Winnipeg music & culture since 1989
by Sheldon Birnie
The Hillbilly Highway crosses many borders. Provincial, state, international: it doesn’t give a fuck. I cruised myself down the Pembina Highway to America last week in order to check out two of my favourite bands — the Drive-By Truckers and Those Darlins — play at First Avenue in Minneapolis. The trip was short, but sweet as fucking sin. Continue reading “Hillbilly Highway – Cruising the Interstates to First Avenue”
by Ronjan Roy
For the last 20 years or so, Mark Kozelek has been producing albums under different monikers (Red House Painters and current band Sun Kil Moon) which have kept his career going in a trajectory that most artists would wish for. Signed to 4ad in the early 90’s through Mark Eitzel from The American Music Club, Kozelek bounced from a few record labels before starting his own, Caldo Verde in the early 2000s. And with the ability to control his output, he has made a legacy of sad and beautiful moments that give his listeners a space that transcends the usual sense of place.
From the sparseness of the first ep sized release of Down Colorful Hill, to the most recently released Admiral Fell Promises, he has stayed prolific, relevant, and influential. Along the way, he has took a couple of turns in film (most notably in Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous), released a book of his lyrics, and put his songwriting style on covers from artists as diverse as AD/DC, Modest Mouse and John Denver.
Recently, Kozelek has released a tour documentary shot in black and white, revealing how lonely and tedious the time spent between the live shows can be. Made with filmmaker Joshua Stoddard, it follows him through airports and hotel rooms, in soundchecks and occasionally on stage. With arty shots and a self penned score aside from the track list, the journal of his trek reveals selected moments of an artist who has been notoriously private in the past. Also lately, he has co-production credits, along with lending his trademark vocals to the new album by Desertshore, released on his label. The instrumental band consists of Phil Carney (ex Red House Painters) and classically trained pianist, Chris Connelly.
For the past few years, Kozelek has taken on playing his solo live shows with a nylon stringed acoustic guitar, showing his love of classical records and elegant fingerpicking style.
Here are some excerpts from the interview I conducted with him (via email): Continue reading “Interview :: Mark Kozelek”
With a week left to go in INCITE‘s Kickstarter campaign, we emailed Brett Kashmere, editor of the Pittsburgh film zine which has strong ties to our own reputable Winnipeg film scene. The image above, if you haven’t recognized it, is from Jaimz Asmundson‘s The Magus which is discussed in the upcoming issue which is going to be printed. There’s still plenty of time to become a backer for the mag, like I have, and have an opportunity to get physical copies of the zine that straddles the line between a serious journal and an art zine, as well as receive plenty of other rare incentives, which are also discussed below.
Stylus: The theme of the new issue is New Ages. What parallels have you drawn between today’s use of New Age symbolism and its origins?
INCITE: The theme, “New Ages” is meant to provoke a range of interpretations and readings. Most obvious is the reference to the “New Age” spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century, and which gained mainstream awareness during the height of self-absorbed Reaganomics and the rise of corporate power. While it’s easy to ridicule New Age-ism for being a wishy-washy brand of quasi-religious mysticism, it is also rooted in the concepts of self-improvement, physical and mental health, and environmental responsibility. This duality—of alternative spirituality based in holistic health, environmentalism, meditation, and simple living, and its pop commercialization (i.e. whale music CDs sold in strip malls)—produced a values-based sociopolitical phenomenon that was hard to take seriously.
Over the past decade, there has been a clear renewal of interest in New Age symbolism. How do we account for the current fascination with New Age ideas and aesthetics among many of media artists, many of whom grew up in “New Age” households? As ironic appropriation? As a desire to reconnect with some of the original core principles of the movement, such as non-Western medicine, environmental causes, organic farming, etc? As ’80s-era nostalgia? This is one of the questions that permeate through the issue. The Web 2.0, via services such as YouTube, has made it possible to instantly re-experience the media memories of our recent past or stoke a younger generation’s enchantment with a past not their own. In an era marked by both religious and political fervor and cynicism, it’s hard not to see the positive in reclaiming an inclusive, optimistic, if naive, spiritual movement. Continue reading “INCITE, Journal of Experimental Media”
By DJ Stone
Mmmmm brains, brains nom nom nom nom!!
