Cartel Madras with DRI HIEV, TeaFannie, Sargeant X Comrade and guests

Sled Island and The Palomino present; Cartel Madras (Calgary) /  DRI HIEV (Calgary) /TeaFannie (Edmonton) / Sargeant X Comrade (Calgary) / Greyscreen (Calgary) / Nebulae Complex (Calgary)

Where: Palomino Smokehouse and Social Club
109 7 Avenue S.W Calgary
http://thepalomino.ca/
18+ with government issued identification
When: Friday December 10th, 2021
Admission: $20.00 advance
Doors: 8:00pm
NO JERK POLICY ALWAYS IN EFFECT!!

Cartel Madras (Calgary)
1. The powerful juxtaposition of a Western term aimed at ghettoizing other cultures and the English colonial name foisted on Chennai, India; 2. A queer, female, Desi act igniting a revolution because they’re sick of this bullshit

“We really want people who come to our shows to feel like they’ve been punched in the face,” says Contra, one-half of rap provocateurs Cartel Madras, of their FOMO-inducing live shows. “It’s like a riot just passed you, and you’re like, ‘What was that? What did I just experience?’” But also, “‘How do I do that again?’”

Cartel Madras also includes Contra’s sibling, Eboshi—both born in Chennai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and raised in Calgary, Canada. Like their upbringing, their music is a cultural syncretism, a heady mix of trap with punk, house, and South Indian aesthetics that they’ve anointed “goonda rap.” Their second EP is Age of the Goonda, (out November 1st, 2019 on Sub Pop Records), a sonically expansive successor to their first EP, Trapistan, which boasted the party-down hit “Pork & Leek. A manifesto for the times, Age of the Goonda is an in-your-face call to arms for—immigrants, women of color, the LGBTQ+ community, Desis (a.k.a. Westernized Indians)—those who must resist being treated as underdogs.

“Goonda Gold” is the EP’s central pulse, its anthem. “When you hear it, it feels big like you’re watching this crazy-ass gangsta movie,” says Contra. “And it does borrow from certain vintage South Indian filminess.” Rapid-fire in delivery—“Gold on my neck I’m a goonda / Got guns in the air like a junta”—and hastened along by shimmery beats from D.C. Desi upstart SkinnyLocal, it pointedly shows off the duo’s legit rapping skills.

The word “goonda” means “thug” and is used across India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Admittedly, India—saddled by tropes of yoga, spicy food, and Bollywood—isn’t generally associated with thug life. “But India has a lot of fear and a lot of energy,” Eboshi says. “That story isn’t told enough anywhere, except for in India.” Here, the duo rethink that angst as concepts of cultural and sexual empowerment. “That is the song to all my brown gurlz out there: blast this in your car and scare everyone around you,” she continues. “It comes in real hot. And we just don’t quit in that song.” That’s an understatement: They actually held a gun in the sound booth while recording the track—because someone in the studio just happened to have one. “Don’t ask me why,” says Eboshi, then jokes: “I’m assuming it was for cosplay.”

The track’s kindred spirit is “Dawood Ibrahim,” named for India’s Pablo Escobar, a gangster-terrorist from Mumbai currently on the lam in Pakistan. They took the idea of Dawood—bold, unbounded, reckless—and filter it through a queer female lens. Backed by Belgian trap producer DJ Yung Vamp, the song features spacious synths and asymmetrical cadences in the form of potent poetry such as, “I fuck with all of my Desi hunnis / Put my other goodies in my other gunny /I’m cooking up some dosa to some Motown / That’s the wave I’m on now.” Ibrahim never lived so well.

The EP came together over in a little under 7 months. They wrote the bulk of their material at their old Calgary apartment (a.k.a. Thot Police Studios) and at a women’s songwriting residency at Whidbey Island in Washington State. Marvels Eboshi: “We were there for 10 days. In the woods. We were like, ‘Holy shit! I didn’t even know I could unlock these levels.” By June 2019, they had recorded Age of the Goonda at Echo Base Studios in Calgary and had signed to Sub Pop.

They grew infamous for their club shows and house parties around Calgary, where they formed a hip-hop collective called Thot Police. “When we started out, we didn’t know how many shows we’d be playing. So right away we treated every show like we might not get another chance,” Eboshi says. “Every time we do house shows, it’s been a massive rager.” Adds Contra, “The cops came through once to try to shut us down. We blew out all the speakers.”

