June / July 2014

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Stylus

June/July Issue3 2014 Volume25

Production Team Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sheldon Birnie Art Director . . . . . . . . . . . . Andrew Mazurak Assistant Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gil Carroll

On the Cover

TOBY GILLIES is a friendly fellow, and a third generation artist from Winnipeg. He draws inspiration from images that almost look like things, food, popular houseplants, microwave cookbooks etc. and the process of working. Aside from his personal practice, Toby has been involved in community art for many years.

You can view more images at: www.tobyigillies.com

Advertising Managers . . . . Birnie and Maz editor@stylusmagazine.ca, andrew@mazmedia.ca Cover Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Toby Gillies Printed by JRS Print Services: 204-232-3558

Contributors Mister Jan Victoria King Grace Moyer Daniel Emberg Greg Gallinger Broose Tulloch Paolo Santos Scott Wolfe Matt Williams Seamus HamiltonPattison Kaitlyn Emslie Farrell Topher Duguay Devin King

Stylus is published bi-monthly by the University of Winnipeg Students’ Association, 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, R3B 2E9 Phone: 204-786-9785, Fax: 204-783-7080 editor@stylusmagazine.ca www.stylusmagazine.ca Contributions will be accepted in the body of an email. No attachments please. All submissions may be edited and become the property of Stylus. Unauthorized reproduction of any portion of Stylus is strongly discouraged without the express written consent of the editors.

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TableofContents Blah, Blah, Blah Events Around Town . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Live Bait LeE HARVeY OsMOND // Against Me! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 CKUWho Trouble with the Sandman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 CKUW Program Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Local Spotlight Human Music // Micah Visser // Ridley Bent . . . . . . . . . . 22 Ulteriors Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks // Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Root Cellar Laura Cantrell // Boy & Bear // Old Man Luedecke . . . . . . . . . . 23 Under the Needle Wizards/The Faps // Glen Hansard // The Bamboos . . 25 Fear of Music An Alternate History of Big Shiny Tunes 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Features The Deep Dark Woods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Mac DeMarco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Sharon Van Etten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 The Wet Secrets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Hearing Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Timber Timbre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Immortal Sacrament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

June/July 2014 Stylus Magazine

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LOAD CODE OF OUR JUNE/JULY TIME FIND A REISSUED COPY OF STYLUS FOR YOUR DOWN PLANET, HALF PINTS, AND THE UW. WILD , MUSIC THE INTO AT S STAND ON TUNNEL TAPE ZINE -PRESENTED BY THE UWSA, CKUW, AND STYLUS MAGA

Blah, Blah, Blah Summer’s here my friends, and the time is right for racing in the street. As always, Wednesday means honky tonk and whisky down at the Cavern with Andrew Neville & the Poor Choices *** Saturdays Byrne Fiddler hosts an evening of tunes down at Wee Johnny’s, below Johnny G’s on McDermott *** Every Sunday there’s a Blues Jam at the Times, hosted by Big Dave McLean *** Celebrate the coming summer sunshine with the Real Love Summer Fest June 6-8 up at the Flying Bison Ranch in beautiful Matlock Beach. With performances from Twin, Palm Trees, Ingrid Gatin, Micah Erenberg, Animal Teeth, Surprise Party and many more, you best get on it, buddy *** June 7, Potatoes are celebrating their record release party at the Windsor, with Chica Boom Boom and Baby Nebula *** Gay Nineties and Wet Secrets [pg 11] are playing The Pyramid on Sunday June 9 *** Bison BC get heavy at the Windsor June 10 *** June 11 the legendary Jonathan Richman is performing at the West End as the Garrick hosts Blackfoot *** Thursday June 12 check out the New Lightweights and Jay Aymar at the Times Change(d), or check out Fiver over at the Windsor, or-or check out Mise en Scene over at Union with Solids and Animal Faces *** Oh snap! It’s time once again for the Winnipeg Jazz Fest, buddy! St Vincent!

John Legend! Le1f! Many more, at veneus all over town! Don’t miss Timber Timbre [pg 19] at Union Sound Hall June 16. Check out jazzwinnipeg.com for more details on shows between June 12 and 22nd *** Friday the 13th, Library Voices bring the (quiet!) ruckous to the WECC, with Naysa and Novillero, while Public Animal and Spaghum destroy eardrums at the Windsor or see Slow Dancers play with The Hours and Some-

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body Language at Natural Cycle (BYOB) *** June 14 you best believe the Times Change(d) is hosting the Opry Country Classics All-Star Band, Flash Out release their album at the Windsor with Plague, Satanic Rites, and Parfumerie; also DJ Jazzy Jeff will be kickin’ the 80’s jams all night at Union *** Blitzen Trapper make a stop in town at the WECC June 15 *** Strange Attractor and the Party Dress get weird at the Windsor June 18 *** The Sturgeons prepare to drop their newest album June 19 at the Park Theatre *** Friday June 20 Clipwing take to the WECC stage alongside Union Stockyards and Triggers *** On June 21 the Forks is celebrating Aboriginal Day 2014 with a bunch of free shows and fun activities, and later on check out Old Man Markley at the Park Theatre, with Fire Next Time and the Reverend Rambler.

You like weirdos getting smashed in the face by big rubber balls? Then support the Manitoba Triumph International Dodgeball Team as they prepare for the world championships in Las Vegas. There’s a fundraiser going down at the Windsor, with Hunnicutt and Co-op, and a performance from Boats *** Anciients, Black Cobra, Black Wizard and Dead Ranch impeed the Zoo on June 23 *** Mac DeMarco [pg 7] and Calvin Love will play to as many of you that can fit in the Park on June 24 *** Need some more outlaw country in your life?

Check out the Heartworn Highways workshop at the Park Theatre June 25 S. Carey of Bon Iver will be there. You can spend the day in the sun as Summer of Sound 2014 shakes the sand at Adrenaline Adventures with DJ BL3ND, Borgore, W&W, TJR and many more *** Funk D’Void is at the Pyramid on the June 26 if you are still awake from the night before *** Wu-Tang Clan ain’t nothin’ to

fuck with at the Burton Cummings Theatre June 27; Cousins are also at the Windsor, with Human Music and Figure *** The Unbelievable Bargains album fundraiser show with Valley Girl Special and The Psychics on June 28 at Garrick Hotel *** July 1 is Canada day with Music Trader on Osborne presenting sweet local bands outside *** Dirty Catfish Brass Band get down at the WECC June 28 *** Five Alarm Funk are back at the Pyramid June 30 and July 1 *** If Michael Graves of the fucking Misfits doesn’t get painted up at the Pyramid July 2, then someone sure as hell will *** July 3, Palm Trees, PAINCAVE, and Ozconsious take over the WECC *** The Garrick has Future comin’ through town July 8 with Rico Love and Que *** Winnipeg Folk Fest July 9-13. Featuring Sharon Van Etten [pg 9], the Deep Dark Woods [pg 5], and, like, probably a bunch more bands? Check out winnipegfolkfestival.com *** Scott Weiland is doing some solo shit at the Garrick July 11 *** Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All front man Tyler, the Creator will make you kids go mental at the Garrick July 12 *** Andrew Jackson Jihad is back playing the Pyramid July 19 *** Fatlip and SlimKid3 of the imfamous Pharcyde hit up the Pyramid with Slum Village *** July 25, KENmode will be blowing the roof off the historic Windsor with Dead Ranch and Electro Quarterstaff (!!), while Cheering for the Bad Guy are going honkytonking at the Times Change(d) *** July 26 Ridley Bent’s down at the Times *** Can’t even front. JayZ and Beyoncé on July 27. People are excited. *** Tiny Ruins will be soothing the Park on July 29 *** July 31 Carly Dow performs at Times ***

June/July 2014 Stylus Magazine

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V O I C E

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C A L L I N G

F R O M

BY SHELDON BIRNIE

eep in the heart of the Canadian prairies, thouD sands of miles from the Mississippi River Delta or

the Appalachian mountains, Ryan Boldt answers a phone call from Stylus on a windy spring day. On a short break between tours, the principal singer and songwriter behind the Deep Dark Woods is enjoying the Stanley Cup Playoffs before heading deep into the States for another string of gigs.

“I’m pumped, I’ve been watching every game,” says the Oilers and Penguins fan. His primary playoff pool, heavy with Bruins and Blackhawks, is performing well. And while he’d like to see the Penguins, his “Eastern team,” go all the way, he’s doubtful Fleury’s goaltending can take them the distance (which, combined with a lackluster offense, proved true). The upcoming tour dates throw a bit of a wrench is his playoff consumption, however. “I’m gonna miss lots of games. I hate going on tour during the playoffs.”

But with a (relatively) new and highly acclaimed album on their hands, the Deep Dark Woods have been touring relentlessly since Jubilee’s release in the autumn of 2013, logging miles and miles and miles across North America and Europe. The reception, according to critical evaluations online and Boldt’s own assessment, has been positive.

“It’s going over real well,” says Boldt. “People seem to like the album. But I don’t really pay attention all that much,

I just play the songs and hope that people like the show.”

That concentration on the craft and performance of each song brings a quiet intensity to the music of the Deep Dark Woods, which includes Chris Mason, Lucas Goetz, Geoff Hilhorst, and new addition Clayton Linthicum. When the lyrical subject matter leans towards the classic folk tradition of murder ballads, broken dreams, and the tragedy of everyday

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ILLUSTRATION BY MISTER JAN

life, it could be easy for a Deep Dark Woods gig to be a bit of a dour affair.

But that’s not the case. Sure, there’s not much fist-pumping in the crowd or wild, rowdy merrymaking. The sheer power of the performance, the blizzard like intensity of their tunes, can be an elevating experience, for those both on and off the stage. And the boys have been known to throw a barn-burner into the mix, here and there.

