The clever Nightmare Defore Dubstep sound project spoof is created by Cheyanna Kootenhayoo feat. Heebz the earthchild.
Cheyanna J. V. Kootenhayoo, is a young multi-talented Dene/Nakota women from Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation, and originally from Cold Lake, Alberta. Starting from no sound, Cheyanna spent a few days with Logic and Pro Tools recording and re-designing voice overs, and sound FX, and music for this one minute clip from A Nightmare Before Christmas as a final school project. A Nightmare Before Dubstep features Heebz the earthchild from duo Mob Bounce, check it!
It's the end of the year and hard to believe that RPM is only 6 months old! What an incredible journey it has been so far.
As a thank you for making our first few months so fantastic, we've put together an exclusive free mixtape for you to download and enjoy over the holidays.
In case you missed hearing it in our interview with Skeena Reece, here is the song John Carver from Skeena's debut album Sweetgrass and Honey. John Carver is an ode to all Native carvers acknowledged or unappreciated.Skeena (Tsimshian, Gitksan, Cree, Metis) in a Vancouver, BC, based multi-disciplinary artist and also the daughter of a carver. In talking about the song, Skeena shared with RPM's Marika Swan:
I wanted to share how I felt about my dad, the long hours that he put in and the experience of having to see him sell these precious things to non-native people for their entertainment. To put on their walls and not really knowing the passion that goes into it and not really understanding the cultural significance. I wanted to personalize that so that he knew that I knew that he was really special and that what he shared with the world is more than what they could know.
It was a good year for music in Indian Country with new releases coming from every corner of Turtle Island and in every genre you can imagine. LPs, EPs, singles, mixtapes, remixes - we've heard most of it here at RPM and while it's difficult to say what the best albums of the year are, we've tallied up the records we think have been the most influential.
These albums made a splash on the scene, presented a new perspective, reached new heights in production and creativity, or attained a new level of work for the artist.
Check out RPM's 10 Most Influential Indigenous Albums of 2011:
Blue King Brown - Blue King Brown (BKB)
BKB ripped through Canada with their first Canadian release (self-titled) this past summer. Their fearless approach to global issues and energetic combination of live urban roots music is sure to have taken many Turtle Island fans. With front woman Natalie Pa’apa’a (Samoa) leading the pack with her pint-size ball of fire attitude, their shows get you moving and their album will hopefully inspire more local Indigenous folks to take their messages to the dance floor. One of our favorite tracks is Come and Check Your Head with lyrics "'Cause this battle’s about to get hotter, I feel it in my heart! AND next time you're waiting for something to change, Instead of just sitting and wasting the day, The struggle it breathes now and calls out your name." Yep.
Winnipeg's Most - Goodfellaz
The trio of Winnipeg's Most definitely made HUGE leaps and bounds this year with their multiple video releases and the literal clean-up of Aboriginal People's Choice Awards. Their album Goodfellaz took home 6 awards this year and yielded a handful of quality music videos that all garnered huge hits on YouTube. These guys don't seem to be slowing down at all and are continuing to release more music every month.
Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson - New JourneysThis album in the Haida language aims to start a new journey for Haida music. Through combining contemporary instrumentation with traditional, Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson establishes a connection to Haida culture that some may not find in a more traditional format. Most of the songs are original compositions, the production of which is beautiful, stirring and meditative. Williams-Davidson's voice is soft and strong and even if you don't understand the words, deeply moving in its delivery. Music is surely one of the best methods of using and preserving language, and in New Journeys - which won Williams-Davidson Best Female Artists of 2011 at the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards - Williams-Davdison brings the language not only to the present time but also straight to the heart.
The Local Onlyz- Kings Among Clowns
Bringing some funk and hip-hop into the world of Indigneous music, The Local Onlyz hit it off this year with their album King's Among Clowns. Starting with a great video for their song Next To You, their album brought a new breath of energy to the table. Mixing the styles of live instrumented hip-hop with frontman Infored's technically savvy rap style, brought them out to Aboriginal Music Week and also onto our most influential albums list for 2011.
Vince Fontaine - Songs for Turtle IslandOjibway musician Vince Fontaine is best known as the founder of and guitarist for rock band Eagle & Hawk who have been successfully making music together for 16 years. 2011 was the year that Fontaine, for the first time, went solo. Songs for Turtle Island has collected a list of well-deserved award nominations and wins, including winning Best Instrumental at the Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards and Native American Music Awards and Best Songwriter at the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, in 2011. It's not hard to hear why the praises are being sung - the 8 songs on Songs for Turtle Island are an eclectic but cohesive fusion of contemporary instrumental genres with traditional Native American music, from atmospheric electronic instrumentation to hand drum. The result is unique, captivating and one of this year's best albums.
