00:00:00:14 [Music]
00:00:15:03 I grew up in a place as impactful as Somalia.
00:00:19:08 And if you're an honest artist, it will trickle into your music.
00:00:24:14 ♪ [Music]
00:00:29:15 I think you develop a gut instinct for
00:00:31:13 something that resonates with you when you write it.
00:00:35:03 ♪ [Music]
00:00:41:28 I still wrote music, but I gave up recording music
00:00:44:15 for the cold turkey to do mastering.
00:00:46:20 I just worked on other people's music for so long
00:00:49:02 I needed to go back to working on my own music.
00:00:51:06 [Music]
00:01:16:12 It's a really different album,
00:01:17:19 it's in the music climate right now.
00:01:19:14 It's got a lot of flavors and
00:01:21:11 a lot of new sounds and even for me,
00:01:23:12 I am exploring
00:01:24:19 from 60s Ethiopian Jazz to hip-hop right now.
00:01:29:22 So it's fresh.
00:01:30:28 ♪ [Music]
00:01:46:27 I let my music kind of dictate me
00:01:49:12 rather than me dictating the music.
00:01:51:08 So it's really a reflection of
00:01:54:24 what I have become in the last four years
00:01:56:23 between The Dusty Foot Philosopher and this album.
00:02:00:28 So I just let it take me for the ride.
00:02:04:16 ♪ [Music]
00:02:21:02 I grew up in a place as impactful as Somalia.
00:02:24:23 And if your'e an honest artist, it will trickle into your music,
00:02:29:12 your sound.
00:02:30:20 ♪ [Music]
00:02:57:08 I have been influenced by the melodies in Somalia.
00:03:00:19 I have been influenced by the poetry.
00:03:03:15 I have been influence by the violence, the hardship,
00:03:08:07 all of it and if I was to look away
00:03:12:27 14 years of strong influence like that,
00:03:15:13 I'd just be kind of not a true artist anyway.
00:03:20:03 ♪ [Music]
00:03:40:19 That balance of music that is saying something
00:03:44:08 and music that people can actually enjoy listening to
00:03:48:01 is a tricky thing.
00:03:50:04 For some people this is an idea they must construct.
00:03:54:12 They think about how to be the radio
00:03:57:25 and how to be... but for me
00:04:00:23 the interesting thing is because of the melodic nature of
00:04:05:12 how I think and how I hear music,
00:04:09:02 I have just been fortunate that it's not something
00:04:12:08 that I do to have an appeal.
00:04:17:08 It's just something that is... like,
00:04:20:10 I will write a melody and it will have strong words
00:04:24:03 and people will kind of for a moment
00:04:25:28 forget that this is about something
00:04:29:19 and they will just enjoy the sound and the melodies
00:04:32:20 and at some point they will come to
00:04:35:15 the words and the conflicts for them begins,
00:04:38:23 I don't know what to do, should I dance or cry or something.
00:04:43:19 ♪ [Music]
00:04:54:07 Dreamer was done by a girl name Wendy.
00:04:56:13 She is a photographer, really.
00:04:58:08 So she was taking pictures of me.
00:04:59:19 We met and so I asked her, "What song do you like?"
00:05:02:24 She said, "It's Dreamer.
00:05:04:08 Do you want to do a video for it?" She did,
00:05:05:14 it's like blown up over there.
00:05:08:13 It's crazy, it's got like a... people are really feeling it.
00:05:13:18 Kanye West just put it up on his website,
00:05:16:12 on his blog as things he likes, it's cool.
00:05:19:26 ♪ [Music]
00:05:43:18 Working with people, big names in the industry, to me,
00:05:46:24 I think what makes them relate to me
00:05:48:13 is that I don't think of big names.
00:05:52:02 I think of good musicians first and foremost.
00:05:55:24 I am not impressed by a lot of whole thing.
00:05:58:29 It's just cool, but I mean I just like great artist
00:06:03:13 and I think they feel, they love the music.
00:06:08:22 So it's a natural kind of connection to these people.
00:06:12:12 ♪ [Music]
00:06:34:24 Well, the way I stay focused
00:06:37:08 and probably grounded in music is I just call home.
00:06:43:02 I just make a phone call to my mom
00:06:45:02 and talk to her in my own language.
