howling in reverb-drenched tones about snake-oil salesmen and
sweaty gunmetal, Slim Twig‘s persona is made flesh.
Even his film debut last year alongside Ellen Page in Bruce McDonald‘s visually
compelling psychodrama The Tracey Fragments bore the charcoal shading of his stage
presence. Although he admits over drinks at Manic Coffee that his acting style is almost
―non-acting,‖ he says, ―Maybe my Slim Twig persona may have overlapped a bit with
[The Tracey Fragments‘] Billy Zero one, but it wasn‘t really intentional.‖
Over the course of two EPs released this year on Paper Bag — the linguistically themed
Vernacular Violence and Derelict Dialect, now collected on a single vinyl LP — Twig has
basically created his own self-labeled genre: ―concrete rockabilly.‖ Sounding like Carl
Perkins filtered through the trashy ambience of Suicide and shrouded in Nick Cave‘s
cigarette smoke, Slim Twig‘s experimental solo ventures sit in opposition to the Black
Flag blues of his other gig, Tropics.
In fact, the solo Slim Twig is a direct result of his long-standing duo, or rather, its
suspension. Slim had been playing with Tropics drummer Simone TB since the end of
junior high, but when she moved to Montreal for university he spent a couple years
writing new material without anyone to perform it with. The genesis of the live Slim Twig
experience came when he purchased a drum machine and enlisted the help of
Huckleberry Friends keyboardist Sienna De Campo. The band, which now includes
drummer Jesse James Laderoute and occasional cellist Tilman Lewis, provided the
spark that set Slim Twig ablaze.
Even though I‘m never entirely certain whether I‘m talking to Slim Twig or the man
behind the mask, it‘s obvious that he has a clear vision for who he wants to be.
Source: http://www.eyeweekly.com/music/features/article/38474
Slim Twig
Vernacular Violence
By Pras Rajagopalan
This release, coming on the heels of the Derelict Dialect MEP, may be the one that
causes people outside Slim Twig‘s fan base in Toronto to take notice. Whereas Paper
Bag‘s previous Slim release compiled some of his earlier work, this one showcases
some of his latest efforts, with four of its five tracks taken from Slim Twig‘s 2007 selfreleased White Fantaseee EP. And it presents a compelling artistic vision: twisted
electro rockabilly featuring sordid characters like Tormen, the hearse-driving snake oil
salesman, who was ―well versed in witnesses and making car bombs,‖ his ―three fucking
greasy henchmen‖ in tow. If that isn‘t enough to rouse at least passing curiosity, there‘s
the glowing apparition that is the ten-minute title track, a snapshot of a possessed Slim
having an intimate exchange with his muse, choked with ghoulish cellos and
incandescent keyboard washes. With an album due out later this year, Slim surely won‘t
be Toronto‘s little secret for long. (Paper Bag)
Source:
http://www.exclaim.ca/musicreviews/latestsub.aspx?csid1=124&csid2=870&fid1=32806
Slim Twig
Vernacular Violence (Paper Bag Records)
On his new opus, Slim Twig spins a new twist on the faded rockabilly
sound. Jay Jay Erickson and McCalla discuss the album over cocktails
while house sitting a shiny new luxury condo.
JJE: Toronto's Slim Twig is working in fairly uncharted territory, don‘t you
think?
McCalla: It‘s a bit of an over-statement, Jay— and I knew you‘d give me
that kind of cold rap. Rockabilly wasn‘t born yesterday, neither was this kind of straightforward
experimentation. Its lightly poppy, with echoes of Jon Spencer and Nick Cave, with lyrics about
hair and cigarettes. Maybe the concrete rockabilly tag is chaffing my neck. It‘s actually pretty
good, but it‘s not really new.
JEE: In the context of the rockabilly world, it is reasonably rare. The sound is amazing, sort of
deliberately in the red, extremely dense and chalked with layers of intrigue. Fans of Heavy Trash
or The Kills, or those pursuing that gritty James Chance aesthetic, will more than appreciate this
EP-length effort. And this isn‘t really guitar or saxophone based, which says something about the
vibe, don‘t you think? But strictly focusing on originality will get us nothing but sad Starbucks
coffee. Twiggy is more like a colorful coffee shop, home to eccentrics and a mean cappuccino.
McCalla: Did you know that vernacular means dialect, as in "the standard native language of a
country or locality"?
JJE: Anyway, in my estimation, la pièce de résistance here is "Whiite Fantasee", an elaborate 10minute sound structure, which serves as the musical equivalent of museum pop art. Using a drum
machine-like foundation à la Suicide, little Slim slowly unveils some cello, his trademark gnarl,
followed by some heavy organs and a simple guitar twang. These could be sample-based, I‘m not
really sure, but its repetitive nature is highly effective.
McCalla: Twiggy and Little Slim, I like that! Wait to go, you‘re finally growing some attitude around
the little guys
Source: http://www.panpot.ca/reviews/renderAlbumReview.php?id=257
RCRD LBL
July 31 2008
FEATURED: Slim Twig
7/31/2008
By Cameron Cook
The Paper Bag RCRD LBL blog has some awesome video footage of Slim Twig‘s very
first US live appearance ever, at the Pitchfork Festival after party last weekend at the
Empty Bottle in Chicago. Slim‘s wonderful Surfer Rosa styling‘s are in full effect in the
clip, so keep an ear out for ‗80s alt. nation influences. Head on to the PBR blog for more
info:
Source:
http://rcrdlbl.com/2008/07/31/featured_slim_twig_at_the_paper_bag_rcrd_lbl_blo
g
Saturday, July 12, 2008
THE HOOD vs. WEEKEND SHOWS
ATTN Chicago and all Pitchfork fest-goers: we'll be at the Empty Bottle next
Saturday night (the 19th) with Slim Twig, Sweatpants Money and Hood vs.
