Considering how many modern bands lean on synths and digital effects to craft their sound, it’s easy to forget how charming the guitar-rock album can be. Citay are a band that’s been in on this secret for a while now—their first two albums demonstrated a commitment to joyous, fuzzy jams that captured much of the charisma of many 1970s rock acts. Their third album not only continues this trend, it manages to expand upon it considerably. Dream Get Together still puts the guitar in spotlight, but bolsters it atop soaring strings, flutes, and a wall of keyboards. Instrumental flourishes elaborate upon Citay’s sound, pushing their extended rockers into a territory that at once seems epic and effortless. Opener “Careful with That Hat” starts out as a simple and breezy number that quickly transforms itself into a crashing anthem, held together by tight, interlocking instrumentation and some strong vocal harmonies. Characteristic of the album, it manages to be lavish without ever becoming overblown, even as it crosses the seven-minute mark. Citay’s energy and expert songwriting carry them far beyond simple guitar rhythms, and on to a more explosive, daresay Arcade Fire-esque level. And what’s more: they make it sound easy. (Dead Oceans, www.deadoceans.com) Kevan Hannah
Review: Brasstronaut – Mt. Chimaera
So, just to let you know, bands like Vancouver’s Brasstronaut are why we have umbrella terms like “indie.” The guitar isn’t front and centre for most songs—it’s a pretty even blend of guitar, piano, clarinet and trumpet. Yeah, really. They aren’t a jazz band, though the middle of “Lo Hi Hopes” gets pretty Dixieland. The closest thing we could put them beside are Clues or Islands (though they strangely don’t resemble a spec of the Unicorns); they have sometimes quirky, sometimes intimate, and sometimes self-effacing lyrics over overreaching chord progressions, heavy emphasis on acoustic instruments. With a stand up bass too, yet. The thing sounds like it could flip to a cheesy adult-contempo record around any bend, but Edo Van Breemen’s indie rock voice keeps things in check and instead, every song becomes a tiny journey. “Hearts Trompet” becomes a more grandiose ballad with every passing minute; “Slow Knots” ventures into sassy (I almost want to say French touch) territory; “Ravan” walks a tight-rope of tension but plays it smooth by the end. So yeah, it’s recommended if you like indie or that one indie rock band—what was their name again? Oh yeah, Arcade Fire. (Unfamiliar, www.areyoufamiliar.com) Taylor Benjamin Burgess
Review: Baby Dee – A Book of Songs for Anne Marie
Baby Dee has a substantial list of famous (and infamous) professional associations, from Antony Hegarty (of Antony and the Johnsons) to Andrew WK to Will “Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy” Oldham. And while she’s credited her rise in visibility to Antony’s success, listen to her music and it’s clear that high-profile boosters are only a bonus. The richness and complexity of her music are more than enough. Her androgynous voice sounds much like Antony’s, but with measures more clarity and a greater range—her voice soars and dips, resonant and full, accompanied by the whimsical but timeless harp and soulful piano. There are strong echoes of her work in church music (the church she left in the process of her gender and sex transition). The church may not have a place for a transsexual musician/prophet, but it’s as sure thing that her release into the rest of the world has made us all richer. Many of her songs sound like hymns for the new millennium—like “Lilacs,” which lies on a bed of gentle piano and woodwinds. The angel metaphors are perhaps too easy when writing about the harp (just as they have been for Baby Dee’s labelmate and musical cousin, Joanna Newsom). But how can you write about “Black but Comely” without invoking the concept of heaven? The real heaven, a place where all are welcome, love is unconditional and peace abides. Get ready, Winnipeg—a piece of heaven is coming to us on April 20, at the West End, which, as we all know, occupies remains of a church. (Drag City, www.dragcity.com) Jenny Henkelman
Review: Animal Collective – Fall Be Kind EP
On the tails of their coherent 2009 masterpiece Merriweather Post Pavilion, Animal Collective continues down their merry path of unbridled, joyful psych. Less abrasive than previous efforts, Fall Be Kind begins with a gentle swaying aural landscape created with teasing sounds and angelic lines like “Let Light In” before morphing into a silly, flute-heavy Putumayo-like folk tune. Their cheekiness continues with “What Would I Want? Sky,” a densely remixed sample of Grateful Dead’s “Unbroken Chain” surrounded with majestic swirls and bleeps and rousing lyrics. “On a Highway” sheds some of the instrumental layers focusing on the lyrics instead, while the final cut on the EP “I Think I Can” is both strange and wonderful—thumping around with primal percussion work, Beach Boys choruses and celestial strings. (Domino, www.myanimalhome.net) Kent Davies
Melodies on Mercredi – Tunes for the Taking, Pudding for Purchase
By Jenny Henkelman
The West End Cultural Centre is putting all of its new space to good use. The new building has plenty of space for, say, visual art as well as the beautiful tunes we’re accustomed to hearing at Winnipeg’s best listening room. This spring, the Melodies on Mercredi series is bringing the two together and providing a showcase for emerging artists all at the same time. And also pudding cups.