00:06:48:01 I call back home and talk to my family
00:06:51:06 there to see what's going on.
00:06:52:16 It's really less glamorous, this conversation.
00:06:55:28 I might have it in the middle of hanging out
00:06:58:28 with famous people in LA or something.
00:07:01:03 I might step outside of a restaurant,
00:07:02:22 because I need to make an urgent call
00:07:04:22 and talk to someone in Somalia and
00:07:07:02 everything gets shifted back into perspective
00:07:12:00 when people have their ...they're worried
00:07:15:08 about their daily survivals
00:07:18:07 and the home next to them had just blown up.
00:07:23:10 That is a different world than the world music puts me in.
00:07:29:13 So my sound is always trying to bridge those two worlds.
00:07:33:10 ♪ [Music]
00:07:56:28 There are often moments that are accidental,
00:08:00:13 but purely magical.
00:08:01:28 So I've always wanted to sort of just share
00:08:04:08 that side of things with audience in a very intimate way.
00:08:07:23 ♪ [Music]
00:08:11:18 I've got into mastering right after
00:08:14:13 the demise of my band head in the 90s.
00:08:17:21 [Music]

00:00:00:14 [Music]
00:00:04:13 We are downstairs at the Dakota Tavern
00:00:07:29 and there is only a downstairs at the Dakota Tavern.
00:00:10:28 where there is fourth show into the second annual series of
00:00:17:08 Jason Collett's Basement Review.
00:00:19:02 Good evening, ladies and gentleman,
00:00:20:08 welcome out to the Dakota Tavern.
00:00:21:28 I am Jason Collett.
00:00:23:08 Thank you for coming out.
00:00:26:17 It's been a lot of fun, resounding success.
00:00:29:05 It's a bit of variety show of most of the music
00:00:32:08 but there is always a poetry element
00:00:36:04 to the evening and a bit of even
00:00:38:08 jamming between some musicians
00:00:40:03 and sometimes even the musicians and the poets.
00:00:42:28 The hooks of panic and obliging bloodhounds;
00:00:46:18 The hooks of winter, torched ragged trees.
00:00:49:13 All the artist, I encourage them to do something
00:00:52:05 a little different than that what they'd normally do.
00:00:54:26 Did you know that Brian Wilson
00:00:57:17 from the Beach Boys made a rap record, did you know?
00:01:01:08 its true, listen.
00:01:02:28 ♪ [Music]
00:01:12:18 There are often moments that are accidental but purely magical
00:01:17:22 that everybody gets to share at the same time
00:01:22:00 including the players on the stage.
00:01:23:28 They'll surprised themselves with something
00:01:26:19 and everybody looks around with a smile
00:01:29:00 in response to it at the same time with the
00:01:31:00 audience we ask to.
00:01:32:28 I have always love those moments but those moments,
00:01:36:10 usually they happen in rehearsals space.
00:01:38:28 When you are just figuring out your material or something,
00:01:40:28 so I have always wanted to sort of just
00:01:43:05 share that side of things with an audience in the variance way.
00:01:46:18 ♪ [Music]
00:02:07:07 I don't know if that's always been on a history.
00:02:09:04 There has been times where... there has been that where there
00:02:12:18 is been good to healthy scenes and there has been times because
00:02:14:26 of the concentration of industry in a town like Toronto.
00:02:19:04 It can lend itself to being a little bit competitive
00:02:23:13 and a little bit cutthroat
00:02:24:20 and then you get a lot of the old gar
00:02:27:13 that are sort of almost made it,
00:02:31:06 you know or we'll beg for five minutes
00:02:32:18 and then things didn't pane out and they get a little
00:02:36:17 crusty and that... Charles has got a bit at that history.
00:02:40:28 But you know in the last eight years, it's been a really
00:02:43:28 fabulous renaissance where Toronto has become very
00:02:50:26 community oriented.
00:02:52:02 Now I think part of it like,
00:02:54:08 my experience being a part of the
00:02:56:08 Broken Social Scene and that community was very much that,
00:03:01:28 at that time a number of us had
00:03:04:28 grown sick and tired of trying to sort of
00:03:07:07 put ourselves out there to the industry.
