Winnipeg music & culture since 1989
By Natalie Bohrn
“We have church,” Mike Fox laughs on a brisk spring afternoon over bagels and beer at the Sherbrook Street Delicatessen. I’ve asked about his band Odanah’s rehearsal rituals. “We’ve got a good little thing going on,” he says. “Instead of jamming on Friday nights with a few beers, we get together on Sundays at 10 in the morning with coffee… It’s become a good way to get stuff done.”
By Selci
Distorted melancholy, as sweet as rain on pavement. Basic Nature’s new album Circles and Lines, draws out an image that is rustically bright and sweetly twisted. The flow drones and drifts down the paths of hushed delay and through crumbling roads of heavy distortion. Basic Nature suspends us like a falling feather and swiftly arcs, profound as an incoming wind. The album is simultaneously light and heavy in the best possible way. Their instrumental and vocal blends are a highly complimentary sea of sound with haunting harmonies fading in and out unexpectedly. They’ve got a bit of a Warpaint thing going on, so if you’re into that you’ll definitely be into this. The recordings are quite lo-fi but for the most part match the overall sound and aesthetic. Their title track “Circles and Lines” is embedded with that mature angst that lives within us all. This album is shoegaze indie-rock suitable for listening anywhere – parks, basements, beaches, studios, warehouses, and journeys.
By Topher Duagay
The always inventive Deerhoof have been around for 20 years and just released their thirteenth album, La Isla Bonita, in November of last year. As they’re coming on June 17th to play at the Winnipeg International Jazz Festival, we asked drummer Greg Saunier to discuss past influences, current inspiration, and the possibility of a Deerhoof musical. Continue reading “Deerhoof :: Innovative Inventing”
by Ed Durocher
Gypsophilia call Halifax, NS home but the sound and roots of their music come from many places around the globe. Creatively breaking down walls, they mix it up with Jazz, Funk, world beats, high energy swing, old time folk and a touch of indie. After years of making records, stunning festival crowds all over North America, crisscrossing the country countless times and winning over fans one note at a time they are proving themselves to be a gem in the Canadian music scene. Continue reading “Gypsophilia :: Like a little family”
By Samuel Swanson
Dozens of pressed caps of ecstasy litter the art on a CD titled Strange Memories on this Nervous Night. “For every cap, there’s a strange memory that comes with it,” remarked Jonathan Broeska, front man of The Nods, who will be hosting a reunion / CD release show with Alverstone on Friday May 29, at The Cavern. “If we can track some of those [caps] down that would be pretty cool,” suggested Micah Braun, former Nods lead guitarist, now at the helm of local pop rock sweetheart, Jicah.
Continue reading “Pressed caps and nervous nights :: Strange Memories with The Nods and Alverstone”
by Harrison Samphir
“But the city makes up for its hazards and its deficiencies by supplying its citizens with massive doses of a supplementary vitamin – the sense of belonging to something unique, cosmopolitan, mighty and unparalleled.”
-E.B. White, Here Is New York (1949)
Continue reading “Nonstophiphop:: Ratking, kid skills and the New York renaissance”
Dave Shaw is proving to be a difficult guy to pin down. One minute, you’ll find him crooning beneath the tense and gloomy electronics of his Glass Random moniker, the next he’s releasing a totally sincere and unwinking cover of Beyoncé’s “Drunk in Love.” Continue reading “Camp David – Babes Before Christ”
by Daniel Emberg
Do you know Shooting Guns? Over the past couple of years, they have seemingly become everybody’s favourite heavy rock band. There are a good number of devoted followers here in Winnipeg and the band loves coming here, though it has been over a year since they last made it to town. Drummer Jim Ginther apologized for that (“It wasn’t for lack of wanting to,” he insists) during a recent chat with Stylus at Amigos Cantina in Saskatoon, which he adds is the site of the first-ever Shooting Guns show. We met with Jim to pick his brain a bit about the band’s whirligig past year and get an idea of what is in store for them during 2015. Continue reading “Shooting Guns :: Opportunity is unpredictable”
by Kaitlyn Emslie Farrell
Do you like mosh pits? Well you should. There’s no better way to enjoy violence than through the experience that is punk music. Continue reading “Single Mothers”
You’ve got a void in your life, I know you do. You go to work, school, whatever and you’ve got this little hole that keeps you mellow. Continue reading “Mobina Galore – Cities Away”