Cult classics 2012: Interviews

Riff Raff

Of all the rappers interviewed by hip hop columnist Darcy MacDonald for Cult MTL, Houston YouTube star RiFF RAFF was perhaps the most honest and revealing, the way eccentric artists who are fresh to fame can be. Thanks again to George Blott for the original illustration.

RiFF RAFF is of his time, and as far as he’s concerned, the stopwatch ain’t even ticking yet, despite somewhere close to 25 million accumulated YouTube hits and enough hate to put his original channel outta business.
Performing in Laval tonight, the over-the-top, corn-rowed, gold-grilled freestyle impresario is actually closer to Earth than I would have guessed.

>> Click to read more…

 

Django Django

Ahead of a stellar show at Café Campus at the end of September, Erik Leijon spoke to Scotland’s breakout band of the year, whose self-titled debut LP appeared on two of Cult MTL‘s music critics’ Best Albums of 2012 lists.

Once a bastion for generation-defining rock music, the U.K.’s vast grazing fields have produced a paltry yield in recent years (feel free to blame Britpop nostalgia and Simon Cowell for that). Then again, Mercury Prize-nominated Scottish quartet Django Django would sound weird in any era.

>> Click to read more…

 

Lee Fields

Lee Fields love to talk, as Lorraine Carpenter discovered back in September, a couple of weeks before the old-school soul man slayed the crowd at Cabaret du Mile End. It was one of those very rare first-time conversations that was substantial, entertaining and emotionally volatile.

“It’s a beautiful thing,” says Lee Fields, frequently. And why not? The extraordinary singer and performer has been doing what he loves for most of his life, and while his contemporaries are either retired or on the comeback circuit, he’s at the top of his game.

>> Click to read more…
 
Bonus: Morrissey! ■