Jubilee, as an album, does a great job of showcasing these complementary aspects of the band’s sound, while expanding their repertoire with some of their strongest songwriting to date. And so it came as some surprise when Boldt explained that much of the record had been written in the few short weeks leading up to the recording sessions.

“There’s maybe three or four songs that I had done maybe a year before,” he says. “But the majority of them were done about three weeks or a month before we went into the studio.”

The recording itself was done in a different manner than the Deep Dark Woods had used in the past. Rather than worry about time and constantly be “watching the clock” in a studio setting, the band bought or rented all the equipment needed for a studio, and rented a cabin in Bragg Creek, Alberta.

In the Beaver House, the band set up in much the same fashion as the Band recorded their Music from Big Pink and self-titled masterpieces, playing as live off the floor and in each other’s faces as the large cabin allowed. They also brought Jonathan Wilson on board as a producer.

“We met [ Jonathan] at the Newport Folk Festival,” Boldt recalls. “We just got to talking and we thought it would be a good idea. Getting a younger guy to produce your record is nice. They’re all fresh and not worn out [chuckle]. He’s just totally into music, it’s not really a job for him at this point.”

Wilson, who has worked breakthrough albums for Dawes (Nothing is Wrong) and Father John Misty (Fear Fun), seems like a natural fit with the band. On Jubilee, the 13 brooding tales of whoring, violence, heartbreak, and loss are all allowed the

room to unfold and breathe. The result is an album that is rooted in the vibe and tone of 2011’s brilliant The Place I Left Behind, but stands tall as a record that is more fully developed and exploratory.

And it’s no small wonder, after the hundreds and hundreds of shows these guys have played since they started out in Saskatoon almost ten years ago, and the well of folk music’s storytelling tradition they return to again and again.

“Bob Dylan’s kind of the guy who I love the most,” admits Boldt. “He’s made I don’t know how many records and most of them are amazing. And I love traditional music, like English and Irish, Scottish and American music, too. I just love the storytelling in those old traditional songs, murder ballads. Shirley Collins is a fantastic singer of those songs.”

But rather than just another folk act, the DDWs also tap hard into a tradition of heartbreak found in soul and blues music.

“I love Percy Sledge and Joe Simon. I love Dan Penn’s songwriting. They’re really simple songs, but there’s just so much soul involved in it. If somebody that had no soul sang those lyrics, you’d find them really cheesy. But the way Dan Penn writes them and Percy Sledge sings them, or Aretha Franklin sings them just blows you away. Then you’ve got blues singers like Fred McDowell and Mississippi John Hurt, those guys.”

And a potent mix of folk and blues traditions, heartbreak and longing, that makes Boldt & Co’s backwoods mash such a potent brew. A brew that’s perfect for sustaining one through the depths of an Canadian winter, or enjoying the bright, warm nights of a prairie summer. Be prepared to drink deep in Birds Hill, folks. It’s been a long time since these boys have been through our way, and you never know when the road will bring them back.

Do not miss the Deep Dark Woods at the Winnipeg Folk Fest this year. Ye have been warned, friend. If miss them ye do, you can catch them at Ness Creek, Calgary Folk Fest, and the Gateway Festival.

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Mac Demarco No straight talk here...

BY GIL CARROLL

ith the release of his new, overwhelmingly fresh W and catchy LP, Salad Days, Mac DeMarco has been

dragged into the indie music spotlight with force. He’s been told to stay there, take countless interviews with every music blog in North America and Europe, sing some songs to sold out crowds all over the world, tell jokes and do a funny dance. With so much coverage and a frenzy of hip kids surrounding Mac at this point, what else is left to be said?

After I made multiple attempts to arrange a sit down, face to face Skype interview with Mac, it was officially called off after Mac got stuck at the Brazilian consulate. In the end, an email interview was all he could make time for. Deciding what questions to send to Mac was exciting, but tough. He is, afterall, a guy who just announced a collaboration with Tyler the Creator, covers Limp Bizkit live, and yet also writes some gentle lullaby-like songs with the repetitive phrasing of “it’s easy love, fits like a glove, from up above together.”

DeMarco is a tough guy to pin down. After reading his email responses, it became clear to me that his less than enthusiastic answers actually meant more than I initially realized. Mac, is simply, a guy who just wants to have fun and be strange, enjoy the wild ride he has been thrown on, and make great music along the way.

As a huge fan of Captured Tracks, the Brooklynbased label that has released Mac’s past three albums, I was excited to find out how“Shitfather” - a super group featuring members from some of the label’s best bands, including DIIV, Wild Nothing, and Beach Fossils - came to be. Mac played drums in Shitfather, whose only performance to date was at the CT5 festival, a celebration of the label’s fifth year. The two day event featured performances in Brooklyn by most of the labels heavy hitters including Blouse, DIIV, Beach Fossils, Craft Spells, Widoswspeak and, of course, DeMarco. Shitfather covered songs from Cleaners from Venus, The Wake and Craft Spells. Stepping out of the spotlight and sitting steady behind the drums afforded Mac a rare moment – to play the music he loves without the expected shtick that comes with his performances. This was a subtle reminder that not only

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PHOTO BY ANDREW MAZURAK

is this dude hilarious and a fan favourite, he is full of unique musical talent and style.

Stylus: How did Shitfather come about? Who wrote those songs? Is there any possibility for a future Shitfather album to be recorded and released?

Mac DeMarco: Shitfather was just a cover band.

We practiced a couple times so we could play at the CT5 festival. I don’t think we’ll ever do a record, hahahaha.

A performance by a group like Shitfather allowed these musicians who have been large influences in guitar/ bedroom/lo-fi music over the past half-decade and more to display their influences and musical prowess.

Mac is, not surprisingly, one hell of a drummer.

Mac is in great company in the Captured Tracks family. The label puts out records from an impressively diverse and ground breaking lineup of new artists, as well reissues albums from lesser known/odd shoegaze bands like Medicine and Deardarkhead. Most of the bands on CT are able to capture the sounds of walking by the beach, on intense pain killers, the sun battling for presence with dark clouds in the sky.

Stylus: You and your band use a lot of vintage gear. Does the sound you are going for influence what gear you use, or does the gear you use influence your sound? What is your favourite piece of musical equipment you own?

MD: I think the gear influences the sound. Most new music gear sounds like a bowl of butt cheeks.

I’ve just always played old stuff since I was pretty young. I love these Yamaha E1005 and E1010 delay units I have. They sound crazy.

DeMarco’s use of delay units and old cheaply-made guitars have allowed him to establish a refreshing and distinctive tone which carries his own style of light suburban youth lyrics. The result of this is three albums worth of beach pop gems. Naturally, due to Mac’s hazy poppy style, a recently announced collaboration with

Tyler the Creator, (the most notable member of the LA based hip hop collective, Odd Future) was surprising and unsurprising at the same time. Tyler, the Creator is known for his onstage antics and rowdiness, and has throngs of fans that would fall under “skater dude,” not unlike Mac’s.

Stylus: Any other collaborations you are working on at the moment?

MD: ‘I’ve been trying to milk some sperm out of George Clooney’s member. It’s a long and arduous process, but I feel like we’re making progress.

Nowadays, DeMarco is being spotted higher and higher on festival lineup posters. In August, Mac will play Osheaga and Pickathon alongside bands like Modest Mouse, The War on Drugs and Woods.

Stylus: What is your favourite part of music festivals?

MD: How expensive everything is.

Festival lineups for the big summer fests such as Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, and Sasquatch are diverse. However, many of the headliners are recycled and reflect the need for festivals to appeal to huge EDM crowds and folk sing-alongers.

Stylus: What are your top five favourite bands playing music at the moment?

MD: YMO, Connan Mockasin, The Doobie Sisters, Juan Wauters, Amen Dunes.

Stylus: What should Winnipeggers expect to see at your show here in June?

MD: My buttcheeks.

There is no doubt the show will be a packed house full of people who will be expecting nothing less. Check it out for yourself when Mac DeMarco takes to the stage at The Park Theatre on June 24 with Edmonton lo-fi pop act Calvin Love and local gloom pop group Naysa.

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BY VICTORIA KING

hile most will tell you not to judge a book by its W cover, the cover of Sharon Van Etten’s latest release

is the picture that tells a thousand words. Banal maxims aside, Are We There?is anything but boring, repetitive, or cliché – in fact, she describes this record as her most personal and current release yet (and it shows).

Van Etten explains that the cover of the new album conveys several of the themes that permeate throughout her latest release – motion and movement, change, and the interplay between lightness and darkness. The cover of Are We There? is a photograph of Sharon’s good friend Rebecca, taken shortly before she’d moved to Indiana to get married and settle down. Sharon, on the other hand, was headed to New York to pursue music.

Sharon describes Are We There? (her fourth full length release) as extremely autobiographical and her “heaviest” album yet. “Not heavy sonically,” she told Stylus. “I consciously wanted it to be wide and open . . . Every other record has been a reflection of the past and having some perspective. In this one I’m still in it, I’m still figuring it out, I’m still asking some questions. ” Her previous release, Tramp, was critically acclaimed and its success secured her name in the music scene. That album featured several big names and music types, for example Aaron Dessner (the National) as the producer. Sharon said that she’s grateful for the record and everyone that worked on it, though she ended up questioning why audiences were really interested in her music.

“So many people would ask me about the National,” she confides. “[They asked] more about people than content and songwriting . . . I was like, ‘I’m going to prove it to myself that I write strong songs and I don’t need these people with their big names to make the song what it is.’ They helped it a

ILLUSTRATION BY GRACE MOYER

lot but the bottom line was that I wrote these songs and I wanted to prove it to myself that I could do it myself.”