1491 Nation Presents: MC RedCloud
Though this is a mixtape, this album made major waves in the Indigenous hip-hop scene. MC RedCloud has been touring and collaborating all over Turtle Island for the last decade, bringing his energetic unmatched rap skills to stages in both Canada and the United States sides of the border. 1491 Nation Presents: MC RedCloud brought us back to a time in hip-hop that was all about the beats and rhymes, that was a great gift to the ears of hip-hop listeners this summer. Filled with comedy skits and solid songs in the classic RedCloud style, this is an album that you should get right now if you don't have it already.
Silver Jackson - It's Glimmering NowFollowing his release of the experimental hip-hop EP Digital Indigenous under the moniker of Indian Nick in April this year, Nicholas Galanin turned to his more acoustic persona Silver Jackson and released It's Glimmering Now in November. That said, in the past Silver Jackson has been a more bluesy, folky side of Galanin but with It's Glimmering Now his sonic pursuits seem to be coming closer together. It's a welcome contribution of experimental and acoustic vibe on a music scene that can be saturated with hip-hop and country, displaying the best of the diversity in Indigenous music culture today. With each listen, you'll hear something you didn't on your last, which is to say it's a grower and an aural landscape to explore. So get in there and look around.
Laura Ortman- Someday We'll Be Together
This summer Laura Ortman released her second solo album Someday We'll Be Together which features her on vocals, violin, piano, electric guitar, Apache violin (a long hollowed out Agave stalk with both the string and the bow hairs made of horse tail hair), Casio, and tree branches. Her classical training combined with her adventurous heart lead us on a magical, spaced out adventure through New York. Check out our recent RPM spotlight on her.
Beaatz- Music Is Melet's include a mention that we included him in our 4 to watch in 2012
We cannot say enough about the introduction of Tobique First Nation's Beaatz. He stepped onto the hip-hop scene this year with an undeniable hip-hop sound that makes you say, "This kid is from WHERE?!?!?". His debut album Music Is Me was released earlier this year and has all the makings to be a classic that he decided to release for FREE download. His skilled production and rap ability will always ensure him a place at the table for the years to come.
Phyllis Sinclair - Dreams of the WasherwomanWinner of Best Folk Acoustic Album at this year's Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, Dreams of the Washerwomanis the third album from swampy Cree singer-songwriter Phyllis Sinclair. With this release, she has honed and deepened her songwriting and performance, the result of which is 10 strong songs, each featuring beautiful melodies and striking imagery. Dedicating the album to single parent families, the true heart of the album is the stories Sinclair shares - drawing from her own experiences of being raised in poverty by a single mother, she speaks to struggle and perseverance with compassion and wisdom. Dreams of the Washerwoman is a benchmark for Sinclair and a work that stands out within the singer-songwriter genre.
We've been keeping our antlers tuned to the moccasin telegraph to bring you this great list of holiday music from some of our favorite Indigenous musicians here on Turtle Island. Enjoy!
First on our list of holiday music is Star Nayea, a pop/blues/rock singer based out of Seattle, Washington. Here she brings us a classic tune first introduced by ElvisPresley called Blue Christmas:
Next, check out Swil Kanim, a Coast Salish violinist, and his version of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas:
Métis singer-songwriter Don Amero has released a 7-track Christmas album this year entitled Christmastime. Stream the songs and buy the CD or download at donamero.com/christmastime.
Choctow artist Samantha Crainfrom Shawnee, Oklahoma, recorder her holiday song Breaking The Ice for Christmas compilation Fowler Volkswagen Presents: A Blackwatch Christmas. Preview her track here, and head to fowlervwchristmas.comto download the entire album for free.
Lastly, we've assembled a festive YouTube playlist of holiday season videos for your Christmas enjoyment!
Track listing:
War Child - Twelve Days of Indian Christmas (Round Dance)
Laura Burnouf - Little Drummer Boy (In Woodlands Cree)
Jana Mashonee - Silent Night (Sung in Arapaho)
Joey Stylez - Snow Angel
J Dizzay - You're My Present
In honour of the late Claudette Magne, Shy-Anne Hovorkabrings us this song and sobering video portraying the devastating effects texting and driving can have.
Sponsored by the Thunder Bay Police and TBay Tel, and produced by Crystal Sync Productions, Shy-Anne shares the message in song: distracted driving kills.
