Oct / Nov 2014

S

Stylus

Oct/Nov Issue5 2014 Volume25

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

On the Cover

DANY REEDE is a multi-media artist born and working in Winnipeg, Manitoba. When he is not hanging out in seedy bars and eating pizza pops, he collects garbage including discarded construction materials, dime bags, cigarette packages and bottle caps to turn into works of art. His autobiographical art pieces are often self deprecating and overbearingly honest. danyreede.com

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

Contributors Victoria King Anastasia Chipelski Mister Jan Daniel Emberg Greg Gallinger Cole Torfason Martyna Turczynowicz Kaylee Smoke Janel Chau Harrison Samphir Kaitlyn Emslie-Farrell Nick Van Doeselaar Broose Tulloch Seamus Hamilton-Pattison Matt Williams David Tymoshchuk 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.

www.stylusmagazine.ca

TableofContents Blah, Blah, Blah Events Around Town . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Live Bait BADBADNOTGOOD // Russian Circles // Arcade Fire . . . . . . . . . . . 13 CKUWho Stylus Celebrates 25 Years of Independent Music Coverage . . . . . . . . . . . 14 CKUW Program Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 NonStopHipHop DJ Hunnicutt reveals Winnipeg’s Rap Roots . . . . . . . . . 20 Local Spotlight Naysa // TWIN // Last Ditch on the Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Ulteriors Leisure Cruise // Odesza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Root Cellar Blake Bergland & the Vultures // Ryan Boldt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Under the Needle Monomyth // Slowclub // Mo Kenny // Operators . . . . 22 Fear of Music Greg Roth, Star Robot and Mizalite Music: Sort-of Lost Legends of Winnipeg . . 24

Features Blunderspublik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Shakey Graves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Tunic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Conduct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Greek Riots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Micah Erenberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 The Crooked Brothers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 send + receive v.16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Fear of Music Greg Roth, Star Robot and Mizalite Music: Sort-of Lost Legends of Winnipeg . . . . 19

Oct/Nov 2014 Stylus Magazine

01

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

Blah, Blah, Blah Whelp, that summer didn’t really last long, did it?

Hell no. And now that we’re back in the grip of interminable winter, why not pack into a tight space with a bunch of your friends and check out these great live shows? *** Wednesdays at the Cavern, that’s right, it’s Andrew Neville and the Poor Choices! *** Sundays at the Times Change(d) it’s Big Dave McLean’s Blues Jam *** Naysa release Losing Weight October 2 at the Cavern with Figure and The Will to Power *** October 3 local noise merchants Tunic and Conduct [pg. 8] release a split 7” on Dial Tone Records down at Natural Cycle with The Hours opening up *** There is literally a shit ton of events happening October 3-5 with BreakOutWest and the Western Canadian Music Awards in town. Like, a real fuckin’ shit-ton!

The Deep Dark Woods, Powder Blue, Shred Kelly, The Dead South, Federal Lights, Mise en Scene, Crooked Brothers, Desiree Doiron, man, why don’t you just check out breakoutwest. ca/schedule-2014 for all the details? It’s gonna be crazy! *** Secret Chiefs 3 are playing West End Sunday Oct 5 with Cleric *** Oct 6 the Garrick is hosting Amon Amarth, Sabaton and Skeletonwitch *** Vancouver’s Dead Soft are stopping by the Purple Room Oct 7 for a blistering set alongside Human Music and Ghost Hole, while TR/ ST and Crator dance all over Union Sound Hall *** October 8, the Harpoonist & the Axe Murderer return to Winnipeg for a night at the scene of the crime, errr, the Park Theatre! And Grieves talks shit over at Union with Sol. Plus Pup plays the Windsor, with Dangercat and Tough Age. *** October 9 we have Pixies (sans Kim Deal) and Royal Blood at the Burt and old school shit Zion I finally making their way to Winnipeg at the Pyramid!! We gon get Silly! (Puddy) *** Friday, October 10 we’re gonna be throwing a little celebraish down at the Windsor to mark Stylus Magazine’s 25th Anniversary in style. Come on down for performances from Human Music, Black Cloud, Basic Nature, and more! There’ll be an art raffle and probably a deadly 50/50 draw! Proceeds go to help keep Stylus going for another 25 years. Alright! Oh yeah, and the Civil Disobedients are releasing a new record

www.stylusmagazine.ca

at the Park *** October 11 JD & The Sunshine Band and the Reverend Rambler share the stage at the Times Change(d). Laika release Somnia at the Windsor, with Mortalis, Tyrants Demise, and Withdrawal *** Calgary’s Beach Season obviously missed the memo about winter, because they’re playing the Garrick Hotel Oct 12, and Bombay Bicycle Club play kitty-corner at the Garrick Event Centre, with Ryan Adams kitty-cornering-closely over at the Burt as well *** October 15, Edmonton’s Old Towns are playing the Garrick Hotel Bar with Art Vandelay and Weatherman. Over at the Park, local comedian Chantal Marostica is doing an encore of her one-woman show Queer & Present Danger, followed by the hilarious antics of The Drunk Show 3. Dont miss it. Or do miss it and see favs Larry & his Flask at the Pyramid with Good for Grapes *** October 17 Cheering for the Bad Guy play the Cavern *** October 18 Low bring their heavy sounds to the WECC, while Future Kids release their EP Say Goodnight to the Machines over at the Windsor. If that ain’t enough for ya, down at the Park you can check out Rah Rah, Mise en Scene, and the D’arcys, or hit the Times to see how Greg Arcade handles a little chickenwire action. Not to mention July Talk back in the peg at the Pyramid!

Best fucking Saturday night in October! *** Chromeo are prob making their Winnipeg debut at the Garrick or you can go make fun of ‘em at the Zoo with Castle Oct 20 *** Good Christ, the smalls are back!!! And they’re playing the WECC October 23.

Or Bahamas at the Burt. Or Children of Bodom at The Pyramid. Or The Dirty Heads at Union *** October 24 & 25 the JD Edwards Band holds down the Times and the 25th specifically has The Black Keys at the MTS Centre (cuz remember Rubber Factory???) *** Matt Epp and Last Ditch on the Left play the WECC Oct 30*** November 1st a Gothic Ball at the ZOO with freaky sets by Ghost Twin, Burglar, The Hours or go the most straight-forward non-hallows eve shit you’ll ever hear by the name Wailin’ Jennys at the Burt *** Thursdays, check out some live, local music at the Pemby. 5$ cover! *** “here in my car, i feel safest of all” will be closing or opening up Nov 3 at the Gar-

rick sung by Gary Numan himself! *** November 4, The Wilderness of Manitoba return to the wilds of the Park Theatre *** Scott Nolan plays the Times November 7 *** Twin Forks and Northcote rip up the Park on Remembrance Day. St. Lucia and VACATIONER up in the Pyramids shit too.

And Tokyo Police Club cling on for dear life at the Garrick with said runners up Said the Whale and The Pack A.D. *** November 8th Greek Riots [pg. 9] release their debut EP at The Cavern with Solhounds and Naysa *** I’m tired of words right now but probably not as tired as Gordon Lightfoot who plays MTS Centre Nov 8 *** Fleetwood Mac @ Manitoba Telecom Services Centre on Nov 10 *** November 14 marks the 1 year anniversary of the Heartworn Highways series down at the Park Theatre. Over at the Times, the Perpetrators hold down a two-night stand Nov 14 and 15 *** East Coast legend Buck 65 will be warmly welcomed back to the Pyramid Nov 15 *** Lagwagon has a great band name and plays Pyramid on November 18 *** John Fogerty is over at MTS while Sam Roberts takes his Band to the Walker on Nov 19 *** DJ Shadow + Cut Chemist = Afrika Bambaataa’s record collection at the Garrick on Nov 20 *** November 21 & 22, it’s NeilFest at the Times Change(d), featuring Carly Dow, Chris Carmichael, Ultra Mega, and many more! *** Death to All! Obituary! Massacre! Rivers of Nihil! Untimely Demise! Good Lord, what a dark night the Park has in store on November 23… *** November 24 at The Handsome Daughter Beach Station Blues III will be released to the world with performances

by Ingrid Gatin and Somebody Language (let’s hope the long-awaited venue is actually open, eh?) ***November 24 & 25 don’t miss Shakey Graves as he retrieves his best pal’s soul at the Park Theatre [pg. 7] *** Nov 24 Devin Townsend Project at Garrick *** Nov 26 Ryan Hemsworth at Union *** Geoff Berner and Rae Spoon take to the WECC stage on November 28, while over at the Burt Mother Mother will be raising the roof, and Cheering for the Bad Guy play the Times *** Nov 30th hosts Cold Specks and their doom soul goodness at the Park. See ya in December!

Oct/Nov 2014 Stylus Magazine

03

An

Homage

to

90s

Winnipeg

BY VICTORIA KING

and pushing and shoving, a lot of intense energy at those shows.”

As well as hosting plenty of all-ages shows, the 90s were a time Curtis remembers for its prolific tape production. He remembers bands like Eric’s Trip and Pavement, bands that would record on a four-track in their living room and would release on big labels like Sub Pop. “I remember sitting in my bedroom and flipping the tapes over and over again, trying to figure out some of them at the guitar at the time.”

Which is what got him into experimenting on his own tapes. Not only did those cult status groups get him excited about music – so did local shows. “I remember going to the battle of the bands shows that would be promoted at my high school …

When I was a teenager, I got obsessed with music like no other time in my life. When you’re young,

@bigfunfestival

www.stylusmagazine.ca

music is textual and visceral, and I didn’t have much other things to spend money on,” he laughs, “so I’d go to shows and buy any t-shirt that was there and every single tape, buy a 10” even if my dad’s record player didn’t work.”