Chicago mix tape pals LMNOP. It doesn't start until after Pitchfork gets out and
the Bottle is really close to Union Park. Click here to get tickets beforehand. DO
IT!
Source: http://www.thehoodinternet.com/2008/07/hood-vs-weekend-shows.html
The Toronto Portraits - Slim Twig
July 5, 2008
Slim Twig is pretty damn slim. I didn't ask to weigh him during our interview (a missed
opportunity to be sure) but you've probably seen those black, rail thin jeans of his
slinking down Queen Street, on his way to the Music Gallery.
2008 could be a great year for the Toronto bred musician/actor. The sound of his
recently released E.P, Derelict Dialect, is difficult to put into words. He describes it as
'concrete rockabilly'; I'd say it's dark, jaunty, Lynching pop. His second E.P of the year,
Vernacular Violence, is coming out on August 5th. After knocking out hometown
audiences at Canadian Music Week his profile has been rising pretty fast.
"I don't have any intention of leaving Toronto for a bigger city; we have all the resources
here to try new things. That doesn't mean I only want to be heard in Toronto; I don't want
to be a local phenomenon."
Another step forward for Slim this year is the DVD release of Bruce McDonald‘s 'The
Tracy Fragments'. He stars as Billy Zero, Ellen Page's rebellious teen love interest. His
chilling, magnetic performance is how he first caught my attention (I worked on the film
briefly as a production assistant).
"I got involved through auditioning; I guess Bruce was interested in the vibe I gave out.
Acting is an easier thing for me to do than music. In film I'm just saying the lines as if it
were me, but in music I'm creating characters from scratch. (The work) isn't as intensive
as other actors make it out to be. I'm probably going to get into trouble for saying that."
It's incredible what some people can pull off by the time they turn twenty. If he continues
to be this productive, if he continues to be this skinny, Slim could easily be the next big
thing. If wants to be, anyway.
"I think the concept of 'celebrity' is really perverse; someone like Tom Waits is clever
because he has a public persona and a private persona. I don't want people to know
who I really am."
Every Friday, the Toronto Portraits profiles a young, dynamic Torontonian, in a different
Toronto neighborhood.
Photos by Mr. Robin Sharp
Source: http://www.blogto.com/music/2008/07/the_toronto_portraits_slim_twig/
Published July 03, 2008.
Slim Twig
Vernacular Violence
(Paper Bag)
The frustrating circumstances that inspired this recent Slim Twig EP should be
worshipped. If failure and rejection always led to dark rockabilly meets wheezy
keyboards wrapped in tasty lo-fi production, Webster's would change the definition of
failure to "unequivocal success." Recorded in 2006 when Slim Twig (who's just one guy
from Toronto) couldn't find anybody to release his music, Vernacular Violence features
songs thriving on delivering unconventional pleasures. It's hard to pick a highlight
amongst the five distinctly memorable tunes, but the 10-minute Suicide-channeling
groove of "White Fantaseee" is particularly thrilling.
---Andrew Robinson
categories: Canadian artist
Source: http://www.thecoast.ca/SiteElist-1714.11211317559.112113_CD_REVIEWS.html
Toronto Star Podcasts
June 21, 2008
Anti-Hit List - June 21
This week we have fresh music by a sublime new pop band out of Montreal
Adam & The Amethysts, a track by Toronto avant-rockabilly artist Slim Twig, and
new music by Sennen, shoe-gazing revivalists out of Norwich, England.
June 21, 2008
Source: http://starweb.blogs.com/podcasts/2008/06/anti-hit-list-2.html
NORTH-BY-NORTH EAST
Hot picks for concert hoppers
Jun 12, 2008
Ben Rayner
It's time for North by Northeast, the annual three-day celebration of up-and-coming
music acts from across North America and beyond. Here are a few we don't want to
miss:
SATURDAY
Redd Kross, 1 a.m. @ Lee's Palace, 529 Bloor St. W. This good-natured, brotherfronted punk-turned-power-pop crew was big, big fun live back in the day and has
reunited after bowing out during the early `90s to record a new album with its Neuroticaera lineup. Exciting!
Slim Twig, 1 a.m. @ Silver Dollar, 486 Spadina Ave. A prolific recent signing to our
esteemed Paper Bag Records, this young, swamp-hearted Toronto iconoclast is a oneman electro-blues voodoo machine. This cat's onto something all his own.
Source: http://www.thestar.com/Entertainment/article/442336
Slim Twig Moves From "Concrete Rockabilly" To "Twiggy-rock"
Friday June 06, 2008
By: ChartAttack.com Staff
Do you think you're up on all the latest sub-genres? Well, Toronto's Slim Twig has crafted a few
of his own for critics, hipsters and marketing gurus to use when trying to think of cutting-edge
ways to describe his music. While originally dubbing his style "concrete rockabilly," he feels he's
already moved on to different musical terrain.
"Concrete rockabilly is just kind of a catchy slogan I came up with to try and instigate some
attention," explains Twig. "It's all a lie, though.
"I really create Twiggy-rock. Both are trademarked, as I am hoping to make serious coin in this
biz."
Regardless of what people call his dark, eclectic mix of rockabilly, blues and synth-pop, he says
it's more important that people simply take the time to listen. Positive press for both his live sets
and his Paper Bag Records debut EP, Derelict Dialect, have created a hometown buzz around
Twig that he hopes can spread to other regions.
"People have interest and are starting to know of me. It may sound ridiculous because I'm so
young, but I've been writing music for a long time, and I feel lucky to have the modest acclaim
that I've had so far. In the next several months, my priority is to get music to people outside of
Toronto. I love my city, but have zero interest in becoming just a local phenomenon."
Paper Bag will release another Slim Twig EP, Vernacular Violence, on Aug. 5. A limited-edition
LP combining the first and second EPs will also come out this summer. Vernacular Violence was
penned in late 2006 after Twig finished Derelict Dialect and, despite not having much luck, was
actively seeking a label to help him share his music with others.
