Thoughts
So, I got a lot of feedback from people about my organizational system for my music collection. I honestly thought most people had their own system but it turns out that everyone who reached out all use alphabetical or Discogs as their filing system. I thought I was in the majority on this especially with older longtime collectors like myself, but it turns out I am the outlier and insane one. The one super big flaw in my system is if something gets misfiled I have to pretty much go through everything to find it. Thanks for all the feedback on this topic, I really appreciate it!
The Saskatoon homie Grainbin dropped his debut release today on Pen Thief Records There are still a few tapes available at Pen Thief’s Bandcamp page. I am really excited for this album and I can’t wait to get the tape and put it through its paces. I am really happy this album exists and I hope it is the first of many!
I don’t really have anything that controversial this week. I just hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season!
Missed Third Verse last night? Ugsmag has you covered once again to stream or download NOW! Catch Third Verse on CFCR 90.5 fm in Saskatoon, SK every Wednesday 9-10:30pm CST. Stream online via CFCR.ca or Radio Garden.
As always the last 10 episodes of my other weekly radio show You Know Know the Rules on UMFM in Winnipeg airing every Sunday night 10:00pm -11pm CST. Episodes availible NOW!
The homies at UGSMAG are offering 10% off everything in the SHOP until the end of the year. So if you were waiting to get some really dope Third Verse or other gear now is the time to save a few bucks just enter 10FOR2022 at check out.
Record One
Devin Bateson - Fishbowl
I have been a fan of Devin Bateson for a few years and I always pick up his cassette releases as they are always great. Fishbowl is no exception. I got man email on December’s Bandcamp Friday that he had a new release, so I went and checked it out. It is a 30 copy pressing and boasts a “Transparent acetate "dust"cover with fold out track listings. Hand stamped hand dubbed made with love.” I love DIY rap projects and this one turned out super dope. The transparent cover is super sick and looks so good over the j-card. It is really creative and executed really well. There were a lot of really cool packages to choose from and I picked the OG three comic book pack that included copies of the three issues of Fishbowl and the intrumental cassette that is the soundtrack for the comics. The comics are really dope and the music is super dope. I am really happy I got this email.
"Fishbowl" is a soundtrack to a comic book.
This is an accompanying piece of music to imaginary world lost in time.
This is an excuse to sell off old stock.
In the mid 2000’s After getting kicked out of his parents my friend Will was living in my mom’s basement. We use to get high or drunk or both and just come up with silly ideas. We were both avid comic book nerds and anime fans. So we started doing some world building creating an homage to our favourites. That world became Fishbowl.
Will the ever talented artist and myself the *technical-wizard began printing comics in limited runs. We registered a business and created our comic company "Ole Label". We spent so much time figuring how to print the comics and make them professional. We created three issues of Fishbowl. The three comics were us just setting up the world a kind of post apocalyptic homage to some comic and anime styles we liked, with us as the bases for the main characters.
We hocked our wares at different comic book shops for the next few years. We did okay. But it became expensive. We have still never broken even. Will had a kid, then he had a few more. So we slowed down production. It slowed down until we just stopped. Our comic company became a dusty relic of my early to mid 20’s. For separate personal reasons these were the hardest years of my life. But creating these comics with my best friend helped get me through those painful times. I will forever cherish that experience and friendship.
*I'm okay at Photoshop.
released December 2, 2022
William Thompson & Devin Bateson
I am glad they made this tape to sell off dead stock comics but that description really downplays how good the tape is. I love the honesty and humbleness.
Record Two
Riddlore? - West World
Originally under-released in 2011 this west coast classic sees the vinyl treatemt on its 10th anniversary of its initial release courtesy of Audio Recon and oooh! That’s Heavy. I am so happy to have this on vinyl, so stoked that it got a repress and that there is more vinyl from members of CVE. Earlier this year I was super delighted and surprised with the anthology release We Represent Billions. The word is there is a new CVE album dropping in 2023 also on vinyl so that is extra exciting. It is nice to be able to revisit this album, sit with it and really digest it. Riddlore? is such an amazing mc. There are still a handful of copies abvialbe at Audio Recons bandcamp.
Check this video that was releasesed when the album dropped for State Of The Union. This was my favourite jam when this album first dropped.