Watch Too Young, Too Late by Shy-Anne Hovorka, featuring Christine Arnold.
Studying the violin as a child set Laura Ortman on a path to collaborating, composing, creating The Coast Orchestra with all Native American members, and expanding her own musical arsenal to include singing, piano, guitars and even tree branches.
Laura Ortman (White Mountain Apache) was adopted as a baby into a musical family from Alton, Illinois. Her adopted mother was a pianist and coordinated the community's youth orchestra for 20 years. Laura was introduced to the violin at the age of 8 and by the time she was a teen, she was playing with the St. Louis Youth Symphony. When it came time to choose a focus for her post-secondary schooling she chose to study drawing, painting, sculpture and performance art at the University of Kansas. After university, Ortman moved to New York where she played with the Brooklyn College and Hunter College Symphony Orchestras. She also starting writing improvisational music for modern dance performances.
Laura's explorations have taken her into many collaborative groupings including The Dust Dive with Ken Switzer and Bryan Zimmerman formed in 2000. The Dust Dive released two albums Claws of Light (2007) and Asleep or Awake Walk (2005) both of which are still distributed through OWN Records. OWN describes them as "weird, warm, and captivating" using violin, guitar, piano, acoustic reed organ, musical saw, sampled radios, field recordings, and uncommonly vivid verse soar with gritty equanimity and “mythological twang.” They often wove super-8 and video footage from weather documentaries, family movies and other imagery into their live performances.
In 2001, Laura partnered up with Brad Kahlammer to create National Braid and they released a self titled album in 2002. National Braid also live scored the 1929 silent film Redskin, commissioned by the Smithsonian National Museum, and they toured screenings through New Mexico, Italy, the Czech Rebuplic and the Tribeca Film Festival.
She has worked on a long list of film collaborations including a live soundtrack to films by artist Martha Colburn, a soundtrack to an art film by Mohawk artist Alan Michelson, a playful score for a short film by Navajo film maker Blackhorse Lowe and most recently Laura's music video I Lost My Shadow was featured on our list of Top 16 Music Videos of 2011. Its director Nanobah Becker won Best Music Video at the 2011 imagineNATIVE festival and stars the NYC ballet dancer Jock Soto (Navajo) .
Laura formed The Coast Orchestra, with all Native American players, in 2008 and wowed sold-out crowds at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. and at the opening of the Margaret Mead Festival in New York. Their mandate being to promote classically trained Native American musicians and to perform music about Native Americans. They have members from thirteen nations from Alaska, Arizona, New York and Washington D.C.
Laura's second solo album Someday We'll Be Together released this August is available through thedustdiveflash.bandcamp.com and was recorded in Brooklyn by Martin Bisi. It features Laura on violin, piano, electric guitar, and the Apache violin, Casio, tree branches and vocals.
I emailed Laura with a couple questions that I just couldn't contain and even though she'd just accidentally burnt her sacred hands with hot tea water she took the time to send these beautiful replies.
RPM: What was it like meeting your birth family? How do you think the experience of having two families, one adopted and one by blood has influenced your art?
Laura Ortman: Meeting my birthfamily a month before 9/11 in Whiteriver, Arizona, was like one of those moments when you are still and the whole world is spinning around you. That's the best I can explain what that moment was like. Meeting my birthmother and birthsister face to face out in the woods and seeing their eyes for the first time in bright daylight was exactly where I felt I had been renewed. It also magically validated all these ideas, emotions and experiences of being adopted as a Native woman that I kept in my head and not feeling like I was losing my mind all those years growing up till then because I had been far away and lost. It was a great reunion! Still learning how to be from two families. Especially after the devastating loss of my adopted mom 7 months after 9/11. She fell from a brain hemorrhage and was gone instantly. So between finding myself come full circle with my birthfamily, the depression of 9/11 and the sudden loss of her, everything took dramatic forms for a long time. I've always been so thankful, grateful and appreciative my adopted family supported my music and art all my life. Seeing how its all come together is incredibly humbling, but it feels really good.
It's the sure thing to have the art and music I do to be able to express how life seems and re-create stories, real or imaginary that happen. I don't play all dark, all sad, all blessed, all bright music all the time. The way life has worked out I have lots of imagery and events to reference when I'm conveying a message. And now more than ever, everything takes on a new, matured day from the ever on-ringing past and has its basis in continuing scenarios and influences, in addition to my personal family histories. Thanks for asking me this question. Hard to put it into words a little bit, but thanks. (I can't wait to give everrrryone in my families a big hug now.)