On October 14, thousands of bloody, rotting zombies were seen limping and crawling towards the Pampanga Banquet Hall (old skool rave location) after the Winnipeg Zombie Walk. There were zombie cheerleaders, business zombies, rabbit zombies, and some lady in a blood soaked wedding dress holding her aborted fetus still attached with the umbilical cord :-/
The location of this nine p.m. ’til six a.m. rave was TBA (oooo, secretive) until tickets went on sale, brought to you buy DV8 Audio Visual Productions and Jsquared Entertainmynt. It was a 16+ event; however, they did have a licensed area upstairs for the rest of us who wanted to get our drink on.
This was a two-room event, with the legend himself Dieselboy, as well as ill.Gates, Johnny Narcotic and a slew of local “zombie” DJs as well. Well, it was what everyone came to see, a lot of loud, heavy, bass-blasting, dubstep with a touch of drum-n-bass. I was kinda hoping Dieselboy would have played some of his older drum-n-bass stuff, but I guess dubstep is what the kids want to hear these days.
Who knew the dead could dance so well?! It was pretty packed on the dance floor, rotting bodies flailing around, an overall good party. I give it eight out 10 zombies.
by Kent Davies
Stylus: It was a long process to get your EP off the ground. What happened?
Kevin Focht: Bascially in January our guitarist AJ Schmid had just moved into a new apartment with his girlfriend. Long story short we were holding all the band’s money and our merchandise there and three nights after moving in, the apartment went up in flames. They lost everything and all the band money burned along with the merch. So we had a pretty big loss and our EP release show became a benefit show to recover some of the money.
Winnipeg’s The Ripperz (Chris Sawatzsky, Mark Wiebe, and Travis Warkentin) can largely attribute their amazing live act to their die hard fans. Their new album You Are the Moon comes out tomorrow when they play the West End Cultural Centre, doors opening at 7 p.m. Here’s a recent interview they did on Peg City Groove.
Kent Davies: You’ve been playing for ten years but it’s really been in the last few years that you’ve managed to put out a couple albums and get a huge following. What happened?
Mark Wiebe: Basically the lack of absence. Chris went to Vancouver for a couple years so we couldn’t do much with out him.
Chris Sawatzsky: Then I moved home and had a band to come home to. It energized us to take the band to another level.
KD: Basically your show has become one big rock-sing-a-long. Do you keep that in mind when you’re writing music?
CS: Yes I do. When I’m writing I always think this parts going to be awesome when the crowd sings it.
Darryl Reilly: Do you have a Ripperz Hymn book that you hand out before the show starts?
CS: We were joking about choir robes last show but there’s no lyric sheets. I don’t know if we’ve ever wrote up our lyrics. I’ve seen some people type them up and they’re quite wrong.
KD: Have you changed lyrics because people keep getting them wrong?
CS: No but we encourage our fans to just sing what you think is there.
MW: Whatever feels right for them.
TONSTARTSSBANDHT- Hotel For Gods – (SIDE B) from Spencer Gilley on Vimeo.
Tired of life’s daily drags, its brumal breath on the back of your neck? Doing fine and want to be doing even finer still? TONSTARTSSBANDHT! Become enraptured in the music of these Floridian born brothers gone Montreal. The bros, Andy and Edwin White, also play in High Rise II and Superbud. With MC5 vigour Tonstartssbandht are kickin’ out extensive BJM style jams – psychedelic noise pop if you want to try to pin them – they’re one of those duos who “don’t give a fuck about genres or movements.”
This video for “Hotel for Gods” came out not long ago and was shot the same day as their interview on CKUT. Relish in your perceptions for a while. All filmed in the lowest quality: so colourful and homey mmm.
Scratch that! Just follow this link to side A, “Sinkhole Storm and Sandwich” and imbibe in the whole record! Recorded live on a four-track, each in one take. Available on Arbutus. Play ‘em and get lost, lost, lost.