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Music

Insideamind toy with Nuit Blanche

INSIDEAMIND as part of the broadcast for Nuit Blanche at CIUT (91 St. George), Saturday (October 4), 7 pm to 7 am. ciut.fm.


Not enough musicians in any genre are offering their own visions of art. El-Producto and DJ Krush had a song called Vision Of Art in 2001, addressing the idea of sticking to your inner artistic convictions, haters and critics be damned.

Toronto turntable instrumentalists Steptone and Professor Fingers, also known as Insideamind, have created on their new album a musical world called Scatterpopia. It’s a concept album in the tradition of LAL’s Deportation, Deltron 3030 and Amon Tobin’s Foley Room.

If you can’t find it on a map, Professor Fingers can give you directions. He says, “Just look for the place where turntables grow on trees.” See, it’s right there.

“We focused on exploring the turntable in its entirety, seeking out new sounds,” he continues. “The bass lines might be made by rubbing the needle against your finger, or snares can be the sound of the needle dropping on the record.”

Fittingly, he says the group seeks to “continue to inspire audiences across the galaxies,” as opposed to trying to squeeze their uncategorizable audio aesthetic into the already nebulous yet simultaneously one-dimensional world of modern hip-hop.

Nevertheless, Scatterpopia boldly flows where few producer-DJs have flowed before. The music is liquid, airy and earthy. Spaced out, too. Scatterpopia’s a place where guest musicians become pivotal characters in an acoustic adventure flick.

“Colin Fisher, for instance, is the toy master. We asked him to imagine the toys coming to life under the serenading sounds of his saxophone. The toys are all broken, though, which creates a quirky orchestra of sound, one that reflects the character of the turntable and the land of Scatterpopia really well. Hanna Rahimi, on the other hand, plays on the opening track, laying down a flute melody that peacefully guides the heroes of the story into the thick of an electrical storm. This leads them off course and crashing into the unknown planet.”

With Sarah Sayeed and Ghislain Poirier’s contributions shared long distance between London, England, and Montreal, respectively, the creative process was a mix of organic and digital possibilities, and the result remains one of the year’s finer discoveries. Let your ears have a look.

vibes@nowtoronto.com

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