00:03:10:00 The industry at that time like
00:03:12:13 you know, the beginning of the century
00:03:14:22 was going through a very tumultuous thing
00:03:17:28 and it's still is in some aspects,
00:03:20:03 like the larger industry, like trying to figure out
00:03:23:04 the changes that have been happening.
00:03:25:22 I think Canada has got this history of
00:03:28:20 ignoring its own talent
00:03:31:17 till it goes often as celebrated elsewhere
00:03:33:28 and then we'll take notice of it.
00:03:36:27 So because of that I think that this is a bit of stretch I know,
00:03:41:13 but I do believe that
00:03:45:07 artists of Toronto to create sort of communities
00:03:48:18 to validate the work that each of us has been doing
00:03:52:07 and that was very much what was going on
00:03:54:22 with the Broken Social Scene
00:03:56:01 and the spin offs with that, the whole radio Monday thing,
00:03:59:05 I've started at that time and it was all very
00:04:02:28 community oriented.
00:04:06:14 I think we discovered a strength in that and also rediscovered
00:04:10:21 something fundamental and that's like really making music for the
00:04:16:00 pure and outer joy of it and sharing it with the community,
00:04:20:00 and that really sparks something I think.
00:04:25:08 I think in some ways Toronto learned from the
00:04:27:08 smaller communities, in Canada that have always had that.
00:04:31:18 ♪ [Music]
00:04:50:28 Some people just like to listen to the groove and
00:04:53:28 you know some of my favorite songs,
00:04:55:28 I don't know what the lyrics about.
00:04:58:13 ♪ [Music]
00:05:03:08 I'd love people to listen to this album
00:05:04:15 but you know, it's not paramount,
00:05:08:00 they are just for me but I really help
00:05:09:07 people who will listen to them, like them.
00:05:11:09 [Music]

00:00:00:14 ♪ [Music]
00:00:27:23 I've always been attracted to song writers.
00:00:29:22 Although, I'm not that fond of the genre
00:00:31:19 as most people would regard it.
00:00:35:09 I don't even care much to be called a singer and songwriter.
00:00:40:09 I've got a great rock 'n' roll band
00:00:42:09 and I feel like I play in that thing
00:00:45:04 and that tradition of rock 'n' roll music.
00:00:47:06 But, mostly because the singer and songwriter genre we know
00:00:52:23 now is fairly linear like kind of boring in my mind.
00:00:57:08 But, I've always been attracted to great writers.
00:01:00:23 Clearly, I wrote Bob Dylan on my sleeve,
00:01:05:18 but I love the writing of anyone from Patti Smith to Bob Marley
00:01:08:26 to Nick Clow, Nick Cave.
00:01:12:06 ♪ [Music]
00:01:35:18 I think he developed a gut instinct
00:01:37:23 for something that resonates with you and your writing.
00:01:41:13 You know it when it kind of comes out.
00:01:44:02 You at least know it when it kind of keeps rearing its head.
00:01:48:26 Mostly, it really is an instinctual thing,
00:01:52:28 I don't know how it could be otherwise.
00:01:56:21 But it's an instinctual thing with yourself, you just feel
00:02:00:11 like it communicates something.
00:02:04:02 ♪ [Music]
00:02:13:12 I've discovered over the years, the more that I write
00:02:17:10 on a personal level,
00:02:22:13 I'm more open to what's spilling out,
00:02:24:28 that seems to resonate with people more
00:02:29:08 than being really crafty about the writing.
00:02:34:27 ♪ [Music]
00:02:56:23 Some people just like to listen to the groove
00:03:00:06 and some of my favorite songs,
00:03:01:20 I don't know what the lyrics are about.
00:03:04:28 They aren't necessarily that important.
00:03:06:17 I mean the thing that I try to keep in mind is that like,
00:03:10:19 I think, lyrics can be really clunky and awkward and clutsy
00:03:15:06 and getting the way of a good tune
00:03:19:28 and the music is communicating on a higher level ultimately.
00:03:25:12 So you have to really,
00:03:27:27 you have to step aside and so to serve that.
00:03:31:13 If you can do it
00:03:34:09 with certain amount of the eloquence
00:03:37:24 and not let it get heavy-handed,
00:03:39:25 then you've got something that's
00:03:43:26 going to be a nugget.
