Lozen

DJ Mag Canada: What is your present state of mind?

Lozen: Focused. Visualizing current projects complete and planting the seed of intention for future endeavors.

DJ Mag Canada: When did you first get into dance music?

Lozen: Dance and music has been a part of my life since a very early age. I was enrolled at The Aylmer Academy of Arts at the age of four, studying various styles of traditional dance. After a decade of training, my gut told me I needed to leave the nest to further pursue my craft. I took to the streets and immersed myself in the culture, primary dance movements being break, popping, locking, house and dancehall. I trained at various independent studios/gymnastic centres, participated in battles, taught workshops and performed regularly alongside local crews active in the scene including: Canadian Floormasters, Funk Thieves, Speedrock, Decypher Crew, Bboyizm…

DJ Mag Canada: What projects are you currently working on?

Lozen: I recently finished recording a six-track EP at Raven Street Studio in Ottawa, Ont. It has a breakbeat/ghetto funk/hip hop feel, though I try to steer away from labelling my genre style. I have a few mash-up tunes with Basement Freaks in the mix along with a few other well heavyweights TBA. I’ve been preforming the jams live at festivals this past summer, so recording the tracks seemed a natural progression. Generally I work the opposite way, however I have a free spirit when it comes to creating so nothing is really off-limits in terms of the production process.

As for other releases in the making…I’m currently working on a collaborative EP with Animal Nation. Tall Man will be producing the beats/dropping flows alongside Armadillo Slim and myself.

In terms of vids, I have a couple bangers in the works with OTWK/Coldsmoke cinematographer Eric Beckstead, as well as the talented Rah Eleh upon her artist residency return from Paris.

As for local/community involvement, I am part on the WMN studio crew team/CO-OP here in Whistler. We are in the final building stages at our Function Junction location and will offer regular programming, workshops, recording studio/mixing/mastering among other creative services and solutions.

DJ Mag Canada: When not making music, what is your favorite thing to do?

Lozen: It depends on the season. When I’m not travelling, I call Whistler home. It’s a resort town so winters for me generally mean shredding powder. I started skiing back in ‘94, then switched to snowboarding in ’99. I’ve been on a board ever since. Peak season I ride Alpine, but come spring it’s park laps for this gal. Summertime usually means biking and lounging beach days. Come Autumn, you can find me training at my home gym prepping for riding season all over again.

DJ Mag Canada: What is your chief characteristic?

Lozen: I’m a freckled ginger, Irish roots. My last name “Mullaly” actually means “Speckled Chief”. As for more intangible attributes, those who know me best would probably say my ability to look on the bright side of life. I try to see the silver linings, stepping stones. I am glass half full kind of chick. Even on the worst of days I say to myself, life is good.

DJ Mag Canada: Who is your fictional hero?

Lozen: I would probably have to say Robin Hood. He just seems like and all around rad dude. He’s a skilled archer/swordsman, rolling with the Merry Men crew, giving to the poor, with a high regard for women and a particular animosity toward the Sheriff i.e. the man. What a guy!

DJ Mag Canada: Who is your real-life hero?

This is probably going to sound lame, but I’m going to say my parents. I mean, my mom is a teacher. She lives to serve others and really encourages people to raise the bar for themselves. She recently went back to school to complete her masters, her primary goal to optimize her teaching methods and apply them to the classroom.

My father recently returned to school as well. He was my first musical teacher. After years of switching careers, he’s now enrolled at the The Academy of Recording Arts in Otttawa, Ont. He told me one of the main reasons for this was to be able to better assist me. Warms my heart.

DJ Mag Canada: If you could take any musician in the past or present to dinner, who would it be?

Lozen: I would have to say probably the late, great Amy Winehouse. That girl had a fire in her soul I can really relate to. I appreciate her tell it as it is approach to songwriting, no sugar coating. Bluesy sweet songstress with a splash of bad girl, I can dig it.

