Winnipeg music & culture since 1989
by Nina Zigic
In this experimental-pop, storytelling album, local artist Steve Basham shows us what goes on in his mind with a mix of electric guitar, electronic music aspects, and his own voice. He goes into detail about his dreams and there’s never a dull moment listening to this album. Continue reading “Album Review :: Steve Basham :: The Nightbug”
by Jen Doerksen
Rae Spoon’s new LP bodiesofwater comes out on the twentieth anniversary of the first show Spoon ever played, and ten years after the release of their break-out album superioryouareinferior. As a non-binary person, Rae is no stranger to having an identity that doesn’t fit societal and legal structures. Like bodies, water is regulated and increasingly commodified, despite being fundamental to life. On this, Spoon’s ninth album, they explore their common ground and connections with the ocean surrounding their Vancouver Island home. Continue reading “Interview :: Rae Spoon”
by Daniel Kussy
Success With House Plants is Urban Vacation’s incredible debut LP. Continue reading “Album Review :: Urban Vacation :: Success With House Plants”
by Kaelen Bell
“I have a bit of a cold,” Tamara Lindeman says, a little apologetically, as she kneels to quietly blow her nose. The crowd laughs gently and murmurs with sympathy, though they seem to watch even this small moment with baited breath. It hasn’t broken the hex. Continue reading “Live show review :: The Weather Station”
by Chris Bryson
Following an experimental route in any artistic medium involves taking chances, sticking by them, and a drive for continued evolution. Beth’s mutating avant-garde aspirations put the trio in a wheelhouse where not many Winnipeg bands dwell, but that hasn’t kept them from digging deeper into the unknown. Continue reading “Beth”
by Kaelen Bell
I call Tamara Lindeman just before she’s about to hit the road, and she apologizes that she doesn’t have long to talk. She played POP Montreal last night and is headed to Ottawa to perform again this evening.
Lindeman has been travelling and writing songs as The Weather Station for more than a decade, building a carefully considered body of work that dissects, with delicate tension, the grey areas within and around us. Continue reading “The Weather Station”
by Chris Bryson
The second EP from the Heather Thomas led project finds ATLAAS’ dreamy R&B and soul-infused electro-pop with sharpened songwriting, bigger hooks and broader dynamics. Continue reading “Album Review :: ATLAAS :: ATLAAS”
by Chris Bryson
Not many bands can make music that moves with such elegance, ease, and bounce as TOPS. Surely this is no easy feat, as the band has been honing their formula over the course of three albums, plus another in progress. Last year’s Sugar at the Gate, TOPS’ third full-length, found the band pushing their soft indie rock a la mellow disco-funk into a further refined breezy luster. Continue reading “TOPS :: Elegance and ease”
“Help me understand” is the new single from Bloom who is Daniel Monkman of former Winnipeg shoegaze pioneers The Blisters. The Ethereal sound scape created during the first two movements of the song symbolize the triumph over addiction, Racism and Self-destruction. Continue reading “New Track :: Bloom :: Help me understand”
by Chris Bryson
Seaway will be bringing their sugar-sheened pop punk back to Winnipeg on July 12 in support of last year’s Vacation. This will be the band’s first Canadian tour of the album but with the gap from release time, these guys haven’t let up. Running off a solid schedule on the road and recently coming off a tour in support of Sum 41, the band have been making waves with their sprightly summery tunes. With a bit of a break before starting their tour off in Winnipeg, Stylus caught up with Seaway’s lead vocalist Ryan Locke to see how things have been going. Continue reading “Seaway”