Produced as part of the CMC Ontario Media Production Residency, PUSH IT is a four-part zine produced by Media Production Residency artist April Aliermo. Each issue will feature a short interview and photo essay that brings the reader into the spaces and processes of a sound artist working in Canada.

Subscribers pay a one-time fee ($25 + tax + shipping, CAD) and will receive each issue of PUSH IT in the mail upon publication (released between September and December 2021, arrival by January 2022).

Each issue will also be made available online as a digital publication for perusal.

Issue 1 / Pursuit Grooves

Issue 2 / Kat Estacio

Issue 3 / Seth Cardinal Dodginghorse

Issue 4 / Rajee Paña Jeji Shergill

Residency artist statement / These independent publications are an attempt to help “fill the gaps” in the Canadian Music Centre’s archive. In my explorations of the archive, there seemed to be an absence of current experimental music, especially from artists whose work is rooted in diasporic cultural expressions. Further, the artists I have come across in the archive are predominantly white, cis, and male. While much of the work is interesting and inspiring in its own right, in a place like Canada, there has been a bounty of new experimental and forward-thinking sonic works from Queer, BIPOC and Female artists that are largely unarchived. It is important that they be recognized in the Canadian music, electronic and experimental works canon.

It is especially critical for current and future artists, as well as the public, to see these creators at work: to see Black, Brown, Asian, Queer and Female Folks using samplers, synthesizers, field recorders, turntables, and other hardware to compose meaningful and fascinating sound.

Personally, seeing others who I can relate to compose, create and play expressive sonic works, inspires me to do the same.

~ April Aliermo