Van Etten wrote Are We There? while touring - on the road, before sound check, and in the van.

Over time, she realized that her collection of new writings was the beginnings of a new album – a very personal one that would detail her struggles to balance having a personal life and a career as a professional musician. While home in New York between tours, Etten would experiment in a new practice space where she would go and write and be loud.

“I ran around like a crazy person in a music playground trying everything with nobody around, no filter.”

“I’m not a technical person,” she admits. “I’m very ‘from the heart and vibe and feel.’ I don’t know what key I’m playing in, I don’t know what time signature I’m playing in. But for me it’s demonstrating and learning how to show emotions and learning to communicate in a different way.” She pulled these new materials together and got her band working and recording. On this release, she’s the producer.

“I’m asking myself after ten years of trying to pursue music, is this really the right thing?” she wonders. “Have I put my energy into the wrong thing, because I could have been writing all this time without trying to perform. Now I don’t really have much of a life, you know? . . . It’s like I chose a different path,” Sharon references the front photograph as her friend’s choice. “My work, my music is just as important to me as having love. The irony is that I write about it all the time and I don’t have it.”

She laughs, “So that’s what’s heavy.”

Though she might sound unsure, the powers of the cosmos (or whatever you’d like to call it) have pulled together all sorts of crazy coincidences, influences and concepts in an organic fashion for Are We

There? that might suggest this album was meant to be. For example, the role of French filmmaker Agnes Varda.

Rebecca and Sharon sent letters to stay in touch after Rebecca moved away. In one of her letters to Etten, she included a photo of a woman who she thought looked like Etten. The photograph withstood ten years in Etten’s New York apartment, subjected to the bipolar seasons and temperature fluctuations that evade New York’s high rises. Etten eventually passed off the aging photograph to a friend, asking him to preserve it. This friend recognized the face of Etten’s mysterious doppelganger as iconic French filmmaker Agnes Varda.

After learning about her identity and longstanding career in film and art, Etten found herself sincerely relating to Varda’s work, “being a strong woman and talking about it and having a career, but having it being centered around feminism. I felt like it was a really important part of the story for this record.” The first music video for the first single off the album “Taking Chance” is inspired by Varda’s film Cléo from 5 to 7. Sharon laughs, “Every now and then when something like that happens I feel like it’s the universe telling me I’m doing the right thing.”

If you’ve been wondering (as I was before speaking to her) if ‘Are We There?’ is intentionally meant to be vague, the answer is yes. “I wanted it to have many meanings and open and undefined in a way . . .

[There] is wherever you truly want to be, in the right place or space just where you want to be. It’s a good question to ask yourself: are you doing everything you want to be doing?”

Sharon Van Etten will be headlining the Big Blue Stage for the Winnipeg Folk Festival on Sunday, July 13. For more festival details, you can check out winnipegfolkfestival.ca.

My work, my music is just as important to me as having love.

The irony is that I write about it all the time and I don’t have it. www.stylusmagazine.ca

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BY DANIEL EMBERG

Most guitar slinging party pigs have, at some point,

talked themselves into thinking a spontaneous band would turn out great. How could it not? Get a few pals together, crack a couple bottles, don’t plan anything and just bang out a quick record. It’ll be legendary, man! Of course, this method rarely spawns anything worth sharing outside the basement where it starts, but once in a looooong while, someone catches lightning in a bottle.

The Wet Secrets were those someones nearly a decade ago in Edmonton, Alberta. As the story goes, a few of the original members got hammered and went through the “let’s just do this” song and dance. Within a week, they put together a record (A Whale of a Cow) and played their first show at a long-defunct bar called Seedy’s. It went so well the band decided they might consider treating themselves as more than a lark.

Soon enough The Wet Secrets were hopping all across the land to lead punky dance parties. They stuck in memories by way of stellar performances coupled with matching uniforms reclaimed from the drummer’s old adolescent marching band.

The band’s 2007 record, Rock Fantasy, garnered heaps of love all over the place, even beyond the independent media circuit: CBC was impressed enough to name “Secret March” to their list of the twenty best Canadian songs of the decade. This was a hoppin’ dance band with lots to like: sweet horns, his/hers vocal harmonies, fuzzed out bass riffs, and keyboard fills so evocative of the Stranglers that it could not have been an accident. A closer parsing of

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PHOTO BY FISH GRIWKOWSKY

the album revealed the songs were all dark as hell, filled with observational barbs that should make the audience question whether the band is laughing with them or at them.

All arrows seemed to be pointing up, then the band suddenly went dormant. There was no breakup announcement to bemoan, there just weren’t any more shows or records. To an outsider, the most pertinent reason was that other projects were simply taking up a lot of their time. Lyle Bell (bass, lead vocals) plays with Shout Out Out Out Out and is “Whitey” of Whitey Houston, while Trevor Anderson (drums, vocals) is an accomplished filmmaker.

Late last year, though, word got out that The Wet Secrets would be dropping a new record and going hard in 2014. The time away from this project helped the members hone their respective perspectives, set some goals, and finally right the wrong of never having played in Winnipeg. Accordingly, this year has already seen them chew up SXSW, spit out some UK festivals, and now they are poised to get feet stomping in Winnipeg for the first time on June 8.

“I’m half optimist, half kinda cynical curmudgeon,” says Bell of the band’s current status, “so now we’ve got a way more sound kinda business plan.

That may not be exactly rock n roll, but I think it’s a smarter way to do this.”

How does a band with a serious plan get back on its horse after a few years away? In this case, a couple of funny videos are helping move things along in support of Free Candy, which came out a

few months ago and is just as catchy, moody, and wry as its predecessor.

“Sunshine” announced the band’s return to activity with a cute cat video, which is irresistible enough.

Then the follow-up single, “Nightlife,” brought with it a genuinely hilarious video that even managed to get Joe Flaherty to dust off his old Count Floyd character from the SCTV days.

Explains Anderson, “I also direct theatre. [Flaherty] came and guest starred with this improv comedy show I was directing, then we just stayed friendly ever since.” When the time came to make the video, “we were spitballing ideas about this ageing vampire character, and I was like, ‘Hey, I know an ageing actor who plays a vampire.’ Joe said yes, came to Edmonton in December from his sunny home in Los Angeles,” and soon enough the deed was done.

Sounds like The Wet Secrets are as ready as ever to reveal themselves to you. And they even satisfy the key requirements Winnipeggers demand of visitors: they know how long winter lasts, they gasp at the thought of effective urban planning, and they need not be told that the plural for “beer” is “beer,” so maybe come on down and tilt a few of those if you’re into that kind of thing. Give ‘em a warm welcome, dance the night away, and strut your way out with the satisfaction of a Sunday well spent.

The Wet Secrets play the Pyramid Cabaret on June 8 with Gay Nineties. Tickets are $7 in advance at Into the Music, Soul Survivors, or the Pyramid.

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LEE HARVEY OSMOND AT THE BURTON CUMMINGS THEATRE FOR THE JUNO SONGWRITERS’ CIRCLE. PHOTO BY ANDREW MAZURAK

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Liv

ive Bait

LAURA JANE GRACE OF AGAINST ME! AT THE WEST END CULTURAL CENTRE. PHOTO BY GREG GALLINGER

Trouble with the Sandman

Midnight Wednesday to 6:00a.m. Thursday morning on CKUW 95.9 FM or ckuw.ca

David Tymoshchuck is an integral member of the CKUW radio team. The musical director and host of Trouble with the Sandman came to Winnipeg from his hometown just outside of Riverton, Manitoba.

Random features the hour of suck, backwards music and the dawn yodeler have become instrumental to early Thursday morning radio since he first took to the airwaves.

Stylus: How long has your show been running on CKUW? What changes and developments have taken place since you started the show compared to what it is today?

David Tymoshchuk: About two and a half years. I am not a morning person and previously, I always had morning shows where I had to stay up all night just so I could show up on time. Because If I had gone to bed, I would always sleep in and miss my slot. I thought “This is stupid,” and offered to do the overnights. When the Tuesday midnight to 2:00 a.m. program Pool of the Black Star ended I remember our Program Director, Robin, being shocked at my offer of doing a fill-in. “Really?! You actually want to do the whole six hours?” So that was spring of 2011 (at least I think it was spring).

I left that slot when a hip-hop show applied for it and I declined to apply for it as well. When the Wednesday electronic show Nocturnal Radio was done I took that slot over. First show was November 24, 2011 and somehow I am still here, and officially on the schedule (in front of your face in this magazine!). The current show has many rotating features that are never scheduled at the proper times because I’m a little too organic (read: unorganized) for that. Now six hours just flies by. Listening to the sheer volume of new music I’m cataloguing in the Music Department helps. Often the first play of a new record on CKUW is in the dead of night when I play it. I should add that late night radio is the least profitable and therefore neglected slot that other stations leave to robots, repeated daytime shows or syndicated feeds if you are PROOF

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lucky. I can’t stand by and watch the opportunity of overnight radio go untapped.

Stylus: What is the most memorable show you have hosted in the overnight slot?

DT: Not show per se, they all blur together. I have moments that stick out though. A listener calling at 4:00 a.m. to request psychedelic music because he finished his busboy shift and wanted to drop some acid. The few times I’ve had live performances or guest hosts on. I’ve only had two artists perform live: Johnny Sizzle, and Mallory Knox. It seems only the real underground bands agree to show up, I’ve asked others.

Stylus: Does the overnight slot allow you to “get away” with more risqué topics?

