LA Timpa: Fertile
LA Timpa always rides a line between off-kilter pop and electronic abstraction, and their new video falls deliberately on the side of obfuscation. The Nigeria-born, Toronto-raised, UK based producer and songwriter created Fertile, the song, based on lengthy field recordings played by another artist in the studio. “I began creating different percussion/’drum’ patterns from it all,” says Timpa in an email. “Like a lot of my work, it was all very improvised.” Over skittering and spare percussion, bleeps and bloops, Timpa sings in a tender falsetto reminiscent of Thom Yorke. “With you I’ll cry” becomes “With you I’ll try.”
The video was directed by Timpa’s frequent collaborator Kathryn Tompkins, who directed the musician to “bring this image down without touching.” Timpa spends most of the video staring intently at a picture taped to a wall, but it’s filmed through multiple shifting and blurring screens. You feel like you’re watching a picture of a picture of a picture, and then you see the cracked computer screen that is the video’s prism. Timpa hints it’s about tearing yourself down completely just to build yourself up again.
Fragile comes from LA Timpa’s 2019 album Equal Amounts Afraid, out now digitally on Bandcamp and on CD via Boomkat.
TiKA featuring Desiire: Mine
Toronto’s queer party collective Raven’s Vision are releasing their first compilation, silk & lace. The group, which has been making noise for a few years now, decided to bring that electronic music scene out of the underground and onto an album. “There’s an entire Toronto electronic music scene that has been ongoing for years,” founding member Casey MQ tells NOW. “This album represents the soundscapes of Toronto’s underground,” adds fellow founding member Blip†or. “Unique, dark, sexy & sinister. It paints a canvas of what the pulse and heartbeat is in the DIY scene.”
The first single is a soulful and thumping vocal house classic from local R&B powerhouses TiKA and Desiire. They’re not official members of Raven’s Vision, but represent the sound and ethos of the community. “[This compilation] is an opportunity to be featured amongst musicians and artists who are typically overlooked or ignored because they don’t fit into a certain box,” says TiKA. “I’m grateful to be surrounded by warmth, acceptance and freedom to be myself.”
Raven’s Vision will release silk & lace with a show on February 21 at Unit 2 featuring founding members Casey MQ, Blip†or and Myst Milano alongside special guests Desiire, Benedicte, James Baley, LAL, R. Flex and TiKA – all of whom are on the compilation. More information via Facebook.
#NOWplaying
We’ve updated our ongoing playlist of the best Toronto music with new songs from Lido Pimienta (who also just announced the release date and show for her long-awaited Miss Colombia album), Caribou, Austra, Paul Chin and more. Also some selections from the artists in our Valentine’s Day feature about what it’s like to make music with your romantic partner.
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