Aidan Baker
Apillow
Electroluminescent
Elika
Le Chat Blanc Orchestra
The Sales Department
Thisquietarmy
Shane Whitbread
Aidan Baker
Drone master Aidan Baker is a musician from Toronto. Anyone who hasn't heard of him by now have been sleeping under a rock for the past decade, as he has performed all over Canada, the US & Europe several times. Aidan Baker has also released countless albums (more than 100 by our last estimate) on countless different labels from around the world, either under his own name or with his numerous projects Nadja, Mnemosyne, ARC.& other collaborations.
As a solo artist, Baker explores the deconstructive sonic possibilities of the electric guitar as a primary sound source. Yet, even with his infinte discography, Aidan's guitar sounds have always been refreshing as they instantly mesmerize and penetrates the inner soul.
Discography
See Aidan Baker website for extensive discography.
"Orange"
EP w/ Thisquietarmy (TQA003, Thisquietarmy Records, 2006)
Website & Contact
www.aidanbaker.org
aidanbaker@gmail.com
Apillow
After successfully leading Below The Sea through 3 full-length albums on Where Are My Records, Patrick Lacharité finally releases a disc of his very own solo work.
Apillow tinkers on an old lonely piano, scratches on his effected guitar and mixes it all up with computer-generated percussions to create imaginative and complex build-ups within the minimalism realm. This could be your perfect soundtrack for the upcoming autumnal season that you'd wish it never ends.
Discography
"Leaves Winter Alone " EP (TQA008, Thisquietarmy Records, 2007)
Website & Contact
Electroluminescent
Ryan Ferguson has been active on the fringes of the Hamilton music scene for years now – picking up occasional shows with the guys from canadian space-rock icons Sianspheric and others. Though these musical experiences have only pushed Ryan to do his own and creating his own brand of psychedelic drone as Electroluminescent.
He actively started to play solo shows some four years later in 2002, always somehow improvising and changing his sets, never playing the same thing twice. Carrying a pile of gear on stage, Electroluminescent's successful one-man band challenge to sample everything on the fly, from guitars to synths to electronic drums made his live shows very dynamic and mostly very impressive. He has since then gathered a lot of interest and support from the scene, opening for the likes of A Silver Mt. Zion & Simply Saucer, touring Europe with Below The Sea.
Discography
Pattern Blue LP (Self Released, 2004)
"And Climbing" EP (Self Released, 2005)
"Three Steps From A Valley" EP (Chat Blanc Records, 2005)
"Open On All Sides" EP (Chat Blanc Records, 2006)
"Measures"
EP (TQA006, Thisquietarmy Records, 2007)
Website & Contact
www.myspace.com/electroluminescent
elecluminescent@hotmail.com
Elika
Elika is a boy and a girl from Brooklyn who write and record dreamy music with killer beats.
They combine blissed-out and narcotic ambience with head-nodding beats that range from Downtempo to Trance to IDM. Spacey female vocals mix with gauzy, textured guitars, field recordings, and crisp drum programming to create incredibly visual songs with the atmosphere of childhood and layers of detail.
A mix of Shoegaze and Electronica, Elika is equal parts Slowdive and Boards of Canada combined with elements from My Bloody Valentine, Aphex Twin, and Flying Saucer Attack. Their music washes neon-tinted melodies with multilayered, psychedelic percussion.
Elika’s live setup is unusual for most bands. Eva’s processed ethereal vocals, analog keyboards, snare drum and ride cymbal meld with Brian’s treated guitar, keyboards, and laptops. Accompanied by beat matched projections, their live sound is an overwhelming mix of ambience, melody, and ass shaking bass.
This first TQA(r) release combines the best of their early material with brand new recently recorded exclusive tracks. The quality of their songwritiing and production makes them THE band to watch out for in today's shoegaze/dreampop scene.
Discography
"Elika" EP (TQA002, Thisquietarmy Records)
Website & Contact
www.elikamusic.com
www.myspace.com/elikamusic
info@elikamusic.com
Le Chat Blanc Orchestra
Pascal Asselin has been all over the map since 1995, notably known as the drummer for the crafty instrumental band Below The Sea, but more importantly as known as his moniker Millimetrik, and has released 3 full-lengths albums on Statik Records & various EPs on smaller independent labels, and has played a few times at MUTEK festival, and all over Europe as well. He is also a DJ, a remix artist, has a few other project (Snowflake, Glider) as well as the man behind the artsy-crafty label Chat Blanc Records.
Mathieu Grisé is known as one of Montreal’s post-shoegaze band Destroyalldreamers’ guitarist. He also releases music under his moniker Ixe-13 (EP & full-length on Chat Blanc Records), and has appeared on Below The Sea’s last LP.
