Noise Complaint

North Vancouver’s George Nixon released his debut EP in 2012 – a dark, alt. country dream called Ghosts on the Road. Described as sombre acoustic blues and country-noir, his music has a traditional folk sound laced with vivid urban imagery and a dusty, gritty edge that makes it feel modern, a bit punk, and incredibly unique.

This is part one of two of my conversation with lié - we got cut short due to a scheduling conflict, but stay tuned for part two which was taped in the music office, directly after this conversation.

Tune Builders, founded by Vancouver-based David Beckingham, singer-songwriter and guitarist for Juno-nominated Vancouver band Hey Ocean, offers a musical mentorship and songwriting program for youth who want to experience playing in a band. Whether beginner or advanced, we believe anybody who is interested should get to experience playing musical instruments, songwriting, recording and performing music with their friends. Participants are led and mentored by a team of professional touring/recording artists with a passion for music, creativity and inspiring young artists to play with their boundless creative potential.

Lucid swings by CiTR to perform some songs from his debut EP "Unfufilled" and Alex de Boer makes a special guest appearance!

With their massive sonics and anthemic pop songwriting, Woolworm is an arena rock band that just so happens to perform in DIY venues. Their music, which somehow seamlessly combines shoegaze, Britpop, post-punk, hardcore and black-metal into an impossibly cohesive sound, is the sum of their parts. Heather Black pounds her bass like she’s ripping a basement punk set before delivering sweet vocal harmonies straight out of the C86 compilation. Nick Tolliday pummels his drums with the reckless abandon of the hardcore scene that birthed the band. All the while, dual guitarists Alex Pomeroy and Giles Roy offer intricate, complex riff interplay as often as they stomp their pedals and break into hard-hitting power chords.

“People seem to be rightfully wary of rock in general,” frontman Giles Roy says, admitting that his band’s complicated genre blending is rooted in the familiar. “I like the underdog feeling.” That scrappiness is self-evident, but make no mistake: Woolworm are anything but underdogs.

The band’s third album Awe (due out November 8 via Mint) expands the band’s already robust songbook even further by offering a new take on their heavy, hardcore-inflected indie pop sound. The band’s bleakly fulfilling 2017 LP Deserve to Die saw them smashing their heads against the wall, meticulously planning every note before entering a real studio with venerable Vancouver producer Jesse Gander. This time around, they recorded with labelmate Jay Arner whenever the inspiration hit.

Vancouver’s fast-rising, dream-pop quintet Blonde Diamond (formerly Youngblood) is reimagining the live-music experience with their palpable, unapologetic, atmospheric vibe and performance. What started as a creative outlet for front-woman, Alexis Young, Blonde Diamond has now received international recognition for their “simultaneously dreamy and vicious” sound led by powerhouse vocals and ethereal instrumentals. Crowds surrender to the Karen O-like frantic energy and Debbie Harry-esque magnetism.

This world-class wrecking crew has toured extensively across Canada, Europe, Australia, the US, and India, sharing bills with Portugal. the Man, Broken Social Scene, CCR, and Chromeo, as well as sold-out Commodore Ballroom shows in Vancouver with Bishop Briggs and Mother Mother. They were named a must-see band at Toronto’s Canadian Music Week, BreakOut West and Australian Music Week 2016, as well as playing festivals FOCUS Wales and The Great Escape (UK), Reeperbahn (Germany), and NH7 Dotin (India) among many others in 2017.

CiTR's very own host of "Feeling Sounds" performs songs from her debut album "Irrationale".

Sarah's many artistic projects all orbit around the main project of survival - whether in conversation, performance, writing, or dance her voice rings through loud and clear as a fierce force for empathy and change. In her music, Sarah Jickling marries shimmering pop melodies to sharp, candid lyrics about her personal struggles with bipolar disorder. As a touring performer in BC high schools with the BC Schizophrenia Society’s Reach Out Psychosis program she uses music and humour as a tool to deliver practical, destigmatizing education about mental illness. In her newest creative practice, pole dancing and aerial silks, Sarah has turned a coping mechanism into a venue for conversations about shame and body positivity. On The Family Curse, Sarah explores mental illness within families and intergenerational trauma, and documents her childhood experiences and revelations about her family’s history of bipolar disorder.

Duot Bior Ajang aka Atorry Badmind is a South Sudanese musician who just moved to Vancouver in 2013. His music career began in 2010 and he's recorded over 40 songs in different genres ranging from Hip Hop, Reggae, Dancehall and Trap among others.

Gal Gracen talks about the origins of his new album, Fantasy Gardens, and performs an intimate set in studio A.