"Vernacular Violence was recorded in frustration," Twig admits. "I was really irked by the fact that,
at the time, I was sitting on a bunch of unreleased material that I thought was really strong, but
that no one was really interested in, and also that I had no money to record any new stuff.
"VV is really a documented exercise on making do with what's available to you. It was entirely
written, composed, recorded and mixed by one broke-ass dude. I let all the accidents in, made
sure the lyrics were as terrifying and intriguing as I could make them, and started focusing on
things like texture and tone, as opposed to melody and fidelity. I'm super-proud of this record."
Slim Twig will finally put out a proper full-length recording next year. Although tight-lipped about
the project, he says the tracks are some of the most exciting and out-there stuff he's composed,
and promises that the record is bound to cause an equal amount of awe and head-scratching.
Perhaps some of the new material will surface during his upcoming concerts in Ontario and
Quebec, where Twig will be backed by Huckleberry Friends' Siena DeCampo on Farfisa organ,
Young Mother's Jesse James Laderoute on drums and guitar, and cellist Tilman Lewis of The
Knot. He says his talented friends challenge him to be a better and more entertaining performer.
"Having such a great band definitely creates an energy that is conducive to performing. I feel like
I have an original pulse behind me, and it pushes me to give some extra life to the tunes. Plus,
my band is pretty attractive, so I have to find a way to divert the attention."
Twig sees a way in which all band members, he included, can better themselves. Whether or not
it actually improves anything is yet to be seen, but it definitely can't hurt.
"At our live shows, you can expect to see good hair," he says. "I've been working on it, and
encourage my band members to do the same.
"'Get a new cut,' I berate them. Hopefully our combined hair-power will be enough to topple
expectations, set the bar higher — that sort of thing."
Here are Slim Twig's Canadian dates:





June 7 Hamilton, ON @ The Casbah
June 11 Quebec City, QC @ Le Cercle
June 12 Montreal, QC @ Jupiter Room
June 13 Ottawa, ON @ Zaphod Beeblebrox
June 14 Toronto, ON @ The Silver Dollar (NXNE)
—Shawn Despres
Source: http://www.chartattack.com/damn/2008/06/0607.cfm
PROVOCATIVE PAGE
Rating:
May 9, 2008
IT was at a festival in 1991 that I saw Bruce McDonald's "Highway 61" - in which a small-town barber and a
young woman strap a corpse to the top of their car and set off on a journey from Canada to the US - and I've
still not gotten it out of my brain.
I have a feeling that the Canadian cult director's "The Tracey Fragments" will have the same effect on me.
There are several reasons: First, McDonald's high-octane approach. He splits the screen into all variety of
quadrants that he uses to portray the same fractured events over and over, but from different angles.
Then there's the daring performance by Ellen Page, before she got disgustingly wholesome in the
overpraised "Juno." Here, she's 15-year-old Tracey Berkowitz of Winnipeg, Canada, who's anything but
wholesome (every other word out of her mouth seems to be "f - - - ").
"I'm just a normal girl who hates herself," the punkish teen relates at one point. "Happy people fricking
depress me," she confesses in another instance.
The kids at school are mean. They call her "It," and make fun of her flat chest. Her only pal is her boyfriend,
who goes by the name Billy Zero and looks like Nick Cave. (He's played by rockabilly musician Slim
Twig.)
Perhaps Tracey's problems have to do with her dysfunctional family - Dad's a loser and Mom's a junkie who
smokes three packs a day. "Just getting her away from the TV is a surgical procedure," Tracey says with
disdain.
The girl is seeing a cross-dressing shrink, but he/she doesn't seem to be helping. When Tracey's brother, 9year-old Sonny, disappears, she assumes she's to blame because she had hypnotized the boy into thinking
he was a dog. So - wrapped in a shower curtain (long story) - she traverses the city looking for him. At one
point she has sex in a car, then gets tossed out before she can pull up her jeans.
I have a feeling that this is the last time we'll see a down-and-dirty Ellen Page. Her handlers have too much
wrapped up in her mainstream persona to ever again allow her to do anything as daring and out of the loop
as "The Tracey Fragments." And that's a shame.
THE TRACEY FRAGMENTS Running time: 77 minutes. Not rated (profanity, sex, violence). At the Village
East, Second Avenue and 12th Street.
Source:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/05092008/entertainment/movies/provocative_page_110002.htm
Tracking Shots
The Tracey Fragments: Snark Attacks
Ellen Page makes this stuff work
By Aaron Hillis
Tuesday, May 6th 2008 at 1:48pm
"My name is Tracey Berkowitz. Fifteen. Just a normal girl who hates herself." Again
leading as a deadpan, snarky, eponymous naïf dealing with issues way beyond her
maturity level, Juno‘s Ellen Page confesses to the camera an angry, diaristic account of
how her bullied dreamer wound up in the back of a bus, naked beneath a shower
curtain, searching for her hypnotized brother. Replicating the splintered prose of
Maureen Medved‘s novel-cum-screenplay, cult Canadian director Bruce McDonald
(Highway 61) reveals the murky details—some true, others defense-mechanism
fantasies in Tracey‘s brooding rock-star brain—entirely in dynamic split-screen shards,
linearity be damned. Unlike the frustrating gimmickry of Mike Figgis‘s Timecode and
Hotel, McDonald‘s bedazzling multi-frame experiment poeticizes and enhances an
otherwise slender story (forgivable at only 77 minutes long), as planes of different sizes
and shapes materialize—fading, sliding, distorting, and overlapping to convey the rage
and anxiety of damaged adolescence. Funhouse-cloned images giddily intensify
disturbing moments, hazy memories take the form of asymmetric repetitions, and walls
literally close in. Beyond its overarching aesthetic, The Tracey Fragments co-stars
Toronto rockabilly punk Slim Twig as a Tim Burton caricature of Pretty in Pink‘s
Duckie and boasts a score by Broken Social Scene; it would all swagger dangerously
close into hipster-trash territory if not for Page‘s pathos and wit, honest to blog.
