ISSUE 17: VERTICES
“Vertices,” then, suggests a kind of lattice work of such convergences, which feels true to not only the development of the issue but the pieces inside.
Not everything can always be neatly wrapped up in a tidy theme. Sometimes the challenge for our editorial working group isn’t to just develop a new theme, but to find one that will encompass or serve the disparate pieces that have been slowly percolating in our inbox and Google Drive over a period of months. Especially internally, a writer will often have a great idea for a piece with no theme to tie it to, and so their pitch will sit in our idea bank until we can find a good home for it. It’s also not uncommon for a piece that was commissioned for a certain issue to not end up making it in that specific publication, either because the writer needs more time, or a source fell through, or some other act of god that writers and editors navigate every single day. As much as we package our work with intention and care, there’s a lot that falls through the cracks that our readers do not see.
Eventually, these pieces collect and our job as a working group is to pay close attention to what the writers and stories are telling us so that we can present their work in the best way possible. I originally wanted to call this issue “Mediate,” because it felt like a lot of what was being expressed was centring on the things that mediate our experiences with music, whether that’s technology, industry, journalism, or language itself. But that word didn’t quite hit the mark. Many ideas were suggested, but it wasn’t until Tom Beedham put forward “Vertices” that anything really stuck.
In geometry, a vertex is a meeting point, or place of convergence. “Vertices,” then, suggests a kind of lattice work of such convergences, which feels true to not only the development of the issue but the pieces inside.
With our “Favourite Musical Moments of 2023” piece, we’re letting go of 2023 before transitioning into this new year, standing on the threshold of one into the other. We’re still figuring out how to navigate our impulse as writers to sum up the year in thoughtful retrospectives, without just blindly falling into the rhythms of industry, and so sharing musical moments that resonated with each of us, as opposed to focusing on specific albums or singles, felt like the best way to do that. Daniel G Wilson, Tabassum Siddiqui, Rosie Long Decter, Sarah Chodos, and Tom Beedham all share their thoughts.
Laura Stanley’s profile of Prince Rupert-based Ts’msyen musician Saltwater Hank centres on how the artist’s latest album is performed in Sm’algyax, the language of the Ts’msyen people with only 67 first-generation speakers left. The language’s place on the record is a credit to the Elders and community members who have kept it alive, with Saltwater Hank just being the next in the line of cultural memory being reclaimed.
In a kind of spiritual successor to our 2020 Survey Results report, Leslie Ken Chu spoke with Simone Schmidt, Cedric Noel, and Vi Levitt (aka KERUB), about what they, as musicians, want to see from music journalism. Musicians and music journalists alike have a vested interest in keeping music journalism alive, especially at a time when its existence seems so threatened. Finding common ground regarding how it should look and operate in that prospective future is something that deserves as much focus as whatever striving we do to preserve it.
On the Rocks: Challenging Big Alcohol’s Troubling Influence on the Music Industry
Daniel G. Wilson
Meanwhile Daniel G. Wilson examines the financial and social ways in which the alcohol industry influences the music industry, speaking to artists like Pretty Matty, experts like writer James Wilt, and highlighting dry spaces like Corner Brook Newfoundland’s 62 Broadway. Wilson thinks through the pernicious ways that alcohol has become its own kind of currency, plying musicians and becoming intertwined in the culture itself, which feels particularly predatory at a time when these artists are making less and less from their art.
“Vertices” embodies the spirit of collaboration and connection that defines the editorial journey this issue took — a coming together; a point of convergence where disparate ideas find harmony. Readers, we hope you enjoy this theme and find your own connections as you dive in.
— Michael Rancic
Editorial: Daniel G Wilson, Tabassum Siddiqui (public editor), Michael Rancic (features editor), Leslie Ken Chu, Sarah Chodos, Tom Beedham
Community: Daniel G Wilson, Michael Rancic, Rosie Long Decter (lead)
Care: Tabassum Siddiqui (Public Editor), Sarah Chodos (lead), Tom Beedham
Organization: Michael Rancic, Leslie Ken Chu, Tom Beedham
Budget: Michael Rancic, Leslie Ken Chu
Web: Laura Stanley (lead), Michael Rancic, Leslie Ken Chu