Both musicians have been collaborating for a few years, when Pascal took Mathieu under his wing shortly after they’ve met. As a result, Mathieu has joined Pascal on stage for a several Millimetrik shows in 2005 & 2006, opening for Jérôme Minière and playing at the Under the Snow festival, amongst others. They also did a split album for Worthy Records called Lo-Fi Love, and has both remix songs for each other.
This new project is only a logical evolution from everything they’ve done together so far. Le Chat Blanc Orchestra combines parts of their own project Millimetrik & Ixe-13, as well as their eternal love for Lo-Fi but also for true ambient music.
Borrowing from the mindset of the untouchable contemporary gurus Stars of the Lid as well as the early works of Brian Eno, LCBO has been crafting slow slow-moving minimal pieces of ambient music, starting with drones and ending with deep orchestral melodies, yet without breaking out of the ambient mould.
They successfully accommodate both passive and active listening, either for background music to study to – or for dark self-introspection, without forcing one on another : the listener gets to choose. However, armed with laptops, samplers & guitar, the duo proved that they are able to sustain the interest of a public audience when they played their first show, supporting Michigan space-rock pioneers Auburn Lull in March 2007.
Discography
"Théories sur la danse " EP (TQA004, Thisquietarmy Records)
Website & Contact
www.myspace.com/lechatblancorchestra
The Sales Department
MD Matheson formed The Sales Department in 2006 after successfully leading Beef Terminal through a decade of analogue samples and guitar based core values. He has released 4 full-length albums as Beef Terminal on Noise Factory Records and a few compilations before calling it quits.
The main idea behind the TSD project is portability: making music with a computer and found sounds, without real instruments, wherever he may be. TSD could be found at home in Toronto or mixing on a plane during on his travels throughout Thailand & China. The results: Music made by computers operated by a human, reminescent of a comeback of Warp Records' IDM ambient artists such as Autechre, Plaid & Boards of Canada, with the transposed essence of Beef Terminal's soul.
Discography
"Accounts" EP (TQA007, Thisquietarmy Records, 2007)
Website & Contact
www.thesalesdepartment.ca
www.myspace.com/thesalesdepartment
Thisquietarmy
...is the musical solo project of Eric Quach from destroyalldreamers.
His journey throughout thisquietarmy consists of exploring the guitar as the sole tone generator and more importantly the different combinations of the effects boxes that has acquired since the beginning, making full use the capacity of a real-time looper to create soundscapes & textures, discovering sounds & melodies in a blank canvas context while trying to create instrumental ambient music that is as interesting and diversified as possible.
Ideas are often generated by the re-interpretation of its own improvisations. textures are sometimes captured on the moment and details are sometimes added afterwards. Multi-tracking, layering, decompositions & reconstructions are uncommon in the process either. Making instrumental ambient with only one instrument in real-time can be a live challenge. on records, the music is best to be listened with headphones.
Discography
"Wintersleeper"
EP (TQA001, Thisquietarmy Records, 2005)
"Orange" EP with Aidan Baker (TQA003, Thisquietarmy Records, 2006)
"See You Space Cowboy..." on "Blanc: Résultat"
compilation (CBR-013, Chat Blanc Records, 2006)
"The Golden Record" on "String Theory" compilation (out soon, Dreamland Records, 2006)
"Echotone" EP (CBR-30, Chat Blanc Records, 2007)
Website & Contact
www.myspace.com/thisquietarmy
thisquietarmy@gmail.com
Shane Whitbread
Also known as 'Fiveways', which was cut down from 'fivewaysfromsunday' when he found out about the christian rock band of the same name. He now releases his work under his real name & uses 'Fiveways-sound' as his recording studio's name.
He is a legend on the guitar geek forum, a source for live guitar-related unfortunate events myths + tales & an opinionated human pedal effects encyclopedia.
With synths & vocoder aside, Shane Whitbread has been on a lifelong mad scientist-like mission to create the perfect guitar rig that will deliver the capacity to be able to play the way he has always intended to play, and to create the ambitious music he has always intended to make. Unfortunately he has been struggling every day with the frustration & limitations of his own guitar gear, which has resulted in a roller-coaster of emotions toward music making & piles of unsatisfying tapes + lost ideas.
Luckily, he has been able to find within himself & in-between this whole mess, some wonderful pieces of music that are deemed worthy to be released. Just don't expect him to play another live show before he completes his rig.
Discography
"Tomorrow fades away" EP (TQA005, Thisquietarmy Records)
Website & Contact
www.myspace.com/fivewayssound
fiveways@gmail.com