"It's a strange city," Tyler Fedchuk told me when I commented that Vancouver seems, at times, to be particularly fragmented. I caught up with Fedchuk on Saturday night, ostensibly for an informal chat regarding Gang of Youth, the record label that he runs along with roommates / business partners / DJ pals Tony X (no relation) and Normain Duprix. Over beers, kabobs, and some barbecued ribs, we gabbed about everything from DJ Q-bert to Caddyshack's status as psychedelia, interrupted only occasionally for an update on Normain's running list of the Top 5 Things of the Nineties (which, at publication time, included: (1)Funk Dat by Sagat and (2) Dinosaur Jr.). So what's Gang of Youth's solution for operating out of a notoriously fickle city? Instead of taking building up locally out of Vancouver, they are building internationally and, in doing so, exposing us to some interesting and equally obscure music.

The label threw their official launch party on March 31, 2006; if my math is correct here, that makes them just a touch over 2 months old. But Fedchuk has been busy for 3 years making contacts through Radio Zero, his CiTR radio program-cum-blogcast (www.radiozero.ca). Because Tyler casually refuses to embrace new DJ technologies such as Rane's now ubiquitous Serato Scratch--the program responsible for the consummation of the laptop-turntable marriage--he reckons his record collection boasts some 800 records, most of which he says he has purchased over the last year-and-a-half. Its a DIY grind indeed, but his reason for cutting out the computer is rather simple, perhaps harkening back to the utilitarian frugality of his punk-rock roots: If you pay to see somebody spin records, you don't necessarily want to see somebody stare at a computer screen all night.

Of course, there is always room for technology when it's needed; certainly Gang of Youth's geographical far-sightedness can be attributed to networking made easy by the internet. Their first 12" comes from Australia's Dsico that No-Talent Hack, and the next Gang of Youth record, set for release later this summer, comes from a little-known group from Tours, France, called boogeRS. Both acts offer up dark, minimal disco-punk drenched in attitude, the latter being the more adventurous and interesting of the two. It is Gang of Youth's scope that is probably its most exciting attribute--but I guess we shouldn't be surprised that a label, whose name comes from Normain's attempt to explain the concept behind German Moped gangs, is maintaining idiosyncrasy through internationalism.

To hear Fedchuk and Tony X spin records that'll make you dance, head down to Limerick Junction on a Friday night for their new night, 1/2 Alive. Also check out www.radiozero.ca or tune in to CiTR from 2:00-3:30pm on Fridays to hear Fedchuk (and friends) play music that'll remind you how much fun you had the previous Friday.

Michael Barrow, 6 June 2006<br> Photos courtesy of <a href="http://www.kathyisyourfriend.com">Kathy Lo</a>.<br> For all things <a href=http://www.gangofyouth.com>Gang of Youth</a>.