Kittens and Shit isn’t the type of Blunderspublik release you’re probably used to. On the whole, the album is way more poppy than the regular Blunderspublik, and incorporates traditional songwriting elements in the vocals, pre-posed structure and sound pallet. “I never go into a release knowing a pallet of sounds I’m going to use – that usually just happens as I go along.”

“The first responses I got were sending it to the bands themselves, which was really nervewracking. I wanted to get everybody’s OK.” But as Curtis rationalizes, “It’s Winnipeg. Eventually you become friends with your heroes.” He got the OK from most of the bands (the others he simply couldn’t track down) and says those reactions were really positive and they were flattered – Brendan from Mikimoto plays his bass part on “Drunk Monks” as well.

“I just started out because it was a fun project,” says Curtis. What’s come out of the EP is a taste of those local bands who have long since laid down their instruments and moved onto other projects. “I’ve lived in a few different places and I think that [the Winnipeg music scene] is actually different and interesting. Despite how self-deprecating it is, I think we actually have a pretty good thing going. There’s the cliché of the isolation, I don’t know if there’s much to that. I think that there’s more validity in the idea that because all of the pockets of genres are small, there has to be crosspollination between bands . . . I also think that the Winnipeg scene is good because there isn’t a lot of potential to be a commercial success so I think most people making music don’t care,” he explains. “Because the potential for that is so low in Winnipeg, people just write how they want and music is always better that way.” bigfunfestival.com

You probably remember the first local show you ever saw, right? It was probably at the Albert, Ozzy’s, the WECC, maybe even Wellington’s. It was dark and grungy, you were zitty and nervous. But as far as you were concerned, that band onstage were the best thing you’d ever seen.

Curtis Walker (aka Blunderspublik) remembers his first concert – it was Bulletproof Nothing opening for Sloan when they were touring their first album. The latest release from Blunderspublik, Kittens and Shit, pays tribute to several Winnipeg bands from the 90s, taking on a number of different styles to commemorate five local groups: the Bonaduces, Kittens, Shit, Mikimoto, and Hushfeed.

He explains that the release began like most projects in Winnipeg do – in the middle of February when it’s too cold to go out. “It started off with one song . . . I was thinking, ‘this would be a really fun song to cover.’ Like most albums of mine, it started off with me just playing around at home.”

The seed was planted, Curtis says, and in the weeks to come whenever he would come across an old song from a Winnipeg band, he’d think, ‘Oh, this would be a fun song to cover.’ The problem was in actually choosing which tunes to cover, which became a matter of whether he could figure out how to play them.

“You can’t just google Red Fisher and find the tabs for it.”

What innocently began as a one song project eventually turned into a year and a half long recording, producing, and mastering process. Kittens and Shit is the result. “Usually it’s about four years between records for me, so this is a new record,” Curtis laughs.

Between 1990 and 1999, Curtis was aged 12 to 22, which he describes as “primetime” for discovering music and getting into music. “It seemed like there was a lot of all-ages shows happening in the 90s, which seemed to me like well established bands . . . It was kind of what we did on Fridays and Saturdays. And they were always dirt cheap too!” The intensity of Kittens shows has stuck with Curtis. “I have vivid memories of seeing Kittens live, especially at the West End. There was mosh-pits

2 0 1 5

JAN FEB 28 — 01 facebook.com/bigfunfestival

Check out Blunderspublik’s Kittens & Shit EP alongside other Blunderspublik recordings at blunderspublik.com.

Oct/Nov 2014 Stylus Magazine

05

BY ANASTASIA CHIPELSKI

ILLUSTRATION BY MISTER JAN

He’s

followed the railroads back and forth across the US and held forth at the Sidewalk Cafe as part of New York’s storied anti-folk scene, but Shakey Graves is returning to Winnipeg to collect something he couldn’t find anywhere else: his best friend’s soul.

Alejandro Rose-Garcia, who performs as Shakey Graves, hails from Austin, Texas. The city has held him dear enough that it proclaimed an official “Shakey Graves Day” in 2012. RoseGarcia took it as a kind of birthday: “I figured if I got a day, I might as well use it as a birthday [..] so I got all my friends and we went and played laser tag.” Though it was technically a one-day proclamation, Rose-Garcia has since taken the opportunity to “really make it rain as much as I can,” throwing a big show featuring local Austin bands, paying them out handsomely, and also releasing all of his own music for free online for a brief period.

Rose-Garcia has built a name and a reputation for himself as a dynamic performer, holding the stage with just his guitar and a kick-suitcase at his heels. In the pre-dawn of his career, he took his “rambling guy with a guitar act” to New York, seeking out the poor songwriter experience. He fell in with the anti-folk crowd in Alphabet City, with the Sidewalk Cafe as their nexus.

“We were just kind of a big messed up family that paid attention to what each other were doing. And I was lucky enough to be there for a small blip on the map, and it was really formative.

It taught me to kind of put my money where my mouth was,” recalls Rose-Garcia. “The concept of if you ask me to play you a song I can do it, I really learned how to do that there, cause people would ask me and I’d be like ‘yeah yeah, I can play you a song’ and then I’d mess it all up.”

Nowadays, you’re not likely to see Rose-Garcia shaking or messing up on stage, and he’s moving along from the archetypal rambling man act to develop his skills as a collaborator. “When I’m playing with other people and I have to lead, I get a little nervous,” he confessed.

The honour of leading was bestowed on him at last summer’s Winnipeg Folk Festival, where he hosted a workshop also featuring Shinyribs, Sharon Van Etten, Hiss Golden Messenger, Daniel Bach-

www.stylusmagazine.ca

man and Reuben and the Dark. This collaborative workshop style was very new to Rose-Garcia. “The workshops always crack me up,” he reports. “Stateside, I haven’t played any festivals that do that. The first time I went out I was like ‘What the fuck is going on? What is this, like, what is happening to me right now?’”

He also fondly remembers the Folk Fest as the place where he watched the final games of the World Cup, huddled in the woods with “a bunch of random Canadians” hooting and hollering over the

match being shown on a little iPad. Some of his fellow football fans started a wee gambling party, and while Rose-Garcia was happy to stick to “throwing coin money around,” one of his tourmates decided to up the ante.

That weekend, their Canadian booking agent had been making a game of gambling for people’s souls, which he then took to the Trading Post in the campground to barter for goods. RoseGarcia’s best friend (and tour manager), Wesley, had his eyes set on the booking agent’s soul and made a dangerous wager, placing his own soul on Argentina.

“Of course we’re all like, ‘That was a horrible idea! Haven’t you ever watched the Simpsons? It’s like the worst idea ever.’ Don’t gamble your soul.” recounts Rose-Garcia. That night, Wesley lost his soul in a most authoritative manner: “They sent over official paperwork and everything.”

Wesley, soulless, continues to accompany Rose-Garcia along on tour, but a return stop scheduled for Winnipeg in November brought an unexpected opportunity. When the soulgambling Canadian booking agent told Garcia that it looked like the Winnipeg show was going to sell out, and asked if he would play a second, Rose-Garcia made him a proposition: “I’m not going to play another show UNLESS we get Wesley’s soul back to play the second night in Winnipeg,” he countered. There was one stipulation, though. If the first night didn’t sell out, the deal was off.

“So by Winnipeg supporting the music, I got my best friend’s soul back AND I get to play two nights,” says Rose-Garcia, triumphantly. “They’re sending over the contract as we speak.”

Besides the victory of Wesley’s soul, Rose-Garcia will also be celebrating the release of his latest album, And the War Came, featuring many stunning vocal collaborations with Esme Patterson. Rayland Baxter will be touring alongside Shakey Graves, and there’s a chance he may join in for a few songs.

Those holding tickets for the Nov 24 or Nov 25 shows at the Park Theatre are in for a real treat. If you’re ticketless, well, there may be this one Canadian booking agent lurking about, looking to collect a certain soulful something from you (though Shakey Graves would advise against that).

Oct/Nov 2014 Stylus Magazine

07

“W

fucking cruise missile to stardom here the germ of the idea comes from, to me, isn’t very remarkable,” explains Nick Liang, of Conduct, one afternoon at Little Sister Coffee Maker. Liang, along with bandmates Rob Gardiner (drums) and Stephen Kesselman (guitar), are here to discuss their upcoming LP Fear & Desire, as well as their new split 7” with their pals and tour partners Tunic. “What I think is interesting is what we bring to the songs or ideas, which is completely collaborative.”

“But as far as the notes go,” Gardiner adds, with a grin. “Nick brings a lot of the notes, or sounds, to the table.”

“What I find interesting and compelling in music, particularly, is seeing the unspoken cues or seeing this very specific language that has been fostered between people,” Liang continues. “When I see a band live, what’s interesting isn’t seeing a band play a song by rote, it’s these unspoken cues, or things that aren’t even musical necessarily. I think those are the things that are compelling. And I think we’ve played music together long enough and have been friends long enough that I think we have a lot of things are second nature now, unspoken.”

Indeed, although Conduct is a relatively “new” band, the history between its members goes back years.

You could even say that Conduct is a new “iteration” or dynamic that rose from the ashes of Departures, which featured Liang, Kesselman, and Gardiner, along with Tunic’s David Schellenberg on bass and Cannon Bros’ Allanah Walker on guitar and organ.

“It wasn’t really a conscious decision to switch gears,” says Kesselman.

“It happened very organically and then we decided to change the name, according to the different music we happened to start playing.”

