Stylus Magazine Apr/May 2023

Production Team

Editor Keeley Braunstein-Black editor@stylusmagazine ca

Assistant Editor . . . . . . . . . Myles Tiessen assistanteditor@stylusmagazine ca

Art Director Kelly Campbell design@stylusmagazine ca

Cover Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jen Funk

Advertising Contact Rob Schmidt manager@ckuw ca

Print by JRS Print Services . 204-232-3558

Contributors

Scott Price

Mike Thiessen

Jakob Sheppard

Michael Duboff

Olivier La Roche

On the Cover

JEN FUNK is an artist, musician, and graphic designer whose work includes makeup, noise, and graffiti and centres mental illness, queerness, and sex work.

Cover image: trans rage, 2020, Trans Hive Residency, University of Winnipeg, Treaty 1 Territory.

Rish Hanco

Seraphine Crowe

Paul Newsom

Mykhailo Vil’yamson

Stylus is published bi–monthly by CKUW 95 9 FM, with a circulation of 2,500 Stylus serves as the program guide to 95 .9FM CKUW and will reflect the many musical communities it supports within Winnipeg and beyond Stylus strives to provide coverage of music that is not normally written about in the mainstream media Stylus acts as a vehicle for the work of new writers, photographers and artists, including members of the University of Winnipeg, of CKUW and of the Winnipeg community at large Stylus reserves the right to refuse to print material, specifically, that of a racist, homophobic or sexist nature . All submissions may be edited and become the property of Stylus All opinions expressed in Stylus are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors

Contributions in the form of articles, reviews, letters, photos and graphics are welcome and should be sent with contact information to:

Stylus Magazine

Bulman Student Centre, University of Winnipeg

515 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB,

Blah Blah Bla h

Live Music Happenings

*** Tomy Douglas Keenan with Sophie Stevens April 13 at the Good Will *** Dan Frechette and the Dylanaires Apr 13 at Times Change(d) *** A Tribute to Rockin’ Ronnie feat Big Dave McLean, DB and the Deadbeats & more Apr 14 at Times Change(d) *** New Wales Album Release Apr 14 the Handsome Daughter *** Kandekt + Cavity + French Class April 15 at Darling Bar *** Booby Dove Apr . 15 at Times Change(d) *** Miesha and the Spanks with MOSA and Truly Sorry Apr 19 at the Handsome Daughter *** Family Planners on Apr . 20 at Times Change(d) *** B A Johnston cs the

Hickies on Apr 22 at Times Change(d) *** Carlo Capobianco Album Release Apr 20 at the Good Will *** Sam Baardman Apr 22 at the WECC *** Ranger & Gladly Apr 22 at the Handsome Daughter *** Lil Ed and the Blues Imperials Apr . 27 at Times Change(d) *** Neighbour Andy with Stellar & Syd Bomek Apr 28 at the Good Will *** Bleach + Die Cute + Tonzo & more Apr 28 at the Handsome Daughter *** Andrina Turenne Apr 29 at the WECC *** Brent Parkin Apr . 28 at Times Change(d) *** Jesse Roper with the Bankes Brothers at the WECC *** Winona Forever with Lev Snowe & Tinge May 2 at the Good

Will *** Juvel on May 4 at Times Change(d)

*** NOLA Night on May 5 at Times Change(d)

*** Softswitch EP Release with Fold Paper and Beth May 5 at the Handsome Daughter *** Amos the Kid with Tired Cossack May 6 at WECC *** Garrett Mason on May 18 at Times Change(d)

*** Nick Maclean Quartet feat Brownman Ali May 21 at the WECC *** Crystal Shawanda on May 24 at Times Change(d) *** Raine Hamilton with Bicycle Face and Joanna Hawkins May 28 at the WECC *** Tunic “Wrong Dream” Album Release & Blessed with Polyglots June 9 at the Handsome Daughter ***

The Business of Music:

30 Things Music Lawyers Do

BY MICHAEL DUBOFF, AN ENTERTAINMENT LAWYER AT EDWARDS CREATIVE LAW – CANADA’S ENTERTAINMENT LAW BOUTIQUE™

As a music lawyer, I am often asked what the job of a music lawyer actually is. Is it simply sitting at a desk reviewing and preparing agreements? That’s where it may start. However, music lawyers strive to be an important member of an artist’s or music professional’s team and a valuable source of information, providing legal and strategic advice. They help ensure that artists collect what they have earned, and help leverage their rights to maximize your income. They advise clients across the music industry, including musicians, producers, beatmakers, composers, singers, managers, labels, music festivals, venues, and music services companies.

Artists and Performers

If you perform and record music – whether its written by you, for you, or with someone else – here is a list of thirty things a music lawyer can do for you:

1. Review and prepare agreements with creative collaborators, from co-writers to producers.

2. Review and negotiate distribution agreements, from an indie label to an American major label.

3. Assist you in delivering legal obligations to record labels.

4. Review publishing administration and copublishing agreements.

5. Prepare band agreements.

6. Help you deal with people leaving your band, whether amicable or not.

7. Review production agreements.

8. Review management agreements and help you strategize your professional relationship with your manager.

9. Provide advice if your relationship with your manager is going south, including by potentially negotiating, preparing and/or reviewing a management termination settlement agreement.

10. Prepare performance agreements for venues to sign when engaging you to perform.

11. Help to you to access royalty statements if you’re not receiving them according to your contractual entitlements, and to review royalty statements to ensure you are being paid properly.

12. Review and prepare featured artist agreements, whether you are the featured artist or engaging the featured artist.

13. Review and help negotiate offers and agreements to sell parts of your catalogue.

14. Help defend you against accusations of music theft and help if someone allegedly stole your music.

15. Prepare agreements for graphic designers producing album artwork and other graphics.

16. Help you understand contracts to buy and lease beats from web sites.

17. Prepare P2 visa applications for artists performing in the United States.

18. Review agreements to compose orchestral music.

19. Negotiate singing contest (and other kinds of contest) agreements.

20. Review agreements to perform music on TV.

21. Review agreements to have music synchronized in a film, TV show or advertisement.

22. Help to get samples cleared and interpolations approved.

23. Provide corporate services, including, setting up a corporation, providing advice with respect to share classes, drafting a shareholders’ agreement, drafting annual resolutions, and documenting when business partners join and leave the corporation.

24. Work with your business manager and/or accountant to ensure everyone is on the same page about finances and is planning for the future together.

25. Provide advice about whether a song is in the public domain for example if you are interested to adapt, arrange, remix or sample a public domain work.

26. Review influencer and endorsement deals to promote a product or service.

27. Provide advice about service providers, from grant writers to trademark lawyers.

28. Assist with litigation – either to sue or defend a claim.

29. Answer questions about copyright.

30. Help to ensure you are properly registered to earn all neighbouring rights royalties.

Music Labels and Other Music Businesses

We work with artists across Canada in hip hop, pop, folk, rock, country, blues, and other musical genres. We provide legal and strategic advice with respect

to contracts and professional relationships with business partners around the globe. In addition to artists, we work with other players across the music industry as well. Here is a sample of what we do:

· Producers: We help prepare and review producer agreements, and publishing deals.

· Beat Makers: We help navigate buyout and royalty agreements with artists who want to use their beats, whether a so-called “brain trust” producer agreement or another form of agreement.

· Managers: We prepare management agreements, and oftentimes help with their clients’ legal needs.

· Music Investors: We prepare agreements for investors looking to invest in artists, music events and other music businesses.

· Music Service Providers: We prepare agreements for their clients to sign highlights matters from scope to compensation.

· Record Labels: We prepare artist agreements, provide advice in dealing with other labels and distributors (major label or not), negotiate agreements with digital service providers and aggregators, and help find sources of passive rightsbased income.

· Music Publishers: We prepare agreements for their writer and producer clients.

· Music Festivals: From sponsorship agreements to employment agreements, we work with festivals to assist with their legal needs.

· Venues: We prepare agreements between venues and artists, both for fixed fee and royalty sharing agreements.

Any music lawyer is most effective when speaking regularly with their client and their client’s team, listening to them, understanding their needs and providing solutions. Lawyers may not be magicians, but there are many ways we can help. We don’t timetravel (yet), so it’s best to get our input up front to avoid headaches down the road. We look forward to speaking with you about how we can help your music business and career.

If you have any questions, Michael can be reached at michael.duboff@edwardslaw.ca

Taylor Janzen Interview

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.

