Don’t judge a bookstore by its first floor. Black Squirrel Books & Tea may have a bit of an enigmatic flipside to it, selling “used books of merit” by day and hosting bass-bumping music events in its basement by night, but somehow it makes the already impressive bookstore all the more venerable in the Ottawa community.
On Feb. 27, Black Squirrel held an event called Zipcode in its basement, a self-proclaimed “house/techno dance party”—and that’s exactly what it was with its night lights (glowing black-lights of course) and DJs spinning from around 11 p.m. until early in the morning. The musical performances featured Riohv, Rosewater Ctz, Cabaal, and Sir Ett.
Riohv’s set consisted of psychedelic sounds slipping seamlessly from heavy bass vibrations into scaling electronic tenors. With the strong and consistent beat, there were many dancers on the floor aglow in the black-light spotlights.
“I became really into electronic music when I was in high school and it turned in to an obsession,” said Braden Thompson, a.k.a Riohv. “DJing led to producing and I actually came out with my debut album in September of 2014 on Vancouver based label 1080p.”
Thompson said his involvement in the Ottawa music scene has been casual up until now, and he intends to let it take him where it may and offer what he can to unique events like Zipcode.
“The people behind Zipcode and I are really into the more raw and underground side of electronic dance music and I feel like we’re doing a good job at that,” he said.
In addition to the skilled performers, there was a transfixing installation created by Partyy. co-presenters Guillaume Lemieux and John McClelland. The digital installation perfectly matched the vibe of the event, with curling and distorting designs projected on a screen and twisting in tandem with the heavy electronic beats filling the basement.
That this was all transpiring below a quaint, quiet bookstore seemed paradoxical, but Vaughn MacDonald, owner of Black Squirrel, welcomes the paradox.
“My main motivation is that I want to introduce people to the bookstore in a slightly different way. I want to capture a younger generation’s attention,” he said. “I enjoy these things personally, too.”
He said the bookstore is no stranger to eclectic events, having also been the venue for experimental noise music, spoken word, and butterfly clubs.
MacDonald admitted the basement-cleanout wasn’t an easy feat and took three weeks to prepare for their first-ever downstairs event.
“It was just storage,” he said, gesturing to a few piles of boxes still lining the perimeter of the basement. “This will eventually become part of the bookstore when it’s fully renovated. We’re going to have a kind of speakeasy bar in the back corner.”
The hopes for another bookstore-basement dance-party are high.
“It’s for everyone that loves to dance,” Thompson said of the event. “We just want to bring people together for a nice evening of dancing and good music in a cool space and try something a little different.”