The songs on Fear & Desire are dark and haunting, at times brooding, almost claustrophobic, other times sharp and angular. Conduct’s live performances are powerful, loud affairs, band and audience buzzing with anxious intensity. It is outsider music, to be sure, but that’s the point. One thing that quickly becomes apparent when speaking with Conduct is that “There were songs, the first half of [Fear & Desire] were played with Departures in different forms,” explains Gardiner. With only half an

album worth of songs ready, Conduct booked studio time in Chicago with legendary producer and engineer Steve Albini. With the clock ticking, the boys buckled down and completed the remaining half of the songs on time.

“We figured it all out and it turned out well,” a satisfied Liang asserts, before explaining that the decision to book with Albini was one they hadn’t taken lightly. “If you’re gonna spend the money to record in a studio, it was a guarantee that that part of it wasn’t going to fail. And because he’s sympathetic to the kind of music we’re trying to create, there wasn’t time wasted in long discussions about certain ideas or how we want to behave, things like that.”

Considering that the band has only been operating as Conduct for a short period of time, it might come as a surprise to some that the band jumped not only into recording a full length album, but also undertaking a large US tour without a record. But you quickly learn that Conduct is a band that operates strictly on their own terms and with their own well defined, internal parameters for success.

“The intent of our playing music is trying to satisfy our own creative whims,” says Liang, “and that’s it. We really don’t pay any credence to outside considerations. The only opinions that matter are the ones within the band.”

“I think this goes for life in general,” Liang continues. “Having a direct relationship with the things you engage with is key to being content.

Once you’ve booked the tour, and gone on that tour, that’s a success.

All the rest is irrelevant. You want to make a record, the minute it’s recorded, that’s a success, whether anyone ever listens to it or not. We went and completed the goal we had. Once the vinyl is in our hands, then that’s another success. It seems ridiculous to consider outside things that are outside of your control.”

Check out Conduct’s split 7” with Tunic at their launch show Oct 3 at Natural Cycle with guests The Hours, and wait (eagerly) for the release of Fear & Desire on Dial Tone Records this November.

a

by sheldon birnie

Don’t miss the Tunic/Conduct split 7” release show Oct 3 at Natural Cycle. It’s gonna get messy!

This past winter, Tunic went into the studio at UMFM and recorded “a bunch” of tracks with Graeme Wolfe from fellow new noise barons Conduct.

“We’d been a band for a while, felt pretty tight,” says Schellenberg. “But there was really only the one out of like nine that we really liked our performance on.”

The boys in Tunic weren’t the only people who liked the track. Nick Liang, from Conduct, was planning on starting a record label, Dial Tone Records, and offered to put the track out on a split 7” with his band. The connection makes sense, of course, when you consider the long history between the members of both bands. A relationship that only deepened after the two undertook an extensive US tour this past summer.

“It was a lot of fun,” Sam says, “but it was a bit of a financial failure.”

“What tour isn’t?” asks Schellenberg. No doubt, undertaking a completely DIY tour, without a record, is a gamble. But Tunic admit that it was more of testing of the waters, and an excuse for an adventure with some good buddies, than anything else.

“It was great,” Rory says, “meeting other people who like punk rock and art punk, progressive punk. Interesting, loud music.”

“Winnipeg is a pretty isolated town,” says Schellenberg, touching on a recurring theme in any narrative about our local cultural development.

“So it was nice to go out and some of those shows had way more people than our hometown shows. It’s cool to make friends and get into a new community that we didn’t really even know about.”

With the new split 7”, Tunic are setting their sights high, with plans to tour, and record a full length over the winter.

“From now on it’s like a rocket ship,” Rory boasts, as the pitchers of draft beer drain. “A fucking cruise missile to stardom!”

conduct

08 Stylus Magazine Oct/Nov 2014

tunic ways had a home in Winnipeg. From the 80s punk rock explosion, to 90s noise rock, the out-there electronic experiments of Venetian Snares and beyond, a twisted frequency lies at the dark Heart of the Continent. One of the current crop of young, hungry bands picking at the carcasses of their forebearers is Tunic.

“I wanted to make my own band for a long time,” David Schellenberg recently told Stylus over pitchers of beer at Cousin’s. “I’ve always been the bass player in everyone’s band.”

After spending years tending to bass duties in Les Jupes, Departures, and the Playing Cards, Schellenberg started writing songs on guitar a couple years back. Then he started jamming with drummer Sam Neal after a late night at the Lo Pub. “I knew Sam from high school,” Dave recalls. “I showed him my songs and Sam was like, ‘Those are cool, but I play drums like this.’

“Sam plays drums like a brick in a dryer,” Rory Ellis, who plays bass, clarifies for the folks at home.

So Schellenberg was like, “I guess I gotta write heavier songs.”

“I had no sense of how to play along to that,” Sam admits with a laugh. “It definitely ended up morphing into what it is now.”

That “it” is an intense, propulsive exploration of isolation fuelled angst, with the volume cranked high. Schellenberg admits it is a somewhat different musical realm than the one he was once most comfortable in.

“I was born and raised on indie rock,” he says, “and got into punk rock later in life. Sam had played in a bunch of punk bands, so we kind of met in the middle. When we first started hanging out, about two years ago, we talked about Nü Sensae, White Lung, and Condominium a lot.”

“We found common ground in modern punk music,” says Sam. “I agree,” Rory says, adding that his role in the band is often a reaction to the elements Sam and David bring to the table. “I write parts that give context to what [they’re] doing so that it resembles something that makes sense.”

L oud, abrasive outsider music has al-

by sheldon birnie

all the rest is irrelevent

BY DANIEL EMBERG

Every year the send + receive (s+r) festival is curat-

ed around a particular theme. For this, its sixteenth edition, that theme is “physical sound,” and the fourday schedule of performances and installations reflect a broad and unpredictable range of treatments through which participating artists are interpreting that theme.

Festival director crys cole recently told Stylus that after sorting through the various submissions for this year’s festival, “things took a turn more toward the [human] body.” The pieces to be performed are, “not so much about how sound can create physical reactions in an object, but more the ways in which sound is created by the body or the way the body responds to sound.” The emphasis on bodies does not necessarily colour everything you will hear at s+r, but there will be no mistaking the theme at any of the venues—several of which will be hosting festival performances for the first time.

This year, the “guest of honour” at s+r is Ellen Fullman.

“She has developed this massive string instrument,” explains cole, “with piano strings strung across a huge resonant space. The bigger the space the better, which has been an incredible challenge in Winnipeg!” Fullman’s instrument includes small resonating boxes at either end. Fullman’s rosin-coated fingers slowly make their way back and forth along the meticulously placed strings.

The resulting overtones and harmonics lead to captivating drones thanks to the instrument’s interplay with the acoustic properties of the room.

After grappling with the challenge of finding an appropriate room for this piece, s+r settled on the spacious and acoustically appealing Ukrainian Labour Temple. In order to ensure a quality performance, Fullman spends five days at the venue tuning the strings and strategically marking the floor to guide her route. There is no mistaking cole’s excitement at bringing this show to the festival, as s+r has been waiting several years for all the necessary variables to align so Fullman’s “unusual and very hypnotic” instrument could fill a room here in Winnipeg.

Accompanying Fullman at that performance will be experimental cellist Okkyung Lee, who is far from a mere footnote for the honoured guest.

On the evening of October 4 at Media Hub (72 Princess), Lee will also team up with dancer Michelle Boule to close the festival with a piece they have performed just a few times. Both artists play with sound and light perspectives by constantly moving through the space. Boule brushes right up against audience members while dancing, and her very breath will be part of the sound at play. Lee, meanwhile, will be wandering around the area playwww.stylusmagazine.ca

ing her cello—just take a second to read that over again, and focus your mind’s eye on a cellist strolling through a crowd while playing. Media Hub may be an unfamiliar venue for many local music fans, but it is an enormous room with multiple levels and opportunities to take chances with sound.

Earlier on that Saturday night, sound art fans will get their expected s+r serving of local fare as piano trio Burden will be playing. If you haven’t caught a Burden show before, set aside whatever you think “piano trio” means, as this group has lit-

erally ripped the instrument apart to play around with what directions they might be able to pull the soundboard. Burden grabs the piano by its guts, smacking it with a mallet here, jamming a fork there, and evoking sounds that of us would never have guessed came from one of the world’s most readily identifiable musical instruments.

Jason Lescalleet’s live show is hard to predict: cole says the experience of an audience member may go from sitting, “in this weird dream world that’s almost grotesque but fascinating, then he’ll suddenly throw in a slowed-down Justin Timberlake song or something,” a juxtaposition which sounds almost

too delicious for words. Lescalleet combines work on analog tape and reel-to-reel machinery with prepared digital elements, and though he has actually collaborated with numerous former s+r guests his first appearance at the festival will be on Thursday, October 2.

The evening will also feature a performance from Sarah Davachi, whose work with synthesizers and samplers plays with psychoacoustic experiences such as ghost frequencies.As has become the case every year at s+r, there will also be some scheduled artist talks as well as an ongoing public installation that you can take in at your own convenience. Donna Legault’s Subtle Territory will be summoning unfamiliar sounds and pulses which exist around the lower limit of frequencies perceptible to human ears. Legault’s installation in The Cube will capture low-frequency sound events in the vicinity, running the inputs through an open source program called Pure Data to stretch them into something you will be able to hear. The installation will be in the midst of one of the city’s busiest areas, which means it will be picking up all kinds of uncontrolled noises, amplifying them, and pushing them back out into the surrounding acoustic environment to unpredictable effect. Additionally, setting up right in The Cube could mean some fascinating captures (creaky groans, wind lashing metal, maybe the footings will choose this weekend to sink and offer a seismic symphony!) as part of the sonic stew.

