Winnipeg music & culture since 1989
by Paul Newsom
Toronto’s Burs wrote a record as distinct and enduring as an army of their namesakes. Holding Patterns is purposeful, mixing curiosity, confession, and metaphor to startling effect. The album’s production is eminently clear, leaving empty space to haunt as opaque edges demand scrutiny.
Continue reading “Album Review :: Burs :: Holding Patterns”
by Kim Wiesner
So, the Winnipeg Folk Fest is such a highlight for us here. How was your first one?
It was amazing. I totally understand. I think it’s a highlight for everyone. We had been playing a few festivals earlier in the past two weeks. And to be honest, I was feeling really low energy, drained, the traveling, playing, the being in crowds. I’m not so much of a like festival-goer type. And then I ended up being in festivals a lot. But then I got to the Winnipeg Folk Fest, and it was just the most like, you know, kind of generative, energy-giving, sweet, soft experience. And, I’m just gonna say it on the record. I don’t think I’ve been treated that well. You know what I mean? The organization here is so efficient, and everything is thought out. And as soon as you meet something as an artist, it’s like you’re like, you just have to rub the magic bottle, and the genie appears and here’s a beautiful meal and your transportation.
Continue reading “Artist Spotlight: Helena Deland”
Words & Photos by Liam Walker
It was still cloudy when I finally got to the house at 5 o’clock, Strawberry Punch Band’s jam space. The memory of seeing two girls there holding hands together on a boulder overlooking the park’s pond stands out to me for whatever reason.
Continue reading “SPACE JAM :: Strawberry Punch Band “
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.
Continue reading “EP Review:: Ritchot Textiles :: i”Bradi Breckman
On the second day of the 49th annual Winnipeg Folk Festival, Snowberry Field in Birds Hill Park was packed with festivalgoers braving the afternoon heat. Why? To see Noah Reid, of course. Having come to fame through his role in the hit comedy show Schitts Creek, Reid is now making his name as a musician. The Ontario-based singer/songwriter drew a crowd on his first-ever visit to Winnipeg as the temperature climbed to 30°, and the anticipation grew.
Continue reading “Concert Review :: Noah Reid Live at the Winnipeg Folk Festival!”
by Kim Wiesner
The Shady Grove stage sounds like an ideal place to try and escape the blazing sun that heats this year’s Winnipeg Folk Festival. Festival-goers are planted under the trees along the edges and right up front under the stage’s hood, wherever can shield them from the rays, most with one of two items in hand: a fan or a lemonade.
Continue reading “Concert Review: YPP “
by Bradi Breckman
On October 19, I had the pleasure of attending the Pop Punk Party at the Park Theatre. The show was held as a fundraiser for mental health awareness and suicide prevention in memory of Zach Huchall, who was tragically lost in 2016. The fundraiser was put on three years in a row before it was halted due to Covid-19. Thankfully, it returned this fall with a passion! The proceeds from this year’s show went to Klinic Community Health and the Robb Nash Project, totalling over $35,000 through ticket sales, silent auction tickets and donations.
Continue reading “Show Review: Pop Punk Party 4! Live at the Park Theatre”
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.
Continue reading “EP Review :: Long Fall :: Self-Titled”(June 6, 2024)
by maggie astrid clark
If—as Phil Elverum sang during his performance of an unreleased Mount Eerie song at the West End Cultural Centre (WECC) on June 26—recorded music is a “statue of a waterfall,” then concert reviews are poems about a blurry photograph of said statue. Words cannot capture the experience of a sound, let alone reconstruct a memory that is already fading from the mind.
Continue reading “Concert Review :: Cluster Festival :: Pulse (with Debashis Sinha, Jason Tait, and Compost)”
By Mykhailo Vil’yamson
Ever wonder what you would get if you folded a piece of paper twice and then cut the creased lines? Me neither. But maybe I’ll do it sometime and make a pamphlet from those four double-sided pages about how much I dig Fold Paper’s debut EP 4TO. Until then, you’ll have to settle for what’s written here.
Continue reading “EP Review :: Fold Paper :: 4TO”