Source: http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-05-06/film/the-tracey-fragments/
April 28, 2008 — May 4, 2008
You Can't Break This Slim Twig
Slim Twig received a lot of praise for his live shows this year in ChartAttack's CMW
Report Cards, appearing twice in the top ten highest ranked bands for his solo act and
as one-half of indie rockers Tropics. The attention caught up with Twig pretty quickly. A
few days after CMW, he announced that he had signed to Paper Bag Records, which
recently released his EP, Derelict Dialect.
Maybe it's just the skinny jeans talking, but for such a big musical up-and-comer, doesn't
he look like you could just crack him in half?
Source: http://www.chartattack.com/gallery/
Ben's Reasons to Live . . .
Apr 27, 2008
The Toronto Star
BEN RAYNER
Slim Twig, Derelict Dialect. Much compelling murk and mystery lurks within one-man
Toronto freak show Slim Twig's debut EP for Paper Bag Records, a confidently warped,
stream-of-consciousness onslaught of primal rockabilly-isms, Gothic, Beef hearted
blues, fractured laptop electronics and pseudo-Beat/raving-hobo poetics assured cult
celebration by those who don't like their music "easy" – yet still fancy a semblance of a
tune and a good, misanthropic yarn. Derelict Dialect was actually put to tape (with instudio assistance from committed local avant-pop auteur Dale Morningstar) before last
year's well-received short-form teaser, Whiite Fantaseee, which Slim himself has
pronounced a "grittier" affair. The (performance) artist's protestations aside, though,
there's no lack of dirt muddying up mentally unsound screeds like the numbing, seasick
drone "The Replica and Martyr" or the Syd Barrett-esque acid dissolve "Trembletongue."
Source: http://www.thestar.com/article/418848
ON DISC
Slim Twig
Derelict Dialect EP
March 26, 2008 15:03
EDITORIAL RATING: ****
Near the middle of ―Tremble tongue,‖ we actually get to hear what Captain Beefheart‘s
squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag sounds like. It‘s a desperate, repeating thump
over a leering funhouse organ while our cities own Slim Twig moans, frantically
recounting a tale of horror (―breathless and helpless, my rapture did end all this‖). When
he‘s singing, you can hear him twitch; when he‘s not, you can imagine what‘s making
him. You can draw a crooked line from Beefheart through no wave to these tangles of
arachnoids guitar and serpentine vocals, but on only his second EP (last year‘s drummachine-driven Whiite Fantaseee was recorded after this full-band disc, but released
first) Twig‘s already cultivated an original persona: he quivers erratically on ―Birthing and
Birthing‖ and redefines the gentlemanly stereotype with filthy come-ons on ―Austere
Gentleman.‖ Your mileage will vary, but followers of the gnarled quicksilver sound that
leaks into the atmosphere every decade or so will want to shake this man‘s bony hand.
Source: http://www.eyeweekly.com/music/ondisc/article/22080
Slim Twig
Derelict Dialect EP
By Pras Rajagopalan
Tucked away in the Toronto underground for the better part of two years now, Slim Twig
will finally gain the exposure he rightly deserves with this Paper Bag re-release of his
debut EP. Certainly last year‘s White Fantaseee EP was a remarkable statement; the
yelping, pompadour-topped Slim played the snake charmer at its centre, coaxing grimy
no-wave rockabilly tunes out of his guitar and synths. While Derelict Dialect doesn‘t quite
have the depth and scope of White Fantaseee, taken in context it‘s almost as
impressive. Derelict Dialect is a highly accomplished debut laden with wonderfully
twisted tracks like ―The Replica and Martyr,‖ which smoothly shifts gears from its initial
chugging momentum and slows a chanted dirge that spirals deliciously downward. Even
more compelling is the portentous ―An Austere Gentleman,‖ where a possessed Slim
hurls lascivious boasts at the object of his desire. It‘s Slim‘s steely assuredness and his
total immersion into the role of performer that‘s so transfixing. The fact that he‘s evolved
for the better since this EP first came out means that you all had better sit up and pay
attention. (Paper Bag)
Source:
http://www.exclaim.ca/musicreviews/latestsub.aspx?csid1=120&csid2=870&fid1=30671
Slim Twig's New EP Is Just His Latest Project
Tuesday March 11, 2008 @ 05:30 PM
Slim Twig, one of the top report card scorers during Canadian Music Week, is one busy
guy. The Toronto rockabilly guitar player and all-around performer, who's also half of artpunk duo Tropics (who earned the highest report card mark), will release his Derelict
Dialect EP on April 1 through Paper Bag.
Twig appeared in director Bruce McDonald's movie The Tracey Fragments (which also
featured Juno star Ellen Page) as Billy Speed, a character devoted to James Dean. He
also composed music for an award-winning short film titled Letters From R. He has selfreleased a few EPs as a solo artist, including the gritty Whiite Fantaseee. Parts of
Derelict Dialect were recorded in 2006 with producer Dale Morningstar (Gord Downie,
Tangiers) at his Gas Station studio on Toronto Island.
Twig has played shows all over Toronto with his backing band the Mercy-Mercenaries —
who are comprised of Siena Decampo from Huckleberry Friends as well as Jesse James
Laderoute, Tilman Lewis and The Rhythm Ace.
Twig will be with drummer Simone TB as Tropics again in Toronto twice within the next
month, with sets at Teranga as part of the Pitter Patter Fest on March 30 and at Sneaky
Dee's with Jewelry Rat and Terror Lake on April 11.