Trouble with the Sandman broadcasts every Thursday from 12:00am – 6:00am on 95.9 FM or online at ckuw.ca. Listen in.

Hey bands! Do not hesitate to come down to CKUW and drop of your music! For a full, unabridged version of this interview, check out www.stylusmagazine.ca

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DH: Yes. The dead of night means less listeners are tuning in but allows for a more relaxed format so I’m free to really practice radio as an art form instead of some “infotainment” product. Also, due to the length of the time slot, I am able to play entire albums, concerts, discographies, and that four hour long song.

Stylus: What does your job as musical director entail? How much music is coming through CKUW on a regular basis?

DT: My office job involves training volunteers in the Music Department, who help me in maintaining the CKUW Music Collection (physically, the largest radio station music library in Manitoba that I’m aware of ). I am the liaison between CKUW and record labels, artists, distributors. So I obtain new records for the station. Also, I’m responsible for compiling the weekly Top 30 charts for the CKUW website, and reporting those to various industry charts (Earshot!, CMJ) and also a special chart for Stylus.

Tons of music comes through, from who knows where. I’d guestimate five to 20 pieces a day in all formats depending on the time of year. We always have a backlog to go through in all formats (CD/ Vinyl/Cassette/Digital) and we reject a fair amount because we simply do not have the hours or space to process it all. Local music is a priority however and I wish local bands would send us more.

Stylus: What are a few of your favourite recent additions to the CKUW library?

DT: Hobocop, Nox Boys, Surprise Party’s demo cassette, Flesh Lite, Odonis Odonis… it’s all a blur.

Andrew Dunn, Winnipeg 18 April 2012

PHOTOGRAPHER FILE NAME

KBialous-110323-35.tif LOCATION British Columbia 2012 U OF WINNIPEG HANDBOOK Kamil Bialous 4438_E_2012_Stylus_Winnipeg

MOUNTAIN EQUIPMENT CO-OP 149 WEST 4TH AVENUE, VANCOUVER, BC V5Y 4A6 604.707.3300

LANGUAGE SIZE COLOURS DESIGNER

English 3.875in x 5in CMYK Norman.Coloma@mec.ca

June/July 2014 Stylus Magazine

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hearing trees A marriage of poetry and rock BY

BROOSE TULLOCH

Five years ago Graham Hnatiuk was a well-respect-

ed Winnipeg blogger attending university when he had the epiphany to drop out and rock on. But first, he would have to overcome a crippling (and at the time, untreated) depression.

“I would lie down on the street, listening to music and convince myself this was out of reach, that I could never create magic like the people I was listening to were,” Hnatiuk recalled.

“In 2009, I actually left school to do this,” Hnatiuk told Stylus. “I had extreme anxiety about about it, but somehow I was able to drop out, cash my tuition cheque and buy an electric guitar and Vox AC15 from Long & McQuade.”

Over the next couple of years, Hnatiuk immersed himself in his new art, learning how to play guitar, figuring out how to sing and “writing several notebooks of bad poetry.” He emerged with a number of songs he was willing to share, and began performing solo at open mics while recruiting members to form a band that would become Hearing Trees.

He met drummer Kyle Kunkel and bassist Joel Heidinger through ads on Kijiji. Ava Glendinning was a jazz guitarist looking to switch to rock, and as fate would have it, Hearing Trees’ guitarist had just left the band to pursue jazz.

That was mid-June. The quartet played their first show a week later at Ozzy’s as part of Manitoba Music’s New Music Wednesday series.

“We quickly developed what was the beginning of an identity,” said Hnatiuk. “And probably more importantly, we liked each other.”

14 shows and six months later, they found themselves on the Uniter Fiver, an annual list of five new artists to watch for, and playing to a near-capacity crowd at the Park Theatre.

By this time they were already planning their first recording session, with Les Jupes’ Mike Falk producing.

“It wasn’t the best idea to try recording ourselves,” explained Hnatiuk. “I happened on Les Jupes’ Negative Space and loved the vibe. So I contacted Rusty [Matyas of Imaginary Cities], who produced it who, in turn, suggested we work directly with Mike Falk [Les Jupes guitarist/vocalist].”

Despite a busy schedule running Head In The Sand records, and recording with his own band, Mike Falk found the time to produce Hearing Trees.

“Falk made us a better band fifty-fold and it started showing right away, a few days later when we played the Uniter Fiver show.”

“It’s been a good match,” Falk told Stylus. “[Graham]’s a strong lyricist and the band is hard working. I like their marriage of good lyrics with creative rock songs. They are trying to forge their own sound and be challenged to become a better band. It’s always great when a band comes in with that attitude.”

The band describes their sound as “poetry over instrumentals” rather than songs.

18 Stylus Magazine June/July 2014

Hnatiuk explains the difference, “With poetic songs, there is still a semblance of structure.

[With poetry], things need to fit in a certain way, a pattern, a cadence. With poetry over music, it is unhinged and raw. Poetry over music can also change, whereas lyrics you get locked into. There’s nothing quite like poetry fresh in the moment of recent memory, and I find that drives a great performance.”

Despite being the driving force and primary lyricist, Hnatiuk is quick to assert that this is a band project.

“I can’t have a backup group.

I’m not that good,” admitted Hnatiuk. “I can’t tell people what to do. I can’t write all the parts.

I’m not a great guitar player by any stretch. I’m not musically trained, I can’t tell you what scale or even what key Ava might be playing in.”

“I do everything by feel and emotion, what sounds good to my ear, what feels right. But nobody else in the band is like that.

Adding Ava and Joel bring an intricate melding of guitars; Ava listens so carefully and thoughtfully to the chord progression and Joel is a great songwriter in his own right and we turn to him to iron out dumb things.

Kyle adds a beat and a creativity that doesn’t come from just keeping time. These guys don’t just add input, they are the input.”

“More than anything these three people have become my best friends,” Hnatiuk added. “This music and album really is the crowning achievement of many years of struggle.”

Hearing Trees release their debut EP, October, on Saturday, June 28 at the Park Theatre. For complete details, please visit Hearing Trees online at hearingtreesmusic.com and facebook.com/HearingTrees.

ILLUSTRATION BY

ANDREW MAZURAK

Timber Timbre Scary, but far from scary only BY

SHELDON BIRNIE

T

imber Timbre crept onto the Canadian music scene like a thief in the night, capturing the imaginations of audiences and critics.

Their 2011 opus, Creep on Creepin’ On, was nominated for the Polaris Prize, and spawned a series of five mind bending cinematic short films (or, “music videos,” if you prefer). The band, formerly a solo project of Taylor Kirk’s now filled out to a larger, collaborative performance based group, recently released Hot Dreams, an LP which is sure to find its way onto plenty of Top Ten lists (and likely the Polaris Prize long list) for 2014. As the band launched themselves into “the touring vortex,” Stylus caught up with Taylor Kirk in a hotel room in gloomy Iowa City for a chat before their Winnipeg Jazz Fest performance.

Stylus: How’s the tour going? How’s the reception to the new album?

Taylor Kirk: You know, it’s really not what I was hoping for. But we haven’t really paid our dues in the United States. I guess this is how it is, generally speaking, for groups who do very well in the big cities, once they get out to the smaller markets, it’s tough. The audiences have been small, but they’ve been really digging it, I think. It’s neat that people actually travel to see shows.

The US is so big. It doesn’t seem like a big deal to drive for four hours if that’s as close as they’re going to get.

So people who are really into the project will travel for it.

Stylus: I understand there was a little more collab-

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orative approach to writing for the album this time around. You’ve had Simone Schmidt [One Hundred Dollars, Fiver] doing some lyrics. What was different about this album as to previous albums?

TK: It’s funny you should bring that up, Simone’s out with us right now, with Fiver. They’re supporting us on this round. [Collaborating] was really a great thing. It’s always been such a solitary thing for me, it sometimes feels like a bit of a burden. And that sometimes things can be a little too focused that way, like it’s one kind of laser beam focused source for everything. So it was really neat that I got up the courage to ask other people to contribute.

Like Simon [Trottier] from the group, we co-wrote a couple of the songs. He would just kind of hand me these things, these progressions and be like, “Here you go.” He wasn’t precious about them, and out of that came a couple songs. I was struggling and needed help with words and text and expressing a couple thoughts and ideas, and I’ve always admired Simone Schmidt as a lyricist. So she helped me, and seemed to dial these thoughts like it was nothing. It was really kind of neat. And it still feels uniform and focused, like us.

Stylus: Listening to Hot Dreams, if I hadn’t known you’d collaborated with a few people, I wouldn’t have been able to tell. It really does sound consistent with your previous work.

TK: There was a lot more input from other people.

Olivier Fairfield, he came up with some funny bendy Rhodes things, that really made certain songs. Like [title track] “Hot Dreams,” he had this warped Rhodes sound that was pretty key. And Matt Charbonneau played synths throughout. So yeah. It’s a lot more than me making records on my own in my basement or whatever.

Stylus: You have a background in film. Do you approach writing for film differently to writing a set of songs for an album? And how do they differ?

TK: Oh, it seems to be completely different. The experience of working for film, and working for a director, hasn’t actually been one that’s been particularly fruitful. Or rather, fruitful maybe, but successful…. just “maybe.” Neither of us, meaning the director and the group, have the vocabulary to communicate properly. And it seems that a lot of the times film-makers think they want something different or they think they want the sound of the group. But really they just want the thing that is obvious, the typical genre of clichés. And that’s totally fine. That always works, and serves the film. But we don’t really know how to do that. It’s tricky. I think once we get into it, it doesn’t really seem pure. Once you’re doing it for somebody else, it’s not as true, somehow.

