Author Archives: Tyler Asaoka

How Come There Isn’t a Hip-Hop/Rap-Only Radio Station in Vancouver?

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It’s interesting that there is no radio station in Vancouver that only plays Hip-Hop/Rap music. Of course some radio stations will play a Rap song here or there, but there is no station that specifically targets that genre. Why is that? It’s no secret that Rap is a very popular genre and very mainstream around the world, so how come Vancouver doesn’t have a station specifically for this genre?

Popular radio stations in Vancouver like 94.5 Virgin Radio, Z95.3, 104.9 KiSS Radio, Evolution 107.9, etc. will play a few Hip-Hop songs everyday, but most of these stations are either specific for one genre (like Rock 101.1), or just play whatever songs are popular now, which normally aren’t Rap songs.

Well your answer is actually more obvious than it may seem, and it’s the fact there aren’t enough Canadian Hip-Hop songs that would be able to fill up the time for a Canadian radio station. 

The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (or CRTC for short) have it so that radio stations in Canada have to have 60% of yearly programming and 50% of daily content be of Canadian origin. Meaning that an only Hip-Hop radio station would need to fill up 50% of it’s music played with Rap songs by Canadian artists. There aren’t too many Canadian Rap artists, so I don’t think they would be able to fill up 50% of the show, never mind the entire show (unless we play Drake songs 90% of the time).

So that’s why an all Rap/Hip-Hop station wouldn’t be possible. As for other countries, they may not have this requirement, but even if they did, I’m sure they would be able to fill it up if they had enough Hip-Hop artists from their country (like the US, for example).

It’s unfortunate that it just doesn’t seem possible to have an all Hip-Hop/Rap radio station. Some radio stations have tried to do it, but they all failed. For those who are a fan of Rap (like myself), it seems we will not be having a full Rap radio station anytime soon, for as long as that requirement is in place. I do agree with the requirement though, as it makes sense to play artists from our country, but it’s just unfortunate. Maybe one day we’ll be able to have a station like that… maybe one day.

Rifflandia Music Festival Artist Lineup Announced

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There is going to be a music festival this September in Victoria called “Rifflandia”, and the artist lineup was just announced today!

Singers Lorde and Charli XCX are the main headliners for this show, but there are also some other pretty known artists attending the event such as Cypress Hill, Black Pumas, Lauv, and Ben Harper.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CdI4-WqueYC/

But the best one has to be… get this. Shaquille O’Neal will be attending this event! He went under the name “DJ Diesel”, but it will be Shaq attending this event! So if you want to hear his music or see how tall he really is, this is your opportunity to see him for yourself, live and in-person! Here is a snippet of what he’s capable of producing:

Tickets go live on Friday, May 6th, at 10am on the Rifflandia website. I anticipate that tickets will go pretty fast, so if you want to pay retail and secure your spot at the festival, I would be ready to checkout as fast as possible the morning of May 6th.

This will be a 3-day event, with the dates being set for September 15th to 18th. It will be held at the Royal Athletic Park and Victoria’s Arts & Innovation District. 

This will be the first time this event is being held since the COVID-19 pandemic. The last Rifflandia was in 2019, and those who purchased tickets in 2019 will be honoured for this year’s event.

Personally, I don’t think I will be attending this event. Not because I don’t want to, but because I probably won’t have the time. I will be back in school, and need to try and save money for my potential Germany trip in December! But for those wanting to attend an outdoor music festival that is relatively close by to Vancovuer, this is your best bet! Make sure to free up your schedules in September, as you can expect it to be very busy with this being the first Rifflandia since 2019!

Juno Awards On May 15th: Everything You Need To Know

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The Juno Awards will be back this year on May 15th, only two Sunday’s away, at 5pm to 7pm PDT.

For those who don’t know, the Juno Awards are Canada’s music awards. To put it simply, it’s an award show for Canadian artists only.

They will be hosted in Toronto, Ontario, at the outdoor venue Budweiser Stage. This will be the first time it is hosted in Toronto since 2011.

The host of the show this year will be Canadian actor, Simu Liu.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZe4iAFpWc0/

For the first time since 2019, there will be an in-person gala ceremony. It was originally planned for the 2021 Juno Awards, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ceremony did not occur.