Your warning comes at the very start of Age of the Goonda in the form of “Jumpscare,” an ominous track produced by noise-minimalist Nevik. It captures that chaos that Cartel Madras are so adept at creating, and opens with possibly the most subversive pass-the-mic verse ever: “Take off your top boy / Somebody bring me my gun / Black bag in the back of the jeep / You just a bitch on the run.” Says Eboshi: “The audience taps into it right away. They start moshing and go crazy, and we have a full mental breakdown on stage when we perform it.” If there’s any mystic, Eastern mind-body connection to what Cartel Maras are doing, it’s this thrilling lightning-in-a-bottle way they deftly project activism and libertinism at once.

“There’s a certain thing that hip hop does, that gangster rap does: a narrative of being larger than life, kind of violent but in power,” says Eboshi. “We are paying tribute to that, but also focusing that on women who are queer and brown, telling stories that haven’t been told. We are speaking to, and about, narratives that are not magnified in popular culture, while paying tribute to the subgenres that have continuously influenced our sound. That’s what we want goonda rap to become.” -
https://www.subpop.com/artists/cartel_madras

https://cartelmadras.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/cartelmadras
https://www.instagram.com/cartel.madras
https://ffm.to/cartelmadras_serpentandtiger

 

DRI HIEV (Calgary)
Imagine Depeche Mode with a not-deplorable GG Allin as front man instead of Dave Gahan and you’ve come close to DRI HIEV. The returning Sled Island favorites merge man with machine to make abrasive, industrial punk that has a monotonous back-beat and a manic urgency. - https://www.sledisland.com/2017/dri-hiev

https://drihiev.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/drihiev
https://www.instagram.com/drihiev/

 

TeaFannie (Edmonton)
Edmonton may not be known for its rap and hip-hop scene, but TeaFannie just might change that. Hip-hop with an R&B core, TeaFannie’s smooth-as-silk flow will remind you of rap legends like Missy Elliot and Rapsody, but don’t be mistaken, she has a slick style all her own. - https://www.sledisland.com/
https://teafanniemusic.com/
https://teafannie.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/iamteafannie

Sargeant X Comrade (Calgary)
One from Russia, one from Caribbean. Sargeant x Comrade combine the old with the new. Dusty old samples and loops mix with Yolanda Sargeant's silky smooth vocals to create a unique and soulful listening experience.

https://sargeantandcomrade.com/
https://sargeantandcomrade.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/sargeantandcomrade/
https://www.facebook.com/SargeantAndComrade

Greyscreen (Calgary)
Grey Screen is The Power Glove solo electro-project of local savant Kevin Stebner. His 8-bit gameboy arsenal packs a megaman punch of high energy power ups. Stay put for the last level of the live performance featuring an epic 8-bit cover of The Tragically Hip's “Bobcaygeon”. -
https://www.sledisland.com/2012/grey-screen

https://greyscreen.bandcamp.com/

Nebulae Complex (Calgary)
Producer and musician making experimental, industrial, electronic soundtracks.

https://nebulaecomplex.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/NebulaeComplex

 

https://cjsw.com/
http://www.bigkittymag.com/
https://wildrosebrewery.com/
https://www.sledisland.com/
https://www.showpass.com/
https://www.afrosinthacity.com/
https://www.instagram.com/slothrecords

 

Attendance at The Palomino Smokehouse will require proof of vaccination or a Covid negative test result within 72 hours of any events door time. Masks are required.

For more information please contact info@thepalomino.ca

Remember if you are experiencing or exhibiting any of the symptoms below you should stay home and undertake the monitoring and testing recommended by Alberta Health Services here: https://www.alberta.ca/covid-19-testing-in-alberta.aspx
• Fever
• Cough (new cough or worsening chronic
cough)
• Shortness of breath/difficulty breathing
(new or worsening)
• Runny nose
• Sore throat
• Stuffy nose
• Painful swallowing
• Headache
• Chills
• Muscle/joint ache
• Feeling unwell/fatigue/severe
exhaustion
• Nausea/vomiting/diarrhea/unexplained
loss of appetite
• Loss of sense of smell or taste
• Conjunctivitis

 

*This event takes place on the territory of the Blackfoot and the people of Treaty 7 Region in Southern Alberta, which includes the Siksika, the Piikuni, the Kainai, the Tsuu T'ina and the Stoney Nakoda First Nations. Calgary is also home to the Metis Nation of Alberta, Region III.
NO JERK POLICY ALWAYS IN EFFECT!!