Classic Material
Shades Of Culture - Mindstate
This is a Canadian rap classic. Hailing from Montreal this trio consisted of Dark Darker or D Shade, Revolution and Dj-Storm. They rapped almost exclusively in English and that helped them tour and gain notoriety outside the borders of Quebec to the rest of English speaking Canada. I first saw them on Much Music’s Rap City as they were profiled in 1993. This profile piece is so dope! I remember it airing on Rap City and being sad they were only playing in Ontario but that was par for the course in that era. Little did I know though…
They toured a lot with various punk bands and played many DIY sposts including a legendary spot called Phat City here in Saskatoon. If my memory serves me correct, my understanding is it was a warehouse spot in the Northend of Saskatoon that was primarily used for skateboarding and hosted punk shows. The shows were generally put on by a couple of guys known as Darcy and Dave and I got to know them later as roommates of Epic’s and Darcy did a lot of sound for shows when I was just getting started including shows at Zombies. I don’t remember the exact date of that show as I was not in attendance as I was not tuned into that scene and still a high school kid. I know a few people who attended and I believe the homie Parab Poet even rapped at this show. I really wish I would have been at this one. By all accounts it sounded amazing. Just chock it up to one of those timimig things.
The homie Knowskills was there as I have a couple of the items he picked uo at the show. The Payin’ Rent EP which was more of a three song single CD single. It featured Three tracks. Payin’ Rent, The Deep and Payin ‘ Rent - Remix. I also have a tape which is just called Shades Of Culture from 1995 which features 10 tracks.
I finally saw them on their fourth cross country tour which I believe was only their second time playing here. The show was Wednesday October 11, 2000 at Louis’ which was the Students Union Bar on Campus at the University Of Saskatchewan. Now with the show occurring on a Wednesday I must have skipped out on Third Verse that night. We must have had someone cover for us. It happens once in a while when there is a show on a Wednesday. It was a free show which was really interesting to me. I remember it being super last minute and very underattended. The were touring with B U The Knowledgist who I knew nothing about before the show. After the show I remember talking with him that I thought he could have been the third member of Supreme Being Unit. He was super nice and extra excited that I was into rap. I got a cdr from him that I still have but unfortunately it is buried in a box I can’t get at right now to take a picture of.
I really enjoyed Shades of Culture set. They had a lot of great energy and you could tell they were well rehearsed and polished but in a good way that made them look really dope. They had great interaction between them all and especially with their DJ. I picked up the Mindstate 12” that they had for sale that night and I got it signed by all of them. They were really cool and down to earth. You could tell they had played all types of shows and handled an underattened show like this like it was a packed house. I really appreciated that as it was my first and what would end up being my only time seeing them live. I had some great small talk rap discussions after with the . Doing a radio show is always an instant in to get a touring rappers attention.
As of late there is a record label and shop out of Montreal called Return To Analog which has been releasing some really dope Canadian hip hop records on double LP for Record Store Days across Canada. I recently picked up Mindstate for the first time to vinyl and the previously they released Shades Of Culture’s 2000 release A Little Bit About Us.
A little bonus content form last week. I found my ticket stub from the Blue Monday show that I talked about win last weeks post.
Closing Ramblings
I have two shirts up at Stylesmakefights.ca One for my radio Show You Know The Rulesdesigned by the homie Aiden Searle and the other for my dj crew The Stone Cold Party Rockers with the homie Rove designed by the homie Awol One. Also the homies at Audio Recon have some dope shirts too
I host two weekly radio shows Third Verse on CFCR 90.5 fm in Saskatoon Saskatchewan every Wednesday 9 -10:30pm CST and You Know The Rules on UMFM 101.5 in Winnipeg Manitoba every Sunday Night 10-11pm They are pretty great and you should check em out.
Also i got some cool shirts, poster and hats in the Ugsmag Shop if you want that fly shit.
**legal disclaimer all records and songs were run through the RAP NEST 5000 SUPER ANALYTIC COMPTROLLER MACHINE that is certified by the I.A.A.R.R.A (International Association of Analytical Rap Recordings Analysis) in layman’s terms, it means the machine is never wrong.
Catch you next week with more thoughts from the rap nest.
Peace
-chaps