Winnipeg music & culture since 1989
Normally bands grow and develop with their sound, constantly improving and maturing but not without few slips along the way. However, usually the band in question will bounce back from that weak album/single and rock the shit out of the next one, understanding where they went wrong. Continue reading “Band of Horses- Mirage Rock”
This little platter is a pure slab of old-timey Americana gold. The product of Sam Doores and Riley Downing & the Tumbleweeds chance encounter in 2010, these 12 tracks are a mix of each songwriter’s style, along with some revamped classics thrown in for good measure. Continue reading “Sam Doores and Riley Downing & the Tumbleweeds – Holy Cross Blues”
North Carolina’s Tift Merritt has a gift for storytelling, a mean band, and a voice that wouldn’t be out of place on the Ryman stage, or a backwoods jukejoint. Continue reading “Tift Merritt – Traveling Alone”
“Don’t lick the floor,” warns Steve Basham as we’re sitting around, drinking beers and preparing for our interview.
“We’ve got mice,” explains Marshall Birch, singer, guitar player, and principal songwriter for the Unbelievable Bargains, with a chuckle. Both Birch and Basham (bass) live in this large house on Balmoral where I’ve met them to do the interview, before their weekly Wednesday jam. Continue reading “The Unbelievable Bargains :: “We value values””
by Sheldon Birnie
I was over at my pal JP’s place the other night, interviewing him about his show, “Destination Moon,” on CKUW for the upcoming issue of Stylus. After going over the process he uses to assemble his shows from his extensive LP collection, he dug into some country music for me as we enjoyed the last of our beverages. It has to be said, during the 1970s and early 1980s, with the proximity of K-Tel records and other pressing plants in Winnipeg, that a lot of pure gold was pumped out into the world, the bulk of which has either been destroyed, is sitting in peoples’ basements or thrift stores, or assembled piecemeal into collections like JP’s. Continue reading “Hillbilly Highway – Pure Manitoba Gold”
This debut album from UK rockers, Toy, gleans inspiration from krautrock and post-punk, but shoegazing psychedelic pop would be a better description of their sound. Continue reading “TOY – TOY”
The “debut” disc from Toronto’s Do Good Assassins is sure to be of interest to fans of Ron Hawkins and 90s Canadian indie-rock. Continue reading “The Do Good Assassins – Rome”
Okay, this is essentially Scandinavia’s AC/DC, just a little more metal and a little less awesome. Continue reading “Bullet- Full Pull”
By Scott Wolfe
Winnipeg’s very own Ukrainian, folk, punk, metal, reggae etc. band, Zrada is playing the Kings Head Pub January 10. I sat down with Andriy Michalchyshyn (singer, trumpet, guitar) for a pint to reveal future plans and catch up with the band after a hiatus that is now, thankfully, over. Continue reading “Zrada :: Local Ukrainian folk-punk act returns to the stage”
