Category: Reviews

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Album Review :: Dinner Club :: Brave Faces

by Mykhailo Vil’yamson

The unknown is intimidating because, by definition, it’s unfamiliar. This can express itself as fear — either unfounded or rational — or alternatively, as fascination. Regardless, uncharted territory is worth exploring when there’s a choice, as one never knows what one might find. It’s easy to surround oneself with the recognizable and “safe.” But isn’t life more exciting when deliberately leaving room for surprise?

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Album Review :: Jason Tait & Patrick Michalishyn :: G-384

by Maggie A. Clark

Some readers may well be scratching their heads right about now. 

“Jason Tait, huh? Yeah, I recognize him. The drummer from Red Fisher and that other band — you know, the one with that song about Gump Worsley! Patrick Michalishyn, though: now where have I seen that name before?”

Try “one page ago,” on account of the above “CKUWho?” profile. In the interest of full transparency, I should mention that he did ask me to review his split tape, and I obliged. So let it be known — if you ask nicely enough and I have a spare evening, I’ll just do whatever you say. I’m easygoing and I crave the approval of others! (And on that note: if you have an album you’d like me to review, shoot me an email at assistanteditor@stylusmagazine.ca.)

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Album Review :: NITOTTIR :: the noise is…

light tile distorted light pinky blue faded photo

by Maggie A. Clark

The best experiences in life are the ones that come to you by chance.

I don’t know if I believe that—and, in fact, I probably don’t—but for the sake of argument, let’s say that’s true. Out of boredom and looking for something to write about, I went rooting around in the Bandcamp tags for “Winnipeg” and “experimental” until a recent-ish release leapt out at me.

The resulting find was the noise is… by NITOTTIR.

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Album Review :: Jamboree :: Summerland

Sumerland album cover. photo tiles of horse on a roof, bumper cars, roller coster, sun tanning in a lawn chair, rainbows, paths, trees and swings.

by Mykhailo Vil’yamson

If there was one place that I could live, it would be California. But for reasons manifold, it’ll never happen. Second best is travelling there, which I had the chance to do earlier this spring – after saving for years – and along my way down the coast I stopped in a little place called Summerland: population 1300-ish. There’s a song by the same name from the mid-’90s by Everclear where frontperson Art Alexakis sings: “Just a name on the map / Sounds like heaven to me.” And stopping at the beach was just like that: a dream. But it was an illusion; an ephemeral fantasy. Because after my few days on the coast, it was back to landlocked Manitoba with only a one-minute video of the surf as a souvenir.

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EP Review:: Ritchot Textiles :: i

by Daniel Kussy

Built out of the ashes of Abbotsford post-punk quartet Blessed comes Ritchot Textiles, the latest project from longtime collaborators Drew Riekman, Mitchell Trainor and Reuben Houweling. Their first release as a group, i is born out of love for droning synthesizers and loaded sequencers, all while crafting a minimalist yet rich pairing of industrial electronic and krautrock. It’s not at all surprising to know that it was created entirely using only analogue equipment.

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EP Review :: Long Fall :: Self-Titled

By Mykhailo Vil’yamson

It’s not unprecedented for an artist to put out material that moves from heavy to significantly more sedated – take, for instance, Dallas Green’s mid-to-post-Alexisonfire solo project City and Colour (or alternatively, the conventional yet banal trend of most musicians to progressively mellow over the years). However, it’s refreshing to hear a move in the entirely opposite direction in what is the debut EP by Long Fall, which is the brand-new punk outfit that’s fronted by none other than Nic Dyson.

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EP Review :: Hazel Fog :: Hazel Fog

backlite photo of a child at the edge of water. The sun gleaming off the water, a sideways shadow of another human on the left side.

by maggie astrid clark

Aside from my partner and a handful of friends with impeccable taste, one of my go-to sources for locating new music is Cam Scott’s UMFM program “Radio State.” In March, this was how I first encountered the ambient drone stylings of Hazel Fog. After some digging—which is what I like to call “doing a cursory Google search”—I found that they’d released a self-titled two-song EP on Bandcamp on February 6, 2024, uploaded to the page of local label Makade Star. I’m always on the lookout for things obscure, mysterious, dissonant, and unsettling, so I was hooked immediately.

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