Stylus: Is it still something you’d like to do, or consider working on, if you were able to establish that communication with a filmmaker?

TK: Yeah, I think so. I actually think, for a group to do it… I mean, if i were to do it myself as a composer and was able to communicate with the filmmaker, that would be one thing. But with the group doing it, like collaborating to make music for a film, I think it would have to be something very open.

Like, certain Jim Jarmusch films, they’re scored and they’re thoughtful, but they’re also very weird. It’s not traditional in any way. And that feels like a collaboration more than a true score.

Stylus: Do you have any favourite film scores, or scores that you go back to, that inspire you to work in that direction?

TK: It’s resurfaced as an interest lately. I thought that I would actually be doing this, if I were to ever have a career in music, when I was younger. I really didn’t think about being in a band. But more recently, a lot of this has come up because of being in Laurel Canyon and Hollywood while making this record.

There were all these triggers that sent me back into that kind of music. It’s funny that all this kind of music is starting to be reissued. I think there’s a new interest in general in these old film scores that are being reissued. It’s cool. I think of Rosemary’s Baby, which has been reissued. I really think that’s a clever one. Krzysztof Komeda did neat things. I like Bernard Herman’s score for Taxi Driver. Chinatown we were listening to a lot, I think that’s Jerry Goldsmith who did that. All the big dudes from that era. Morricone, I could listen to that all day long, those spaghetti western scores.

Stylus: As far as lyrics go, do you find you draw from a particular well when writing? Or how does your process work in that department?

TK: Not really, no. There used to be, I guess there’s no real pattern for that. Sometimes, in the past, I’ve gone and just directly taken things from authors and people I was interested in. And so there were a lot of textual things that informed the record and the music. This time, it wasn’t like that. All the ideas were primarily kind of musical ideas. I thought things out that sort of fit. I was thinking more about the delivery. There were only a couple authors I was curious about. I was thinking a little bit about Bukowski and John Fante.

Stylus: Do you have any other projects in the works these days? Anything on the backburner, musically?

TK: At the moment, we’re straight into the touring vortex. There are a few things that were done in the last two years, a few things that will hopefully come out in the next little while that we were working on.

But now, back in the vortex of this stuff, that’s pretty much it.

Timber Timbre perform at the Winnipeg Jazz Fest Monday June 16 at Union Sound Hall.

For an unabridged version of this interview, check out www.stylusmagazine.ca

June/July 2014 Stylus Magazine

19

IMMORTAL SACRAMENT Frying fish AND the cure to the body slam itch

BY PAOLO SANTOS

here’s a bigger fish to fry in this industry – record “T label producers should realize that,” Immortal Sacra-

ment’s guitarist Marron Verzosa said during a break in practice session at a basement studio in Winnipeg, Manitoba, for his band’s forthcoming sophomore album. “Once in a while there will be metal shows, but there is still a lot of room for progress.”

For anyone who frequents places like Ozzy’s or The Zoo, Immortal Sacrament’s may not be strangers at all. Immortal Sacrament’s have taken home several coveted first place “My Band Rocks” awards at the Dylan O’Connors and Henderson Draft House, defied conventional weekend basement jams, and fearlessly growled their way into the black hearts of numerous local scenes. Through it all, the band remained relentless in making music and have yet to show any signs of slowing down.

Paul Magnaye (vocals), Marron Verzosa (guitar), Sherwin Ylagan (bass), Ronel Villamar (guitar) and Jolo Mejia (drums) sat down with Stylus to share their thoughts and give us a brief background on Immortal Sacrament’s.

Stylus: When it comes to crafting music, is it hard work or is it more about spontaneity?

Marron Verzosa: On any given day, we create riffs and lyrics regardless of our motivation. We make sure writing happens and worry about tweaking after making headway. Great sounds are not always achieved spontaneously, sometimes you just gotta keep on trying.

Stylus: Is there anything in your sound that reflects the Philippines?

Paul Magnaye: As much as we try to dismiss any racial influence in terms of making music, we always felt we had a strong connection with our roots. Filipino’s are poetic, sensitive, brave and emotional, all of which are elements of our song-writing whether it is lyrical or instrumental.

Stylus: Do smart-phones kill moshing? People seem to be a lot more concerned on what they post on

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YouTube or Facebook.

PM: We have nothing against the use of cell-phones, it is human nature backed-up by technology. From a performer’s perspective, “Sure, pocket your goddamned phones and mosh!” However, being in the audience, sometimes you just can’t help but want to capture the moment. It never hurts us when people share our videos – fact is it actually helps spread our music in more ways than one.

When asked who among the group has the most unique musical temperament, everyone started to grin.

Without the need of words, an imaginary spotlight

immediately pointed to their lead guitarist, Marron.

According to Paul Magnaye, Marron is defiant of conventional writing and guitar playing. He sets the bar high and believes that there is always room to make improvements. Despite Marron’s strong inclination to speed and brutality, he always respects the bands identity – “heavy but lyrical,” that’s the reputation they have kept since the beginning.

Stylus: Being the latest addition and youngest member of the roster, what measures did you do to adapt with the experienced Sacrament?

Jolo Mejia: I listened to a lot of Filipino rock music as well as metal bands such as Slipknot. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t have to break a sweat to blend in.

Hell no! It took a lot of practicing to catch up. The boys also supported me by welcoming me like a fam!

Stylus: A lot of bands, through their songs advocate or express their discontent with certain global issues, what’s Immortal Sacrament’s?

PM: Corruption, inequality, economic collapse, war…. hard to even pick one! If there is one important message our music wishes to send, it has to be “hope.” We need that element in every crisis we are currently facing.

Stylus: What was the last CD or album you purchased?

[Ed. Note: This question took the band a lot of time to provide an answer.]

MV: Bloodline!

Sherwin Ylagan: Bullet for My Valentine.

JM: Killswitch Engage.

Ronel Villamar: Bon Jovi?

PM: Fuck! I can’t even remember! [long pause] Hmmm…. Tragically Hip? Immortal Sacrament will be performing at Metalpalooza in Brandon June 28th. Check out their music on Facebook or YouTube.

June/July 2014 Stylus Magazine

21

Local Spotlight

HUMAN MUSIC How’s It Goin’?

“Chill Ride,” the opening track on How’s It Goin’?, starts out as a jangly pop instrumental, bathed in the sepia tone haze of ‘90s college rock slackerdom. But with just over two minutes to go, it moves into more mysterious territory, like a good trip gone weird, paranoia setting in. It recalls the strange reptilian alien drawings on the rudimentary working cover for the album, dark and strange, a bit slithery. And that’s just the first six minutes. Throughout the record, Human Music glides through lazy, East Coast-inspired, anti-pop gems (“Mt. Climb”); sunshiney and sweet kickback anthems (“Cool Party”); blurry, low-key, reverb-drenched numbers (“Dark Zone”); and the poppy, late ‘60s swirl and spin of guitars on songs like “Jazz Kids,” where singer Cole Woods, in a Lou Reed-esque drawl, sings, “rollin’ with jazz kids/rollin’ up jazz cigs/we think it’s tragic/’cause we know you planned it.”

The album is peppered with instrumentals and in-studio soundbites of conversations. The production is simple and unpolished, which, when

coupled with the nostalgia-inducing guitar riffs and an overall sonic aesthetic, with ties to early Yo La Tengo, makes How’s It Goin’? sound fresh and timeless at the same time, one of those albums that could’ve been recorded yesterday or 25 years ago.

How’s It Goin’? is a confident debut that wholly displays a genuine love for just making music, and “who gives a fuck what else.” If you need a soundtrack for hitting the bong on a beautiful night for a walk in the summer (and pretty much everyone does) then get your hands on this record.

(Independent, thehumanmusic.com) Matt Williams

that only adds to its charm. Kicking off the album is the suitably stark and cold “First Snowfall (Part 1),” which leads into a second part that picks up the pace and sticks in your head. The rest of the EP follows suit, alternating between cutesy folk sing-song numbers and a few slower, melancholic numbers. “Poems” is a real highlight as it moves between the two moods with such ease. Sitting down for a full listen of the EP, I was instantly taken back to my days of attending open mic nights at Mondragon (RIP) or The Folk Exchange. That is to say, a little rough around the edges, endearingly simplistic and filled with a whole lot of heart.

Micah isn’t breaking new ground on this EP, but he doesn’t need to. He’s one guy with one guitar that’ll make you think of Bright Eyes or Winnipeg’s own John K. – and he does a damn good job of it. (Independent, micahvisser.bandcamp.com) Seamus Hamilton-Pattison

MICAH VISSER The Moon in a Jar Micah Visser is a fairly new face in the local scene with a real knack for songwriting. Moon in a Jar marks his second release, following on the heels of his performance during Big Fun Festival and it shows plenty of promise for a local singer/songwriter on the rise.

Despite being rather slickly produced and recorded in a studio, the EP has a distinct “basement recording” vibe

RIDLEY BENT Wildcard The third full length from Winnipeg’s Ridley Bent delivers 12 tracks of the

this up. I mean, I wasn’t expecting an orchestrated soundtrack or anything.

