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Anonymous Twist Is the Dispenser
By Ryan B. Patrick
Upon hearing that DJ/MC/producer Anonymous Twist is also a fully licensed pharmacist by trade, one is tempted to draw parallels and eye-rollingly bad drug metaphors and similes. But in a hip-hop landscape dominated by fatuous feuds and crass commercialism, it isn’t too corny to say that Anonymous Twist dispenses straight up hip-hop with new LP The Crucible. “I don't think I could just be doing one or the other exclusively,” says the Scarborough native on the dualism. “They both keep me grounded.”
Many remember Anonymous Twist, aka Owen Chaim, from his heady early ’90s tenure as turntablist DJ Apollo in the Toronto urban scene. Reinventing himself as triple-threat Anonymous Twist, he represents a dark horse of sorts whose humble demeanour belies reverent passion for making beats, spitting lyrics and cutting tracks.
These days, living on the outskirts of Toronto with a wife and young daughter has changed his perspective, but not his commitment to the craft. Being far removed from the downtown core doesn’t make his approach any less raw. Building from the strength of heavily lauded Through The Looking Glass LP, the self-described “serious hobbyist” maintains his methodical, workmanlike approach to scratching, rhyming and producing. Now at a stage where he's ready to reach out to the artists he’s been a fan of for the past few years, The Crucible enlists the aid of talent like Sean Price, Planet Asia and Oh No to reinforce the vibe. Joints like “Sweet Sixteen,” “Royal Flush” and “Brainwash” rep hip-hop as Twist sees it — pure, unadulterated realness.
“Hip-hop right now is still just as diverse as 20 years ago. It’s just that commercial side is overpowering everything else. People only see that side of the music and think that's all there is,” says Twist. “I don’t know… maybe that's why I do it.”
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The Weirdness of Sunset Rubdown
 To say Spencer Krug is busy would be an understatement. A look into his day-timer would show enough tours dates, studio sessions and rehearsal slots to do most musicians’ heads in. But when it takes a whole hand to count the number of bands you’re in, this is the reality.
In three quick yea...Read More
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Iron and Wine’s Guiding Light
 With minimal fanfare and seemingly less forethought, Sam Beam has led Iron and Wine down a fascinating path over the past five years, bolstering his haunting solo work and lyricism with equally compelling instrumental experimentation. Now a Texas resident, the Florida native has created a wondrous n...Read More
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Torngat Make It Up
 It appears that Montreal’s fertile music community has yielded another left field winner with Torngat’s You Could Be. Here the orchestral noisemakers sound more confident than ever, thawing out traditionally icy post rock structures with bright melodies crafted from an assortment of organs, c...Read More
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Band of Horses Let It Flow
 “You know, I thought it would go either way. I thought it would go really big or get panned super hard and people would be like, ‘derivative rock band, suck it, whatever.’ But, it did exceed my expectations. I never expected to sell 100,000 records.” So says Ben Bridwell, lead singer with Band of Ho...Read More
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Vic Chesnutt’s Star Power
 Over his storied career, Vic Chesnutt has worked with artistic luminaries, yet no collaboration has yielded results as powerful as his Constellation Records debut, North Star Deserter, which warranted working with strangers in Montreal and trusting the vision of Jem Cohen, a filmmaker turned ...Read More
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Japanther Put In Some Effort
 “Our shitty recording quality is just because we’re lazy,” says Ian Vanek, one half of Brookyn-based DIY punks Japanther. “If people are attached to that, it’s kind of funny.” Known for producing records that frequently sound nothing like the band’s bristling live shows — found-sound collages as opp...Read More
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