Scheduled artist talks include Ellen Fullman, Donna Legault, and Sarah Davachi.

The talks are all free of charge and are an important element of a sound art festival. While all the pieces are sure to sound interesting regardless of what a listener might know about them, many audience members will find their appreciation for the works enhanced by hearing the artists explain how these unusual sound worlds have come to exist.

Space will not allow for all the works to be described in detail here, but you can find out more by visiting the send + receive page or the artists’ respective websites.

If you have any interest in finding out how far modern artists are stretching the limits of sound, send + receive presents a special opportunity to be in the room as they do exactly that. send + receive v.16 runs from October 1-4, 2014. Festival passes are available at Into the Music for $60, while cover at the door for each event ranges from $1020 per night.

Oct/Nov 2014 Stylus Magazine

09

MICAH ERENBERG

MUSIC MACHINE

BY GIL CARROLL

M

icah Erenberg has been a staple in the Winnipeg music scene for more than half a decade. More impressively, he is only 21 years old. As a result of his unique, heartwarming, and often witty songwriting talents and lovable performance style, he is playing multiple shows every week at every venue imaginable in the city and beyond (lots in Gimli). Fans of Micah’s range from toddlers to those in their golden years. Winnipeg has been lucky to have him be so active on the scene, including hosting a night at the former Rose N Bee Pub, performing at Rainbow Trout, Real Love Winnipeg events and even a beyond memorable set on the rooftop of deer + almond last year. Stylus wanted to find out some crucial facts about such an integral piece of the Winnipeg scene.

Stylus: You have been writing and recording music in Manitoba since you were an early teen, how did your music career start off?

Micah Erenberg: My first show was June 2007, an audition at the Times Change(d) for the Trout Forest music fest. I was 14 and in a duo with Alexander Bonsor called New Slang. We got the audition and played at trout that August, which is where I met Dan Frechette, Tim Butler, Andrew Neville, Matt Foster, Jesse Matas, Twisty Fodey, and Jaxon Haldane (from what I can remember). They accepted me into the music scene with open arms. Jaxon even loaned me a banjo after the fest that I still have. I attribute these meetings to my mother (who told me about the audition), and Devin Latimer, the artistic director who accepted us.

Stylus: You are at the end of the day, a songwriter, who are your biggest songwriting influences?

10 Stylus Magazine Oct/Nov 2014

PHOTO BY GREG GALLINGER

ME: A lot of the musicians I met at that festival and have met since are my biggest songwriting influences. If I were to respond with just people I don’t know (Townes Van Zandt, Elliott Smith, Jeff Tweedy, Gram Parsons, Dan Reeder, Hank Williams, Daniel Romano, M.Ward, etc), then I would be solely talking about the influence from music I like listening to, and have listened to a lot. However, where a lot of my influence comes from, and primarily my motivation to write songs comes from, are the other songwriters and creators that are around me. A few names I would like to mention in that respect (not including the people from Trout, who all make the list) are Kieran West, Logan McKillop, Blair Atkinson, Richard Inman, Railroad Tye, Lizzy Burt, BJ Garrison, Kade Reimer, The Revival, Scott Nolan, Romi Mayes, TJ Blair, Grant Davidson. The list goes on. And especially all of the people I have had the pleasure of being band mates with. It’s a long list, and I could go longer, but that just shows how tight knit and supportive the Manitoba music scene is. Especially Andrew Neville. Go see him on Wednesday nights.

Stylus: You have tons of songs up on bandcamp, what is your recording process like?

ME: Lackluster. There is almost no method. Analog is preferable. A Tascam 1442 Portastudio is my current weapon of choice, though I’d love to try something bigger. When digital is required there is never peaking (-18 db average), and there is a lot of comping (slicing multiple takes together to make one good take). Usually I put down a guitar take first, then vocals, then harmony, then additional instruments. I only use a click when it’s needed. Currently

I use Logic Pro with a Universal Audio Device. I strongly endorse Universal Audio. All my recording is done randomly, as I am not one to be motivated without inspiration, and so if you listen to anything of mine online you’ll notice that a lot of it is done with a MacBook Pro mic, an acoustic guitar, and a lot of GarageBand distortion.

Stylus: Who are some Canadian artists you are excited about?

ME: Daniel Romano and his Trilliums Band, Corb Lund (and his guitar player), Ingrid Gatin, Zachary Lucky, Sarah Jane Scouten, Kristen Berkel, Scott Nolan, Railroad Tye. I am excited about these people because they are always working, always playing, recording or on the road, and writing the whole time. They are influences but also people who I know will find much success spanning over long careers in music.

Stylus: Do you have any tour plans or releases slated?

ME: Yes. Nothing is on paper yet but some things will start happening soon. A series of live videos is the first thing that will come, a few short tours are in mind but nothing planned, and hopefully a release of something that isn’t a demo by early 2015.

Stylus: What is the best part of being a musician in Manitoba?

ME: The weather, of course. That is the best part of doing anything in Manitoba.

Check out a flurry of Micah’s old recordings online at micahrephael.bandcamp.com and see him live in any weather.

PROOF

FA

DOCKET #

4438

IMAGE FILE

PROJECT

2012 U OF WINNIPEG STYLUS

ITEM

CLIENT PROOF DATE

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

LINKIN PARK MTS CENTRE

PHOTO BY KAYLEE SMOKE

FUCKED UP

WEST END CULTURAL CENTRE

PHOTO BY GREG GALLINGER

RUSSIAN CIRCLES PYRAMID CABARET

PHOTO BY GREG GALLINGER

BADBADNOTGOOD UNION SOUND HALL

PHOTOS BY COLE TORFASON

live bait

ARCADE FIRE MTS CENTRE

PHOTO BY ANDREW MAZURAK

Stylus celebrates 25 years of independent music

By Gil Carroll

Here at Stylus Magazine, we’re proud to be celebrating 25 years of music coverage in Winnipeg. Over this quarter century, Stylus has seen editors, artists, and volunteer writers come and go, as well as changes in direction, tone and aesthetic. What were once wicked band photos gracing the cover page now are local, oftentimes abstract or subtly morbid original artwork, a change that came around in the mid 90s.

Alongside the growing dominance of the Internet, as CD stores went bankrupt, Anarchist bookstores/ restaurants/headshops shuttered their doors, and music venues lost/obtained licences, the advertisements between the pages of interviews and album reviews changed, and so did the music being talked about. Regardless of these naturally developing changes, the primary goals and functions of our mag have stayed consistent. At the forefront, Stylus has always worked to support local music as much as possible by promoting Winnipeg bands and live shows, providing coverage of bands not usually covered in the mainstream media, and to act as a vehicle for the work of new writers.

Since the initial volume of Stylus Magazine was published in October, 1989 under editor Karla Hilton, the mag has acted as a guide to the programming and alternative music scene found at the University of Winnipeg’s community radio station CKUW 95.9 FM. Every issue to this day has featured the station’s program guide as well as the station’s top played albums. (In October, 1989, CKUW’s #1 album was the Tragically Hip’s Up To Here. The Top 25 also included LPs from the Beastie Boys, The Jesus Lizard, and 54/40.) 25 years of publication is a huge landmark for the magazine, which over these years has served as a way for stu-

14 Stylus Magazine Oct/Nov 2014

dents and young writers to dip their feet into the writing world, allowing them to get their name on a byline, writing about matters that are important to them, all initiated by the love of music.

Past editors have gone on to do big things in Manitoba and beyond. Stylus was able to speak to two of our past editors. Sarah Michaelson now runs her own DJ Academy in Winnipeg that allows “women identifying people” to try their hands at being a DJ. And Bartley Kives is now a well known “reporter-at-large” for the Winnipeg Free Press, having first joined the Free Press team as a music critic.

Sarah Michaelson : I was most involved at Stylus between 2002-2007. I loved the regular columns we featured over the years — some short-lived, some lasting beyond my own career at the mag. “Charlie Hustle’s Mighty 45s” featured a history on the little 7-inch record. Probably the very favourite for MANY readers was “The Pompous Old Fart,” an articulate and grumpy review of new albums we forced him to listen to, like a Sarah McLachlan remix album, which he described as “stultifyingly dull.” It was always a joy to edit that one.

Bartley Kives: In 1991, when I started a twoyear stint as a Stylus editor, there were no college radio stations on the air in Winnipeg (besides CKUW) and what we now regard as the Internet didn’t really exist.

Commercial radio, meanwhile, played a steady diet of truly horrible dreck. Stylus played a small but important role in shining a spotlight on music that actually interested people at the University of Winnipeg and the broader music scene. The people who worked for the magazine – an anarchic, funny and creative collection of likable misanthropes – felt like there was a mission to uphold.

A mission to uphold indeed. With the support of the University of Winnipeg Student Association, Stylus writers have a duty to provide honest and open opinions of new music. Music fans in Winnipeg already know that the Weakerthans were great, but in discovering new, virtually unheard of local bands of (mostly) every genre, Stylus is the place to turn. The relationship with CKUW remains paramount and a clear connection between the writers and the show hosts exists, after all, both are volunteer work initiated by a passion for music and the understanding that local music is art and needs to be heard.

While focusing on Winnipeg artists and bands, Stylus continues to be a fixture (if a small one) on the national influence all across Canada, covering Canadian touring acts and recording artists. You can find the mag in over 30 Winnipeg shops, cafe’s, libraries etc. Stylus is one of very few free print music magazines still kicking it on the local, and even national, scene. We’d like to consider this landmark of 25 years is as an accomplishment, considering the mounting difficulties and costs of producing a free printed magazine in the instant world of The Internet.