DJ Mag Canada: What is your idea of misery?

Lozen: Monotony, lack of growth, passion or purpose. I live to better myself and aim to continually push my own personal boundaries. For me, outside the comfort zone is where all the magic happens.

DJ Mag Canada: What is your idea of happiness?

Lozen: It’s the little things. Appreciation and gratitude go a long way. Feeling complete but at the same time part of a bigger picture. I try to find childhood wonder in the mundane. Embrace silly, imagine often and create daily.

Name: Lozen
Hometown: Ottawa, Ont.
Currently reside in: Whistler, B.C.
Genre: Hip Hop/Funk/Soul/Breakbeat
Soundcloud: Lozen
Twitter: LozenMusic
Facebook: Meaghan Lozen Mullaly
Website: https://www.lozenmusic.com
Bandcamp: http://lozen.bandcamp.com/
Bookings: info@lozenmusic.com - DJ Mag Canada

Compared to his more upbeat party sizzlers, this single from prolific nu-funkster Basement Freaks' album Something Freaky is pretty subdued, with more of a cool funk-meets-hip-hop groove and flow. With fun playground style lyrics, it's the type of tune that really worms into you without you realising. There's some really interesting remix action on offer, too; AfroQben adds some squidgy bass beef, Suzbilla gets more of a 4/4 stomp on, throwing in some cool funk breaks on the fills and putting more of a psychedelic twist to the bass. D End, meanwhile, gets a bit freaky with a jaunty skank and yet a bassline that wouldn't sound amiss on a two-step record. - Juno Download

CFBX 92.5FM - Kamloops
Hip Hop

For the Week Ending: Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - Earshot - The National Campus & Community Radio Charts

Meaghan Mullaly's solo debut album has been a long time coming. First, the record was halted by a tragic loss, then complicated recording logistics, but Mullaly, better known as MC Lozen, is finally ready to release her first mixtape, Tragedy & Triumph, on Nov. 8. "Everything seems to take so much longer than expected and there were some roadblocks along the way," she says. "It was supposed to (be released) back in the summer, but you take the (obstacles) as they come."

The most significant setback was the death of her friend and longtime Whistler DJ, Mike Grefner, earlier this year. The 34-year-old was reported missing Jan. 16. His body was found in the woods near Whistler Secondary in March. Mullaly, who had been working on upbeat party tracks during that time, was deeply shaken. "When he went missing I felt like I had more important things to say. Music is there for having fun and releasing, but at the time, I was writing lighter songs that didn't have that much in depth content. I felt like I had to write something with a little more going on," she explains. "I ended up taking out a bunch of songs I was going to originally have (on the album). I wanted to scrap them."

So, she did. The result was darker, more introspective tracks that reflected her state. Self-producing and recording on her own in her apartment also added an intimate quality. "It was definitely a little more stressful being the person doing everything," she adds. "But at the same time, there was some comfort in the fact that it's actually in my home. In the studio, sometimes it's a little sterile with someone you don't know behind glass. Sometimes it takes away from the natural performing and I love performing."

Mullaly will have her first chance to perform the new songs at an album release party Nov. 8, held in conjunction with the release of a new video by her pals in Animal Nation. (The Whistler duo also makes a guest appearance on one of the record's tracks.) As she explains, in the male-dominated hip hop world it's nice to have allies. "I don't want to take a feminist standpoint, but it's hard to connect sometimes. A lot of times people will assume you're someone's girlfriend or you're doing press," she says. "(The guys in Animal Nation) have always been supportive. For me, I don't want people to look at me as a woman artist; I want them to look at me as an artist. "

But the scene is changing — in more ways than one. While Mullaly is releasing some physical copies of the new album, she's also posting it up for free download. "Before, (the music industry) was about album sales, but now it's not as much about album sales as it is about shows," she says. "Even artists from New York are not selling albums, but their shows sell out. It's all about performing." - Pique Newsmagazine