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Greenhouse – Molten Metal Music

Photo by Bree-Ann Farris

By David Nowacki

For a couple of years now, Curran Farris has been punishing our ears (in the most wonderful way possible) in metal powerhouse outfit Hide Your Daughters. With this crew, his modus is ripping faces and various other parts off with his twisted, tight and ear-smashingly loud riffs. More erudite local scenesters might have known him from another project, Husk, which similarly sought to cauliflower your ears, but first lulled you into a sense of security with quieter, almost droning, intros and asides in the vein of Isis or Pelican. Huge, echoing sounds that evoked more vast vistas than tense anger. Here existed a dichotomy in Farris which is now embodied in two quite separate parts. The aforementioned Hide Your Daughters taking care of the brain abusing and aural slashing, and the solo effort Greenhouse, which encompasses all that is serene, liquid and expansive about Farris’s playing. It is ambient at its truest, with droning guitar and occasional theremin painting nearly blank and formless structures of beauty, but somehow weaving them into a cohesive, gorgeous whole. We figured it would be of interest to see how the two sides of Curran Farris came together, so we did what any good journalist would do and asked him.

Stylus: After making a habit of playing in metal bands, why now ambient?
Curran Farris: A couple years back I started listening to [ambient music] more. I got into it through non-ambient artists, like heavy bands that started into more experimental stuff. I’ve played guitar since grade five, and until last year had worked as a guitar teacher. I like doing ambient because it really allows me to turn off my “guitar player” brain.
Stylus: Do you find it more challenging to write Hide Your Daughters licks or compose ambient songs?
CF: Well, the thing is, it’s not really “written;” it’s all improvised. It might just start out with an idea. Writing the structured stuff is always much harder, you have to consciously abide to all the rules.
Stylus: Is either more satisfying?
CF: Not really.
Stylus: Do your surroundings play a big part in your music? [Author inhales deeply of his own wafting genius.] Does the inherent placidity and grand scale of the prairies facilitate making ambient music?
CF: Um… not consciously.
Stylus: So, why cassettes? I’m not sure I get this whole cassette revival.
CF: The two cassettes that I have out are with Prairie Fire Tapes, which is essentially the format that they put out. For whatever reason, tapes are popular. I have CD-Rs and stuff as well. I don’t get it either.

You can hear Curran Farris in his various guitar playing iterations in both Greenhouse and Hide Your Daughters on MySpace (www.myspace.com/greenhousedrone, www.myspace.com/hideyourdaughters) and occasionally in person, and can order Greenhouse cassette tapes from Prairie Fire Tapes at www.prairiefiretapes.com.

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Les Jupes – Myth-making with the middle man


By Michael Elves

Myths are generally written-on-papyrus old; or passed-down-from-your-ancestors old. The notion of myths being modern seems paradoxical, but for Winnipeg band Les Jupes, and principal songwriter Mike Petkau Falk, myth-making is ever present; “I do feel that sometimes we don’t acknowledge the myths that we do have in our lives right now, the ones that our society has created on the one hand, but then also that we don’t purposefully create myths – that the notion of the parable or the notion of stories that also teach is not something that’s on the forefront of modern society’s consciousness really.”
And while Les Jupes’ debut album is entitled Modern Myths, Petkau Falk admits this stab at allegorical writing is “nothing so bold as ‘I’m going to write the modern myth for the modern age,’ these are stories about people dealing with their lives in this age and some of the things that we get hung up on are the thing that are most present in this time.” Continue reading “Les Jupes – Myth-making with the middle man”

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DJ Aubrey scares up steals of deals

//covers//

Sick of top 10 lists? Frustrated by a sea of artists you loved this year mixed in with artists that you hated, mixed in with artists that you might love, but don’t have time to do the research on?

DJ Aubrey Beardsley’s Top 10 Free Albums of 2010 does the research for you. All you have to do is follow the links & click download. 100% legal downloads from 10 artists who want their mp3s on your harddrive – and who’s music deserves to be there – compiled by the house DJ at Freud’s Bathhouse & Diner.

Links from S4lem, Grimes, Lil B, Tri Angle Records, 2muchachos, & more. Music for every taste, from shoe-gaze to witch house; from Russian tweenoise to American folktronica.

Go get ’em before they’re gone:
2010: Something for Nothin’

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Venutres playing in Winnipegggggg!

Surf rockers, hold up those guitar necks! The Ventures are playing in Winnipeg next week, at the McPhillips Street station. Tickets are on sale for only $35 to see the classic guitar-band that wrote the theme to Hawaii Five-O and “Walk Don’t Run.” We will hopefully be sending a writer and photographer to cover all the twang and vibrato of the night.

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STREETZ gets their hands filthy

We’re not much of the hip-hop heads here at Stylus, but when two independent media personalities are publicly bashing heads and an army is being rallied via Facebook, it’s hard not to notice.