That dizzying, isochronous inevitably is exactly what Janzen intends to provoke in her music. “[I Live In Patterns] is about me feeling trapped in my own cyclical, episodic mental health issues that really seem to cycle over and over again,” says Janzen over the phone.

Her two previous EPs, 2018’s Interpersonal and 2019’s Shouting Matches, each drew respective acclaim and gained the attention of The New York Times, Noisey, Exclaim!, and others. Some even likened her to Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker. But, where Interpersonal and Shouting Matches thrived in the hushed intimacy of existential folk, I Live In Patterns sees the Saint-Boniface bornand-raised artist expanding her musical limits and pushing into new sonic realms.

“I had so much control over the sound on this project, and I had more input on the finished product. It’s just the product of all my influences and also my own personal ability to actually control the sound,” says the songwriter.

I Live In Patterns dates back to the days of selfisolation and pandemic misery. Janzen says she had

finished writing an entire other LP that was ready for the studio. But after the lockdown gave her time to sit alone with those songs, she scrapped them all and started again.

As she worked on new material, a more focused project began to take shape in Janzen’s mind. She says she noticed similar themes recurring in her writing—mainly repetitive emotional struggles and alienation—and just how digressive her life had become. Those songs all became the explorative and poignant I Live In Patterns.

I Live In Patterns is bombastic, catchy, and some of Janzen’s most confident work, riding the line between pop and alt-rock. Where something like the lyric-driven Interpersonal immediately gripped the listener with its open-hearted lyrics and stripped-down production, I Live In Patterns’ complexity takes a few listens to digest due to its alluring, mosaic production. Something like “Fingers Crossed” employs a muddled looping sample of illusory vocals and a warbling guitar riff, while the doleful “Nightmare” gets marked by its backbreaking drum beat.

As always, Janzen’s lyrics still find their way through the buzz. “I find myself feeling like a child with my hand over my mouth/ I hate the words I can’t get out,” she sings on “Something Better,” a song placed at the center of the album about breaking free from the wheel of life.

The interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Stylus Magazine: It feels like it’s been ages since you have released any complete projects, but in reality, Shouting Matches was 2019, which wasn’t that long ago . You’ve been successful relatively quickly, but I Live In Patterns is your first LP Do you feel like your career has been going through a weird time dilation?

Taylor Janzen: I think the pandemic was a weird time for me as a musician. I’ve had to learn really quickly how to do things by myself. Historically, I’m not good at working by myself, and so that has been a really big learning curve. I finished a record right before the pandemic, and I was in Los Angeles. Then maybe six months into the pandemic, I decided that I hated the record and I wanted to start over, so I did that. Ever since then, I’ve been trying to make it the best that I can be.

Stylus: What is the difference between I Live In Patterns and that record you worked on at the start of the pandemic?

Taylor: Before, I was writing about different things. I was still trying to figure out what I wanted the sound to be, so I guess [I Live In Patterns] is a little more honed in, and I think I figured it out. It was kind of like a puzzle.

Stylus: It also feels like a sonic shift . What led you to this bombastic alt-pop sound?

Taylor: I think I just have a really wide range of influences, and they just end up all meeting together when I start to make shit. I got really into Grimes halfway through making this record which was absolutely just so much [Laughing]. But then I also love Andy Shauf, who is a big influence. I was also

falling in love with new-wave and post-punk, and I didn’t know what to do with all these intersections of sound. But I feel like I was able to do what I needed to do.

Stylus: Are you the kind of person who is ultimately satisfied with the end product, or is there a vague uncertainty when an album gets released?

Taylor: I’m always obsessed with my own songs until they come out, and then I never listen to them again. I spent the last two years driving around listening to [I Live In Patterns], and now I feel like when it comes out, I’m just going to be like: “Alright. I’m done with this.” I think there is a distinct moment when the record stops being mine and starts being a part of the world. And that is usually when I start to lose interest in my own music.

Stylus: I Live In Patterns is as emotionally vulnerable as your other records But that is in contrast with these groovy and buoyant melodies So, how do you go about creating uplifting-sounding art while also trying to express these real and raw emotions that you communicate on the album?

Taylor: I think there is an interesting duality. A lot of these songs I wrote on a guitar or piano by myself, and they are very emotionally distraught. But when I actually went to go make the song and produce it, I had so much fun. So, it’s just a weird combination of emotions. I feel like some of the songs do have that duality, and some of them are almost intertwined; the lyrics and the music cannot be separated. “Push It Down” or even “Designated Driver” are where the lyrics and the music are very different. But with “Nightmare,” the lyrics are so intrinsically woven into the lyrics that I think it captures the sound of how I was feeling in the moment [of writing it].

Stylus: I love the brutality of the lyrics in “Nightmare ” Most songs on I Live In Patterns are also very earnest . How much of this album are you writing about yourself versus just trying to write about a topic, idea, or someone else?

Taylor: I primarily write about myself and stop when it comes to airing out anyone else’s dirty laundry. I don’t like to get others involved. Even when I am writing about someone else, I’m usually just writing about myself in relation to that person anyway. Because I can write and perform songs like this, It’s a little easier for me, in my day-to-day life, not to be a depressing person to hang around with.

Stylus: You mean you wouldn’t want to grab drinks with the person that wrote “Patience?”

Taylor: [Laughs] Yeah, I don’t want to hang out with “Patience.” I want to listen to it and then go away. Maybe go to a movie and forget I exist. So, I guess music just lets me get that side of myself out. Also, because I get to perform these songs, I get to revisit that side of myself and get that emotion out.

Stylus: The album wrestles with the cyclical nature of your life experience, and the album title expresses that in such a clear way How hard was it to sit in that emotional state throughout the process of putting this album together?

Taylor: I kind of feel like the title of the record

MYLES TIESSEN

PHOTO: BECCA HAMMEL

applies to a lot of different aspects of the music, but the title track is about me feeling trapped in my own cyclical, episodic mental health issues that really seem to cycle over and over again. There are also songs like “Something Better” that talk about that on a generational scale.

I started songwriting when I was really young because I was not in an environment that was particularly supportive of big emotions, and I needed something to help me figure out my emotions. Along the way, I got into this idea that

sensitivity and vulnerability were negative things about me. I thought they were character flaws rather than things to fuel my art, empathy, joy, and love. When I realized [big emotions] were a positive thing in my life and it was a gift that I could use for good rather than just hating myself, I decided I wanted to celebrate it.

Stylus: I feel like the album cover represents that really well

Taylor: I am actually crying on the album cover.

My friend who was taking the photos and I were watching those videos people make when they are having the last day with their dog before it gets put down. That’s one way you’ll always get me to cry. But, the record is ultimately a celebration of really big emotions; even though it doesn’t sound like a celebration, it is. I wanted to celebrate sensitivity and emotion on the album cover.

Festival du Voyageur show reviews

OLIVIER LA ROCHE

Les Trois Accords show review – Feb . 16, 2023 .

Festival du Voyageur was about to kick off its first full iteration since 2020. During the week leading up to the festival’s opening, with excitement at an alltime high, they announced a free show that would feature local band Men in Kilts and Québecois acts Marie-Pierre Arthur and Les Trois Accords.

Right off the bat, the atmosphere we all missed over the last few winters was back. The main tent was buzzing with excitement, packed with fans and festival goers, many dressed in classic voyageur garb. The opening acts delivered some great performances to warm up the crowd, but Les Trois Accords really stole the show.

They played fan-favourite after fan-favourite, songs spanning their illustrious twenty-year career. They hit a whole range of emotions, and the crowd was along for the ride the whole time. There must have been a very large portion of Franco-Manitobain

people in the crowd because they accompanied most songs word-for-word.

For many of us, Les Trois Accords were a staple of francophone music in our elementary and middle schools. At recess, their hits would play over the intercom system as we played soccer in the snow. It was a surreal experience to witness these songs we had all known and loved since we were ten years old played live. The band brought every ounce of energy you could ever ask for with songs like “Les dauphins et les licornes” and “Grand champion.”

Lead singer Simon Proulx even had the crowd laughing when he stood up and demanded we chant for the drum stool on which he sat as he delivered one of the band’s softer acoustic songs. Chants of “Ta-bou-ret! Ta-bou-ret!” (the French word for stool) erupted in the crowd.

The band is known for their oddball lyrics and themes, especially the song “J’aime ta grand-mère”

(French for I Love Your Grandma). However, we all sang along just the same. Their riffs and melodies are iconic to us, whether the lyrics make sense or not.

