DJ Co-op

photo : Tyler Sneesby
By Adrienne Yeung

I know you’ve heard/seen Dj Co-op around town sometime, somewhere – perhaps DJing at Grippin’ Grain, or as half of the Co-op/Hunnicut duo. But less ubiquitous is the name of the man behind the turntable. Meet Tim Hoover and his most recent project, which is a huge departure from hip-hop beats you might hear him spinning on any other night. He’s created 60 minutes of richly layered instrumental music, stirring together lost-and-found samples with his own compositions. The day after his album listening party at the Planetarium, we got away from the heat and the traffic at Bar Italia to talk about recording under his own name this time to produce this totally different sounding album, More Napkins.

Stylus: You said the “real” title of the album at the show last night. What’s that?
Tim Hoover: It’s I Should Have Grabbed More Napkins. It’s just a thing that I’ve been saying for years. It should be on my tombstone. But it seemed a bit clunky for a full album title. I love napkins, but I never have enough of them!

[Stylus hands Tim a napkin. Tim says thanks.]
Continue reading “Tim Hoover – Should Have Grabbed More Napkins”

Known as the beloved DJ Co-op, Tim Hoover is making a new reputation for himself, if that’s possible. This tape/digi-download heads into trip-hop and post rock territory over a span of 60 minutes, which is like a total 180 considering his use of party hip-hop and indie samples for his Co-operation mashup albums. So, rather than matching Fugazi to M.I.A. (which was four whole years before Wugazi, mind you), Hoover’s flexing his melodic muscles, which are in full force, in alternation with his beat programming, which here lies somewhere between glitch and hip hop. I was actually taken aback at how much of this music is original, and the samples, used sparingly, usually add such depth to the mix. The melodies, reminiscent of Godspeed (his comparison, though an apt one) sing colourfully and even more brilliantly once they’re up against electronic beats and hip-hop samples. I have to agree that this is headphone music—but once you’re in that world with your ’buds in, every little twitch and glitch stands out, and you’re in quite for the meditative ride. (Woven//Dub Ditch Picnic, wovenrecords.ca//dubditchpicnicrecords.blogspot.com) Taylor Burgess

Tag: DJ Co-op

Tim Hoover – Should Have Grabbed More Napkins

Tim Hoover – More Napkins