When I first heard the story of Krazy Madness I honestly thought it was a joke. The idea of a heavy-metal loving dad with knee-length dreadlocks starting a band with his family that exclusively played metal and reggae music seemed too over-the-top to be anything but a practical joke. Skepticism prevailed until I actually met the band. However, the reality of such a phenomenon wasn’t the most surprising part about this group – the first time I ever saw Krazy Madness rehearse I was absolutely blown away by the sheer skill and charisma possessed by every member. Continue reading “Krazy Madness – The family that plays together slays together”
Hey folks! It’s the first Thursday of the month, which means there’s a shiny new issue of Stylus out on stands, and it’s a big one. In addition to our regular slew of reviews, we’ve got a whackload of features on folks from Jason Collett to John Waters. AND our annual rundown of the year’s best albums and shows.
To get you even more excited, here’s a preview of Stylus editor Taylor Burgess’s interview with the glam-tastic Diamond Rings. (Think a of a synthier, Canadian Patrick Wolf ,with occasional rapping.)
“I had this batch of songs written that I was performing, acoustically, for friends, at little hole-in-the-walls around town, just as something to do. You know, so [my make-up artist] was aware of the material, Colin Medley [my video director] was familiar with a lot of the work – just people who were really close to me, you know, they’d come and see the shows, and we just decided that we wanted to take it a step further. I had never done anything like that before – I remember the first time trying to put on mascara, I almost, like, passed out.”
Starting today, send + receive is hosting a number of experimental and “out there” film screenings, art installations, and musical performances throughout the week.
To kick it off, Winnipeg’s favourite circut-bender Clint Enns has a video playing at Gallery 1C03 at the University of Winnipeg. It’s titled Prepare to Qualify, named after the banner that flies across the screen in Pole Position, the Atari game which Enns bent to make rhythmic pulses, nauseating squelches, and cathartic drones.
We asked him to choose a video that’s inspired him and why. Here’s what he said>>>
Chapters 1-12 of R. Kelly’s Trapped In The Closet Synced and Played Simultaneously (2006) by Michael Bell-Smith. A playful reinterpretation of a pop culture classic.
If you can handle that, or better yet, if you dig it, you’d best check out Prepare to Qualify which runs until this Friday. send + receive is running all week long, and again, it is not to be missed. Mind alterations await you!
Kinda like a big deal, Godspeed You! Black Emperor drone and swell through enormously cathartic phrases. They’ve definitely been through wpg a couple of times, but perhaps you’re under the Montreal’s allure right now, and you know what your plans are, six months in advance. Because if so, they will be playing Montreal’s Corona Theatre in April, as seen on the Constellation Website. Tickets will be on sale on Nov 25 at noon on BSTB. Not that I want everyone to go hitch or drive out of here at once, but I know a few who would be willing to make the trip.
It’s time for No Degrees of Separation. Someone should write a song with that title, and it’d pretty much be Winnipeg’s theme song.
It all started with this nifty infographic, which I found while reading the backlogs on one of my favourite blogs, Effing Dykes. (I don’t think the blogger made it, but it’s where I found it, and I’m giving it credit.) If you’ve got a slightly warped, slightly filthy sense of humour and you think lesbians are super nifty, you should totally check it out.
Anyhow, it clearly explains how to deal with a potentially awkward and confusing situation, one that I’ve grappled with many a time.
SO HELPFUL.
I really should just print this out, keep it in my pocket and pull it out as a reference guide. But my printer doesn’t work and I’m lazy.
But you know what makes this infographic truly, truly awesome? The inclusion of dinosaurs. Dinosaurs make everything better.
Because you love Stylus, you probably love our most recent cover, which was designed by a guy named Chris Bryan. Fun fact: I worked with Chris Bryan for a few years. Chris had some control over the sound system in our funky retail environment, and had put a number of tracks on the sound system. (Memory may be murky, but again, credit where credit is due.) Many of these tracks were highly amusing and highly bizarre. Examples: Devo tracks rendered as elevator music, a song that sounded like an abuse of power tools – which I’m surprised we had no complaints about, as someone once asked us to turn off Public Image Limited. But the most memorable track – and believe me, folks, this is not a complete non-sequiter from that infographic – was, as I recall, eleven minutes long and somewhat grating, and the only lyrics were “dinosaur sex.” It’d come on the PA, and then sort of sneak up on you in the background, until you realized exactly what the hell you were listening to. No one really complained about this song, either.
I decided to hunt it down.
Do you know how hard it is to search “dinosaur sex” on the internet? All sorts of randomshit pops up. Strangeways, here we come.
But! After some careful googling (read: procrastinating), I finally found the song. It is, simply, titled “Dinosaur Sex,” and it’s by a group called Family Fodder. The only information I can really find about Family Fodder is that they were “less a band than a never-ending collective of musicians messing with tapes in the basement of a London flat” in the late-70’s/early 80’s. Sounds like a party I wanna go to!