But the title implies a nifty B movieesque sound. Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks fits somewhere in between and far to the left. My only complaint would be that their songs are somewhat redundant. They have a similar sound to indie dudes The Neighbourhood... if they were haunted. But they kept bopping in and out of that and a goth pop feel. Perhaps this album would work for a faster paced Tim Burton film. Who doesn’t like a good Tim Burton movie? Maybe I’ll call these guys up and see if I can use a song for my next film. (Domino Recording Co., dominorecordco.com) Kaitlyn Emslie Farrell

TRUST Joyland Trust do a tolerable job of gleefully ripping off what 80s synthpop bands sound like. But they occasionally run into a weird problem where they incorporate anachronistic sounds into their palette (like the velveeta-cheesy trance synth on “Geryon,” or the house (?) drums on “Icabod”). Which would be great if I didn’t get the impression that they were trying to be faithful synthpop revivalists. Overall, the album sounds way too pristine and upto-date for music that’s essentially one guy trying to recreate the more melodramatic side of 80s synthpop. Also, Robert Alfons, the mastermind behind Trust, sounds like he’s trying to

kind of country fans of Ridley’s have come to expect. Starting off with the brooder “Fill Yer Boots,” Wildcard features the white hot guitar picking of Chris Dunn throughout, along with pedal steel gold courtesy of John Ellis and, in some spots, Ken Campbell. The record picks up with second track, “The Most Beautiful Woman Around,” which is sure to get dancefloors full in honky tonks from Winnipeg to 100 Mile House, Edmonton to Austin. The rest of the ten tracks alternate between slow dance ready numbers (“Good Ol’ Cowboy Angel Band”, ) and two-steppers (“Brooklyn, Texas” ). Bent’s lyrics often take centre stage, as the singer crafts stories of hard luck gamblers and broken hearts. A cover of Tom Petty’s “You Got Lucky” not only fits right into the gambler’s theme of the album, but makes it hard not hear the original as a country tune. The final three tracks are devoted to “The Blood Trilogy” of tunes, where an even darker side of the country cannon is explored in “Crooked & Loaded,” “Blood on the Stage,” and “Who’s the Devil Now.” While Wildcard doesn’t necessarily have the barn burning singles (“Buckles & Boots,” “Nine Inch Nails,” and “I Can’t Turn My Back on the Bottle”) that his previous two records had, the overall result is stronger, and more consistent. A great record to spend an evening playing cards and drinking to.

(Americana North, ridleybent.com) Sheldon Birnie

Ulteriors

AVEY TARE’S SLASHER FLICKS Enter the Slasher House Imagine walking down a dark and creepy hallway, with strobe lights and teenagers. As a filmmaker, I’m a sucker for slasher flicks. So I probably had a few expectations when I picked

22 Stylus Magazine June/July 2014

simultaneously imitate Ian Curtis and the woman from CocoRosie, which is not a good sound for anyone.

Despite my nitpicks with how everything sounds, the album isn’t bad by any means. The best reference point for them are the incredibly Canadian 80s band Spoons; “Geryon,” the best song on this album, reminds me a lot of their song “Nova Heart.”

NOTE: Pitchfork describes Trust as coldwave, which is weird, because coldwave bands sound like Joy Division and generally don’t sound like Spoons. If you go into this expecting anything like the former, you won’t like the latter. (Arts & Crafts, artscrafts.ca) Topher Duguay

Root Cellar

OLD MAN LUEDECKE I Never Sang Before I Met You After having seen Old Man Luedecke a couple of times and loving his banjodriven roots style, it was a bit jarring to be greeted by a poppy guitar hook and electronic percussion in the first few seconds of this four-song disc.

A glance at the back cover, though, shows that Luedecke teamed up with Joel Plaskett for this release and suddenly it makes sense. Luedecke wrote the songs, sings them and plays banjo as usual, but Plaskett produced and played a full rock band’s complement of instruments.

That initial shock aside, Luedecke’s earnest and thoughtful songwriting

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shines through as usual. One sign of a talented writer is the ability to take a well-worn theme and parlay it into a song people actually care to hear. Anyone familiar with Luedecke’s work knows he has that ability in spades, and it takes little time to emerge here. The opener, “Baby, We’d Be Rich,” is definitely the standout of the bunch. Little more than a simple listing out of all the things we do for fun that don’t pay a dime, it’s still a personal take on a theme every folkie picker needs in their repertoire. The disc closes with the “cuss version” of the same song, which adds nothing but a few f-bombs, which I would call quaint if not for knowing that it gets played on radio stations that aren’t cool with such content.

In between those two versions, we find a couple more strong songs but the big takeaway here is the full band sound. Only “Sorry If I Let You Down” keeps the banjo right up front for any extended stretch, but it doesn’t ever feel like Luedecke is having his style stifled. Frankly, it turned out better than I would have guessed,

and I don’t know whether to credit Luedecke or Plaskett because they both have fingerprints all over this sucker. Let’s just cross our fingers in the hope they enjoyed this brief collaboration enough to do more work together in the future. (True North, oldmanluedecke.ca) Daniel Emberg

LAVENDER COUNTY Lavender County Yes, this is a reissue of an album where the best-known song is called “Cryin’ These Cocksucking Tears.”

No, it isn’t a comedy album. I’m as surprised as you are. Lavender Country is, or was, Patrick Haggerty’s project. As you may have guessed by now, it was the first country album released by an openly gay singer. Since it’s from the ‘70s, it’s country in the sense of “music that you can listen to around your grandparents if they’re cool with gay people” instead of “pop music but without the fun bits,” so you can retain your hipster cred by listening to this. The lyrics are witty (anyone who refers to the joy of giving blowjobs as there being “milk and honey flowin’ when you’re blowin’ Gabriel’s Horn” can’t be that bad), and even though Patrick Haggerty’s in possession of an inherently funny voice, his music never actually strays into unintentional comedy territory.

And the album isn’t entirely funny.

“Waltzin’ Will Trilogy” excoriates the practice of administering shock treatment to gay people, and “I Can’t Shake The Stranger Out of You” achieves the trick of being convincingly sexual while being about the emptiness of casual sex.

Of course, “Cryin’ These Cocksucking Tears” is the most notable song on the album. Any song enlisting a passionate female country singer to belt out that she’s “crying these cocksucking tears” has to be. But what’s most important to remember about the album, is that far from being a winking joke, it’s actually pretty good.

(Paradise of Bachelors, paradiseofbachelors.com) Topher Duguay

LAURA CANTRELL No Way There From Here Laura Cantrell’s first album of completely original songs in nine years begins with the honest and lighthearted “All The Girls Are Complicated.” It’s a catchy, glossy, but organic slice of country that Cantrell has said is about how, “everyone is complex, no matter how they seem on the surface” – an apt start for an album that shares that concept as a whole.

No Way There From Here does not sound complicated, or challenging.

But it is. Sonically, it is simple, nofrills country music, neither Nashville slick nor Bakersfield honky-tonk, eschewing twangy solos or monster hooks for the greater good of each song. In fact, that it does not sound complicated or challenging at first is a testament to Cantrell’s powers as a songwriter. Each song sounds effortless and without gimmick.

Every song is lovingly arranged and without holes, and upon consequent listens, the weight of Cantrell’s brutally simple lyrics seeps in. The exhaustion of someone who needs a win on “The Letter She Sent”: “the day is too harsh/the night is too long/the band on the stage never played her song.” Hopeful yearning on “Driving Down Your Street”: “there’s a chain around your neck/my heart’s caught up on that chain/I wish that we were talking face to face.” Or the sound of someone working to pick up the pieces of themselves on “Washday Blues”: “I’m still trying just to get these old clothes clean.”

Each of these lines are heavier than they might read at first, and even heavier than they might have ever hoped to be when delivered through Cantrell’s delicate alto. No Way There From Here works so well precisely because it never lets you see it sweat, even though it’s working overtime under the surface. (Thrift Shop Recordings, lauracantrell.com) Matt Williams ALEJANDRA RIBERA La Boca Alejandra Ribera sets the bar high for her second album, La Boca, before the listener even hears it. In the liner notes, Ribera speaks of the slew of inspirations that birthed the record: sub-glacial lakes, bioluminescence, coming home, leaving home, watching through the window of a hospital where her friend lay dying. The songs don’t disappoint, and it’s easy to hear

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the weight of those concepts and events throughout the album.

La Boca is an album that feels as though it knows it’s burdened, but refuses to let that stand in its way. The crescendo at the end of “Bad Again,” where Ribera belts, “I’ve been spending time alone with love/I’ve been spending time alone about the house/ I’ve been spending time alone with love/and I suspect it’s not enough” leads directly into the upbeat drive of “I Want,” the spiritual axis of La Boca.

The chorus starts off with Ribera admitting, “there’s so much labour just in breathing lately,” but jumps into a list of “wants,” hopeful in the sense that things might be bad right now but there are reasons not to give up.

The emotional peak is “Un Cygne La Nuit,” a heartbreaker duet all smoky voices and sparse piano, where our two heroes whisper, “this is the saddest serenade/these are the only notes left to play.” With two minutes left, it switches gears, and together they sing, “come home, come home, come home,” as if simply the power of those

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two words together would be enough to make it so.

La Boca is a stunning record, full of gorgeous atmosphere, but not at the cost of precise, heart-on-the-sleeve songwriting. Ribera says it took about 645 days, the gestation period of an African Elephant, to get done. Worth the wait. (Pheromone Recordings, alejandraribera.com) Matt Williams PAUL FEDERICI Now And Then What an enjoyable, pleasant daydream of an album. Now And Then is cohesive and consistent, not a clunker in the mix, but if there is a drawback it’s that it lacks an obvious breakout song. Paul Federici’s voice is beautiful, sensitive and sweet in a manner that warrants comparison to Don Amero or Dallas Green of City and Colour, minus the despair. Federici’s tone is happier and brighter matching his optimistic and occasional wistful lyrics. He writes very personal song and does a nice job of balancing the narrative with the emotions.