The real special moment came during the encore when the band performed what is perhaps their best-known song: “Saskatchewan.” It tells the story of a man who loses his wife while tending to his cattle. As the first chord was struck, a portion of the crowd formed a large circle, swaying arm in arm while belting out every word of the song. It was almost like we had waited our entire lives, hearing the song over and over at school, just for this moment. It was beautiful.

Vive Les Trois Accords!

P’tit Belliveau show review - Feb 18, 2023

Who knew Acadian folk could rock this hard? Fans of P’tit Belliveau did.

The Nova Scotian, who’s best known for his offkilter brand of French-Canadian and Acadian pop/ folk/rock fusions, put on quite the show during this year’s Festival du Voyageur. There are some artists who sound just as good live as they do on recordings. There are also those who sound even better live. P’tit Belliveau is the special kind of artist who not only sounds even better but brings a whole new spin to his sound while doing it.

His catalogue is mostly known for its humorous and infectious lyrics, sung in a mix of English and slang French from the East Coast. For the few who can make out just what he’s saying, it’s a riot. Even those who catch only every few words have a great

time; the energy is just that infectious. His songs are usually sparse in instrumentation, making good use of stock keyboard sounds and his guitar.

For this show, he brought out a full band. Having multiple guitars with the live bass and drums added such a massive dimension to the sound that the songs sounded brand new. The lyrics and earworm melodies kept the fans following their favourite tunes, and the added grit and guitar solos made for an electric atmosphere.

His biggest hits, like “Les bateaux dans la baie” and “Income Tax,” jumped out at us with the added volume from the band. Of course, we all sang along to make the music feel even more alive. Belliveau’s charisma as a frontman was also instrumental in creating this buzzing atmosphere. He was sometimes smiling, sometimes headbanging, sometimes dancing along to his own song. His energy matched

that of the song every time, forging a real connection with the crowd who were following his lead.

Slower, charming cuts from his latest album Un homme et son piano like “Demain” and “J’aimerais d’avoir un John Deere” (I’d like to have a John Deere) were equally great live, providing contrast to the more energetic songs. These moments truly showed his ability to draw in the crowd, as the calmer songs let the crowd’s singing be heard more than before.

This concert brought everything you’d want from a show at Festival du Voyageur, and not just for his fans. It was high-energy, personal, and always musically interesting. You could tell the band enjoyed playing just as much as we enjoyed listening. That’s when you know it’s for real.

POP AND SPIRIT: An Interview with Carlo Capobianco

down a neighbour? Or judge a neighbour? Or steal from someone or whatever if it’s against God’s rule? I mean, it applies to the same principles. It’s not a level of sin that we follow, they’re all sins, and they all resolve in the same way; you go to hell, or you have to pay for it, or whatever.

S: What’s your favourite track on the album?

C: I think my favourite to write was “Sleeping With the Enemy” because it was so easy to write, and the melody came to me quickly. It’s just a really to-the-point song that seems simple, but there’s a lot behind it if you really dig deep into the lyrics. If you can understand poetry in general, then you can understand that it means I’m sleeping with someone that’s not good for me. But I want to keep doing it because it feels good. I love how catchy it is, and I think that’s my favourite song I’ve ever written, honestly.

S: Does your relationship with your parents ever influence your music writing at all?

C: I think about my dad a lot because when he was younger, he wanted to be a dancer. He wanted to be a ballet dancer, and he’s vehemently homophobic now, but he was into dance, he was into singing. He was into being on stage, and he was into being a star but his mom, my grandma, didn’t want him to be that. So he ended up working at my grandma’s auto shop for the rest of his life, kind of stuck with his mom. The 70s was a different time to be alive, and I’m sure it was a lot harder for him to express himself back then. I feel like I’m almost, in a way, with this album, I’m breaking maybe a generational curse that was in place for him and for my family in general. I’m kind of like breaking the glass ceiling.

S: Where does your love of the 80s come from, and how does that influence your music?

Carlo Capobianco, one of Winnipeg’s newest quickly rising stars, sat down with Stylus to talk about the upcoming album Pray To You. Carlo shares the story of the album, of an underlying sense of God present in his art and life, and of the toxic, one-sided love that inspired each song.

STYLUS: I’m curious about the use of religious imagery; where does that come from?

CARLO: I feel like I’ve always had a weird relationship with God because of my upbringing in a Catholic household. It wasn’t like we went to church every Sunday, but it was still an Italian household, a very old-school immigrant family. Super archaic views on what women do, what men do, and in that there wasn’t really space for somebody like me, who’s androgynous, who doesn’t really care, you know, if I want to wear fishnets underneath my pants, or wear makeup, or play with barbies. I just didn’t care as a child, and so I kind of rebelled a lot. It was just a very constricting space to be in, and I feel like that went through my music. I’ve always felt connected to God. Even if I wasn’t Catholic, I always felt some sort of presence in my life, kind of like a low hum that’s just there, just kind of guiding me in the right

places. There’s a lot of imagery in Catholicism, like Adam and Eve, praying, and what’s good, what’s bad. I kind of like that because I’m very black and white in my life, but when it comes to music and when it comes to religion—or spirit, whatever you want to call it—it’s blended. One day I’m Catholic, and one day I’m not, and it’s hard to explain, but I feel like once you’re Catholic, you’ll always be Catholic. I feel like a sinner most of the time the way that I live my life. I wanted to kind of play with that on the album because life is not that serious, and it’s not a big deal. I feel like it’s a conversation between me and God. And between me and myself.

S: I’m kind of gathering this from what you’re saying, but do you feel your Catholic identity conflicts with your sexual identity or the way you feel you are in your day-to-day life?

C: I feel like it conflicts if you look at it from the perspective of someone following Catholicism. I feel like God loves everyone. Even though he says if you sleep with another man, you’re going to hell or whatever. If that were the case, I mean conservative people would be so careful about what they say to their neighbour because … why would you tear

C: When I was younger, I listened to a lot of modern pop, like Pussycat Dolls, Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne, and that kind of thing. In the middle of high school, I stumbled upon some Madonna songs, Prince, and Michael Jackson, the Eurythmics and Simple Minds, and I just loved that everything sounded grand in the 80s. The songs sounded like movie songs. All the synthesizers and drums, all the little tidbits that they put into the production, made me love the 80s and pop music in general. I wanted to create the sound of grand, big pop singles that were explosive and stuck around for years. I feel like I maybe had a different life in the 80s, something like that, because I’m so connected to it, and it doesn’t really have a single starting point. I feel sad when I listen to 80s music or something. I feel like I was there, or I feel like some part of me is connected to the movies or the shows or the singles or the albums or the concerts. I always feel almost like I was there, like I was watching it, and it’s a memory.

S: Did you have any particular musical influences for this album or just in general?

C: I think definitely Madonna, Lana Del Ray, and Joni Mitchell. I love Joni Mitchell’s writing; she’s a wonderful writer. Prince, Michael Jackson. I had songs that inspired the album, but I feel like I just came into it and said I want to make an album that sounds like the 80s, but I want it to be influenced by modern production. I wanted you to listen to it and not be sure when it was made. Sometimes you’ll hear a song that’s like an 80s song, and it sounds like they bought a sample pack for drums and synths. I wanted it to sound like it was made in the 80s but with modern elements.

RISH HANCO

PHOTO PROVIDED BY CARLO CAPOBIANCO

S: Is there a name for the album?

C: Pray To You.

S: My next question was going to be what inspired the name . Obviously, the song, but why did you choose that one?

C: I just felt it encapsulated the whole idea of the album. This album is really a prayer to God, but I feel like it’s also a prayer to my past romantic relationships. It’s almost kind of like a little bible that I’ve created that encapsulates the memory of what I felt when I was with that person, how I felt during that time. It’s just my own little bible, that’s what I like to call it, and I just felt Pray To You was a really good name in general.

S: You referred to the album as a sort of bible, something that you get lessons from on how to

live your life and something that you learn from When you listen to these songs, when you look back on what it is that inspired you to write these songs, do you learn anything from them?

C: I think it just reminds me of how vulnerable I was at that point in my life and how much it made me feel like I was under the control of my romantic partner. I felt like this person was so amazing and enigmatic that I had to pray to them—everything I did, texting them incessantly, calling them on the phone—all of that stuff was like my version of praying to them. I was so obsessed that everything I did revolved around making them like me, and after I finished the album, I realized I was so stupid for even feeling like that. Now if they don’t like me, I just move on; that’s life. But I was so obsessed and so full of myself that I felt that if I made an album that might connect with them in a way, unbeknownst, if

they even knew it was about them… they know it’s about them, and it’s changed nothing. I don’t feel the same way about them. But it is what it is. I’m glad I wrote the album. I’m glad that the pain inspired me to create something that turned into beauty.

