Growing up in rural Nova Scotia AA Wallace says he gravitated to electronic music because he liked to work alone “and machines rarely offer unsolicited input.” He adds that EDM once favoured anonymity but that has changed with the rise of DJ as celebrity. Wallace is also no longer favouring anonymity. He is touring and has teamed up with Toronto’s Culvert label. He plays Oshawa’s Wasted Space Cafe & Gallery Sep 26.
He is on the road with a new track “VLT Girls (We Win Again)”, one that could be found on a mixtape from Small Sins or Russian Futurists. The accompanying video shot in and around Yarmouth puts a Trailer Park Boy B-Boy spin on it and we're not talking J-Roc here.
“I chose the images I did because it's what Nova Scotia represents to me. Most of my favourite people from rural Nova Scotia derive their character in spite of the areas they grew up in rather than having been nurtured by them. The video is kind of just a non narrative way of conveying that. . . . The truth is a lot of things have changed since I left. Many of the derelict buildings have been torn down and people seem to take more pride in the look of their towns based on how difficult it was for us to come up with suitable locations for the video. But with the changes in arts support in Nova Scotia, the regressive liquor laws and the feeling by most people that the provincial government is trying to turn Nova Scotia into a retirement province, It's hard to not feel that those changes are only superficial,” he says.
Wallace had issued a track, “This Can Heal”, on his debut album, disambiguation, but he backs away from saying music is a force that can overcome social ills.
“I guess it's possible but I try not to concern myself with it. If someone wants to take it as a political thing that's their prerogative. I watched Straight Outta Compton recently and I can relate to a point with the way Ice Cube describes his writing. He wasn't part of the problems he had to deal with but he couldn't help being affected by them and wrote about that, though sometimes in the lyrics it feels like he's in the thick of it. I feel like any mention I make of the real world is done in a similar way. Though I'd rather write about space or being misunderstood,” he says.
While he does not make message music he does have one message for others contemplating outsider life from within their bedrooms.
“If I could impart anything with my music it would be that sometimes it doesn't get better and it's ok to be weird. If people don't get you, thats on them,” he says.
I'm just going to leave this here because I think its relevant in a way.