Here are the tracks on Derelect Dialect EP:







"His Eyes Hum Hymns"
"The Replica And Martyr"
"Dragged Down The Dirtpike"
"Birthing And Birthing"
"An Austere Gentleman"
"The Maudlin Jack"
"Trembletongue"
—Jessica Lewis
Source: http://www.chartattack.com/damn/2008/03/1131.cfm
Blizzard of bands
Canadian Music Week showed up in downtown Toronto last week, but this year
the fest felt far from its best
Jordan Bimm, Rob Duffy, Chandler Levack, Luke Higginson
Published on March 10 2008
The big story at this year‘s Canadian Music Week wasn‘t what happened, but what
wasn‘t happening. In the past, the fest has offered a host of showcases of burgeoning
indie bands about to break into the big time. This year felt much more subdued and less
energized overall than in years past. This lack of excitement was at least partly due to
the absence of independent rival festivals. Dan Burke‘s usually competitive NeXT
showcase was dialed down to one night and incorporated into CMW, while Keith
Hamilton‘s Pitter Patter Fest is holding off until the end of the month. CMW is also known
to place more of its emphasis on its industry conference component than on its live
music festival compared to Toronto‘s summer city-wide music binge, North by Northeast.
The massive blizzard that hit Toronto Friday and Saturday also put a damper on many
fans‘ clubhopping plans. That being said, there were amazing artists participating in the
festival this year, it was just a little harder to find them. Here‘s our look that what got us
hot and what left us cold at CMW 2008.—JORDAN BIMM
Slim Twig – The Drake (11:15pm)
With abstract projections covering the walls around him, Slim Twig‘s Drake set was a
surreal scene on a cold night. Having performed earlier in the evening as one half of
garage rock duo Tropics, he thanked the assembled crowd for welcoming him back to
the stage before launching into a set that the line of 60 freezing people on Beaconsfield
Ave. must have been disappointed to miss. With his band the Mercy- Mercenaries in
tow, Slim ripped through a collection of synth-meets-rockabilly gems from his Whiite
Fantaseee EP. While Slim Twig‘s label status may remain as independent, his double
duty at the Paper Bag Records showcase may be a good indication that a signing is
imminent.—RD Rating: VVV
Source: http://www.thevarsity.ca/article/2431-blizzard-of-bands
Canadian Music Week 2008 in pictures: Slim Twig
Posted: March 09, 2008, 9:39 AM by Brad Frenette
Canadian Music Week
CMW 2008: Slim Twig at The Drake Underground on March 7, 2008.
Photos by Michael Wybenga for National Post
Slim Twig:
Source: http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/theampersand/archive/2008/03/09/canadian-musicweek-2008-in-pictures-slim-twig-wintergloves-and-woodhands.aspx
Slim Twig @ The Drake
Saturday March 08, 2008
Slim Twig's second performance of the night featured three players, including the keyboardist
from Huckleberry Friends and the frontman of relatively unknown Toronto band Young Mother.
Slim Twig
Photo by Rachel Verbin
Grade 91
Comment: After Tropics, I was legitimately giddy that Slim Twig was coming back to the stage
later in the night. Round two didn't pack the unexpected wallop that came with the Tropics
performance, but it was great to see that Twig is as dynamic musically as he is as a performer.
This set was less rockabilly, more rock.
Oral And Visual Communication
Strengths/Weaknesses/Next Step:
With three other band members on stage, Twig couldn't wheel around with the kind of reckless
abandon he displayed during the Tropics set, but even a more restrained performance was full of
rock 'n' roll goodness. Having other players often-freed Twig to grab the mic and showboat at the
front of the stage like a preacher from Hell.
Musical Analysis
Twig's solo sound was markedly different than the Tropics one. First, by toning down his vocals
just a touch, Twig sounded like a note-perfect cross between Wolf Parade's Dan Boeckner and
Spencer Krug. Second, a drum machine and synthesizer gave the set a more subdued
atmosphere, but Twig's manic presence prevented attention from drifting. And he played a couple
of murder ballads that will haunt your dreams. Note to labels and booking agents: SIGN SLIM
TWIG IMMEDIATELY.
Other Skills And Areas Of Interest
I would have liked to throw two 100s at Tropics and Slim Twig, but there's room for improvement
in both. If Twig's solo band could just steal Simone TB (note: keep Jesse James Laderoute, just
put him on guitar full-time) and some of the songs away from Tropics, I would have had no choice
but to give him a 143. Both acts could simply use a little more of each other. That said, I'd see
any bill that featured both of them again in a heartbeat. In closing, go see Slim Twig or Tropics at
your earliest convenience and fall in love with both acts just as quickly.
This story can be accessed online at
http://www.chartattack.com/damn/2008/03/0817.cfm
Canadian Music Week 2008 Blog
Paper Bag showcase
Saturday, March 8, 2008 | 04:27 PM ET
Every March, the city of Toronto hosts Canadian Music Week, a convention-slashfestival that brings together bands and industry folk. This year’s event runs March 5-8
and features keynote addresses by Alanis Morissette, Moby and rappers KRS-One and
RZA, as well as over 500 musical acts spread out over 40 venues. Music columnist
Sarah Liss is blogging from CMW, checking out panel discussions, mingling with
movers and shakers and seeing as many live shows as is humanly possible.
Even without the brutal winter storm – which made staying in one place infinitely
appealing -- I likely would‘ve spent my entire Friday night camped out in the basement of
the Drake Hotel, marveling at the super-solid showcase assembled by Toronto‘s Paper
Bag Records.
If you‘re not familiar with the established indie label, here are some basic facts: Paper
Bag has been around since about 2002, when three music-loving Torontonians (Amanda
Newman, Trevor LaRocque and Enrique Soissa) teamed up to release Broken Social
Scene‘s breakout album You Forgot It in People. (Many assume that record originally
came out on the now-famous Arts & Crafts label, which was co-founded by BSS member
Kevin Drew; A&C actually picked up all subsequent runs of the disc.)
