Category: Features

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Premiere! :: Lounge FM :: Slumber Party

Winnipeg’s beloved DIY record label, Birthday Tapes  is back with Birthday Wishes Volume 2. A 17 song compilation album featuring artists from all over Canada and the US. The album features lo-fi pop gems from some of Winnipeg’s most buzzed about bands including iansucks, House Panther, and notme as well New York’s Thanks for Coming. Birthday Tapes has shared a sneak peak of the album with Lounge Fm’s “Slumber Party”. Check out the mellow and catchy tune below. Birthday Wishes Volume 2 is out on Cassette and digitally on January 13.

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Cold Specks :: Bringing Beauty From Ashes

By Patrick Harney

“Bringing beauty from ashes” is the mission statement from Juno award nominee Ladan Hussein a.k.a. Cold Specks in regard to her upcoming album Fool’s Paradise. A Toronto artist in the most technical forms of the word Hussein has always seen the suburb of Etobicoke as her true home. “The most interesting stuff is found in the suburbs outside the downtown. Kids get lots of Youtube views but no radio play.” Says Hussein, showing her slight bitterness toward the Toronto music scene, “I had to leave Toronto, no one gave a damn after I tried, it wasn’t until I moved to the UK and got press coverage there did I get any attention. It’s a classic story, you have to leave the city to become successful, which is kinda sad.” Continue reading “Cold Specks :: Bringing Beauty From Ashes”

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Prairie Punk Perspective

by Kaitlyn Emslie Farrell

It’s early in the morning, too early. You drag yourself out of the house into the smoke filled city streets of Winnipeg. Summer is burning it’s way out across the country. Nothing but the quiet lull of traffic is to be heard as there hasn’t been enough time for humanity to consume their coffee intake just yet. Whether going to school or going to work, you have somewhere to be.  As the days go on these mornings get darker, and colder. The smoke clears and invites a mist of frozen water to crystallize on your scarf as you continue to go, still needing to be somewhere. Continue reading “Prairie Punk Perspective”

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Slow Dancers

 

By Chris Bryson

Slow Dancers recently returned to Winnipeg to release their newest mini album, Philadelphus. The new album returns to Slow Dancers’ expansively emotive folk – slow and dreamy, sparse and serene, vocals atop a whisper, with stories to make the mind wander. Continue reading “Slow Dancers”

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Bill Frisell

By Phil Enns

Bill Frisell. Perhaps you’ve heard the name before. And yet there’s just as good a chance that you haven’t. For the past 35 years or so, Frisell has been quietly building a legendary career for himself. He has collaborated with an increasingly diverse roster of artists, including Norah Jones, Emmylou Harris, and Paul Simon (to name but a few). In recent years, his music has been described as hearkening back to classic Americana. And while it is true that he has dived headlong, at times, into folk and country music, he is still a jazz guitarist at heart. Continue reading “Bill Frisell”

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Wares :: Creating Intimacy

By Charlie Fraser

Creating intimacy at a live performance can seem like an impossible thing. There is this very distinct separation between the musician(s) on the stage and everyone else on the ground below them. The space where the audience members are is very dark so the musician(s) can’t see them; meanwhile, the musician(s) are lit up with intense fluorescent lights illuminating every single one of their features and even, flaws. Continue reading “Wares :: Creating Intimacy”

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Manitobandits :: Storytellers

By Kent Davies

Like the musical equivalent of Voltron or maybe a modern day local Wrecking Crew, The Manitobandits are the combination of the mighty genre-busting artists that make up Ultra Mega, Blond(e) Goth and Smoky Tiger. The group features the core backing of Josey Krahn (Ultra Mega), Aaron Johnston (Pop Crimes), Richard Bolton (Reverend Rambler) and Dan Moroz (The Flaming Trolleys) with revolving frontmen; JD Ormond (JD and the Sunshine Band), T.J. Blair (The Magnificent 7s), and Smoky Tiger/Andrew Courtnage/Nij (Youtube).  The Manitobandits enthralling live set features darkly humored satirical songs, wistful love ballads, party rock anthems and tributes to Manitoba folk heroes. The powerhouse act recently played to a packed Good Will Social Club in support of their respective album releases. Stylus caught up with the Manitobandits at their secret hideout in south Osborne in the lead up to the big show. Continue reading “Manitobandits :: Storytellers”

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Nonstophiphop: 3Peat High and Rising

 

By Harrison Samphir

3Peat is the most exciting hip-hop crew to come out of Winnipeg in some time. Following in a long line of local groups including Different Shades of Black (Shadez), Frek Sho, Farm Fresh and The Lytics, the trio consisting of Steve, Egg and Dill The Giant are determined to make their mark on a city where emceeing is a proud, if overlooked, tradition. They dropped their self-titled debut EP on September 16, 2016. At seven tracks, it’s packed with lyrical gems, addictive hooks and strong guest appearances backed by tight production completed mostly in-house. With a likeness to the pass-the-mic chemistry and interplay of legends like De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest, 3Peat shines with laid-back charisma and an unpretentious demeanour reinforced by the honest expressions in their songs. I was joined by the group’s three members and their manager, Anthony Carvalho, in the Stylus office to discuss their work, inspirations, and big plans for the future.
Continue reading “Nonstophiphop: 3Peat High and Rising”

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We only make it if we all make it

By Matt Peters

On June 23 of this past year, the night of the Brexit referendum, I retreated to the back patio of the venue in San Francisco where my band had just finished playing and I nervously pulled out my phone to check the results. At the time, we were on a West Coast tour with Montreal’s Plants and Animals and through the open windows behind the stage I could hear them begin to strum the first few chords of their set. Their music is soaring and hopeful, exactly what you would want rising up through a peaceful California evening while having your faith in humanity restore. Continue reading “We only make it if we all make it”