ON THE COVER: Geronimo Inutiq

The music and media art of Geronimo Inutiq recently attracted attention from the New York Times, which described his piece in the 2017 Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal exhibition "In Search of Expo 67" (new works by Quebec and Canadian artists inspired by Expo 67) as "a trippy installation that commingles videos, prints, and a Katimavik-inspired dance floor." (Katimavik means meeting place in Inuktitut.) It's an apt description of Inutiq's work, which unites sound and image, tradition and technology, and is equally at home at the National Arts Centre, Berlin's Transmediale, and an abandoned tunnel under the blinking red marquee of Montreal's Five Roses flour mill. Crystal Chan follows one year in Inutiq's creative life, starting with his return to his hometown of Iqaluit. Then Inutiq hits the road, driving an RV across Canada to screen films in Indigenous communities. Wherever he goes he listens: to ice floes, to birdsong, to the sounds of a Walmart parking lot. Photos by Jocelyn Piirainen.

A Place to Listen

University of Victoria has produced some of the country's most interesting composers. But the city has had difficulty retaining its creative population, apart from those affiliated directly with the school. Until recently, that is. Since 2012, A Place To Listen has become a peculiar focal point for this newfound vibrancy; it's a satellite in the international Wandelweiser network, emphasizing quiet, drawn-out pieces, yet framing them in a manner that's particular to Victoria. Composers in the ensemble (Daniel Brandes, Kristy Farkas, Maria Eduarda Mendes Martins, Alex Jang, Hollas Longton, and Christopher Reiche) are among the city's key players, working tirelessly to build sustainable grassroots infrastructure for music-making. In addition to A Place to Listen, there's the Victoria Composer's Collective. This article presents a snapshot of Victoria's renaissance. Photos by Adrian Paradis.

The Music of Interface

Sensor technology allows the body's full range of motion to be tracked in high resolution. But would you know that from contemporary instrument design? Canadian artists and composers have considered this question. In the 1980s, David Rokeby created Very Nervous System, an installation that used primitive computer vision to turn body movement into music. More recently researcher Joseph Malloch and composer Patrick Saint-Denis have created sophisticated instruments and systems that "amp up" the musicality of movement and gesture in ways that question what we know about instruments, interaction, and performance. Media-art commentator Greg J. Smith moves in for a closer look.

Karen Ng

Toronto musician Karen Ng is a dazzling performer, whether she's playing saxophone or clarinet, across a range of styles that includes free improvisation, jazz, indie rock, Afrobeat, soft pop, and atmospheric film scores. The thread that holds everything together is Ng's warm embrace of collaborative creation and her enthusiasm for opposite and contradictory modes. Writer Mary Dickie talks to Karen Ng about her self-directed music education, which included studying in the ICP Orchestra, and her adventures as a fearless improviser and instigator of Toronto creative-music events.

Also inside: Jesse Locke catches up German experimental icon Hans-Joachim Roedelius (an octogenarian still making albums at a prolific pace) at a sushi restaurant in Toronto and hears a good story or two.

Raphael Weinroth-Browne (cello) and Shahriyar Jamshidi (kamanche) call their duo Kamancello, but you could dub their heavy improvisations "spike music" (both instruments have an end-pin, after all).

Sara Constant peeks checks in with composer Rebecca Bruton, as she works with Quasar saxophone quartet.

Alexander Varty gets a peek into the ideas and process behind Biophilia, Julia Andreyev and Simon Lysandeer Overstall's multimedia installation work that premiered at ISCM World New Music Days 2017 in Vancouver this fall.

Label profile: Nick Storring unravels the fascinating story of Spool.

ON THE CD:

Geronimo Inutiq

1> Seal Flipper

2> Underworld

Karen Ng

3> Tranzac Solo Improv Set (excerpt)

Kamancello

4> Serpentine

Daniel Brandes

5> each one: enfolded...loved... (excerpt)

Kristy Farkas

6> The continuum of something-nothing (excerpt)

Alex Jang

7> a grey, bent interior horizon (excerpt)

Hollas Longton

8> How to get to Arnhem (excerpt)

Maria Eduarda Mendes Martins

9> Palästinalied: Álrêrst Lébe

Christopher Reiche

10> Double Shadow

Biophilia

11> Biophilia (excerpt)