A boycott of STREETZ 104.7 FM is loosely being organized by local hip-hop group Filthy Animals, calling on fans to call or text in to STREETZ to send requests for their music to be acknowledged, and for fans to bombard STREETZ’s Facebook page with their love for the group. Member Jeff Bromley, who has had some notoriety in Winnipeg as host of music news and interview program “Signal to Noise”  on Shaw TV, wrote an “essay” detailing why this is all going down. Continue reading “STREETZ gets their hands filthy”

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Review: Sufjan Review – Age of Adz


The only thing lacking from Sufjan Stevens’ latest endeavor Age of Adz is a warning on the front cover, cautioning the soft-spoken singer-songwriter’s fans that his new album is anything but soft or singer-songwriter-esque. Imagine the string-strumming Sufjan we all know and love, but dragged through a synthesizer and re-arranged into an Edward Scissorhands version of his former self. Voila, this is Age of Adz. Stevens’ inspiration for his new album seems to range from the artwork of the former manically futuristic artist Royal Robertson, a self-described abandonment of a “re-meditated, scholastic, intellectual approach to songwriting” (www.eyeweekly.com) and an existential crisis (Mmm, right). Pretentious? Not really. Consider the scope of this guy’s discography: an experimental collection dedicated to the Chinese zodiac, a biblically-inspired narrative album as well as a five-disc set of all the Christmas classics. I suggest listening to Age of Adz in short intervals of 3-4 songs at a time if you’re an old Sufjan fan, and if you’re just looking for a couple songs to throw on a playlist, I’d suggest checking out “Futile Devices,” “Age of Adz,” “Vesuvius,” and “I Walked.” (Asthmatic Kitty Records,  www.asthmatickitty.com) Victoria King

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Live Bait: Turn them Off and Shut it Down

THE ABSENT SOUND W/ POP CRIMES
@ Ragpickers’ Viva Libra Theatre
By Victoria King
Walking into Ragpickers sort of feels like walking into a real life version of Rocky Horror Picture Show. While the main floor holds a large assortment of vintage apparel, the rest of the building itself is an amusement park of eclectic art pieces, creaky staircases and an extensive used book collection. The place oozes of interest and unique authenticity. Moreover, seeing a show in the third floor Viva Libra Theatre is like sitting front row beside the speakers at a concert, no matter where you end up in the room. The space is so small, you are bound to leave with some kind of hearing impairment. Oh well. That’s what hearing aids are for.
After Saturday night, I am more than willing to go pick some aural assistance up after Absent Sound blew Ragpickers away for the release of their new EP Turn Them Off. The local experimental/psyche band definitely puts on more than your average show. If you haven’t checked them out before, I’m giving you fair warning that it’s more than just a concert, it’s an experience (fog machines, crazy lights, potentially moving image backgrounds). The show was one of the trippiest (and I use this word sparingly) experiences of my life. Holy mystic river, in three words: it was dope.
The night started off a little bit later than anticipated with Pop Crimes, a four-part experimental rock group and another local find, opening up for Absent Sound. Playing for an audience of no more than 40 people, they killed it. Relying mostly on heavy guitar riffs and some intense drumming, the band seemed to be totally channeling a Mission of Burma kind of vibe. Imagine all your favorite guitar openings, interludes and harmonies: that’s pretty much Pop Crimes.
With a room so small and intimate, it’s no wonder the band seemed to affect the audience so wholly. Absent Sound started up near midnight and the show opened with a steady progression into the opening song. Every note had its place. The fog machine started up, the lights were cued and with that it was more than a concert. The whole show was a full sensory experience. As mentioned before, the Viva Libra theatre is a tiny space. Seriously, it seems like no more than 60 people max at a time before the whole building would just crumble. With that being said, that music literally pulsed throughout the entire space. The whole show was a tight, focused, collective effort. It’s easy to get lost listening to Absent Sound. Also specializing in sound art, their music has a polished rawness to it. The whole show was nuts, right from beginning to end. Once the final song was finished, the lights fell and the audience, unsure whether to expect more, lay silent. Only until lead vocalist and guitarist David Fort clarified with, “That’s it.” Of course, clapping ensued as well as an encore. Not only did the show have the best closing I’d seen, the encore was incredible. Dedicating the song to a recent case of police brutality just outside the city, the tribute was wild. This was one of the coolest shows I’ve seen in a while.
While the EP doesn’t have the fog machine or the light show, Turn Them Off is a great stocking-stuff for any music fan on your Christmas list this year. It’s an epically haunting four-song trance/experimental/rock collection, available for purchase and download on the band’s website, www.theabsentsound.com. You can also check them out at Gio’s on December 21 at Element Sircus, also curated by Absent Sound themselves.

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Review: Jenny Berkel – Gather Your Bones

From the local “one to watch” category comes an introductory, five track e.p. from singer/songwriter Jenny Berkel. The southwestern Ontario-bred Berkel sings with a deep and rather resonant voice evoking an old soul-like veracity and with the sparse, all-acoustic accompaniment creates something a pleasant, albeit gloomy sound. The depths of Berkel’s lyrics are what really sell this piece. Her geographic displacement has taken its toll on her psyche and she tries to sing away her sadness with lyrics like “You come from far away / You come to give and take / Pull the city, she cannot stay”. Joining Ms. Berkel for the quiet ride are a few friends that add poignant musical filigree such as banjo, harmonica and slide guitar – just enough so you would almost notice, somehow necessary to the overall drift of this set. By the sound of it, Berkel may be just passing through and Winnipeg folk music fans should take note of this burgeoning talent before she again follows her muse to points beyond the Perimeter. (Independent, www.myspace.com/jennyberkel) Jeff Monk

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Krazy Madness – The family that plays together slays together

Photo: Sara Maximus
Photo by Sara Maximus

By D.C.S. Murray

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”