When Paper Bag first started out, they were one of the country‘s best go-to labels for
dreamy pop music – Heart by Stars, which I still maintain is the Montreal band‘s best
recording, was initially a Paper Bag release. But the quality of PB‘s roster grew a bit
spottier over time. In the past two years, however, the Paper Bag crew has stepped up
again, signing some of the most exciting new talent in Toronto and beyond. Friday‘s
show was a reflection of this. The six-act bill was one of the best all-around concerts on
offer at CMW this year.
I made it down to the Drake in time to catch Tropics, the first of two acts featuring
Torontonian wunderkind Slim Twig. The multitalented performer is also a well-regarded
actor – he played the James Dean character Billy Zero opposite Ellen Page in Bruce
McDonald‘s film The Tracey Fragments. A sweaty cacophony of wiry, anti-melodic punk,
Tropics is the weaker of Slim Twig‘s projects, but is worth noting for the formidable skills
of drummer Simone TB. The girl is a marvel to watch.
Musician Slim Twig. (Sarah Liss)
I generally love nerdy singer-songwriter Laura Barrett, who‘s slowly reclaiming the
kalimba (an African thumb-piano) as a totally cool pop instrument, but the chatty crowd
and middling acoustics at the Drake were not kind to her fragile, fairytale-like tunes.
Perched on a low chair, Barrett demonstrated impressive focus as she plunked out
music-box accompaniment to her sweet mezzo-soprano melodies, but the high-register
songs were practically inaudible to anyone standing more than a metre from the stage.
Slim Twig fared far better in his second appearance of the night, twitching and howling
like a snake-hipped Jerry Lee Lewis crossed with synth rocker Alan Vega (of Suicide).
Slim Twig‘s incendiary, electrified inside-out blues sounded like what might happen if
you left a bunch of Elvis Presley LPs on a radiator, smashed them to bits with a hammer
and re-assembled them for play on a turntable. In a word, otherworldly.
I kinda tuned out during the penultimate set by Montreal act Winter Gloves, a four-piece
that marries vintage keyboard sounds and big, alterna-rock guitars to overwrought
vocals reminiscent of Our Lady Peace frontman Raine Maida. The quartet were tight
enough, but wholly derivative.
Like most in the crowd, I was counting down the minutes till charismatic keytar king Dan
Werb took the stage with his duo, Woodhands. Werb may look like an extra from
Revenge of the Nerds, but give the guy a mic and a set of keys and he becomes a de
facto sex god, yowling seductively as he ekes out squelchy synthesizer riffs. He‘s got a
perfect foil in frenetic drummer Paul Banwatt, who occasionally stole the mic to rattle off
ridiculous rhymes. Their forthcoming Paper Bag album Heart Attack should make these
guys national stars.
Source:
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/blogs/CMW08/2008/03/paper_bag_showcase.html
CMW REVIEW
Slim Twig at The Drake
March 08, 2008
By Noah Love
BACKGROUND/COMPOSITION:
Slim Twig's second performance of the night featured three players, including the
keyboardist from Huckleberry Friends and the front man of relatively unknown Toronto
band Young Mother.
Grade: 91
Comment: After Tropics, I was legitimately giddy that Slim Twig was coming back to the
stage later in the night. Round two didn't pack the unexpected wallop that came with the
Tropics performance, but it was great to see that Twig is as dynamic musically as he is
as a performer. This set was less rockabilly, more rock.
Oral And Visual Communication
Strengths/Weaknesses/Next Step
With three other band members on stage, Twig couldn't wheel around with the kind of
reckless abandon he displayed during the Tropics set, but even a more restrained
performance was full of rock 'n' roll goodness. Having other players often-freed Twig to
grab the mic and showboat at the front of the stage like a preacher from Hell.
Musical Analysis
Twig's solo sound was markedly different than the Tropics one. First, by toning down his
vocals just a touch, Twig sounded like a note-perfect cross between Wolf Parade's Dan
Boeckner and Spencer Krug. Second, a drum machine and synthesizer gave the set a
more subdued atmosphere, but Twig's manic presence prevented attention from drifting.
And he played a couple of murder ballads that will haunt your dreams. Note to labels
and booking agents: SIGN SLIM TWIG IMMEDIATELY.
Other Skills And Areas Of Interest
I would have liked to throw two 100s at Tropics and Slim Twig, but there's room for
improvement in both. If Twig's solo band could just steal Simone TB (note: keep Jesse
James Laderoute, just put him on guitar full-time) and some of the songs away from
Tropics, I would have had no choice but to give him a 143. Both acts could simply use a
little more of each other. That said, I'd see any bill that featured both of them again in a
heartbeat. In closing, go see Slim Twig or Tropics at your earliest convenience and fall in
love with both acts just as quickly.
Source: http://www.chartattack.com/DAMN/2008/03/0817.cfm
Fri, Mar 7: TROPICS, SLIM TWIG, LAURA BARRETT,
Drake Underground
Judging by the snaking lineup and heavy media presence, the Paper Bar Records
showcase at the Drake Underground was the evening‘s CMW place to be.
Having just missed a set by the foxy ladies in Huckleberry Friends, we grabbed
positioning to catch Tropics (rating: NNN), the side joint for Slim Twig and his skinsbashing partner, Simone TB. The duo churned out gritty garage stomps, with Twig doing
his disjointed vocal yelps while thrashing fuzzed-out chords.
Up next was cutesy kalimba-phile Laura Barrett (rating: NN), who looked intimidated by
the loud chatter in the max-capacity bar. Nevertheless, she took on the talkers with her
kalimba-thumbing tunes. Some stood transfixed by her soft voice and quirky lyrics, but
the environment was totally wrong for what she‘s about.