00:03:46:29 ♪ [Music]
00:04:13:26 [Music]

00:00:00:14 [Music]
00:00:07:03 We are at Lacquer Channel Mastering,
00:00:08:15 this is my mastering studio.
00:00:10:22 We do CD mastering here.
00:00:13:05 It's...
00:00:14:20 after a band has recorded, then mixed,
00:00:17:29 then they do the mastering.
00:00:19:12 Mastering is the final stage of the recording process.
00:00:24:20 So, it's where the albums are actually put together.
00:00:29:19 ♪ [Music]
00:00:32:28 I got in to mastering right after
00:00:35:06 the demise of my band Head in the 90s.
00:00:38:03 That was about 97.
00:00:40:08 ♪ [Music]
00:00:47:03 During the days of Head, I didn't like recording so much
00:00:50:28 or mixing, it was just kind of boring.
00:00:53:13 But mastering was one day,
00:00:55:01 they charged a whole lot of money for it
00:00:57:09 and I was like yeah, that makes sense.
00:00:58:25 That's what I am going to go into and you are going to think
00:01:00:17 that pays the most and takes the least amount of time.
00:01:03:23 So, unfortunately it also takes the longest amount of time
00:01:06:14 to develop a skill for it.
00:01:08:02 But it's kind of what I liked about it.
00:01:10:18 I liked putting in the time to become
00:01:11:28 a good mastering engineer, it's been 11 years now of mastering
00:01:14:28 and I like the idea of
00:01:18:05 getting to know a band's music intimately,
00:01:21:02 That one album, I will know it forever,
00:01:23:18 like I will never forget that album
00:01:25:06 because you spend the entire day listening to one album.
00:01:27:26 ♪ [Music]
00:01:42:25 I still wrote music but I gave up recording music
00:01:45:04 sort of culture, key to do mastering.
00:01:47:15 And I just worked on other people's music for so long
00:01:49:28 and I needed to go to back working on own my music.
00:01:52:08 It's not competitive with that, it's just sort of a side thing,
00:01:56:19 it's not, it's just, it's like a really a vessel that stays same.
00:02:02:18 ♪ [Music]
00:02:16:15 I mean collaborations make the best art, I think.
00:02:20:03 I am not very good at collaborating.
00:02:22:04 I don't know what it is, I try to but it's like,
00:02:24:19 I don't think people like collaborating with me so much.
00:02:27:23 I don't know, the problem with a solo artist,
00:02:30:22 the one, just their own vision,
00:02:33:28 is that you almost got to be like a wunderkind to do it,
00:02:35:28 pull it off like you know,
00:02:38:10 like Neil Young, Bob Dylan.
00:02:40:03 These people like they have had such a clear... even Hayden,
00:02:44:03 you know clear vision, exactly where they want to go.
00:02:47:03 And they are able to.
00:02:48:27 It's not... unlike a business,
00:02:50:18 they are able to crowd the right people together
00:02:53:08 to build this vision with, and but it's only their vision.
00:02:56:18 When it's a collaboration, you have almost like you know,
00:02:59:28 it's like playing more numbers, you know it's like,
00:03:02:16 it's more of a chance to getting it right
00:03:03:28 because you have people to bounce it off of.
00:03:05:23 So, when I worked with Brendan
00:03:07:08 for those seven years doing, Head,
00:03:10:28 I think we wrote some awesome material because
00:03:13:04 we just kept bouncing off each other.
00:03:14:13 I think if anyone of us tried to do it ourselves,
00:03:16:17 it wouldn't have been as good.
00:03:17:23 ♪ [Music]
00:03:30:03 I would love people to listen to this album
00:03:32:11 but it's not paramount.
00:03:35:00 It's not, I am not going to make another career
00:03:37:01 out of doing music.
00:03:38:13 Now, this is, I hope to release a new album in less than a year
00:03:41:15 and do it every year as long as I can.
00:03:42:28 I have my own studio, not Lacquer Channel,
00:03:44:28 I have got another studio where I do my recording,
00:03:48:04 and it's just a personal studio
00:03:50:19 and I just hope to keep cranking out albums.
00:03:53:14 And they are just for me, but I really hope
00:03:56:08 people will listen to them, like them.
00:03:58:21 ♪ [Music]
00:04:07:23 Thank you so much.
00:04:11:21 [Music]