Apparently there are more lyrics than just the title, it’s actually nine minutes long, and it’s not as grating as I remember.
My A.D.D.-free mind can’t handle the original, but this wicked slow-mo clip of Mary-Kate and Ashley’s post Full House career-saving videos seriously sounds like it’s from a chopped and screwed copy of 3 Feet High and Rising. lolllllllllllllllllllllllll
Grinderman is and isn’t Nick Cave at the same time. The faces may be the same – Grinderman’s cast is populated solely by members of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – the costumes are different. While Cave and the Bad Seeds are certainly rock musicians, their oft-furied instrumentation are often overshadowed by Cave’s favourite lyrical pastime – yelling at God. But on Grinderman 2, as much a sequel to 2007‘s self-titled debut Grinderman as possible, Cave and his posse let themselves shed the self-awareness present on so many Bad Seeds tracks, and give themselves license to rock, heavily and free of all inhibitions. Opener “Mickey Mouse and the Goodbye Man” lulls you in sparse, melancholic plucking, before pulling the curtains back for the real show – ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Mr. Cave’s Axefest. Sit back, relax, and let the shredding guitar tear into your brain. Cave’s obsession with religion is still evident on tracks such as “Heathen Child,” his lyrical topics branch out to critiquing popular culture, and what could be interpreted as a series of bizarre pick-up lines. “Who needs a record player? You are my record player!” (Anti-, www.anti.com) Brietta O’Leary
This week, from September 27 to October 2, the UWSA is holding the fourth annual Freestyle festival; a week-long celebration of hip-hop music and culture highlighted by K’naan concert on Wednesday, September 29th, the visitation of Wild Style director Charlie Ahearn on Saturday, October 2nd at the Graffiti Gallery, and a free Class of Freestyle IV concert and CD release. To complement the arrival of Charlie Ahearn, this year’s edition features a special free screening of the 25th Anniversary Edition of the original hip-hop movie Wild Style on Wednesday, September 29.
Being the first hip-hop movie released at such an early stage in the genre’s development, Wild Style helped present and popularize the culture to a wide audience in a pre-internet society. I see it as being a snapshot of a very young and almost unrecognizable culture when compared to today’s view of hip hop and the abundance of violence and misogyny represented in its mainstream music. Having been formed in the neighbourhoods with some of the worst living conditions in North America, hip hop always manages to find itself in the middle of controversy.
Those looking to explore these arguments about the negativity surrounding the culture of hip hop may do so at a screening of Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes on Tuesday, September 28th. Following the screening, a discussion addressing the sexism and homophobia in a testosterone fueled hip-hop culture will take place, giving everyone a chance to voice their opinions about what is wrong with the culture.
But the lyrics and the images represented in them are not all that the hip-hop culture has to offer the world. The Freestyle festival has put together a number of workshops concerning the other elements of hip-hop. To kick off the week’s festivities, the Graffiti Gallery is putting together an hour-long graffiti art workshop at Spence Street on Monday from 12:30 PM, an excellent opportunity for anyone enamoured by the almost-indiscernible pieces they see on the streets on a daily basis to learn from Winnipeg’s premier graffiti art gallery.
Some of Winnipeg’s best local talent have signed on this year to lead some of the Freestyle workshops. For anyone interested in the art of beat making or DJing, Kutdown is leading workshop sessions from 12:30 on Tuesday, September 28th and Thursday, September 30th for beat making and DJing respectively, with DJ Co-op accompanying him for the session on Thursday. To finish off the workshops, the “Godfather of Winnipeg B-Boying” B-boy Bob will be hosting a breakdancing workshop in the Bulman MPR on Friday, October 1st from 12:30 to 1:30 PM. From what I’ve heard, the breakdancing workshop has been the most popular so far so be sure to register to be guaranteed a spot in the workshop!
Alas, the life the of a University student is a busy one, and time is limited; if you can’t make it to the workshops you want, you can still join in the celebration of hip-hop culture by tuning in to CKUW 95.9 FM from 1 to 2:00 PM Monday to Friday for a special Freestyle radio series.
Remember, both film screenings, the Charlie Ahearn artist talk, and all of the workshops are free of charge, so be sure to come out for what should be a memorable Freestyle IV!
So Women are playing tomorrow, September 25, at the Albert, and we have a feature article on them and their kick-ass new album Public Strain coming out in a couple weeks. I know, Stylus is absolutely the worst at timing things out.
But, so everyone can win, check out half of the interview today, see Women slay tomorrow, and then get their album at the show or on Tuesday (official release dates–not so passé!) Aaaannnnnnnnd pick up a copy of Stylus in a couple weeks. Hhh’okay? Hhh’okay.