S: You’re putting a lot of emotion into this album Do you ever feel nervous or scared about putting this much of yourself out into the world for others to observe and have opinions about?

C: No. I think that’s an artist’s job. I forgot who said it, but ‘artists are here to disturb the peace’—James Baldwin, ‘artists are here to disturb the peace.’ I feel like that’s just a part of the artist’s job, to express the pain and the beauty and the turmoil. And I don’t really give a fuck what anyone thinks about my music, so I’m going to keep releasing it.

Festival du Voyageur: Real Love Winter Festival

REVIEW AND PHOTO BY SERAPHINE CROW

Festival du Voyageur kicked off this year with a warm gathering of food, music and culture amidst another sudden drop in temperature most Winnipeggers can recognize. During the day, Whittier Park was filled with family activities like tobogganing, listening to live music and eating frozen maple syrup guaranteed to remind you of being a rosy-cheeked kid again.

My experience at Festival this year began after the sun had already gone down. Families dissipated, and gradually, everyone in attendance ended up in one of the entertainment tents. I decided to focus on the Tente De Forrest, where Real Love was organizing a showcase of local music. After arriving later than expected, I followed the crowds filtering in and out of the tent. Immediately, the familiar scent of wood chips and dirt greeted me like a firm handshake. On stage, Lev Snowe began doing soundcheck. Each band member was dressed more uniquely than the last in overalls and fashionable layers. Lastly, the lead and band namesake tied it all together, adorned with various clashing stripes from head to toe. The group put on a set of mainly new songs, of which the lyrics were cohesive yet dreamlike, as Snowe explored personal themes that touched on love and relationships. The vague nature of his language left much up to interpretation, as expressions of floating mixed with the spacious sound of synth carried the crowd far above the ground.

Eventually, my hyperactive brain took over. The crowd I stood with my boots dug into the wood chips, and my eyes began darting around me. I became unable to break my focus from the green lights that hung over the stage, eventually telling my friends that I couldn’t help feeling like I was inside The Matrix. (this is not exactly beneficial to the point of my presence but an important interpretation of how lighting choices certainly affect the tone of spaces you find yourself inside.) While my mind continued to wander, I noticed how the dreamy sounds of Lev Snowe could be heard easily through the chafing of snow pants and waterproof layers rubbing together. Although I was distracted, the cohesive sounds coming from each member on stage brought me back to earth. As the set concluded, remarks to the audience and gratitude for the opportunity to play Festival du Voyageur were given. Gradually most people left the tent soon after, either to roam the festival further or, in my case, to take a short journey to the volunteer tent for a bowl of hearty stew.

I regained focus and returned to the Tente De Forest, ready for the Ontario band Chastity to deliver the angsty rock I had witnessed at past shows. Making my way to the front of the growing crowd, Chastity began to play a darker and more punk sound than the previous set. Suddenly, the same green light from earlier hung with new meaning. While my satisfaction with the last act was

unaffected, the grungier sound carrying through the tent was truly complimented by the equally dark and dingy lighting. The set was unexpected within the familiar environment of Festival du Voyageur. Heads bobbed, and long hair softly slapped me in the face as everyone went wild. The excitement of the crowd peaked as a few people began to push each other around, starting a mosh pit. At an annual event celebrating French Canadian heritage, was something I would never have expected to witness.

The fuller rock sound of Chastity pumped through my entire being as the spacious tent became a bubble filled with sound and vibration. The bass could have pumped my heart for me, and the energy of the lead singer’s harsh kicks and angsty lyrics about skateboarding created palpable excitement within everyone in attendance. Even with the protection of earplugs, Chastity’s siren songs could not be ignored. All the way through until the last song, not an ounce of energy was lost in their performance. When they finally concluded an electrifying set, the crowd began to dissipate once again. I was thrilled to see this side of Festival du Voyageur, mostly because I had only attended during daytime in past years. This felt like I was sneaking around past my bedtime. I left the show that night smelling like a campfire and absolutely exhausted from dancing in my large winter boots. It was a real treat, Real Love.

Chip ’ sVintage 4-Year AnniversaryShow

Folks trickle into the Goodwill on a Saturday night to celebrate the fourth anniversary of the local shop Chip’s Vintage. The love and community-feeling is palpable, making it easy to forget the bitter cold outside. DJs Co-op and Hunnicutt hone in on the feeling and bring it to the fore, spinning jams to move the crowd and permeating the spaces between bands with warmth and energy.

The room is steadily filling up with warm bodies when Carlo Capobianco takes the stage, dripping with popstar charm and iconic 80s-inspired style. He tethers performance to the crowd with teasing banter, playful amid the sentiment and passion of each heartfelt ballad that is belted out by the band.

In one electrifying set, heartache and joy are intertwined.

This electricity carries the crowd through the break between sets as JayWood preps. Band members, DJs, staff, and regulars all share glances and call out to one another across the floor, the words lost to the crowd but a sense of intimacy lingering.

This intimacy unfurls toward the audience as JayWood launches into the first song, welcoming us into a universe of security, comfort, and Good Will (what better venue could there be for this show?). The band plays effortlessly and is soothing; Jeremy HaywoodSmith’s lyrics remind us of change in a way that feels like

REVIEW AND PHOTOS BY RISH HANCO

everything is both meaningful and manageable. He takes the audience on a tour of his own experiences, full of soaring twinkling space, always with a return to that which is close and grounded.

By the end of JayWood the crowd is floating.

Jasmyn floats with them as she takes the stage in her turn and dives into a series of intoxicating beats. The room swirls with colour, and her vocals wash over the crowd in earnest. Once more, feelings of joy and delight intermingle with that bittersweet resignation toward things which move us onward, individually and collectively.

The crowd bubbles over with a warmth that will carry them through the night.

JAYWOOD

CARLOCAPOBIANCO

JAZMYN

REVIEW AND PHOTOS BY MIKE THIESSEN

Energy was the theme of the night on Thursday, January 26 – both the respective energies of the bands themselves and the overall dynamic flow of the evening. Amping up for the second weekend of Real Love’s Winterruption, the Good Will was taken over by Bedtime, an up-and-coming dream pop duo, the thoroughly-beloved Virgo Rising, and New Brunswick’s very own “deep-thinkin’ rippers,” Motherhood. What appeared at first to be a somewhat bizarre (albeit fascinating) lineup proved to be a show for the ages.

BEDTIME

As clouds of fog poured off the stage in preparation for Bedtime to begin their set, the crowd at the Good Will was milling about loudly, as they would at any other show. It became instantly clear, however, that this would be no ordinary concert. Once the pair took the stage and started playing, a silence fell over the room as the ethereal harmonies, sparkly guitar chords, and rich bass notes of Bedtime’s first song washed over the audience.

No one was rocking out to Bedtime but rather standing and staring in a silent state of shock and awe. The duo’s sweet and tender harmonies floated through the room like the wisps of smoke. A whispered “two, three, four” between riffs of “Sundaze” gave the show a tremendously intimate feeling, almost as though you were somewhere you weren’t supposed to be, overhearing something too beautiful for your mind to comprehend. Bedtime ended their set with a sweet and crooning slow song that built to an overdriven climax by the end, leaving an overwhelming sense of excitement to see them again.

VIRGO RISING

Modern Winnipeg legends Virgo Rising opened with the widely-loved “Sleep in Yr Jeans” – a noticeable departure from Bedtime’s set. The energy in the Good Will shifted completely. As they always do, Virgo Rising proved themselves to be a tour de force in the local music scene, especially when it comes to live performances. They know how to effectively straddle the line between going all out and bringing calming introspection, and that ability makes for a delightful concertgoing experience.

Virgo Rising had a slew of new material for the Winterruption crowd that night, including “Elliot,” “Nail Biter,” and “Tristan.” The contrast between lead singer

and guitarist Emily Sinclair’s quiet and reserved personal demeanor between songs and her intense, theatrical stage presence while performing was astounding to watch. The band closed their set with “Tristan,” a new piece. Despite this, Virgo Rising had the audience packed to the front of the room, a borderline mosh pit in the works – an undeniable testament to the allure of their music.

