by maggie astrid clark
Unless you’re really dialed into the local music scene (although, given that you are currently reading Stylus Magazine, this might be a fair assumption!), it would have been easy to miss a pair of records released last year by Vivat Virtute. You might not know the name, but you definitely know its members – Winnipeg indie rock mainstays Christine Fellows and J.S. Fellows.
Continue reading “Album Review :: Vivat Virtute :: Hold Music and June First”
by Mykhailo Vil’yamson
If it were possible to audio-capture the coldest brooding glare, the album Hindsight is 50/50 is what it would sound like. Thick with weighty bass notes, menacingly minor overtones, and steeped in echoey resonance, this is the third full-length project by Albertan musician Evan Uschenko in less than two years. However, the latest manifestation of Ghost Woman is no longer a solo undertaking, as Belgian drummer Ille van Dessel has joined him. As shared at the end of last year via Dine Alone Records, Uschenko conveyed that this project “finally captures the true nature of the band” – and its tracks. Whereas the past few releases sound like a foray into 1970s reminiscence, Hindsight is 50/50 forges ahead into new sonic territory.
Continue reading “Album Review :: Ghost Woman :: Hindsight is 50/50”
by Mykhailo Vil’yamson
The first full-length album by Paige Drobot is a veritable time machine, but not only because of its largely 70s-inspired aesthetic. She definitely took her time on this one, as all of the songs on the project first came into existence many years ago with her band, The Psychics. In fact, all of the songs on The Psychics–except for “Each Another’s Creation”–can be found on the 2016 release Live at the Graffiti Gallery, which was captured on the fourth anniversary of the original band’s formation, bringing us all the way back to 2012.
Continue reading “Album Review :: Paige Drobot :: The Psychics Album”
By Niqui Lampa
VVonder is a rock band born out of a noteworthy musical tie in Canada. A veritable mixture of the best local talent the heart of Winnipeg has to offer, this band consistently guarantees and lives up to soulful and highly entertaining rock music that resembles the early ’70s and late ’60s. VVoner takes the listeners on an existential journey throughout their new album Now And Again.
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by Mykhailo Vil’yamson
When a band releases their debut album in March of 2020, it’s got to have felt like a shoulder thrown right into the asphalt. However, the members of Death Cassette are back on their feet with the follow-up EP Get Rid of It, and it’s hard-hitting. All four members are the same since their formation back in 2018, led by frontperson Amanda Sousa, Lindsey Hawkes on guitar, Chuck Barchuk on bass, and Brock Macpherson on drums. As for the audio master of this project, it’s none other than John Paul Peters from Private Ear Recording (who – name drop — has recorded and produced for other bands such as Cancer Bats, Propagandhi, and Yes We Mystic).
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by Gabriel Fars
Still Depths has a very casual grunge sound to their music. If you’re a fan of Nirvana, or just 90s rock in general, I’d highly recommend this album. There’s a sort of half-angry, half-apathetic theme to the songs. Best Plan For Your Life will give you the existential crisis that you need and make you reassess your life plan.
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by maggie cheal-tarr
If certain sections of Twitter (or, rather, X) are to be believed, we are currently living through an epidemic of male loneliness. You might have seen op-eds, graphs, or surveys making the rounds, supposedly demonstrating that North American men in the 2020s have fewer friends, experience depression at higher rates, and are having less sex than ever before. Whether this framing of affairs is true and what ought to be done about it is anyone’s guess. But almost as if anticipating the contentious social media discourse on the subject, Saskatchewan-based folk musician Andy Shauf released Norm on February 10, 2023. The singer and multi-instrumentalist’s eighth LP fits perfectly among his catalogue as another perceptive and affecting exploration of the psyche of lonely men.
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by Mykhailo Vil’yamson
No stranger to dropping weighty truth via their projects, Super Duty Tough Work is back with their much-anticipated second record, Paradigm Shift, and it delivers a heavy reality-dosing ten tracks of hip hop content. Formed in 2014 by emcee Brendan Grey, this from-the-floor rap outfit released their first LP back in 2019 (that was longlisted for the Polaris Music Prize in 2020). However, while there is continuity from Studies in Grey in leitmotif, there has also been a deliberate tightening and nuanced sonic scope. This not only includes scaling back the use of horns on Paradigm Shift – which was quite prominent on older SDTW recordings – but also slowing things down substantially tempo-wise. In fact, only two songs on this release could be described as more upbeat, namely “New Sight” and “Dirty Hands.” This opting for more of a chill vibe was conceivably strategic, though, since it functions to compel the listener to pause and consider more fully the voice of the artist. And Super Duty has some important things to communicate.
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by Jakob Sheppard
Kris Ulrich’s 2023 album Big in the USA was a pleasant listen from start to finish. It blends classical folk and country elements with modern bedroom pop.
Continue reading “Album Review :: Kris Ulrich :: Big in the USA “
by Scott Price
Scott Nolan’s first album since 2016 opens with a ballad entitled “Bella Vista,” a tribute to the venue where Nolan cut his teeth for decades. The Bella is now the popular Shorty’s Pizza. While you can still get a slice there, the venue it once was is now gone. Live long enough, and your old haunts will change names and owners or be obliterated off the map. Every time we pass by these places, a flood of memories, sounds, and smells comes at us. There is some comfort in nostalgia but also melancholy.
