dave morris

Welcome to the corner of the web where I publish links to recent articles, my portfolio of writing and my DJing information. For more timely and frequent updates, please follow me on Twitter.

It’s the last day of 2012 and I would feel weird without sharing my top 10 albums of the year, despite not really practising much music journalism in the last few months. (Another project eating that time. Soon come.) Anyways, here’s what snagged my distracted attention:

1. Tame Impala, Lonerism (Modular)
2. Jeremiah Jae, Raw Money Raps (Ninja Tune)
3. Tyvek, On Triple Beams
4. Teenanger, Frights (Telephone Explosion)
5. Flying Lotus, Until The Quiet Comes (Warp)
6. The Sheepdogs, The Sheepdogs (Atlantic/Warner)
7. Kendrick Lamar, Good Kid mAAd City (Aftermath)
8. Metz, Metz (Sub Pop)
9. Huoratron, Cryptocracy (Last Gang)
10. El-P, Cancer 4 Cure (Fat Possum)

You can check out a sampling of tunes from these releases ici:

Here’s the latest collection of stories I’ve written:

June 22, 2012: CD review Big K.R.I.T.Live From The Underground

June 15, 2012: CD reviews Usher Looking 4 Myself, Liars WIXIW

June 15, 2012: NXNE live review: Irvine Welsh, Pow Wows, Ivan Julian

May 16, 2012: Interview: Geoff Barrow (Portishead, Drokk, Beak>>)

May 6, 2012: Adam Yauch and Paul’s Boutique

May 4, 2012: CD reviews A Tribe Called Red A Tribe Called Red

May 4, 2012: RIP Adam Yauch

Apr 21, 2012: Strike A Pose: Voguing Is Back

Apr 13, 2012: CD reviews M. Ward, A Wasteland Companion and Orbital, Wonky

Apr 7, 2012: CD reviews Willis Earl Beal, Acousmatic Sorcery

Apr 6, 2012: Interview: TALWST

Apr 6, 2012: Intervew: Opeth

Apr 4, 2012: Meet The Feebles: Celebrity Kids in Bands

Apr 2, 2012: Junos: Is Feist Among Canada’s Greatest of All Time?

Apr 2, 2012: Essential Tracks: Miranda Lambert, Japandroids, A Tribe Called Red, Jeremy Greenspan and Odd Future

Apr 2, 2012: William Shatner at the Junos: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Apr 2, 2012: The Junos’ most memorable moments

Mar 30, 2012: Disc of the week: Nicki Minaj

Most of my writing of late has been in the Globe and Mail. Here are some recent links:

March 23, 2012: Singer Melanie Fiona‘s ‘Secret Super-Hero Life’

March 14, 2012: Pop Pulls On The Cowboy Boots: Interviews with Kelly Clarkson and Johnny Reid

March 12, 2012: Essential Tracks: Bobby Womack, Beach House, Lil B, Parallels, Bishop Morocco

March 10, 2012: Disc review: The Men, Open Your Heart

March 1, 2012: Teenanger is the shape of punk to come

Feb 28, 2012: Essential Tracks: Usher, Rhye, Real Estate, Robert Glasper/Erykah Badu, Islands

Feb 24, 2012: Wasn’t The Housing Bubble Supposed To Pop In 2011? (ROB Magazine)

Feb 10, 2012: The Mainstreaming of Dubstep

Feb 8, 2012: Digital Music Improving, Just As Neil Young Wants

Jan 27, 2012: An Investor’s Worst Enemy? Their Brain (ROB Magazine)

Dec 31, 2011: Disc Review: Moon Wiring Club, Clutch It Like A Gonk

Dec 14, 2011: Forget Shoes, Headphones Are The New Style Statement

Nov 26, 2011: Return of a Hip-Hop Killah: Ghostface Killah Interview

Nov 19, 2011: Drake Has Paved The Way For The New Princes Of Darkness

Nov 10, 2011: Rich Aucoin’s CD captures joie de vivre and desperation of youth

Oct 22, 2011: Disc review: M83, Hurry Up We’re Dreaming

Aug 27, 2011: Disc review: The Game, The R.E.D. Album

It’s been an eventful couple of months in the world of Dave’s bylines:

• I wrote my first review for SPIN.com, a review of Gang of Four at the Phoenix;

• I compiled a Guide to the best Hip-Hop shows at SXSW 2011 for Spinner.ca;
• Interviewed Nova Scotia rapper Classified, also for Spinner;
• Theorized about which music celebrities’ endorsements helped their respective products the most, again for Spinner;
• …and in my day job at ROB Magazine, I examined the future of technology and/or social media firms’ future IPOs, arguably proving that my getting hired there was not merely a huge clerical error.

I am also blogging at a-void.ca, of course, and have begun tweeting for ROB Mag at twitter.com/robmagazineca, so if business is your thing, be sure to follow along.

After several months of tweaking, hemming and hawing, I’m ready to go public with my new project, A Void. As the description on the site says, a void is a blog about beat music. That means instrumental hip-hop, dubstep, grime, techno and anything else that pushes the boundaries of music you can nod your head to. The name is a reference to the fact that most of the music is instrumental, ie. without vocals, though it isn’t exactly empty. So check it out, download some singles, add it to your RSS reader, follow it on Twitter, Like the page on Facebook, go crazy.

To start it off, here’s my Top 10 Albums of 2010 list. You’ll notice that it’s not so focused on the theme of the blog, but I really hate lists that stay, shall we say, on message. Besides which, six years writing for an alt.weekly is going to rub off; some residual Spoon fandom is a small price to pay.

PS: Two articles I recently did for Spinner: The best hip-hop albums of 2010 and Hip-hop’s indie rock connections, parts one and two.

Big news: as of Nov 25, I have left EYE WEEKLY. That means my final Pop Life column is this one, a discussion with DJ /Rupture (pictured) about ringtones and tribal grooves. I have been a reader of EYE WEEKLY for many years and working there was a dream come true. I look forward to seeing the paper grow in the coming months and years. Keep your eye (ahem) on those guys.

The good news is that I have a new position; I will be associate editor at The Globe And Mail’s Report On Business magazine as of Monday, Nov 29. My new job will not involve writing about music, but I intend to continue to freelance music articles while I delve into the world of business. Onwards and upwards, folks.

A brief roundup of my latest articles:

• Pop Life (column): Will the Stripped Down reissue of Double Fantasy change how we hear John Lennon’s iconic voice?
• Interview: Dr. Dog’s blood, sweat and tours
• Concert review: Liars @ Lee’s Palace, Sep 29

Here’s a roundup of the latest examples of my most recent work:

• Feature: Sampladelic producer Flying Lotus turns inward for inspiration
• Concert review: M.I.A.: Provocateur, scammer or spoiled brat?
• Interview: Philip Seymour Hoffman directs himself in Jack Goes Boating
• Feature: Wiz Khalifa rules the internet – and the college kids

For more information about me, click on the “About” tab.

Here are some more examples of my most recent work:

• Cover story: Scott Pilgrim Vs. Toronto: Michael Cera and Edgar Wright bring the indie comic – and our city – to the big screen
• Concert review: Paul McCartney’s still not dead
• Interview: Ty Segall: Meet the San Francisco noisenik whose melodic pop-rock stands out in the garage-rock crowd

For more information about me, click on the “About” tab.