Winnipeg music & culture since 1989
by Gil Carroll
Local indie rockers Animal Teeth take the stage at The Union Sound Hall on Thursday, January 16th, sharing the bill with The Bokononists and Montreal’s The Luyas. Stylus checked in with guitarist and vocalist Stefan Hodges about the release of their EP, and what is in store for 2014.
Continue reading “Animal Teeth :: Raw sentiments & Delayed reactions”
by Sheldon Birnie
Prolific. Tireless. Uncompromising. Cantankerous. These and many more words could, and have, been used to describe Fred Eaglesmith, one of Canada’s finest songwriters and bluntly honest performing musicians alive today. For over thirty years now, Eaglesmith has been charting his own course in the Music Business. Fiercely independent and uncompromising in his artistic and commercial vision, Eaglesmith’s name is revered by songwriters and folk music fans, and simultaneously “cussed” by many in the Business. From his genre defining albums Things is Changing, Drive-In Movies, and Lipstick, Lies, & Gasoline to experiments in style like Dusty, Tinderbox, and Cha Cha Cha, Eaglesmith’s writing is always finely honed, throwing a light on the heartaches that fester behind small town diner counters, in dark corners of collapsing barns, and on the backroads, freeways, and Interstates of North America.
It’s no secret that Eaglesmith is held in high regard here on Hillbilly Highway, not just by myself, but among many of the artists I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with on my own travels. From Todd Snider to Andrew Neville, Hayes Carll to the Reverend Rambler, Eaglesmith’s reputation as an artist is held in the highest esteem. And now, as he prepares yet another tour, in a cycle of seemingly endless touring, to promote his latest album, Tambourine, Fred took some time out to speak with us here at Stylus about charting his own course in the Business. He takes no prisoners. While we in Winnipeg might have to wait a while yet before his next appearance, he provides us here, and on Tambourine especially, with plenty to chew on and ponder until then.
by Sheldon Birnie
Part of the excitement at a volunteer driven organization like CKUW is that things are always changing. Volunteers come and go, the ones who stay learning new skills and developing new interests. New volunteers always bring with them fresh enthusiasm, and new ideas. While many CKUW volunteers have been with the station for years — some of them at the helm of shows that have been around since the station went FM in 1999 — there are always new volunteers eager to get their feet wet.
Continue reading “CKUWho :: New volunteer driven shows on the airwaves”
by Sheldon Birnie
It would come as some surprise to me if you, as a Winnipegger, haven’t heard of Greg Rekus at this point. Do you walk around the city with your eyes on the ground, never once looking at any of the posters taped and pealing from light poles? Did you not spend your youth at all ages punk shows, where Greg’s old band, High Five Drive, inevitably made up some part of the bill, if not the headliners? Continue reading “Hillbilly Highway – Greg Rekus releases Punkoustic, continues to relentlessly tour Earth”
by Victoria King
It’s July. You’re driving to the sounds of your favorite CD. You pop the disc out and put it in its case, leaving it on the front passenger seat. Before you remember to find a shady safe spot for your tunage, you exit the car and forget your beloved in the direct light of the summer rays. You return three hours later to a hot, steaming CD – blow that steam off and pop it back in. The sounds have warped and twisted into a contorted soundscape of drumbeats, displaced vocals and other eerie dancey crashes and bashes. Continue reading “Zebra Pulse :: Riffin’ on a Nice Groove and Free Form Chaos”
by Devin King
Gentlemen of the board, I’ve gathered you all here today as I understand there has been some concern raised over our release of New Zealand singer Lorde’s single titled “Royals.” As you may know, the song in question discusses the idea of extreme wealth in the music industry, and broadly, society. Some of you have expressed concern that this might ignite class consciousness and foster a realization of inequality in the masses. I am here to tell you not to be afraid. Continue reading “Fear of Music :: The Machine Wakes, Sees Itself, and Smiles”
by Sheldon Birnie
Since the early 1990s, Winnipeg has boasted a prolific and diverse hip hop music scene. Today, that scene is still thriving. One crew that continues to perform and promote underground hip hop, with a bent towards enjoying the good things our cold, hard city has to offer is the Deafwish crew. In November, Deafwish’s Chivas & Kream dropped their latest album, Secret Ingredientz, at the Windsor. On NYE, Chivas Brother, aka Carter Hanke, and Kream, aka Aaron Karlson are performing alongside their rec hockey teammates in Clipwing and Propagandhi at the most sought after NYE event of the year. Chivas & Kream, “just two guys from Dauphin who got together and started doing music,” sat down with Stylus over a few pints at the Toad recently to talk hip hop, skateboarding, booze, and hockey. Here’s a little taste of those ingredientz. Continue reading “Chivas N Kream :: Q & Eh with local hip hop duo”
by Harrison Samphir
“It takes two to make a thing go right / It takes two to make it out of sight / Hit it!”
-Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock
If we take literally the adage “Hip Hop Is Dead,” what might rap’s epitaph look like? (I tend to imagine a large crypt sitting atop a hill somewhere in Queens.) Would it bemoan the cheapening of production methods in the late-1990s? Might it lament the decline of “conscious” lyricism and Afrocentricity through waves of commercialization after the new millennium? Should it outline, at least in partial detail, the changing image of the rap artist, now relegated to either solo or supergroup status? Continue reading “NONSTOPHIPHOP – What ever happened to the hip hop duo?”
by Matt Williams
It’s just past five o’clock in The Party Dress jamspace on a chilly November Sunday, and Reuben Todd (guitar/vocals), Stefan Kroeker (drums), and Hart Koepke (bass) are relaxing beside a coffee table scattered with a colorful array of dead soldiers and full ashtrays. The walls are plastered with posters: a jolly roger, a velvet tiger, and my personal favourite, a cheap printout of a half-naked Brigitte Bardot. An old Budweiser pool table lamp hangs in the far side of the room. The heater is cranked up and it smells like the air is burning. Koepke just woke up. Continue reading “The Party Dress :: Local swamp-rockers get spooky, scary on new 7””
by Sheldon Birnie
End of the year is here, which means it’s time Best of 2013 List Season. Stylus will be posting our contributors’ Best Ofs here in the coming weeks, but I figured I’d get a jump and share with you some of my favourite tunes from the Hillbilly Highway this past year. Continue reading “Hillbilly Highway – 5 Beauty Tunes I Come Across on the Highway in 2013”