Karaoke Criminals - spoken word

Novelist Vince Tuckwood has begun recording chapters from his prior novels. The clip included here is a segment from his novel "Karaoke Criminals." Enjoy his cadence (and accent) as he quite adeptly reads the sixth chapter.

A brief synopsis would be: an English girl is on vacation in the Spanish riviera and is soon to be discovered  by an excised British gangster: there is a great deal more to than that, but that's approximately where we are in the story. Vince gives lovely detail to his words. Check it out!

Merry Xmas! Latest news and a year in review!

Merry Xmas everybody.  Just wanted to put a few words together to wrap up the latest ongoings of everyone involved (or once involved) in the Boutique Empire family.

Starting with Guilty About Girls who have just arisen from a productive hiatus to deliver two new songs, the latest of which was singled out by Alan Cross on his music blog.  Once again Jordy Birch is proving he is among Canada's finest pop song craftsmen!  Have a listen to his blistering new single The Boys in the Band.




Old friends Sex With Strangers have just released their fifth album Behaviors.  The first video from the new album, once again produced by the brilliant folks of BKS Crew is called Times Electric.  Check out the video below for their new sound and style.  They seem to be gathering a lot of press with this release and we wish them all a great success.




Combine the Victorious has taken the inspiration from their first European tour to begin writing and recording their third full length.  Scheduled for a spring 2013 release, the duo plans to return to Europe next year for an extended tour in its support.   Their new EP, Crumbling Hearts, indicates the tone of their new material, some of which may appear on the full length.  Vinyl pressing is being sourced out as well, with cover art to be commissioned from Robert Edmonds. 








Isabelle Dunlop has had several very successful pop up shops during 2012 which has spurred on the idea of setting up a permanent shop for her designs in the new year.  It seems her wool scarves and shawls are becoming more popular each season.  Stay tuned for more news.

Robert Edmonds, the man behind the images of all the Boutique Empire releases, is currently planning expositions for the new year.  We are discussing many ideas of how to make each series unique and exciting.  Once again we'll be offering more information as we near the time to reveal his works. 

Vince Tuckwood, our resident author, not only released his Escalation novel this year but has been hard at work on a dualistic music album as well.  He has been revealing certain works from the sparse side of the album which show dramatic artistic leaps from anything he's done before.  Have a listen to some of his latest works on his reverbnation page.

Though not officially a member of the Boutique Empire collective (yet) The Population Drops have quietly started to amass attention around their first four song collection.  More songs are being recorded in January and hopefully a several more live performances will be scheduled to showcase this remarkable new band and their unique style.   Check out Enough from their first EP.



In closing, if we're very lucky we should also hear some new music from the elusive Gilles Zolty in the 2013.  He's been busy working away in Saskatchewan this past year, but there have been rumours of new works that might escape from his private studio into the world.  At very least we hope he can make his way out to Vancouver for another live performance!

Here's hoping all of you will have a happy holiday season, and though 2012 has been a challenging year we are all looking forward to the new year and the opportunity our new works shall bring.

Thanks for reading, be well and merry xmas.

Dancing in Dystopia 2

Combine the Victorious will be performing their last show of the year tomorrow night at the B-Ex ( British Ex Servicemen's Association, 1143 Kingsway, Vancouver).   Joining them on the bill shall be The Population Drops with The Rain and the Sidewalk opening the night.

CtV have been rehearsing with Justin "Juice" Kadis on drums and recently have been adding in Misty Reid on backing vocals.  A few other surprise guest musicians will joining them on stage to make this a highly memorable event!  The set included songs from the brand new Crumbling Hearts EP as well as a few favorite covers from the past and some sneaky little new moments from uncompleted songs.  The additional live musicians offer such a remarkable new sound to the live performance.  Not to be missed.

The Population Drops are quickly gathering interest on the Vancouver scene.  Their new four song EP has been getting a great deal of love at college/campus radio and even though they've only performed a handful of times they are rapidly acquiring a great reputation as a band to watch out for!

First on the bill is none other than The Rain and the Sidewalk.  With Trevor Thompson's eerily similar voice to Ian Curtis and his angular song writing his set promises to set a wonderful tone for the entire evening.

Doors are at 8pm
The Rain and the Side Walk 9pm
The Population Drops 10pm
Combine the Victorious 11pm

Tickets at the door, only $5 

click here for the official facebook invite

Poster designed by Robert Edmonds

Smoke and Choke by Combine the Victorious

Isabelle Dunlop Pop Up Shop

On December first Isabelle Dunlop will be revisiting the old Birkeland Bros Shop and holding a second pop up at 3573 Main St.  She will be displaying her definitive wool scarves and shawls as well as a small selection of individual coats and dresses

The shop will open this Weekend - Dec 1st - at Noon until 5PM. 

If you cannot make it within those hours please contact Isabelle Dunlop to book an appointment.
email:  isabelledunlop@gmail.com

Video shot and edited by M R Henning
music provided by Combine the Victorious

Georgia Straight Review of Crumbling Hearts EP

Music » Recordings

Combine the Victorious bucks recent trends with Crumbling Hearts

By Mike Usinger, November 1, 2012

Crumbling Hearts (Independent)
For whatever reason, there aren’t a lot of synth-pop artists these days hitting the dance floor in a mood that could loosely be defined as melancholy. At the moment, no one wants to be bummed out like Depeche Mode or Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark—they’re more into hitting the same glitzy, beautiful-people parties as Crystal Castles and the Golden Filter.

Combine the Victorious bucks that trend on its five-song Crumbling Hearts EP. The band’s name suggests one of those Hitler-haired Victory Records emover acts that were all the rage a half-decade ago. What you get, though, is retro-tinted dance music guaranteed to resonate with those who spend far too much time alone in their lonely bedrooms, watching a cellphone that never seems to ring.
Like, say, Depeche Mode, Combine the Victorious doesn’t sound completely fixated on wallowing in self-pity. As coolly detached as the duo—Isabelle Dunlop and Mark Henning—is, there’s an ethereal underside to the unrepentantly synthetic title track and the ghostly “Glasgow”. The EP’s standout is “California State of Mind”, on which an elastic bass line and squelch-city percussion serve as the backdrop for a sun-kissed reminiscence of a road trip to the state where it never seems to rain. Amazingly, Combine the Victorious manages to make that sound melancholy, although maybe not enough to make anyone forget OMD.

Rob Edmonds paints We Are Local Pop Up

The illustrious Robert Edmonds has just painted the front window of the We Are Local pop up shop on Main Street here in Vancouver.  He is the first of six local artists that will be designing the front window display to the store, a new one each week.  Today he was putting the finishing touches on the window, a transfer of one of his "Day At the Races" series, made life sized on glass.

It will only be up for one week so please make a note to look up at 2539 Main St (Main and 10th), the site of the Whoa!  Nellie Bike Shop (who have graciously provided the space and temporarily moved upstairs).


The We Are Local pop up shop will feature gift boxes that will contain items from over 60 local businesses, apparently there will packages available for guys, gals, grey sky days, hipsters and more.  Drop in and find out more.

Successful Return from Europe (new video too)

Combine the Victorious released their new Crumbling Hearts EP in Stockholm last month.  The show at Bonden Bar was a wonderful success with a young and greatly enthusiastic crowd giving a glowing reception.   A return is being planned. 

While there, they recorded some of their favorite views of that beautiful city.  This new video is the result of those adventures in Sweden.  


Good friends Sex With Strangers have also returned from their second east coast tour: winning contests in Toronto and making their second appearance at CMJ in New York.  Most importantly SWS have just made their brand new album "Behaviors" listenable on bandcamp.