Toronto-native Deborah Cox has been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame before the event is set to begin.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CbsJnJ-LBQt/

There are some changes in-place for the Juno’s this year. There will no longer be a “Rap Recording of the Year”. Instead, it will be split into 2 different categories for “Rap album/EP of the Year” and “Rap Single of the Year”.

Additionally, there are changes to the “Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year”. It will also be split into new categories, which are, “Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year” and “Traditional Indigenous Artist of the Year”.

There is a new category this year, which will be called “Underground Dance Single of the Year”.

The main event will of course be “Artist of the Year”, and the nominees this year are Justin Bieber, The Weeknd, Shawn Mendes, Charlotte Cardin, and JP Saxe.

Personally, I hope The Weeknd wins “Artist of the Year”. I love his new album Dawn FM (which sadly isn’t a nominee for Album of the Year), and every song The Weeknd has created has been to my liking… no seriously, there isn’t a song by The Weeknd that I don’t like. He is literally my favourite artist!

Music BC Member of the Week: Argel MDR

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Surrey singer, Argel MDR, was named the Member of the Week on Music BC.

The Filipino-Canadian was also in the Top 10 of CBC’s Toyota Searchlight 2021.

He moved to Canada from the Philippines as a 15 year old with his family to seek a better life, as well as better opportunities.

He also has a background in acting and songwriting.

He states that he wants his music and acting performances to inspire Filipino youths and other immigrants, as he is an immigrant himself.

He lists One Republic, Sam Smith, and Original Pinoy Music (OPM) as some of his musical influences.

He is an advocate of representation, anti-racism work, and inclusion, which I personally find to be amazing. As someone who comes from a minority background as well, I strive for anti-racism work as well.

To add onto his impressive resume, he also received a “Pop Artist of the Year” nomination, as well as a nomination for an “Excellence Award” by a BIMPOC artist. This is from the Fraser Valley Music Awards 2021, which is run by the CIVL 101.7 FM radio station.

His most recent song release was his debut EP called “Reign”, which was released just last week, on April 25th.

He posted on his Instagram account that this song was “two years in the making” and that he “poured his heart out with all the tracks released”.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc55H-GJ-U4/

Additionally, he was featured on Omni News Filipino for his new song release.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc8iI70Ph0E/

After seeing how much he has accomplished in a weeks-time, he is fully deserving of the Member of the Week recognition. After listening to his new EP, I can just feel the energy and emotion in the lyrics and in his voice. As someone who is also a person of colour, it’s always nice to see someone in the same group gain recognition and praise for their hard work.

Vancouver’s Garrett Kato New Single “Telephone” Releases This Friday

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Vancouver native, “Garrett Kato” has a new song planned to release this Friday, May 6th.

The song is called “Telephone” and he has released a snippet of his new single on his Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CdF9KJ-p__h/

Garrett himself states that he’s “very proud” of the production and songwriting of this song, even stating that he feels it’s “one of the best songs he’s written in his career so far”.

This will be Garret’s first new single since the release of his song “Secrets” in March of this year. The song is about the dangers of keeping things to yourself when your mental health is low. I personally relate to that, as when I was experiencing a very low mental health stint, I didn’t tell anyone, which is something I regret. So to my reader reading this, if you are going through something, I ask you to tell someone. Whether it’s a family member, close friend, counsellor, etc. Don’t keep it all bottled up inside.

He is a very popular artist on Spotify, as he has over 780,000 monthly listeners, and a bunch of his songs having over 1 million downloads. His most popular song on Spotify is “Breathe It In”, which has over 10 million downloads. He is also a Platinum-Award winning producer, and has sold-out many concerts throughout his career. 

He is currently closing out a tour in Europe, with all his concert dates sold out, except for his final concert in Marrickville on August 12th.

I’m looking forward to this new single, as I’ve actually listened to a lot of Garrett’s music before. I started listening to his album “hemispheres” while in my final year of high school. It was actually one of my most played albums in my Spotify Wrapped 2021. Ever since then, I’ve decided to follow Garrett and his music, meaning this new single of his has got me pretty excited!