Maybe you saw the first edition in February, with Kipp Kocay and a display of work by the photography collective f/action. April 7 will bring a new version with music by Del Barber and Carly Dow. For the visual component, art students at Daniel MacIntyre Collegiate are creating works inspired by the singer-songwriters’ music. “It is very exciting and honoring to be part of the Melodies on Mercredi series,” says Carly Dow. “The WECC is one of my favourite venues in the city. I love the idea of combining visual art with music, and I am glad to see so much support for upcoming artists!”
The fact that high school-age artists will be creating visual art to go with her folky songs is pretty appropriate for Dow, given that she herself picked up the guitar in grade ten. “I was extremely inspired after hearing a cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall’ at a Remembrance Day service. A lot of my close friends were also very involved in music at the time, and they had a huge influence on my songwriting and performing.”
High school wasn’t the only place Dow found a supportive community for making music; like a growing roster of Winnipeg folkies (from Cara Luft to the Fo!ps), she participated in the Winnipeg Folk Festival’s Young Performers program. “I learned a lot and made many personal connections through those experiences,” she says. “Each of my mentors have been amazing (Luke Doucet, Carolyn Mark, Cara Luft, Amelia Curran), and I would definitely recommend the program to any young artists who are interested in getting exposure. Winnipeg has a fantastic folk music community, and I’ve seen a passion and love for music here like nowhere else.”
The Lytics – Ingredients for a New Recipe
By Sabrina Carnevale
Winnipeg’s hip-hop community has been a tight-knit one since the 1990s. Even today, local hip-hop acts turn out to play live every other week and usually to a packed house. So when the Lytics, made up of brothers Alex “B-Flat” Sannie, Andrew “A-Nice” Sannie, Anthony “Ashy” Sannie as well as their cousin Mungala “Munga” Londe, came on the scene in 2003, these sweet-faced 20-somethings were the new kids on the block.
“You have so many artists [in Winnipeg] who are able to make music inexpensively and as frequent as they want and, as a result, there are tons of hip hop shows,” says eldest brother B-Flat, 29. “Whether we feel totally a part of it, I don’t know.”
The Lytics make music on their own terms—no one tells them they have to sound a certain way. In that respect, they don’t necessarily feel they fit into just one of Winnipeg’s musical niches.
Continue reading “The Lytics – Ingredients for a New Recipe”
Makeout Videotape – I Guess the Lord Must Be in Vancouver
By Taylor Benjamin Burgess
After his band’s show at the Lo Pub, Mac DeMarco, the pop-sensible singer and guitarist of the duo Makeout Videotape, is listing off what he writes songs about. Once he got tired of writing about girls, he started writing about less meaningful stuff—like eating things, and his job of teaching old Vietnamese women how to use computers. Or at least that’s what he said. He turns to his drummer, Alex Calder. “I write a lot of songs about Alex too. He’s having a rough time in his life right now.”