RPM: After being brought up on classical music can you describe your first improvised performance experience(s)?
LO: The lonely life of this artist has been SAVED by improvisation because as far as I can remember it has always been a collaborative experience. I took some performance art and installation art courses in college and started playing violin for them live. I could pre-record myself on tape or make a loop on a CD player and duet with myself alongside that for performances. It was too much fun! Never any dialogue, just "found" sounds or experimenting on how to make things make sense to accompany the art. When I moved to New York in 1997 I somehow continued on as an improv violinist for modern dancers. Getting called to rehearsals, street performances, residencies for various dancers really helped me figure out how to just keep bouncing ideas off and from them. And then I started getting asked to do music for film! In 2002, me and my then bandmate for National Braid collaborated on composing and performing a live soundtrack to a silent film from 1929 called Redskin. Collaborating with the moving vintage images and trying to help them express the silentness of it all was wonderful. We had a succinct and scratchy map of our score but never a full-on note by note scenario of what we were doing. Just went and flew with it for each performance. It was original and free. The classical geek in me has kept up with etudes, concertos, sight-reading still... just so I can keep my chops up to play with the powerful ideas improv has led me to. To me improvisation is in the energy of true collaboration that makes it work or not.
RPM: Can you explain the Apache Violin?
LO: There's this incredible friend, Drew Lacapa (Apache, Hopi, Tewa) who was the man who helped me directly find my birthmother and sister that day on the White Mountain Apache reservation. I celebrate every trip back to the rez when visiting my family and also visiting him and his family. He gave me the Apache violin I now play, perform and record with. Its a long hollowed out Agave stalk with grouped wound string that resonates when bowed that you can tune with one peg. Its hand painted. The bow is arc shaped and from what I can tell is that both the string and the bow hairs are made of horse tail hair. The hairs on my Apache violin are so shredded right now it can't be played. Until I find a horse. Its got a small nasally sound and I use my classical violin rosin on its bow to give it some breathiness. On my latest album my engineer, Martin Bisi put a wonderful microphone on it to really bring out its earthy tones. I've used it for four-track recordings at home, for audio interviews and for a performance at John Zorn's performance space here in New York called The Stone. I really need to find a horse.
Here is Opening Ceremony by Laura Ortman. Can someone please find this woman a horse?!
Kathryn Little shares her recipe, her tricks, her tips and her secrets for frybread.
I for one have not ever tried letting the dough set before frying things up - I'll be trying that next time I make frybread and let you know how it goes.
Watch Kathryn's How to Make Frybread and let me know how it goes next time you're in the kitchen!
What a year 2011 has been for Indigenous music! From new music by time-tested artists to surprising new splashes on the scene, here's four artists we're keeping our eye on as we move into the New Year. You'll want to pay attention to these artists for great new things in 2012.
Ali Fontaine
From the Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba, Ali Fontaine is a 17-year old country artist, mentored by Indigenous music legend Errol Ranville. She made waves this year with her debut eponymous album and single Say it to Me. The track's music video, a slick and colourful trip through New York city, was directed by Strongfront A/V Productions founder Jesse Green. Indeed, Ali has been quickly drawing the attention of big hitters and fans alike - she took home Best Country CD and Best New Artist at the Aboriginal People's Choice Awards. With all of this under her belt before she's even graduated high school, we know Ali is just getting started and look forward to what the young star will create next.
Here's Say it to Me:
Beaatz
Hailing from the Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick, Canada, Beaatz is also a remarkable young artist who popped up on the scene in 2011. At 19, he's proven to be a prolific emcee/producer this year, establishing off the bat a clean cut production style and sharp rap abilities. That, putting New Brunswick on the map for Indigenous hip-hop, and being an innovator of style, are why we recommend you look out for Beaatz in 2012.
Here's Never Lookin' Back:
Cris Derksen
Classically trained but futuristically innovative, Cree cellist Cris Derksen has been a hardworking musician for a few years now. However, 2011 was surely a red letter year and a sign of Derksen's trajectory. She was on tour most of 2011, including two European tours, as a solo artist and as a member of the Beat Nation Live Collective, the band Lightning Dust and the band E.S.L.; she released her first music video, her second - a First Tracks selection - will be released in the New Year; the CBC documentary series The 8th Fire, due for release in January, features an original score compose by Derksen and her debut album, The Cusp, won Best Instrumental Album at the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards in Toronto. See what we mean? She's surely in her element and on a roll.
