Robin Perkins converses with the voice of Thee Silver Mt Zion, Efrim Menuck

I first discovered Efrim Menuck courtesy of John Peel. At the time he was a guitarist in the Canadian collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor, a band whose legend has surpassed their reality. The eight-piece group were dubbed by the music press as “the Canadian anarchist collective” and became renowned for their supposedly fierce anti-commercial stance. Reviews of their albums and shows were peppered with the words “apocalyptic”, “anarchistic” and “post-rock”. In reality they were a group of young musicians who talked politics and made hauntingly beautiful instrumental music, the soundtrack to urban decay at the end of the twentieth century. In 1999 Efrim founded A Silver Mt Zion as a side project to GY!BE but as the Godspeed collective went on an indefinite hiatus, A Silver Mt. Zion became Efrim’s sole focus. Joined by former collaborators Thierry Amar and Sophie Trudeau and later violinist Jessica Moss the band began to craft their own sound: a distortion-soaked mix of blues rock, punk, folk and classical accompanied by Efrim’s fragile vocals. Some ten years since the release of their debut album, the band returns with their sixth LP, Kollaps Tradixionales.

“The Kollaps is a reference to last year’s economic collapse and Tradixionales because we still see ourselves as operating in some sort of hope tradition. I think all our records are hopeful statements, at least we try to make sure that they are hopeful.” The album opens with the epic There is A Light, an unashamedly “hopeful statement”, before plunging into walls of noise moulded by blues and folk. It ends on Piphany Rambler, a hauntingly precious track typical of earlier A Silver Mt Zion. Three years since their last release, 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons, Kollaps Tradixionales sees the band reinvent itself once more under the Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra moniker. It also signals a change in the line-up from a seven-piece band to a five piece: the original four members joined by drummer David Payant.

Efrim remains the somewhat reluctant spokesman of the group, maintaining that the band has always worked as a collective, uncomfortable with the lead singer-cult of the rock tradition: “We still write songs the way we always have: we write them together. We come up with a riff and then people will make suggestions or come up with counterlines. We have a slow writing process but that is what works for us.” The three-year recording hiatus is not only explained by the band’s lengthy creative process. Last year Efrim and fellow band member Moss had their first child together: “When Jessica got pregnant we mostly took a year off and the last couple of months have been about getting back into A Silver Mt Zion. Functionally, it has changed things a lot. For example on this Europe tour we will be using a tour bus for the first time.”

Throughout their career A Silver Mt. Zion have always enshrined their independence spirit, adopting the anti-corporate punk ethos and releasing all their albums through Constellation Records, the Montreal based label who share the band’s outlook. Another of Constellation’s central principals is the physical quality of its releases — each album is packaged in a cardboard case and accompanied by detailed artwork, the antithesis of the mass produced jewel case and uninspiring artwork. This physicality is something Efrim is passionate about, even contributing to the artwork of the latest LP alongside Jem Cohen: “We love records and we love LP artwork, it is one of the good things about music: the actual physical object. I think it is sad that we have entered this bold new era where the emotional value of objects is so degraded. I mean, it’s not just music; it is everything. Books are going to disappear soon; we will just stare at these little digital pads instead. Who would have thought you would ever be able to replace actually physically recorded music? You don’t hold anything in your hands anymore; you just stare at it through a screen. It is like going into the zoo as a kid and wishing you could pet the tiger. That is how we are expected to live our lives, with that kind of unfulfilled longing. Maybe I’m a fool, but it just seems unsustainable to me.”

The death of the record shop and the decline of independent labels has added to the woes of bands such as A Silver Mt. Zion who prefer to distribute their albums through independent shops in the face of the globalised industry: “I think it all started to go downhill with the big chain stores. Once local record stores started to go under then that led the way. Things have been going downhill for so long. Personally, I didn’t feel a big lack in my life prior to the Internet. There were not many moments when I felt this world would be so much better if people could instantly access any song, anywhere in the world at any time. It has destroyed regionalism, everything has become globalised and that is a tragedy. The awful thing about this brave new world we are living in is that it gets institutionalised, it’s not like we have any say in it.”

Towards the end of last year Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper suspended parliament, delaying a no-confidence vote for the increasingly unpopular Conservative leader. I venture to ask Efrim about the current climate: “It doesn’t seem much different from what is happening in Britain, we are facing a crisis in democracy. Nobody here likes any of the options on the table so you end up with this barely governing government. We have this tedious conservative Primer Minister who is from an academic background and he has this whole thing of controlling the message and freezing out the press. They suspended parliament because there is an enquiry into the abuse of Afghan detainees and things weren’t looking good for them so they just suspended parliament. It is on the books so they can just do it.”