It is impossible to tell what the next 25 years has in store here at Stylus Magazine. Musical trends emerge and quickly die and the Internet continues its tight fisted reign over media, but with some help from our friends (and a little luck) Stylus will still be here asking why.

Speaking of the Instant World of the Internet, check us out online at stylusmagazine.ca.

BY MARTYNA TURCZYNOWICZ

The Crooked Brothers have been making a name for themselves since the release of their previous albums Deathbed Pillowtalk (2009) and Lawrence, Where’s Your Gun? (2011) and proved to not be just another folk trio. Their songs range from footstomping tunes to heart wrenching ballads, many of them with a special focus on their hometown, Winnipeg.

“Where we live is a big part of who we are so it definitely seeps in,” says Baker, who plays harmonica, dobro, and sings in the band. “We’ve spent most of our whole lives here, except for a bit of touring and traveling. It’s definitely shaped who we are.” Songs from their previous albums, like “Sunday Dress” and “Windsor Beer” have all referenced favourite spots in Winnipeg, from watering holes to apartments.

“There’s definitely a degree of writing what you know in your music, whether it’s writing about your hometown or writing about heartbreak. It makes it really relatable.”

“Kennedy,” a track from their latest album Thank You, I’m Sorry is not only about heartbreak, it also references a certain apartment on Kennedy that has become a little legend among musicians and artists in the ‘Peg. “That apartment that Matt technically still has the lease to, originally it was Paul Butler who did the front cover of the record, he passed it on to Kyle Sherman who’s a good friend of ours, who did a big piece on the inside of the record.”

Now the apartment is in hands of local cowboy Micah Erenberg [ed. note: see feature on pg 10], who agrees, that the apartment is something special.

“Kennedy is a magical place. You can make music at all hours. Within the

www.stylusmagazine.ca

ILLUSTRATION BY JANEL CHAU

first two weeks of moving in, I had a late-night impromptu jam with Darwin Baker , Matt Foster, Richard Inman, Amber Quesnel (Sweet Alibi), Vince Andrushko, Andrina Turenne (Chic Gamine), Simon Davis and Gabriel Fields (Mariachi Ghost). Matt assured us it would be fine.” Erenberg

is pretty sure that “It’s the only apartment in town that you can jam with that many people until 6am.”

While all the members write songs and get together to really put them together, some of their songs come from what Baker calls “spontaneous jammage, that can happen in a porch or a hotel room or something.”

Spontaneous jamming, is what really brought a track from their latest album “Pass Me By” to life. “‘Pass Me By’ we recorded in a log home,” Baker says. But when the band was touring Italy, the song took on a new life of its own. “We got rowdy on Prosecco and the song took on a new life. We came home and listened to the recording we’d done and were like, ‘this is too tame.’ So we went back to the studio and recorded it live off the floor, and tried to harness some of that energy.”

The Crooked Brothers recorded parts of Thank You, I’m Sorry in “a giant log home at Cloverdale Farm, a B&B outside of Selkirk,” Baker says. The acoustics in there, he continues were fantastic. “It had a nice relaxed feel. The first two albums were recorded in cabins at Falcon Trails resort, so we’re used to the process of recording in more rustic spaces.”

Soon the Crooked Brothers will be hitting the road once more to tour the new album Thank You, I’m Sorry.

Then on December 12th, they’ll be back in Winnipeg for their album release party at the West End Cultural Centre. Tickets are 20$. Doors open at 7:15, show starts at 8:00.

Oct/Nov 2014 Stylus Magazine

17

GREEK RIOTS Greeking Out About Their Band

BY KAITLYN EMSLIE-FARRELL

Greek Riots, not to be confused with the riots in

Greece, are one of our very own local indie-rock bands of Winnipeg. Originally intending to start a solo project, Jacques Richer was chatting with his buddy Duncan Murta and well, it just happened.

They threw together some rough demos and submitted to The Uniter Fiver. Upon hearing that they were in, they scrounged for some more dudes to play the other instruments typically found in a band and bam! Greek Riots now also includes Breandan Flynn, Mack Hatcher and Seamus Hamilton-Pattison.

“We were practicing for about a month prior to that so we were panicking,” recalls Seamus on not feeling entirely ready.

“Actually, for awhile there we had it in our heads that we weren’t going to get in. So it wasn’t a really big deal to us,” says frontman Jacques.

“The four songs we played at the Fiver were actually the only four songs we had at the time,” adds Duncan. I asked them to tell me about playing the Fiver other than the panic and Duncan replied, “Oh man that’s all I can remember.”

But he forgot about the comedy that started off the band’s first public appearance. The MC was making jokes about all the bands being pitted against each other. Jacques decided to use this opportunity to introduce Greek Riots with a joke. He shouted, “Are you not entertained?” Unfortunately in his head followed, “That was stupid.” But who doesn’t love a little silly humour by way of Gladiator references?

Anyway, it’s not like the guys haven’t played live with different bands before. But being so new, playing The Park Theatre, five people running around with cameras and press, there was a bit of extra weight on their shoulders.

www.stylusmagazine.ca

PHOTO BY MAT KLEIS

“We were joking that oh we managed to sneak on and nobody noticed, right on!” recalls Jacques.

After the show they realized that damn they fit together well. And there you have it, the formation of a band. There was love at first sight with their great chemistry.

“All of us got along really well and it was like this was one in a million. Not everyone plays well together. You could have a ton of great musicians and only so many of them click,” says Jacques.

“Or they play well together and just don’t get along on a personal level,” adds Duncan.

“Yeah, like Metallica,” coughs Jacques.

Greek Riots currently have one demo track out titled “Newman.” “We took down a couple of songs just ‘cause they were kind of rough,” laughs Jacques.

But on November 8th, they’re releasing their EP Cavelier. You can find “Monroeville,” a tease track from their upcoming EP, on Bandcamp for “pay what you want.”

“It’s like t-shirts and pins and CDs and the whole shebang,” Duncan tells Stylus as he’s trying hard to contain his excitement. “There’ll be merch tables and stuff, it’s so fancy.”

One of the most exciting things about this EP is that it was produced by Ron Obvious, musical producer for punk legends D.O.A. and The Subhumans, as well as local bands like Mise En Scene and Little House. The Riots say he’s got a mobile studio and he just sets it up right in your jam space. It was cool, but he was tough. If he didn’t like it, they knew.

“I feel every band needs that. You need to come up on your own and feel good about yourself. Then you need to get beaten down and build yourself back up,” says Jacques.

The Uniter Fiver was a great kick off show but The Cavern is where the heart really lies for most of the guys. Duncan recounts his first time getting to face that dream. “I’ve been wanting to play The Cavern ever since I picked up a guitar… The first time I ever got to play it was with this band. We were playing with Solhounds and The Explorers Club. It was the Saturday before St Patrick’s Day because St Patrick’s Day was on a Monday and the place was just filled to the brim like right to the window. For me, that was the biggest show hands down. And everyone jumping around, cause I guess we play the right kind of music for that crowd. I feel our best shows are always at The Cavern.”

“It was one of those classic, if you live in Winnipeg and you’re in Osborne on the weekend and it’s nice out. Just people spilling out everywhere and flooding into the Cavern,” adds Seamus.

The future for Greek Riots is a whole ton of music release and the hopes of hitting all of Manitoba’s music fests next summer. “Playing something like Rainbow Trout or Shine On would just be unreal for us,” says Jacques.

“As long as we can keep making, putting out and playing as much music as possible, that’s pretty much the dream,” says Seamus wholeheartedly.

Duncan ends things on a bit more of a serious note.

“I’m looking forward to just having a box of CDs. I think that’s going to be the coolest thing ever. And tshirts, I’m just stoked to see this crap. I’ve never had any of this stuff.” Just kidding, he was giddy.

Don’t miss Greek Riots with Naysa and Solhounds on November 8, when they release Cavelier at the Cavern!

Oct/Nov 2014 Stylus Magazine

19

ILLUSTRATION BY NICK VAN DOESELAAR

nonstophiphop DJ Hunnicutt reveals Winnipeg’s Rap Roots

by Harrison Samphir Most Winnipeggers know DJ Hunnicutt (Tyler Sneesby) as the local mixmaster whose choice cuts punctuate events and parties across the city. But the Brandonborn crate digger is also a hip hop pioneer, club owner, marketing and promotions professional and cofounder of one of the Peg’s first rap crews, Farm Fresh.

The group, consisting of mcenroe (Rod Bailey) and Pip Skid (Pat Skene), released two albums in the mid1990s – The Space EP in 1994 and Crazy Fiction one year later – on Peanuts & Corn Records. The imprint would go on to release over 40 records from local artists like Birdapres, Yy, Fermented Reptile, Frek Sho and others, and remains one of Canada’s most successful and recognized independent labels. Stylus caught up with Hunnicutt to discuss the origins of the local hip hop community, its many players, and the important legacy it engraved on Winnipeg’s cultural identity.

Stylus: How were you introduced to hip hop music?

Tyler Sneesby: Growing up in Brandon, a small city in the middle of Canada, the best outlet we had back then for hearing any sort of new music was either Brave New Waves, which was a late-night radio show on CBC, at the time hosted by Brent Bambury. The other was MuchMusic. I think we got it in

20 Stylus Magazine Oct/Nov 2014

’86 or ’87. That was back before they even had Rap City, so the only urban music programming was Soul in the City on Saturday afternoons or Pump It Up. Once in a blue moon they’d play a rap video.

That was my mixtape for the next few years because that was the best access to all the stuff I wasn’t hearing anywhere else.

