Lights!

This tiny, cat-eyed, sweet faced girl just stole my heart with her synthesized tunes and nerdy ways. Who knew that a headband could be so adorable? Lights, or Valerie Poxleitner, is a Toronto-based space artist-princess who makes puppets, rides neon dino’s, befriends pet tarantula’s and converses with her shower curtain in her spare time. Her synth-pop-indie-new wave sound is adorable, and listening to her acoustic songs is a simply lovely experience.


I just watched her captivating video-blog series on youtube, which is currently on hold until the New Year. She first flooded our ear drums in an Old Navy commercial featuring, “The last thing on your mind,” and again with “February Air," which is now an original music video sequal to "Drive my soul," with a cute retro, comic book feel.

She started playing music at the age of 11, and her EP album, “Lights” was recently released on September 16th, 2008. Her three-person band consists of herself on vocals, guitar and keytar, with Adam Weaver on synthesizers and Maurie Kaufmann on drums.
She’s been touring all fall and will continue to hit up Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia in the New Year. Here’s a unique Canadian artist who creates her own music, designs, resembles a nerdy little ray of sunshine and makes us laugh with her playful personality. I only hope she returns to Toronto soon. Her sweet sound and happy lyrics make me eager to witness the glow.

Hard? More like chewy, or bubbly, Madonna.

Tangy, tart, and sweet, with bursts of sugary flavor. Definitely a new, savory treat from the original pop princess, but Madonna didn’t blow my taste buds away. She gave me a pleasant melt-in-your-mouth high, but I found nothing groundbreaking about this album, and nothing that lasted longer than the typical sugar rush.
Hard Candy left me wondering why Madonna left the riveting, absorbing, thought provoking, electro/dance beat style of Confessions on a Dance Floor. In my opinion her last album was more like a pulsing, trippy, deep experience, while hard Candy offers a sampling of surface delights, but lacks the long-lasting attraction of something more substantial.

This album does have some spunk and spirit, but the tunes weren’t as riveting as I would have liked. If you like a sprinkling of pop, light sound with a lot of cotton candy lyrics that melt quickly on your tongue then this is the album for you. Granted, there were certain tracks that caught my attention, with a certain array of hypnotizing beats that managed to keep me entranced.

Songs like "Heartbeat", which begins with the simple, resonating sound of a pulsing heart, then emerges into a fast, fresh arrangement of synthesized piano keys, accompanied by a deeper, stronger beat, which pulls you in. It’s something I could feel myself moving to, because the underlying current of the song is the heartbeat itself and the flashy, throbbing texture. The lyrics are also catchy and sweet.

“On any given night, catch me on the floor, working up a sweat, that’s what music’s for.
“You know I feel it in my heart beat, it may feel old to you, but to me it feels new.
Don’t you know, can’t you see, when I dance I feel free.
Which makes me feel like the only one, the only one, that the light shines on.”

What made me take the time to finally perk up and listen is the beat of some songs in this album, which are never overpowering, but always mesmerizing, even though some of the tunes took time to grow on me.

The tracks that gave off the best first impression were ones that had a disco feel. Like something you could visualize being blasted from speakers at a roller skate rink, with tingly, soft lights highlighting the short shorts of bubble gum blondes gliding with pink wheels under their toes. Maybe it’s the retro style of some of the songs, but they do contain an element of that Saturday night boogie flavor.

“She’s not me”, especially, portrays the curled, flared, vivid feel of a retro night. The song starts off with a series of quirky handclaps, a peppery pulse, and a flash of catchy piano notes which blend right into the orange and purple wallpaper and tacky upholstery.

“She started dressing like me and talking like me, it freaked me out. She started calling you up in the middle of the night, what’s that about?
I just want to be there, when you discover. You wake up in the morning, next to your new lover. She might cook you breakfast, and love you in the shower. The flavor of the moment, cause she don’t have what’s ours.”

Hearing the spunky, kitsch sound, I can’t help but see Madonna in a sexy 50’s housecoat, preparing pancakes with murderous intentions, rollers in her hair, and a cigarette dangling from her lip as her cheating boyfriend’s beat up mustang pulls into the driveway.

The collaborations in this album aren’t too bad, with her homeboy J.T. being the most prominent. Kanye West takes the runner up position with “Beat Goes on.” I have to say that next to a veteran musical revolutionary like Madonna, Kanye’s in your face confidence sounds a little deflated. There is no doubt that he sounds like pure accompaniment to Madonna’s honed, vintage sound. I had to admit I derived a little pleasure from hearing him as a back-up singer, but the placement of vocals works sufficiently.

Aside from “4 minutes”, which definitely sparked a lot of interest when it debuted on the airwaves, the other Madonna + Justin team-up hit of this album is “Dance 2night.”

This song has a certain Beegees, meets sultry lounge singer sound. There is a story here, of boy and girl meet, take a chance and of course, boogey down. It’s purely something to shake to, but it’s catchy, funky and uncomplicated. There is somewhat dazzling, rainbow, electric kind of mood, where the purpose is to feel good, no matter what that entails.

“You don’t have to be beautiful, to be understood
You don’t have to be rich and famous to be good.
You just gotta give more, more, more, than you ever have before
And you gottta move fast, fast fast, if you want this good thing to last.”

I have to admit that this duo sounds right together, and if Justin ever entered a club looking for the hottest, toned, older foxy lady in the joint, he would no doubt find Madonna, and she would “fall for his love in the worst way.”

One of the last songs that I felt connected to from the start was, “Devil wouldn’t recognize you”, for its sharp yet murky, undulating, bedtime-story-gone-wrong feel. A tale of what to watch out for, in the form of a man turned into addiction. The light piano, strings, rippling, popping, techno sounds, and Madonna’s story-teller voice is magnetic.