MOTHERHOOD

“We don’t usually wear as much Fredericton memorabilia as we do tonight,” said Penelope Stevens, bassist, and vocalist of Motherhood, referring to her proudly-donned “Fredericton is Fine” t-shirt. “Well, I do,” declared Brydon Crain, the lead vocalist, and guitarist, equally decked out in Fredericton merch, before launching into the band’s second song of the night. Motherhood took the sonic energy Virgo Rising had introduced and sent it through the ceiling. The band’s live sound is loud, chaotic, and frantic, but this by no means diminishes the control in their playing. The three are fully locked in, delivering hard-hitting and punchy rock and roll that force you to hurl yourself out of your seat and up to the front of the crowd. Motherhood’s sound jumped all around over the course of their set. The final verse of “Flood” – heavy, slow, demanding of attention – propelled into a wild and chaotic, hooping and hollering surf rock-inspired piece, then crying like little babies in “Bird Chirp” immediately after that. Motherhood will not be sonically tied down.

The trio, having never been to Winnipeg, recounted some of their adventures of the day – an interview with UMFM, some recording at No Fun Club, and a trip to Giant Tiger to pick up underwear. (“Alright, I see what kinda town this is,” said Crain when cheers went up at this.) Motherhood then debuted their freshly recorded tracks – “Kyle Hangs Ten,” named after their coldwater surfing band manager, and “Dry Heave,” which went fully hardcore.

The end of the set arrived faster than everyone – including the band – was expecting. Time flies. They ensured to promote their Motherhood baby onesies available at the merch table (“Or maybe you’re really small and they’ll fit you”) before closing with “Tabletop.” It’s safe to say, with such an energetic close to such an energy-filled evening, that no one’s fingernails were chipping paint off the chair they were in.

BEDTIME

MOTHERHOOD

VIRGO

Interview :: Softswitch

Stylus caught up with Softswitch at No Fun Club. Their self-deprecating sense of humour might only bleakly shine through in print compared to the way it does in person.

This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Stylus: Can you tell me a little about your upcoming self titled EP?

Ryan McPherson: We recorded them like a year ago. It’s kinda weird because, for us, they aren’t at all new. But no one has heard them yet, so that’s kind of fun. I guess we played them once or twice last year. We are finally going to get them out, and that means we can start working on the next recording.

S: What inspired it?

Ryan: With our process, what we do is we mess around until we land on a sound that we like, and then I will waste everyone’s time for weeks or months on end while I decide what kind of words to put to that. Eventually, we had lyrics, and we changed the time, making some parts shorter or longer to fix the flow. I guess that’s a long way of saying we don’t really have a concept. The songs are all about different things. I guess things are influenced by life in the ends times kind of thing. There is a song about the end of reality. There’s a song about the death of someone that no one was sure actually existed in the first place. There’s a song about, I don’t know, depression.

Rob Hill: Just really happy stuff.

Ryan: Just really upbeat with this one.

Rob: We were all in a dark place.

Ryan: Looking forward to middle age.

Suzy Keller: I mean, I do, and I’m not in a dark place. I think we had a lot of time between our first EP; that one came together super quick, and this one, we had years in between, so we got to take our time with it. It’s a big project.

Rob: It still doesn’t feel like a real band. I see a lot of bands come through here (No Fun Club), and they have the whiteboard and are reworking choruses and stuff. This seems to be fairly intuitive for us, which I guess it’s good, or we will pretend that it’s good.

Ryan: We recorded most of the EP in one weekend, then took weeks to do the vocals in a number of shorter sessions when the studio wasn’t in use. Drew from the band Blessed helped a ton with the vocals process and was very patient with me as I worked through the process. When we recorded these songs, we’d never performed them live previously, so it made it a bit challenging to figure out what the right way to do certain things would be.

Our previous EP (Happiness) was mixed and mastered by Steve Albini and Bob Weston. We actually went to Chicago to sit with Steve in person for it. This one was mixed by Jace Lasek working remotely, so it was a bit of a different process with us all listening to a prospective mix and then comparing notes and finally sending feedback to get things tweaked. The mastering was hands-off for us in both cases, we sent files out, and they came back louder and clearer.

S: Your first single for the EP came out How was it received? Can you tell me about the song?

Ryan: Well, our friends seem to really like it. We’ve had some positive feedback about it. Our mixing guy Jace said he really liked it.

Rob: It’s pretty weird and bleak. We got some good feedback from Suzy’s parents.

Suzy: Our best song yet, and we are very mysterious.

S: I can think of worse things to be than mysterious

Suzy: We’ve had a core group of people that are very supportive of us, so feedback from that group it means a lot.

Rob: My dad responded like, “pretty bleak, Rob, don’t listen to too much of it. Are you in a bad place?”

Suzy: But it doesn’t feel like that. For me when I am playing, I don’t feel that way. I have lots of fun playing the songs.

S: Is there a release show?

Rob: May 5 at the Handsome Daughter with Fold Paper and Beth. We reached out to Real Love and said we have music coming out; would you put on a show? They were awesome. They were like, name any bands in town, and we got the two bands we wanted. We are lucky. I feel like we should be opening for them. I’m pretty jazzed.

Ryan: It’s really cool to be doing this with Beth. We played with them and Dri Hiev back in 2019 with our original lineup. Personally, I’m really looking forward to Fold Paper, too, I’ve been out of town the last couple of times they’ve played, but Alex from Fold Paper used to be in a great band called Pleasure Dens, that my previous band Permanent Mistake did a few shows with. So it’s nice that neither band instantly declined doing the show based on our being there anyways.

S: How did Softswitch start?

Rob: Suzy wanted to start a band. I answered her ad.

Ryan: And then a year later, you (Suzy) wrote back to me.

Suzy: There used to be a group called Not Enough that was in the city, and they were focusing on promoting shows for women and non-binary musicians, and there was a message board, and I posted something about looking for a band. Unfortunately, Facebook had a glitch; I didn’t see it until a year later. So we started talking, and I knew Rob previously.

Rob: This is all Suzy’s fault.

Suzy: This is 7-8 years now.

Ryan: Yeah, it takes us a long time to do anything. Then we discovered the magic of setting deadlines for ourselves. The only way that anything happens. We signed up for the release show, so now we have to finish the songs.

S: What’s your favourite song?

Ryan: I think the first one is my favourite.

Suzy: I like it. I worked on the video for it with Eddie (Eduardo) Diaz.

S: Can you tell me about the video process?

Suzy: I took Ryan’s concept behind the song and placed it in a Winnipeg hotel, and there is this ghost walking around the hotel having a good time. Even though it’s kind of bleak and dark, that’s where my head was going. He (Eduardo) did it via zoom, and he did all the hard work. I had all the ideas for his hard work, and he put up with it.

WORDS AND PHOTO BY KEELEY BRAUNSTEIN-BLACK

Love You to Death Review

PAUL NEWSOM

The Park Theatre is not quite packed as Love You to Death’s first film begins, yet the venue feels no less alive for that fact.

The commonalities with the last show I saw here - Godspeed You! Black Emperor - are several: both rely on live music and film as fundamental performance features; each show’s respective band is composed of brilliant, multi-instrumental performers; both crowds cheer ecstatically at pivotal moments while waiting in rapt silence through the tension-building bulk of the performance. Though Love You to Death is uniquely punctuated by laughs - some of which might not have been shared at the time of the films’ debut - there is also a deadly seriousness to the vibe of appreciation underlying it all.

Where GY!BE’s projectionist was ever adaptive to the band’s performance; the inverse is true for Love You to Death: the drummer taps a cymbal in unison

with a wee skeleton knocking glass on a grandfather clock during Nosferatu; bass notes swing along with one of the doctor’s contraptions during Bride of Frankenstein; theremin swells and guitar notes shimmer through Metropolis’s climax, as throngs of on-screen people thrash around in electric panic. Every scene is coloured by enough musical vision to be captivating by itself, yet never so much as to distract from the films. As someone who hasn’t seen any of the films before, I am awestruck by the film quality, practical effects, and, in particular, the use of aerial shots. The past revealed by these movies feels grand and soulful, at least as often as it feels naive.

The inter-film breaks feel memorable thanks to a sardonic-spooky narrator, whose vibe gradually morphs from eerie deadpan to existential-nostalgic. Attendees are reminded of the evening’s extra offerings: tarot cards, spooky art for sale, and even having one’s portrait taken with Chalice, the Undead Bride.