Stylus: After you formed Farm Fresh in 1991, you came to Winnipeg. What did the hip hop scene look like when you arrived?

TS: It was interesting when we came to Winnipeg, because the first shows we were playing weren’t with other rap groups. We were playing punk and hardcore shows. Our first gig we opened for Red Fisher and Meatrack, and later we played before a ska band at the Albert. But while Pip Skid and I lived in Brandon for a couple years after high school, mcenroe moved to Winnipeg right away. He was coming home on weekends and making music with us, and we’d be coming out and playing gigs. One of the first rap shows we played was a radio station afterparty at the West End Cultural Centre. People thought we were really weird because we would come out expecting to perform for 45 minutes or an hour, like a regular show. Everyone was blown away because all the rap shows at the time were three, maybe four songs tops, and then the next act would come on.

But because we came up from the punk and rock scene, we were used to playing full sets. A lot of rap-

pers at the time didn’t even have full sets, they had two or three songs total, whereas we had a dozen or 15 songs we could perform.

We weren’t really accepted by the rap world at first, and there wasn’t much of a scene early on, just Jamaican DJs and dudes doing shows at the Concord Hotel and things like that. So when we came along, we were further along than other people. We were producing our own beats and that’s how we got on to producing for Mood Ruff, which was Grand Analog [Odario and Ofield Williams] and Eli [Dow Jones]. The only other people who were producing their own hip hop during the ‘90s were Frek Sho and Twisted Spirits - Gallivanting Spoof, Gruf tha Druid, Gumball, Ismaila, Shazzam and Sunil. Both groups eventually amalgamated and merged into Frek Sho. They put out their first cassettes in ’94, and we released the first Farm Fresh tapes at the end of that same year.

Stylus: What comes to mind as the most defining moment for hip hop in Winnipeg?

TS: I can’t say for certain. Mood Ruff was our tether to the broader hip hop community. We [Farm Fresh] were three white boys from Brandon and we were freaks to begin with, and we weren’t deep into the international scene. Mood Ruff was our bridge into that. Even though we weren’t signed to a major we were courted by majors like EMI and Warner back in the day, and we got to tour with Rheostatics and cool groups like that, and so we were perfectly happy doing what we were doing, getting special opportunities. Meanwhile, we were opening for The Pharcyde on the Bizarre Ride tour in ’95, and Tha Alkaholiks. But when Mood Ruff started the festival Peg City Holla, they did a good job of bridging all of Winnipeg’s communities and crews.

This was in the mid- to late-1990s at the dawn of the backpack movement, and that’s when Canadian underground hip hop thrived and Peanuts & Corn really took off, too. We were probably at our peak between 1999 and 2003 when we were producing half a dozen records a year, having distro in Europe and Japan and touring across Canada. But that was just us. Locally, Mood Ruff was making professional videos, getting airplay on MuchMusic’s Rap City.

Stations were acknowledging Winnipeg as a hip hop centre. That really mattered.

Stylus: Fast forward to today. You made an interesting point about developing a community event to bridge all of Winnipeg’s different groups in the late-1990s. What does the scene look like now?

TS: I think what’s bridging our communities together now is the internet, really. Music subcultures are so mixed today, because of festivals and things like that. Every genre dabbles in all the rest, so it’s hard to quantify. Locally, it’s kind of neat, though, because a lot of First Nations dudes are making rap, and there are places for hip hop to be heard again. Streetz FM is over, but Rhythm still plays local rap. That has to be good, not just for the artists, but when the artists are namedropping neighbourhoods. If I was a ten-year-old kid growing up in the North End and I heard people on the radio making quality-produced rap and mentioning my neighbourhood I’d be pretty stoked about that.

To learn more about Peanuts & Corn and Winnipeg hip hop, `visit www.peanutsandcorn.com. For an unabridged version of this interview, check out stylusmagazine.ca

Local Spotlight ing Weight is one of the best albums to come out of Winnipeg this year.

(Independent, thebandnaysa.com) Broose Tulloch

NAYSA Losing Weight For Winnipeg’s Naysa, their second release in less than seven months, is a real growth spurt. Their March release, Troubled Heart, showed some real promise, and October’s Losing Weight realizes that potential. The music is purposely loose almost to the point of controlled sloppy. It’s rough and ragged exterior protects the foundation of smooth beautiful melodies.

Throw in some blue collar chords and rhythms and you’ve got a great college radio sound that harkens back to the 80s yet still in the moment. Think a mellower, poppier version of a BTOJesus and Mary Chain mashup, similar in that way to the Pixies more accessible tunes.

But make no mistake, the Dave Todd lead quartet has their own sound.

Thanks in part to Todd’s nasally voice and lyrics which are a delicious melange of melancholy, gloom, and self-effacing humour. Perfectly encapsulating all these qualities, the lead single, “How I’m Feeling Lately,” should come with an earworm warning. It is that good. Simply put, Los-

TWIN North Americana Similar to Bob Dylan’s trademark Neverending Tour, local “hypnoalt-folk” act Twin perpetually travel by canoe across the rivers of North America playing wherever and whenever they can in hopes of spreading their music through means entirely unique to them. Somehow, they even found time to record a debut album in between their voyages. And North Americana couldn’t be more aptly titled, as this is one fiercely Canadian piece of down-to-earth folkery. The band eschews the Mumfords and Edward Sharpes that inhabit so much acoustic music of late and focuses on a more traditional sound that brings to mind rolling hills, endless prairies and (appropriately) long canoe voyages.

The songs themselves are almost entirely based around founder and guitarist Dave Fort’s fingerpicked, minorkey phrases while Brooklyn Samson’s mournful violin dances and flourishes

around the pieces. Fort and Samson’s voices aren’t pitch-perfect, but they have plenty of chemistry and carry the songs with a rough-yet-charming, offkilter charisma. Plenty of guest musicians add their voices as well, with local folkers Micah Erenberg and Ingrid Gatin lending their voices to secondlast track Assiniboine River. This is an excellent local release. Listen often – preferably in or near your favorite hiking trail. (Independent, twintwa. bandcamp.com) Seamus HamiltonPattison

LAST DITCH ON THE LEFT Last Ditch on The Left Last Ditch on the Left’s self-titled debut may be the first time Kerri Stephens and Brent Warren have teamed up to make a full-length record together, but they are, by far, no strangers to making music. Warren is a highly sought-after guitar wizard, and Stephens has made her mark with a solo career buoyed by her beautiful, delicate voice. The combination of the two is like rubbing two sticks together, sparks flying, making for a subtly gorgeous debut that burns soft and bright, and finds the couple sweeping

out the ashes in the morning together.

It’s a real down-home and pretty piece of Americana that can’t help but conjure up visions of the Prairies, with Warren’s deep, raspy voice complementing Stephens’ nuanced warble on tracks like the front-porch swing of “Anjalee” and the finger-picked jaunt of “Bind My Heart Forever.” About halfway through, things get dark and stormy on the excellent “Trust In Me,” a slow-rising, knockout vocal performance by Stephens, accompanied by subtle guitar and haunting piano, that sounds like it could only have been crafted in a big empty house overlooking a cool lake with black clouds rolling in.

The duo save the very best for last, though, with “Made The News,” featuring Winnipeg ex-pat, co-writer and tourmate Matt Epp on backing vocals. It’s a simple, emotional love song, stripped of anything but beautiful melody and quietly powerful performances, where Warren and Stephens sing, “It’s like we’re stuck in holes we’ve dug around ourselves and those we love/a fear of letting lovers free/we speak of how it used to be.”

It’s a record that perfectly encapsulates the same situation it was likely born from: sitting in a Wolseley backyard trading songs back and forth, enjoying someone’s company, twilight rolling in and the Prairie summer heat drifting off into the darkness. (Two Small Houses Records, lastditchontheleft.com) Matt Williams

Ulteriors LEISURE CRUISE Leisure Cruise A dance band in the vein of the more recent Daft Punk, Leisure Cruise are less a dance band and more a pop band that skews heavily towards wanting you to move. It’s a distinctly Canadian attempt at a Johnny Jewel styled dark dance record. The album works as a toned down attempt at this sort of sound, as in “Double Digit Love” and “The Getaway,” which play in the same sonic playground as the Italians Do it Better label. Ultimately, they come across more uplifting, as though we should be raising our arms in the air and dancing happily to the

www.stylusmagazine.ca

chorus – seemingly at odds with the attempted tone of the songs.

Despite the mixed success of those songs, it’s when Leisure Cruise embrace that very uplifting quality and make it their own that they find the most success. “Sailing” is a perfect example of a shiny, danceable track that dance-tinged alt-rock song rather than an alt-rock tinged dance song.

Perhaps it’s a semantic argument, but letting the dance music influence them rather than attempting the other way around seems to be the band’s strength.

This self-titled release shows a band still finding its footing. “Human Relo-

cation Program (H.R.P.)” is about as good as one can expect based on its title and is reminiscent of Daft Punk’s technophobic Human After All. There are elements of Leisure Cruise that feel exciting and as a summer album work remarkably well, particularly in mining the sounds shown in “Sailing.” (Last Gang Records, lastgangentertainment.com) Devin King ODESZA In Return Odesza is an emerging electronic music duo from Seattle. They opened for Pretty Lights on his 2013 tour not long after the release of their debut

album My Friends Never Die. Their latest release, In Return, balances between the sped up “chipmunked” that were frequent in their previous releases and songs with lyrics at a pace that’s a little easier to understand.

