New music I love – Sep 2017

These might not all be newly released (most are, some aren’t) but they’re new to me, and I love ’em.
Maybe you will too. Brighten up your day, engage your ears, stimulate your mind. Listen… ❤

Mondo Cosmo – Plastic Soul
Off in a dream land.

Thelem – Ninety 3
Otherworldly.

Cat Clyde – Mama Said
Harken back to a simpler time, I think about it all the time. 

Cherry Glazerr – Told You I’d Be With The Guys
Oh, those vocals highs get me so high. 

Camila Cabello, Quavo – OMG This is how shit should sound. This is every trick in the book these days, but done right, done with quality talent.

Mad Zach – Belittle No One
Mental on top, deep bassy feet grounded below.

PUP – The Coast
But pretty much everything they make.

Campfire Stories 22 (Isotope Cobalt #5) by Roel Funcken
nearly 2.5hrs of beautiful ambient music on the incredible Silent Season label.

Brothertiger – High Tide
Lost in the bliss of a seaside high. 

Hundred Waters – Blanket Me
That climax is gorgeously goosebump inducing. 

River Whyless – Sailing Away
When you’re feeling worn out and need to be carried on a gentle breeze to the next stage.

The Black Angels – Young Men Dead
So heavy, when you listen to this you could walk through an inferno and emerge unscathed.

Brian Jonestown Massacre – Anemone
A timeless sound. Let’s take a road trip. 

Four Tet – Two Thousand and Seventeen
I’ve loved Four Tet since his early work, right through to his more recent club bangers. Here, he takes a somber look at this challenging year. 

Clairmont The Second with Cola H – Worth
Oooooh yeah, love this echo chamber of moody beats with smooooooth vocal delivery. 

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New music I love

Here’s what’s totally caught my ears and gotten into my head lately. I think everything here is pretty brand new. Enjoy.

Kate Simko & London Electronic Orchestra – XX Intro
Gorgeous orchestral version of the classic song that kicked off The XX’s takeover of the emo world.

Fuzz – Silent Sits The Dust Bowl
Perfect name for this totally fuzzed out psychedelic rock track.

Cash Savage and The Last Drinks – Falling, Landing
Dark blues from Australia.

Dusky – Psychic Life Coach
Atmospheric house. So good.

Overcoats – The Fog
Heavy lyrics with deceptively uplifting production.

Beware of Darkness – Muthafucka
Heavy. With a cat video!

Golden Drugs – Ghost Song
Awesomely fresh psychedelic pop from Oakland.

The Comet Is Coming – Start Running
Off on a blissful free jazz planet.

Pile – Baby Boy
Post-hardcore from Boston. Scream!

n u a g e s – Dreams
You know I’m a sucker for atmospheric stuff like this.

FORXST – a w a k e
Fresh chillwave trap from Poland.

The Shouting Matches – I Had A Real Good
Bluesy rocky side project by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon.

Kaido – Fruit Punch
Some of the most bouncingly reach for the sky hip hop you’ll hear.

Mount Kimbie – Blue Train Lines feat. King Krule
This is art. This powerful song stands on it’s own. But adding this intense video to it is one of the most moving things I’ve experienced of late.

Delinquent Habits – Shake
Pretty much everything on their 2017 It Could Be Round Two album is good energy track after track.

Goin’ out on a high note. Listen up for next time!

99U: Consistently Relevant

I never stop being impressed by the relevant content on 99U.

If you’re an entrepreneur or freelance creator, the content here is gold.

Most recent worth reading: “The Best Ideas Are Brewed out of Authenticity,” and interview with Bevel’s Tristan Walker, written by Sean Blanda.

A couple key moments:

As an entrepreneur, you have to not give a shit about what people think about you.

and

One of our values is wellness. If you’re not taking care of yourself you’re not taking care of your business.

Read the full article here.

Ashley Tanasiychuk: Visual Artist. Arts Promoter. Community Builder. Entrepreneur. Here’s my comprehensive CV

You might know that I shoot rad photos. You may know that I shoot rad videos too. Do you know that I’m also a whizz at video editing, writing, and copy editing?

That I can manage a team? Plan an event?

There’s so much I could be hired for, it’s bananas.

From management to design to photography and video, plus a helluva lot more in between, there’s a ton I can offer you, your project, or your business.

So here it is: my comprehensive CV (opens within this page). Enjoy.

Contents

• Statement
• Skills & talents
• Professional experience
• Formal post secondary education
• Additional education, workshops, scholarships
• Volunteer selections
• Featured work
• Compliments & accolades
• Equipment
• Interests & goals

Please share with anyone who might benefit from my skills and talents.

Link to this page, download from my home site formatnoauto.com (“CV PDF download” link is at left column), or have them contact me directly.

Thank you.

#artistathome

What an honour!

Vancouver-based photographer Christopher Edmonstone has thrown himself into an incredible portrait photography project. It’s called #artistathome. And I’m his most recent subject!

He hand-picks artists who he believes are doing great things in the city, whether they’re recording albums or building community.

One of the best parts is, he isn’t just wham bam thank you ma’am in and out; for Christopher this is just as much about building and strengthening relationships as it is about building a solid body of photos (he’s shot upwards to 90 #artistathome portraits now).

Christopher meets the artist at their home. He talks with the artist. Really talks. A hey-how-ya-doin’-it’s-been-waaaaaay-too-long-but-we’re-not-just-gonna-gloss-over-the-highlights-we’re-gonna-get-to-the-nitty-gritty-and-really-talk. And he really listens. And shares.

