With musical capabilities including creaky falsetto folk, lightly scorched rock and sputtering electronics, Chad VanGaalen is a modern-day renaissance man. However, these are just a few talents the Calgary-based musician has showcased since emerging from street corner busker to Sub Pop signee, recently releasing his fourth album proper, Diaper Island.

As his Black Mold alter ego, VanGaalen follows his electronic muse even further, blasting out the circuit-bent soundscapes of 2009′s double LP, Snow Blindness Is Crystal Antz. As a visual artist, he’s not only created his album sleeve illustrations, but also hypnotic videos for both himself and likeminded musicians such as J Mascis. And as a producer, VanGaalen manned the boards for two albums from icy post-punk quartet Women (now sadly defunct). Since constructing his backyard studio, Yoko Eno, he’s excited to continue behind the scenes.

"It’s a total dream come true," VanGaalen exclaims. "I just have to work on the ventilation in there, because it’s kind of poorly built in terms of windows that actually open. It also doesn’t have a bathroom, and bringing in professional plumbing is looking really expensive, so I’m thinking of setting something up myself. There have been a few nights of peeing in bottles, but that’s just wrong."

Requests for his production services have started pouring in, yet the only act he’s confirmed with at the moment is local trio Faux Fur, another arty rock group whose members aren’t of legal drinking age in Alberta. In VanGaalen’s mind, Yoko Eno (not to mention his own set of skills) isn’t quite up to snuff.

"There have been people asking me to record stuff, but they’d be coming overseas and expecting to stay in a hotel," VanGaalen says. "It seems like a pain in the ass to travel that far and record on a bunch of broken tape machines. I think MP3s would sound 20 times better than anything I could muster. Maybe in the future I’ll be smarter, hopefully…"

Outside of the studio, his favourite toy these days is a simple ukulele. Portability rules for playing music on the road. "It’s a pretty sweet sounding little guy," VanGaalen laughs. "It’s nice because you can have it in the car and it’s not huge. It’s the ultimate beach instrument and inevitably gets dragged everywhere. We spend a lot of time in the van, so there’s a lot of van Kumbaya, which is a stinky, sweaty Kumbaya."

Chad VanGaalen
w/ Jennifer Castle
At La Sala Rossa
October 25