NXNE Portlands is a large & spacious, concrete location. A space like that is hard to fill. So when Vancouver’s HUMANS took the stage at 6pm on a sunny Sunday their audience was a sparse crowd of 30-ish people. This is a band we’ve seen more than once in rooms packed with dedicated fans, so I was worried. But Peter Ricq and Robbie Slade did not seem to be phased by this lack of audience. As they proceeded to play tracks from their recent EP Water Water and from their critically acclaimed album NOONTIDE, people begun to gather. It was not their typical audience but they definitely gained a few new fans.

Across the park half an hour later River Tiber, real name Tommy Paxton-Beesley, was joined on stage by a band. You may have noticed his name on Drake’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late. Among other collaborations are works completed with BADBADNOTGOOD, Kaytranada, Freddie Gibbs, Mac Miller, and Pusha T, some of which can be accredited to the support of the Red Bull Sound Select. Set on a blue sky background and an occasional tree nodding in the wind River Tiber went right into his chilly, melancholic pop. His lyrics are soft, sad, and at times come of as nearly whispered. The track that put his solo work on the map is “Not Talk” – a song that you can either cry to or have sex to, and it’s an example of this chilly melancholie: “Doesn’t matter if we’ve been down / Nothing’s later than it is now / And you feel it like the motion / To the bottom of the ocean / Getting lifted in the basement / Where we all become the same thing / Always talk like you could get this / In the city acting reckless.” So no, not much dancing was happening during this set, just a lot of waving, bopping, and hugging.

More photos on Facebook.

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A few weeks ago, Quip had the pleasure of catching up with Canadian duo HUMANS before their show at Velvet Underground. It has been almost a year since we spoke to Robbie and Peter and although they are the same fun loving, talented guys we met last June they certainly have a lot of new success and stories to share. We talk career highlights, SXSW shootings, their new EP Water Water, and matching outfits.

Jackie Willson: How has the last year been, any highlights since we last spoke?

Peter Ricq: Well, it took about two years to release that last album and we don’t want to wait that long again, so we are just trying to go to the studio more often, and I think its working. That little EP that we just released [Water Water] was because of the time we put in.

JW: Any interesting experiences from SXSW?

Robbie Slade:[laughing] Well, we played four sets. The last night we had a set that started at 1am, so we were like ‘ok, sweet we’ll DJ’ because all of our shits going to be at the hotel. Then we went and they didn’t have anything, so I had to run back to the hotel and we had to do a traktor DJ set, which is usually pretty lame.

PR: … you can’t listen to your headphones; you just have to go and freestyle it basically, which is how we use to DJ.

RS: … so we just winged it, which was sweet, but when we played this club earlier in the day the sound was really bad. But the sound was good and people were dancing, it was cool. And then someone shot a gun outside. So they had to cancel the party early, even after all the running around, we played for about 30min because someone was shooting guns in the air.

JW: Oh my gosh! Was anyone hurt?

RS: No, but a guy from the Toronto Star was outside and witnessed the whole thing. He said he saw two crews having words and then saw the two crews go on either side of the road and they started shooting at each other.

JW: Wow, ok I’m glad no one was hurt. So… back to Water Water, it sounds amazing by the way. What was the vision behind it?

PR: It’s actually an old song that was going to be on our second EP Traps but we didn’t put it on because it didn’t sound right and when we went back to the studio, we were like ‘we’re going to record this song properly’ then Robbie just dropped a completely different baseline. The lyrics have changed too, the Water Water part is the same but the rest is very different.

RS: We made the lyrics a bit more whimsical and kind of more summer thoughts.

JW: Where did you guys film the video?

PR: Vancouver.

JW: Oh really? It almost looked like you guys were in Europe, which is why I asked.

RS: Oh really?! No, it was filmed in Gastown.

PR: That’s great to hear, I find that when a video looks like the place that you’re filming, it’s bad. But if you can make it look more interesting like ‘oh where is that?’, then that’s cool. Gastown is actually very European looking.

JW: With Water Water out is there a full album in sight? 

PR: Well, because we are going back to the studio all the time we are going to be releasing stuff along the way and keeping a couple of songs on the back burner and releasing it all together

JW: Any dates in mind?

RS: No, not even close. The B side that we didn’t release from the last round of recording is not ready. We want to keep a really good vision moving forward. The side that we already recorded we aren’t really that happy with yet. It is a ways away; we are probably going to put out maybe three more little tiny EPs before we have enough material to put a whole album together.

JW: You guys seem like perfectionists, is that true?

PR: I guess so.