Once the emcee has said his piece, modern

blockbuster movies’ soundtracks fill the dead space during intermissions, providing ample inspiration for reflection on the era of the three films’ release. Were they seen as goofy? Were they startling? How many friends walked out of the same theatre with mixed reactions to the bold new offering from Lang or Murnau?

Despite showcasing genres which developed well after the films’ debut, it is also easy to see how audiences might have appreciated the evening’s soundtracks had they somehow been included with their original release. The music runs the gamut from classic country through post-rock through classical through reflective guitar and cello solos. Some of the theremin-heavy songs feel decidedly 60s, in the vein of the Tornados.

In his final reflective spiel, the emcee notes how being remembered and celebrated 100 years postrelease speaks to the power and endurance of films. I can’t disagree. From the genuine horror of Hutter discovering Count Orlok sleeping in his coffin to the anguish of the monster as he destroys the laboratory, these films are filled with moments as genuinely moving as they are memorable - and made all the more so in this case by loving accompaniment.

WINTERRUPTION - JANUARY 27TH @ THE GOOD WILL SOCIAL CLUB

Two shows took place at The Good Will Social Club on January 27th for WINTERRUPTION. Five bands entertained a crowd of hyperactive fans from 7 pm until well past midnight, making for a jam-packed evening of rock n’ roll music. This is coverage of the early show, featuring meditative performances from Stephan Hodges and A. Savage.

EARLY SHOW

Stephan Hodges

Stephan Hodges walked onto the stage alone at the Good Will shortly after 7:30 pm. Though he was the first performer in what was to be a very long night of music, his set undoubtedly rings clear in attendees’ ears.

While admittedly nervous, he and his acoustic guitar stood proud at the stage’s centre and, one by one, picked away at some songs from the Animal Teeth catalog (of which Hodges is the principal songwriter and singer). His stunning guitar skills captivated a surprisingly large crowd for such an early show.

What stood out the most was just how surprising the songs, through the channel of the solo acoustic guitar, separated themselves from their existence with the band. The slowcore or sad, lofi tunes transitioned into folky love songs that carried new weight and solemnity.

Songs like “New Fast” or “Heart of Darkness” were melancholic, contemplative, and authentic, showcasing Hodges’ diary-like songwriting. It’s been a while since we’ve gotten any new Animal Teeth material, so it’s nice to see Hodges still honing his craft.

A Savage

It goes without saying — Andrew Savage is an enigmatic figure. The brain behind alternative legends Parquet Courts is continually morphing and pursuing new creative directions, whether it be visual art or genre-bending music like Parquet Courts’ hugely popular Wide Awake!, which was highly indebted to Analog Africa’s African Scream Contest series.

One could go on for ages describing all the esoteric inspirations behind the creative directions Savage has taken in his career, but regardless, he left all that behind when he took the stage in front of a packed crowd.

Stone-like with only an acoustic guitar, a music

stand full of lyrics, and an empty guitar case by his side, Savage resembled an unassuming busker. Still, he awed a crowd of eager fans with his profoundly astonishing lyrics and arresting melodies.

Savage worked his way through primarily new material. One of those new songs he called “Elvis in the Army,” a lyrically dense track about performance, failure, and the prospect of becoming obsolete in the music industry. Savage’s baritone vocals lifted and lowered, cracked and soothed through what was, in all reality, an all-too-short set. Like Jim Sullivan and Fred Neil, Savage’s folk-country demeanor was mysterious and enrapturing. Whether hypnotized by his skillful finger-picking or left analyzing the pieces of his gothic lyrics, it was a set for the ages.

PHOTO S BY MIKE THIESSEN MYLES TIESSEN

A . SAVAGE

STEPHAN HODGES

WINTERRUPTION

JANUARY 27TH @ THE GOOD WILL SOCIAL CLUB

Two shows took place at The Good Will Social Club on January 27th for WINTERRUPTION. Five bands entertained a crowd of hyperactive fans from 7 PM until well past midnight, making for a jam-packed evening of rock n’ roll music. This is coverage of the high-octane late show, featuring Mulligrub, Jamboree, and Tired Cossack.

LATE SHOW

Mulligrub

Mulligrub threw a fastball right down the middle of the indie-rock batter’s box. With their jangly guitars, power chord choruses, and syncopated rhythms, the trio felt reminiscent of some early Alvvays. Their set dipped between some exciting indie-rock that veered into the pop-punk arena and some sad slowcore. Like their 2016 album Soft Grudge, their live performance carried some of the same passion and zeal as some early 2000s alternative music. It’s always a treat to listen to a band with such apparent love and passion for their music.

Jamboree

Jamboree knows how to fill a room with noise. Their towering sonic output that night was loud, effervescent and drew in any stragglers still smoking outside. Their goofy stage presence worked opposite their heavy song material, making for an entertaining show on all fronts. Songs like “Quebec” and “Be True” got people singing and jumping. Even with slower songs like “Another Day,” the band held

their younger fanbase in the palm of their hands. For the most part, their live renditions stuck pretty close to the album versions, so it was pretty clear when the band indulged in the raucous clatter of pure noise.

Some of the best moments were when the quartet gathered around the drums to melt their songs into a whirling loud sound collision; it’s great to see where the band’s impulses are. They played loose, confident and proved themselves to be a reinvigorating force in Winnipeg’s music scene.

Tired Cossack

Tired Cossack brought the house down. The energy, playfulness, and talent were undeniable. Led by Stephen Halas, Tired Cossack pays tribute to Halas’ Ukrainian heritage with a unique blend of post-punk and polka. It’s simultaneously hilarious and brilliant and matches the magic of his folkloric lyrics. Drawing the self-described “Ned Flanders” look (collared dress shirt under a crew neck sweater), Halas used his witty humor to work the crowd and commanded their attention unlike any other that night. Post-punk thrills, shoegaze wobbles, and slick riffs reinvigorated a most likely lethargic audience, some of whom had been there since 7 PM.

The live performance carried so much energy that softer songs on the record started to shine through with a punk rock edge. “Machina” was a brilliant example of this. On Hocus Pocus, “Machina” leans heavily on the shoulders of coldwave, a common

genre throughout the whole record. But live, the song fucking ripped. Halas moved around on stage, used hand gestures, and played to the increasingly fervent crowd.

With New Order-like melodies, an amazing baking band, and a standout sense of humor, Tired Cossack was the exact type of experience you want from a concert. Fun, energetic and talented.

MYLES TIESSEN

PHOTOS BY MIKE THIESSEN

JAMBOREE

MULLIGRUB

TIRED COSSACK

TIRED COSSACK

CKU Who?

WORDS & PHOTO: KEELEY BRAUNSTEIN-BLACK

This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Stylus: How did you get started with this show?

Electric Jon: This show has been on for two or three months. Last summer, I was at the memorial for Chris Jaques, whom we started with in 1989, and I ran into some people from the station, and they said they needed content. So I kicked around a couple of ideas and asked him if he wanted to do a show. Back in the day, we did a show called the Noon Time Blues. This show is more of a concept and theme with recurring segments, but still kind of loose.

Jason Eastwood: kind of local music, and other music, combined with absurdist aches and -

EJ: Basically, yeah, we say that Shrimpfarm.Crypto represents the analog relevance within the digital resonance. Which sounds abstract, but it’s about the invisible environment that culture creates. Our generation, we grew up in the 70s and 80s; we were the first experiments of the digital age: the arcade

with Electric Jon and Jason Eastwood

Midnight - 1 a.m. on Sundays

kids. We are trying to tie a link between being the arcade kids and the computer and cyber culture happening now. The world of tokenized digital assets and putting tokens in games. That kind of a digital experiment that we were a part of.

J: The analog into the digital musically too. We started recording music and radio back on tape recorders —

EJ: four-track recorders.

J: —and then recording music onto tape at analog studios and then getting into digital recording. We were pre-internet too. I had a computer in 1982, an Apple 2 E, that was totally useless, you couldn’t connect with anywhere, so I just played Choplifter on it.

EJ: We have been training for this exact thing. We met when we were five-years old in kindergarten. When we were 7-years-old Jason played at the Burton Commings as a kid on a CBC special called Portage and Main, he made enough money — $80 I think — It was enough to buy a tape recorder, and we would do fake radio shows with slap and sound effects and foley art.

J: We also play some of our own music on the show. I did an album called Linked In in 2017, it was the idea of the show, almost the analog into the digital. I tried to do it as a reflection of that time — so our theme song is called “Calculator Watch.”