It was a fantastic Saturday afternoon.

I’m touched by what Christopher wrote, to accompany the portrait:

I really want you to meet today’s ‪#‎artistathome‬ as he was one of the first people that helped enable the way for me in my current path.

I met him in January 2011 shooting a show at The Commodore Ballroom. Back then I was hustling every band I wanted to photograph coming to town to get a photopass. He suggested that I contact him the next time I wanted to shoot a show as he was now the photo editor of concert blog site called guttersnipe. From that point I on could focus on shooting shows instead of spending time trying to get a photopass.

After a couple of years Ashley had come to the realization that big stars didn’t need him to take photos, but that his local community did. He started shooting events featuring local artists, gallery openings, artists talks bands and performers eventually wrapping all of it into what is now the website called VANDOCUMENT. Actually, it is more than just a website, it is a great collection of photographers, videographers and writers that embody and share the idea that art is important, and that you can build community through it. Ashley’s is doing his dream and what he believes in.

VANDOCUMENT has grown into a true collective of over 50 volunteer contributors over the past two years since it was launched in May 2013. Having seen first hand the growth of this VANDOCUMENT I am really impressed with everything about it, from the aesthetics, to it’s mission statement, to plans to turn it into an official not-for-profit organization. I think everyone can learn something from some of Ashley’s guiding principals for his life.

I will share with you three points taken from a recent talk that he gave at the Dreamers + Doers Event:

1. Surround yourself with believers, supporters, and participants in your dream.
2. Thank those who help you, give back to those who give to you, and create opportunities for them. Build and respect your community.
3. Take chances. Lots of them. As often as possible.

These are amazing words to live by and they are something I strive towards. It was really great to get together with Ashley last week over some beers and later burgers! Be sure to check out http://www.VANDOCUMENT.com, lots of interesting stuff happening in the city we all love.

Thank you Christopher. You’re an incredible human and a massive talent. Keep it up!

Here’s to two thousand more

Two years ago today, I launched a little project called VANDOCUMENT.

I created it because Vancouver has a vibrant passionate arts scene – from theatre to visual art, from contemporary dance to music – and the amount of talent here is huge, the amount of fresh content being created is massive.

It deserved to be – it desperately needed to be – documented. To give the artists and galleries and festivals a record of what they’ve done.
To use as promotion.
To build their portfolios.
To help them continue to do what they love to do most.

And to connect Vancouverites with the best local emerging art. To show that there is SO much more happening than what is advertised at the VAG or coming to the Commodore.
To educate our city in it’s own creative culture.
To break down barriers and preconceptions.
To make our local art more approachable, more accessible.

So this is what we’ve been doing at VANDOC since May 10, 2013.

2 years on, this isn’t just my little project anymore. VANDOC is now a team of over fifty people (!): dozens of incredibly talented and dedicated writers, photographers, videographers, sound recorders, illustrators, dancers, designers, painters, editors, party organizers, social media pros, accountants, musicians, students, researchers.

2 years and hundreds of articles later, our collective ears are to the ground; we’re digging into the best and most exciting art created by Vancouver’s local and emerging artists.

Since the new year alone, we’ve published 29 original articles featuring the work of nearly 100 artists at 24 venues across the city. We tell these stores through gorgeous photo galleries, sensory-packed written reviews and interviews, video recaps, and even field audio recordings.

Some 2015 highlights:

• We continued our relationship with SFU Woodward’s
  
• and with VIVO Media Arts, documenting rad experimental events such as the Quiet City series
  
• We triple-teamed Centre A for a photo / video / written opus
  
• We helped launch a new artist interview podcast series called 8minuteswith
  
• We documented some of the new Field House residencies, adding audio field recordings to our documentation tool kit along the way.
  
• Hello Kitty-bordered photos landed in our pages(!)
  
• and we set a precedence for discussing activist art and culture, with #KMFaces, video, in depth reporting and more
  

We’re often asked if we need more contributors, since it seems we have a big team (which we do), but the door is always open:
If you dig art & want to help in connecting Vancouverites to our city’s art, and want to help in celebrating our city’s artists through documentation,
if you want to get your writing, photography, video, or voice published
if you want to expand your network of cool, involved, engaged, creative individuals,
say hi!
sayhi(at)vandocument.com

Here’s to our team of over 50 incredible, amazing, inspiring, talented, a wickedly fun contributors! Here’s to Vancouver’s artists! Here’s to all the supporters of the arts! To all the enablers of the arts – those of you who throw events and make it all happen! Happy Birthday!

Support art. Love yourself. Connect with the people around you.

Big love. Here’s to two thousand more brilliant years of arts documentation.
Ash

VANDOC’s channels
fcbk + twitter + vimeo + tumblr + soundcloud + instagram

Gorgeous Music To Hold Your Soul In A Gentle Palm

Gal Gracen. A Vancouver-based “fantasy / romance” band, as described on their facebook page. Or my favourite description of their music: “dreamcatcher,” as listed on their bandcamp.
Check this out, you and your soul will be better for it: Blue Hearts in Exile

And if after those 7 gorgeous tracks, you’re as in love with them as I am, you won’t miss their show at 303 Columbia on Thurs May 14, in which other brilliant Vancouver bands such as Mesa Luna, Whitney K, and Plazas will perform at.