Meanwhile on the other side of the country from Efrim’s native Montreal, Vancouver’s hosting of the Winter Olympics has taken place amidst claims of huge overspending and a government crackdown against open criticism: “The Olympics are such a sham and more and more people are beginning to realise it. I think you guys have one coming up right? The big joke over here is that they are having this big ‘Cultural Olympiad’, a bunch of rock shows and art exhibitions around Vancouver at the same time as the actual Winter Olympics. They have hired all these musicians to play this ‘Olympic festival’, bands like Broken Social Scene and Feist, sort of A-list indie rockers. In the contract they signed, it says that they are not allowed to say anything negative about the Olympics! It is like all these pretty little ponies saying: ‘I wont say anything bad…I wont say anything bad.’”

Unsurprisingly A Silver Mt. Zion were not asked to participate in the Cultural Olympiad. They will instead be heading out on the road for a full length tour of Europe, stopping off at Glasgow’s School of Art on March 19. Efrim recalls the band’s 2004 gig at Òran Mór when they were forced to flee after a fire scare: “Yeah, we played this church with Little Wings and I remember that it caught on fire after the show and we had to leave quickly because the police and fire inspector turned up. I think Kyle from Little Wings was making out with his girlfriend and he flicked a cigarette butt or something. It was a good show but all I remember is that we had to pack up and leave really quickly!”

On the cusp of their tenth anniversary, I ponder what the future holds for the band. “We keep on doing what we are doing and following the independent spirit to the best of our abilities. Getting older is the mystery potion in all of this. There are not that many footsteps for us to follow in but we are going to keep trying.”

Coming back from South America was never going to be easy. After a year spent studying in the sprawl of Buenos Aires and a few months winding through the Andes on rusty buses in the rainy season, adjusting to home has taken a while. Things are just different. While preparing a presentation on music piracy for my Spanish class last week I stumbled across Lily Allen’s outburst against illegal downloads back in September and instantly thought of the differences betewen here and there. A look at the counterfeit industry in Latin America soon puts things into perspective.

I recall the countless times I would be offered counterfeit music, films and software whilst riding the subway, passing a local market or just quietly sipping a coffee. The piles of DVD sized packets fronted by blonde temptresses with their breasts modestly covered by clip art stars and the striking titles such as “Supercumbias!” or “Los Mejores Exitos de 2011.” Some even went to the trouble of copying the record labels small print warning that it is prohibited to copy or redistribute this disc, the irony perhaps lost on its creators.

In Peru it is estimated that 99% of all CD sales are illegal. Mexico tells a similar tale with one representative of the industry admitting that piracy is now “entrenched”. The explanation become quite clear when you discover that, for example in Peru, the average wage is $150. An original album costs about $14 whereas you can pick up a pirate disc with over 200 MP3s for $2. Widespread corruption, the apathy of authorities and the organisation of the counterfeiters add to the startling scale of piracy across the continent. In the Peruvian capital Lima, the main market, lined with pirate “shops” is just round the corner from the city’s central police station. It is often easier to find an illegal copy than the original.

Though countries such as Argentina and Chile may appear to have more control over illegal copying, if you scratch beneath the surface you soon discover counterfeit goods are everywhere. In Buenos Aires, just across the road from one of the city’s biggest shopping malls lies a maze of kiosks selling all the latest blockbusters, cracked software and chart hits.

What is perhaps more worrying is the suggested link between large-scale piracy and organised crime. Some investigators have hinted at the involvement of Colombian cartels, Chinese triads and even the Italian mafia. In a highly organised operation, hundreds of thousands of discs are transported across the continent, eventually appearing on streets from Venezuela to Paraguay.

Considering the economic limitations of consumers, the power of the gangs running operations and the cultural acceptance of buying pirate goods, authorities and labels face an uphill struggle, If the RIAA and the IFPI think they have it bad fighting the founders of Oink and Pirate Bay they should perhaps consider themselves lucky.

After having seen Daedelus in a live setting a few times I have come to expect the unexpected. A man unfazed by genre, BPM and style, his captivating live spectacles are never the same. Arriving onstage in his trademark tailcoat and sideburns, Mr. Weisberg-Roberts treats his audience to an introduction expressing his gratitude to the crowd and city of Glasgow. His love for this city is in part due to the fact that every time he plays here it is different: a different venue, a different crowd and a whole different vibe.

