Winnipeg music & culture since 1989
by Myles Tiessen
The Lizzards have slithered back for their sophomore release, Lizzards II. Arriving via the local staple Eat Em Up Records, Lizzards II takes everything they brought to their S/T debut and brings a heightened ferocity. The vocals are snarlier, the guitars have quicker licks, the bass lines are boomier than ever, and the kit kicks with untethered tenacity.
Continue reading “Album Review :: Lizzards :: Lizzards II”
by Noah Cain
“Enough as it Was,” the title track off Amos the Kid’s forthcoming album, moves with the energy of the Bloodvein River in spring. Like an outburst of rage, it is short, cutting, and inevitable.
Continue reading “Single Review :: Amos the Kid :: “Enough as it Was””
by Gabriel Fars
Tin-Eared typically means someone who is insensitive to or lacks the ability to appreciate or make good judgments about music. But I can tell you that Tin-Ear is anything except that.
Continue reading “Album Review :: Tin-Ear :: Cadastral Maps”
by Noah Cain
As was the case with their first performance this March, opening for Tinge at the Handsome Daughter, there is a confidence to Bush Lotus’s writing and sound that feels at odds with their experience.
Lyrically, “Open” is spare, but far from simple. When written out, it functions almost seamlessly as a series of linked Haiku. True to that form, songwriter Arielle Beaupre injects meaning and poignancy into a sliver of time. In this case, a moment of intense presence while stretching in a parking lot, presumably after hours in a car moving along tree-lined highways:
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by Jakob Sheppard
Winnipeg art-pop duo, Bicycle Face, describes their sound as “the most whimsical side of Metric, or Joanna Newsom with effects pedals.” Their new album, Bicycle Space, is centred around the theme of space and constellations to paint a picture of life, loss, and going through changes.
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by Jaclyn Weseen
Toot Toot is the latest album from Hamilton-based electronic musician Graham Kartna. Known by indietronica fans for his collage-like style of incorporating various sound bytes, voice recordings, and the occasional robot voice within his music, Kartna is a unique talent and a prolific artist, having released over 20 albums since 2011.
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by Gabriel Fars
In most parts of his music, he doesn’t need lyrics; the melodies say it all. The small comforts of this album make it feel incredibly warm and welcoming. It has almost a nostalgic haze type of vibe to it. I think the best part about it is that this isn’t some pretentious ass shit. It’s complex and beautiful, but it still doesn’t feel as though it’s trying to aim too hard for that target audience of ‘snobby hipsters who listen to folk music and probably think that they’re both better than you AND too smart for you.’
Continue reading “Album Review :: Dil Brito :: Fences Glimpses Glances”by Daniel Kussy
5. Leia Destruye
S/T
I did not have Baritone/Bass Spanish post rock on my musical bingo card for the year of 2022. A collection of serenading bass riffs along with tense percussion drawn from post rock pillars like Archers of Loaf and Hüsker Dü, Leia Rodríguez’s emphasis on Low-end makes for a refreshing rock listen.
by Myles Tiessen
The music video for “Designated Driver,” one of the leading singles from Taylor Janzen’s debut LP, I Live In Patterns, sees Janzen behind the wheel driving an old 60s-era motorcar. Artistically shot using a conspicuous green screen, Janzen traverses various landscapes, supermarkets, and cattle pastures, driving with no clear destination. As the chorus builds and melodies intensify, so too does the speed of her travels. Like a bullet through a desolate purgatory with nothing to arrest her motion, Janzen cycles and flips through the pain and regret in her mind. “I swear to God I’m trying/ Not to ruin our plans/ I made myself a martyr with the holes in my hands,” she sings.
Continue reading “Interview :: Taylor Janzen”
by Daniel Kussy
I’ll remember Living Hour’s performance at the Winnipeg Art Gallery at the tail end of last year for two reasons: those spinning chairs the audience was seated in and the sonic expansion within the band’s sound across a collection of new songs that dug into my brain. With the release of Someday is Today, the Winnipeg indie darlings’ third LP is their most diverse release yet. My brain rests easy knowing the songs recorded sound just as good as they did in the Muriel Richardson Auditorium.
Continue reading “Album Review :: Living Hour :: Someday is Today”