The vocals on In Return come from an array of up-and-comers like “Say My Name” featuring Zyra and “All You Need” featuring Shy Girls. The album is a lot of fun, and judging by the fact that most of Odesza’s North American tour is sold out, I think it’s safe to say that we’re probably going to be hearing more from this duo soon.

(Independent, inreturn.odesza.com) Martyna Turczynowicz

Oct/Nov 2014 Stylus Magazine

21

Root Cellar

BLAKE BERGLUND & THE VULTURES Jasper Jasper, Alberta is not only home to some of the most stunning landscapes in the country, but also one of the best venues to see live roots acts as well. So it’s fitting that Saskatchewan’s Blake Berglund picked the Jasper Legion to record a live record with his band the Vultures. Berglund is an hon-

est to goodness country & western singer, the Vultures are a gritty, hotshot country band, and the rowdy crowd at the Legion clearly dug their down and dirty ditties and the occasional tear-in-the-beer heartbreaker the boys serve up so well. Made up of songs Berglund and the boys have been playing for years, as well as a few new cuts thrown in for good measure, Jasper is a great snapshot of a country artists on the rise. From the bootscootin’ boogie-woogie of “Hangin’ By a Thread” to the too-tough-to-cry “Funny Thing About Leaving You” to the gut-bustin’ greasy good times of “Love is Like a Rodeo,” the boys don’t let up, delivering track after track of good old-fashioned, true faded denim blue country music. If that sounds up your alley, forget about Dan Romano, because Blake Berglund is the real

deal. (Independent, blakeberglund. com) Sheldon Birnie RYAN BOLDT Broadside Ballads Birds chirp, strings are strummed and gently picked. “Love grows older, then love grows colder,” croons a melancholy Ryan Boldt to open his debut solo record, Broadside Ballads. The collection of nine traditional folk songs interpreted by the Deep Dark Woods’ singer and principal songwriter is a delicate, beautiful disc, full of the mournful dirges and uplifting ballads that fans have come to associate with the DDWs. But it is also a refreshing step back from those deep, dark places the Saskatoon-based group has become known for, allowing Boldt to draw deep at the rich well that nourishes the folk tradition. “Just

As the Tide Was Flowing” captures the sadness of watching seasons pass, witnessing love fade. “Poor Murdered Women,” with its squealing lead guitar, is as much a lament to the current state of affairs in Canada as it is timeless. “Sally My Dear” may well have echoed out from a cottage on the moors or a porch in the deepest Appalachia, as a kitchen in Saskatchewan.

Not that there was ever any doubt that Boldt was a student of the folk tradition and not some fly-by-night, plaid wearing folk-ish bandwagon jumper. But this delicately crafted debut solidifies his place in that circle, which thanks to those with a similar commitment to the real roots of folks music, remains unbroken. A great listen on any cold, Canadian winter’s day. (Dahl Street Records, dahlstreetrecords.com ) Sheldon Birnie

a two disc retrospective of Jeff Bird’s thirty years in the music industry the main difference between discs being that disc two is more introspective and experimental with repetition and spoken word/vocals. Musically, Bird excels in every way. He’s accredited to five different kinds of bass on the release as well as eleven additional instruments (including the lap steel, mandolin, melodica, and tarka to name a few). Genre-wise, there’s no uniformity. There’s a mix of soul, swing, and worldly sounds throughout. Over the years he’s played with the Cowboy Junkies, worked in film and television, and now, should you ever find yourself in the Kingston area, he offers music lessons for the mandolin, harmonica and bass. The album was recorded at multiple locations, including live at Manhattan Pizza Studio and the “Ty Tyrfu” (don’t know where that is exactly, but it is Welsh for “house of noise and commotion”). Astounding in more than the musical sense, Bird’s humble website is an endearing accompaniment to satisfy all the questions you may ever have about him. Rhythm and Entertainment is an entertaining retrospective highlighting a superbly skilled musician. (Independent, jeffbird.com) Victoria King

OPERATORS EP1 Another year, another band for Dan Boeckner. EP1 fills a space demanded by the hype created by several live performances by the band. Seeing poorly-recorded footage of a Wolf Parade cover was exciting in theory, but in practice only raised more questions about what Operators was about.

Operators exists on a continuum of Boeckner’s work. With Wolf Parade on one end and Handsome Furs on the other, EP1 leans closer towards the synthetic sounds of Handsome Furs’ Sound Kapital. Wheras Sound Kapital was a colder affair, EP1 has a more straightforward dance vibe that takes itself less seriously. Overall, the results are mixed. Opening track “True” is a standout that best captures a fun tone. Other tracks, such as “An-

Under the Needle great album, but one hopes that the work here leads Monomyth to adopt these sounds and apply them to make them something uniquely their own.

Despite this, Saturnalia Regalia! has been one of my most listened to albums this year, and will continue to be something I go back to in the years to come. (Mint Records, mintrecs. com) Devin King MONOMYTH Saturnalia Regalia!

Saturnalia Regalia!, one of the finest albums produced in Canada this year, may be doomed by its own skilled application of influences. Monomyth ably hear the pieces of different sonic templates and, over a breezy halfhour, find what ties those sounds together to make a cohesive palette.

There’s elements of pop, psych, shoegaze and other jangly and dreamy sounds, all brought together to make an extraordinarily compelling record.

It almost seems out of time – as though this is a great lost record from my formative years, when indie broke through in the 2000s. As deft as Monomyth are in shaping this truly great record, it doesn’t tread new ground despite its application of various styles. While this is surely a

22 Stylus Magazine Oct/Nov 2014

JEFF BIRD Rhythm and Entertainment From the moment it passed through my hands at the August Stylus Contributor meeting, I was intrigued

by Rhythm and Entertainment. The cover art is simple, symmetric, and boasts an impressive longevity (albeit of recordings from someone I’d never heard of ) but I thought, this could be good. Rhythm and Entertainment is

cient” are overly long and fail to hook in the same way as “True,” or much of Boeckner’s other work. Currently a digital-only release, EP1 is a quick listen that doesn’t ask a lot of questions of the listener except perhaps “is there a need for an EP2?” (Last Gang Records,lastgangentertainment.com) Devin King

THESE ESTATES The Dignity of Man This debut full length from Regina’s These Estates delivers a solid, free poured kick of “bourbon rock.” With a sound, and penchant for thoughtful, well crafted lyrics, that hearkens back to mid-90s political pondering Prairie pop punk, These Estates at once conjure a nostalgia for early Weakerthans, K is for Catherine era Bonaduces, and Painted Thin at their angriest.

“Nothing quite like nostalgia,” John Cameron even sings on “Stone Cold

www.stylusmagazine.ca

Summer,” “to make you feel a little bit older.” From the opening “When the Lovee Breaks” to the singalong closer “Pay Me Some Attention,” These Estates leave it all on the studio floor, hammering this earnest, at times endearingly sloppy, collection of ten tracks home in a manner which leaves the listener feeling both empowered and disarmingly helpless. Word is there’s a follow up LP to be released, though the band itself is on a hiatus.

Winnipeg only played host to these boys a couple of times, so let’s hope there’s some sort of reunion brewing down the line. (Independent, theseestates.bandcamp.com) Sheldon Birnie SLOWCLUB Complete Surrender Slowclub’s Complete Surrender is tortured-heart retro pop with a sultry vibe, often accompanied by bigband instrumentation. Notes of 60s pop with modern finishings, this release rides on catchy hooks and wiggle-your-hip rhythms. I found it to be a welcome break from the overwhelming synth pop trend. Complete Surrender maintains a nice balance between vintage throwbacks and contemporary grooves, blending subtle electronics with real instruments.

Without intending to be too ironic, most of the release is a “complete sur-

render” to themes of heartbreak and break-ups – while there’s some great upbeat stuff, there’s quite a few slowburners on this one including, “Not Mine to Love,” “Number One,” and “The Queen’s Nose.” Favorites of mine are “Everything is New,” “Dependable People and Things that I’m Sure of,” and “Wanderer Wandering,” tunes which deviate marginally from the overarching old-pop vibes. Slow Club is headed by Charles Watson and Rebecca Taylor of Sheffield, England.

This is the band’s third full-length release in a long line of EPs and singles.

(Wichita Recordings, slowclubband. com) Victoria King MO KENNEY In My Dreams On In My Dreams, the second full-length from 24-year-old Nova Scotian Mo Kenney, the talentedbeyond-her-years songwriter proves herself a master of the musical kissoff. On just the second track of the record, Kenney lazily demands, “take me outside and blow my fuckin’ head off.” And that’s after the painfully acerbic, borderline sadistic “I Faked It,” where she matter-of-factly states, “it was never you and me/when I said it was forever I was lyin’ through my teeth.” It’s (Taylor) Swiftian: catchy as hell, but with the guts to say how she really feels in sharp, simple words

(and copious, effective cursing). Even in the case you might be the subject of her barbs, the melodies are so good you’d just have to let it go, like a bruising right hook that somehow ends up feeling like a kiss.

Kenney has more tricks up her sleeve than clever put-downs, though. Take the head-nodding, song-of-the-year candidate “Telephones,” where she wrestles with the desire to have her romantic cake and eat it too; the woozy, 70s dinosaur stomp of “Untouchable,” complete with super-shred guitar blast. Or the fleeting, dark and beautiful echo of “Wind Will Blow.”

But she’s arguably at her best with the title track, an aching, vulnerable, and 100 per cent pure pop song, where she sings, “I’m beginning to think you only exist in my dreams/waitin’ on a phone call, wearin’ out your memory, where have you been?”