Tonight he promises to take us on a musical journey, meandering through sonic valleys and crossing musical plains. It all sounds quite profound, but his affable nature and his clear enthusiasm lets him get away with it. He is not mistaken: within five minutes he has swept the crowd up, leading us through a relentless sonic odyssey, the musical antithesis of the last time I caught him in a similar dingy basement at the 13th Note.

Live electronic music is often criticised for its lack of performance, generally associated with watching a performer hunched behind his Macbook screen pressing buttons. Cries of “He could just be playing iTunes for all we know!” abound. If Daedelus is just playing iTunes tonight then he deserves an Oscar. His mesmerising and perplexing use of the Monotone audio controller (a big incomprehensible box of flashing LED lights) and his intense performance are entirely captivating — not to mention his musical endeavour. Tilting the DIY-looking box towards the audience, his fingers fly across the buttons like a maniacal pianist contorting and controlling the sound.

Though on disc Daedelus has produced skewed hip-hop nostalgia and is part of LA’s Low End Theory crew, the kings of the skewed, underground hip-hop scene. Tonight however, was a lesson in hard, fast, abrasive techno, dubstep and bass. It was essentially a DJ set, though unlike any you will ever see. His musical tapestry wove Burial into The Beach Boys, soul into Joker and Beirut into hard-techno. After a ten minute bass assault, truly using and abusing Stereo’s bass-filled cavern, he suddenly segued into a precious vocal sample, stepping back from his workbench and singing along, hand on heart. The equivalent to musical attention deficit disorder, at times it was overwhelming, but you cannot help but admire his ability to freeform mix between folk and techno. Innumerable snippets of songs you recognised were completely detached from their context.

Putting our trust in Daedelus, we were led by the hand into a musical maze of dark driving drums and menacing bass lines. I came expecting hip-hop wanderings and left feeling like I had just experienced a force ten gale, eyes wide open and hair blown back. What can you say to that? It is entrancing and relentless.

Tonight, Daedelus demonstrated that he is one of the most exciting live performers you will ever see.

It has been a long time since a compilation has intrigued and excited me as much as this one. Soundway Record’s Ghana Special captures the country’s most exciting musical period when funk, soul, rock, highlife and traditional music were fused together, regenerating and transforming the Ghanaian musical legacy.

Compiled by the label’s head honcho Miles Cleret after some ten years of trawling through dusty vinyl, the album brings to light 33 previously globally unreleased tracks and is accompanied by luxurious packaging and a 44-page booklet detailing the social and historical context. The sister album to 2007’s Nigeria Special, the Ghanaian counterpart sheds light on another side to perhaps the country’s greatest musical export, so-called “highlife” music, itself a “bastard” genre. It captures this essence of cultural infusion, varying from upbeat tracks which would not sound amiss on the soundtrack to The Last King of Scotland (Oscar Sulley indeed features on both) to The Ogyatanaa Show Band’s funked-out You Monopolise Me.

The tongue-twisting Kyeremateng Atwede & The Kyeremateng Stars’ I Go Die For You is a stand out track, while The African Brothers International Band’s Wompe Masem is closer to the highlife roots and my personal favourite is City Boys Band’s Nya Asem Hwe.

The collection is an informed and intriguing peek into the “golden age” of West African music whilst simultaneously being incredibly enjoyable and varied. Soundway Records Ghana Special is exactly that: special.

It has been three years since Zero 7′s last release The Garden and they return with Yeah Ghost, a marked change from their former trip-hop, lo-fi stylings.

It is not a comfortable or convincing evolution. Gone are the uncomplicated, agreeable and well constructed lounge of Simple Things replaced by what is essentially an average pop album. The albums opens with a melange of synths, an initial hint of the previous incarnation. As track two ‘Mr McGee’ enters, all pre-conceptions are destroyed and you begin to wonder, what ever happened to Zero 7?

I have to admit I always found that their music washed over me without leaving a trace. Their latest attempt does the same but leaves an unwelcome aftertaste. Sia Furler, one of the bands biggest assets is a notable absence from the album and though replaced by Eska Mtungwazi, she is not given the opportunity to shine.

Everything Up’s memorable beat and guitar line begins with purpose and is a welcome tune. ‘Pop ‘Art Blue’ shows hints of the past and is one of the albums highlights. Yet on Medicine Man, the duo let themselves down with a flimsy electro which sounds more like Mika than Zero 7. Sleeper is an unconvincing attempt at reproducing The Knife’s Swedish oddball electronica.

Though the bands new direction will no doubt appeal to a certain fanbase, for those who know and love the Zero 7 they fell for some years back may be surprised or, more likely, disappointed.