Dana Gavanski Releases New Album “When it Comes”

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Vancouver’s own, Dana Gavanski, just released a new album last Friday, April 29th, called, “When it Comes”.

There are 9 songs in this new album, and it has already become the most popular and most downloaded release of hers on Spotify, despite it only being out for less than a week.

This is just her 2nd album, with her first album coming out in 2020 called “Yesterday is Gone”. She planned to go on-tour for the release of her first album, but it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Dana’s Instagram, she goes into the description of one of her songs, as well as giving information to purchase the album.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc7kVoQqj1w/

Additionally, she announced in the same post that she will be going on-tour for the release of this new album. Unfortunately, there is no scheduled concert for Vancouver, or anywhere in Canada at the moment. 

The very first song Dana wrote for this album was before the pandemic hit. That’s pretty interesting to hear, as that would mean the first song made for this album was made in March 2020 or before, as the entire world started to go on lockdown after Spring Break 2020.

 She voiced that she felt she couldn’t sing the song due to “voice problems”, but was able to overcome the challenge, and voiced it as “a great pleasure”.

Dana’s most popular song on Spotify right now is her song “I Talk to the Wind”, which has over 500,000 downloads. She also has over 58,000 monthly listeners.

After listening to the album myself, I have to say that I am a pretty big fan. A lot of the tracks are pretty relaxing, and sort of soothe me to some degree. For a small indie artist, this is one of the better albums I have listened to in quite some time. I would recommend to anyone honestly, as I do think many people will enjoy it, even if it’s not their favourite type of genre.

Vancouver’s Grimes Blaming Twitter for “Public Mental Health Issues”

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Vancouver musician, Grimes, has publicly blamed Twitter for causing mental health issues to the public. This gets extra spicy, as her ex-partner is now the new owner of Twitter.

Grimes was in a relationship with the new owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, but she publicly announced (as well as Musk) that they have split. This was the 2nd time the pair split, as they previously split up in September 2021.

Elon Musk purchased Twitter on April 25th for $44 billion, only 2 months after the pair split for the 2nd time. This was his first tweet after purchasing the social media handle:

She has now admitted that she has created multiple “fake” Twitter accounts to start fights with other people. By creating a “fake” account, she keeps her real identity hidden when starting fights with others.

Grimes was silent on her ex-partner’s big purchases, stating that she “didn’t want to say something that might dismantle democracy”.

What’s even more of a coincidence, is the two met through a Twitter pun relating to Rococo.

Personally, I feel that this whole situation is a bit too much of a coincidence. It’s amazingly funny how so much of their relationship has to do with Twitter. They met through the platform, Grimes coming out and admitting to having fake Twitter accounts, and of course, Musk buying the platform himself.

I do agree with the part on how Twitter is bad for mental health, but that’s for all social media handles. Don’t get me wrong, I think social media is great, and I wouldn’t be able to live without it. At the time, it’s a very toxic and scary place if you get into the wrong areas. Grimes creating fake accounts to start fights has happened before, she isn’t the first to do it. While there aren’t many details on what she said or did in those “fights”, social media fights can be very dangerous, and it has led people down some very dark paths. My final advice, be very careful on social media, mainly if you choose to post something. Once it’s up, it’s up forever, so be careful.

Local Music Concerts This Week (May 1st – May 7th)

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There are some upcoming local music events that you can attend this week if you’re feeling in the mood! 

All events will be in the Vancouver area, so if you live here or are visiting, here are a few concerts you can attend, without having to pay more than $35 (before possible taxes and fees).

Like jazz music? OKAN will be performing at the Shadbolt Centre For The Arts in Burnaby this Wednesday, May 4th at 8pm to 10pm. Tickets are available, and cost $35. OKAN performs genres such as jazz, folk, and global rhythms, but adds her Afro-Cuban roots into the songs. Here’s a taste of what to expect this Wednesday:

On Friday May 6th, there will be two local concerts, both starting at 8pm, so unfortunately, you will not be able to attend both if you were planning to.

