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Artist Spotlight :: Interview with Cadence Weapon

by Kim Wiesner

Interview on November 6, 2024

Stylus (S): The deluxe version of your album Rollercoaster came out last month, and it’s about the internet, the ups and downs of it. What’s your relationship with the internet / social media right now? 

Cadence Weapon (CW): Well, I have a complicated relationship with the internet right now. I feel like as an artist, you feel an obligation to use the technology because it’s the best way to reach people. But then every time you try to reach your audience, you’re getting throttled, you’re getting your reach blocked, and that frustration really inspired me to make this record. I consider it to be a bit of a love letter to the early internet. When I first started out, I first got my record deal from the internet, from just sending my tracks to random people and then posting on a blog and then record labels hitting me up. I feel like that kind of direct audience connection is much more difficult to have today. It’s like when you go on Instagram, you gotta jump through all these hoops. It’s that kind of thing. So, I feel like the album is really about the social media age we’re in right now and how we navigate it as artists and individuals.

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Album Review :: Dinner Club :: Brave Faces

by Mykhailo Vil’yamson

The unknown is intimidating because, by definition, it’s unfamiliar. This can express itself as fear — either unfounded or rational — or alternatively, as fascination. Regardless, uncharted territory is worth exploring when there’s a choice, as one never knows what one might find. It’s easy to surround oneself with the recognizable and “safe.” But isn’t life more exciting when deliberately leaving room for surprise?

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Album Review :: Jason Tait & Patrick Michalishyn :: G-384

by Maggie A. Clark

Some readers may well be scratching their heads right about now. 

“Jason Tait, huh? Yeah, I recognize him. The drummer from Red Fisher and that other band — you know, the one with that song about Gump Worsley! Patrick Michalishyn, though: now where have I seen that name before?”

Try “one page ago,” on account of the above “CKUWho?” profile. In the interest of full transparency, I should mention that he did ask me to review his split tape, and I obliged. So let it be known — if you ask nicely enough and I have a spare evening, I’ll just do whatever you say. I’m easygoing and I crave the approval of others! (And on that note: if you have an album you’d like me to review, shoot me an email at assistanteditor@stylusmagazine.ca.)

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Album Review :: NITOTTIR :: the noise is…

light tile distorted light pinky blue faded photo

by Maggie A. Clark

The best experiences in life are the ones that come to you by chance.

I don’t know if I believe that—and, in fact, I probably don’t—but for the sake of argument, let’s say that’s true. Out of boredom and looking for something to write about, I went rooting around in the Bandcamp tags for “Winnipeg” and “experimental” until a recent-ish release leapt out at me.

The resulting find was the noise is… by NITOTTIR.

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Concert Review :: FONTINE :: Live at the Lyric Theatre

by Bradi Breckman

Some music is best listened to while lying in the grass on a warm summer night. Local artist FONTINE’s indie-folk tracks certainly fit into this category, making it obvious why she was picked to perform in Assiniboine Park’s Summer Entertainment Series. This concert series featured local artists at the outdoor Lyric Theatre every Thursday and Sunday in July and August. FONTINE performed on August 25th, closing out the Sunday evening shows. 

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Maggie A. Clark’s Favourite Albums of 2024

The year draws to a close. The usual signifiers of the season put in their scheduled appearances: the sidewalks and rooftops lined with snow, trees and eavestroughs strung with lights, doors bedecked with wreaths. There is a palpable cheer in the air. All of this can only mean one thing.

It’s time for some half-baked listicle slop, baby! Seemingly every media outlet spends their December churning out their curated selections of the year’s best songs, albums, movies, books, games, etc. — so why shouldn’t I compel Stylus to get in on the fun? Who am I to resist the omnipresent allure of list-making?

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Album Review :: Jamboree :: Summerland

Sumerland album cover. photo tiles of horse on a roof, bumper cars, roller coster, sun tanning in a lawn chair, rainbows, paths, trees and swings.

by Mykhailo Vil’yamson

If there was one place that I could live, it would be California. But for reasons manifold, it’ll never happen. Second best is travelling there, which I had the chance to do earlier this spring – after saving for years – and along my way down the coast I stopped in a little place called Summerland: population 1300-ish. There’s a song by the same name from the mid-’90s by Everclear where frontperson Art Alexakis sings: “Just a name on the map / Sounds like heaven to me.” And stopping at the beach was just like that: a dream. But it was an illusion; an ephemeral fantasy. Because after my few days on the coast, it was back to landlocked Manitoba with only a one-minute video of the surf as a souvenir.

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