RS: I mean, we don’t really have that much tolerance for something that is subpar or something that we don’t like. Even our critics would probably say ‘well, it is a deliberate sound’.

PR: There was a song on Traps and the base was off, but that’s the way we wanted it and the producer was like ‘are you sure that’s the way you want’ and we were sure.

JW: Do you have a lot of freedom with what you put out?

PR: Oh yeah, we have the last say for sure.

JW: How do you feel your music has evolved over the past year? 

RS: We have kind of fallen in love with a couple new synths, which has been a big change. That big base sound that you hear and the synths are not really show, more like backbone. That’s probably one way it has changed.

JW: How has your dynamic changed since you started HUMANS?

PR: Our work dynamic?

JW: Your work and personal dynamic?

RS: [laughing] I think we have become more similar. Like last night we went out and we were wearing identical outfits and we were like ‘Fuck!’ And when we are in the studio, I have worked with other people and it’s kind of this like whole battle of people getting attached to different things. But Peter and I know each other and know what we are going to like, it’s a very cohesive relationship.

JW: Did you learn anything interesting about each other since you started to work together?

RS: Well Pete taught me a lot about electronic music, like everything.

PR: Well that’s not true, Robbie started another band with one of the best producers in Canada so from doing that, he was bringing that to the table, I was like ‘oh maybe I should consider doing this properly’ because I was all self-taught. I guess I was doing things wrong and from learning from Max [the producer] it brought a lot to our table.

JW: Did you picture doing this when you were younger? 

PR: For me, every summer I wanted to do an art show and work on a new album and I have been doing that since I was 17 and when I moved to Vancouver I was spending all my money on shows and I was like ‘you know what, I can be doing this’. And then I met Robbie and just the idea of doing the band, which was seven years ago.

RS: I don’t know if I ever thought it was going to go this way. When I look back, there was always this little voice in the back of my head, but ask me at the time I don’t know if I was saw for certain that I wanted to do it. I still have to pinch myself.

JW: Do you ever have a realization that this is it, this is your reality?

RS: Sometimes, when I smoke weed. Like I will be totally chill and then I will smoke weed and be like ‘holy shit, what am I doing with my life?!’ It is so weird.

JW: That’s awesome.

RS: [laughing] Is it?! If you think about people who go to work and hate their jobs, then you’re like ‘I actually get paid to have a good time;’ it’s insane, I find weed a really unpredictable drug!

JW: I think a lot of people share your sentiment in that regard. Ok…if you could play anywhere in the world, where would it be?

PR: For your grandmother, at her house.

RS: ‘Hey Grandma!’ I want to play Panorama Bar in Berlin.

JW: What do you have planned for the summer?

PR: Just playing a bunch of festivals, some really bug ones that we can’t announce yet.

RS: Base Coast, What The Festival in June. Some we can’t talk about yet…like Coachella.

JW: Have you guys been to Coachella before?

PR: We have been, we played some bars and art shows.

RS: There are bands out there where they come out with a new EP and it’s like you get booked for some big festival, but me and Pete are not that band, we scrap. Like, the first year at SXSW, we didn’t have any official showcases. We just went and had one shitty unofficial showcase and just went and tried to get other parties.

PR: Yeah, and if that one showcase was now, it would be the best showcase. It was us, Grimes, Nardwuar, the guy who started Vice. It was the most stacked line up.

JW: I was going to say, those were probably the best shows that you have done?

PR: Yeah, the first show that was not official was the best show we have ever had.

JW: What is the most memorable show you guys have had? Official or unofficial.

PR: A show in Calgary in 2012, we had people crowd surfing, I was crowd surfing. The owner of the bar was like I haven’t seen this in seven years. Everybody was on stage dancing, we were lit.

We can’t wait to see where life takes these guys and based on their performance that night, they will be shooting a video in Europe in no time.

The post Chit chatting with HUMANS: a year in review appeared first on Quip Magazine.

Jackie Willson: We just saw you guys perform live at CMW and it was awesome! How did you feel about that night?

HUMANS: Thank you, we felt that it turned out great. We were fairly nervous as it was the first show with our new visuals designed by Tangible Interaction. We’ve been working with them for over a year and it turned out that it was going to be its premiere at CMW. We only had 15 minutes to set it all up on stage and plug it into the laptop (we now have a computer on stage to trigger the visuals). Besides the new addition to the set, everything else went and turned out great too, meaning the sound, crowd and our performance, thank you Toronto.

JW: Production and overall aesthetics seem pretty big for you guys, is that something we can consistently expect from now on? 