After the inevitable love affair with his voice subsides, the supporting mix of instruments varies from song to song, but vocals and a bright acoustic guitar are always in the foreground and anchor the songs as a collection. Think Federal Lights or Philip Philips. On “Strange Disease,” an uptempo acoustic pop number, the cello adds a classical element and becomes the backbone of the song. In the studio Federici also performs his own background vocals, and sounds great with himself. (paulfederici.ca) Broose Tulloch BOY & BEAR Harlequin Dream Boy & Bear are a band that end up being in that weird gap between indie rock and folk that’s currently popular, for some reason. In their publicity photo, three of the five members wear hats, and two of these hats are flat caps, and this lets you know that they’re in touch with their authentic and folksy roots. The other hat-wearer is wearing a fedora, which defies

comprehension. Sometimes you can hear a little twinge of their singer’s Australian accent, which is very unique, but it’s generally buried under sounding like either a slightly harderrocking Mumford and Sons (“Southern Sun”) or a significantly more conventional Grizzly Bear (“Harlequin Dream”). This isn’t to say they’re bad, just extremely conventional. “ThreeHeaded Woman” veers dangerously close to rocking out in its first ten seconds, but then turns into another 100-beats-per-minute stomper that you can listen to while enjoying a delicious whale tail at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. “End of the Line” is Boy & Bear’s big anthem, which will provide you with a very meaningful experience.

Perhaps I’m making this sound way worse than it is by simply describing it in neutral terms, but by all means, if you like this sort of thing, you’ll like Boy & Bear. At the worst, you can, as I said, enjoy a delicious whale tail while listening to their music! (Island, boyandbear.com) Topher Duguay

Under the Needle

TIMBER TIMBRE Hot Dreams Hot Dreams, the sixth album in nine years from Toronto’s Timber Timbre, features ten tunes bound together by countless moments of dark and shadowy beauty. The album displays incredible musicianship, production, and overall vision and coherency which is laid out nicely on the title track, “I wanna still my mind...I want another chance to distill the time, I wanna rise up beside you, I want to be a champion in your eyes.”

Frontman Taylor Kirk has a powerful voice that tends to sounds like Leon-

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ard Cohen and Nick Cave, especially when he sings the word “avalanche”.

The sound is nostalgic and constantly demonstrates Kirk’s clear talent for great song writing. The tracks on Hot Dreams are catchy and spooky strange. Many songs move forward with bright organ and an out of phase electric guitar, leaving off from the band’s last fantastic album “Creep on Creepin’ on.” Hot Dreams builds from song to song, beginning with Kirk imagining and pleading for the way love once was. By track seven the love is broken and begins to fall - “what does it mean to be unhealthy badly, my love?...you turned me on, then you turned on me. This low commotion is going down.” When the album reaches stand out track “Run From Me,” Kirk is begging for his love to save herself the trouble of being with him. “Run from me darling, run my good wife, run from me darling, you better run for your life.” The album closes with the instrumental, “The Three Sisters,” highlighting feelings of uncertainty and longing brought about by dra-

matic and swelling horns, reminiscent of Neutral Milk Hotel’s “The Fool”.

The Three Sisters seem to be inviting Kirk back down to earth after his emotional ride with a love that is now gone, but the album ends before he can make his return. (Arts & Crafts, timbertimbre.com) Gil Carroll

WIZARDS/THE FAPS (split single) After drooling all over the Loser Surf Death EP last year, it was no challenge to get excited about new stuff from Saskatoon’s wonderful Wizards. Their side of this split, “Karma,” opens with some taiko thumping that sets the pace for a six-minute trek through sludgy stoner guitar goodness. It is a bit more vocal-forward than most of LSD, and the poppy surf guitar tones are not evident on this track—though it would be silly to proclaim some big change in their style from one song. However, it is worth saying the band already sounds more confident than last year, and this track just serves as further evidence that Wizards deserve all the love they will get from the bustling Canadian psych crowd.

The Faps are an upbeat guitar/ drum duo who also have a prior EP (ded lake) to their name. “IWSBTAR” alternates between swinging beats and cutesy little riffs, while seeming to tell the story of a party night gone long but not necessarily wrong. The interplay between the instruments is a bit too simplistic to warrant continuous plays, but “Trophy Wives” is much more fun. The bridges are short, sudden, and a welcome flourish that heighten interest in what could have been left a short little corndog song. If The Faps’ band name is not enough of a hint at their sense of humour, just listen to the closing lines of “Trophy Wives” for a more blunt explanation. The release is so far available only on cassette, but a 7” version is

expected soon. (Sound and Silence Collective, wizardmusic.bandcamp. com) Daniel Emberg PANDAS IN JAPAN Suburban Desert/Inner City Oasis Another emerging punk psych band from Saskatoon, Pandas in Japan will appeal to those who are drawn to the noisy and slightly chaotic. This foursong cassette release was recorded live off the floor, and sounds like it for reasons both wonderful (the songs sound portable, lively) and questionable (the guitar simply overpowers everything else most of the way through). The high point for this listener is the party song “High Riser,” which opens with rapid fuzzed-out grinding that grows so tightly wound there is almost a physical relief at the blissed-out airy instrumental section which follows.

Among this collection, the song also stands out for giving the most space for the non-guitar instruments to shine. It’s not as though these guys are playing orchestral rock or you need to hear the bassist shred, but after a few listens through headphones it really does seem like the guitar is simply drowning out a fun band. Word has it two of these songs have already been re-recorded for inclusion on a 12” release coming this fall, so, we’ll check back in to see if the balance has changed or if Pandas in Japan are just shooting for a more guitar-oriented vibe than expected. (Sound and Silence Collective, pandasinjapanmusic. bandcamp.com) Daniel Emberg

GLEN HANSARD Drive All Night If you remember the heart-wrenching indie blockbuster that was 2007’s Once, then you probably remember being totally enamored with leading man and Irish singer/songwriter Glen Hansard. Glen has continued making music with and without costar Markéta Irglová since then and this four song EP marks his second solo release.

The centerpiece of the EP is a cover

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of Springsteen’s near nine-minute epic, “Drive All Night.” Glen’s passionate, raw croon is front and center with sparkling acoustic flourishes keeping the song moving. The song features two special guests though unfortunately, Eddie Vedder’s presence on the track doesn’t add much besides a pleasant harmony or two.

However, the subtle, swelling saxophone lines of Jake Clemons, nephew to The Big Man himself positively makes the song. Jake fades out during the verses and explodes in the breaks – truly, this is Clemons’ song. The other three songs came from sessions for Hansard’s solo debut and certainly sound the part. Lots of piano, muted guitar and gentle crescendos provide support for Glen’s pristine singing, bringing to mind rolling Celtic hills, frigid shores and a misty Irish countryside. “Step Into The Shadows” ends things surprisingly, with only Hansard’s voice belting out a nearly hymnal melody.

If you weren’t already a fan of Hansard’s, this won’t make you one. However, as a follow-up to his debut and quick release to keep fans tied over – it’s great and bound to enhance your quiet evenings and late night walks.

(Anti-, anti.com) Seamus HamiltonPattison

“Little Hinge.” With shared vocal duties, this song is reminiscent of bands like Immaculate Machine. The use of autoharp and keyboard is more imaginative and catchy than the more straightforward instrumentation on other tracks. This evidences where the band will hopefully go with more experience under its belt. (Independent, proudanimal.com) Devin King PROUD ANIMAL Proud Animal EP Proud Animal pack a wide range of sounds across their debut self-titled EP. This may seem like a sign that the band, formed only four months before this release, was struggling to find its voice. This isn’t entirely true. The band sounds self-assured throughout, from the folky “Open up the Dark,” the guitar solo of “Alice,” and the indie charm of “Little Hinge.” While they may sound self-assured, the EP doesn’t quite work as a whole or as a sum of its parts. With only three band members, the simple instrumentation of the songs often makes them seem longer than they ought to be. The pacing too is off, as songs like “Light Was Young” stretch toward the six minute mark. Though not always consistent, there is definite charm in this band, particularly in songs like

IAN KELLY All These Lines I picked up this album fully expecting either a late-90s/early-00s post-grunge/alternative band or some sort of alt-country singer/songwriter based on the artwork. Upon popping it into the stereo for its inaugural listen, I was greeted with an album clearly influenced by both my expectations, yet one that had managed to merge those sounds into one beautiful and powerful blend.

“One Day” opens the album with some quick acoustic strumming and the sort of ethereal, clean, stuttering guitar lines you’d find at home on an Explosions in the Sky tune. The rest of the album continues much in this vein, with soothing, almost shoegazey lead guitar contrasted against Kelly’s gruff, unpretentious vocal lines, many of which recall Sam Roberts at his most raw. “The Best Years” is a big, big highlight on the album. The song starts with some sparse minor chords on the piano to accompany Kelly, then builds to a gorgeous crescendo with the help of special guest Coral Egan’s soulful, melodic harmonies.

Don’t let this one fall by the wayside – if you like your folksy, blatantly (and proudly) Canadian singer/songwriters mixed with a hint of shoegaze and dreamy indie-pop, you’re gonna love Ian Kelly. (Independent, iankellysmusic.com) Seamus HamiltonPattison THE BAMBOOS Fever in the Road Maybe I was lonely, mostly I was bored, so I went for a stroll in a seldom travelled neighborhood. I walked into this dark and dingy little club on a Tuesday night. The room was filled with cigarette smoke and the walls were covered in what could have been piss stains. Nobody interesting had ever set foot in this

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establishment before, of that, I felt sure. The bar was lined with rough men sitting on stools like they’ve been there forever. They paid no attention to me. I take a seat in the back, order a beer and wait for this mystery band to start. I assume it’s going to be some sort of house band that’s probably as rough as the bar itself, but I soon realize I’m wrong. Nine people walk out, crowding onto the stage. I had serious doubts about this clutter. But once they began the room transformed. The bar turns into an outdoor festival. The slab of cement they’re standing on turns into a large main stage and the old men are suddenly cheering fans. I look up at each of the nine members as though I’ve been waiting all night to see them.