Twig took the stage after her with his Slim Twig (rating: NNN) band, then proceeded to
bust open a set of left-field rockabilly. You could feel relief in the crowd. No disrespect to
Barrett, but the crowd wanted to rock out, and Twig facilitated that.
Source: http://www.nowtoronto.com/music/story.cfm?content=162094
SPIRAL BEACH AND SLIM TWIG
Whippersnapper Gallery
587 A College St.
A fresh generation of local music scenesters makes some noise in this lively art space
and sometime concert venue in Little Italy. A foursome not long out of high school, Spiral
Beach is a dynasty act of sorts—singer-guitar Airick Woodhead and drummer Daniel are
the sons of folk musician David Woodhead, while singer-keyboardist Maddy Wilde is the
daughter of satirical-minded songwriter Nancy White. The youngsters forgo any
traditional directions, instead favouring a bruising yet infectious electro-clash sound.
Their second album, Ball (2007), sees the band sharpen its focus in the wake of tours
with Sloan, Cuff the Duke and the Hidden Cameras. An unhinged rockabilly hound who
sounds like a kid brother to Nick Cave, Jon Spencer and Suicide‘s Alan Vega, Slim Twig
made an impressive debut with Whiite Fantaseee (2007), a self-released EP that mixes
eerie electronics with bare-bones rock ‘n‘ roll. And by playing the subject of Ellen Page‘s
teenage crush in Bruce McDonald‘s The Tracey Fragments, he proved his onstage
charisma translates to movie screens, too.—Jason Anderson
When: Feb. 23/08 - Doors 9 p.m.
How Much: $10 at the door; $8 in advance from Rotate This, Soundscapes.
Source: http://www.torontolife.com/guide/arts-and-entertainment/pop/spiralbeach-and-slim-twig/
FEATURES
New Kids In Town
BY STUART BERMAN January 02, 2008
Like Quest for Fire, we expect these rising local acts to make some noise in
2008:
SLIM TWIG/TROPICS Renaissance-man-about-town Slim Twig (pictured) deals in two
kinds of love. Alongside drummer Simone TB, he exorcises his broke-down Birthday
Party blues as scrappy garage-rock duo Tropics. But on his own, he indulges his
Suicide-al tendencies in a secret laboratory of pawn-shop electronics — and in the
stunning 10-minute title track to his recent Whiite Fantaseee EP, Slim‘s fashioned a
junkie-drone epic to rank alongside Suicide‘s ―Frankie Teardrop‖ and Lou Reed‘s ―Street
Hassle.‖
Source: http://www.eyeweekly.com/music/features/article/14212
MUSIC FEATURE
TWIG BREAKING
Rising star Slim Twig‘s Suicide kick
By Tim Perlich
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Providing his annual antidote to all the well-wishing and holiday cheering, Dan Burke,
the Silver Dollar‘s boss of bah-humbug, is once again teaming with confounding cut-up
Nick Flanagan to throw another twisted Merry Grinchmas bash.
To help bring your high spirits down a notch, they‘ve enlisted rising scene star Slim Twig
and his Mercy Mercinaries, whose darkly demented synth-rockabilly jams like the knifeslashing Brothel Hunting! And the hearse-driven Tormen has made their new White
Fantaseee EP into the grim grabber of the season.
But the Twigster wants everyone to know he‘s not entirely to blame for most of that
deviant badness he whispers about so menacingly. It‘s just a bit of role-playing. That
seems more plausible after seeing his breakout performance as bad-boy rocker Billy
Zero in Bruce McDonald‘s critically acclaimed The Tracey Fragments, which stars Ellen
Page (recently nominated for a Golden Globe) and Maxwell McCabe-Locos, once known
as Max Danger of the Deadly Snakes.
―It‘s true that in most of my songs I‘m singing in the voice of an evil person who does
horrible things,‖ concedes Slim Twig with a chuckle. ―And for some reason I really enjoy
being able to step into that sort of persona both in film and in music. Maybe it‘s because
I feel like I‘m getting away with something. I don‘t know, it‘s just very comfortable for
me.‖
Much has been made in the media of the strangeness of Slim Twig‘s music, which
brings together elements of hayseed rockabilly and squelchy analog synth twittering. But
if you‘re familiar with Suicide‘s rebellious distortions, Slim Twig‘s concoction seems less
like a bizarre new hybrid than an extrapolation from the electro-nihilism of Alan Vega and
Martin Rev, which itself was just a stepwise refinement of the Silver Apples‘
groundbreaking experiments a few years earlier.
―In the few reviews of my stuff that I‘ve seen, it really surprised me that no one else has
made the Suicide connection. Some writers have tried to draw comparisons to Jon
Spencer Blues Explosion and electronica – which I don‘t listen to at all – but there‘s a
much more obvious link to Suicide. They really set the precedent for what I do, taking
the whole 50s rockabilly aesthetic and doing something modern with it. ―I liked that first
Suicide record, but there was a bonus disc with the Blast First reissue of their Second
Album called The First Rehearsal Tapes (from 1975), and that recording sounds so
otherworldly it‘s incredible. It‘s like it came from Mars – the music isn‘t tied to any time or
place.
―That was very inspiring. The whole idea of creating music that could leave people
wondering, ‗Where did this come from… and when?‘ was something I very much took to
heart.‖ When Slim Twig talks about using rockabilly as a jump-off point for his own
recordings, he‘s not just referring to the superficial hillbilly hiccupping aspect of it, but to
the associated scotch tape ‘n‘ rubber band innovations of those groundbreaking 50s
productions, too.
―Since they didn‘t have all the high-tech gear you find in studios today, there was always
a certain amount of experimentation going on to get what they were after. You‘ll hear all
these weird sounds on those early records that often happened by accident. I‘m really
interested in those happy accidents that lead to unexpected variations of sound, and
take advantage of them whenever possible.
