Vangel - Biblio
Vangel, a Toronto=based DJ and producer, scours the libraries of his home cities for inspiration and samples.
Biblio almost feels like an academic project, a compiled library of sounds, suggesting the idea of samples being "loaned out" for new compositions. A scholar of music, Vangel effortlessly renders musical crossovers that reach beyond genre and culture, using samples procured from music borrowed from Toronto's libraries. As he splinters the palettes of DJ Shadow and Mr Scruff with jazz-rap beats that are reminiscent of the early '90s sampling aesthetic, the tunes are delivered with such an urgency that the music is drawn away from any notions of laid back hip-hop. Break-core drums spill over a world of sounds: flamenco guitars, Radiohead-esque vocal parts and fluctuating time signatures, creating undulating collages. With several Toronto-based improv musicians accompanying the borrowed samples, and handmade artwork on a limited CD run, this is the sound of the local infused with the global, a melting pot of musical appropriation.