What Our Editors Are Doing This Weekend: November 16–18

Because we do occasionally leave the office.

Young Fathers at Venue

Not every song on Cocoa Sugar, the 2018 album from Edinburgh band Young Fathers, hits a digestible melody—heck, there are a few that are downright unlistenable. But when the trio gets it right, hoo boy, is it ever right.Reminiscent of Brooklyn’s TV on the Radio—except with a desperate hunger that the latter just doesn’t have these days—Young Fathers combines elements of pop, rap and rock to create infectious beats and experimental tracks that seem like they could go anywhere, at any time. And while Cocoa Sugar represents a more stylized, sleek work than 2016’s White Men Are Black Men Too, both albums have weird lows and incredible highs.The group started getting widespread recognition off White Men and singles like the absolutely contagious “Shame.” As a result, Cocoa Sugar was one of the more anticipated albums of 2018, and it didn’t disappoint. Even Apple got in on the fun.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms4yxJcvW3sI’ll be catching them at downtown’s Venue on Saturday; one last smallish concert for a band destined to make it huge. As they sing on White Men: “Call me John Doe, let the good times roll.”—Nathan Caddell, associate editor 

Drinking BC Beaujolais Nouveau

There’s a great line in The Commitments, where a pair a band members, talking of the prowess of Band Manager Jimmy Rabbitte, say: “Jimmy, you were the first to know about Frankie Goes to Hollywood” and then “And the first to know they were shite.” I feel that way about Beaujolais Nouveau—and while I wasn’t there at the start of its heyday, I was definitely there to witness its very name invoking all that was kitschy and uncool in the wine world. The one thing that everyone forgets about is that proper Beaujolais—now the darling of seemingly every somm in the world—was itself deeply uncool back then.But while sensible wine drinkers have rediscovered the charms of a cru Beaujolais, the nouveau arm still sees little love and, frankly, as the French make it, good riddance. But there’s a sole/soul producer in BC—Quails’ Gate—that honours the idea that a truly fresh, just-bottled wine can be a special thing. Their 2018 Cailleteau Gamay Nouveau was just released yesterday (always the third Thursday in November, the same date as Beaujolais Nouveau) is a wondrous oddity. The Gamay grapes were picked, fermented and bottled in the last month or so, so if it’s the very definition of freshness—not just in age but in vigour and excitability. It’s fruity almost to a fault, mostly devoid of tannins and sings best with just a little chill to tame its exuberance down a bit. And it’s $20. I mean, c’mon.So I’m drinking a bottle this weekend.—Neal McLennan, food editor 

Hitting Up the Culture Crawl

I can’t recall a Culture Crawl in the last 15 or so years when it hasn’t been a torrential downpour—and in fact one year, it snowed. Yet thousands of Vancouverites brave the elements to visit more than 500 artists as they open their studios to the city for the weekend. Only this year, the weather gods have blessed us with glorious fall sunshine, which has the added blessing of being able to bike from location to location, and saving the parking spots for someone else. I’ve already hit up Steven Pollock and Debbie Lelievre on opening night (and managed to score an original art work from the latter). This weekend I’ve got my sights set on Beng for trippy art work (see above), Willow and Stump for gorgeous wood pieces and Maria Heo for her incredible textile art.—Anicka Quin, editorial director 

Mount Baker Getaway

I know next to nothing about Mount Baker besides the fact that it’s a former colleague’s getaway of choice whenever the stress of two tweenage kids and a precarious 9-to-5 in print became too much to handle—which, evidently, was often. But the area—some sort of Twin Peaks–esque ski town less than an hour east of Bellingham, from what I’ve gathered—is my destination this weekend, thanks to a close pal’s sole birthday wish: spend an evening in an A-frame cabin.Yes, while most 28-year-olds are likely hoping for socks, a down payment, or enough free tequila shots to forget that said down payment is sorely out of reach on the anniversary of their birth, my discerning mate only had the humblest, most architecturally inclined of requests. So, like the selfless friend I am, I’m breaking out the plaid (cabin wear, right?) and preparing for two strenuous days of comfort-food cooking, day hiking, and hot-tubbing.Oh, and board games—plenty of board games. Because another apparently well-known tidbit about Mount Baker and its surrounding communities? There is zero cell reception.—Lucy Lau, style editor