While Kenney’s self-titled debut record proved her talent beyond a doubt, In My Dreams is light-years ahead, solidifying her not only as one of Canada’s great new songwriters, but one also blessed with a gift for addictive melody usually reserved for the top of the pop charts. It’s so infectious you’ll be hearing it in your own dreams. (Pheromone Recordings/ New Scotland Records, mokenney. com) Matt Williams

Oct/Nov 2014 Stylus Magazine

23

fear

of

music Greg Roth, Star Robot and Mizalite Music: Sort-of Lost Legends of Winnipeg

By Devin King

Every city has legends. Sometimes the legends are

anarchist punks or literate folk artists, 70s hitmakers or children’s performers. Some legends are lost and some are a mystery. The work of Greg Roth isn’t completely lost, though he is somewhat of a mystery.

I met Greg Roth very briefly in 2013 while in line at Music Trader. He came in with some copies with homemade DVDs and asked if he could drop them off to be sold. “I will buy those right now,” I said way too loudly in the middle of the store. So I paid him for the DVDs, and he was a bit confused as to how he had happened upon someone willing to buy all the copies of his homemade DVDs. I talked about how I had read his work in the past and really enjoyed it. I got his email, and meant to contact him, but never did.

Greg Roth functions as a sort of Manitoba answer to Alberta’s Lewis, who is recently experiencing a renaissance of sorts with a reissue campaign of his albums of weird ambient crooning. Renaissance is not the right word, because it implies there was a first time that either of these artists were popular.

Whereas Lewis is only now finding wider acclaim, Roth has yet to find that despite having a catalogue of work that dates back to the mid-90s.

That’s not for lack of trying – very little information exists about Roth on the Internet or anywhere.

But Googling his name will find one Happy Puppy Records also trying to track down Roth, in an attempt to reissue his work.

Before I ran into Roth at Music Trader, I had come across his written work, Star Robot. I only had access to a copy of Star Robot for a brief period of time, but the surreal adventures of scientists and their robots in space are a highly addictive due to their sheer oddness. These are self-published works that lack the touch of a good editor, but this is part of their charm. Like a lo-fi record, there’s something about these in their raw format that makes them exciting. We’re not going to call them Hemingway, but we’ll call them…something special.

Luckily, years later, I would encounter Roth and buy the DVDs he was selling. This release was just one section of the tome that is Star Robot, a chapter called “Picnic Scene,” in which “Dr. Warper and his android wife Cindy are traveling together on their holiday towards their own cabin. They decide to stop at a picnic site which will end in disaster, when a man with a mask attacks and kills Cindy.”

This raises many questions such as, “Why explain everything that happens on the back of the DVD?” Also, “Why are there picnic sites in space?”

Or, “why would the masked man kill Cindy?” All

24 Stylus Magazine Oct/Nov 2014

good questions, none of them answered. The next part, “At The End,” is just as odd and also makes me demand more.

Included with one version of the DVD release is a two song soundtrack (three if you count the third track which is nine seconds of silence, another enigma.) The ambient keyboard songs evoke a trip through space, as one might expect. Similarly unpolished as the text and DVD, the songs sound as if they are a first take, immediately burned to CD. This, of course, is not Roth’s first foray into music. Happy Puppy Records were attempting to reissue his mid-90s output, when he went under the name The Mizalites. Seemingly also done in one take, but largely replacing keyboards with long guitar solos, the sole Mizalite song I found (on YouTube) features a drum track with guitars layered on top, often missing the beat. Nonetheless, there’s something about it.

Roth is everywhere. You can often find his work, briefly, at Music Trader. I once saw a copy of “Man

With a Mask” in a comic store. I told my hairdresser about him once and she said he’d come in once asking if she wanted to buy any. I don’t know how true that one is, but something about this man and his work, for over 20 years, has seeped into the pores of Winnipeg. Despite the nature of our city, which is often cruel and cold, this oddball story of space robots has endured in several media.

And that’s what I love. Every city talks about why their city inspires their arts community. But great music in Winnipeg endures not because of Winnipeg, but in spite of Winnipeg. In spite of all the things we see as flawed in this city and ourselves, something like this lives on, just under the radar, waiting for those who will appreciate it most to discover it. Greg Roth doesn’t have the indie cred of someone who appeared on JohNNy SiZZle’s cable access show, but he reminds us that we too could be creating and existing out there. Greg Roth is legend.

We are Greg Roth.

95.9 FM CKUW CAMPUS/COMMUNITY RADIO TOP 30 ALBUMS (July 29, 2014 – Sept 23, 2014) !=LOCAL CONTENT * =CANADIAN CONTENT re=RE-ENTRY TO CHART

ARTIST

# Artist 1 ! The Unbelievable Bargains 2 * The New Pornographers 3 ! Blunderspublik 4 ! The Blisters 5 * Alvvays 6 Ty Segall 7 ! Moody-Amiri 8 Lydia Loveless 9 Thievery Corporation 10 * The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer 11 Shabazz Palaces 12 ! Twin 13 ! The Zags 14 ! Vampires 15 * Various Artists 16 Laura Sullivan 17 * tUnE-yArDs 18 ! Greek Riots 19 Interpol 20 Spoon 21 ! Surprise Party 22 * Badbadnotgood 23 * Bahamas 24 ! Tanya Tagaq 25 First Aid Kit 26 ! Dirty Catfish Brass Band 27 * Death From Above 1979 28 ! Little Black Lungs 29 Caroline Rose 30 Pacifika

RECORDING

Album Boiled Egg Brill Bruisers Kittens & Shit Are You Awake Alvvays Manipulator Safar Somewhere Else Saudade A Real Fine Mess Lese Majesty North Americana Stop The World Every Kind Of Light It’s From London Love’s River Nikki Nack Cavalier El Pintor They Want My Soul Heart Of Love III Bahamas Is Afie Animism Stay Gold Brass Riot The Physical World So Long To The Rat Race I Will Not Be Afraid Amor Planeta

LABEL

Label Self-Released Last Gang Self-Released Self-Released Polyvinyl Drag City Self-Released Bloodshot Eighteenth Street Lounge

Self-Released Sub Pop Self-Released Self-Released Self-Released It’s Trash Sentient Spirit 4AD Self-Released Matador Loma Vista Shake Pirate’s Blend Brushfire Six Shooter Columbia Self-Released Last Gang Self-Released Thirty Tigers Six Degrees

WINNIPEG FOLK FESTIVAL CONCERTS

UPCOMING EVENTS

HEAR ALL YEAR!

JOE PUG

OCT

SEPTEMBER 6 PARK THEATRE

12

BEACH HOUSE

OCT

SEPTEMBER 30 PYRAMID CABARET (18+)

12

THE HARPOONIST & THE AXE MURDERER

OCT

OCTOBER 8 PARK THEATRE

23

RYAN ADAMS

NOV

OCTOBER 12 BURTON CUMMINGS THEATRE

1

THE WAILIN’ JENNYS

NOV

NOVEMBER 1 BURTON CUMMINGS THEATRE

4

DAVID LINDLEY

NOV

NOVEMBER 22 PARK THEATRE

11

ZEUS

BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB

WITH GUEST MILO GREENE Co-presented with Union Events and UMFM

GARRICK CENTRE

RYAN ADAMS

WITH GUEST BUTCHwith WALKER co-presented Union Events

BURTON CUMMINGS THEATRE

NOV

12

NOV

SEPTEMBER 20 PARK THEATRE

13

THE WOODEN SKY

NOV

OCTOBER 4 WEST END CULTURAL CENTRE

22

WITH GUEST MILO GREENE

NOV

OCTOBER 12 GARRICK CENTRE

BURTON CUMMINGS THEATRE

BAHAMAS AND BOY & BEAR

WITH GUEST REUBEN AND THE DARK

THE WAILIN’ JENNYS BURTON CUMMINGS THEATRE

THE WILDERNESS OF MANITOBA

30

WITH GUESTS REUBEN AND THE DARK

DEC

OCTOBER 23 GARRICK CENTRE

6

THE STRUMBELLAS

DEC

NOVEMBER 10 PARK THEATRE

12

THE PARK THEATRE

SHAKEY GRAVES

TWIN FORKS

NOVEMBER 25 PARK THEATRE

THE PARK THEATRE

JENN GRANT co-presented with the Park Theatre WITH MATTHEW BARBER THE PARK THEATRE CENTRE

DAVID LINDLEY

BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB

BAHAMAS AND BOY & BEAR

COLD SPECKS NOVEMBER 30 PARK THEATRE

HEAR ALL YEAR!

FEB

13

THE CROOKED BROTHERS ALBUM RELEASE

FEB

DECEMBER 12

KIM WEST END CULTURAL CENTRE CHURCHILL WITHTICKETS GUEST MO KENNEY STARTING AT $17!

21

THE PARK THEATRE For info and tickets visit winnipegfolkfestival.ca or CENTRE the Winnipeg Folk Festival Music Store, 211 Bannatyne Ave.

THE PARK THEATRE CENTRE

COLD SPECKS

co-presented with Union Events

THE PARK THEATRE CENTRE

THE BROS. LANDRETH

WITH GUEST DONOVAN WOODS Co-presented with WECC

WEST END CULTURAL CENTRE

THE CROOKED BROTHERS ALBUM RELEASE

WEST END CULTURAL CENTRE

THE ACOUSTICAL SOUNDS OF

BIG SUGAR

WEST END CULTURAL CENTRE

STARS & HEY ROSETTA! BURTON CUMMINGS THEATRE

TICKETS: STORE 211 Bannatyne Ave. • (204)231-1377 W I NWINNIPEGFOLKFESTIVAL.CA N I P E G F O L K •FWINNIPEG E S T IFOLK V AFESTIVAL L . C MUSIC A