H: Yes, we’ve been working on a new set and have added new equipment in the last year, it’s made our sound bigger and at the same time dirtier (in a good, positive way). It’s more fun that way, although adding more equipment does mean we need to be focused on stage and that results in taking less beer breaks.

JW: Do you feel, as an electronic band, that you have to keep up with all the “big sets and intense lighting” that some artists use? 

H: I don’t think you do, no, but it does help and it is fun. I think if you can do it, then by all means, go ahead, but the most important asset is the music, if you write good music then you’re golden, you can play on a dark stage using your laptop. One more thing, a good sound system with a sound guy who isn’t afraid to have you loud is another key component.

JW: Are you getting a lot of recognition from Canadian fans? Do you feel you’re becoming more well-known elsewhere?  

H: It’s definitely good to build a history in a town, it shows. I feel like our music isn’t necessarily getting more recognition in Canada, but more so in cities where we’ve performed several times like Victoria, Vancouver, New York, Toronto, San Francisco.

JW: What has the reaction from your fans been like with NOONTIDE?

H: Pretty positive, we hear from people that they can play the record while at a dinner party, at a house party, while driving or chilling at the beach. It can be played in any setting. That wasn’t the intention, but happy to hear it works. When releasing TRAPS, our second EP, it took a while for fans to get into it because Avec Mes Mecs had a different vibe and fans were expecting something more along those lines. NOONTIDE sits in between both those records; I think that’s why it’s been pretty well received.

JW: If you could describe that album in one sentence what would it be?

H: Like taking off all your clothes on a beautiful sunny day on a remote island that you’ve discovered.

JW:  Is it hard to come up with new concepts for a song or does it happen naturally? 

H: When you listen to a great song, it can easily inspire you to write, but when you don’t hear anything new that you love, it can get difficult. We definitely write tracks that get thrown into a pit of “who cares about this shit,” but if we both love a song, it might make it on a record – but that doesn’t mean we’ll play it on the stage.

JW: What do you guys like to do with your free time?

H: Draw, write stories, party, bike, skate, work, see friends, support friends with their shows, eat tacos, eat ramen, cook, sleep, watch movies, make movies, spend time with a special someone, climb, take showers, sweat, smell nice, discover new things, dance, yell.

JW: What are you looking forward to the most this summer? 

H: Discovering new things and playing shows at all the festivals. Actually, we are really looking forward to seeing Jamie XX and Caribou at Bestival.

The post HUMANS discovering sound – interview appeared first on Quip Magazine.

Vogue Dots at the Rivoli: A charming producer duo from Halifax, Babette Hayward and Tynan Dunfield were the first on the Saturday night’s bill at the Rivoli. The room was already partially occupied from a private party as the CMW attendees wandered in. Hayward and Dunfield were facing each other for most of the show complementing each others compositions vocally and on keys. The duo have recently released their Mauka EP which was a lovely combination of melancholic vocals with dark electronic noise smoothed out by nocturnal overtones, equally well presented in a live performance. In retrospect, Vogue Dotes are a band you should take your date to dance a little or hide in a dark corner, whatever your level of PDA is.

LYON at the Drake Underground: After playing a well received show at the MOD Club on Friday night, Lauren Malyon, aka LYON, played a surprise show at the Drake Underground with a smaller band. With a limited, but solid repertoire of synth-pop tracks Malyon has already been noticed by media but is yet to find her inevitable big break.

Wolf Saga at the Drake Underground: The first time I heard Wolf Saga was a track called “You Are Hear Now.” It was shared with me by a friend and made a rather inspirational morning walk to work. A solo project of Johnny Saga, Wolf Saga has been compared to M83 and Phoenix and that resemblance is very noticeable both live as well as on record. Saga performed by himself and while at times it did feel like he barely had enough hands to make the sound happen, his ability to multitask and the fired-up fan club made the show a fun and memorable one.

HUMANS at The Great Hall: West Coast duo made up of Robbie Slade and Peter Ricq. HUMANS are a combination of indie-pop lyrics and electronic beats accented by a variety of drums, a set of notes that illustrates experience and skill. Having toured across North America’s major festivals, Slade and Ricq definitely know how to impress a crowd. Illuminated by a blow up honey comb mountain (not sure exactly what it was but let’s call it that), the show was a promise of an intense dance party, but due to some venue restrictions the dance floor was partially filled with a scattered crowd while a big number of fans were pouting on the balcony where all of the wristbands were exiled to. Watch out for these two, we bet their big break is just around the corner.

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