Best of bands 2015: Felix Cartal

    1 of 1 2 of 1

      Felix Cartal was inspired to make dance music by MGH!-fronted club nights like 1/2 Alive and Glory Days. Curious, as for the majority those nights merely inspired a massive hangover and a trip to a walk-in clinic. Since then, the output of this amiable fella, known as Taelor Deitcher to his friends, has been nothing short of prolific. To the delight of partiers around the world, there have been releases on Steve Aoki’s imprint Dim Mak, remixes of Jack Ü and Zedd, and a biweekly podcast called Weekend Workout. (I dare you to try to scroll through everything he’s posted to SoundCloud.) Recently, he made the move to a major, and he’s gearing up for a forthcoming LP titled Life Online on Universal, which will be released in 2016. In the meantime, he’s teasing us with euphoric tracks like “Something to Live For” and “With You” that are sure to inspire spirited sing-alongs at your next big-room gathering, followed by a massive hangover and a trip to a walk-in clinic.

      Best local release other than yours: “Vanic’s remix of Major Lazer’s ‘Be Together’. I feel like he found his sound recently. His last few releases have been really consis­tent and have started to follow a path that I think is really interesting to watch. That’s when someone’s career is going to do well, when they find that direction. It’s hard to find and that excites me about it.”

      The year’s best gig: “Cœur de Pirate at the Commodore [on September 19]. It was so Canadian, because it was a bilingual show. She said almost all her banter in both languages. It was like listening to the intercom before an Air Canada flight. I loved that about it. Her singing is so good. It’s incredible how true to the record she sounds.”

      Best album ever: “Radiohead, Kid A. I feel like it’s a cliché saying that, because Pitchfork gave it 10 out of 10 and they kind of annoy me. It’s really a brave album. It’s interesting when a band that has had that much success will still make an album that’s different from what they’ve done before. I also like that it made electronic music accessible for rock dudes, like me at the time.”

      Francesco Aquilini’s paying—Where’s dinner?Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie [163 Keefer Street]. The idea of a fusion restaurant infuriates me as a concept, but there’s a lot of good ones in Vancouver. Even the idea of saying ‘fusion’ offends me as a musician because that’s usually what the worst music is. But Bao Bei is really good. Every time I’m there I wanna order everything on the menu. So if there was a taster menu, I could spend unlimited money and just nibble at each thing, I would totally do that.”

      In the spirit of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “I Really Like You”, who do you really, really like? “MGH! [formerly my!gay!husband!]. There’s only one my!gay!husband! and it’s him. I like people that are fully themselves. He’s an original and I think he does a lot of great things for the city. I like all those dudes from that scene. They always support me, which is cool. I don’t feel like my music is the same as what they’re doing. No one gives a shit, in a good way.”

      You won Lotto Max. Where’s your club opening up? “The ice rink on Robson [800 Robson Street]. I have two reasons. One, it would just be so Canadian—the idea of things that are really Canadian is funny to me. I like buying into the idea of making fun of us for the reasons people around the world make fun of us. And then two, I think of roller rinks and there was always that dance culture in roller rinks. It’d be fun. Imagine if everyone was skating and you had a really good DJ. That could be dope.”

      Comments