―I don‘t have much cash or access to a real recording studio, so I did everything myself
on a computer in my bedroom, just using whatever I could get my hands on. If you listen
to the track Brothl Hunting! you can hear some tape manipulation I did on the bridge.
That was just messing around with some cassettes I had lying around, running them
through a delay pedal to get some interesting effects by speeding them up and slowing
them down. You can get very resourceful when you don‘t have any money to spend.‖
Source: http://www.nowtoronto.com/music/story.cfm?content=161030
Disc Review
SLIM TWIG
The rockabilly scene, not known for its ability to evolve, adapt and change musically with
the times, expends a large degree of effort recreating 50-year-old aesthetics and
upholding purist ideals.
But Slim Twig is blowing the dust off his pseudo-billy sound with a laptop rhythm section.
He then commits the ultimate heresy by adding synths and strings, as on the disjointed
title track to this homemade EP. Brothl Hunting! Is new-generation John Spencer as
Twig twitches his switchblade-sharp lyrics – "You wanna love me, half-mast/You wanna
cold cut me" – over a pounding digi-beat. David Lynch should be all over this.
NOW | December 6-13, 2007 | VOL 27 NO 14
Source:
http://www.nowtoronto.com/music/discs.cfm?content=160872&archive=27,14,20
07
Slim Twig
"Gate Hearing"
11/29/2007 By Cam Lindsay
I'm pretty amazed (read: disappointed) that Toronto's Slim Twig is still sitting at the level
of obscurity he was three years ago. He exudes the kind of cool we worshipped in Extra
Width-era Jon Spencer's rockabilly punk chic and Genesis P. Orridge's extreme mixedmedia weirdness, and that's hard to come by. Slim's caught the eye of someone though:
Bruce MacDonald, who cast him in his latest film, The Tracey Fragments, alongside
Ellen Page. His avant-rockabilly- (anti-) folk, however, shouldn't be overshadowed by his
dead cool image and affable oddity. "Gate Hearing" sounds like it was recorded in an
oversized oil drum with a mutant horse inside trotting the rhythm, a crew of zombies
stumbling with the string section, a radiating synth cluttered with goo keeping it on
repeat, and Slim's raging vocal - a howl that marries the uninhibited deliveries of Lux
Interior and Ziggy Stardust. The video is collaboration with Exploding Motorcar
Collective, who joins him on December 4 along with the Huckleberry Friends at the Tiger
Bar in Toronto.
Source:
http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/generalarticlesynopsfullart.aspx?csid1=117&csid2=804&fid1=2903
2
ON DISC
Slim Twig: Whiite Fantaseee
BY CHRIS BILTON November 28, 2007 10:11
EDITORIAL RATING: ***
Electronica and rockabilly finally got drunk and hooked up for one twisted night of crosspollination, resulting in a local enigma that goes by the name Slim Twig. This one-man
act and sometime actor is often found in the all-ages vicinity of the Huckleberry Friends
— HF‘s own Siena Decampo lends her keyboard skills to the EP — but Slim Twig‘s
music is definitely out there on its own in the grating-yet-catchy expanse of
experimentation. The samba programming on ―Tormen‖ provides a twisted background
for what sounds like Elvis singing himself into the drug-dazed oblivion of his reverbchamber bathroom, while the title track builds to a swirling, synthy mess for a full 10
minutes of cello-soaked ecstasy. And lyrics such as ―With the gunmetal sweaty‖ and ―I
want to be that eloquent smoker‖ (from ―Brothl Hunting!‖ and ―Gate Hearing!‖
respectively) offer just a taste of the greasy poetics that populate Slim Twig‘s weird
world.
Source: http://www.eyeweekly.com/music/ondisc/article/11553
Slim Twig unleashes "Vernacular Violence" and limited
edition vinyl!
Paper Bag Records is psyched to unleash the second piece of Slim Twig's EP series
with the release of Vernacular Violence on August 5th.
Twig's musical imagination has brought us a handful of self-releases and Paper Bag
Records' release of the Derelict Dialect EP on April 1, 2008, which tapped Slim as "a
rising scene star and renaissance-man-about-town". It's safe to say that Slim Twig's
unconventional song styling‘s and "other-worldly" live shows are already winning over
fans and media alike.
Slim Twig's more recent recording sessions have involved a grittier sound, self-coined as
Concrete Rockabilly, that began to turn eyes and ears last year especially with the epic
track "Whiite Fantaseee". The Vernacular Violence EP will properly present further clues
at what we might expect to see him offer in the near future as he works towards his first
full-length album.
Slim has shared stages with the likes of Man Man, Born Ruffians and Miracle Fortress,
recently completed a tour with Pop Montreal's 'Pop Off Tour' as the headlining act and
will be a part of this Summer's Pitchfork Festival holding down after-party performance
duties. Offstage, Slim can also be seen on screen opposite Ellen Page in Bruce
McDonald's 'The Tracey Fragments' as Billy Zero and has composed music for the
award-winning short film 'Letters From R'.
In celebration of the release of Vernacular Violence and the limited edition vinyl
combining both EPs, Slim Twig will be performing at the Music Gallery in Toronto on
September 6th. Stay tuned for further details on a full Canadian tour this fall coming
soon…
Vernacular Violence Track Listing:
1. Brothl Hunting
2. Tormen
3. Street Proposition
4. Whiite Fantaseee
5. Gate Hearing!
Source: http://paperbagrecords.com/news/slim-twig-vv-news

SLIM TWIG - Paper Bag Records

Transcription

Similar documents

Kensington® Slim Type Keyboard Features

Booking Jack Rabbit Slims

Teacher`s Notes Zadania maturalne, Temat: Człowiek

Merchandise ARTIST: Taking Back Sunday - Warner-Elektra

PPCO Twist System

Merchandise ARTIST: Taking Back Sunday - Warner-Elektra

CinerArium Brochure - The UK`s Leading Cemetery Design