Preview
APOSTLE OF HUSTLE
Friday, April 8
MacEwan Hall (U of C)
There’s an uncanny sense of space in Apostle of Hustle’s 2004 release Folkloric Feel – a lush, cinematic quality that belies guitarist Andrew Whiteman’s relationship with Broken Social Scene.
Like musical magpies, Whiteman and his bandmates Julian Brown and Dean Stone, collect sounds, beats and rhythms to create an atmospheric experimental post-rock sound. It’s an intimate project that reflects Whiteman’s global consciousness.
"Apostle of Hustle is a more personal project for me than Broken Social Scene on one hand," says Whiteman. "But on the other, it’s very much a musical discussion with Julian and Dean since they have been with Apostle since day one."
The disussion is now opening up with the addition of a fourth member, Ilse Gudino. As a flamenco dancer, her influence has led the band to explore new rhythms.
"Flamenco could be my favourite non-North American music," says Whiteman. "Just because, in itself, it’s a blend of a whole lot of things, from gypsy to Arabic music, to Spanish courtly poetry."
It’s this awareness of the music around him that Whiteman thinks contributes to Apostle of Hustle’s sound. Though they started out playing covers of PJ Harvey, Carlos Jobim and Tom Waits in dive bars in Toronto, much of Apostle of Hustle’s genesis is linked to Whiteman’s time in Cuba. But Whiteman is resolute in the fact that there isn’t a specific Latin sound to their music.
"We’re not purists or anything," he says. "You’re not going to hear anything traditionally Cuban in our music. It’s more so anything that catches us, really…. The tone of someone’s voice or the rhythm will often do it. I like to follow music down a path.
"My whole discovery of Cuban music initially came from me getting really turned on to Bo Diddley. I was wondering why the music of Bo Diddley was so primal, so elemental, so powerful, and I wondered why was I so obsessed with it. And then I followed it down to New Orleans. And then followed it further to Cuban music."
As a self-professed music junkie, Whiteman is self-effacing when it comes to his knowledge. According to Whiteman, it’s a matter of constantly listening, researching, questioning and ultimately following the music where it leads.
"The world-music scene is in a state where you really have to search for something that sounds dope," says Whiteman. "A lot of it sounds super homogenized. They sell it at Starbucks, you know, and it’s not inspiring. Then you start digging deep into say, the Forró musical tradition of northeastern Brazil from the 1930s.
"I remember reading about the singer from The Walkman who went for about nine months where he didn’t listen to any music recorded after 1940. I can very much relate to that. I tend to be a person that looks into the past. I’m not very future oriented." |
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