saturday

Electronic

it may be true that many djs have very little musical training, but it's often overlooked that most successful producers have cut their teeth playing instruments in traditional bands or have been classically trained.

Toronto-based eclectic electronic musician Cy Scobie falls into both categories.

"I went to U of T for classical performance, piano," Scobie explains from his Toronto home. "I've played a lot of jazz in the past, too, so I've played jazz or punk gigs before with many of the musicians I work with now. We've been together for a while, which makes it much easier to improvise.

"I used to play piano live more, but right now I'm doing most of my work with my sampler. But I'm still playing an instrument - in some ways it's still very similar to playing piano. I actually find it a bit harder, because I'm controlling more instruments at a time."

Scobie has a habit of changing form with each show. Some gigs feature a full band, while others have been more electronic-based ambient adventures. His impressive new EP, Collage, goes from hiphop to experimental drum 'n' bass to ambient, keeping the listener guessing as to what he'll be tackling next.

"I've been trying to adapt each show to the venue. For the NXNE gig, I'm going to do a fairly electronic act. I'm going to perform with a flute player and a bass player and I'll be doing my thing with my sampler. It's going to be more ambient, closer to the EP."

Hiphop

with a name like mike control, you'd expect the Brooklyn hiphop trio of Jonny Bro, the Grey Ghost and DJ Shaffer to come loaded with skills. True to their handle, the threesome are all about rhymes.

While the beats behind the tracks on Mike Control's recent The Naturals EP are solid enough, it's what the two MCs are saying that matters most.

Pairing forceful flows with linguistic playfulness, Jonny Bro and Grey Ghost front an old-school attack built around lyrics, with none of the flashy bling talk of contemporary hiphop.

"We're not feeling what's going on in the hiphop mainstream," Jonny Bro explains from Brooklyn. "Back in the day, there was a lot more energy and passion in the music, and that's what we're all about.

"We were raised on battle raps, going to parties, rocking the mike, and making sure people knew who you were and what you were capable of. That's what we style ourselves around."

With little in common with the mainstream, Mike Control have been forced to find their own ways to get their music heard. Playing every music festival they can - this is the group's second appearance at NXNE - is one way, as is making full use of their www.mikecontrol.com Web site.

"We'll go anywhere people will have us," Jonny Bro laughs. "We feel like we can hang with most of the top underground artists - it's just a matter of getting our name out there."

Pop-Rock

even if he weren't lounging on his deck drinking a beer on a sunny spring afternoon, you'd get the impression Sam Roberts would be pretty unflappable. There's a peculiar ease to the Montreal singer/songwriter's power pop. The six songs on his The Inhuman Condition EP, released on the independent Secret Weapon imprint and about to be reissued by MapleMusic, roll along without a hitch or a wasted note, swaggering between straight-ahead, 60s-inflected pop and jazzy breaks.

The tone of the material reflects the conditions in which it was made. Roberts recorded the tunes with Blinker the Star frontman and occasional Courtney Love writing partner Jordan Zadorozny, playing all the instruments himself save for Zadorozny's clattering percussion. The half-dozen songs are a teasing introduction, so it's surprising that Roberts is in no rush to finish a complete album's worth.

"The EP was done really quickly," Roberts admits. "We did a song a day and tried to finish everything as we went along. I'm not the kind of guy who wants to pull a My Bloody Valentine and bankrupt everyone around me. I'd rather just get in there and get it done.

"I suppose we'll go in and do a record this summer. I've been preparing things ahead of time and getting the songs in order before we go in. There's a huge backlog of stuff that hasn't ever been put down on tape. I mean, we have a six-song EP and yet we stand up and play 16 songs at a show. We're kind of doing this music business thing backwards."