First, Vancouver indie artist, Jillian Lake, will be performing at the Wise Hall in Vancouver. Joining her will be fellow Vancouver-based artists Jenny Banai and Jasper Sloan Yip. Tickets are $15, and doors will open at 8pm, with the show starting at 9pm (there is no estimated end time for the concert). People attending must be 19 or older, meaning no minors are allowed. Here is one of the songs that will be played this Friday:

If you’re not really feeling like spending your Friday night there, you can attend Vancouver-based band, Early Spirit, and their concert at the St. James Community Square from 8pm to 10:30pm. Tickets are $26, and they will be joined by fellow-Canadian, Ben Sures. This concert is to celebrate the release of their newest album “The Hollow Tree”. If you’re in the mood for some jazz and rock ‘n’ roll this Friday night, this will be the event for you! Get to know some of their songs before you go here:

As for me, I will not be able to attend the Jillian Lake concert, as I am underage, but I would consider going to the other two concerts if I have time. Both sound like a blast, and I haven’t been to a concert in awhile. Whether I go or not, I know all the concerts this week will be amazing!

Hedley Lead Singer Jacob Hoggard’s Sexual Assault Trial Set To Begin

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Lead singer of the Vancouver-based band, Jacob Hoggard, is set to have his sexual assault trial in Toronto Court.

The trial was delayed multiple times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with his original trial being set for January 2021.

The trial is set to begin this Wednesday, May 4th.

Hoggard was not pleaded guilty in the summer of 2019, when he was trialed for sexual assualt once again. Here is Hoggard leaving the courtroom in 2019, courtesy of CityNews:

This sexual assault trial isn’t the first time Hoggard has been charged and arrested. He was arrested in 2018 for an alleged incident with a teenager and another woman. The incident occurred in 2016, around the Toronto area.

Police are starting to investigate the cases further, seeing if they can trace back this current sexual assualt case with a previous one. Police are starting to come to a conclusion that Hoggard may have had inappropriate encounters with younger fans. 

Hoggard has mentioned himself (before the allegations), that he has been behaving in a way where he “objectifies women” and was “reckless and dismissive of their feelings”

The Surrey native has chosen to be judged by a jury instead of a judge.

With all this information becoming public, Hoggard’s band Hedley has been blocked by many radio stations across the world, as well as their own management removing them from their company.

Hedley has not made a single song since 2018, and it is unknown if they will ever make a song again, if they even can.

I remember listening to Hedley quite a lot as a kid. They weren’t my favourite band by any means, but I did enjoy a few songs of theirs that I heard on the radio from time to time, particularly song “Crazy For You”.

It’s really unfortunate how things turned out for the rest of the band members, as it appears they haven’t done anything similar to Hoggard. Hoggard ruined their careers, and tainted the band’s legacy. Sadly, many will not remember Hedley for their songs anymore, but for their lead singers’ inappropriate actions.

Vancouver Band, Mother Mother, and their Success Throughout the Pandemic

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Mother Mother is a Vancouver based indie rock band. They are a band consisting of 5 members: Ryan Guldemond, Molly Guldemond, Ali Siadat, Jeremy Page and Jasmin Parkin.

Everyone struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic that we are slowly getting out of more and more everyday. However, in the first few months of the global pandemic, many were afraid and worried about what was going on. 

Athletes not being able to perform at their events, performers having to cancel their concerts, workers being laid off, students not knowing if a return to school would be possible, the list can go on and on.

For me, the pandemic wasn’t too difficult. I was already used to staying home on the weekends anyways, so adapting to a “stay-at-home” lifestyle was pretty easy. Since I was a student in high school at the time, I would always just attend online classes, and grind through a video game after classes were finished.

For Mother Mother though, they released an album in 2018 called “Dance and Cry”, which would be their last album released before the pandemic.

They originally had no plans to make new music anytime soon after their album’s release in 2018, but they did go on-tour from February 2019 to March 2019, which would be the last time they would make music of any kind.

During the pandemic, their song “O My Heart” surged up on the streaming charts, as the song went viral on TikTok in late 2020, resulting in the band coming back together and releasing new music, and eventually a new album called “Inside”.

The album is based on the global pandemic, which I find to be a very relatable topic for listeners.

They are currently on-tour right now, with the band beginning their tour on December 2nd, 2021 in Vancouver, and will conclude their tour on May 20th, 2022 in Ottawa.