Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
experimental music
Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...
and
performance art
Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
collective
A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together to achieve a common objective. Collectives can differ from cooperatives in that they are not necessarily focused upon an ...
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
,
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
and currently operating in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
noise rock
Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise music, noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimal music, minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, a ...
band Lesbian Fight Club – and now features Ange Loft on vocals and percussion, Joanna Delos Reyes on vocals and guitar, Brendan Swanson on keyboards, Hiroki Tanaka on lead guitar, Brandon Lim on bass guitar, and Aylwin Lo on projections and lights. Ruby Kato Attwood left the band at the end of 2014. Past members have included John Ancheta on bass and acoustic guitar, Walter Scott, Shub Roy, Alana Ruth, and Adrienne Mak."One to Watch: Yamantaka // Sonic Titan" '' The Grid'', February 8, 2012.
The group was originally conceived of as an art project exploring and subverting the cultural signifiers of their shared Asian Canadian heritage through the lens of their own mixed Asian-European heritage. They developed a music and performance style incorporating aspects of Asian C-pop and
J-pop
J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1 ...
,
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
industrial music
Industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, mechanical, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music" that was "initiall ...
, with roots in
Haudenosaunee
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Indigenous confederations in North America, confederacy of First Nations in Canada, First Natio ...
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
and
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
,
Chinese opera
Traditional Chinese opera (), or ''Xiqu'', is a form of musical theatre in China with roots going back to the early periods in China. It is an amalgamation of various art forms that existed in ancient China, and evolved gradually over more tha ...
and
Kabuki
is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.
Kabuki is thought to ...
and
Noh
is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...
Buddies in Bad Times
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is a Canadian professional theatre company. Based in Toronto, Ontario and founded in 1978 by Matt Walsh, Jerry Ciccoritti, and Sky Gilbert, ''Buddies in Bad Times'' is dedicated to "the promotion of queer theatrical ex ...
theatre as part of the 2012 Rhubarb Festival, while their rock band show has appeared at several venues in 2012, including the All Tomorrow's Parties and NXNE festivals.
The first album, ''
YT//ST
''YT//ST'' is the first studio album by Canadian experimental band Yamantaka // Sonic Titan.
It was initially released independently on October 1, 2011, through Psychic Handshake and later released through Canadian label Paper Bag Records on S ...
'', was released on Montreal independent label Psychic Handshake in 2011. It was shortlisted for the
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'', June 14, 2012. and appeared on the !earshot Campus and Community National Top 50 Albums chart in January, 2012. The album was re-released on Paper Bag Records in 2012. Their video for "Hoshi Neko" was a shortlisted nominee for the
Prism Prize The Prism Prize is a national juried award recognizing the artistry of the modern music video in Canada.UZU'', was released on October 29, 2013, and was a shortlisted nominee for the
CTV News
CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name ''CTV News'' is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), which are closely tied to the national ...
, July 15, 2014.
In 2016, in collaboration with
Pantayo
Pantayo is a Canadian quintet consisting of queer members of the Filipino diaspora formed in 2012. They combines elements of kulintang with elements of electronic, synth-pop, punk, and R&B music. Their name is Tagalog for "for us". The band con ...
, the band scored the soundtrack for the video game '' Severed''.
In January 2018, the band announced ''DIRT,'' their third album, which was released on March 23, 2018, via Paper Bag Records. The band had a five-week North American tour in March and April, and a European tour in June. ''DIRT'' was longlisted for the
2018 Polaris Music Prize The 2018 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 17, 2018.
.
In October and November 2018 the band embarked on "North American Tour II: The Dirtening", as well as another European run. The band is scheduled to open every show of Acid Mothers Temple's spring 2019 tour of Canada and the United States.
In 2018, Alaska B composed the score to the film ''
Through Black Spruce
''Through Black Spruce'' is a novel by Canadian writer Joseph Boyden, published in 2008 by Viking Press. It is Boyden's second novel and third published book.
''Through Black Spruce'' was named the winner of the 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize on No ...
'' with Brendan Swanson as arranger, assistant composer and pianist. She won the
Canadian Screen Award
The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...
YT//ST
''YT//ST'' is the first studio album by Canadian experimental band Yamantaka // Sonic Titan.
It was initially released independently on October 1, 2011, through Psychic Handshake and later released through Canadian label Paper Bag Records on S ...