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Music

NORTHMIX: Riohv

The Ottawa-based artist guides us through his eclectic collection of left-field dance music.

Global interest in Canadian house and techno is booming thanks to labels like 1080p, Mood Hut, New Kanada, and Normals Welcome. In turn, producers outside of the usual Canadian hotbeds are beginning to emerge. Riohv, based out of Ottawa, made his debut via 1080p last summer, with an album titled Moondance. Lo-fi ambiance, driving rhythms, and elegant melodies provide a dark tinge to the tape's uplifting nature. Riohv delivers a similar mood and audial complexion through his 60 minute Northmix. Along with selections, Riohv offered us a deeper look into how Ottawa's scene is taking shape.

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THUMP: Loving the selections, there's a great build and vibe about the blends. Where, and how did you make the mix?
Riohv: I'm glad you're enjoying the mix, like I said before it was a lot of fun to make. A lot of heavy favourites in there. I think I may have overused the Lobster Theremin catalog, but they're killing it, so how could I not?

The mix was made mostly in the late evenings at home in Ableton, while wishing I had some proper turntables to make the mix on.

What's the scene like in Ottawa?
The scene in Ottawa is strange, there's definitely a lot of people here that are passionate about music, but I'd say that the music scene largely consists of hip-hop, rap, trap, and garage-punk.

Is there much of an outlet or community involved in left-field house and techno?
Left-field and techno? Probably not, there's people here that are definitely giving it a try and I've seen a few pretty good techno sets in Ottawa, but most of what I hear around is pretty straight forward house. Regardless, it's always a good time. The scene for electronic music is pretty vacant. There's a few people around that throw pretty good dance events—my introduction to that scene in Ottawa was through a few guys that throw an event called Ceremony at this old jail that's been re-purposed into a hostel. It was pretty refreshing discovering that event, and discovering that there were people in the city doing these kinds of things made me pretty stoked on Ottawa. I definitely feel like there's a space for left-field house, that's kind of what we're trying to accomplish with our new event, Zipcode. We're trying to expose people to something they wouldn't usually hear within the city.

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Do you feel your geographical location is detrimental or beneficial to your production?
It's definitely been interesting. I'm trying to find tangible examples of how it's been beneficial, and I'm struggling to think of one, but I'm sure it's been beneficial to me in many indirect ways. I feel like it's somehow attached itself to my music's identity. It's just one of those things where someone would hear what I'm doing and see where I'm from and be like, "Oh, Ottawa… no kidding." If there was anything detrimental it would be that there's definitely an area of missed opportunity. I don't get to play out nearly as much as I would like to, or as much as I think I would if I were somewhere like Toronto or Montreal. Most shows that I play are either because I'm helping to put on the event or a friend has asked me to come play.

How did the first Zipcode event go? Will it be an ongoing series in Ottawa?
Zipcode went great! The event was planned by some friends—Matt, who does a lot of DJing within Ottawa, and Ben, who makes music under the name Cabaal, and I. We kind of wanted to try something a little different in Ottawa and see what would happen. The event was largely focused around bringing the more raw and hazy side of dance music out. A friend of ours owns a bookstore called Black Squirrel Books and he has a really spacious basement that he generously let us borrow for the evening to do our thing. The first event was awesome though, we hit capacity pretty quickly and a lot of us were pretty overwhelmed by the response. It definitely exceeded our expectations. We hope to make it an ongoing thing.

In terms of music, do you find you are more connected and inspired by your local community or that of the online realm?
I'm definitely more connected and inspired by the online realm. That isn't to say I'm not inspired by my local community, but since I've started producing I have met so many awesome people online that I've been able to form friendships with because we're into what the other person is putting out on SoundCloud. It's a pretty strange thing, and it feels pretty surreal sometimes that these friendships materialize out of just stumbling upon an account on SoundCloud. There's definitely a real community of people that are as talented as they are kind. It's a lot of those people that really keep me motivated to keep working hard at making new music. I definitely owe a lot to the people that I've met online.

Track list:
1. Claudio Rocchetti - Numbers [Prestol!?]
2. Biographs - The Asphalt Is So Solid; Can't Get Through [Reckno]
3. Kriek - Animals [Off Minor Recordings]
4. Tapes – Somebodies Baby [Workshop]
5. Raw M.T. - La Duna [Mörk]
6. Genius of Time - Tuffa Trummor Med Synt [Aniara Recordings]
7. Sleep D - Rawtz [Butter Sessions]
8. Gnork - Blorp93 [Blind Jacks Journey]
9. Gerald Norton - Gwen Stacy (Mix 2) [Sly Fox Records]
10. Cos/Mes - Iron Deck [Funiki]
11. Ozel AB - Sidestep To Your Left [Lobster Theremin]
12. Nue Balance - Guu Yuu [1080P]
13. Sonofdistantearth - Koan [Lobster Theremin]
14. Archivist - Gutters [Slumdiscs]
15. Adam Strömstedt - Frimurare Bygger Kloster [Junk Yard Connections]
16. Jan Jelinek - Tendency [~Scape]
17. Ateq - 7.0 [Giegling]

Riohv is on SoundCloud.

Tony Stathos on Twitter.