Vancouver's Downtown Eastside neighbourhood is one of the most infamous in the country, and its residents have come together for a new compilation celebrating a diversity of voices from the community.
The new 11-track release 100 Block Rock celebrates a variety of voices and genres. It was organized by Eris Nyx, who spread the word throughout the neighbourhood about the comp. Demos for the project were recorded over a span of a week with engineer Nick Short, and then Downtown Eastside residents voted on which tracks would make the final release.
The result is a vital compilation that spans myriad genres, all representing the much-discussed but rarely represented community.
Here's how Neon Waste's Josh Nickel describes the release:
The 100 Block of Hastings in Vancouver, BC, Canada — the stolen and unceded territories of the Coast Salish People — is as maligned as it is celebrated, loved as it is hated, envied as it is reviled. Anyone that has seen it has an opinion on the area. Often it's a visceral reaction. The typical is a predictable black and white verdict on a neighborhood; a community that many at best refuse to understand and at worst, vilify. It's an area that every politician, property owner, social worker, and police officer has an opinion on, yet, rarely do you hear the voices that come from within.
100 Block Rock is a compilation of Vancouver BC's most marginalized community of artists. People working, living and creating in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) — frequently referred to as 'the country's poorest postal code'. It features 11 tracks of mixed-genre music. From folk to punk and pop to funk. 100 Block Rock is the platform for these people to speak for themselves. It's the voice of a community constantly on the verge of extinction from a drug war, colonial genocide, gentrification and the lack of political will to create substantial change. In Bud Osborn's testament to survival he wrote 'I'm so amazingly alive, I'm dancing on my own grave!' When listening to this record it's important to ask yourself what or whose grave you might be dancing on.
The 100 Block Rock compilation will arrive on December 15 via Incidental Press. It will be limited to 100 copies on black vinyl and 200 copies on blue vinyl. The blue vinyl release will also include inserts and posters with art from DTES graffiti artist Smokey D. The album cover was created by Ken Foster.
Listen to two songs from 100 Block Rock below.
100 Block Rock:
1. Mike Richter - "All the Best"
2. Cryogenic Regeneration - "Oh You Know"
3. Elvis Nelson - "That Girl"
4. Erica and Grant - "Go Rest High On That Mountain"
5. Randy and the Pandoras - "Pinkjet Pussy"
6. L'Chronic - "Fentanyl Poisioning"
7. Azul: Salvaje Music - "Running Free"
8. Tesla Rainbowdancer - "The Miseducation of River"
9. Terry Robinson - "The Sickness"
10. A.J. - "Nostalgia"
11. DTES GF - "My Name Is John"
Pre-order 100 Block Rock.
The new 11-track release 100 Block Rock celebrates a variety of voices and genres. It was organized by Eris Nyx, who spread the word throughout the neighbourhood about the comp. Demos for the project were recorded over a span of a week with engineer Nick Short, and then Downtown Eastside residents voted on which tracks would make the final release.
The result is a vital compilation that spans myriad genres, all representing the much-discussed but rarely represented community.
Here's how Neon Waste's Josh Nickel describes the release:
The 100 Block of Hastings in Vancouver, BC, Canada — the stolen and unceded territories of the Coast Salish People — is as maligned as it is celebrated, loved as it is hated, envied as it is reviled. Anyone that has seen it has an opinion on the area. Often it's a visceral reaction. The typical is a predictable black and white verdict on a neighborhood; a community that many at best refuse to understand and at worst, vilify. It's an area that every politician, property owner, social worker, and police officer has an opinion on, yet, rarely do you hear the voices that come from within.
100 Block Rock is a compilation of Vancouver BC's most marginalized community of artists. People working, living and creating in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) — frequently referred to as 'the country's poorest postal code'. It features 11 tracks of mixed-genre music. From folk to punk and pop to funk. 100 Block Rock is the platform for these people to speak for themselves. It's the voice of a community constantly on the verge of extinction from a drug war, colonial genocide, gentrification and the lack of political will to create substantial change. In Bud Osborn's testament to survival he wrote 'I'm so amazingly alive, I'm dancing on my own grave!' When listening to this record it's important to ask yourself what or whose grave you might be dancing on.
The 100 Block Rock compilation will arrive on December 15 via Incidental Press. It will be limited to 100 copies on black vinyl and 200 copies on blue vinyl. The blue vinyl release will also include inserts and posters with art from DTES graffiti artist Smokey D. The album cover was created by Ken Foster.
Listen to two songs from 100 Block Rock below.
100 Block Rock:
1. Mike Richter - "All the Best"
2. Cryogenic Regeneration - "Oh You Know"
3. Elvis Nelson - "That Girl"
4. Erica and Grant - "Go Rest High On That Mountain"
5. Randy and the Pandoras - "Pinkjet Pussy"
6. L'Chronic - "Fentanyl Poisioning"
7. Azul: Salvaje Music - "Running Free"
8. Tesla Rainbowdancer - "The Miseducation of River"
9. Terry Robinson - "The Sickness"
10. A.J. - "Nostalgia"
11. DTES GF - "My Name Is John"
Pre-order 100 Block Rock.