EJ: We ground all the highminded nonsense with — we do a segment called “Jets 3.0.” Where we satirize sports analysis. We are Jets fans, so it’s sincere, but there is a lot of satire to it. We also do something called the “Crypto Market Report,” where we satirize what is happening in the new economy and digital finance — blockchain — things like that. We have a thing called the “Mindful Minute” where he does a thing — deep thought — while playing his guitar.

J: We show love to the things we love by satirizing them and making fun of

ourselves.

S: What sort of local music can we expect to hear on your show?

EJ: We play Venetian Snares, Ghost Twin . . . we play electronic acts like that.

J: We also play Show Pony, Cookie Delicious — that’s Joel Klaverkamp — he’s almost as old as us, but he’s still putting out music. He has a band called Skingerbreadman which used to be popular —

JE: and the Hummers —

J: Patrick Michalishyn we play some of his synth stuff — Mohair Sweets — Colin Bryce he had a band called the Dub Rifles. They were big during the 80s, but he still puts out new music.

JE: Classic Winnipeg punk bands like Personality Crisis. We’ve played Mise en Scene. There is a lot of really diverse local music.

S: I always say Winnipeg doesn’t know what it has

J: Absolutely, Jon lived in Toronto —

EJ: Ten years —

J: I did seven years in Halifax and five years in B.C.

EJ: We’ve been all over the country. It’s amazing what Winnipeg has as far as artistic talent.

S: How would you describe your show?

EJ: We try and keep you entertained for an hour on Saturday night.

J: It’s a variety show that combines absurdity with comedy, real facts and great music and a lot of personality and touches on nostalgia but at the same time tries to make it relevant.

EJ: We try to make them laugh into thinking. We introduce each show with a bunch of samples. There is a bit of weirdness to it. A few years ago, I bought blockchain domains, and I bought one called Shrimpfarm.Crypto because I thought it was funny. He used to have an alter ego that used to joke about shrimp.

J: I do love shrimp, but I blew it out of proportion. This character, the only thing that mattered to him, was shrimp.

EJ: At one point, if you asked, “what does he think about most?” and it would be shrimp and “what do I think about most?” and the answer would have been Crypto. So we are Shrimpfarm.Crypto.

Local Releases

bolstered by hovering organ tones and transitory electric accents; melancholic-sweet harmonies fill out the aching, acoustic love anthem.

TINGE BIG DEEP SIGH

In the song “Pennyroyal Tea,” Kurt Cobain once sang, “Give me a Leonard Cohen afterworld, so I can sigh eternally.” Not every artist possesses the ability to impel listeners to breathe deeply, but this is definitely the case with Tinge’s debut EP Big Deep Sigh. The project hearkens back to when Indie was more Punk than pretentious and when Emo was less of a post-goth fashion statement than an angst-ridden, authentic, and worthy successor to Grunge-era music. Veronica Blackhawk – along with bassist Jordan Tate and drummer Lincoln Brown – is Tinge, who released their first five-song collection at the beginning of March via House of Wonders Records. Originally from Northwest Angle 33, Blackhawk resides in Winnipeg; however, it’s the liminal space of wandering between that is most evident in their lyrics –something that’s also sonically palpable. But unlike the sentiment expressed in the line, “I just can’t explain myself to anyone” (from “Armed to the Teeth”), the reason Big Deep Sigh resonates so immediately and profoundly is that the artist has found a way to make plain the raw emotion of not feeling quite at home in the world through brilliant songwriting. Blackhawk’s poignant yet unwavering voice, coupled with the calculated precision of the seamlessly woven instrumentation, serves as a vehicle to transport the listener into a realm beyond, where one both sees and feels seen.

As soon as one hears the opening two chords from “Native Tongue,” Tinge’s hook is already deeply embedded in one’s heart, and it’s known that something transcendent is about to take place. The emotive interplay of playfully sad guitar, bass, and steady drums are hypnotic, and then the vocals hit with such a beautifully subtle and paralyzing force. Transfixed, the landscape suddenly begins to shift, revealing new heights and depths that

weren’t initially apparent. Blackhawk’s singing is truly mesmerizing on this track. As for what follows in “Eye Contact,” there seems to be a dreamy channeling of the best of ‘90s Alternative (e.g., The Cranberries, Nirvana), which is paired up with some lighthearted yet edgy Math Rock in the high-school-nostalgic “Big Crush.” The “Burden Complex” is, as the title suggests, with unexpected shifts in tempo signaling how out of control life can feel. And this all leads to the last track, which was the first single to be released. If there was ever a song that could typify neo-Emo, it’s “Armed to the Teeth,” which is gloriously introspective and melancholy and has so many layers to uncover that it demands being listened to on repeat for every aspect of it to be sufficiently savoured.

Big Deep Sigh is available at tingetheband.bandcamp.com as a digital download, as well as being offered on limited edition cassette.

“Heaven on a Hellbound Train” proves Derksen’s humanist lyrical chops, musing on the power of common struggle in the song’s conclusion: “It’s not who you are, it’s not where you’ve been… We’re all trying to get to heaven on a hellbound train.” The song’s roaming, alt-country manner embodies both the notion of a common human journey and its author’s own reflective explorations of free will and pain.

“One Stab at the Good Life” marks a spiritual Country entry with its tragic union of mundanity, pain, and pure aspirations. It feels impossible not to find one’s own tired, early-morning Winnipeg self in its weary pining.

“Fuck You and Fuck Your Friends Too” is somehow equal parts bitter, astute, and graceful. Fleshed out by twisted idioms and an indignant guitar solo, the catharsis is nonetheless palpable: “Well the devil works in awful ways/ He sometimes sends an angel face/ With beauty and a walk like grace,” gives way to the title lyrics’ final uttering.

Derksen’s record feels uniquely fascinating, Canadian, and relistenable. Carried by a clear voice whose vibrato stresses cut with precision emphasis, this record weaves a dazzling plot from myriad personal and musical threads. Paul Newsom

witness to the absolutely horrendous situation we were put in and the fallout we are all living in. The long memory is a radical act. Rob Crooks’ new record, The Empire is in Decline and Growing Weaker by the Day, is a way to recover the long memory.

Picking up where his previous EP Introducing the Ghost left off, Rob Crooks explores themes of alienation, the pandemic, and revolution. While Ghost is earnest and introspective, The Empire is in Decline is angry and decisive in its indictments. Not one punch is pulled, and nor should they be. The center is too weak to hold us. Guest appearances by Kitz Willman and Yy add heft to an already heavy EP. Yy, in particular, on the track “Excursions,” sounds so smooth, rapping over a relentless beat.

This is music to plan the arrest of longterm care profiteers to.

Scott Price

Winnipeg singer-songwriter Noah Derksen makes strikingly earnest music. It’s probably thanks to this fact that seeing his most recent album come up marked “Explicit” on streaming services feels momentarily surreal - if only for the presence of several pointed and beautiful breakup songs on the record.

Sanctity of Silence’s tracks only occasionally resembles the sleepy, daydreaming ballads of Derksen’s first EP. In line with the course charted by the two subsequent full-length albums prior to it, Sanctity feels packed; purposeful; and meticulously developed. The record is essentially personal in a manner that seems all the more compelling for Derksen’s extroverted approach to song structuring.

The title track is instantly memorable,

ROB CROOKS THE EMPIRE IS IN DECLINE AND GROWING WEAKER BY THE DAY

Released March 3, 2023, Saskatoon Folk Rap records.