“As quiet, as it is tonight, you’d almost think you were saved…
Waiting underneath the stars, there’s something you should know. The angels they surround my heart, telling me to let you go.”

The ebony tone of the song, with a poignant, accompanying chorus of voices, puts me in mind of a little red riding hood opera, where the girl in the cape meets the wolf, is deceived, yet keeps returning for more.
With Hard Candy, Madonna hasn’t lost the exquisite ability to make us move, with beats that float and dip like the lights of a rotating disco ball, or tell us simple, yet lively stories with a bubblegum taste that you can chew on as you groove. Despite the somewhat produced-pop ring to some of the songs, there is an element of original sound in this album, if you have the sweet tooth for throbbing chocolate indulgences, clusters of fizzy, popping sensations, and the sticky sweet stimulation of Madonna’s newest candy creation, with her personal invitation to, “have some more.”

Ladyfest 2008

What is this Ladyfest business you may ask? Well it certainly isn’t a bunch of women who paint their nails and gossip over the latest Britney Spears information leak. No, it’s an annual four-day grassroots arts, culture and music festival that promotes urban feminism, sexual diversity, anti oppression and trans-inclusive issues. It’s woman-created and women-run celebration that showcases the talents of amazing, beautiful, confident, strong women that inspire and move their communities.

This epic shindig will take place from September 18- 21 in Toronto, Kensington Market. So get your buns over there if you are pro-woman and get involved in something that has been going on in the city for the past five years. Using art to battle racism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of ignorance through art, open discussion and talented collaboration is the key element of Ladyfest. The lady-filled event originated in Olympia, Washington in 2000, and has since spread like wildfire to North and South America, Asia, Europe and Africa.

Performances by bands, poets, visual artists, filmmakers, speakers and a multitude of workshops, from sexual education to literature and social issues will pepper the festival. For example, last year one of the workshops featured a discussion about the legal rights of sex workers, while a series of smutty feminist films was showcased at the Brunswick theatre. Other stimulating pursuits included arts and crafts creations and sales, dance parties with DJ’s and any other amazing activity you can imagine.

Since the festivities are still in its planning stages volunteers of all types are needed, as well as musicians and artists, so if you’re interested in participating or performing you can contact ladyfesttoronto@gmail.com. You can also send any enquiries and dialogue you may want to communicate.
So if you enjoy strong female artists, speakers, musicians, naughty literature written by feminist women, and discussions of our sexual rights in a friendly, open environment, then you know what to do. Grab a girlfriend and plan to explore artistic girl power in Toronto’s vintage sector.

For more information go to:

http://www.ladyfesttoronto.ca/

I found a new city the night that I found you

Ever wandered into a lullaby that sails to the moon, then to the bottom of the ocean in a single breath? I hadn’t either…then I heard Lisa Bozikovic’s soulful voice and realized that slow melodies possess their own charm. I had the pleasure of witnessing this feminist solo artist from Toronto perform at the launch party of Shameless Magazine’s spring issue. In a vest and sneakers, with short spunky hair, Lisa stood on a stage before a crowd of do-it-yourself feminists (and her grandmother, who she announced was in its midst), and played her keyboards like they were a reverberating extension of her fingers.

One especially moving song was “Take + Take”, which poured out of her in a crooning gush of emotion that kept your eyes glued to the sound. The passion in her voice resembled the kind of realization one comes to after an intense breakup, where oceans are parted, ties are mended and bitter truths revealed. She moved between an old school instrument which she admitted to using because of the different sound it produced, and a newer set of red melodic keys, much like an owner moving from pet to pet, scratching behind its ears. Always on the brink of laughter with a flirtatious smile, Lisa took her audience on a journey through deep chasms of memories, disappointments and loves.

One deep and murky song entitled, Winter Load, makes me want to curl up into a sea of comforters, drink some cocoa and watch a storm of marshmellows rain down on the fleecy landscape. Her voice takes on a storytelling quality, as if she’s pouring out tales that your grandmother told you once, and you only half remember. Stories from all ends of the earth, that issue up out of the ground like a slow motion volcano. Her voice floats up and then dips down with the first rays of sun breaking out over an expanse of arctic tundra, fluffy and fragile, a crunchy set of new notes over the snow.

Her distinct vocal style, which she describes as a mix of folk and emotronic certainly can reach some dark places, accompanied by a synthesizer, but it also breaks through into a lighter place. There is a classical, layered element to her pieces, like a warm shepherds pie of guitar cords, birdlike crooning, horns, banjo’s and electronic sounds. You can find her on MySpace, http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=162421652, where her upcoming performances are listed. Although she has yet to be discovered by big music honcho’s with suitcases and fancy suits, this gutsy lady has many performances under her belt and is still recording and collaborating.

She currently has a self entitled EP, which I bought immediately after hearing her live…and was surprised to see that the c.d. case was stitched with blue string, and covered in some kind of funky retro comic strip. You can buy her creative creations at Soundscapes in Toronto, at 572 College St. Apparently she made them using images snipped from 1962 encyclopedias she chanced upon on her porch, so you’ll learn something new…like what a lathe is (Wikipedia informed me it’s a machine that can drill, cut and sand an object that spins…at least I’ll never forget it)

All in all, Lisa’s aquamarine colored lagoon of a voice and the cozy intimacy of her words makes every song into a secret session with a friend under a sleeping bag. Its time for lights out but you keep on chattering, spinning yarns that glow like embers, swept off into the shadow of a willow tree, branches swaying in time with a melody as old as a cave’s echo. Then, just as you’re about to drift off into a slumber of low, serene melodies you hear your best friend whisper, “No we shouldn’t have to be so smooth, cuz I like being awkward with you.”