Hailing
from southern Canada, Cancelled is the experimental recording
project of Marc Bourgon perhaps more widely known as one half of Cambridge, Ontario's two-man sludge/doom wrecking ball Greber and
grindcore legends Fuck The Facts. Spawned as a way to pass
time during long tour drives Cancelled has been cultivated into a
meaningful creative outlet, as Bourgon explains
“For the past 10 years of
my life I have been constantly writing music, “Whether it be jotting down ideas
on a notepad, droning out in our practice space or fleshing out ideas on a
laptop it’s something that I have a hard time not doing on a daily
basis.”
Originally
part of a larger group of music, “Tenebrific” Cancelled sophomore release set to hit the
streets on Friday 3/3/2017 was thinned down to three songs to
deliver the greatest impact possible. “I
had intended to have this release be a lot longer but these three songs just
seemed to gel better that the rest of the material.”
Having
release “Threshold Adjustment”,
on Christmas day 2013, This time around Bourgon asked Kurt Ballou of Godcity Studios
to handle the mix and Ryan
Butler of Arcane Digital to master it. The combination
gave the songs the aggressive stain Bourgon wanted them to have.
“Working with those two was great. I’ve
always wanted to work with Kurt (Ballou) and Butler
Today
we have been fortunate enough to have been asked to stream the EP “Tenebirific”
is full, but not only that we asked Marc to choose his Top 5 experimental albums as
we take our weekly trip into the extreme, by cranking it to 11. Why do we go to 11, because “It’s one louder, isn’t it?”
1.
Propagandhi
– “Today’s
Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes”
I had been a huge Propagandhi fan for years prior to the release of this record and on it’s first listen I felt a little alienated. Fast forward years later and I find it to be some next level shit. Each song seems to have its own sonic agenda. Laced with odd time signatures and overall weird arrangements (for punk) this record opened by eyes to using unconventional means to get my point across. Can’t think of a better example of a band breaking away from their sound and it paying off huge.
2. Pile – “You’re Better Than This”
As far as experimental goes Pile is a pretty tame dish but there is some lower level of insanity that flourishes within their music. The song structures are all over the map and the singer always sounds like he’s one lane change away from smashing into the guardrail. Ranging from frenetically bursting anthems to “calm before the storm” ballads, their depth and overall mastery of song is like nothing else. I feel this record caught them at the perfect moment and I religiously listen to it to it at least once a week.
3. Keelhaul – “Subject to Change Without Notice”
If you take any suggested listening away from this, please take this. Basting some head-spinning riffery over some spin-heading drums, Keelhaul is by far one of my favourite bands of all time. I feel as though they are titans when it comes to taking something ridiculously complicated and making it groovy and listenable. As mostly an instrumental band they seem to have a “meh, whenever” approach to vocals and it works out beautifully it their favour. This album got me into them but you really can’t find a bad record with their name on it.
4. Tortoise – “Standards”
This one is a classic. I find I hear something new each time I listen to this one. With an unlimited arsenal of instruments and players at its disposal Tortoise throw in everything but the kitchen sink to make a song work. While more on the softer end of the spectrum I always feel that they make shit crash more than a lot of aggressive bands out there today.
5. Steely Dan – “Can’t Buy a Thrill”
Steely Dan eh? You’re probably regretting reading this article by now aren’t you? Yes. Steely Fucking Dan. It’s Yacht Rock, I know. Sorry. This, and any of their other records are solid gold bricks squeezed onto wax. With studio production that to this day can’t be touched and some of the weirdest progressions in all of classic rock I feel that Steely Dan were, and still are, the most punk motherfuckers ever. “Can’t Buy a Thril”l just has all the jams on it and it’s one of my favourite records of all time. If you’re looking for a SD jump off point, this is it.