I think it’s fair to say that everyone had a rough couple of years starting in March 2020 — the constant stress and uncertainty mixed with a swirl of constant grim news. Our minds are good at protecting us and will block out memories that are too painful or traumatic so we can move along with our lives. I’m not judging anyone’s coping mechanisms because they were in short supply, but we should bear

COOKIE DELICIOUS FOX IN GOLDEN ARMOUR

Anyone who is familiar with the Winnipeg music scene has surely happened upon Joel Klaverkamp’s music over the years. But one could be forgiven for perhaps not knowing his name since his projects since 1989 have been multitudinous. From the teenage hair metal band Breakneck Inferno to the indie-forward cyberpunk project Robojom, to the latest broody dance-rock outfit Cookie Delicious, Klaverkamp is perpetually involved in the process of reinvention. Is he now the armour-clad Reynard first seen on the cover of his 2022 single Forget It? And how long before the next iconoclasm? That remains to be seen. In the meantime, Fox in Golden Armour provides listeners with nearly 36 minutes of what has been selfdescribed as “hypnotic creamsicle,” which aptly describes the swirl of tasty beats, sweet hooks, and biting lyrics. The album grapples with various themes of perspective and powerlessness, love and loss, and soberly dealing with and accepting change. Sight – i.e. seeing and being seen – preoccupies the artist and serves as the main thread that runs

Mykhailo Vil’yamson

NOAH DERKSEN SANCTITY OF SILENCE

through each and every song, which is mirrored by the dynamic interplay between Klaverkamp and backing vocalist Domo Lemoine (who appears on every track except the trippy outlier “Bite Your Medicine”). Though quite different in style, the dual vocals, stark drums, minimalist guitars, and synthrootedness of Fox in Golden Armour is somewhat reminiscent of the recent rock opera Atum by The Smashing Pumpkins; though Cookie Delicious is much closer in alikeness to certain incarnations of LCD Soundsystem or Beck.

we felt were the best we’d ever written. So, we recommitted ourselves to each other for one more album and found a lot of clarity through that - it was our last chance to make the record we’d always wanted to make”.

The result of this one last hurrah of creativity and determinism is one of the most introspective and sonically fascinating projects I’ve heard from an indie artist this decade.

THE FAMOUS SANDHOGS THE SONG-POEM STORE VOLUME 21

far this year, it’s safe to assume that much more music is to be expected before the year’s out. In fact, as soon as these words are read, Volume 21 might already be ancient history, and the reader could be hearing their very own song on Volume 22, Volume 23, or Volume 24.

Mykhailo Vil’yamson

LIZZARDS LIZZARDS II

“Seeing Further” is the most radiant song on the album – its drums and bass capture the cadence of summer cruising. But while it might first appear with the playful wah at the start of “Code Words” that a party atmosphere will continue, it quickly becomes clear through layers of instrumentation that a less jovial course has been set. The deeply reflective “Fall to Pieces” confirms this movement, with its solitary, reverb-heavy piano chords impelling the listener to stop and drift. Its tone still contemplative, the tempo picks up again in “Another Time,” which is punchy and highlights all aspects of the band’s lineup. The second half of the album begins with a steady descent into even greater darkness and self-reflection via “Into This Dream,” followed by the enigmatic fever-dream of a track, “Bite Your Medicine.” However, when all seems potentially lost existentially, “Help Me” brings things out of depths with some self-propelled beats, steady bass, and a pensive guitar solo. And it all concludes with the assertively buoyant call to action in “Turn Back.” What should one “annihilate” though (as so urged by the repeated lyric)? I guess what needs destroying in oneself and the observable world is up to the listener to decide.

Vil’yamson

Mykhailo

YES WE MYSTIC TRUST FALL

Winnipeg’s own Yes We Mystic’s third and final album, Trust Fall, was released on October 21st, 2022. The group describes it as (in addition to being heavily inspired by Kate Bush) “the songs were most proud of, and that we fought the hardest to bring into the world.”

“At the beginning of last year, we found ourselves scattered. Despite our love for the band and one another, we could sense that life wouldn’t allow the five of us to pile into a van to play songs across continents again. We considered calling it quits, thinking— ‘we’re happy with the last record we made, would that be such a bad note to end on?’.

What pushed us to continue was the new songs we were working on, which

The album opens with the bombastic track “Long Dream.” It was the first single released for the album, and it works as a perfect jumping-off point to the record. It gradually builds with its instrumentation culminating in a truly epic conclusion. “It has what we see as the quintessential example of the ‘yes we mystic build’ in this unique way where the tension is always rising for pretty much the whole song,” I was told. I also think it is important to note how well it flows into the next track, “High Beams.” This is something that I immediately noticed on the first listen is how well each track flows into the subsequent one. The pacing here is just great and makes for a much better experience.

One thing that stood out to me was how good the production is here. The sound is rich and has so much depth. The vocals and instrumentals work perfectly with each other, neither one being drowned out, even in the most intense moments. In short, it just sounds really good.

Another highlight for me was: “Night mode.” The strings on this song combined with the vocals just paint this beautiful auditory picture. It perfectly highlights another one of my favourite things about this record which is its instrumental diversity. You go from strings to guitar to electronic elements, and they all flow together wonderfully.

The closing track, “Sun Room,” has to be my favourite on the album. It just perfectly encapsulates the melancholic feeling of the record.

This album does a fantastic job of portraying its theme of finding meaning in the monotony. Calling the album Trust Fall makes perfect sense, “A trust fall is, in and of itself, a meaningless exercise. But it’s also an expression of the idea that good will come of letting yourself fall”. “The record is a statement about letting life take you where it takes you. It also touches on the nature of memory and our relationship with the past, as most of our work has over the years.”

I was very impressed with this album overall, and it is as good a send-off as any group could wish for.

Jakob Sheppard

If there’s one artist that is able to arrange a pasticcio of completely unrelated lyrics into a coherent and beguiling whole – from an infant donating Canada Child Benefit money to CKUW’s Fundrive to the philosophical hazards of captaincy –it’s The Famous Sandhogs. Their latest release The Song-Poem Store Volume 21 brings the total number of songs they’ve recorded as a part of this project alone to 105 in less than three years. Similar to what was chronicled in the 2003 documentary Off the Charts: The Song-Poem Story, the Sandhogs have imported a model of commissioning songs to Winnipeg where absolutely anyone is able to send them words and said poetry gets converted into songform … for free. All it takes is a simple email to thefamoussandhogs@gmail. com, and the result is akin to the title of track five from Volume 13: namely, “Send a Poem, Get Back a Song!” This anonymous musician has been setting such poems to music since March of 2020, and the momentum of these five-song EPs is continuing posthaste into 2023.

As for this most recent collection, although the songs literally have nothing to do with each other, Volume 21 is almost reminiscent of the soundtrack for a western film. The haunting voice of a narrator bard echoes off the canyon walls –seamlessly weaving five disjointed scenes together. At first, the landscape seems sparse. A subtle layering of worn guitar tracks marks the cadence of a disgraced and dejected marshal who is wearily riding out of town. “Helm” immediately captivates the listener with a contemplative intensity that cannot be contained and which subsequently explodes near the track’s end. After the fiery melancholy burns out, “South of Heaven” simultaneously presents a picture of regret and unfulfilled longing – the singular guitar and unfeigned voice conveying the image of a weary traveller who has found temporary respite in a campfirelit cave. While the tempo remains the same, spirited resolve characterizes what follows in “Phone is Where the Twine is,” with driving electric guitars and drums impelling listeners into new territory. And before things ultimately fade to black after the stripped-down, introspective “A Cat Named Gio,” TFS dispenses some levity in the hallucinatory aside of “Audrey the Baby.”

The Song-Poem Store Volume 21 is available exclusively on Bandcamp with a set cost of “Name Your Price.” Given that this is only the second release by The Famous Sandhogs so

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.

The clearest takeaway from Lizzards II is the band’s undeniable chemistry and ego-less collaboration. Swapping singers is part of that, but it’s mostly evident in the very bones of their songs. “I Enjoy Being A Boy,” for example, kicks off with a thundering bass line well and swell enough to be the song’s main feature; that’s only until the face-melting guitar solo jumps off at a blistering pace. The chorus, which undoubtedly features the lyrics “I enjoy being a boy when I’m with you,” are backed by Beach Boys-esque “Oooohs.” It’s a tight track that comes in at under two minutes but makes a lasting impression.

One highlight on an album of highlights is “Freezing Cold,” a surfrock gem that features call-andresponse lyrics, endearing monitor buzzes, and, as one might expect, fuzzed-out guitars. It’s a catchy track that instantly makes you fall in love with the record.

Let’s also call attention to the impeccable penultimate, “The Leader.” Somewhat Sadies, somewhat Gun Club, this garage/country ballad is a perfect example of both genres’ propensity for cynicism, regret, and misanthropy. It’s probably the most lyrically dense track on the album (not that every song has to be) that wrestles with the nature of blind faith. “Come with me, and you will see you’ll reap just what you sow/ Trust in me, and I will lead to galaxies unknown,” says the song’s unreliable narrator.

There is everything you could ever want out of a garage album. Breakneck drumming? Check. Lofi vocals? Check. Scuzzy guitars that fucking rip with catchy riffs? Check and Check. It’s an undeniably old-school DIY rock that we don’t always get these days. Here’s to Lizzards III. Myles Tiessen

Get involved with