Calder shakes his head, smiling, like he knows that he wouldn’t be able to stop DeMarco even if he tried. “No, I’m not really, but go on.”
DeMarco continues on, kind of innocently, “I dunno, he moved to Vancouver to go—”
“Jesus Christ,” Calder utters and puts his head in his hands.
Continue reading “Makeout Videotape – I Guess the Lord Must Be in Vancouver”
Yuri’s Night – To Infinity and Beyond!
“Circling the Earth in my orbital spaceship I marveled at the beauty of our planet. People of the world, let us safeguard and enhance this beauty — not destroy it!”
Yuri Gagarin
Humans have achieved a lot in the last few millennia. The mighty Ancient Egyptians constructed the pyramids. The Chinese invented (and Gutenberg popularized) the printing press. Obama actually managed to pass a health care reform bill in the US.
But few feats match the challenge of sending human beings off our planet and into space. The first human in the rarefied class of “spacegoer” was Yuri Gargarin, the Soviet cosmonaut who on April 12, 1961 traveled into space and orbited our planet aboard the Vostok 1.
And for the first time, Winnipeg is joining in a worldwide party to celebrate this human achievement. On Yuri’s Night, “people from all over the world come together to celebrate humankind’s first flight into space and shape our future as a species.”
Who exactly is bringing “The World Space Party” to Winnipeg? Quite unsurprisingly, Eve “DJ Beekeeni/Vav Jungle” Rice and some of her friends, including the Shake (DJs Lotek and Manalogue), DJ Cyclist and DJ King Kobra.
Return to the science education haunt of your youth, the Planetarium, now licensed for the occasion (i.e. this time you’ll be drinking something stronger than a juice box). Wear a space-themed costume. Check out a science exhibit or video installation. Dance your ass into outer space.
“Winnipeg is now charted on the interplanetary map as ‘The Dance Capital of the Milky Way,” says Rice. Make it happen, astronauts!
Boats’ Cannonball Run
No doubt Mat Klachefsky and the rest of Boats are having a time at SXSW right now. (Can you smell my jealousy, even despite this above zero weather?) And no doubt the band is playing a boatload of new songs from the upcoming album Cannonballs, Cannonballs. And though we don’t have barbecues accompanied by bands from all over the world, Klachefsky and gang have three new songs up on their MySpace. Klachefsky’s singing in his trademark falsetto on the indie ballad “Smokestack & Lucy’s Magnificent Cabaret” and “Drinking the Lake” is a happy, sunny afternoon kind of track.
And after Boats tour their way back to Winnipeg, they will be releasing Cannonballs, Cannonballs on May 1 at the West End Cultural Centre.
New Music Tuesday Review: Elizabeth Shepherd, Heavy Falls the Night
ELIZABETH SHEPHERD
Heavy Falls the Night
Elizabeth Shepherd manages to make music that’s eminently listenable without ever verging into easy-listening territory. Mixing pop sensibility in with strong jazz roots often leads to that land of watered-down sound, but Shepherd’s latest takes us along for the ride to a new, undiscovered country. Album opener “What Else” starts out percussive and bright, giving way to smooth vocal bridges. Title track “Heavy Falls the Night,” with it’s thrumming double bass, is a showcase for Shepherd’s vocal prowess—her voice is equally sure in a throaty, low register as it is scatting octaves higher. “High” loops vocals over electronics and compelling electric guitar, ending with Shepherd’s spritely piano. And then there’s her slowed-down, fresh take on the Anne Murray classic “Danny’s Song.” When she sings, “Even though we ain’t got money/I’m so in love with you honey,” it feels like the first time you ever heard that easy rhyme. The record is eclectic but completely cohesive. Spring’s arriving early in Winnipeg, and despite the title, this record is a perfect accompaniment for any and all seasonally-induced exuberance. Mark your calendars: Elizabeth Shepherd rolls into our town on Wednesday, May 26 at the Park Theatre. (Do Right Music, www.dorightmusic.com) Jenny Henkelman