I lit my sleeve on fire boiling tea to accompany the writing of this editor’s note. No, I don’t know what it means, but I have been thinking more about signs and the paranormal.
For the first few weeks as EIC I shadowed Alex — quite literally — walking in her shadow trying to retain everything she said, which proved to be impossible. Taking over this position from Alex, and before that Rob, Jacey, Laurel and the rest is like wandering among ghosts. Their personalized polaroids and handwritten notes are hidden all over the Discorder office. Press releases and download codes crowd my inbox addressed to everyone but me. My responses are inadvertently cheeky, signing my name and title without any masthead cred. I’m the editor equivalent of a pet shop bunny pulled out of a hat. But I don’t mind.
There are perks to anonymity while editing your first issue of Discorder. You can sneakily ask record stores what they think about content, and most times they answer honestly. You’re also in a position to lean on the art and editorial team, and the entire CiTR staff. They graciously answer stupid emails and urgent texts. (Thank you, all of you.)
While I am still faceless, I am not without some qualifications. I have been writing, ranting and drawing about art and music for the last 5 years on different websites and blogs. Even with the bulk of my editorial experience being online, I have always coveted print. I have an obscene collection of precious books and zines, an obsession that I share with members of the Discorder team and that will continue to subtly influence this magazine.
This issue we feature Skim Milk, an experimental jazz / hip hop clarinettist and one of this year’s Shindig finalists; We meet up with Lt. Frank Dickens to discuss his release on Horses Records; War Baby — no strangers to Discorder — give us a preview of Death Sweats; and Dralms’ Christopher Smith explains the sentiments behind his music. Shifting focus, we interview Nordic Trax and Sofar Sounds on what it takes to bring a crowd. We are also debuting a column called Shelf Life that highlights DIY publishing, catching up with Project Space about the 4th annual Vancouver Art / Book Fair October 17-18.
So yeah, I hope you enjoy these articles and everything else.
I just became that editor who wrote about ghosts in an October issue.
A+
BB
PS. Don’t forget to vote strategically in the federal election October 19. Let’s retire a politician, yeah?