Here's 2 Hours Parking:
A Tribe Called Red
Who knew about these guys one year ago? In just one year, the electronic chiefs of the Electric Powwow have made huge leaps and bounds with an international touring schedule, mainstream press recognition and the pioneering of a new style of Indigenous electronic music "Powwow-step" that has taken the music world by storm. The trio of DJ NDN, Bear Witness and DJ Shub have been rocking dance floors at major festivals and parties as well as their own weekly nights in their hometown of Ottawa, Canada, and it's been catching on like wildfire. We know it will continue to grow in 2012 and are excited to see what new artistic heights these three men reach.
Here's Red Skin Girl:
Keep your eyes on RPM for the latest and greatest from these artists, and others in 2012.
Winter is rolling into Turtle Island, but the music is still hot. Here are RPM's top 5 Indigenous live music picks for the weekend.
Urban Aboriginal Winter Festival
December 13-15 The festival which has included film screenings and hip-hop bingo continues tonight with "Aboriginal Blues Revue" featuring Wayne Lavallee, Murray Porter, Dalannah Gail Bowen and Russel Wallace at W2 Media Café in Vancouver, BC. More info: Urban Aboriginal Winter Festival.
Xmas Fest 3
December 15 - Ali Fontaine, C-Weed, Joey Stylez and others will perform and party in support of the Christmas Cheer Board at the Pyramid Cabaret, Winnipeg, MB. More info: facebook.com.
Yelawolf
December 17 - Catch Yelawolf perform at the Offical Dew Tour after party in Breckenbridge, Colorado. If you're going, be sure to check out Yelawolf's content to win meet & greet pases at facebook.com/yelawolf . More info on the Dew Tour: breckenridge.com/events/dew-tour.
Hip-Hop for Hunger
December 17 - The annual event includes perfromances by Ms. Teaze and Lil' Smokey, raising funds and collecting non-perishable food items for the Calgary Food Bank at Dickens Pub, Calgary, Alberta. More info: Calgary's 3rd Annual Hip Hop for Hunger Food Drive/ Hip Hop Show.
Freesome by Daygot Leeyos Edwardsexplores ideas of "freedom" through sound bytes and beats. Check out this tune by a young Oneida lyricist and music producer, Daygot Leeyos, who loves to collect samples of powerful words along her travels and make them into beautiful music.
DOWNLOAD: Daygot Leeyos - "Freesome"
In Episode 12 of the podcast, RPM looks at the Indigenous language revitalization movement. Half of the world's languages have disappeared in the past 500 years and today another language goes extinct almost every two weeks. Indigenous languages are the ones most at risk - which has inspired Indigenous musicians to take up the struggle to save them.
Our host Ostwelve speaks with three artists who are working on revitalizing their ancestral languages.
Miss Christie Lee of the Musqueam Nation raps in Hun'qumi'num' and shares what her culture means to her and how she sought guidance from her elders on creating music in her language.
Tall Paul, of Point of Contact, raps in Anishnaabemowin. Tall Paul describes discovering more of his culture through his college language course and using hip-hop to adapt Indigenous languages to new avenues.
Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson, who sings in the language of Haida, hopes listeners can get to a different place, even if they don't understand the words, and she shares how by singing in our Indigenous language we are connecting with our ancestors.
The RPM podcast is produced & engineered by the amazing Paolo Pietropaolo.
Photo illustration created by the talented Joi Arcand.
RPM Records
Revolutions Per Minute is a global new music platform, record label, and boutique agency for Indigenous music culture. RPM’s mission is to build a visionary community of Indigenous artists and to introduce Indigenous music to new audiences across Turtle Island and around the world. Our main site, RPM.fm, has featured the work of more than 500 Indigenous artists and shared their music across our social networks of more than 275,000 followers.
RPM Records is the first of its kind: a label for contemporary, cross-genre Indigenous music, run by Indigenous people. Selected by The FADER as one of “5 New Canadian Record Labels The Entire World Should Know”, RPM Records artists include Ziibiwan, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Exquisite Ghost, and Mob Bounce.
1491 Nation Presents: MC RedCloud
Though this is a mixtape, this album made major waves in the Indigenous hip-hop scene. MC RedCloud has been touring and collaborating all over Turtle Island for the last decade, bringing his energetic unmatched rap skills to stages in both Canada and the United States sides of the border. 1491 Nation Presents: MC RedCloud brought us back to a time in hip-hop that was all about the beats and rhymes, that was a great gift to the ears of hip-hop listeners this summer. Filled with comedy skits and solid songs in the classic RedCloud style, this is an album that you should get right now if you don't have it already.