It only took a couple songs for me to believe I was there on purpose. The album ends and I’m back in the bar.

The nine walk off stage, but it’s okay.

I know where they’re going. (Pacific Theatre, thebamboos.com) Kaitlyn Emslie Farrell JON MCKIEL New Traces This gem of an EP is a perfect display of some fantastic, yet underappreciated, Canadian talent. Jon McKiel has been compared to Chad VanGaalen.

And while those comparisons are accurate, McKiel’s music is a little more straightforward in certain aspects.

The rock and roll is amped up, with a little less experimentation and greater focus on song structure, which makes for some damn catchy songs. I actually hear a lot of similarities to some of Beck’s work as well, and it seems this music would work well in all types of situations, from a drunken party, to a sunny afternoon. There is enough variation among the songs to keep things interesting and enough wild noise and soloing to challenge the listener without scaring them away. The upbeat title track and the euphoric “Twin Speaks” are the highlights with the slower burning ditties “Tropical Depression” and “I Know, I Know” breaking things up nicely.

The only downside of this EP is that the experience is over in 17 minutes, though multiple listens are rewarding.

(Headless Owl, headlessowl.com) Scott Wolfe BIKE FOR THREE So Much Forever Bike For Three is a collaborative effort between Rich Terfry (Buck 65) and Joelle Le (Greetings from Tuscan.)

On paper this is a collaboration that should be a fine pairing. However, as one goes through this album one can’t help that the literal distance between the duo – they’ve never met in person – somehow contributes to the

emotional distance heard here. Terfry has recorded some deeply emotional songs and evoked powerful feelings through his quiet, calm expression or gruff growl, but that emotion is lacking here. “Heart as Hell” is a good example of this, and also an example of a song that retreads old ground conceptually. For a wordsmith as talented as Terfry, there’s not a lot here. Similar to the vocals, the instrumentals here – often a moody electronica – are similarly plain. “Sublimation” takes this darkness and brings character to it, in contrast to other downtempo tracks on the album. There’s some good stuff here – “Full Moon,” a more energetic but still somewhat dark track – is a showcase of the duo at its most accessible. Bike For Three has done good work in previous releases, and some of that can be seen here. The handful of great tracks here make it worth listening, but there’s enough middling material here to hold the album back as a whole. (Fake Four Inc, fakefourinc.com) Devin King

BIDINIBAND The Motherland On the title track of Bidiniband’s third record, Dave Bidini doesn’t pull any punches, as he sneers, “you might think I’m an angry, radical freak for what I’ve sung/But when it comes to speaking my mind, it’s only just begun.” He wants to talk about Canada, what it means to be Canadian, and his distaste with what Stephen Harper’s leadership has done to the country.

Of course he does. Canada is Bidini’s favourite topic. And Canadians are lucky for that, because his insights regarding the True North are often bang-on, with a love for it behind them that doesn’t wane.

It takes that sort of attitude – a refusal to give up on the idea that we, as a country, have never drifted too far from the plot that we can’t right ourselves – to make an album like The Motherland. It’s sonically diverse, musically intricate, and leaves no opportunity for the listener to tune it out. There’s the swingy sparkle and crashing crescendo of “The Grey Wave,” the bizarro heavy metal and spastic guitar solos of “The Fatherland,” a larger-than-life reimagining of Rheostatics classic “Fat,” now with 100 per cent more fiddle, the hazy

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blues-stomp of “Ladies of Montreal,” and the truly gorgeous closer, “Say The Names,” which begins with the late poet Al Purdy’s reading of part of his poem, “The Necropsy of Love.”

And all throughout, Bidini tosses out lyrical gems and barbs, the latter usually in the direction of the big man on Parliament Hill, and probably most ruthless on “All Hail Canada”: “Power is a deadly fizz/that burns away the face and skin/resembling a hideous thing/whose legacy is just to win.”

It’s sprawling and ambitious, and it hits its mark. At his best, Bidini has been able to turn his art and writing into a mirror for the country, showcasing its beauty or deep scars depending on the moment, never shying away from the truth. And The Motherland shows us what we might not want to see, but need to. (Pheromone Recordings, davebidini.ca) Matt Williams

BIG SUGAR Yardstyle When you hear the name Big Sugar, generally a big smile will come over your face and you will begin to rehash the 90s and unknowingly start to hum the chorus of “Turn the Lights On.” In their recent release they dial back the rock and dime the dub/reggae influence. Yardstyle is not the rock offering people were probably expecting, instead the band have reworked some of their back catalog while smartly peppering new tracks amongst these redone oldies. It is a chilled out, percussion heavy album with vocal harmonies galore, the one downside is the album length, at a whopping 66 minutes this monster sort of drags on. That is a minor setback though, a little sunshine, a BBQ and some form of intoxicant (it is clear what the band prefers) all mix well with this album.

Yardstyle will certainly be on rotation on patios this summer and it is certainly worth checking out. Reggae aficionados will appreciate the presence of reggae legend Willi Williams, who adds a cool dynamic to some tracks.

The slow burning, jam session vibe of this release will certainly win over some fans and it is a nice experiment, instead of the band trying to recreate their 90s heyday. (Entertainment One, entertainmentone.com) Scott Wolfe

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music 2 fear of Thy Shiny Compilation in the Night An alternate history of Big Shiny Tunes 2

By Devin King

For a lot of people, Big Shiny Tunes was a big deal.

We can say that, if for no other reason, by its sales figures. Big Shiny Tunes 2 is one of the highest selling albums in Canada, ever. Many of my generation have also been privy to nostalgic conversations about that series. This alt-rock compilation has served as a cultural touchstone – a sort of monoculture primer at the time, and defining cultural artifact now. Looking back, it would be easy to remember these songs as the only noteworthy songs of those years. However, Big Shiny Tunes – indeed, our very recollection of that time – could have been dramatically different.

In 1997, the year of BST2, the Foo Fighters had two prominent singles that appeared on the charts: “Monkey Wrench,” and their best song, “Everlong.”

Neither of these tracks appear on BST2, though BST3 does feature “My Hero.” (The music industry would correct this, when between 2003-2008 the Foo Fighters would be one of five bands to share over half of the number one Billboard singles – an era which Chris Molanphy refers to the “Oligopoly.”) There’s a trend that begins to emerge where we can see that some songs were seemingly excluded, or whose omission in retrospect is surprising.

Something striking is the number of songs and artists who were popular on the alternative charts at the time but were denied a place on BST2. U2 is a prime example. They had several hit singles (“Discoteque,” “Staring at the Sun,” and “Last Night on Earth” in that year) and not only do they not appear anywhere on BST, but those songs are largely erased from the U2 legacy and the broader cultural memory despite being widely popular at the time.

We can’t say that BST was influential in striking these from cultural memory, but not jumping on board the popular U2 train seemed a wise mood, in retrospect.

For U2 and other British rockers like Oasis (who also have two #1 hits in 1997) it might seem that the bias against them is based in regional bias.

However, Big Shiny Tunes doesn’t discriminate based on region – rather it discriminates based on label. Three major labels, along with MuchMusic, came together to curate the Big Shiny Tunes series.

Universal, Warner Brothers and EMI all helped to shape the yearly compilation. This might explain why U2 (Island Records), Oasis (Epic Records) and Foo Fighters (Capitol Records) don’t get the love you might expect.

What else could have been on the Bizarro version of BST2? Label power notwithstanding, it’s hard not to think that even if it is a bit of a misread, obnoxious anthem now, “Tubthumping” deserved more recognition than Holly McNarland’s “Numb.”

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One might even think that “Numb” was included solely for CanCon reasons, but even that doesn’t necessarily hold water. Canadian faux-poets Our Lady Peace commanded a number of prominent singles (“Clumsy,” “Superman’s Dead,”) which are both ignored here. Indeed, it’s not until 2001 that OLP is recognized for their painfully optimistic dirge “Life,” and then not again until 2009. So not only are they not recognized for what would be considered their best singles, but they were recognized for their worst singles that made the least impact.

The 2009 inclusion of “All You Did Was Save My Life” can be read as a rewriting of history, trying to give the band the credit it was seemingly missed at the time. The same can be said of The Verve and their hit “Bittersweet Symphony” – excluded in BST2, though they apparently had a single in 2008 that warranted inclusion on BST13.

Further, it’s hard not to look at this compilation and see how it’s pretty skewed to dudes. Though it’s largely a sign of the times (then and now), there’s very little representation from women here. Scanning the Year That Was Music, you can see there’s

not a lot of music by women in the alt-rock world.

There’s Celine, Missy and Mary J Blige among others, plus the mega-success that was Spice Girls, but the genre represented here is mostly left to the guys.

There are some contrasts however: Sleater Kinney’s “Dig Me Out” (which wasn’t even a single, but charted in some places anyway) is one notable example. Though a band comprised mostly of men, Shirley Manson’s Garbage did have a #1 song with “#1 Crush” for several weeks.

All this by way of saying that taste is a construct; sometimes it’s companies that formulate it, or sometimes it’s hindsight. Sometimes that construct is a product of other factors, such as sex or gender as it presents in a culture. BST is important in how it illustrates this. While it would be easy to think that we come upon our preferences solely on our own, our internal baggage and the external forces in our lives shape not only what we like in the present, but what we remember being great in the past. All tunes are shiny, but some will be remembered as bigger and shinier than others.

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